Disney! Wheeee!

[shafnutz05]

Going to Disney World in early December and I absolutely cannot wait. We'll be there for five nights, and I plan on spending at least a full day at Galaxy's Edge. I already told my wife to count on me sobbing like a baby the first time I round that bend and see the Falcon, and probably again when I go through the experience at Savi's (I've seen enough videos of it, but I've heard the videos don't come close to doing the experience justice). We're going to try to spend a day at Animal Kingdom, and then probably a full day at Epcot, and we'll split up the remaining time in either Magic Kingdom or some combo of the above, depending on what we like. Also meeting up with my mom and dad (they moved to Ocala four years ago), so that will be awesome.

I can't wait. This has been a long time coming. I can't f'ing wait.

Have fun!! Is this your first trip? First trip in a long time?

[LITT]

For the first time in forever?

[Stoosh]

Going to Disney World in early December and I absolutely cannot wait. We'll be there for five nights, and I plan on spending at least a full day at Galaxy's Edge. I already told my wife to count on me sobbing like a baby the first time I round that bend and see the Falcon, and probably again when I go through the experience at Savi's (I've seen enough videos of it, but I've heard the videos don't come close to doing the experience justice). We're going to try to spend a day at Animal Kingdom, and then probably a full day at Epcot, and we'll split up the remaining time in either Magic Kingdom or some combo of the above, depending on what we like. Also meeting up with my mom and dad (they moved to Ocala four years ago), so that will be awesome.

I can't wait. This has been a long time coming. I can't f'ing wait.

Have fun!! Is this your first trip? First trip in a long time?

First trip to Disney for me since a family trip in 1987, so it's definitely been a while.

I've kept up familiarity with the park over the last 15-20 years thanks to family that started taking regular trips there, usually for the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot every year. They always had a great time on their trips so it was always on our list of destinations, but it really moved up the list for me after Galaxy's Edge opened.

Disney will be Round Two of what will hopefully be a pretty special travel year for us. In March, we spent a few days at Universal Orlando. That was the first real trip we've been able to take in like 15+ years, and it was awesome. I can't say enough good things about Universal. It was absolutely outstanding, from the hotel (we stayed at Loews Portofino Bay) to the experience at the parks. We're both Star Wars & Harry Potter fans so we initially thought about doing a split trip between WDW and Universal, but we were worried about feeling too rushed so we decided on Universal for the first trip. Thankfully, everything worked out with our budget and we were able to get the Disney trip in this winter.

I can't wait to get back. When we were there in March, we spent some time up in the Ocala area where my parents moved and we both really enjoyed it. We're giving a serious look to making a move down to that area in the next 10 years, depending on how some things work out.

[shafnutz05]

Man that's awesome. My wife's aunt and uncle live in Ocala and her grandma has been in the Villages since 97. Enjoy.

[nocera]

Source of the post First trip to Disney for me since a family trip in 1987

Wow it's going to be like a whole new park for you. I mean, the last time you were there MGM wasn't even open. Epcot is entirely different, Magic Kingdom is greatly expanded, and you have two brand new (to you) parks to explore. I'm jealous. How many days will you be there? Where are you staying?

[LITT]

Source of the post First trip to Disney for me since a family trip in 1987

Wow it's going to be like a whole new park for you. I mean, the last time you were there MGM wasn't even open. Epcot is entirely different, Magic Kingdom is greatly expanded, and you have two brand new (to you) parks to explore. I'm jealous. How many days will you be there? Where are you staying?

oh man i completely forgot MGM was a thing

[LITT]

we are spending 3 in may before heading on our family vacation. really excited character hugs and interactions are back as my daughter is going to lose her **** being able to hug the characters and princesses.

we initially were going to stay at wilderness lodge but our travel agent got us a room at the bay lake tower for the same price (very excited for walking distance to MK) (side note - highly recommend using a travel agent - FREE; my high school teacher pivoted and became a travel agent. she lives in orlando now so very helpful to have someone on the ground. also interesting business plan as over half of her clients are former students). we have breakfast at cinderella's royal table, chef mickey breakfast, and hoping to get a topolino walk up on friday since reservations have been hard to come by. also have a lunch at hollywood and vine which we've never been to before. also got an oga's reservation this day too. lastly, a ferrytale firework came up and booked that but may cancel since we will likley only have 2 nights at MK and not sure want to waste one not being able to see the castle projections. lastly, would highly recommend signing up for the text services like mouse dining or mousekepro that alert you when reservations become available.

[Stoosh]

Source of the post First trip to Disney for me since a family trip in 1987

Wow it's going to be like a whole new park for you. I mean, the last time you were there MGM wasn't even open. Epcot is entirely different, Magic Kingdom is greatly expanded, and you have two brand new (to you) parks to explore. I'm jealous. How many days will you be there? Where are you staying?

