Just posting this so that other young people in our situation who have never been to Disney and don't know what to expect might get a better idea.
We stayed at the Quality Suites Universal on Canada Ave. (right off I-drive) for the first three days. WOW. Better than our "luxury villa" for the rest of the week. I have nothing but raves for this place. We stayed for $65 per night with the Magicard, and the rooms were clean, spacious, new-ish, quiet, had two TVs, etc etc but really the service was the best part. I've stayed at everything from Holiday Inns to 5-star hotels, and this was one of the best hotel experiences I've ever had. Period. As I said, the rest of the time was spent at a villa offsite, which was also pretty nice. All in all, SOOOOO glad we didn't stay onsite at Disney. Maybe some day. But for us, after 4-5 hours of Disney every second day or so, we needed a break and needed to get away from the touristy mess that is the Disney Area. Also, for those who told me "oh you don't like tourist traps? Then stay away from Orlando! It's one big tourist trap!" I'd like to correct that - we visited friends who live in Oviedo, on the other side of Orlando, and it was great. No touristy mess there! So if you get sick of the I-drive area, and you probably will because it's disgusting unless you love neon lights and cheap souvenirs, just take a 20 minute drive north and breathe some fresh air.
So on to the Disney part. I had it all planned out, but found that I had to throw away all of my plans and guides and park touring plans when we got there because that was no fun at all. I actually did Epcot on the first day, on the fly, entirely by accident because we took the wrong bus hahaha... but it was the best. Much better than following plans. But I will say that, in terms of prior planning, the best days for visiting the parks website was a huge help. For the first 5 days or so, we only had moderate crowds and could afford to throw away our careful plans, because the longest wait we had was about 20-30 minutes in any line. Toward the end of the week, with heavier crowds, attractions like Soarin' were up to 80 minute waits with no Fast Passes! Yikes! Things like that made us want to leave the park... for us non-Disney-freaks, it just wasn't worth it.
Epcot was the best, although the nations part sort of freaked me out a little. I guess everyone must realize it's all based on stereotypes and is completely fake, but it's still pretty. It was especially necessary for us to bypass Propaganda-Land a.k.a. the United States section hahaha... no bad feelings intended, but I'm sure even Americans know it's not representative of their history. I guess I might have been offended at Canada, where the people who worked there had to dress like lumberjacks, but really it was just too hilarious.
MGM = crap, or at least definitely do-able in about 3 hours. Because I suppose you should really see everything once. Apparently a lot of people skip MGM and do Universal Studios instead.
Animal Kingdom is awesome if you are into seeing lots of animals and pretty gardens... I took about 80% of my holiday pictures there! Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur, and the safari rides were the definite winners. But go there for the park itself, not the rides because they don't have a whole lot.
We found that Magic Kingdom was a little too child-oriented for us, in our early 20s. But if you love Disney and kiddy rides (which a lot of my 20-something friends do) don't miss it. I guess my impressions may also be skewed by the huge crowds that were there when we visited the park. It was hard to move, and we just wanted to leave.
Pleasure Island - everyone in my four-person party was sick of it after 1 hour. If you like clubs though, you'll have fun. I personally loved the Adventurers Club the best. It had character.
Overall, Disney was pretty good, but it needed to be tempered with an equal amount of non-Disney-ness for us to keep our sanity. As I said, we are pretty ambivalent when it comes to Disney, so for us it was pretty much an immaculately-kept perfect theme park sort of thing as opposed to a world of magic and happiness. I've had enough for now, but I think i may go back in about 10 years if I have children. I'm sure it will be an entirely different experience, as it was when I was a child!
Best rides:
1) Soarin' in Epcot. HANDS DOWN!! Best ride I've ever been on, anywhere. I won't ruin it for those who haven't experienced it.
2) Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom.
3) Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom
4) GM test track in Epcot
5) Kilimanjaro safari in Animal Kingdom. Would have been MUCH cooler though if I hadn't actually experienced a real African safari, because this one is just too contrived. As it should be, being in a Disney park.
Best rollercoaster - Rock n' Rollercoaster in MGM. Almost made the park worth visiting.
Biggest disappointment - mission:SPACE. Unless you have a space-crazy kid with you, if the lines are longer than 40 minutes, skip it. Also, if you're claustrophobic, avoid it.
P.S. Southwest airlines is awesome. When we left for home yesterday, we got to the airport and there was a 2-hour line to the ticketing area. JUST FOR SOUTHWEST, the line wasn't even mixed with people for other airlines. Incidentally, their lines were completely normal. So basically we missed our flight. However, the employees were all super helpful and nice, to the point where we didn't even feel grumbly that we had to wait in the airport for an extra 6 hours. It is a nice airport, after all. I've flown with Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Delta, and South African Airways, and I must say that in terms of service and overall experience, Southwest FAR bypassed them all. And they were tons cheaper than any other airline I've used in the past. So yay them.
