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Hanging out in the airport at Atlanta, and re-reading the beginning of this thread, and day dreaming about coming back in a year or two. I can't stress enough how much this thread and braksgirl, all helped with planning this trip. My mom keeps on going on and on about her "little travel guide" but it was all from you all (and lots of surfing the net). Thinking of coming back in 2017, when kiddo is a little older. Until then, I'm going to dream of Dole Whips.
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Oct 21, 2015 00:50
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| # ? May 27, 2024 12:17 |
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Abu Dave posted:Braksgirl I was listening to your newest podcast and one of you guys mentioned shipping stuff from Amazon to your room; is it literally as easy as just shipping it ot the front desk? Yes, it is just that easy. You just need to make sure the name of the lead guest is the recipient on the package. All the resorts have laundry rooms.
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Oct 21, 2015 00:58
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Cool thanks, that will be way cheaper than gardengrocer for me.
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Oct 21, 2015 02:18
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Also wow, they're realling doing a number to the Hulk Coaster at Universal. Track replacement etc 
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Oct 21, 2015 02:33
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Abu Dave posted:Also wow, they're realling doing a number to the Hulk Coaster at Universal. Track replacement etc I was there today as well, and yeah they are seemingly completely redoing it. Animal kingdom and food and wine tomorrow!
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Oct 21, 2015 03:30
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Old Man Pants posted:I was there today as well, and yeah they are seemingly completely redoing it. Animal kingdom and food and wine tomorrow! I think they specifically were redesigning the whole rear section of the track (the part outside of guest view), but were generally revamping the theme of the ride and doing a full refurbishment. The construction walls have pictures of Silver and Golden Age comics, so I'm wondering if they're going to use the aesthetic of the classic comics instead of the 90s animated series.
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Oct 21, 2015 20:07
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Abu Dave posted:Also wow, they're realling doing a number to the Hulk Coaster at Universal. Track replacement etc It was falling apart. You could see the pilings of supports for the big ramp literally lift out of the ground a few centimeters when it launched.
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Oct 21, 2015 20:12
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Luigi Thirty posted:It was falling apart. You could see the pilings of supports for the big ramp literally lift out of the ground a few centimeters when it launched. Still probably put together better than the Rockit.
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Oct 21, 2015 22:29
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I enjoyed my first trip in April so much that I'm heading back this Saturday for a three day mini trip. Sunday at Magic Kingdom for the Halloween party, Monday at Epcot for food and wine (lunch and dinner, if the lines aren't lovely) and Tuesday will probably be a half day at magic kingdom, then V&A's chef table for dinner. Since it's so short, I'm trying out pop century, but I wholly expect it to feel cheap and lovely compared to my week at Bay Lake tower. Any advice for the Halloween party? I'm waffling on doing the character meets - I love Nightmare but jack looks so ridiculous that I'm not sure I'd like the picture, and the rest would be kind of meh. Maybe Jafar would be nice. I guess the only other big things are waiting for the parades and getting some free candy. Too bad they aren't giving away any of the Disney themed stuff.
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Oct 21, 2015 23:00
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The hocus pocus show, fireworks, and parades are my must dos. Picture wise Jack and sally actually meet before the party starts... So if you get in early you can get that done before it officially kicks off.
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Oct 22, 2015 00:28
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Richard M Nixon posted:
You can get in as early as 4 and hit a lot of rides as the park starts clearing out. Enjoy people watching and seeing some cool costumes, some of the guests are as good as the actual cast members. Hit the candy lines between rides and eat the candy while in line and enjoy feeling like a kid again. If you do it right, you should be hitting peak sugar high right as the fireworks start. Also, watch the Sanderson Sisters show after the fireworks, as it'll be less crowded then and you can spend the earlier show times riding stuff, etc.
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Oct 22, 2015 15:12
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I know this has been covered millions of times but I trust goons over some random web search for "Fastpass Tips"; should I be getting fastpasses for rides I absolutely want to ride or should I go by some random touring plans? For example, the rides I absolutely must ride are: Haunted Mansion Space Mountain Pirates of the Carribean Jungle cruise I don't care about any other ride in the whole place. But I also don't really want to miss out on a ride. Right now I have fastpasses for (atleast in MK): Mine Train Space Mountain x 3 Splash Mountain Pirates Elsa Meet (for the girlfriend and for some kind of sick fantasy of denieing it to a kid who actually wants it) Under the Sea Peter Pans Flight I wouldnt be hesitant to slipping out Under the Sea and Peters Pan for Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise to guarantee I get on them, but If you guys think I can get on it without it then I won't bother and will keep em for those rides. I guess the general idea from the guides i've been reading is you want the big ticket rides as fastpasses and aim for the second most popular right when you get there? I don't know, this whole system is confusing and daunting. I just want to see some animatronic pirates. 
