A thread for planning Disney holidays.
sharing stories, passing on and asking for advice
hope it helps.
sharing stories, passing on and asking for advice
hope it helps.
- Notice
So many tips to share as we go to Florida most years. Get to the parks as early as you can and start from the back of the park and work your way back to the start, lots of people go in and jump on the first rides they see. We buy multi park tickets from Floridatix which saves money and you usually get something thrown in for free! Download the Disney app and plan all your fast passes - cuts queues for certain rides by half and you manage to get loads more rides done! Take your own food/snacks - Disney food is v pricy - and top tip... WEAR GOOD SHOES! You’ll walk miles! You’ll have the best time, my favourite place in the world!
YorkshireLady
Well-known member
Me again - Results are good. NED!
Thank you for caring. In all honesty, apart from my husband and children who I told first, you guys were next.
Whilst I’m so grateful that I’m In Remission it made me realise I’m very lonely and had no friends to tell. So thank you
Thank you for caring. In all honesty, apart from my husband and children who I told first, you guys were next.
Whilst I’m so grateful that I’m In Remission it made me realise I’m very lonely and had no friends to tell. So thank you
EleanorRigby
VIP Member
Currently at DLP and absolutely delighted to report that the magic is still here. The 30th anniversary celebrations are just stunning, so much better than the WDW 50th.
I would also agree parks early if you stay on property make use of the morning extra magic hours. This means that you can get most of the park if not all (depending on how hard you want to go) and venture back to your hotel for 1:30/2pm to either grab some pool time, relax, freshen up and then head out again at around 6 to do a park in the evening, catch the fireworks, go to Disney springs for dinner.
I would also say have a loose plan of what parks you want to go to when and build your fast pas around that or build your itinary around the fast passes you get. Always leave a few days blank so you can still be spontaneous.
I would also say avoid the parks on weekends or stick to the mornings. We usually do outlet shopping, beach, Disney springs, resort day or go to universal on a weekend as it’s not normally as busy as Disney.
if you want to know anything specific let me know I go all the time and used to work in magic kingdom
I would also say have a loose plan of what parks you want to go to when and build your fast pas around that or build your itinary around the fast passes you get. Always leave a few days blank so you can still be spontaneous.
I would also say avoid the parks on weekends or stick to the mornings. We usually do outlet shopping, beach, Disney springs, resort day or go to universal on a weekend as it’s not normally as busy as Disney.
if you want to know anything specific let me know I go all the time and used to work in magic kingdom
Viewer1901
VIP Member
As others have said. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was for all rides but the extra add on for others is a kick in the teeth. Someone’s ‘sources’ have said the add on cost will be between $2 and $24!!! Obviously it’s a ‘source’ so take it with a pinch of salt but it will rack up quickly.
lots of people on Facebook groups are saying they won’t be going anymore or that their currently booked trip will be their last. It isn’t going to put me off that much - I’m child free so I’ll only ever be paying for my own so worst case scenario it’s less merch. I think I’ll only add it for a couple of days of my trip though. I also think they’ll eventually add some sort of perk for U.K. tickets or onsite guests too.
lots of people on Facebook groups are saying they won’t be going anymore or that their currently booked trip will be their last. It isn’t going to put me off that much - I’m child free so I’ll only ever be paying for my own so worst case scenario it’s less merch. I think I’ll only add it for a couple of days of my trip though. I also think they’ll eventually add some sort of perk for U.K. tickets or onsite guests too.
JLXRD
VIP Member
I was expecting it and they are the last of the theme parks to charge for this really. I’m a bit pissy about it. I think I would be less annoyed if it were just the Genie+ daily fee but to then charge extra per ride for the really popular ones (mine train etc) is greedy. Luckily I think mine train is boring but still!
I will miss fast pass booking day and the planning aspect too
Emmapism
VIP Member
My California trip is hopefully going ahead on Weds provided my COVID test comes back negative. I'm not going outside too much and being careful so fingers crossed!
Happy to feedback on protocols at the airport or anything else anyone would like to know about. Second part of the holiday is Disney but going to San Francisco first.
Happy to feedback on protocols at the airport or anything else anyone would like to know about. Second part of the holiday is Disney but going to San Francisco first.
Jess89
VIP Member
I posted this in Brogan Tate’s thread but thought it was also appropriate here - if anyone has any q’s about Disney happy to help if I can. 
We have just come back from two weeks in Florida. Don’t get me wrong we had a wonderful time, and pre Covid we loved going to Florida every year.
This time however it just felt a little different and was a bit of an eye opener - we realised there are more places we want to see, and can do that a lot cheaper than Florida.
It was still very fun, but there’s just some changes (ie Genie+) and just being so much more aware of how expensive every thing was that it just feels like Disney are money grabbing at every opportunity. (I know they are a massive corporation and they will have always been about money I guess we were blinkered before
)
That being said we will definitely be back one day but not for a few years, and when we do we will definitely look at staying off site as the perks just aren’t worth it like they used to be.
