Stupid Disney and Their Deals

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:50 am

My daughter has been BEGGING to go see the Harry Potter stuff in Universal. So we were planning on just doing that and then I see Disney has free dining that week. Next thing you know we're doing 2 days Universal and 4 Disney. It's a trap!!!!

If you are planning on going they have a bunch of dates where the meal plan is free. The meal plan is the awesome btw. We did it last trip and had a blast. With it being free it's a crazy deal. You get a quick service and a dinner + a snack each day. It's A LOT of food.

Free Dates:
Aug. 23 through Oct. 1
Nov. 15 through Nov. 21
Nov. 26 through Nov. 28
Dec. 10 through Dec. 21

Stupid Disney...

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:34 am

We did the Disney dining plan on our honeymoon. The amount of food they give you is unreal. It's a great deal by itself, and the free dining plan is considered the best deal they run each year. Unfortunately we have annual passes, and you need to buy park tickets to qualify for the deal.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:29 am

Fresh off of an Universal and Disney vacation. Still trying to catch up on sleep, ha!
We got one of those Disney Visa cards to get more perks during the visit. One of the opportunities granted was advance notice of the free dining.

I like your ratio of the 2 at Universal and 4 at Disney. I found it was easy to explore Universal in a day.
We did 3 days (trap offer 4 nights get 3 park passes) one at Islands of Adventure, one at Universal, and then the last day was a mashup of both parks. The first two days ended up being half days at the parks followed by several hours at the HardRock hotel's pool. Third day mashup was spent between the parks without a pool break then eating at CowFish in CityWalk.

Please know Universal/IOA gets very crowded come 11/12 o'clock. Get to Harry's world when the park opens. Express passes a must. When the body count reaches uncomfortable levels, move over to the main part of the park for more comfort and ease of walking around.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:10 am

KKBlue wrote:Fresh off of an Universal and Disney vacation. Still trying to catch up on sleep, ha!
We got one of those Disney Visa cards to get more perks during the visit. One of the opportunities granted was advance notice of the free dining.

I like your ratio of the 2 at Universal and 4 at Disney. I found it was easy to explore Universal in a day.
We did 3 days (trap offer 4 nights get 3 park passes) one at Islands of Adventure, one at Universal, and then the last day was a mashup of both parks. The first two days ended up being half days at the parks followed by several hours at the HardRock hotel's pool. Third day mashup was spent between the parks without a pool break then eating at CowFish in CityWalk.

Please know Universal/IOA gets very crowded come 11/12 o'clock. Get to Harry's world when the park opens. Express passes a must. When the body count reaches uncomfortable levels, move over to the main part of the park for more comfort and ease of walking around.

We're staying at Universal the first 3 days. Day 1=Travel day. Comes with the fast past plus early admission. The second day to the park we're going to drive to the Disney hotel when we're done and finish from there.

It also happens that my firend from work will be there the same week. We're going to take Epcot by storm. Already booked all my dinners last night.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:14 am

I plan on telling my kids that Florida was actually conquered by the Cubans during Castro's revolution and has been a communist cesspool since. All of the ads are to trick Americans into going there and becoming their slaves.

With the dreadful state of history education in this country, I figure they won't know they've been had until they are 40 and I am long dead.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:23 am

Wow Jeff... such a ray of sunshine! Guessing you are looking to add a few counts to your post tally for the day? I can't figure you out man.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:29 am

KKBlue wrote: I can't figure you out man.

Take the normal response from a human, swap every third word with the last word in each sentence, then add "don't like" to every other sentence. Finally, toss that out and just guess.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:32 am

Octavious wrote:We're staying at Universal the first 3 days. Day 1=Travel day. Comes with the fast past plus early admission. The second day to the park we're going to drive to the Disney hotel when we're done and finish from there.
It also happens that my firend from work will be there the same week. We're going to take Epcot by storm. Already booked all my dinners last night.

