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Disney World Tips and Tricks

We had a great trip - weather was great considering the forecast. Not too hot and not much rain. Agreed that Hollywood Studios is a shit show. We went for a half day - hit Midway Mania at rope drop and then used FPs for Rockn Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. Not too much else to see for my crew there. Really enjoyed the Avatar ride - got to ride it twice (rope drop and FP). My kids rode it 3 times thanks to a stroller pass and a couple unused FPs. It's nice that Avatar takes the early crowd away from Safari and Everest - no wait times there in the early morning. I like the new set up at Wilderness Lodge with the Geyser Point Bar & Grille. Seems like they've stepped up the food quality. I don't think we will do the Dining plan again. Thoughts there?
 
Liquid Karma said:
We've been here since Friday. Weather hasn't been anywhere close to as bad as forecast.

DHS was a shit show today. I know Galaxy's Edge will bring great new things there, but damn is that park tired AF. Just worn down with terrible crowd flow and shit food.
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Weather was not bad at all outside of a couple of heavy showers. Magic Kingdom Sunday night was not crowded at all.

Got back yesterday. Did see one other person in Wake gear, but too far away to really say hi..
 
ATLDeac said:
We had a great trip - weather was great considering the forecast. Not too hot and not much rain. Agreed that Hollywood Studios is a shit show. We went for a half day - hit Midway Mania at rope drop and then used FPs for Rockn Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. Not too much else to see for my crew there. Really enjoyed the Avatar ride - got to ride it twice (rope drop and FP). My kids rode it 3 times thanks to a stroller pass and a couple unused FPs. It's nice that Avatar takes the early crowd away from Safari and Everest - no wait times there in the early morning. I like the new set up at Wilderness Lodge with the Geyser Point Bar & Grille. Seems like they've stepped up the food quality. I don't think we will do the Dining plan again. Thoughts there?
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Most experts say the dining plan is a waste of money. For one, to get the dining plan, you have to pay rack rate for your hotel. As there are usually discounts you can get on the hotel room, it usually ends up costing more to have the dining plan. Also, most people find the dining plan to just be way too much food and don't end up using all of their credits, so it ends up being a waste of money.
 
Just finalized plans for our family's first trip to WDW this fall. Had tentatively planned on a day at DHS, but I'm wondering if that's too much after reading about the apparent shitshow it is. Is a half-day enough? Or should we not bother at all? We'll be there with a nearly 8 year-old and two 5 year-olds.
 
Rock n' Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Midway Mania (where I am the all-time champion)
Indiana Jones stunt show

All of these are worthwhile. They also have a Star Wars parade or show seemingly every hour and the kids can do Jedi training and fight Darth Vader or Darth Maul.
 
BiffTannen said:
Rock n' Rollercoaster
Tower of Terror
Midway Mania (where I am the all-time champion)
Indiana Jones stunt show

All of these are worthwhile. They also have a Star Wars parade or show seemingly every hour and the kids can do Jedi training and fight Darth Vader or Darth Maul.
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Thanks. Is that a day's worth of stuff? Half day? #noidea
 
Toy Story Land opens in 30 days. You should definitely do a full day.
 
I was at Hollywood Studios yesterday. We stayed for about four hours. It's always the most frustrating park for two reasons.

First, most of the stuff to do there either has a long wait (usually 60+ minutes) or is a show that is only scheduled for certain times. It's difficult to do each throughout the day. That's a structural issue that may change somewhat because they've taken out shows and replaced them with attractions that will have long lines.
The new Star Wars stuff is on the hour if I remember correctly, so it's pretty easy to plan around. The march of the First Order (Phasma leading Stormtroopers) is at the :00 and the Star Wars stage show is on the :30. I don't know if that's temporary but it helps.

Second, my kids and my wife don't want to do the same things I want to do or would do. We all love Toy Story Midway Mania. We all love Star Tours. That's about it. My little one finally hit 48" so I was able to ride with someone for the first time since having kids. He loved it. Said it was the best rollercoaster ever. But my wife and oldest don't want to ride it. My little one used to ride Tower of Terror, but he doesn't want to anymore.

They're agnostic about Indiana Jones. They used to feel the same way about the stunt show and Backlot Tour too. I'd be fine doing Indy. I enjoyed Beauty and the Beast the one time I went. Same with Frozen. I always enjoy Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Muppets is fine. If my kids wanted to do those things, we could build a full day around it. Last time I saw Fantasmic, only my little one wanted to go, so my wife and my oldest rode Star Tours a bunch of times.

It's just a difficult park for us compared to the other parks where we all like the same things or the format is basically wait in line for an attraction or walk around and leisurely do things. Toy Story Land only has two rides, three if you include Midway Mania. I hope there's a playground area that's a nice time suck for kids. My kids always liked the Honey I Strunk the Kids area.





Biff what's your best Midway Mania score? I beat 200K once, but usually I'm firmly in the 185-195K range. It's essentially a team game and it's hard to unlock the big scores playing with a kid.
 
