Dear Internet (or at least the subset of it that comprises my flists):
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
enotsola and I are considering tacking a trip to Disney World onto the beforetime or the aftertime of our trip to Infinitus. Being natives of two points quite far from Orlando (California and Nova Scotia by way of Ontario), we are the cluelessest of n00bs* and gravely in need of your sage advice:
1. How many days would you suggest spending at Disney? We did three days in Disneyland last summer and that was actually a touch too much time since we were fairly bored by "California Adventure" and aren't much for watching musical performances, parades, etc., but I feel Disney World may be quite a different story. Even so, I am considering three days, in an effort to keep the expense of all this at least slightly in check. But if that's really, really, really not enough and even one more day would make a difference, tell me so.
2. Do you think it would be better to do it before or after Infinitus? We are currently leaning towards after because I think Disney will burn us out more than the con, and I don't want to be physically and mentally exhausted just as things are starting (plus have wrinkles in my robes from them being packed so long *wink*).
3. We're going to do our darndest to stay in the (expensive!) on-resort hotel for Infinitus, but I'd rather go somewhere else while we're visiting Disney, if it makes any sense to to do (i.e., if we can find a cheaper non-resort hotel/motel -- my intuition says "of course you can" because on-resort is always sky-high, but for all I know proximity to Universal Studios comes cheap compared to any reasonable proximity to Disney World). However, I don't even know where to start on this besides going down to AAA and saying "help!" which will lead them to try to sell me a vacation package.** Any suggestions for hotels? Also, for the purposes of this question, consider ease of available transit or shuttles; the two parks are about 20 miles apart and we'd need to get from one hotel to the other (once) as well as from the hotel to Disney World (and back to the airport, but I imagine airport shuttles to MCO aren't hard to come by in this area). I imagine a lot of places have either private shuttles to the park or stops for some kind of local dedicated transit line (like the one in Anaheim that loops past a bunch of local lodgings and then stops at Disneyland), but the point is that I don't know whether we'll bother to rent a car, so we may not have utter freedom of transportation.
* Except to know that we are going to hate hate hate the weather, and hope to all that is good and merciful in the universe that the hotel for Infinitus takes its air conditioning more seriously than the Parc55 did, albeit that's understandable given the sparse need for air conditioning in San Francisco.
** OTOH, that might turn out to be the right idea; we took a package for Disneyland which was decent, and they have far better value ones for Disney World, including a whole bunch of actually-meaningful meal vouchers and things.
enotsola and I are considering tacking a trip to Disney World onto the beforetime or the aftertime of our trip to Infinitus. Being natives of two points quite far from Orlando (California and Nova Scotia by way of Ontario), we are the cluelessest of n00bs* and gravely in need of your sage advice:1. How many days would you suggest spending at Disney? We did three days in Disneyland last summer and that was actually a touch too much time since we were fairly bored by "California Adventure" and aren't much for watching musical performances, parades, etc., but I feel Disney World may be quite a different story. Even so, I am considering three days, in an effort to keep the expense of all this at least slightly in check. But if that's really, really, really not enough and even one more day would make a difference, tell me so.
2. Do you think it would be better to do it before or after Infinitus? We are currently leaning towards after because I think Disney will burn us out more than the con, and I don't want to be physically and mentally exhausted just as things are starting (plus have wrinkles in my robes from them being packed so long *wink*).
3. We're going to do our darndest to stay in the (expensive!) on-resort hotel for Infinitus, but I'd rather go somewhere else while we're visiting Disney, if it makes any sense to to do (i.e., if we can find a cheaper non-resort hotel/motel -- my intuition says "of course you can" because on-resort is always sky-high, but for all I know proximity to Universal Studios comes cheap compared to any reasonable proximity to Disney World). However, I don't even know where to start on this besides going down to AAA and saying "help!" which will lead them to try to sell me a vacation package.** Any suggestions for hotels? Also, for the purposes of this question, consider ease of available transit or shuttles; the two parks are about 20 miles apart and we'd need to get from one hotel to the other (once) as well as from the hotel to Disney World (and back to the airport, but I imagine airport shuttles to MCO aren't hard to come by in this area). I imagine a lot of places have either private shuttles to the park or stops for some kind of local dedicated transit line (like the one in Anaheim that loops past a bunch of local lodgings and then stops at Disneyland), but the point is that I don't know whether we'll bother to rent a car, so we may not have utter freedom of transportation.
