Just kill me now - Disney bound

My wife and I normally go 2 to 3 times per year. We do not go during school breaks and never go in the summer, to hot. November before Thanksgiving and January and February. I am retired military so we always stay at the Shades of Green. It is run by the U.S. Army and right across from the Polynesian resort.
 
My mom didn't have the money to take me as a kid, but I had the opportunity to go to Orlando and lecture at a conference. We went to Epcot and Universal. I honestly had a great time at those two parks. Fireworks were really good at closing time. I am not taking a child with autism so that might be a bit tricky.
 
Tim said:
OK....now the word is that we're "just" doing Universal...something like 3 Universal parks on a 4-day pass.

Any better than disney?
Click to expand...

I shot a 1,000,000 score on the Men in Black ride once- the trick was I just imagined that all the aliens were asking me for more money. ;)
 
Tim said:
OK....now the word is that we're "just" doing Universal...something like 3 Universal parks on a 4-day pass.

Any better than disney?
Click to expand...

Yes! Far fewer mobility scooters.
 
Tim said:
OK....now the word is that we're "just" doing Universal...something like 3 Universal parks on a 4-day pass.

Any better than disney?
Click to expand...

Tim,

Back around 2005 or '06, we took our son down there. More than one Disney bus driver quietly confided to us or someone near us, that Universal was the place to go. That seems to be good move on your wife's part. If I may make a suggestion similar to @Alfred 's above. If you can pull off some negotiating with your wife, see if you can reach some middle ground and dedicate at least one day to head over to the Cape and tour the Kennedy Space Center. Your son may enjoy that much better.

Dave
 
I've been to Universal a couple times. Get the express pass that allows you to go into the VIP lines at the rides. It's worth it. you wait like 10-15 min for the rides everyone else waits over an hour for....and therefore not only do you not spend all day in line, but you get to do more rides/attractions as well. they have cool shows/attractions too, it's not just rides....don't overlook those.


MIB
Jurrassic Park
Harry Potter
Hulk
Transformers
Rockin Roller Coaster


That's half a day right there and i haven't even mentioned spider man!

Also, Universal is really 2 parks that share a main gate. one is "islands of adventure", the other is "Universal"
Get the park hopper pass, it allows you to ride the train back and forth. a slower train ride may be good for an autistic kid, i don't know...

Also, the adult beverages are located near Transformers and Jurassic Park.... Good Luck.
 
Okay, I agreed to take my grandchild to Disney in a moment of weakness several years ago. It wasn't too horrible ... and the memory has faded in subsequent years.

Last month, my wife declared that we needed to take my granddaughter and her best friend to see Hamilton. Cost? $2,500+ for airfare, hotel, and tickets in NYC -or- $2800+ for tickets in Charlotte.
 
Last edited:
Wife: I feel bad...I booked us to arrive Saturday before Easter. NOBODY will be there on Easter, so wait times won’t be long, but I feel bad missing Easter dinner.

Me: :confused: Hey babe...check out this “worse days to visit Disney” google search.......Bless her heart, she tries.
 
I took my son when he was about ten, and we stayed in the Disney campground. Not too bad. Then we pulled the pop-up an hour and a half to Crystal River & Homosassa Springs State Park. We snorkeled with manatee (you can pet them), rafted down the Rainbow River (google it, really unique, crystal clear water just bursts out of the ground), took the boat ride in the park, fed some enormous tarpon and did an air boat/alligator thing. Afterwards, I asked him what he liked about the trip, and the wildlife stuff came out way ahead of Disney.
 
Universal is a better deal for you. You can escort them to the gate and then just hit Bubba Gump Shrimp co or something to pound down drinks while they are inside :)
 
Had a blast at Harry Potter, one day at Epcot during food festival in October and then KSC.

I felt bad for the little kids w/o sunscreen and mom who had to push the kids while dad drinks beers.
 
My wife and I are headed to Disney World in about a week and a half. Just picked up two 5-day park hoppers at MWR yesterday, in fact.

