No More Pleasure at Disney

Pleasure Island, that is. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney will be shutting down Pleasure Island after September 27 this year. This isn't really a surprise given that they've been shutting down a number of night clubs recently. However the rumors that they would be transforming Pleasure Island into the gateway to the Night Kingdom don't seem to be true. Turns out they will be changing it back into shopping and dining. I guess "the wheel turns" and history repeats itself. When I was a kid and lived in Winter Garden just a few minutes from the back door of Disney, the area that became Pleasure Island and Downtown Disney was - you guessed it - shops and restaurants.

The article explains that Disney feels like they have a shortage of dining (imagine that). I can't say I'm sad to see Pleasure Island go. We are not the night club set. Expanding Downtown Disney is definitely something more appealing to our family.

Here's a clip of the article and a link to full article:

The six nightclubs at Pleasure Island will soon shut down, as Walt Disney World redevelops the adult-focused district at Downtown Disney.

BET SoundStage Club, Mannequins Dance Palace, 8Trax and three other nightclubs that have for years catered largely to young, single adults — rather than to Disney’s bread-and-butter family market — will close after Sept. 27. Over the next couple of years Disney will reopen the Pleasure Island area with a broader mix of restaurants and shops.

Though Pleasure Island’s possible demise has been the subject of rumors for awhile, the announcement surprised many in the Orlando nightclub business. Pleasure Island, now 19 years old, may have seemed an odd venture for Disney but it appeared to thrive — so much so that some in the industry have blamed it for accelerating the decline of the nightlife district in Downtown Orlando during the 1990s.

In announcing what they called “a bold new vision” for all of Downtown Disney on Friday, Disney officials framed the Pleasure Island nightclub closures as a response to their customers, who say they want more broad-based dining and retail opportunities throughout the 120-acre district.

“Our bold new vision for Downtown Disney reflects the feedback we receive from our guests each and every day and will enable us to continue to offer the high-quality entertainment that is our hallmark,” said Downtown Disney Vice President Kevin Lansberry.

Pleasure Island is the middle section of Disney World’s 120-acre dining, shopping and entertainment district, called Downtown Disney. While the two flanking areas, MarketPlace and the West Side, also have nightclubs, they are parts of restaurants, appealing to broad crowds. In general, those areas appealed to families. Until recently, Pleasure Island has been mostly about nightclubs, and it created an awkward bridge between MarketPlace and West Side.

Other businesses on Pleasure Island, including a couple of restaurants, a cigar bar and a couple of clothing shops, will remain open. They already offer the broad appeal that Lansberry said Disney’s patrons want from the rest of Pleasure Island. He did not offer specifics about what might replace the clubs, but said Disney was looking worldwide for restaurant and shopping concepts.

In addition, Disney is sprucing up the other two areas, adding new restaurants, expanding and updating a band shell, and bringing in a giant, tethered balloon attraction, which visitors can ride in, going up 300 feet above Village Lake.

Full article

Where can I get cheap tickets?

I've seen this question asked over-and-over. It's not surprising given that for a family the admission price is a big chunk of any vacation budget to Walt Disney World. Whenever I hear somebody complain about the high price of admission to Disney, I have several questions that I always ask.

First, "How many days did you go?" Disney is more expensive the fewer days you go. A co-worker of mine was attending a wedding in Florida and decided to just "stop in" for a day at Disney world and was complaining about it costing over $75.00 per person. It's true. If you go for just one day, it'll cost you. Did you know that you can get tickets for under $20.00 a day, though? If you purchase a 10 day basic ticket it's actually under $20 bucks.

My second question is usually something along the lines of, "How much did you spend the last time you went to a movie?" and how does that compare in value to the cost of the price of admission to Disney World? Sure tickets to Disney are not "cheap" but when you compare them to the price you pay for other entertainment it's really a pretty good deal. A round of golf will cost you $30-$60 (or more), a day at Six Flags will cost your $30-40 (and it's nowhere near the quality), going to the movies for a couple hours will cost you $10-12 per person. You get the point.

My third question is, "Where did you get your tickets?" There are better places than others to get your tickets and a myriad of combinations. You generally do NOT want to wait until you get to the park to purchase your tickets. You can save some money by purchasing from a reputable distributor of tickets. DO NOT BUY tickets off eBay. Tickets are non-transferable. Partially used tickets are worthless to you. One of the best places to purchase tickets that I have found is Undercover Tourist. Not only are their prices better than buy through Disney direct, their prices include all taxes and shipping. Make sure you compare that to other costs. This link gives their current prices on Disney World and other Orldando area Theme Park Tickets - which ticket is right for me?

