DisneyFive
When is the 3:00 parade?
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
Pretty much agree with everything you’re saying. I do think rope dropping Space Mountain saved a little bit of time, but one thing everyone needs to realize is that time is time. Getting to Magic Kingdom at 8:30 just wait half an hour before Park opens, and then wait in a short line for your first ride…. You are still waiting 30 minutes plus ride queue, whether it’s in line somewhere or not.Just wrapped up day 2 of our 8 day trip. Tuesday, we rope dropped FOP at AK. Got plenty of stuff done, then back to hotel for nap, followed by evening at EPCOT. Then "rope dropped" Space Mountain this morning, followed by other stuff, lunch at Crystal Palace, then nap, and on to HS evening.
Quick notes -
- Parks seemed crowded, but no more than normal for this time of year. The parking lots were empty enough that I was scratching my head as to how much capacity the missing attractions could take up. We don't have attendance numbers, but I am guessing the numbers won't look particularly great to management.
- not having fastpasses sucks. But it only sucks for those of us that do a good job planning. I bet the average "i just showed up at the park and expect this to be like Six Flags Plus" crowd is having a great time. The clerk at our hotel was telling us about the time she stood in line 4 hours for FOP. Pretty sure she would have been really happy waiting up to a max of 90 minutes yesterday when we were at AK.
- just guessing here, but it seems clear to me that Disney doesn't intend to not have a fastpass option (betting on a paid variation) for too long. The queues snaking out into the open sun are so "not Disney." I would have expected them to create more shade and install fans (at the very least) if they think they are going to stick around for any significant amount of time. An ugly line with no theming in the hot sun is not a very magical feeling.
- RD fop was totally worth it. The let us stream into FOP about 740 if i remember correctly. We were quite a bit back in the crowd and we were on in about 20 minutes. Most of that was walking thru the endless track of queue without stopping.. Not sure why i let my 10 year old talk me into "rope dropping" Space Mountain, but it didn't turn out very efficiently. The crowd was already pretty intense by 8:30. I took some pictures of the crowd behind us and in the hub while we waited at the Tomorrowland Bridge at 8:45. As previously reported, they don't let anyone thru until exactly 9am. I will try to attach pics. It seemed like the expected wait time for SM was exactly the same at 9:30 as it was when we got on. We are "rope dropping" (quotes bc they don't let you thru until 9am, so not sure it really counts) MK tomorrow, too, and hopefully will report back more successful results by going to BTM first.
- the heat is a factor. Although it isn't a deal breaker, it will zap you.
- avoiding the lines with a paid fp option will definitely be utilized by people like me, even at a significant cost. I live 12 hours by car away and try to visit once a year (but in reality less than that). For us, trying to coordinate a time when family members can go is going to result in going when school is out. And that means crowds. And I am willing to pay to optimize our trip.
My 19 year old said today that instead of going once a year, she thinks we should go once every 3 years and save for a couple or 3 days of ViP service if we get other family members to go, too. I think that is the sort of direction paid fp will take us - going less often and spending more when we go.
My older daughter mentioned that this morning, re. FOP. We waited 66 minutes I think last night and if we would have rope dropped it this morning, sure we probably would’ve been on in less than 20 minutes but we also would have to get to animal kingdom at least 30 minutes early. Not having FP+ is a huge difference this trip.
Hope the rest of your trip goes fantastic!
-Dan