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Disney itself will cut you deals like a travel agent would, a lot of the time. Their reservations people are just as hardcore as the rest of the front-facing staff. They have all your info if you've been there before and a lot of leeway to get you special prices. My family once went in one of the slow seasons when the Animal Kingdom Lodge had just been built. Because of my curiosity about it, the status of my family as longtime visitors, and the fact the place was half empty; they simply upgraded use from a standard Port Orleans room to a balcony one in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was awesome because there is no way in hell we'd pay 400$ a night for a room.
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Jul 28, 2013 18:45
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Well, my trip (six nights at a value, park hopper tickets) is costing me around 1500 without travel. I find that okay (and if I were a reasonable person would have gone for less time and saved even more money, but it's Disney so I'm not reasonable.) but I am not shy about my desire to stay at places like the Polynesian or Contemporary, which I know would rack up the rate. So hearing about room discounts is certainly intriguing.
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Jul 28, 2013 18:46
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If you want more info, send me a PM and I'll let you know what I can offer.
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Jul 28, 2013 18:49
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If you want to try to get a discount straight from Disney, the only thing to do is to call reservations and explain the situation. As a company that wants even more of your money than you are currently willing to part with, they think it's great when someone is curious about trading up. The reaction will be based on how dead they think they're going to be when you'll be there. You might get offered a nominal discount, or if you're lucky might get a real sweet deal like I did back when.
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Jul 28, 2013 19:05
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Okay, this is kind of a large thing to ask, but the subject came up today for me, when I learned about Shades of Green. My mother is turning 60 next year and has wanted to go to Walt Disney World since it opened, as she lived 40 miles from Disney Land and has gone 30+ times in her life, but has never managed to have enough money to go. I am going into the navy this year, though as an enlisted so I will not exactly be rich. I still want to take her to Walt Disney World for his 60th birthday, as that is a big date. So I have a few questions. 1. How big of a difference, quality wise, is Shades of Green from the rest of the Disney Hotels? If I want to make it big, should I spring for one of the more expensive ones? I'm sort of hesitant to do so because I know my mother enjoys shopping, and the extra money saved on hotels would be good for letting her buy lots of knick-knacks. 2. How much should I expect to spend time wise if I want to be able to show her all four parks? 3. How much money should I expect to spend not including travel or souvenirs, with SoG or other more recommended hotels. I'd like for us to go around September to October, because my mother's very sensitive to humidity and heat. I know all of these will change by the time that it's next year, but the fact is that I'll be making about 1500 a month on average for the next year, so I'll need to start saving soon. I know it's a little outside my means and should wait, but while my mom is still active (2+ mile walks every day) I don't want to risk her getting to where she wont enjoy it as much before we go. So hey, if I have to budget myself and barely have any money until then, that's fine.
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Jul 29, 2013 07:15
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KittyEmpress posted:Okay, this is kind of a large thing to ask, but the subject came up today for me, when I learned about Shades of Green. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuDYON2zYgw this is a good overview of military stuff at Disney World.
