I remember the IJ that GAP had reproduced years ago to replicate the Disney machine. Wonder who has it now?

Disney opening back up this week, usually the wait is in the lines now-you need to wait hours just to make a reservation on-line. I am going to wait until the dust settles a bit.

Just found this thread! It went from fun to funked back to fun again.

Although my kids are both under three years old I thought it would be interesting to see how much a two week trip travelling from the UK staying in a Disney hotel would be.

Total including travel, slightly above average hotel and park tickets for a family of 4 was the equivalent of $16,500...

I can see why my parents only took me once!

Two kids under 3 ...it will be interesting

My wife and I learned the hard way ... don't bring a young child to Disney (they won't remember anything anyways). We waited for our second to be out of diapers and walking around before we went back. First kid went twice in diapers. Once for a Disney wedding that we attended and once for a large family vacation. Ideally the sweet spot for the kids is the 5-7 yrs old range. Still young to enjoy everything it has to offer but old enough to not worry about diapers, formula/breastfeeding, a large stroller, hissy fits for being overtired, etc. Plus that age range gets you the kid price for tickets and meals

I agree, it was just out of curiosity I looked at the prices. We went on a family trip to Disney Paris when my nice and nephew were 1 and 4 and it was almost pointless. As you say I was thinking when the kids are maybe 8 and 6 would be a good time to go. Better get saving!

I agree with this. I see parents bringing younger children, and it always looks like torture. We waited until our kids were a bit older. When that happens, go as often as you can because they grow like weeds.

Holy.... I think the most I've spent for a family of 5 was $6k. How expensive is airfare?

That was a package deal with Virgin. I was thinking roughly $8-10k would be reasonable but not $16k!

I was at epcot 4/16 and universal before that. It was a pretty good time with our 4 yr old and 2 yr old. Thank goodness it was nice weather.

We ate at a sit down restaraunt in the mexico section and went on a bunch of rides I hadn't gone on previously. I missed the shows that were closed and the character meet and greets, but we still had a good time.

I would agree there wasn't much magic there, encountered multiple employees who had below average attitudes. I don't regret going but I'm not going to go again until everything is open back up

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Airfare is cheap right now but it is a terrible experience. The flights are full and people are not happy. They want to cram you on a plane and if you so much as take a drink they are screaming at you about the mask. Two black women got into a screaming match before the doors shut and they dragged one of them off kicking and screaming, the other walked off running her mouth the whole way. Other than that, go for it. We paid 60 each way from Houston to Orlando. My daughters ex made sure he kept my grand daughter lat she they missed the plane and they had to pay 400 to fly from Houston to Ft Lauderdale. They arrived at 12PM with a layover till 6AM the next morning. The airport closed so they would have to sit outside and wait in a very crappy part of town. I refused to let my girls sit outside overnight in a crappy part of town with no food or drink or even a place to get out of the rain if it were to storm so I drove 4 hours each way from Orlando to Ft Lauderdale and back. I didnt think a rented Hyundai would go 120MPH. It cost all of 40 in gas.

This, 100%

Whenever anybody I talk to uses the argument "the kids are too young, they won't remember".

It's about YOU enjoying them having a good time. Doesn't matter if they remember it, you will.

We didn't have a good time ... and the kids didn't enjoy the crowds, heat, unknown place, "scary" characters (like Donald Duck ... my all time favorite). I do have a nice picture of my youngest screaming bloody murder seeing Donald LOL. Maybe some little kids like it, but I see too many in the park not having fun. Friends of ours brought little kids for vacations ....nightmare.

Fast forward a few years and they had a blast. Very enjoyable to watch them have a good time and experience it. Slightly older makes all the difference.

Fast forward to last year Feb vacation ..... 11 and 16 and they still love it. Plus I can drag the older on the "extreme" rides (extreme for Disney standards) instead of going alone while my wife stays with two little ones like years ago.

