An Asian Disney & Universal Adventure - A January 2017 Pre-Trip Report includes Shanghai Disneyland

Shanghai Disneyland Update

Shanghai Disneyland Crowds

So I've come across an article that summarizes wait times and Fastpass distribution times at Shanghai Disneyland during the trial opening period. You can find the full article here.

This is what I've been able to glean from that report:

• Wait times for Tron, Pirates and Soaring (headliner attractions) have been around 2-3 hours
  
  
• Wait times for smaller rides like Voyage to the Crystal Grotto, Peter Pan and Buzz Lightyear have been around 20-45 minutes
  
  
• Fastpass wait times were 15-20 minutes. Remember you have to get FP from one of three ‘guest services’ locations in either Fantasyland, Tomorrowland or Adventure Isle and the report advises you can only get a new Fastpass every 3 hours! So in reality you would probably only have been able to get 2 a day. This assumption is based on the idea that you get your first Fastpass as the park opens at 9am and then your second as soon as you are able to at 12 and assumes that by 3pm, when you can get another, all the Fastpasses would be sold out. This is generally the case at Tokyo Disney, which appears to use Fastpass efficiently and in busy times has similar crowd levels to what it sounds like Shanghai Disney will have, but I guess it all depends if the Chinese are as efficent as the Japanese at using the FP system, which supposes they really understand how to take advantage of it.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Roaring Rapids weren’t open during the trial period (I don’t think, I know Roaring Rapids wasn’t and am not sure about the Mine Train) so hopefully their capacity will help wait times with the other headliners. In addition I’ve read that not all Soaring theatres were open which contributed to long waits. Of course the information in the article doesn't have a primary source so it's not 100% accurate. I assume it was sourced by a visitor or visitors to the resort during the trial opening.

This was in the busiest season – I’m hoping in January it will be much quieter and I will track the progression of wait times (which are sure to be crazy the months after opening day and then hopefully will die down) – still this is going to be a very very busy park! I'm wondering if they allowed peak crowds in during soft openings or not, because this means it could be a lot busier for those going on opening day in the summer months following opening day.

The article also mentions ‘ticket sales’ for shows in the park (which makes me wonder if there will be a lottery ticket scheme like some of Tokyo Disney’s shows) or if you simply have to get a FP or ticket to watch the shows. Then again the article also mentions ‘purchasing’ Fastpass which is a misnomer as Fastpasses aren’t purchased, simply collected for free along with your ticket if you choose to use the service (which of course the Shanghai Disneyland website confirms if the case).

Also I'm not forgetting that the following attractions have single rider lines (which might be a must do with waits like mentioned above) - Roaring Rapids, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, TRON LightCycle Coaster and Pirates of the Caribbean.

I will continue to track wait times in the app after the park opens, still it's good to have an idea of what crowds were like during soft openings

In other updates - someone has posted a very helpful photo of the shuttle bus schedule from Shanghai Disneyland Hotel to the Shanghai Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Disney train station. While we are staying at the Toy Story Hotel I assume the schedule will be similar which is very useful to know for planning purposes

Happy Shanghai Disneyland Opening Day Everyone!

So I've been sitting at my computer today watching all the videos I can from the opening day festivities at Shanghai Disneyland! I've found a full video of last nights Opening Ceremony concert, which is so utterly beautiful! The combination of the effects on the castle, the performers, the orchestra, the choir and the beautiful Chinese music combined with Disney classics was so moving!

I've also found some videos of the lands at the new Shanghai Disney as well as snippets of each attraction!

Mickey Avenue:

Fantasyland:


Enchanted Storybook Castle:


Treasure Cove:


Adventure Isle:


Tomorrowland:


Tomorrowland at night:


Disney have also released this great video with some interviews with some of the Cast Members who helped make this awesome part a reality!


I was finally able to find a video of the Gardens of Imagination


And here it the park opening ceremony!!


That's it for now - Have a magical day everyone

Visa's for travel to Singapore, Hong Kong, China (Shanghai only) and Japan

So one other planning point I thought was worth mentioning here was information on obtaining tourist Visa's for travel to the Asian Countries we are visiting including Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan

Unlike the other countries we are visiting, China has always required tourists to submit their passports to their local embassy to apply for a Visa into China, regardless of how long they were staying. New regulations have recently been put into place though, as China is trying to cater to the tourist market, and now you can stay in China without a visa for 72 hour (3 day period) if you are transiting through the country (i.e. flying into China from one country and departing China for a different country than your country of entry). When flying directly into Shanghai (and only for those staying in Shanghai for their entire visit) the 'without a visa' period is extended out to 144 hour (6 days) which covers our time in Shanghai. Still, given how strict the Chinese are RE visitors and visas we've decided to double check this info with our local embassy, as well as check our dates and travel plans definitely do make us eligible for the 144 hour 'no visa' visitation period. Information about this Visa-Free Transit policy can be found on the Chinese Embassy site here

The other processes for obtaining entry to the other countries we are visiting are pretty simply and don't require obtaining a VISA before heading to the country:

Australian and New Zealanders are exempt from having to obtain a Visa prior to visiting Japan, but are allowed to stay for 90 days without one and are issued a 'temporary visa' on arrival in Japan. Information sourced here

Australian's visiting Hong Kong (with a valid passport) can stay up to three months without a Visa or Entry permit. Information sourced here

Australian's visiting Singapore simply need to have valid travel docs (passport), confirmed onward or return tickets, appropriate documentation for entry into the next country they are visiting and 'sufficient funds for their stay in Singapore. Australia is not on the list of countries that a visa is required for entry to Singapore. If all this information is sufficiently provided a visitor is provided with a Visit Pass at the checkpoint into the country (which I assume means at the airport). Information sourced here.

Shanghai Disney wait times and VISA update!

So, I've been watching the Shanghai Disney app yesterday and today and am pleased to report that, even on opening day, wait times weren't too ridiculous (Soaring Over the Horizon had the biggest wait of 120 minutes and that's similar to a busy day at EPCOT and nowhere near some of the busy waits for Tokyo Disney's headliner attractions).

These were the wait times at 4pm yesterday:
Seven Dwarves Mine Train - 75 mins
Peter Pan's Flight - 50 mins
Voyage to the Crystal Grotto - 60 mins
Once Upon A Time Walkthrough - 40 mins
Fantasia Caroseul - 30 mins
Tron LightCycle - 75 mins
Buzz Lightyear - 40 mins
Pirates of the Caribbean - 40 mins
Roarin' Rapids - 105 min
Soaring Over the Horizon - 120 mins

This morning in the first hour all the smaller attractions wait times have stayed around 5-10 minutes, with the Mine Train staying at 15 minutes. Pirates basically got to 40 minutes within the first half hour but seems to have stayed there and given that this is a fast loading attraction I'd say that's where it will probably stay (and this is probably one of the reasons there's no Fastpass on this attraction). Roarin' River Rapids and Tron I can't comment about this morning as they have both gone down, except to say that at opening they were a 10 and 5 minute wait respectively.

