The insider's guide to the mystery that is WDW Park Tickets

In Sydney this summer we saw the opening of a new Wet and Wild water park. Supposedly the largest W&W in the world. Also, seemingly the most problem prone.

But one of the biggest complaints has been sticker shock. The Season Passes, whilst majorly expensive to buy for a whole family, were sold out in a flash. Visitors are now only able to purchase daily entrance which runs at $70 p.p. + extras like locker hire ($10) and food.

Wet and Wildly expensive

When it comes to tickets for WDW, whilst they still carry the expense factor, there are a lot more options for flexibility. LOTS more flexibility.

There are no greater mysteries than the Gordian knot, the Bermuda Triangle and Disney Park Tickets.  So let's take a wander through the options - and I will limit the options to what is worthwhile during convention period.

Gone in the mists of time

Step 1 - decide how many days you'll be wanting to visit the parks.
 

You may be like Mrs. Banks and her little group who are staying at the Boardwalk Villas and expect to visit the parks most days. Or perhaps you just want to visit for 1 day? (HA HA HA HA HA - good luck with that approach .... oh sigh...)

Tickets are sold from 1 to 10 days entry, and the expiry clock starts ticking from the first day's use, and lasts 14 days. Work out how many different days you wish to enter a Disney Park.

The other joy with multi day tickets is that Disney want you to spend ALL of your holidays in Disney theme parks. So every extra day you add, the per day rate of the ticket drops dramatically. See the image above - it costs you $280 to buy the first 4 days of entry. After that point every extra day is only $10. So lay down another $60 for an additional 6 days, for 10 days in total, for only $340! Those extra days are practically free!

Triple your days for only $60

This is Disney's way of pushing people from coming for a long weekend to coming for a whole week or more.  Once you've got a ten day ticket in your hand, well you might as well just keep entering the Parks day after day with no limits, no rushing, forgetting about time. 

Ummm ... yeah .... our Aussie group - buying the 10 day ticket. 

Electronic swipey entrance now the thing

Step 2 - decide how you want to spend your day and if it is likely you will swap parks during the day

So Disney money spinner no. 2 - the Park Hopper option.

Say you're at the park, and it gets to 1pm and it is really hot! you decide to (OMG) leave the park. But if you just walk out, well you've wasted one of the days off your ticket. And say later that evening when the temperature has dropped you decide you want to go back into a park - but you can't. 

So the Park Hopper option was created.

For a flat fee of a mere $59 (regardless of the number of days) you can come and go from any and all of the parks as much as you want. Go commando and do all 4 parks in 1 day (OK - you can wear underpants, if you must). Imagine 31 million tourists a year paying $59 - and it costs Disney nothing to provide. Sweet, simple earner.

Yep - park hopper option is going onto the Aussie's tickets

RFID "Magic Bands" now carry your tickets (and your room key, dining reservations & charge card)

Step 3 - decide if you want to do something other than a theme park - water parks, golf - real and mini, sports etc

 

Did you say YES! Then you need the "Water Parks and More" ticket option added on. For just a flat $59 you can add 10 more activities to your park tickets. If you are bringing the kids you will want this option. Considering a single entry to a Water Park is $56, this option gets you into both water parks and those mini golf games, and the computer games centre - all the things the kids need to do whilst you collapse from the heat. So it is brilliant value - if you do those things.

 

Us Aussies - nope - not doing any of those. Not a kiddie among us. (childlike - but not that much)

$84 for everything is pretty sweet

And that's it! See relatively painless! (if comparing to a dentist's drill)

So to summarise: the Aussies are staying at Boardwalk Villas for 7 nights, and then we have convention for 5 nights. So they are going to buy a 10 day ticket + park hopper option - which will last them for 14 days and they come and go from Disney whenever they feel like. 

wave your magic band past the special magic band scanner

As for me - I have an Annual Pass - but that's a whole 'nother story. Along with Florida Resident tickets.

