Does this monorail go to...

[mickeyluv'r]

Every month or so, one of these "Can you beleive these dummies!?" threads pops up, and I always think the same thing:

Here we have all of these people who spend hour upon hour upon hour online on a Disney forum, poring over spreadsheets and microanalyzing touring plans - and they are mocking the people who just lived their lives until it was time to get in the car and go on vacation.

I think those people who (oh the hilarity!) call Magic Kingdom "Disney World" and don't always know what they are doing might see a little humor in the fact that some people decide in October where they will lunch each day in April - and might be just fine being on the other side of that fence.

In truth, I've seen parts of the WDW experience ruined by the internet. The beauty of WDW is discovery.

Why is Tom Sawyer Island in the heart of the original park? If you don't know, re-read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

Adventureland. Tomorrowland. Frontierland. C'mon.

WDW was not designed to be researched to death before guests arrive. You aren't supposed to 'see all of it' on your first visit. You are supposed to discover something marvelous, enjoy that moment, treasure it- then come back to WDW.

 

[Disney Fool]

I agree with you. Part of the fun IS the discovery. However, wouldn't you agree that a teensy-tiny bit of planning won't hurt either? Does it have to be one extreme or the other? For instance, for newbies, it might be of help for them to know in advance that WDW is huge, and that they should plan on doing a lot of walking - they could be in for a miserable time if they don't have comfy shoes. Also, it would be good for newbies to know that Florida sun is merciless, and they should be prepared so they don't ruin their trip by sunstroke, sunburns, and the like. And, if they have very little ones, they should understand that Disney is sensory overload, and a little quiet time would be a godsend, and it's not a crime if they don't get to see and do it all in one day!

I also agree that the internet has spoiled a lot of the Magic of WDW for many people. However, it's here, and we're stuck with it, for better or worse. It's a source of information; a lot of people will google something before they'll bother to read about it in a book.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

Every month or so, one of these "Can you beleive these dummies!?" threads pops up, and I always think the same thing:

Here we have all of these people who spend hour upon hour upon hour online on a Disney forum, poring over spreadsheets and microanalyzing touring plans - and they are mocking the people who just lived their lives until it was time to get in the car and go on vacation.

I think those people who (oh the hilarity!) call Magic Kingdom "Disney World" and don't always know what they are doing might see a little humor in the fact that some people decide in October where they will lunch each day in April - and might be just fine being on the other side of that fence.

Best post EVER on this entire forum.

 

[phanomouse]

Something to think about the next time someone approaches you and asks you a very off the wall question that to you is glaringly obvious — is a camera pointed in your direction?

I've been on these boards since 1999, yes I know it says 2001 to my left. Anyway after being on these boards (mostly reading and not posting) I was inspired by all the many threads talking about people saying or asking silly things. I took 3 of my creative staff to WDW to "play dumb" and get some good reactions on camera.

While we were there, I actually recognized some past Disers them with some very dumb questions, their reactions were PRICELESS. Sadly they no longer come around here.

I've sat on the footage we took that trip and haven't done anything with it. However I still do this with my family where I'll have my 8yr old daughter or my brother in law record me asking how to get to disney world while standing on main street or why they replaced the giant golf ball with that castle, basically I just go through these kinds of posts and steal the really good questions. It makes for fun home movies!

Yes I let the people know what was going on after I approached them, I also showed them the footage. One guy tried to punch me... fun stuff. I have probably 50 hours of raw footage.

So the next time someone approaches you with a silly question, smile big and ask where the camera is!

PS. I know for a fact I'm not the only one to do this. A year ago I helped two different agencies in California do this at Disneyland. Both videos are/were online Youtube and Vimeo.

 

[litlpixie]

Best post EVER on this entire forum.

Agreed!!! I fall into that "weirdo" catagory. When I told my kids where we had ADR's each day for our August trip, my son's GF (who's a newb) said to me, "Whatta ya, nuts??" She knows nothing about the hows or WHY's for ADR's and was stunned that I knew what we all wanted to eat on which day four months from now.

Yea, I guess to an "outsider" it seems odd. But she won't be laughing then when I have a table for us in a nice air conditioned restaurant in hot and sticky August~I wont be so crazy THEN, will I?! lol

 

[HeatherLassell]

*snicker* I've been devoted to the DIS since I found it in August. Just started planning my very first family trip to Disney World! (Last time I was there was 17 years ago!)

