Does this monorail go to...

[KrazeeK120]

This thread is funny, yet sad at the same time.

I dunno, even if I'm just going to Chicago to a museum (I live less than 3 hours from there), I check out the parking situation, how much it costs to park, how much it costs to enter the museum, what I will see there, and if there is anything "extra" offered for an upcharge. Maybe I'm an overplanner, but you better believe I get my time and money's worth out of everything I do. To me, there is very little that feels worse than wasting time or money. Both are too precious.

It is baffling to me that in this day and age, with all the electronic gizmos around, that ANYONE would attempt a vacation as big as Disney World without at least trying to understand the concepts of how the parks and transportation work. On my most recent trip, I stayed at the Contemporary. It's the last stop on the resort monorail if you get on at the TTC. There was a couple in our car who never got off and then I heard them mumbling something about Epcot...they obviously had gotten on the wrong monorail.

Moral of the story: Do your research!!!!

 

[grafxgirl]

i've learned to tune people out who say the wrong things, because as people have said, it might be an inside joke. There is a commuter rail stop i go through, and my friend and I misheard "wyoming" as "wygnoming" so guess what we always call that area of the city? "wygnoming". My mother actually had to second guess what the real pronunciation was because i kept saying it, til I explained where the mispronunciation came from.

also disney related. Epcot's spaceship earth will ALWAYS be the giant golf ball in my family, after what happened on my first trip when I was 5. I kept screaming "the giant golf ball will eat my mother and send her back in time!" No one should've let me read any of the ride descriptions that trip. my dad was incredibly embarrassed to be seen with me... but now its an inside joke.

We also use the giant golf ball description! My son's was two when we took one of our trips and he called it the golf ball, so that's what we have called it ever since.

We call the DHS blue hat "the big-a** hat".

 

[dananbethany]

Another funny FP one was BTMRR FP machines (early in the morning), some guy asked me why his dollar bill wasn't fitting into the FP machine. I pointed to the picture on the machine and told him that FPs were free and your park ticket was supposed to go in that slot. He said his friend told him that they had to pay a $ for every FP and I told him that his friend must have been mistaken because they are free. He was very happy but said something funny along the lines of "I went to an ATM to get all these ones for nothing?"

 

[Mad Hattered]

Wow. Thank you for your kind words and help. I will certainly use this next time we go.

Sorry. I didn't mean to come across as snarky.

 

[Mad Hattered]

Like I said earlier.....if I am seeing this at Disney, and am a 'newbie", I can see where there might be some confusion about the monorail to Universal.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I have seen some fairly solid reports that about 70% of the visitors to WDW are first-time visitors. They just have no idea of the scale.

These are the same people who think they can do the entire Museum Of Natural History in New York or the complete Smithsonian Institution (at least the ones on the National Mall) in just one day.

 

[Belle102498]

I understand the need for some people to plan...That's their way, and that's great, but for others there can be such a thing as too much planning. I have seen many people get really upset...almost abusive...to their family members/traveling companions because they planned everything literally down to the minute, and something went awry with that plan...setting off the rest of the day. Like grown adults having major meltdowns...which usually set off the kiddos...or vice versa. I get that Disney is a TON of money. It's a huge vacation commitment, but there is such a thing as spontaneity...or just going with it. If a ride is broken and that's what was scheduled in the touring plan, go to the next part of the plan and return at a later time if it's suitable. Maybe that's just my way of looking at things. I'm the "take it as it comes" type of girl. I usually figure out a few days of which park to go to, make my adr's at that park...if they are to be made, and on the other days, we wing it Not alot of people are able to do this, but my husband and I find it a much more relaxing vacation for us if we don't micromanage. We did that once, and it just didn't work for us. So for those of you that are planners, and are good with it...I give you credit, but don't forget there are some of us that like the ability to decide that morning which park to go to, rather than planning it 6 months in advance. Just my 2 cents And I really don't mean to offend anyone, so please don't take what I say as such. Just a few observations/my preference for the World

 

[P00H1010]

"Does this monorail go to Universal?"

I was standing just outside of the entrance to Epcot when this family asked me this question. Do people even research Disney AT ALL before they go? I just seem to bump into the most clueless of them all.

But I am a huge Disney fan so instead of ruining their trip with some Jerrasic Park and MIB I say "Yep that's the monorail alright!" I hope they had fun at the MK

- MaterializedHaunt

Love it !

 

[disney1990]

Well, Cast Members can get it wrong. We were at the Hall of President once and overheard the Cast Member tell a group of people that Washington, DC was the Nation's Capital and that "nobody" lived in Washington, DC. Sigh.

