Moving a DLR Trip to Walt Disney World- Let’s Talk!

[TikiTikiFan]

If anyone is interested in the two in park character dining’s and Oga’s Cantina- be on the ball to book it at the 60 day mark. I’m checking nonstop for cancellations (using the Touring Plans finder too) and no luck!

 

[EmJ]

Yea! I booked a reservation (even though we’ve done it before..) because they don’t make you prepay anymore which is awesome. Gives me more time to decide- might let my son do it as a surprise. Last time mom got the lightsaber and he got the droid.

Interesting! The (apparently false) belief that Savi's was closed was one of DH's considerations in picking USO over WDW as an alternate location. I'll have to let him know.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

We were thinking doing exactly that too. Uber in the mornings and busses at night. ROTR is totally stressing me out too and i mainly want to get to HS early.

I was reading a lot of folks were ubering to boardwalk and then walking to HS from there. Might be the best way to do it? We’re at Caribbean so my plan is to line up at the Skyliner early at like 7:30AM to be first in line. Similar with the busses, lots of folks seem to get there early to be in that first group on and therefore some of the first to the park.

 

[VandVsmama]

Ride Comparisons for Epcot:
Epcot reminded us of DCA. World Showcase is pretty neat! It's a fun park, but once you do everything, you can get bored pretty fast. We got there a little after opening and finished everything we wanted by 2pm. Looking back, if we could re-do our Epcot day, we would've booked our fastpasses for afternoon and evenings, and arrived to the park around noon.

Spaceship Earth: This is a must do! This is the one where you ride inside the big golf ball lol. It's slow and relaxing.

Soarin' around the World: The same as DCA's, but there are 3 theaters, so the line isn't as slow. Whenever the DCA Soarin says 20 minutes, that's really a 50 minute wait. At Epcot, 20 minutes, actually meant 20 minutes. The ending is different for this one too!

Nemo: I liked this one better than DL's because you aren't crammed in a submarine. You sit in a shell like the Ariel ride.

Figment Ride: We didn't like this ride, at ALL! Everyone seems to love it. But the noises and scents made me so sick, I had to go to First Aid But I am sensitive when it comes to certain sounds and smells, so that is probably why.

Test Track: This was down for refurb, but it's designed the same as RSR. Some people say they prefer Test Track over RSR because it's faster.

Frozen Ever After: Another must do! So cute! It goes backwards down a slope, but nothing scary. The ride is similar to a typical slow water ride (small world, pirates)

Gran Fiesta Tour: We found this ride by accident while hiding out from the rain. It's located in Mexico. It is similar to Pirates where you pass a restaurant while on the ride.

Ride we didn't do: Living with the Land and Mission Space. I'm not sure why we skipped the Living with the Land, but we skipped Mission Space because everyone we talked to before going on the trip said they got sick on it.

Test Track - we preferred RSR over Test Track, but those 2 rides are quite different experiences. We enjoyed both, but prefer RSR because of the theme'ing.

Gran Fiesta Tour - I wish this ride didn't rely quite so much on screens. But we enjoyed it.

Figment - Totally agree w/you! Hated this ride. When we went on it 2 yr ago, ~ 75% of the interactive play things to do after you got off the ride were not working. It was pretty pathetic. I thought this ride was totally lame and I don't understand why people are in love with it so much.

Soarin' - I think that the theme'ing in the queue in DCA is better. Also, the building that Soarin' is in reminds me of the inside of a 1980s mall rather than a theme park!

 

[midnight star]

Soarin' - I think that the theme'ing in the queue in DCA is better. Also, the building that Soarin' is in reminds me of the inside of a 1980s mall rather than a theme park!

We felt weird exiting and coming out into a food court/eating area....very strange lol

 

[StormyCA]

Free parking at the parks for onsite guests. But you're paying for parking at the resort.

There's no parking fee at Ft Wilderness campsites.

At DLR, you'd have to pay a separate fee if you wanted for some wild reason to park in theme park parking so it bears mentioning for those who are only familiar with DLR. We were pleasantly surprised to realize we had free theme park parking at WDW.

