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Dren posted:It's not entirely unfair. People I know who have gone without a plan have told me they hardly did any rides because of the lines. Imagine hearing that Flight of Passage is cool then naively showing up to AK and spending 4 hours in line. Sure, you're free to wait in the line but I doubt someone who waits in huge lines is having the good experience they expected and wanted. I’m not sure I have too much sympathy for someone who is unaware of Disney’s overall popularity, increased popularity of new rides, the fp system, and the ability to go early to try to beat the lines. And on top of that still chooses to wait in a 4 hour line for a ride they probably know nothing about besides hearing “it’s good”.
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Feb 23, 2018 02:07
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At the very least, I'm not sure there's a compelling reason for the time to do all this to be as spread out as it is. Like, we're looking at booking for early September (hi Braksgirl!), which means booking dining in less than two weeks...and near as I can tell, operating schedules aren't out yet. Which is sorta annoying since at least one of those night is probably going to get eaten by the Halloween Party, and I'm relying on third party projections for figuring out which is which. Obviously its not a huge inconvenience - except for Royal Table, none of the MK dining options are that quick to fill up - but it feels rough. On a related note, do show dining packages (like the Fantasmic packages) also open for booking 180 days out?
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Feb 23, 2018 02:58
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Sometimes they do, soemtimes they don't. Worth trying either way. Depends on if they scheduled fireworks for that time of the year yet (usually no.)
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Feb 23, 2018 03:22
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It’s the music box room? That makes sooooo much more sense - when I read it was the west wing, I was wondering what the hell they weren’t using that one - I’d be pissed if I couldn’t get a pic of the rose. I only know a couple families that have seriously planned a Disney vacation the 6-9 months in advance, and one of them is a travel agent so she obviously knew. Everyone else I’ve talked to was amazed that it was something you needed to prepare for and that it wasn’t like going to King’s Island - when you just buy an express lane pass and then stroll past the lines.
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Feb 23, 2018 04:44
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To Disney's credit, the stuff they send you once you book your trip always comes with a "book your dining starting on X, book your fastpasses starting on Y, log onto my Disney experience and order your magic bands" Travel agents are also entirely free and can explain or even do the whole process for you if they are nice enough to handle FP bookings.
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Feb 23, 2018 05:55
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I wonder if it's ever going to get to the point where they'll just sell packages. Little Mouse package: Dumbo, Meet Mickey, and Small World, plus lunch at (whatever restaurant they want to increase attendance at). Princess Package: Bibidi Bobbitt Boutique, CRT reservations, Frozen sing-a-long. Disney Classics: Haunted Mansion, PotC, Jungle Cruise. They tell you when to get up, where to be at what time, where you'll eat, scheduled snacks (hope you were hungry). In return you get to not plan and can buy it up to a year in advance.
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Feb 23, 2018 06:14
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Let me tell you about the Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP tour. Or if you just want those classic Magic Kingdom rides, you can do the Ultimate Classics VIP tour. Or if you really just to do Pandora but can’t justify $600/hr, you can do the Ultimate Nights of Adventure tour and do them both. So basically they *kind* of already do that. And those suckers totally sell out.
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Feb 23, 2018 11:46
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 Edit: goons excepted Beachcomber fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Feb 23, 2018 |
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Feb 23, 2018 13:00
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Cais posted:Let me tell you about the Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP tour. Or if you just want those classic Magic Kingdom rides, you can do the Ultimate Classics VIP tour. Or if you really just to do Pandora but can’t justify $600/hr, you can do the Ultimate Nights of Adventure tour and do them both. The day of thrills tour was the best money we spent the entire vacation and using a Disney Visa knocks the price down a little. We did it right after they switched over from sit down lunch to quick service and still were blown away at how good of a deal it is.
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Feb 23, 2018 14:53
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Cais posted:Let me tell you about the Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP tour. Or if you just want those classic Magic Kingdom rides, you can do the Ultimate Classics VIP tour. Or if you really just to do Pandora but can’t justify $600/hr, you can do the Ultimate Nights of Adventure tour and do them both. When we rode FoP last week, I saw SO many people on VIP tours for the short time we were there. You can tell because they have a CM in plaid with them. I'm wondering how many people booked those tours specifically to deal with FoP wait times.
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Feb 23, 2018 15:21
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or, with enough planning and a disability access service pass, you can speedrun disneyland https://blog.jkap.io/2018/02/14/dldq2018-post-mortem-i-cant-believe-i-actually-did-it/
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Feb 23, 2018 15:31
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Braksgirl posted:When we rode FoP last week, I saw SO many people on VIP tours for the short time we were there. You can tell because they have a CM in plaid with them. I'm wondering how many people booked those tours specifically to deal with FoP wait times. I wonder if Disney will smell the potential loot and hike the prices for VIP tours as well.
