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Old 12-20-2018, 06:17 PM   #1
BB_TX
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Disneyworld

But not in the Monte.

I am thinking Richfaa will have the answer to my question. But welcome info from anyone.

We have gone to Disneyworld about every four years with our kids, grandkids, and some in-laws arriving the Thursday before thanksgiving and leaving the Wednesday before thanksgiving. This will probably be the last time as the grandkids are growing up. Crowds have not been bad Thursday thru Saturday. But increased quickly Sunday thru Tuesday. For next year’s trip, my son is suggesting either the week before Christmas, between Christmas and New Years, or the week after New Years. But I seem to remember hearing some of the biggest crowds were at that time of year. But we have to work around kids school holidays.

What say those of you in the know?
 
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Old 12-20-2018, 07:39 PM   #2
richfaa
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As you know we winter nearby and both Helen and I have worked there.Regarding A Christmas visit. The economy is still booming and the attractions are benefiting. The crowds are huge from @ December 15th to new years day. Helen and I will not go anywhere near WDW till after the 1st of the year. We will give some pros and cons.

WDW is spectacular during the holiday season with the Christmas lighting, parades, Fireworks, entertainment.It is truly a sight to behold. Con..Huge crowds, heavy traffic, higher cost.The new years eve fireworks can not be described .It is a sight to behold.

Actually the best day to go to WDW is the week after New years day. It will still be crowded but nothing like Christmas week.

Although expensive and stressful because of the large crowds and heavy traffic we would still recommend that you do not miss the week of Christmas, New Years .It is spectacular. You would have to decide what you want to do and make reservations now.I am very serious. A WDW package is the most cost effective although very costly. We recommend a minimum 4 days package. The parks are large and with a normal crowd each park is a 10 hour day more so when a heavy crowd. There are new attractions such as Star wars and Pandora.

The traffic on I-4 is always heavy and during the season outrageous.

Helen and I will do whatever we can to assist you in making plans once you decide on what you want to do. Good luck.
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Old 12-20-2018, 08:40 PM   #3
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Thanks, Rich. The week after New Years sounds interesting. Although before Christmas sounds great, overly large crowds can be frustrating. Even trying to maximize fast pass (which are typically gone well before noon) you can still only get on a limited number of most popular rides/attractions. We may stick with our pre thanksgiving timing.

Over the years we have stayed at an off site hotel, rented a 5 BR/4 bath/pool/game room house 1 1/2 miles from WDW (great at about $250 day for 9 people), and package stays at both Coronado Springs Resort and Animal Kingdom Resort (both of which we scored the free dining plan for the entire stays). Each time we got the 4 day park hopper pass leaving one day in the middle to chill or visit downtown Disney. My son is leaning toward a house again to reduce costs as all his kids (3) are charged as adults now. There are even 6-7 BR/6 bath houses nearby for $250-300/day.
We are already plannng and will be making reservations soon.
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Old 12-21-2018, 05:16 AM   #4
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Full timers here in Naples and Disney is PACKED during Christmas break. Along with sea world, bush gardens and everything else. Be prepared for long lines everywhere in Orlando.
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Old 12-21-2018, 08:03 AM   #5
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Sounding more and more like we will stick with thanksgiving. Thanks.
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Old 12-21-2018, 09:28 AM   #6
richfaa
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Originally Posted by BB_TX View Post
Thanks, Rich. The week after New Years sounds interesting. Although before Christmas sounds great, overly large crowds can be frustrating. Even trying to maximize fast pass (which are typically gone well before noon) you can still only get on a limited number of most popular rides/attractions. We may stick with our pre thanksgiving timing.

Over the years we have stayed at an off site hotel, rented a 5 BR/4 bath/pool/game room house 1 1/2 miles from WDW (great at about $250 day for 9 people), and package stays at both Coronado Springs Resort and Animal Kingdom Resort (both of which we scored the free dining plan for the entire stays). Each time we got the 4 day park hopper pass leaving one day in the middle to chill or visit downtown Disney. My son is leaning toward a house again to reduce costs as all his kids (3) are charged as adults now. There are even 6-7 BR/6 bath houses nearby for $250-300/day.
We are already plannng and will be making reservations soon.
Understand your thinking.The cost is very high.The holiday season is spectacular but of course Helen and I worked there had many Disney discounts as cast members and admission was free. It has always bothered me that the cost of a WDW visit is out of the reach of many average Americans. Your plan of off site housing is a good one our family did the same thing a couple of years ago with a family vacation at Virginia Beach.
Pre Thanksgiving is a good choice.

