timfreeman
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Posts posted by timfreeman
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Welcome to spring break.
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So last year, we stood in line for my son to get Ray Parks autograph and ended up getting the 1st standby. Stood in line again when time and the last 5 people took 20 minutes and we didn't get in. I'm trying to remember when we got in line. It seems like we got up extremely early, but don't recall. Anyone have any idea when we need to get there tomorrow?
Also, it's unclear on how they are doing Ashley Eckstein and James Arnold Taylor this year. Are they bracelets this year, or just stand in line and hope you make it?
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ToT should have been in the maybe section and probably moved to the must do when my wife gets the list. It was more of a time thing for me. I added Pooh because it's our 4 year old favorite ride, so we normally ride it 20 times in WDW. I thought Monster Inc was a photo op for some reason, I'll add it. We'll use singler rider as much as possible.
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It sounds like I'll try to get showpasses for the 9:00 WOC, but may skip it if time is an issue. We will definitely hit Fantasmic as it's our favorite "show" of WDW and I want to see the dragon.
Grizzly will most likely be skipped due to being in DCA first. Being a water ride, I know my wife won't want to walk the rest of the day wet. I've read it's similar to Kali River Rapids and you definitely get soaked on it.
I'm good with spinning like TSM or Dumbo. It's fast spinning like tea cups and dinowhirl that get me. I'll try to hit Roger Rabbit from the description.
It sounds like we'll be skipping:
Tea Cups
Dumbo
Muppet Vision (not a fan of Burton or the Frankenweenie previews)
It's Tough to Be a Bug
Grizzly River Run
Tower of Terror
Tiki Room
Peter Pan
Snow White
As for things on our definite list:
Space Mountain
Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Haunted Mansion
Its a Small World
Winnie the Pooh
Matterhorn
Mr Toad
Pinnochio
Pirates
California Screamin'
Roger Rabbit
The Little Mermaid
Mater
Radiator Springs
Soarin
Alice in Wonderland?
We'll hit these if there is time:
Star Tours?
Buzz? No line if it's different
Monorail?
Nemo?
Toy Story?
Anything I'm missing?
Also, we'll be staying at the Fairfield Inn. No specific reason other than it looked walkable so we can check in and just walk to the park entrance. If there's a better tactic, I'm all ears.
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^Keep in mind that Indy is closed until December and both MuppetVision and It's Tough to Be a Bug exist at WDW (and therefore aren't worth doing if you visit WDW regularly).
It's been a while since I've been to the parks on a Sunday, but my guess is you'd probably be able to get everything on your lists done (or close to it) in the amount of time you have. The parks will be busy until around dinner time, but late at night people will have cleared out somewhat. Most visitors to the Disneyland Resort are Annual Passholders, and on Sundays families tend to visit then leave due to school/work the next day.
If you want to do both parks, here is what I would recommend:
1. Upon arrival, enter Disneyland. Get a Fastpass for Space Mountain, as the Ghost Galaxy overlay is very popular. Then head to DCA.
2. Do not attempt to get a Fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers, as they will be long gone (they usually run out within an hour of opening). Instead, head to Soarin' and get a Fastpass. If you want to see World of Color, check by Grizzly River Run to see if Showpasses are still available, and get them if they are. Then, go to California Screamin' and get a Fastpass (your Soarin' tickets will say you can't, but when I visited this week it worked and I've heard California Screamin' has been removed from the loop). While waiting, do any of the following:
-Goofy's Sky School (mainly if you want the credit...there's a single rider line that usually gets you on within 15 minutes)
-Grizzly River Run (the line for this will probably be long, but it also has a fast moving single rider line)
-Little Mermaid (never has a significant line)
-Toy Story Midway Mania (it usually has a bit of a line, so if you've been on it in Florida it might not be worth it)
-Paradise Pier flat rides (these are mainly time-killers if you've already done the above)
3. After your ride on California Screamin', head to Cars Land and ride Radiator Springs Racers using the single rider line (should be 30 minutes or so). You may also want to do Mater's Junkyard Jamboree if the line is short, as that ride is better than it appears. Skip Luigi's Flying Tires.
