Farmer Bruener Research Break - Covering ground at Disney · 9:56pm Apr 23rd, 2023
With as much pre-research I did before my Disney/Universal research trip on the cheap, I missed one of the most important parts: After the break — Getting From Here To There in Orlando
We’ll start with the obvious: Go in the off-season. Schedule your trip away from Spring Break, school vacations, obvious Disney festivals, first week in June, opening days for certain things, etc… Generally, you can look at hotel prices in a month and determine when certain surges happen, and if not, there are any number of web sites that show average historical attendance. Feb/March or October/November were my goal dates. If you want to go for an event, fine. I dislike packed crowds and went for the parks.
Second, you’re going to walk. Oh, are you going to walk. Get practiced before. Go for long, brisk walks carrying a backpack of stuff. If you have small children, push ‘em. Spend the money on good walking shoes. Universal is about fifty miles across, if all the unmarked paths were in a straight line (which they are not). The Disney parks are a little better since you tend to meander instead of march. Take a water bottle. Drink. Drink some more. Pop is $5 or more, but Disney gives you free ice water. Drink it. If nothing else, you will get to see all the bathrooms, which is really neat since they are all themed according to the park section. Take your blister pads. And Gold Bond is really worth its weight in gold. I bought a hat there because of the sun. It was $40. I’m keeping it for when I go back. Florida is closer to the sun, I think.
Oh, and since you are walking, you are *carrying* everything you will want during the day. Sunscreen, Gold Bond, blister pads, wipes, chapstick, water bottle, cell phone holster (not just jammed in a pocket or you’ll wind up at Lost and Found), and a FuelRod ($30 and well worth it. When your FuelRod runs out of juice, just stop by a booth and drop it in to get a recharged replacement. Quite cool since you use the phone for Genie+ and the Disney app, plus you’re going to take a lot of photos.) Remember you can use the Disney app to pre-order at the take out restaurants, which works a lot better than trying to stand in line.
Women, take your purse and dump it out. All of it. Now put back in *only* what you’ll need.
Men, you’re going to wind up with a purse or fanny pack. Maybe a backpack if the spouse is going to buy stuff you can’t just carry. Every oz. you carry is a pound at the end of the day. Most rides you can put the backpack between your feet or they have lockers. (very nifty) Don’t dress in extravagant costumes because you’ll melt, and besides, Disney doesn’t like guests who can be mistaken for cast members. They really don’t.
To save money, leave the kids behind. Spouses too. Oh, wait. You want to bring them? Well, very well. First secure a loan from a major bank. (j/k) Small kids that require a stroller? Take the lightest, most maneuverable one you can. Something that folds easy for the bus trip. Larger kids who only can go for so long before being pushed? Rent one if you need it. Minimize the diaper bag. The bigger kids can take their own cheap tiny backpack for snacks and drinks. Don’t take anything you’ll miss if it gets lost. There are almost no places to get goldfish crackers or cheerios in the park, so you’ll probably have to bring them if you have little carb addicts. Even in the off season, stroller parking is crowded, but oddly enough about as safe as anything since thefts from strollers are quite rare. The park cast members might have to move your stroller for an event. Don’t sweat it.
Ok, let’s zoom back out for a minute.
Way back.
Monkey on Branch picture
(*) Almost copyright Disney, please don’t sue me
Not that far back.
There are two bigger transportation issues: Getting to your hotel, and getting to the park from your hotel.
Sunshine Flyer bus (now $12) or MEARS Connect (which is about $20) from the airport to your Disney hotel (each way with reservations), which is fairly reasonable. The first options only go to Disney hotels, and there’s a Universal shuttle that run only to the Universal hotels (which I haven’t checked on but I presume costs much the same)
I went cheap. Since I was staying at Super-8, I used Uber ($36 plus tip). The whole time I was in Orlando, Uber worked perfectly. Had a couple of drivers who barely spoke Engish, but that didn’t matter.
Now this transitions into the internal Disney bus/boat/monorail system, something that I was clueless about before I started this disaster.
First, there are four parks in Disney World: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot (AHE) are on a rough line from left to right. Then north of them is Magic Kingdom (MK). Each has a number of resorts clustered around them.
—MK has the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian, all of which have boat docks and monorail access. (very cool) It also has a boat to the Fort Wilderness Resort. There’s also a big boat from the MK ticketing center and parking area over to the MK front gate. In the off season, you can ride ‘em all without waiting in line. Which I did.