My grand daughter is 6 and doesnt know any of the characters. We cant get the child to watch a Disney movie. She would rather watch Spy Ninjas on youtube. She wanted to ride RIDES as in thrill rides not something representing a character. We only had time to go to one park so we didnt get to do Animal Kingdom or Epcot. My 21 year old son however loves Disney cartoons and loved the attention he got from the Disney Princesses. The young lady who portrays Snow White was simply precious and if I didnt know better I would have thought she was Snow White.

We took our twins at age 4. Zero issues whatsoever. Your mileage may vary. Lmao

It’s different for everyone. We have been bringing our kids since they were 9 months. They love it! I agree with one of the previous posters, it’s not what they remember anyway it’s what you remember and the fun you had in the moment. I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything. Also, you would be surprised how much they remember, my 4 year old has been on 4 different trips and she remembers a lot of very specific things from even when she was 2. My 8 year old practically grew up there, she took her first steps in line for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover!!
Regarding diapers, it’s waaay easier with diapers than it is with a child who needs emergency bathroom visits. There are baby care stations in all the parks that are a great place to rest and change, they have toys books and movies playing.
Keeping in mind all the above, I can’t even count the number of kids I have seen having a miserable time, often times with a matching adult who is miserable. Hot Florida heat, spending a ton of money with the expectation of the best vacation of your life and standing in long lines will make anyone cranky!! We are very fortunate that we stay for long periods of time and use annual passes so we aren’t pressured to get stuff done. Sometimes a whole day is just watching a show going on a couple rides, eating some food, walking around and enjoying the sites and maybe taking a break at the pool. It’s not the vacation for everyone certainly but we love it

We have visited Disney 4 times with our son,4,6,8 and 10. The older he was the more fun the vacation was, but I have fond memories of each visit that I wouldn’t change for anything. We hope to be back in 2022!

I went to Disney world in Florida when I was six. Drove from Michigan with my late father in a 72 mustang fastback.

I don’t remember everything, but the memories that are there (in my head) are quite irreplaceable.

I was just six, but not many others I know had visited Orlando before the 90s.

Cool memories from a long time ago. I remember standing in the lines and looking at everything around me. We rode all the rides back then.

It is probably one of my only fond memories of my late father. He was a truly dead beat dad.

But I do have a couple good memories floating around tied to him.

My favorite album for instance, goodbye yellow brick road..

We started taking our kids to Disney when they were age 7 (daughter) and 5 (son), and have been taking them about every two years since, even as they work their way thru college.

The most fond memory of our first trip was our daughter seeing the princesses all together on the castle stage and asking the wife in a sincere voice .....”mommy, are those the real princesses?” It brought us to tears almost, as the wife replied, “ yes, yes they are” while watching her with her wide eyes and big smile. What was cool about the moment was our daughter was at that age where she was constantly asking questions, and we figured she had the fantasy/reality figured out. Pretty magical moment to see kids still being kids. I’d say the timing of that trip was perfect.

I’m hoping the masks come off by the end of the summer. That’ll be huge in getting the races back for 2022.

I figure if they remove the mask mandate at the end of summer, it will be a 9/1 date for that slow week.

We just returned from Disney World. Overall it was a positive experience.

Rides:

Wait times: The lines look massive. Every massive line we got in we figured there is no way it's actually the posted time. During the week the wait times were 50% of the posted time on average. The weekend most rides were pretty close to the posted time, but never over. I don't think we waited more than 45 minutes for anything. I actually prefer the spaced out lines. It was a constant slow walk for most rides, I prefer that over waiting in one spot and moving 10 steps every so often.
Avatar: Holy cow this ride is awesome. People described it as Soarin' on steroids and that is accurate. Soarin was garbage. I remember liking it last time, maybe we had bad seats. Anything tall and thin was warped and curved.
Rise of the Resistance: This far exceeded my expectations. It was amazing. We had 2 days booked at Hollywood. We set the alarm both days and tried the queue at exactly 7AM. We got in both times no problem. We actually had a 3rd day booked but we were theme-parked out and needed a break. We tried the queue at 7:30AM out of curiosity and it was full.

