A handful of questions

[Stacey012345]

1) For a typical summer week (non-holiday), are they likely to stick with the 9am published opening time for the parks or do they shift earlier as it gets closer? Want to book an ADR for before park opening but don't want to then have my ADR fall just after park opening if they move the hours, if that makes sense.

2) Is there any detail somewhere about exactly what is on Tom Sawyer's Island, the age it appeals to, what you can do there, how to get back and forth, how long it takes to get back and forth?

3) For Mission Space, is the less intense ride area a separate entrance? How much less intense is it than the regular one? What ages typically ride?

4)Is Be Our Guest still very difficult to book dinner reservations? What is the time of the first one, typically? Does the Beast always meet in the library?

5) Has anyone done the Polynesian Aloha show? Are there characters here or is it just a luau? Worth the price? Do you have to pre-pay when you book 180 days out?

6) When booking ADRs, for those that need pre-payment, can you use a Disney Vacation Account to make the payment?

Thank you!

 

[BrianL]

I'll answer what I can:


2) Tom Sawyer's Island: There are basically trails and caves and a play area there. There's a cool pontoon bridge that is fun to cross and jump on. The caves have many paths but aren't that big and you can't get too lost. Transportation is on the rafts that run constantly. Unless it is very crowded, you won't wait long for a raft. I'd say 10 minutes to wait and cross on a typical day.

3) Mission: SPACE: The entrance is the same. You will be given either a Green Team or Orange Team ticket by the CM at the front. The lines diverge (just follow the colored stripe). Green Team: Less Intense Training does not include the high G forces that Orange Team: More Intense Training does. The spinning that creates the G forces only lasts for 10 seconds or so and occurs three times during the ride. The Green Team does not spin at all, but is otherwise an identical experience.

4)Be Our Guest: It's still really popular, but it can be done. Beast does walk through the dining room, but only meets in the library. I think Reservations start at 5 PM.

 

[Virtucomp]

I can answer some of these but they are very good questions.

1) For a typical summer week (non-holiday), are they likely to stick with the 9am published opening time for the parks or do they shift earlier as it gets closer? Want to book an ADR for before park opening but don't want to then have my ADR fall just after park opening if they move the hours, if that makes sense.

2) Is there any detail somewhere about exactly what is on Tom Sawyer's Island, the age it appeals to, what you can do there, how to get back and forth, how long it takes to get back and forth?
You get to Tom Sawyer Island on a raft ride from the Big Thunder Mountain side. There is a fort and some caves to explore. There is really not an age limit. This is about wandering around the island and exploring not riding an attraction. The rafts run back and forth at regular intervals so you can leave if you find you don't like it.


3) For Mission Space, is the less intense ride area a separate entrance? How much less intense is it than the regular one? What ages typically ride?
The original mission space had only the more intense version. Now they use one set of cars/ships for the less intense. When you first get to the queue they give you a card to indicate your ride level. I would suggest your try the less intense first and see if you want more.

4)Is Be Our Guest still very difficult to book dinner reservations? What is the time of the first one, typically? Does the Beast always meet in the library?
Be Our Guest is still one of the best restaurants in the park. The good food, room decorations and the fact that everyone knows it's popular makes it stay hard to get. They serve lunch from 11 AM then switch to dinner at I think 4PM until park close. Beast meet and greet is always in a separate room for photos.

5) Has anyone done the Polynesian Aloha show? Are there characters here or is it just a luau? Worth the price? Do you have to pre-pay when you book 180 days out? This is just my opinion but I do not think the show is worth it. The food is good but the show host is corny/hokey. The fire dancers are the great part. We've tried it two different years and will not go back. There are no characters there. The dinner shows are pre-pay since you are locking in a spot.

6) When booking ADRs, for those that need pre-payment, can you use a Disney Vacation Account to make the payment?
They will ask for a credit card to cover the fine if you don't show for your ADR. If you show up they charge however you pay the server. If you cancel the day before they do not charge your card. The Disney Visa deferred payment thing is only for the room/park package not the other charges while on the trip.

Thank you!

 

[nkereina]

1) For a typical summer week (non-holiday), are they likely to stick with the 9am published opening time for the parks or do they shift earlier as it gets closer? Want to book an ADR for before park opening but don't want to then have my ADR fall just after park opening if they move the hours, if that makes sense.

