Ahoy Pirate Lovers - Advice on Pirate’s Lair

[yeaUHS]

nice! thanks alot!

 

[HydroGuy]

Note that I added this extra info that follows as an edit to the OP...

FWIW, I noticed on subsequent days (when watching from NOS) that on several occasions the Bootstrappers performed under the covered, shaded area at the back of the elevated level. It would be in the back of this photo:

http://hydroguy.smugmug.com/gallery/3064319#167130684-L-LB

So they perform at both the upper level or the lower level depending on their whim I guess.

However, after the Bootstrappers finished the stunt show still took place on the lower level here:

http://hydroguy.smugmug.com/gallery/3064319#167130699-L-LB

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks for the info on Nemo Hydroguy. Did the CM's escort you to Nemo? What route did you take?

There were CMs to direct us at certain points but no escorts. Here is the biggest advice about choosing a route:

Many people think "Nemo is in Tomorrowland" and take the right turn from the hub into Tomorrowland. Bad choice. Nemo is really in back of the Matterhorn and you want to continue thru the hub back to the Matterhorn at which point if you are early like us you take a right but if you are late the line will already be back to IASW and you will want to go left.

There are CMs there to try to give you this advice but with lots of people in transit you may not see them.

Once we got in line at the subs we could see some of the poor, desperate families making their way from the Autopia area where they were looking for the Nemo entrance (and could not find it) past us at the entrance and then unfortunately back to a line which by now was well over an hour long and probably 2+ hours at this point just a few minutes after 7AM. These people had taken the right at the Tomorrowland entrance and did not know exactly where they were going and paid the price.

We were in such a hurry that morning that we took zero time to look around the lagoon and so returned on a different day just to take in the whole view. FWIW when we asked about line length at about 5:30PM yesterday (Thursday, June 28) when we were viewing the lagoon the CMs told us it was 1 hour and 45 minutes long.

So now that the SoCal AP holders are blocked out the line is starting to drop a bit. My DS11 almost talked me into getting into the Nemo line at 11:50PM last night and waiting for a late ride, but the prospect of a potential 90 minute wait at that point (we did not check so I do not know the actual expected wait) was not worth it because, as I said earlier, the Nemo ride is fun but not so wonderful to justify that kind of wait. When I asked him if he really wanted to get back to the hotel at 2AM just to ride Nemo one more time, he thought about it and said "No, it was not that good of a ride". So we did our final ride on POTC instead.

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks for the advice. Is there a place to meet and greet Jack?

I can pipe in here in that there is a meet and greet area for Jack on PLATSI. DD and I were there last weekend and got right on a raft around 1pm. I had been worried about it being crowded but there was plenty of room for everyone. Here is a picture of my dd at the new meet and greet area. It is just great! THere were not that many people there thus dd was able to spend her time talking with Capt. Jack.

Yes, Tink's Mom has it right. The spot is in the far back of the island to the right of the old Fort Wilderness fort.

 

[seobaina]

Thank you, both of you

 

[Hound 109]

Hound is my new disciple and we therefore almost always think alike. His advice here is the same as I would give.

First time i've been called a "new" anything in a long time.

Actually, I've noticed a few more folks extolling the virtues of:

- using EE efficiently & purposefully.
- grabbing FPs early & often.
- Park Hopping when it makes sense.
- Always taking a mid day break to rest the kiddos & "the dogs".

A new guy named Adi...something. A lawyer from DC i think was suggesting these things and complaining that the only "down side" was that walks from nabbing the FPs at the logical times was wearing his feet out.

& I wish I known about the Capn Jack being where the fake "booty" is. FYI - when we visited there was only a CM there. Had we known we would have stopped by again (or asked).

 

[disneyscootergal]

There were CMs to direct us at certain points but no escorts. Here is the biggest advice about choosing a route:

Many people think "Nemo is in Tomorrowland" and take the right turn from the hub into Tomorrowland. Bad choice. Nemo is really in back of the Matterhorn and you want to continue thru the hub back to the Matterhorn at which point if you are early like us you take a right but if you are late the line will already be back to IASW and you will want to go left.

There are CMs there to try to give you this advice but with lots of people in transit you may not see them.

Once we got in line at the subs we could see some of the poor, desperate families making their way from the Autopia area where they were looking for the Nemo entrance (and could not find it) past us at the entrance and then unfortunately back to a line which by now was well over an hour long and probably 2+ hours at this point just a few minutes after 7AM. These people had taken the right at the Tomorrowland entrance and did not know exactly where they were going and paid the price.

This kind of specific direction is exactly what I've been waiting for! I still may not try Nemo (in the interest of fitting all of the other wonderful things I want to do in), but I'm printing these out and taking them with me just in case. Thanks, HG!

 

[HydroGuy]

I am bumping my own thread as I got a PM from someone asking about PLATSI.

 

[bumbershoot]

That acronym is just cracking me up, especially when I say it to myself.


I thought I read this when you first posted, but I don't remember seeing the picture of that cool map!

 

[Califgirl]

& I wish I known about the Capn Jack being where the fake "booty" is. FYI - when we visited there was only a CM there. Had we known we would have stopped by again (or asked).

Jack is back by the 'pirate booty' nearly all day. Or at least he was this past weekend. He is in the pirate show, of course, and then comes back to the set with the large pirate flag and piles of treasure for photo ops. They have (usually) a photopass photographer there for you as well. I just put on a 'quest' for some of my DLR friends and it was based mainly on Pirate's Lair. My husband was stationed by this set and he said Capt. Jack was there for about 1/2 hr and then had @15min breaks and then came back out again. Sometimes the lines were long for a pic, but often Capt Jack was there with no one at all in line.

Now, when we were there, the pirate show schedule was messed up a little. They had official looking people wandering the stage in the front, so perhaps Jack was out more than normal the day we were there, since there were not as many pirate shows.