We have stayed on and off property, and can offer up at least some advice that will hopefully make your trip a little more pleasant.
Getting there:
If Flying in-
Orlando airport is rather large, and has a strange system for pick up / drop off - meaning there are multiple levels - not just ticketing and baggage that many of us are used to. So pay attention to the signs, or being lost and confused will ensue.
If staying at a Disney hotel ( not the hilton that is "on property" but rather the disney hotels, IE Contemporary, Polynesian, Riverside, etc. AND flying into orlando, disney offers "Magic Express" pickup from the airport. It is pretty sweet, they grab your bags and take them to your room from baggage claim and all. Straight to your hotel, and for free. You need to set this up in advance ( at time of hotel reservation, or at least 2 weeks prior to trip) and a packet will show up in the mail, complete with tags for baggage and instructions on where to go at airport.
Even if you are plan on moving around town, I dont think you need to rent a car, unless you are really planning to bounce around a lot or just want the freedom. You can cab it from Disney to Universal for about $45 bucks each way. Seaworld is probably closer to $25 each way. Some Hotels, such as the Hilton, Waldorf, and Bonnett Creek ( hotels on property but not owned by disney) all charge for parking each day.
So make a choice, also remember you have to pay for parking at parks ( last I checked $14 a day at Disney) so it adds up. Having a car is not just the price of rental, is parking too.
There are cabs and shared ride cabs ( the big vans that make 4-5 stops but are cheaper than cabs) that are also available. Of course rental cars are available, and unless around the holidays, usually plentiful.
If driving, be advised that Disney World is about 20 miles southwest of Downtown Orlando. I-4 has a number of exits for Disney World and are well marked, and the Turnpike has an Exit and dedicated tollroad to the parks ( Osceola Parkway) that will get you there for abour $2.50 and 15 minutes after exiting.
Be advised, the Turnpike, 417 ( greenway), 408 ( east west) and 528 (beachline), and Osceola Parkway are all tollroads. Many of the exits and tollbooths are now cashless, meaning you'll probably want to opt for the toll by plate option or sunpass (automated toll pass) if you rent a car. There are scheduled buses that you can buy tickets on that will take you over to busch gardens in tampa daily, or to kennedy space center on the other coast. You can do it without a car, just make sure store within walking distance to hotel and that you have a shuttle to parks, at very least.
If driving in, you have a car, so be mindful of parking charges, at hotel, at parks, tolls, etc. Try to find a hotel with free parking and try to pay for parking at one park, and return at end of night as opposed to paying multiple parking fees. Just make sure you can get back there, as buses to parks usually stop an hour or so after said park closes.
Getting around once there:
If staying at a Disney hotel, they have buses / monorail to the parks, depending on your hotel. The Contemporary ( including new bay lake tower), Polynesian, Grand Floridian are all on the monorail line and have stops that will take you directly to the Magic Kingdom, and to the ticket and transportation center where you can transfer to Epcot. The monorail does not go to Animal Kingdom, MGM ( Now called Hollywood Studios), the water parks ( Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon) or Downtown Disney.
The Monorail hotels are super convenient, and they price them that way. Usually they go for $300-$400 a night ( other value resorts - All Star Music, Sports, and Movies can be had for around $90 if you get a good deal). The rest of the hotels, are somewhere in between.
Disney does have an extensive and pretty awesome bus system that can take you to about anywhere you might want to go, without transferring in most instances. That means the buses are point to point. It has one destination emblazoned across the front and that is the destination. This makes it pretty easy to figure out.
The Bus stops are pretty easy to find, some of the more sprawled out hotels, such as the Port Orleans Riverside have multiple stops so that no guest is too far from the bus.
All the Disney hotels have free parking and the transportation, be it water taxi, bus or monorail, are free.
Hold on - water taxi - where is that??
The Boardwalk Hotels outside Epcot, as well as the Semi Associated Swan and Dolphin ( also near Epcot) have free water taxi's to MGM and Epcot, in addition to the buses or the short stroll into Epcot through your very own back entrance. A pretty cool option if planning to spend some time at Epcot.
Otherwise - drive to the park and pay $14 at each park to park your car if you decided to rent and stay off property or at a non Disney hotel.
Even if you stay at one of the on property guys mentioned above ( hilton waldorf, etc. they have shuttles to the parks, or you can walk over to downtown disney (a merchandise and restaurant area on the east side of the resort, also home to pleasure island) and take one of the disney buses from there if you opted for one of those hotels.
