First trip to Disney World

[GuyfromGermany]

Heyhey Everyone,

so I'm going to Disney World for the very first time in my life in May!!!
Can't wait!
What are your best tips for Disney World? I'm also going to Universal/IoA and Busch Gardens...

Every tip is greatly appreciated!
:)

[madbrian]

You don't mention Sea World, but I would make sure that is on your itinerary before Busch Gardens.

[FindingNamo]

Don't go to Sea World. Got to Universal Orlando. In fact, skip Disney.

[doodlenyc]

Maybe GfG saw "Blackfish".

[Brian07663NJ]

At Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure - if - you can afford the "VIP" admission called Unlimited Express Pass - it is worth it. I cannot quote the price because it is determined based upon the date and how busy the park is anticipated to be. When I purchased and used this Martin Luther King weekend (2014) the wait times on the rides were 60 plus minutes. With the Unlimited Express I flashed the pass, they scanned it and I went into the Express Pass LINE. It is NOT a front of line access. It is a reduced wait time line. The reduced wait time was 15 minutes or less so it is a considerable reduction in wait time. I was able to ride every attraction in BOTH parks numerous times in ONE day. IF I did not pay for this type of pass then I figure I would have to spend 2 days at the theme park, an extra night in the hotel, an extra day of food, an extra day of standing in the regular lines. So it might be twice the price for this type of ticket but ultimately I figured - I will pay either with my time AND money (2 days) OR I will pay double the money in one day, less waiting, less hotel/food etc. Seems like an extreme price but the value was tangible.

PS bring a lanyard to hold your ticket (or purchase one for $5 at the park) so that you can keep the ticket dry and easily accessible. Each attraction will ask to see it. Safer than keeping it in your wallet and continually taking your wallet out, potentially dropping it.

Travel "light" at Universal. Many attractions will not even let you bring a camera on the ride, unless it fits into a pocket. Has more to do with safety of being dropped than copyright issues.

Disney unfortunately does not have the option to pay more for fast line access.

At the Magic Kingdom - eat lunch at the Be Our Guest restaurant. It is in Fantasyland behind the castle. No reservations accepted for lunch (yes for dinner). If you love Beauty & the Beast - this is a dining experience that replicates being in the beast's castle. Choose the West Wing as it is the most amazing with ambiance, lighting, effects. Food is good quality, not a crazy expensive price for what you are getting.

[DAME]

Have fun. SKIP SEA WORLD! Can I ask your age and if straight or gay? Based on that I can recommend other places in Orlando when you need a break from the parks. .

[GuyfromGermany]

What a cheap trick...
29 and gay here!

[DAME]

There is a website for Gay visitors to Disney. I will have to look it up tonight when I get home. For a bar there is Parliament House.

[Marianne2]

They are raising prices again there, just so you know and are prepared.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/24/travel/disney-magic-kingdom-price-increase/index.html?sr=tw022414magickingdom210p

[trentsketch]

It might sound silly, but I cannot recommend the Winnie the Pooh ride enough in Magic Kingdom. There really is nothing else like it. The mechanics of the cart and the layout of the track are worth the wait.

If you can handle heights, Soarin' (Epcot) is considered one of the best rides in the entire park. I actually started having a panic attack because of where I was seated on the ride, so I can't actually speak from experience.

If you have to skip a park, skip Animal Kingdom. There's not much there and there just aren't enough spots to sit down and get out of the direct sunlight. The park also shuts down for parades since the paths are barely wide enough for the performers. At least the animals are taken care of.

If you need a fun meal and are stuck at MGM/Disney Studios/Whatever they call that now, check out the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant. It's a replica drive in theater that plays campy B-movie trailers all day long. You sit in a car-turned dining table and dine under simulated dusk conditions. It's a trip.

Disney is in the process of updating their Fast Pass system, so you might be able to benefit from some advanced planning. Basically, if you buy your tickets in advance, you're going to be able to put your Fast Pass requests in before you even arrive at the park. Fast Pass gives you a time to arrive at the ride that gets you on the shorter attraction. However, the queues for popular rides can run out of tickets within the first 30 minutes of the park being open. Choosing online (if you can) will guarantee a faster trip at some point during your stay.

Universal has great thrill rides and I also have to recommend the Unlimited Express Pass. There are so few attractions at the parks that the lines get really long really fast. Harry Potter, especially, is going to be a wait (totally worth it).

