Disney/Orlando tips?

[Gurm]

I'm going to say something people might strongly disagree with.

I think you should go when Disney is busy.

Here's why:

As a kid, I went to Disney. I was 10. It was ... quite simply ... the most amazing experience of my life. We stood in lines. Not 4-hour lines, but hour-long lines. It was crazy, but you know what? Disney KNOWS the lines are long. The queues are PACKED with ... stuff.

I'll give an example. On the Jungle Cruise, there's "Jungle Radio" playing in the line. It's a faux-broadcast from the 1920's. There's ... over an HOUR of pre-recorded "stuff" on this radio station. And displays, with lots of reading.

Or on the Star Tours ride, there are droids in the entry bay. There's a whole STORY about this droid that gets too uppity and then has its programming wiped, that plays out IN LINE. You'll never see the whole story unless you're in line for half an hour.

There are videos in line, there are movies and shows, and they even have concessions and rest rooms... in line. They know you're waiting there with 3 screaming kids and a wife that is unhappy, and seriously it ADDS to the experience.

[Fat Tone]

I remember some of that from our last visit (1992). I don't think it will exactly be 'quiet', even in our second week, just possibly not quite 4 hour queues

[Gurm]

Also, we always get park hopper passes. Why would we do this, you ask?

Because you should see each park at night... and the parks are open early some days and late some days and we try to mix and match.

There is nothing quite like Thunder Mountain at night. It's different, it's better. The parks are well lit, but the lighting is ambient. SO much thought goes into it. The lines are much shorter, too.

You have to see the Mexican pyramid at night. You have to see Illuminations. The Epcot globe lit up is spectacular to begin with, but when they play the lasers over it... wow.

The Epcot grand fountain is spectacular at night, too. So is the MGM hat.

MGM at night is the least interesting since a lot of the attractions close down after a certain hour, but the espresso bar was still open and happy to serve me and chit-chat... which brings me to another point:

Disney is the only place in the WORLD where my wife will chat with complete strangers. Julie is normally the most timid person ever. Hates talking to people. It's amazing that we ever got together since I'm pretty outgoing. She won't talk to the cashier at a store. She has trouble with wait-staff at restaurants. Seriously, she's shy.

But not at Disney. She'll talk there.

There's just something really really special about that place. I know, it's COMMERCIAL, right? People hate it. But it's just... much as Eisner tried his best to RUIN the place, it's just special. Plain and simple.

If I had two weeks in Florida, I might go to Sea World for a day, and to Universal for a day. But I could keep myself busy at Disney World for 10 days, easily. There's an ENORMOUS movie theater, there are clubs, there are shows, there is SO much to do and so little time in which to do it, usually.

There are restaurants at which you have to eat. I mean, you're from the UK so odds are you may have already been to Germany. So the Biergarten might not impress you. But for over here, it's great food, great entertainment, and all the Beck's Special Dark Oktoberfest you can drink.

The Mexican restaurant is quite good, as well. So is the Rose & Crown, for that matter, but I imagine you'd be less than impressed by it. *grin*

If you like seafood, Fulton's Crabhouse (at the Marketplace) is quite simply the best seafood I've ever had, and that's saying a lot since I grew up on Cape Cod.

There's nothing quite like an espresso with Irish Cream, and a rock-sugar swizzle stick, courtesy of the Epcot coffee bar.

[ND66]

It doesn't seem to matter what we do, it is going to cost roughly the same.
If I cost 1wk/disney/tickets/dining + 1wk/villa+car or 2wks/villa+car the overall cost is about the same - ~£4.2k all in. That is a scary figure.

There are some options to save at Disney.

Getting just the basic "Magic your way" tix is the cheapest. Adding Park Hopper raises the price up (Park Hopper allows you to visit more then 1 park a day) you pay for your convenience.


Water Parks are great (especially in August down there) but also very expensive. They would cost you over $200 per adult as an upgrade (or save if you don’t want them). Not sure what you quoted.

If still available, the difference between Magic Your Way Package and Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining comes out like $38/day per adult and $10/day per small kid. You’ll have hard time feeding yourself at WDW for cheaper per the whole day (but some could prove me wrong, I’m sure)

Check for details here:

Not too much of interest for the kids in the south, so better off staying Orlando area or maybe gulf coast - Clearwater?

Sanibel Island is a one of a kind place to visit (trip for a day?).