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Jul 29, 2013 07:18
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KittyEmpress posted:1. How big of a difference, quality wise, is Shades of Green from the rest of the Disney Hotels? If I want to make it big, should I spring for one of the more expensive ones? I'm sort of hesitant to do so because I know my mother enjoys shopping, and the extra money saved on hotels would be good for letting her buy lots of knick-knacks. I've stayed at Shades of Green three times over the past 10 years . You will get a pretty nice room and all the perks of staying at a Disney Resort for a fraction of the price. I would say the rooms are about the same quality as a mid range resort. Its missing the shopping, restaurants, and themes of the other hotels, but its extremely easy to get to them if there is something you or she wanted to do. My personal recommendation for how much time to spend would be 5 days. Spend one day at each park with a single park pass, cheaper than the park hopper, and take the fifth day to shop Downtown Disney, see and do things at the other resorts, and just relax. You could do the 4 parks in as little as three days with the park hopper assuming you are going during one of the slower times of the year. Magic Kingdom one day then decide if you rather do a full day at MGM or Epcot. Then squeeze Animal Kingdom and the one you decided into a single day. Malt fucked around with this message at 15:09 on Jul 29, 2013 |
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Jul 29, 2013 12:29
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KittyEmpress posted:Okay, this is kind of a large thing to ask, but the subject came up today for me, when I learned about Shades of Green. 1. Shades of Green is very nice by the standards of anywhere else. It's not as animated as the other mid range places, but as a tradeoff it's pretty quiet and relaxing comparatively. If you really want a more themed stay, maybe try Port Orleans or something but Shades of Green is nice and you can't beat the price. 2. Count me in with the lot that says 5 days. One day per park and the extra spent shopping or park hopping or at shows or whatever. 3. Depends! Dining Plan or no? How long are you going to stay? What options do you want, such as park hopper access? For five days, room at a mid-rate place and park tickets will be under 2k, perhaps significantly so at that time a year. You could end up getting away with paying 14 to 15 hundred dollars, particularly with the discount from Shades of Green. As for her health and keeping her refreshed, 5 days gives you plenty of time for breathers. It's still going to be hot in September and likely even October. Sorry, that's the middle and south of Florida for you. I'd recommend going late October or even early November if possible. The EPCOT food and wine festival starts up around then and is awesome, plus it might be significantly cooler. Regardless, there are plenty of shady spots to duck into for a moment and a brief nap or dip in the pool back at the hotel are great uses of a few hours in the middle of the afternoon.
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Jul 29, 2013 17:15
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Malt posted:I've stayed at Shades of Green three times over the past 10 years . You will get a pretty nice room and all the perks of staying at a Disney Resort for a fraction of the price. I would say the rooms are about the same quality as a mid range resort. Its missing the shopping, restaurants, and themes of the other hotels, but its extremely easy to get to them if there is something you or she wanted to do. While the fan in me say "Day of shopping? PFFT" I do agree that's a solid plan. If you do try to cram in Animal Kingdom into a day, I recommend squeezing it in first in the morning, since the cool things to do there tend to get long lines later in the day.
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Jul 29, 2013 19:03
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TheBigBudgetSequel posted:While the fan in me say "Day of shopping? PFFT" I do agree that's a solid plan. And stop by the Earl of Sandwich if you do go downtown. Tasty sandwich and decent price. We mainly missed AK last time. It was pouring rain so all we did was the Safari and came back to the hotel. I'd like to see the Dinosaur ride when we go back.
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Jul 29, 2013 19:10
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Nathilus posted:2. Count me in with the lot that says 5 days. One day per park and the extra spent shopping or park hopping or at shows or whatever. Hopefully the four day parkhoppers are still around next year, which is likely what I'd end up getting if so. That'd let me do the five day thing, with four days of parks and the last day for shopping at Downtown Disney. Are the dining plans worth getting? Would I pay more for dining plans than I would for regular food on average?
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Jul 29, 2013 21:52
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KittyEmpress posted:Hopefully the four day parkhoppers are still around next year, which is likely what I'd end up getting if so. That'd let me do the five day thing, with four days of parks and the last day for shopping at Downtown Disney. That depends on where and what you want to eat. If you are fine with just getting burgers and fries, you may not want or need the plans, but if you want to do some sit down dining, they could be a help. Dining plans allow me to eat at some placed I wouldn't otherwise due to the price.
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Jul 29, 2013 22:29
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Braksgirl posted:You would have saved money by booking with me. I have a discount rate for December. You save about 30% on Deluxe level resorts with a 10% ticket discount. We have some Mod and Value options as well, but the greatest savings are on the Deluxe resorts. PS never ever buy tickets from non-vetted Disney affiliates. They run news stories almost every other week now about stupid tourists who buy 'cheap' discounted tickets at the roadside shacks here all over the tourist corridor only to get to the gate and find out they are bogus or not accepted. There is no such thing as a smoking deal on Disney tickets. Don't pay some stupid shitlord on the side of the road for discounted tickets, your hard earned money will be gone. They are sharks who prey upon unknowing tourists and take their money. They hide behind stupid laws that allow them to continue to peddle worthless garbage. Those ticket scammers are like the loving mob. demonR6 fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Jul 30, 2013 |
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Jul 30, 2013 16:23
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demonR6 posted:PS never ever buy tickets from non-vetted Disney affiliates. They run news stories almost every other week now about stupid tourists who buy 'cheap' discounted tickets at the roadside shacks here all over the tourist corridor only to get to the gate and find out they are bogus or not accepted. There is no such thing as a smoking deal on Disney tickets. Don't pay some stupid shitlord on the side of the road for discounted tickets, your hard earned money will be gone. They are sharks who prey upon unknowing tourists and take their money. They hide behind stupid laws that allow them to continue to peddle worthless garbage. Those ticket scammers are like the loving mob. What is the actual setup of the scam?