Although, their prices aren't dramatically lower (they are not half price or anything) they can add up for a family.

Create your own fairie

Disney has been working to increase the time spent on their web site. Other kid friendly sites with more interactive features have been beating them out for time spent on site, so the folks at Disney have been working to rework their site. They are adding more games and more YouTube-like free video (a welcome addition to this parent). The Disney site has not been very kid-friendly in the past. My kids much prefer pbskids.com and 4kids.tv. Disney has realized that they need to spend less space hawking their wares and more time capturing eyes.

One of the new features that I checked out this morning is the "create a fairie" section. It's a place where you can create your own Tinkerbell type character (no doubt a synergistic tie-in to the Tinkerbell movies coming out later this year). Coming soon is the ability to interact with your fairie via your cell phone. Granted a 42 year old male computer programmer is probably not their main demographic, but can tell you from the 10 minutes I spent on the site that my 11 and 10 year old daughters will be fighting over computer time in order to spend time on this site. They love this kind of thing and they will eat it up. I suspect that there are more than a few grown up Tink fans out there that will be spending some time on the site, too.

Disney attendance sources: flying vs driving

Something that I've wondered about for sometime is how many people drive to Disney World vs how many people fly. I came across these figure in an article in the Orlando Business Journal. It actually breaks it down even more.

Walt Disney World's travel mix

Drive attendance

• Florida residents: 15 percent
• Out-of-state: 30 percent

Fly-In attendance

• Domestic: 35 percent
• International: 20 percent

Yet another Disney travel deal

Here's another Disney travel deal for ya'

Best Western in the Walt Disney World Resort

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ONLY $89 in DISNEY + FREE Breakfast
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BONUS: $25 Hotel Credit + Breakfast Each Day!

• Bonuses Avail on ALL Stays!
• 3-4 Nts: $50 Gas Card for $25
• 5-6 Nts:$100 Gas Card for $50
• 7+ Nts: $200 Gas Card for $100
• Offer Ends June 23 at 11:59PM!

Valid: Now - 08/31. Traveler's Tip: Disney View Upgrade +$20. Watch Disney's Fireworks from your Private Balcony! Not valid: 06/22 - 27; 07/04 - 05


Here's the link...

Get a 7 Day Park Hopper for the Price of a 4 Day Ticket

I got an e-mail from Dell inviting me to join something called Dell Perks. It piqued my interest because one of the teaser offers was for Disney World tickets. I signed up and and saw that they had an offer for a 7 day park hopper ticket for the price of a 4 day park hopper ticket to Disney World in Orlando. This is a pretty good deal. As far as I know, anybody can sign up for Dell Perks. Here is the link.

$100 OFF Walt Disney World Packages

Travelocity has a coupon code here for $100 off Disney World trip packages.

Wait times for Attractions

Disneyland Paris has been testing bluetooth technology kiosks to allow guests to get wait times for rides throughout the park according to this article. This sounds pretty cool, but still misses the point of my earlier post about making wait times available via cell phone on the web. Bluetooth has a very limited range - only 10 feet or so. If they made the same information available via a web site that you could access on your cell phone then you could access it anywhere in the parks rather than having to huddle around a kiosk. As 3G access becomes the norm in the US we will get used to having Internet access all the time on our phones. I hope Disney gets their act together.

In addition, if this data were available you could do a nifty mashup with Google showing wait times as stacked bar graphs, for instance. Wouldn't that be cool?

On-site vs Off-site a real life comparison

I decided to do a real life comparison of staying on-site at Walt Disney World vs staying off-site for our family to give some idea why I think staying off-site is so compelling. I understand that it's not for everybody, but I hope it at least helps make it more reasonable.

First, some background. We are a family of 5. We like to go in May, which is generally considered low or mid season depending on who you ask. We home school so we can beat the rush of summer crowds and the summer heat. Also, for this trip I decided to look at taking a big trip to Orlando of 2 weeks. That doesn't mean we'll go to the Disney parks for 14 days, though. We'll do Sea World and take some days just to relax and swim at our resort (where ever that turns out to be). I didn't worry about pricing tickets since it'll cost the same either way.

