Walt Disney World and Disneyland(s) Discussion

[Kamandi]

Hello Fellow Disney Lovers! I am planning on taking my family there next summer, and wanted to ask some advise from those of you who go often and stay in the resort. I have a 7yr old boy and a 3 yr old girl, my wife and her mom and dad will be joining so we will have a group of 6. Regrettably I havent been in a good 13yrs, since My son was first born ive been dreaming and saving up for this trip, so Money isnt an issue. Where would you recommend staying? Best ticket Packages? Amount of time to stay? We were planning to stay a good solid 7 days. Any Advise you guys/gals have would be much appreciated!

I'm going with my family at the beginning of June. I booked my whole stay by phone through Disney. My travel package for two adults and two children cost $4300. This includes roundtrip air through Delta. We will fly out on June 2nd and return on the 8th. We are staying at the Pop Century resort, which is one of the economy resorts. We did a mid-tier meal plan which includes a fast-food lunch and a sit down dinner. Our plan also includes the Park Hopper tickets which allow us to go to any of the four main parks and ride anything. We reserved all of our evening restaurants in advance so we're not waiting in line forever to sit and eat dinner.

 

[YoNoSe]

I'm going with my family at the beginning of June. I booked my whole stay by phone through Disney. My travel package for two adults and two children cost $4300. This includes roundtrip air through Delta. We will fly out on June 2nd and return on the 8th. We are staying at the Pop Century resort, which is one of the economy resorts. We did a mid-tier meal plan which includes a fast-food lunch and a sit down dinner. Our plan also includes the Park Hopper tickets which allow us to go to any of the four main parks and ride anything. We reserved all of our evening restaurants in advance so we're not waiting in line forever to sit and eat dinner.

Can't stress enough how important that is!

 

[cokebabies]

Can't stress enough how important that is!

Yup. With some restaurants, it can be ridiculous how fast they book up.

But I will say this - if you can't get a reservation you want, don't stop trying, even when you're in WDW. A few trips back, we couldn't get a good rez at Le Cellier. But after checking in and while buying our park tickets from the concierge, I just asked if anything opened up there. Sure enough, there was, at a very good time.

 

[buffster48]

Awesome, Thanks everyone for the advise!! I really appreciate it. Its great to know all the little things that will help out in a big way! : ) I dont know why but I hadnt thought of going through an agent thats probably a very smart idea as they can help me make sure my whole party is accommodated. The wife and I are super excited we want it to be next summer already!

 

[Coheteboy]

I'm going to build so many droids.

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/05/build-your-droid-at-the-droid-factory-coming-to-tatooine-traders-at-disneys-hollywood-studios/

I only want the hats! I wonder if I could buy those by themselves.

And it's dangerous to let me build and name my own droid. He'd definitely have a third leg and be named: R69-S3X

 

[YoNoSe]

Yup. With some restaurants, it can be ridiculous how fast they book up.

But I will say this - if you can't get a reservation you want, don't stop trying, even when you're in WDW. A few trips back, we couldn't get a good rez at Le Cellier. But after checking in and while buying our park tickets from the concierge, I just asked if anything opened up there. Sure enough, there was, at a very good time.

You can also try a walk-up as soon as the restaurant opens, too. Sometimes they have random open tables/cancellations (although most people don't bother cancelling). We've never done it but I've heard people have had great success scoring tough reservations.

Awesome, Thanks everyone for the advise!! I really appreciate it. Its great to know all the little things that will help out in a big way! : ) I dont know why but I hadnt thought of going through an agent thats probably a very smart idea as they can help me make sure my whole party is accommodated. The wife and I are super excited we want it to be next summer already!

(Disclaimer: plugging again) The good thing about getting a good agent is that they can call in your reservations for you as soon as possible (180 days out), they can apply discounts that you might not even find out about until it's too late, and help plan your itinerary around your party's specific needs or requests. (End plug.)

BUT it's also fun to just answer questions so keep asking!

 

[YoNoSe]

I only want the hats! I wonder if I could buy those by themselves.

And it's dangerous to let me build and name my own droid. He'd definitely have a third leg and be named: R69-S3X

That piece seems a little confused - they seem to say that the figures will be available as individuals or two packs, but also that there are thousands of combinations you can make and new hats will be available later in the summer.

I'm sure you'll probably know before me since you hit up DL so often but I will be in WDW in August if anything eludes you and you want me to take a look.

 

[Coheteboy]

I'm sure you'll probably know before me since you hit up DL so often but I will be in WDW in August if anything eludes you and you want me to take a look.

That's very nice of you! I certainly will take you up on that!



And I went to Universal Hollywood again yesterday so here's a few more pics of the TRANSFORMERS THE RIDE - 3D.

The start of the ride

One example of real set extended into the screen

Ahhh 3D!

Practical element.

I've done the ride 6 times now.

 

[Coheteboy]

And I braved the waters to take pics on Jurassic Park!

 

[Coheteboy]

Oh no's, knocked off course!

The mouse ears is no longer in this scene

T-Rex #1

The finale T-REX is out of commission for the next few weeks. Bummer... dunno when I'll be brave enough to do this again!

 

[cokebabies]

The T-Rex being out always sucked. I remember on a couple visits to IOA getting excited to see it, and it's all "OH NO LOOK OUT A BLACK CURTAIN!!!"

 

[Apone]

A week from today I will be in Hollywood Studios for the first day of Star War weekend!

