* ~** ThemeParks megathread **~**

fennor72

webpal wrote:

Which site did you see that on?

It's on orlandoattractions.com a 6 park combo 1384 euros for 3 adults and 1 child. Attraction tickets direct is 1515 euros for the same tickets.

fennor72

Has anyone been to Orlando in the weeks immediately after Easter.
We went last year for the week before and Easter week. The parks were very busy, but on the Easter Monday we visited Universal and there was a noticeable drop in wait times.
The plan now is to go next year on Easter Saturday for 2 weeks which would be a little later in the month (it from 20 April through to the May bank holiday weekend.

naughtysmurf

fennor72 wrote: »

Has anyone been to Orlando in the weeks immediately after Easter.
We went last year for the week before and Easter week. The parks were very busy, but on the Easter Monday we visited Universal and there was a noticeable drop in wait times.
The plan now is to go next year on Easter Saturday for 2 weeks which would be a little later in the month (it from 20 April through to the May bank holiday weekend.

Easter is the second busiest time of the year after Christmas, I'd expect a reasonable drop off in the crowd levels after Easter up until the last week of May leading to the Memorial day holiday at the end of May when it starts to get busy again for the summer holiday season, I'd be happy to go at that time

DaveyDave

I've been to Orlando twice after Easter, 2015 and 2017, and both times the parks were pretty quiet. I think I went about a week after Easter each time. End of April and start of May is the ideal time to be there due to Easter/Mardi Gras/Spring Break finishing, parks aren't crowded, flights cheap enough, weather not too hot and usually April is the driest month of the year

webpal

Was thinking of going to Orlando for the 2 weeks prior to Easter 2019. I believe it will be very busy but we would hope to have all the parks out of the way by say the Tuesday or Wednesday before Holy Thursday. Would this be ok or at what day does it get busy for Easter?

naughtysmurf

webpal wrote: »

Was thinking of going to Orlando for the 2 weeks prior to Easter 2019. I believe it will be very busy but we would hope to have all the parks out of the way by say the Tuesday or Wednesday before Holy Thursday. Would this be ok or at what day does it get busy for Easter?

It depends what you mean by all the parks, , including waterparks, your looking at 12 parks at least, I think you are underestimating the amount of stamina required to hit a park every day, you will need some park free days so factor that in especially if you have kids in tow

Because of the time difference, you'll be awake early the first few mornings so hit the parks but by day four you might find you need a break, we consider water park days as chill days, I think you will need off days....you can't do it all properly in two full weeks anyway even with two weeks it will be pretty rushed & hectic

fennor72

webpal wrote:

Was thinking of going to Orlando for the 2 weeks prior to Easter 2019. I believe it will be very busy but we would hope to have all the parks out of the way by say the Tuesday or Wednesday before Holy Thursday. Would this be ok or at what day does it get busy for Easter?

As I said we went last year and it included the week before Easter. It was very busy the only advice I can give is get to the parks early and prioritise the rides you want to go on first. Use the apps for each park they give the realtime waiting times.
Having said that we still had to take a break every couple of days. We found the universal parks, water parks, sea world and Busch manageable but Magic Kingdom was mental.

webpal

First 10 days magic kingdom, Epcot and universal, with water parks in between. We are not too bothered about the others. After that probably just a few day trips and shopping as we think those parks would be too busy.

naughtysmurf

webpal wrote: »

First 10 days magic kingdom, Epcot and universal, with water parks in between. We are not too bothered about the others. After that probably just a few day trips and shopping as we think those parks would be too busy.

That's fair enough, MK & Epcot are two day parks really, three days minimum for Universal, don't rule out Animal Kingdom, I think it's under rated & Flight of Passage is fantastic

webpal

Thanks, absolutely wont rule anything out but must prioritize:)

Dodge

fennor72 wrote: »

Just checked a 6 park flexi ticket for Orlando next year and it's 140 euro cheaper than ATD. Can you remember is delivery to Ireland expensive. We used ATD last year for Orlando and couldn't fault them but that's a great saving.

