Back from the family pilgrammage to Disney World in Orlando. It was a wonderful trip; all fun and no pain. We were able to go during a slow period at the parks. The lines weren't bad and the weather was good. The kids were 12 and 9 years old. These were good ages for them to enjoy Disney.
Here is my take on as many attractions as I can remember. I know it's all going to blend together soon enough. Organization is by park with a 5-Star Rating System
One Star : Not so hot
Two Star : Ok, Not Bad
Three Star : Pretty Good, We liked it
Four Star : Very nice. Recommended
Five Star : Knock your socks off Outstanding
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is a sensational park. They find a way to keep the tradional attractions relevant while constantly adding things to stay ahead. It's still the core of Disney.
Space Mountain - The greatest coaster from yesteryear was refurbished a few years back. It's once again fast and fun. Rode it 4 times.
Splash Mountain
- Mostly a slow moving boat ride with cartoon characters. There is the big plunge though, and that's the highlight.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Rode this repeatedly as a kid. Fun then and fun now. It's not a modern coaster, but the theme and surprises are great.
Pirates of the Caribbean - Great attraction. Slow boat ride with lots of the movie's characters.
Haunted Mansion - Another I remembered from 30 years ago. It's still good. Love when the ghost appears in your car.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - Fun little ride. You spin your car around and shoot at Zurgs.
it's a Small World - This one's timeless. It's silly, but gives you a nice feeling anyways. All regions of the world appear well represented.
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor- Funny stuff. Why can't we ever remember the jokes we hear?
Mad Tea Party - A make-you-sick spinning ride for kids. I hate these things.
Swiss Family Treehouse - An old attraction, and a lousy one. You walk up and down stairs on a fake tree to see fake rooms. Worst attraction we saw.
PeopleMover - Nice relaxing tour of Tomorrowland.
Magic Kingdom Parade - This is the one they do a few times during the day. Fun for the little ones I guess. Not many of the characters. Short and sweet.
Main Street Electrical Parade - This is the major one they run at closing. It's longer and there are more lights than you can imagine.
Wishes Nighttime Spectacular - An amazing fireworks show over the famous castle. Everything Disney does is perfect.
We missed Mickey's PhilharMagic, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Astro Orbiter, The Barnstormer, Casey Jr. Splash 'N' Soak Station, Country Bear Jamboree, Frontierland Shootin' Arcade, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, Stitch's Great Escape!, Town Square Theater, Carousel of Progress and Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. I wish we'd seen the Hall Of Presidents, ridden on the Liberty Square Riverboat, driven on the Tomorrowland Speedway, and visited Tom Sawyer Island.
Epcot
The amazing thing about Epcot is how they educate you while you're having fun. There were no roller coasters, but my 12 year old said this was his favorite park.
Soarin' - A really cool hanglider trip over California's greatest sights. We loved this one. Did it twice. Awesome.
Mission: SPACE - Highly acclaimed spaceship ride. You do feel the G-Forces on the Orange ride. We did it twice.
Ellen's Energy Adventure - An amazing theatre. A great subject to educate us on. Somehow we just didn't like the story.
Spaceship Earth - The journey through the history of communication (all up inside the golf ball). We liked this one. Very well done.
Living with the Land - Slick, upbeat attraction. Postive spin on everything. Refreshing.
The Seas with Nemo & Friends - Very cool entrance to a good acquarium. You harldy notice when the cartoon fish start swimming amongst the real ones.
Live Dolphin Show - Nice short show. I forget our dolphin's name, but he was 35 years old and 500 pounds. He was smart too.
Captain EO - Time to close this one. It's outdated and we all know Michael was a creep.
France Pavilion - Impressions de France - Very nice movie in a super theater. I had no idea France was so beautiful, but knew they had good food!
Mexico Pavillion - Gran Fiesta Tour - Slow boat ride with neat special effects. Wish I'd made reservations to eat in front of the volcano.
Norway Pavillion - Maelstrom - Slow moving boat ride with great special effects. Absolutely terrific attraction; don't miss it.
China Pavillion - Tomb Sculptures - We liked this and it started us into a good disussion. The kids had never heard of the Terra Cotta Warriors.
We cruised through Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, America, Italy, Japan, and Morocco. We were too tired and short on time. I wish we'd stopped and enjoyed Canada and America. We could have spent more time in China too.
Test Track was down while we visited. This is a highly rated attraction everywhere I've looked. Too bad.