I stress again to make reservations ASAP as good off site housing is booked a year in advance.You can run the locations by us and we will check them out for you I think parking has gone up to 20/22 $$ a day for a car. BTW Downtown Disney is now called "Disney Springs"The" Earl of Sandwich" is our favorite place to eat. There are many good restaurants there.

We no longer work at WDW .Helen turned in her ears this year so our WDW days are over of course we have been there scores of times not to mention working there.
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Old 12-21-2018, 12:04 PM   #7
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Thanks for the offer, Rich. Last time we rented a house was in the Acadia Estates and it was great. Some really nice houses there for great rates. And now apparently they have built, or are building, some new ones just across the parkway from Animal Kingdom. So even closer. Rental sites are showing those for similar rates of $250-350/nt. Apparently building vacation homes and then renting them out is booming.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge 3 years ago. And it was a great experience. But we paid about $2,000 per room times 4 rooms. So $2,000 for a house for everyone is great.
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Old 12-21-2018, 03:11 PM   #8
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Thanks for the offer, Rich. Last time we rented a house was in the Acadia Estates and it was great. Some really nice houses there for great rates. And now apparently they have built, or are building, some new ones just across the parkway from Animal Kingdom. So even closer. Rental sites are showing those for similar rates of $250-350/nt. Apparently building vacation homes and then renting them out is booming.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge 3 years ago. And it was a great experience. But we paid about $2,000 per room times 4 rooms. So $2,000 for a house for everyone is great.
They are building everywhere and WDW is expanding their on the park resorts.
We are familiar with Acadia Estates it is a very good resort.
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Old 12-26-2018, 05:24 PM   #9
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Fort Wilderness

With your crowd what we do is not practical for you but I felt compelled to speak up anyway. Please read the very last paragraph if nothing else. They are words of wisdom for anyone going to Disney World.

Wife and I park our Monty at Fort Wilderness each time we go. It is a beautiful campground with many activities if one chooses to do them - most cost something. Trails End is a good restaurant for down home eating and especially for breakfast. All meals are served buffet style and are all anyone cares to eat. Crockett's Tavern will serve you an adult beverage and is a great place to unwind in the evening if one chooses to do so. The boat transportation to the Magic Kingdom is really fun and the bus connections to other areas and resorts are easily made at the Outpost and they are included with your parking fee. Once you get you RV set up you will not need you pickup to run around in unless you just want to or need to go into town.

We always reserve a golf cart to run around on in the park. It saves a great deal of time getting to either the boats or the Outpost bus stop over riding the campground busses. When I walk up to one of the bus stops I can usually see my buss driving off so I am in for about a twenty minute wait. Being an old guy my walking range is limited so we use the cart to minimize walking in the campground and plan our park visits so that everything we want to do is within my range and we have Fast Passes for each ride or show to basically eliminate standing in line.

Yes I have rented Disney ECV's when I was less able to travel and they are great in the parks if you need them. I believe they are first come first serve and I have wanted one and found they were out but now I can do without them. Yay me!

We do not necessarily goto a park each day as we may goto Disney Springs or take a swamp tour to look at the 'gators or do something else or sometimes we just stay in the Campground for the day. I am 71 and we are not compelled to do "everything" each time we go. We always buy annual passes and go twice within that year. We were there in October just before Halloween for eight nights and the parks were not overly crowded and we had a great time there.

I cannot stress enough getting reservations many months in advance for anything you choose to do and be sure you work the Fast Pass system for all it's worth. You will be glad you did!
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Old 12-26-2018, 09:55 PM   #10
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Halloween is actually very nice too. We've stayed at Fort Wilderness a couple of times around Halloween. People go all out with the decorations and even host trick or treaters.
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Old 12-27-2018, 09:32 AM   #11
Mark Stueck
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richfaa is going to be your best resource. however I will be glad to answer any questions you might have if I can. We stayed in vacation homes many years and consider them the best value. We now have our Montana in a campground 10 minutes from Disney ( can see fireworks from our patio). We try to get to a park either Disney, Universal, or space center at least once a week. My question to you is are you a veteran (can make a big difference)
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Old 12-27-2018, 12:11 PM   #12
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Not a veteran. Rejected me due to a heart murmur. Surprising since the murmur was minor, and the year was 1969 with Viet Nam at its hottest.