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Jul 30, 2013 22:10
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Cheap Disney park tickets don't exist. AAA has some discounts, military members get discounts, and there are some other corporate discounts out there but it's not a huge savings. The park tickets are just not cheap and you won't find big discounts out there. A 3 day hopper for one adult, direct through Disney including tax is $341.87. Cheapest I've been able to get via another reputable site is $332.95. I generally just buy direct from Disney, since the savings elsewhere isn't that great. The roadside places offer great discounts, and when you get to a park the tickets are fake, or used, and now you're out hundreds of dollars with no recourse.
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Jul 30, 2013 22:40
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DNova posted:What is the actual setup of the scam? The problem is that a lot of the tickets are previously used ones that have unused days left on them. When you first use a ticket at a park they take a fingerprint scan. When the original guest uses it, their fingerprint gets attached to the ticket. When the second guest tries to use it, the fingerprint isn't going to match and the ticket is confiscated.
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Jul 31, 2013 00:09
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So if they're legit tickets, surely they're sourcing them from somewhere. Do they also buy tickets from people?
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Jul 31, 2013 07:35
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Braksgirl posted:When you first use a ticket at a park they take a fingerprint scan. To clarify, AFAIK they don't actually take a fingerprint scan, just a scan of the outline of your finger. People freaked out back when they implemented it. Now they apparently have RFID turnstyles, which will cut down on the resale practice by quite a bit. http://allears.net/pl/fingerscan.htm
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Jul 31, 2013 14:54
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Fejsze posted:To clarify, AFAIK they don't actually take a fingerprint scan, just a scan of the outline of your finger. People freaked out back when they implemented it. They are slowly rolling out MyMagic+ which intergrates RFID chips into both the normal hard tickets and a bracelet that guests can wear that acts the same as their ticket (as well as their room key, charge card, reservation keeper, ect)
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Jul 31, 2013 17:12
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zmcnulty posted:So if they're legit tickets, surely they're sourcing them from somewhere. Do they also buy tickets from people? They buy tickets from people who still have a day or two left on their multi-day passes. Since Disney checks for fingerprints now, this makes the tickets you buy for a huge discount in Kissimmee completely worthless.
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Jul 31, 2013 17:28
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Free dining has been extended for Fall. Dates are Sept 29 - Oct 2, Oct 18 - Nov 2, Nov 11 - 23, Dec 12 - 22, 2013. Book by Sept 15. Excludes Art of Animation, All Star Movies, Port Orleans French Quarter.
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Aug 1, 2013 22:45
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Braksgirl posted:Free dining has been extended for Fall. Ya, just don't try to call to get it added to your reservation. Hurray being on hold for the past 1 1/2 hours!
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Aug 2, 2013 01:33
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Some of my colleagues were on hold all day. One was on for over five hours only to be told the reservation system was down. She cried. You might try back in a week when some of the courtesy holds will have expired. I heard that a lot of agents will put holds on rooms just to thin the gen pub inventory. Which is evil if you ask me. Braksgirl fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Aug 2, 2013 |
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Aug 2, 2013 03:41
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Yeah, kind of pissed they aren't offering it at Art of Animation. That's kind of bullshit, and it'd save me some money.
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Aug 2, 2013 04:07
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Yeah that does suck. I'm getting the travel agent rate there when I go in Oct but I have clients at AoA that would appreciate the savings.