Many of the hotels in the area have shuttles, the rub is that there are TONS of guests at the hotels, and usually they only make 2-3 runs to the parks a day. So in some instances you need to sign up/ and be at the pickup location when it comes. This might be at 8 pm even if the park closes at 11pm. Rarely I have seen them run continuously like an airport type shuttle.
Where to Stay
There are a lot of benefits to staying at one of the disney world hotels, not only free hotel parking, free and regular transportation to the parks, and extra magic hours. Extra Magic hours are a perk that the mouse gives you for staying at a disney resort. Simply stated they are hours that the parks are only open to folks with room keys at disney hotels. Usually an hour early of a few hours later than what the "general public" can get in. So if you do decide to stay at a disney property - make sure you check into where and when the extra magic hours are, so you dont miss out. The lines are way shorter than normal and its cool to be in the parks when they are a little less crowded. The Lake Buena Vista Hilton is the only "not on property" hotel that gets the extra magic hours ( the swan and dolphin get emh as well as they are considered fringe disney hotels).
That said we stay off property a lot. Just due to the shear savings you can find with all the hotels in the area. Even as far away as International Drive, a nice Courtyard by Marriott or Hampton Inn can be had for $70 a night, and free parking at night. Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, Homewood Suites and Embassy Suites all provide free breakfast too, some better than others, but if with a big group or family, this might save considerable dough. Many also have microwaves and mini-fridges, which can hold water, snacks, pop, juice that will help control some costs. I have found that you'll probably pay $15-20 more to be close to the parks a night. Seaworld is also extremely close to Walt Disney World and has a number of nice hotels and resort properties that are a 5-7 mile drive to the parks. We stay over there a lot, as they are a little newer and often $10-20 less expensive a night.
My Tip: look out near the convention center, sea world, or even universal studios, there are so many rooms in those areas that you should find some decent deals on hotel rooms.
Now beware of the Irlo Bronson area. It was mostly built back in the 70's and has some really bad hotels. For as little as $35 a night they advertise. The reviews on these places vary, but take a look on trip advisor or yelp before plunging in. Dont ruin your vacation in the hopes of saving $100 total at a hotel that might not be up to par. ( I have done and learned the hard way that it isnt always a savings). That said it is there and pretty cheap, I am sure there are some gem's out there if you do the research.
Personally I have stayed on Palm Parkway, Hotel Plaza Blvd, and Vineland ( all near downtown disney area and off of the Apopka Vineland Exit 68 off I-4). Also the Seaworld area, as mentioned above.
The Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Courtyard, Fairfield, Hilton, Embassy Suites, Residence Inn and Double Tree I have stayed at and was pretty happy with all of them. The hotels on Vineland, over by Seaworld, and Palm Parkway have free parking, while the Hotel Plaza Blvd places, ( because they are inside the disney walls ) charge to park.
Some hotels near the convention center, namely the Hilton, Peabody, and Rosen also charge to park. Usually this is listed on the hotel website, but not always disclosed by sites like hotwire or expedia I have found. Make sure you take a peek at the "resort fees" and or "parking fees" on the booking sites. The hilton for instance, charges $14 to park the car, and another $22 resort fee... That might make that deal you thought you had not so nice.
The Hampton Inns up International Drive have always treated me well, as have the Fairfields and Hilton Garden Inns ( though the HGI on Palm Parkway is not one I would recommend). I have found some good deals up by universal at the Hampton, the Doubletree ( although this one charges for parking it is a great hotel) and the Hyatt Place.It is a bit of a drive to disney world from here, but if you have a car and are also maybe planning to visit Universal or Islands of Adventure, may be worth it if can uncover some decent savings and have a car.
A Brief Background
Disney world is made up of 4 theme parks ( Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios, and Epcot Center. There are also 2 water parks, multiple real and mini golf courses, and Downtown Disney.
Downtown Disney is Free to Park and to gain access too. It is mostly comprised of restaurants and shops. there is also some nightlife here in the evenings, although it is rather "Disneyfied."
The Ticket and Transportation Center is where you will park if you drive to the Magic Kingdom. It is where you can buy tickets, (though I'd recommend you do this at downtown disney or even your disney hotel to save time) and have to decide to take the monorail, or ferry boat across the lagoon to the park.
So with as many choices as there are with places to stay,
once you have that figured out, it is all down hill.
Places to eat.