We have been 5 times since 2003 beginning with us, our son, his wife, her parents and 2 very young grandkids. Now it is us, son, his wife, her mother (father passed away), our daughter, and 4 grandkids ranging from 10 to 19. And all but one are charged as adults now. So our goals have changed. Character dinners are no longer important. Rides are the main attraction for them now. And we still enjoy the various shows, and of course the fireworks. We took our kids, when they were kids, way back in the 1980's. This will probably be the last time for this whole group together.

Two trips we stayed at Disney resorts. And both times our timing was right to get the free full dining plan which helped tremendously on total costs. But still expensive for the rooms. And most of the kids were still charged as kids. Next year it does not appear the free dining will be offered at the time we normally go. So the cost of Disney food plus the cost of Disney Resorts is pushing us back to a house. The cost of a house for 10 is about the same as one Disney resort room. And we would need at least 4 rooms. Maybe 5 if our son's brother in law and wife join us for a few days. Of course, we will have rental car fees.

Planning for next year, I began watching rental house availability back thru last summer. Surprisingly, there were a lot of large nice 6+ bedroom 5+ bathroom houses still available for the Thanksgiving time frame even into September for the $250-350 price range. So that is the route we will go. We will be making reservations well before summer.

We got pretty good at maximizing the old fast pass system. I don't like the new system that allows you to reserve 3 daily fast passes 30 days in advance (60 if resort stay). You can get additional passes at the park after you use the first 3, but by noon after we had used the 1st three, there were no fast passes left for the day for most of the rides we cared about. If there is a secret to maximizing the new system I would like to hear it.

And again, we are limited to school holidays. Although we have fudged a little by leaving on Thursday before Thanksgiving, a day before the kids were officially out for for the holiday, to get in an extra day before the main crowds hit. AND, that was the last day of the free dining plan window. But by arriving on the last day of the free dining plan window, we got the free dining for our full stay 5 days past the last day.
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Old 12-27-2018, 02:30 PM   #13
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IMO if you are a RVer Fort wilderness is the best bang for your buck.It may cost you 100.00 or more for a RV site but is far less expensive than a Disney resort room and you get the same perks at FW that you would get at the most expensive resort. Bill has a big crowd going and IMO he is choosing the right thing. We are also at a RV resort about 20 mins from WDW. We have never stayed at FW but have been there many times visiting friends who were there. The crowds are huge right now I-4 was backed up miles East bound this Morning. Helen and I no longer work at WDW so we are done with the park.
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Old 01-12-2019, 05:05 PM   #14
lkcritton
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disney planning advice

Hello Rich, I would like to know if you would give me some advice on planning a disney trip this June
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Old 01-12-2019, 06:23 PM   #15
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Hello Rich, I would like to know if you would give me some advice on planning a disney trip this June
Sure check your PM we will do our best.
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Old 01-26-2019, 09:29 AM   #16
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I can agree, we "discovered" the Fort in 2003 and have returned every year for 2 weeks, sometimes summer, sometimes fall, now spring due to daughters in college. I love parking the truck and letting Disney do all the driving for me. we do rent a golf cart, great for going to the Beach every night to watch the MK fireworks over the lake. Disney Springs is fantastic for shopping, dining and just enjoying a sunny day.
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Old 04-17-2019, 01:54 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by hosssmith View Post
With your crowd what we do is not practical for you but I felt compelled to speak up anyway. Please read the very last paragraph if nothing else. They are words of wisdom for anyone going to Disney World.

Wife and I park our Monty at Fort Wilderness each time we go. It is a beautiful campground with many activities if one chooses to do them - most cost something. Trails End is a good restaurant for down home eating and especially for breakfast. All meals are served buffet style and are all anyone cares to eat. Crockett's Tavern will serve you an adult beverage and is a great place to unwind in the evening if one chooses to do so. The boat transportation to the Magic Kingdom is really fun and the bus connections to other areas and resorts are easily made at the Outpost and they are included with your parking fee. Once you get you RV set up you will not need you pickup to run around in unless you just want to or need to go into town.

We always reserve a golf cart to run around on in the park. It saves a great deal of time getting to either the boats or the Outpost bus stop over riding the campground busses. When I walk up to one of the bus stops I can usually see my buss driving off so I am in for about a twenty minute wait. Being an old guy my walking range is limited so we use the cart to minimize walking in the campground and plan our park visits so that everything we want to do is within my range and we have Fast Passes for each ride or show to basically eliminate standing in line.

Yes I have rented Disney ECV's when I was less able to travel and they are great in the parks if you need them. I believe they are first come first serve and I have wanted one and found they were out but now I can do without them. Yay me!

