My wife and I will be taking 2 small children to Walt Disney World in Florida in 2 weeks. I get to go as a bonus thru my work. We are staying at the Hilton. My question is what is the weather like down there in January? Any good ideas on what to see and do with twins that are 2 years old? I am kind of looking forward to it. A chance to get out of Iowa in January. Oh well, enought blabbing. Any responses are greatly appreciated. [Reply]
Just did 7 days/6 nights at Disney World last week and it was... awesome. Best family vacation we've taken since having kids. We went with the priority of limiting stress, so we paid for the bells and whistles (stayed at the Polynesian, took a Lyft rather than the bus when it was advantageous, did the Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes when necessary). As a result, it was quite expensive and now I'm dealing with that, but it was worth it. [Reply]
The middle daughter and son-in-law along with our 3 grand kids are leaving today to move to a nice house in Orlando conveniently located 20 minutes from Disney World. They have been to Disney probably about 6 or so times over the last 2 years now it will be in their own back yard. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Third Eye:
Just did 7 days/6 nights at Disney World last week and it was... awesome. Best family vacation we've taken since having kids. We went with the priority of limiting stress, so we paid for the bells and whistles (stayed at the Polynesian, took a Lyft rather than the bus when it was advantageous, did the Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes when necessary). As a result, it was quite expensive and now I'm dealing with that, but it was worth it.
Going next Spring for my daughter's band trip. We did the same thing at Disneyland last year where her school band went so we got a hotel close to the parks so we could walk over there, and when she got tired of her friends she could come meet up with us and ride rides together. It gave us our space to enjoy what we wanted, to relax, grab amazing breakfast, christen sheets, sleep in, can't wait for Disney World next year.
I wouldn't actively go to Disneyland, wasn't enough to do between two parks that are right across from one another, you could technically visit all of Disneyland in California if you wanted to in a day. With Disney World, all the fireworks shows, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and especially Epcot along with waterparks and Disney Springs. Orlando blows the pants off Los Angeles anytime. Epcot alone, just love Epcot, visiting all the different countries, still getting to enjoy the rides, food and drink it feels like a worlds fair more so than an amusement park. [Reply]
I’ve been very disappointed in Disney World recently which sucks because we generally love it. For one, Genie + absolutely sucks. It’s an inferior product to fast pass even though it costs money and fast pass was free. Eliminating magic express is another big screw you to guests of really expensive hotels. I also don’t like seeing rides reskinned for whatever current thing is popular like guardians of the galaxy replacing tower of terror. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
I’ve been very disappointed in Disney World recently which sucks because we generally love it. For one, Genie + absolutely sucks. It’s an inferior product to fast pass even though it costs money and fast pass was free. Eliminating magic express is another big screw you to guests of really expensive hotels. I also don’t like seeing rides reskinned for whatever current thing is popular like guardians of the galaxy replacing tower of terror.
Interesting. We thought Genie+ worked great and was unquestionably worth the marginal cost. Granted, I never went when there was a free fast pass system, but I didn’t think $20 a person was a lot to ask for what it got us. Never stood in line longer than 15 minutes the entire time we were there.
Also, not sure what you mean about Guardians and Tower of Terror. Just did both last week with Tower being at Hollywood and Guardians being at Epcot. It’s funny you mention those two though as they were the only rides my 7 year old girl did not like!
As far as the Magic Express goes, I never rode it, so I really don’t have a frame of reference. With that said, my buddy who is in a much bigger Disney family than we are, hated the Magic Express and said it was always a cluster. To each their own though. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Third Eye:
Interesting. We thought Genie+ worked great and was unquestionably worth the marginal cost. Granted, I never went when there was a free fast pass system, but I didn’t think $20 a person was a lot to ask for what it got us. Never stood in line longer than 15 minutes the entire time we were there.
Also, not sure what you mean about Guardians and Tower of Terror. Just did both last week with Tower being at Hollywood and Guardians being at Epcot. It’s funny you mention those two though as they were the only rides my 7 year old girl did not like!
As far as the Magic Express goes, I never rode it, so I really don’t have a frame of reference. With that said, my buddy who is in a much bigger Disney family than we are, hated the Magic Express and said it was always a cluster. To each their own though.
The issues I have with Genie + are quite a few, including the costs. $20 per day per person is a lot of money over the course of 4-6 days. Fast pass got you all if the genie + benefits plus more, all for free. Another issue is you can only have one ride reserved at a time so it makes it much more difficult to cluster rides in a certain location. Fast pass was three reservations to start your day. Then one at a time after that.
The other issue with Genie + only allowing one ride reserved at a time is that say if your first ride doesn’t start until 11 or noon which is common if you don’t get on the app early enough, all morning you have no access to the genie + you paid for while you wait for your first reservation.
And here is probably the worst thing about genie + functionality. You can only use it on a ride once per day. So if you really like just a few rides and want to do them repeatedly you can’t using genie +. This is especially problematic for little kids who tend to really gravitate to certain rides and only have limited ride options anyways.