We're going to bloat ourselves on the Food Festival stuff.
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
My wife and I are headed to Disney World in about a week and a half. Just picked up two 5-day park hoppers at MWR yesterday, in fact.

We're going to bloat ourselves on the Food Festival stuff.
Click to expand...

Are you staying at Shades of Green?
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
My wife and I are headed to Disney World in about a week and a half. Just picked up two 5-day park hoppers at MWR yesterday, in fact.

We're going to bloat ourselves on the Food Festival stuff.
Click to expand...


The wife and I went with another couple - pre-kids - and had a great time. The night life is great, good restaurants, plenty of fun in the park, etc.

Adding kids to the mix is where it all changes.
 
Tim said:
The wife just informed me that we're going to do a full week at Disney/Universal in Orlando for spring break.

Yeah....the autistic kid is gonna do GREAT with all of the crowds, commotion, sights, sounds....not to mention 90 minute wait times in the Orlando sun.

Maybe I'll get to chill out at the condo with the older kid while the wife and younger kid play with Mickey.
Click to expand...

It could be worse. You could be going on a Disney cruise!! Ask me how I know. Very little to no place to escape to unlike the park itself where at least you can go do things away from the park if needed.
 
Went Christmas 2016 , had a ball. The whole family went. My 71 year old father in law went also. We decided to rent him a mobility shooter for the stay. He was treated like a king, front of every line, special entrances, Since we were all together we were treated like royalty too. Trust me, if anyone could possibly use one rent the scooter!!!
 
May the Force be with you. Prayers that your marriage survives the deliberate subjecting to torment.
I am fortunate to have dodged that bullet. Never had the budget for that when my kids were of an age for that.
I went back in 1976 when it was still not yet finished. Half the stuff was closed for maintenance because our vaca was a week after the rest of the country.
I have no interest in ever going back there. I can barely tolerate going places like six flags.
 
Tim said:
OK....now the word is that we're "just" doing Universal...something like 3 Universal parks on a 4-day pass.

Any better than disney?
Click to expand...

If you stay on site you get the express passes and the extra park hours. The smaller crowds at the extra hours might be more enjoyable for your kid. We went at a horrible time of year (week between Christmas and NYE) but the extra park hours let us do the Harry Potter world stuff where we cast spells with wands and hit the themed shops and rode the train.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tim
We went the week after Thanksgiving for my son's birthday. It was without a doubt the best vacation I've ever had. We stayed on Park so that way we can stay in the park later, we did the meal plan, we also went ahead and spent the extra money and got the Christmas party tickets since it was going to be the last year for the Osborne Family Christmas.
Maybe it was because the wife was coming off of our second miscarriage and everything was just going wrong but that trip was absolutely amazing.
I've never posted it on the open forum but our last night there we closed Magic Kingdom. The kid was rocking and rolling all day and we had a blast. when Disney's voice came over the loudspeaker saying how he hoped we enjoyed our stay and that the wish of disney is that we are able to take the magic home with us, It hit my wife and I. That for the first time in almost 2 years we had a complete happy week with, no sadness, no sorrow, no thinking about the things that didn't go our way. it caused us both to tear up a little bit. So while some people dread that place I absolutely love it and can not wait to take my kids back again.
 
gc70 said:
Okay, I agreed to take my grandchild to Disney in a moment of weakness several years ago. It wasn't too horrible ... and the memory has faded in subsequent years.

Last month, my wife declared that we needed to take my granddaughter and her best friend to see Hamilton. Cost? $2,500+ for airfare, hotel, and tickets in NYC -or- $2800+ for tickets in Charlotte.
Click to expand...

I spent a weekend in Times Square with the wife last year....we wanted to see a play...saw how outrageous the ticket prices to Hamilton and The Book of Mormon were.....ended up going to see "Chicago" and it was a good time. Tickets were about $100 each i think.
 
Tim said:
So after a serious bit of negotiating, I think I have it down to 3 days at Universal and 2 days at Kennedy Space Center.
Click to expand...
Might bump into you at KSC. We'll be down there that week and are definitely hitting KSC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tim
Wife and I just got back from 5 days to celebrate our anniversary; no kids went with us. We had a ball!

