Disney questions (posted here for traffic)

[gatorsmom]

Super exciting about the possibility of meeting your birth mother and birth aunt! I hope that works out for you.

We just got back from WDW so I can share my experiences that relate to your WDW questions. We had no problems at all with food--both counter service and table service (reservations made 60 days out). We would mobile order our food from the counter service spots and times were usually available right away or in about 30 minutes. Easy and fast. We had a wonderful experiences at Skipper Canteen (MK) and Space 220 (new Epcot restaurant). Great food and service at both restaurants!

Harmonious is lots of fun--my two teens both enjoyed it. The dinner just allows you to avoid having to hold a spot for an hour prior. If she has friends going I would go for sure! And while you are there make sure to ride the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. It is amazing. My favorite ride ever!

There are some special tips/tricks regarding Genie + that you can learn by subscribing to Touring Plans and then reading their message board posting about Genie +. Saved us hours and hours and we got to ride everything we wanted to and avoid lines. The information goes beyond what you can get anywhere else IME and I stumbled upon it by accident while exploring the boards there. The Touring Plans people also have a book (Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2022) that has tear out pages in the back for each park with food and ride recommendations. That would be an easy way to hit the highlights without having to do a lot of research.

As far as Star Wars--both my teens are big fans. We had reservations to Oga's Cantina, my daughter built a light saber at Savi's Workshop ($$$ but she enjoyed it and it is a whole process with ceremony included), we took lots of pictures (magic shots included where the park photographers put things like Yoda or fighter jets into the picture), and rode Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler's Run. You can buy a lightning lane for Rise at 7:00 am the day you have a reservation for HS and avoid that long line. We rope dropped Smuggler's but that was because we had so many rides that day we wanted to ride--along with so many reservations to make.

If you like BBQ, the Polite Pig at Disney Springs is so good!

Hope you have a very special trip with your daughter!

Split stay universal and Disney. Uber or Lyft will be fine. Might be some surge pricing but you need to pay for parking plus rental costs- it’ll be a wash. We used a car service (there are plenty around…you might like something like a Mears Black Car) to and from the airport to avoid surge prices (we were arriving after midnight).
Use mobile ordering for quick serve places. Be smart and book a pick up time at 7am when you’re doing your Genies.
I don’t think I’d buy any books when there are endless free websites and blogs. The info changes too fast.
The dinner package sounds good to me. I almost booked one for me. I didn’t love Harmonious though so was fine missing it. But, I hate staking out spots for shows so if you plan to watch, go with the guaranteed good seating.


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Your posts have been so helpful. Thank you! I've been referring to them and jgenie's all day. Thank you for typing this out!!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Uber picks up at the airport. They changed at least 5 years ago. Be sure and get the Lyft app too so you can pick the cheapest.


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[gatorsmom]

Uber picks up at the airport. They changed at least 5 years ago. Be sure and get the Lyft app too so you can pick the cheapest.


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Huh. Weird. Two of the blogs I was reading said it was still not available. I thought they were recently posts, like in the last year. I'll have to be more careful about checking blog post dates.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Huh. Weird. Two of the blogs I was reading said it was still not available. I thought they were recently posts, like in the last year. I'll have to be more careful about checking blog post dates.

Blogs really misled me on some stuff. They need some fact checking! 2 of them insisted that because I was staying at Dolphin (only a kinda on-site hotel) that I couldn’t book all my dining for the whole trip on day 1 so I’d have to wake up each morning to book. Wrong. I could book my whole trip. But 2 of the blogs were super insistent. These were recent posts too!


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[mommytoalyssa]

Uber picks up at the airport. They changed at least 5 years ago. Be sure and get the Lyft app too so you can pick the cheapest.


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Our travel agent said she's found Lyft to be less expensive than Uber in her experience and based on feedback from her clients. Unfortunately, parking for hotel guests is no longer free (b/t $15-$25 a night based on the resort) but it is free to park at the different Disney Parks for resort guests.

[klwa]

One quick comment on the park tickets: Will there be discounted tickets available through the dance group at a later time? We're in Orlando this coming week for dance nationals. Discounted tickets through the competition didn't go on sale until 2 months ago or something like that. (We aren't going to the parks for this trip, so I don't remember specifics.) I DO know that I checked park availability a day or two after they went on sale to see if that would have been a problem and saw that we could have gone to each park at least once during the week we'll be down there.

[gatorsmom]

One quick comment on the park tickets: Will there be discounted tickets available through the dance group at a later time? We're in Orlando this coming week for dance nationals. Discounted tickets through the competition didn't go on sale until 2 months ago or something like that. (We aren't going to the parks for this trip, so I don't remember specifics.) I DO know that I checked park availability a day or two after they went on sale to see if that would have been a problem and saw that we could have gone to each park at least once during the week we'll be down there.

The tour group organizing our trip is buying the park tickets for us later and I believe the cost is reduced since we are buying through them. How much it’s reduced, I’m not sure.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Our travel agent said she's found Lyft to be less expensive than Uber in her experience and based on feedback from her clients. Unfortunately, parking for hotel guests is no longer free (b/t $15-$25 a night based on the resort) but it is free to park at the different Disney Parks for resort guests.

Yep. Always been cheaper for us too and they usually have promo codes good for new customers. We prefer Lyft the company more than Uber so it all works out.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

The tour group organizing our trip is buying the park tickets for us later and I believe the cost is reduced since we are buying through them. How much it’s reduced, I’m not sure.

Make sure they’re on the ball with park reservations. Without tickets in hand you’re at their mercy that they book everything on time and that you don’t miss your dining window because they don’t link everything in time. Our marching band was just down there (why we went) and the staff and kids only got their tickets when pulling up to the park.


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[nfceagles]

Make sure they’re on the ball with park reservations. Without tickets in hand you’re at their mercy that they book everything on time and that you don’t miss your dining window because they don’t link everything in time. Our marching band was just down there (why we went) and the staff and kids only got their tickets when pulling up to the park.


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This! Park tickets don’t do you any good if you don’t have a park reservation, especially if some parks are booked up. When we went in April, all parks were booked except Epcot the whole week before we even arrived. I had reservations already, but due to flight delays we missed our Magic Kingdom day and there was no getting one later in the week.


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