World of Color Superthread

[isk8]

Hi! We are doing the Ariel's Grotto dinner next Thursday (1/27), so we'll have the Preferred Dining seating for the 8:15 show (the only one that day). My plan is to stand in the area marked "BEST" on Disneyland_1951's map (right in front of VIP). I will have my 5 year old son with me. If we are in the front of the BEST section, will he be able to see? He's an average size for a 5 year old...about 45 or 46 inches tall.

[skiingfast]

Originally Posted by isk8

Hi! We are doing the Ariel's Grotto dinner next Thursday (1/27), so we'll have the Preferred Dining seating for the 8:15 show (the only one that day). My plan is to stand in the area marked "BEST" on Disneyland_1951's map (right in front of VIP). I will have my 5 year old son with me. If we are in the front of the BEST section, will he be able to see? He's an average size for a 5 year old...about 45 or 46 inches tall.

The problem with the BEST spot is it may not exist. On this thread Disneyland 1951 who made the map reported the Blue HA area moved into it.

"NOTE: They have made some recent changes: The section labeled "BEST" on my original map is now a handicapped section. This reduces the Preferred Dining a lot, and makes it much less worth the extra money, unless you are one of the very first to line up and rush to the front."

For you son's case it's going depend on if he is behind people or not. Rails privide a front of tier view. In the PD section the top of the stairs should work too, this is next to the BEST area.

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by chrissiecutie

Ok....just when I think I've figured out the best colored section, I hear something like this!

Seems to me that each color has it's good viewing spots and it's bad. So no matter what color you get, you should be able to find a good spot in it, right? There's not a color out there that the ENTIRE section is bad, correct??

Read my post #126 from today...

Originally Posted by HydroGuy

Surprisingly there is little agreement on this. I personally have seen the show from each color section and the preferred viewing section. There is so much variability within each section it is hard to answer. I think one thing everyone would agree on is that each color section has good viewing spots, and those are more desirable than a poor viewing spot in a different color section.

1. One question you could ask that might have more consensus or possibly have more ability to answer consistently is:

"Comparing the best spots in each colored section, which color is best?"

2. Another question that might get a different answer is:

"Which color section offers more numerous good viewing spots?"

3. And finally another different but good question:

"Which section is easiest to get a good viewing spot?"

As if that is not enough, other wrinkles are:

Do you have kids?

How tall are you?

Are you willing to spend money on the dining package?

Do you care about getting wet?

Are you willing to arrive extra early?

To question #1 my opinion is the preferred viewing spot at the front rail is the best overall spot. It is considered a wet zone. The best non-paid spot is the red section front rail - definitely right in the wet zone.

Note that the wet zone does not mean you will get wet. It means you may. Both times for me in the wet zone I barely got wet.

To question #2 my opinion is the yellow section has the most numerous good viewing spots followed closely by blue.

To question #3 my opinion is that red section offers the easiest way to get a good viewing spot - for the simple reason that most people do not seem to know they should or can go down into the front dead center wet zone.

HTH

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by chrissiecutie

Hydroguy...do you happen to remember about what time you were able to get the red FP?

I was planning on heading straight to DCA and the WOC FP lines, but now maybe I'm thinking I should wait?

It does not really matter because it can change day to day. In my case it was a Sunday in September right after Halloweentime started. I got my red FP at about 10:45AM for the first show and the wait was less than one minute to get the FP.

[lukeca]

We are going to Disneyland resort early February, I was just wondering do they still allow guests staying at a DLR hotel to get in early for a WOC fastpass? I can't find anything on the website mentioning that perk

[blackjackdelta]

Originally Posted by lukeca

We are going to Disneyland resort early February, I was just wondering do they still allow guests staying at a DLR hotel to get in early for a WOC fastpass? I can't find anything on the website mentioning that perk

Welcome to the boards and they still do allow going to the GRR FP machines and getting you fastpass.

Jack

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by lukeca

We are going to Disneyland resort early February, I was just wondering do they still allow guests staying at a DLR hotel to get in early for a WOC fastpass? I can't find anything on the website mentioning that perk

And FWIW everything in the OP is current to the best of my knowledge, including the perk you mention.

