All FP machines to be removed from Animal Kingdom by next week and....

[FlipHipster]

"worth" and "value" are subjective terms. You will never agree on them. So it isn't worth the bits to do so here...

It's pretty awesome to have so many choices and 2 major theme parks and a few smaller ones competing for our tourist $'s

 

[jade1]

LOL!
Yep, I agree they know what they are doing. They are top dog in the oligopoly I was talking about earlier. Check this out:

2014 Company of the Year

Thanks-I'm not surprised.

Like I say-I'm willing to spend $700 a night on what would be worth $89 in MPLS. The reasons are endless.

 

[FlipHipster]

Could this be right? I just pulled this up from Josh's site:

Expedition Everest
20 min

DINOSAUR
10 min

Earlier, I was looking at the actual MDE app when I got 25 and 30 minutes.

Geeez, if that's right then next year I'm going the week before Christmas for sure.

I've been trying to keep up with the thread and watching wait times when I can.AK wait times have been pretty decent from what I have seen.
We were there last year from the 10-17th and I recall it being pretty crazy by EOW. Hard to tell from just looking at wait times, but I keep thinking man it looks like a good week to be at WDW.

 

[g-dad66]

Could this be right? I just pulled this up from Josh's site:

Expedition Everest
20 min

DINOSAUR
10 min

Earlier, I was looking at the actual MDE app when I got 25 and 30 minutes.

Geeez, if that's right then next year I'm going the week before Christmas for sure.

This is about what I would expect today. Most school districts are still in session.

Tomorrow, nearly every school in America starts its Christmas break. There will be a big change.

 

[Laketravis]

Yet I just checked ADR's and got TWO choices of time for Chef Mickey's tomorrow night??????

What the heck???

 

[jade1]

Yet I just checked ADR's and got TWO choices of time for Chef Mickey's tomorrow night??????

What the heck???

See, FP+ is great.

 

[jade1]

This is about what I would expect today. Most school districts are still in session.

Tomorrow, nearly every school in America starts its Christmas break. There will be a big change.

Yet RNR, TSM and TOT are all 70 min now.

 

[Laketravis]

Yet RNR, TSM and TOT are all 70 min now.

Yeah, looking at the other parks I'm thinking there just isn't anybody in AK right now.

But still - two times (5:35 and 8:05) available for CM on the Saturday night before Christmas? Dang!

 

[mom2rtk]

We don't cook when we stay offsite, but we still save a ton of money. Having breakfast in the condo, waters and sodas for the mornings and evenings, and access to snacks is huge. Plus, we usually order pizza or eat somewhere off-site once or twice, which is always cheaper.

$6 footlong deli sandwiches from Wal-Mart. If the rest of the people I travel with want anything more / better / prepared - they know where the kitchen is!!

A kitchen is not required in either of those examples.

To many, many people that defeats the purpose of going on vacation.

Lack of cooking ranks right up there with ride access for me. Certain offsite locations don't come with housekeeping either. I negotiate that into the deal when we go on vacation. "Sure, I'll go to the beach for a week and stay in a condo, where I'll cook a few meals and do the laundry. But nobody gets to complain if I swerve off the interstate into Orlando for a one night stop at Disney on the way home."

 

[jade1]

Lack of cooking ranks right up there with ride access for me. "

So agree, as do many many other activities at WDW.

 

[boBQuincy]

Lack of cooking ranks right up there with ride access for me. Certain offsite locations don't come with housekeeping either. I negotiate that into the deal when we go on vacation.

Us too! We stay in DVC villas but only use the kitchenette for EggMcMickeyMuffins in the morning (which I cook and DW loves that). After that it's into the parks and no cooking until the next morning.

Maybe this is off topic.. oh well, I'm on vacation!

 

[btk2333]

FWIW, I wasnt trying to comment on."worth" of the hotels. The only point I.was trying to.make re:hotels/perks is that if a family of 6 can.only go up to 150/night for.a hotel, and they can't get 2 rooms at at a Disney resort with that budget, then no amount of perks that Disney offers is.going to change that they will end up offsite. Afaik, AOA is more expensive than that...at least it was over spring break last year.

We'll maybe if Disney up the perks to increase value this family will come every other year instead of every year so they can stay on property- or drive instead of fly so they can stay on property- Disney wants to increase on site perks to increase their hotel occupancy- there are many ways people can come up with the money (Disney visa to decrease vacation financing costs?) to pay for an on site vacation if the product is good enough

 

[btk2333]

Yet I just checked ADR's and got TWO choices of time for Chef Mickey's tomorrow night?????? What the heck???