Also Weeki Wachee, the City of Mermaids is very “one of a king” in the whole world, also very expensive for their size and attractions. But where else can you see “real” Mermaids?

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[Gurm]

So I figured I'd break down highlights of the experience, by park. This is a condensed "recommendation" list. It's from ME, I might include things Logan or Julie liked though.

Magic Kingdom:

We end up at the Magic Kingdom twice per trip. Once for a solid day, and once at night. And that's because we've seen everything already. Never been? Plan on opening AND closing the Magic Kingdom.

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The arcade. The honky-tonk piano man. The parade - day AND night. The castle forecourt shows. Thunder Mountain. Pirates of the Caribbean.

You must see the Country Bear Jamboree at least once. Having not seen it 20 years ago, you'll miss some of the jokes, but that's ok.

The Tiki Room has changed - it's got new characters. I think it ruins the feel, but I'm nostalgic.

Space Mountain sucks now. It's not as fast, and it's LIT UP. The whole FUN of Space Mountain was that it was dark and you'd see something rushing at your face and then suddenly DROP 2 feet short of it. Lit up it's just an indoor roller coaster on girders. *sigh*

The Stitch ride. Used to be "Alien Encounter". Still cool.

Splash Mountain!

The people mover and the Carousel of Progress. You wouldn't think so, but they were both entertaining. Maybe I'm getting old.

Logan of course loved the flying dumbo ride, the teacups, Buzz Lightyear, etc.

It's a Small World. Yeah it's stupid, whatever. I've been on it like 20 times now.

With your kids the treehouse is fun to explore.

You have to eat at the Liberty Tree Tavern. Just... wow.

Tony's Italian Restaurant... I could take or leave. Awesome meatballs, but Julie bought the cookbook and makes 'em for me now, so...

There is a huge museum sort of hovering over the main gate, you don't even really know it's there. It's just a cool place for folks to sit and rest, but it has lots of stuff in it.

Old Disney movies in the little viewing booths on Main Street.

The sword shop inside the castle.

The Haunted Mansion, of course - although also not as scary any more, but maybe I'm just a grown-up now.

The train ride. The riverboat cruise.

Hall of Presidents - well, if you like history, and you like dumb political jokes, and you like stiff animatronics... some people love this place.

The Jungle Cruise.

Thunder Mountain at night.

The castle at night.

All the other little rides that keep changing - and some that have been there forever.

Eating lunch at the gigantic communal tables in the cafeterias that are so finely-tuned they're a marvel of the service industry.

[Gurm]

Animal Kingdom:

We've been twice now, I think. The first time it wasn't DONE yet. So we haven't been on everything, since Logan got tired out very quickly last time.

You can waste a day here, but we always figure it will be a short day. I wouldn't call this park a "must see at night", simply because the animals are harder to see at night. I guess the tree lights up though.

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The Dinosaur Extinction ride! WOO!

The African Festival of Life (might be a Lion King tie-in).

Eating lunch surrounded by animals, having an exotic Ibis-looking thing come up and try to swipe my sandwich!

The giant tree is cool for kids.

Animals. LOTS of them. Separated by water, inspired to keep active and yet contained.

The safari. Wow.

The river rapids ride.

The gorillas.

[Gurm]

MGM:

MGM is the trickiest. So much of what goes on there is a matter of timing. I'll make note. We plan on going for the day, and staying past dark. But if we wanted to see all the shows and little exhibits? EASILY a day, maybe two!

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The hat at night.

The special effects interactive. (Prepare to get wet in the water tank...)

The stunt spectacular.

(There's now a stunt driving exhibition, don't know if this replaces the former?)

The Little Mermaid.

Fantasmik (Phantasmic? Whatever...).

THE MUPPETS IN 3D!

The Great Movie Ride.

Animation... this is hit-or-miss. If there are people at work, you can see them during the day. If you're lucky you'll hit it at a time when there's a good exhibition. If you're REALLY lucky one of the animators will be out and about and willing to draw pictures for the kids!

The hat, and the Chinese Theater at night.

The Beauty and the Beast, and Hunchback live shows. Wow. I'm spoiled, since I got to see the B&B live show the first time it ran. Robby Bensen was there doing the Beast's speaking voice from backstage, and he took questions from the audience after the show. "Can you say something like the beast?" "NNNNNNNOOOOOO!" (kids screaming) Plus other movie cast members were there. Yes, I saw B&B like 12 times in the theater. Bite me.