4. If you still have time before your Soarin' Fastpasses are good, go ride Tower of Terror or occupy yourself in some other way. As soon as you can, ride Soarin', then head to Disneyland.
5. Get a Fastpass for one of the rides you want to do at Disneyland as soon as you enter, then make your way around the park. The order you visit rides in won't matter too much, but here are a few general strategies:
-Ride the Fantasyland dark rides (Alice, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, and small world from your list) during the parade, or wait until after the fireworks. Note that the first three close during the fireworks, but they will reopen a short while after.
-Matterhorn Bobsleds has a single rider line, which will save you time if you don't mind splitting up and/or you want to ride both tracks (they will usually let you request a side even with Single Rider).
-Pirates and Jungle Cruise rarely get long lines, so you can do those whenever.
-Since Haunted Mansion gets a bit of a line during the Holiday overlay, Fastpass may be a good idea. Even without it, the line likely won't be more than 30 minutes, and if you wait until later it may be a walk on.
-Ride Splash Mountain after 10 P.M. for a short wait. You will get a little wet, but unless the boat is fully loaded it's usually not that bad.
-Use Fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or wait until the last hour of operation
-Don't forget about those Space Mountain Fastpasses you picked up first thing
-Finding Nemo is a unique attraction, but I'd skip it if the line is over 30 minutes. I'd also skip the Monorail as it is a bit of a ride (approximately 20 minutes) and you can see the same stuff from the ground)
-If you finish DCA early enough (say 5 P.M. or before), go to Toontown and ride Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin. It is not present at WDW and has Fastpass (like California Screamin', these are disconnected from the loop and can be held at the same time as another Fastpass). There's a credit back here as well (Gadget's Go Coaster), but the line will probably be lengthy so it may not be worth it. Note that Toontown closes around 8 P.M. when there are fireworks.
-If you're not seeing World of Color, I'd recommend seeing Fantasmic. Go to the later showing and arrive about 10 minutes before, and you'll still get a good view (standing room only). If you are seeing World of Color, head back to DCA about 30 minutes before your showtime and return to Disneyland afterward.
That's about it. Both parks are possible, and you'll probably be able to complete your list, but don't expect short lines. If you decide to do Disneyland only, I'd recommend adding Autopia, Buzz Lightyear, Star Tours, and Snow White to your itinerary, but if you're doing both parks they can be skipped as all of them have (or had) WDW equivalents.
In #1 & #2, you have 4 fast passes on entering parks. Are the 2 parks not linked? I assume showpass is different than fastpass?
My thought is to skip any "doubles" that aren't main attractions (mountains, pirates, etc). We can even skip Splash if it's the same as my wife doesn't really like water rides. If the Monorail is 20 minutes, we'll probably skip it unless we are doing great on time. I should also mention I don't do spinning rides. Not sure if it applies other than the tea cups, but I don't do well on those.
Fantasmic is at 9:00 and 10:30 that night and World of Color is at 9:00 and 10:15. I assume we can't make it to both and not sure we'd want to eat up that time. Which one should we hit, or skip both?
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^ Check out touringplans.com to find out about crowd levels. You might be able to do both parks in one day (just) with a bit of back-and-forthing.
If I only had one day I'd also pick the following attractions:
- Indiana Jones
- Grizzly River Run
- Muppet Vision 3D
- It's Tough to be a Bug!
Skip Nemo (wait is horrendous for a very average ride), Monorail (waste of time), and Small World (very, very overrated).
In terms of an attack strategy, I'd suggest hitting up California Adventure first, go straight to Radiator Springs Racers and see if you can get a fastpass (FP). If not go grab one from California Screamin', then go Little Mermaid and It's Tough to be a Bug!, once you're done there your FP for Screamin' should be ready. Hit up Muppets and Soarin', then go to Grizzly River Run and pick up your World of Color FP before heading over to Disneyland.