Food:

I recommend reading some food reviews. We had a few real duds for meals. At an average of about $75 for the 4 of us quick service (without liquor) it's a tough pill to swallow when you get a food court burger that is worse than McDonalds (ABC Commissary).

Woody's Lunch Box was great, the BBQ place in Animal Kingdom was great as well. Epcot was pretty disappointing for food. I remember really enjoying the food snack stands, not so much this time.

We had dinner at Lotus Blossom and I think I've gotten better food at a late night gas station. It was close to closing, maybe that was a factor. The phone app ordering is slick. They also require you have your food before you sit, so we always had a place to sit.

The Boathouse probably wasn't a good choice for us. It's New England style seafood, but we are actually from New England. The lobster was way overcooked, as was the calamari. It's about the quality I would expect from the 99 at triple the price.

We splurged on Shula's just outside Epcot and all 4 of us agreed it was one of the best meals and service we've ever had. It was the most expensive meal I've ever had and wasn't mad about it at all.

Hotel:

We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn. The Boardwalk is really nice, unfortunately not everything is open. It was a short walk to Epcot and a little longer walk to Hollywood Studios. This is a huge plus for me. I can't stand those busses. Gorgeous hotel, awesome pool.

The service in the hotels is nothing like I remember. Our first day we asked a worker about the location of the pool. She said it was her first day and offered no help beyond that. We had an issue with laundry and the "front desk" told me to go to a laundry room that was in a portion of the hotel that wasn't even open. I went to the physical front desk and they non apologetically informed me that calling the front desk is a call center miles away. We had an issue with the toilet, actually all of the drains were slow to drain the whole trip. An angry maintenance worker came in with a plunger, splashed some toilet water on the floor and left the mess.

Overall we had a great time. We were able to get on every ride we wanted to in a reasonable amount of time. Some rides several times. A lot of the "magic" was replaced with people policing lines and masks. My kids are 14, I didn't want to wait another year (we were cancelled in 2020) in hope that it goes back to the Disney I remember. I fear it may never go back.

I'm hoping this whole covid episode ends with Anaheim and Disney getting along and the races come back to California. It seems like there were a bunch of "inaugural" races that fizzled out right away because Disney and the city were at odds.

that's the new film. When they switched to Soarin' over the world... the film of full of avg CGI, loses most of it's emotional impact, and they seemed to flat out forget the film was being made for a curved imax screen.

v1 was a much better package.

That makes sense. What a shame.

We went in September 2020 and January 2021. It wasn't anything like you describe except for the wait times. I thought the staff overall was really helpful. They're doing what they have to do, but we didn't expect to have the same experience as pre-covid. It was still fun for us and going back in Oct of this year.

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/coronavirus/2021/04/28/orange-county-mask-mandate

We may be closer to normal at the parks than we had realized. Very good news.

Florida as already wide open according to governors orders so the county has no say. Disney can do whatever they want though.

Finally got hold of Disney about the 4 tickets we had to a Star Wars night event last August. They said these can now be traded in for a one day pass to the park. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.

Found out we were going to be in the area in a little over a week, we'll be doing a quick 1 day visit to Epcot since that was the only park available. But still looking forward to it!

So I'll be staying at animal kingdom lodge next month for a week. Wonder where if any place to play pinball in disney right now?

They have been closed for a year. Not sure if they have opened them back up.

that said, most of the machines are in poor condition.

