We were looking into staying there soon. They just refurbed most of the rooms there too, right?
OT: Disney World
- Thread starter tom1944
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Yes, we paid a lot less for Saratoga than other properties, we never book 11 months out. Haven't done it once.
That is what I have been thinking
I figured depending what park will be the priority on that trip there should be a resort we can book
I also figure the more points I can get I could possibly use some for my wife and I for a long vacation in January/February at SSR since going to the park will not be a priority
A second trip for a week with my daughter and her family at a resort by a specific park
What did you think about the Riviera? Were you able to use your resale points there?
The dude is very short sighted. Zero vision which is a bad trait for a CEO, esp a CEO of a global entertainment company.
Just wanted to mention that in a previous thread I mentioned the Skyliner and Beach Club. I meant the "moderate" Caribbean Beach resorts. There is a Skyliner switching station between Caribbean and the All-Star type economy resorts like Art of Aninmation... and then another station on the other side of Caribbean between it and Riviera. I walked thru Caribbean to a restaurant there tonight. Pretty family-friendly. A playground, pools, of course.. decent restaurant serving family-style menu (Sebastians).. which oddly does not include fish.
I find it interesting that Chapek's brainchild nightime show at Epcot is being retired and soon. What a fiasco that was/is. Not that I was a huge fan of the previous show... but, man...
-they build these floats that are too big to navigate in and out of the docking area next to China.
-they replace the various "world music" themes and message they had with, essentially, clips and music of Disney films... selling Disney Disney Disney
-the design of the floats and screens they project these videos have specific viewing angles making much of the world pavilions along the lake BAD viewing locations (HINT: try upstairs in the Japanese Pavilion near the Sushi Bar Tokyo Dining).
-fireworks float catches fire.. smoke from regular fireworks regularly annoys patrons wherever the wind blows.
And that is just one of his things. Chapek is simply not "Disney" enough. He is DI$$$$$$NEY too much.
Epcot Is only ok in my opinion .I know they are building some other rides/pavilions and if not for some restaurants it’s a looooong journey around the park.
Never liked Disney parks - way too crowded, usually, and full of fake Disney crap. Fortunately, our son didn't love it that much either, so we only brought him once when he was about 9. Instead we'd just go down to Vero Beach every year and visit my dad, which we all liked better. Don't like Florida much either - too hot, too flat, too many bugs and no snow - would never go if I didn't have family there.
My trip was canceled by the hurricane, I was supposed to stay at Riviera and Wilderness Lodge. I've used my points at Boardwalk, Bay Lake, Kidani, Old Key West, Saratoga and Aulani.
Stayped at the Polynesian think s much better option than the Grand Floridian. The pool at polynesian morr kid friendly & nice than Grand Floridian. To me with kids Floridian was kind of way too formal and stuffy.
It’s a reasonably highly rated property I’d say. Personally I like it, but don’t love it. Love the sky liner, but the resort feels a bit too marriottish for me. Not Disney enough and the lobby/amenities are just sort of ok. Rooms themselves are fantastic.
The Riveria's theming is just meh. Nothing special. Also, even though it is connected via the skyliner, it's still in a weird location that seems isolated.
Dynamic pricing is being introduced for each park.
www.yahoo.com
A Disney World vacation is about to get more expensive - again
The world's most popular theme park destination is going to require a bigger budget starting next month. Walt Disney World announced Tuesday that single-day ticket prices at most parks are going up and will vary depending on which of the four parks you're visiting. Currently, admission is based...
Important news for my fellow Disney fans:
www.cnbc.com
Bob Iger returns as Disney CEO, replacing Bob Chapek after a brief, tumultuous tenure
Bob Iger is back as CEO of Disney. Bob Chapek, who replaced Iger in 2020, is out after a brutal earnings report that sowed further doubt about his leadership.
I will have to see what the current resale prices are now and compare them in February to see if they moved much.Important news for my fellow Disney fans:
Bob Iger returns as Disney CEO, replacing Bob Chapek after a brief, tumultuous tenure
Bob Iger is back as CEO of Disney. Bob Chapek, who replaced Iger in 2020, is out after a brutal earnings report that sowed further doubt about his leadership.
I will not buy before that.
Right now we are leaning towards buying around 200 points. 100 each at Saratoga and Copper Creek.
Of course subject to change.
With our initial use we plan to split stay. If we don’t like that we will alternate resort stays by banking one year at one and borrowing from one year at the other in alternating years
Quick WDW update. We have been here since the weekend and are using Genie+ everyday. Bottom line.....it is stupid expensive, but provides amazing value if you use it properly. We have probably been on 30-40 rides and never been in a line more than 10 mins (with spring break crowds).
It is best for people that will be in the park all-day or for only the late afternoon/evening (which we normally do). This allows for time to "stack" Lighting Lane reservations, which are essentially Fastpasses.
You have to pay $20-25 for person for Genie+ AND even some extra for the super big rides. On Monday, we spent about $200 in ticket "extras" for us three. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Good news, TRON is soft opening this week, so we are able to book daily reservations. My daughter has been waiting for TRON for 5 years since the announcement! She loves the ride. :)
It is best for people that will be in the park all-day or for only the late afternoon/evening (which we normally do). This allows for time to "stack" Lighting Lane reservations, which are essentially Fastpasses.
You have to pay $20-25 for person for Genie+ AND even some extra for the super big rides. On Monday, we spent about $200 in ticket "extras" for us three. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Good news, TRON is soft opening this week, so we are able to book daily reservations. My daughter has been waiting for TRON for 5 years since the announcement! She loves the ride. :)
Glad you and the family are enjoying yourselves but you'd have to pay me to go there. To each his own.
