I just wanted to thank everyone on this board! I am in charge of a 6 day, 12 person trip in April 2020 (the week before Easter...) and these boards have been immensely helpful.
I haven't been in almost 10 years, so I have put in the time, I have learned what to do and more importantly, what not to do.
I woke up a 3am PST last week to secure all of our dining reservations. I will wake up early in February to secure what I can for our fastpasses.
However, after this trip, I CANNOT see us doing this again. Disneyworld's system of "our way or the highway" sucks! It's not just the money. It's the time. The time to plan. Then the time to make sure we follow the plan. It's ridiculous.
Please understand these are MY opinions. Those of you that go multiple times per year (where you can afford to miss a ride or two) or during the off-season most likely feel differently.
Here's why I won't be doing this again.
1. Dining reservations 180 days out (before park hours are finalized. You don't know which parks will be opening early / staying late longer. You have an idea, but Disney can change however they want).
2. Having to choose FPs 60 days out. I've been following the dibb and I've basically come to terms that during our week, we won't be able to get any of the headliners for the first 3/4 days. No SDMT, no FOP, no SDD.
a. I moved our HS / AK days to the end of our trip to help account for this.
3. Not being able to book multiple parks for the first 3 in advance, if you have park hoppers. Why is this even a thing?! I paid more to be able to "hop". I should be able to schedule FP at whatever park I want, as long as my ticket will get me in. I do understand tiers would still apply. But tiers are also another reason the system isn't friendly.
4. If all you can get are later in the day FPs, you'll spend the first part of the day in standby lines.
5. We have 2 kids, one of which won't be able to ride anything over 42 inches. No problem, we'll just use rider swap. But now I'm seeing everyone has to have a FP, even group 2. What's the point of this? If me, my wife and taller kid have to have a FP for FOP, what do we get my smaller son during that time? A FP he can't use?
6. We looked into VIP, but we have 12, so we'd need two guides. Our week will be approx. $600 plus per hour x 2. $1200 per hour and you still have to use the FP line! So a 30 minute wait in a FP line will cost $600...
7. We looked into getting club level rooms. We are staying at CTR for the location (My family rented DVC points for BLT 1 BR based on advice from here). But the club rooms were almost DOUBLE the price for that week. So, for a 6 day stay, it would have been an extra $3600 for each family PLUS the $50 per person, per day for 3 extra FP. Club rooms are a waste if you are trying to maximize park time, so our extra 3 FPs (plus 90 day window) for a family of 4 over 6 days would have been an extra $4800. If you are keeping score at home, that's $67 per FP!
8. All of this leads to an incredibly rigid "vacation" schedule. What if your kids want to go back to a certain park? Too bad, unless you want to abandon all the pre-scheduled FPs and wait in line all day. What if you don't feel like a certain meal that day? Too bad, unless you want to roll the dice on what is left.
I know the rebuttals, but I'm not looking for an argument. To each their own.
1. "You should go at a different, less busy time." I could, but coordinating 3 families with kid's school schedules doesn't allow for that.
2. "You could use "refresh" to help with FP." I will do that, but staring at my phone all day is not my idea of a good time. I want to spend time with my family.
I will play by the rules, because I know if we don't, it will be a nightmare. I have spent the first part of planning trying to convince the other people in my group that "yes, all this planning is necessary". I believe they are on board, but I have a feeling if they knew all of this before plans were made, Disneyworld would have lost the vote.
We also scheduled one day over at Universal Florida. I used advice here to book a "throwaway room" (was able to use Chase UR points at 1.5 cent value) at one of the properties that includes Express Pass. And that's it, planning done! We'll be able to hit both parks and do pretty much all the rides we want in that one day (and in any order we want!). I am so looking forward to that day!
This is not the typical rant that is after the fact, where the person didn't plan and is mad at all the people who did. I WILL plan. I'm just saying the planning is the reason we will vacation elsewhere next time.