Based on this information I'll probably be re-doing my Touring Plan. I'd say the smartest thing to do in the morning is ride either Roaring River Rapids, Soaring or Tron first thing and get a Fastpass for one of the others. Then, with your second Fastpass get a pass for the third ride you haven't experienced, or use Single Rider for any of these attractions if you want to ride during the day.

Anyway..back to VISA's - so yesterday I told you all about the 144 hour Visa-Free period for tourists transiting through Shanghai (from one country to another). I was so exciting thinking this applied to us and then my wonderful Jared (or frustrating because he is smarter than me), reminder me that we are actually flying in from Hong Kong and back out to Hong Kong because to get to Osaka from Shanghai we have to transfer through Hong Kong!! Even though we are literally transferring there (not going through Customs etc) we no are no longer eligible for the 144 hour Visa-free period and will have to get VISA's! This part of the policy is SUPER ridiculous I think. It limits your visit to Shanghai alone (benefiting Shanghai but not the rest of Chinese tourism industry) and is prejudicial to people who want to spend their entire holiday in Shanghai city alone, or who, because of the way airlines work, have to transfer through other cities in China or back to the same city on a multi-city journey! That part of the rule doesn't make any sense to me (why don't they just make it an 144 hour period regardless) because it actually severely limits the number of tourist the rule applies to and therefore doesn't really help encourage tourism. Anyway, ranting over! If we had been smart we would have booked our flight differently to avoid having to get a VISA for Shanghai but now we will have to.

Shanghai Disney Touring Plan - UPDATE

Ok, so based on the general flow of wait times at Shanghai Disneyland it seems like the attractions with the longest waits are Soaring, Roaring River Rapids and Tron which are, during this super busy time, anywhere between 2-3 hours. After that Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Peter Pan's Flight and Voyage of the Crystal Grotto have the next longest waits and all seem to be getting around 1 - 1.5 hours mid-morning and early afternoon. Pirates of the Caribbean, with how quickly it loads people, appears to cap at 40-50 minutes.

Based on this info I've re-arranged my touring plans. I have decided to note a simple system of ride preferences for each day, so that hopefully (even if wait times are completely insane in January still) we will be able to do all the major attractions at least once with little wait, if not a few times. I've also then ranked the other attractions in the order I hope to do them, and if necessary if I'm happy to skip them due to a long wait.

I should note here, that we are spending a lot of time at Shanghai Disney because I really want to ride a lot of these attractions over and over because, they just look so amazing, so I am writing in a plan to experience each attraction at least once per day but am happy enough if I don't get to do that because of wait times. This is why I have my priorities for 1st and 2nd Fast Pass each day, as well as my nominated first ride each day, and these preferences cover all the rides I really want to experience at least once with no wait.

I am being purposefully alarmist in suggesting I will only be able to get 2 FP's each day (but have written down a preference for the third if they are available). We are going at what should be a much quieter time of year but I am planning like we will be going now, opening week, because I find that planning for the worst is much better than assuming the best and then realizing your plans aren't going to work (and Jared and I refuse to wait in lines more than 30 minutes - we just don't do it, there are so many ways to not have to do it it seems incomprehensible to us that people do! I guess it helps we know the parks so well).

In other exciting news, I've tweaked our plans slightly and now plan to spend another half day in the park on our arrival day in Shanghai. The reason for this is that going into the city that day from the resort will be too much (it's an almost hour train trip) and we've cut out a few activities in Shanghai proper which is saving us some money, so I thought "why not spend more time at Disney"!

I know it's only one park and 3.5 days may seem excessive, but we are huge fans and with all the photography we want to do more time in the parks will be better for us. Actually that was one of the reasons I wanted to go into the park that first evening, so we can see Ignite the Dream twice, as I'd love to photograph it up close in the viewing area near the castle stage, and from across the water at the beginning of Mickey Avenue!

Half Day Priorities
Riding Pirates of the Caribbean - Battle for the Sunken Treasure with SR (I want to ride this one over and over and over and I want it to be the first attraction we do at Shanghai Disney!)

• Mickey's Storybook Express Parade
• Dinner at the Royal Banquet Hall
• Ignite the Dream

Full Day 1 Priorities:
First Fast Pass - Soaring Over the Horizon

First Ride - Pirates of the Caribbean - Battle for the Sunken Treasure

Second Fast Pass - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Third Fast Pass (if available) - Peter Pan's Flight

Order we will visit other attractions on this day:

• Pirates of the Caribbean - Battle for the Sunken Treasure
• Roaring Rapids (SR line available)
• Tron Light Cycle Coaster (SR line available)
• Soaring Over the Horizon with FP
• Peter Pan's Flight (no SR - later in the day - may be a longer wait and if there is we will skip this day or get FP if we can later)
• Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (no SR - later in the day - may be a longer wait and if there is we will skip this day)
• Buzz Lightyear's Planet Rescue (the waits on opening day for this were never more than 30 minutes so I'm happy to put this last each day)
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train with FP
• Peter Pan's Flight with FP (Evening)???

Shows and other attractions to see this day:

• Wonderland Maze
• Gardens of the Imagination
• Tarzan Call of the Jungle
• Ignite the Dream

Full Day 2 Priorities:
First Fast Pass - Roaring Rapids

First Ride - Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (no FP or SR provided)

Second Fast Pass - Tron Light Cycle

Third Fast Pass (if available) - Peter Pan's Flight

Order we will visit other attractions on this day:

• Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (no SR line)
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Roaring Rapids with FP
• Pirates of the Caribbean (SR if necessary)
• Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue
• Tron Light Cycle with FP
• Peter Pan's Flight with FP (Evening)???
• Try Ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train (Night) when crowds have died down

Shows and other attractions to see this day:

• Eye of the Storm Stunt Spectacular

Full Day 3 Priorities:
First Fast Pass - Tron Light Cycle

First Ride - Peter Pan's Flight

Second Fast Pass - Soaring Over the Horizon

Third Fast Pass (if available)- Tron Light Cycle (for a ride at night)

Order we will visit other attractions on this day:

• Peter Pan's Flight
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Roaring River Rapids (SR if necessary)
• Pirates of the Caribbean (SR if necessary)
• Buzz Lightyear's Planet Rescue
• Voyage to the Crystal Grotto (may have to wait here but want to go it again)
• Soaring Over the Horizon with FP

Shows and other attractions to see this day:

• Star Wars Launch Bay
• Marvel Meet and Greet
• Princesses Meet and Greet
• Once Upon A Time Adventure

Any other attractions later down in our schedule that is likely to have a long wait we will use the single rider line for - the only issue may be with Peter Pan's Flight and Voyage to the Crystal Grotto when they are further down on our list on certain days

I'd like to point out a few things here, based on my experiences last week.

