Topic: Disney Theme Parks

[Chakan]

Stop arguing with me when we think the same thing!!!

Hopefully Kesey will turn up and explain so I can stop second guessing him

I'm not arguing mate Just re-enforcing the issue.

Sure Kesey will be a long in a minute.

[adopted_scouser]

Just been doing some pricing up (I can nowhere near afford it at the moment, but a good tip).  Disney hotels are really convenient for Disney stuff, but expensive.  It would be an idea to stay a week in a Disney Hotel, dedicate all of that week to doing Disney stuff, then spending the rest of your stay down International Drive or somewhere cheaper.

[Brian Blessed]

Bu that's the thing its supposed to be as far removed from reality as possible. Where young people (lets not kid ourselves Disney world isn't a place for very small children, mickey mouse is a 6 foot bloody rat) to immerse themselves in a fantasy world where everyone is a princess and they can see a castle, "meet" the characters they see on tv, and just have a fun time.

Honestly I enjoyed some of the other aspects to it, but not the ones catering to young people. And I was only there for a couple of days.

My one year old and 2 1/2 year old disagree with you

[TheKid.]

My one year old and 2 1/2 year old disagree with you

As would my (then) 9 month old. Although he preferred Disney Cruise Line

[TheKid.]

Oh and when I go again I'll be back to offsite.  Wasn't wowed with the experience last time onsite (Saratoga Springs Resort) although again that could have been after having just stepped off their superior Cruise Line.

I'd rather pay the around £100 a night at the Waldorf (which is actually even on Disney Property) than a Value or even a Moderate

[Chakan]

My one year old and 2 1/2 year old disagree with you

As would my (then) 9 month old. Although he preferred Disney Cruise Line

Ok I was paraphrasing Robin Williams and haven't been to Disney world with really small children.

[TheKid.]

I do actually agree a bit, he won't remember any of it but it was more for us to see him there

[kesey]

Probably not. Then again to each their own

Mickey Mouse is a freak.

Kidding. I have my reasons .

Each to their own though and if it makes people happy then Iam happy for them.

[TheKid.]

It's a pretty polarising place/company is disney.

I love it, some hate it. Nothing wrong with either view.

Oh and Mickey Mouse is a twat, it's all about Donald Duck

[Brian Blessed]

It's a pretty polarising place/company is disney.

I love it, some hate it. Nothing wrong with either view.

Oh and Mickey Mouse is a twat, it's all about Donald Duck

You're dead to me.

[TheKid.]

Mickey is stuck up. No fun. Squeaky clean.

Donald is a nutter. Like my son which why I think they get on

[Brian Blessed]

Mickey is stuck up. No fun. Squeaky clean.

Donald is a nutter. Like my son which why I think they get on

dont get me wrong, I love Donald. But Mickey is great! He looks nice, and on every Disney cruise I've been on we've been attacked by pirates. Mickey has saved us every time.

[TomMorganLittle]

dont get me wrong, I love Donald. But Mickey is great! He looks nice, and on every Disney cruise I've been on we've been attacked by pirates. Mickey has saved us every time.

[El Phes]

Need to come back to this thread!

[adopted_scouser]

dont get me wrong, I love Donald. But Mickey is great! He looks nice, and on every Disney cruise I've been on we've been attacked by pirates. Mickey has saved us every time.

Did you get any kind of refund?  Shocking that being attacked by pirates is such a common occurance.

[El Phes]

So, I've read this whole thread...thanks for all the tips and ideas. I think I need to start looking at other websites too.

We're going, hopefully in 2015/16/17. Really not sure. Thinking of at least 2 weeks, but I know 3 would be much better.

Did a very quick search on Virgin Holidays....13 nights, 2nd August 2015, 2 adults, 3 kids (11, 9, 6), 1 room at a 3 star hotel (close to Celebration - 417 / Old Town?), return flights from Heathrow, car hire included (basic car insurance) all for £1100 per person. So, £5500 to start and then 14 days ticket to WDW (£1486) and 14 days ticket to SeaWorld / Aquatica / Busch Gardens (£470), so pretty much £7,500 for a family of 5 for 2 weeks. Decent price or can I really drill this down a bit?

Where can I do this all separately? Flights I'm ok with, but park tickets and hotels? Cheers

[El Phes]

Thanks mate. I'm purely thinking of the kids though, they will be 11, 9 and 6. Where is the Magic Kingdom? (the big Disney Castle!) We can't go all that way and not see that thing! cheers

[El Lobo]

If you're paying for tickets for all the parks, you should have a look at Discovery Cove (swimming with dolphins). You can do a day there, and then Aquatica, and you have all food and drinks all day there plus the dolphins obviously. We went last year and I'm sure we were looking at about £450pp for all the Disney, Universal and Seaworld parks not including Discovery Cove but only about £510pp with (if you work it right) and its £200 odd on its own. And defo worth it!

[Motty]

Pretty sure (3 years ago ) in Thomas Cook you could buy a all in one ticket that lets you into WDW ,Universal and Sea world/Aquatica ,can't remember how much it cost though ?

Never could be bothered to go all the way to Busch Gardens as I always thought it was more for teenagers/adults rather than younger kids like you have so imo I'd rather go to Universal as there's LOADS of smart stuff for your age kids there.

Edit: that £450 per ticket sounds about right to me Lobo.

[Barneylfc∗]

So is this solely for Florida, or can Paris be discussed aswell?

[Motty]

So is this solely for Florida, or can Paris be discussed aswell?

Don't see why not mate ,I think the Magic kingdom and studios in Paris are the exact same as in Orlando aren't they ? I'm sure some people would of been to both to offer some advice.