At Disneyland, make a beeline for Space Mountain and grab a FP, then go over to Pirates, then Splash Mountain. Once you've done those two you should be able to get another FP, so go pick one up for Indy, then visit the Haunted Mansion. Go ride Space Mountain with your FP, then Jungle Cruise (best at night!), then Indy.
Pinocchio, Mr Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Matterhorn usually have very short waits in the evening so do those last. Then go back to California Adventure and watch World of Color (assuming your FP lets you in on the first viewing, otherwise do this last), then line up for Racers.
If you don't want to remember all of the above just try to use FP to your advantage. The optimal process is as follows:
- grab FP for attraction 1
- do a low-wait ride or show
- grab FP for attraction 2
- use FP on attraction 1
- rinse and repeat
Hope this helps
Thanks. I thought I had notifications of new replies to this post, but apparently didn't.
I think Indy is closed. Are Muppet Vision and Tough to be a bug different than what's in WDW? We've seen both of those numerous times in WDW and figured time would be better spent on new or different attractions. Don't recall seeing Grizzly, I'll look into it also.
Also forgot to mention Fantasmic. We'd love to see that if it can be fit into the schedule.
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Now that it's closer, I have more information on our visit so hopefully get some more insight. We are flying in on Sunday Oct 7th and should be able to get to the park by noon. Disneyland is open until midnight and DCA is open until 11pm. Is it too extreme to try and hit both parks? I don't know anything about crowd levels for either park during this time of year or on Sundays. Being a "WDW expert", it makes me nervous to know little or nothing about these parks. Should we attempt both parks or just stick with DL? Is there a strategy you'd recommend on when to go where and how?
Rides we'd want to hit at Disneyland:
Pirates of the Caribbean
Haunted Mansion
Space Mountain
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Splash Mountain
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
"it's a small world"
Alice in Wonderland
monorail
jungle cruise
Mr Toad
Pinocchio
I think the rest are the same as the WDW rides. If there's any I missed, or any I should skip, please let me know.
If we go to both parks, we'd want to hit these in DCA:
California Screamin'
Mermaid
Radiator Springs
Soarin' (think it's the same as EPCOT, but my wife's favorite ride)
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Tried to search through the topic, but 415 pages is hard to take in. My wife and I are going to be in LA on our way to our second honeymoon. Since we went to Disney World the first time, I thought it would be great if we could visit Disneyland on our 15th anniversary. I made our layover as long as I could, but it's really only one night. We arrive around 10:20am at LAX, so I assume we can't make it to the park until noon at the earliest. We fly out the next morning, so we have 9 or so hours to get what we can done. I don't want it to be stressful, so what plan should we use on the rides? Which ones should we skip? Are there any benefits on staying on or close to DL?
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Wooohooo, here come more dinosaurs!!!
Hopefully I'm wrong, but don't see another coaster coming for a while.
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Hopefully that wasn't directed at me as I agreed with you and geared my posts to be about Guest Services.
To clarify my last post to Swimace, it was more geared to "customer service" in general. I used the CM term to give it more relevance. It's seems some people's tolerance and comprehension stops when they get OUT of the parks. That conversation isn't going anywhere either so I'll drop it too.
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Believe me, I know you have to go in there with a smile on and your best foot forward even though you want to drag them over the counter and smack em around.
If that is your actual mentality before you walk into guest services, I can see why the outcome wasn't to your liking.
-chris "wonders why anyone would like to "smack around" a cast member while they are visiting "the happiest place on earth""connolly
Way to take things way too literally. I should have put about 20 smilies in the post, cause if I don't, I get this.
I know the CM sitting in guest services has no control over what another CM does in Tomorrowland. I've never even asked for a "freebie" unless you count being stuck on a ride for over 2 hours and asking for a FP to re-ride when it's fixed a freebie.... If I'm going into guest services, it's for a legitimate complaint and I state my case calmly. If the CM cops an attitude with me, I ask for a manager.
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P.S. Tim Freeman- I've had great luck with guest services addressing any issues I've ever had. Small talk and a smile works wonders.