You're pretty much on the money with your wait times. Soaring is by far the most popular attraction in the park, and was consistently up around the 3 hours mark. The wait for FPs was also very long, I'm estimating at least half an hour, probably more. Roaring Rapids was also pretty popular, but I assume will be less so in the middle of winter. The trouble is that because the FPs are all distributed from one kiosk per land, you need to wait in the same massive line for Soaring, even if you only want a Roaring Rapids FP. This is the reason I didn't experience RR. SR lines were not running in this section of the park. I would also recommend adding the Challenge Trails to your list if the wait is not too long. It was a lot of fun and something really different. I happened to be there right on sunset and it was absolutely beautiful.

Tron was not as popular as the Adventure type rides, and the line seemed to move fairly quickly. Wait times still got up to around the 2 hour mark though. FPs are pretty easy to come by, and only require a 5-10 minute wait. I would also definitely recommend trying to time your FP so that you ride at night. It's a whole new experience! I never saw the SR line in affect for Tron. Buzz is one of the quickest loading rides in the park, so the line never got that long.

Seven Dwarves Mine Train had a similar affect to Soaring on the Fantasyland FP kiosk. The line wasn't quite as long as Adventure Isle, but still stretched well out of the line area and down the street. SR line was operational for the Mine Train, but even that had waits of up to an hour in the middle of the afternoon. I managed to keep my wait time down by heading directly there after the fireworks and getting into SR. It's well worth riding at night - there's a beautiful view of the lit up castle as you go over one of the rises. Peter Pan has a consistently lengthy wait, but FPs are pretty easy to come by. If you wait until the Mine Train FPs are gone, you can get one for PP with very little wait. Voyage to the Crystal Grotto seemed to really taper off after the fireworks, and was a walk on at around 9:30pm. I only rode it the once, but I get the impression that it would be prettier at night anyway. The Alice maze did get fairly busy and had waits of up to about 15 minutes at times. I recommend trying to do it at sunset.

Pirates is definitely worth heading to first thing in the morning. The wait time never seemed to really go over an hour, and I often saw it at 40 minutes or less. You should note that the SR line wasn't in operation, so not sure if you can rely on that. The walkthrough attractions in that area never had any wait.

I think 3.5 days would be a great amount of time to spend at the resort. The park is really massive, and there is a lot of walking involved. Still, I had managed to tick most things off by the end of my second day, and enjoyed having the third day to do some of my lower priority attractions and to really enjoy my castle lunch without having to worry about missing out on other things (I was a bit worried about this going in!). Another half a day would give you the opportunity to spend a bit more time at the hotels, Disney Town and Wishing Star Park, which were all well worth checking out, but I just didn't get any time for them.

I would suggest that you will be able to get 3 FPs per day, with the 3rd being either Peter Pan, Tron or possibly even Buzz. You will definitely need to make Soaring your first one for the day, and possibly SDMT too. I definitely think you can do everything there with a wait of half an hour or less. I didn't really wait much longer than that for anything on Opening Week, and experienced all the attractions that I wanted to. As I mentioned, SR was not really an option most of the time. Not sure if this will still be the case in January, but at this stage I wouldn't rely on it.

The shows had massive capacity, and I never had any problem getting in, even at the last minute. The Tarzan show in particular was less than a quarter full. There are plenty of viewing opportunities in front of the castle. With all the fenced gardens and lakes around, it's easy to find a spot with no one directly in front of you. The parade route did fill up, but still only a couple of rows deep. You won't have to sink a lot of time into staking out a good spot. It's not the best parade I've ever seen anyway, but it was cute and worth seeing. Gardens of Imagination is a land, not an attraction. There's not much to see there really and you won't need to allocate time specifically to see it. You will see everything you need to in your general comings and goings around the area.

Character lines were generally short. The only ones I saw that were longer than about 10 minutes were Mickey (which got up to about 30 minutes), and the princesses (which I think got up to about 45 or so at the most). I met heaps of characters around the park with only a couple of groups in front of me. Specifically, the meet and greet in Adventure Isle was always practically empty, and I had great interaction there! You will find classics in Mickey Avenue (Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto), Jack Sparrow in Treasure Cove, and characters from the Lion King and the Jungle Book in Adventure Isle (Timon, Rafiki, King Louie, Baloo).

Of course, all this advice is based on capacity crowds, and assuming similar behaviour and priorities from the other guests. I'm sure there will be plenty of changes by January, but I hope you get something out of this anyway!

zanzibar138 said:

I'd like to point out a few things here, based on my experiences last week.

You're pretty much on the money with your wait times. Soaring is by far the most popular attraction in the park, and was consistently up around the 3 hours mark. The wait for FPs was also very long, I'm estimating at least half an hour, probably more. Roaring Rapids was also pretty popular, but I assume will be less so in the middle of winter. The trouble is that because the FPs are all distributed from one kiosk per land, you need to wait in the same massive line for Soaring, even if you only want a Roaring Rapids FP. This is the reason I didn't experience RR. SR lines were not running in this section of the park. I would also recommend adding the Challenge Trails to your list if the wait is not too long. It was a lot of fun and something really different. I happened to be there right on sunset and it was absolutely beautiful.

Tron was not as popular as the Adventure type rides, and the line seemed to move fairly quickly. Wait times still got up to around the 2 hour mark though. FPs are pretty easy to come by, and only require a 5-10 minute wait. I would also definitely recommend trying to time your FP so that you ride at night. It's a whole new experience! I never saw the SR line in affect for Tron. Buzz is one of the quickest loading rides in the park, so the line never got that long.

Seven Dwarves Mine Train had a similar affect to Soaring on the Fantasyland FP kiosk. The line wasn't quite as long as Adventure Isle, but still stretched well out of the line area and down the street. SR line was operational for the Mine Train, but even that had waits of up to an hour in the middle of the afternoon. I managed to keep my wait time down by heading directly there after the fireworks and getting into SR. It's well worth riding at night - there's a beautiful view of the lit up castle as you go over one of the rises. Peter Pan has a consistently lengthy wait, but FPs are pretty easy to come by. If you wait until the Mine Train FPs are gone, you can get one for PP with very little wait. Voyage to the Crystal Grotto seemed to really taper off after the fireworks, and was a walk on at around 9:30pm. I only rode it the once, but I get the impression that it would be prettier at night anyway. The Alice maze did get fairly busy and had waits of up to about 15 minutes at times. I recommend trying to do it at sunset.

Pirates is definitely worth heading to first thing in the morning. The wait time never seemed to really go over an hour, and I often saw it at 40 minutes or less. You should note that the SR line wasn't in operation, so not sure if you can rely on that. The walkthrough attractions in that area never had any wait.

I think 3.5 days would be a great amount of time to spend at the resort. The park is really massive, and there is a lot of walking involved. Still, I had managed to tick most things off by the end of my second day, and enjoyed having the third day to do some of my lower priority attractions and to really enjoy my castle lunch without having to worry about missing out on other things (I was a bit worried about this going in!). Another half a day would give you the opportunity to spend a bit more time at the hotels, Disney Town and Wishing Star Park, which were all well worth checking out, but I just didn't get any time for them.