So let the challenge begin...

First up, let's go to the Disney web site and see what we can get. After I disregarded all the deluxe resorts, which were starting at $370/night, my choices were narrowed down to Port Orleans, Riverside at $155.00 per night. That comes to $2,170.00 for the 2 weeks. Amenities include: two double beds, table and chairs, ceiling fan, vanity area with two sinks, and bathroom, views of a garden, courtyard, woodland, or parking area. Non-smoking and disabled-accessible rooms are available, in-room wall safe, voice mail, and coffeemaker, hairdryer and iron and ironing board are available upon request. You also get a first class resort. The theming is amazing! Old Man Island is a wonderful swimming pool. The last time we stayed here we spent a whole day of our vacation at the resort. So, this is not a bad deal at all. Also included are some extras like Extra Magic Hours and free transportation. (Although rumor has it that Disney is cutting back on buses to save fuel costs causing many guests to start using their own cars.) I added in the basic meal plan since I figure it's probably the cheapest way to eat if you're staying on-site. This may not be the case, but I'm not sure how you can do much better.

So how does off-site compare? I didn't want to spend a lot of time looking, but within about 15 minutes I was able to find this house using one of the links on my page of links to sites that list off-site rentals. The cost for this house is $109.00 per night in May. That makes the total $1,526.00. Amenities included are: 3 bedrooms (Queen bed, twin/single), 3 bathrooms, private pool, 42" flatscreen tv, PS/2 game station in kids bedroom, full kitchen. Windsor Hills, the community where this townhouse is located, also has a great community pool, playground, free cinematic theater, and is literally 5 minutes from Disney.

The extra money you spend on gas and parking is more than offset by the money you save on food. It's harder to budget for food, which is one of the things a lot of people like about the dining plan - it's a set amount already paid for (or at least it used to be). Anyway, I budgeted for breakfast at home, a CS meal at the parks and eating out for dinner. In all, If figure it costs us about $1,300.00 less to stay off-site.

You have to decide for yourself if the difference in location, ambiance, and extras is worth the difference in cost. For us, it's a no-brainer because we actually prefer the location. Like I said, I understand that many people don't want to have a "house" when they on vacation. They want maid service. They want to be on Disney property and they don't want to drive. However, we like having a kitchen so we don't have to eat Disney food 3 times a day. We like driving so we don't have to wait for buses. We like having our own private pool so that we don't have to pack up and go to the pool - although it's nice to have a really cool community pool to go to also. Someplace like Windsor Hills is really having your cake and eating it, too.

Slow bus service?

Another sign that gas prices are affecting Disney just as much as the rest of us, TouringPlans.com reports the following:

"Buses that bad? Return of the rental car?

"We've been hearing several reports from cast members and guests that Disney is cutting back bus service at Walt Disney World and the wait times for buses between parks and resorts is beginning to skyrocket.

"The waits for buses previously were sometimes sporadic, but generally tolerable and mostly on-time. Now we are hearing consistent reports of long waits and major delays. Add to these first-hand reports the offhand comments from various cast members that Disney has reduced capacity in the face of gas prices - and there seems to be credibility to this problem.

"Guests in the more distant past relied more heavily on their own personal transportation, be it rental car from the airport or family sedan driven across the country. In recent years the reliance on Disney transportation has gone up substantially and the various parking lots have become much less crowded. If the problems with the buses continue, the situation can expect to rebound and the vehicles will return to the parking lots as it appears that driving yourself from point to point is becoming the most reasonable option."

Have you been to Disney World recently? What was your experience with the bus transportation compared to previous years? Do you feel like Disney is cutting back on bus service to save money on fuel?

Overwhelmed by planning? How to get started!

Planning your first trip to Disney World can be overwhelming. Once you realize how many web sites there are out there claiming to have "all the answers" you may find yourself more confused than ever.

Who is going?
This may seem like an obvious question, but you'll need to know how many people are going and what their ages are. If kids are going, you may need to know school schedules in order to determine when you can go. Knowing who is going may also determine what types of activities you decide to do and how much you do. You don't want to tackle as much if you taking an 18-month old as if you are taking teenagers!