Well my own father and mother were there just this past fall for a few days. And we were talking about the trip this fall and I mentioned FAST PASS. He was like you have to pay for that. I said no dad it's free. You put your card in and it spits out a receipt type paper with your return time. He decided to argue with me that there is a "thing you can pay for to get you to the front of the line" I told him he was wrong and dropped it....it was during Easter dinner! lol

Then I posted a link to information about FAST PASS (and that FRONT OF THE LINE is at Universal) on his facebook wall.

 

[fadingjamie]

We were on the monorail last May and there was a family (dad, mom, grandma, maybe an aunt or two, and 4 kids of various ages under 14) who was chatting amongst themselves but you could tell the kids were miserable. From what we gathered, the family had just arrived that day and were riding the monorail back and forth to "get a feel" for what they wanted to do the next day. Now of course, I don't know their situation or how much they researched their trip but I felt so bad for those bored children who had obviously been riding the monorail for a while at this point and just wanted to get in the parks already!!

 

[CentralFloridian99]

People crack me up. Back when I was working at the studios in 2005, a man came up to me and asked me how to get to the teacups. I explained that they were located in Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom and proceeded to tell him that if he had a park hopper ticket, he could go to Magic Kingdom to ride them. He then argues with me about how he was here 10 years ago and distinctly remembers the teacups being in front of the Big Blue hat and that he wanted to know why they were no longer there. I tried explaining (and in a very nice way, I might add) that the teacups had always been at Magic Kingdom and that the hat was not even here 10 years ago. He told me that I was wrong, I had no idea what I was talking about, and that he was going to go find a worker who actually had knowledge of Disney Parks.

That reminds me of this hilarious video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L16HHxiSPXA

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I agree with you. Part of the fun IS the discovery. However, wouldn't you agree that a teensy-tiny bit of planning won't hurt either? Does it have to be one extreme or the other? For instance, for newbies, it might be of help for them to know in advance that WDW is huge, and that they should plan on doing a lot of walking - they could be in for a miserable time if they don't have comfy shoes. Also, it would be good for newbies to know that Florida sun is merciless, and they should be prepared so they don't ruin their trip by sunstroke, sunburns, and the like. And, if they have very little ones, they should understand that Disney is sensory overload, and a little quiet time would be a godsend, and it's not a crime if they don't get to see and do it all in one day!

I also agree that the internet has spoiled a lot of the Magic of WDW for many people. However, it's here, and we're stuck with it, for better or worse. It's a source of information; a lot of people will google something before they'll bother to read about it in a book.

No, it certainly doesn't have to be just one extreme or the other. I'm finding this discussion interesting, so bear with me.

Truth is, even those who have been to WDW many times make the mistake of wearing bad shoes, or forgetting the suncreen


Further, I have vacationed both ways. Sometimes it's really fun to visit a place you know nothing about. Some of my best 'vacations' have been times where I just got in the car and drove in a given direction. Or picked a city and a room at the local Hampton Inn- but not much else.

Vacationing that way encourages me to talk to the locals, which adds a wonderful dimention to the trip that I don't get when I book my ADR's 180 day in advance.

Okay, so maybe I know I'm going to pick pizza when I go to NYC/Chicago, a po' boy in New Orleans, and buttered lobstah in Maine.

...mmmmm....buttered lobstah...Chicago pizza....

 

[Makayna]

Sometimes it's really fun to visit a place you know nothing about. Some of my best 'vacations' have been times where I just got in the car and drove in a given direction. Or picked a city and a room at the local Hampton Inn- but not much else.

Vacationing that way encourages me to talk to the locals, which adds a wonderful dimention to the trip that I don't get when I book my ADR's 180 day in advance.

Reminds me of when I went to Paris on Spring Break in high school and a girl (who I'd only met on the trip) and I got separated from our tour group and were on our own in a COMPLETELY unfamiliar city (and country, for that matter) where we both only barely spoke the language. It was the most memorable part of the whole trip, and if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't dare leave that part out!

Sometimes, the best parts of vacations can be those times that you weren't planning for and just happen. I guess there are benefits to both sides. On one hand, if you don't plan, and don't know that Fast Passes are free, or that you had to make ADR's several months in advance, or you don't know which monorail will take you to which place, then you're probably not going to have as great of a time as you would if you DID know these things. But on the other hand, planning EVERYTHING out down to the minute can cause stress not only for yourself, but for those around you. I think a balance is necessary.