Thanks for letting me vent and again thank you to everyone who posts here.
I haven't been in almost 10 years, so I have put in the time, I have learned what to do and more importantly, what not to do.
I woke up a 3am PST last week to secure all of our dining reservations. I will wake up early in February to secure what I can for our fastpasses.
However, after this trip, I CANNOT see us doing this again. Disneyworld's system of "our way or the highway" sucks! It's not just the money. It's the time. The time to plan. Then the time to make sure we follow the plan. It's ridiculous.
Please understand these are MY opinions. Those of you that go multiple times per year (where you can afford to miss a ride or two) or during the off-season most likely feel differently.
Here's why I won't be doing this again.
1. Dining reservations 180 days out (before park hours are finalized. You don't know which parks will be opening early / staying late longer. You have an idea, but Disney can change however they want).
2. Having to choose FPs 60 days out. I've been following the dibb and I've basically come to terms that during our week, we won't be able to get any of the headliners for the first 3/4 days. No SDMT, no FOP, no SDD.
a. I moved our HS / AK days to the end of our trip to help account for this.
3. Not being able to book multiple parks for the first 3 in advance, if you have park hoppers. Why is this even a thing?! I paid more to be able to "hop". I should be able to schedule FP at whatever park I want, as long as my ticket will get me in. I do understand tiers would still apply. But tiers are also another reason the system isn't friendly.
4. If all you can get are later in the day FPs, you'll spend the first part of the day in standby lines.
5. We have 2 kids, one of which won't be able to ride anything over 42 inches. No problem, we'll just use rider swap. But now I'm seeing everyone has to have a FP, even group 2. What's the point of this? If me, my wife and taller kid have to have a FP for FOP, what do we get my smaller son during that time? A FP he can't use?
6. We looked into VIP, but we have 12, so we'd need two guides. Our week will be approx. $600 plus per hour x 2. $1200 per hour and you still have to use the FP line! So a 30 minute wait in a FP line will cost $600...
7. We looked into getting club level rooms. We are staying at CTR for the location (My family rented DVC points for BLT 1 BR based on advice from here). But the club rooms were almost DOUBLE the price for that week. So, for a 6 day stay, it would have been an extra $3600 for each family PLUS the $50 per person, per day for 3 extra FP. Club rooms are a waste if you are trying to maximize park time, so our extra 3 FPs (plus 90 day window) for a family of 4 over 6 days would have been an extra $4800. If you are keeping score at home, that's $67 per FP!
8. All of this leads to an incredibly rigid "vacation" schedule. What if your kids want to go back to a certain park? Too bad, unless you want to abandon all the pre-scheduled FPs and wait in line all day. What if you don't feel like a certain meal that day? Too bad, unless you want to roll the dice on what is left.
I know the rebuttals, but I'm not looking for an argument. To each their own.
1. "You should go at a different, less busy time." I could, but coordinating 3 families with kid's school schedules doesn't allow for that.
2. "You could use "refresh" to help with FP." I will do that, but staring at my phone all day is not my idea of a good time. I want to spend time with my family.
I will play by the rules, because I know if we don't, it will be a nightmare. I have spent the first part of planning trying to convince the other people in my group that "yes, all this planning is necessary". I believe they are on board, but I have a feeling if they knew all of this before plans were made, Disneyworld would have lost the vote.
We also scheduled one day over at Universal Florida. I used advice here to book a "throwaway room" (was able to use Chase UR points at 1.5 cent value) at one of the properties that includes Express Pass. And that's it, planning done! We'll be able to hit both parks and do pretty much all the rides we want in that one day (and in any order we want!). I am so looking forward to that day!
This is not the typical rant that is after the fact, where the person didn't plan and is mad at all the people who did. I WILL plan. I'm just saying the planning is the reason we will vacation elsewhere next time.
Thanks for letting me vent and again thank you to everyone who posts here.
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