PhantomCruiser
Wanderer
My thoughts on Disney:
Now that we’re back from Spring Break and a long stay at the House of the Mouse I thought I’d collected my thoughts enough to put them down in one place in a (hopefully) coherent fashion. Disney can be overwhelming, there’s a lot of information in many different places, between what friends, neighbors and various other blogs say is a “must do” and finding out what actually works for you can be vastly different. This is just the view of a regular dude.
Some of you might know that the Mrs. Cruiser and I were awarded custody of a little one (she’s 7 now), the back story isn’t important right now. What is important is that 7 is almost the perfect age to visit the Mouse Empire. Stuff is still magical, the princes and princesses are real, the rides are exhilarating and yes, Cinderella really does live in that castle. Normally we cruise during our vacations, I’m a sailor and the sea calls. But for the reasons listed above I thought that the little one would really enjoy Disney (and I was right).
For naming conventions my actual daughter is generally kiddo (she’s 24). The little one that we have custody of is kiddo has the initials of B. B. and I call her (of course) BB.
So last summer I started into the planning phase. I did this all myself, a travel agent might help, ymmv, but this was all on me. Starting out with the Disney web site, of course, it’s got a lot of data on it. In Florida there are the 4 major Disney parks and a host of resorts (Disney owned and otherwise). The Disney web site is pretty expansive, multiple tab browsing or even multiple monitors will make the planning much easier. Also take notes. There is an option to chat with a Disney Vacation Planner who can answer questions you have (remember them notes you took?)
I wanted to spend a full day at each park, with an option to leave and come back later if that’s what anyone wanted to do. Given transportation, parking and distances involved I opted for a Disney resort. After some searching around and reading reviews I centered on Port Orleans, Riverside. Also with the resort, everyone in the party gets a Magic Band. This thing can be dangerous, not only is it your room key, but it can be linked to a credit card and you have purchasing power with it. You can restrict the use of it, who wants a 7 year old running around with all that stuff they just “Have to have?”
The Resort: Riverside and the French Quarter resorts are neighbors, indeed at one time they were one single resort. For whatever reason, they’ve been split in two. From what I’ve gathered, they are also the best of the moderately priced resorts on site. One night we went over to the French Quarter resort to eat, they specialize in Cajun/Creole food whereas Port Orleans is more seafood. Both restaurants are pretty good. I give a nod to the ‘Quarter for their desserts. Love those King Cakes, just the right size and I don’t have to share. Also I think the ‘Quarter had been more recently renovated, their dining hall looked a bit more up to date. Nothing wrong with Riverside though. Also, getting in to the resort you have to pass through a security checkpoint. If you are not on the list as a guest, you’ll be turned around. You can bounce from one resort to another via the shuttle busses, but you can only gain initial access to the resort in which you have reservations.
I opted for a “preferred location” as a room choice, our building was #14 in the Alligator Bayou and it was right next door to the main building. One set of stairs and about 100 yards and we were in the restaurant, easy peasy.
The Dining Plan: Not essential, but worth taking a look at. You can bring your own snacks and drink into the park (no booze) and save yourself a lot of money, but somebody has to carry it all. Still a bag of skittles is a lot cheaper at the dollar store than in the parks. I opted for the middle plan, this gave us each one table service meal, one quick service meal, and a snack per day. Is it worth it? Maybe. With some planning you can come out ahead on the deal. I can see where it’d also be a loss. There are so many places to eat it is incredible. This probably caused me the biggest worry. Unfounded, it all worked out. I’ll list the places we ate later.
Photopass: I got it, probably a wash as far as costs go. You know when you get to a place and a photographer shoves a camera in your face? Or how everyone at the end of a ride has to walk past a kiosk and see their faces during the ride? Or all those characters posing for photo ops? The photographer zaps your Magic Band and you have those pictures available in moments. Download, share, print out later. You also get an IP release, so you can get them printed at a shop after the vacation.
Park Hopper option: After talking with some dudes at work I passed on this. Do everything you want to do at the park you’re in for that day. Bouncing between parks is easy to do, but it takes time. You’ve already paid for the time right? It’s not an efficient use of it. So, a big “no” to the park hopper.
OK planning done. If you are using a resort stay, you don’t have to pay in one lump sum. Stretch it out over several months if you need to. Set up a Disney account and download the “My Disney Experience” for you smart phone and watch your email. As zero hour approaches you’ll get an opportunity to customize the Magic Bands
Travel Day: An early morning start in order to avoid Atlanta traffic. It rained on us and there were some delays on the road. Arrival in Orlando was supposed to be 2:30 pm. Thanks to a car on fire, some construction, and Orlando traffic, actual arrival time was around 5 pm. We had a dinner reservation for later. So the wife and kiddo, with the boyfriend of kiddo took the water taxi to Disney Springs. Little one and I took up residence poolside. Nice pool, I had a hammock all to myself for hours. There’s a small waterslide that BB enjoyed.
The restaurants: I was concerned about making reservations for a group of people and wanting everyone to have something they liked on the menu. This info is available on the web, worth looking at.