We stayed at the Quality Suites Universal on Canada Ave. (right off I-drive) for the first three days. WOW. Better than our "luxury villa" for the rest of the week. I have nothing but raves for this place. We stayed for $65 per night with the Magicard, and the rooms were clean, spacious, new-ish, quiet, had two TVs, etc etc but really the service was the best part. I've stayed at everything from Holiday Inns to 5-star hotels, and this was one of the best hotel experiences I've ever had. Period. As I said, the rest of the time was spent at a villa offsite, which was also pretty nice. All in all, SOOOOO glad we didn't stay onsite at Disney. Maybe some day. But for us, after 4-5 hours of Disney every second day or so, we needed a break and needed to get away from the touristy mess that is the Disney Area. Also, for those who told me "oh you don't like tourist traps? Then stay away from Orlando! It's one big tourist trap!" I'd like to correct that - we visited friends who live in Oviedo, on the other side of Orlando, and it was great. No touristy mess there! So if you get sick of the I-drive area, and you probably will because it's disgusting unless you love neon lights and cheap souvenirs, just take a 20 minute drive north and breathe some fresh air.
So on to the Disney part. I had it all planned out, but found that I had to throw away all of my plans and guides and park touring plans when we got there because that was no fun at all. I actually did Epcot on the first day, on the fly, entirely by accident because we took the wrong bus hahaha... but it was the best. Much better than following plans. But I will say that, in terms of prior planning, the best days for visiting the parks website was a huge help. For the first 5 days or so, we only had moderate crowds and could afford to throw away our careful plans, because the longest wait we had was about 20-30 minutes in any line. Toward the end of the week, with heavier crowds, attractions like Soarin' were up to 80 minute waits with no Fast Passes! Yikes! Things like that made us want to leave the park... for us non-Disney-freaks, it just wasn't worth it.
Epcot was the best, although the nations part sort of freaked me out a little. I guess everyone must realize it's all based on stereotypes and is completely fake, but it's still pretty. It was especially necessary for us to bypass Propaganda-Land a.k.a. the United States section hahaha... no bad feelings intended, but I'm sure even Americans know it's not representative of their history. I guess I might have been offended at Canada, where the people who worked there had to dress like lumberjacks, but really it was just too hilarious.
MGM = crap, or at least definitely do-able in about 3 hours. Because I suppose you should really see everything once. Apparently a lot of people skip MGM and do Universal Studios instead.
Animal Kingdom is awesome if you are into seeing lots of animals and pretty gardens... I took about 80% of my holiday pictures there! Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur, and the safari rides were the definite winners. But go there for the park itself, not the rides because they don't have a whole lot.
We found that Magic Kingdom was a little too child-oriented for us, in our early 20s. But if you love Disney and kiddy rides (which a lot of my 20-something friends do) don't miss it. I guess my impressions may also be skewed by the huge crowds that were there when we visited the park. It was hard to move, and we just wanted to leave.
Pleasure Island - everyone in my four-person party was sick of it after 1 hour. If you like clubs though, you'll have fun. I personally loved the Adventurers Club the best. It had character.
Overall, Disney was pretty good, but it needed to be tempered with an equal amount of non-Disney-ness for us to keep our sanity. As I said, we are pretty ambivalent when it comes to Disney, so for us it was pretty much an immaculately-kept perfect theme park sort of thing as opposed to a world of magic and happiness. I've had enough for now, but I think i may go back in about 10 years if I have children. I'm sure it will be an entirely different experience, as it was when I was a child!
Best rides:
1) Soarin' in Epcot. HANDS DOWN!! Best ride I've ever been on, anywhere. I won't ruin it for those who haven't experienced it.
2) Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom.
3) Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom
4) GM test track in Epcot
5) Kilimanjaro safari in Animal Kingdom. Would have been MUCH cooler though if I hadn't actually experienced a real African safari, because this one is just too contrived. As it should be, being in a Disney park.
Best rollercoaster - Rock n' Rollercoaster in MGM. Almost made the park worth visiting.
Biggest disappointment - mission:SPACE. Unless you have a space-crazy kid with you, if the lines are longer than 40 minutes, skip it. Also, if you're claustrophobic, avoid it.
P.S. Southwest airlines is awesome. When we left for home yesterday, we got to the airport and there was a 2-hour line to the ticketing area. JUST FOR SOUTHWEST, the line wasn't even mixed with people for other airlines. Incidentally, their lines were completely normal. So basically we missed our flight. However, the employees were all super helpful and nice, to the point where we didn't even feel grumbly that we had to wait in the airport for an extra 6 hours. It is a nice airport, after all. I've flown with Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Delta, and South African Airways, and I must say that in terms of service and overall experience, Southwest FAR bypassed them all. And they were tons cheaper than any other airline I've used in the past. So yay them.
