I figure for my sake as much as anyone reading this I'd take the next few days to go over our plans for touring next week. One week from today, next Sunday, is our first day on property and our Hollywood Studios day.
Since we'll be arriving Sunday morning and some of us will likely be napping after an over-night car trip, I figured we'd hit the rather abbreviated Hollywood Studios. I made our first FastPass+ for the Tower of Terror with an arrival between 3:40 and 4:40. I figure that's plenty of wiggle room to get everyone rested up and to the park. Besides that, my personal priority is the new Star Wars LAunch Bay to hug Chewbacca and hopefully see the stormtrooper march and if we're lucky some Jawas. I'm packing a few old flip phones to trade so I'm really hoping to see the little guys!
Other than that, we want to see much of what's left--the Great Movie Ride (with the Ark of the Covenant now in the queue), Star Tours, Muppetvision 360, One Man's Dream and the associated Dr. Strange preview, and if the line isn't silly long Toy Story Mania.
I'm playing food by ear and hoping Pizza Rizzo is open. If it isn't (and maybe even as a second stop for grub) I'm considering dropping into the Tune-In Lounge.
We'll finish the day using our second FastPass+ for the Fantasmic show before heading back for some well-deserved rest to prep for a HUGE Day Two at the Magic Kingdom!
Showing posts with label Tower of Terror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tower of Terror. Show all posts
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Thursday, October 20, 2016
9 Days: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
I hadn't realized this film was scheduled for this coming summer until the teaser trailer dropped this week. Now I'm really excited. Sure, you can hate on them for taking the Tower of Terror in Disneyland. I don't care, and besides, that ToT doesn't even work right. Come to Florida and experience the 5th dimension if it bothers you that much. And, sure, there are those upset they are rumored to be coming to Epcot with a roller coaster replacement for Universe of Energy. Get over it. Ellen is annoying, the ride has run its course and from the rumors, the coaster would be epic. And I don't wanna hear about "edu-tainment" either, that idea has been on the way out for years. I say if you own a franchise as cool as Guardians, you use it.
And they ARE cool, the Guardians. They aren't terribly super and they are pretty lousy heroes. They are misfits and freaks led by an over-compensating, socially inept geek. In other words, my kind of people. So move over and let them into my Happy Place.
The trailer is great, and I've pasted it at the bottom of this post for your amusement, but the truly exciting part is this photo.
Am I seeing some punk here? A lot of punk here? I'm telling you right now that if they put the Ramones on the Vol. 2 soundtrack, they've earned a Guardians fan-for-life here.
And they ARE cool, the Guardians. They aren't terribly super and they are pretty lousy heroes. They are misfits and freaks led by an over-compensating, socially inept geek. In other words, my kind of people. So move over and let them into my Happy Place.
The trailer is great, and I've pasted it at the bottom of this post for your amusement, but the truly exciting part is this photo.
Am I seeing some punk here? A lot of punk here? I'm telling you right now that if they put the Ramones on the Vol. 2 soundtrack, they've earned a Guardians fan-for-life here.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Refuting The Top 13 Reasons Not To Go To Disney, Part 3
So I'm happily looking at my Facebook newsfeed the other day and one of
those "Sponsored" things is up there. It's from a site called Viral
Travel (which sounds like a bad idea on the face of it) and is entitled 13 Reasons Not To Go To Disney.
Of course I bite. Sue me. So its about what I expect, the same things
we Disney fans fans from you non-Disney fans-- crowds,expense,
capitalism, yadda yadda yadda. The thing is, many of these criticisms
are true to a large extent, but avoidable. I hate to see people get
spoiled on the Disney I love because they go about the whole experience
unprepared logistically or mentally for the realities of the place. I
figured just for kicks to take the 13 reasons one by one (or two by two) and try to
explain why they don't keep ME from the Magic. This part three, part one is here and two here.
