I am a semi-expert at Disneyland in Anaheim. My wife works at the Disney Channel so we have a main entrance / silver pass (free entry, free parking, tons of discounts). I have a pretty flexible schedule so I take my kids and their friends on their random days off from school - probably went 10 times last year.

Do they have Max Pass at Disney World? Learning how to use that to full advantage was a game changer for me at Disneyland - I've gone full days without ever waiting in a line longer than 10 minutes.

Yes this is true. You need a stroller no matter what. Stroller parking outside the rides is easy and efficient. Pro tip, tie a balloon to your stroller so it stands out because Disney staff members move strollers to keep everything efficiently stacked. Also strollers are very useful for evenings in Epcot, if your kids fall asleep in them you can walk around the world showcase with ease. Strollers are also useful for storing your snacks that you should absolutely be bringing into the park.

The have fastpass+ which I am guessing is the same thing.

Agree that motion rides generally suck, and I did get nauseous on the first HP ride in Orlando (not the newer one). It's never worked well for me; I'd rather see practical effects, as you say with Splash Mountain. Well decorated sets are much more immersive than screen things.

Ironically, some of the older-style and less fancy sim rides are actually better, when it's just you in front of a screen without all that much pretense of "you will NOT know what's real and what's on a screen!!" This includes stuff like the Minions ride, the defunct Back to the Future, old Star Tours, (haven't been on Simpsons but I'd guess the same), etc.

The worse newer ones all follow the same template too. Brief weak roller coaster action, then pause in front of a screen and see HP/Transformer/Spiderman shoot something, then some more weak roller coasting.

Rides like Splash, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion that invest money in detail will always stand the test of time, as opposed to stuff like Spider-Man that's basically garbage now. It's amazing to me that we've had most of the technology we need for AAA modern rides for 55+ years.

Jman what do you think in an appropriate age to take your child to Disney?

I feel that it would be 'wasted' if the child is too young.

Eh, I find it fun to go as a parent and watch your kid have fun even if they are not going to remember it. I probably wouldn’t take a child before they are walking and sleeping through the night just because that would not be a fun trip for me as a parent, but other than that I don’t really think any age is too young.

I’m taking a 15 month old soon so we’ll see how that goes! Wouldn’t have planned this trip just to go to Disney but my wife has a conference at a Disney hotel and cousins to see down there so we just tacked on a day to do Epcot. I assume awval knows this but Midyear (big pharmacy conference) rotates through Orlando and Anaheim every few years, easy to make a professional trip out of it.

I still remember turkey leg from when I was like 2... though nothing else.

(there were few mentions of anime in this and the AOC thread - so this seems a good a place as any for this belated comment - hope that's ok with the Disneyers)

Not an anime fan as such but Isao Takahatas Grave of the Fireflies is superb



Full version with english subtitles available on youTube

Grave of the Fireflies (eng subs)

Turkey leg goat food at Disney ainec.

I think we first took our daughter to Disney World when she was 2. Don't make the mistake I did and take her on the Snow White ride first. She got scared and hated it and then was freaked out for the rest of the day.

Any pro tips for Disney Cruises? I'm taking a 7 day Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral this summer. My wife is the Disney fan and planned this out, I'm not even sure where we are stopping....

I have done one 3-day Disney Cruise before back in 1999 when they first started for dirt cheap because I was a Florida resident at the time.

I'd love to hear some Disneyland-specific tips. Probably going to have to take my kids there soon. I've resisted for a while, but they're old enough that the "They're too young for it to be a worthwhile trip" excuse is about to expire.

Finally. I remember being there right after they introduced the whole Ellen/Jeopardy! thing, and thinking hey this is kinda funny and silly, pretty well done. But holy **** does it not age well, and somehow they still had it like 12 years and two visits later. I still went on it but I'm like how is this thing still here?

I feel like most of Epcot has this problem, it feels like 90% of the attractions have been there literally forever and desperately need replacing. And these aren't beloved Disney traditions or anything, they're just vaguely sciency exhibits that feel dated as hell.

That ride no longer exists.

I’ve done one Disney Cruise out of New York on the Magic. We had a blast. No real tips other than it was great.

Talking about not aging well, my trip to Disneyland was in 1989 and at that time the Epcot rides all had a corporate sponsor and the energy ride made you watch a 20 minute ill-disguised commercial for Exxon. The highlight of which was a video tour of the Valdez oil tanker, which had some weeks prior caused one of the worst ecological disasters in history after it's drunk captain ran into a reef and dumped 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. We all got a chuckle out of that.

Be prepared for 7 days of not gambling

On the other hand, the fact that the entire ship is smoke free is really nice.

I remember the dino ride. EPCOT was always intended to be a world's fair sort of futurist exhibition, the whole thing should be revamped because the whole concept seems hopelessly outdated in 2019.


Also, they should reboot Captain EO, that was my jam back in the day. I'm not sure who would play Captain EO. Maybe Pharell.

Epcot was super disappointing even when it first opened. I don't even remember what I saw/did other than thinking "boring".

iirc, before the now-defunct Pleasure Island open at WDW, Epcot was one of the only or perhaps THE only place to get a beer on Disney property. Thankfully that's changed.

International Showcase is the best part of Epcot IMO. That said, Soarin! Is great, as is Mission:Space and Test Track, Spaceship Earth still has that kitsch factor and is due for a refurbishment in the next year or so, Turtle Talk with Crush was one of my daughter’s favorites, And I think the Land is passably interesting. Nemo not so much. Figment is ok but also due to be replaced soon I believe.

Unless they meant the Snow White mine train. (Though the post certainly seemed to refer to the defunct Snow White's Scary Adventures - although actually, didn't they make that way less scary quite some time ago before it closed entirely?)

I haven't bothered much with Future World my last couple trips there, Spaceship Earth is still good. As a kid I loved all the cheesy 20 minute slow rides, especially Horizons. I have never been on Mission: Space which replaced Horizons. My guess is that's a step down from Horizons, whereas Test Track is a step up from World of Motion (though I'd prefer World of Motion).

I'd love some VR exhibit where you get to re-experience all the closed attractions of the past.

Heh nice. There was also a Simpsons along these lines.

Yeah I feel like World Showcase has that outdatedly futuristic look, but not in a cute kitchy way like Tomorrowland or anything, it just looks silly. Also somehow it manages to have entire pavilions unused even though it's already the park that has the fewest attractions overall. It's weird.