Believe me, I know you have to go in there with a smile on and your best foot forward even though you want to drag them over the counter and smack em around. Not sure they could pay me enough to take a job in that field. My guess is that I got them after they dealt with an extremely unpleasant visitor, but that shouldn't be my problem.
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This thread is MUCH different than I'm seeing on other forums. It is by far the most pro change forum.
That's because our group is filled with intelligent, sensible people. This is what makes TPR different from all of those other boards.
The only valid argument I see here against the change is that some people might miss a fast pass time due to a fault by Disney (slow restaurant service, ride breakdown, incorrect queue time). If any of those things happen to a guest and they don't get consideration from front line cast members then all they have to do is walk over to guest services and they'll get on the ride. Case closed.
This actually made me laugh out loud and spit Coke on my monitor. Not the "intelligent, sensible" part, but the "walk over to guest services" piece.
In all my years of going to WDW, I've never gotten anything accomplished for major issues using guest services. If and when this actually takes affect, people will try to use every excuse in the book, including reservations. What do we get when we sit there for 45 minutes waiting for a dining reservation we made 6 months ago? I've been stuck on rides for over 2 hours and had cast members gruffly tell me to go to guest services. When I got to guest services, I couldn't even get 1 fast pass out of them for the last 2 hours they killed.
I think I'll play my day to sit on the benches outside guest services and watch the anger and venom of people exiting the building.
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I think people are reading more into posts that what is meant, or maybe I am. There are many ways to work the system, not just with FP. See the queue fill up after fireworks? Go DURING them. Have a FP that's 5 hours from now (Toy Story anyone?), ride less crowded rides until you can get another one. Using the DHS example, Star Wars never seems to get over 40 minutes and Muppets can fit 4 meeelion people. Also, let the kids play. Kids have too much energy needing to expelled that can't be done standing in line all day. They seem to love the Honey I shrunk the kids area. Finally, take a break. Most of family "conversations" I see are because the kids are just plain wore out. Go back to the hotel and have some downtime.
I understand some people don't get to visit often and have only a day to do everything. I truly feel for those as it can be overwhelming. Try taking kids, all of which *LOVE* Star Wars, to Star Wars Weekends and your life will change. You will see plenty of people "work the system" to the detriment of others. Getting in line for a bracelet at 6am to get an autograph, only to get standby. Then see a kid, or more common an adult, with 5 bracelets on (when you are only allowed to get one) cut you off 1 minute before the deadline because they are running from their last autograph session and cast members doing nothing. Try explaining that to your 8 year old son who just wants to meet Ray Park or your 9 year old daughter who adores Ashley Eckstein.
My family is past the point of planning our days down to the minute as it got impossible. We now enjoy the time (what a concept ) and go with the flow. The wife and I narrow the parks down to the less hectic ones, then have the kids vote on which park to hit the next day. With that, they list the most important things they want to do. We'll hit the top of their lists, then move down as we have time or as it fits within the course of the park. We had to come to the realization that WDW is actually meant to be "the happiest place on earth" and it wasn't at that point.
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I will preface this by saying I could care less either way. 90% of the time, we make our allotted time window. With that, the problem is it's *NOT* like making dining reservations as you can't plan your time 6 months, 90 days, a month, or even 1 day ahead of time. I'm thinking most debating how the change is good is either single or small family. You can't predict what fast passes will be available at what time. Your daughter want to see the princesses, you have to get in line and that line could be 90+ minutes. Good luck guessing which ride has passes to fit after that. I won't go into 50 different scenarios as I'm guessing people will argue anything. It's Disney. They can do what they want, when they want, how they want. I think it's a massive, sweeping, generalized chess play that won't change anything by itself. It's just another step to making the FP exclusive for resort guests. Waiting 10 years to enforce a rule was a bad idea. However, it is a rule and they can choose to enforce it whenever they want. Good luck dealing with the backlash.
