Disney World

Don't guess I ever posted my story here. Back in March, my wife and I planned our 10th anniversary in May with 3 days of park hopping at Disney World, then a few more days at our favorite beach in Sarasota, where we used to live. We had our days planned and our dinner reservations made already.

The day after we paid our remaining deposit in April, my wife was feeling nauseous and took a pregnancy test. After confirming with the doctor later that week, she recommended we cancel. Obviously my wife couldn't ride a lot of things, and there was always the possibility of more Zika in Florida this year. So at that time we called Disney. They originally would not give us the $200 deposit money back. But my wife explained the surprise pregnancy and they eventually relented, as a one-time gesture or something.

So for those of you in the parenting thread, you'll know my daughter arrived 5 weeks ago. Premature, but healthy. Anyway, eventually we'll get back to Disney World, with her in tow, in a few years. And this will be a fun story to tell her as she gets older, how she ruined mommy and daddy's anniversary trip.

The Na'vi River Journey is amazing at Disney World, the mixture of projected video and animatronics for Mo'at (?) Is unreal.

Animal Kingdom was probably my favourite park. We rode the Ikran/Banshees, twice.

farley3k wrote:

This seems like a good place to post this video.

Makes me want to go to Disney in 2019

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge | Behind the Scenes at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort

We've already put aside money for a park trip to experience this in 2020, followed by another Disney cruise. So excited!

My wife and I had our honeymoon at Disney World/stayed at the Carribean resort and hopped between parks.

Our 20th anniversary is next year and we want to go back. Any advice on getting a vacation package that includes airfare/transport to and from Disney/resort room/park hopping? For our honeymoon we had a travel agent who got all of that in a package for us as well as 2 meals/day at Disney. Would like to get something similar but my google fu is failing me. Any help?

So we're currently going through a Disney travel agent who my wife knows for our trip next October. She's doing all the leg work for us and it doesn't cost anything extra than if you were going through the Disney website itself. I'm not sure about the airfare though, I did that myself. She got us the room, tickets (both to Disney and also for our day at Universal), dining plan, memory maker, and transportation to/from the airport is on the Disney buses. She's also working with me to plan a surprise evening for my wife. If you have any interest in doing this yourself, you can go through the Disney World site itself and it's actually really easy. If not, I'm working with Taryn Stothart at Mad Hatter Adventures ([email protected]). There are a lot of other agents that work there from many different states, so not sure how they are overall. However my wife knows Taryn so we trust her to help us out. If you decide to check her out, PM me and I'll give you my name so you can say I referred you. I don't think there's anything in it for either of us, but who knows.

“Uhhh, I got you name from Asterith...”

Tomorrow's the beginning! We fly down (getting there SUPER late), and begin our adventure Monday morning. Can't wait!

Wink_and_the_Gun wrote:

“Uhhh, I got you name from Asterith...” ;)

Lol! Yah, wish I could remember what travel agent I went through 20 years ago, but who knows if they are even in business still. I'm in Minnesota, and they didn't have a location, but might still be willing to work with me. Disney resorts doesn't book until a year out, so I'll look at contacting someone in February.

Bump...

My wife, son and I just got back from Disney, and as soon as I get some time (hopefully tomorrow) I will post some pics. Until then, this is from my wife's facebook, that I am shamelessly copying and pasting because it is her story and more importantly she tells the story better than I can.

Ms. Iso wrote:

Our day. Today started out as a mostly pool day. We all needed it. Headed to MK around 4 with 3 stacked FPs. I grabbed a 4th for Barnstormer so that JT could ride his first rollercoaster. Adam grabbed a spot for the fireworks and held on to the stroller to save our spot.

And that’s where the story gets crazy. JT and I got on the ride and started up the hill...and then we stopped. After about 3 minutes, he starts to get restless. I noticed the gap between the bar and the seat was big enough for him to squeeze out of. Off to my side was stairs. His was straight down to the ground. And I was terrified. I held on so tight he was screaming. And we waited.

I texted Adam to bring the stroller - screw the fireworks. We were getting evacuated off the ride and were going to have to climb down the stairs. My nerves were shot.

We were stuck for 21 minutes.

The cast members came to get us and released the cars one by one. Ours was last. I lifted JT out to a cast member and struggled to get out myself - especially after realizing there wasn’t anything behind my car. It was track. We climbed down the stairs and I think I shook the entire way down. One wrong move by JT and we were off the stairs. Only one side had a railing.

As soon as we got off the ride, JT was in full melt down mode because he wanted to play in the Dumbo area splash pad (that he could see from where we were stuck). Thankfully, a Mom stopped to give kind words of encouragement and I told her what happened. I was trying to hold it together, but could feel the panic attack coming.

Adam found us shortly after I talked to the kind mama. He took JT and I started sobbing. I had always wanted to get evacuated off a cool ride, but not this one, not with JT, and especially not one where I thought anyone was in real danger.

We walked to the castle area to try to find a new spot for the fireworks. We ended up in one that was mostly blocked by trees. Adam looked for something better, but nothing was left. Then, he talked to a cast member standing near us. She said she would see what she could do to find us a better spot. She came back and whisked us away. To the most AMAZING spot ever.

It was about a 10x10 ft empty spot - roped off - directly in front of the castle. Adam and I burst into tears. The spot was amazing - and there was no one anywhere near us to make us feel claustrophobic. The super cheers (as JT calls them) were beautiful, I cried several more times.