Day one: The little one and I had our quick serve meal there at the resort. I had a BBQ something or other, BB had pizza. Dinner was Boatwright’s, also there at our resort. Mmmmmmm, damb good.
Day two: Lunch (table service) at the Liberty Tree Inn inside the Magic Kingdom. It’s mostly familiar (to Americans) comfort food. Again, good eatin.
Day three: Epcot. Table service at the Nine Dragons. Dang that was good. Kiddo, her boyfriend and the Mrs. Cruiser left early. BB and I stayed until around 6 or so. Quick service meal was at the French Quarter resort.
Day four: Animal Kingdom. BB and I got up early and hit the park ahead of everyone else. She and I had a quick service meal at The Flaming Tree BBQ (OMG! Best quick service meal during the vacation). BB had ribs and chicken, I had a pulled pork sammich. The rest of the crew had their lunch at the Yak and Yettie. They report that they were not impressed. Kiddo ate at the Flaming Tree later and was much happier. Table service was late. 8 pm in Africa at the Tusker House. This was planned particularly for BB as it was a character dining thing. Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy all patrol around for photos and general shenanigans. There is a pattern that the characters make to ensure that each table gets hit by each character, as well as handlers to ensure that nobody gets left out. The look on BB’s face was worth the price of the vacation. I am so very, very awesome.
Day five: Disney studios. Wife opted out of this park. Table service at Mama Melrose’s, it’s clearly Italian and we were all very happy with it. BB got spaghetti and meatballs and I’m pleased to announce that she said mine is better. My sauce recipe comes from my grandmother. She had to make something to copy what my granddad got from the mom-n-pop places that he visited during WWII. So again Spaghetti de la Cruiser totally rocks.
Kiddo and her boyfriend bailed early, BB and I stayed on for a while and were back at the resort around 5. A road trip for all of us to Disney Springs and our final quick service meal at Raglan Road (an Irish place). Many places at Disney Springs take the dining plan. We still had a table serve credit for the wife (Mama Melrose), so… Back to our resort, via the French Quarter. Wifey was able to trade her table service meal for snack credits. And we proceeded to finish out all the remaining snack credits for the road trip home.
Things to keep in mind: If you stay at the resort and you have the dining plan, your meals are good for every night you stay at the resort. Meaning you can go eat as soon as you get there.
Disney Springs: Has a parking garage, it’s also free to park. As soon as you get off the escalator your nose is assaulted by whatever deliciousness is being cooked nearby. It’s a really cool place, wifey said it was really crowded Sunday night when we got there, but on Thursday night it wasn’t too bad. Music is everywhere and I think there is something for everyone to enjoy.
Now that we’re back from Spring Break and a long stay at the House of the Mouse I thought I’d collected my thoughts enough to put them down in one place in a (hopefully) coherent fashion. Disney can be overwhelming, there’s a lot of information in many different places, between what friends, neighbors and various other blogs say is a “must do” and finding out what actually works for you can be vastly different. This is just the view of a regular dude.
Some of you might know that the Mrs. Cruiser and I were awarded custody of a little one (she’s 7 now), the back story isn’t important right now. What is important is that 7 is almost the perfect age to visit the Mouse Empire. Stuff is still magical, the princes and princesses are real, the rides are exhilarating and yes, Cinderella really does live in that castle. Normally we cruise during our vacations, I’m a sailor and the sea calls. But for the reasons listed above I thought that the little one would really enjoy Disney (and I was right).
For naming conventions my actual daughter is generally kiddo (she’s 24). The little one that we have custody of is kiddo has the initials of B. B. and I call her (of course) BB.
So last summer I started into the planning phase. I did this all myself, a travel agent might help, ymmv, but this was all on me. Starting out with the Disney web site, of course, it’s got a lot of data on it. In Florida there are the 4 major Disney parks and a host of resorts (Disney owned and otherwise). The Disney web site is pretty expansive, multiple tab browsing or even multiple monitors will make the planning much easier. Also take notes. There is an option to chat with a Disney Vacation Planner who can answer questions you have (remember them notes you took?)
I wanted to spend a full day at each park, with an option to leave and come back later if that’s what anyone wanted to do. Given transportation, parking and distances involved I opted for a Disney resort. After some searching around and reading reviews I centered on Port Orleans, Riverside. Also with the resort, everyone in the party gets a Magic Band. This thing can be dangerous, not only is it your room key, but it can be linked to a credit card and you have purchasing power with it. You can restrict the use of it, who wants a 7 year old running around with all that stuff they just “Have to have?”
The Resort: Riverside and the French Quarter resorts are neighbors, indeed at one time they were one single resort. For whatever reason, they’ve been split in two. From what I’ve gathered, they are also the best of the moderately priced resorts on site. One night we went over to the French Quarter resort to eat, they specialize in Cajun/Creole food whereas Port Orleans is more seafood. Both restaurants are pretty good. I give a nod to the ‘Quarter for their desserts. Love those King Cakes, just the right size and I don’t have to share. Also I think the ‘Quarter had been more recently renovated, their dining hall looked a bit more up to date. Nothing wrong with Riverside though. Also, getting in to the resort you have to pass through a security checkpoint. If you are not on the list as a guest, you’ll be turned around. You can bounce from one resort to another via the shuttle busses, but you can only gain initial access to the resort in which you have reservations.
