Cost effective European Areas/Cities
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@coliver said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I like to describe Venice as "a dirty Disney World where an Oriental Trading Company catelogue exploded on the streets."
I've never been to Disney World but, Disney land was pretty dirty.. as was much the rest of SoCAL.
My sister works for WDW in one of the Orlando resorts in the park. She manages the front desk and a few other things. They treat their employees really well, which makes me happy to spend some money there. They also have the food of the world thing in Epcot every year... which while entirely fake and cheesy, is a lot of fun. We are planning on going down again this year.
Yes Disney is one of the best employers. They pay relatively well, allow flexible schedules (even unskilled jobs), and give great benefits. On top of all that, they also have one of the best employee training programs. Having Disney on your resume is a really good thing for Orlando area employers, because they know you have to have good customer service skills.
The parks themselves are not worth the money unless you take advantage of them in the off season. I can tell you this with certainty growing up in Orlando. Any ride waits longer than 10 minutes is garbage and you shouldn't have to pay to stand in line. I have been Disney parks and had plenty of days where you just walk on to the rides. This is when the parks make sense.
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Disney prices actually used to be higher if you consider inflation. Park admission has slowly gone up over the years, but the extras like drinks and food have not followed suite. I can remember paying $2.50 for a drink when I was a kid. That was absolute robbery when you could get a soda from Walmart for $.35 from the machine. Drinks are now like $3.50 or so if I remember correctly. Food was also really expensive in the 90s. It is still expensive now, but more reasonable as inflation increased.
I believe Disney figured out that locals will come dine at their restaurants at a regular basis if their prices are somewhat reasonable. The in park restaurants are pretty good, but Disney also has restaurants in downtown Disney that are open to everyone. I knowa fewpeople that go to Disney restaurants for date nights regularly.
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@IRJ said:
@coliver said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I like to describe Venice as "a dirty Disney World where an Oriental Trading Company catelogue exploded on the streets."
I've never been to Disney World but, Disney land was pretty dirty.. as was much the rest of SoCAL.
My sister works for WDW in one of the Orlando resorts in the park. She manages the front desk and a few other things. They treat their employees really well, which makes me happy to spend some money there. They also have the food of the world thing in Epcot every year... which while entirely fake and cheesy, is a lot of fun. We are planning on going down again this year.
Yes Disney is one of the best employers. They pay relatively well, allow flexible schedules (even unskilled jobs), and give great benefits. On top of all that, they also have one of the best employee training programs. Having Disney on your resume is a really good thing for Orlando area employers, because they know you have to have good customer service skills.
The parks themselves are not worth the money unless you take advantage of them in the off season. I can tell you this with certainty growing up in Orlando. Any ride waits longer than 10 minutes is garbage and you shouldn't have to pay to stand in line. I have been Disney parks and had plenty of days where you just walk on to the rides. This is when the parks make sense.
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Disney prices actually used to be higher if you consider inflation. Park admission has slowly gone up over the years, but the extras like drinks and food have not followed suite. I can remember paying $2.50 for a drink when I was a kid. That was absolute robbery when you could get a soda from Walmart for $.35 from the machine. Drinks are now like $3.50 or so if I remember correctly. Food was also really expensive in the 90s. It is still expensive now, but more reasonable as inflation increased.
I believe Disney figured out that locals will come dine at their restaurants at a regular basis if their prices are somewhat reasonable. The in park restaurants are pretty good, but Disney also has restaurants in downtown Disney that are open to everyone. I knowa fewpeople that go to Disney restaurants for date nights regularly.
We used to live about an hour from Disney when I was a kid (in the 90's). We used to go once or twice a month, my father got vouchers from his employer, I remember it being a lot of fun when I was a kid especially Epcot (which my siblings didn't like). I recently went back last year and Epcot is still my favorite. I also enjoyed Hollywood Studios, although that is apparently not going to exist anymore. We used to go exactly when you mentioned, at one point it felt like it was just us at the park, we went on the Star Tours ride like 8-10 times in a row by ourselves.
Although my absolute favorite thing in Florida has to be St. Augustine. We were like 30-40 minutes from that when we lived in Florida, if people haven't been I recommend it to everyone.
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@coliver said:
@IRJ said:
@coliver said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I like to describe Venice as "a dirty Disney World where an Oriental Trading Company catelogue exploded on the streets."
I've never been to Disney World but, Disney land was pretty dirty.. as was much the rest of SoCAL.
My sister works for WDW in one of the Orlando resorts in the park. She manages the front desk and a few other things. They treat their employees really well, which makes me happy to spend some money there. They also have the food of the world thing in Epcot every year... which while entirely fake and cheesy, is a lot of fun. We are planning on going down again this year.
Yes Disney is one of the best employers. They pay relatively well, allow flexible schedules (even unskilled jobs), and give great benefits. On top of all that, they also have one of the best employee training programs. Having Disney on your resume is a really good thing for Orlando area employers, because they know you have to have good customer service skills.
