Originally Posted By jonvn Yes, get a park hopper. That gives you the most flexibility. I think the best places to stay are Boardwalk or Yacht and Beach Clubs. They are pricey, though. you can get cheaper places inside WDW. But at these, there is a nice boat ride to both Epcot and the Disney Studios. And at Epcot, you can take a monorail to Magic Kingdom, or a bus, if you want. Eight days is plenty to see most everything that anyone ever sees. The truth is that you can go for a couple weeks at least if you wanted to see and do absolutely every last thing. But you won't probably want to do that. There are 4 main theme parks, with Epcot really being like 2 parks. You can spend 5 full days seeing these parks. One day for each park. There is also a downtown Disney area which is, if you go in all the shops a few hours. In Downtown Disney, there is also Cirque du Soleil, which is pretty fun. We managed to spend an entire day in Disney Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. This was when it was not crowded. We did not even see all of Animal Kingdom. Those who say this is a half day park must zoom past most of it. This is different than it used to be, chiefly due to some nice additions they have made. Anyway, the Studio park is nice, it's the weakest, but you can still manage to spend a day there if you do everything there is to do. A fun restaurant is the Prime Time Cafe there. So, you have taken up 5 days in the parks, you can also spend time at one or two of the water parks. Those are fun. Half day things. In the morning go to one, then in the evening go to a theme park for things you missed, or go to Downtown Disney for cirque or other entertainments. There are a lot of them That's 6 days. The last day or so you can go back and do something else, play golf, go parasailing, boating, or revisit things. When you go, your first day is pretty much shot by flying in, and your last day is shot by having to fly out. If you don't rent a car, which I don't think you need to unless you plan on going to Universal, use Disney Magical Express and have them get your luggage to your room for you. Eight days is a nice amount of time. We were there about that amount of time, and we did not stop. I'm not even mentioning all the different restaurants and shops all over the place not just in DTD. The place is an amazing experience, it truly is the size of a city, with 50 to 60 thousand employees, the single largest employee site in the country. The bus fleet has about 275 busses in it, and they travel 20,000,000 miles a year strictly within Disney property. Of course, it is not a PERFECT place. Nothing is PERFECT in this world. But I think that if you are a fan of Disney things, and don't go to WDW, you have really very much cheated yourself out of a truly fantastic experience.
Originally Posted By Mr X **Yacht and Beach Clubs. They are pricey, though. you can get cheaper places inside WDW. But at these, there is a nice boat ride to both Epcot** You really don't need the boat from Yacht and Beach. In fact, some cast members joked about the fact that it actually is farther to walk from many Beach Club rooms to the boat dock than it is to simply walk to the park (but that doesn't stop guests from doing it)!
Originally Posted By danyoung >jonvn has a point. Quantity is WAY more important than quality.< I just reread jon's post, and I don't see where he said anything remotely like this.
Originally Posted By Mr X He definitely didn't. It's just more typical garbage posting about how bad DisneyWorld is. It most definitely is not. None of the resorts are "bad" per se. They are all excellent theme park destinations (yes, even Hong Kong...though it is the weakest by far). But DisneyWorld is most certainly the "mecca", the quintessential Disney experience to be sure.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Yeah, I don't get it. How could ANYONE turn down the experience of seeing WDW??? To suggest that people shouldn't go there because the place isn't as clean or MK hasn't had a new E ticket in a decade is a little crazy. WDW is the most essential place to see for any Disney fan in their lifetime. I guess, like DL, if you live 20 min. away from it and have an AP and go every week, then yeah you can get cynical . But I think for the AVERAGE person on the planet, seeing WDW has to be a dream to see and especially for your first visit, its must be more even more special. Look, I been to EVERY resort around the world, multiple times. I'm privelged that I had the chance to do that and if I die tomorrow, no complaints lol. I have to say that they all been worth seeing (yes, even HKDL WHEN you include the Hong Park part of the trip lol) and WDW is and will probably always be the biggest highlight for me even though I'm much more famaliar with the DLR and TDR. But on a level of pure excess, things to see and do and completely immersed in the magic WDW wins all hands down. TDR is still a close second though ;D. Crap, now I want to go back lol.