 

Do you want to visit Walt Disney World? What is your time frame and what ticket might suit you best? And do you like to do the parks commando style?

Heats on your Feets in Orlando 2014

This is me

This week, in Australia, summer turned up the dial all the way to 11. And it will last another week!

It was 40 degrees C or 104F here in Canberra today - and forecast for tomorrow - and all weekend

Perfect weather to be in training for conditions in Orlando!!

I doubt it will be quite so scorching - maybe only 35C (95F) but I have the chance to work out my clothing (cotton voile / shorts / sun protection) and especially shoes.

You will need extra comfortable walking sandals. You will be WAY too hot in socks and sneakers.

Keen have been my footware of choice for many years.

They have a running shoe sole for comfort and a waterproof upper. For multiple rides on Kali River Rapids. That's one way to keep cool!

watch out for giant waterfall. (source: disneyride.com)

Many people also swear by Skechers Go Walk (although I have never tried them and don't know if they are waterproof)

better than Crocs

Whatever you choose for your feets, remember something that is not going to make you sweaty and stinky, not going to give you blisters, stays supportive after hours of walking on hot concrete, and can tolerate a bit of water from your day at Typhoon Lagoon water park.

Don't burn your feets on the scorcing concrete paths! (source: themainstreetmouse.com)

And it is not just the heat that makes the concrete painful for your tootsies - the pathways are covered in sand - making them abrasive! Hot and abrasive! sounds like me in the office - but I don't want that for my holiday.

Although of course, you could just join me in an air conditioned bar.

We covered some aspects of dealing with the heat back in winter - when I was wistfully remembering temperatures such as today's!  Go now and re-read that post to kick start your wardrobe planning for Convention.

p.s. go check out Sierra Trading Post for deep discounts on those Keen sandals and other tough footware.

Kill, Refurb, Marry - Aerial Spinners

WTF?

How am I expected to turn this into a decent post?? Oh - you ladies over at Mouse on the Mind and This Happy Place - this month you have decidedly made our topic challenging.

You see, my gentle readers, this months topic is "Aerial Spinners" and in the whole of WDW there are 2.

Ok - let me clarify.  there is Astro Orbiters and then there is Dumbo/Aladdin/Triceratop Spin - which are technically the same ride - they just come in different colours.

But dammit - I need this blog hop to pad out my own haphazard posting schedule. Sigh.

KILL

eeni meeni minee mo ....... need some serious and broader criteria here.

Dumbo - is the original and the best. Iconic. Killing Dumbo would be like an Aussie killing koalas.

Oh wait .... I forgot ...... (OK not an environment blog)

Triceratop Spin is in a different park  - so it has to be Aladdin's Flying Carpets! Come on down!!

Being in the Magic Kingdom, where Dumbo already reins supreme, makes you supernumery. Also, a middle eastern desert theme in the middle of Adventure Land - between the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room is too out of place.

Whilst I am on my high horse - spot the one difference between these two shots. Why was this necessary??
(source: top: Walt Disney Co. Bottom: a travel agent I won't ID)

after all that trauma, let's move on to REFURB

There is can be only one obvious example for me: Astro Orbiters!

Your little rockets zoom among the planets (source: wdwguide)

but your seats are too hard. 

And the queuing for your Apollo style launch pad elevator is too slow and cumbersome. 

What give this chap the edge is that the little rockets tilt inwards adding some excitement to the fact that you are already 2 stories higher than Dumbo or Aladdin. 

Fix these minor things, and you will be bellissimo - mwah!

MARRY

There can be only 1 - Dumbo. Since his refurbishment and duplication, Dumbo has increased his cache - making him the money spinner icon of Disney! A girlfriend used to say "it's just as easy to fall in love with a rich man ...." and that applies here. Don't waste your time in the backblocks. Fall in love with the rich dude - he has everything the others have.

Double your Dumbos (oh ... the Kardashian jokes .....) (source: big florida country)

There you have it. Now go and learn some more about these rides and your options for fun in the sun at WDW when we meet up in June.  Click on the links below - which will grow over time!

