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Visiting Disney world (orlando) general help
Angel177
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
so further to my earlier thread about typhoon laggon vs blizzard beach, what have others on the board enjoyed any recommendations are welcome! (thanks), mostly whats the cream of the crop at disney?, is it worth staying in a disney resort? and is St Peteresburg in nr Tampa the best beach nr Orlando?
thanks all for answers
thanks all for answers
Angel177 on
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I wish I could remember where we stayed when we went. It was an average motel, nothing fancy, but not crappy or dirty, either. What was awesome was that right next door was a mini-theme park deal. It had an arcade, a pretty nice go-cart track, a reverse bungie thing (basically strap you onto a bench and slingshot you into the air... it's a fucking blast), and some other shit.
Wherever you go, you'll likely be near a Ron Jon Surf Shop at some point. You should stop in there if you've got time. I wouldn't go out of my way, it's just a store, but it is a store with cool surfing stuff that you can't necessarily check out any time. When I went in highschool we pretty much all bought a thing of Sex Wax there as a souvenir.
First off, Animal Kingdom really isn't all that great. They only have two good attractions, which are the Mt. Everest ride, and the African Safari. And honestly, both of those aren't even all that great. Unless you have kids who just love animals (or you love animals yourself), you'd probably be okay skipping this park altogether. Or at most, maybe spending half-a-day there.
For all the parks you go to, make sure you use the Fast-Pass system. If you haven't been before, or if it's been a long time, they basically have this system on several rides now that basically act like a "reserve". It's not on every ride, but it is available on most of the popular ones. Basically, you insert your ticket into a machine, and it spits out a fast pass ticket that tells you to return at a certain time later in the day. When you come back and give them your ticket, you get to get in a much shorter line that basically sends you to the front, greatly shortening your wait time. It's a great system, but use it smartly. You can only get about one fast-pass per hour, so choose which ones you want to get ahead of time and make a plan for the order you want to get them in. Also, for the really popular rides, make sure you get to the park early and grab those fastpasses early in the day - for the bigger rides, the fast-passes for the entire day are often compmletely gone by 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon.
As for actual parks, I'll go one at a time. The Magic Kingdom is obviously the "kiddy" park, and it really is great if you do have kids (my daughter loved the rides there). Most of the rides are oriented to the younger crowd, but adults can still enjoy it. For "thrill" rides, the mountain trio is good - Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain Railroad. None of them are very extreme, but they're pretty fun and have some interesting aspects that make them original. For the classic animatronic rides, hit up Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Small World, etc. They are quite tame, but they're relaxing and a pretty good diversion. I enjoyed them at least. For shows, I'd personally recommend Monsters Inc Laugh Factory, and Philharmagic. The former is original and hilarious, and the latter is just really cool.
For Epcot Center - I have to say, I was surprised by this park. When I came here many many years ago, I didn't like it much, but I have to say that I think this is now my favorite one. There are some really great rides there now. The park is basically seperated into several large buildings, each one with several rides or attractions. The Nemo-themed aquarium is pretty great, especially for kids. Innoventions is a nice, go-at-your-own-pace attraction kind of like an interactive museum, where you get to try out a bunch of cool stuff (Segways, video games, technology, etc). "The Land" building has a couple of cool things, but the best one is a flight simulator that I think was called "Soaring". It was really an experience, and you shouldn't miss it. For more extreme rides, there's the Test Track and Mission to Mars, both of which are certainly not for the faint of heart. Good stuff. In the back of the park is the international villiage thing. It's kind of neat to walk around in and eat, but none of the rides are memorable. It's best to spend a late evening just walking around and hanging out here, but don't waste too much time there.