Also don’t let this put you off at all as we had an amazing holiday and the magic is definitely still there, it’s just a little different to what we’ve been used to!
We have just come back from two weeks in Florida. Don’t get me wrong we had a wonderful time, and pre Covid we loved going to Florida every year.
This time however it just felt a little different and was a bit of an eye opener - we realised there are more places we want to see, and can do that a lot cheaper than Florida.
It was still very fun, but there’s just some changes (ie Genie+) and just being so much more aware of how expensive every thing was that it just feels like Disney are money grabbing at every opportunity. (I know they are a massive corporation and they will have always been about money I guess we were blinkered before
)That being said we will definitely be back one day but not for a few years, and when we do we will definitely look at staying off site as the perks just aren’t worth it like they used to be.
Also don’t let this put you off at all as we had an amazing holiday and the magic is definitely still there, it’s just a little different to what we’ve been used to!
JLXRD
VIP Member
Have just chatted with husband and we get our annual bonus next month so have decided that when we receive it we will be booking Disney for Feb 2022!
I am so excited at the prospect of having a trip booked again! Never been in Feb either, going to start planning immediately
(of course this could not happen bc who knows when the US will open up but we will just move it out if we need to, I just love the idea of having it to look forward to again!)
I am so excited at the prospect of having a trip booked again! Never been in Feb either, going to start planning immediately
(of course this could not happen bc who knows when the US will open up but we will just move it out if we need to, I just love the idea of having it to look forward to again!)
LemonPledge
Chatty Member
I've done solo, I stayed at All Stars so I could use Disney transportation & didn't really venture offsite aside from a trip to the outlets. I had a great time - nobody cares if you're alone. I was active on the DIS forums at the time so met up with people a couple of evenings.
Best thing was not having a plan, just waking up deciding where I wanted to go & taking my time if I wanted. In fact my trips since have been with others & it's kind of annoying going with other people
Chedranian Girl
Chatty Member
We fly on Saturday!! I am SO excited. I've spent all week packing and unpacking all over again haha. I can't get memory maker to work with my tickets though, the Disney Experience app is so janky!
Barbie2020
VIP Member
It doesn’t make sense for us to go to Disney world anymore. It was pricey enough before but they’ve got too greedy and I’d honestly rather spend my money on the house or different holidays that won’t break the bank.
Its such a shame, I don’t think we will be back for a long time.
Its such a shame, I don’t think we will be back for a long time.
Not really relevant to Florida planning but... tonightI resisted the temptation to be lazy and have takeaway and made a tasty pasta bake for dinner.
To celebrate this () I popped on and stuck an extra chunk of money towards Florida (booked earlier in the week) Going to do this anytime I successfully battle my urge to have junk food/takeaway.
I have spent the last few days in a Florida bubble, researching and figuring things out. So excited, I feel like a kid.
To celebrate this (
) I popped on and stuck an extra chunk of money towards Florida (booked earlier in the week) Going to do this anytime I successfully battle my urge to have junk food/takeaway.I have spent the last few days in a Florida bubble, researching and figuring things out. So excited, I feel like a kid.
The free dining is currently being added to systems for 2021 bookings. that's why you can't currently pay for it on tui/virgin. It'll be out within the next month. Benefits to have a friend be the Disney rep for travel companies
Blahblahahaaa77
VIP Member
Just booked New York - Orlando - carnival cruise to Mexico & the Caribbean - Galveston for December … can’t wait!!
How did you find it? I came back Sunday. And quite honestly questioning if I’d ever go back to Orlando now. It’s just changed so much since I was there at the end of 2019. I was staying off property which was probably a massive mistake on my part as the hotel had pretty much no staff, everything was closed in the hotel, it was cleaned once which didn’t bother me too much because germs haha. But you could tell no one’s been in these hotels for a looooong time.I’m in Florida for 6 weeks and I’ve already been twice
You could also tell about the lack of staff just everywhere, I can’t tell you how many restaurants I went to off property that were almost empty but “fully booked” as they have no staff. I also had an incident with reception calling me in the middle of the night, they didn’t even apologise when I said they called the wrong room, just slammed the phone down. It all just felt like no one cared because they were overworked which I get but, also, it’s a hotel for holidaymakers!
Starbucks ran out of coffee, for three days…. went to another coffee shop and they had none either. It was insane, I thought the U.K. was bad with supplies but it seems the US are really struggling. I did get a free reusable cup from Starbucks as they ran out of card cups one day so that was a nice bonus!
Also, the outlets… not really outlets anymore just regular stores. No deals like there used to be, I tend to not pack much as I know I’ll buy new clothes and shoes but nothing. I bought one pair of shoes and they were the same price as the U.K. no buy one get on half price or anything.
It’s just changed, I can’t explain it but Orlando is just not what it used to be and it’s such a shame! I hope in a few years they will recover from this but until then, I won’t be going back!