Yeah, I'm still catching up on the countdown.....
Kenny the Pirate announced yesterday that October's WDW park hours had been adjusted, allowing for extending the Star Wars fireworks at Hollywood Studios and the after dark experiences at Animal Kingdom. If you aren't familiar with Kenny the Pirate, you should be. He is huge into character meet and greets and is the absolute king of helping you find exactly the character you want to meet. But beyond that, he is great for keeping abreast of park hours, show times and pretty much anything that affects your planning for a Walt Disney World trip. I'd recommend signing up for his email alerts via his website here as well as following him on Facebook and Twitter.
Lately Disney planning has been more challenging than in the past due to the frequency with which they change shows and times and hours and such. I'm not complaining, mind you, this is the result of new experiences being added for the most part, so hooray that. But it is tricky making plans as far out as Disney encourages and then keeping an ear to the ground to see if the changes require moving ADRs or FastPass+ reservations or even shifting plans for which park to visit on which day. You've got to plan but remain flexible and sometimes that's a hard balance to keep.
In this case, we were ready to forgo Fantasmic (for which we'd secured FastPass+es) to be able to catch the Star Wars fireworks, but as it turns out they will not be offered on the night we are at Hollywood Studios. Kind of a bummer, but it means we can stick with our plans there that day. But Animal Kingdom's longer hours are another story. The park will be open until 8:30 pm rather than the previously announced 6:30 pm on October 31. We won't be there until November 2, and new hours haven't been released for November yet, but I have every idea those days will be extended as well. If this is the case, we'll cancel our Morimoto Asia ADRs and plan to stay in Animal Kingdom to enjoy the new nighttime experiences. There is even a rumor that Rivers of Light may be up and running by the end of October, which would mean trying to find an ADR at an Animal Kingdom restaurant that offers viewing and dinner combos.
Oh darn, looks like I'll have to keep hanging out on all the Disney websites..... Poor me :-)
Showing posts with label Morimoto Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morimoto Asia. Show all posts
Monday, September 5, 2016
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
60 Days: FastPass Day!!!!!
I know I already wrote of my FastPass+ plans, but 60 days out is FastPass Day, so I thought I'd tell you how it went.
We finally got John's band schedule nailed down, and we are going to be leaving for Disney from Cary on the Saturday night before Halloween, so our park visits will begin on Sunday, October 30 and we'll leave about lunchtime on the following Thursday.
My FastPass+ strategy is pretty unique to our trip. Most of the published touring plans have the goal of getting as many attractions fit into as little time as possible. We have different priorities. It's a good example of why you should either know Disney's systems well enough to sort out your own plans, or talk to someone who does before you make your own plans. To be right for you, they need to fit your needs. In our case, we have some sort of special circumstance affecting each day's plans.
On Sunday, we're headed to Hollywood Studios, but doing so on likely just a few hours sleep. We will be leaving directly from a band competition on Saturday night, maybe as late as 8 or 9 pm, so we may not get to Coronado Springs until the very wee hours. I don't know how early we will get up, but we will definitely not be rope dropping. We only get two FastPasses for this park, and Rock'n Rollercoaster wasn't available (hoping that doesn't mean it's closed....), so our first reservation is for Tower of Terror in the early afternoon. I looked through the other options and didn't see anything that was likely to offer a huge line we needed to avoid, so I made our second FastPass for Fantasmic, ensuring us seats for a show we haven't seen in probably ten years.
Monday is Magic Kingdom day but we have the Keys To The Kingdom Tour in the morning and MNSSHP at night, so our window for FastPasses runs from about 3-7 pm. I made one for Jungle Cruise at 2:30 thinking we may be able to make the hour-long window, then for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and finally one for the Dumbos just before the party begins just because I had one more and Dumbos fit.
Tuesday is Epcot, but we are looking to spend a good bit of time at the Food and Wine Festival, so I took that into account. I figure we'll rope drop this park and hit Soarin' first so I made my first FastPass for Test Track at 10 am as our second stop (or third if we can fit Livin' With The Land in first). I spread our next two out into the afternoon and evening with Mission space around 3 pm and Spaceship Earth around 7 pm. My idea is bounce back and forth between Future World and World Showcase so we can graze at the food booths. We'll see how that works.
