Another big Disney nut and DVC member here. Last year we went to Disneyland over July 4th for Galaxy's Edge (had to make an educated guess as to when it would open when booking the trip), Disney World in August for the opening day of the Florida Galaxy's Edge, then back to Disney World over Christmas for Rise of the Resistance (yes, it's amazing, and worth dealing with all the boarding group craziness to ride).

For Christmas we stayed at the new Riviera Resort, and it quickly became one of our favorites. If you've ever stayed in Epcot for the fireworks and then waited in the resulting bus line, you'll be amazed when you're back at your resort in 15 minutes on the Skyliner. Not parks related, but we also love Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, and that's become sort of our default destination for quick getaways.

I usually monorail over to the Contemporary arcade at some point during our trips. Newer games are generally a safe bet, but then you've got the Tron that I suspect has never had the glass off.

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We joined way back in 2006 and it's probably one of the best purchases we've ever made. For us, it's paid for itself many times over... BUT with the price-per-point as it is today, as you said, it's harder to make the numbers work.

We recently added on some resold Hilton Head points (it's a small resort and difficult to get a reservation at if it's not your "home" resort). Resale is a lower cost option, but you do have to be aware of the limitations of resale versus direct (there are some benefits you only get with a direct membership).

Yeah, food booths around World Showcase are almost a year-round thing now. Besides those two, there's the Festival of the Arts in Jan-Feb and the Festival of the Holidays around... the holidays.

At this point we still have a trip booked for late July, but it's transformed into more of a "burn our DVC points before they expire" sort of trip. Vero Beach (to check off the last DVC resort that we haven't visited), then a night in a treehouse villa at Saratoga Springs with a boat hop over to Raglan Road for dinner. Is it off topic to post in the Disney parks fans thread about a Disney trip that doesn't involve the parks?

It was running when I was there last week. You had to get off there if you were going to the Polynesian since the Poly's monorail stop is closed.

They described it as sunsetting the program, so APs are going away, but it also sounds like they'll be replaced by something new.

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They also email the crap out of you about it before you go.

I was in Epcot Saturday for Festival of the Arts and we had a blast!

When I was there at New Year's the waits were generally lower than posted. The lines look insanely long because of social distancing, but they move quick.

Cool collection! Made me remember the good(?) old days of sprinting to the FastPass machine of the most popular attraction as soon as they let us into the park.

I have a few stashed away from when we made reservations and ultimately didn't use them, but I'm sure you've got them all.

Yeah, Disneyland's version is definitely more pleasant. Last time we were there (July 2019), we upgraded to MaxPass, which let you make same-day FastPasses in the app. And unlike WDW, there was actually availability for popular attractions. I think it's a problem of scale.

I do wonder if the WDW FastPass system won't get a massive re-think post-COVID.

In the pond of theme parks, Legoland is a guppy and Disney World is a whale shark. If Disney were less stringent about their COVID policies they wouldn't be open right now. Quit obsessing about masks and have some fun!

Most of the food is open, but instead of standing in line at the register you mobile order on the app and pick it up when it's ready. Personally I don't mind that one bit.

When I was in Universal last summer they were just as strict as Disney about the gaiter thing. Same with airlines. So I'm very surprised that you got away with it in either instance. Count yourself lucky, I guess?

Vacations are supposed to reduce stress, so if putting on a mask really generates this much anger from you then you're probably making the right call to avoid travel for a while. I hope you got at least some enjoyment out of your trip.

I did exactly that the last time I was there. Grabbed a Lyft and went here one afternoon:

https://pinside.com/pinball/map/where-to-play/10269-mission-control-santa-ana-ca

To me Genie sounds pretty similar to the old MaxPass at Disneyland, which was great... But I'm extremely skeptical that it will scale well to the crowds at WDW.

Universal's version (Express Pass) isn't exactly free either. It works very well in my experience -- no pre-planning, just walk into the express line if you have the pass -- but again, smaller crowds.

I think the best thing Disney could do is to keep the park capacity limits that were implemented because of COVID and keep those limits realistic. When you're standing in Tomorrowland and you literally can't pick your nose without accidentally elbowing another person, then there are obviously more people in the park than the available attractions can support.

We'll probably try Genie once just to try it, but these days we're much more of the wanderer type than the sprint to the next ride reservation type.

The Contemporary arcade came back! Though it was closed last time I was there due to COVID...

Ah, gotcha. That looks incredible! I thought you were talking about the one on the concourse that became a kids club and is now back to an arcade.

I get a little weepy when I get off Space Mountain and walk by where the arcade used to be.

Color me jealous. Memories like that are the best.

I'm actually a little older than you, but sadly I never got to go to WDW till I could pay for it my damn self.

At Disneyland yes, at Disney World no.

Not exactly Disney Parks related, but I thought some here might find it interesting. We spent Labor Day weekend in Marceline, MO, Walt Disney's childhood hometown and the real-life inspiration for Main Street, USA.

