Anyone else nervous???

[carmel]

I've been to DL twice before. Once was during Easter Week and the other time was 2 wks before Christmas (on a Sat. night to boot!)

Both times, it was such a sea of people we basically gave up.

We are going the 4th week in August this year. It is the only week that coincides with my girls' school schedules and a 'low' attendance time. Granted, it is not a totally off time but we were be there Mon - Thurs and hopefully since school will have started in a lot of the country, attendance might be slightly down.

I read things about people using Hydro Guys tips and RideMax and never having to wait in line > 10 minutes. I waited 10 minutes just to go potty! Our quickest wait time was 40 minutes on either trip. I really want to enjoy this trip.

I know a lot of it is a mindset but a positive outlook only goes so far when you can only ride 4 rides in a day.

I'm just nervous about compiling all of the tips and tricks to maximize the time. I don't expect to walk onto every ride but our two previous experiences (granted at very high attendance times) were just bleak. I'm having to beg hubby to give it another try.

Any words of advice/support/encouragement? I've never been on Soarin' or Indy or Tower of Terror or SM or Splash Mountain or Buzz Lightyear......seriously, the lines were 2hrs when we went. We just focused our time in FL and did PP, SW, Snow White, and Tea Cups. But I wanna ride other things WHAAAAAAAA

 

[avalon451]

You can do it, Carmel! You can have a fabulous time and you will! All you have to do is follow a few basic rules. You said you read Hydroguy's tip list, so you know that it's really pretty simple, right?

1. Get there at least 30 mins before opening
2. collect Fastpasses at earliest opportunity as each window opens
3. First ride the rides that don't have FP, that get busy quickly, like Peter Pan
4. Take a break back at the hotel mid-day when the crowds get miserable
5. Come back in the evening and use your FPs you collected earlier!

That's simplified, but you can fine tune it reading through all Hydroguy's tips and browsing around here. Also downloading Ridemax ($15.00 for a 3 month subscription) can really be a big help, and it's fun to fool around with.

We were there in March during spring break-- later the statistics said it was the BUSIEST week on record. It was insane! But, by following those rules, we did awesome and we never waited more than 30 minutes for a ride-- and most of the time we never waited more than 10 minutes. I'm talking for all the super headliners like Splash, Space and Indy.

Plan and read now, then when you get there you'll know what to do and you will have an AWESOME time.

Best wishes!

 

[Vacation Dad]

If your kids are young and basically interested mostly in the Fantasyland rides, then the “get there early” guideline is so important. Most of these rides don’t have fastpasses, so the only way you can bypass the lines is to get there early. It is so nice to go between rides and not see much of a line in front of you.

 

[sftnslky]

:2. collect Fastpasses at earliest opportunity as each window opens, Take a break back at the hotel mid-day when the crowds get miserable.

Can you help me understand? I have never been to DL since they started the fast pass system, but it was my understaning that you HAD to come back to ride the ride during a certain time schedule. But your saying you can collect them at diffrent times and then go back to your hotel, rest, swim etc...then come back hours later and use your fast passes all then? Can you use your fast pass the next day?Thank you in advance for your time.

 

[Danauk]

You can use your fast pass at any time after the start time on the day that you got it (just ignore the end time part). You can not use a fast pass the next day. Hope that helps.

 

[fairycat]

Can you help me understand? I have never been to DL since they started the fast pass system, but it was my understaning that you HAD to come back to ride the ride during a certain time schedule. But your saying you can collect them at diffrent times and then go back to your hotel, rest, swim etc...then come back hours later and use your fast passes all then? Can you use your fast pass the next day?Thank you in advance for your time.

The time block I hear is true at WDW but at DLR you can get in on a FP anytime after the first time expires.

So if your FP says 12:05 to 1:05 you can get in the FP at 12:05 at the earliest, but if you get wrapped up in other things you don't have to worry because you can line up with your FP at 8pm and you will still be fine. It just has to be used the same day.

 

[avalon451]

Can you help me understand? I have never been to DL since they started the fast pass system, but it was my understaning that you HAD to come back to ride the ride during a certain time schedule. But your saying you can collect them at diffrent times and then go back to your hotel, rest, swim etc...then come back hours later and use your fast passes all then? Can you use your fast pass the next day?Thank you in advance for your time.

