Orlando Trip

[Ogolo]

Looks like me and the wife are going to be heading down to Orlando Oct 8 - Oct 13.
We willl be staying at the Marriott Grande Lakes (got a great deal).

Does anyone have any tips on how to spend 2 days at Disney during this time?
Is the park hopper option worth buying?
Which parks?
I know the Epcot Food and Wine festival is a MUST for us.
We haven't been down there in about 10 years.

Any help or suggestions appreciated.

And no I can't talk her into going to HHN! (As much as I would like to go!)

[WadeJ]

We'll have to catch up lol

I'll be there the 6th - 11th and being that I have a Disney AP, I'll be hopping around a bit between meetings

I think the park hopper is worth it for maybe 3 or 4 days or more.  2 days may make it a bit of waste.  Compare the price of buying 2 individual tickets to each park you plan to hit to a park hopper.  Then you have the luxury of stopping by any of the 4 parks if you finish everything in one day.

Regardless, yes, Epcot is a MUST do during this time of year.  You also MUST see Reflections of Earth and you MUST get a good spot (like the entrance to World Showcase right on the main path to the water )

I'll likely be at HHN on the 6th or 7th

edit:  I should add that if you don't get a park hopper, I'd do Epcot and Magic Kingdom.  Especially if you wife isn't a thrill junkie.  There is nothing at Epcot she can't handle.  Even mission space has a non-spinning side now.  And these two parks tend to have the longest hours this time of year.  Just be sure to lookup park hours because the Not So Scary Halloween party is going on at Magic Kingdom so it will close early those days!  And while I'm at it, you may want to go to that to get on attractions with less wait time

[WadeJ]

saw ya viewing while I edited.  Make sure you check my edit lol

[Ogolo]

Thanks Wade!  Much appreciated.
Now looking at the various park operating hours it doesn't look like the park hopper would be a good idea.
I thought maybe do one park during the day and another at night, buy they aren't open late enough for that to work out.

Right now we have decide on Epcot....and probably the Magic Kingdom.
I've heard not so good reviews from my neighbor of Animal Kingdom.

Maybe we will see you around the park...Is the whole gang going down with you?

[WadeJ]

Animal Kingdom TOTALLY rocks but isn't the place for a spur of the moment trip.  We can talk more later on it but its a very misunderstood park.  I've grown to love it there.

I'm there on business so I'll be floating around solo on any free time i might get.

[rjholla2003]

If you happen to swing by Space Mountain and see a guy named Reggie with Montclair State on his tag, say hello!  Unless it's Monday the 8th (I have class, and I'm working till 4 in the morning the day before) or Wednesday the 10th cause I have off.

[PcMan]

OK
its been more then 15 years since i been to Disney World.
I know its grown to more then double its size  just looking at it in Google Earth its Giant.

My queation is I may try to get there with my "wife" next year and if I do I may buy a annual pass if its worth the $.
I know if I go i will have to go back again to do the things I miss.

so is a annual pass  worth it if I plan to go 2 times in one year  say 10-14 days ?

[WadeJ]

Depends on the season you go.  If you buy the AP and go during the off-season when the AP hotel discounts get better, you can break even in 10-12 days with one single trip.

Or, regardless of when you go, if you have the AP's and go twice in one year and stay onsite with a hotel discount, you EASILY save money.

I love being able to pull spur of the moment trips with no care in the world on how much I achieve during that trip.  Sometimes I'll get frozen lemonade at Epcot and sit on a bench and people watch for a hour or 2 before Illuminations starts.    When you pay per-day with a pass that expires, you tend to go all commando and feel that need to accomplish every single thing there which results in a not so great vacation and usually.... fights with the spouse lol.

[chilled182]

reggie your working too?!

thats three friends in florida.  Ill be sure to come say hi dude.  Ill be there from the 25th to the 28th.

[Ogolo]

Reggie,
    Looks like I'll be in the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday.
    Is there a spot where do usually work in Space Mountain?
    Just so I know when to keep my eyes open for you.

Ken

[rjholla2003]

I can be anywhere at any time. LOL.  We have 3 different rotations I could be in, plus hopping in the middle of those to cover breaks, and other optimization tasks such as tower tours for our magic moment and whatnot.

[Robert T Ackerman]

Have fun down there!

I can't get down until March.

[WadeJ]

Sorry I missed ya Ken.  Work ended up taking every single waking moment of my "free" time this time.  I basically only ended up being free on Saturday and Sunday before you arrived (minus hanging out with Reggie after midnight lol).

[peterpjr]

Wade.. When are you going to visit for ff?

[Ogolo]

That's OK....
After dinner at Emeril's I saw a huge DELL party going on at the Hard Rock Cafe.
I figured that may have been the conference you were attending.

We had a great time!
The parks were much more crowded that I expected, but used Fast Pass to it's full advantage and never waited for a ride.

I met Reggie for a split second when we was collecting Fast Pass tickets at Space Mountain.  Yes Reggie that was me in that dark place saying hi!

We saw the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.
EPCOT was much better and I think I may have lost an eye brow from that fire at the beginning!
Loved Mission Space....That was the wife's favorite attraction at EPCOT!

The highlight of the vacation was Dinner at Jiko!
Nothing else comapred to that meal...Heaven!
Sorry Emeril you just didn't cut it.

Anyhow thanks for the tips....And maybe we can meet before the season closes at Great Adventure!

Ken

[rjholla2003]

Yeah, it's starting to pick up a bit.  The Halloween parties are still pretty dead though.

I almost forgot that you were coming down at the same time as Wade, so I was thrown off a bit.  LOL.  Too bad we didn't get to have a real conversation.

[WadeJ]

LOL  that was us on the upper deck of Hard Rock.  I don't work for Dell but was there as a guest.  You happen to see the screaming girls greeting everybody as we entered between 7 and 8?

Bummer you missed us since we mostly all staggered over to Margaritaville after that.  Jiko rocks!

[Ogolo]

Hmm...I think we missed the screaming girls. 
We must have been enjoying our dinner or feeling like a trout going up stream.
Everone else was leaving Universal when we were entering!!  Yikes!

We took a walk around City Walk after dinner (9:30-10:00) and saw DELL ROCKS and a bunch of people up in the Hard Rock cafe deck.

Mickey's Philaharmagic was the best attractions in the Magic Kingdom park.
Pooh was up there too...but just as upset that they got rid of Mr. Toad!!!
How could they rid the world of that wonderful ride!!!

How was HHN??
I saw that it was setup but not open on Tuesday Nights.
I think we might have done it if it was open.