Awesome Dude (of course you will fin with Crush at Epcot, I'm sure dude)!

Please be aware any mention of Disney lingo makes Universal's hair stand on end. The front desk attempted to make a joke by saying, "First things first" and grabs a scissors to cut my Disney Visa card in half. My response was, "The amount of coin I'm dropping here should never have had you raise those scissors." When you are at Universal, it's an Express Pass... dude

We have friends living in FL who we went to Germany (Adventures By Disney) with who always meet us in Epcot (of course at the Biergarten!). Glad you can share some memories with non strangers while in Epcot.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:48 am

KKBlue wrote:Wow Jeff... such a ray of sunshine! Guessing you are looking to add a few counts to your post tally for the day? I can't figure you out man.

Amusement parks have become so overcrowded they are the antithesis of fun (the last time I went to one, we went on 6 rides the entire day, from 10 am to 10 pm). The Florida parks are more overpriced than most. I've been there before on business, and I just can't fathom going there if I didn't have to. Unfortunately, I think my wife kind of wants to do that some day and it doesn't help that she has friends down there. Of course, she also wants to visit the Philippines on a regular basis, so it's as likely as not our travel budget would never allow for something as expensive as Disney.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:09 am

Now...GET OFF JEFF'S LAWN!

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:10 am

I personally have never left Disney feeling ripped off. If you know what you are doing and plan well you miss the crowds and spend less money. Tuesday-Saturday with hotel, tickets and food is 2k. That's really not a bad deal considering the level of service you get.

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Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:17 am

Octavious wrote:I personally have never left Disney feeling ripped off. If you know what you are doing and plan well you miss the crowds and spend less money. Tuesday-Saturday with hotel, tickets and food is 2k. That's really not a bad deal considering the level of service you get.

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Add another $1500 or more for airfare for 4 and a rental car and you have roughly 1/3 the cost of us going to the Philippines, which wife would like to do every 3 years. So I'm afraid that means no budget left for the rat...

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:29 am

I'm driving because I'm crazy. That's going to save me 900.

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Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:40 am

We did well with renting a place with a kitchen. Eat in for breakfast, hit the parks and get fast lunch service and return for dinner. Relax and unwind while the parks are at maximum capacity and heat. We also avoided the over-exhausted kid breakdowns (by ours and others). We did dine with the characters as a special treat before leaving.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:40 am

Octavious wrote:I'm driving because I'm crazy. That's going to save me 900.

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I still need my sanity. Not sure what the drive time is for you, but it's multi-day for me and in the end still might not be any more affordable (I'm assuming OPEC gets their act together in 5-10 years and gas prices once again become stifling).

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:09 am

Octavious wrote:It also happens that my firend from work will be there the same week. We're going to take Epcot by storm. Already booked all my dinners last night.

Are you at Epcot during the Food and Wine festival? If you are then you can use your snack credits for most food items. That is generally going to give you the most bang for your buck.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:34 am

Yeah, Disney got my wife and my number.

We have been planning a 2017 trip, when we get a 'coupon' in the mail. 35% off your stay if you book it in 2016.

Next thing I know, my wife has us booked for an August trip, for the 5 of us, and she found cheap plane tickets to Disney. So for less than our last Disney trip(in 2015, my kids are spoiled), with 6 of us we are flying to Orlando, and spending 9 days at Disney.

And we are still going in 2017, but I think we will drive which is our normal way of going to Disney.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:01 pm

Jeff V wrote:
KKBlue wrote:Wow Jeff... such a ray of sunshine! Guessing you are looking to add a few counts to your post tally for the day? I can't figure you out man.
Amusement parks have become so overcrowded they are the antithesis of fun (the last time I went to one, we went on 6 rides the entire day, from 10 am to 10 pm). The Florida parks are more overpriced than most. I've been there before on business, and I just can't fathom going there if I didn't have to. Unfortunately, I think my wife kind of wants to do that some day and it doesn't help that she has friends down there. Of course, she also wants to visit the Philippines on a regular basis, so it's as likely as not our travel budget would never allow for something as expensive as Disney.