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Aug 2, 2013 05:40
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TheBigBudgetSequel posted:Yeah, kind of pissed they aren't offering it at Art of Animation. That's kind of bullshit, and it'd save me some money. See if it's worth upgrading to get it (if you can) if you're not saving any money. That's what I'm doing. Currently I'm staying at Port Orleans Riverside but when I checked online yesterday they had no free dining rooms available for the week I'm going. Animal Kingdom Lodge does though. Animal Kingdom Lodge + free dining is $50 cheaper than what I'd pay for POR and having to pay for dining. Depending on the number of people you have going, free dining saves a ton of money, so if you're going to be spending the same amount of money anyway, you might as well get free dining and a nicer resort out of it. Also, ended up on hold for 3 hours with no answer last night... Going to try again when they open at 7am. Then when I get this thing sorted write a strongly worded email to Disney. If their system was/is hosed up, they could at least say that instead of keeping people on hold for hours. I mean seriously, looking online there was literally 4 resorts that had available free dining rooms the week that I'm going POP, Fort Wilderness Cabins, AKL, and Grand Floridian. No Port Orlean, no Caribbean Beach, none of the other value resorts, none of the other deluxe resorts. To me, that rings of a massive system screw up if 4 resorts out of all the ones on property have rooms eligible the first day of the new promo. Also didn't work for the room only 20-30% off so something was wrong there Edit: Whooooo! Only 1/2 an hour on hold this morning and got it all resolved in under an hour! Still pissed about last night though. Happitoo fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Aug 2, 2013 |
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Aug 2, 2013 11:25
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DNova posted:What is the actual setup of the scam? Theme park tickets are not transferable once they have been used. Once you go through the gate, all subsequent entries must be specific to that person. You cannot give them to anyone else to use. The roadside scalpers are buying your tickets then reselling them to unsuspecting tourists and encouraging to use them under false pretenses and they get turned away at the gate. The ticket vendor will coach you on how to try and get through the gate but when it fails you are on your own and there is no going back to get your refund. As mentioned before your fingerprint is being scanned when you go through the gate and it is attached to your pass so trying to fake it will result in forfeiture of the pass. With the new system being rolled out using the RFID bracelets there are a number of issues but that is a whole other ball of problems I do not care to get into because I know some things. Either way, used tickets = bad. Also enterprising individuals have been jacking entire shipments of brand spanking new tickets before they even make it out to distribution but those are inside jobs being dealt with on another level. Ticket resale is a big black market business generating a lot of money, it is not just a guy in a shack selling a few passes, it's bordering on mob level underworld stuff. demonR6 fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Aug 2, 2013 |
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Aug 2, 2013 17:03
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I could switch hotels feasibly, yes, but I had chosen AoA to try it out. It looks like a cool colorful fun resort, and I know it's still got that New Resort smell, but I can't see the sense in telling certain guests "Oh no, you don' qualify." I mean, I'd even still be paying money because I'd pay the difference to upgrade from the Value Resort "Quick Service" plan to a Regular plan. TAKE MY MONEY, DISNEY. I SWEAR, I WANT YOU TO!
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Aug 2, 2013 17:19
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TheBigBudgetSequel posted:I could switch hotels feasibly, yes, but I had chosen AoA to try it out. It looks like a cool colorful fun resort, and I know it's still got that New Resort smell, but I can't see the sense in telling certain guests "Oh no, you don' qualify." If they can still fill those specific rooms to full capacity, there's no real need to give them a discount. Although you figure that how much money would they lose in actual foodstuffs ($10, maybe $15 a day for the quick service?) versus how happy/loyal you'd make clients by giving them this (not to mention that now that the money is "saved", that's just more for souvenirs), it would seem to be a no-brainer.
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Aug 2, 2013 19:48
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Another of my colleagues spoke with a Disney cast member today that said that this free dining promo is so limited because they're about to kill the promo altogether. I don't know how true that is since they've been threatening that for awhile now.
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Aug 3, 2013 04:03
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Braksgirl posted:Another of my colleagues spoke with a Disney cast member today that said that this free dining promo is so limited because they're about to kill the promo altogether. I don't know how true that is since they've been threatening that for awhile now. It wouldn't shock me. A lot of people (myself included) now plan fall Disney trips with the assumption that they'll get free dining, and budget accordingly. Like my trip was $3,800 including the dining plan but I was like "with free dining it'll only be $3,000". Which didn't end up happening, but I upgraded instead. I think if they canceled the promo there would be a riot of angry moms at this point. People have become so used to it and a lot view it as possibly the only way to afford to go to Disney World each year since its massive savings for a family of 4+. Since I can get away with just taking my daughter and I (although I usually bring someone else along anyway to help out) I can get away with room discounts (or nothing really). Other people may burn down main street USA if free dining goes away.
