The advantages of being a local.

[Thumper]

Sitting at Walt Disney World right now awaiting the arrival of a friend. Yes, I was coerced into coming to this God forsaken tourist trap (by this particular friend). From what I've seen, it appears the CHEAPEST parking ANYWHERE in the area is $35. BUT, being a sneaky local dufe who "knows people", we're now parked in the "Staff Only" lot. (Free) What non-locals don't know is there are no controls, no decals or ... well, there is no way anyone knows who is "staff" and who is not. Besides, there's nobody to check anydamnway. I just told our friend (who's also driving) where to meet us and we'll start the day out $70 ahead of the game. We also have free passes (locals know how to get those), so all we have to be prepared for is a $39.00 hot dog and a $12.00 bottle of water if one of us should get hungry.

I'll walk in, but may have to be wheeled out in a wheelchair, but I'll hang in there the best I can. Youse dufes be good today and think about me walking around miserable, surrounded by elebenty-bazillion dang tourists. (Not my favorite thing to do) :(

[DeputyDog]

Man, I've been there in June before and it was miserably hot. Can't imagine being there now. Good luck.

[HideHunter]

Don't know if I've ever mentioned my first trip to Disney World.. Down there for the National D.U. Convention. They gave us free passes and shuttled us there. *First* sign I see says, "1 hour 15 minutes wait from this point". I get back on the shuttle - and back to the hotel.. bar.. ;)

[Big Muddy]

HA, I've been there once, and once was quite enough for me....took my family, when our son was about 10 years old, and we let him bring one of his little friends with him....the kid got lost, right at closing time....we contacted security, and they put out an APB on the little sheeit....about an hour later, they found him wandering around in the Hall of Presidents exhibit.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Used to go there in September for Armed Forces Day. It was hotter than the hinges on the gates of hell. We used to go over to Tom Sawyers Island to toot a hooter.

Don't catch the ZEEKA!

BKB

[LJ3]

Dude... it's the happiest place on earth. Try not to be such a judgmental douchecicle!

[Thumper]

Wow! That was a long day ... we just got home. We actually had a pretty good time as I paced myself. I hit the wall mid-day, but pushed through it and once I made it over the "hump", I held up fairly well the rest of the day. BTW ... we had "Fast Passes" so we didn't really have to wait in line for long. Ya' just kinda walk right past the others in line as they have a separate line for the Fast Pass holders. I'd have to say we had a pretty good time, but this old man is whooped!

[DeputyDog]

Glad you had a good time!

Neither my wife or I had any desire to go but decided several years ago that we "had" to make the trip for our daughter at the time. She was 5. We got an entirely new perspective of the place through her eyes. Then we took our son when he turned 5 and our daughter was 10 this last summer. We learned a few of the tricks and it was a great trip both times except for the time of year we had to go. My wife is a teacher do we went in the middle of June after she got out of school. We even went again this year for Spring Break with the wife's family. We've actually became Disney fans and will be making the trip again before the kids get too old for it.

[Thumper]

Yessir, of course I'm a bit acclimated, but the height of summer is NOT the ideal time to do something like that. Actually, I try to avoid Disney like the plague and it is NOT the ideal place for old curmudgeons, but it's probably the ultimate experience if you have kids. The main problem I see is just what you mentioned Deppity, the kids are out of school for the summer, so that is the hot travel season (no pun intended). I did see some milky white Yankees getting fried like strips of bacon though. I kept wondering why they'd walk elebenty miles down the middle of the street ... OR walk along the sidewalk on the NORTH side of the street. Look to the south folks! The sidewalk is shaded by the buildings on that side! I wonder why that's where the locals are walking? ;)

I will say, it was an enjoyable time and the heat wasn't unbearable. A nice, cooling rain hit around lunchtime, so as we ate our $13.00 hotdogs and drank our $3.00 bottles of water, we had a quick rain shower and everything cooled down nicely. Normally, the only time we hit Disney is when we have out of town guests who are here for that particular experience. Even then, we usually don't go to the park, but simply meet for dinner, etc. Coincidentally, Lynn's mom, brother, SIL and family (4 young kids) will be here for the Disney experience next month. The first thing I said was, "WHAT??? Late AUGUST???" Same deal, that's when the kids are out of school and he could work it into his vacation schedule. Oh well. We promised to hit the park with them for ONE DAY ONLY. They'll be here for a week, so if there's any arm twisting, we "might" be convinced to enter for a second day, but that's the "set in concrete" limit. Dinner after the park? We'll meet you at the restaurant! ;)

[DeputyDog]

When we've done it in the summer, we stayed a week an usually waited until later in the afternoon to go into the parks then stay late. We stay on property so we get later hours most nights and we take advantage of them and spend the earlier part of the day in the pool.