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I think people put too much disinterest into Potter and overlook the theme and environment. If it's strictly due to the Forbidden Journey, I can't comment as I've never ridden it. I know nothing about Greek mythology, but the Lost Continent was one of the best themed areas in any park. My biggest issue with Potterville is the crowds. There were way too many people crammed into 1/3 of 1 park while the rest of the areas were essentially empty. While I'd much rather have Transformers, Kong, BSG, Flash Gordon, etc....spreading out all the people in WWOHP can't be a bad thing.
WIth that said, I doubt I'll be visiting the parks anytime soon. Passes expired in April and I have no reason to buy them anytime soon.
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That web page is old. They changed it from picking kids out of the crowd to sign ups last year in Orlando. Also, the ages are from 4-12. Get to Hollywood Studios early as it's getting as bad as Toy Story for lines. When they let you through the gate, if it's before opening, head down the path between Hollywood & Vine and Echo Lake. They will be signing kids up there. If it's after opening, head to Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. There's an entrance right beside the gift shop were they sign the kids up. The kids you are signing up *HAVE* to be with you to sign up. No kids, no training. They start at the first show and fill it up and move to the next show. If you are early and already have plans during a show, you can choose a later show (in case of lunch reservations).
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Visited again today to see how they handle a crowd. We'll ignore the cluster at the security line as that should not be in place for go live. For the entrance, they had a line for each side of the "V". They had 2 cast members forming the lines with a roamer between the two. They were also explaining how to use the new entrance. At the actual mouse heads, they had 2 more people helping. Then at the entrance clearing they had 1 more person making sure everyone was legit. None of these guys looked like management or observers, so I'm assuming this is how they are looking to implement this. That's 6 people for 8 "turnstiles", so at least to begin, there won't be a decrease in jobs. The line keepers would only let 4 people go at a time (if your family was larger than 4, they'd let you all go). Once they cleared, they'd send 4 more. Using this setup, technically, the line would move 4 times faster (not counting stroller time or issues).
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back on topic....
magnetic strip is bad....
RFID is good....
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^See I totally disagree with the dining issues.
Ever since the dining plan came to be I've heard people bitch and bitch about never being able to get a reservation. We've NEVER had an issue, and I'm talking about making big party reservations, small party reservations, reservations for lunch time, dinner time, a month in advance, same day, etc. We even got into Cinderella's Royal Table for Breakfast two days before after we were told numerous times we'd never get it.
Guys, this is Disney we're talking about...Florida Disney...they're not going to screw it up!
This is Disney I'm talking about too. We've came down here at least 6 weeks the last 3 years (4 weeks the few years before that). Most of the time it's considered off season when we travel. If we don't call the day you are able (it's changed once or twice to 90 days), we've never gotten our preferred dining times. Normally we had to plan our days around whatever dining reservations we got which is far from optimal. The *ONLY* time we've gotten CRT is when the Office of the President of Magic Kingdom made the reservations for us. We've taken our dining down to a couple a trip and eating the rest of the time at one of the digs on 192. Cheaper for us, but disappointing that we can't get one decent reservation.
Using this trip for example. We decided on our vacation in the middle of September (over 2 months in advance). My wife immediately started calling and the only things available were Cape May for breakfast (could get any of these we wanted), and 4 Crystal Palaces for late lunches (we ate today at 2:10). We were able to get one Chef Mickey's breakfast at 8:00 the first day we were here. No CRT, no Coral Reef, no Le Cellier, no Ohana, those are the ones that pop up in my mind, but nada. This is the week BEFORE Thanksgiving which is considered an off week. Next week was even worse. I think we got a T-Rex on Thanksgiving for a late lunch (3:00 I think) and a Crystal Palace the day after.
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^The process of getting the fast pass will be faster though. Just tap your wrist and out it pops. I see people all the time taking forever with putting in the ticket the wrong way and such. I still think that even if the whole group goes up, the process is so streamlined and simple that it wont matter how many people are in line. Tap, print, go. Tap print go, Tap, print, go. Its so fast!