I don’t think the arcades are open yet but with them just changing the mask policy I could see them open any day.
I was last at Animal Kingdom Lodge the summer of 2018. The arcade by the pool at the main lodge had if I remember right a stern pirates and a tron. Both were in unplayable shape. Over at Kidani village there was a Stern Indian Jones that had a broken skill shot and a left flipper that was so weak it could only make the ramp on a rolling absolutely perfect shot.
We go to Disney every summer and there used to be a lot of pinball that was well maintained at the resorts, but when they took out the prizes at the arcades and no longer had dedicated arcade attendants their maintenance went waaaay down, this was probably 2015. Now your only chance of playing something that works is if they recently added a new stern in the past 6 months. The value resorts will trash a new pin in 6 months or less, generally the more expensive the resort the less the arcades get used and the longer the games will last.
We are going in August this year and I’m hoping they open the arcades and add Avengers and The Mandalorian. Pre Covid they would add most new sterns that were Disney IP at most of their resort arcades.

Somebody just needs to roll up with a pinball dolly and a clipboard and tell them you’re taking the games away to fix. And then fix them. And then sell them.

For a company that has a reputation for being pristine, perfect and magical they do not take care of their pins. Every pin at the hotel I stayed at at Disney was unplayable and filthy.

I tried playing the Indiana Jones custom cabinet in Adventureland at Disneyland back when they still had it. The playfield was very worn and it didn't even work. They had to refund my quarters because the game wouldn't start. If they couldn't even maintain that one game that they customized for the park, I'm not surprised to hear their other "off stage" games are in bad shape.

When I played it it had a out of order sign on it and it was turned off. Like any other “ rules don’t apply to me” person I turned it on and played it anyway. It managed to get a great game and got my initials on the board.

Unlike location pinball everywhere?

I ask it like that because an owner of the game is specifically passionate about pinball, location games always suck. They are expensive to maintain, time consuming to work on, and don't bring in much. Even a stuck ball can take a game down until a tech can get on site. I'm actually surprised Disney bothers with pins at all.

But if someone from Disney wants to hire me as a tech, pays me my current salary, and gives me a guaranteed 10 year contract, I'll be happy to move to Florida and take care of all their pins on property. They would all play great.

The hotel I stayed at last time had 4 games. The only one that was playable was SW and it had just come out. I’m not talking about shit being filthy I’m talking about shit not working and just not booting up.

I understood what unplayable meant.

Just clarifying. Usually if all the flippers work I will play it.

My standards are lower than yours. I've dumped multiple quarters into games on location with only one semi-working flipper. For some dumb reason I take it as a challenge to my nudging skills as I try to skillfully direct the ball to the working flipper bat. When I put up a high score like that, I feel like an absolute pinball hero.

I'm worried it might be a while until I'm back in the parks. Not because of pinball, but just because I'm waiting for the full experience. All the little stuff that Disney does that makes it so much fun for me. I hope they can get back to that in the next year or so.

I've only done that twice.

In other news...there is apparently a new hack at Disney theme parks:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.popbuzz.com/internet/viral/tiktok-underboob-disney-hack-free-shirt/

Never another dime to this woke ass company.

I once played several games of Star Ship Troopers at a Disney hotel - no tilt, one flipper. Was pretty fun!

I have known about this a few years now. My wife hates it when I do it...but hey... a free tshirt is a free tshirt.

My family just got back and we had a great time. Certain rides and shows (even parks, Typhoon Lagoon is closed) are closed which is disappointing but park capacity is limited so it balanced it a little. Was lucky enough to get to ride the Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios. Not sure if it's lottery based or first come first serve. Need fast fingers on your phone either way, cause the slots are gone in less than 60 seconds. If you're lucky enough get a slot, you won't be disappointed.

Did they get rid of the plexiglass on the ride?

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-05-26/amid-covid-disneyland-opens-up-guests-outside-california

finally Disneyland is opening to out of state guests ......That is good since I had already booked for July 5th!

My son and I were there on the last day before covid closed it....excited to go back!

Did you know the new Spiderman ride has a DLC? you can buy more advanced web slingers in the gift shop to make your ride "higher scoring"

Disney.....you are an evil overlord! but bring on the Dole whip!