Plan of Attack?

[Solomani]

Hi all,
Booked our holidays to visit TDL and TDSea in late June. I have a question, I am trying to create a ride “plan of attack” but it occurred to me I may not need to be as obsessive about doing rides in an optimum order as I would for WDW. Can anyone confirm? Do I just need to concentrate on getting FP for the FP rides I am interested in as early as possible then just meander around from ride to ride is OK?

I haven’t been to TDL since 98 and I haven’t been to TDSea since 2003. On both occasions I had no children and we just wandered around from ride-to-ride. I don’t recall that being an issue on both occasions. Having said that I have lived next to HKDL for the last 5 years and the kids visit at least once a month. And HKDL has taught us you need some kind of plan but not necessarily down to the minute ala WDW. However this time around at TDR will have 4 kids between 2 and 9 so would rather be better prepared if that’s needed.

At the moment I just have a list of rides the family is interested in, in order of preference hitting one after the other as needed skipping if the line is too long and coming back later. Will spend 4 days at the resort and 9 days in Tokyo total. If need be I am OK to come back a fifth day if required but prefer to keep everything in those two days as there are other things in Tokyo I want to visit with the family.

Thanks in advance!

 

[shelemm]

I didn't go to TDL with little ones, so that's a whole 'nother story. I am not sure how the multi-age dynamic works. You already know the score for TDL it seems. The BIG decision will be what to do about PHH and Monsters Inc. PHH is still the top attraction. Monsters, Inc runs out of FPs sooner, but is not nearly as good. However, I imagine for little kids you will want to do both. So quickly pick one to do and FP the other. Or consider doing PHH twice.

Splash will probably have Single Rider, so do not waste an FP on that.

If there is a special show with a lottery, I recommend entering the lottery as late as possible, before the last show starts. It's a waste of time to stand on line just to see if you'll be able to get a ticket.

For TDS, everyone (and I mean it) will be running to Toy Story Mania. Since we've done TSM a bunch of times in the USA, we decided to skip it. IJ usually has Single Rider... Aside from that, you already know the park, right?

With such little kids, it seems you'll be spending some quality time at Fortress Exploration and Triton's Kingdom. If you haven't seen Mystic Rhythm, I think you should.

Depending on the day, an FP for Magic Lamp Theatre might be a good idea. If you hit it at the wrong time, the wait can be surprisingly long.

 

[Solomani]

Thanks for the reply. So it seems just having a list of rides/attractions we are interested in and managing fast pass is the way to go.

 

[shelemm]

I think a plan of attack is always a good idea. At least have a starting point from which you can deviate. The problem regarding advice is that I'm not sure how you would want to handle the difference in age from a 9 year old (who may want to do everything) to a two-year old.

 

[Solomani]

Will most likely split up for many rides. I also plan on having the small ones go home after lunch while the older two and one of us keeps on trucking

 

[tomoyo]

I think if you don't mind posting your list of attractions you'd like to hit, it'll be easier for people to advise you on a plan of attack.

 

[shelemm]

Here was my plan of attack for Disney Sea, without Toy Story Mania:

Monday, August 20, 2012
Arrived at 7:20am
Park opens at 8:30am
Journey (we did not run, most people running to Toy Story Mania)
Aquatopia
DS Got FPs for TOT while we waited for Storm Rider (9:30am FP for 2:20pm entry)
Storm Rider
Indiana Jones (Single Rider Line)*
Got FPs for 20,000 (11:30am for 1:35pm entry)
Lunch Vulcania
Mermaid Show
Got FP for Magic Lamp (1:30pm for 1:55pm entry)
Sindbad
20,000 Leagues with FP
Magic Lamp Theatre with FP
Won Lottery for BBB (applied at 3pm)**
Tower of Terror with FP
Big Band Beat (3:30pm show)
Duffy Show at Cape Cod Cookout
Got FP for Raging Spirit (4:50pm for 9pm entry)
Mystic Rythyms (5:20pm show)***
Made Reservation at Magellan (6pm)
Fortress Exploration
Dinner at Magellan (6:30pm)***
Fantasmic (8:10pm)
Raging Spirit with FP
Leave Park 9:30pm (Park closes at 10pm)

 

[Solomani]

I think if you don't mind posting your list of attractions you'd like to hit, it'll be easier for people to advise you on a plan of attack.