—The second monorail also goes from MK to Epcot.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/transportation/monorail-route/
—The trio (AHE) have an extraordinary transport called the Skyliner that goes between Hollywood/Epcot/World of Animation Resort/Caribbean Beach. Find an excuse to go on it at least once.
—Just to the East of Epcot is Disney Springs, which is effectively a gargantuan open-air mall that you can get into for free (but will cost you a lot). It has boat-connections to other resorts down the river like Port Orleans and Treehouse Villas and Sarasota Springs Resort. Unfortunately, I missed exploring this. I had already walked my feet off and had to get back to one of the parks.
—And last but not least is the bus. In short:
A: Every resort and Disney Springs has a bus to each of the four parks
B: Every park has a bus to each of the resorts
So if you want to go visit the XYZ resort and you’re at the ABC resort, catch a bus to any of the parks, then catch a bus to the resort you want to visit. You are supposed to have a park ticket or be staying at one of the Disney resorts (or affiliated hotels) in order to ride around on the bus/monorail/boat/Skyliner, so when I took a day to go resort-hopping, I was technically not following their rules. In the off season, they don’t care. Dress neat, smile, take pictures, and if you get asked if you belong in the resort you’re at, just say “Oh, I’m looking for where the spouse and I are going to stay at our next trip. This place is awesome.” (and it’s the truth) Just don’t swim in their pools or be a nuisance. Eating at the resort is encouraged. The Polynesian has some wonderful meals. If I stayed there, I might not be able to waddle to the parks. Soo good.
This brings us about to the end of the walk, where we compare costs against benefits.
— Resorts: Less time and money wasted on transportation, vs higher costs (somewhat offset by the Uber expense)
— Disney Partner Hotels - kinda-pseudo-resorts a little more expensive than a cheap hotel, and many of them have a shuttle or a link to the Disney bus system. Unsure if they use the Sunshine Flier or MEARS Connect airport shuttle.
— Motel 6 type hotels in the area. Reserve early for the best prices. If you’re driving, make sure to get one with free parking (because that can chew up any savings rapidly). Check park parking if you’re driving there. I’m unsure about the price. Uber ran me about $10 a trip each way from hotel to park and back.
— Finding a relative in the area and sleep on their couch.
So… Any long-lost relatives in the area around for a return trip this fall?
No, it's closer to hell.
I nearly drowned in a pool at Florida when I was 5
My family went in February 2022 and had a good time, although we only had enough for one Disney Park (Epcot). The other days we went to Cape Canaveral and hung around the hotel.
For the flight, we strictly packed what we could fit in personal bags to avoid carry on and checked luggage fees. Personal baggage can be pretty big (18x14x8), and my sister got each of us bags that fit those dimensions.
For the hotel, we got a cheap suite at a timeshare. My parents had to sit through a 2 hour sales pitch, but the room was worth it, since it was a 2 bed, 2 bath, with a living room, laundry, and kitchen. The kitchen in particular saved us a lot in food costs, since we could go grocery shopping. Laundry meant we only needed to pack a couple changes of clothes. We also rented a car for the whole trip, and paid the tolls with cash.
I made a post about the Epcot trip over at the WDW subreddit, so I'll direct you THERE rather than posting it all here.
Disney Springs was pretty fun to walk through, plus it has free parking and entry. I'd put it above Universal Citywalk (which does have parking fees until 6 PM). It's probably also the best time to get souvenirs, rather than lugging boxes and bags around the parks themselves. Within the parks, I'd say go for smaller mementos, like pins and maps. Pins in particular are small and reasonably priced in the $5-15 range. Most of the rides and stores also have their own penny presses, which cost $1 each. I believe it's a mix of what ones take cash or cards, so it'd be wise to bring some bills of your own. There's an insane number of machines around the parks, so you can get a good variety.
I'd recommend bringing some form of pocket entertainment to keep yourself occupied in the lines. I brought a yo-yo with, and was entertaining kids with some simple tricks. It was also a good icebreaker when talking to others waiting around me. (It was also a good way to make a bubble of space in front of me on the way out of the park.)
If you're going to park on site, remember where you parked! I can't reiterate that enough. The parking lot is huge, and my family wandered it for well over half an hour clicking the keyfob buttons to find our car. Other than that, using the on site transportation to move between parks is the best option.
For Cape Canaveral, go first thing in the morning, since they only operate from 9-5, and attractions are spaced far apart. If you go to the customer service building, they'll even print off an itinerary that'll give you time to see everything you want.