GaDeac said:
Most experts say the dining plan is a waste of money. For one, to get the dining plan, you have to pay rack rate for your hotel. As there are usually discounts you can get on the hotel room, it usually ends up costing more to have the dining plan. Also, most people find the dining plan to just be way too much food and don't end up using all of their credits, so it ends up being a waste of money.
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I'm pretty sure the bold is only true if you are getting the Free Dining promotion. I think you if are paying for the Dining Plan it can be used in conjunction with room & other discounts.

But I agree, I don't think it is worth the money. My fiance's family insists on getting it whenever we go and I don't complain cause I'm not paying for it. But just the two of us went for Marathon Weekend back in January and I did the math and it would have been like $350 or something more for us to do the Standard Dining Plan vs. just buying everything a la carte. I think you can definitely make it where you at least come out even or maybe even save money but you have to pick the most expensive thing on every single menu and eat at a lot of character dining or buffet restaurants. Using 2 table service credits on a Signature Restaurant is a complete waste. You also not only have to find the most expensive snacks, use all your snacks (which is now 2 snacks per day), you also have to do the math on whether you'd eat all of those snacks if you didn't have the plan. My fiance and I are pretty good about using up the credits but his family is always spending a huge chunk on the last day at the resort shop on the bags of candy etc. I also feel like the "free" resort mug is a waste unless you just spend a ton of time at your resort and will be going to get a lot of sodas while there.

If anyone asked if they should get the DDP I'd tell them to first figure out which restaurants they wanted to eat at, look at the menus, and do the actual math to see if it's worth it. Most likely it isn't.
 
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PhDeac said:
Good info.

Two random tidbits.

Disney's former River Country water park will become hotel, timeshares


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-river-country-disney-20180531-story.html


Had the worst ramen of my life at Morimoto Asia's counter service. It was unbelievable bland. The noodles themselves had no flavor and a weird texture. Glad it only cost me $14 rather than a valuable dining plan credit.
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I hate Morimoto's with a passion. Just awful food, service, etc the two times I've been forced to try.

Now Ragland Road... That's good.
 
I passed up the Fish n' Chips at Cookes of Dublin, the Ragland Road counter service to eat that Morimoto ramen. Now I can't stop thinking about fish n' chips. My boys wanted to eat at T-Rex, so my wife and I just got some food on our own. T-Rex had a Lomo Saltado on the menu that looked really good too. I doubt it was as good as Cuban places I've been, but it would have been better than that nasty ramen.
 
We had a pretty good lunch at Art Smith’s Homecoming back in February, which is right across from Morimoto.
 
I looked at that menu, but it seemed way too expensive for what I was looking for. The deviled eggs were $12. I don't even know if it was a dozen deviled eggs.
 
Wife and I spent the day yesterday at California Adventure, it's a small park but there was still plenty to do. I'm a huge Pixar fan so I probably enjoyed Pixar Pier the most. They also have a whole section dedicated to the Cars franchise, but we didn't spend a lot of time there since it's probably my least favorite Disney franchise.

Food was good, lots of Latin American options, and there were churro stations everywhere, as well as a few elote carts. They also had a nice collection of California microbrews as well.

Logistically it was a shitshow, especially getting out after the parade ended. Lines to get on the trams were really long and there was no order at all. I've been to Disney World lots of times and it never seems to be a problem. Overall we had a lot of fun, the new Soarin is really good, I was really impressed by the Incredicoaster and I beat my wife at Toy Story Mania, which is really all that matters.
 
 
Toy Story Land is pretty fantastic. The theming is just off the charts. It was cool walking out and seeing the look of wonder and awe on people's faces as they walked in for the first time. The whole land really looks like something a kid would do in his backyard. Slinky Dog Dash is the best kiddie coaster I've ever ridden. It has the same height requirement as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but man it is so much better. First of all, it's expansive. It's a double launch coaster with two mild drops. The whole thing is outside, obviously a rarity at Disney World. There are much bigger coasters at thrill wide parks, but this kind of thing really stands out at Disney World. Second, the concept of the attraction is that Andy built a roller coaster track from a "Dash & Dodge" roller coast set and tangled up his slinky dog toy with the roller coaster cars. It's very well done. The track set up looks like something a child would come up with. It's kind of haphazard. Third, much like Midway Mania, plenty of toys and board games are integrated into the theming. My favorite are the toy boxes and drawings.

The new entrance to Midway Mania is neat. More cool toy theming. Alien Saucers is neat for what it is. I was expecting something different but this was fine. My 6 year old loved it. Thrill seeking little ones who aren't quite big enough for Slinky Dog will really love it.

The food was pretty good. The brisket melt and grilled three-cheese were solid. The tater tots were meh. The Raspberry Tart was very good. It's like an upscale pop tart. I would get any of them again. Other items on the menu looked good too.

Long term, Toy Story Land will be the exit from Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. It may also be the entrance to a larger Pixar themed area all the way across to Rockin' Roller Coaster. Whatever it ends up being, it will serve that purpose well.
 
I’ll be there in November. Is Hollywood Studios worth a stop now?
 
I think it’s always worth a stop for reasons I posted back in May and June. But it’s more of a stop now. If you only have three days, I would do the other parks especially if you will be at Epcot for Food & Wine.

If you go, at the very least, ride Slinky Dog and you can see the Galaxy’s Edge construction at the top of the hill after the second launch.
 
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