The lights are twinkling, the mulled wine is flowing and London’s festive season is in full swing.
13.11.2023 - 23:33 / thepointsguy.com
There are things that everyone knows and loves at Walt Disney World Resort that are popular for good reason. We have lists of the best hotels at Disney World, the best restaurants at Disney World and even the best outdoor restaurants at Disney World.
But what about all those things that aren't necessarily the best but are definitely underrated and easily overlooked in place of the big, flashy, well-known must-dos?
After a few recent more "low-key" trips to Disney World, where we were looking to get off the beaten path a bit (and crowd-sourcing a bit with friends), we've come up with a list of underrated things to do, see and eat at Disney World. As a bonus, since these really are largely underrated, it means they are also often available with shorter waits and less competition than the big-name restaurants, attractions and hotels.
Related: Are the Disney Visa credit cards worth it?
This 15-minute boat ride in the Land Pavilion at Epcot is, to me, a must-do on an Epcot day.
However, many overlook it in favor of its neighbor Soarin' Around the World (which is great, but everyone knows that). Living with the Land is a great mix of educational, interesting and relaxing, and it is pretty much five stars if you ask me. This is especially true during the holidays in the evening hours when it gets a festive overlay that takes an already great underrated attraction to an even higher level.
If you enjoy this ride, look into taking the Behind the Seeds tour, as that is another underrated tour at Disney World that gets rave reviews and only costs $30.
I'd say that the most underrated section of any Disney World theme park is the SeaBase aquarium area of Epcot. It doesn't have a big-name attraction, so it's easy to skip, but that's a mistake if you have some time on your hands and want to get out of the sun (or rain).
Turtle Talk with Crush is a 15-minute "live" interaction with an animated Crush turtle on the big screen and the audience. If you've been on a Disney Cruise, you may have had something similar in Animator's Palate, but you don't have to take a cruise to experience this fun show. Crush will interact with a few people in the audience — often choosing adorable kids seated in the front of the kid sections on the floor at the front of the auditorium.
While you're in the aquarium, look around to enjoy one of the largest aquariums in the U.S. and see fish feedings, manatee rehab, sharks, rays, dolphins, and so much more. It would be easy to spend hours here, though, of course, that's sometimes tough when Epcot is so packed with must-dos. At a minimum, head here when you want an indoor break.
This ride has Walt Disney's vision all over it, and it's easily skipped over on your way to Tron or Space Mountain.
The lights are twinkling, the mulled wine is flowing and London’s festive season is in full swing.
There’s something truly magical about meandering through a Christmas market with a glass of hot wine or apple cider in hand. The sights, sounds and smells of the market—wherever you are in the world—make it hard not to get into the spirit of teh season.
Traveling during the holidays is stressful enough and every little obstacle along the way can feel amplified. While many factors can play a part in flight interruptions and delays, a new study by Upgraded Points takes a look back at nearly a decade of historical data spanning 2014 to 2022 to find out which airports tend to have the best and worst track records for punctuality during the holiday season.
Forget the traditional holiday mall crawl and the awkward Santa lap-sit; this year, one hotel is during the festive dial up to eleven. Welcome to Hardy's Holiday Village at Nemacolin Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania, where the usual holiday cheer is swapped for something akin to a Broadway-level extravaganza. It's over-the-top, it's dazzling, and it's everything you didn't know you needed this festive season.
Bangkok is the Asian megacity incarnate. Its vast urban sprawl – home to 22% of the Thai population – is studded with gleaming golden wat (Buddhist monasteries), towering skyscrapers, teeming markets, multi-lane highways, and clusters of village-style houses that show just how far Bangkok has come over the last 50 years. Needless to say, there's a lot to see and do!
Deserted beaches, ink-black cliffs, glacier-gouged valleys, snow-crusted peaks: the Westfjords encapsulates all the natural splendor you’d expect from Iceland – only without the crowds.
As a travel planner, I'm always sharing theme-park tips with my clients.
Crowned with an impressive royal castle and dotted with church spires and world-class museums, Kraków combines the historic with the cosmopolitan.
New Hotels in the Cayman Islands for 2024 Scheduled to open in Q2 2024 is Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman. The 282-room 10-storey beachfront property will provide an upper midscale experience featuring multiple restaurants, a 6,700 square foot ballroom, a pool deck and a rooftop bar. Indigo’s restaurants and bars around the world are known as a favourite destination for visitors and locals alike. With sustainability in mind, the hotel is being built to LEED standards, which ensures high-performance buildings that have less of an impact on the environment. Hotel Indigo will use a geothermal/ice storage combination and will feature insulated glazing throughout to reduce energy consumption. The latest in Cayman real estate developer, Dart’s, hospitality portfolio, Hotel Indigo is expected to generate several hundred jobs when it opens. In 2022, Dart launched its Hospitality Training Programme, which provides Caymanians with the opportunity to obtain first-hand industry experience via a three-month work experience within the Dart hospitality portfolio.
On my first day in Iceland, I paid 2,690 ISK, or about $20, for a piece of avocado toast at the Blue Lagoon.
The Cycladic island of Ios is a rocky, mountainous environment of winding roads sometimes blocked by herds of bleating goats and sleepy villages hugging cerulean coastlines. In the 1960s, backpackers discovered the nearly untouched island and it became known as a hippie haven, hosting all-night beach parties, with a handful of cheap bars operating in the Chora (main town). A few decades later, nearby Santorini and Mykonos began to outshine their neighbor, attracting hordes of tourists each summer and investing in new developments. Meanwhile, Ios only got electricity across the entire island in the 1970s and most residents here are goat herders or farmers. Today, Mykonos has taken the nightlife crown and both it and Santorini have become severely over-touristed. Ios on the other hand, remains a quiet, mostly undeveloped paradise.
Travel Advisors are experiencing growing demand from clients who want customized itineraries and experiences that meet their personal and changing travel tastes. Customized experiences that will give them a lifetime of memories and a few bragging rights at get-togethers with family and friends—that’s what they’re looking for.