[Crosby Nick]

So is this solely for Florida, or can Paris be discussed aswell?

My Paris chat not good enough for you Barney?

Ask away if you have any more questions though. As someone who had never been before but was pleasantly surprised by it I should be able to help!

[Barneylfc∗]

My Paris chat not good enough for you Barney?

Ask away if you have any more questions though. As someone who had never been before but was pleasantly surprised by it I should be able to help!

didn't notice this thread before 

Question 1 of what will be a few.

We have booked through Thomas c*nt, I mean Cook. Can we book the meal plans in advance even though we haven't booked through Disneyworld?

[Barneylfc∗]

We've got park tickets as part of the package. Not certain which park though. I assume these get you on any ride/into any attraction, and isn't just literally entry to the park?

[Crosby Nick]

Question 1. No idea! Not sure who we booked with. Glad to be of help! I booked the restaurants and timings in advance but my wife (the organised one!) had already booked it all and had sorted out the half board booking.

The park tickets get you into both Disneyland and Disney Studios. Worth going to both. You can use this on some rides to get Fast Track tickets. Basically means that if there's quite a queue, you can scan the pass at a machine and it'll give you a time later that day to come back and instead of joining rhe back of the queue you go pretty much straight through. It's pretty handy although you need to plan ahead a bit as the really popular ones can mean they don't give you a time til hours later.

[lauz]

Some restaurants are REALLY popular that it can be fully booked 180s beforehand, which devastated me, but not sure how you do it with thomas cook in all honesty.

[TheKid.]

DisneyWorld restaurants can sometimes be booked up that far in advance (though it's only usually a few unbelievably popular ones - Be Our Guest springs to mind), but I don't think its the case in Paris.
Not been to Disneyland Paris in over 3 years. Would love to get back there sometime soon.

Got a week at Animal Kingdom Lodge booked for next August before a cruise though so shouldn't complain too much

[lauz]

DisneyWorld restaurants can sometimes be booked up that far in advance (though it's only usually a few unbelievably popular ones - Be Our Guest springs to mind), but I don't think its the case in Paris.
Not been to Disneyland Paris in over 3 years. Would love to get back there sometime soon.

Got a week at Animal Kingdom Lodge booked for next August before a cruise though so shouldn't complain too much

you seem to go every year!

I'm hoping to go on a disney cruise in july going round Denmark and russia etc

[TheKid.]

Yeah it's definitely our thing.
Is that the cruise from Dover? We priced it up and even with a 10% discount for booking on board, it would have been $13,000 for the three of us!!

[lauz]

Yeah it's definitely our thing.
Is that the cruise from Dover? We priced it up and even with a 10% discount for booking on board, it would have been $13,000 for the three of us!!

yeah,

My brother is a first mate on that cruise so we're getting discount etc otherwise would never afford it!

[El Phes]

So is this solely for Florida, or can Paris be discussed aswell?

Personally, I think a new 'Paris' thread should be opened. If this was 20 pages long, I really wouldn't want to read 10 pages of Paris info. Just my opinion.

[TheKid.]

So, I've read this whole thread...thanks for all the tips and ideas. I think I need to start looking at other websites too.

We're going, hopefully in 2015/16/17. Really not sure. Thinking of at least 2 weeks, but I know 3 would be much better.

Did a very quick search on Virgin Holidays....13 nights, 2nd August 2015, 2 adults, 3 kids (11, 9, 6), 1 room at a 3 star hotel (close to Celebration - 417 / Old Town?), return flights from Heathrow, car hire included (basic car insurance) all for £1100 per person. So, £5500 to start and then 14 days ticket to WDW (£1486) and 14 days ticket to SeaWorld / Aquatica / Busch Gardens (£470), so pretty much £7,500 for a family of 5 for 2 weeks. Decent price or can I really drill this down a bit?

Where can I do this all separately? Flights I'm ok with, but park tickets and hotels? Cheers

I've always found Virgin Holidays to be expensive but that doesn't seem a bad deal. Just a quick look on Expedia and flights alone (indirect at that!!) were £4500

[El Phes]

I've always found Virgin Holidays to be expensive but that doesn't seem a bad deal. Just a quick look on Expedia and flights alone (indirect at that!!) were £4500

Strangely, if I extended the holiday from 14 days to 21 days, it raised the bill another £400 which I thought was an even better deal!

[TheKid.]

Yeah it shouldn't put it up by much as the hotel is the cheap bit and the flights will be about the same.
Seems much cheaper from Heathrow than Manchester too which is good for you

[El Phes]

yeah, cheers mate

[TheKid.]

What hotel was the quote for?

[El Phes]

Pretty much cheapest I could find in a 'fairly decent' location, but not really that close to the parks?

Comfort Suites Maingate East, Kissimmee (1 bedroom)

As we're a family of 5 and 2 bedrooms would suit us better, would a 'house' or a villa be cheaper / better value?

[TheKid.]

Yeah I reckon a villa would be better. We're just a family of 3 so have only ever used hotels.

Something like the Sheraton Vistana Village might be a good bet

[adopted_scouser]

Pretty much cheapest I could find in a 'fairly decent' location, but not really that close to the parks?

Comfort Suites Maingate East, Kissimmee (1 bedroom)

As we're a family of 5 and 2 bedrooms would suit us better, would a 'house' or a villa be cheaper / better value?

Kissimmee is cheap, but you pretty much need a car, as public transport to and from there can be a bit of a pain.  So factor in the price of a hire car too, and see if staying closer to the parks actually really works out THAT different in price.

[TheKid.]

His quote already factored in hire car. I wouldn't go to Orlando without a car anyway. We are staying at a Disney hotel and still having a car