Result of the new cancellation policy- people need to cancel 24 hours out- I was able to get bog and le cellier the day of on my last trip when they had been booked for months before hand

 

[pilferk]

Us too! We stay in DVC villas but only use the kitchenette for EggMcMickeyMuffins in the morning (which I cook and DW loves that). After that it's into the parks and no cooking until the next morning.

Maybe this is off topic.. oh well, I'm on vacation!

There ought a be a like button on these forums.

Ditto the above for us. We are a family of 5, and often take other family with us.
We are typically in a 1 or 2br villa.

We use the kitchen for bagels/ cereal and the occasional bag of microwave popcorn. I think, one trip, we made a batch of Christmas cookies.

And we use the fridge for water, milk, juice and such.

Cooking does not happen on vacation.

 

[btk2333]

A kitchen is not required in either of those examples."

yet they still require me to use multiple hours of time that would other be at the parks going to a walmart or prepared food place and driving to and from the parks. I am horrible at driving on Disney property- always get lost. I would never rent a car on a Disney world vacation.

Part of my value is going on vacation- having my meals booked and know there will be no clean up and cooking. Additionally knowing that I don't have to worry about driving or directions- at home I'm always the one driving and always the one worrying about if we're going to get lost etc. a big part of the Disney bubble is not having to worry about these things

 

[erikthewise]

yet they still require me to use multiple hours of time that would other be at the parks going to a walmart or prepared food place and driving to and from the parks. I am horrible at driving on Disney property- always get lost. I would never rent a car on a Disney world vacation.

Part of my value is going on vacation- having my meals booked and know there will be no clean up and cooking. Additionally knowing that I don't have to worry about driving or directions- at home I'm always the one driving and always the one worrying about if we're going to get lost etc. a big part of the Disney bubble is not having to worry about these things

Driving on property is only difficult the first 5-10 times. After you've made every possible mistake, it's a breeze!

 

[btk2333]

Driving on property is only difficult the first 5-10 times. After you've made every possible mistake, it's a breeze!

Why would I want to ruin any vacations by making that mistake? Especially when it involves renting a car when someone else is willing to drive for me?

 

[dayvewc]

There ought a be a like button on these forums.

Ditto the above for us. We are a family of 5, and often take other family with us.
We are typically in a 1 or 2br villa.

We use the kitchen for bagels/ cereal and the occasional bag of microwave popcorn. I think, one trip, we made a batch of Christmas cookies.

And we use the fridge for water, milk, juice and such.

Cooking does not happen on vacation.

That's kind of my thing. I enjoy eating out on vacation, but not every meal, every day. For the days I don't eat out, I have no intention of darkening the door to the kitchen for anything other than a pre-prepared sandwich or cereal.

yet they still require me to use multiple hours of time that would other be at the parks going to a walmart or prepared food place and driving to and from the parks. I am horrible at driving on Disney property- always get lost. I would never rent a car on a Disney world vacation.

Part of my value is going on vacation- having my meals booked and know there will be no clean up and cooking. Additionally knowing that I don't have to worry about driving or directions- at home I'm always the one driving and always the one worrying about if we're going to get lost etc. a big part of the Disney bubble is not having to worry about these things

I've never had a problem with that, 1 visit on the way to the resorts and I'm stocked up for the week. Especially since I drive down most trips, arrival day is never a park day since I never get there before 4-5 pm. Just let me get unpacked and a good nights sleep to start the day tomorrow.

Driving on Disney? Totally different story, and I can completely agree with you about getting lost.

 

[erikthewise]

Why would I want to ruin any vacations by making that mistake? Especially when it involves renting a car when someone else is willing to drive for me?

I never made a mistake that ruined a vacation -- nothing short of a collision will do that. We're talking 5-10 minute delays here.

Driving gives me complete freedom and minimum time travel for most trips, both of which I value greatly. And driving on Disney property is actually enjoyable once you know where you're going. It's much easier than driving in most midsize cities, let alone large ones. Relatively few stoplights and for the most part light traffic.

 

[Bete]

I was excited about AoA suites. And then I saw the prices. There are too many offsite options that give you even more space at a third the cost. I would pay a premium to have that space in a nice onsite hotel, just not that high a premium. I also know several larger families (and those who travel with grandparents) who would be happy to stay onsite if Disney had any semi-affordable options for families of six or an option much closer to $100 for a family of five.

That's not going to happen!