We stayed until park closing to wait for the famous IllumiNations fireworks and laser show. Unfortunately for us it was cancelled due to a technical glitch on our night. Bad luck.
We didn't do Turtle Talk with Crush, Circle of Life, Phineas and Ferb: Agent P's World Showcase Adventure, ImageWorks or Journey Into Imagination With Figment. Nor did we Leave A Legacy.
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is on every list of top zoos in America. But instead of being a zoo with some fun rides and shows, it seemed more like an amusement park with some great animal attractions. It's vast. Both the animal and non-animal attractions are terrific. You don't realize how many animals you saw until you look back at your photos.
Expedition Everest - A great modern outdoor coaster with fast speeds and great effects. We loved this coaster and the Himilayan theme. Rode it 4 times.
Kilimanjaro Safaris - Best zoo attraction ever. Ride in a 4-wheel truck through African savannah. The animals (lots of 'em) are all around you with no fences.
Kali River Rapids - A raft ride through the jungle. There are a couple of plunges; if you go into them facing backwards you're gonna get drenched!.
It's Tough to be a Bug! - Supringly good show under the magnificent tree. Very well done. Fun for everybody.
DINOSAUR - Pure fun. Amazing special effects. We had a close call with some big meat eaters. Highly recommended.
Maharajah Jungle Trek - Cool walk through India. We saw 3 maginificent tigers, a slew of giant bats and an wide assortment of deer.
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - This is a walk through Africa. The monkeys and hippos were sleeping, but the meerkats and gorillas were active.
Discovery Island Trails - I discovered that I'm really not really a bird guy. The flamingos were pretty great though. And we liked the otters.
The Oasis Exhibits - The pleasant vegetation was more impressive than the animals. Lotsa birds.
Primeval Whirl - A spinning coaster ride for kids. I'll bet it will bust up your knees if you're over 5'5". The kids liked it.
The Tree of Life - How did they create this? A giant fake tree with amazing carvings throughout - plus rooms inside.
We missed Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. We never made it out to Rafiki's Planet Watch. We didn't see the Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo – The Musical shows. We blew off the Fossil Fun Games, the TriceraTop Spin and the Cretaceous Trail. I wish we'd seen the Flights of Wonder show and ridden the Kilamanjaro Safaris a few more times.
Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios is a lot of fun. It's smaller than the other Disney parks, but the attractions are great.
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - The greatest coaster I've been on. Starts fast and sends you through tight spirals, loops and turns. Phenomenal. Rode it 4 times.
Star Tours - If you do Mission SPACE at Epcot you can skip this one. It's not bad, it's just outdated.
Twighlight Zone Tower of Terror - Awesome attraction. Your 'elevator' goes both horizontal and vertical - in quick bursts and drops. Good fun.
Beauty and the Beast - Nice show I guess. Not really my thing. I may have fallen asleep, but Mariana liked it.
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! - Very good. They redo famous scenes from the movies. Lots of stunts, fights and explosions.
The Great Movie Ride - Not really my thing. It takes you through the classics. Slow moving in all ways. How about another with modern movies?
Muppet*Vision 3-D - Exceeded expectations. It's a 12-minute show with lots of tricks to make it fun. It entertained us.
Fantasmic! - Awesome show in an amphitheatre. Lots of boats; many Disney characters; great special effects using fountains, mist, fire and lights.
We didn't experience The American Idol Experience. We missed the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun! parade. We didn't do Toy Story Mania! (crazy popular), Disney Channel Rocks!, One Man's Dream, Magic of Disney Animation or Voyage of The Little Mermaid. I wish we'd seen Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show and the Studio Backlot Tour
Typhoon Lagoon
Typhoon Lagoon was the best water park we've been to. The wave pool and lazy river are the best anywhere. The Shark Reef was sensational. And the slides are good too.
Humunga Kowabunga - A steep straight body slide. You get a great rush (and a wedgy).
Crush 'n' Gusher - Excellent 1 or 2 person raft ride that rides like a roller coaster. You're propelled forward and upward by water jets. Very cool.
Storm Slides - Fun stuff. Fast and curvy body slides.
Surf Pool - Best wave pool ever! This thing is HUGE. They alternate between general turbulence and giant waves every 20 or 30 minutes.
Gang Plank Falls - Long line, little elevation, short raft ride. Don't bother.