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Feb 23, 2018 16:04
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Dren posted:or, with enough planning and a disability access service pass, you can speedrun disneyland On this point, has anyone here tried the WDW4* challenge? It seems so phenomenally stupid we're looking forward to trying it next trip.
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Feb 23, 2018 16:46
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Is that just all 4 parks in one day? We did that with some friends who only had a day here last year. Started at AK which had the earliest open, did Everest, Dinosaur, Safari, and Nemo - 3 hours Then Hollywood and did Star Tours, Toy Story, and the Star Wars meet n’ greets - 2.5 hours Next was EPCOT for lunch at Via Napoli, Soarin, single rider Test Track, Nemo, and Spaceship Earth 3-4 hours counting sit down lunch And finally monorailed to Magic Kingdom which was open till midnight for Happily Ever After, all three mountains, Haunted Mansion, and Peter Pan. - 5 hours All total about 14 hours in the parks and 30-45 minutes between each. It was a pretty exhausting day but they really loved it and I felt like we hit 90% of the essentials with no real planning. Crowds were light to medium depending on park and the weather was cool and definitely helped. Think we ended up around 14 miles walked (taking no parking trams). The longest day though was when we did extra magic hours at MK one morning (I think we were there at 6:30 am), went back to the hotel at 6 pm and got dressed for the Wine and Dine half marathon that started at 11 pm, then stayed in EPCOT until 4:30 am. 22 hours total 
Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Feb 23, 2018 |
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Feb 23, 2018 17:39
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Bottom Liner posted:Is that just all 4 parks in one day? We did that with some friends who only had a day here last year. It's every single attraction (including the Main Street vehicles) in a single operating day. It's properly called the WDW47 challenge.
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Feb 23, 2018 17:46
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How in the hell is that possible? If you had the entire property to yourself, you would still spend most of the day walking from attraction to attraction and moving through the queueing areas. And that’s optimized, assuming no other people in the entirety of WDW.
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Feb 23, 2018 17:54
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A lot of it seems to be getting lucky with FASTPASS bookings after you use your initial three. And going on a day with long operating hours... I just spent two days at Disneyland and it was a blast! MaxPass was definitely worth the money. Did Guardians, Mansion, Pirates, Soarin, and Matterhorn twice, Radiator Springs, Big Thunder, and Space Mountain three times, Indiana Jones four times, and everything else operating once. Disneyland is definitely better suited for a more spontaneous trip.
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Feb 23, 2018 18:06
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It’s possible, just difficult. When I was in college I would go to Disneyland during the week and do every attraction, visit every store, and still have time to spare. Disneyland easily had more attractions then than all of WDW does right now. (Meet and Greets are not attractions, no matter how Disney tries to make that so) EDIT: this was before FastPass hosed up lines and made them artificially longer.
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Feb 23, 2018 18:11
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Last July when we were there, a torrential downpour started in the middle of the day and lasted until evening. During that time, me, my wife, my brother, and his girlfriend were able to knock out literally every ride in MK. We were soaking wet but I felt so accomplished.
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Feb 23, 2018 18:20
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Grundulum posted:How in the hell is that possible? If you had the entire property to yourself, you would still spend most of the day walking from attraction to attraction and moving through the queueing areas. And that’s optimized, assuming no other people in the entirety of WDW. There’s a YouTube of a couple doing it. Their first attempt failed because of rain delays with outdoor rides, then they did it again and completed it in like 18 hours or something. They did a lot of park hopping back and forth to optimize fast passes.
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Feb 23, 2018 18:36
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poolside toaster posted:EDIT: this was before FastPass hosed up lines and made them artificially longer. FP+ probably made the idea a lot less predictable. Like, before, you knew you'd be spending X minutes waiting for an attraction. Now it's X+30 or if you get lucky, 5 minutes. I'd guess it's functionally impossible for groups larger than 2-ish. Bottom Liner posted:They did a lot of park hopping back and forth to optimize fast passes. There's a big chunk of luck involved in getting those fast passes. This Twitter account is one couple's run through it. Their order went: AK for Pandora MK, including main street vehicles AK HS EP HS EP MK The hops in the middle there from the studios and epcot involved literally running between the gates, complete with video. I think the only things that are set in stone are rope drop Pandora, finish at MK since it closes last. Everything else is just making sure your battery is topped off so you can refresh the app constantly to check for new passes.
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Feb 23, 2018 18:57
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I'm imagining them on Rockin Rollercoaster, phone out refreshing available FPs while going through the corkscrew.
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Feb 23, 2018 19:06
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What are the rules for inter park fast passes? Can you book at another park once you’ve used one?