When are you going?
Once you know who is going you can figure out when you are going to Disney. This may be something that is predetermined or may be something that you can choose. If you can choose when to go, then how do you decide the best time to go? This is somewhat of a personal decision. There are certain times you'll want to avoid, though. The busiest times are Christmas, Easter/spring break, and summer. The basic rule-of-thumb is that when kids are out of school they are at Disney World. Historically, the best times to go to Disney have been September/October, late November/early December, January (after New Years week) and February. There are pros and cons to all of these times and you'll find people who are die hard fans of their particular time of the year to go.

I've found going in the really off-season times the parks close very early and rides are often closed for refurbishment. So, I like to go in a low-to-mid time of year when the crowds will still be low, but the parks will be open fairly late. My favorite time to go, for instance, is the first/second week of May. The weather is warm enough to enjoy swimming, but not as hot as September.

As a final note, there are several web sites with crowd predictions for the parks which can help you determine when to go. www.TouringPlans.com is one site that I've used in the past for this.

How long are you going for?
The next thing I decide is how long to stay. This is usually determined by how much vacation time I have and my budget. Usually a one week trip is all we can do, but a two week trip is really nice. When we go for two weeks, we don't go to the parks every day, but two weeks gives you time to enjoy the water parks, Sea World, and have some rest days, too. Having some rest days cuts down on the cost of the overall trip significantly and makes the trip much more enjoyable.

Where will you stay?
This is probably the most controversial subject. I personally like to stay off-site because I find it more relaxing and much less expensive. However, many people find the experience of staying on-site to be worth the extra cost. See my blog comparing staying at a Disney World resort vs staying off-site at a nearby vacation house. If want to stay on-site and still save money you might also look into renting DVC points. Now that you know who is going and and the dates you are going, you can search the web and compare options.

Which parks on what days?
Where will you eat?
These two questions kind of go hand-in-hand. Especially if you are on the Disney Dining Plan. The Dining Plan has become so popular that you literally have to make reservations months in advance, especially for the most popular restaurants. At the same time, you'll want to take into account crowd prediction calendars like the one found at www.TouringGuide.com to help decide which parks you want to go to on which days. I generally use a spreadsheet or a piece of paper marked off in a grid for the week(s) we are going. I mark which park we want to go to for that day and which restaurant I would like to try to make reservations for and perhaps a second choice. As I call to make reservations I can enter the reservation number on my worksheet. I usually end up working through several iterations of this plan as I find out the restaurant I wanted is not available (unless I want to eat dinner at 9:30pm or something).

Which Tickets?
Once I have my plan all figured out and know how many days we'll actually plan on going to the park, I'll purchase my tickets. If you are not purchasing Never Expires tickets, this is especially important. For us, since we usually get the Never Expires, it's not as important. We like the luxury of not worrying about deciding to not go to the parks to day if we're too tired.

There are lots of options when it comes to ticket options. There is the basic ticket which you can get in 3 to 10 days. Then you can add options of Park Hopper, Water Parks & Fun, and Never Expires. Park Hopper allows you to go between parks on a single day. Some people find this indispensable, others can live without it. We always get it, but I can see how you could get by without it. The Water Park and Fun option is something I generally debate over, mainly because I have so many days already saved up (more about that in a minute). The Never Expires option makes it so your left over days never expire.

Generally, the more days you buy the lower the price per day. Adding the never expires option drives the price up enormously, but can be a good option in some cases. For instance, if you purchase a 10-day pass and only use 5 days on your first trip and save 5 days for your next trip. We did this on our last trip splitting it so that we only used 4 days on our last trip, saving 6 days for our next trip. It was especially good since our daughter's ticket was at the child rate this time, but would be at the adult rate the next time we go. Disney will upgrade them free of charge, so it's a good deal. The never expires option is also nice since it makes the water park and Disney Quest option much more valuable. Those tickets become never expires, too. That means we have 10 water parks days in addition to the 10 main parks days and we don't have to use them within 14 days of the other days. You just have to balance what you find valuable and decide what you are willing to pay. The basic tickets are much cheaper than if you add the Never Expires and Water Park options. Just make sure you don't buy more days than you need if you go that route because they expire after 14 days and they are non-transferable.

Finally...
There's way more that you'll need to know. These are just the basics to keep you from panicking. The best advice I can give you is to get and read (from cover to cover) a good guide book. The two best ones I've come across are Disney with Kids and the Unofficial Guide. They will be worth their weight in ice water!