[lukeca]

Awesome, thanks a lot for the info!

[Dreaming of Main St]

We just returned from Disneyland and this thread was so helpful in planning for WOC, I wanted to share our experience...

We arrived to check in at the Grand Californian at around 2:30 in the afternoon on Wed. 1/19. We checked in, picked up our park passes and headed straight into CA to see if there were any fastpasses left. There were! We picked up 4 red section fastpasses. There was only one show on this night and it was at 8:15 pm. We headed over to the viewing area at 6:15. We found the red fastpass entrance and we were the first group there so I started chatting with some of the CMs and sent the rest of the family to go on a few rides. During the next 45 minutes, many of the CMs gave me different info so it did get a bit confusing about where you could wait and what time they'd open the area. A couple of CMs told me they wouldn't even be opening the area until after 7:30 (glad I didn't listen to them and leave). There was no line because of the construction walls. By about 6:40 a larger group of people had congregated in the area and we were told we had to go to the area near the Zephyr and they would open the viewing area at 7 pm. So, it turned out that there wasn't much of a benefit to getting there before 7:00 on this night. At 7:00 everyone rushed at the same time to get in line to get into the viewing area. We ended up being about the 5th family in line and got a good spot right on the rail in the red "wet" section. We had picked up some sandwiches for dinner and ate them and played cards to help pass the time while waiting. Most of the good rail spots were taken up within about 15 minutes and the area behind us had filled in by about 7:30-7:45.

The show was great. We all loved it and agreed that we were glad we waited to get a good rail spot. Even though we brought our rain coats, we didn't really need them. We got a light spray of water, but didn't leave feeling like we had gotten really wet. Thank you so much to everyone on this board for all of the great advice!

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Main St

We just returned from Disneyland and this thread was so helpful in planning for WOC, I wanted to share our experience...

We arrived to check in at the Grand Californian at around 2:30 in the afternoon on Wed. 1/19. We checked in, picked up our park passes and headed straight into CA to see if there were any fastpasses left. There were! We picked up 4 red section fastpasses. There was only one show on this night and it was at 8:15 pm. We headed over to the viewing area at 6:15. We found the red fastpass entrance and we were the first group there so I started chatting with some of the CMs and sent the rest of the family to go on a few rides. During the next 45 minutes, many of the CMs gave me different info so it did get a bit confusing about where you could wait and what time they'd open the area. A couple of CMs told me they wouldn't even be opening the area until after 7:30 (glad I didn't listen to them and leave). There was no line because of the construction walls. By about 6:40 a larger group of people had congregated in the area and we were told we had to go to the area near the Zephyr and they would open the viewing area at 7 pm. So, it turned out that there wasn't much of a benefit to getting there before 7:00 on this night. At 7:00 everyone rushed at the same time to get in line to get into the viewing area. We ended up being about the 5th family in line and got a good spot right on the rail in the red "wet" section. We had picked up some sandwiches for dinner and ate them and played cards to help pass the time while waiting. Most of the good rail spots were taken up within about 15 minutes and the area behind us had filled in by about 7:30-7:45.

The show was great. We all loved it and agreed that we were glad we waited to get a good rail spot. Even though we brought our rain coats, we didn't really need them. We got a light spray of water, but didn't leave feeling like we had gotten really wet. Thank you so much to everyone on this board for all of the great advice!

Thanks!

[TheColtonsMom]

My family loves Fantasmic esp my DS6, They do use "movies" projected on water although this is not really a favorite part of the show for my family. My son loves a "new" story about Mickey and really his favorite is the Columbia coming around the corner with Peter Pan & Capt Hook battling in the rigging and Murphy the dragon.


The reason for my post is this...for those that do love WOC so much I need to be convinced that this is worth the time it involves. I mean even if you pay for a WOC meal you are still standing in line after line after line and are not guaranteed a good spot. Also we watched part of a mad dash for prime spots on a friends video and I cannot imagine being in that stampede with a 6 year old. It makes regular rope drop look like a stroll in the park.

I am one of the DISneytragic I love all things Disney and DL has been a home away from home my whole life. I love watching clips of Disney movies but I can do this on the internet or watch whatever parts I want on our extensive collection of Disney on VHS & DVD.

