Happiest place on Earth, my ass.

[Penguinfan]

Or, maybe I'm just doing wrong but I remember taking the kids to Disney in Orlando 8 years ago and hating every minute of it. Long lines, bad food, stupidest people on the planet, transportation sucked between parks, etc... I hated it, but maybe it's just me and the kids want us to take them and their cousins this fall. They are close to their cousins and they will be graduating one after another over the next four years and this may be the last they get to go away together so, reluctantly, I'm in.

Actually, I'm not reluctant at all, I want to do it for them, but I'd like to find a way to make it less miserable for myself. I know a lot of you have been there and probably know the ins and outs of the place much better than I so give me your best tips on how to make Disney a great week for them.

Best advice I have seen so far is to make sure to get the dining plan when you book the trip, but what about which hotel to stay at, get the park hopper thing, skip this, the best pool with a bar is here, etc......


Help me out, probably going in October/November.

 

[BobbyBlueChip]

All of the issues that you laid out are worse now than they were eight years ago. I think that they'd be happier with a cool resort in Florida or the Caribbean and it'd be cheaper ...... But if you do go, there's no way that the dining plan makes sense.

 

[MadJack]

It wasn't so bad 16 and 19 years ago but I have no plans to ever go back again. :0074

 

[MadJack]

My niece use to work there so we got in all the parks for free and even got line passes so no problems at all.

:0074

 

[Penguinfan]

All of the issues that you laid out are worse now than they were eight years ago. I think that they'd be happier with a cool resort in Florida or the Caribbean and it'd be cheaper ...... But if you do go, there's no way that the dining plan makes sense.

I tried talking them into, well, anywhere else. I guess I thought the dining plan made sense because, if I remember right, a cheeseburger costs roughly $1,100 if you pay cash.

 

[Morris]

We went last April and never again even the kids hated it. Otherwise we stayed at the movie hotel. The place was clean and the pools were warm. They went out of their way to do anything for us. (there is a bar at the pool but you can bring your own!)

We got the meal plan and as far as we were concerned it was worth it. Son didn't want it and it cost him more for food than us. We thought the food was good and we ate in Downtown Disney twice. Transportation is fair but you do wait sometimes. We didn't do the hopper.

 

[jas4bama]

Went a couple of years ago with wife, son who was 10,daughter who was 21 and her friend who was 21. Stayed off resort at bonnet creek with a 2 bedroom condo for 7 days for around 1200 dollars. Agree on the dining thing cause honestly the food pricing wasn't that bad. It was the stinking park tickets that was out of the world high. We didn't get the park hopper option because we knew we would just stay in one park anyway all day,and would be too tired to go to another park anyway. To me the hopper is only if you want to go watch the fireworks every night. You HAVE to get the Fast Pass though. It allows you to book 3 rides in advance at certain times and it is in my opinion the best deal . After you use all 3 fast passes for the day you can then reserve one more at a time so use the fast pass early in morning if you can. We aslo took a couple days off from park to just swim at pool and rest during trip to break up the go go go. You will want to kill the women with strollers though before the trip is up. Trust me on this. They maneuver those strollers like they drive a car.Like they are the only ones on the road.

 

[Morris]

Fish and Chips in Great Briton at Epcot are a must try!

 

[yyz]

Go to Busch Gardens.

We hated every minute of the house of mouse when we took my daughter at 8 years old. After three hours she said, "Can we go home?" Before she had the word "home" outta her mouth, we were sprinting for the exit.


Kids had a ball at BG.

 

[The Mover]

Fish and Chips in Great Briton at Epcot are a must try!

From what I remember the fish & chips at Epcot was pretty good & rest of our meals was just filler.

 

[The Joker]

Going 1st week of December. My next door neighbor just got back. (He's 59) Said he spent about 5k and he had a blast with his grandkids. Maybe......it's what you make of it. :shrug:

 

[redsfann]

Fish and Chips in Great Briton at Epcot are a must try![/


Where the hell were you in February, Bob? :facepalm:

Only decent meal I had the whole week was the expensive one at animal kingdom with my wife while the kids were at the childcare center.
I'd do everything in my power to convince your family to go anywhere else than the mouse house, penguinfan.

Great game last night..
Hopefully it goes 7 so we can see some great hockey to finish the season, but I'm sure you'd rather see a 4 game sweep....:toast:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Penguinfan]

Great game last night..
Hopefully it goes 7 so we can see some great hockey to finish the season, but I'm sure you'd rather see a 4 game sweep....:toast:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yea, four games would be my preference at this point. I'm really trying to not let myself get too worked up over this series because 6 months ago nobody thought we would make the playoffs so it's been a great year no matter what.

I'd be embarrassed to tell you all how much a Cup would mean to me. I'm way to big of a fan for someone my age. Live and die with the team doesn't even begin to describe it. It's a sickness at this point.

 

[Old School]

may help

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/disney-world-tips-and-tricks

 

[Morris]

Fish and Chips in Great Briton at Epcot are a must try![/


Where the hell were you in February, Bob? :facepalm:

Nevermind I know what you mean now. You went in Feb.