We used to go to Disneyland every couple years. We would stay at a hotel on the edge of the park. The last couple times the weekend crowds have been so bad that I basically refuse to go again. I can remember many years ago going during the holiday season and having a wonderful time, but those days are over. It doesn't matter when you go know, there is always such a mass of humanity that it is impossible to actually do anything. Meanwhile the price keeps going up.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:39 pm

msteelers wrote:
Octavious wrote:It also happens that my firend from work will be there the same week. We're going to take Epcot by storm. Already booked all my dinners last night.
Are you at Epcot during the Food and Wine festival? If you are then you can use your snack credits for most food items. That is generally going to give you the most bang for your buck.

Nah it will be the end of August. The last week the crowds start dying down because the south starts school f'n early. Still will be busy, but not omfg crazy. I generally just hang in Epcot which can handle tons of people anyway so I'm not worried about it. I'm stoked that I was able to book two places I wanted to go to. Be Our Guest and The castle breakfast.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 1:26 pm

I've only ever managed lunch reservations at Be Our Guest. I thought it was excellent. Have you done the breakfast at the castle before?

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 1:29 pm

msteelers wrote:I've only ever managed lunch reservations at Be Our Guest. I thought it was excellent. Have you done the breakfast at the castle before?

We got the lunch at Be Our Guest. Dinner was only available at 10:10 PM. Um no.... And no I've never done the castle breakfast before. I did just about any other breakfast they have, but never that one.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 2:24 pm

We did lunch with the Princesses. Food was decent but the real value would have been not having to wait in line to see them again.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 2:32 pm

Zarathud wrote:We did lunch with the Princesses. Food was decent but the real value would have been not having to wait in line to see them again.

We are scheduled to have a meal with princesses at least 3 times, and character meals 3 times as well. <sigh> But with three little girls, it's what you do.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 3:59 pm

You will save HOURS of waiting in line for signatures.

But if you want to change your wife's mind, tell her you feel like a creepy stalker of Princesses. Make sure you take as many photos of them being awkward and keep the evidence for her to delete. Seal the deal with many photos of their behinds -- they're always bending over, so it's hard to avoid.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 4:02 pm

Zarathud wrote:You will save HOURS of waiting in line for signatures.

But if you want to change your wife's mind, tell her you feel like a creepy stalker of Princesses. Make sure you take as many photos of them being awkward and keep the evidence for her to delete. Seal the deal with many photos of their behinds -- they're always bending over, so it's hard to avoid.

heh! Your awesome. But we pay for the picture package thingy, so she will tell me just to not take photos.

sgoldj · Post by **sgoldj** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 5:53 pm

Our first Disney World trip since 1997 is booked. This time just wife and me.

Reservations at the Victoria & Albert just to impress the woman I've been with for about 20 now.

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:19 pm

Thinking about a 1st or 2nd week of December trip.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:35 pm

sgoldj wrote:Reservations at the Victoria & Albert just to impress the woman I've been with for about 20 now.

Fancy!

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:00 pm

Bakhtosh wrote:Thinking about a 1st or 2nd week of December trip.

That's a great time to go as they have all the Christmas stuff out, but none of the crowds.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:01 pm

Not that I'm anywhere in the planning stages, but how do the weeks in October look these days?

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:02 pm

The crowd calendars are scary accurate.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlan ... /#calendar

I'm kind of surprised how weak the last week of August is for attendance. At least in my area most camps are closed so you have to figure out something to do with the kids for a week.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:19 pm

Thanks.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:25 pm

Jeff V wrote:
Octavious wrote:I'm driving because I'm crazy. That's going to save me 900.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
I still need my sanity. Not sure what the drive time is for you, but it's multi-day for me and in the end still might not be any more affordable (I'm assuming OPEC gets their act together in 5-10 years and gas prices once again become stifling).

