At the parks--having fun!

[Eeee-va]

Sorry if I repeat anything people know already; I'm at the HoJo (and Internet was down until tomorrow). So I can't keep up with the boards.

We were able to get in to the parks on Friday, 6/20...we arrived at the parks around 8 PM and waited to see the fireworks (on the left side, right at the aisle they block off at the hub to allow people to get across the park). Pretty good spot! Closer to Frontierland than Adventureland but that was fine. We met a couple nice people who tried to give us tips but I think we knew most of them. I had said we were going to try to do Fantasmic after fireworks and they said they were coming with us. DL played the "wind" announcement a couple times and though the fireworks went off at first, outright stopped the show right as Dumbo's part was starting. Oh well! As soon as the lights went up I grabbed my friend's backpack and my mom's hand, and called our new friends 2 or 3 times to tell them to follow us, but I think they were in shock or something, and wouldn't come along. Leaving them behind, we made our way toward the Rivers of America. Traffic was blocked for a few minutes but we weaseled our way to within sight of the rope, safely. (Mom saw someone elbow a child in the face. ) We walked with purpose once they retreated with the rope, and got a spot just to the left of the rightmost water screen, right against the fence. That's obviously not the conventional choice for the best spot, but honestly, I thought it was great--we saw the performers closer than we usually do when we aim for the center, and since I've seen the show several times, seeing some of the backstage stuff is pretty awesome. Afterwards....I don't remember what all we did--not too much, but I got pictures so I'll know when I do my trip report. We did do Mr. Toad for sure.

We got there before opening on Saturday, using the gate 12-13 (?) tip followed by the "slide into the former MM line when it turns into regular entry" tip and got right into the park. We followed our Ridemax for the morning and stayed at or ahead of schedule. Space Mountain, the music soundtrack wasn't working but the narration was. I'd figured crowds would be lighter today than Sunday-Tuesday so I wanted to do as much as possible.

We went to DCA about 11 AM, did Monsters Inc. (so cute!) and then Soarin'. We got the Soarin' FP 30 minutes later than Ridemax said to and were able to use it quite a bit earlier than it said to! We saw Aladdin and went on California Screamin' (I can't believe people said it wasn't too scary! O_O I won't be going back unless it's with my thrill-ride loving friend; ow! The soundtrack for that was cutting in and out too. )

Going against conventional wisdom, we will actually be attempting our MM Sunday--I figured that with the APers going on Sunday and Tuesday, getting a jump on those lines will be valuable. Plus we were all tired from traveling on Friday. Wish us luck on every level.

Thanks so much to all of you for your tips!

 

[Disney Dreams]

Glad you are having a good time. Bummer about the fireworks, but that is exactly why you don't leave them to the last night. If you want to try again, you can.

As soon as the lights went up...we made our way toward the Rivers of America. Traffic was blocked for a few minutes but we weaseled our way to within sight of the rope, safely... We walked with purpose once they retreated with the rope, and got a spot just to the left of the rightmost water screen, right against the fence. That's obviously not the conventional choice for the best spot, but honestly, I th

Perfect. That's exactly how to do it. And, yeah, that angle ddoes let you see things a little differently which can be interesting if you have seen the show before.

Enjoy the rest of your visit,
Dreams

 

[Eeee-va]

It worked so well, Dreams; thanks!

I forgot to mention that Saturday it was so windy that we did not camp out for the fireworks, but saw the Electrical Parade instead. We did NOT get to do the parade from Paradise Pier so we had to walk with everyone else after the parade, but thanks in part to a nice CM, we made it to Main Street in time for the Mary Poppins portion of the show, right before they had cut off yesterday. We were surprised that they did the whole show Saturday, including Tinkerbell, but not that they had no Dumbo.

We went on the subs right after fireworks--the sign said 30 minute wait (I didn't honestly keep track of actual wait times). There was a band playing for the TLT experience thing, so I thought that was a great way to do the subs--adequate wait time and some entertainment too. Don't THINK that will work so well again until the lower tier APs are blocked, but I don't know.