I would suggest that you will be able to get 3 FPs per day, with the 3rd being either Peter Pan, Tron or possibly even Buzz. You will definitely need to make Soaring your first one for the day, and possibly SDMT too. I definitely think you can do everything there with a wait of half an hour or less. I didn't really wait much longer than that for anything on Opening Week, and experienced all the attractions that I wanted to. As I mentioned, SR was not really an option most of the time. Not sure if this will still be the case in January, but at this stage I wouldn't rely on it.

The shows had massive capacity, and I never had any problem getting in, even at the last minute. The Tarzan show in particular was less than a quarter full. There are plenty of viewing opportunities in front of the castle. With all the fenced gardens and lakes around, it's easy to find a spot with no one directly in front of you. The parade route did fill up, but still only a couple of rows deep. You won't have to sink a lot of time into staking out a good spot. It's not the best parade I've ever seen anyway, but it was cute and worth seeing. Gardens of Imagination is a land, not an attraction. There's not much to see there really and you won't need to allocate time specifically to see it. You will see everything you need to in your general comings and goings around the area.

Character lines were generally short. The only ones I saw that were longer than about 10 minutes were Mickey (which got up to about 30 minutes), and the princesses (which I think got up to about 45 or so at the most). I met heaps of characters around the park with only a couple of groups in front of me. Specifically, the meet and greet in Adventure Isle was always practically empty, and I had great interaction there! You will find classics in Mickey Avenue (Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto), Jack Sparrow in Treasure Cove, and characters from the Lion King and the Jungle Book in Adventure Isle (Timon, Rafiki, King Louie, Baloo).

Of course, all this advice is based on capacity crowds, and assuming similar behaviour and priorities from the other guests. I'm sure there will be plenty of changes by January, but I hope you get something out of this anyway!

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Thank you so so so much for all this awesome advice! It's really appreciated! I'm grateful to get a report from someone who was actually there on opening day.

I have been tracking the ride times a few times a day, and I have noticed that Roaring Rapids and Soaring seem to have the longest waits, and that Tron and Seven Dwarves Mine Train aren't too far behind. I will definitely have Soaring and Roaring Rapids as my day 1 and 2 1st FP priorities. But I'm thinking perhaps I should change day 3 First Fast pass to Seven Dwarves Mine Train if you think that was harder to get than Tron. I picked Tron over it as I've been on the Mine Train at WDW before so it wasn't as big a priority for me, but I think I will adjust the Day 3 priorities to make sure anyway

I appreciate you advising that 3 FP per day is a possibility. If you think that was doable at a time as busy as opening I'm hoping January it will be easy enough to do. I really appreciate your update on the single rider lines! I'm surprised they weren't available at opening, given the expected wait times and the fact they advertise the lines on their website. Perhaps it's like Tokyo Disney where there is no designated single rider line, but you go in through the FP line and split off at the end. We found that to be the case in Tokyo, and we had to ask Cast Members where to go if we were single riders (reminder - learn the phrase "Single Rider" in Mandarin! ). Even still I think I will plan to not count on the SR lines when we are there. It will be a quiet time of year so perhaps they won't be offered. Honestly If I only get to the first 2 rides of each planned day and 3 FP for each day I'll be pretty happy with what I get to experience.

I'm really grateful for your information about the capacity of the theaters. When planning my day I wanted to know how much time I had to spend waiting for these shows (in Japan 30 minutes to 1 hour is usually what it takes to guarantee yourself a decent seat) but it's good to know the theaters have a lot of capacity and that there wasn't too much of a scramble to get a seat.

That's great news about the character lines too! If I think about it though its perhaps not too surprising as I've read that the Chinese don't really have a lot of connection (or even know about) many of the Disney characters (unlike in Japan). I'd imagine the Princesses line was so long because of the fact it's inside the castle, and a lot of people would probably head to the castle first and, given the number of activities available there, hit those attractions first. I have been really surprised to see wait times for the Once Upon A Time walkthrough constantly around 1 hour towards the middle of the day!

I am really hoping to go through the Alice Maze at night, I think that would be beautiful and I did just realize recently that the trails were not on my list (and I've heard they will be beautiful and I reckon and great place for photos of Adventure Isle, so I'll make sure to add that in.

I'm glad you think 3.5 days is not too many - I'm really excited about the park and not sure when we will be visiting again so I want to make the most of my time there.

If we do have time I would like to explore the hotels, and Wishing Star Park. We are staying at the Toy Story Hotel, so I'm sure we will get to explore that but would really like to check out the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and get some pictures. I'm hoping we will have time

One final question, what was your experience like of the people at the park on opening day? I've heard a lot of guests who were present saying that had issues with a lot of rude behavior, line cutting and other anti-social outbursts, did you experience anything like that?

Thanks again for your brilliant advice!

RachelleBeaney said:

Thank you so so so much for all this awesome advice! It's really appreciated! I'm grateful to get a report from someone who was actually there on opening day.

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I'm glad you think it's useful!

RachelleBeaney said:

But I'm thinking perhaps I should change day 3 First Fast pass to Seven Dwarves Mine Train if you think that was harder to get than Tron. I picked Tron over it as I've been on the Mine Train at WDW before so it wasn't as big a priority for me, but I think I will adjust the Day 3 priorities to make sure anyway

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I would stick with Tron if that's a higher priority for you, and use your SR/scheduling tactics to reduce the wait time for SDMT if you miss out on a FP.

RachelleBeaney said:

I really appreciate your update on the single rider lines! I'm surprised they weren't available at opening, given the expected wait times and the fact they advertise the lines on their website. Perhaps it's like Tokyo Disney where there is no designated single rider line, but you go in through the FP line and split off at the end. We found that to be the case in Tokyo, and we had to ask Cast Members where to go if we were single riders (reminder - learn the phrase "Single Rider" in Mandarin! ). Even still I think I will plan to not count on the SR lines when we are there. It will be a quiet time of year so perhaps they won't be offered.

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Actually there were SR lines for all of the rides that had it specified, they just weren't in operation. Not sure why, or whether this will be an ongoing thing. It was a bit of a shock for me as I was really relying on it in my plan, and I had to suddenly rethink everything! I knew there would be things like that though and was prepared to be flexible. I would recommend doing the same.

RachelleBeaney said:

That's great news about the character lines too! If I think about it though its perhaps not too surprising as I've read that the Chinese don't really have a lot of connection (or even know about) many of the Disney characters (unlike in Japan). I'd imagine the Princesses line was so long because of the fact it's inside the castle, and a lot of people would probably head to the castle first and, given the number of activities available there, hit those attractions first. I have been really surprised to see wait times for the Once Upon A Time walkthrough constantly around 1 hour towards the middle of the day!

