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Yeah meanwhile i called 1-407-wdisney. About $3500 next October for 4 adults for 6 days on grounds value resort and 4 day park hopper passes for each.
Used to be fairly cheap to go, IF you knew how to do it, but wow now!! Plus food, at least a grand each ( not the food, total). Actually i guess that since it used to cost $300-500, i guess for 16 years, maybe thats not bad....
We ARE all over 55. ( well i just turned 55 , im the youngest of the group, lol).
Thanks mathjak....
What say others,? Any one?
Thanks, have a Magical day...
We live in Florida and are fairly good at navigating Disney.
I'd stay off-property if you don't anticipate using your rooms too much. I'm assuming you're flying? If so, you'll need to stay somewhere with transportation included or plan on using an Uber. (Keep in mind that if you stay off-property, you will pay $25/day to park at the parks themselves.) You can also rent a timeshare condo for about $100 or $150 per night some weeks. At busier times of the year, of course you will pay more.
You probably don't need hopper passes. We almost never go to more than one park in one day (we have annual passes, so we can "hop" if we want to). In my opinion, it wastes time traveling from one park to the next. Just get the basic passes and plan to spend one full day at each park. Plan on taking your time and enjoying each park, then make peace with possibly having extra time (at Animal Kingdom, for example) or not being able to see absolutely everything (at Magic Kingdom and Epcot). Some people enjoy having the choice to go to Epcot for dinner each night, but I personally don't think it's worth it.
The MagicBands are the worst part of the changes, IMO. The old fast pass system was excellent, and this new system stinks. It causes the wait times to balloon for rides like Spaceship Earth, which never used to have a queue longer than 15 minutes or so. So annoying! If you stay on-property, though, you'll be able to make your selections 60 days in advance. Otherwise, I'm not sure how it works. As annual passholders, we can make ours 30 days in advance, but I don't know if non-passholders staying off-property can do this. Anyway, you log onto the website and choose which three rides you'd like to reserve a spot on. There are limitations; for example, you can only choose one "tier one" ride in most cases.
And yes, the crowds have gotten worse. As expensive as it is, people do flock there! Weekends are the busiest and if there are special events going on, it will be very busy. Google "walt disney world crowd calendar" along with the month you are going and it will show you when crowds are anticipated to be the highest. The best times to go are after Labor Day (though it will still be hot and rainy) through the middle of October, early January (after kids have gone back to school), and some other weeks during the winter months that don't correspond to holidays or school breaks.
We have been so many times I have lost count. We will actually be there in a couple of weeks. A lot and I mean a lot has changed since 2002.
Magic Bands are just RFID chipped bracelets that have an identification number that is read when they scan it. You have to set up an account with My Disney Experience. It is accessible both online and through the Disney World app. You will need the app so you might as well install it on your phone and set your account up now. When you make an onsite resort reservation, you can log into your account and select what color magic bands you want. They will link them to your account when they are shipped. If you buy a package with tickets, they will show up in your account automatically. If you buy them separately, you will have to link them to your account by either scanning them with the app on your phone or manually entering the number. You have to do all of that so at 60 days prior to your arrival if you are staying onsite at one of their resorts, you can make your fastpass reservations. If you are staying offsite, you can't make them until 30 days out and you must have the tickets linked to your account. You will need to be sitting at the computer at 7:00AM Eastern ready to make your fastpasses because if you wait even one hour, the most popular attractions will already be gone. This all means that you need to decide in advance what parks you are visiting each day and have a plan together for what fastpasses you would like. It is extremely aggravating and I hate everything about it. You can make your dining reservations up to 180 days in advance. Like fastpasses, if there is a popular place you want to eat, you need to make the reservations at the 180 day out mark because if you wait, the most popular places and popular time slots will be gone. We actually do not visit very much anymore because of all the prescheduling and rigid structure you have to follow just to go on a vacation there now.
They charge to park at the resorts now. It is complete BS in my opinion and makes me angry. Yet another reason I do not visit much anymore.
Right now the crowd levels have been high even though they have made it so complex. They do a lot of marketing and have been attracting a lot of first time visitors through discount promotions. You can just about always get a promotional discount if you book in advance. As has been mentioned, due to the new fastpass plus setup, all the attractions have waits. Attractions that you used to be able to walk right on just about always have a wait time now. It is mostly because people that haven't been before and don't know any better, make fastpass reservations for attractions that really don't need them. That results in a lot of people going through the fastpass line which slows down the standby walk up line. It is aggravating.
As for dining, I mentioned the reservations 180 days in advance and that is for sit down dining. The prices on those vary so you would need to look up the pricing and menus if you are concerned about the pricing. There are dining plans you can add to your reservation that covers all of your meals but we never use them because the include far more food and items than we ever consume. Unless you like to have sit down restaurant meals every day and you always order desert, it will cost less to just pay for the meals at the restaurants. They have a ton of walk up counter service restaurants. They have the typical hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken fingers and all of that with some having location specific items such as pizza, hot dogs, etc. Basically, the food is still the same as 2002 so you should be familiar with that with the exception of newer restaurants that have been added.