 

[knitster]

Sometimes, the best parts of vacations can be those times that you weren't planning for and just happen. I guess there are benefits to both sides. On one hand, if you don't plan, and don't know that Fast Passes are free, or that you had to make ADR's several months in advance, or you don't know which monorail will take you to which place, then you're probably not going to have as great of a time as you would if you DID know these things. But on the other hand, planning EVERYTHING out down to the minute can cause stress not only for yourself, but for those around you. I think a balance is necessary.

Definitely!

I researched and researched and researched before my family (me, DH, 9yo, 5yo, 11 month old, and my mom) went on our first WDW trip last year. I made ADRs and I planned which days we would be in which parks but that's where the planning ended. The rest of my research was focused on finding out all of the useful information that I could - how to get from point A to point B, park hours, show times, which restaurants are where and which ones don't need ADRs, etc etc. That way, no matter where our day took us, I would have the knowledge to give us the best options available and get us where we needed to be expediently. Now, did our days take some crazy turns that I would NOT have planned? Yes! Did we miss things that I really wanted to do because I wasn't able to be a touring commando? Yes. But, we also had happy surprises that I could've never planned for - like my 5 year old DD getting to watch Beauty and the Beast on the beach in her PJs with her daddy while I enjoyed illumiNations with my sons.

Balance is key!

 

[figmentofmymind]

I have a feeling that my BFs family are going to be some of these people. They're going in July for his cousin's sweet 16 and it will be the first trip for all that are going and these people don't plan anything.

I on the other hand already have my parks and ADRs picked for my vacation in August (the BFs first time!... and my 6th) and have given him a crash course in all things Disney World. Halfway through, he turns and looks at me and says "I'm so glad we didn't choose to go with my family. They're gonna be so lost."

I just don't get the people who blindly go into every situation. Even the ones they have total control over...

 

[CTH3]

It's not a matter of being a glazed-eyed, obsessive DISboards planner, or even just a matter of Walt Disney World. I can't fathom how someone (who isn't filthy rich) can spend a few thousand dollars (or even a few hundred dollars) on anything without doing some simple, basic research into what they're purchasing. Especially in the age of the interwebs. It's hard to have a lot of sympathy for such people when things go bad for them.

 

[LisaCat]

We also sometimes still call it "MGM" for short. WAY less of a mouthful than the current horrible name.

I still do this too. I've been to WDW 3 times and the first 2 trips it was still MGM.

 

[LisaCat]

Last September I helped a co-worker plan a trip to WDW. She's 34, her husband's 37 and they have 3 teenage children -- none of them had ever been to The World and the fact that I babble on about it enticed her to book a trip.

I basically mapped out the parks for them, highlighted the most popular attractions and those with non-existent wait times, took their food preferences into consideration then produced a list of QS & TS locations to suit their preferences, defined the FP system, etc.

I could not wait to hear about their fantastic trip but instead was met with a, "You know, most of those things you wrote down don't exist. We were done with the PARK in 2 days. I don't know how you spend a week there because we were bored by our 3rd day."

I asked how in the world could they finish all of the parks in just 2 days and her response? "What parks? There's only one, the one with the castle."

My first trip to WDW was in 1989, just before MGM opened. We actually got to go into MGM and walk around and look at everything that was "coming soon", but the only thing open was a gift shop. We were there for only 2 days and spent almost all of it at Epcot because my ex said there was no need to go to Magic Kingdom because it was just "Disneyland rebuilt in Florida". Same thing when I went with a friend to WDW back in 2004, although I did talk them into going into MK so I could see Stitch's Great Escape. We did that and Buzz and then left. It wasn't until my trip in 2010 where *I* got to plan it that I actually got to SPEND TIME in MK and see all of the stuff I missed in Epcot (on my first trip, even though we had spent two full days there, I had no idea there were "rides" anywhere in the park other than Spaceship Earth and Living with The Land (or whatever it's called, the name escapes me - my ex told me that all that was inside the buildings in World Showcase were restaurants and shopping, so we didn't spend much time going in any of them. SIGH) and DHS in previous visits too! The DIS and my guide books were my friends.... LOL

 

[ban26ana]

I agree that there's a middle ground. We've never used a touring plan. (Although this year we probably will, since we're doing Christmas.) We make some ADR's, but CS meals are always spur of the moment. *Exception: Flame Tree BBQ is the first meal of the trip when the plane lands.

