Disney Vacations
What is the best way to plan a Disney vacation?
Disney vacations are very interesting, because it is one of the very few places that I have seen parents yelling at their kids, and that drives me crazy. One of the things I always tell parents is that if you are not having fun, leave - no matter what it costs. The whole idea is not to say I paid 90 dollars for tickets and we better a good time. The best way to plan for a disney vacation is to see what everybody wants to see. I always got brochures in advance. I have each member of the family do a top ten list of what they wanted to see, and then I put them all together. It is very much like a city or other places that we talked about - clustering sightseeing is important to do at disney so that you don't run back from one part to another. If you want to do Pirates in the Carribean and it's very busy, you might turn around and say, Okay I think I'll go to Tom Sawyer Island for an hour, because it's a long wait.
Why is a Disney vacation one of the most popular family destinations in the world?
It's not just a popular family destination, it's a popular destination. Everybody has exports - the French export food and cheese, but what do Americans export? What is our big export? Entertainment. We are the entertainment capital of the world. East Coast, West Coast, all around the town. And that is what Disney has to offer - entertainment. We entertain families, we entertain kids, we enterain adults, we entertain everybody.
What is a 'FASTPASS' at Disneyland?
A fast pass is the best thing to happen to Disney.
What is a Disney 'annual passport' and does it makes sense to get one?
An annual passport allows you an unlimited entry to all of the parks, all of the time. If you live near either of the parks, or if you are somebody who is going to frequently go to the parks, then getting an annual passport is worthwhile, but if you are only going to go to Disney once or twice a year, it doesn't seem to be worthwhile.
Is it more convenient to stay at a Disney resort or other off-site hotels?
I believe in staying on-site in Disney for lot of reasons. First of all, they have different levels of accomodations from budget, to medium, to very glitzy - so you have a lot of choices. They also have the best transportation system that was ever designed, so wherever you want to go in Disney, wherever you are on-site, you just walk to the bus stop and it would take you where you want to go. There are hotels, however, that do run shuttle services, so that is also an option, if you want to stay off-site. The Neuni Colonial Hotel, for example, has a shuttle service and if you're very brave you can actually walk from there to the market place, and then pick a bus there. If your child get tired or cranky, you get on a bus, you go to your hotel, you play in the pool, your child takes a nap, or whatever, and you get back on the bus and you go back to the park.
Can my family and I enjoy a Disney vacation on a budget?
There are budget hotels in Disney. You can also go off-season in Disney, when it's not as expensive. You can actually buy packages now that include some meals. I always recommend to buy a child an autograph book so that they can get autographs from all of the characters who are walking around. That will let them know that there are characters who are walking around, but very young kids are often frightened. Many years ago, Days Inn had a package for a family of four for a thousand dollars where they had a suite that they gave them, and with a barbecue outside so that you could barbecue your meals. It included tickets to all the parks. It's a little more expensive now to do Disney for a thousand dollars, but I think you can do it. Disney even advertises that you can do it for sixteen hundred dollars. By staying offsite, you could probably do it for even a little bit less. And again, its not how much you see, it's how much fun doing it. If you give your kids a little taste every few years, you can go back over and over again.
How can my family maximize a day at a Disney theme park?
If you are staying on site or at a property that has a deal, you can go early in the morning, so that you get there before the big crowds go. That really helps maximize the day. Not trying to do so much during a day, also, believe it or not, will maximize the day - because you don't feel stressed. I love Disney, but I see people walking around Disney with these lists. We have to do this, we have do that. We never did that. We always knew what we wanted to do. We had our top 10 that I talked about before. And we went, we always did our top 10 - and we would then have time to snooze. We were not a morning family, so we would usually have a room service breakfast that we would all share while we got dressed, and talk about the day and how we were going to do things. We would then have an early lunch before the crowds got there. At 12:30, there were lines nowhere. We were able to go on a lot of things when everybody is starting to get hungry and starting to feed their children. So that is another way to maximize it. Doing Fast Pass. If you have a group, they do have a policy now where they will take you around and help you maximize your day. It is expensive, and is not a budget persons thing to do. But if time is really of the essence to you, call and ask about the VIP Passes.
