Seriously when I get there I'm hittin you up for some beer. Unless you changed your number I still have it saved from last time 4 years ago. I was tempted to call you back in November. We had issues with Jetblue and my wife got stuck in San Juan while I sat in the Fox Sports Bar watchin the Jets/Browns. We've actually pushed our trip back. Me and the little guy are going to Arizona next month to see the Winnipeg Coyotes and the Dallas Northstars. Staying at the Biltmore so that should be quite an experience. Our Disney trip may be in early summer or late summer when it's brutal. I have to squeeze a trip to Asia in the Spring when I wanted to hit up Disney.
My number has been the same for 5 years. If you need a room just PM or call me. I have booked for Koz and 17a. They can attest to that. AS a matter of fact, Koz and I just met up in January. He even stopped by my house and met my wife and 2 monsters.
We are staying at the hotel property - I think the Boardwalk Villas are the timeshares, no? Anyway we haven't gone yet, heading down in August. Assuming I don't die down there of dehydration via ballsweat, I'll let you know.
I parked at that property a few weeks ago when I was meeting GM at Hollywood Studios. Great location, walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood. Pristine property, great pool with water slides for the kiddies.
In case y'all haven't seen the upcoming Fantasy Land Expansion (FLE) check it out. http://www.wdwmagic.com/Attractions...expansion---including-all-new-concept-art.htm Also, the newly refurbished Star Tours 2.0 in 3D will be opening in May of this year.
Crazy construction when we passed through in October. No structures were up yet, but I'm sure that they're moving pretty quickly.
Ok so my wife and I are planning to suprise the twins this march. I have been dealing with an AAA travel agent. If people can offer a little advice that would help a lot. We are trying to go on the cheap. So we are looking at a 4 night trip. Is the Pop century ok? The promotion that they are offering lets us only go to one park a day. Should I upgrade to be able to go to more than one park a day? We have 5 years olds so they are able to handle a full day now. Is the meal plan that gives you 1 table meal, one counter service meal and 1 snack enough? Any thing I should know? I have never been to disney so any advice will be helpful.
Pop Century is fine if you are planning on not being in the room much anyway. They are small rooms. The biggest drawback at staying at the value ones for me is no hot tub and I loooove sitting in it after a long day walking around. Plus they are loud. I don't think one day/one park is terrible (you can leave and come back, right?). Honestly, I would scrap the meal plan and either upgrade the hotel or upgrade to park hopper passes. Those meal plans are a LOT of food, and you are going to be there for such a short time you are probably not going to want to waste time at all those table service meals. I have never met anyone that thought they got their moneys worth with the dining plan (although assuredly 5 people that post after me will have ;-) ) ETA-- If you are going in March, before you go with the meal plan, make sure you can even get reservations at the dinners you want, most people book waaaayyyyy in advance for them.
I was lucky enough to go twice as a teen where i paid for my own tix ut went with my family....I really loved it. Now I want to take my wife for a vacation there, she deserves it! She put up with almost four years of my med schooling and we have. I just have no clue how to do this cheaply, yet be comfy. I would love a hot tub and a kitchen. I have no clue of the timeshares would even care if i went on a tour being that Im years away from "real" money. What do families do on smaller budgets?? (we went to Cali after year two for a delayed honeymoon, but Disney there is not even CLOSE to the one on florida!)
check out http://forums.wdwmagic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6 Probably could get some good advice there. My girlfriend's parents are DVC members, so I get a free trip every time I go. I just pay for food and my park ticket. So I can't really comment on a cheap way of doing it. In terms of your park ticket, if you know you'll be going back to Disney another year, it may be worth it to get a 10 day ticket with no expiration. Each additional day you get is cheaper, and Disney tends to raise prices every August, so the no expiration will work out in your favor if you go a few years (or even one year) down the road. If you plan on going to more than one park in a day, then get park hopper. I normally do 5 days at the parks. 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 1/2 days at Epcot, 1 day at Hollywood Studios, and 1/2 day at Animal Kingdom. I normally split the day of Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot at night. Epcot is a fun time at night to have a few drinks and hang out in the World Showcase.
Disney is a Fascist Regime!!!! 1) Walt Disney was proven to be a Fascist 2) When you walk into Disney world you see the Mickey Ears EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. This is clearly the symbol of their regime being force-fed to the oppressed inhabitants! 3) Fascist Regimes are largely supported by spectacle and grandeur, particularly impressive parades, Disney has parades EVERY 30 minutes!!!! 4) Employees of Disney are treated very poorly and are compensated by unlimited access to the very amusment park they are forced to work for. They work for the good of the state! FASCISM!!! 5) Mickey is clearly the supreme dictator of Disney World, all others are merely his pawns 6) People are force-fed this notion of magic happening! They are convinced they are happy, when in reality they are standing in line spending thousands of dollars on overpriced trinkets sweating to death in the shithole of the world/ getting soaking wet in the tropical climate. BRAINWASHING PROPAGANDA!! ...no I'm not serious, but the parallels are quite funny
I know you were posting a joke but, Employees aka Cast Members are not treated poorly. We have good health insurance, Pensions, 401ks, a good stock purchase program, paid sick leave, paid vacation, paid holidays, and we are unionized.
I'll PM you when I make my plans, my kid will be 3 1/2 at the time so the perfect age to drive me crazy for a few days. I think we're gonna do a few days at Disney and then drive to Luaderdale for a few days to visit family. I should be set with rooms as I won some free nights at the Sheraton Vistania Villas. I have to use them by September so lucky for me I think I'll be using them in July or August when the weather is superb.