It's not that the ticket is put in the wrong way as there isn't a wrong way (at least at Disney). You can put the ticket in any way and it will read it. The problem is the "magnetic strip" technology. Anything can mess it them up, so just having the more fault tolerant RFID would improve dramatically. It's not unusual for me to have to replace several tickets a week. They blame it on credit cards, wallets, cell phones, anything (all of which I keep in opposite pockets due to the issues). If you have to rub the ticket to warm up the strip before using it, there's a problem.
Regarding fastpasses- This has been rumored forever, but expect Disney to allow guests staying on property to book a certain amount of fastpasses months before their trip.That was my fear. Try making a dining reservation for your stay...it's virtually impossible unless you jump on at 12:01 6 months before your trip. Do all those reservations get used? Nope. Most those people will book 400 reservations because they don't know their schedule. They are trying to fix it a little by charging $10 per person per reservation if not cancelled with 24 hour notice. Doesn't really help the consumer as they have to keep checking for free reservations the day before while on vacation which isn't much of a vacation to me.
I assume the daily fast pass would keep the current "one at a time" strategy, but the on site rumors have me a little concerned. In general, it wouldn't have a major affect, but think of rides like Toy Story which requires a mad dash at opening to get a fast pass..... Not directly related, but the other concern I have is the special events like Jedi Training. If things like this get moved to booking reservations for on site guests, those off site, with passes, or even local won't have a chance.
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Also, if the "key to the world" changes to bracelets, this means whoever runs for fast passes will have to carry 5 bracelets instead of 5 cards.
Ahh but you're assuming you'll only be able to request a fastpass at the actual ride, I'm assuming we'll see kiosks all over the park where you'll be able to do things with your bracelet...reserve a ride, dining, add money, view photos, etc.
Yes and no. With a 3 year old, one of us always ends up running for passes while the other takes them to the bathroom, grabs some food, watches the parades, rides non-me friendly spinning rides, etc. Having multiple kiosks would make it easier on traveling to the actual ride, but would still need to grab all the bracelets from the group.
On the plus side, maybe it would discourage the group of 40 sending one person to grab 40 passes. With my luck, I'm always behind that person.
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Today, they had the left side of the entrance using the RFID with the pods, the right still used the old turnstiles. It never worked for us. Walked through the security check and they scanned our tickets and got the sticker put on. Going to the "pods", the system turned blue. They had to swipe our tickets again in a iPhone/iPod housed with a scanner to fix them. A bit later I had to run back out to the car for something and didn't scan again. I'm assuming due to re-entry, but not positive. Asked a few questions and they said it was going to be a 2 week test which means it'll be used during the busy holiday next week.
Even though I didn't have a stellar first encounter, I see it as a great move. Even before reading this here, I was telling the family of all the benefits and information Disney could glean, forecast, and even advertise (tie in texting/Disney app with locations). The iOS interface to the database is already there, so the possibilities are endless.
As for security....let security handle it. For those with bags, have the RFID there as they scan the bags. For those without bags, have the "V" shape of pods set up. If it fails, send them to one of the people who would have been handling the turnstiles and now hold an iPhone scanner. If they can't fix it in under a minute, send them to Guest Services. This would get rid of the stroller issues in the turnstiles and still separate those with bags from holding up other people.
The downside is I don't see anything helping with those that can't seem to grasp the concept of putting in your ticket and scanning your finger. This would blow their minds....Also, if the "key to the world" changes to bracelets, this means whoever runs for fast passes will have to carry 5 bracelets instead of 5 cards.
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^What ride are you talking about?
Was in the header, sorry. Big Thunder Mountain.
Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
There was no down time that day and I didn't think to take a picture until half way through it. It went all the way back to astro orbiter. Thunder mountain was backed up to the bridge. Toy story was backed up to marina (whatever it is now). The safari was backed up to the normal line. They have now built ropes in for the fast pass lines for most of the mentioned above.
The lines really aren't "longer", they have just moved to the outside. Once you pass the RFID point, most were walk all the way to the ride.