Disney Hell

[Imindisneyhell]

”enjoying” a once in a lifetime trip to Disney Florida. We thought we were being so clever going the week before our Easter school holidays. The weather for March looked perfect (it is to be fair) but we had absolutely no idea it was spring break here and the travel agent never mentioned it either.

the queues and the crowds have been horrific. Some rides had wait times of over 4 hours 😡

my kids have enjoyed seeing the characters etc but we’ve actually managed to do a small fraction of the rides that we wanted to do

I’m aware of Genie + and Lightning Lane but having already spent over £3k on tickets for a family of 4 - never mind what we’ve already spent on flights and accommodation it sticks in the gullet to be asked to pay yet more money

plus every single car park charges a parking fee or $30 ($55 if you want to park a bit nearer to the entrance 😡)

I mean how fucking grabby and greedy can one company be.

my children have enjoyed it but absolutely insisted on not going out today. They’ve been in and out of the pool all day and also watching Netflix.

we fly back in a few days but honestly I just feel robbed (quite literally)

how do people do this more than once or every year? (I know of at least one couple with their child who does this trip at least every 18 months). I never want to come back 😂

Yes it does. But it's not necessary if you plan what you're doing.

We used to go every other year in The 00s and it wasn't too bad

Fast passes were free.

Bush Gdns was also good value

Dollar exchange was much better.

Food was always expensive in the parks with tiny portions

Don't think I have the stamina to go now

Ah yes, memories of the free fast passes. They were amazing and we hardly waited in line for anything.

OP, I appreciate you had high expectations for the trip. We go to Orlando once, often twice per year as we love it so much. If you can afford it, it'd be worth getting Genie+ every other day because it really will make a difference to your experience. I understand you've already spent thousands, so why should you spend more when you've already paid for a park ticket? I really do get it. But it will enhance your Disney visits, so it might be worth sucking up (again, only if you are able to afford it).

Yes, this is exactly how we used to do it pre-covid, and we always had a great time. We did the February half-term and booked Discovery Cove for the Presidents Day as it was capped. Staying onsite and having jetlag on our side meant that we were there for magic hour before the park officially opens, so got to do more rides and quieter queues. We used Disney transport or taxis.

I have looked into doing it again, and the prices are now ridiculous. I'd rather do Paris a couple of times instead.

When fast passes were free why didn't everyone get them?

And

i can't get my head around standing in a queue for 4 hours to go on a ride.

We did Disneyland in Anaheim when we were road tripping in Cali a couple of years ago and treated it like a trip to Alton Towers. Went for the day, got a local deal on tickets, did Genie+, didn’t book any experiences, stayed on the app and went on rides as and when the queue times looked ok, filled in the rest of the day exploring, going on the train, grabbing snacks, shopping, arcades etc. it was a long, tiring day, nowhere to sit, no shade, weird Disney adults everywhere, we were ready to leave by 6pm so didn’t stay for fireworks even. It was fine but stressful and exhausting, and so so expensive, basically spent $1k for the day. I enjoy Paulton’s Park in Bournemouth more!

They used to run out and the machines got covered up but still seemed to work.

I think they gave out a certain amount with a time you could ride

If you have a car do a day at Kennedy Space Centre and go to Gatorland.
We did disney 3 times with ours. Last went in 2016. We have promised the youngest we will take them again but jeez if you just do disney it's mental.

The numbers were limited and I am sure you could only book 3 at a time. Once you’d checked in for your third, you could go onto the app and see if there had been cancellations, other fast passes later in the day.

I am going from memory as I haven’t been this side of Covid, you booked your 3 fast passes 30 days out so that’s when extra magic hours and crowd calendars came in handy so you could work out the best days to do what parks. Edited to add in, we never queued 4 hours when we went. Nothing like it. October 2019.

We have two disabled in family and presuming it should make things somewhat bearable in terms of queues… but still anxious about booking and it being too much to cope with… so bookmarking this thread.

Any views comparison Disney Florida vs Disney Paris??

Also if in Florida how many days needed for Disney? And where else is good provision for disabled people?

Sorry to slightly hijack the thread but thinking it might help all to know where is reasonably well organised and accessible.

You cannot compare Paris to Florida at all.

You could easily do 2 weeks in Florida and not see all of Disney.

You can do Paris in 3/4 days easily.

@Kitesinthesky have you read up on the DAS pass for those with disabilities? It will help you with queues massively.

For me, there’s no comparison between Paris & Florida, I’d rather go to Florida less often than more regular trips to Paris, I’ve never queued more than about 30 mins in Florida (down to very detailed planning) but we did a spontaneous day in Paris and queued well over an hour for a ride that wasn’t even a headliner, smokers everywhere, staff less than magical.

Id say at least 2 days for each park, plus rest days. At least 14 days minimum in my opinion especially for your first/only visit.

Oh what a shame. Disney world really does require a log of planning in advance. It takes a considerable amount of time to get the most out of the holiday.

the cost is crazy nowadays. When we first went as a family of four 15 years ago we had two weeks at the animal kingdom lodge with park tickets, free disney dining and $400 Disney credit to spend in the parks. It cost £3200. Ok the kids were five and three but even so.

hope you can enjoy your final days

Please please don't go to Discovery Cove or SeaWorld - the cruelty to the creatures held captive there is just abhorrent. You are supporting and validating it by going there. Those dolphins and whales should never ever be held captive and made to perform for humans. It's a totally cruel, inhumane and we haven't done it in this country for probably the best part of 40 years. Please please don't go, just think about it a bit....

And you seriously didn't realise any of this before booking your holiday?

Caveat emptor! If you'd just posted a message on the MN travel board, or done an advanced search of the many, many posts that are frequently made asking questions about when and how to do a trip to Disneyworld, you'd have known all this in advance.

In future, do some research and don't just go and book a holiday with a travel agent without it. They are there to sell holidays and if you go in and say 'My family of four wants to go to Disneyworld at the week before Easter', they aren't going to try and dissuade you, because they are paid commission on every holiday they sell, so it really isn't remotely in their interest to put you off!

Have gone to Orlando I think around 17 times over thirty years and still haven't seen it all as constantly changing/evolving.

Disney holidays need to be planned like a military operation. You have to work out which parks are busy on which days, which rides are busy at which times, you have to know how to use genie+ and 'play the slots' well and how best to park hop. Same applies to restaurants and shows. You can do it all without hardly any queuing but you have to be very clued up on how it all works and it takes a lot of effort.

I thought this thread would be an experience in Primark

Sounds like torture. Thankfully my days of taking my family to theme parks are now over. We did do disneyland paris one year.

TBH in your position i would have just set up a bank account for my kids and put whatever money the holiday might cost into it. In the long run i guarentee they would thank you for it when they are older. I know, bah humbug etc but these holiday costs are getting out of hand. Its enough to buy a good quality family car for some.