I did magic express multiple times and never once had an issue. Not sure what your friend specifically had problems with but for us it was always as simple as getting off the plane and right on the bus within 15 minutes. Not having it just causes another big cost and hassle to get there and back. But I’m sure with an operation like that there are bound to be issues occasionally. If you didn’t have to now pay for parking at the resorts it wouldn’t be so bad as you could rent a car if you wanted to get to your resort.
Regarding guardians I guess that’s more of a generic complaint across all parks as guardians replaced tower of terror in Disney Land not Disney World. But I would prefer more unique ride creations instead new rides or reskinned ones seemingly now all being based on some movie. I get why they do it but I think they miss the big picture a bit attaching a specific product to every ride. I’m reminded of Men in Black at Universal. That ride just looks really sad and dated. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
The issues I have with Genie + are quite a few, including the costs. $20 per day per person is a lot of money over the course of 4-6 days. Fast pass got you all if the genie + benefits plus more, all for free. Another issue is you can only have one ride reserved at a time so it makes it much more difficult to cluster rides in a certain location. Fast pass was three reservations to start your day. Then one at a time after that.
The other issue with Genie + only allowing one ride reserved at a time is that say if your first ride doesn’t start until 11 or noon which is common if you don’t get on the app early enough, all morning you have no access to the genie + you paid for while you wait for your first reservation.
And here is probably the worst thing about genie + functionality. You can only use it on a ride once per day. So if you really like just a few rides and want to do them repeatedly you can’t using genie +. This is especially problematic for little kids who tend to really gravitate to certain rides and only have limited ride options anyways.
I did magic express multiple times and never once had an issue. Not sure what your friend specifically had problems with but for us it was always as simple as getting off the plane and right on the bus within 15 minutes. Not having it just causes another big cost and hassle to get there and back. But I’m sure with an operation like that there are bound to be issues occasionally. If you didn’t have to now pay for parking at the resorts it wouldn’t be so bad as you could rent a car if you wanted to get to your resort.
Regarding guardians I guess that’s more of a generic complaint across all parks as guardians replaced tower of terror in Disney Land not Disney World. But I would prefer more unique ride creations instead new rides or reskinned ones seemingly now all being based on some movie. I get why they do it but I think they miss the big picture a bit attaching a specific product to every ride. I’m reminded of Men in Black at Universal. That ride just looks really sad and dated.
I can say that I completely agree with being frustrated that you can only do each ride once, but I guess that’s one way to keep lightning lane congestion down.
We didn’t really have a problem with your second point though. Our goal was low stress, so we didn’t try to get there at rope drop. I’d wake up at 7, grab a lightning lane, then pass back out for a bit. By the time everyone was up and ready, we’d be ready to use our selection or we’d be eligible for one because of the 2 hour window. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
I’ve been very disappointed in Disney World recently which sucks because we generally love it. For one, Genie + absolutely sucks. It’s an inferior product to fast pass even though it costs money and fast pass was free. Eliminating magic express is another big screw you to guests of really expensive hotels. I also don’t like seeing rides reskinned for whatever current thing is popular like guardians of the galaxy replacing tower of terror.
Fast Pass is gone now? I thought it worked really well. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Third Eye:
I can say that I completely agree with being frustrated that you can only do each ride once, but I guess that’s one way to keep lightning lane congestion down.
We didn’t really have a problem with your second point though. Our goal was low stress, so we didn’t try to get there at rope drop. I’d wake up at 7, grab a lightning lane, then pass back out for a bit. By the time everyone was up and ready, we’d be ready to use our selection or we’d be eligible for one because of the 2 hour window.
With fast pass you could make your reservations as much as 60 days in advance so no need to set an alarm and fight everyone else for that first set of reservations. This was a huge perk to staying on Disney property that just went away with no perk to replace it. Also, the two hour window to book another starts from when park opens, not when you reserve, so if your first ride is at 11:30 am or later, yes you can book another before it starts, but you still can’t make that booking until probably 10 or 11 am as parks usually open at 8 or 9 am. It’s all just very anti guest experience to me. It’s no fun having to constantly get on your phone and being in a hyper competitive ride booking environment while on vacation. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
With fast pass you could make your reservations as much as 60 days in advance so no need to set an alarm and fight everyone else for that first set of reservations. This was a huge perk to staying on Disney property that just went away with no perk to replace it. Also, the two hour window to book another starts from when park opens, not when you reserve, so if your first ride is at 11:30 am or later, yes you can book another before it starts, but you still can’t make that booking until probably 10 or 11 am as parks usually open at 8 or 9 am. It’s all just very anti guest experience to me. It’s no fun having to constantly get on your phone and being in a hyper competitive ride booking environment while on vacation.
Yup, Genie+ blows. Gotta wake up at 7am and hope to book a ride, then you have to have a 2 hour recurring alarm to keep booking more rides, except after your 2nd ride, a lot of the others won't be available until later in the afternoon/night time, and to be honest our family started at 8am (or the moment the gates were open) and we were totally spent usually by 4pm. [Reply]
