Disney World: please please research

[Anonymous]

PSA: do a disney cruise instead. See the characters at meet and greets and broadway style shows each night while spending your days on the beach in the Caribbean (or Alaska or Europe). After two disney cruises, we'll never bother with the hassle of WDW again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PSA: do a disney cruise instead. See the characters at meet and greets and broadway style shows each night while spending your days on the beach in the Caribbean (or Alaska or Europe). After two disney cruises, we'll never bother with the hassle of WDW again.

They have Space Mountain on cruise ships now? Huh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Some folks actually enjoy the planning but it isn't for everyone. Definitely stay home if you can't put time into planning. Lots more places to spend your money. Lots of sour faces and kids getting yelled at in the parks.

Why should I "stay home" if I don't enjoy planning? How about I go on a spontaneous beach vacation with my family and our neighbors' kids, like we did last summer? It was a blast.

Nah, just find out when the lowest crowd times are and go then. There are times when the parks are pretty empty. (The weeks after Labor Day is pretty great.)

[Anonymous]

Lol at grand Floridian being called a "decent" place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol at grand Floridian being called a "decent" place.

It's no Polynesian overwater bungalow but it will do.

[Anonymous]

I went last year the week before Labor Day. When the room sale started in the summer, got a reservation and plane tickets. Got park hopper passes so we could d what we wanted when we felt like it, Got on airplane and checked my bag through to the resort, walked off plane, got on bus. On the bus they texted me my room was ready; waved my arm at the door and went in. Each afternoon around two, I looked at my app and made a reservation for dinner that night. Each evening before bed, asked my kid what park he wanted to go to in the morning and signed up for fast passes, but we really never needed them.

I get that if you're going during Christmas, you want to sign up. But if you don't want to do any of it, you don't have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP is dead on about planning Disney.

I haven't been in over 20 years, but if I am going to spend at least a grand (and this is assuming I go alone), I could comparison shop hotels on and off Disney property like crazy, make notes, price out the parks (whether it is a park hopper or something else), figure out the time of year it is the least crowded, and numerous other things, so I could enjoy my time there.

This goes for all vacations, not just Disney.

Also, why do people take their kids to Disney at a age they will not remember it? First time I went, I was 10 (my brother was 8), second time was late into my teenage years. We were able to enjoy all the rides because we were tall enough, and whatever Disney characters we ran into at the time, we ran into. I know, things have changed a lot, but I really think there are a lot of lazy people out there that want things handed to them and that is not the case. Travel agents can help (if you can afford it) as well, as a PP said.

So a great time is only worthy to be had if you can remember it? I do a lot of things with my toddlers now because they enjoy it NOW. I guess I'll just stop though, since they won't remember it anyway.

check your privilege. Disney is prohibitively expensive for most people. Most people in the US will only ever afford to go to Disney once with their kids, if that, and it can take a loooong time saving. So yes, for people who don't just have 5, 10 grand to spend on Disney multiple times in their kids' childhood, it makes sense to wait until they can remember it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family goes to WDW probably 3x a year on average. We just love it. However, I can understand folks hating it who go down without doing research because it's theme parks. I see families fighting and getting all upset over the missed details of planning this type of vacation. Buy a guidebook, listen to podcasts, get an authorized Disney travel agent... But don't go blindly!

Never been interested in going there. America's national parks are great though.

+1

[Anonymous]

Disney Cruises are great, but there is no better place to experience Disney magic then what Walt Disney himself envisioned.

Anonymous wrote:PSA: do a disney cruise instead. See the characters at meet and greets and broadway style shows each night while spending your days on the beach in the Caribbean (or Alaska or Europe). After two disney cruises, we'll never bother with the hassle of WDW again.

[Anonymous]

I loved Disney when we went last year precisely because we did zero planning and just enjoyed it as we found it rather than feeling we had a schedule to stick to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family goes to WDW probably 3x a year on average. We just love it. However, I can understand folks hating it who go down without doing research because it's theme parks. I see families fighting and getting all upset over the missed details of planning this type of vacation. Buy a guidebook, listen to podcasts, get an authorized Disney travel agent... But don't go blindly!

Never been interested in going there. America's national parks are great though.

Yes, and if you show up at them in the summer you'll find yourself among the teeming masses and even more pissed off and screwed than if you'd gone to Disney.

[Anonymous]

I liked that we could easily pre plan. It was nice having fast passes and some idea of where we would eat, though at least half our meals were reserved or decided that day. We had park hoppers and spontaneously decided where to go once we'd used our Fast Passes. I find that when we are traveling elsewhere we spend a lot of time figuring out where to eat which can be stressful when people are already hungry. It's not that hard to pre plan either. There is an app that is very user friendly and it doesn't take much time to make a reservation or fastpass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disney Cruises are great, but there is no better place to experience Disney magic then what Walt Disney himself envisioned.

Anonymous wrote:PSA: do a disney cruise instead. See the characters at meet and greets and broadway style shows each night while spending your days on the beach in the Caribbean (or Alaska or Europe). After two disney cruises, we'll never bother with the hassle of WDW again.

We've done WDW. It was fun, but exhausting...and crowded (even when we went in early February). Then, we cruised. What a difference! All the magic of disney, the characters, the smiley staff, etc. without the planning, lines, etc. We'd rather dance with Chip and Dale on Castaway Cay than spend time in lines for rides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Some folks actually enjoy the planning but it isn't for everyone. Definitely stay home if you can't put time into planning. Lots more places to spend your money. Lots of sour faces and kids getting yelled at in the parks.

Why should I "stay home" if I don't enjoy planning? How about I go on a spontaneous beach vacation with my family and our neighbors' kids, like we did last summer? It was a blast.

Nah, just find out when the lowest crowd times are and go then. There are times when the parks are pretty empty. (The weeks after Labor Day is pretty great.)

We went in Feb when it was supposedly one of the lowest crowd times. It was still packed! We did it once- kids were 7 & 9- and won't do it again. It's not my idea of a vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Some folks actually enjoy the planning but it isn't for everyone. Definitely stay home if you can't put time into planning. Lots more places to spend your money. Lots of sour faces and kids getting yelled at in the parks.

Half the enjoyment of taking a vacation is planning it! That way I don't only enjoy the actual days there, but I daydream about my vacation while tweaking my plans. I don't understand the people who leave it all to chance.
But then I'm a research scientist. This is what I do anyway