So a bunch of lights and water a little fire and not even a storyline just a series of scenes like movie trailers and the amount of time it would take away from other things we can do while at DLR just doesn't seem worth it. Our last trip was Christmas and we didn't want to brave the crowds for this but we are considering it for our Oct 2011 trip if the arrangements for getting a spot or the crowds for it change before then. So DIS WOC fans convince me. If you love this show why it is so special?
__________________

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by TheColtonsMom

My family loves Fantasmic esp my DS6, They do use "movies" projected on water although this is not really a favorite part of the show for my family. My son loves a "new" story about Mickey and really his favorite is the Columbia coming around the corner with Peter Pan & Capt Hook battling in the rigging and Murphy the dragon.


The reason for my post is this...for those that do love WOC so much I need to be convinced that this is worth the time it involves. I mean even if you pay for a WOC meal you are still standing in line after line after line and are not guaranteed a good spot. Also we watched part of a mad dash for prime spots on a friends video and I cannot imagine being in that stampede with a 6 year old. It makes regular rope drop look like a stroll in the park.

I am one of the DISneytragic I love all things Disney and DL has been a home away from home my whole life. I love watching clips of Disney movies but I can do this on the internet or watch whatever parts I want on our extensive collection of Disney on VHS & DVD.

So a bunch of lights and water a little fire and not even a storyline just a series of scenes like movie trailers and the amount of time it would take away from other things we can do while at DLR just doesn't seem worth it. Our last trip was Christmas and we didn't want to brave the crowds for this but we are considering it for our Oct 2011 trip if the arrangements for getting a spot or the crowds for it change before then. So DIS WOC fans convince me. If you love this show why it is so special?
__________________

As you know, WOC has gotten mixed reviews. My personal opinion is that a significant part of the negatives are a result of the imperfect viewing area and time one needs to dedicate to getting a good spot.

If you cannot dedicate the time you might be better off waiting until a future date.

As for the comment about lights and water and fire and limited storyline, one could say sort of the same thing about one of my favorite DCA attractions - Soarin Over California. After all, it is just a highlight real of various California locations. Heck, you can drive to most all of them. And Imax? Ho hum, old news. I live near one. So what's the big deal?

For Soarin the big deal is an immersive experience unlike anything I have experienced elsewhere, and something that catches my heart as a native Californian. It is how the elements are brought together.

For WOC it is the same. The lights and water are woven together in such a magical way that the experience was overwhelming for us.

Further, it did not require a huge stampede when we did the preferred dining. We just showed up at 6:55PM (for a 9PM WOC). We were second in line and walked straight down to the rail. Not hard at all.

Getting in the FP crowd can be a little more daunting. IMO totally worth it if you are willing to work at getting a good spot. Unlike anything you have ever seen.

[babyruth]

Does it matter what time you pick up your picnic? ie if we pick up the picnic at lunchtime would we get a better FP than if we pick it up at dinner? or is it determined by when you ordered the picnic, not when you pick up?

[HydroGuy]

Originally Posted by babyruth

Does it matter what time you pick up your picnic? ie if we pick up the picnic at lunchtime would we get a better FP than if we pick it up at dinner? or is it determined by when you ordered the picnic, not when you pick up?

The answer is "no". Almost. I did the picnic once and do not know if my experience was the standard procedure or not. I think it is.

They start off the picnics at whatever time - 11:30AM? - and give out blue WOC FPs. After these are gone they give out yellow. So depending on when you pick up the picnic it could influence what color you get. Other than that it does not matter.

[Disneyland 1951]

Originally Posted by babyruth

Does it matter what time you pick up your picnic? ie if we pick up the picnic at lunchtime would we get a better FP than if we pick it up at dinner? or is it determined by when you ordered the picnic, not when you pick up?

1. Picnic Fastpass ($16) / WCT Lunch Fastpass ($30) / Fastpass from GRR Fastpass Machine (FREE). are all exactly the same in function.

2. They are distributed in this order BLUE - YELLOW for Picinc/ Lunch Fastpass. If you show up early you can request Blue or Yellow. When Blue Fastpasses are gone you will get Yellow.

3. It is determined when you get your fastpass.