The parks themselves are not worth the money unless you take advantage of them in the off season. I can tell you this with certainty growing up in Orlando. Any ride waits longer than 10 minutes is garbage and you shouldn't have to pay to stand in line. I have been Disney parks and had plenty of days where you just walk on to the rides. This is when the parks make sense.
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Disney prices actually used to be higher if you consider inflation. Park admission has slowly gone up over the years, but the extras like drinks and food have not followed suite. I can remember paying $2.50 for a drink when I was a kid. That was absolute robbery when you could get a soda from Walmart for $.35 from the machine. Drinks are now like $3.50 or so if I remember correctly. Food was also really expensive in the 90s. It is still expensive now, but more reasonable as inflation increased.
I believe Disney figured out that locals will come dine at their restaurants at a regular basis if their prices are somewhat reasonable. The in park restaurants are pretty good, but Disney also has restaurants in downtown Disney that are open to everyone. I knowa fewpeople that go to Disney restaurants for date nights regularly.
We used to live about an hour from Disney when I was a kid (in the 90's). We used to go once or twice a month, my father got vouchers from his employer, I remember it being a lot of fun when I was a kid especially Epcot (which my siblings didn't like). I recently went back last year and Epcot is still my favorite. I also enjoyed Hollywood Studios, although that is apparently not going to exist anymore. We used to go exactly when you mentioned, at one point it felt like it was just us at the park, we went on the Star Tours ride like 8-10 times in a row by ourselves.
Although my absolute favorite thing in Florida has to be St. Augustine. We were like 30-40 minutes from that when we lived in Florida, if people haven't been I recommend it to everyone.
Back then MGM (Hollywood) Studios was a much smaller park compared to Epcot and Magic Kingdom
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@coliver said:
@IRJ said:
@coliver said:
@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I like to describe Venice as "a dirty Disney World where an Oriental Trading Company catelogue exploded on the streets."
I've never been to Disney World but, Disney land was pretty dirty.. as was much the rest of SoCAL.
My sister works for WDW in one of the Orlando resorts in the park. She manages the front desk and a few other things. They treat their employees really well, which makes me happy to spend some money there. They also have the food of the world thing in Epcot every year... which while entirely fake and cheesy, is a lot of fun. We are planning on going down again this year.
Yes Disney is one of the best employers. They pay relatively well, allow flexible schedules (even unskilled jobs), and give great benefits. On top of all that, they also have one of the best employee training programs. Having Disney on your resume is a really good thing for Orlando area employers, because they know you have to have good customer service skills.
The parks themselves are not worth the money unless you take advantage of them in the off season. I can tell you this with certainty growing up in Orlando. Any ride waits longer than 10 minutes is garbage and you shouldn't have to pay to stand in line. I have been Disney parks and had plenty of days where you just walk on to the rides. This is when the parks make sense.
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Disney prices actually used to be higher if you consider inflation. Park admission has slowly gone up over the years, but the extras like drinks and food have not followed suite. I can remember paying $2.50 for a drink when I was a kid. That was absolute robbery when you could get a soda from Walmart for $.35 from the machine. Drinks are now like $3.50 or so if I remember correctly. Food was also really expensive in the 90s. It is still expensive now, but more reasonable as inflation increased.
I believe Disney figured out that locals will come dine at their restaurants at a regular basis if their prices are somewhat reasonable. The in park restaurants are pretty good, but Disney also has restaurants in downtown Disney that are open to everyone. I knowa fewpeople that go to Disney restaurants for date nights regularly.
We used to live about an hour from Disney when I was a kid (in the 90's). We used to go once or twice a month, my father got vouchers from his employer, I remember it being a lot of fun when I was a kid especially Epcot (which my siblings didn't like). I recently went back last year and Epcot is still my favorite. I also enjoyed Hollywood Studios, although that is apparently not going to exist anymore. We used to go exactly when you mentioned, at one point it felt like it was just us at the park, we went on the Star Tours ride like 8-10 times in a row by ourselves.
Although my absolute favorite thing in Florida has to be St. Augustine. We were like 30-40 minutes from that when we lived in Florida, if people haven't been I recommend it to everyone.
It's alot harder to get in free these days. I used to get in free a few times a month before and constantly had free tickets that went to waste. Every part time employee got tons of tickets they could give out free. Too bad they dont do that anymore.
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@IRJ said:
Back then MGM (Hollywood) Studios was a much smaller park compared to Epcot and Magic Kingdom
Still is. It has actually shrunk, not grown, in the years since.
The Studios are the smallest at something like half the size of the Magic Kingdom. The MK is likewise about half the size of EPCOT. The Animal Kingdom is them larger than the other three combined.
