Our first WDW trip Oct/Nov 2013

[PrincessInOz]

We were going to go in May then brought it forward...the wait would have been excruciating so very happy it's just around the corner!

Was wondering were you guys bought you universal tickets from? Both undercover tourist and USSSA Store are cheaper than universal but universal seems to offer print at home ones and not sure if the other two ship to AU or how much. USSSA does seem a great price at $110 for 2 day park to park compared to US $147

I've bought both UO and WDW tix from UT for this trip. They've been great. I bought them at separate times and there was never any issue with the tickets arriving on time with free shipping.

At the time I bought the WDW tix, they were shipping paper tickets. I understand that UT might be shipping Magic Cards now for the WDW tix.

 

[PrincessInOz]

The burger and shakes at Sci Fi are reasonable enough. I enjoyed the atmosphere and stuck with the tried and true burger.


Enjoy your ADRs.

 

[gogo65]

We got our universal tickets as a package with our room.
We stayed at HRH.
It was just simpler to buy together and still get a small discount.

 

[PrincessInOz]

We got our universal tickets as a package with our room.
We stayed at HRH.
It was just simpler to buy together and still get a small discount.

Did they offer a discount? Good for you!

I did look at the package and compared it against buying the tix separate and getting the room only on AAA. It worked out better doing the separation for me.

 

[ssour]

I've bought both UO and WDW tix from UT for this trip. They've been great. I bought them at separate times and there was never any issue with the tickets arriving on time with free shipping.

At the time I bought the WDW tix, they were shipping paper tickets. I understand that UT might be shipping Magic Cards now for the WDW tix.

I received some WDW tickets last week and they were still paper ones - maybe they're just running down their stock. It did have a note that once we entered them into MDX and they became 'digital' they would be non-refundable.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I received some WDW tickets last week and they were still paper ones - maybe they're just running down their stock. It did have a note that once we entered them into MDX and they became 'digital' they would be non-refundable.

I think I saw someone post a thread about the Magic Cards from UT yesterday or on Monday.

Interesting note. It took me about 3 weeks before MDE would accept my UT card number. I guess Disney IT were still loading a backlog of numbers.

 

[lffam]

Our WDW tickets are part of the disney booking with free dining. We did buy Halloween & Christmas party tickets which are being sent.


I did look at the packages at Universal, but it ended up being more expensive as a package and the tickets they were including were base tickets not park to park. I didn't realise UT shipped for free to au. Might go with them.

 

[ssour]

I think I saw someone post a thread about the Magic Cards from UT yesterday or on Monday.

Interesting note. It took me about 3 weeks before MDE would accept my UT card number. I guess Disney IT were still loading a backlog of numbers.

Ours linked straight away, so they've sorted that out thankfully.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Did they offer a discount? Good for you!

I did look at the package and compared it against buying the tix separate and getting the room only on AAA. It worked out better doing the separation for me.

Compared to buying my tickets and hotel separately from Universal, I got a tiny discount by buying a package. And by tiny, I mean about $10.

From memory I think I could have saved about $5 dollars more by separating everything and buying the tickets from UT, but the package was convenient and allowed me to easily tag on airport transfers - one less thing I needed to worry about.

Interestingly though, at the time that I booked HRH was the only one of the three that worked out cheaper with a package. The other two were more expensive.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I didn't realise UT shipped for free to au. Might go with them.

I bought my WDW tickets from them and was pleased by how easy it was to deal with this company.

Your trip looks wonderful and I hope you are having as much fun planning it as I have had with mine.

 

[lffam]

I sent a message to USSSA and the advised they don't ship international. I also sent a message to Universal about their best price guarantee. Below is response I got

"The website you provided was for a membership exclusive service; as such, it is not eligible for Universal Orlando’s® Best Price Guarantee. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Hi all

We were going to do a trip in May and go to WDW , NYC, Washington la, but we ended up moving it up and going this year which meant NYC. Was going to be a bit cold for us.

Well we have locked in most of our dates and are now filling in the gaps. We fly out on 25th oct and into LA for a couple of days then out to Orlando on 27th -30th. We will only be doing Universal. We haven't chosen hotel yet but it will be one of the on site ones. Then after that we check into WDW on 30th. We have booked Caribbean Beach Resort. Part of me would love GF as we stayed in GC in Disneyland in 2010 but the cost is just so much, even with rented points. Anyway we are there till 11Nov. Very exited about it all. I've done quite a few dining reservations. We got the free dining deal. Not too sure how it will all go as we are a bit more like we see a place we like and we say oh let's eat there ...so a bit more structured might be something that takes a bit to get used to but I'm sure we will manage.

We will be doing Mickey's Halloween party on 31st and also the first night of Mickey's Christmas party on 9th. We've booked a Fantasmic lunch package one day. Dinner just seemed to rushed to eat and get to the show.