In recent years they have introduced a thing called “Disney Dining
Plan” – the basic premise is that for a flat fee per day – you can eat at
places and use a “credit” for them. I
know this is wildly popular – but I really had to work to make it work for me monetarily,
and by that – I had to set up reservations months ahead of time at expensive
places to eat – and that wound up being what the whole weekend was about, being
at this restaurant by this time, and so on.
It is a cool idea, but most of the nice and cool places to eat are
booked up weeks and sometimes even months out.
This means you use a credit that could have been used at a nice restaurant
at a quick serve place to get a burger, and it just doesn’t make sense.
Now if you are a foodie, and that is the reason for the trip
– and have the time to make it work, then it might be a cool deal, but they
make it really hard to come out ahead, though it can be done.
Places that have mickey and other characters around for
meals are the first to book up, along with the really nice places.
There are restaurants in the parks, at downtown Disney, and
also at the resort hotels. A couple of
our favorites are Chef Mickeys at Contemporary resort, Hollywood and Vine at MGM,
50’s diner and sci-fi diner both at MGM – though sans characters, they are just
cool places to eat. 50’s diner is set in
a 1950’s living room, with crazy waitresses, black and white TV’s, vinyl
furniture and all. Sci-fi diner is set
in a “drive in” where you sit in cars and eat- just as you would at a drive
in. Both are reasonably priced, and are
both air conditioned, which are awesome on an August afternoon. Crystal Palace is a buffet at the magic kingdom
where pooh and friends are running around during meals, and Cinderella’s royal
table, located in Cinderella castle is also a really neat place to meet the princesses
during a meal, if you are into that. At
animal kingdom Tusker house is a neat place for breakfast, as mickey, Minnie,
goofy and Donald were all there. At Epcot the Garden Grill in the Land has Chip
& Dale, along with Pluto and Mickey.
The breakfasts usually run around $25 a person / $17 kids, and lunch /
dinner anywhere from $25-$55 adults – depending on which place and what day of
the week.
The Nicer places to eat, maybe for a nice romantic dinner, include California grill, perched atop the Contemporary
Resort, and Victoria & Alberts at the Grand Floridian. Both book up well in advance, and I think
both have dress codes. The Brown Derby at MGM was really good too,
and is a little more relaxed. Meals were
top notch and no dress code.
In Epcot most of the countries in the world showcase have a
sit down and counter service option.
Japan is my personal fav for sit down, as they have a hibachi option. Canada is also raved about as the steakhouse
is apparently amazing, though I have not been as of yet. Mexico has good counter service where you can
get tacos and beer.
My advice, book a couple reservations and play the rest by
ear. You don’t want to be so regimented during
the vacation that you can’t go where you want simply because you have a
reservation somewhere. If there is a character
meeting you “must do” look around in advance, mickey is also at Ohana in the
Polynesian, and I am sure a few others I am forgetting to mention. He and most of the other characters can be
met without a meal for pictures at the parks too, you just have to wait in
line, and sometimes that can get annoyingly long. Certain “good neighbor” hotels not under the Disney
flag also have a once or twice weekly mickey breakfast, though they are about as
expensive as the Disney ones from what I have found.
The quick service places aren’t half bad. Some are actually good. As opposed to going in and sitting down, this
is more akin to a KFC set up, order, pay and pickup at the counter, then go
find a seat to eat. These options save time
and money, but can get rather busy at “peak” times and even at off peak times
on extremely busy days.
In Magic Kingdom; Caseys Corner has good hotdogs and cheese
fries, Cosmic Rays has a top your own burger bar, with mushrooms, bacon and sautéed
onions, and you can pick up a quick sandwich at the bakery on main street. Pinocchio’s village hause in fantasy land has
pizza, and chicken ptarmigan, either for about $10. Pecos Bills in frontier land has good bbq pork
sandwiches. In Epcot, the land has a
place downstairs called “Sunshine Seasons” that has a variety of good options,
including salads and stirfry. This place
is one of my favorites for variety and freshness. Though sometimes hard to find a place to sit
at peak hours, these options will free up more time for rides and shows, which
is really why you came in the first place, , , right?
Rides –
So first off, the extra magic hours, if you are staying in a
Disney hotel, you get extra magic hours.
Look at the “Park Hours” section of the Disney website and scout out
what parks have them when you are there, and plan out the days around
them. The lines are way shorter, parking
is easier, and the busses are less full early am and late night. You might be able to ride a particular ride
2-3 times, and get a fastpass for later on all before the park opens to the
general public.