Wednesday is the most "normal" day we have and it will be Animal Kingdom day. We'll rope drop the safari then head to Expedition Everest with our first FastPass. It's an Extra Magic Hours day, so that should work out well. Our next FastPass is for Dinosaur in the early afternoon and our last is Kali River Rapids just before the park closes at 5 and we head off to dinner at Morimoto Asia, hopefully giving us ample time to dry.
We'll be leaving Thursday, but will spend a good half day at Magic Kingdom first. I just fit in two FastPasses for this day with Space Mountain early then Tomorrowland Speedway at 1 so we can keep that our traditional last ride before we leave.
I think I've done well. The only other advance FastPass experience I have was on a one-day Epcot trip, but it worked well so I believe I have a handle on this. I will certainly be reporting back on the results!
We finally got John's band schedule nailed down, and we are going to be leaving for Disney from Cary on the Saturday night before Halloween, so our park visits will begin on Sunday, October 30 and we'll leave about lunchtime on the following Thursday.
My FastPass+ strategy is pretty unique to our trip. Most of the published touring plans have the goal of getting as many attractions fit into as little time as possible. We have different priorities. It's a good example of why you should either know Disney's systems well enough to sort out your own plans, or talk to someone who does before you make your own plans. To be right for you, they need to fit your needs. In our case, we have some sort of special circumstance affecting each day's plans.
On Sunday, we're headed to Hollywood Studios, but doing so on likely just a few hours sleep. We will be leaving directly from a band competition on Saturday night, maybe as late as 8 or 9 pm, so we may not get to Coronado Springs until the very wee hours. I don't know how early we will get up, but we will definitely not be rope dropping. We only get two FastPasses for this park, and Rock'n Rollercoaster wasn't available (hoping that doesn't mean it's closed....), so our first reservation is for Tower of Terror in the early afternoon. I looked through the other options and didn't see anything that was likely to offer a huge line we needed to avoid, so I made our second FastPass for Fantasmic, ensuring us seats for a show we haven't seen in probably ten years.
Monday is Magic Kingdom day but we have the Keys To The Kingdom Tour in the morning and MNSSHP at night, so our window for FastPasses runs from about 3-7 pm. I made one for Jungle Cruise at 2:30 thinking we may be able to make the hour-long window, then for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and finally one for the Dumbos just before the party begins just because I had one more and Dumbos fit.
Tuesday is Epcot, but we are looking to spend a good bit of time at the Food and Wine Festival, so I took that into account. I figure we'll rope drop this park and hit Soarin' first so I made my first FastPass for Test Track at 10 am as our second stop (or third if we can fit Livin' With The Land in first). I spread our next two out into the afternoon and evening with Mission space around 3 pm and Spaceship Earth around 7 pm. My idea is bounce back and forth between Future World and World Showcase so we can graze at the food booths. We'll see how that works.
Wednesday is the most "normal" day we have and it will be Animal Kingdom day. We'll rope drop the safari then head to Expedition Everest with our first FastPass. It's an Extra Magic Hours day, so that should work out well. Our next FastPass is for Dinosaur in the early afternoon and our last is Kali River Rapids just before the park closes at 5 and we head off to dinner at Morimoto Asia, hopefully giving us ample time to dry.
We'll be leaving Thursday, but will spend a good half day at Magic Kingdom first. I just fit in two FastPasses for this day with Space Mountain early then Tomorrowland Speedway at 1 so we can keep that our traditional last ride before we leave.
I think I've done well. The only other advance FastPass experience I have was on a one-day Epcot trip, but it worked well so I believe I have a handle on this. I will certainly be reporting back on the results!
Thursday, August 25, 2016
65 Days: New Bus Routes To Disney Springs
Whether it was my vacation panning that brought it on or not, as of this Sunday Disney will begin offering Disney Bus Transportation from each of its theme parks to Disney Springs. Buses will run from 4 pm to 11 pm, or two hours after park closing, whichever comes first. There will be no transportation the other way, from Disney Springs to any of the parks. You'll still need to transfer at the nearest resort for that trip. Buses will depart Disney Springs for the resorts as always, making a trip for drinks after a day in the sadly dry Magic Kingdom easy as pie.
The awesome Kenny the Pirate has a good article on this addition where he predicts buses will arrive bound for Disney Springs about every 10-20 minutes at park exits.
Clearly this is Disney's way to encourage after-park dinners and cocktails and shopping, but it's another one of those win-wins, ya know? I WANT to go to Jock Lindsey's for a nightcap after a long day in the parks. Thanks, Disney!
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