Right now there is construction everywhere. They are adding new attractions, building hotels, working on roads, you name it. So there is a lot going on around there right now but everything is still open and running.
I don't mean to discourage you from going. The rides and attractions are great. You should just be prepared for all of the time and effort you are going to have to put into planning and scheduling and then following that schedule when you are there. You may find yourself feeling like you are running from appointment to appointment all day while you are there which can make it stressful if you let it.
We went to WDW in ‘14. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, within the park. It was costly, yes, but we felt it was well worth it. We didn’t need to rent a car at all. My son came down with strep throat on our second day there and the people at the hotel arranged an appointment at a nearby clinic, provided a shuttle, called us to check how we were doing, and helped us reschedule some reservations. In short, they were great.
We also hired a person to arrange all of our reservations and fast pass bookings. It worked perfectly, from the airport, throughout the parks, right through departure. We waited in very few lines more than 20 minutes for nearly the whole week we were there, and it was a busy week (Feb third week). Her business is called Help around the Mouse. Highly recommend.
Also, see Easywdw.com. Don’t forget to read the forums there.
We generally go every 16-18 months.
Here are some changes. Good and bad
1) fast passes are electronic. If you stay onsite now, you can "reserve " 3 rides at a time.
2). Disney springs. The old downtown disney has transformed
3) a lot of things are now up charges. Dessert parties, viewing sites.
Also, there are tons of way to keep your cost down. I took my family of 5 down in August for a week and spent ~5k. Stayed at Old key West in a 2 bedroom villa and had park hoppers. That was less than a cruise
Definitely consider using a Disney Travel agent. There's no extra cost to you (the Mouse pays them) and they can help you navigate the maze of options to help you find the right trip for your family. There are probably several in your area...just within my circle of friends of friends I know of 2 that do this as a side gig.
Yeah meanwhile i called 1-407-wdisney. About $3500 next October for 4 adults for 6 days on grounds value resort and 4 day park hopper passes for each.
Used to be fairly cheap to go, IF you knew how to do it, but wow now!! Plus food, at least a grand each ( not the food, total). Actually i guess that since it used to cost $300-500, i guess for 16 years, maybe thats not bad....
We ARE all over 55. ( well i just turned 55 , im the youngest of the group, lol).
Thanks mathjak....
What say others,? Any one?
Thanks, have a Magical day...
We are annual passholders and pay about 500 a year for our passes and go to the parks A LOT
Hotel rooms on the average are 200 to 300 and night and we generally stay 1 to 2 nights. Yes, food is expensive, but it’s an amusement park what do you expect?
You don’t want to pay the parking fee at a resort, but do you realize the resort gives you free transportation so you’re not paying a parking fee at the park?
I thought you could plan ALL your rides around fast passes. Bummer its only 3. Its also a bummer that that all ads to the regular wait times.
I guess i used to know how to get it done cheaply enough, that i don't know now. Booking direct with them is going to be costly comparatively.
Wed go the last week of February or so. Flyi g would be safer than driving, as we are in NY. When we webt in 2002 it was an ice storm across the Carolina's, so we had time and extended our stay touring Florida. Cant do that now...even 7 days off will be hard to come by.
We are all seniors and the two handicapped ones ( me, my OH) have learned to schedule in a day or two of just rest from walking on any vacation.
I thought you could plan ALL your rides around fast passes. Bummer its only 3. Its also a bummer that that all ads to the regular wait times.
I guess i used to know how to get it done cheaply enough, that i don't know now. Booking direct with them is going to be costly comparatively.
Wed go the last week of February or so. Flyi g would be safer than driving, as we are in NY. When we webt in 2002 it was an ice storm across the Carolina's, so we had time and extended our stay touring Florida. Cant do that now...even 7 days off will be hard to come by.
We are all seniors and the two handicapped ones ( me, my OH) have learned to schedule in a day or two of just rest from walking on any vacation.
Thanks guys
Any other info would be appreciated!!
Have a Magical day!
So you can get more fast passes but you have to use the original three before you are allowed to get more. It's actually not that bad. Of course what you want to do is get the fast pass for the top headliners. Now I don't do rollercoasters so for me it's a bit easier.
So for example at Magic kindgom, we'll go for a fp on 7 dwarfs mine train (new since you've been) HM and POTC. We try to get there early and my kids will hit space mountain first thing.
Now even though it has gotten crowdier (lol is that a word) the last week in February is a lighter time depending on when they schedule the princess marathon. the marathon brings in crowds so avoid that if you can.
we were there in August and outside of 2 major rides, FOP (also new since you've been) in Ak and ToT in HS every thing else had wait times between 30-40 minutes which isn't bad. even test track was around 40 minutes. single person rider was 20 minutes. these were all later afternoon around 2 pm
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so for me it's a bit easier.
