Avoiding lines...strategy help please.

[engle]

We hate lines. We avoid them at all costs including paying for anything to move us to the front of one. I'm sure others of you understand!

Going on the Magic over Christmas. It's just DH and me and we want to finally, after 5 cruises, get our picture taken with a character, preferably one night when we are dressed up. Any strategy for the shortest lines? Also for Aqua Dunk other than on boarding day?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We hate lines. We avoid them at all costs including paying for anything to move us to the front of one. I'm sure others of you understand!

Going on the Magic over Christmas. It's just DH and me and we want to finally, after 5 cruises, get our picture taken with a character, preferably one night when we are dressed up. Any strategy for the shortest lines? Also for Aqua Dunk other than on boarding day?

The shortest lines will be if you show up at a character photo location before the character is actually there. Probably about 15-20 minutes ahead of time. The character locations are listed in the Navigator daily.

Also, if you are on a longer cruise, lines tend to be shorter toward the end of the cruise than at the beginning.

Booking a Concierge room will get you a special character meet one day.

 

[TestingH2O]

We never had to wait long (5-10 minutes) when we went to the meet and greet times right before first seating. A CM said the longest lines are between dinners.

 

[darkwing818]

We hate lines. We avoid them at all costs including paying for anything to move us to the front of one. I'm sure others of you understand!

Going on the Magic over Christmas. It's just DH and me and we want to finally, after 5 cruises, get our picture taken with a character, preferably one night when we are dressed up. Any strategy for the shortest lines? Also for Aqua Dunk other than on boarding day?

Like Schmoo noted book Concierge...... (works for us)

 

[wajones2]

Last fall on the Magic we found lines to be long, and many times we would get in the next characters line after seeing the current character. Using Wave phone to take turns waiting with DD.

The best experiences we had were the private concierge event(Belle in her Christmas dress), getting to our ticketed Anna and Elsa 10 min early, and open houses in the club (Mickey & Tiana appeared with fewer than 10 kiddos present).

 

[shelbell77]

On the Wonder in May we waited for every character (not something we typically do). In my experience, show up 10-15 minutes before the character is due to arrive and you'll be at the front of the time. Otherwise, wait for the late night character appearances (like the 10pm-10:30pm) and they rarely have lines. The lines seem to be the longest for the greetings between the dinner seatings.

 

[clten]

While not at night, so it wouldn't be when you were dressed up. Go to the Gold/Platinum return cruiser get together. Captain Mickey usually shows up for photos. (Last time we were there Minnie was there instead.)

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We showed up early- about 10 minutes-and scored a really nice picture with Captain Mickey one evening up on deck 5 of the Dream. Think it was right before one of the shows let out. Concierge had a private opportunity with Donald in his pirate attire. The mini chocolate covered rice crispy treats offered there amazing!

 

[Trera]

The shortest lines will be if you show up at a character photo location before the character is actually there. Probably about 15-20 minutes ahead of time. The character locations are listed in the Navigator daily.

Also, if you are on a longer cruise, lines tend to be shorter toward the end of the cruise than at the beginning.

Booking a Concierge room will get you a special character meet one day.

we had Goofy on the first cruise at the special meet and Stitch on the second cruise.

 

[MUN]

We hate lines. We avoid them at all costs including paying for anything to move us to the front of one. I'm sure others of you understand!

Going on the Magic over Christmas. It's just DH and me and we want to finally, after 5 cruises, get our picture taken with a character, preferably one night when we are dressed up. Any strategy for the shortest lines? Also for Aqua Dunk other than on boarding day?

You can offer the people in front of you money to let you cut to the front. Probably cheaper than concierge class. I'm not sure how practical that would be on the Aquadunk as the money would probably get wet. Enjoy your cruise!

MUN

 

[Trera]

We got our photo with a decked out Minnie Mouse last night (she was all in white formal attire) and I think we waited about 15 minutes or so. Seems like the longest line is for Mickey when he is on deck 4 in the atrium before dinners.

 

[Quellman]

Getting there 15 minutes early is the same as showing up and waiting 15 minutes right? The best times to see characters are random times when other things are going on, like dinner, parties, or other events. But since you want to dress up then you might want to heed the advice of others and figure out which character you want and arrive before the line shows up on formal/semi formal night.

As for the dunk, if they are running it while in port then do it when everyone else gets off the boat. The other time, is during the dinners. People will either be at the show or eating so the lines should be minimal!

 

[CesD]

On longer cruises, the lines tend to be thin toward the end of the cruise. It can also be hit or miss... In our Bahamas sailing during the princess meet, tiana and sleeping beauty had no lines and we walked right up. During a sea day on our Mexico cruise, Donald was by the pool and no one was taking pics.

 

[shburks]

We've never found long lines for the AquaDunk. First experience was when it was fairly new but lines still weren't bad. Second experience was spring break cruise this year. Lines dropped off the longer we were on the ship!

 

[Shelley Chiarats]

If you are on a cruise that goes to Castaway Cay then I would say mid morning while docked there as most folks will get off early to go to the beach. That is what we did when we were on the Dream. We ate a leisurely breakfast then did AquaDuck about 10am then left the ship to go look around and eat at the BBQ. There was no line. Hardest part was climbing with not much rest between flights.

 

[Mandlz]

As far as character lines go, we found the lines to be relatively short towards the end of the trip (as Schmoo mentioned) or during times when the ship was in port and most people were off exploring. Our trip last spring on the Magic stopped at Key West, and we got back on the ship early, and found there was almost no line at all to meet Captain Mickey (which was a very good thing with a 2 year old!). Overall, we found that the lines on the Magic didn't hold a candle to the lines on the Dream for anything, and were generally fairly short for almost everything. I'm not sure how this would change for Christmas, but I would imagine the number of people on board would be relatively equal despite the holiday.

 

[over50visits]

Getting there 15 minutes early is the same as showing up and waiting 15 minutes right? The best times to see characters are random times when other things are going on, like dinner, parties, or other events. But since you want to dress up then you might want to heed the advice of others and figure out which character you want and arrive before the line shows up on formal/semi formal night.

As for the dunk, if they are running it while in port then do it when everyone else gets off the boat. The other time, is during the dinners. People will either be at the show or eating so the lines should be minimal!

Agreed. Showing up early to avoid a wait is like eating a lot before dinner so you won't eat much. Neither are good advice. I agree with you about your advice on shorter lines; we have noticed them very short as we were walking into the first dinner seating on many cruises. On our cruises lines near the end of the cruise were just as long, if not longer, than earlier, perhaps because people had put it off.

One nice event is the princesses in the atrium, always during day (not during dinner time). There may be a wait for the first one, but then you move quickly through the other 3 (or however many there are). You only stand in one line for several greetings.