A few questions about non-park activities..

[tink1953]

Are these really worth the big bucks?
1. Cirque du Soliel
2. Hoop De Doo
3. Disney Quest
4. Character Meals
5. Keys to Kingdom tour

Also are there any kind of discounts offered anywhere to these things and do you need to get tickets ahead of time and if so how far ahead? thanks

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Tink,
I can only answer about a couple of these.

Hoop De Doo is great. If you like all-u-can eat BBQ and a great show, I say go for it.

The character meals are very good if you have young kids. They really get some good time with the characters for pictrues and autographs.

DisneyQuest on the other hand is absolutely fabulous for teens and older. If you go, you gotta try to score at least a 6 or better on CyberSpace Mountain. You will know what I mean

 

[Tink]

Hey fellow Tink fan,

I took the keys to the kingdom tour and it was worth every penny. The guide that I had was great. He knew so much and had been doing them so long. If you are a big WDW fan, it is awesome. You learn all of the little things that you never noticed. Being able to go into the utilidor underground was something. We also got to see the parade area and the back of Splash Mountain. I was pregnant at the time, and my parents were with us. The still tell people how much they enjoyed the tour, and they were there with me, not becuase they love Disney the way I do.

For the tours, you should look into discounts. I used my AMEX and got 20% off. The discounts vary, so it never hurts to ask while you are getting the info.

That same trip we were going to try to do Cirque but it hadn't opened yet. My parents had seen a version of it in Vegas and said it was great. I know poeple who have gone at WDW and enjoyed it.

I always try to budget a character meal in. I generally eat breakfast in my room so one more expensive breakfast isn't so bad. It is a lot of fun, too. I have done both dinners and breakfasts and my favorite place is Chef Mickey's

Kelly-Ann
"Second star to the right, and straight on til morning"

 

[BethR]

I cannot comment on the others, since I have never done them, but I would spring for a character meal if you have kids. Or even if you don't! It is a great way to interact with the characters without wasting park time waiting at the Meet and Greet places. And there is lots of good food too!

<font face="papyrus"><font size=2><font color=blue>BethR
Budget BoardCo-Host
Co-Host of The Rewards Board
BethR@wdwinfo.com</font>

 

[Geubux]

My kids are 11 and 7 and we are doing the breakfst at the castle for the third time. My daughter, 11, just loves the princesses and the other face characters. Each character comes to your table, one at a time, and signs autographs and poses for pictures with anyone at the table who wants to.

 

[CindyVK]

Hi!
I'll jump in with my opinion on Cirque. I saw it this past January for the first time. Tickets were $71.00 for adults. The show lasted 90 minutes. I know I'm definitely in the minority on this, but I didn't care for it. No doubt these people were very talented....several parts of the show were VERY impressive and left me wondering "How DID they do that?". But, I had a hard time justifying the cost for a show that just had a "creepy" feel to me. We saw "components" of the show in several of the shows at the Animal Kingdom. I left wishing I had spent that money on theme park attendance. But, like I said, most people I've talked with have loved it. Maybe it had something to do with my "phobia" of clowns!
- Cindy

 

[SusanB]

I'll give my opinion on the ones that I have experience with.

Cirque is definitely worth it to me! It took two years for me to decide to take the plunge and pay the ticket price, but once I did it, I wondered why I waited so long (I know why I waited - the tickets are so expensive LOL!). It is an awesome show and, to us, worth every penny.

Hoop Dee Doo - I'm in the minority here, but we didn't care for it. We did this several years ago and got stuck in the seating area upstairs. I spent the evening trying to see the show around a big pole and just felt like I was 'on the outside looking in' at everyone downstairs having a great time. I'll never repeat this. It definitely was NOT worth the money to us. The food wasn't very good and if you get stuck upstairs it makes things even worse!

Have never tried DQ

Character Meals - this is kind of tough to answer. We love Cindy's Royal Table, despite the fact that my DD is well past the age of wanting character autographs (although she'll still hop up to a character for a photo op!!). I think it depends on if you have kids and what their ages are. (Or, if you're a kid at heart!!!) If they're young, the character meals are great! We still go to Cindy's because we love the food and the atmosphere. That's about the only character meal we do anymore.

Keys to the Kingdom - I wish I could respond here; I'd love to try it too, but my DD is too young. One part of me can't wait til she's old enough to go on this tour - the other part of me wants to stop her from growing up so fast!!

Hope this helps you make a decision! Have fun!

'75 offsite,76 offsite,
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