2) Is there any detail somewhere about exactly what is on Tom Sawyer's Island, the age it appeals to, what you can do there, how to get back and forth, how long it takes to get back and forth?

3) For Mission Space, is the less intense ride area a separate entrance? How much less intense is it than the regular one? What ages typically ride?

4)Is Be Our Guest still very difficult to book dinner reservations? What is the time of the first one, typically? Does the Beast always meet in the library?

5) Has anyone done the Polynesian Aloha show? Are there characters here or is it just a luau? Worth the price? Do you have to pre-pay when you book 180 days out?

6) When booking ADRs, for those that need pre-payment, can you use a Disney Vacation Account to make the payment?

Thank you!

1. No guarantees, and they probably will adjust as necessary when it gets closer. We usually travel the week before Thanksgiving which is a slow week, and they do extend times. In fact, we had an 8am pre-park opening for Tusker House at AK on a Tuesday and the Friday prior, they moved the opening up til 8am

2. The entrance queue is across from BTMRR and it's a boat/raft type vehicle that goes back and forth across the water over to the island - 5 minute ride, if that. We're two adults and went over to it for the first time last year and spent maybe 15 minutes or so walking around. Not much for us to see or do for us, but definitely geared towards kids who might like playgrounds, climbing, outdoorsy type stuff.

3. Can't speak to the ages for Mission Space (I think it's a height requirement) but the green side is the less intense version. The orange side is the intense one. From my understanding, the orange side spins your ride vehicle at high speeds and the green side does not and that's the only difference. I got very ill on the orange side one year, so I rode the green side last trip and still didn't care for the motions and the closed in space.

4. Can't speak to this but worst case scenario, I highly recommend getting a BOG lunch FP. No beast meet & greet, but still gets you inside BOG. It was very fast and good.

5. Yes you pre-pay and I don't believe there's characters. I've heard bad reviews on the food and options are somewhat limited. We had it booked one year and it was cancelled on us due to cold temperature.

6. Not familiar with what that is. If it's an account with a check book or a card that has a Visa/MC logo, then yes.

 

[Mikie]

As to #1 Park hours, It would not be surprising for summer hours to be expanded (not just EMH) to open earlier some days. However, it is not possible to know what days they might do this or to know eactly when it would be announced. Many people have complained in the last months here on DIS about their plans being messed up because they made a "pre-park opening" breakfast reservation and when hours changed, it was no longer pre-opening. I guess I'd probably try to make that reservation and then see what happens. If hours change, you then decide whether you still want the reservation, or if you want to cancel it to not be "behind" the park crowds after you finish eating. In that case, I'd probably try changing it to a late brunch, use the early park hours, then be eating later as ride lines are starting to build.

 

[Stacey012345]

Thank you all for your replies so far.

For those that have experienced park hours shifting one hour earlier as your dates approach and having ADRs one hour prior to originally listed park opening, does the restaurant generally open even earlier (i.e., could you shift an 8am ADR for 9am park opening day back to 7am if they shift park open to 8am....or would they not switch the restaurant's first available times to go along with it?)

I have ridden the Mission Space way back when it was just one ride, and I think that would be too intense for my kids now. I'm trying to get an idea of approximate ages of people's kids who have ridden the less intense ride...anyone care to share, please?

For Tom Sawyer Island, are the parents able to navigate with the kids, or how does that work? So there is no ride on the island, just the boat ride over, correct? Are there typically lines to get there & back on the boat?

This is the Disney Vacation Account: https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/

For a show or dinner (CRT, for example, or Aloha show mentioned above) that requires pre-payment to reserve, does anyone know if you can use funds from Disney Vacation account to pre-pay?

 

[IrishNYC]

Thank you all for your replies so far.

For those that have experienced park hours shifting one hour earlier as your dates approach and having ADRs one hour prior to originally listed park opening, does the restaurant generally open even earlier (i.e., could you shift an 8am ADR for 9am park opening day back to 7am if they shift park open to 8am....or would they not switch the restaurant's first available times to go along with it?)

Your meal reservation time is your meal reservation time. It's not going to change, regardless of what time the park hours might change to. If you find an earlier reservation time on your own if you see that time park time has changed, you can rebook it for that time, otherwise your reservation will stand as is.

 

[Stacey012345]

Your meal reservation time is your meal reservation time. It's not going to change, regardless of what time the park hours might change to. If you find an earlier reservation time on your own if you see that time park time has changed, you can rebook it for that time, otherwise your reservation will stand as is.