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Feb 23, 2018 20:14
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I'm going to Disney in April. I'm not staying in a Disney resort, so I can only do my fast pass stuff 30 days in advance. Is there any chance of me booking Flight of Passage, or the other big name rides via fastpass? I assume not, since people staying at Disney have 30 whole days before me to reserve this stuff.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:16
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RCarr posted:I'm going to Disney in April. I'm not staying in a Disney resort, so I can only do my fast pass stuff 30 days in advance. Is there any chance of me booking Flight of Passage, or the other big name rides via fastpass? I assume not, since people staying at Disney have 30 whole days before me to reserve this stuff. edit: never mind that idea doesn’t work Dren fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Feb 23, 2018 |
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Feb 23, 2018 20:18
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RCarr posted:I'm going to Disney in April. I'm not staying in a Disney resort, so I can only do my fast pass stuff 30 days in advance. Is there any chance of me booking Flight of Passage, or the other big name rides via fastpass? I assume not, since people staying at Disney have 30 whole days before me to reserve this stuff. I’m going March 3 & 4 and booked 30 days in advanced and got everything I wanted except FoP, including Naavi River Journey. You shoukd be fine (besides FoP)
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Feb 23, 2018 20:26
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Reinanigans posted:I’m going March 3 & 4 and booked 30 days in advanced and got everything I wanted except FoP, including Naavi River Journey. You shoukd be fine (besides FoP) So basically if I want to do FoP, I will have to stand in line for 2-3 hours? Is it worth it?
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Feb 23, 2018 20:31
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Wake up early, uber to AK, rope drop it. I think it's worth rope dropping, but basically losing half a day to line is rough.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:33
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couldcareless posted:Wake up early, uber to AK, rope drop it. I think it's worth rope dropping, but basically losing half a day to line is rough. Yeah I don't mind getting up early and being there when the park opens. What kind of wait are we talking if I do this? An hour? I can deal with that.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:36
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RCarr posted:So basically if I want to do FoP, I will have to stand in line for 2-3 hours? Is it worth it? Just arrive 20 minutes before gates open officially. They'll start funneling people in and you'll be on the ride by opening time +15/20 minutes.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:36
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Bottom Liner posted:Just arrive 20 minutes before gates open officially. They'll start funneling people in and you'll be on the ride by opening time +15/20 minutes. Oh wow, that's great. Thanks for the info.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:37
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RCarr posted:So basically if I want to do FoP, I will have to stand in line for 2-3 hours? Is it worth it? I’ve never ridden it, but 3-4 hours sounds right and not worth it unless your next Disney trip won’t be for a long, long time. We’re early risers but won’t be getting to Orlando until the afternoon the day we go to AK so we’re not rope dropping. I agree that if you’re willing to rope drop, it’s probably worth it.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:38
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Or get in line at the end of the night. Although it may be posted as a long wait still usually that is an overestimate. The line also moves faster with no fastpass. Just be careful because while Disney usually keeps lines open until closing time they have closed FoP lines early a few times I was there. You can ask a CM to confirm when you need to be in line by.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:38
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Definitely rope drop and arrive 30min before posted opening. My wife and I did that and managed to be off FoP just 30min after park opening. For comparison, our friends arrived at the park 30min after opening and had to wait almost two hours to ride FoP.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:47
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Dren posted:What are the rules for inter park fast passes? Can you book at another park once you’ve used one? Any FastPass is legitimate except for the ones they issue when a ride breaks down or the "use anywhere" paper FastPasses given out by cast members. You also have to legitimately queue up for the ride, so no using cast member buddies to sneak you through the exit or anything that involves trespassing. Breakdowns don't give extra time, so you need to work around them or give up if there's no way the ride will be back up and running before the day ends (if it breaks down while you're on the ride, it counts as riding it though). It also doesn't count if it's during a special event like Not-So-Scary, because that makes it too easy. So you need to be at the earliest rope drop and use Extra Magic Hours to squeeze out whatever time you can.
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Feb 23, 2018 20:55
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Just go in the middle of the Super Bowl.
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Feb 23, 2018 21:25
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Be Our Guest got rid of the one thing I actually liked on their Dinner menu (the pork chop served with the insanely good Mac and Cheese), so I don't super care about the change.
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Feb 24, 2018 07:45
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Thinking about getting Tables in Wonderland. Are there any restrictions on it for character meals? I didn’t see any listed on the site.
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Feb 24, 2018 17:22
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Dren posted:Thinking about getting Tables in Wonderland. Are there any restrictions on it for character meals? I didn’t see any listed on the site. Is it worth it now with the AP dining discount? Did they make it better to compete?
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Feb 24, 2018 19:57
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I thought they had cut the AP dining back down to 10% and that the 20% had only been for a year
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Feb 24, 2018 20:19
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