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@coliver said:
Although my absolute favorite thing in Florida has to be St. Augustine. We were like 30-40 minutes from that when we lived in Florida, if people haven't been I recommend it to everyone.
I like that town a lot. Home of the Datil pepper.
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@IRJ said:
Yes Disney is one of the best employers. They pay relatively well, allow flexible schedules (even unskilled jobs), and give great benefits.
That must be new. I've had friends that worked there and it was amazing it was even legal. But people beg to work there, so there is no need for them to do anything more than the minimum. It's a "luxury" job to get to have.
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@IRJ said:
Disney prices actually used to be higher if you consider inflation. Park admission has slowly gone up over the years, but the extras like drinks and food have not followed suite.
Some things like food prices have come down, but the quality has plummeted. In the 2000s it was a food destination. Now it is mediocre at best. It's really sad that they abandoned the foodie project that they had had. It really turned things around.
But the admission prices have gone way up while the amount of time that they give you in the park have gone way down. Just in the past three years our effective entrance cost has more than doubled while inflation has been low. The value is nowhere near what it used to be.
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@IRJ said:
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Yeah it is, some great venues. @dominica and I have managed to have a date dinner at the only two person table on the waterfront in San Angel.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
Back then MGM (Hollywood) Studios was a much smaller park compared to Epcot and Magic Kingdom
Still is. It has actually shrunk, not grown, in the years since.
The Studios are the smallest at something like half the size of the Magic Kingdom. The MK is likewise about half the size of EPCOT. The Animal Kingdom is them larger than the other three combined.
I haven't been to that park since it was MGM. So that doesn't surprise me.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
Yes Disney is one of the best employers. They pay relatively well, allow flexible schedules (even unskilled jobs), and give great benefits.
That must be new. I've had friends that worked there and it was amazing it was even legal. But people beg to work there, so there is no need for them to do anything more than the minimum. It's a "luxury" job to get to have.
I disagree with you here. If anything the benefits used to be better. I know many people that were considered employees, but only worked one day a month and received all the ticket benefits. They also had the ability to get more hours if they wanted. Granted most of those were unskilled positions.
It might be different for engineers, IT, etc.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
Disney prices actually used to be higher if you consider inflation. Park admission has slowly gone up over the years, but the extras like drinks and food have not followed suite.
Some things like food prices have come down, but the quality has plummeted. In the 2000s it was a food destination. Now it is mediocre at best. It's really sad that they abandoned the foodie project that they had had. It really turned things around.
But the admission prices have gone way up while the amount of time that they give you in the park have gone way down. Just in the past three years our effective entrance cost has more than doubled while inflation has been low. The value is nowhere near what it used to be.
I can agree with this. It is no longer the crown jewel of Orlando when it comes to food. Not that any restaurant in Orlando is absolutely amazing. One thing that Disney Restaurants deliver on is the environment. Eating at the rainforest cafe is really cool.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Yeah it is, some great venues. @dominica and I have managed to have a date dinner at the only two person table on the waterfront in San Angel.
San Angel? is that the Mexican restaurant?
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lol, Europe.
Toss the budget out the window Australia and/or New Zealand is where it's at.
You might be in debt for ever but.... yeah ok, go to Europe. -
If you're going in Spring and you want value, it has to be southern Europe IMV. The weather is too unpredictable in the north. If I was you I would definitely go to Italy. It has the best scenery, the best food, the best architecture, the best history, the best people and the best weather. It's not cheap though.
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@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Yeah it is, some great venues. @dominica and I have managed to have a date dinner at the only two person table on the waterfront in San Angel.
San Angel? is that the Mexican restaurant?
The one inside the pyramid in the Mexican Pavilion.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
....If I was you I would definitely go to Italy. ...It's not cheap though.
Not cheap? That's not what we've found. Unless you are going to the big tourist spots like Rome, Milan or Florence, that will raise the price a lot. But if you are looking at Italy as a whole, pretty cheap. Not Spain or Portugal cheap, but in that general ballpark. Madrid and Lisbon aren't super cheap either. Big famous cities always demand a higher price.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Yeah it is, some great venues. @dominica and I have managed to have a date dinner at the only two person table on the waterfront in San Angel.
San Angel? is that the Mexican restaurant?
The one inside the pyramid in the Mexican Pavilion.
Yeah, I have eaten there before it's really nice and always packed.
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@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
Epcot is a great place to have a date night. The other parks are more children oriented, but Fort Wilderness is also a place that adults will enjoy.
Yeah it is, some great venues. @dominica and I have managed to have a date dinner at the only two person table on the waterfront in San Angel.
San Angel? is that the Mexican restaurant?
The one inside the pyramid in the Mexican Pavilion.
Yeah, I have eaten there before it's really nice and always packed.
Food was excellent and we got the perfect table. Being on the waterfront was perfect. The "interior" waterfront, so you see the people on the Rio tel Tiempo going by. It's awesome.