Here is the list with priority:

TDL Ride/Priority
Splash Mountain (FP) H
Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes M
Peter Pan's Flight H
Snow White's Adventure L
Pinnochio's Daring Journey L
Pooh's Hunny Hunt (FP) H
Haunted Mansion (FP) H+
Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall M
Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek! (FP) H-
Star Tours (FP) H+
Captain EO (English?) (FP) L
Grand Circuit Raceway L
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin L
Donald's Boat (attraction) L
Go Gadget Coaster L
Toon Park (attraction) L
Mickey's House (meet Mickey) L
Big Thunder Mountain (FP) H
Mark Twain Riverboat M
Westernland Shootin' Gallery L
Penny Arcade L
Pirates of the Caribbean H

Ride/Priority
Venetian Gondolas M
Fortress Explorations M
Tower of Terror (FP) H+
Toy Story Mania (FP) M
DisneySea Transit Steamer Line L
StormRider (FP) L
Aquatopia M
Indiana Jones Adventure (FP) H+
Jasmine's Flying Carpets M
Sindbad's Storybook Voyage M
Caravan Carousel M
Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster M
Scuttle's Scooters M
Jumpin Jellyfish M
Blowfish Gondolas M
Ariel's Playground* M
Ariel's Greeting Grotto L
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (FP) H
20,000 Leagues under the Sea (FP) H

 

[shelemm]

Just a guess: FP for Toy Story Mania will be gone 60-90 minutes after park opening. Tower of Terror about 2-3 hours. Like I said before, the mania for Toy Story Mania has changed the equation of visiting TDS. Because of the people running to TSM, they immediately come off and FP ToT. A huge attraction like Journey now has nobody going there first thing.

Same thing once Monsters, Inc. opened. It is insane, especially because it's only an ok ride, but the FPs go quickly.

Here is a website to look at:
http://www.deepdisney.com/
This site is in Japanese, with a tiny bit of English. The key page you want is the 11th link from the top: it is a chart with every attraction wait time and FP return time for that day. The left hand side of the chart is in Japanese, but the right hand side (you will have to scroll to view it) is in English.

You'll also want to look at the Crowd Calendar:
http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/
It's also in Japanese, but the calendar part should be easy to figure out.

There is also an app, I believe, that has real-time wait and return times for when you are there.

Here is the Mice Chat thread with the info:
http://micechat.com/forums/tokyo-di...ve-real-time-updates-fastpass-wait-times.html

 

[Solomani]

Thanks will check it out. Was aware of the crowd calendar but not the others.

 

[Solomani]

Here is a website to look at:
http://www.deepdisney.com/
This site is in Japanese, with a tiny bit of English. The key page you want is the 11th link from the top: it is a chart with every attraction wait time and FP return time for that day. The left hand side of the chart is in Japanese, but the right hand side (you will have to scroll to view it) is in English.

What a great site, thanks a lot. Is the wait-time update daily/nightly? I am not 100% sure how to read it. You have the time at the top and the colour coding is easy enough to figure out. I also assume the number is the wait time at that time of day (so 13 minutes for Haunted Mansion at 0800).

But where is the FP info and what does it mean when its blank - for example Pirates is entirely blank. Just no info for that ride?

Thanks.

 

[shelemm]

What a great site, thanks a lot. Is the wait-time update daily/nightly? I am not 100% sure how to read it. You have the time at the top and the colour coding is easy enough to figure out. I also assume the number is the wait time at that time of day (so 13 minutes for Haunted Mansion at 0800).

But where is the FP info and what does it mean when its blank - for example Pirates is entirely blank. Just no info for that ride?

Thanks.

Pirates does not have FP.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

We were at TDS yesterday. Parked opened at 8:00. They cut off the FP line for TSMM at 8:42. My DH pulled our FP at 8:25 for a 5:20 return.

Now, this wasn't an overly crowded day, but Journey was down and that definitely impacted the rest of the attractions.
This was also the first time I had seen CM's trying to slow people from running to TSMM.

 

[Solomani]

We were at TDS yesterday. Parked opened at 8:00. They cut off the FP line for TSMM at 8:42. My DH pulled our FP at 8:25 for a 5:20 return.

Now, this wasn't an overly crowded day, but Journey was down and that definitely impacted the rest of the attractions.
This was also the first time I had seen CM's trying to slow people from running to TSMM.

Wow that's crazy. Looking at the calendar it says the day you went had 30k the days I will go has 22k. Not sure 8k will make a big difference. To be frank it wouldn't worry me missing it.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Yeah, we only went bc our friend is about deploy and really wanted to go. We had just been in April and it was wonderful...albeit TSMM was the same mob scene. Also found out (could be rumor) that the Japanese were given some huge special for the month of May due to the 30th Anniversary. If that is truly the case, your days in June should be fabulous.

 

[Solomani]

Let's hope so. Will happily update this thread after the trip.

 

[Solomani]

Does anyone know if you can use Fastpasses after there window in TDL and TDS?

 

[shelemm]

You can't count on using FP after the allotted time at TDR.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

I wouldn't count on it. Especially if it is at all busy. They wouldn't even give me a Rider Switch (which they hand write at TDR) on my last visit.

 

[DreamSweetsLove]

Does anyone know if you can use Fastpasses after there window in TDL and TDS?

You can do it, it's better if it's not too late after the FP time. The exception is at the end of the day after they have finished taking FP's entirely, so just make sure the FP line is still open.