Mayday Falls - Average raft ride. Not bad, but nothing special. Not enough height.
Castaway Creek - Fantastic lazy river. Long with lush vegetation all around. Beautiful and relaxing.
Shark Reef - Amazing. You snorkle over a reef with gazillions of tropical fish, big rays and 5 foot sharks. Something in the water makes you super bouyant.
Sandy White Beach - Had to be mentioned. They did a great job with the landscaping in this place.
Keelhaul Falls was closed the day we visited. No biggie.
Blizzard Beach
Blizzard Beach is a good water park. There's a great variety of slides, a decent sized wave pool and a long lazy river.
Slush Gusher - Fast straight body slides with a couple of steep drops. Not quite Summit Plummet but we liked it a lot.
Teamboat Springs - Terrific family raft ride. Long and smooth ride with lots of curves.
Toboggan Racers - Short straight mat slide. I won my heat because I'm tremendously skilled (and weigh a lot). No trophies were awarded.
Runoff Rapids - Fun 1 or 2 person raft ride. Nice curves and speed. Fun!
Snow Stormers - This is a curvy ride on little purple mats. I got banged around all over the place.
Melt-Away Bay Wave Pool - Once you've seen the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon; this one seems too small. I think to enjoy it you need to rent the tubes.
Cross Country Creek - A long lazy river. Not as good as Typhoon Lagoon's though. The ski area theme makes it hard to show off tropical landscaping.
Chair Lift - Pretty cool feature. Beats climbing steps, but there are lines for the slides on top.
Summit Plummet is a super steep single slide that looked way scary. It's the signature ride for the park. We never got to it because of the long line. Why only one slide??
Downhill Double Dipper looked like a good raft slide but there were shorter lines elsewhere and we didn't try it.
Tips, Strategies and Notes
We got the 5-day Magic Your Way pass with the Water Fun option. We bought the tickets at a slight discount from UndercoverTourist.com (they were fine). We went in September when the temps were in the high 80's and the humidity was high. We enjoyed all the Disney parks, but never went to any of the non-Disney attractions in Orlando. We used the anticipated crowd calendars and avoided the parks with the highest projected lines, but really I think going in mid-September and getting to the parks early is how we avoided long waits. We followed the advice I read somewhere and did Epcot first. It said the kids would appreciate it more without having been dazzled by the sensational rides at the other parks.
We got lucky and didn't get much rain. We stayed in a timeshare rental in Kissimmee five miles away from the parks. It was called Fantasy World Resort. It worked for us. It wasn't busy when we were there. They put us in a villa with a full kitchen, a living room, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a patio. There was a washer and dryer which we used often. There were all sorts of restaurants, markets and stores close by. The place had 3 swimming pools, 2 water slides, a lazy river, kids activities, a restaurant and a bar. There were daily shuttles to the parks. One thing to consider when you choose your hotel is how often the shuttles run, how long they take to get to the parks, and if they allow you to return to your hotel during the day. We chose not to use the shuttle from our hotel. We had a rental car and were willing to pay the $14 daily parking fee at Disney. Fortunately for us, the hotel parking pass looked a lot like the Disney hotels parking passes and was sometimes mistaken for that, allowing us to park for free. Our timeshare neighbor also gave us their AAA Diamond parking pass. This allowed us to park closer to the park entrances.
Most days we hit the parks right when they opened and enjoyed the most popular rides multiple times with little or no wait. When we encountered lines, we used the Fast Pass (Fast Pass is great!) to reserve a time an hour or two ahead. And that's when we visited the less popular attractions. Disney allows you to bring drinks and snacks into the park, so we did that. The only place we planned to eat in the parks was at Epcot (great food in the World Showcase restaurants). Most days, we took breaks mid-day and returned to the hotel to eat lunch, cool off in the pool and re-energize ourselves. A couple of times we got fast food outside Disney and hit the water parks. We usually returned to the park mid afternoon and stayed to closing. Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot each have super great shows at closing. I was told there was sometimes killer traffic around the parks. We didn't experience this, but it wasn't a peak period.
We went to Downtown Disney twice. It's a fun place at night, with clubs, restaurants and music. Our passes allowed us entry to DisneyQuest and it was pretty awesome. There were all sorts of video games and a great many simulators. There were bumper cars, pinball machines and air hockey tables too. All told it's 5 stories of indoor fun. If we'd had a rainy day we surely would have spent part of it here.
