Disney World-- What To Do/What Not To Do

[jericho]

I take it you drive down there and not fly?

 

If not, I'd think staying at one of the value resorts would be the way to go since there would be no need to rent a car.

 

One other nice thing about staying on property is you get first dibs on reservations as well as fast passes.

 

Yes I drive.

[GrantNKY]

I stayed at All Star and it stopped at 2 or 3 different places, but it was going to Disney Springs.

I was just there 2 weeks ago and the bus took me straight from resort to Disney Springs and spring. I don't know what the other stops could have been unless for Disney Springs they stop at all 3 All Star resorts because DS is less visited than the parks. But for all of the parks I know for a fact it takes you to your resort and back with no stops in between.

[jericho]

I was just there 2 weeks ago and the bus took me straight from resort to Disney Springs and spring. I don't know what the other stops could have been unless for Disney Springs they stop at all 3 All Star resorts because DS is less visited than the parks. But for all of the parks I know for a fact it takes you to your resort and back with no stops in between.

 

I think we stopped at one of the water parks on the way and I think one more place.

 

I dont doubt what you say. but I am a veteran of Disney World too. hahaha

[UKMustangFan]

I appreciate all the info in this thread. It'll definitely come in handy when we start planning our trip!

 

One other question, how far in advance should we begin the planning process?

[jericho]

I appreciate all the info in this thread. It'll definitely come in handy when we start planning our trip!

 

One other question, how far in advance should we begin the planning process?

 

Very.

[UKMustangFan]

Very.

 

As in 6 months, 9 months, a year....?

[jericho]

As in 6 months, 9 months, a year....?

 

IMO if you want to eat at one of the places in the park you better try to get reservations very early. Some are 6-9 months in advance.

 

Are you registered for MY Disney Experience yet? If not get on there and it will help you a lot. Plus you can make all reservations this way and fast passes.

[UKMustangFan]

IMO if you want to eat at one of the places in the park you better try to get reservations very early. Some are 6-9 months in advance.

 

Are you registered for MY Disney Experience yet? If not get on there and it will help you a lot. Plus you can make all reservations this way and fast passes.

 

Thanks. I don't think we're planning on going until next Fall (2018) at the earliest, so probably got a little time before we have to get going on the planning.

[kygirl]

Sounds like a great trip! FastPass+ is fantastic. We just got back from a trip as well and the first day we were there we came from the airport and then to HS. We came back to the resort around 3 and our room wasn't ready yet. They told us it would be ready by 4. It wasn't ready until like 4:05 so they gave us 3 more fastpass+ for the next day at Magic Kingdom. So on top of the 3 we already had scheduled we had 3 more. It was a fantastic day basically walking on to every ride.

It was a great trip! I spoke with my nephew yesterday & he said the boys are still talking about their Disney trip. We never had any issues at all. The staff at the resort was excellent. It sounds like you had a great trip as well. Thanks for starting this thread & all the good info-really appreciate it!:thumb:

[dallaslaredo]

My best advice to give anyone is to not go and go somewhere else instead.

 

We stopped going once they completely ruined the experience by changing the way FastPass works. You used to be able to easily hit all the major rides in a single park in a day. No more. Now you are limited in the number of major rides you can choose per day.

 

The changes are obviously designed to keep you staying in their hotels and in their parks longer. But the changes also force you to completely plan every minute of every day of your stay, ruining any spontaneity or last-minute changes due to weather, etc. You will spend your whole trip trying to stay on track with your FastPass schedule instead of enjoying your vacation.

[GrantNKY]

My best advice to give anyone is to not go and go somewhere else instead.

 

We stopped going once they completely ruined the experience by changing the way FastPass works. You used to be able to easily hit all the major rides in a single park in a day. No more. Now you are limited in the number of major rides you can choose per day.

 

The changes are obviously designed to keep you staying in their hotels and in their parks longer. But the changes also force you to completely plan every minute of every day of your stay, ruining any spontaneity or last-minute changes due to weather, etc. You will spend your whole trip trying to stay on track with your FastPass schedule instead of enjoying your vacation.

Completely false. You can make your fast passes 60 days in advance if you are a resort guest so no more running in the morning to get fast passes. You only get three to start the day but once you use those three you can keep making them all day long. The new fastpass is WAY better. It's just all on your phone and magic band now instead of having to keep track of pieces of paper. Before, all of the major attraction fast passes would be sold out until the evening after roughly 10 o clock. It's also not like you could send one member of the family to each attraction to get fast passes as soon as the morning started because you have to have all of the park tickets/ room keys in order to get the fastpasses and you could only have one fastpass at a time. I remember when I was younger I would take all of the room keys, run ahead and get fastpasses for Space Mountain. Ride it standby, then ride it fastpass. Then by the time we could get to one of the other attractions the first fastpass time available would be 4-5 hours later. The new way is WAY more efficient and allows you to ride more rides at times that accomodate your schedule a lot better. Also if you don't like having to plan a trip then Disney is not the place for you. You almost have to plan out your trips unless you want to be standing in line all day and eating only quick service meals.

[jericho]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I did the same dang exact thing with running to get fastpasses. Talk about a workout. I lost some serious sweat.

[GrantNKY]

I do have one little gripe with Disney now though. They got rid of the welcome show at the train station in front of Magic Kingdom. I loved that show, but understand why they had to stop doing it. Apparently the lines would be backed up outside of the security checkpoints and people weren't able to move until the dropped the ropes to open the park. Now they let you into Main Street all the way to castle where you have ropes that drop to allow you into the different lands when the park opens. The new welcome show is just not the same.

[jericho]

I personally think if you stay at a Disney resort you should get extra fast passes.

[sweet16]

I personally think if you stay at a Disney resort you should get extra fast passes.

 

I agree