(Oh, and we used the late FP trick to get back on Space Mountain about 11:10 PM. I suppose I maybe should have felt a little bad, but we didn't get music on our first trip, so I didn't. We had music the second trip so we are hoping the music curse has been lifted! )

 

[nzdisneymom]

Sounds like you all are having a great time - we were there June 11 - 17 in the parks. We didn't get to see Fantasmic because we decided to not wait so long for it - people were sitting down at 3 p.m. staking out spots. It was insane. Also we heard that the dragon was "sick" and not going to be a part of the show for a couple of weeks. Did they have him when you saw Fantasmic?

We also missed the Electrical Parade at DCA because we just didn't feel like trekking back over there in the evenings, but we did get to see fireworks one night and they were really good - loved the addition of Dumbo. And we really like how DL ropes off areas for people to stand and also keeps aisles clear for people to walk through without getting trampled (at least pre-show). Much better than our experiences at WDW.

 

[HydroGuy]

We got there before opening on Saturday, using the gate 12-13 (?) tip followed by the "slide into the former MM line when it turns into regular entry" tip and got right into the park.

You are the first person who I have seen around here who has actually used that tip. Sounds like it worked great. Got to remember that one. Thanks. Have fun.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I'm going to remember that too! We usually use the old slide into line 14 trick, but this sounds better for MM days.

 

[blackjackdelta]

"We got there before opening on Saturday, using the gate 12-13 (?) tip followed by the "slide into the former MM line when it turns into regular entry" tip and got right into the park."

Heard about this tip, those gates were not being used when we were there last. So, what I understand is that those are the current MM gates? Or are you informed or are the gates marked for MM when we arrive at 0630.

Jack

 

[Kayla's Mom]

Glad you are having fun Eeee-va! We were there Friday night (came in for the backstage tour) and I was SO disappointed when they stopped the show right before Dumbo was coming out. That was what I wanted to see most.

We did go over and watch the second showing of Fantasmic. We were just to the left of the Mark Twain entrance and stood right behind the rope that ropes off the area for disability seating. We saw a verbal fight between someone in a wheelchair and a younger lady. I was thankful we didn't have our kids with us, I can't believe the way people push their way right up to the front. Most just seem to think they are entitled to do that.

 

[PinkBudgie]

"We got there before opening on Saturday, using the gate 12-13 (?) tip followed by the "slide into the former MM line when it turns into regular entry" tip and got right into the park."

Heard about this tip, those gates were not being used when we were there last. So, what I understand is that those are the current MM gates? Or are you informed or are the gates marked for MM when we arrive at 0630.

Jack

When I went last summer there were several gates that said Magic Morning over them. We got to our MM at 7:30 so we walked right through while others were lined up at reg. gates. At 8:00 they switch them over to reg gates too.

 

[Eeee-va]

When I went last summer there were several gates that said Magic Morning over them. We got to our MM at 7:30 so we walked right through while others were lined up at reg. gates. At 8:00 they switch them over to reg gates too.

On Saturday, at least, there were 3 MM gates open around 7:30 AM. They switched 2 of those gates to regular entry a bit closer to 8 AM, and the final gate to regular entry shortly before 8 AM. One family was hanging out by that final MM gate, waiting for it to change. And as soon as it changed, a horde of people came to fill the line, so it was probably literally no more than a minute's time before that line was every bit as long as the others. I'm not even sure if the family that was hanging out by the gate was first in line for that booth! It's like vultures, I think.

Crowds were MUCH better than I'd expected yesterday/Sunday (my birthday)! Not that it wasn't crowded, but I'd figured there would be a lot more people there. Everything was manageable...at 8 PM or so, Space Mountain had "only" a 45 minute standby wait. We used to wait almost that long on summer days back when there was no such thing as Fastpass so standby lines moved much quicker!

Sunday, we got to the bag check about 6:40 AM, and it wasn't even open yet. It opened maybe 6:45. With some quick walking we were the first in line at one of the gates! And I was the first to ride Peter Pan's Flight. We actually were very much ahead of the crowd headed to Fantasyland (just a man and his little girl quite a ways in front of us, and they skipped Peter Pan to go somewhere else? ). We were far enough ahead that I even allowed my friend to pause for a quick photo in front of the castle.

Dumbo finally flew Sunday! Of course, after waiting so long to see him I was somewhat underwhelmed, but it was nice.