look for walt disney world magic guide (on itunes at least for the iphone). it's like $4.99 BUT i can out dining reservations in and i don't have to carry the park maps, which for me will be nice (we'll have three little kids with us)

8/4/2011 5:53:11 PM

if you really want to see all the characters, just go to the parade in the afternoon at Magic Kingdom and sit behind a cute kid. They come right up to you

8/4/2011 5:59:04 PM

There is an app that has maps, ride times and a character locator map

8/4/2011 9:07:58 PM

Quote :

"If you go to Animal Kingdom, make sure you go straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris when the park opens,"

Jesus god this is good advice, it's exactly what we did when I was a kid. You basically have to do it too, that stuff queues up so fast at opening.




Having skipped from page 1 to page 3, I take it Disney World was decided on? I'm glad to see that is the case (I think anyway) because I was going to press that Disney World should be your number one choice. Having been to all the theme parks at various ages, and again recently this Christmas, both as a normal customer and as a VIP, I can say that nothing has ever rivaled the Disney experience, either as a kid or a grown fucking adult. The place is just too cool.

8/6/2011 12:31:59 AM

I guess I should update this with some advice now that we have gone and are back...

we stayed at the comfort suites kissimmee that someone on here recommended and it was AWESOME. cheap, clean, very nice, good breakfast, and close to everything. If we went back I would stay there again in a heartbeat, unless we wanted something a little more luxurious.

We went to 3 parks, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Universal Studios.
Magic Kingdom was my favorite... we stayed there from 9AM -10PM.
As soon as they opened the gates, we went to splash mountain, walked right up and got in. Then we went next door to thunder mountain, once again no wait.
Then we walked over to Space Mountain and rode it after a 5 minute wait.
We had time to do those again late at night but it was nice getting them out of the way.
We rode pretty much every single ride there and never waited in line more than 20-30 minutes. I was really impresssed at how quick the lines moved, especially for June. We only used the fast pass twice.
The day was awesome but one of those random Florida thunderstorms popped up at 3PM and cancelled the afternoon parade.
Then another random FL thunderstorm popped up at 8PM and lasted until 10PM. Therefore, every parade and fireworks display was cancelled. We didn't get to see any of it. If we had bought the park hopper option, we could have come back another night to see it, but we didn't. (regret)

Universal Studios was the next day. I had been before, but it had been about 15 years. Obviously things had changed. The mummy was a cool ride, as was the Simpsons ride. Once again, we spent just about all day there. It was smaller than I remember it as a kid, but still fun.

3rd day was Animal Kingdom. We got there 30 minutes before the gate opened and got in line. As soon as they open the gates, 2 workers hold a rope between them and everyone lines up behind the rope. Then they start walking through the park toward Kilamanjaro Safaris and everyone has to stay behind the rope. I guess they do this b/c they know it is everyone's priority when the park opens and they don't want people stampeding each other.
We did the Safari first thing and didn't wait in line at all, we were actually in the 2nd jeep that pulled up. All the animals were active and it was great.
I thought it was funny b/c as we were waiting outside the turnstiles for the park to open, all the families have their brochure/maps out and are whispering to each other, "We have to go straight through here, around the tree of life, and to africa...we have to do this first...blabla". Like it is some big secret and noone else knows about it.
I enjoyed Animal Kingdom, but it was definitely the hottest park (less indoor things) and I'm so used to easily going to the NC Zoo, that I wasn't SO excited about the animals. It was cool, don't get me wrong, but I enjoyed the other ones more.
Expedition Everest was my favorite ride there and the Kali River Rapids (even though it is short).

If I go back, I'd go to Magic Kingdom again, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios (MGM). We didn't do EPCOT or Hollywood (MGM) this time because we were limited to the number of parks we could go to and we wanted to do the other ones more.
MK is my favorite and I haven't been to the other 2 in 15 years.

8/6/2011 8:28:22 AM

I can't imagine even a brief trip to Disney World without doing Epcot. Place is awesome.

8/6/2011 8:45:27 AM

^I agree. I never liked EPCOT when I was a kid, but going back last year at age 25, that park was a hit with me and my wife

8/6/2011 11:01:04 AM

^well... i had been there ~15 years ago and didn't remember it having a whole lot.. so this time with the limited time i had available, we decided to do the others

but after reading it and seeing stuff about it, it is on my list for next time

8/6/2011 11:01:09 AM

I leave tonight to go! I'm so excited!!!

8/6/2011 11:43:11 AM