Disneyland Questions

[gelatoni fan]

I'll be visiting Anaheim Disneyland next week and have a few pretty specific questions I was hoping someone here could answer:

1. What characters are available at for greeting at the parks right now (including Chase Visa characters)? Are any in seasonal outfits (ex. Mickey Mouse wearing something other than his Tuxedo)?
2. How does Fastpass for Fantasmic work? Can I only get Fastpasses for one? Am I allowed to choose which one or will I have to wait for the first show to fill up before the second show becomes available? I used to like watching from the front of the standing area in front of Pirates of the Caribbean. Is this now a Fastpass restricted zone?
3. Are both parks on the same Fastpass grid or can you grab simultaneous Fastpasses in both parks using Maxpass? Are there any rides still off grid (ex. Racers)? Are there still 2 sections for World of Color and can you pick your section?
4. Are there any seasonal buttons, special freebies or seasonal GWPs? Ex. for Easter or the DCA food and wine festival.
5. What are the gate opening and rope drop times for normal guests on Thursdays and Fridays? Should I target the park with Extra Magic Hour or the one without if using Maxpass without these privileges? Is there a Welcome Show or Rope drop mini-show at either park right now?
6. What is the currently accepted best strategy for first Fastpass and first rides? I personally don't like to rush Indiana Jones or Racers because they used to break down a lot and a breakdown in the early morning can really mess up a day.

Thanks to anyone who can answer any of these questions.

 

[Malcon10t]

Basic answers, you can pull for only one Fantasmic! viewing, all rides are now on the grid, as for times of opening, check the Disneyland website, characters can be found on the app, and characters for the Chase Visa rotate, so you could get one of a few different options.

 

[HydroGuy]

1. What characters are available at for greeting at the parks right now (including Chase Visa characters)? Are any in seasonal outfits (ex. Mickey Mouse wearing something other than his Tuxedo)?

I am going to leave this to others.

2. How does Fastpass for Fantasmic work? Can I only get Fastpasses for one? Am I allowed to choose which one or will I have to wait for the first show to fill up before the second show becomes available? I used to like watching from the front of the standing area in front of Pirates of the Caribbean. Is this now a Fastpass restricted zone?

I am not sure about how to get second show FPs. I understand that FP is the only sure way to see F! But they do take some walk ups. I do believe the POTC spot is FP restricted.

3. Are both parks on the same Fastpass grid or can you grab simultaneous Fastpasses in both parks using Maxpass? Are there any rides still off grid (ex. Racers)? Are there still 2 sections for World of Color and can you pick your section?

MaxPass lets you get DL or DCA FPs from the opposite park. They are on the same network. So if you are holding a DL FP, you cannot get one for DCA until the FP delay is finished. FOr MP the nice thing is that the delay is never more than 90 minutes while the paper FPs are still 2 hours.

No riders are disconnected any more. Shows like WOC and F! are disconnected and can be obtained independent of ride FPs.

Yes, two color sections for WOC - Blue and Yellow. You cannot pick which one. Last time I checked, they WOC FPs give out some blue FPs first, then some yellows, then the rest of the blues, then finally the rest of the yellows. See "World of Color Superthread" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=37986447

4. Are there any seasonal buttons, special freebies or seasonal GWPs? Ex. for Easter or the DCA food and wine festival.

Well, I have no idea.

5. What are the gate opening and rope drop times for normal guests on Thursdays and Fridays? Should I target the park with Extra Magic Hour or the one without if using Maxpass without these privileges? Is there a Welcome Show or Rope drop mini-show at either park right now?

If you do not have EMH, and you arrive at RD, I highly recommend starting your day at the park without EMH. After an hour or two, it will not matter and you can stay there or hop to the other park.

6. What is the currently accepted best strategy for first Fastpass and first rides? I personally don't like to rush Indiana Jones or Racers because they used to break down a lot and a breakdown in the early morning can really mess up a day.

At DCA GOTG has taken over as most popular with RSR a close second. You are right. Doing RSR standby at RD is taking a chance. I have been burned more than once doing that. Maybe you can do GOTG and while in line get a MP for RSR?

