All things Disney

[Atleastonce]

Good afternoon,

I have been contemplating putting something on here about Disney. I am a self confessed Disney fanatic and when I have asked a few questions about transport in and around Orlando, I realised there were many people with good information. I have also seen a few trip reports from people with children in Anaheim Disney. I thought we could start a thread for all those who are taking children to Disney all over the world, or if like me, adults visiting Disney. I recently completed a travel writing course and wrote about Disneyland for Adults for one of my assignments. The lecturer was very impressed and thought it was a great take on Disneyland, and one that was not popular outside USA where Disney is more highly advertised.


A little on my experiences in Disney to start this off. I have visited Anaheim Disneyland area 10 times in the past 18 years. As we travel from Australia for these vacations, until recently we have been able to purchase 14 day tickets, and yes on my previous 2 trips we spent 13 days in Disneyland (Not for full days, but visited on each of the 14 days for some period of time). I have visited Hong Kong Disneyland twice, and the Orlando group of Disney parks once. In 28 days I visit Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea and in April next year I complete the world park visits by going to Euro Disney in Paris. I can't wait for Shanghai Disney and will plan that park visit as soon as it is open.


I have done Anaheim and Orlando when the park is in Holiday (Christmas) decoration, Mickeys Christmas party and News Years Eve in Disney parks, as well as the 'normal' Disney outside of special event decorations. (Including a badly timed spring break visit when Indiana Jones Ride was opening. This was our first visit and have steered away from that timing since)


All of the Anaheim trips have been with three children from when they were 6 months old, and done on a tight budget, so tips and tricks on accommodation and meals have been stored in the memory banks for anyone else to benefit from.


If anyone has any information on Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea that I can benefit from, I would be grateful, If anyone would like to know anything about Disneyland in Anaheim for visits with children or what is appealing to adults, please let me know.

 

[Cynicor]

Tokyo Disney, and Disney sea even more so, have queues that are phenomenal. Much longer than in the US, but very orderly in general. Even popcorn can be a 30 min wait, but often the 'meet the characters' type shows are the most popular.

Try to go on a weekday to minimise queues overall. Also, everyone knows about fast passes there, so if you want to get some, rush to the ride you really want to get onto. Get to the park early as long queues form to get in as well.

 

[Cynicor]

Do you have any specific questions? I've been about 4 times to both and will probably be going again this Jan.

 

[AVC]

We went to Orlando last year, but thought it was too large and spread out. Too much time wasted on buses or monorail.
I also didnt think the park/s had the same vibe as Anaheim.

We inadvertantly were there for the 4th of July. It was really great to see the decorations and many Americans dressed up in the Red White and Blues.

Its back to Anaheim again next year. We were planning on Paris but then planes were getting shot out of the sky, so that part of the world is getting a very wide berth.

Favorite rides anyone? My wife and daughter cant get enough of Big Mountain Railroad. I am partial to the California Screamer, or the Cars Land Racers

 

[Princess Fiona]

I have visited Anaheim, Paris, Hong Kong and all of the parks in Orlando. Happy to contribute to the thread.

 

[PLANT]

Well I did both DisneyLand and California park in one day from open to close using a guy that sold fast pass ticket for both parks for $70!..... Told me to say third day of multi ticket if asked... Not asked. Sold out back of local service station near park
I saw everything but I can understand kids would require more time.......

 

[amaroo]

Only been to Anaheim ... Liked Tower of Terror and Soarin over California.

 

[Pushka]

We've been to Anaheim, all Orlando Parks and stayed at a Disney Hotel for 10 nights, plus Hong Kong as recently as this year. Lots of Disney fans but I wonder if the current baby generation will have the same fascination as we did when growing up.

The Disney cruise ships are supposed to be fabulous.

 

[Atleastonce]

Do you have any specific questions? I've been about 4 times to both and will probably be going again this Jan.

Hi Cynicor, my eldest son went to Tokyo Disney a few months ago and gave us a few tips. I am concerned about the wait times, but he said everything is quite orderly with no one pushing in and the long queues weren't really a detractor from the experience. We are doing Disneyland the first day and DisneySea the second day. Apparently fast pass is used more frequently in Tokyo than other Disneylands.

