AP Star Tours Crowds

[LisaT91403]

For those of you going early in the week (Mon & Tues), are there any volunteers to report back on a) how long the lines/waits were at Star Tours during your given time, and b) what the crowds were like in the rest of the park? We are going on Wed, and would love to have some info so we can set our expectations appropriately.

Any volunteers?

 

[mikeyas]

My husband and I are scheduled to go Monday at the 9am - 1pm slot. Will definitely report back! We're very excited!

 

[JaxsonsMom]

I think that data might be a little skewed as it's a holiday weekend. I know schools around where I am also have friday off, not sure how far that stretches, but it should be an interesting 2 weeks.

 

[Mcky36]

Not sure if this is helpful or not because I know NOTHING about this whole Star Tours preview stuff....BUT

I was there this past Sunday and Monday. There was MAJOR, HUGE lines for Star Tours both days. They were doing previews for certain people (not sure who these groups were....they looked like regular park guests to me!) The line was totally out of control. I asked a CM how long the wait was and he said 2 hours and you needed a special ticket. I didn't get any other details. The line crowded the walkway all the way from Minnies Plaza Inn to the store/arcade area before you get to Space Mountain. You couldn't even really walk through that area at all.

Anyway, not sure if this is what the OP is asking about, but it was a LONG LONG line!

 

[LisaT91403]

I think that data might be a little skewed as it's a holiday weekend. I know schools around where I am also have friday off, not sure how far that stretches, but it should be an interesting 2 weeks.

What holiday is this weekend? Memorial Day isn't until the following week...am I missing something?

I was there this past Sunday and Monday. There was MAJOR, HUGE lines for Star Tours both days. They were doing previews for certain people (not sure who these groups were....they looked like regular park guests to me!) The line was totally out of control. I asked a CM how long the wait was and he said 2 hours and you needed a special ticket. I didn't get any other details. The line crowded the walkway all the way from Minnies Plaza Inn to the store/arcade area before you get to Space Mountain. You couldn't even really walk through that area at all.

Ugh, that sounds awful. I hope it's not like that next week as well! Thanks for the info.

 

[JaxsonsMom]

What holiday is this weekend? Memorial Day isn't until the following week...am I missing something?

I meant next week, preview starts the 23rd or 24th right? I would supposed people in the beginning of the week might have better crowds as opposed to fri-tues crowds

Edited to add - my son also has tom off as well - all the these "budget days"

 

[LisaT91403]

Did anyone go to the AP event this morning? Just wondering what the crowds were like, how long it took to get onto Star Tours, if it's open to the public today or not, etc. Please give us the scoop!

Thanks!

 

[Shunasee]

I dont know if they are doing the Soft Opening today.

We were there on Saturday, and it was open, but the signs expressly said it could close at ANY time.

At 2 in the afternoon, we waited about 30 minutes. The line seemed to always be moving, so the wait did not see that bad at all.

After having been on the new Star Tours, I would have no problem waiting 60 minutes plus for the new ride.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We were there for the special "Sneak Preview" on Friday, the 20th. The line was incredibly huge! We waited over 3 hours but from the time the ride opened at 9 a.m. it took about 1 hr 20 min. to ride.

From what one of the CMs said when we got in line (that we were like #1200 of a possible 2400) I think there may have been, at most, 300 behinds us. So maybe 1500. By the time we exited ST2, the line was finished.

I was there at the AP preview for TSMM and there wasn't much of a line at all. We got to ride about 7 times during our time slot. Much better than Friday's preview where we waited over 3 hours and were only allowed to ride once (they cut off our wristbands after we rode.)

 

[LisaT91403]

Yeah, I read about the issues with the Sneak Preview. I'm supposed to go to the AP event on Wednesday, but if it's a nightmare like the Sneak Preview, I might not go. I have a 3 year old, so I can't wait in line for several hours just to go on one ride (especially when he's too short to ride it).

I'm hoping some people from the AP preview post tonight or tomorrow so that I know what to expect.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Yeah, I read about the issues with the Sneak Preview. I'm supposed to go to the AP event on Wednesday, but if it's a nightmare like the Sneak Preview, I might not go. I have a 3 year old, so I can't wait in line for several hours just to go on one ride (especially when he's too short to ride it).

I'm hoping some people from the AP preview post tonight or tomorrow so that I know what to expect.

That's the problem we had as well. My DNephew2.5 is too short to ride. They didn't accomodate child swap. So my DM waited with him and didn't get her preview ride. If they do it like the did for TSMM you should be fine. I guess someone will post soon.

 

[ODL]

Hello all!

I just returned from the AP 9a-1p slot this morning.
We got there around 11a, thinking we would only ride it once.

Turns out, they allow you to get a fastpass once every 30 minutes (the fastpass machine will release one ticket per 30 minutes from timestamp). So....we ended up riding it 4 times. It was closed to the public (thankfully no soft opening!), and only AP members had access. So needless to say, there was absolutely no line. Most of the time, the starspeeders were only about 1/2 to 3/4 full, so everyone was able to shift around to get the best seats. If someone were super-determined, you could manage to ride it 8 times in the timeslot.

