Disney World

LouZiffer wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

Tusker House Restaurant in Animal Kingdom was awesome! I can't believe I didn't know about it until last year.

That was one of the highlights of our trip with you guys. Oh man what good stuff, and Disney-wise... it's cheap for what you get.

So how come you'd never told us before how good it was? Huh?

I went this past summer for the first time since a child. Friends and I went drinking around epcot for a day while riding things inbetween. I have to honostly say..(even magic kingdom) I think I had more fun as an adult then I did as a kid. The magic of that place truly never fades. It makes you giddy just walking up to the place. I absolutly love it!

Michael Zenke wrote:

Out front we disembarked from the bus and headed towards the gate. In amongst the throngs of people, I noticed a potted palm. "Oh," I thought to myself. "What an interesting place for a plant feature." Then the plant moved. Rolling along on a set of wheels, this potted palm when rolling up to a guest and made an acerbic comment about his hat. A moving, talking, potted plant.

Honestly the whole thing was so reality frissioning for a moment that I was taken aback. When I recovered I played 'spot the operator', and never managed to do so. My assumption is that the thing had a camera somewhere to make it fully functional.

Fantastic bit of 'guest fun', and a wonderfully weird moment for an early Floriday vacation day.

This sounds like the time a rolling, talking trash can in Tomorrowland sang Happy Birthday to my son. Highlight of the day, to be sure.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

Tusker House Restaurant in Animal Kingdom was awesome! I can't believe I didn't know about it until last year.

That was one of the highlights of our trip with you guys. Oh man what good stuff, and Disney-wise... it's cheap for what you get.

So how come you'd never told us before how good it was? Huh?

Because it wasn't there before! Tusker house was a boring counter service place prior to a full rehab in 2007. You can thank new leadership at Disney for the makeover.

buzzvang wrote:

This sounds like the time a rolling, talking trash can in Tomorrowland sang Happy Birthday to my son. Highlight of the day, to be sure.

You said hello to PUSH the talking trashcan? Our kids love him. He has a Recycling Bin cousin, Pipa, in Animal Kingdom.

I'll continue the unabashed love of Disney World by Cary people. We took our daughter there for her 6th birthday this year and met my wife's best friends there with their 5-year-old son. It was quite possibly the best trip I've had in my life. My daughter wore her "It's my birthday!" badge the whole time and was treated like a princess every day (I wore mine on my birthday and admit to milking it for all it's worth). On her actual birthday at the Magic Kingdom we started the day by Julia getting pictures and autographs of the Fairy Godmother who was heartbreakingly kind to my daughter -- during the character parade later we saw the same person playing the Fairy Godmother who recognized my daughter again and made her day again -- which honestly still causes me to get misty when I think about it.

The shear amount of awe my daughter held the whole week was worth every penny.

The Disney Cruises are a blast, we did the land/sea package last year. My kids loved the ship, there were lots of activities for each age group (they were 10, 7 and 4 when we went). I was really impressed with their private island also, it was nice a clean (I've been on other cruises where this wasn't the case). The island had one of the ships from the Pirates movies docked there. I'm trying to convince my wife to go on another one next spring, I would just do the sea part this time.

Grenn wrote:

My Disneyworld experience was lacking that time.

That's because you went without Chuck, you assholes! You got what you deserved.

trowan wrote:

The Disney Cruises are a blast, we did the land/sea package last year. My kids loved the ship, there were lots of activities for each age group (they were 10, 7 and 4 when we went). I was really impressed with their private island also, it was nice a clean (I've been on other cruises where this wasn't the case). The island had one of the ships from the Pirates movies docked there. I'm trying to convince my wife to go on another one next spring, I would just do the sea part this time.

I would like to try this I keep hearing good things about the Disney cruises..Might have to wait until my little one is older but would love to do this.

Six wrote:
trowan wrote:

The Disney Cruises are a blast, we did the land/sea package last year. My kids loved the ship, there were lots of activities for each age group (they were 10, 7 and 4 when we went). I was really impressed with their private island also, it was nice a clean (I've been on other cruises where this wasn't the case). The island had one of the ships from the Pirates movies docked there. I'm trying to convince my wife to go on another one next spring, I would just do the sea part this time.

I would like to try this I keep hearing good things about the Disney cruises..Might have to wait until my little one is older but would love to do this.