If you read one article about Disney Dining, make it this one.

Any one who follows Mrs Banks on Facebook knows that time has just disappeared with Christmas and birthdays and travel to Sydney and dining reservations. I am now enjoying my summer holiday and have the chance to sit and relax to prepare these posts for a couple of weeks - in between bouts of chopping things with my new chainsaw!! Oh - how The Ken Man knows me so well......  

OK .. On with the show! Here's a post I started writing about 2 weeks ago: 


It's all fuss and excitement and crazy internets clicking here tonight!

If you want to secure your favourite table service Disney dining reservation you have to book 6 months in advance - and that day is almost here past for me!!  (ha ha ha - that shows how long it takes me to write a post)

guess what I'm doing tomorrow evening?? (source: pscalculator )

Only 4 more sleeps until (now after) Christmas Day - but I feel like it's already arrived as I go crazy with the dining reservations!

We have some underlying rules to follow with our dining arrangements, including:

• We want to try lots of different things
  
• We can't eat everything (dang!) SO a la carte dining more often to give more control over the amount of food purchased and consumed.
• We are happy to split large dishes, and taste each other's meals - also happy to hoard if it's too good to share!
• Limit buffet attendance. (Usually poor food items and some of us have limited intake.)
• Enjoy meals with others.
• No cheap and nasty park food - hot dogs, burgers and dreaded Disney fries (oh, I shiver just thinking about Pecos Bills - ewwwwww - and where they ask you not to spit. Well not in front of women and children.)

Please don't make me go here (source:Disney food blog)

• Let your friend wear stretchy pants

By getting online the moment bookings opened I was able to get everything I wanted - some of which are very coveted bookings! Here are some highlights from our bookings so far:  (the links will allow you to see the current menus)

• Breakfasts - Staying in Boardwalk Villas gives easy access to fabulous breakfasts including Greek style Kouzzina (21st); Captain's Grill (22nd) and Kona Cafe (26th) (the home of REAL coffee in WDW). We are also visiting Safari Donald at Tusker House (24th) for Harambe style.

Kona Cafe's Tonga Toast. My precious ....

• Good fun themery lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe (23rd) where you eat your veges and keep your elbows off the table.  Biergarten (21st) where it's Oktoberfest every day! Liberty Tree Tavern (22nd) where it is 4th July everyday!

 

No, Please, your quiet enjoyment of the meal will be thanks enough for these coveted bookings:

• Le Cellier - the Canadian Steakhouse (21st). This small underground wine cellar serves it's signature dishes: cheddar cheese soup and Filet mignon on truffled mushroom risotto. Oh sigh.

 

•  Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's Restaurant - this classic is rated one of the USA's 15 most iconic restaurants, and with scores like 29/30 is one of Zagat's most highly rated. 

Now the category: "Everyone is arriving in Orlando now. Let's all go out together for a meal"

• The Crabby Shack! Fulton's Crab House will be hosting at least 10 of us on the 25th. Will you join in for more than you can eat seafood?

lobster tails, crabs, prawns, clams, oysters - served on platters, in towers, in buckets!

• On the afternoon of the 26th, we shall be raising our pinkies and ensconced at the Grand Floridian Resort's Garden View Tea Room for Afternoon Tea. It's all cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off and scones with jam and cream.

(source: wdwinfo - read their full review including menu)

And now here's a booking that will be a highlight of your trip - the all new California Grill! (26th)

Closed for 8 months in 2013 to undergo a complete overhaul, I am so excited to see this new look and new menu. One thing that hasn't changed - location. It is still on the roof of the Contemporary Resort and every meal offers premier viewing of the Magic Kingdom fireworks show!

Our last evening in WDW will finish on a high note! (source: DisneyFoodBlog - read their full review)

Who cares about pictures of the restaurant or what's on the menu. Because FIREWORKS!