 

[crystal1313]

We are having a hard time with dining...it seems like we have tons of choices at DLR (and so much easier because we have eaten at many of them), but I'm having a hard time with WDW. I realize there are limited options right now, but we are conflicted. We have a couple more days to decide before we can make ADRs...I was just going to wing it! But, now I am hearing that QS is not so great. Maybe we will just deal with QS in the parks and then make dinner plans at Disney Springs each night. Any recommendations?

 

[motherof5]

I've seen some chit chat/rumors about WDW potentially adding a paid Fastpass system once Fastpasses are added back. Nothing official, but many people are speculating that.

I hope not. We pay for park passes I liked that fast passes were free. On the other side less people will buy them so fast pass people will go through really quickly.

 

[goodeats]

I'm a Disneyland local, but due to price and my kids crazy activity schedules, we haven't had DLAPs in years. I do love Disneyland, but for us a full week in WDW is a better value than spreading out a few hours here and there at DL. Pre-Covid I had a plan to go to WDW for the Wine & Dine half marathon with my sister. The race is cancelled, but my trip is not. My sister backed out, and I'm getting my bucket list solo trip! Some thoughts from an experienced WDW traveler -

* Not having park hopping is a downgrade, but if you've never been to the parks you can fill a day for sure.

* The weather in Florida is no joke. Last time I was there was August, and it does make it harder to last all day. My next trip is early November, and I expect it to be drier but still pretty hot. Wearing the masks will make it harder to hydrate properly, so it's something to be cognizant of.

* Dining is definitely something to plan and budget for. Last trip my family of four averaged $300/day. We definitely splurged, but I don't think outrageously so.

* Staying in the bubble is worth it. I like not having a car and going with the flow of Disney transportation. Yes, you might have to wait but it allows you to take a break. Now that you have to pay for parking at resorts it's costly to rent a car. I do plan to Uber/Lyft if I want to get somewhere quickly.

 

[StormyCA]

I'm a Disneyland local, but due to price and my kids crazy activity schedules, we haven't had DLAPs in years. I do love Disneyland, but for us a full week in WDW is a better value than spreading out a few hours here and there at DL. Pre-Covid I had a plan to go to WDW for the Wine & Dine half marathon with my sister. The race is cancelled, but my trip is not. My sister backed out, and I'm getting my bucket list solo trip! Some thoughts from an experienced WDW traveler -

* Not having park hopping is a downgrade, but if you've never been to the parks you can fill a day for sure.

* The weather in Florida is no joke. Last time I was there was August, and it does make it harder to last all day. My next trip is early November, and I expect it to be drier but still pretty hot. Wearing the masks will make it harder to hydrate properly, so it's something to be cognizant of.

* Dining is definitely something to plan and budget for. Last trip my family of four averaged $300/day. We definitely splurged, but I don't think outrageously so.

* Staying in the bubble is worth it. I like not having a car and going with the flow of Disney transportation. Yes, you might have to wait but it allows you to take a break. Now that you have to pay for parking at resorts it's costly to rent a car. I do plan to Uber/Lyft if I want to get somewhere quickly.

I don't think it really is a 'downgrade' personally. We've been twice, had hoppers the first time and only used them to go to Epcot one night for Illuminations. That could have easily been included in our 'Epcot day'. The 2nd time we just bought an extra day (much cheaper than a hopper upgrade) and used it to go back to AK to ride POF & EE again.

But we're 'slowpokes' in the parks and also we drive to each park and we'd have to move our truck to new parking. So hopping would be more time-consuming for us than for people who 'move on the double' and really know how to maximize park transport to get quickly from place to place.