 

[blue_rogue]

A week from today I will be in Hollywood Studios for the first day of Star War weekend!

Awesome, man. I went on the first day in 2010 and it was the 30th anniversary of TESB that day. It was my first time attending SW Weekends and it was a day I'll never forget. Have fun!

 

[Apone]

Awesome..cant wait...I havent been down there since 96 so im looking forward to it.

 

[crows]

Star Wars weekends Coming up!!! lol

 

[crows]

I'm going with my family at the beginning of June. I booked my whole stay by phone through Disney. My travel package for two adults and two children cost $4300. This includes roundtrip air through Delta. We will fly out on June 2nd and return on the 8th. We are staying at the Pop Century resort, which is one of the economy resorts. We did a mid-tier meal plan which includes a fast-food lunch and a sit down dinner. Our plan also includes the Park Hopper tickets which allow us to go to any of the four main parks and ride anything. We reserved all of our evening restaurants in advance so we're not waiting in line forever to sit and eat dinner.

Pop Century is pretty nice, it is economy resort but they have all this big statues is really pretty, I liked it, the pool is awesome, I liked pop Century a lot more than Carribean Beach Resort, Pop was kinda more fun, I liked it, it was fun, the staff was pretty nice too,

Oh no's, knocked off course!

The mouse ears is no longer in this scene

T-Rex #1

The finale T-REX is out of commission for the next few weeks. Bummer... dunno when I'll be brave enough to do this again!

Do we Have a Universal Thread? or a section? these pics are really awesome, really awesome, seems like the Uni talk doesn' belong here, I am guilty of that as well,

I still Prefer the DINOSAUR Ride at Animal Kingdom, is a lot faster, is awesome,

 

[SimFeliz]

I am going to the US late June, early July. One of our stops will be Disney world and Universal studios. What are the must see attractions? I saw that Universal studios has a Jurassic Park center. I love Dinosaurs, but unfortunately a lot of Dino stuff ends up being aimed at the kids. Is it really kiddy?

 

[Coheteboy]

Do we Have a Universal Thread? or a section? these pics are really awesome, really awesome, seems like the Uni talk doesn' belong here, I am guilty of that as well,

I think any of use who love talking about Walt Disney World or Disneyland also love when other theme parks do themed attractions or shows and it's the same group of us that would follow it. It also happens so rarely that I think we could just have some sort of agreement that we post it all here. A lot of the conversation ends up being about both anyway yah?

A separate Universal thread certainly wouldn't belong in a "Disney" section anyhow and would get zero hits.


All agree?

 

[cokebabies]

I am going to the US late June, early July. One of our stops will be Disney world and Universal studios. What are the must see attractions? I saw that Universal studios has a Jurassic Park center. I love Dinosaurs, but unfortunately a lot of Dino stuff ends up being aimed at the kids. Is it really kiddy?

Unfortunately, the JP island isn't really geared towards much in the way of deep knowledge. The Discovery Center is supposed to be aimed at adults and kids, but definitely steers more towards kids. That said, it's still a fun diversion where even though you probably won't learn too much new information, there's a lot of cool stuff to see.

I don't even know if Triceratops Encounter is open. It closed, then reopened, then closed, so I have no idea. But either way, it really, really sucks.

Pteradon Flyers, factoring in the atrocious wait time and ridiculous ride length, might be one of the overall worst fun for the wait ratios of any attraction, ever.

River Adventure is awesome.

The atmosphere of the island is well done, and its star attraction is great. But I've always felt the JP island was woefully underutilized, given the amazing license its based on.

 

[Coheteboy]

I am going to the US late June, early July. One of our stops will be Disney world and Universal studios. What are the must see attractions? I saw that Universal studios has a Jurassic Park center. I love Dinosaurs, but unfortunately a lot of Dino stuff ends up being aimed at the kids. Is it really kiddy?

Jurassic Park area at Islands of Adventure, like Coke Babies mentioned isn't very suited with the geek out experience most of us want/expect from a themed Jurassic Park area.

Unfortunately, Dinoland USA at Disney's Animal Kingdom doesn't fullfill this desire either. They have a cool Dinosaur ride but it's basically a carnival elsewhere.



I'd say, the MUST SEE attractions depends on how much of a thrill-seeker you are. Right now my favorite rides at Walt Disney World are, in no particular order:

-Mission Space @ Epcot (go extreme... don't go to the wimpy version)
-Tower of Terror @ Hollywood Studios
-Star Tours @ Hollywood Studios
-Toy Story Mania! @ Hollywood Studios
-Rockin' Rollercoaster @ Hollywood Studios
-Dinosaur @ Animal Kingdom
-Expedition Everest @ Animal Kingdom
-Kilimanjaro Safaris @ Animal Kingdom



For Universal, the two must see things are of course Harry Potter and the Spider-Man ride. These are probably the two best rides in all of Florida right now. Most advanced.

Universal must sees:
-Men in Black ride @ Universal
-Mummy coaster @ Universal
-Simpsons Ride @ Universal
-Jurassic Park River Adventure @ Islands of Adventure
-Spider-Man Ride @ Islands of Adventure
-Hulk coaster @ Islands of Adventure
-Harry Potter @ Islands of Adventure
-The double coaster.. i forget its name @ Islands of Adventure (something Dragons)
-Cat in the Hat ride @ Islands of Adventure
-all the water rides