If you can't pinch pennies, you can at least squish them

I discovered the joy of collecting pressed pennies on our last trip. Actually, I used it to mollify my 4 year old son. No matter where we went he wanted to stay there there forever! It didn't matter if we went to one of the parks, a water park or a resort for dinner, he was sold. I began using the penny "squishers" as he called them to convince him that there were other places to go and see. I told him he could get one "squished" penny each day. He looked forward to getting his squished penny each day and would dream about where we were going tomorrow so he could think about where he would get his penny. At the end of the week, the pennies served as reminders to him where he had been and how much fun he had been. They were a fairly inexpensive treasure to him.

I've put together a checklist of locations of penny squishers. I'm not positive if it's completely up-to-date or not, but it's a good starting point. If you have any updates, let me know.

Free Things at Disney World

1. "Co-pilot" the monorail - Just ask the cast member if you can ride up front. If nobody else has asked, they will usually let you ride. It's limited to 4 people. No strollers. They will give you an official monorail co-pilot's license at the end of your trip. Update: Since the Monorail crash in 2009, Disney is no longer allowing guests in the pilot's cabin.
2. Have Your Picture Taken - There are "Passport Photographers" throughout the parks who will take your picture and give you an id tag which you can use to retrieve your pictures on-line later. Even if you don't want to purchase the pictures from Disney the photographers are great because they are happy to take a picture with your camera, too. So just let them take your picture and ask them to take shot with your camera, too. That way you can get great shots with your entire family in them for free!
   
3. "Co-pilot" the paddle boat in the Magic Kingdom. I've never tried this personally, but I've been told it works just the monorail.
   
4. Transportation trading cards (ask Monorail workers, bus drivers, and boat workers) We found about these on our last trip. It sure made waiting a lot more fun. We usually didn't bother bus drivers during busy times. We were able to collect all the bus cards. We lacked only a couple of the monorail cards.
   
5. Club Cool - Sample free Coke from around the world in Epcot near Test Track. I've heard Beverly is especially good, hehe!
   
6. Ice water at restaurants - This is a real money saver! You can get free ice water at any restaurant. It's a lot better than getting it from the water fountains which are often not cold.
   
7. Waking up Tinkerbell - I had never heard of this one before but I'm looking forward to trying it on our next trip. In Tinkerbell's Treasures, located behind Cinderella Castle, you can request to wake up Tinkerbell if you are the first one there in the morning. If you arrive and Tinkerbell is not flying around the shop, just ask one of the CM's if you can wake her up. [Note: With the refurbishment of this shop, this has changed substantially and is now done several times during the day. The "drawer" where Tink used to "sleep" is gone, but the concept is essentially the same.]
   
8. Paintbrushes on Tom Sawyer's Island - This is one of those things that I've been told about but never been able to find. At the beginning of the day, Cast Members hide a number of paint brushes on Tom Sawyer's Island. They look like they've been used for white washing. If you find one and take to a CM, they will give you a reward.
   
9. Build a robot - In Epcot you can build your own robot. Update: When Sum of All Thrills went in, the build a robot area was removed.
   
10. Segway experience - In Epcot there is a free Segway experience where you can ride a Segway.
    
11. Charm Lanyard at Epcot - In Epcot Sharpie sponsors a free charm lanyard where kids can collect various charms at the Future World pavilions.
    
12. Mask with Charms at World Showcase - Similarly, in World Showcase they can collect charms in country and add them to a mask. Our kids really enjoyed this since it gave them something to look for in each country and a way to interact with somebody from that country.
    
13. Campfire sing-a-long and movie at Fort Wilderness - Outside the parks, you can still have fun. The campfire sing-a-long at Fort Wilderness is one of the neatest things that Disney offers. The outdoor movie is just a great way to watch a Disney classic. It makes you miss drive-ins.
    
14. Lobby tour at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge - We often take days off from the parks while on vacation. Sometimes we have gone and visited some of the other resorts on these days. I didn't realize there were official tours available, but now that I do, I'll be checking into these.
    

Will Disney be closing parks in 2009?

MiceAce writes:

"There have been some contingency plans assembled, in case this fall looks more dicey than Disney had originally planned for. One major push that probably will see the light of day is the reduction of operating hours, starting right after the summer season. Parks will close an hour or two earlier, and some may even open an hour later… and this is on top of the usual shifting of operating hours that occurs every autumn. That saves Disney quite a bit of money on operating expenses, and they still reap the same income from ticket sales, at least theoretically. In the back of my mind I'm already grumbling about the Decline by Degrees (Disney saves money while you pay the same, but get a lessened experience).