Delivery to Ireland was included in the price

ctlsleh

Dodge wrote: »

Delivery to Ireland was included in the price

Can’t see that difference.....for the 6 park flexi deal....?

ATD per person - €379
Orlando attractions.com $426 = about €350

Can you post a link?

fennor72

ctlsleh wrote:

ATD per person - €379 Orlando attractions.com $426 = about €350

But that is the difference.
The 6 park flexi ticket for us for 2019 (3 ad and 1 child) is 1515 euros on ATD.
The super 6 combo on orlandoattractions. com is 1384 euros.
Difference of 129 euros

naughtysmurf

If you give them a call ATD may well price match, worth trying

Dodge

naughtysmurf wrote: »

If you give them a call ATD may well price match, worth trying

WHy though? Just go with the lowest price. Reward them with your custom rather than ATD

naughtysmurf

Dodge wrote: »

WHy though? Just go with the lowest price. Reward them with your custom rather than ATD

It doesn't always suit families to lash out all the cash for tickets in one go, which you will do if buying from the US, ATD offer a deposit option paying the balance a few weeks before traveling or a few quid each month, it's just an option, that's all & they may well price match, I don't know

Dodge

Fair enough, but the site they mention is on the UK and allows for deposits

Apologies if I came across rude there!

naughtysmurf

Dodge wrote: »

Fair enough, but the site they mention is on the UK and allows for deposits

Apologies if I came across rude there!

No probs, just saw $426 so assumed a US site, the euro/sterling exchange rate is probably helping a bit too maybe

fabvinny

in my opinion,Epcot was a waste of a day.

fdevine

Got an email newsletter from Portaventura World yesterday advising that Ferrari Land will have a new Kids Area from 20th April.

Going this summer ourselves but up to now there wasn't much for younger kids to do.

https://www.portaventuraworld.com/en/ferrari-land/attractions/kids-area?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=b2c_envio4_marzo2018_uk&utm_content=KidsArea&j=2692604&sfmc_sub=116706859&l=69_HTML&u=62516320&mid=7231223&jb=519

webpal

Just looking at the current wait times on the app for magic kingdom in Orlando and its 180 mins for space mountain. What do folk do for 180 mins? Crosswords? Light a camp fire and sing songs? Scream at children? Is it a case that you are physically standing in a paper clip line for 180 mins?

naughtysmurf

webpal wrote: »

Just looking at the current wait times on the app for magic kingdom in Orlando and its 180 mins for space mountain. What do folk do for 180 mins? Crosswords? Light a camp fire and sing songs? Scream at children? Is it a case that you are physically standing in a paper clip line for 180 mins?

Well, it's mid afternoon, Easter week.

What any sane person would do is avoid Easter week, it's not a great ride, it's past its sell by date, the Space Mountain in DLP is far superior, it's still one of the headline attractions in MK though

If I was there, I'd just walk on by

You'd also be surprised how many people don't use the fastpass+ system at all

There is no fun to be had standing for that length of time, I imagine it's similar for all the headliners, SDMT, Thunder Mountain & Splash Mountain too

To avoid, get to the park an hour before opening would be the best advice & have fastpasses booked in advance

fennor72

webpal wrote:

Just looking at the current wait times on the app for magic kingdom in Orlando and its 180 mins for space mountain. What do folk do for 180 mins? Crosswords? Light a camp fire and sing songs? Scream at children? Is it a case that you are physically standing in a paper clip line for 180 mins?

Around the same time last year we visited magic kingdom. It was a complete waste of 500 odd dollars for the 4 of us. The place was packed. Every ride was 90mins to 3hrs even the kids ones. To meet any Disney character was 90mins.
In the end we walked around did a few small rides, left and swore never again

webpal

Would fastpass work better in these situations? Is there any waiting at all with them? What we could do is stay in a Disney hotel for a couple of nights to avail of the early opening and use that hour or so to do some rides and use the fast passes later on, then just mosey about for the rest of the day. I also see that if you book 3 fastpasses, you can choose another in the park that day once upcountry use those and choose another once you use that one and so on