Thanks, yes, I realize that and I probably was unclear. What I meant was if the 1st opening time for reservations available was 8am with a 9am park opening, does the restaurant ever shift their times available online (that one could then in theory select from if necessary) to offer earlier hours when a park shifts its opening time earlier. Does that make more sense?

 

[klinlin]

Thanks, yes, I realize that and I probably was unclear. What I meant was if the 1st opening time for reservations available was 8am with a 9am park opening, does the restaurant ever shift their times available online (that one could then in theory select from if necessary) to offer earlier hours when a park shifts its opening time earlier. Does that make more sense?

Yes, but I have never been able to accomplish just that. My ADR's are made at the 180 mark, and I guess I am just not watching closely enough when they adjust the hours to snag an earlier time.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

...double post

 

[jtowntoflorida]

No, they typically don't open more ADRs if the park opening changes. This is why people were upset when December hours changed with little notice. There were no pre-opening ADRs on those days.

For Tom Saywer...there's nothing really to navigate....it's an island. Parents can stick with their kids if they want, but we typically take the opportunity to let them explore on, their own without us. Very few people make the trip over there, so there aren't crowds. It's just like going to hang out in the woods at camp.

 

[Stacey012345]

Okay, thank you all so much.

 

[nkereina]

For those that have experienced park hours shifting one hour earlier as your dates approach and having ADRs one hour prior to originally listed park opening, does the restaurant generally open even earlier (i.e., could you shift an 8am ADR for 9am park opening day back to 7am if they shift park open to 8am....or would they not switch the restaurant's first available times to go along with it?)

For Tom Sawyer Island, are the parents able to navigate with the kids, or how does that work? So there is no ride on the island, just the boat ride over, correct? Are there typically lines to get there & back on the boat?

For us, they moved AK opening up three days prior to (what was supposed to be) our pre-park opening ADR. I didn't even know they changed the time until I showed up around 8am for our ADR and saw people freely entering the park. Fortunately for us, because the time change was so last minute, I don't think many people were even aware of it and the park was still not crowded at all when we left the restaurant. Still got on the safari in 20 minutes. And no, they don't change restaurant times when they move park hours.

Correct on Tom Sawyer island - just the boat ride over and then you walk around. All areas are large enough for adults to accompany kids, but there's some dark narrow caves likely not good for an adult with claustrophobia. But it's all doable for adults too. We were there the week before Thanksgiving and there was no line to get back and forth - the rafts hold a lot and anyone who was waiting could get on. But if you did miss the raft, you'd have to wait 7+ minutes for it to go over to the other side and come back. They may run more than one raft during busy times - not sure.

 

[Mikie]

For Tom Sawyer Island, are the parents able to navigate with the kids, or how does that work? So there is no ride on the island, just the boat ride over, correct? Are there typically lines to get there & back on the boat?

tom sawyer has no rides on the island, just run play & explore. The only ride is the boat/raft over and back.parents can navigate with their kids. Boats run constantly and waits are usually very brief. Great spot for kids to run around a bit more freely vs all the lines they,re in all day.

 

[Stacey012345]

Okay, thanks. I am a little stressed that hours could change and an early pre-park ADR could end up hindering our in park pre-rope drop type plans, but I guess I will have to cross my fingers on that one that it works out!

Anyone have insight further on Mission Space ages of riders and tolerance they had for the green (light) side? Or on using a Disney Vacation Account for any pre-pay ADRs?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Earlier park opening: Disney may change hours on relatively short notice, based on occupancy level information provided by all the area non-Disney hotels. Most hotels let guests cancel with no penalty up until the day before or the day off arrival. While being in the park ready to ride before rope drop is a wonderful situation, it's never guaranteed. Much, aside from a change in park hours, can affect the ability to get from breakfast to the rope before the park opens. You do have the advantage of being able to cancel your reservation the day befire with no penalty.

Mission: Space doesn't have an age limit per se, or a tolerance scale. Height is the only restriction, with the rest being up to the parent's judgment. If a parent feels the child isn't old enough or wouldn't tolerate the ride despite exceeding the height restriction, then the best decision would likely be to skip the ride.

It might not hurt to call the Disney Dining line and ask a Cast Member how to prepay for a meal out of the Disney Vacation Account, especially if there continue to be few/no replies.