"There are other plans afoot. One of them is to maybe offer the Free Dining program to Disney hotel guests even beyond the usual autumn time slot, perhaps even into the start of the winter months and the hallowed Christmas season. That's unheard of. Offering Free Dining is one of Disney's big guns, and usually brings stampedes of visitors to Disney's hotels (and to its parks). Will it work this time? Even if airline flights cost so darn much? (Not to mention the minivan fill-up!)

"The hope is that it works to bring a rush of visitors. Because otherwise, another contingency plan may be enacted - brace yourself - to close down one Disney World theme park at least one day per week. The Magic Kingdom (MK) appears safe (it's such a big draw) as Epcot (E) (it has so many corporate sponsors that would demand otherwise), but Disney's Animal Kingdom (DAK) and Disney's Hollywood Studios (DHS) may well be dark, locked, and inaccessible one day a week, starting in early 2009 if attendance levels get bad enough. Obviously, the plan would be to take turns. Perhaps Monday would see DAK go dark, and more people would rush into MK, E, and DHS as a result. Then, on Tuesday, DHS would stay locked, and MK, E, and DAK would get increased traffic."

Link to full article...

Top Downtime Ideas

If you go to Disney World with young kids then you will probably need to find ways to have some downtime (even if they don't). We have usually gone back to our hotel or rental house for downtime when our kids were very young, but as they have gotten older we have started using more in-the-park relaxation techniques. Here are some of our favorite places to get away from it all with out ever leaving:

• Spaceship Earth (Epcot) It's cool, dark and the line moves quickly. I haven't seen the new version yet, it was still closed when we were there last time, but I actually liked the old version.
  
• The Boneyard (DinoLand USA - Animal Kingdom) & Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground - (Hollywood Studios) Our kids would probably stay and play at either of these playgrounds as long as we let them. There's only one way in/out so as long as we position ourselves at the exit we don't have to worry about them escaping. They both have water elements to cool them off on especially hot days, too.
  
• Various play fountains (outside Ariel's Grotto, Magic Kingdom & Fast Track, Epcot, Tiki drums/Spitting Camels in Adventureland) We've found these to be nice, quick breaks that really perk up the kids. We make sure they take off their socks and shoes so they won't get blisters, but otherwise let them get as wet as they want. It really revives them on a hot day.
  
• Tomorrowland Transit Authority (Magic Kingdom) Let's just say if we had one of these at home we wouldn't have a problem getting the kids to sleep at night.
  
• Walt Disney World Railroad (Magic Kingdom) We like to take the train when we're at the back of the park and when everybody is tired. It's not a fast way to get around, but it's a good way to take a break and still get somewhere.
  
• Gran Fiesta Tour (Mexico Exhibit, Epcot) OK, the changes to the attraction are a cultural hack, but still there is never a line and it's cool and dark and you get to sit down.
  
• Ellen's Energy Adventure (Epcot) This ride has a number of things going for it. If you can get past the sometimes long wait where there's no place to sit...you get to sit for a long time, in air conditioning. Plus there's Ellen and dinosaurs.
• Monorail - I know it's not actually an attraction per se but it's one of my kids' favorite rides. Especially given the "secret" things you can do. First, ask to ride up front. I'm always surprised how many people don't know about this. Second, collect the monorail trading cards. We still don't have the black one.
• Shop - Take some time to enjoy some of the specialty shops and get in out of the heat.
• Stroll - Imagineers put a lot of time into small details in obscure corners. It's fun to take time to wander around without rushing somewhere and just enjoy looking at some of the small things. We've found some fun stuff this way.
• Snack - Stop to get an ice cream, Dole whip, frozen lemonade or whatever your fancy is. Actually stop to get it. Enjoy it. Watch people rushing by trying to get wherever they are going and enjoy taking your time.
  

Off-Site Rental Web Sites

I've started collecting a list of web sites and communities that have been recommended on forums and other web sites or that I've personally used for off-site vacation home rentals. Click here if you are interested in why I prefer staying in a vacation home when we go to Disney.