Summary
Disney is a great vacation. It's fun for everyone. It's outrageously expensive, but if you can avoid the lines, then you'll have a great time.
Here is my take on as many attractions as I can remember. I know it's all going to blend together soon enough. Organization is by park with a 5-Star Rating System
One Star : Not so hot 
Two Star : Ok, Not Bad 
Three Star : Pretty Good, We liked it 
Four Star : Very nice. Recommended 
Five Star : Knock your socks off Outstanding Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is a sensational park. They find a way to keep the tradional attractions relevant while constantly adding things to stay ahead. It's still the core of Disney.
Space Mountain - The greatest coaster from yesteryear was refurbished a few years back. It's once again fast and fun. Rode it 4 times.
Splash Mountain
- Mostly a slow moving boat ride with cartoon characters. There is the big plunge though, and that's the highlight.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Rode this repeatedly as a kid. Fun then and fun now. It's not a modern coaster, but the theme and surprises are great.
Pirates of the Caribbean - Great attraction. Slow boat ride with lots of the movie's characters.
Haunted Mansion - Another I remembered from 30 years ago. It's still good. Love when the ghost appears in your car.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - Fun little ride. You spin your car around and shoot at Zurgs.
it's a Small World - This one's timeless. It's silly, but gives you a nice feeling anyways. All regions of the world appear well represented. Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor- Funny stuff. Why can't we ever remember the jokes we hear?
Mad Tea Party - A make-you-sick spinning ride for kids. I hate these things.
Swiss Family Treehouse - An old attraction, and a lousy one. You walk up and down stairs on a fake tree to see fake rooms. Worst attraction we saw. PeopleMover - Nice relaxing tour of Tomorrowland. Magic Kingdom Parade - This is the one they do a few times during the day. Fun for the little ones I guess. Not many of the characters. Short and sweet. Main Street Electrical Parade - This is the major one they run at closing. It's longer and there are more lights than you can imagine.
Wishes Nighttime Spectacular - An amazing fireworks show over the famous castle. Everything Disney does is perfect. We missed Mickey's PhilharMagic, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Astro Orbiter, The Barnstormer, Casey Jr. Splash 'N' Soak Station, Country Bear Jamboree, Frontierland Shootin' Arcade, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, Stitch's Great Escape!, Town Square Theater, Carousel of Progress and Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. I wish we'd seen the Hall Of Presidents, ridden on the Liberty Square Riverboat, driven on the Tomorrowland Speedway, and visited Tom Sawyer Island.
Epcot
The amazing thing about Epcot is how they educate you while you're having fun. There were no roller coasters, but my 12 year old said this was his favorite park.
Soarin' - A really cool hanglider trip over California's greatest sights. We loved this one. Did it twice. Awesome. Mission: SPACE - Highly acclaimed spaceship ride. You do feel the G-Forces on the Orange ride. We did it twice.
Ellen's Energy Adventure - An amazing theatre. A great subject to educate us on. Somehow we just didn't like the story.
Spaceship Earth - The journey through the history of communication (all up inside the golf ball). We liked this one. Very well done.
Living with the Land - Slick, upbeat attraction. Postive spin on everything. Refreshing. The Seas with Nemo & Friends - Very cool entrance to a good acquarium. You harldy notice when the cartoon fish start swimming amongst the real ones. Live Dolphin Show - Nice short show. I forget our dolphin's name, but he was 35 years old and 500 pounds. He was smart too.
Captain EO - Time to close this one. It's outdated and we all know Michael was a creep. France Pavilion - Impressions de France - Very nice movie in a super theater. I had no idea France was so beautiful, but knew they had good food! Mexico Pavillion - Gran Fiesta Tour - Slow boat ride with neat special effects. Wish I'd made reservations to eat in front of the volcano.
Norway Pavillion - Maelstrom - Slow moving boat ride with great special effects. Absolutely terrific attraction; don't miss it. China Pavillion - Tomb Sculptures - We liked this and it started us into a good disussion. The kids had never heard of the Terra Cotta Warriors. We cruised through Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, America, Italy, Japan, and Morocco. We were too tired and short on time. I wish we'd stopped and enjoyed Canada and America. We could have spent more time in China too.
Test Track was down while we visited. This is a highly rated attraction everywhere I've looked. Too bad.
We stayed until park closing to wait for the famous IllumiNations fireworks and laser show. Unfortunately for us it was cancelled due to a technical glitch on our night. Bad luck.