UPDATE: I have now secured a 2nd California Grill dinner booking for Sunday 29 June - when everyone will be in Orlando.

If you would like to come meet everyone and join in, please contact me ASAP before seating books out! As is the case with Zontians, the more the merrier!

Are you a foodie? What type of cuisine do you want to enjoy in Orlando?

Kill, Refurb, Marry - Thrill Rides!

For the life of this blog, I have deliberately avoided discussing the theme parks.

well - except for this - my precious:

Oh - how I love everything about this baby

Resorts - yes! Restaurants, events, tours - yes, yes, yes.

But park rides - no.

I suppose I just presumed the average Zontian would not be interested.   And there is MILES of park info and blogs available. Well, this is it! Your one chance to read my views on the theme park rides. Pay attention, it will be over quick sticks!

 

Mouse on the Mind and This Happy Place blogs are once again hosting the Disney Blog Hop - and this month they chose Thrill Rides!

There may be bunnies, kittens and chocolate inside here for all I know - cause I've never been inside

I am pretty easily excited, so most of the rides at WDW give me a thrill - of some kind. yep - I can be tragic. So I am going to restrict my definition of "thrill ride" to the faster speeds, gravity pulled, freefall drops, discombobulatory  things.

But hey - this time the joke is on them - cause I don't do thrill rides!  The topic should have been Thrill Ride Chicken Exits (yes Tower of Terror Chicken Exit* - thinking of you) - cause I know all about those! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

ohhhhhh....

OK - let's get to business.

KILL:

anything with free fall airtime. Really. These things are just clogging up my park when I could be having more 3D simulators, or that hi-tech Harry Potter Hogwarts ride. that free fall drop makes me feel soooo ill, and ruins my happiness for several hours. So if I had to pick the most evil of all WDW resort thrill rides it would be my photo above - the Rock and Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios. I have no idea but it has a loop in the track. In the dark. Why anyone needs that is beyond me - so let's get this waste of space out of the way and build my previous idea for the Aristocats ride - with kittens.

REFURB:

Now Test Track gives me a slight thrill - in the fast bit at the end. And I know it just had a refurb - but I still feel like it is missing a lot in that opening part.  And I appreciate that fixing Disco Yeti at Expedition Everest ain't gonna happen - but that is the only thing wrong with that ride.

The one really in need of a refurb is Splash Mountain. Not that I have ever ridden it. I mean, have you ever seen the freefall on the front of that thing?  4 seconds of torture.

So how do I know it needs a refurb - cause every Disney blog and chat board in the WORLD rabbits (you see what I did there? brer rabbit.....) on about how there are blown light bulbs, animatronics not working, Million dollar bunny wasn't chasing their log etc etc.   The announcement that the 2014 standard 2 week maintenance will now be 10 weeks brings hope they are whipping out the screwdrivers.

Just fix the thing, so we can all get back to whining about the Stitch Won't Escape and Go Away Experience.

MARRY:

Cause I only have eyes for you ...... Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Everything good about Disney is encapsulated within this ride

There is a deep and rich back story, fantastic and thorough theming, awesome safety announcement, and NO FREE FALLS - just speed and turns. Oh - how I spent years looking at you from a distance - too scared to try. Then one day your beckoning was too strong to resist, and I instantly fell in love and found my thrill ride courage!

BTMR made me a more confident, better person!! Now I sky dive INTO other planes! Now I taunt honey badgers with mongeeses (what is the plural?) BTMR changed my entire life!

And this:

A bobcat standing on a cactus. (source: parkology.com)

The world's most intense cat scratching post.

Finally - BTMR is not from a movie, has not been made into a movie, has not had Disney animated characters, like Pinocchio, jammed inappropriately into it.

I can't wait to sit inside your little mine train carriage and hurtle around your track again.

* I should have known there would be a chap called "DisneyElevators" who takes video of elevators. Probably friends with those Disney Bus Spotting guys

************************************************

Learn more about the parks and rides: click on the links below and get more Kill, Refurb, Marry Thrill Ride stories:

Set free your Enviromentality

Urrgghhh .... here in Australia, we've just had a change of federal government, and with flip on a whole bunch of policies, including their environmental posture.

