Help Been a long time- Favs, Tips, Advise, Opinions

[JeannieNM]

Thank you in advance.
It has been a long time since we have been to Disney World. We are going to be in Orlando prior to a cruise and debating if we want to add a few days at Disney World. We have Magic Keys to Disneyland as we live in LA. It will be July so it will be hot, humid, and crowded. There are 4 of us all adults. Would love to know what is knew, especially anything very cutting edge tech wise (the only reason DH would go). Thanks so much for all the help.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

It would help to know a little more about the time since your last visit, but a simple internet search can tell you WDW plus a timeline for when each new attraction has opened, and what has closed since your most recent visit. Much has changed over the past 8 years.

IMO, WDW isn't all that bad in summer. Sure, it feels like summer, but I like summer. A big thing to know though is the afternoon thunderstorms/downpours. They often don't last long, but the rain comes down in buckets. Make sure to bring water-tolerant shoes. Hiking sandals are a good choice.

It has been very crowded so far in 2022, so yes, it will likely be crowded.

If you really want to tour WDW, I suggest reading up about Genie+ and ILL.

If that's not your cup of tea...and you want easy park touring, I suggest spending your days at Universal and simply staying onsite at one of the 3 deluxe hotels: Portofino, Hard Rock, or Royal Pacific. If you stay at any of those 3 hotels, you'll get Express Pass, and Express Passs = short lines for all the rides with no planning. You just go on whatever attractions you want.

Eating at Universal is also super easy compared to WDW. Some places get busy, and you might want to reserve a table, but it is very easy. Most Universal dining, even if they are busy, still allow walk-ups (and put your name on a list until your table is ready while you walk around Citywalk.)

 

[scrappinginontario]

Honestly there is far tooooo much to list! We were there 3 weeks ago and things have changed since we left.

A few things recently captured can be found in this article:

If It’s Been a While Since You’ve Been to Disney, Know Before You Go

 

[JeannieNM]

Thanks. We are still debating. We are familiar with reservations, genie etc because of DLR. we are spoiled and go to DLR often, sometimes for just a few hours since we live in LA. Universal is fun but we have been there more recently.

Back when our DD was young, she and I would do the WD parks from opening to closing but I don’t have either the desire or energy for that any more though would enjoy a relaxed over view trip. So as of now I’m going to give DD and her boyfriend the option of a few days there as a recon mission to decide if we want to return for a DW trip at a later date. Maybe a couple of evenings. In the Mean time the Four Seasons seems lovely as a base camp.

any further suggestions or information is much appreciated.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thanks. We are still debating. We are familiar with reservations, genie etc because of DLR. we are spoiled and go to DLR often, sometimes for just a few hours since we live in LA. Universal is fun but we have been there more recently.

Back when our DD was young, she and I would do the WD parks from opening to closing but I don’t have either the desire or energy for that any more though would enjoy a relaxed over view trip. So as of now I’m going to give DD and her boyfriend the option of a few days there as a recon mission to decide if we want to return for a DW trip at a later date. Maybe a couple of evenings. In the Mean time the Four Seasons seems lovely as a base camp.

any further suggestions or information is much appreciated.

I tried to think of all the new attractions that opened during the last 8 years and was overwhelmed too. You might want to buy a good guidebook or use an online site to help plan your visit, as if you were a complete newbie!

 

[JeannieNM]

Thank you all.
I am having a lot of fun researching this quiet Sunday afternoon. Traveling down memory lane too. When our DD was young we went to DW every year due to an annual conference. We new the parks like the back of our hand so some of that is coming back .

I have decided to go park by park and make a list of what is of interest to us, see what the list looks like and then hopefully get some clarity on our options.

Please pipe in with any input. This is soo much fun!

Thanks I am getting the gist of it. . Since this is a a tag along to a Caribbean cruise, I do want this to be relaxed and not have to over plan. Looking at all our options so far this is what I have come up with. Would love input.
A few notes, BF loves Genie + so he can take that over. DD and I are big Star Wars fans however, we have all done all the Star Wars rides many times at DLR so would skip those in DW. We would gravitate to the things we can not do in DLR as we have seasons passes there and go whenever we have time.

Would appreciate opinions on the following

1) Stay at the Four Seasons and chill. Spend a couple half day and nights at DW using G+ and LL$ just to check out what is new (I also have a GAP pass at DLR would need one at DW - this may help a little but I am very limited on which rides I can ride and mainly wait while the others ride)
2) Stay at the Swan or Dolphin and do the one day VIP tour and one day relax and maybe another half day
3) Just do one day recon with no agenda except to check out things and plan for another time

Would love to know what options there are for special options for reserved seating for fireworks, etc. At DLR there are dessert, cocktail seating options for WoC and Fantasmic (when they are running), Dinner and reserved seating for certain parades.

I am reading and researching so any information helps.