Web sites

• www.vrbo.com
• www.homeaway.com
• www.disneymousehouse.com
• www.vacation-rentals4u.com
• www.windsorhills.biz
• www.indiancreekflorida.com
• www.lastminutevillas.net
• www.vacationrentals.com
• www.disneyneighbor.com
• www.vacationcentralflorida.com
• www.orlandovillas.com
• www.lazybonesvilla.com
• www.disneyvillarentals.com

Communities

• Indian Ridge Oaks
• Windsor Hills
• Windsor Palms
• Emerald Isle
• Oak Island Cove

Buzz, meet Buzz

We like to go to Kennedy Space Center when we go to Florida, so I was delighted when I discovered that Disney and NASA had teamed up to send Buzz Lightyear into space. Here's a really cool video of Buzz Aldrin with Buzz Lightyear. Enjoy!

The Unoffical Guide

One of the most trusted books by Disney planning addicts is the Unofficial Guide. Along with the book is the companion web site http://touringplans.com/UG/

If you want to plan your Disney trip to get the most out of it, this book/web site is well worth the investment.

First Disney Trip? Plan? What Plan?

I finally convinced a friend of mine that he needed to take his family to Disney World. Granted he's going down for conference anyway and he is grudgingly admitting that his youngest son would enjoy it. I'm more excited than he is. He's not a first timer. Far from it. He used to work at Disney World back when the only park was the Magic Kingdom. I think it kind of soured him on the place.

"So," I said to him, "I've got good touring book you can borrow and several web sites I can recommend that will help you figure out which parks to visit on which days! Let me know which characters your son likes and I can help you find some character meals and figure out which restaurants you might like to go to. You know you'll need to start thinking about that now don't you?" "Whoa! This sounds way too complicated." he said.

The fact of the matter is part of the enjoyment of the trip for me is the planning of the trip. The vast majority of visitors to Disney go without planning things out and they enjoy themselves, too. I believe that planning can provide opportunity for additional enjoyment because it can reduce stress in the parks by avoiding the worst crowds, minimizing wait times, making sure you have reservations for the restaurants you really want, having the knowledge about less known attractions and things to look for, etc. Not to mention the fact that you can sometimes save money by knowing all your options.

So if you are planner where should you start? You can get a wealth of information from the Internet in scattered form, but your best bet is to get a tour book. There are several very good books. Go to a book store and look through them to see which one you like best. My favorite is Disney World with Kids by Kim Wright Wiley. It's geared toward going with kids, obviously, but is quite useful for general information. The other book that I would highly recommend is The Unofficial Guide. With the purchase of the book, you get access to their web site which has a wealth of planning information such as their crowd calendar which predicts how crowded each park will be on a given day.

Why in the world do I like to stay off Disney World?

While staying on-site has become very popular since Disney has added thousands of moderate and value resort rooms there is still a case to be made for staying off-site like most of us humble folks did for years-and-years when staying on-site was reserved for the upper crust. Staying on-site has some advantages:

• Resorts themed as only Disney can do, including some of the most outstanding pools and food courts known to civilized man
• Extra Magic Hours (EMH) - There is some controversy whether EMH is worth it or not but it something that is only an option if you stay on-site.
• The Dining Plan - Love it or hate it, again it's only available if you stay on-site. (Personally, I'm not a big fan. I wish I didn't have to make reservations 6 months in advance - but that's another rant)
• Transportation - Many guests park their vehicle and never use it or they fly in and never need a car. Disney's transportation system is quite good...depending on which resort you are at and the time of day.
• Package pickup - I love being able to purchase items in the park and just have them sent to the resort rather than carry them around or wait until the end of the day to purchase them.

There are lots of ways to stay off-site. Our favorite way to stay off-site is rent a pool house. So, when I say off-site that's what I'm referring to.

