We’re just checking out now from a 14 day trip, our first in 20 years and first with our daughter (6)
We stayed offsite at the Hyatt Grand Cypress and found it to be very good although a bit limited for food on site. If anyone does stay here a pool view room makes a huge difference both because of the great view and the view of the fireworks. Their Apple Watch system worked great as a keycard and I recommend that if you have an Apple Watch.
Broadly the HGC is about the best hotel I’ve stayed at although the nightly resort fee is steep there’s a discount through Virgin. The grounds are beautiful and tranquil and they occasionally have fireworks of their own (see photo)
We bought magic bands but only our daughter used hers after a day or two as we used apple watches instead which worked just as well and never drained the battery. Didn’t regret not bothering with MB+.
We didn’t rent a car and didn’t regret it, relying on a mix of Uber and Lyft. It’s worth comparing them as quite often you could save $5+ just by clicking a different app for the same ride at the same time. We often found Lyft’s discount for waiting didn’t require any waiting - so it would say picking up within 15 mins and you’d get picked up near instantly. Most rides were under $15 and more commonly at the 10 end. Given parking at hotel was $25 and parking at Disney (plus cost of renting the car and petrol) it never felt worth it.
For essentials and bits and bobs we used DoorDash as it was cheaper to have someone shop for and bring bits for Walgreens etc than to get an Uber there and buy them ourselves.
Money wise we very rarely needed cash, I used a Chase debit card and Apple Pay for the vast majority, incurring no exchange fees and getting 1% cashback on each transaction which helped because…
Everything is terribly expensive with the current exchange rate and it only got worse during the trip. The nadir was at Disney springs where we picked up three bottles of soft drink (individual servings not 2L) and put them back when we realised it would cost about £16.
For mobile data we used the t mobile esim app and paid $50 for unlimited everything for a month. It worked fine but the data speeds were quite disappointing considering it was a US carrier and showed 5G all the time but at least no unpleasant mobile bill surprises when we get home.
We stayed offsite at the Hyatt Grand Cypress and found it to be very good although a bit limited for food on site. If anyone does stay here a pool view room makes a huge difference both because of the great view and the view of the fireworks. Their Apple Watch system worked great as a keycard and I recommend that if you have an Apple Watch.
Broadly the HGC is about the best hotel I’ve stayed at although the nightly resort fee is steep there’s a discount through Virgin. The grounds are beautiful and tranquil and they occasionally have fireworks of their own (see photo)
We bought magic bands but only our daughter used hers after a day or two as we used apple watches instead which worked just as well and never drained the battery. Didn’t regret not bothering with MB+.
We didn’t rent a car and didn’t regret it, relying on a mix of Uber and Lyft. It’s worth comparing them as quite often you could save $5+ just by clicking a different app for the same ride at the same time. We often found Lyft’s discount for waiting didn’t require any waiting - so it would say picking up within 15 mins and you’d get picked up near instantly. Most rides were under $15 and more commonly at the 10 end. Given parking at hotel was $25 and parking at Disney (plus cost of renting the car and petrol) it never felt worth it.
For essentials and bits and bobs we used DoorDash as it was cheaper to have someone shop for and bring bits for Walgreens etc than to get an Uber there and buy them ourselves.
Money wise we very rarely needed cash, I used a Chase debit card and Apple Pay for the vast majority, incurring no exchange fees and getting 1% cashback on each transaction which helped because…
Everything is terribly expensive with the current exchange rate and it only got worse during the trip. The nadir was at Disney springs where we picked up three bottles of soft drink (individual servings not 2L) and put them back when we realised it would cost about £16.
For mobile data we used the t mobile esim app and paid $50 for unlimited everything for a month. It worked fine but the data speeds were quite disappointing considering it was a US carrier and showed 5G all the time but at least no unpleasant mobile bill surprises when we get home.
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