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Page Last Updated: 9/11/08 |
The Disney World Page
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Magic Kingdom Rides and Attractions
*The Usual Suspects that can be found in Disneyland but may have slight differences Space Mountain Thunder Mountain Railroad Splash Mountain it's a small world Pirates of the Caribbean Peter Pan's Flight Haunted Mansion Buzz Lightyear Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Disneyland Railroad (only 2 stops) Tiki Room The Jungle Cruise Mad Tea Party Liberty Square Riverboat *Only in Disney World's Magic Kingdom Mickey's PhilharMagic 3D Magic Carpets of Aladdin Stitch's Great Escape Country Bear Jamboree Hall of Presidents
Some Places to Eat Liberty Tree Tavern Aloha Isle Harbor House Starlight Cafe Crystal Palace Tony's Town Square
EPCOT Rides and Attractions Test Track Mission Space Soarin' (same as DCA) Spaceship Earth Maelstrom (Norway Pavillion) Gran Fiesta Tour (Mexico Pavillion) Innoventions Honey I Shrunk the Audience Nemo and Friends Turtle Talk with Krush Illuminations
WORLD SHOWCASE PAVILIONS Mexico Norway China Germany Italy U.S.A. Japan Morocco France United Kingom Canada
Some Places to Eat Coral Reef Restaurant Sunshine Season Food Fair Le Celliear Steakhouse - Can San Angel Inn - Mex Biergarten - Ger Rose & Crown Pub - UK Harry Ramsden -UK Liberty Inn - US Le Chefs de France
Disney's Hollywood Studios Rides & Attractions *The Usual Suspects that can be found in Disneyland or DCA but may have slight differences Fantasmic (with actual seats) Tower of Terror Star Tours Muppets 3D Block Party Bash Toy Story Mania *Only in Disney's Hollywood Studios Indiana Jones Stunt Show Spectacular Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show Studio Back lot Tour Walt Disney One Man's Dreams Voyage of the Little Mermaid Sounds Dangerous Rock N Roller Coaster Journey into Narnia
Some Places to Eat Hollywood Brown Derby ABC Commissary Mama Melrose's Restorante Italiano
Disney's Hollywood Studios Rides & Attractions Expedition Everest Kilimanjaro Safaris Dinosaur Wildlife Express Train It's Tough to be a Bug Kali River Rapids Primeval Whirl Festival of the Lion King
Some Places to Eat Rainforest Cafe (Outside Main Gates Flame Tree Barbeque Tusker House Restaurant
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A Question: Why Go to Disney World? A very good question........If we hopped in the car right now and headed to Disneyland, we could be there before night fall (maybe about 7 hrs or so). It's fun, it's convenient, we like it there, and Lisa's father lives a short distance away. The only thing that keeps us from going more often is - it's expensive!!! But Lisa has a brother that lives in Florida about an hour or so away from Disney World. Though he is admittedly "not a Disney person" a trip out there gives Lisa a chance to see him and see Disney World. We've talked about it through the years and with planning, now seems to be the opportunity to make the trip (though it's still months away). While we have visited Disneyland on a fairly regular basis over the last 10 years and can be regarded as Disneyland savvy, a trip to Disney World is a different animal. The size of the property, the parks, the choices of resorts is, to a certain extent, intimidating and overwhelming. Follow us as we try to put a very large plan together. The object is to do it right and hopefully keep expensive mistakes at a minimum.
Where Do You Stay? Intimidating and overwhelming decision #1.... There's probably 20 resorts run by Disney on the Disney World Property (and two resorts on WDW property that aren't run by Disney). We immediately eliminated all the off property resorts near-by. If you are only going to make the trip once then do it the Disney way and Disney pretty much takes care of everything. Staying at a Disney Resort also gives you extended park hours at one of the theme parks each day. As for the Disney World resorts, they come in 3 price ranges - deluxe, intermediate, and value (though your idea of value and Disney's are probably 2 different concepts). Lisa really wanted to stay at the flagship hotel - the Grand Floridian. By all photos and accounts, it is beautiful and just a short distance from the Magic Kingdom (by monorail or boat). In "low" season (early December, the time we are going), the room rate is still $399 a night. With months to save, maybe we could pull it off, but in doing so, we would probably have to make a lot of compromises on the rest of the trip. So the Grand Floridian was eliminated and so were many other potential deluxe resorts that were nice a a bit more affordable.
Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Hotel Other Deluxe Resorts: The Contemporary Resort now looks dated and rather un-Disney (though the monorail running through the middle of it is still rather cool and people rave about the restaurants). The Wilderness Lodge was considered but looks very much like the Grand Californian in Anaheim where we've already stayed. People give high marks to the Animal Kingdom Lodge with African animals wondering about right outside your hotel window but it is quite a distance from the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney Hollywood Studios. We also considered Disney's Beach Club with its New England charm and centralized location but simply could not justify the extra cost.
Contemporary Resort and The Wilderness Lodge
Animal Kingdom Lodge and Beach Club Resort We then went the other way and figured if we went the other direction and looked at the value resorts then, we would have more to spend on other things. For about a day and a half, we thought seriously about the Pop Century resort. Unlike the other All-Star value resorts, the Pop Century sits off by itself (though it is very large). It also does not permit large youth group reservations like the other All-Star value resorts. After further reading and research, Pop Century got eliminated because of the common complaints about all the value resorts - very small rooms, hard beds, thin walls, rather child-like theming, and lots and lots of kids everywhere all the time.
Pop Century Resort We then looked at the intermediate resorts which again can be very large (in excess of 2000 rooms), but provide for larger and nicer rooms than the value resorts and the hotel grounds the much more adult themed. After more research and reading, we have decided to stay in the Port Orleans Riverside (Magnolia Bend section).
Port Orleans Riverside Entrance and River View
Port Orleans Riverside More River View - the one on the left looks at Boatwright's Restaurant
Port Orleans Riverside Magnolia Terrace Bldg and surrounding grounds
$$$$'s and Sense (WDW Dining) In our numerous excursions to Disneyland, the one thing that continues to bite us in the rear end is the cost of food. If there is a rule of thumb it is once you are there, the cost of food is twice as much as what you wanted to spend no matter how creative you are and try to get to off-property dining. The cost of food (and beverages) will nail you every single time. Since Walt Disney World is more all encompassing, for years they have formulated the Disney Dining Plan where you can basically pre-purchase your meals as part of your Walt Disney World Travel package.. This can be in any combinations of sit-down dining at all the hotel and park restaurants, walk up counter service, or basic snacks. Lisa and I discussed these options for about a week and at one point even considered 3 sit down meals per day (Note: Some of the better restaurants will count for 2 of your dining options for one meal). The big drawback to making all these sit-down meals is that many of them require advance reservations if you are in line in one part of the park, the last thing you want to worry about is making a mad dash to some for off place to make your reservation. After much discussion, we chose two counter service meals per day plus two snacks and we will pick and chose our sit-down restaurants once we get there. Seems to make sense (although there is a savings in pre-purchasing meals - sometimes over 30%). In general from the prices I've seen from published menus I would have to say the food prices at Walt Disney World are a bit cheaper than the Disneyland Resort......not much cheaper, just a bit.....
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