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That's a good point about the characters. I suspect the princesses are among the more well known ones, as well as Mickey of course, so that would explain the longer waits for those (as well as your castle theory). Yes, I was pretty surprised to see the castle walkthrough with such long waits too. Luckily I wasn't that interested in either that or Soaring! If I'd had to invest time in those things, I probably wouldn't have achieved so much else.

RachelleBeaney said:

I am really hoping to go through the Alice Maze at night, I think that would be beautiful and I did just realize recently that the trails were not on my list (and I've heard they will be beautiful and I reckon and great place for photos of Adventure Isle, so I'll make sure to add that in.

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Just make sure you're prepared that for the Challenge Trails, you can't take any loose items with you. You can take a phone or small camera that will fit in your pocket, but you definitely won't be allowed your SLR. You have to check all your items in the lockers before joining the queue. For that reason, I don't have any photos from the attraction itself (I didn't have any pockets). It was still nice to experience though.

RachelleBeaney said:

If we do have time I would like to explore the hotels, and Wishing Star Park. We are staying at the Toy Story Hotel, so I'm sure we will get to explore that but would really like to check out the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and get some pictures. I'm hoping we will have time

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You definitely need to check out the SDL Hotel. It's absolutely beautiful! If you're not staying there though, you'll need to do it separately to Wishing Star Park. You can only access the hotel from the parkway with a room key.

RachelleBeaney said:

One final question, what was your experience like of the people at the park on opening day? I've heard a lot of guests who were present saying that had issues with a lot of rude behavior, line cutting and other anti-social outbursts, did you experience anything like that?

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I've actually given a quick run down of guest behaviour in my TR, and will be adding more detail on specific incidents as I go.

Basically, yes I experienced some of the 'bad behaviour' that was expected, but it was only isolated incidents which didn't affect my enjoyment of the park at all. You will definitely see rubbish in the queue areas – it’s just too hard for CMs to clean these areas during the day when they are constantly in use. Overnight though, they get a good thorough clean and are pristine again in the morning. I did see the occasional child doing their business not in a bathroom. I only saw this twice in my entire trip though – it’s certainly not happening everywhere you look. And yes, one time there was a toilet block about 20m away. I saw two instances of anti-social behaviour. One was a line cutter who almost caused a fist fight at the Toy Story Hotel check in desk, the other one seemed to just be a domestic dispute within the park. In both cases, CMs and security were quick on the scene and it was diffused very quickly with minimal disruption to other people in the area. Like other parks, most guests are well behaved and friendly. There were probably more frequent ‘bad behaviour’ incidents than at other parks, but it certainly wasn’t the norm, and didn’t come anywhere close to ruining my trip. I think the best advice I can give is to go in with an open mind. Know that you will see things that you don’t necessarily like or agree with, but that you can just notice the behaviour, maybe comment amongst yourselves if you feel the need, and move on with enjoying the rest of your day.

There is definitely a vast cultural difference when it comes to lines. It’s not necessarily cutting, more just a different way of lining up. Someone told me before I left that the locals don’t like to waste space, and if they see a space in a line or waiting area, they will fill it. When I remembered this advice, everything made perfect sense, and I was able to stop myself from getting too annoyed. Basically, if there was enough space in the queue area for two people to stand side by side, two lines would form in the place of one, and people would move between the two lines to fill all the available space. If you’re not physically touching the people around you, someone will see space there and try to fill it. It is ridiculously difficult to actually hold your spot in line from start to finish. I quickly learnt not to leave any space in front of me, and also to move up as soon as the people in front of me did. If the people in front of you seem to be in a group with the people to the side of you, and you wait for the people to the side of you to start moving, I can guarantee that someone will squeeze into that space you’ve just made. It may as well be you. There was no rudeness around this practice, and it seemed to be widely accepted, even when I started doing it. I even coined the phrase ‘line squeezing’ to define the phenomenon! The other thing that was widely accepted was people squeezing through the queue to meet other members of their party who were further to the front. It’s easiest to just let it go and get on with the enjoyment of your trip. At the end of the day, these things didn’t make a huge difference to my wait times.

There was only one time when I felt like people were actually pushing in and the line turned into a bit of a crush, and that was to actually enter the park on my last day there. I had to just take a few deep breaths, think of my happy place, and just be swept along with the crowd. It was the only time anything remotely close to that happened, was only for a very short time (couple of minutes max), and was just caused by a build up of pressure from the line not moving at all! There is always the chance something like that will happen though. Again, once it’s over you’ve just got to forget it and get on with enjoying your day. There were so many friendly, happy people, I found it quite easy to put isolated incidents like that completely out of my mind.

Feel free to keep an eye on my TR for further details, or ask any more specific questions you have.

zanzibar138 said:

I'm glad you think it's useful!



I would stick with Tron if that's a higher priority for you, and use your SR/scheduling tactics to reduce the wait time for SDMT if you miss out on a FP.



Actually there were SR lines for all of the rides that had it specified, they just weren't in operation. Not sure why, or whether this will be an ongoing thing. It was a bit of a shock for me as I was really relying on it in my plan, and I had to suddenly rethink everything! I knew there would be things like that though and was prepared to be flexible. I would recommend doing the same.



That's a good point about the characters. I suspect the princesses are among the more well known ones, as well as Mickey of course, so that would explain the longer waits for those (as well as your castle theory). Yes, I was pretty surprised to see the castle walkthrough with such long waits too. Luckily I wasn't that interested in either that or Soaring! If I'd had to invest time in those things, I probably wouldn't have achieved so much else.



Just make sure you're prepared that for the Challenge Trails, you can't take any loose items with you. You can take a phone or small camera that will fit in your pocket, but you definitely won't be allowed your SLR. You have to check all your items in the lockers before joining the queue. For that reason, I don't have any photos from the attraction itself (I didn't have any pockets). It was still nice to experience though.



You definitely need to check out the SDL Hotel. It's absolutely beautiful! If you're not staying there though, you'll need to do it separately to Wishing Star Park. You can only access the hotel from the parkway with a room key.



I've actually given a quick run down of guest behaviour in my TR, and will be adding more detail on specific incidents as I go.

Basically, yes I experienced some of the 'bad behaviour' that was expected, but it was only isolated incidents which didn't affect my enjoyment of the park at all. You will definitely see rubbish in the queue areas – it’s just too hard for CMs to clean these areas during the day when they are constantly in use. Overnight though, they get a good thorough clean and are pristine again in the morning. I did see the occasional child doing their business not in a bathroom. I only saw this twice in my entire trip though – it’s certainly not happening everywhere you look. And yes, one time there was a toilet block about 20m away. I saw two instances of anti-social behaviour. One was a line cutter who almost caused a fist fight at the Toy Story Hotel check in desk, the other one seemed to just be a domestic dispute within the park. In both cases, CMs and security were quick on the scene and it was diffused very quickly with minimal disruption to other people in the area. Like other parks, most guests are well behaved and friendly. There were probably more frequent ‘bad behaviour’ incidents than at other parks, but it certainly wasn’t the norm, and didn’t come anywhere close to ruining my trip. I think the best advice I can give is to go in with an open mind. Know that you will see things that you don’t necessarily like or agree with, but that you can just notice the behaviour, maybe comment amongst yourselves if you feel the need, and move on with enjoying the rest of your day.

