Fall Disney trip

First, we were given the standard courtyard room. Still not where you want to be here. At this hotel, you must be in the tower to get a decent room. The courtyard rooms are smaller, not as clean, older, and the outside corridors are carpeted and dirty. If you stay here, do not count on the resort's transportation - it is erratic at best. You can walk across the street to the Downtown Disney Marketplace and use the buses, but be aware that the Marketplace closes at 11pm every day except Saturday, so if you are out later than this, you may not be able to return. (Disney buses then drop off and pick up passengers at Pleasure Island - about a one-mile hike from the Downtown Disney Marketplace bus stops). If you stay at this hotel, you are best off with a car.

Just like the All-Star Resorts, this one is huge, very highly themed, and visually loud. We loved it anyway. Like all Disney resorts, it is very clean. Rooms are small, but they just don't seem as small as the All-Star Resorts' rooms. The Hippy-Dippy Pool is a hoot, so are the staircases in the '60s building (Yo-Yos) and the '80s building (Rubics Cubes that light up at night). This resort is not for honeymooners or older couples, as it is full of families with young children. Bus service is good here, and the location is good, right in the middle of Walt Disney World (next to the Caribbean Beach Resort in the EPCOT area), so the wait times for the buses are not long. It's a good choice for families on a budget wanting clean and comfortable accommodations within Walt Disney World. Be sure to ask you travel agent about discounts, such as AAA and military discounts.

This is one of the few places inside Disney World that actually serves good food at reasonable prices. There are mostly large hot sandwiches here, about $4.95 each. The bread used is great. It also has salads, smoothies, and desserts. A cup of tomato soup (the only kind) is $0.99 with croutons. There are very long lines, but they move fast.

This was lots of fun, with lots of candy stations. Most adults were in costume too. Disney shuts down the Magic Kingdom on the Halloween Party nights early at 6pm. At 7pm the party begins and lasts until midnight. The cost is $34 for ages 10 and up and is less for younger kids. The great thing about this is that you can make this your Magic Kingdom visit, especially if you don't have multi-day tickets. Disney only lets in 20,000 visitors for these types of events (the average attendance per park on the average day is 40,000) so that even though you will only be there for 5 hours, you will ride almost everything with relatively short wait times. (Sometimes Disney shuts down Toon Town for these types of things.)

As a travel agent and Disney specialist, I am often asked by clients if they need a car at Walt Disney World. I always tell them that I am going to give them a very qualified "no." Whether you need a car depends on where you are staying, the length of your stay, and what you will be doing at Disney World and possibly in the Orlando area. If you are not staying at a Disney-owned and -operated resort inside Disney World (with the possible exception of the Swan and Dolphin resorts), you will absolutely need a car. If you are planning to eat or visit anything outside of the Disney Resort, you will need a car for at least part of your stay.

Some of the Disney hotels have better bus service than others. The largest ones--Pop Century, Port Orleans, and the Caribbean Beach--have the most frequent bus service. (I have left out Coronado Springs and the All-Star Resorts because they are just so far removed from most of the complex.) Generally, maybe with the exception of the Boardwalk Villas, any of the Disney resorts that is a part of the Disney Vacation Club has less-than-spectacular bus service. This is also true of the Wilderness Lodge and Ft. Wilderness.

I used to tell clients that my one rule was that I never use Downtown Disney as a transportation hub; I only take a bus there if I want to be there. This is no longer really possible. Downtown Disney is really the transportation hub now. The Transportation and Ticket Center (outside the Magic Kingdom) is really no longer the hub it was. Aside from the monorails that go to the Magic Kingdom, the three resorts on the monorail line, and the monorail going to EPCOT, there is not much going on here any longer. The only bus service is to Ft. Wilderness and the Wilderness Lodge, the three other major parks, and Shades of Green. (I am not focusing on the monorails here, because most travel on the Disney transportation system is done by bus, and some by water taxi).

There are tricks to using the Disney transportation system, and I publish information on that which I give to my clients. It can be a good system if you know how to use it properly. If not, you will spend most of your time waiting for buses or sitting on them. If you are staying at a Disney resort and are not renting a car, do yourself a favor and make sure your travel agent books your airport transfers on Disney's Magical Express. These are very nice coaches (nicer than the regular Mears transfers), and this service will be free at least until the end of next year.