And, yeah, skip Sea World. Put aside the animal abuse for a second: there's really not that much there. It's an over-priced zoo with two rollercoasters, a tower drop ride, and a couple kiddie attractions. Now the abuse again: they are not taking care of their animals or their trainers and the entire organization disgusts me. I remember going as a child and hearing totally conflicting information about their manatee conservation efforts from two videos and one employee that left my whole family very uncomfortable.

[ErikJ972]

As everyone else said do NOT go to Sea World. Or Busch Gardens. They have the same parent company.
Watch Blackfish instead.

[SonofRobbieJ]

I have so many recommendations that my brain just kinda shuts down. Do you know where you're staying yet? How long? Oh God...I should just stop. Disney planning is my personal rabbit hole. I'm about to plan the gay days trip for this year.

A great resource is allears.net! If you're going in May, you may be there for Star Wars weekends at Hollywood Studios. It's fun in a very, very nerdy kind of way.

[GuyfromGermany]

We will be staying at the Pop Century Resort from May 1st to May 13th... :)

[DAME]

What room? And what are your stats?

[GuyfromGermany]

2573, versat... WAIT!

[DAME]

he-he.. I will give you that web site tonight when I get home.

[Mister Matt]

If you have to skip a park, skip Animal Kingdom. There's not much there and there just aren't enough spots to sit down and get out of the direct sunlight.

I couldn't disagree more. I think it is the most beautiful of all the parks (quickly followed by Typhoon Lagoon), and I found it a LOT more shaded than the other parks (though May won't be too bad, anyway). While you don't have to do all the attractions in the park, I would not miss Expedition Everest (my favorite attraction of all the parks), Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safaris and Dinosaur.

Personally, I feel Disney Studios has the least to offer. The park is small and gets super crowded very quickly. Run in, do the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror (perhaps Toy Story Midway Mania, though I haven't seen it myself), lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine In and then get the hell out of there. If you really have your heart set on seeing Fantasmic (my least favorite of the nighttime shows), then return to the park later just for that. There really isn't much else there I would recommend unless you had unlimited time to kill. And the majority of that park will absolutely MURDER your day.

[FOAnatic]

THANK YOU, Mister Matt. (Though, I don't recommend skipping Studios, either.)

I can't stand when people say to skip Disney's Animal Kingdom. We're all entitled to our opinions but I don't understand why this has become so common. People only see the park as a zoo and it's so much more than that. The detail work in the layout and at the attractions are some of the best Imagineering I've seen in my life.

I could easily spend an entire day at that park (from open to close) without having to do the same ride/show/attraction more than once.

Such a gem of a park.

[SonofRobbieJ]

I have skipped Animal Kingdom in the past, but have recently re-embraced it!

You're gonna be there a good, long time, Guy, so don't kill yourself running to all the different parks every day. Soak it all in!

Some restaurant recommendations are:

Portobello's in Downtown Disney
The California Grill on top of The Contemporary
The Crystal Palace (character buffet...fun!)
Jiko in the Animal Kingdom Lodge
And...and I cannot believe I'm going to say this, but...The Whoop De Doo Revue at the Fort Wilderness campground. The show is a hoot, the fried chicken and such are really quite delicious and my family and I laughed so, so hard. There were also a lot of gays in attendance.

I think going over to The Boardwalk resort at night is a lot of fun. There are carnival games and a dueling pianos bar. There's even a dance club. Plus...it's really beautiful to be surrounded by The Boardwalk, the Yacht Club and the Beach Club. The only problem is you might need to take a cab from that hotel to yours (unless you take the bus to Downtown Disney then switch to the bus back to your hotel). But it's worth it.

I would choose Typhoon Lagoon over Blizzard Beach. I rode the new and improved test track at Epcot. It still isn't great...but it's better. Star Tours is a must! I really love the rehab they did on it.

Just typing this all out has made me tingle with anticipation for my (sweet Jesus help me) 40th birthday trip for Gay Days.

[FindYourGrail]

*Hoop-De-Doo

Also, I would recommend Via Napoli in the Italian Pavilion at Epcot over Portobello. I found Portobello to be overpriced and lackluster.

Via Napoli is a great place for lunch. Get the Carciofi pizza (a white pie with mozzarella, pecorino romano, artichokes and truffle oil). Heaven on a crust!

[SonofRobbieJ]

I do not know why I INSIST on calling it Whoop De Doo. I mean...I know better. I have a picture of the welcome sign on my phone. I will probably never correct that.

