Gay Days w/ children

[ilovemickeymost]

Hi all - I'm so excited for my trip in June. Suprising the 4yo w/ a trip to WDW (Daddy will be deployed). DS's a huge Star Wars fan. Noticed we'll be there the same week as Gay Days. We'll be at the same parks as are listed on the GD schedule. Was wondering if we'ld be better off going to a different park on those day b/c of crowds. For those who've been before, what do you think? Also, wondering if its low key for the most part. Had to stop going to Pride parade in MD b/c people were doing things & wearing things that I hadn't seen in most gay bars. LOL. DS already knows that boys can marry boys & the same w/ girls. So, not concerned w/ having to explain why those boys are kissing or holding hands. Are any of you going this year? TIA.

 

[C&G'sMama]

Oh come on and join the party! DP and I will be at MK on GD Saturday with our DD and DS who will be 11 and 8. I can't speak to the crowds but we plan to get there at opening, eat breakfast, see how long we last depending on the heat that day and then going back to our room and heading back over at night.

There's a Gay Days 2011 Thread Sticky on this board.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We went for Gay Days and Star Wars this year. Crowds were WAAAAAAY worse for Star Wars. I mean, seriously, plan to do NOTHING but stand in lines all day for characters, autographs, food, restrooms, you get the picture!

Saturday at MK was not very crowded in terms of wait times for rides and things. We had an early breakfast , ran around the park until around 1 PM, left for a break and came back in time for the 4 PM Dole Whip meet. It was a lot of fun!

 

[C&G'sMama]

We went for Gay Days and Star Wars this year. Crowds were WAAAAAAY worse for Star Wars. I mean, seriously, plan to do NOTHING but stand in lines all day for characters, autographs, food, restrooms, you get the picture!

DS is just starting to get into Star Wars. I had thought it might be fun to see if we can catch anything Star Wars while we're there, but I'm thinkin' maybe not based on the above. What he doesn't know....

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DS is just starting to get into Star Wars. I had thought it might be fun to see if we can catch anything Star Wars while we're there, but I'm thinkin' maybe not based on the above. What he doesn't know....

We dedicated one day to doing nothing but standing in lines. And I swear to you, that is ALL we did from 8 AM until about 5 PM when DS got his last celebrity autograph.

DH and DS stood in line for Mickey/Donald/Minnie (they rotate, so you don't know who you'll get until it is actually your turn). I went to the shop to stand in line for merchandise. From there I stood in the Darth Vader line to hold a spot for DS. From there we went to find a spot for the parade (it was PACKED). After that we had lunch (more lines). From there we stood in line for Chewbacca.

After that it was time to start seeing celebs. You go through a FastPass line outside the park to get a ticket for an autograph. DH, DS and I split up so DS had a ticket for Peter Mayhew, Ray Park, and Jeremy Bulloch. You go to your celeb at your assigned time and stand in a corral until it's your turn. No shade - BRUTALLY hot. And they only allow the person with the ticket into the corral. Luckily DS is old enough to do this by himself.

I imagine we will do one day of that again next year.

 

[Tommy_B]

Hi all - I'm so excited for my trip in June. Suprising the 4yo w/ a trip to WDW (Daddy will be deployed). DS's a huge Star Wars fan. Noticed we'll be there the same week as Gay Days. We'll be at the same parks as are listed on the GD schedule. Was wondering if we'ld be better off going to a different park on those day b/c of crowds. For those who've been before, what do you think? Also, wondering if its low key for the most part. Had to stop going to Pride parade in MD b/c people were doing things & wearing things that I hadn't seen in most gay bars. LOL. DS already knows that boys can marry boys & the same w/ girls. So, not concerned w/ having to explain why those boys are kissing or holding hands. Are any of you going this year? TIA.

I would go opposite, the crowds can get big in the Parks that are the official "park of the day". We do opposite a lot too, but because we always get Park Hoppers, we can bounce around if one place is too busy.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

Thanks so much for the invite to hang out (i'll let you know for sure what days we are oding & we can make plans from there. & the wonderful tips. I think we'll do HS on Friday. Hoping some will not be able to visit until Saturday b/c of work. Fingers crossed. And hoestly, he'll be totally eccited just to see all of them in the parade. Dont think I'll mention autographs or meeting characters. After parade maybe we'll head to a different park if its too crowded.