16 hours each way assuming there's 0 accidents the entire way.

We'll be stopping once each way. What we're going to do is find areas that we find interesting and stop there. I think it will be fun and tiring all at the same time. I REALLY hate going through the airport with my family and luggage. If it's just me sure no big deal. It's a f'n production when we are all going. No thanks...

RuperT · Post by **RuperT** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:05 pm

See Ruby Falls.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:10 pm

Well I'm coming from the NE so that would be a horribly bad route to take to get there.

What I remember from the last time I tried this a million years ago is a billion signs for South of the Border fireworks. Wonder if all the signs are all still up. They start like 500 miles out.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:28 pm

Jeff V wrote:
KKBlue wrote:Wow Jeff... such a ray of sunshine! Guessing you are looking to add a few counts to your post tally for the day? I can't figure you out man.
Amusement parks have become so overcrowded they are the antithesis of fun (the last time I went to one, we went on 6 rides the entire day, from 10 am to 10 pm). The Florida parks are more overpriced than most. I've been there before on business, and I just can't fathom going there if I didn't have to. Unfortunately, I think my wife kind of wants to do that some day and it doesn't help that she has friends down there. Of course, she also wants to visit the Philippines on a regular basis, so it's as likely as not our travel budget would never allow for something as expensive as Disney.

FYI if you went on 6 rides it's because of Mr. Brady's like me who plan the ever living shit out of their trips and have a blast. I love planning it all out to perfection and executing my plan. It's really kind of a sickness. Magic Kingdom peak season and ride every ride in one day? Did that! It might be harder (impossible?) since they changed the system, but I gamed the fast pass system like a champ. I wish I could pull up a list of how we did everything as it was like pitching a perfect game.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 7:23 am

Isgrimnur wrote:Not that I'm anywhere in the planning stages, but how do the weeks in October look these days?

The week of Columbus Day is surprisingly packed. I was stunned at the crowds.

You also have to keep in mind the dates for Mickey's Halloween party. If you go to the magic kingdom on a day they have the party, then you'll get kicked out at 7:00 before the fireworks. Of course, you can pay the extra money and stay for the party. From what I hear it's a lot of fun.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:05 am

Went two years ago with my wife and two daughters. I used the heck out of fast pass and felt we got our money's worth. Half the fun was seeing parents have a "Disney moment". Not the good kind.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:07 am

We just got back from WDW a couple of weeks ago (runDisney's Star Wars race weekend) and it went pretty well. My wife planned the fast passes (and most everything else) and we were able to hit a lot of rides despite the crowds. There weren't that many people Friday night, but the kids were exhausted so we went home "early" despite short lines on some rides, thinking we'd hit it Saturday. Well, Saturday there was an expected (at least by us) influx of people via a large organized group (the "Dapper Dans" or some such...) and the park was mobbed. Despite that, with good use of the fast passes, and hitting some of the rides/shows we don't normally see, we got a ton done. Felt good about it.

Best deal for us that trip was the photo pass thing. Race photos alone usually cost so much that I never buy them. But they were included along with any park photographer, plus the ride photos and some character meal photo ops (like Cinderella at the castle). Plus, they take better pictures than me.

So we used the heck out of that. With my kids at that magic age of Disney appreciation, (first trip where they really "get it"), some of those pictures are amazing.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:19 am

Octavious wrote:The crowd calendars are scary accurate.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlan ... /#calendar

I'm kind of surprised how weak the last week of August is for attendance. At least in my area most camps are closed so you have to figure out something to do with the kids for a week.

Refer back to the South going back to school. My kids' grammar school starts somewhere around Aug 15.

When I went in 2015, it was the week after Mother's Day. That didn't seem overly crowded to me, but maybe I just had low expectations and was good with using the FastPass system.