Out of the 4 rides, we only saw 2 scenarios though.

Anyone know how many there are?

Anyways, I was very pleased with how disney organized this. Out of all the years I've bought an annual pass, this one experience has made it all worth it.

As for rest of the park, it was surprisingly busy for a weekday. Definitely not weekend-bad, but I'm sure middle of the week will be lighter.

Edit for incorrect spoiler. I just have bad luck and got the same scenes 4 times in a row haha.

 

[LisaT91403]

Thanks for posting about your experience today! Sounds like they did right by the AP contest winners by not having the ride open to the public...awesome that there was no line!

Do you know if your Star Tours FastPass prevented you from having a FP for another ride at the same time? Was thinking of grabbing one for Space, then riding Star Tours when waiting for my Space time to come up.

Bummer that the rest of the park was crowded, but sounds like you had fun!

 

[marcemc]

Sounds so awesome, thanks for posting

They had huge crowds in the afternoon for Little Mermaid soft opening, we're hoping WoC doesn't get too crazy tonight.

Hello all!

I just returned from the AP 9a-1p slot this morning.
We got there around 11a, thinking we would only ride it once.

Turns out, they allow you to get a fastpass once every 30 minutes (the fastpass machine will release one ticket per 30 minutes from timestamp). So....we ended up riding it 4 times. It was closed to the public (thankfully no soft opening!), and only AP members had access. So needless to say, there was absolutely no line. Most of the time, the starspeeders were only about 1/2 to 3/4 full, so everyone was able to shift around to get the best seats. If someone were super-determined, you could manage to ride it 8 times in the timeslot.

Out of the 4 rides, we only saw 2 scenarios though.

Anyone know how many there are?

I'm going to post spoilers, so highlight if you want to read:

++++++++++++++++++SPOILERS++++++++++++++++++++++
The ride always starts with darth vader's scene. Then you go to the pod racer scene. Then here is where the multiple scenarios come in. A star wars character will show up with a message (each time is different), and from there, the ending scene is different. They use the star wars character x the multiple endings to get "54 scenarios" for their number, but i was wondering how many actual characters and locations for the end scene there are. I only saw three characters and two ending scenes (one in a city, the other is in an asteroid field).
++++++++++++++++++SPOILERS++++++++++++++++++++++

Anyways, I was very pleased with how disney organized this. Out of all the years I've bought an annual pass, this one experience has made it all worth it.

As for rest of the park, it was surprisingly busy for a weekday. Definitely not weekend-bad, but I'm sure middle of the week will be lighter.

 

[Disney4Nina]

Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear it was a smooth, well organized event. So awesome that you got to ride 4 times!! I hope it goes as smooth for my time on June 1 4pm - 8pm, so excited!

 

[mikeyas]

My husband and I got there about 9:45am for the 9am - 1pm slot as well. It took literally less than 5 minutes from us to go from the from gate to being seated. No line whatsover! We even held up the people behind us because we wanted to slow down and enjoy the queue more!

It was sooo empty that they opened up Star Tours to ALL APers in the mid-afternoon but closed it again once the lines got too long. We left before finding out if they ever reopened it to all APers.

 

[skiingfast]

They had huge crowds in the afternoon for Little Mermaid soft opening, we're hoping WoC doesn't get too crazy tonight.

Are you saying Little Mermaid was open today? To all guests not just CMs like they've been doing for a handful of days?

 

[mvf-m11c]

Thank you ODL and mikeyas for the info on the AP Sneak Peek days. This will help me a lot when I do my Sneak Peek this Sunday May 29th 9am - 1pm. For every 30 minutes, you can get a FP and go back on. It would be very interesting to hear from someone to do it all 8 times during those four hours.

 

[Krissy Marissy]

We just returned from a 5 day visit. This weekend a few times they seem to have opened up the line aside from the selected people events and the line was awful! Several hours! We just happened to walk by this evening and see that they had just opened the FP machines for all AP holders to ride. We went and got our FPs and rode with a 10 minute wait. Since we had APs for the little ones who weren't tall enough we were able to ride again right away with a less than 10 minute wait. Difference sequence both times, although the couple behind us was complaining that this was their second time and they had the exact same ride? lol if true that sucks but oh well, honestly I could have ridden the same one twice and still enjoyed it. It's smoother, the picture is top notch quality and most of all, it's that great disney fun that we all love star wars style. It was great. We probably wont wait longer than 45 minutes to ride later since we've ridden twice but it definitely is something I would tell my friends to check out. I am hoping to catch a soft opening of little mermaid soon! That would make my day for sure!

 

[lcasa]

Very good info - going for the 4-8 slot tomorrow so may be a bit more crowded since some of the time is after work hours.
I'll try to report back.