Fastpasses are like tickets to save a spot in line. General idea is that the popular rides have a
“Standby” line and a “fastpass” line. To
obtain a fastpass for a ride, locate the fastpass kiosk and insert your
ticket. It will spit out your fastpass
and park ticket. On the fastpass will be
a return time. Say 1225-1:25. You go back to the fastpass line in that hour
and wait 5-10 minutes as opposed to the 60 minutes or so stated on the “standby”
wait time.
It is a great idea but generally you can only have one
fastpass at a time, so it is always a good idea to try and get them early. The two that seem to “sell out” the fastest,
as they only give a limited number out for each ride a day, are Toy Story at
MGM, Soarin’ at Epcot, and Enchanted tales with Belle at Magic Kingdom (when
they use it). Not kidding we have seen
the fastpasses go out of stock before noon on each of them on prior trips. So if there is a must do ride, go get the
fastpass and go explore, because taking in a show or even just walking around
exploring is more fun than standing in line.
Most Disney rides do their best to be kid friendly. By that I mean that the height restrictions
are lower than most parks I have been to.
That said, the Disney website lists out all the height restrictions, so
do a bit of research so everyone knows what to expect.
Nothing worse than waiting 90 minutes for space mountain
just to find out junior cant ride.
Charracter greetings
/ parades, etc.
Just after the entrance to each park, next to the guidemaps,
will be a white paper called ‘times guide” that will list out the park hours,
show times, and character meet and greets around the park. This is invaluable, not only to know who is
where and when, but what areas to avoid if say you don’t want to watch a
parade. The Magic kingdom especially
gets really hard to navigate the hordes of people at parade time and fireworks
time. I have don’t it numerous times and
have always thought, “man this is nuts”.
If you do want a prime spot for the parade, get there early,
you can sit on the curb on mainstreet, but be aware, people will be walking
around you and it will get uncomfortable sooner or later. This is the only way though to insure that
some other dad wont put his kid on his shoulders in front of you as soon as the
parade / fireworks start though, and I cant tell you how many times I have had
that happen.
Tickets.
So Disney, as of my last trip, charged adults ( over 10
years old) $89 a day, and kids (3-9) were $83 a day. Good news is that up till 3 they are
free. Bad news is you need a
stroller. That isn’t so bad, save for
transporting it on the bus / in the parking tram. Thus far in life I haven’t done it, but it
looks like a pain in the tail. Not to
say it won’t be necessary, but it just looks like a pain.
The tickets are for one day – one park. They get cheaper the more days you add, a 5
day ticket would be $265, and so forth.
This gets you in to one park a day, and they make you use it within 14
days of initial park visit.
They will sell you a non-expiration add on that will let you
use 3 days now and 2 later, but it is costly, and may not be worth it in the
long run.
You can also upgrade to a “park hopper” which lets you visit
multiple parks on the same day, and only charges you for one day, regardless of
how many parks you visit on that day. I
like the park hopper, but that is just because I like variety, and if the
crowds are big at one park, you can usually bail and hit one that might be less
crowded.
Remember I said the extra magic hours were a good thing,
well there is a drawback. On the days
that the extra magic hours are at a particular park, usually it is busier. So I like to go, get the extra magic hours
in, and get out of there. I know you lose
some time in transit to the other park, but I just don’t like waiting in line
that much, and this seems to work for me.
They will also sell you a waterpark option. Now these are the mack daddy waterparks, so
if that is your thing, do it, but I might suggest just buying a separate ticket
and not burning one of your park days if that is really your thing.
Tickets are available and advertised at gift shops, hotels,
and even craigslist. Sometimes they
work, but you are taking a risk. I am
all for beating the system, but that mouse didn’t make all that money by giving
stuff away. So buyer beware, in this
case especially. Disney now uses a
fingerprint scan for the tickets. So if
you buy a 3 day ticket, each day, upon entry you have to provide a fingerprint
along with your ticket. So buying
someone elses ticket with 2 days left could work, but you’d have to make a
pretty big stink. I have tried to beat
the fingerprint, by using different fingers to see if it even worked. Unfortunately, It does.
Also – the florida resident discount. When you buy the ticket, they e-mail you a
voucher, you then take that voucher with a florida ID to a ticket counter to
get your actual ticket. So if someone
offers you a florida resident ticket and you aren’t a resident, make sure it’s
a ticket and not a voucher, or probably wont work.