MGM Studios has some pretty good stuff, but is probably the smallest of the four parks. However, it has some really excellent shows. The two shows you absolutely DO NOT want to miss here are the Indiana Jones Stunt show, and the Stunt Cars show. Both are really awesome, and the Stunt Car show in particular is just really amazing. For rides there are a few good ones. The Tower of Terror is pretty thrilling, as is the Aerosmith Rockin Roller Coaster. The Aerosmith ride is basically a supped up version of Space Mountain, and is a lot of fun. Also check out the Star Wars ride (it's a simulator basically, but fun), and the Movie Magic ride. This park is probably the best one to just walk around in, because it's small, and there are lots of little touches all over the place to look at that add a lot to the experience.
In any case, that's pretty much what I'd recommend. As for general tips, one thing I can say would be to bring lots of bottled water, if you can. The parks let you bring food in, so if you don't mind lugging it around, a backpack full of water and snacks is a good way to save some money. And to go back to the fastpass thing, use them to stagger your ride schedule. Go in early and get a fast pass, and then go do a couple of small rides/shows with shorter lines. Then go get another fast pass, and repeat, or use your first pass, and repeat. If you use the fastpass sytem well, you should never have to wait long in line. Finally, don't forget to rest. Walking around in the sun all day can make you pretty tired. Don't feel like you have to go go go and see everything. If you are getting fatigued, take a break - we would always go to a show when we were getting tired, because they were usually indoors in the A/C, and they were still usually entertaining.
Finally, here's some rides to avoid. You can try these if you want, but I personally found them to be terrible and a waste of time:
Stitches Great Escape
Imagination
MGM Backlot Tour
Peter Pan
Swiss Family Treehouse
Spaceship Earth
Most of Animal Kingdom
Whew, that was a long post. Hopefully you'll find some of it useful. Have fun!
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Hotels:
I've mostly stayed on property at Disney, the main negative is cost. Positives include the bus service (afternoon siestas are *great*, particularly if you're there in the summer) and the "magic hour"s (on certain days different parks open most of the major rides an hour before official opening or 2-3 hours after close for people staying on property). Also, you can get whatever you buy sent to your room for free if you're on site. Not having to haul around that stuffed animal/t-shirt/hat/lego set all day is awesome.
Each hotel category has its own positives and negatives though.
Value: (Pop Century, All-Star Movies/Sports)
Fairly standard hotel room setup. Very garish theming. But if you just come back to sleep, most of the negatives won't affect you.
Positive: Fairly reasonably priced.
Negative: Off in a corner of the property, so it'll take you a while to get to anything but Animal Kingdom. Only a food court on site for food. A common place for HS teams and the like to be booked for school trips, so you could be at risk for gaggles of poorly supervised teenagers. Also, because they're large resorts, the buses tend to get long lines at peak times (park opening/closing)*.
Note: I will mention here that my parents who are used to staying at the Deluxe or DVC hotels at Disney have spent a few nights at these and not had any complaints.
Moderate (Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs)
Slightly nicer hotel room setup, but perhaps not as nice as you'd hope given the price jump. Better theming. I'd recommend against Coronado Springs, despite it being the newest of the three -- it's also off in a corner near the Value hotels. The other two are more centrally located. Also worth noting is that Port Orleans used to be two hotels so it has two food courts, two big pools, etc. Port Orleans is also the only one with direct transport using something other than bus -- a boat to Downtown Disney (which honestly takes about the same amount of time as the bus, but it's scenic and stuff).
Positive: Better location. Better theming.
Negative: Still only food courts on site, and you might not feel the price jump is warranted. Also still fairly large resorts so the bus lines are long at peak.*
Deluxes (most of the other regular hotels)
These are very nice. Fabulous theming. Usually great restaurants. Usually great location (except for Animal Kingdom Lodge, which does on the other hand have giraffes and zebras and things wandering around outside your window). Obviously stuff varies depending on the hotel. If you were going for one of these, I'd suggest either Yacht/Beach or Boardwalk, just for proximity usefulness. A lot of the other ones are great to go visit (the monorail ones make a great afternoon break from the Magic Kingdom, as does Wilderness Lodge, and AKL is fun to look at as well, and those all have some really excellent restaurants), but they have their disadvantages (Wilderness Lodge can be a PITA to get to from anywhere but the Magic Kingdom, the monorail hotels are kind of overrated imo, AKL's aforementioned location).