We did take the kids to Kennedy Space Center about 2 year ago. I had not been in a long time and had only planned to stay a few hours. We ended up staying the whole day. We all really enjoyed it.
 
ECNC said:
Are you staying at Shades of Green?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where we're staying at this time. I usually leave that detail to my wife. I put in my opinions when she asked, but I don't know if she went our time share route or one of the Disney resorts. She probably told me a couple days ago when she told me she had our reservations in, but I forgot...working 12/7 will do that for me.
 
Tim said:
The wife and I went with another couple - pre-kids - and had a great time. The night life is great, good restaurants, plenty of fun in the park, etc.

Adding kids to the mix is where it all changes.
Click to expand...

There's an age where kids are a real pain...and that's when they're really too little to walk about on their own. Plus, when they're really little, they get worn out really quickly even if they're not stroller bound.

Once they are old enough to start hitting the minimum height for some of the bigger rides, they're starting to get big enough to be a lot less of a pain.

Also, when they're really young, they really don't get anything out of Disney. About 4 or 5 is when they're old enough that they'll actually start remembering things like this long term. Somewhere around first grade or so is when they're starting to get big enough not to be exhausted and whiney.
 
I went to Sea World once. Spent all day walking around looking for a fishing pole to rent. No luck. :(
 
Last edited:
My sis-in-law and her hubby took their two kids a couple weeks ago. Their kids ages: 1 and 3. I told them I hope they take a shitload of pics cause those kids will never remember a thing. A colossal waste of a lot of money.

Edited to ad, and the kids came home sick. The other kids with the other family they went with, tested positive for flu.
 
Last edited:
I could be accused of being somewhat of a tightwad--having little to no play money and a refusal to have/use credit cards can do that to a guy. So Disney and all of their expensive cousins down there really irk me. But complicit in this irk'ing are the people who pay the prices, thereby confirming to the exec's that people will pay it.

KSC is the one who really disappoints me. It used to be like $20 not too long ago. The crowds were smaller since the drive from Orlando keeps away most sightseers and typically only attracted those with an interest in space. There were no roller coasters (still aren't, but the shuttle launch experience is a simulation ride) or other entertainment things--just memorabilia from our manned spaceflight ventures. Then the people who own KSC got sad that they weren't posting huge profits and they decided to make it more appealing to the fer'ners and out-of-towners who flock to Orlando. THeir study found that they needed to charge more to "appear" to be worthwhile to drive over from Orlando. They've also added some touristy stuff--albeit it most of it pretty cool--and gone to an "add on" al a carte menu that makes you feel like you have to buy buy buy to get the best experience. It rubs me the wrong way as a tightwad first and foremost, but also as a space enthusiast. If you need "bait" to get you over to KSC, don't go.

But back to the ticket prices of the theme parks: I challenge someone to show me how paying $100 per person, per day, plus the insane ancillary costs (parking, food, drink, etc.), is worth it. Yes, the rides are cool. Yes, Disney has an immaculate attention to detail. I get it--but not for a small fortune.
 
Most anything that is fun is expensive. I love to snow ski. My son lives in Colorado. Back in '07 I could buy a season pass good at 4 resorts for $249. Season passes have skyrocketed since then. Now I ski much less but I get the buddy pass through my son's season pass and it still costs $75 a day.
 
gc70 said:
Okay, I agreed to take my grandchild to Disney in a moment of weakness several years ago. It wasn't too horrible ... and the memory has faded in subsequent years.

Last month, my wife declared that we needed to take my granddaughter and her best friend to see Hamilton. Cost? $2,500+ for airfare, hotel, and tickets in NYC -or- $2800+ for tickets in Charlotte.
Click to expand...

Screw that. Paying to go see leftisit drivel. Just say no.
 
Try to avoid the parking lot tram operator that has trouble with pronouncing his "CL's". I rode that friggin tram for 3 hours with him saying "All queer!" every stop he made. Of course, that was over 4 decades ago, so maybe he's retired.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom