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Going to Disney

We did have to pay extra. Not sure how much.
The Rise of the Resistance ride does not cost extra money to do.

It isn't covered by the Genie Plus though. They have an extra fee if you want to "fast pass" the ride to shorten your wait for it. If you don't care about waiting then you can stand in the regular queue and not pay extra. My recommendation is to just pay the extra fee or you'll waste huge amounts of time in the regular queue. Like I said, don't try to cheap out on the trip.
 
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The Rise of the Resistance ride does not cost extra money to do.

It isn't covered by the Genie Plus though. They have an extra fee if you want to "fast pass" the ride to shorten your wait for it. If you don't care about waiting then you can stand in the regular queue and not pay extra. My recommendation is to just pay the extra fee or you'll waste huge amounts of time in the regular queue. Like I said, don't try to cheap out on the trip.

At Epcot last February, we got on every attraction except for Frozen without paying anything extra. I skipped the race car thing on purpose.

But that's a down time of year and we did indeed spend a lot of time in line.

They also didn't have the new Galaxies attraction open yet.
 
Taking the kids to Disney towards the end of the year, will be arriving about a week before Christmas on Friday Dec 16 and can start visiting parks on Sat the 17th, will spend that week visiting the parks with some rest days built in and then will drive from there to in-laws (2 hours away) on Christmas Eve to spend a few days with them.

We are staying off property because it's cheaper and you get better lodgings.

Looking at getting the tickets soon, but seems like there is a lot to it. We know we are going to want to get the DAS pass for our kids. Don't think I will need the park hopper add on.

Any other advice on the trip? There is a ton of information out there and the whole thing is a bit overwhelming. (I've never been to Disney FYI not even as a kid.)

Make sure you have this on the Driving Playlist for the kids...

 
During our mandatory Florida excursion we took the kids on a one day side trip to Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach,.. Nice break from the manic theme park scene which at that time consisted of primarily of Disney, Universal and Sea World...
 
Make sure you have this on the Driving Playlist for the kids...


It's gonna be kind of like this minus the strangulation.



Actually these days my kids just ask how long until we get there and whatever my answer is if it's in hours they respond "THAT'S LIKE FOREVER, WE'RE NEVER GONNA GET THERE!"

We had this problem on a 4 hour get away. This drive is gonna be 17 hours of just driving. That's why if possible we are going to leave at night so they can sleep in the car. My wife is a night owl so driving through most of the night is no sweat to her.
 
At Epcot last February, we got on every attraction except for Frozen without paying anything extra. I skipped the race car thing on purpose.

But that's a down time of year and we did indeed spend a lot of time in line.

They also didn't have the new Galaxies attraction open yet.
I was there in May and rode Rise 3 times. The longest wait - actual time, not posted, was 45 minutes. And there's a lot to do while you wait on that ride, so it makes it less bad. Get the Disney Play app and collect cargo by scanning QR codes. It passes the time.
 
I recall being very fond of everything Disney when I was a child in the late 60s early 70s. Somewhere along the line though Disney went from being a magical experience and franchise to an insatiable corporate monster. You would have to hold a loaded gun to my head to make me go into that living hell today.
 
I hated it. We stayed at the wild kingdom or something like that. It was so expensive. My wife and I vowed never to go back. If you go on the rides I would advise you buy fast passes so you can get on rides fast.
 
you can get a private guide for $600 an hour. theyll take you to the front of every line and you can stay on any ride as long as you want. dont skimp on the luxury. the concierge at the four seasons can help you out.
 
Be prepared that tickets alone will run you $3000. That’s just 5 days of 1 day passes.
We took our kids during the late 2000s recession years and Disney was dying for revenue. We got six nights at a mid level resort (Coronado Springs), 5 day park hopper passes with water park add-ons and a meal package (1 sit-down, 1 fast casual and 1 snack) all for under $3,000.
 
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There's a part where you go into a tunnel and all the scarab beetles come rushing out and then your car goes backwards really fast to get away from them.
Yeah we went in that once at the end of a long day. I thought if it at the time as their version of space mountain, but I am probably full of shit.
 

Well yeah if I visited Disney that much I'd get tired of going too. Especially as my kids got too old to care.

I mean we're talking about someone who visited Disney regular enough to buy annual passes for 11 years straight.

On the other hand my wife has been there I believe one time as a child and my kids and I have never been. And a big part of this is that I don't want to be like my parents constantly promising to some day go to Disney but never actually doing it. My kids should be old enough to remember but young enough to enjoy it.
 
Well yeah if I visited Disney that much I'd get tired of going too. Especially as my kids got too old to care.