So...it all worked out, but that was some seriously scary sh*t.

Picture Time

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I will spoiler the rest of these, but you should look, because they are awesome!

Spoiler:

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While not Disney World, I am up and getting ready to go spend my four hours in the twin Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland today. I'm pretty excited!

UpToIsomorphism: It might be late (things have been hectic here) but the 3 of you are adorable. So glad you had some Disney magic after the barnstormer messed things up.

Disneyland $14 Million Marvel Expansion To Open In 2020

That honestly seems like chump change. That’s only slightly more than the Cantina -restaurant - at Galaxy’s Edge cost to build.

Anyone been to Galaxy’s Edge yet?

Several times (on the West Coast)

What did you think?

My memory of Disney World is being asked to leave the restaurant in the Beach Club resort because it was for "Families". I was there with a buddy who was sleeping in and I went down for breakfast by myself, the guy grabbed me by the arm and told me to get something from the convenience store. I suppose you can't have a single male eating breakfast alone. I was about 24 or 25 so I didn't stand up for myself, it'd be a different story now.

Wow, that's odd. I've been to both Disneyland and Disney World solo and I've never had any trouble dining or doing anything else as a single.

(I'm also curious what Mantid thinks of Galaxy's Edge.)

That sounds like a missed opportunity for a free vacation. I guarantee that wasn't a result of any policy. That was a cast member who decided to be a jackass.

Galaxy's Edge is pretty impressive, especially since it isn't completed yet. The main attraction won't open till later and the droids and some of the characters haven't been seen yet.

There are so many details to see in the land, references to just about everything in Disney's Star Wars cannon, even from outside of the movies. The learned from what Tokyo DisneySea did; once you are in the land, you are completely surrounded by it, and can't see anything outside. They went a step farther and even created a soundscape that makes you feel like you're in real place. There's no background music, except at the entrances to the land, only the sound of nature, machinery, and ship flying by.

Smuggler's Run is fun. And while it is interactive and so you never really have the same experience twice (time of day also affects how the opening and ending look), it can get a little repetitive, depending on how often you visit. It does have a scoring system, so it encourages the same run to chase the high score, but I really do hope they add more missions later on.

The cantina, more than anywhere else, really makes you feel like you've left the park and entered another world. There's just something about it that feels so unlike a Disney location and really something out of Star Wars, even with Rex reminding you this is in park continuity.

Blue and Green Milk is addictive.

We're headed down to World at the end of the month, and I'm really excited for Galaxy's edge. The Toy Story stuff looks great as well.

My father-in-law is looking to rent a place for a month about an hour outside of Orlando. So I’m going to try to get vacation time for us to drive down and spend maybe a week down there, which will include probably two days going to the magic kingdom.

It’s going to be mid to late February, and the kids will be just turned 5, 1, and 2 11/12, so we’ll only have to pay for the ticket for one of them. We weren’t planning on making a trip like this for another 4-5 years, but the convenience of already having a place to stay while we are there has convinced the wife we can go.

I’ve never gone with children before other than being one, so any advice would be welcome.

The number one piece of advice for Disneying with kids is to take a mid-day break. That is, leave the park at mid-day for naps, etc. Actually, when my boys were that age, I just called it quits at lunch. And that was in a situation similar to yours - my in-laws live about twenty-five minutes from Disneyland. It was definitely hard to leave the park with so much time left in the day and so much potentially left to do. But I could sense that they would only get more exhausted if we stayed longer. There's no sensory overload like Disney sensory overload.

(My kids were late teens when we went in February 2018... so a “little” older )

I wish I had let myself “enjoy” the park more... linger longer, stroll more, and less “get to the next ride”. If I ever get to go again (Crom-damn it ain’t cheap), I will give myself more time to just breathe it in...

Wink_and_the_Gun wrote:

(My kids were late teens when we went in February 2018... so a “little” older )

I wish I had let myself “enjoy” the park more... linger longer, stroll more, and less “get to the next ride”. If I ever get to go again (Crom-damn it ain’t cheap), I will give myself more time to just breathe it in...

This is the way to go! Enjoy yourself and take your time. I like to people-watch with the kids. "Let's find the happiest/unhappiest person in the park." "Let's see who has the most uncomfortable shoes." We practice noticing without pointing. It's a challenge.

We're doing Disney with young kids in January. We're definitely planning on taking mid-day breaks. The only problem is that getting to and from the resorts on the bus takes longer than you'd really like. And of course, the closer resorts are a lot more expensive.

LouZiffer wrote:

"Let's find the unhappiest person in the park."

That must be challenging when I'm not there with you.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:

"Let's find the unhappiest person in the park."

That must be challenging when I'm not there with you.

Disney's not the same without dragging you around the parks, Q-Stone.

easy sunday wrote:

The number one piece of advice for Disneying with kids is to take a mid-day break. That is, leave the park at mid-day for naps, etc. Actually, when my boys were that age, I just called it quits at lunch. And that was in a situation similar to yours - my in-laws live about twenty-five minutes from Disneyland. It was definitely hard to leave the park with so much time left in the day and so much potentially left to do. But I could sense that they would only get more exhausted if we stayed longer. There's no sensory overload like Disney sensory overload.

What we did when I was a kid was break at about 2PM, and go back to the hotel or the RV and take naps. I think we usually slept for about three hours, and we'd sack out instantly, pretty much. Then we'd get up, head back into the park, and close it down. We'd usually go eat dinner when we first returned, and then head off to do all the rides and so forth.