Yacht/Beach Club have an AMAZING pool and some very good restaurants, and both it and Boardwalk are situated on a boat route from MGM to the backdoor of Epcot, which gives you even more dining options (you can actually walk to Epcot if you want from them, it's about 10 minutes).
Positives: Very very nice rooms, theming, restaurants. Other amenities may vary.
Negatives: $Texas. Other negatives varying on specific hotel.
If you do stay on site and you're not planning on hitting Universal or whatever, you probably won't need a car unless you plan on going to specific hotels for dinner directly from your hotel and you're worried about time.
There is a car-rental place (Alamo and National, I think) on site. I think it's listed as the "Car Care Center."
*With that being said, the buses still come fairly often for everybody -- the hotel I usually stay at is buses all the way, and I don't really have any complaints. In any case, you should actually take your time getting out of the parks after closing. Usually there will be a couple of stores near the entrance still open, and you can take some pictures of just the two of you in front of the lit-up castle/golf ball/Mickey hat. When they really want you to leave for reals, they'll play a recorded message over the speakers (at the Magic Kingdom, they actually have a little light show on the castle to go with it). By that time, no matter where you're going, the bus lines will be calming down.
tl;dr: Probably worthwhile to stay on site, but you'll have to do some researching to figure out how worth your while it is exactly.
Bonus generic recommendations for restaurants at parks:
MK: Columbia Harbour House, Starlight Cafe (both counter service, both indoors and A/Ced, fairly large and normally not horribly crowded). Also: Dole Whips at the Aloha Isle, and ice cream cookie sandwiches from the bakery on Main Street.
MGM: Backlot Express (another indoor, A/Ced counter service. bonus random explosions from the Indy show next door). If you don't mind sitting outside, Starring Rolls bakery is very good and the stalls out near Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster are okay. (Although, unless you're really hungry or just don't feel like leaving, I'd honestly suggest taking the boat and either going to the ice cream/burger shop at Yacht/Beach Club or somewhere at Boardwalk, or to Epcot.)
AK: Eh. There are options, but they're almost all always packed, and none of them stand out.
Epcot: Sunshine Food Fair (in the Land) is decent and indoors. Nachos at the cantina in Mexico are very good, the bakery in Norway is excellent, as is the bakery in France (all outdoors, but at least shaded), *everything* in Morocco is great and not crowded, the pub in the UK is decent, and the restaurant in Canada is fabulous (cheese soup + lunch filet
There's more good stuff beyond that (and really most anywhere is going to be decent), but those are the ones I like most.
Also: resist the urge to get a turkey leg. They're not that great.
I'll probably chime in later with some random tips because apparently I can't shut up about Disney World.
Oh and you can get the best shaved ice you'll ever have in Epcot, near the back of the world showcase. I forget which country it is in because it has been nearly a decade since I've been, but if you are back there, check it out.
My friend and I are only 18 and 17 respectively, so we can't do bars and we won't have a car available to us. We'll be staying in Kissimee but getting to Orlando proper wouldn't be a problem. Any ideas for things other than theme parks?
I know it's not very theme park-y, but I would recommend La Nouba, the Cirque du Soleil production in Downtown Disney. I know Cirque du Soleil is an easy target for snarky pop-sulture commentators, but their shows really are top-notch and nothing that you see on TV can do justice to seeing them live; they're just breathtaking. Tickets may be a bit pricy, but you can generally walk up and buy them right up until the show's about to start. I've been to Mystere and O in Las Vegas and La Nouba is every bit as good (it's the only resident Cirque du Soleil show you can see without going to Las Vegas). The last time I went, they had a troupe of these 6-10 year old Chinese girls spinning Diabolos that would blow your fucking mind. And to top it all off, they sell popcorn, pretzels, and beer. Let's see the ballet do that!
Also in Downtown Disney:
- The House of Blues: Despite (or perhaps because of) their T.G.I. Friday's approach to music bars, they have great live music from somebody you've heard of almost every night. They have great shows there, from rock to blues to hip-hop and beyond.