Dodge

You *need* to use fastpass at Disney

We went last August and genuinely never queued more than 30 minutes for anything and we did every ride we wanted (inc all the headliners). We used about 10/11 fastpasses for the Magic Kingdom. As soon as we tapped into the FP queue I was on the app looking for the next FP. We had 6 rides done by 10.30 or so before the crowds start rising

People have been queueing for 6 hours for the Flight of Passage ride in Animal Kingdom. It is amazing but I wouldn’t queue for anything for that long

naughtysmurf

webpal wrote: »

Would fastpass work better in these situations? Is there any waiting at all with them? What we could do is stay in a Disney hotel for a couple of nights to avail of the early opening and use that hour or so to do some rides and use the fast passes later on, then just mosey about for the rest of the day. I also see that if you book 3 fastpasses, you can choose another in the park that day once upcountry use those and choose another once you use that one and so on

All the parks don't open early for onsite guests every day, it's certain parks on certain days so check the park opening times

Staying onsite you can book fastpasses 60 days in advance compared to 30 days for offsite guests so there is an advantage there, many don't like to plan in advance like this but the reality is, for the best overall experience, you need to plan a bit, you can also modify or cancel your fastpasses if you decide to change your plans.

Rambling in at midday with no fastpasses or plan = standing in line

Getting to the parks at busy periods as an off site guest early is a help for the first couple of hours, whether staying on or offsite, we'd nearly always hit the parks early

We were onsite last May when Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom opened, no problems getting fastpasses even though it was busy, times available weren't ideal for us but better than a three hour wait. It probably took 30/40 mins to ride FOP with fast pass from entry to exit

Easter is way busier than May though so fastpasses will be like hens teeth

After using your third fastpass you can choose another from what's left available, then a fifth once your fourth is used etc etc

fabvinny

webpal wrote: »

Would fastpass work better in these situations? Is there any waiting at all with them? What we could do is stay in a Disney hotel for a couple of nights to avail of the early opening and use that hour or so to do some rides and use the fast passes later on, then just mosey about for the rest of the day. I also see that if you book 3 fastpasses, you can choose another in the park that day once upcountry use those and choose another once you use that one and so on

you need fastpass!!! especially at easter. you can have your 3 rides booked before you enter the park,then book one by one for whats available. its a lucky dip really as to what is available after your three rides.

fennor72

Can an express pass be only used for 1 person. We are going next year and are thinking about budgeting for a couple of days with an express pass for universal. The thing is 1 child would be full value for a pass. But my youngest would not be able to go on the more adult rides. So my wife and I will have to alternate between the larger rides and the kiddies rides. Could we purchase 2 express passes, 1 for my eldest child and 1 between the 2 of us.
I know it's unlikely but 3 express passes would be a waste

naughtysmurf

fennor72 wrote: »

Can an express pass be only used for 1 person. We are going next year and are thinking about budgeting for a couple of days with an express pass for universal. The thing is 1 child would be full value for a pass. But my youngest would not be able to go on the more adult rides. So my wife and I will have to alternate between the larger rides and the kiddies rides. Could we purchase 2 express passes, 1 for my eldest child and 1 between the 2 of us.
I know it's unlikely but 3 express passes would be a waste

I've never bought an express pass at universal so I'm not sure what they look like but they are not transferable, not sure how it's policed

Have you looked at pricing up either the Hard Rock Hotel or the Royal Pacific Resort for one night, whichever is cheaper, Unlimited express pass is included with the room for both check in and check out days so unlimited express pass for all of you for two days

Check in at 7am, get your room key, head to the park for early entry, you can head back to the hotel pool for a break in the middle of the day, back to the park later

Check out the next morning, head to the park for a second day with unlimited express pass for both parks, only way to do Universal if it's busy

fennor72

naughtysmurf wrote:

Have you looked at pricing up either the Hard Rock Hotel or the Royal Pacific Resort for one night, whichever is cheaper, Unlimited express pass is included with the room for both check in and check out days so unlimited express pass for all of you for two days

That's a very good idea I looked at both to stay for the 2 weeks but they are very expensive.
The only other park we were thinking about getting passes for was Busch gardens and it's quite reasonable 50 dollars per adult and 30 for a junior.