Sadly, the downtown area has seen its better days -- good luck finding anything open past 4pm, or at all on Sunday -- but we did a private after-hours tour of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum that was easily worth the trip. So while I can only recommend it for hardcore Disney buffs, I feel like it's one of those "gotta do it once" trips for the Disney-obsessed, just to experience the history that permeates the place.
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Yes, quite a few. Scrolling through my many, many pics, a few that jump out are the desk he used in first grade (he carved WD into it), the first light table he and Ub Iwerks shared, and the stuffed Mickeys he and Roy gave their parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. They also have an entire room dedicated to letters sent by Walt and Roy.
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I rode it last week. It's a lot of fun and the whole area surrounding it is very well themed, with some cool new food options. It's a trackless ride similar to Rise of the Resistance or Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, but in my opinion both of those are better. Neither of them are at Epcot, though! Like someone mentioned, you've gotta do the 7am boarding group thing to get to ride it.

(And I know this is a Disney parks thread, but for me the highlight of my week was getting to go back to Halloween Horror Nights for its 30th.)

There are 7am and 1pm booking windows, and from what I heard people weren't having any trouble getting a slot so long as they were clicking right when the booking went live at either time.

I do hope that Disney doesn't fall down the Universal trap of recycling the same ride over and over with a different IP ("Remember Spider-Man? It's like that, but with Transformers!"). Don't get me wrong, the technology is incredible and I feel like they may have reached a pinnacle with Runaway Railway, but they need to put their creative juices flowing towards not letting everything start to feel too samey.

Based on what tiny snippets they've let loose about Guardians so far, I don't think they've lost their way just yet.

That's sort of the gist I'm getting, yes. Maybe a little more family friendly in terms of the puke factor.

Wait, now you've ruined it for me! "Remember Harry Potter? It's like that, but with Guardians!"

Oh yeah, I just remembered one cool new discovery that I made last week that might be of interest here: the Shootin' Arcade in Frontierland is now on free play. I don't remember the last time I stopped there, and I'm pretty sure my daughter had never played it, but we had a blast being the only two at Boo Bash who were taking shooting breaks in between the mini-parades.

And speaking of shooting, I also had fun lording over my family with this little beauty:

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They pulled off some cool 3D-like stuff in Runaway Railway without the need for glasses, so I'm sort of hoping that the glasses will become a thing of the past. As a family of prescription glasses wearers, I don't think any of us would miss them a bit.

I wanted that so bad when I went! But it's the passholder version.

They are "encouraged" while indoors at Universal, but there was zero enforcement when I was there last month.

Yes it was! It was approaching that "salmon swimming upstream" feeling this evening. We hit Remy this morning, tried Space 220 for the first time for lunch, and got signatures from some favorite artists at Festival of the Arts. Then we said "screw this cold!" and we're back at Beach Club waiting on Giordano's.

My wife and daughter, who are super into Disney pin collecting, showed me these yesterday, and now I think I'm super into Disney pin collecting.

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I'd say no, probably not. What benefit would you get from Genie+ that you wouldn't similarly get with DAS?

In that case I guess it depends on the nature of the disability. If your group is able to go go go and cram in as many rides as possible then sure, I could see doubling up being of benefit.

I'm not sure about February as a whole, but crowd-wise Presidents' Day weekend has been a horrible time to go for quite a while now.

Mears Connect hasn't really changed since it was Magical Express, they still pick you up 3 hours ahead of your flight time.

California Adventure also has Avengers Campus now, can't miss that!

Wife gave me this today! Now to see if, by some slim chance, the Toy Story version is still available when we're at WDW next week.

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There are also recently renovated family suites at All-Star Music that are surprisingly roomy for a "value" resort.

We enjoyed it enough in January to go back again when we were there a couple weeks ago. I have to wonder if a lot of the griping isn't due to the price, which is admittedly on the insane side. We did lunch, when the price tag isn't quite as painful, but there are a couple items taken off the menu. My wife and daughter are vegetarians, so the Blue Moon Cauliflower was a huge hit.

If the kids order a mocktail they get a pack of trading cards, and we had a great waitress who told our daughter and niece about the rarest cards that people were scalping. Then she gave them each an extra pack and lo and behold, they were thrilled when they each had a rare card. Not sure if she had a way to stage that or what, but we looked them up and there really were people selling them on ebay for hundreds of dollars. I didn't have any luck talking our niece into scalping hers to cover our meal.

As of right now there's still no such thing as a dining plan. There are rumors that Disney might rerelease them this year, but who knows.

Not sure when your last trip was, but if the Skyliner wasn't open yet you're going to love it. So much more efficient than other forms of transportation.

A Ronto Wrap and a Tatooine Sunset is the one meal I have pretty much every trip.

Damn, now my stomach's growling.

I haven't personally had it, but random people on the internet are calling the stack burger at Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary the best burger on property. Walking distance from Magic Kingdom, with the added bonus that you won't feel as bad about consuming a gigantic burger after doing said extra walking.

I guess these aren't exactly the same thing because they're wax, but Universal has these at Halloween Horror Nights. I got a Frankenstein head and a jack-o-lantern last October.

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Here's Frankie.

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Masks are now optional at WDW, even on transportation.

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I loved it back in the day! Unfortunately it was too scary for the kiddies, and even replacing the creepy alien with Stitch wasn't enough to save it. They just recently removed the final sign indicating that it was ever there, so it's a big empty nothing currently.

I mean, that's basically what it was, they just didn't end up using alien-with-a-capital-A.