Yep. The last time I was there, it was just Magic Kingdom and Epcot. If I remember correctly, The Living Seas and The Land were the big new attractions in Epcot. The only resorts were the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and Fort Wilderness. Grand Floridian was under construction and was maybe 2/3 complete.

We'll be there for five nights, staying at the new Destino tower at Coronado Springs. The place looks absolutely gorgeous.

Galaxy's Edge is obviously the big-ticket thing for me for 100 different reasons - Savi's, Droid Depot, Smuggler's Run, Rise of the Resistance (assuming we get a spot), Ronto wraps all among them. Honestly, though, one of the things I'm looking most forward to is seeing that whole courtyard/docking area where the Falcon is at night. It's such a cool aesthetic they created with that space, especially as a destination for lightsaber photos. I can't wait to see that in person.

Parks-wise, it probably will be a little overwhelming but we're going to take our time. I'm excited for Hollywood Studios, because Tower of Terror is one of the top rides on my still-to-do list. Plus, as a cool aside, my cousin is a licensed artist for Disney/Lucasfilm and has a bunch of Haunted Mansion & Tower of Terror-themed work that's in different shops/galleries at the park, so this will be the first time I'll see his work on-site. At Animal Kingdom, we want to hit Flight of Passage and some of the other Avatar stuff but the whole place in general looks amazing. We're planning on spending a full day in Epcot if we can, especially going through the World Showcase.

I'm also looking forward to the food. So far, we have Steakhouse 71 and Ohana on our reservation list, but we have some time to look through more menus.

[nocera]

That sounds awesome. 5 nights is perfect. I stayed at Coronado Springs and loved it. My only complaint was it's a pretty big resort and our room was a decent hike to the main building. Our room building felt nice and private but walking to get coffee/breakfast in the morning was a pain. Since you're in the tower, you should be good to go. The bus stop will likely be fairly busy at that main building. It might even be worth it to walk to one of the smaller stops if it seems nuts. I'd go all in on Genie+/Lightning Lane to be sure you can hit everything you want to. Since you're staying on property, you should be able to start making your selections at 7am. Lightning Lane a must for Rise of the Resistance, Flight of Passage, etc. For Tower of Terror and Smuggler's Run you'll either need to use Genie+, rope drop, or wait in standby like a peasant. I'd use Genie+ for one then rope drop the other. Okay sorry, I could go on all day talking about Disneyworld tips.

[LITT]

That sounds awesome. 5 nights is perfect. I stayed at Coronado Springs and loved it. My only complaint was it's a pretty big resort and our room was a decent hike to the main building. Our room building felt nice and private but walking to get coffee/breakfast in the morning was a pain. Since you're in the tower, you should be good to go. The bus stop will likely be fairly busy at that main building. It might even be worth it to walk to one of the smaller stops if it seems nuts. I'd go all in on Genie+/Lightning Lane to be sure you can hit everything you want to. Since you're staying on property, you should be able to start making your selections at 7am. Lightning Lane a must for Rise of the Resistance, Flight of Passage, etc. For Tower of Terror and Smuggler's Run you'll either need to use Genie+, rope drop, or wait in standby like a peasant. I'd use Genie+ for one then rope drop the other. Okay sorry, I could go on all day talking about Disneyworld tips.

there are also seems to be some confusion about the recent changes to g+ -- you can book at 7am and then 2 hours after park opens, not 2 hours from 7am (OR if you scan in to your first ride). have been reading about some conflicting reports on this. guardians of the galaxy at epcot will be open when you go and theres a probability tron at MK will be open as well

[nocera]

That's super confusing. I know that if you want Rise, you best be up and ready to go right at 7am. I haven't been back to WDW since the Genie+ implementation but I'm not really looking forward to it. Honestly I miss the old paper fast pass system.

[shafnutz05]

My only complaint was it's a pretty big resort and our room was a decent hike to the main building. Our room building felt nice and private but walking to get coffee/breakfast in the morning was a pain.

This was, by far, my biggest gripe when we stayed at the All Star Sports Resort. That walk over to the cafeteria to fill up my coffee in the morning was too damn far.

[shafnutz05]

That's super confusing. I know that if you want Rise, you best be up and ready to go right at 7am. I haven't been back to WDW since the Genie+ implementation but I'm not really looking forward to it. Honestly I miss the old paper fast pass system.

A lot of angry Disney travel bloggers/commenters according to the missus, who is constantly tracking that stuff.

[tifosi77]

We don't really have a reason to go to central Florida for vacay. But if either of us end up going for work reasons we've agreed to try and make a trip out of it; Mrs Tif has never been to EPCOT, and the last time I was there I think Ronald Reagan was POTUS. So that'd be fun.