• Cost. Three years ago we found a 5 bedroom house with it's own pool, a full kitchen, big screen tv, grill, washer/dryer, free Internet access, and free long distance phone for 2 weeks for slightly less than what our 1 week accommodations at Port Orleans, Riverside cost. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the two places were in anyway comparable. They were very different. Both were very nice, just different.
• Dining. Staying off-site gives us a lot more options when it comes to dining options. Having a kitchen allows us to fix some of our meals if we want to. We usually eat breakfast at "home" to get an early start, then eat a counter service meal at the parks. Dinner may be on-site, off-site or back home if we want a quiet evening.
• Relaxation. One of the things we realized about staying on-site is that even spending a day at the resort isn't all that restful because you end up packing up the kids to go to the pool or arcade or food court. The nice thing about a pool house is that it's all right there. If the kids want to swim they can change in their own rooms and go for a swim.
• Privacy. There is nothing like having your own room. We have 3 kids - a 5 year old boy, a 9 year old girl and an 11 year old girl. We generally have different bed times for the 5 year old than the girls. Having different bedrooms is really nice for that. And while I'm on the subject, it's also nice to have a queen or king sized bed for the adults rather than the full sized bed you get at the moderate/value resorts at Disney.
• Transportation. OK, when staying off-site is mentioned this always comes up. I can understand this being an issue for the 50% of guests who fly into Orlando (according to NY Times 50% of guests drive) but if you are driving in and have a car anyway this shouldn't be all that intimidating. The house we stayed in was off I-4/27 and took us between 20 and 30 minutes to be at any of the parks. That's no worse and often better than the times we had getting to the parks from Port Orleans using Disney transportation. The only real downside IMO is paying the $10/day for parking.

Like anything else different things appeal to different people. We really enjoyed staying on-site but didn't feel like it was worth the additional cost and we did not enjoy eating out that much. We really like being able to fix our own breakfast, especially. While we really enjoyed the themed pool at the resort, we decided we would be willing to give that up in favor of the simplicity of walking out the door to a private pool. Finally, we really missed having some privacy during our vacation. Given that we can have all the advantages of staying off-site for less money, it's not a hard choice.

If you would like to see what kind of rates are available on houses, take a look at my post listing web sites that have been recommended by fellow Disney fans by clicking here...

Sandcastle kids club review

As I mentioned in a previous post, on our last trip my wife made the decision to stay in a single room at Port Orleans rather than get a suite at the All-Star Music resort. Our thinking was that we would rather save the money and would prefer the more upscale accommodations and resort. In addition, we decided that we would rather have a night out by ourselves by applying the savings toward paying for one of the kids clubs for our 3 kids.

Being a meticulous planner, I realize that the various in-room babysitting services are more affordable for 3 kids but we decided that the kids would enjoy going to one of the kids clubs more than an in-room service. Since it's their vacation, too, we felt that this was a good compromise. Although it's quite a bit more expensive than in-room we figured they would enjoy it a lot more and my wife was more comfortable, especially since we were able to arrange for dinner at EPCOT which is very close to the Sandcastle club. However, if you are interested in the in-room services here are the two that I've heard the most about:

Fairy Godmothers
(407) 275-7326

and

Kid's Nite Out
1-800-696-8105


At first our middle daughter, Laura, was nervous about going. Although 8 at the time, she is the most tentative of the 3. We really talked it up and our older daughter, Elizabeth (9) and youngest son Gabriel (4) were eager to go. I had pictured a bustling room filled with kids, but when we arrived, our kids were the only ones there. That suited them fine. They were excited to check out each room. They found princess dresses (for the girls), video games, and toys galore. Dinner with all the standard Disney kid options such as mac-n-cheese, hot dogs, french fries, etc. was included. It amazes me how many times my kids can each mac-n-cheese in a week and not get tired of it.

We were given a beeper in case of an emergency, which really made us feel much better (our 4 year old can be pill sometimes). We left for our dinner at Chefs de France and had a wonderful time. When we came back several hours later the kids begged us to let them stay for a little while longer! It turned out to one of their favorite things on the entire trip. It ended up costing a grand total of $66 ($33/hour). We were actually gone for a little more than 2 hours, but they didn't charge us for the extra time. In our opinion it was money well spent.

Several things that worked well for us:

• Choose a club that is close to where you are going to spend the evening. This cuts down on the time you waste in trasportation as well as peace of mind. Ask the cast member to help you choose the best kids club when you call to make reservations.
• Make reservations! Call 407-WDW-DINE. You have to make reservations for the kids clubs just like you have to make reservations for dinner. Make sure you can get reservations for both at the same time.
• Talk it up to your kids. Let them know that it's a special treat for them, too. It's not just dumping them off somewhere while you go off to have fun (even though that's kind of what you are doing!) The kids clubs are really set up to be a kid paradise. I understand some kids just won't like being away from their parents and you'll have to judge that, but the vast majority of kids will be in heaven.