STAR TOURS! W00T!

The backlot tour.

The Tower of Terror. Also less scary than it used to be, but still good and fun.

Really, just about everything here is fascinating!

We haven't eaten many places here, we always fail to get reservations early enough. Logan was thrilled to eat at Pizza Planet, though. (Ugh!)

[Gurm]

Epcot:

Ok, I'm a bit biased. As a kid, Epcot was my favorite park. As an adult, Epcot is my favorite park. It's Julie's favorite, and it's Logan's favorite. There are also more restaurants here than anywhere else. And more exhibits and things to spend time exploring.

Each half of Epcot is easily an entire day. We schedule two days for Epcot, and leave extra time to return at night for dinner or Illuminations.

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ALL the front-end exhibits. Spaceship Earth is amazing. The others are great too.

Test Track.

The Living Seas - when we were there with Logan they were doing a manatee-hospital, they had rescued two injured manatees - which are almost never seen in captivity since it's illegal to keep them in zoos/parks. Wow.

THE LAND. You must eat here. Lunch is a number of restaurants - all served up with food grown on park. Breakfast, lunch, OR dinner there's a rotating restaurant that is awesome. The ride... well, the ride is great too although maybe boring for kids. But seeing the latest and greatest agricultural advances is COOL.

Innoventions. This used to be called "Communicore". If you're lucky they'll be demoing a new or beta attraction or technology. Julie got to prototype what would eventually become the Aladdin's Flying Carpet video game at Disney Quest when we went there on our honeymoon. They hooked her up to a VR kit, with a 360' of freedom flight yoke and a moving sled, all powered by multiple SGI boxes. This was 1995. Logan got to try out "toon tag", an interactive massively-multiplayer game for kids which has since hit the Internet. One of our intervening visits we got to try out transcontinental gaming. This was before online gaming got big. I played table tennis against someone in the Tokyo Disneyland. I lost - those Japanese are GOOD at ping-pong!

THE FOUNTAIN. The Epcot fountain is amazing.

The Gateway Restaurant. It was being refurbed when we were last there, but I recall it being EXCELLENT.

And then the gateway itself... if you're at the right time of year, this is an amazing craft fair from around the world. My parents tried to get hooked into it at one point. You'll find people selling authentic artwork and crafts from 100 countries.

The smaller fountains. Everywhere you go in Epcot there are fountains. They play games with the kids. They're all programmed - some are interactive! Water bounces around from place to place in streams. The kids chase it, only to get sprayed when they least expect.

The music. I haven't seen the Future Corps the last couple times I was there, they may have moved on from Epcot, but there are always wandering exhibits. When I was 10 I was harassed by an early interactive robot. There is a tubular bells exhibition.

At the right time of year there is a flower show and/or butterfly exhibition.

Then you hit the World Showcase... and wow.

Belly Dancers in Morocco.

The temple in Mexico.

Japanese food, Japanese ritual drumming. Sword exhibition, sword fighting. We had the best meal of our last trip in Japan at the steakhouse's bar. Sushi (the boring kind), Miso, Edamame, tempura. MMMMM.

Chinese exhibition. Dancers, acrobats, origami, swords, wow.

The Canadian steakhouse is very good.

The Mexican restaurant is amazing.

Glass blowers. Sometimes they are in Mexico, sometimes they are at the Marketplace.

NORWAY. Dear God, I love the Norway pavilion.

Wine in France.

Food in France.

Wine in Germany.

The Biergarten.

... WHEW! ... I'm not done yet, but have to take a break from typing!

[ND66]

Disney discounts are not likely to be available until relatively close to the trip.

Based on the last link I provided for "dining" prices for your dates, last year they had a special code for the same discount. This year the discount is factored in the price, most likely no discount codes no more... .

Last year they had code for FREE Upgrade of tix to Hoppers or discount for the Water Parks, will they repeat one this year? More likely later, depending on the actual number of total reservations they have for that time.

Not too much of interest for the kids in the south, so better off staying Orlando area or maybe gulf coast - Clearwater?

Any side of the Ocean would be better then Orlando IMO. I like the Golf coast more, but that just me. You have KSC, nice Cocoa beach just south of KSC,but on the other side you have Clearwater, St. Pete, Sanibel Island, Beautiful sunsets.... .

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[Gurm]

There are some options to save at Disney.

