Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

meer53

Wardy wrote: »

Hi All,

during our holiday to Orlando later this year, we've booked the hard rock hotel at universal for the night to take advantage of the early entry and queue jumping passes.

I presume when we book in they'll require our passports, but I'm a bit worried about carrying them round the park on the day we leave? Obviously you can't take bags on the rides so I don't really want to be leaving our passports in the bags when we get on the rides (I'm presuming it's like Alton Towers etc where you just leave yours bags at the side when you get on the rides?)

Would the hard rock hold onto them until we leave? or would they not need them at all?

You can take bags onto most rides, the ones where you can't usually have lockers. I always take a small bag with me. I've never had a problem.

It's nothing like Alton Towers, it's far more civilised.

vivatifosi

Had this passed onto me from DH. He said that the big Disney fan sites are starting to report that Disney is clamping down on tickets bought indirectly. They are still usable at Disney, but Disney has stopped people buying these upgrading them by tagging on extra days, buying hopping options, etc.

For example the All Ears website, which states:

Last week, after the All Ears Newsletter had been mailed, we became aware of an unannounced change in Disney's policy regarding tickets that were purchased from non-Disney sources. Several guests reported that when they attempted to add a day to their Magic your Way ticket that was purchased from a non-Disney source, they were refused and told that they would have to spend more than $100 for a single day ticket. Several tried at both their resort concierge and at a guest relations window and were told the same thing.

We called the Disney Ticketing office and and spoke to a supervisor. We were told that commencing with last week's price increase "3rd party tickets can no longer be upgraded to passes at a pro-rated rate, have days added, or have options added at a discount." A different call to a second Disney source confirmed it but added that this does not affect AAA.

On the basis of that, we changed our ticket FAQ to reflect the new policy. More refinement of the policy will likely become known as time passes. We will keep watching the situation and listening to our readers' comments about any problems or successes they have had in this area. - March 3, 2014

see:
http://allears.net/pl/ticket.htm

cazmcf

Thanks for this info vivatifosi. About to buy our Disney tickets this week. I think we will be buying them directly from Disney for peace of mind.

Wardy

Hi all,

Just wanted a bit of advice on the outlet shopping in Orlando.

Are the I Drive and Vineland both the same? Also, we are taking 3 kids - 17, 14 & 8 so is it better to go late afternoon or first thing? We've factored some rest days into the holiday so were thinking of going later on when we've all had a lie in and caught up on sleep

vivatifosi

There are two Premium Outlet malls now, the bottom one that was called Premium, and the top one that was previously called Prime (and before redevelopment Belz). Although they are the same company, they do have different stores.

I only go afternoon to the outlets as I get an early start in the parks, but you could go at any time of day. I find parking in the garage at Vineland the easiest place to get a space, if you go round behind the top I Drive one then that's often the easiest place to get a space there. You can drive around for ages at either.

You probably aren't old enough, but if you go on a Tuesday and are over 50, you get additional discounts.

Here's the websites:

Vineland:
http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=17

I Drive:
http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=96

The crazy thing is you can go into the Puma store and they'll have different shoes in both outlets.. not across the board - just the stuff we want to buy, so sometimes it really is worth going to both.

It may be worth getting an Orlando Magicard so you can get a free discount book. They don't tend to cover the big draw stores, but there may be something in there for you and there's little effort to get one:

http://www.visitorlando.com/EN-GL/discounts-tickets/free-magicard-orlando-s-discount-card/

Victoria_Meldrew

Has anyone been to Disney World in the last few weeks and have experience of the new fastpass system? Any tips? We won't be staying in a Disney hotel btw.

vivatifosi

Victoria_Meldrew wrote: »

Has anyone been to Disney World in the last few weeks and have experience of the new fastpass system? Any tips? We won't be staying in a Disney hotel btw.

I've just had a survey through from them asking my opinion on it, so it is subject to change. But this is how it was working last month.

AIUI you can reserve your passes once you've got your ticket. A lot of off-site guests arrive first thing and arrange their passes. So if you can't get them before you get over (they are bookable via the website www.mydisneyexperience.com), then do it on the first day you can as it will give you greater flexibility.

At the moment you get three fastpasses per day. They are for one park only. The questionnaire I've had says that they may roll this out to four or more, with those passes being available once the first three have been used. The other thing they are looking at is making the three fastpasses splitable over different parks to allow park hopping.

If you can't get them before your holiday, go to the fastpass booth in the park pretty soon after you get there. Book three for the day then go back later and ask for help booking for subsequent days. Please note that the fastpass + locations are not the same as the old fastpass attraction kioks.

To confuse matters further, when we were there, some parks had tiered passes, so you have one top tier pass and the other two are for lesser attractions, so it will help if you decide before you arrive what you want to use your passes on. I don't know if this is the same still. Also, some passes go before the others, pretty much the same as the old FP.

DH is going again next week (not me alas), so I'll try to get an update from him when he gets back if anything changes.

meer53

cazmcf wrote: »

Thanks for this info vivatifosi. About to buy our Disney tickets this week. I think we will be buying them directly from Disney for peace of mind.

No need to pay Disney prices, just make sure you buy the right number of days before you go. We've been loads of times and never had to buy extra days. We've used Attraction tickets and Undercovertourist. Their prices are hard to beat.

cazmcf

We ended up using attraction tickets in the end, got our 21 day disney pass and 14 days in legoland threw in for free. Has anyone been to legoland? Last time we were there is was cypress gardens, with the rides, it was a lovely slow day out. I presume Legoland bought the rollercoasters and the some of the rides that are already there. I just wonder will my kids be too big for it now (12 and 9)?

vivatifosi

Update on the info above re Fastpass +. DH has pre-booked his fastpasses for next week and it looks as though they've dropped the tiers for now (ie that at HS and Epcot you could only choose 1 from tier 1 and 2 from tier 2).

It is very fluid in terms of changes and so there could be a different scenario again in a week or so. Who knows?!