11. The Crowds Are Insane
9. The Lines Are Insane
Yes, Walt Disney World is one of the most popular vacation destinations on the planet. It gets crowded, sometimes very crowded. Crowds equal long lines for some, and sometimes almost all, attractions. But find me a theme park that isn't like this, or a beach, or any popular vacation spot. If you go away to a popular place during a popular time, you likely won't be lonely. Basically, the complaint above is correct in that any time your child is off school, the park will be crowded. And when Disney parks are crowded, there will be lines. There are two ways to deal with this, go when it's less crowded or learn ways to make the most of your time when the lines are long.
The easiest way to deal with Disney crowds is to plan your trip for a time that is less crowded. Sites like touringplans.com offer detailed crowd calendars that can help you pick a less crowded time. In our experience, September is great and we've had good luck doing weekend trips right before Thanksgiving. If your child attends a school with a year-round or other non-traditional calendar (or you home school) you're in luck and it's easy to go at a time when crowds aren't "insane." NEVER go right around Christmas, particularly the week between Christmas and New Years. I am a HUGE fan, know all sorts of ways around crowd problems and have been enough times that I am not dying to ride every ride, but I see pictures from that week and it doesn't look at all like something I want to be involved with. We've had days in September when we walked on every attraction, not a line to be had. Those times are getting fewer and harder to find, but they are still there. It's worth taking your children out of school for your trip, in my opinion, but course that depends on the child involved and the school. We've had good luck is all I can say.
Sometimes, however, you find yourself in the Disney parks with all of humanity trying to ride Space Mountain at once. I'm going to start sounding like a broken record in these posts, but planning and knowledge really are the keys to making a Disney trip fun no matter the circumstances. Understand and use the FastPass system. Period. You are a fool if you don't. FastPass is Disney's way of letting you pre-book an attraction for a specific time window allowing you to return at that time and wait in little or no line. The FastPass system is free to all park guests and it really works, but you need to use it and it helps if you enter the park with a general plan, because using FastPass kills spontaneity to some degree.
I can't explain all there is to know about FastPass in one blog post. Books could be written about FastPass at this point, but they'd likely be obsolete by publication because Disney is in the process of changing how FastPass works. The introduction of MagicBands has turned FastPass into FastPass+, allowing you to make attraction reservations months before you leave your home for your trip. The trade-off is a restriction on the number of attractions you can get a FastPass+ reservation for and a sort of Chinese restaurant menu system for choosing which ones. You can now get one from column A (the most popular) and two from column B (the less popular) in one park each day. Attractions include rides of course, but also reserved parade viewing and character meet and greets. You can use an on-site kiosk while in the parks or the My Disney Experience app to change your FastPass+ reservations at any time, so ALL the spontaneity isn't gone, but it's more complicated.
That's one thing I will admit as a potential drawback to a Disney vacation. It requires a lot of forethought, planning and study to make it all it can be. For me, that's a plus, I LOVE doing those things. But if you don't, Disney can be a hard place to navigate. There are plenty of resources to help you, though. Websites like Chip & Co, the DisBoards, AllEars.net, WDWInfo and touringplans.com are great. Many guidebooks are also available, the best of which is without a doubt The Unofficial Guide To Walt Disney World. One caveat about the Unofficial Guide, though, this year's edition went to press before the FastPass+changes were finalized, so it is zero help navigating that system. The 2015 version will be out in the fall and will I'm sure be awesome.
One last note. This might peg me as a total Disney Geek more than anything else, but I actually feel a bit
cheated when there is no line. Disney makes their queues interesting, even fun. The "line" such as it is, for the Dumbos is a big indoor playground waiting area. Guest receive a beeper and when their turn to ride comes, it goes off and they collect the rug rats and head onto the Dumbos. I didn't even get to look around this area because there was no line when we rode, twice back-to-back, during the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. There are video games in the Space Mountain queue and kids' activities in Winnie The Pooh's. The themeing of the hotel housing the Tower of Terror is spectacular, there are tiny details everywhere and it kind of kills me that every time we've visited the attraction, we've walked right by all of them. I annoy the folks behind me stopping to look all the time, and tend to get shuffled along.