There is definitely a vast cultural difference when it comes to lines. It’s not necessarily cutting, more just a different way of lining up. Someone told me before I left that the locals don’t like to waste space, and if they see a space in a line or waiting area, they will fill it. When I remembered this advice, everything made perfect sense, and I was able to stop myself from getting too annoyed. Basically, if there was enough space in the queue area for two people to stand side by side, two lines would form in the place of one, and people would move between the two lines to fill all the available space. If you’re not physically touching the people around you, someone will see space there and try to fill it. It is ridiculously difficult to actually hold your spot in line from start to finish. I quickly learnt not to leave any space in front of me, and also to move up as soon as the people in front of me did. If the people in front of you seem to be in a group with the people to the side of you, and you wait for the people to the side of you to start moving, I can guarantee that someone will squeeze into that space you’ve just made. It may as well be you. There was no rudeness around this practice, and it seemed to be widely accepted, even when I started doing it. I even coined the phrase ‘line squeezing’ to define the phenomenon! The other thing that was widely accepted was people squeezing through the queue to meet other members of their party who were further to the front. It’s easiest to just let it go and get on with the enjoyment of your trip. At the end of the day, these things didn’t make a huge difference to my wait times.

There was only one time when I felt like people were actually pushing in and the line turned into a bit of a crush, and that was to actually enter the park on my last day there. I had to just take a few deep breaths, think of my happy place, and just be swept along with the crowd. It was the only time anything remotely close to that happened, was only for a very short time (couple of minutes max), and was just caused by a build up of pressure from the line not moving at all! There is always the chance something like that will happen though. Again, once it’s over you’ve just got to forget it and get on with enjoying your day. There were so many friendly, happy people, I found it quite easy to put isolated incidents like that completely out of my mind.

Feel free to keep an eye on my TR for further details, or ask any more specific questions you have.

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Thanks - all the info provided RE the behavior you saw is appreciated. I think the thing that we Westerners have to probably try and remember is that we are dealing with people from a very different culture. From what you've described I don't think I'd have a problem with any of those things (thanks for the info about not leaving space in lines - actually this practice hugely annoys me in the states as I'm the kind of person who always tries to fill up the space to allow more people into the line, especially if it's a shaded area!) except perhaps kids going to the toliet in public (I can't see how this is acceptable!). It doesn't sound like there are any more problems with rude behavior then there are in the states, just different problems. The only Disney park where I never once saw anyone being rude or antisocial was at Tokyo Disney, and I think that's got a lot to do with the culture of respect in Japan. I would never let anyone else's behavior ruin my day either. I'm of the mind that your attitude will influence your experience, I just like to be prepared about what to expect - then will let it go .

Good to know there are actual SR lines. Confusing as to why they weren't in use but yes, thanks for the heads up and I will make sure to note in my plans that they may not always be available!

Actually, back to the FP distribution info - I saw on the website map that Fantasyland was support to have 2 FP distribution locations, Fantasyland West (near Seven Dwarves Mine Train) and Fantasyland East (near Peter Pan's Flight) . I suppose this is to ease the waits for Fantasyland FP's as Fantasyland has three rides that offer FP. Was only 1 of these locations open during your visit or was the wait as long as you advised at both?

I just saw your TR link - am popping over there now and will eagerly await your tales from Opening Day - can't wait for your pictures

Sounds like you'll be going in with the right attitude for a great trip then

I only ever saw the one Fantasyland FP location, and both SDMT and PP were available there. I assume that was the only one as I'm not sure how it would work having 2 locations distributing the same FPs? Perhaps they will open the other one later?

zanzibar138 said:

Sounds like you'll be going in with the right attitude for a great trip then

I only ever saw the one Fantasyland FP location, and both SDMT and PP were available there. I assume that was the only one as I'm not sure how it would work having 2 locations distributing the same FPs? Perhaps they will open the other one later?

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Thanks for that - yes there are 2 locations on the map on the website so that's strange - perhaps they haven't got them all up and running yet. Was Winnie the Pooh offering FP when you visited? The website also states it does but then again it seems to be saying a lot of things that aren't true (like 2 FP locations in Fantasyland and that Single Rider lines exist )

Yes I think part of the reason I enjoy my trips so much is the attitude I bring to them. I have grumpy moments like anyone else but I try not to focus on the negative too much and I think that if you do, that's all you'll remember and of course the trip won't be any fun! I do sometimes read reports from people who indicate certain 'disappointments' or 'bad behavior' or 'lack of magic' ruined their trip and I have to think, you spent all that time, effort and money, perhaps don't allow small things to mar your happiness and fun

RachelleBeaney said:

Thanks for that - yes there are 2 locations on the map on the website so that's strange - perhaps they haven't got them all up and running yet. Was Winnie the Pooh offering FP when you visited? The website also states it does but then again it seems to be saying a lot of things that aren't true (like 2 FP locations in Fantasyland and that Single Rider lines exist )

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Thanks for that reminder! I'd forgotten all about Winnie the Pooh lol! I didn't take much notice of it because it sounded like the DLR version and I wasn't that interested. But now that you bring it up, I do remember a FP location for it, so that must be the other FL kiosk

zanzibar138 said:

Thanks for that reminder! I'd forgotten all about Winnie the Pooh lol! I didn't take much notice of it because it sounded like the DLR version and I wasn't that interested. But now that you bring it up, I do remember a FP location for it, so that must be the other FL kiosk

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Ok awesome! The website doesn't lie much then - It seems strange to me to have a FP kiosk near Peter Pan's Flight for Winnie the Pooh, and one near to Seven Dwarves Mine Train for both it and Peter Pan. They should distribute Peter Pan over to the other one (since it and Winnie the Pooh are probably not as popular) and just have the one line for SDMT! Lol, I guess not Thanks for the help again - It's been so awesome being able to ask questions of someone who actually experienced the opening and has seen the park Sooo excited for January!

No problem! Please yell out if you think of anything else I might be able to help you with

Awesome report my friend!!! Just finished reading it up to this point. I have decided to follow along, living vicariously through you and Jared . Maybe someday Todd and I will get to join you again on one of these adventures!!! Kim

sayuracodfish said:

Awesome report my friend!!! Just finished reading it up to this point. I have decided to follow along, living vicariously through you and Jared . Maybe someday Todd and I will get to join you again on one of these adventures!!! Kim

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Hi Kim! So nice to hear from you! Thanks for following along .. Yes it is going to be an awesome trip but would much so much more awesome if you guys were there too! We do plan to get back to the states for another cruise at some point (maybe 2020 with our niece or possibly next year after going to Hawaii with Jareds family - we will see how that goes budget wise) but either way we will work out a way to catch up with you guys somewhere!