Did you stay at a Disney property or travel to and from, and if so, is it ok to stay until close. We are staying in Tokyo in a rental apartment so will have a reasonable trip back at night on the trains.

 

[Atleastonce]

We've been to Anaheim, all Orlando Parks and stayed at a Disney Hotel for 10 nights, plus Hong Kong as recently as this year. Lots of Disney fans but I wonder if the current baby generation will have the same fascination as we did when growing up.

The Disney cruise ships are supposed to be fabulous.

Pushka, I think the current generation will have the same fascination. My kids absolutely love disney, and in fact last night my 20 year old daughter is starting to plan her 21st and wants to go to Disneyland but will not consider any other than the original for her 21st. I am sure all my kids will pass on their fascination and love of disney to the next generation.

I have a work colleague who took his kids on a Disney cruise last year. It was his first disney experience and loved it. I am yet to be convinced the extra cost is worth the disney cruise, and if anyone can convince me otherwise I will be sure to try it.

 

[Atleastonce]

We went to Orlando last year, but thought it was too large and spread out. Too much time wasted on buses or monorail.
I also didnt think the park/s had the same vibe as Anaheim.

We inadvertantly were there for the 4th of July. It was really great to see the decorations and many Americans dressed up in the Red White and Blues.

Its back to Anaheim again next year. We were planning on Paris but then planes were getting shot out of the sky, so that part of the world is getting a very wide berth.

Favorite rides anyone? My wife and daughter cant get enough of Big Mountain Railroad. I am partial to the California Screamer, or the Cars Land Racers

We love space mountain, pirates and haunted mansion. Thinking about it, the only ride I steer clear of is finding nemo submarines. Not much in that for me. I was not too impressed with Orlando parks. I thought magic kingdom was dirty and the customer service was no where near the level as in Anaheim.

 

[jsimmo11]

Hi,

I went to tokyo disney sea about 3 weeks ago. There is a website that gives an estimate of then volume of ppl each day. We went on a weekday and it was in the red on the website (so estimated as busy). We got there late and didnt find the lines to bad, we just got fastpasses all day. We went on every ride but really kidish rides (we went on a few of them though) and our longest wait was 40 min for the rollercoaster (sorry cant remember the name). It was not very good. The line for the big band show was insane, so we didn't go to that. We went to the jungle show, it was half empty and was amazing, i think because its not disney themed ppl dont seem too fussed on it. the best rides in my opinion are journey to the center of the earth, Indiana Jones and the tower of terror. If you can get fast passes for them the rest of the lines for rides arent too bad. And what ever you do stay for the Fantasmic show at the end.

Im not sure if this is relevent, but im 6.3 and 120kg and i fit on every ride, so if anyone in your travelling party is worried about it being smaller because its in japan, dont worry.
Lines fr photos with Disney characters were about 30 min to 1.5 hours depending on the character.

 

[Cynicor]

Hi Cynicor, my eldest son went to Tokyo Disney a few months ago and gave us a few tips. I am concerned about the wait times, but he said everything is quite orderly with no one pushing in and the long queues weren't really a detractor from the experience. We are doing Disneyland the first day and DisneySea the second day. Apparently fast pass is used more frequently in Tokyo than other Disneylands.

Did you stay at a Disney property or travel to and from, and if so, is it ok to stay until close. We are staying in Tokyo in a rental apartment so will have a reasonable trip back at night on the trains.

Hi!

Your son is right about the wait times. As you get closer to the day you can use crowd predictors that will estimate peak queue lengths for you, based on the weather.

EVERYONE uses the fast passes there. The most popular rides will run out of fast passes within the opening 30 min on a busy day! It is quite nuts that people run and queue on them before queuing on rides.

That said, I managed to get onto toy story mania (amazing ride, really enjoy it) 3 or 4 times before lunch on my third day last year.

I find the queues are part of the experience because of how well theme they are. The Disney sea ones are especially good, and everyone is very polite and orderly, as opposed to aggro. The Japanese know how to queue!