* Except to know that we are going to hate hate hate the weather, and hope to all that is good and merciful in the universe that the hotel for Infinitus takes its air conditioning more seriously than the Parc55 did, albeit that's understandable given the sparse need for air conditioning in San Francisco.
** OTOH, that might turn out to be the right idea; we took a package for Disneyland which was decent, and they have far better value ones for Disney World, including a whole bunch of actually-meaningful meal vouchers and things.
ramblings from a local
Date: August 27th, 2009 05:17 am (UTC)From:The meal vouchers *will* help; food at the parks can be pricey, and you will not likely be able to pack in sandwiches for your trip. There are convenience stores available a short hop off site, but that's only feasible if you're renting a car. (I'd say 'don't' unless you must to get from the con to your room; traffic tends toward the horrendous and though signage is relatively clear still resembles a twisty maze of passages.)
Three days is do-able if you're interested in one day each for Kingdom and Epcot, then going back to hit what you missed.
The most skippable park is Disney Studios, followed by Animal Kingdom (which is geared toward nerdy, animal- and environmentally-interested fams with children). Epcot has seen better days; if you at all love the ocean, skip The Living Seas, which is now a sad mockery of its former self. :(
If you get the opportunity to take in one of the Universal parks, pick Islands of Adventure. It's the best one we've got locally (Busch Gardens probably wins the all-round prize for regional parks), and has a Seuss section which always makes me happy. (I have yet to knit silly sweaters and drag my family around it for photos, but I will, I tell you, I will.)
I can steer you toward decent food choices if I know which parks you'll be hitting when and if you have dietary restrictions.
when in the Magic Kingdom, go counterclockwise when possible; you'll miss major crowds who tend to always go to the right. Epcot doesn't work as well that way, as the front half of the park opens before the back [countries, at about 11am or so], and the park's definitely arranged in walking-around-to-the-right order.
I can natter more; what do you need local recon or intel for? Willing and able to help.
Re: ramblings from a local
Date: September 10th, 2009 04:16 am (UTC)From:All alike...
If you get the opportunity to take in one of the Universal parks, pick Islands of Adventure.
We probably will check this out briefly as it is where the Harry Potter Experience is going to be, and from my very uneducated guess at what the con schedule might actually be, it looks like there might be little official planned on Friday and folks are expected to maybe go there then.
We've decided not to try to do too many things at once as it will like as not make us all cross and we wouldn't enjoy it. Travel stress is. Current tentative plan is to go to WDW possibly on my college's spring break, which is earlier than most (last week of March/first week of April) and therefore better both in terms of people and weather, I think. I need to find out when the "on" and "off" seasons are there so we could possibly get the cheaper hotel rates. Most places the "off" season is something like October through April, but Florida being a popular winter destination that may not be the case at all. (Do you happen to know what the case is at WDW?)
when in the Magic Kingdom, go counterclockwise when possible; you'll miss major crowds who tend to always go to the right.
Er... "to the right" (that is, towards their own right hands on entering the park, facing its center) is counterclockwise, to my mind?
I agree this seems to be kind of a pattern at Disneyland too, heading to the right after entering the park (towards Tomorrowland in its layout; I don't know if WDW's MK is very close in its map?), although I wouldn't say it's 100% as there are some major attractions to the left too (such as the Indiana Jones ride).
Re: ramblings from a local
Date: September 10th, 2009 09:48 am (UTC)From:Er... "to the right" (that is, towards their own right hands on entering the park, facing its center) is counterclockwise, to my mind?
Er, yeah. Dur. it is. Going clockwise, to the left, is generally a decent way to avoid crowds.