We're getting coal mines onshore from the Great Barrier Reef;  abolishing the carbon tax; and just today I read a story about a Council who were proposing building a highway through the middle of the a koala high traffic zone.

sigh

but our blog is not about bemoaning or activitism for Australia's environmental causes.

It is with much pleasure I remember that I can go on holiday and all around me eco - tourism activities are underway - in more ways than you'll ever be aware.

Disney, as the huge gorilla in the playground, recognise their responsibilities for social citizenship and leading the way. You'll be amazed at the lengths they go to be as enviro friendly as possible.

Physical America — the land itself — should be as dear to us all as our political heritage and our treasured way of life. Its preservation and the wise conservation of its renewable resources concerns every man, woman and child whose possession it is.
- Walt Disney

There are a vast array of green activities undertaken at WDW, some obvious, and some that you'll never know are going on.

Disney tell stories of annually:

• recycling enough paper to make a trail from Anaheim to WDW and back again, twice
• recycling 18 million plastic bottles - turning them into "red carpets"
• 200,000 + LED lights on Cinderella's castle, which are so energy efficient, each night only takes the same amount of electricity as 3 loads of washing in a dryer.

Uncle Walt had a soft spot for the big cats, and launched a slew of keen conservation programs.  I am not going to cover their conservation or community contribution activities today - that's a whole separate post.

This first video covers a whole range of activities - it is set in Disneyland, and all these things happen in WDW too.

I love how they use the french fry oil!! Although it still not enough to make me willing to eat Disney fries - blerghhhhh.

What is getting the big "thumbs up" from me is that our resort - Boardwalk Inn and Villas - has just had it's decade long "Green Lodgings" designation renewed from the Florida Dept of Environmental Protection.  You saw a lot of the ways they run the resorts in the videos - sorting your recycling, using recycled and biodegradable materials, water and electricity management.  (The Marriott also has this certification)

The ESPY's is a show produced by the Disney sports arm - ESPN, who have a HUGE Wide World of Sports at the WDW Resort (Where too much sport is barely enough!). Funnily enough, I've never visited....... hmmm ....I wonder why? Let's just go to the video - and see more eco stuffs at WDW

Don't scratch yourself on that recycled toilet paper.

Actually, in a slightly weird story, there are a slew of Disney fans who are unhappy about the new unbleached, uncoloured recycled napkins. Turns out they were collecting the old printed ones and are sad that not every single thing in their Disney holiday has been Disneyfied.

Say 'goodbye' to the precious printed napkin    (source: disneyblog)

But from where did the idea spring for all the scratchy recycled paper? From their expansive 5 year Paper Sourcing and Use Policy. This policy not just covers the paper they use, it also includes actions for supporting sustainable fibre sources, responsible forest management, moving from timber fibres to grass and bamboo, and minimising consumption of such products.


In 2012, Disney announced 50% achievement of its goal for zero net direct greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing electricity consumption by 10%. Just in October WDW was awarded Sustainable Florida's Best Practice Award for turning out the lights when they left the room.

Unlike the new Australian government about to dump our Carbon Tax, Disney have their own internal "carbon price" imposed on each of their divisions for their direct emissions footprint. The higher the footprint, the more that Division pays. They also support forestry carbon projects around the world, in deforested areas; and are corporate signatories to the Rio + 20 Conference Valuing Natural Capital

source: Valuing Natural Capital

And to close, my favourite eco-fact: Overhead winch motors used to raise and lower scenery for the Disney shows generate electricity during the lowering process which is fed back into the power grid. How cool is that?



So - I'm relaxed on a Disney holiday - knowing that I don't have to buy into the rampant consumerism, and have an enjoyable eco-holiday!

So have I convinced you yet? What do you do to support sustainability principles?