I mean we're talking about someone who visited Disney regular enough to buy annual passes for 11 years straight.

On the other hand my wife has been there I believe one time as a child and my kids and I have never been. And a big part of this is that I don't want to be like my parents constantly promising to some day go to Disney but never actually doing it. My kids should be old enough to remember but young enough to enjoy it.
On a serious note, I'd also go during the off season, not so much for the crowds, but the miserable heat/humidity. We'll go again, but it will likely be in January. July and August is absolutely terrible and I'm convinced that Animal Kingdom is the hottest spot in Florida. Prove me wrong.
 
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On a serious note, I'd go during the off season, not so much for the crowds, but the miserable heat/humidity. We'll go again, but it will likely be in January. July and August is absolutely terrible and I'm convinced that Animal Kingdom is the hottest spot in Florida. Prove me wrong.

I'd like to but the reason the off season is the off season is because the kids have school. My kids arn't an exception from that. Online school gives us a bit more flexibility but ultimately they still have to spend most of the day doing homework or live lessons.

We chose December because of the cooler weather. Going there in summer would be awful and I think the kids would hate it.
 
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Be sure to get a picture of the kids with Micky & Minnie.
 
I'd like to but the reason the off season is the off season is because the kids have school. My kids arn't an exception from that. Online school gives us a bit more flexibility but ultimately they still have to spend most of the day doing homework or live lessons.

We chose December because of the cooler weather. Going there in summer would be awful and I think the kids would hate it.
Sorry...I left out the word "also" as in you're doing it right...not so much for the crowds, but the temps. Dec may still be a bit crowded, but it won't be hot. Kudos!
 
Sorry...I left out the word "also" as in you're doing it right...not so much for the crowds, but the temps. Dec may still be a bit crowded, but it won't be hot. Kudos!
We did Disney in December over the Christmas break, and Universal in March over the Spring break. Disney was bonkers busy, but we knew that going in, and the decorations and such were pretty cool exiting the park after the lighting of the castle. It was still plenty warm. Would recommend for those looking for the Disney experience.
 
We did Disney in December over the Christmas break, and Universal in March over the Spring break. Disney was bonkers busy, but we knew that going in, and the decorations and such were pretty cool exiting the park after the lighting of the castle. It was still plenty warm. Would recommend for those looking for the Disney experience.

Yes, the chances of perfect weather are great in December, but it's possible to have a cold snap, too. But that will only last a day or two before pleasant returns.
 
Yes, the chances of perfect weather are great in December, but it's possible to have a cold snap, too. But that will only last a day or two before pleasant returns.

We will be prepared for anything you Floridians call a "Cold Snap". Mostly because we have to take warm clothes with us anyway for when we are driving from and back to home.
 
We will be prepared for anything you Floridians call a "Cold Snap". Mostly because we have to take warm clothes with us anyway for when we are driving from and back to home.

Oh, I know... during a Florida cold snap with afternoon temps struggling to reach 60 degrees, there will be lots of people from up north swimming in the resort pool, while the natives are walking around in thick sweaters and heavy coats.
 
The last time we went was pre-covid so things may have changed. But if not…

When you exit Space Mountain they take you through a gift shop. In that shop is a massage chair. I swear, hand on Bible, I watched two women have an orgasm in that chair. The first was a 50yo Asian woman who just let it go and it was super obvious and she didn’t care. So I was watching carefully the next time. A 35ish yo MILF was trying really hard to hide it and seemed embarrassed, but it was very clear to an attentive audience that she got off, too.

So my recommendation is to hang out there.
 
Sorry...I left out the word "also" as in you're doing it right...not so much for the crowds, but the temps. Dec may still be a bit crowded, but it won't be hot. Kudos!

We've visited in October, November, March, May and late June/early July. Best weather was October.

June/July were hot, but we were prepared and it wasn't terrible. Decent trade off for the crowd size being down.
 
And a big part of this is that I don't want to be like my parents constantly promising to some day go to Disney but never actually doing it. My kids should be old enough to remember but young enough to enjoy it.

My kids have been there as young as 2 and as old as 18. Our last trip the 2 boys with us were 15 and 17 and they had a great time. It is just a different experience.

Unfortunately, your approach to this as a parental duty will result in this being a subpar experience.
 
My kids have been there as young as 2 and as old as 18. Our last trip the 2 boys with us were 15 and 17 and they had a great time. It is just a different experience.

Unfortunately, your approach to this as a parental duty will result in this being a subpar experience.

I think I will enjoy it somewhat. Maybe not as much as I could have going elsewhere but despite the stress of the crowds I think it will be nice.

Looking forward to some of the food.
 
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