Getting just the basic "Magic your way" tix is the cheapest. Adding Park Hopper raises the price up (Park Hopper allows you to visit more then 1 park a day) you pay for your convenience.

Yes, I already said that we always get hoppers, but to be honest if you've never been... just set aside one day per park, plan to go early and stay late, maybe go back to the hotel for a nap midday. That'd save you $$ per head per day.

Water Parks are great (especially in August down there) but also very expensive. They would cost you over $200 per adult as an upgrade (or save if you don’t want them). Not sure what you quoted.

Indeed. We've been to the water parks because we have friends down there who can score us free passes. But you might be able to score free/cheap passes for a single visit. To be honest, how much time will you spend on the waterslide? You're going to be busy! And your hotel has 8 pools (they all do) at least one of which has a little waterslide. Honestly, we've never had TIME to do the water parks. Plus in August they're MOBBED. Largely with European tourists in indecent speedos. Ugh.

If still available, the difference between Magic Your Way Package and Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining comes out like $38/day per adult and $10/day per small kid. You’ll have hard time feeding yourself at WDW for cheaper per the whole day (but some could prove me wrong, I’m sure)

You NEED to get the dining. It's ridiculous. You get breakfast, lunch, dinner, AND a couple snacks. Every day, per person. Yes, you'll still drop $20 per person on other stuff - ice cream, bottled water, etc. but it won't be bad.

[Gurm]

Let me clarify.

Don't budget based on getting free upgrades, but at Disney the old maxim "it never hurts to ask" couldn't be more true. Be nice and friendly to everyone and you'd be amazed at what you get for free.

Want to get onto an attraction with a 2-hour wait where even speedpass is booking for much later? The guy sweeping up around the speedpass area... I _guarantee_ you... has some speed passes for 5 minutes from now. We've gotten those more than once. Logan looked forlorn that it would be after dinner before we went on Star Tours, and BANG there were 2 passes for NOW in our hands.

Ask at the hotel - sometimes there are free passes for the water parks. Or for shows. It really never hurts to ask at Disney!

[Fat Tone]

Thanks for going to so much trouble.

We are going to get a villa, because that's the way we like to holiday. We like a home-from-home with all the freedom that brings. Its only $100/night for a nice place with a private pool on an estate with some communal facilities. It will also work out cheaper than a resort hotel and we didn't want to be tied down to dining plans etc.

I found a website where you enter your details and the owners send you quotes, which have usually been cheaper than the rates on the sites. We have been sent a contract to sign. The owner has a business in Florida but also has a UK phone and postal address, as they pretty much all seem to do. I'm wondering if this is some sort of virtual presence offered by a management company to reassure potential renters.

How do you go about checking out the owner?

[ND66]

For anyone interested, they posted some discount codes for WDW:

DISNEY VISA DISCOUNT

Free Park Hopping and Water Park Fun & More added to your theme park admission when you book a Magic Your Way package at a Disney Resort for travel from 3/30 - 5/21.

Prices begin at $512 for a 5 night/6 day stay per adult (based on double occupancy) at a Disney Value Resort for Sun - Thurs days. Booking Codes:

APU - Magic Your Way Package
APW - Magic Your Way Plus Dining
APY - Magic Your Way Plus Deluxe Dining


Availability is limited and certain restrictions apply. Theme Park Tickets/Options must be used within 14 days of first use

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[degrub]

make sure you are comfortable with their cancellation terms. Otherwise consider travel/cancellation insurance through a 3rd party.
If it is a company offering the rentals - check with the local BBB ( Better Business Bureau) - if they are a member they can tell you if and what type of complaints and disputes.
There is likely a Rental Property Owner's association that might have information to share - maybe ratings
Also, check out the site on google maps with the satellite view to check out the neighborhood. Important where there is no zoning.
THere are also websites that list neighborhood crime rates, etc - usually by county or town - don't remember a site name - i just google it.

If it is an individual - it may be hard to get info.

[Fat Tone]

Thanks guys.

I think it is going smoothly. He explained the UK contacts (he's an ex-pat with relatives here who can handle things for UK clients). I've sent a 20% deposit. The contract wanted credit card details for a $350 bond in case of breakages but I didn't fill that in as we are so far away from the travel date.

I've found the exact villa on google earth. Its in a neighborhood full of near-clones. Didn't find anything about the owners anywhere on Google, but the site they advertise through seems to have a good rep.