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]
Originally Posted by DJJasonp:
Thanks, missed that.
I do know that getting up super-early and having your head in your phone all day while on vacation sucks.
Hopefully that improves.
That’s the biggest difference for me. I know you can’t avoid it completely but reducing it where reasonable is always good. Especially so when you first get in the park and are just wanting to take it all in. And having gone plenty of times on the old system and new, it’s definitely a huge improvement. [Reply]
Originally Posted by loochy:
We just got back a couple of weeks ago. I was dreading the crowds. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. I was dreading the heat. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. We had a great time and we rode all of the rides. My wife got us lightning lane for everything (she has a pacemaker plus tachycardia issues) so we didn't wait in line over 20 minutes for anything. We did even rode Tron three times and Avatar twice.
Originally Posted by blake5676:
We just got back from a week at Disney World. My first time since I was about 10 so I don't have much recollection. I thought the Genie + and Lightning Lane stuff was pretty cumbersome and annoying, but got easier as I figured it out. They should really give you a 24 hour bootcamp to train you how to maximize using the app and the Genie stuff.
We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and thought the shuttle system was easy to use. Other than it being hotter than Hades, the Disney trip wasn't the nightmare I envisioned. I'm not trying to go back again, but the kids loved it and none of us killed each other.
I was also pleasantly surprised at the food and beverage prices. We bought a dining plan, but if you were just gonna grab a burger and fries at a quick service place it was like $12.99. And bottles of water were $3.50. Pretty comprable to your average fast food prices which was a bit shocking. I expected way worse.
Did you guys use magicband or magicband +? It’s pretty mixed on what people prefer who go a lot but I’m curious if you guys felt it necessary or questioned if you needed it when researching going. My wife and I prefer it just as another option for reducing phone usage, a little extra “magic” and just a fun thing to wear. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
Did you guys use magicband or magicband +? It’s pretty mixed on what people prefer who go a lot but I’m curious if you guys felt it necessary or questioned if you needed it when researching going. My wife and I prefer it just as another option for reducing phone usage, a little extra “magic” and just a fun thing to wear.
It was definitely more convenient than digging the phone out every time. I saw plenty of people getting out their phone, fumbling around with the app, and holding up the line. We also used the magic bands at the hotel to access our room, the lounge, and to purchase things. If money isn't a problem for you, then go ahead and do it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
It’s going to be crowded and this isn’t really a secret. People know this going on so it’s really just about having the mindset of not letting it bother you. You have zero control over it and it’s just one of those things that does nothing except make your trip harder than it needs to be.
This advice.
You know its going to be hot as fuck. And there are big crowds almost every day of the year. Prices are high for everything and lines are long. Just accept it as part of the deal going to Disney World.
One mistake people make about the heat is that they see temp highs of 92 or so and tell themselves, we have 92 degree days all the time in Missouri in the summer.
Which is true but 92 in Florida is way different due to the humidity. It feels like 100+ all summer. In Missouri getting in the shade lowers the heat "feel" tremendously. Florida it doesn't help much, That oppressive heat is just goes underneath that shade. Its better than being out in full sun but it aint much relief. Like the advice above, just know you will be hot, sweaty and sticky before you even get into the park. You can shower when you get back to the hotel and the air conditioning. [Reply]
You know its going to be hot as fuck. And there are big crowds almost every day of the year. Prices are high for everything and lines are long. Just accept it as part of the deal going to Disney World.
One mistake people make about the heat is that they see temp highs of 92 or so and tell themselves, we have 92 degree days all the time in Missouri in the summer.
Which is true but 92 in Florida is way different due to the humidity. It feels like 100+ all summer. In Missouri getting in the shade lowers the heat "feel" tremendously. Florida is doesn't help much, That oppressive heat is just goes underneath that shade. Its better than being out in full sun but it aint much relief. Like the advice above, just know you will be hot, sweaty and sticky before you even get into the park. You can shower when you get back to the hotel and the air conditioning.
The heat really only got to me once, and that was when we were sitting and waiting to make our lightsabers. The little alcove where we had to sit and wait was completely stagant and in full sun, so it was almost unbearable to be there for the 15 minutes. The rest of the time was pretty ok as long as there was a little airflow. [Reply]
Originally Posted by loochy:
It was definitely more convenient than digging the phone out every time. I saw plenty of people getting out their phone, fumbling around with the app, and holding up the line. We also used the magic bands at the hotel to access our room, the lounge, and to purchase things. If money isn't a problem for you, then go ahead and do it.
Nice and we definitely agree it’s way more convenient. Those extra features are great to have. And you can actually still use the old magicbands for most things people would need and they can be picked up for $10. But they aren’t compatible at Disneyland and they aren’t rechargeable though like the magicband +. And the magicband + lighting features seem to be fun for the kids as well. When magicbands were free to certain guests based on resort you saw them a lot more but I definitely see less of them now.
Originally Posted by loochy:
Oh, and the number of extremely obese people riding scooters is staggering. They are EVERYWHERE and in the way all the time.
In a lot of videos I watch about Tokyo Disneyland they talk about how they immediately notice there aren’t scooters and overweight people everywhere and that it makes getting around way easier. [Reply]
Originally Posted by loochy:
We just got back a couple of weeks ago. I was dreading the crowds. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. I was dreading the heat. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. We had a great time and we rode all of the rides. My wife got us lightning lane for everything (she has a pacemaker plus tachycardia issues) so we didn't wait in line over 20 minutes for anything. We did even rode Tron three times and Avatar twice.
Originally Posted by RedRaider56:
The Avatar ride is pretty cool. We were at Disney World the first summer that ride was open and the waiting line was 2 hours long.
Originally Posted by blake5676:
The Avatar ride was maybe the coolest thing I did. My son and I freaking loved it.
Ugh. Flight of Passage is such a good ride.
Originally Posted by loochy:
Oh, and the number of extremely obese people riding scooters is staggering. They are EVERYWHERE and in the way all the time.
They don’t bother me but my lady can’t stand getting stuck behind them.
Humans used to be able to walk 20+ miles per day with no issue. It’s kinda sad to see the percentage of the population who can’t even get around the park for 5-10 miles in a day rising but it is what it is at this point. Probably only going to get worse. [Reply]
Originally Posted by loochy:
Oh, and the number of extremely obese people riding scooters is staggering. They are EVERYWHERE and in the way all the time.
I'm at Disney this week and navigating the parks is like being in an unbranded Wall-E experience. Those fat bastards are always in the way. [Reply]
On July 24th Genie+ will be no more. They are going back to reserving lightning lanes prior to your trip, so no waking up early in the mornings. Here is a much better explanation of it in the link below.
Originally Posted by Ron Swanson:
I'm at Disney this week and navigating the parks is like being in an unbranded Wall-E experience. Those fat bastards are always in the way.
There's a trick to Disneyworld. They've got app's that interpolate the wait times for all the rides based on nine thousand years of data on ride wait times for Disneyworld:
App's bassically route you around the park and show you the lowest wait times.
To survive you need to get there early and you need to get one of these applications or you'll be in a world of 100 degree miserable Orlando weather shit. Just my personal opinion. [Reply]
My buddy is heading to Disneyworld in August and being from Canada he's pissed because International Travelers apparently can't take advantage of being able to book 7 days out. Booking needs to be made from within the US. Not sure if using a vpn is viable but I think he's looking into it. [Reply]