Originally Posted By Mr X **yes, even HKDL WHEN you include the Hong Park part of the trip lol** I also enjoyed Hong Park.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney <<When you go, your first day is pretty much shot by flying in, and your last day is shot by having to fly out.>> True, but your first day can be started by going to DTD and having a grand meal there and walking around. You can soak up the 'magic' by walking around, shopping and its free to walk around. That's what I did on my second trip .
Originally Posted By WorldDisney LOL, meant Hong Kong ;D. Send me a PM when you get the chance Mr. X.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Does one really need 8 days?>> I would say that for first-time visitors, unless they stayed for 10 or more days, most of them finish off the vacation wishing they had more time. The thing about WDW is that it truly is a resort. It's not just four theme parks. It's not even four theme parks, two water parks, and DtD. It's more than that... it's a state of mind. When you're there, especially if you're staying in a Disney resort, you just want to linger and soak it all in.
Originally Posted By jonvn In fact, you know, they have built an actual housing development there, called Celebration. People actually do live there. Or they get DVC, and go every year.
Originally Posted By StitchDude >When you go, your first day is pretty much shot by flying in, and your last day is shot by having to fly out.< jonvn makes a good point. What we did to resolve this issue was take a red eye flight. We left at 11:30 or 12. We slept on the plane and we got there early in the day because of the time change. We took the WDW bus from the airport and went straight to the hotel. We left our bags at the front, checked in and then went into the park. It worked out great. When we left we took another late night flight so we packed up in the morning, checked our bags and went to play in the parks one last time.
Originally Posted By bean Jovn made a good point "When you go, your first day is pretty much shot by flying in, and your last day is shot by having to fly out." one thing i like to do when flying to the east coast is to book my flights so that i leave very early. Due to the time diference and flight time you could very much loose the whole day when you arrive. Arriving early gives you the oppurtuntiy to use the afternoon for a time at one of the waterparks or just relax in your resort. The same goes for flying back. Make the most of your day by booking your flight out the latest possible from Orlando when flying west. Remember that you will gain three hours once you get home due to the time diference. This will also allow you to spend as much time as you can during your last day at the resort. Even if you check out of your hotel you could leave the baggage and relax the rest of the day or do some last minute site seeing around the property
Originally Posted By jonvn On our last trip, we had a stopover at Chicago. It was an 11 hour ordeal to get there and arrived at our hotel at 12:30AM. And we booked super early on the way back. Next time we'll do the redeye out, and late flight back. If it exists. Problem is that flights from SF on UAL are not that plentiful to Orlando.
Originally Posted By Zwitek This is all great info. I appreciate it. I'm extremely familiar with Disneyland itself, I'm a walking DPS (DisneyPositioningSystem), so I think for the most part, I wouldn't need to do every single thing at the Magic Kingdom. So what I gather is- - Parkhopper all the way. - 1 day at MK (and a drop in now and then) - 1 day at Animal Kingdom - 1 day at MGM - 2 days at EPCOT That leaves three days for relaxation, perhaps a stop at the Universal resort, and time to go back and casually repeat things in the other parks. Is that about right?
Originally Posted By dshyates 8 Days is enough time to get a good solid overview of what WDW is. You will not be able to do even most of what is offered on property. Since it will be your first visit, I feel you have overestimated the amount of casual/relaxing time. But you will certainly be able to see all the highlights. And if you desire even a trip up to USF/IOA, which I feel is on par with the Disney offerings. Its not Disney. Not really even trying to be anymore. Its really grown into an entity all its own. And I feel, as a theme park resort experience, far superior to its Hollywood caunterpart.
Originally Posted By jonvn "Is that about right? " Well, if you don't want to do the water parks, that's ok. But you also left out DTD. You'll also find MK very odd, in that it looks very much like Disneyland, but it's different and a bit disorientating at first. I forget who all is going, but if you are just adults, you also have all sorts of clubs in the evening to visit as well. But if you are with kids, you should try to do Cirque, and check out the disney quest. Both in DTD. Get the vacation planning DVD. It will show you lots of stuff.