I've truly embraced the Disney Magic, I actually LIKE the lines. :-)
11. The Crowds Are Insane
So you’re going to go to Disney when it’s vacation time, but so is everyone else who happens to have time off work and school at the same time. Unless you can go during the off-season, you’re going to be enjoying the park with thousands and thousands of strangers
9. The Lines Are Insane
With the big crowds come big lines. The better the ride, the longer the line. Want to go on Space Mountain? Be prepared to wait well over an hour. The most insulting part is the ride is over in 5 minutes, making you question how worth it the wait really was.
Yes, Walt Disney World is one of the most popular vacation destinations on the planet. It gets crowded, sometimes very crowded. Crowds equal long lines for some, and sometimes almost all, attractions. But find me a theme park that isn't like this, or a beach, or any popular vacation spot. If you go away to a popular place during a popular time, you likely won't be lonely. Basically, the complaint above is correct in that any time your child is off school, the park will be crowded. And when Disney parks are crowded, there will be lines. There are two ways to deal with this, go when it's less crowded or learn ways to make the most of your time when the lines are long.
The easiest way to deal with Disney crowds is to plan your trip for a time that is less crowded. Sites like touringplans.com offer detailed crowd calendars that can help you pick a less crowded time. In our experience, September is great and we've had good luck doing weekend trips right before Thanksgiving. If your child attends a school with a year-round or other non-traditional calendar (or you home school) you're in luck and it's easy to go at a time when crowds aren't "insane." NEVER go right around Christmas, particularly the week between Christmas and New Years. I am a HUGE fan, know all sorts of ways around crowd problems and have been enough times that I am not dying to ride every ride, but I see pictures from that week and it doesn't look at all like something I want to be involved with. We've had days in September when we walked on every attraction, not a line to be had. Those times are getting fewer and harder to find, but they are still there. It's worth taking your children out of school for your trip, in my opinion, but course that depends on the child involved and the school. We've had good luck is all I can say.
Sometimes, however, you find yourself in the Disney parks with all of humanity trying to ride Space Mountain at once. I'm going to start sounding like a broken record in these posts, but planning and knowledge really are the keys to making a Disney trip fun no matter the circumstances. Understand and use the FastPass system. Period. You are a fool if you don't. FastPass is Disney's way of letting you pre-book an attraction for a specific time window allowing you to return at that time and wait in little or no line. The FastPass system is free to all park guests and it really works, but you need to use it and it helps if you enter the park with a general plan, because using FastPass kills spontaneity to some degree.
I can't explain all there is to know about FastPass in one blog post. Books could be written about FastPass at this point, but they'd likely be obsolete by publication because Disney is in the process of changing how FastPass works. The introduction of MagicBands has turned FastPass into FastPass+, allowing you to make attraction reservations months before you leave your home for your trip. The trade-off is a restriction on the number of attractions you can get a FastPass+ reservation for and a sort of Chinese restaurant menu system for choosing which ones. You can now get one from column A (the most popular) and two from column B (the less popular) in one park each day. Attractions include rides of course, but also reserved parade viewing and character meet and greets. You can use an on-site kiosk while in the parks or the My Disney Experience app to change your FastPass+ reservations at any time, so ALL the spontaneity isn't gone, but it's more complicated.
That's one thing I will admit as a potential drawback to a Disney vacation. It requires a lot of forethought, planning and study to make it all it can be. For me, that's a plus, I LOVE doing those things. But if you don't, Disney can be a hard place to navigate. There are plenty of resources to help you, though. Websites like Chip & Co, the DisBoards, AllEars.net, WDWInfo and touringplans.com are great. Many guidebooks are also available, the best of which is without a doubt The Unofficial Guide To Walt Disney World. One caveat about the Unofficial Guide, though, this year's edition went to press before the FastPass+changes were finalized, so it is zero help navigating that system. The 2015 version will be out in the fall and will I'm sure be awesome.
One last note. This might peg me as a total Disney Geek more than anything else, but I actually feel a bit
 |
| You wouldn't want to miss the giant balsa wood airplane, would you? |
I've truly embraced the Disney Magic, I actually LIKE the lines. :-)
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