We didn't do Turtle Talk with Crush, Circle of Life, Phineas and Ferb: Agent P's World Showcase Adventure, ImageWorks or Journey Into Imagination With Figment. Nor did we Leave A Legacy.
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is on every list of top zoos in America. But instead of being a zoo with some fun rides and shows, it seemed more like an amusement park with some great animal attractions. It's vast. Both the animal and non-animal attractions are terrific. You don't realize how many animals you saw until you look back at your photos.
Expedition Everest - A great modern outdoor coaster with fast speeds and great effects. We loved this coaster and the Himilayan theme. Rode it 4 times. Kilimanjaro Safaris - Best zoo attraction ever. Ride in a 4-wheel truck through African savannah. The animals (lots of 'em) are all around you with no fences.
Kali River Rapids - A raft ride through the jungle. There are a couple of plunges; if you go into them facing backwards you're gonna get drenched!.
It's Tough to be a Bug! - Supringly good show under the magnificent tree. Very well done. Fun for everybody.
DINOSAUR - Pure fun. Amazing special effects. We had a close call with some big meat eaters. Highly recommended.
Maharajah Jungle Trek - Cool walk through India. We saw 3 maginificent tigers, a slew of giant bats and an wide assortment of deer. Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - This is a walk through Africa. The monkeys and hippos were sleeping, but the meerkats and gorillas were active.
Discovery Island Trails - I discovered that I'm really not really a bird guy. The flamingos were pretty great though. And we liked the otters. The Oasis Exhibits - The pleasant vegetation was more impressive than the animals. Lotsa birds.
Primeval Whirl - A spinning coaster ride for kids. I'll bet it will bust up your knees if you're over 5'5". The kids liked it.
The Tree of Life - How did they create this? A giant fake tree with amazing carvings throughout - plus rooms inside. We missed Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. We never made it out to Rafiki's Planet Watch. We didn't see the Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo – The Musical shows. We blew off the Fossil Fun Games, the TriceraTop Spin and the Cretaceous Trail. I wish we'd seen the Flights of Wonder show and ridden the Kilamanjaro Safaris a few more times.
Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios is a lot of fun. It's smaller than the other Disney parks, but the attractions are great.
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - The greatest coaster I've been on. Starts fast and sends you through tight spirals, loops and turns. Phenomenal. Rode it 4 times.
Star Tours - If you do Mission SPACE at Epcot you can skip this one. It's not bad, it's just outdated.
Twighlight Zone Tower of Terror - Awesome attraction. Your 'elevator' goes both horizontal and vertical - in quick bursts and drops. Good fun.
Beauty and the Beast - Nice show I guess. Not really my thing. I may have fallen asleep, but Mariana liked it.
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! - Very good. They redo famous scenes from the movies. Lots of stunts, fights and explosions.
The Great Movie Ride - Not really my thing. It takes you through the classics. Slow moving in all ways. How about another with modern movies?
Muppet*Vision 3-D - Exceeded expectations. It's a 12-minute show with lots of tricks to make it fun. It entertained us.
Fantasmic! - Awesome show in an amphitheatre. Lots of boats; many Disney characters; great special effects using fountains, mist, fire and lights. We didn't experience The American Idol Experience. We missed the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun! parade. We didn't do Toy Story Mania! (crazy popular), Disney Channel Rocks!, One Man's Dream, Magic of Disney Animation or Voyage of The Little Mermaid. I wish we'd seen Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show and the Studio Backlot Tour
Typhoon Lagoon
Typhoon Lagoon was the best water park we've been to. The wave pool and lazy river are the best anywhere. The Shark Reef was sensational. And the slides are good too.
Humunga Kowabunga - A steep straight body slide. You get a great rush (and a wedgy). Crush 'n' Gusher - Excellent 1 or 2 person raft ride that rides like a roller coaster. You're propelled forward and upward by water jets. Very cool. Storm Slides - Fun stuff. Fast and curvy body slides. Surf Pool - Best wave pool ever! This thing is HUGE. They alternate between general turbulence and giant waves every 20 or 30 minutes.
Gang Plank Falls - Long line, little elevation, short raft ride. Don't bother. Mayday Falls - Average raft ride. Not bad, but nothing special. Not enough height. Castaway Creek - Fantastic lazy river. Long with lush vegetation all around. Beautiful and relaxing.