I haven't eaten at Via Napoli yet...but my last trip (December), as I was about to strangle my mother, I recommended we go to the Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar in Epcot. The prosecco saved the entire vacation...plus they have plates to share that looked delightful. Drinking around the world at Epcot is one of my favorite activities. The afternoon I did three car bombs at the Rose & Crown Pub was fun...I think.

One year, we also drank around the monorail. We went to each hotel on the monorail and had cocktails, which is a fun way to see the resorts.

I recommended Portobello's cause that's the one restaurant in Downtown Disney I can go back to again and again. OH...and back to Epcot...you should definitely do a tequila tasting at La Cava del Tequila in the Mexico pavilion.

Did I really just spend this post talking about where to get wasted in Disney World?

[Brian07663NJ]

Mister Matt I agree with you. My trip last month I didn't want to spend entire days at either Animal Kingdom or Disney Studios. Martin Luther King (Monday) morning was magic hours for Animal Kingdom and evening was magic hours for Disney Studios. I spent half a day at each of the 2 parks. Keep in mind that the Fast Pass only works in one park if you hop parks in the same day.

Morning I rode Expedition Everest 3 times, Kilimanjaro Safari, It's Tough to Be a Bug, Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl.

Transferred to Disney Studios at 1:30
Fast Pass for Rockin Roller Coaster, Toy Story Midway Mania and Great Movie Ride (not worth for great Movie ride but they have a 1 from column a and 2 from column b "menu)
and also saw without fast pass...Walt Disney One Man's Dream, Twilight Zone (twice), Fantasmic, Star Tours (twice), Little Mermaid show and Rockin Roller Coaster (again).

Keep in mind - I ran around like a nut, didn't really stop to eat...but that is what I enjoyed doing.

I was also very tight on time with only going for an extended weekend. Wasn't planned to be a leisure slow paced vacation.

OMG I haven't been to the Hoop-Dee-Doo-Revue in years but I remember seeing it twice and LOVED IT!

[Eris0303]

If you haven't already I'd recommend getting a meal plan. Your meals and snacks are already covered so you don't have to worry about carrying extra money around the park. And you're less likely to splurge on "extra" snacks (IMO anyway).

It also might not hurt to get a Disney gift card ahead of time. You can use it anywhere in the park for food or souvenirs. It'll help keep you on budget (if you have a budget). You say "I'll only spend $50" on souvies". I've done it a few times and it's worked out well for me.

If you do the two suggestions above you might not even have to take any money into the park. The less you have to carry - the better.

Also, a lot of people buy teeshirts and hats at Disney Stores before heading down to Disney. The prices are so much more reasonable - adult tees are 2 for $20 or something similar. If you can access a Disney store before you do I'd definitely suggest you do.

Two restaurants I'd recommend are both in the Hollywood section. Prime Time Cafe and Drive-In Diner. Prime Time Cafe is done up like a 50's kitchen - think Leave it to Beaver. You have to set your own place and follow all table manner rules - don't eat until everyone is served (you could end up sharing a table with strangers), hats off during the meal, elbows off the table, etc. When I went the family sharing the table with us wouldn't take their hats off nor would they wait until we had our food. They were publicly shamed more than once. The Sci-Fi Drive is pretty self explanatory. All the tables are shaped like cars and there's a big screen that shows trailers from cheesy 50's sci-fi films.

[SonofRobbieJ]

That last time I went, I had the magical wrist bands. They were still working out some kinks, so they were a little bit of a pain. It's the first time I ever used the meal plan. It was fine...but I'm definitely more of an a la carte man, even if I end up spending more money. I know...it doesn't make sense. But I would recommend it for the amount of time you'll be there. It'll make things easier.

[adamgreer]

I live and work there. You should PM me. I could go on for hours, but I won't clog board space with all of the information you want.

[trentsketch]

I like the design of Animal Kingdom. It's beautiful. I just can't see a full day there at all. Then again, I was much bigger on Animal Kingdom before they decided to dumb down all the conservation messaging to make it easier to swallow. I saw the original safari ride with both of the animatronic elephants and wish they didn't tone it down. The big raft ride that's supposed to be about deforestation now has a trashed forest on top with very little messaging to suggest why you're looking at a logging camp. The Yeti coaster rarely works right. I do enjoy the Dinosaur dark ride and the cat and mouse coaster in that part of the park.

You guys are right about Disney's Hollywood Studios. There's not a lot left there. The rides are good but there aren't many.