 

[rosiep]

Sorry. I didn't mean to come across as snarky.

Love your tag, and respect you even more for apologizing.

 

[KellyNY]

I understand the need for some people to plan...That's their way, and that's great, but for others there can be such a thing as too much planning. I have seen many people get really upset...almost abusive...to their family members/traveling companions because they planned everything literally down to the minute, and something went awry with that plan...setting off the rest of the day. Like grown adults having major meltdowns...which usually set off the kiddos...or vice versa. I get that Disney is a TON of money. It's a huge vacation commitment, but there is such a thing as spontaneity...or just going with it. If a ride is broken and that's what was scheduled in the touring plan, go to the next part of the plan and return at a later time if it's suitable. Maybe that's just my way of looking at things. I'm the "take it as it comes" type of girl. I usually figure out a few days of which park to go to, make my adr's at that park...if they are to be made, and on the other days, we wing it Not alot of people are able to do this, but my husband and I find it a much more relaxing vacation for us if we don't micromanage. We did that once, and it just didn't work for us. So for those of you that are planners, and are good with it...I give you credit, but don't forget there are some of us that like the ability to decide that morning which park to go to, rather than planning it 6 months in advance. Just my 2 cents And I really don't mean to offend anyone, so please don't take what I say as such. Just a few observations/my preference for the World

Well said!

 

[claryche]

On our last trip, my 5 year old DS was correcting people on the bus. This one guy kept saying fast track for test track and then he would say it for fast pass. I don't think the guy appreciated a 5 year old correcting him. But it actually made me happy that I'm training my DS so well on his Disney lingo. I will have a talk to him about maybe not sharing all his knowledge to strangers.

I do so feel sorry for people who plan the trip and don't get the experience that they deserve because they don't do the research. You don't have to be Disney crazy like we are and have your touring plan worked out to the 15 minute interval and laminated, like I have seen someone do before. But some simple research is really needed.

My sil is taking her two 6 year old sons this summer and her DH is already saying that he doesn't think they will like MK, because they don't like Mickey Mouse. But she is at least holding her ground a little bit. I just hope she does plenty of research and makes sure to get with me with questions before the trip. Her last trip there was when she was 9 and they didn't do hardly anything and still complain about the long lines and how boring it was, this was in 1996. And she is already complaining about the cost and they are staying for free at her inlaws time share. And the inlaws are paying for the boys' tickets.

 

[erincon23]

But there's a difference between knowing something about where you're going (or what you're buying) and being an uber-planner. I really think that any person with any common sense should have at least some information about where they're going to spend their money and time, even if they don't learn everything about it or plan their day down to the minute. Sure, the Disney official site isn't great, but anyone can walk into a bookstore (or go online to a bookstore) and find several guidebooks about Disney. Why would you spend thousands of dollars on a trip and then go without learning something about it? Who do they think is responsible for educating them? "Someone told me" is not the same as "I spent an hour and got the basics from a guidebook."

 

[Mad Hattered]

Love your tag, and respect you even more for apologizing.

I'm not sure how to take this. Are YOU being snarky? I think it's all this Test Track talk that has me all worked up.

It's like our buddy Mitch used to say......I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.

 

[Carrie772]

Sorry. I didn't mean to come across as snarky.

Thanks for that!

 

[rosiep]

I'm not sure how to take this. Are YOU being snarky? I think it's all this Test Track talk that has me all worked up.

It's like our buddy Mitch used to say......I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.

No no!! Pure admiration...

 

[FireRN]

Love all the stories.

I hate to plan but love to research whenever I have something exciting coming up. That is how I make the trip last longer. That way it's not like I'm spending several thousand dollars for 1 week in November. I expand that week over months because I am researching in anticipation.

 

[Disney Fool]

I have seen some fairly solid reports that about 70% of the visitors to WDW are first-time visitors. They just have no idea of the scale.

These are the same people who think they can do the entire Museum Of Natural History in New York or the complete Smithsonian Institution (at least the ones on the National Mall) in just one day.

And even if they could scared1 why would they want to? Too funny! And true. I've met sooo many people who think they'll be able to walk from one park to another, or see everything in a day or two, with no clue as to the scale of WDW. Without "micro-managing", couldn't newbies do even a little bit of reading up on the place, or even watching a video? Come on, there's even You-Tube today! It always amazes me that people are willing to spend their hard earned money on an expensive trip like Disney and not at least check out what it is.

 

[Love Tink]

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.

 

[kmb584]

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."