We went in Feb and did the same thing with the Genie+. It was completely worth it. There is no way in hell my family, especially my wife, was going to stand in line for a hour for a 2 minute ride. We are not Disney people so this was likely a one and done for us anyway. So, the extra price was the difference between us having a pretty good time, going on most of the good rides OR wasting a shitload of $, going on hardly any rides and just chilling at the pool.
All in all, we had fun and made some good memories, but it’s not really my idea of a real vacation when I need to get up at 6:30 and start booking friggen rides, lol. And planning all the daily nonsense could be fun for some people, at this point in my life, it’s just tedious. When I was young I loved to have adventure type vacation. Planning things out, constantly on the move, optimizing…blah, blah. Now…I just don’t want to think or work that hard when I’m on VACATION, lol. I think we’ll stick to chilling on a Croatian beach for a month for less than half the price and way less effort.
+1
Time is money in Disney and so is avoiding aggravation. But you are right, this isn't a "vacation". I need to get up at 6:58am to book a few reservations right at 7:00am, then try to go back to sleep for an hour or so. LOL!
I know it's apple and oranges, but we went in January and only utilized Genie+ once. If you know the park basics you can still get a lot done. We found Genie+ to be invaluable if you planned on park hopping in the afternoon/evening. We would walk into MK with 5 rides booked and would get so much done.
If you can swing it, the Disney After Hours events are a pretty good value considering how much you can get done in a 3-5 hour period.
Great point about park hopping. Genie+ is likely best for later in the day visits. And of course, during big crowd weeks like spring break.
Ironically, we have an After Hours party booked for tonight for Hollywood Studios. Should be fun, but we will see how late our little one can make it!
We did one After Hours at MK and one at DHS in January.
We got more done at MK, but being able to ride Rise, MMRR, Smugglers Run, and Slinky Dog multiple times with no waits was well worth it.
Bring a backpack and pocket the 20oz bottles of water and soda.
We are very MK-focused and stay at BLT so we can walk right to the front entrance. We needed extra time to cover DHS to the little one's satisfaction. Good plan on the giveaways!
Always found Epcot to be the Adult park. Not enough for kids but you get that Margarita as soon as you get in, wine tasting Flight in France, Beer Hall in Germany, saki, etc etc etc
Epcot has my son's favorite rides: Test Track and Soarin.
Last time I was down there, it was around 2006 or 2007. I am not sure if either were there back then. I think the two big attractions were mission space, some ride I don't remember the name of where you went through it shooting at characters and getting points and I want to say honey I shrunk the kids action movie.
And now Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind (near test track) a dark rollercoaster ride with cars that rotate. If it catches you the wrong way, very easy to get disoriented.
Oh they added Ratatouille ride in France as well.
As for deals.. I think the best deals are the paid parties.. for those without season passes or other passes. That is, you pay a fee a bit higher than a daily pass.. which is too expensive... the park will have shorter hours for regular park goers.. kicking them out between 6 and 7.. but the paid party people get to arrive about 4pm even though the party does not start until 6 or 7. Park stays open later too.
Some refreshments are free.. other times they have coupons for select snacks at select vendors... nothing too great. So you get food, drink, shorter lines, special events, special fireworks/projection show decent hours... for a set price. of course.. you have to reserve and weather is hit or miss but teh night hours will be cooler than typical daytime hours. They usually have the best rides available but not everything will be available in the added hours.
They do this many days over Halloween and Christmas time periods. Halloween starts in late August.. crazy. Not sure what other parties they might have.
The prices are too high. And from what I have been told.. they have deals for people from overseas so, in essence.. Americans are subsidizing them by paying these high prices. And the parks are filled thereby creating an image of scarcity.. promoting higher prices. revenues and profits have skyrocketed.
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Disney has been trying to "price people out" for well over 10+ years and it still hasn't happened.And now Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind (near test track) a dark rollercoaster ride with cars that rotate. If it catches you the wrong way, very easy to get disoriented.
Oh they added Ratatouille ride in France as well.
As for deals.. I think the best deals are the paid parties.. for those without season passes or other passes. That is, you pay a fee a bit higher than a daily pass.. which is too expensive... the park will have shorter hours for regular park goers.. kicking them out between 6 and 7.. but the paid party people get to arrive about 4pm even though the party does not start until 6 or 7. Park stays open later too.
Some refreshments are free.. other times they have coupons for select snacks at select vendors... nothing too great. So you get food, drink, shorter lines, special events, special fireworks/projection show decent hours... for a set price. of course.. you have to reserve and weather is hit or miss but teh night hours will be cooler than typical daytime hours. They usually have the best rides available but not everything will be available in the added hours.
They do this many days over Halloween and Christmas time periods. Halloween starts in late August.. crazy. Not sure what other parties they might have.
The prices are too high. And from what I have been told.. they have deals for people from overseas so, in essence.. Americans are subsidizing them by paying these high prices. And the parks are filled thereby creating an image of scarcity.. promoting higher prices. revenues and profits have skyrocketed.
Poor people. The fired CEO literally said they were going to push prices until demand is impacted. He wanted less people in the parks to lower operating and maintenance costs.
Sounds like Iger has a different POV.
Did you look into Standby Skipper?
Supposedly it really is a valuable addition to Genie
It is not a Disney app.
It is crazy when you think that a trip to Disney world for a family of 4 is about as much as staying at a 5 star resort in Hawaii with the same family of 4.
I disagree, I follow quite a few Disney vloggers/bloggers and the crowds look as bad as they always have, it doesn't help it's now peak spring break time.
There are still manageable times, but the bulk of the time throughout the year unless you know what you are doing, it will not be a very fun nor carefree experience.
This one week WDW trip is costing $15-16k and that’s with 2 plane tickets via miles!
They need all the profits possible at the parks to help defray the costs of Disney+.