 

[sam_gordon]

My .02...

We are avoiding GD parks simply because of the crowd. We were at GD weekend in 07 I think. The weekdays at MK, we walked on almost every ride. On Saturday (MK was GD's park of the day), it got crowded.

We had no issues with seeing "inappropriate" behavior/clothes. It was simply more crowded than earlier in the week.

That being said, we will be at WDW for Gay Days 2011, I've just scheduled park days "opposite". We'll go to SWW on Saturday. I can't imagine tackling SWW AND GD on the same day.

 

[f86sabjf]

never seen anything inappropriate a GD's in 15yrs. I'm sure if you go looking for it you'll find it but common sense and decency seems to win out most times.

 

[ConcKahuna]

having seen more than my share of gay days...

sat. is the day where the MK gets very crowded, but you can plan around it. Most of the folks that head down for gaydays go for sat. afternoon and leave it at that. MK is packed from 11a to about 4p.

other days the parks have pretty normal crowds and wait times.

Yup. Something to remember is that there are a lot of late-night parties in town for Gaydays, so lots of the folks sleep late then leave early so they can get ready for that night

 

[ilovemickeymost]

I haven't been on in a few weeks. Darn Christmas got in the way of my Disney fun. The info you all have given me has been so helpful. We only have 4 park days & I hate when parks are crowded. So, I'll probably avoid GD parks. Really wish I had a sitter. Then, I could come to the after parties.

 

[ConcKahuna]

http://www.kidsniteout.com/

Just sayin

 

[ilovemickeymost]

http://www.kidsniteout.com/

Just sayin

thank you so much for thinking of me.

 

[Plaid Princess]

As a former CM, the only place I ever really felt the crowds during GD's was at MK. For the most part the only way you can tell there's anything different going on at the other parks is the number of groups in matching shirts. A lot of the "official" GD events are separate park buy outs (Typhoon, Studios etc.) so it doesn't really affect the day to day of the parks that much.

If you're concerned about the crowds, I would plan an opposite day for MK, but the others really aren't a big deal. I've also seen years where the crowds didn't even show at MK.

I remember working at Kilimanjaro during the event one year hoping for some groups on my safari (groups of any kind are always a blast when they take up the whole truck!) and only saw a handful of couples.

 

[ct_mickey]

I've been many times for Gay Days in the past and it all depends on what you want to do and how you plan on touring the parks.

If you like hanging with the crowds and interacting with all the fabulous folks, follow the schedule!

If you prefer to see and do more, avoid the designated park.

In the past, I have generally been with folks that have never been to WDW before (or at least not since they were small kids) so we avoided the designated park EXCEPT for Saturday at the Magic Kingdom

Saturday at TMK was most crowded in the mid afternoon with a good number of gay day go-ers leaving after the 3 PM parade for their disco nap before going out for the circuit party at night.

And as for people mis-behaving, the cast members do a pretty good job keeping everyone in check.

 

[nibor]

Hello if not to much trouble what is the schedule for GD disneyworld 2011, It is our first time there during GD. We dont know were to look for one. Thankou for you time, God Bless and much love to all from a very cold Missouri

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Thur. - AK
Fri. - DHS
Sat. - MK
Sun. - EP

 

[nibor]

Thankyou, Is there anything may 28 29 30 31 or june 1st? thankyou from snowed in Missouri

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Thankyou, Is there anything may 28 29 30 31 or june 1st? thankyou from snowed in Missouri

I have no idea. Hopefully someone else can help with that!

 

[sjs314]

I would have to say you know your own kids best and if you think they are well informed about the gay life style, I would not worry about it.

We happend to visit WDW on the first ever Gay Day, I think back then it was just one day but we had no idea about it until arriveing at MK and seeing the billboard sign at the enterance. My youngest DS was 11 and the whole subject was not something commonly talked about like nowadays. So he had a few questions.

I still remember the shirts worn by the participants saying "A Day of Magic" A Night of Pleasure"

My DS did happened to see two girls kissing and got quite excited to say the least as it was a "first" for him

I have to say I had a momentary twing of panic when I did find out but it was fine, I think it all boils down to what you make of it and how your kids will react, had I known before hand I might have chosen different dates or had a talk with my DS beforehand but the way it happened we just winged it and had a good time.