[nocera]

I didn't expect this but I ended up prefering Disneyland over Disney World after our honeymoon. The ease of everything at Disneyland was such a breath of fresh air. Park hopping was incredible and surprisingly nearly every ride that has a version at both land & world is better at land. The exceptions are Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. Long story short, you got the better experience tif.

[tifosi77]

Re angry bloggers

Their primary gripe seems to be that the system they've spent a chunk of their adult lives mastering - and monetizing - has been changed, and so they are letting the butthurt flow through them.

Scrunched up confused-angry face in the thumbnail, "Not MY Disney!!!" title......... they are the worst. Do not click.

[LITT]

That's super confusing. I know that if you want Rise, you best be up and ready to go right at 7am. I haven't been back to WDW since the Genie+ implementation but I'm not really looking forward to it. Honestly I miss the old paper fast pass system.

true story. i saw an interesting article about 'refilling' that does seem to happen throughout the day. i would encourage you to download the my disney experience app and just look at the tip board between 7am and 9am. i was on today around 745 and there was a remy's adventure available at 1130 which never happens so they dump additional capacity in throughout the early AM.

agreed with tif's most recent post

i think the best strategy is to get your ILL (rise of resistance, 7 dwarves mine train, flight of passage, epcot choice du jour) at 0700 and then try to get a lightning lane via genie+ for one of the hot ticket items later in the day, rope drop another popular ride, book another lightning lane 2 hours after park opening and then keep going from there.

[DigitalGypsy66]

We managed to get most of everything in we wanted to do, despite record breaking crowds at all parks (and Universal) in February. We didn't stay at the resort, so we weren't able to purchase LL passes until 9 am (resort guests get to do so at 7 or two hours before park open, IIRC). So naturally, most of the best rides were sold out.

We managed to get into Ride of the Resistance randomly at night shortly before close, and only waited 30 minutes or so. The queue is pretty cool, with stuff to look at, so that was great.

Smuggler's Run had single rider lines, so my kids did that a few times after all four of us rode together.

If you are doing multiple days at Magic Kingdom, time some of the busier rides for around the fireworks at night. The queues empty the **** out for that. I highly recommend Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Seven Dwarves Mine train during fireworks, as it's a pretty unique vantage point for the show.

Jungle Cruise had an 80+ minute wait the entire time we were there. That was always a throwaway ride we did a few times when other things had long lines, but with the movie and ride refresh, it's popular again.

If you bring your own food/snacks and need peace and quiet, there are several places on Tom Sawyer's island that are great. We also went on the Liberty Belle for the first time ever. Not sure why we skipped it in the past, but it does have stuff to look at.

Our favorite ride of the entire week was Avatar Flight Of Passage. We liked it better than Rise FWIW.

[nocera]

Source of the post We managed to get into Ride of the Resistance randomly at night shortly before close, and only waited 30 minutes or so. The queue is pretty cool, with stuff to look at, so that was great.

This is a great tip that a lot of people overlook. The wait times will be inflated near the end of the day in an effort to keep people away. As long as you enter the queue prior to park closing, they will let you ride (even if you get in 30 seconds before closing time). For Rise, it'll likely say the wait is 90+ minutes when in actuality it's closer to 30 or less. Same goes for other popular high wait rides like Flight of Passage, 7 Dwarfs, etc.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Excellent point on if you are in line prior to closing, you are good to go. We were making our way out of MK and walked past Space Mountain, which said it had a 70 or 80 minute delay, but the outside queue was empty (it had been full all day with a similar queue). We sprinted over and got in line and ended up waiting less than ten minutes. Pretty cool.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I still find myself checking this a few times per week: https://wdwpassport.com/wait-times

[tifosi77]

Got word that Fri 5/27 will be a full day off. On a whim, checked Self-Admission avail and they had a Park Hopper spot open, so score one for Tif there. Main Entrance passes were booked up (through July!), so we bought a single day Hopper for Mrs Tif with the Genie boost thing. Impromptu Disneying ftw!

Last time there I was able to justify the expense of Savi's by noting we got in for free. It will be a harder sell for me to justify picking up the Ahsoka Tano/Fulcrum lightsabers for the same price (minus build experience, but plus silk lined case) having also spent money on a ticket.

This will be our first ever time at DCA. Neither of us are ride, er, riders so this will just be about Avengers Campus.

[nocera]

Shame you're not riders. Mission Breakout is a hell of a ride. DCA also has Incredicoaster which is good fun. Avoid Mickey's wheel of death at all costs.

[nocera]

Disneyland Paris tickets are booked for July. We'll be staying 2 nights at Newport Bay Club which is a 15 minute walk to the parks. Before anybody freaks out, we'll be in Paris for 8 days so we will have plenty of time to explore the city as well.

[DigitalGypsy66]

No Disney shaming in this thread IIRC.