AP Days reports?

[Aladora]

I was wondering if anyone has done any of the AP days this year and could give a bit of info about the "Special Activities and much more"? We're heading down in a week and a half and I would love a bit of advance details!

Thanks!

 

[Skyegirl1999]

We were there for the first day on Tuesday. The line for the Stage 12 character meet was hundreds of people long and filled all of Hollywood Land when we got there (looked shorter later, and they put tape lines on the floor to add switchbacks and condense it, but still not short enough to wait with a three-year-old). I saw other people's pictures and the character was Donald in a cool costume (I hadn't seen before), so it would probably be a fun meet and greet! There's also popcorn in there, I think. I'm hoping the line calms down and we'll do it in the future (I think there are different characters).

The Paradise Pier area has a button and they will take a photograph with an "AP Days" backdrop. I was disappointed that they didn't have anything back there like coloring sheets or activities (like they did at Christmas), as it seems like a big waste. They have all these tables roped off, but I'm not sure why anyone would sit there? It's not like it's air conditioned like it was in Blue Sky...

They also give out recipe cards back there. The flier they gave out in the parking area said there was a special pizza in the inside restaurant and a special dessert at the Garden Grill, but they didn't have anything Tuesday. I tried to ask a cashier at Garden Grill and she was actually kind of rude to me - she handed me a recipe card, and when I said, "hmm, it says here a special dessert and mentions it along with a pizza and smoothie other places, so I don't think they mean the recipe cards that they talked about up here," she kind of snapped, "no, it's this!" and dropped the recipe card on my tray. I am surprised when people mention negative cast member interactions because I find most of them to be great, but she wasn't...

Anyway. If Stage 12 has a decent line, I think that's where the fun perks are. I would not bother making a special trip to the Paradise Grill area.

 

[SMD]

When I got there on Tuesday there was a small line, maybe 10 people at Paradise Pier Garden. They didn't have the pizza or dessert yet, but they did on Wednesday. I bought lunch anyway and the cashier who have me the recipe cards was super nice and chatting everyone up about how good the pumpkin bread sounded and she was going to make it. After I walked back from Boardwalk Pizza the line was gone and I walked right in. I got my button and looked at the merch display for AP stuff, which is for sale nearby and had a long line too. People were electing to eat in the ropes off area, but I sat under a fan, because it was so hot. This week's activities were pin trading at the gazebo and coloring pages outside stage 12. The line to get into the area outside stage 12 took about 20 minutes, I think I waited through 5-6 tape switchbacks, mostly in the sun. They were also scanning APs for buttons when you got to the walled off area, so going down to PP turned out to be a waste of time because no food and just a button. They also had free mini water bottles, but the interior line was so long there was a CM walking the line passing them out 4 at a time. There was no popcorn.

There were 4 tables for coloring, and kids were doing that while their parents waited for the character. Some of them colored the same pic of pumpkin Donald 3 times because it was taking so long. The tables had umbrellas, but were still covered in melted crayons because it was so hot. There is a merch preview for Halloween, which starts tomorrow, some hay bales with pumpkins for pics, the same AP merch display that's at the gazebo and CMs with brochures for the expensive photo experiences. After you're past the first wall you can wander, but if you want to see the characters the line continues. From that point I waited another 55 minutes to see the character, of which all but 7-8 minutes was outside. It's wizard Donald or skeleton Goofy. You get whoever is out when you reach the front of the stage. No autographs, only photos. I overheard the CMs talking and they were saying they were going to have to cap the line before 6pm because the characters leave at 7 (the merch preview and coloring are open until 8pm) and the line is 45 minutes longer than they thought it would take when they laid out the second set of switchbacks.

My guess is that at least part of the display will change next week once Halloween starts. During the last AP days some weeks had additional activities, like Photopass ops throughout the park and special screenings. I think anyone who made a special trip this week is probably disappointed. The other thing is, if there is an actual rare character or 2 characters together, I think the line will be even longer next week.

 

[Aladora]

Yikes, sounds like a lot of waiting for not a lot of fun stuff!

 

[mamapenguin]

Can you tell me what AP merchandise was for sale?

 

[figment_jii]

Towards the latter half of this post from wdwnt, they've got photos of the merchandise:
http://wdwnt.com/blog/2016/09/photo...l-star-wars-land-ap-days-new-character-heads/

 

[mamapenguin]

Towards the latter half of this post from wdwnt, they've got photos of the merchandise:
http://wdwnt.com/blog/2016/09/photo...l-star-wars-land-ap-days-new-character-heads/

Thank you Figment! You never disappoint me. I can always count on you to show me the things I didn't know I needed. The link was great, and apparently more Halloween merchandise will be coming home with me than previously planned.

 

[SMD]

There's a green and yellow AP lanyard that isn't rest visible in the display pic. If I buy anything, it will probably be that. I'm not sure how I feel about ToT on the shirt. It will be in refurb for part of AP Days. On the other hand it's going away, so one last chance for a unique item.

 

[gsrieff]

I so wish I could get the AP Days t-shirt! I'm a first time passholder that lives out of state, so I cant get there for it. I called the merchandise phone number and asked if I can have it mailed to me...unsurprisingly she said no, and that its an in park purchase only. Bummer.

 

[SMD]

The pizza is mac & cheese pizza. The dessert was supposed to be pecan cheesecake, but they said it never came in. The smoothie is the mocha smoothie with ice cream instead of yogurt. They ran out of one of the recipe cards today, but said they expect more. They only had the t-shirt and the tumbler at one location and the other still had the lanyard. The CM I spoke to said they're not sure all the merch will make it to week 4. The line wasn't nearly as bad today for the characters, but the way they did it today was they held everyone outside, then counted off the number of people for that set, brought them inside, then let the room sit empty between sets. So it was a shorter line, but less time inside. I think that since many APs have free photo downloads they should have a PP in the outside area taking pictures of guests with the fall decor. Other than that, this AP Days has less to offer than the previous one, but I was still in the park, so I went on rides.