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Aug 3, 2013 12:55
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How come Disney's website revolves around go.com and is so slow? Taking a contingent of 8 next week, children not-so small and large 
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Aug 3, 2013 21:01
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MrMoo posted:How come Disney's website revolves around go.com and is so slow? I think it's related to the merger in 1996 creating the Disney ABC group or something. Espn is also a go.com site and owned by ABC.
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Aug 3, 2013 21:14
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I hate Disney's websites. For a multi billion dollar conglomerate you'd think they could afford decent IT.
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Aug 3, 2013 22:53
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Is this thread purely Disney discussion or is it OK to talk about other Orlando area parks too? Because Universal just opened up their Springfield expansion and it looks pretty good. I ate at Fast Food Boulevard earlier this year and Duff isn't bad, really hoppy though and not my kind of beer.
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Aug 4, 2013 07:07
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Douchebag posted:I think it's related to the merger in 1996 creating the Disney ABC group or something. Espn is also a go.com site and owned by ABC. The funny thing about the websites. That this includes the new armband system, and Fastpass+. Collectively called the Next Generation Experience or NGE. The amazing thing is that Disney has blown around 2.5 billion on these new systems that basically force you to plan out your entire trip and don't work. And this (among other reasons) is why Disney hasn't added any major attractions since Everest, why Pleasure Island (until very recently, and that's just demo work for the new Disney Springs mall like area) has been closed for 5 years without anything, and Epcot's future world is so dated. As a local to Orlando ever since 9/11 Disney's gone fairly stagnant (except for timeshares and hotels). A few minor things have been added like New Fantasy Land, and the test track redo. But it's taking them way too long to add things, New Fantasyland is still unfinished. It seems like there are some very deep issues high up there right now. It's still overall great, but the last 10 years or so haven't seen much at all change on the attraction side (Besides meet and greets). Universal is expanding like a crazy madman right now though, and probably will the rest of the decade with two or more major new things opening up every year for the foreseeable future. So hopefully Disney can shake that funk soon, although they are still moving at below glacial speed on all the rumored new things.
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Aug 4, 2013 13:04
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So what is the whole NGE thing? I was aware of them looking into RFID wristbands instead of KTTW cards, but what else are they doing? What is Fastpass+? Regarding planning your trip, we are used to planning our ADR's, but I don't think I'd like it if I have to plan more than dining in advance. As it is, you almost have to plan out the entire trip now, which isn't bad with kids if you want to do certain things (which we do every trip).
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Aug 4, 2013 14:04
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Fastpass+ is the new version of Fastpass where you can pick three attractions, shows or experiences from your computer or smart phone before you even arrive at the parks. You can also do it from the parks day of depending on availability. There's going to be a stupid number of FP options available including priority parade viewing and shows, it something like doubles the amount of experiences available.
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Aug 4, 2013 14:32
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Fast pass + is a system they're testing giving you the ability to book fastpasses in advance. They haven't really explained how it'll work, but basically the RFID bracelets would also act as a fast pass. And you can book them 90 days in advance. It's designed to keep guests that want to use it locked into a schedule so they won't leave and go to other places like Universal. Overall it looks like a huge mess right now. The thing I like about it is the ability to book fast passes for parades and fireworks which get you into a reserved viewing area. So no more standing in line for 90 min. for Fantasmic. It's in testing, and likely wont launch until 2014 at the rate it's going
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Aug 4, 2013 14:33
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My boss went to an agent training program at Disney a month or so ago and the official Disney word on My Disney Experience is "We're running a bit behind" which I take to mean "This is a giant clusterfuck." I have noticed on the My Disney Experience part of the website that they had a place for getting FastPasses to quick service restaurants, which is pretty crazy, I think. Looks like it's been removed, though. I realize things are running behind schedule, but I wish they would disable the MDE section of their website until they can get it properly functional. It's creating lots of chaos and my clients are freaking out because their reservations aren't showing up properly and then they think I'm not doing my job. Braksgirl fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Aug 4, 2013 |
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Aug 4, 2013 15:21
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