Shark Reef - Amazing. You snorkle over a reef with gazillions of tropical fish, big rays and 5 foot sharks. Something in the water makes you super bouyant. Sandy White Beach - Had to be mentioned. They did a great job with the landscaping in this place.
Keelhaul Falls was closed the day we visited. No biggie.
Blizzard Beach
Blizzard Beach is a good water park. There's a great variety of slides, a decent sized wave pool and a long lazy river.
Slush Gusher - Fast straight body slides with a couple of steep drops. Not quite Summit Plummet but we liked it a lot.
Teamboat Springs - Terrific family raft ride. Long and smooth ride with lots of curves.
Toboggan Racers - Short straight mat slide. I won my heat because I'm tremendously skilled (and weigh a lot). No trophies were awarded.
Runoff Rapids - Fun 1 or 2 person raft ride. Nice curves and speed. Fun!
Snow Stormers - This is a curvy ride on little purple mats. I got banged around all over the place.
Melt-Away Bay Wave Pool - Once you've seen the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon; this one seems too small. I think to enjoy it you need to rent the tubes.
Cross Country Creek - A long lazy river. Not as good as Typhoon Lagoon's though. The ski area theme makes it hard to show off tropical landscaping.
Chair Lift - Pretty cool feature. Beats climbing steps, but there are lines for the slides on top. Summit Plummet is a super steep single slide that looked way scary. It's the signature ride for the park. We never got to it because of the long line. Why only one slide??
Downhill Double Dipper looked like a good raft slide but there were shorter lines elsewhere and we didn't try it.
Tips, Strategies and Notes
We got the 5-day Magic Your Way pass with the Water Fun option. We bought the tickets at a slight discount from UndercoverTourist.com (they were fine). We went in September when the temps were in the high 80's and the humidity was high. We enjoyed all the Disney parks, but never went to any of the non-Disney attractions in Orlando. We used the anticipated crowd calendars and avoided the parks with the highest projected lines, but really I think going in mid-September and getting to the parks early is how we avoided long waits. We followed the advice I read somewhere and did Epcot first. It said the kids would appreciate it more without having been dazzled by the sensational rides at the other parks.
We got lucky and didn't get much rain. We stayed in a timeshare rental in Kissimmee five miles away from the parks. It was called Fantasy World Resort. It worked for us. It wasn't busy when we were there. They put us in a villa with a full kitchen, a living room, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a patio. There was a washer and dryer which we used often. There were all sorts of restaurants, markets and stores close by. The place had 3 swimming pools, 2 water slides, a lazy river, kids activities, a restaurant and a bar. There were daily shuttles to the parks. One thing to consider when you choose your hotel is how often the shuttles run, how long they take to get to the parks, and if they allow you to return to your hotel during the day. We chose not to use the shuttle from our hotel. We had a rental car and were willing to pay the $14 daily parking fee at Disney. Fortunately for us, the hotel parking pass looked a lot like the Disney hotels parking passes and was sometimes mistaken for that, allowing us to park for free. Our timeshare neighbor also gave us their AAA Diamond parking pass. This allowed us to park closer to the park entrances.
Most days we hit the parks right when they opened and enjoyed the most popular rides multiple times with little or no wait. When we encountered lines, we used the Fast Pass (Fast Pass is great!) to reserve a time an hour or two ahead. And that's when we visited the less popular attractions. Disney allows you to bring drinks and snacks into the park, so we did that. The only place we planned to eat in the parks was at Epcot (great food in the World Showcase restaurants). Most days, we took breaks mid-day and returned to the hotel to eat lunch, cool off in the pool and re-energize ourselves. A couple of times we got fast food outside Disney and hit the water parks. We usually returned to the park mid afternoon and stayed to closing. Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot each have super great shows at closing. I was told there was sometimes killer traffic around the parks. We didn't experience this, but it wasn't a peak period.
We went to Downtown Disney twice. It's a fun place at night, with clubs, restaurants and music. Our passes allowed us entry to DisneyQuest and it was pretty awesome. There were all sorts of video games and a great many simulators. There were bumper cars, pinball machines and air hockey tables too. All told it's 5 stories of indoor fun. If we'd had a rainy day we surely would have spent part of it here.
Summary
Disney is a great vacation. It's fun for everyone. It's outrageously expensive, but if you can avoid the lines, then you'll have a great time.
