So yeah we left on the 30th headed to Cocoa Beach for two days, then on the 2nd we went to the Disney Caribbean Beach Resort.
Firstly, thank god we flew home out of Orlando. Our visit to the airport was around the same time as that shooter thing, and people were texting me and my wife like crazy making sure we were ok. That was such a sad tragedy. RIP to those lost.
So on to the good stuff... The money. Well, as already pretty much known, disney is EXPENSIVE. And little did I know, they have you trapped. If you dont have a rental car like we did not, you are at their mercy. We ate every meal at either a disney park, or our resort. Every meal was $70 or more. And one special disney meet and greet lunch cost me $186 for 4 people. That was so our kids could get some pictures and signatures from Sofia the first and Jake from the neverland pirates cartoon. And did I mention that lunch was a buffet? Yeah, old country buffet style food.
Disney has the food racket down to basically the same exact meals no matter if you eat at a park, restaurant or resort. Same nuggets, same pizza and same burgers. There are speciality foods, but again the price goes way up.
As for souvenirs, they got you. Every ride ends walking you through a gift shop with the same shit. All priced double than what a regular disney store would charge. I paid $60 for three of those LED light sticks for the kids. They were broke in 30 minutes.
Toys - we bought so many that we had to ship a box of them back home. That was handled nicely by the resort.
The Parks themselves. They are OLD. Most of the rides have been refreshed, but thats about it. All the same old animatronics and same old rides. Most were broken some how, or not functioning correctly. Splash mountain was dead, the racecars were junk and all the other rides had 105 minute waits PLUS. Yeah this was not the slow season. It was busy like it was a weekend in June. It was 80* and sunny every day.
All in all, we spent about $2k in just food, toys and whatever else the kids wanted. Thats not including the $4k or so ahead of time for the room, airfare and the pre vacation to cocoa Beach.
By the way, the Kennedy Space Center was by far and away the coolest place and the best time we had all vacation. You get history, patriotism and technology all in one place. Its good for all ages. We were FLOORED at the property, the attractions and the information/history this place had. This is a must do if you ever get to the east side of FL. It was $192 for 4 paying people to get in. And our little one was free.
Firstly, thank god we flew home out of Orlando. Our visit to the airport was around the same time as that shooter thing, and people were texting me and my wife like crazy making sure we were ok. That was such a sad tragedy. RIP to those lost.
So on to the good stuff... The money. Well, as already pretty much known, disney is EXPENSIVE. And little did I know, they have you trapped. If you dont have a rental car like we did not, you are at their mercy. We ate every meal at either a disney park, or our resort. Every meal was $70 or more. And one special disney meet and greet lunch cost me $186 for 4 people. That was so our kids could get some pictures and signatures from Sofia the first and Jake from the neverland pirates cartoon. And did I mention that lunch was a buffet? Yeah, old country buffet style food.
Disney has the food racket down to basically the same exact meals no matter if you eat at a park, restaurant or resort. Same nuggets, same pizza and same burgers. There are speciality foods, but again the price goes way up.
As for souvenirs, they got you. Every ride ends walking you through a gift shop with the same shit. All priced double than what a regular disney store would charge. I paid $60 for three of those LED light sticks for the kids. They were broke in 30 minutes.
Toys - we bought so many that we had to ship a box of them back home. That was handled nicely by the resort.
The Parks themselves. They are OLD. Most of the rides have been refreshed, but thats about it. All the same old animatronics and same old rides. Most were broken some how, or not functioning correctly. Splash mountain was dead, the racecars were junk and all the other rides had 105 minute waits PLUS. Yeah this was not the slow season. It was busy like it was a weekend in June. It was 80* and sunny every day.
All in all, we spent about $2k in just food, toys and whatever else the kids wanted. Thats not including the $4k or so ahead of time for the room, airfare and the pre vacation to cocoa Beach.
By the way, the Kennedy Space Center was by far and away the coolest place and the best time we had all vacation. You get history, patriotism and technology all in one place. Its good for all ages. We were FLOORED at the property, the attractions and the information/history this place had. This is a must do if you ever get to the east side of FL. It was $192 for 4 paying people to get in. And our little one was free.