First of all, if you are booking through a travel agent make sure that they set you up with Disney's Magical Express for your arrival and departure in Orlando. The Disney bus will pick you up @ MCO, taking you to your destination hotel, and your bags will follow a few hours later. Of course you need to pack a carry on with essentials plus anything you'll need for the first 3 hours you're without bags. When we stayed @ Caribbean Beach, the bus we were on made the first stop @ Pop Century. Also, you absolutely do not need a car if your goal is to stay on property. Resort buses are very reliable with great frequency, and anything you might need re toiletries, or water, snacks etc can be purchased at the hotel, with no great mark-up. We stayed at the Pop Century a few years back. Completely adequate if your goal is to spend as much time in the parks and the room really isn't very important for you. It's set up motel-style, doors open on the outside, but the rooms were obviously very clean and rather spacious. Perfectly fine for a family of 4 for a few days. Great pool, fantastic lobby and food court. My oldest is the same age, and until the kids are a little bit older, you're really not going to need the park-hopper. Consider that Magic Kingdom, for instance, is a minimum of 2 days, especially if it's their first time. One day in Epcot, one in Hollywood Studios and then one in Animal Kingdom. Park Hopper really works if you're interested in going to one park during the early part of the day and then leaving for events later in the day in another. Your kids are going to be wiped out with one full day in any given park. I would shy against it. We had the same meal plan- it worked out great. I'm not sure about you guys, but my family is big on getting to the park before the gates open- anticipation builds etc. As such, we didn't even use the "quick serv" for breakfast- opted instead for cereal/muffins/juice in the room, quick serv for lunch and then full meal at dinner. Keep in mind that your "snack" credit can be used for bottled water, soda, ice cream, fruit, pretzels/cookies/pop corn etc. Also, the quick serv meals are great by themselves- you get something along the lines of a half-chicken breast, legs, etc, side, dessert and drink. You'll be full after one of these. For kids, they get their own meal, 2 sides, drink and dessert. Here's the "tips" section of the post. 1) If there's anything you listen to, please do this. Visit touringplans.com and sign up as a member. It will cost you $10 for the YEAR, but in return you'll get 2 things. One is an IPHONE/Blackberry app that will show you waiting times for all rides in all parks, updated by the minute. This thing is worth it's wait in gold, especially when you have limited time in the parks. VERY RELIABLE! Second is the customized "touring plans" that you can download. Think of a touring plan as your roadmap of what to do each day. This site uses historical stats to show you which parks to avoid and which to focus on, during a given week. Once you've narrowed it down to the park, you pick a touring plan. Each park has multiple plans- for instance, you'll probably get the plan for family with small children. It will tell you which ride to go to first, second, third etc in each park, on each day, so as to maximize time on rides and minimize wait time. We used this plan in each park on each day in Oct and didn't wait on a ride longer than 5 minutes. 2) Become the King of Fast Pass. Bank 'em. For example, the biggest ride at Epcot is Soarin. Get to the park before gates open, head off to Soarin and request a fast pass. Don't ride the ride yet. That Fast Pass can be used ANYTIME AFTER THE INITIAL TIME LISTED. It will tell you to return between 10 and 11 AM. Guess what? You can use that same fast pass @ 5PM. ALSO, @ 10AM, you can request a second set of fast passes, for that ride or any other in the park. The key is almost to ride secondary rides first while you bank fast passes for the primary or "hot" rides. Follow this strategy and the family will love you long time. Also, keep in mind that certain attractions will "run out" of Fast Passes very early in the day. For instance, Toy Story @ Hollywood Studios was done by 11AM- no way you were getting on the ride that day unless you waited on a 90 minute line- no way in hell. 3) If you're on the meal plan, check out character dining options. Keep in mind that these restaurants BOOK UP VERY QUICKLY, so once you have dates of travel set, immediately make reservations for dining. Places like "Chef Mickeys," "Mickeys Backyard BBQ" and the like all tend to book up fast. I think that you have girls, and the princess events tend to book quicker than others, so heed this warning Daddy-O. 4) If your kids are really into meeting the characters, don't forget to get autograph books for them, and at the same time, be mindful of the best places to meet characters. After hitting all of the parks multiple days, the best location we found to meet the Mickey, Minny, Donald and Goofy was @ Animal Kingdom, at the character trails- no lines if you got there early. Also, the History of Animation @ Hollywood Studios is a hidden gem, where you'll meet Sorcerer Mickey, Lotso and some other Toy Story Characters, and the Incredibles. 5) Make time for the shows. Provides nice down-time and they really are top-notch. 6) NEVER, EVER go to a park that has "Extra Magic" opening or closing hours on that day. Crowds are normally double for what they would be on a regular day. If you sign up for the Touring Plans, they will direct you away from those parks and into the less crowded ones. 7) Restaurant recommendations. Biggest joy for the kids wasn't at character dining but instead "Whispering Canyon Cafe" @ Wilderness Lodge- wait staff goes out of their way to interact with the kids. Great place to go to. Otherwise, Hoop te Do review was also alot of fun. That's all I can think of for now- adding more later if need be.
Perhaps things have changed, my uncle worked for Disney for over 10 years and he was always unhappy with his benefits and pay, and when he was forced to stop working because of his diagnosis of colon cancer and subsequent treatment the paid sick leave evaporated and he was out of a job in less than 3 months.
+1 on Whispering Canyon!! Such a fun place to eat and the food is great! Be sure to ask for ketchup ...also take the boat there from Magic Kingdom. My kids still talk about that silly boat ride!