My wife and I went on one and it may have been the best cruise experience we've ever had (we've probably been on 6 or 7.) I recommended it to a friend, and he and his four kids had such a great time that they're doing it again next year. They do a fantastic job.

Out of curiosity, does anyone here do the Disney Vacation Club thing? I've looked at the numbers and, as long as you trust the company a bit, it seems like a decent, if not great deal. I'm not ready to make the leap yet, but it is a tempting way to 'prepay' future vacations.

LouZiffer wrote:

Because it wasn't there before! Tusker house was a boring counter service place prior to a full rehab in 2007.

Not good enough.

For folks talking about the Cruises: I've definitely heard lots of good things about them. Question!

Would you consider them a good investment of time and money for folks without kids? My understanding is that there are plenty of adults-only areas. My wife and I are also definitely not the kind of people who are like 'ick, kids!' ... I'm more asking if there would be sufficient activities to keep us amused without the heady aroma of play-doh becoming involved.

Poppinfresh wrote:

Out of curiosity, does anyone here do the Disney Vacation Club thing? I've looked at the numbers and, as long as you trust the company a bit, it seems like a decent, if not great deal. I'm not ready to make the leap yet, but it is a tempting way to 'prepay' future vacations.

We looked at it but its more of a commitment than we were willing. Maybe in a couple years (and a couple raises).

Poppinfresh wrote:

My wife and I went on one and it may have been the best cruise experience we've ever had (we've probably been on 6 or 7.) I recommended it to a friend, and he and his four kids had such a great time that they're doing it again next year. They do a fantastic job.

Out of curiosity, does anyone here do the Disney Vacation Club thing? I've looked at the numbers and, as long as you trust the company a bit, it seems like a decent, if not great deal. I'm not ready to make the leap yet, but it is a tempting way to 'prepay' future vacations.

I went and listened to the pitch the last time we were down there. It's very slick, but if we ever went through with it, I'd buy from someone looking to sell their membership. The current per-point cost is around $110, before discount. I could find people looking to sell for around $60 to $70 per point online, and if I understood it correctly, that was even negotiable. Also, I wouldn't touch their financing options with a ten foot pole.

The cruise truly is fantastic, though I wouldn't recommend it for young single couples since everything shuts down at Midnight, sharp.

Michael Zenke wrote:

For folks talking about the Cruises: I've definitely heard lots of good things about them. Question!

Would you consider them a good investment of time and money for folks without kids? My understanding is that there are plenty of adults-only areas. My wife and I are also definitely not the kind of people who are like 'ick, kids!' ... I'm more asking if there would be sufficient activities to keep us amused without the heady aroma of play-doh becoming involved.

If you are a Disney fan, then yes, there are adult-only areas on the ship and the private island.

When my wife and I went we didn't have kids and had a great time. My friend with the kids said that when onboard it was like they didn't have kids. The kids were always off doing activities, so they only saw them at dinner. Kids or not, it's a good time. Maybe things closing early would be an issue, but I'm old and crotchety, so that didn't matter to me. I think I went to bed at 9PM last night.

Poppinfresh wrote:

When my wife and I went we didn't have kids and had a great time. My friend with the kids said that when onboard it was like they didn't have kids. The kids were always off doing activities, so they only saw them at dinner. Kids or not, it's a good time. Maybe things closing early would be an issue, but I'm old and crotchety, so that didn't matter to me. I think I went to bed at 9PM last night.

Yeah, it wouldn't bug me either, but it could be a deal breaker for some. For a family? I don't think there's a better line out there.

My wife and I treat ourselves to rollicking date nights that involve 'The Big Bang Theory' and the delicacy of BBQ. We're not big party people.

Interesting stuff guys, thanks for the opinions.

I'm setting up to work on the video and photos from our trip this weekend and put together a movie. Anyone know where I can get an mp3 of the "It's a Small World" song, the version from the ride that is? I can find a bunch of knock off versions on iTunes etc., but none of them sound even close to the actual attraction.

Edit: Bah, never mind. Didn't think to check Amazon instead of iTunes. First search result there is from Disney studios and is either the exact song or a darn close replica. I've got to start remembering to check Amazon for audio from now on, they seem to carry a bunch of things iTunes doesn't.