I hate the fact that their system is so good, but I would
hate even more for you to try and save $100 on tickets just to ruin the whole
vacation. It can be done, I have made
craigslist work on a few occasions, but you never know till it swipes, and I
just cant recommend a good way that is foolproof.
When spending the kind of dough it takes to do this trip
with a family, I say better safe than sorry.
Tips
·
Use the fastpasses, you cant buy them like you
can at universal, so once you can get another, walk to the next ride you want
to do, and get another fastpass, the extra 10 minute walk might save you an
hour in line later.
·
If park hopping and driving to the park, park
car at ticket and transportation and take a bus, monorail or boat to other
destinations, don’t move car. #1 you
will have to pay each time you park the car at a new park, $14 each time. #2 you then have to take the parking tram
from wherever in the super huge lot, ( they are among the top 10 in the world
size wise) and that is just a pain, and especially with a stroller. #3 the roads aren’t exactly self explanatory. Although there are many signs, they usually
take you a round about way which contradicts your GPS and / or common
sense.
·
Pay attention to the special events calendar. Disney has a lot of special events weekends /
weeks. Everything from spring training
to starwars, from marathons to special ticketed events that close the parks
early ( mickys very merry Christmas party and not so scary Halloween party) to
Gay Days. I’m not saying plan around
them, but know what you are getting into.
Star wars weekends at MGM are awesome, but really crowded.
·
Take some time to look around. There is so much to see, topiary gardens,
hidden mickeys, special shows, and most if not all are done extremely
well.
·
Watchout for the stop for no reason, the smelly,
and the strollers. Try not to lose your
temper with them, though they make no sense to the rest of us, drop kicking
them will get you kicked out of the park.
·
Don’t be afraid to take a break. I bounce out of the parks mid day and take a
nap sometimes. 16 straight hours is a
little too much for even the most hardcore Disney fanatic, and be mindful of
others in the group, just because you aren’t wiped out yet doesn’t mean they aren’t
miserable.
·
Get the phone aps. They are useful if nothing else. Have bathroom locations and some offer ride
wait times. Always good to know if
splash mountain is a 90 minute wait before walking all the way over from space
mountain just to turn around and walk back.
·
It takes about an hour to change parks. I don’t know why, it is just that slow. From the time you say lets leave epcot and go
to MGM – it takes longer than you’d think – so figure than in when making the
choice to try and catch a show / reservation.
·
More often than not, you wont be the only one
with that idea. What I mean is “lets
ride the long wait lines during the parade, the lines should be longer” or “lets
eat lunch at 2pm, after everyone else”
That is sound thinking, but there are plenty of smart folks out
there. Plan on having company wherever
you go. Busy days it doesn’t matter when
you do what, busy is busy and there are only so many places for all those
people to go.
·
Hot is hot, and the sun in Florida is more
intense. So 90 degrees happens in
Alaska, I get it, but the sun is much more intense, and feels hotter here. Mix in the humidity and the lack of ocean
breeze that Miami enjoys and the summers can be downright miserable. Make sure to mix in some AC throughout the
day. It is harder to find than you might
think at a theme park.
·
A little planning goes a long way. Figure out the 3 things you MUST do that day
or at that park, and do them, then fill in with the others. If it’s a parade / show, commit early to
finding a good spot and sacrificing the half hour of waiting around.
·
Flower & Garden festival at Epcot is neat,
lots of those famous topiary shrubs all around.
·
The food and wine festival not the best time to
take kids you don’t want around drunk people and / or cursing.
·
Concerts – there are numerous concerts
throughout the year, mostly at epcot, by national acts. Check out the eat to the beat and summer
concert series as national acts come through and play for free, usually 3 times
a day
·
Don’t be afraid to take a day off. There are so many neat pools and stores, you
can skip the parks and still have a fun time.
Some hotels have lazy rivers, and others full water parks at them. Don’t be afraid to turn your 5 day Disney vacation
into 3 days of parks, one day of pool and one day of shopping / relaxing.
·
Try to catch the following if in town for them –
my personal favorites:
o
Osbourne festival of lights at MGM – Christmas time
o
Star Wars Weekends at MGM in May / June weekends
only
o
Flower / Garden Festival at Epcot (Spring)
o
Nightly show at Cinderella castle in Magic
Kingdom (daily)
