boogiemom
11-16-2010, 11:56 AM
I much appreciated all of the info./tips/suggestions I received from the fabulous members of this board. I'm adding my Disney feedback for anyone who may find it useful.
We stayed off-property at Lake Buena Vista Resort and Spa. $120-ish/night for a 3-bedroom/2 bath suite = 2 kings, 2 full, pull-out sofabed, full kitchen, laundry. We were happy with the property, accomodated all 5 of us nicely. We found it comforting to be able to leave the Disney property each day and get away from the craziness of it all. We'd definitely do it that way again. Hotel provided free shuttle but we had a rental car so no idea how that worked.
According to all crowd predictors we were there during very low crowd times. Most days were listed as less than 1 on a 0-10 scale. In my opinion, still way too many people. Lines for anything popular were still 25-min. + and we followed recommended touring plans and hit the best rides first and arrived at/before open. Can not imagine being there during a "busy" time. Would.not.do.it. We spent the majority of our day waiting and waiting and waiting.
Magic Kingdom had the largest number of rides that my kids (boys 9 yrs. and 5 yrs.) were interested in. Unfortunately they are at all points in the park. There were literally a handful they were impressed by and the rest were really dated and just not exciting. We rode nearly every ride on the first day because we opened and closed the park. It was a Christmas party night and that was by far the best time to ride the rides. Everyone else was enjoying the shows, parades, etc. This was the only time we had short lines on the "good" rides. My boys chose Magic Kingdom as the park to repeat at the end of the week. They had literally 4 or 5 rides they wanted to ride again...only 4 or 5. We were there before the park opened and didn't get out of there until after 1p. We didn't eat, watch a show or parade or anything else.
Epcot was fun in the rides section. We loved Soarin'. We had fun on Test Track. Not too many rides here. Lots of shows, movies. Did the countries, Kidcot stuff, passport stamps, Kim Possible missions. Wouldn't do it again. My boys were happy to leave and so were we. The big rides were fun but there were only a few. Opened and closed this park.
Hollywood Studios. The only park we spent less than a day in. We did all the big rides thanks to Fastpasses and being there at rope drop. "Low crowd day" but p.a.c.k.e.d at anything desirable. My kids were not interested in shows and this park if chock full of them. We saw a couple.
Animal Kingdom. I liked this park. Lots of shade and areas were the crowds were spread out. Did the Safari first thing and saw lots of animals. Did all of the rides, other than the little kid stuff. Opened and closed this park. Again, lots of shows, which my boys are not interested in. Did a few. Did everything we wanted to do.
Did character meals. Garden Grove, Ohana, Garden Grill, Crystal Palace. Ohana's was good. We'd recommend it. Lots of character interaction. Staff was upbeat. Parade was fun. Wouldn't do any of the others again. Very limited character interaction. Unimpressive food. All character meals crazy expensive. 3 adults, 2 kids $150 - $200. Glad it saved us time trying to track down character autographs. Had other character meals scheduled but cancelled them due to lack of interest after hitting the first few.
We hit the ground running every day. The kids enjoyed the experience but were happy to get home. At the end of the week, when given the option of spending the last day in one of the parks, they chose to do a few hours in a park and go back to the hotel to swim. Weather was great. We took advantage of autograph hunting, pressed pennies, pin trading, epcot passports, etc. These things were the most memorable for my boys, I think. They made for fun interactions with characters and cast members.
In short, DH and I are glad we "put the check in the box" for Disney. We're glad we did it. Not looking to do it again. We had fun but I guess it's just not our thing. We were all crazy happy to get home. Maybe we are all spoiled at home... :).
We stayed off-property at Lake Buena Vista Resort and Spa. $120-ish/night for a 3-bedroom/2 bath suite = 2 kings, 2 full, pull-out sofabed, full kitchen, laundry. We were happy with the property, accomodated all 5 of us nicely. We found it comforting to be able to leave the Disney property each day and get away from the craziness of it all. We'd definitely do it that way again. Hotel provided free shuttle but we had a rental car so no idea how that worked.
According to all crowd predictors we were there during very low crowd times. Most days were listed as less than 1 on a 0-10 scale. In my opinion, still way too many people. Lines for anything popular were still 25-min. + and we followed recommended touring plans and hit the best rides first and arrived at/before open. Can not imagine being there during a "busy" time. Would.not.do.it. We spent the majority of our day waiting and waiting and waiting.
Magic Kingdom had the largest number of rides that my kids (boys 9 yrs. and 5 yrs.) were interested in. Unfortunately they are at all points in the park. There were literally a handful they were impressed by and the rest were really dated and just not exciting. We rode nearly every ride on the first day because we opened and closed the park. It was a Christmas party night and that was by far the best time to ride the rides. Everyone else was enjoying the shows, parades, etc. This was the only time we had short lines on the "good" rides. My boys chose Magic Kingdom as the park to repeat at the end of the week. They had literally 4 or 5 rides they wanted to ride again...only 4 or 5. We were there before the park opened and didn't get out of there until after 1p. We didn't eat, watch a show or parade or anything else.
Epcot was fun in the rides section. We loved Soarin'. We had fun on Test Track. Not too many rides here. Lots of shows, movies. Did the countries, Kidcot stuff, passport stamps, Kim Possible missions. Wouldn't do it again. My boys were happy to leave and so were we. The big rides were fun but there were only a few. Opened and closed this park.
Hollywood Studios. The only park we spent less than a day in. We did all the big rides thanks to Fastpasses and being there at rope drop. "Low crowd day" but p.a.c.k.e.d at anything desirable. My kids were not interested in shows and this park if chock full of them. We saw a couple.
Animal Kingdom. I liked this park. Lots of shade and areas were the crowds were spread out. Did the Safari first thing and saw lots of animals. Did all of the rides, other than the little kid stuff. Opened and closed this park. Again, lots of shows, which my boys are not interested in. Did a few. Did everything we wanted to do.
Did character meals. Garden Grove, Ohana, Garden Grill, Crystal Palace. Ohana's was good. We'd recommend it. Lots of character interaction. Staff was upbeat. Parade was fun. Wouldn't do any of the others again. Very limited character interaction. Unimpressive food. All character meals crazy expensive. 3 adults, 2 kids $150 - $200. Glad it saved us time trying to track down character autographs. Had other character meals scheduled but cancelled them due to lack of interest after hitting the first few.
We hit the ground running every day. The kids enjoyed the experience but were happy to get home. At the end of the week, when given the option of spending the last day in one of the parks, they chose to do a few hours in a park and go back to the hotel to swim. Weather was great. We took advantage of autograph hunting, pressed pennies, pin trading, epcot passports, etc. These things were the most memorable for my boys, I think. They made for fun interactions with characters and cast members.
In short, DH and I are glad we "put the check in the box" for Disney. We're glad we did it. Not looking to do it again. We had fun but I guess it's just not our thing. We were all crazy happy to get home. Maybe we are all spoiled at home... :).