My coworker this past summer had been a tour guide with Disney Adventures for the past three years. From our conversations it appeared to be a pretty slick operation, and he bent over backwards to make it a great experience for the guests involved.

If you're interested in traveling, and wouldn't mind being in a tour group, I'd recommend Disney Adventures. From how he described it, it was a fantastic way to travel with the kids. He helped guide the Yellowstone, South West(Grand Canyon et al), and Australia trips. If the guides put in at the least a quarter the energy into their work as I imagine my coworker did, you would receive nothing but top notch service.
Linky

Since I live by I go all the time like Six. JMDanny and his brother are there all the damn time. Here's a tip. Get some of the non-expiring passes and keep them for life when you want. That way when prices go up you can just keep using them. My parents bought a bunch for me and my brother when I first went in the 1980's and we had the prices from then. Now that prices have gone significantly higher, we just enjoy the huge discount. One of the tellers at the Epcot ticket counter bought his set of tickets in the '70s and loves it.

I have photos from when my grandfather went to opening day of the very first Disney park in Orlando and has a picture of him with Mr. Walt Disney autographed and everything. It's awesome.

My wife and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon a few years ago. She'd been several times, but I was a n00b. I can definitely attest to the Unofficial Guide being a real lifesaver for creating optimized routes and having good reviews of eateries and rides.

The Animal Kingdom Lodge was amazing - the restaurants were wonderful. I particularly liked the breakfast at Boma (with lots of African & Middle Eastern things alongside the usual omelettes and cereal, as well as African coffee & rooibos tea), and the filet mignon with Macaroni and Cheese at Jika. Plus, it was just freakin' cool to have giraffes and zebras chilling outside of our room's balcony.

What would you expect to pay for a family of 4 (ages 3 and 6 on the kids) for a stay at Disney in one of their lower end rooms (well, a suite for my sanity)? We got a price of $3500 for 7 nights with meals, and I don't know if that's decent or us getting screwed.

sheared wrote:

What would you expect to pay for a family of 4 (ages 3 and 6 on the kids) for a stay at Disney in one of their lower end rooms (well, a suite for my sanity)? We got a price of $3500 for 7 nights with meals, and I don't know if that's decent or us getting screwed.

That's about right for normal rates at a deluxe resort. We rent a 5 or 6 BR house in the Indian Ridge area just south of Disney for $1250-1500 a week and take family or friends along. If we go by ourselves, we rent a 2BR Villa from Orbit One in the same vicinity for $400 a week (quite often, you can find them for sale on eBay).

sheared wrote:

What would you expect to pay for a family of 4 (ages 3 and 6 on the kids) for a stay at Disney in one of their lower end rooms (well, a suite for my sanity)? We got a price of $3500 for 7 nights with meals, and I don't know if that's decent or us getting screwed.

Our family of 4, similar ages on the kids, stayed in the Wilderness Lodge for 5 days/4 nights with meal plan. I think Wilderness qualifies as one of the mid-high end resorts but I'm not sure. Our price was about $2,300, we ended up at roughly your $3,500 with airfare. Given the 4 nights vs. 7 nights I'd say your number isn't out of the ballpark.

I love the wilderness lodge, especially with kids.

rabbit wrote:

I love the wilderness lodge, especially with kids.

We really enjoyed it as well. Think we're going to hit the Animal Kingdom next year, but we're still deciding.

We did that two years ago, and loved it as well. Similar feel to the Wilderness lodge, honestly.

Teneman wrote:
rabbit wrote:

I love the wilderness lodge, especially with kids.

We really enjoyed it as well. Think we're going to hit the Animal Kingdom next year, but we're still deciding.

We visit the resorts frequently on our vacations. Animal Kingdom Lodge is awesome! We hit Boma for breakfast at least once on each trip, and often wander the paths around the resort after eating. There's a lot to be said for experiencing the resorts even if we're not staying there. The unique theming and great restaurants alone make it worth our while to visit them, and there's no price for admission!

Before having kids, my wife and I stayed on property a LOT. While we never stayed at a value resort, we've stayed at all of the moderates, and all have been great - particularly Port Orleans/Riverside with the boat rides into Downtown Disney. From the deluxes, we've stayed at the Polynesian and Wilderness Lodge. Each was very special.

You're all plants!

Disney thought we'd never suspect Rabbit, but we sure fooled them!