Trying to nail down some answers

[keltiesmom]

We are heading to disneyland the last week of september and a few questions have come up.

1. what are the best viewing locations in each of the yellow and blue fantasmic! areas? We havent ever seen the show and would love to get a good view, it sounds like you dont have to be there super early, just a few minutes before the FP window? Is this correct?

2. Does anyone know how much the photo pass photography at BBB is if we were to do it as an add on to a smaller package rather than the castle package, and would it include photos with the coach? We already have a bunch of dresses and could live without a new one, the only real draw to us is the photo pass photography and skipping the cue to meet the princesses. I know we would have to wait in line if we were to do a smaller package.

3. How quickly is the line hitting 45mins+ on RSR in the morning? Our only morning to hit CA on a non EE morning is the saturday, so if we were to go on a EE morning are we pretty much guanteed an hour wait?

4. The park hours seem to be longer than touring plans had predicted them to be, does this mean that disney is anticipating larger than normal crowds, if so how accurate will the touring planns crowd tracker be? Right now we are looking at mostly 3s with some 4s and a couple of 2s. Fingers crossed theyre right!

 

[bumbershoot]

The park hours seem to be longer than touring plans had predicted them to be, does this mean that disney is anticipating larger than normal crowds

Yep.

 

[figment_jii]

1. what are the best viewing locations in each of the yellow and blue fantasmic! areas? We havent ever seen the show and would love to get a good view, it sounds like you dont have to be there super early, just a few minutes before the FP window? Is this correct?

The best viewing areas are generally the ones closest to the water and/or closest to the center of the view area (total viewing area, not just the FP viewing areas). Please check out the to F! threads (the SuperThread and the Viewing Area threads) to get a sense of the viewing areas. In terms of timing, it sounds like folks arrive before the FP window opens, so if you wait until just before the FP window opens, you probably won't be able to get one of the prime spots. The folks with the dining packages (Blue Bayou or RBT) can usually wait until just before (or even after) they time window opens up and still get a great spot, but the general FP viewing areas go faster.

2. Does anyone know how much the photo pass photography at BBB is if we were to do it as an add on to a smaller package rather than the castle package, and would it include photos with the coach? We already have a bunch of dresses and could live without a new one, the only real draw to us is the photo pass photography and skipping the cue to meet the princesses. I know we would have to wait in line if we were to do a smaller package.

I've not done BBB, so I can't say for sure, but it sounds like if have PP+ they can add the photos to your card.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/disneys-photopass-service/disney-photopass/10150650931518325

3. How quickly is the line hitting 45mins+ on RSR in the morning? Our only morning to hit CA on a non EE morning is the saturday, so if we were to go on a EE morning are we pretty much guanteed an hour wait?

If you go to DCA on a morning when it has had EMH and you do not have EMH, then you will mostly likely encounter an RSR line that is over 30 minutes at park opening to the general public. It does depend a little on when you are going (i.e., dates), but in general RSR's line builds very quickly.

4. The park hours seem to be longer than touring plans had predicted them to be, does this mean that disney is anticipating larger than normal crowds, if so how accurate will the touring planns crowd tracker be? Right now we are looking at mostly 3s with some 4s and a couple of 2s. Fingers crossed theyre right!

I think the popularity of the 60th Anniversary has generally increased attendance. HalloweenTime is also very popular, so I would expect to see high crowds on weekends, but the parks should still be mostly manageable on the weekdays (Mon to Thu). When you say "last week in September", do you mean the last full week (starting 9/20) or the one that spans into October (starting 9/27)?

 

[keltiesmom]

Our park days are sept 24th-sept 29th, we are doing the halloween party on the 28th. The weekends I expect to be busy, but the saturday is our only day that will work for a CA start with no EE, although a 30 min wait is nothing for RSR. We will also be using FP but would like to get a couple rides in if we can, without waitng an hour or longer to ride. We are staying off site so we dont get the extra hour.

I have read the fantasmic posts that you linked, and to me it looks like the yellow could have a slight edge over blue, so I guess thats what I am questioning. It sounded like people were having good luck with ariving 15-20 mins before the FP window, to me thats a "few mins" I have been to Disneyland before, but havent seen Fantasmic! or even really paid much attention to the viewing area. Last trip in 2013 the pirate ship was down for refurb and it wasnt running, the time before that I didnt even know it exsisted so didnt bother to see it then. We have 4 small children so its important to get a decent view, especially if we have to test their patients waiting for the show..

 

[figment_jii]

Our park days are sept 24th-sept 29th, we are doing the halloween party on the 28th. The weekends I expect to be busy, but the saturday is our only day that will work for a CA start with no EE, although a 30 min wait is nothing for RSR. We will also be using FP but would like to get a couple rides in if we can, without waitng an hour or longer to ride. We are staying off site so we dont get the extra hour.

I would plan to get to DCA before rope drop and try the Wide Right Technique to get in the first ride without much of a wait. Then, depending on the length of the line, either get in line to ride again or head over to get a FP. FPs are lasting for a few hours (or more) now, so you should be able to ride RSR at least once and still get a FP for the evening time. Otherwise, on the mornings when DCA has EMH, I would just try to get over there close to opening and get a FP (assuming you're either going to DCA or you have park hoppers).

 

[Sith]

I would plan to get to DCA before rope drop and try the Wide Right Technique to get in the first ride without much of a wait. Then, depending on the length of the line, either get in line to ride again or head over to get a FP. FPs are lasting for a few hours (or more) now, so you should be able to ride RSR at least once and still get a FP for the evening time. Otherwise, on the mornings when DCA has EMH, I would just try to get over there close to opening and get a FP (assuming you're either going to DCA or you have park hoppers).

Yep, definitely do the wide right. We did it on a recent trip and were the 2nd car of the day on RSR. We then got back in line for about a 20 min wait. So, we ended up riding twice in the first 30 min.

 

[McNs]

2. Does anyone know how much the photo pass photography at BBB is if we were to do it as an add on to a smaller package rather than the castle package, and would it include photos with the coach? We already have a bunch of dresses and could live without a new one, the only real draw to us is the photo pass photography and skipping the cue to meet the princesses. I know we would have to wait in line if we were to do a smaller package.

We did that first visit (2013), it might have been $40 for the photo shoot. We could add the pics to PP+ BUT they didn't upload so had to go back a couple of days later to get them to find them and add them to our card again. All sorted in the end.

We also went last year, we didn't do the photo pack at the end, and annoyingly there were no longer PP photographers in the makeover area (though it was congested at the best of times).