The only time we don't drive is MK, since the boat dock at FtW is so convenient vs the way parking is handled at MK. I've used the buses once, from Epcot back to the Fort. It wasn't too bad. I guess my timing was right for bus arrival. But it was stuffy inside AND I had to stand which was difficult as I'm a bit mobility impaired.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

We are having a hard time with dining...it seems like we have tons of choices at DLR (and so much easier because we have eaten at many of them), but I'm having a hard time with WDW. I realize there are limited options right now, but we are conflicted. We have a couple more days to decide before we can make ADRs...I was just going to wing it! But, now I am hearing that QS is not so great. Maybe we will just deal with QS in the parks and then make dinner plans at Disney Springs each night. Any recommendations?

I think it depends on what you're looking for? I booked dining at Be Our Guest because that's been a big bucket list item for me for awhile. I would have done the dining in Cinderella Castle too if we weren't such picky eaters- I love big theme dining so I go all in for that.

I also made us a reservation at the Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs for one of our AK days since they close much earlier. My son loved that restaurant in Downtown Disney so that was the reasoning for that choice.

I managed to get a reservation (YES!) via the Touring Plans reservation finder for the holiday character dine at Hollywood & Vine in HS. You can probably see a trend with my dining- characters, themes, castles. That's my jam. We're such picky eaters (and vegetarians on top of it...) that usually my motivations are usually in theming over food.

I have heard Disney Springs gets much more crowded at night and the mask compliance isn't as great there (if that matters to your group) so that's something to keep in mind. They do seem to have more dining options.

 

[amyg1975]

Is Disney only doing Christmas until the 30th?

 

[Dr. G]

Is Disney only doing Christmas until the 30th?

Looks like it's November 6-December 30, so you're in sync with the website:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/holidays/

 

[Jaina]

Anyone who's interested, I started a PTR for my trip to WDW, which starts two weeks from today!
https://www.disboards.com/threads/how-you-doin-east-coast-october-23-25-2020-ptr.3815252/

 

[amyg1975]

Looks like it's November 6-December 30, so you're in sync with the website:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/holidays/

Is this shorter than normal?

 

[Jnjtrio]

I think it depends on what you're looking for? I booked dining at Be Our Guest because that's been a big bucket list item for me for awhile. I would have done the dining in Cinderella Castle too if we weren't such picky eaters- I love big theme dining so I go all in for that.

I also made us a reservation at the Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs for one of our AK days since they close much earlier. My son loved that restaurant in Downtown Disney so that was the reasoning for that choice.

I managed to get a reservation (YES!) via the Touring Plans reservation finder for the holiday character dine at Hollywood & Vine in HS. You can probably see a trend with my dining- characters, themes, castles. That's my jam. We're such picky eaters (and vegetarians on top of it...) that usually my motivations are usually in theming over food.

I have heard Disney Springs gets much more crowded at night and the mask compliance isn't as great there (if that matters to your group) so that's something to keep in mind. They do seem to have more dining options.

Use open table for any reservations in Disney Spring, so you can try for any park/resort reservations with Disney for same day. Current reports are saying very little day of reservations are opening. This use to happen often as people would change/drop reservations if they were park hopping or deciding to stay or leave parks. No park hopping, shortened hours and limited seating means you need to be on top of reservations right at 60.
I moved our trip to WDW at 58 days for arrival Nov 8th, lots of difficulty getting reservations and touring plans reservation finds are gone almost as fast as Rise of Resistance boarding groups.

 

[ten6mom]

@TikiTikiFan I didn't plan a WDW trip to make up for DL; we booked one to make up for Japan

BUT we are going for our first time November 17-24! Did you get your dates pinned down?

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Is this shorter than normal?

Yea, holidays usually go through the first week of January. My guess is that they want to avoid the potential for NYE crowds? Just not celebrate it at all I guess.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

@TikiTikiFan I didn't plan a WDW trip to make up for DL; we booked one to make up for Japan

BUT we are going for our first time November 17-24! Did you get your dates pinned down?

So many missed out experiences for everyone this year.

We did! We’re going to be there 11/13-11/19! So excited- I’m in full planning mode and it feels so good haha.

I’m really hoping they extend hours- I love the parks at night but we’ll see...

 

[ten6mom]

I’m really hoping they extend hours- I love the parks at night but we’ll see...