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Oct 22, 2015 16:26
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I know some people hate the fp system, but I was able to do eight fastpasses in one day in magic kingdom and I was happy. Don't know how many days you have planned but if you already have those fastpasses, then gently caress you're spending a lot of time in mk. I used touringplans.com to find the rides with the absolute highest queue times first thing in the morning and took those, then I made a prioritized list based on average queue times and after my fastpasses were gone (a bit before 11am) I kept hitting the fp kiosk to find the ride with the highest average wait that had a fastpasses available within the next half hour. It worked amazingly.
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Oct 22, 2015 16:35
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Unless you're going at a crazy time (peak season), nothing on your must-ride list gets ridiculously long lines. When I went in September, we were able to walk right on to Space Mountain several times, and Haunted Mansion never had a line longer than 30 minutes (usually 15ish). Pirates was closed when I was there, and we didn't even look at the Jungle Cruise line. Neither have been that bad in years past though. Definitely keep your Elsa meet fastpass (unless your girlfriend likes waiting in 2-3 hour lines, and I think sometimes they close standby altogether). The Mine Train line can get 60-120 minutes too, mainly because it's new. Peter Pan usually has a long line because it loads so slowly, but honestly I don't think it's a good ride unless you're with kids.
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Oct 22, 2015 16:38
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I'm there from the 17th to the 23rd. It's really like 2 days at MK and then one extra day on arrival day since we're getting there so early. All my fast passes run out at about 2 PM though, how did you manage to get them so early?
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Oct 22, 2015 16:38
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Abu Dave posted:I'm there from the 17th to the 23rd. The 17th-18th may not be too terrible, but once you get to the weekend the crowds will increase exponentially.
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Oct 22, 2015 16:42
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Yeah that was my concern about jungle cruise and mansion. Although I'd really like to see jungle cruise at night.
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Oct 22, 2015 16:45
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Abu Dave posted:All my fast passes run out at about 2 PM though, how did you manage to get them so early? Making them right at the 60 day mark is a huge advantage, but if you're going right before Xmas then you probably had a lot of people before you with longer stays. 2pm isn't so bad, you'll get some good same day fastpasses in the afternoon. See if you can bump any to an earlier time if possible. You are pretty hosed by going over the holiday time, so manage expectations and have fun. Oh yeah, and prepare to rage at some fastpasses kiosk lines. Most of the time I went I'd either come across someone who didn't know what a computer was and froze in terror when presented with it, or someone with a bunch of magic bands who had to make reservations on each one for some mysterious reason.
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Oct 22, 2015 16:56
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Yeah i'm mostly goign to have a good time. I bought a subscription to touringplan.com and may copy that and check it out. I'm basically devoting 2 days to each park and obviously MGM studios and Animal World problably don't need 2, and thanks to the wise words of Braksgirl we got fastpasses so worst comes to worse we can always just go over to MK at night and ride what we missed, since it's open until midnight. Thanks guys.
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Oct 22, 2015 17:00
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Yeah two days at animal kingdom and hollywood studios is probably overkill. I went on my first trip in April and I had nine days there, which I split to be one in AK and dhs each, two in Epcot, and three (two half days) in magic kingdom. The other days were rest days and were a very good idea.
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Oct 22, 2015 17:15
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Abu Dave posted:
You'll be able to do all of these multiple times without fast passes. I would keep the FP for Space Mountain just because it can get long lines at certain points of the day, but at night it'll drop down to ~15 minutes most nights. The others will all hit <20 minutes often. Also, you didn't list Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and it's the best ride at Magic Kingdom 
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Oct 22, 2015 17:20
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What are the best rides anyways, at all parks?