- Virgin Megastore: It's a huge, two-story store selling every type of media you can imagine. CDs, DVDs, books, games, and a whole lot more. Definitely makes it easy to blow 200 bucks before you realize what you've done.
- Some huge-ass arcade: I forget the name, but they have a giant, 5-story arcade with a very good selection of games. A lot of rare/huge machines that your average Tilt won't spring for. VR shit and classic games. Definitely worth checking out.
I could go on, but at this point I might as well just point you to the Wikipedia entry and let you see the rest for yourself. When and if you get tired of the big parks *cough*overrated*cough*, it's a great place to relax.
Tomorrowland is known by many to be the worst part of the Magic Kingdom.. What was once a great celebration of the future has basically turned into a run-down parody of what it once was.. There isn't much in the way of great things there apart from the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor which is opposite the abysmal Stitch's Great Escape..
What you want to do is take I-4 northeast out of the Orlando area until you hit I-95 at Daytona. Exit at Daytona if you must (dirty, crowded, idiot tourists everywhere), but preferably go north on 95 until Ormond Beach. At that point, I demand you exit 95 and head east until you get to the Atlantic ocean, also known as A1A or Ocean Drive. Roll the windows down and cruise north on A1A up the coast until you find the type of place that you're looking for. You'll hit the following areas as you go north:
Ormond Beach - A little over-developed, but still a good place with decent beach access. Pretty average suburban beach town.
Flagler Beach - What Daytona Beach should be... what it used to be. Tons of beach access, some biker bars. A tiny bit crowded but really a good place to stop if you want to have a burger and a beer and watch the Harleys go by.
Palm Coast - Honestly, the most beautiful part of the state. Only two things there: The humble little beach neighborhoods that have been there for years, and the multi-million dollar homesites and resorts. It's not overdeveloped yet, and the rich folks have agreed to keep the beachfront property natural, so it's really one of the state's last unspoiled beach areas. Just gorgeous scenery, and beautiful beaches where you can walk for a mile or two and not see a soul. The shoreline is a little rocky, so maybe not the place to go if you want to do a lot of swimming.
St. Augustine - You'll have to make a bit of a drive, maybe 30 minutes, after you get out of Palm Coast to get to St. Augustine, but there's lots to do there. Plenty of historical sites to visit and good restaurants. It's a pretty eclectic town; you shouldn't have trouble finding something to do there.
Disney Quest is awesome. I heard rumors last year that it might be closing and was so fucking sad (but it seems to be open still, and I haven't heard anything recently, so yay). The new (to me) Pirates game they have on the first floor is retarded amounts of fun, as is the roller coaster simulator. They also have a free internet cafe with a mini Cheesecake Factory (not free) up on the top floor. (I will point out that if you have a laptop, there is also a McDonalds in the Marketplace that I'm pretty sure has wifi as well and doesn't charge for entrance. It also does not have a kickass arcade though.)
Aw, I like Tomorrowland. I'd give Adventureland the worst crown. (I'd give it to Toontown, but I recognize that it's not for me. Adventureland just doesn't have much for me beyond Pirates and Dole Whips.) Tomorrowland hasn't ever really been a great celebration of the future though. It was better about 10 years ago shortly after they redesigned it, and there have been some baffling choices since (changing the actually moderately creepy Alien Encounter into a Stitch show) and some others that were less baffling but still sad (I know the Monsters Inc thing is supposed to be decent, but I want back the fucking Timekeeper, damnit. I don't care if people didn't go see it much. It kicked ass). And the replacement of the Delta commercial^W ride with the admittedly low-budget but still fun Buzz ride was a definite improvement.
Protip: If you happen to be there when Space Mountain breaks down, hop on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (PeopleMover). It takes you through the building and doesn't close if Space Mountain is closed, so you have a good chance of seeing it with the lights on.
I'd say Adventureland is easily the weakest land. There's just not much going on there except Pirates of the Caribbean.