Really loving this report. I wish I was able to do some of this 'more exotic' traveling - maybe it's time to set a goal for a trip like this 5 years or so from now. I love all the planning and detail that you are sharing in your report. Can't wait to read more!

Trixie15 said:

Really loving this report. I wish I was able to do some of this 'more exotic' traveling - maybe it's time to set a goal for a trip like this 5 years or so from now. I love all the planning and detail that you are sharing in your report. Can't wait to read more!

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Thanks so much! I hope you do get to do more travel one day... It can be hard sometimes to work it out and sometimes you do just have to make a plan and budget to do it! Yes I am a crazy planner - that's half the fun for me sometimes .. I also like to share everything because if it helps even one person with their plans then it was worth it I'm glad you are excited to read more - I've been tracking Shanghai Disneyland wait times so that will be the update - so excited for January but almost as excited to write the trip report!

Tokyo Disney Resort Bookings Update

On the 23 July we finally hit the 6 month booking window for Tokyo Disney Resort Hotel bookings! For those of you who frequently plan Disney trips (in particular Walt Disney World trips) you'll know how hectic and exciting these booking windows can be, as you are on the computer, exactly as the website updates - refreshing with vigor hoping that you'll get that coveted ADR or FP+ or the perfect DVC rental room! Well, if you think trying to make bookings for Disney World is crazy you should try booking a hotel room at the Tokyo Disney Resort!

A little information for those of you who aren't aware, the Tokyo Disney Resort has three official onsite hotels, the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (TDH), the Miracosta Hotel (MH) and the Ambassador Hotel (AH). Think of the TDH and MH as deluxe hotels while the Ambassador Hotel is more of a moderate resort. The Tokyo Disney Resort has an online booking website for their three official onsite hotels, and you can book rooms 6 months in advance of your first date of stay (i.e. if your first date of stay is the 1 January 2017 you can book on the 1 July 2016 or if your first date of stay is the 1 February 2017 you can book on the 1 August 2016 etc).

Now, it's worth noting that the majority of basic rooms at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (standard non-theme park views), the Ambassador Hotel (don't know too much about these rooms as I've not stayed there) and the Miracosta (no theme park view) you will be able to book up to 3-5 nights (depending on the room type) in advance of your 6 month date (i.e. If you are staying from the 1 January 2017 - 4 January 2017 (3 nights) you should be able to book a standard room at any of the hotels, for all nights of your stay, on the 1 July 2016 (the date 6 months before the first night of your stay). In addition to the standard rooms it appears *some* of the theme park rooms and other less expensive rooms at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel can be booked like this as well (6 months plus 3-5 days depending on the room type). The Tokyo Disney booking website refreshes each day at 9am Tokyo time.

However, then we come to the Miracosta Hotel Theme Park view rooms. FYI there are numerous types of theme park views at the Tokyo Disney Hotel. Last time we visited Tokyo Disney we spent our entire trip at the Miracosta and ended up in a different room each night, so I have a few pictures of each type to share here.

There are two sections of the Hotel you can stay in that offer theme park views, the Venice Side and the Porto Paradiso Side. The Venice Side rooms have views of the Mediterranean Harbor Venetian section of Tokyo Disney Seas, which is a small section of the park as below:



You can also see parts of the American Waterfront in the distance:



These rooms are not as hard to book and usually can be booked 6 months + 3-5 nights in advance of the first date of your stay.

Then you have rooms on the Porto Paradiso side of the hotel. These rooms overlook Mediterranean Harbor, Fortress Explorations, American Waterfront and the piazza area and are the most coveted rooms at the resort - if you want one, you need to book exactly 6 months in advance as the website opens. It's also worth noting that you can only book rooms on the Porto Paradiso side of the hotel exactly 6 months out from the date of stay. So if you are planning to stay from 1 January 2017 - 4 January 2017 you would need to book night 1 on the 1 July 2016, and then on the 2 July 2016 book night 2, on the 3 July 2016 book night 3. You cannot book any of these rooms in advance of the 6 month window, and it is a pain! I would imagine this is due to the popularity of the rooms and the desire for them.

The Porto Paradiso Rooms are divided into three categories:

Partial View (which I don't have any pictures of but is the cheapest form of room as your view will be obstructed)
Piazza View - which overlooks the Piazza and has limited views of the lagoon

and finally, the most coveted - the...
Harbor View Room - the best and hardest to score!





Theme Parks - Tokyo Disney Seas - 2 by Jared Beaney, on Flickr

Another thing to note about rooms to the Tokyo Disney Resort is that most come with 2 King single sized beds (aka can only sleep 1 person - not like at WDW) and a trundle bed standard, and are designed to sleep 3 adults. There are rooms at a higher rate in which a 4th bed can be added and 4 people may stay. The Japanese apparently do not really care too much about couples sleeping together as a lot of their hotels are set up like this. We did end up with a King bed the night we stayed on the Venician side of the hotel, but that seemed out of the norm.

Anyway, now that we have the background out of the way I'll indicate the rooms Jared and I wanted to book:
Monday 23 January 17 - Tokyo Disneyland Hotel - Theme Park View Room
Tuesday 24 January 17 - Tokyo Disneyland Hotel - Theme Park View Room
Wednesday 25 January 17 - Tokyo Disneyland Hotel - Theme Park View Room
Thursday 26 January 2017 - Miracosta Hotel - Porto Paradiso Side Superior Harbor View Room

The first 3 days rooms were easy enough to book. We were originally going to book a standard room but when the Theme Park View Room on some of the lower floors (levels 3-6) was within our budget we decided to do it. We haven't stayed at the Tokyo Disney Hotel before but we were able to book these rooms all at once on Saturday 23 June 2016. We were on the website at exactly 8am Perth time (9am Tokyo time) and we got the room we wanted and the rate we wanted. I'm unsure but I believe that you'd probably be able to book these rooms for a few hours after the website re-opens each morning as there didn't seem to be as MUCH demand. Still we did see most of them gone the next day when we were checking rates and room types the day before).

The last night though, the Harbor View Room at the Miracosta, we knew we would have to be quick. We had discussed getting a "speciale room and suites" harbor view room which, apparently, came with some extra perks that I couldn't really figure out but was in our budget (no a balcony was not one of the perks, it mentioned something about more expansive windows and a special lounge you could access on check-in and possibly free breakfast but wasn't specific) but kept the standard room as our back-up. Within 30 seconds of the website opening up all the "speciale room and suites" were booked and I had luckily gotten my computer to refresh quickly enough (Jared was on a computer too) so I just went ahead and clicked book on the standard Harbor View room. This was 1 minute after the website opened that morning. After we had finished our booking we were maybe 3 minutes after the opening of the website and we refreshed the webpage and ALL rooms on the Porto Paradiso Side of the hotel (Harbor, Partial, Piazza all of it) were gone except for the Harbor View room category that slept 4 adults at a higher rate. The room appeared to still be available that afternoon so apparently its not as popular (its the same room you just pay more because you can sleep 4 adults). We considered ourselves lucky to have gotten the website to refresh so quickly that we got the room we wanted!