I have done both official Disney hotels (the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel) and Tokyo Hotels with a commute. It is a pretty simple trip and you can't miss the station- there will be others in costume with Disney bags getting off at the same place. It does become a long day as I still suggest getting there before opening hours. If you leave at closing time then dinner at the nearby Ikspiari shops may be an option too, before the trip home. Depending on where in Tokyo you are (somewhere on the Yamanote line I hope), it may be a 45-60 min trip in.

Having been to many of the others, I guess you'll mostly be doing the different rides and going for the experience. I would prioritise Disney Sea because it is unique, and do Disneyland second in case you are tired from a really long day.

 

[Timtammi]

I've done Disney Anaheim several times, Disney Orlando twice ( the latest about 11 months ago), Disney HKG several times and both Disney parks in Tokyo twice. Happy to contribute. Agree with what most other posters have said so far except for the negative comments on WDW in Florida, I love it, can't wait to go back.

 

[straitman]

I've done Disney Anaheim several times, Disney Orlando twice ( the latest about 11 months ago), Disney HKG several times and both Disney parks in Tokyo twice. Happy to contribute. Agree with what most other posters have said so far except for the negative comments on WDW in Florida, I love it, can't wait to go back.

Disney World (Orlando) put out packages aimed at, but not restricted to, the UK market that are quite a good discount compared to normal prices.

I don't have all the details but will ask my daughter who has organised this for our upcoming trip.

 

[Quickstatus]

Re Disney anywhere:

Never buy "Disneyland tickets" from travel agents. Invariably they are just vouchers and you have to queue to get the real tickets.

The opening times are for the actual resort. You have to go through several gates to get into Disneyland. We always get to the car park 1hour before opening time so we are at the actual gate when it opens. Last time we did that at Orlando we were the first there and got 8 consecutive Space mountain rides in the first hour without waiting..in-out, in-out..

With young kids: Do Disney in morning, then go back to hotel for siesta in arvo then come back in evening.

Also 2 days Disney then 1 day relaxing. Unless your kids are super fit they will fatigue. Therefore never buy a consecutive ticket of more than 2 days at a time. A 3 day ticket is doable if teenagers

Accomodation at Disney hotels don't get you into Disneyland any quicker. At Abaheim I google map the place and find a reasonable independent hotel close to main entrance. Hotels which advertise free Disney shuttle don't get you there early - they get you there when crowds already forming. We catch a cab.

Never do a multi resort pass in one day. Eg never do Disneyland Anaheim and california adventure park in one day.

Book way ahead if you want good seats for the shows - Mickey fantasia. Book then like you would Classic Award seats.

Understand Fastpass thoroughly.

There are internet sites which help you efficiently navigate Disney on a particular calendar day for a small fee
Google tourguidemike

 

[Pushka]

It's funny isn't it how going to something for fun requires a full on planned attack.

There are also excellent books on how to best manage the Disney parks. Lots of tips.

 

[Quickstatus]

Unfortunately yes Pushka primarily because it's a long way away and the related costs mean using your time efficiently.

However that's why I suggest afternoon siesta and no more than 2 days consecutive. It's a holiday afterall . Now where did I hear the words "..afterall"

 

[Steady]

So for someone who has never been or done any research on going - what sort of money (ballpark) would a visit to the Disney world in Anaheim cost for a family of 5 (teenage kids) from Oz if on a budget*?
*Assuming it is booked in advance - budget accommodation and park entry fees etc.

How long should be allowed for a first visit? What else would be considered as a "must do" while in that neck of the woods?

Is there a best time of year for someone on a budget?

 

[Atleastonce]

So for someone who has never been or done any research on going - what sort of money (ballpark) would a visit to the Disney world in Anaheim cost for a family of 5 (teenage kids) from Oz if on a budget*?
*Assuming it is booked in advance - budget accommodation and park entry fees etc.

How long should be allowed for a first visit? What else would be considered as a "must do" while in that neck of the woods?

Is there a best time of year for someone on a budget?

Steady, I visited with 3 teenagers twice in the past 4 years. I have a number of spreadsheets form each visit with daily spends and where spend was, including meals etc.... Send me a message and I can send you specific details. I will post general figures when I get home today and have access to my spreadsheets.