Even though I'd agree that Tomorrowland has become generally run-down and somewhat abysmal, there was one ride there that was the most awesome ride in the entire Disney resort -- the Buzz Lightyear shooting gallery ride. You get in these cars with "laser guns" mounted on the front, and it carts you through a ride with stuff you can shoot along the way, and it tallies your points. I don't know how accurate the points really are, but it's an incredibly fun ride. The guests of the Disney resorts get to stay a couple hours after park closing (what they call "Extra Magic Hours"), and I used that time to go on that Buzz Lightyear ride like 5 times in a row. I'm not sure if it's still there, because it was apparently "specially brought in" for some anniversary celebration.
As for the parks in general, Magic Kingdom was the most fun for me. I liked Animal Kingdom, but it's just a Disneyfied zoo, so if you're not into zoos, don't go there. EPCOT is always fun because I like to look around at all the shops. I spent by far the most money at the EPCOT stores, though it's probably not that special if you live in a big city with diverse International districts -- like most of the stuff I saw in the Japanese shops could be found in the Uwajimaya down the street from where I used to live (well, maybe not the Mikimoto pearls). Of course, I'm also not really an action-ride kind of person; the most intense ride I liked was probably Goofy's barnstormer in Toontown. My boyfriend dragged me on Space Mountain and lived to regret it, because he felt too guilty from hearing my screams of mortal fear.
Also, I think it's important to keep an open mind and try lots of different things, if you can. We went in the off-off-season, so there were hardly any lines for any of the rides, so we got to go on a lot of different things. One of the things that was surprisingly fun was the Dumbo ride; you know, the carousel-y one where you ride Dumbo and it goes up and down?
The most disappointing thing about the trip was what they'd done to the Enchanted Tikki Room. It's now "under new management," as in, they changed the whole script and added in Zazu and Iago, I guess to try to update the ride for the newer generation. That was a complete and total travesty. It'd be like putting Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of Caribbean ride, or Hayden Christensen in Star Tours.
Disney hotels:
My boyfriend and I stayed at the Animal Kingdom resort because we found out that we could have Giraffes outside our window. I mean, how cool is that!? We really had fun because we liked to just relax in our rooms and watch the animals meander around. Apart from that, it was just a nicely-built hotel. There wasn't really too much special about it. If it hadn't been for the animals, it would have been a total rip-off (the rates were pretty exorbitant as it was). So if you're not all about the animals, and don't need the special park privileges for guests, and don't care about the easy transportation between park and hotel, then you're by far better off staying at a Best Western or something.
Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the Disney resorts are old, and are showing their age. We rode the Monorail to get from the park to the hotel, and we went through several other resorts, which looked totally run-down and dirty. I think Animal Kingdom was the newest one, so it was still pretty clean and nice-looking; but you couldn't have said that for some of the other resorts we saw.
Disney Quest.
I've always wanted to go there, but I think you have to pay to get in(~$40!?), and everything's on free play.
I've got a lot of knowledge and recommendations, so it'd probably be a little more in-depth than I could fit in a post in this thread, so if you'd like to talk one-on-one about it, feel free to IM me.
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I believe you do have to pay to get in, because it's in the Downtown Disney (I think) complex, which is a bunch of shops and stuff, not an actual park.
If you want to go for the VR and cool "advanced" stuff, I don't know if I'd bother (unless they've added a whole lot of new things in the last 3 years since I've been). However, if you'd like to play old arcade games, DEFINITELY go. My mother got to play the old version of pac-man from her teenage-hood, the kind on a table. Aparently she used to be an arcade champ, so she was like a kid in a candy store. But anyways, there's a whole array of arcade games, from the oldest versions to the newer ones. The VR stuff is so-so, but the other stuff can be exquisite.
There's a great roller coaster simulation where you can design and then ride your own coaster.
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Yes, it is still there:
Yes, so far we've found September has been the best time.
So I guess you haven't been on Pirates since July 06...I hate to break this to you...