The next day most of the rooms at the Miracosta were completely booked, same held true for about half the rooms at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.

Anyway we were so happy to get the rooms we wanted and to have beaten out the throngs of hopeful people who wanted to book them! My advice to anyone wanting those theme park view rooms at the Miracosta on the Porto Paradiso side of the hotel, know what you want, be ready exactly as the website opens 6 months in advance of your stay and cross your fingers your computer refreshes and displays the available rooms quick enough!

Oh last thing - last time we booked a stay at one of these official Tokyo Disney Resort hotels we were simply advised a rate and charged at the end of our stay (yes at the end, not even upon check on). This time around a 30,000 yen deposit was payable upon booking with the remainder payable upon check in.

Shanghai Disneyland Wait Times - July - Analysis

So as you may have read earlier in the report, like the crazy planner I am, I decided to track the Shanghai Disneyland wait times 4 times a day from opening until December this year.

For me, I wanted to watch how busy the parks were, which were the busiest days and of course, the busiest times of days and what the wait times might be like for our visit in January. I also thought it might be helpful for those planning visits in these months next year, as an idea of sorts of what to expect RE crowds and waits.

I'm only human so I don't remember to record the waits 100% of the time (my wonderful husband has built me a little website with a back-end database that I can use to do it) and, in general, I try and record waits 4 times a day;

• In the morning approx 1 - 1.5 hours after opening (which is usually 10-10:30 on a weekday and 9:30 on Friday - Sunday, as a side note, opening hours don't appear to have changed much from 9am - 9pm Monday - Thursday and 8am - 10pm Friday - Sunday)
• At lunch around 12pm-12:30pm
• In the afternoon between 3pm-3:30pm
• In the evening between 7:00pm - 7:30pm

This is what I've been able to gather so far:

• The busiest attractions are without a doubt Roaring Rapids and Soaring over the Horizon. 2 hour waits are frequent and to be expected from mid-morning
• Attractions seem to go down a lot (yesterday afternoon at least half the attractions appear to be down) but none more so than Roaring Rapids, which is frequently closed, especially in the evenings. Also expect Dumbo and the Alice Maze to be closed from about 7pm, I'd say this is probably due to the fireworks. The carousel will close just before the nightly fireworks also

In July the stats show the following:

• Wednesday and Thursday are the quietest days of the week to visit, Saturday is the busiest with Sunday not far behind
• Friday is not as busy as Monday and Tuesday, which is odd but appears to be the case so far
• Morning waits are the quietest, but not by much, expect on Saturdays and Sundays when you can save approx 30 minutes in line on average at most attractions going earlier (and of course, I haven't been tracking the waits at opening, when I'd imagine they'd be very quiet, so this is still a good strategy)
• Waits tend to peak around midday-early afternoon and start going down by late afternoon/early evening

Headliner Wait Averages July:
Weekday (WD) and Weekend (WE)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Morning - WD: 17 minutes WE: 25 minutes
Midday - WD: 28 minutes WE: 48 minutes
Afternoon - WD: 24 minutes WE: 40 minutes
Evening - WD: 7 minutes WE: 20 minutes

Roaring Rapids - this and Soaring appears to be the attractions everyone rushes to first thing so waits climb quickly and the drop later in the day a little - best to prioritize a FP for these attractions or ride first thing
Morning - WD: 75 minutes WE: 150 minutes
Midday - WD: 88 minutes WE: 128 minutes
Afternoon - WD: 113 minutes WE: 125 minutes
Evening - closed

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Morning - WD: 63 minutes WE: 65 minutes
Midday - WD: 77 minutes WE: 105 minutes
Afternoon - WD: 91 minutes WE: 110 minutes
Evening - WD: 52 minutes WE: 60 minutes

Soaring over the Horizon - this and Soaring appears to be the attractions everyone rushes to first thing so waits climb quickly and the drop later in the day a little - best to prioritise a FP for these attractions or ride first thing
Morning - WD: 72 minutes WE: 180 minutes
Midday - WD: 83 minutes WE: 153 minutes
Afternoon - WD: 105 minutes WE: 110 minutes
Evening - WD: 64 minutes WE: 90 minutes

Tron Light Cycle Coaster
Morning - WD: 48 minutes WE: 73 minutes
Midday - WD: 57 minutes WE: 100 minutes
Afternoon - WD: 93 minutes WE: 115 minutes
Evening - WD: 82 minutes WE: 105 minutes

Expect the Fantasyland rides, the Dark Rides (Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh), Voyage to the Crystal Grotto and the Once Upon a Time walkthrough to have waits between 5-30 minutes in the mornings and upwards of 30 minutes to 1 hour from midday onwards. The carnival style rides in Gardens of the Imagination always start off busier (I guess people head there first) at 45 minutes - 1 hour but usually stay around 30 minutes for the remainder of the day. Buzz Lightyear is always the quietest ride in the park and I've never seen the wait for it over 30 minutes.

You can also see that, as with most Disney parks, guests tend to rotate around the park clockwise so Adventure Isle is the busiest first thing and quietens a little throughout the day and Tomorowland starts off quiet but is busier late arvo and evening as the crowds make their way to it. All attractions do tend to have significantly less waits in the evening (wait times were sourced at 7pm and most days the park is open until 9 or 10 so later in the evening the waits may reduce even more dramatically).

Headliner Highest and Lowest Waits Recorded July:
HW - High and LW = Low
Pirates of the Caribbean
Morning - HW: 45 minutes LWD: 5 minutes
Midday - HWD: 100 minutes LWD: 5 minutes
Afternoon - HWD: 75 minutes LWD: 5 minutes
Evening - HWD: 50 minutes LWD: 5 minutes

Roaring Rapids
Morning - HW: 210 minutes LW: 30 minutes
Midday - HW: 180 minutes LW: 60 minutes
Afternoon - HW: 180 minutes LW: 75 minutes
Evening - HW: closed LW: closed

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Morning - HW: 120 minutes LW: 15 minutes
Midday - HW: 135 minutes LW: 60 minutes
Afternoon - HW: 150 minutes LW: 20 minutes
Evening - HW: 150 minutes LW: 40 minutes

Soaring over the Horizon
Morning - HW: 240 minutes LW: 30 minutes
Midday - HW: 195 minutes LW: 60 minutes
Afternoon - HW: 180 minutes LW: 30 minutes
Evening - HW: 150 minutes LW: 10 minutes

Tron Light Cycle Coaster
Morning - HW: 150 minutes LW: 20 minutes
Midday - HW: 180 minutes LW: 40 minutes
Afternoon - HW: 240 minutes LW: 45 minutes
Evening - HW: 210 minutes LW: 20 minutes

Expect waits to be closer to the higher end of the scale on weekends - the lowest waits are not frequent by any means either on weekdays.