I opted for a “preferred location” as a room choice, our building was #14 in the Alligator Bayou and it was right next door to the main building. One set of stairs and about 100 yards and we were in the restaurant, easy peasy.
The Dining Plan: Not essential, but worth taking a look at. You can bring your own snacks and drink into the park (no booze) and save yourself a lot of money, but somebody has to carry it all. Still a bag of skittles is a lot cheaper at the dollar store than in the parks. I opted for the middle plan, this gave us each one table service meal, one quick service meal, and a snack per day. Is it worth it? Maybe. With some planning you can come out ahead on the deal. I can see where it’d also be a loss. There are so many places to eat it is incredible. This probably caused me the biggest worry. Unfounded, it all worked out. I’ll list the places we ate later.
Photopass: I got it, probably a wash as far as costs go. You know when you get to a place and a photographer shoves a camera in your face? Or how everyone at the end of a ride has to walk past a kiosk and see their faces during the ride? Or all those characters posing for photo ops? The photographer zaps your Magic Band and you have those pictures available in moments. Download, share, print out later. You also get an IP release, so you can get them printed at a shop after the vacation.
Park Hopper option: After talking with some dudes at work I passed on this. Do everything you want to do at the park you’re in for that day. Bouncing between parks is easy to do, but it takes time. You’ve already paid for the time right? It’s not an efficient use of it. So, a big “no” to the park hopper.
OK planning done. If you are using a resort stay, you don’t have to pay in one lump sum. Stretch it out over several months if you need to. Set up a Disney account and download the “My Disney Experience” for you smart phone and watch your email. As zero hour approaches you’ll get an opportunity to customize the Magic Bands
Travel Day: An early morning start in order to avoid Atlanta traffic. It rained on us and there were some delays on the road. Arrival in Orlando was supposed to be 2:30 pm. Thanks to a car on fire, some construction, and Orlando traffic, actual arrival time was around 5 pm. We had a dinner reservation for later. So the wife and kiddo, with the boyfriend of kiddo took the water taxi to Disney Springs. Little one and I took up residence poolside. Nice pool, I had a hammock all to myself for hours. There’s a small waterslide that BB enjoyed.
The restaurants: I was concerned about making reservations for a group of people and wanting everyone to have something they liked on the menu. This info is available on the web, worth looking at.
Day one: The little one and I had our quick serve meal there at the resort. I had a BBQ something or other, BB had pizza. Dinner was Boatwright’s, also there at our resort. Mmmmmmm, damb good.
Day two: Lunch (table service) at the Liberty Tree Inn inside the Magic Kingdom. It’s mostly familiar (to Americans) comfort food. Again, good eatin.
Day three: Epcot. Table service at the Nine Dragons. Dang that was good. Kiddo, her boyfriend and the Mrs. Cruiser left early. BB and I stayed until around 6 or so. Quick service meal was at the French Quarter resort.
Day four: Animal Kingdom. BB and I got up early and hit the park ahead of everyone else. She and I had a quick service meal at The Flaming Tree BBQ (OMG! Best quick service meal during the vacation). BB had ribs and chicken, I had a pulled pork sammich. The rest of the crew had their lunch at the Yak and Yettie. They report that they were not impressed. Kiddo ate at the Flaming Tree later and was much happier. Table service was late. 8 pm in Africa at the Tusker House. This was planned particularly for BB as it was a character dining thing. Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy all patrol around for photos and general shenanigans. There is a pattern that the characters make to ensure that each table gets hit by each character, as well as handlers to ensure that nobody gets left out. The look on BB’s face was worth the price of the vacation. I am so very, very awesome.
Day five: Disney studios. Wife opted out of this park. Table service at Mama Melrose’s, it’s clearly Italian and we were all very happy with it. BB got spaghetti and meatballs and I’m pleased to announce that she said mine is better. My sauce recipe comes from my grandmother. She had to make something to copy what my granddad got from the mom-n-pop places that he visited during WWII. So again
Spaghetti de la Cruiser totally rocks. Kiddo and her boyfriend bailed early, BB and I stayed on for a while and were back at the resort around 5. A road trip for all of us to Disney Springs and our final quick service meal at Raglan Road (an Irish place). Many places at Disney Springs take the dining plan. We still had a table serve credit for the wife (Mama Melrose), so… Back to our resort, via the French Quarter. Wifey was able to trade her table service meal for snack credits. And we proceeded to finish out all the remaining snack credits for the road trip home.
Things to keep in mind: If you stay at the resort and you have the dining plan, your meals are good for every night you stay at the resort. Meaning you can go eat as soon as you get there.
Disney Springs: Has a parking garage, it’s also free to park. As soon as you get off the escalator your nose is assaulted by whatever deliciousness is being cooked nearby. It’s a really cool place, wifey said it was really crowded Sunday night when we got there, but on Thursday night it wasn’t too bad. Music is everywhere and I think there is something for everyone to enjoy.