At the moment we are having trouble comprehending the size of the place and getting around. Having experienced DL and being able to walk to DTD or the other hotels for character dining etc, clearly WDW is on a completely different scale. Something which I don't think we are going to be able to comprehend until we actually get there.

Love to hear any advice or experience or any must do dining or attractions.

After WDW we are back in LA for a few days before heading back down under.

My advice RE transportation around Walt Disney World is to hire a car, especially if you plan to resort hop a lot or go to Downtown Disney a lot. Disney's public transport system is great and frequent but it does often take a lot more time than driving

I totally understand about the Fantasmic Dining Package - we've booked lunch as well - with the show starting as early as 6pm some nights there's just no time for dinner before hand!

Ok, fav rides/attractions at Walt Disney World - top of my list would have to be Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom - the theming, detail and ride is AMAZING - I also loved DINOSAUR at AK as well - on par with Indiana Jones at DL in my book though I know a lot of people don't agree (in all fairness, since Indy was shut on my last trip to DL the only time i've experienced it was at 10pm the first time we went to DL so perhaps I'll have a different opinion after riding it in Tokyo and California this Nov )

At the Magic Kingdom, Space Mountain is not as good as the DL version, but Splash is better - well that's what I think anyway

At EPCOT - Test Track was great fun, but Soarin' seemed to lack something that is has at DCA (still an awesome ride though) Mission Space was WAAYY too much for me (I felt ill - i'd advise doing the green version) and one surprise ride we loved was the Grand Fiesta Tour starring the Three Callerbro's at the Mexico Pavillion...

Also you are in for such a treat with the Tower of Terror ride at DHS - it's SO much better than the DCA version! Rock n Roller Coaster was fun but slower than I thought it would be and the theming around Star Tours was so much grander than at DL (though we didn't get to go on the ride as they were in the process of updating it when we last went) ...

I think that's probably my list of favs - I don't feel like we experienced much of the resortness of Walt Disney World on our last (and first) trip there so I probably won't be much help regarding restaurants! But I hope the rest of this advice is helpful

 

[lffam]

My advice RE transportation around Walt Disney World is to hire a car, especially if you plan to resort hop a lot or go to Downtown Disney a lot. Disney's public transport system is great and frequent but it does often take a lot more time than driving
<snip>

I think that's probably my list of favs - I don't feel like we experienced much of the resortness of Walt Disney World on our last (and first) trip there so I probably won't be much help regarding restaurants! But I hope the rest of this advice is helpful

Thank you for your views and yes most definitely helpful. Soarin and Grizzly rapids were my favourite rides in DL.

Does anyone know if WDW has AT&T WIFI (not 3G) coverage? I know with the AT&T prepaid plans they include WIFI access from there WIFI access points.

 

[ssour]

Thank you for your views and yes most definitely helpful. Soarin and Grizzly rapids were my favourite rides in DL.

Does anyone know if WDW has AT&T WIFI (not 3G) coverage? I know with the AT&T prepaid plans they include WIFI access from there WIFI access points.

Disney have free wifi in all their resorts and theme parks. Not super fast and you often have to re-sign in but better than paying for data.

 

[lffam]

Disney have free wifi in all their resorts and theme parks. Not super fast and you often have to re-sign in but better than paying for data.

Yeah thanks scour. I was looking for something in the park. I found some new AT&T SIM cards on eBay and then your load them with prepaid plan. Unfortunate you can not tether which would have been ideal if I wanted to use iPad when out. Hence I was looking to see If I could get away with just 2 sims for the phones

 

[WickedDreamer]

Just came across your thread, We'll be in Disney the same time!! We are in WDW from the 24th October- 25th November.

Maybe we will see you around!! We're also going to the Halloween Party on the 31st and the first Christmas party on the 8th Nov. Are you planning on wearing any costumes for the Halloween party?


I know all the parks have wi-fi, some sections have bad connections though, but you should be able to connect no matter what park you are in. Our plan is to take our normal phone, and than just turn on the plane settings and connect to the wi-fi when we want to tweet or post a picture on FB, because we got charged a ridiculous amount when we turned on the international roaming.

If you are planning on using Disney transportation plan for it to take up to an hour, we don't use the general Disney transportation as we stay at a DTD hotel, but when we did use Disney transportation when resort hopping it generally took up to an hour or so. If you are up to walking, you could walk between HS and Epcot through the boardwalk section, its a nice walk though it can take half an hour or so depending on how fast you walk.

The biggest tip I can give, is when you go for the first time to each park, you will realise each time just how big WDW really is, so don't feel pressured in having to see everything and experience everything, we were there last time for 3 weeks and there is still so much we just couldn't fit in and do.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me or post up here, I'm more than happy to try answer them as best as I can

Shannon xx