We do not necessarily goto a park each day as we may goto Disney Springs or take a swamp tour to look at the 'gators or do something else or sometimes we just stay in the Campground for the day. I am 71 and we are not compelled to do "everything" each time we go. We always buy annual passes and go twice within that year. We were there in October just before Halloween for eight nights and the parks were not overly crowded and we had a great time there.

I cannot stress enough getting reservations many months in advance for anything you choose to do and be sure you work the Fast Pass system for all it's worth. You will be glad you did!
I agree about reservations early. We made our reservations for Fort Wilderness in August for December 2019. I have called back several time to add a day on and they are totally booked. My daughter tried to get a spot as well right after Christmas and she was not able to do that since they had nothing available.
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Old 04-17-2019, 01:58 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by richfaa View Post
Understand your thinking.The cost is very high.The holiday season is spectacular but of course Helen and I worked there had many Disney discounts as cast members and admission was free. It has always bothered me that the cost of a WDW visit is out of the reach of many average Americans. Your plan of off site housing is a good one our family did the same thing a couple of years ago with a family vacation at Virginia Beach.
Pre Thanksgiving is a good choice.

I stress again to make reservations ASAP as good off site housing is booked a year in advance.You can run the locations by us and we will check them out for you I think parking has gone up to 20/22 $$ a day for a car. BTW Downtown Disney is now called "Disney Springs"The" Earl of Sandwich" is our favorite place to eat. There are many good restaurants there.

We no longer work at WDW .Helen turned in her ears this year so our WDW days are over of course we have been there scores of times not to mention working there.
I love the Earl of Sandwich. That is one of my favorite places. We always go there when we are at Disney.
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Old 04-17-2019, 03:23 PM   #19
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I agree about reservations early........
Also true if you have small children along and they want to go to one of the character meals, of which there are a number of them.
About 10-11 months in advance of one trip we were only able to get seats at the last dinner seating of the night at Cinderella’s Castle. We were still there during the fireworks show! We managed to get one other princess lunch (3 princesses present) and one breakfast with traditional Disney characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc). Grandkids were at that magic age range (3-8) when it was something truly special for them.
Another trip on shorter notice (5 months) we were not able to get any of the character meals. But the kids were a little older and that was less important than the rides.
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Old 04-23-2019, 11:00 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by hosssmith View Post
With your crowd what we do is not practical for you but I felt compelled to speak up anyway. Please read the very last paragraph if nothing else. They are words of wisdom for anyone going to Disney World.

Wife and I park our Monty at Fort Wilderness each time we go. It is a beautiful campground with many activities if one chooses to do them - most cost something. Trails End is a good restaurant for down home eating and especially for breakfast. All meals are served buffet style and are all anyone cares to eat. Crockett's Tavern will serve you an adult beverage and is a great place to unwind in the evening if one chooses to do so. The boat transportation to the Magic Kingdom is really fun and the bus connections to other areas and resorts are easily made at the Outpost and they are included with your parking fee. Once you get you RV set up you will not need you pickup to run around in unless you just want to or need to go into town.

We always reserve a golf cart to run around on in the park. It saves a great deal of time getting to either the boats or the Outpost bus stop over riding the campground busses. When I walk up to one of the bus stops I can usually see my buss driving off so I am in for about a twenty minute wait. Being an old guy my walking range is limited so we use the cart to minimize walking in the campground and plan our park visits so that everything we want to do is within my range and we have Fast Passes for each ride or show to basically eliminate standing in line.

Yes I have rented Disney ECV's when I was less able to travel and they are great in the parks if you need them. I believe they are first come first serve and I have wanted one and found they were out but now I can do without them. Yay me!

We do not necessarily goto a park each day as we may goto Disney Springs or take a swamp tour to look at the 'gators or do something else or sometimes we just stay in the Campground for the day. I am 71 and we are not compelled to do "everything" each time we go. We always buy annual passes and go twice within that year. We were there in October just before Halloween for eight nights and the parks were not overly crowded and we had a great time there.

I cannot stress enough getting reservations many months in advance for anything you choose to do and be sure you work the Fast Pass system for all it's worth. You will be glad you did!
We love Staying at Fort Wilderness. We usually go down twice a year and spend 3-4 weeks. We love to go for Halloween and stay on for the change over to the holiday season. The parties are so much fun. Halloween is my favorite. We were just there in March. It was quiet and then spring breaks started. We found after New Years...January into early February is a quieter time.
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