At the top of the discussion boards are a number of "sticky" threads, meaning that they are always at the top. If you look in there, you will see Hydroguy's Tips compilation. Read it and follow the links in it to the tips he has collected. They explain all the things about Fastpass, etc. It is PRICELESS information, and can make the difference between the "vacation from Hades" and a "dream vacation"! Seriously, he's pretty much distilled all the info from several different guidebooks and hours of browsing on these boards.

 

[Vacation Dad]

It really isn’t as confusing as all the information here makes it seem, and HydroGuys threads are so useful. If you get there early, ride the rides when they are not as crowded, and gather fastpasses all morning to save them up for use at night you will be fine. As is mentioned above in this thread, you do not have to use a fastpass during the time it states on the fastpass. Just remember to gather them as often as you can in the morning, and you can easily get 4 or 5 (or more) to use later in the day. As long as you get to the park early, gather fastpasses in the morning, and have some idea of what you want to see then you will be a step ahead of 90% of the other people in the park. It isn’t uncommon to see groups of people arguing/discussing what they want to see next, when they could using that valuable time to do fun things. Have as many “discussions” as possible before you get to the parks, so that you don’t waste time while you are there.

Just figure out what is important to you, and have fun. It sounds like the rides are what interest you (and why wouldn’t that be the case), so if you do what the folks here have mentioned you will do fine.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

The park hopper tickets (3-days or more) from Get Away Today come with two Magic Mornings.

If you are planning to see Fantasmic, FWIW, based on last August's schedule, it looks like Fantasmic won't be showing Monday to Thursday during your stay. Although it looks like it will be showing on Sunday and Friday.

HTH

 

[lugnut33]

Scrap you plans and head to Disney World. The crowds aren't as bad and you can have free dining...... LOL, just kidding.

everyone's advice so far is spot on.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

ITA with the above suggestions -- but FWIW I just wanted to add ...

For your questions, IMO these threads from HydroGuy's Tips should really be helpful:

"HydroGuy's How To Avoid Long Lines Rules" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199856

"Why I ParkHop at DLR" by Hound 109 www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1491961

"Strategies For Using DL and DCA Opening Time Differences to Collect More Fastpasses"
www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1553197

IMO start each morning in DL. Four mornings in DL will give you plenty of time for Indy, SM, Splash, Buzz, etc., etc. It would be even better if you could go to the Magic Mornings on Tuesday and Thursday.

I would use RideMax to plan the first couple of hours. Try to enter the times and rides so that RideMax doesn't have you crisscrossing the park like a pinball. And the RideMax itineraries will tell you when to pickup FastPasses and when to use them. IMO RideMax is worth the $15 or $25.

The idea is to use RideMax to help plan your mornings, and to not let RideMax make you go "commando." You really don't have to follow it minute-by-minute, and IMO using RideMax for an entire day wouldn't be fun.

HTH

 

[disneymom23]

We were just there during that crazy Easter week. By having a plan, we were able to see and do everything we wanted. I basically followed Hydroguy's tips. I had fun staying a step ahead of the crowds. We averaged 18 attractions (rides, shows, parades) each day. We went to the parks early, left for a few hours in the afternoon and then went back at night.

We didn't have a specific itinerary to follow (other than the FL ride order during MM) but we had a general idea of what to do each day. We were there for 4 days. The first 2 we focused mostly on rides, and the last 2 we did more shows and favorite rides. We did our favorites multiple times- Screamin'-4 times, Thunder Mtn-4 times, Space-3, Indy and Splash-2, etc. I remembered things I had read here- like do Jungle Cruise at night so we did. Or when we walked into the theater to see Aladdin, I remembered I read to sit in the front mezzanine row so we did. Little things like that enhanced the trip for us.

Plus the trip was only 4 days but I had fun for weeks planning. DD10 got into it too. When we got back to the hotel each night, we made a list of the rides we did and the restaurants we went to so we'll have a record for next time.

So even though it was super busy, we did everything we wanted and never waited in line for more than 30 minutes and that was rare.