I do overplan for WDW, and my lone DL trip. But that's because I'm a Disney freak. I'm not making pressed penny containers and autograph books for our Sesame Place trips. lol But I do some planning to figure out the basic concept of the trip ahead of time. If I'm going to a theme park, what are the hours? I look at a map. I figure out parking. I get a feel for how much money I'm going to need. I determine if I can take outside food. I figure out what rides my kids can and can't ride due to height.

If I'm not going to a theme park: what attractions are in the area? Is there free parking at the hotel? Where are some decent restaurants? Is there anything that I'd like to do that requires a pre-purchased ticket or reservation?

We definitely don't overplan our itinerary. We do simple things like "MK this day, ADR at Liberty Tree, KTTK at 8am..." Not "Dumbo at 9:30, Peter Pan at 9:45." (Wouldn't that be nice!! lol) In fact, I have to fight with dh to have any semblance of a plan instead of "wow, POTC was so much fun. Now I have a hankerin' for some spatzle. Let's go to the Biergarten." Then after lunch "hmm, how about we try KRR?" Okay, so he's not that bad. But we definitely do zip across the parks a few times a day. He NEEDS to understand that we can't do that for our Christmas trip. We'll never get to ride anything!

 

[goofyernmost]

One thing that we DISers will never be accused of is not being smug. Let's take this from some other perspective then our own, experienced eye.

We are planning a vacation and trying to decide where to go. Oh, we have been to all the old standbys like the beach or Pennsylvania Dutch areas. We might have even been a little more bold and gone to Bush Gardens at some point but mostly we just went camping or fishing. Other than remembering to bring sunblock, not much planning is required. You just go and do!

Well the kids have reached an age where they want entertainment and a lot of their friends have gone to Disney World and they want to go as well. OK, sounds like a plan. I've heard about Disney too. Sounds like fun. Let's go there this year.

Based on things I've heard it is a themed amusement park. Sort of like a midway at the fair but fancier. I hear that there are a lot of restaurants there and some of my friends have mentioned that they made reservations 6 months in advance. Wow, these folks must be crazy. How do they know where they will be 6 months from now, much less what they want to eat. I'm sure there won't be a problem finding a meal either there or close by.

Basically, I have no point of reference and even if people tell me how big it is and how complex it is, I am still not able to picture it even close to what it actually is. It's a theme park based on Mickey Mouse, for heavens sake, what is so complicated about that.

The moral of this story is that most people would have no way of knowing what is required to pay a visit to this place. I have been going there almost yearly since 1983 and I still learn new things every day. We really do need to lighten up a little when being critical of newbie's. We were all there once and we might have had the benefit of someone close that had been there and knows the in's and out's, but not everyone has access to that, not everyone spends large parts of their lives on-line, searching the web. Let's be a little more understanding and a lot less condescending.

 

[ladyvampesme]

That's great that you do that. I do the same thing. That works for us. But keep in mind not EVERYONE is wired like you or I are. Some people may want to go to a theme park just to go to a theme park and have fun without the need to "research". I research because for me, that's part of the fun. But if that's something someone else dislikes, I'm not about to tell them they're doing it wrong and happy to help them if they have questions.

I get where both of you are coming from, my DH is the kinda guy who would just arrive there and go with the flow...whereas me , well i will research, research and research
I'm on here everyday looking up stuff, making lists and he says to me everytime, whats the hurry we have till August.....

 

[worm761]

Ya'll would love us. Fiance calls the Swan and Dolphin the Duck and Carp. He thinks he is funny. He calls Animal Kingdom Animal Planet Land. Hey, at least he new that the word animal was in the title. The sad part? He was standing in front of the sign at the time. Now he continues because, once again, he thinks he is funny. He cannot for the life of him remember Fantasyland. He calls it behind the castle land. LOL He is going on his 5th trip and I am not really sure he will ever learn. But he is VERY cute.

As for the monorail thing. That darn thing is just so confusing. I have been to Disney several times, in the double digits, and STILL forget that I need to transfer at the T&TC to go between parks.

 

[rosiep]

The moral of this story is that most people would have no way of knowing what is required to pay a visit to this place. I have been going there almost yearly since 1983 and I still learn new things every day. We really do need to lighten up a little when being critical of newbie's. We were all there once and we might have had the benefit of someone close that had been there and knows the in's and out's, but not everyone has access to that, not everyone spends large parts of their lives on-line, searching the web. Let's be a little more understanding and a lot less condescending.

Great post.

If you've never been before, even if you do plan, you have no idea what you're planning for. That, and the fact that Disney's own website is pretty much useless....I can easily see how a it could overwhelm a person.