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Oct 22, 2015 17:26
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Magic Kingdom Big Thunder Mountain Space Mountain Splash Mountain Haunted Mansion Mine Train Pirates of the Caribbean Hollywood Studios Tower of Terror Rocking Rollercoaster Toy Story Star Tours Great Movie Ride EPCOT Soarin Test Track Mission Space Animal Kingdom Expedition Everest Dinosaur Kali River Rapids Kilimanjaro Safari Nemo Musical Bolded attractions are fast pass recommendations
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Oct 22, 2015 17:38
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My favorites would probably be... MK: big thunder mountain, space mountain, haunted mansion, splash mountain Epcot: mission space, spaceship earth Animal kingdom: Nemo and lion King shows, safari, expedition everest Hollywood studio: great movie ride, star tours, toy Story, rock n roller coaster, tower of terror
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Oct 22, 2015 17:45
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I always figured i'd hate the musical shows but I went to Icesploration last year at Busch Gardens and was amazed. currently I have a FP for festival of Lion King, guess I should move it to nemo?
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Oct 22, 2015 17:46
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Either one, the Nemo theater is huge and if you arrive ~15 minutes before show time you should get a fine seat. They're both great. Lion King is more of a big circus spectacle and Nemo is a really funny musical production with crazy good production value.
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Oct 22, 2015 17:50
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Cool thanks for all the help. It's weird how MK lets you pick from any attraction for a fast pass but MGM only lets you pick one marquee ride. But I guess that's because there's not much to do there anymore 
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Oct 22, 2015 17:53
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My dad just booked booked Star Wars tickets on the 3rd night we are at Disneyland. To be honest I'd rather be in the parks but the atmosphere is probably gonna be bonkers. Going to try and get a fp for Hyperspace that matches with the end of the showing.
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Oct 22, 2015 18:38
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I would add TOT to the list of FP for HS because gently caress standing in the queue line. Bottom Liner was dead on with the rest although I would throw HM in at MK because the wait times can get lovely at times. Usually though we can walk on with no more than a 20 minute wait.
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Oct 22, 2015 20:10
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Customizable Magic Bands are coming soon. http://www.insidethemagic.net/merchandise/new-custom-made-on-demand-magicbands-coming-to-walt-disney-world-purple-magicband-finally-here/ I probably would have paid for this if they'd had it last month.
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Oct 22, 2015 20:36
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Do any of the rides have "must see" queuing? I know i've heard ToT has awesome, when I went 10 years ago on it I got to skip it because I was in a wheelchair.
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Oct 22, 2015 22:49
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Mine Train queue is kinda cool.
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Oct 22, 2015 22:55
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Pirates has one of the best queues of all time. Two sides, BTW (I think now one is strictly a Fast Pass line), and each one takes you through a different part of the "fortress." In fact, one of my favorite WDW writers did a great analysis of it: http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2007/08/long-lonely-march.html
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Oct 22, 2015 23:16
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I love the Pirates queue music. I listen to it on YouTube for background music all the time.
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Oct 22, 2015 23:43
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I like the Expedition Everest queue theming. The outdoor area feels like you're in a Himalayan jungle, and once you get inside it's like a mountaineer's lodge with a bunch of artifacts from previous (sometimes failed/eaten) expeditions. But then again, if you're riding Everest and you're not skipping the queue with the Single Rider line, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. (This goes for Test Track too. On a crowded Epcot day, the Test Track stand-by line was 45 minutes, while the single rider line was under 5.)
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Oct 22, 2015 23:58
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Haunted Mansion was great queueing - interacting with all kinds of things and reading all the tombstones. Kali River Rapids and Jungle Cruise weren't bad. I really don't remember any of Pirates queue - nothing impressive I thought.
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Oct 23, 2015 00:00
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WhiteHowler posted:I like the Expedition Everest queue theming. The outdoor area feels like you're in a Himalayan jungle, and once you get inside it's like a mountaineer's lodge with a bunch of artifacts from previous (sometimes failed/eaten) expeditions. This. I rode EE 2x in 20 min via single rider and it was a 55 min wait for stand by.
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Oct 23, 2015 00:01
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Test Track single rider is especially great for parties of 2, a good 75% of the time you still end up in the same car.
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Oct 23, 2015 01:43
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That passport to dreams blog rules. It's like JimHillMedia before he went crazy
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Oct 23, 2015 03:07
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It is a good blog although it's probably best to avoid the article where he talks about the links between Disney and the furry community: http://passport2dreams.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-age-of-not-believing-week-ten.html
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Oct 23, 2015 06:29
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