At DL, the most popular FP is still Space Mtn usually. ST and Indy are close behind. And Splash on hot days. What to do at RD? Hard to say but Fantasyland is always a good place if you care about any rides there. While riding those, grab your MPs. If you want to focus on headliners first, then heading towards ST and Space Mtn is a good idea because if one is down you have the other right there.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

1. The DLR app will tell you which characters are out that day (roaming and M&G -- sometimes this can be confusing). The Big 5 characters wear different outfits in DL than they do in DCA. The DCA outfits are not seasonal, but are vintage/retro themed.

2. If you do a F! Dining Package, you will be allowed to choose which show you want. If you get a free FP, you will have to ask the CMs at the machines which show is currently being given out, then keep monitoring if you want the next show. The bridge in front of POTC is standby viewing (non FP), but the wait is about 4 hours to hold a spot there. The pp may be right about the ground area in front of POTC being FP viewing.

3. The only sure way to pick a section for WOC is to do a Dining Package or the Dessert Party. Then you will know for certain where your section will be. Otherwise, you'll have to keep monitoring the machines and asking CMs if they are giving out the show you want (1st or 2nd) and the section you want (blue or yellow).

4. There are GWP now, but I don't remember them being particularly seasonal. One was a backpack. There is merchandise for the F&W Festival. It certainly wasn't free. There are free buttons of various colors that are given to passholders when they purchase food items using the Sip & Savor AP pass.

 

[figment_jii]

1. None of the characters that I saw last week had any seasonal outfits on. I think the only times the characters wear seasonal outfits are for HalloweenTime and the Holidays. Mickey can be found wearing other outfits on a regular basis (e.g., he's in his 1920s/30s outfit on Buena Vista Street). You can find out what characters are currently meeting guests on the Disneyland App. They can change from day to day, so it's worth checking each day when you're in the parks. In general, there are Mickey & Friends, Tinkerbell & Friends, Princesses, Marvel Characters (e.g., Black Panther, Captain America), Star Wars Characters (e.g., Stormtroopers, Chewie), Disney Junior Characters, and Classic Characters (e.g., Alice, Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, Captain Hook).

2. Unless things have changed, you have to wait until FP for the first show run out before they'll start issuing FP for the second show. As the PP said, check with the CMs at the machines; they can usually give you an estimate of how many first show FPs remain. I don't think the area you mentioned is part of the FP viewing area. From what I could tell, it seems like the FP area is actually pretty small and much of the viewing area is now standby/first-come-first-serve.

3. As theluckyrabbit said, you cannot select your WoC viewing time or section. If you want a specific combination, you'll need to wait for that one to be distributed by the machines. Again, you can ask the CMs there to try and get a sense of when they think they might start distributing them. None of the attractions are disconnected anymore.

4. There were no Gifts with Purchases that I saw. The two Purchase with Purchases that I saw were both non-seasonal (one was a tote bag and the other was a backpack). The only (free) buttons that I saw were the regular ones, plus two new #DisneySnackTime buttons (but those had run out by the time I left the parks on Friday - they were available at the Dole Whip Stand by the Tiki Birds and Pooh's Corner). If you're an AP holder, you can get a free F&W button at the AP Center.

5. If you are a guest that can make it to the parks for rope drop, I would aim for the park not having EMH/MM. While EMH/MM do not have a lasting effect on park crowds, they do impact wait times right at opening. If you go to DL on its EMH/MM day, you'll find that the attractions in FL and TL already have lines. If you were planning on going to Adventureland, Frontierland, NOS, or Critter Country first, then it wouldn't make a huge difference. Over in DCA, it means RSR, TSMM, GotG, etc. will already have lines.

6. I would probably opt to still try and get an RSR FP as early as possible - they still run out on the earlier side (compared to other attractions). Same for Space (if you're interested in riding that).

 

[danielle782001]

Oswald is a really cool character that you can meet at DCA! He is not in WDW, so he is super special.

We did the Fantasmic Dining Package and loved it. We ate at the Blue Bayou. They gave us a nice cushion to sit on while we waiting and watched Fantasmic. We stayed put for the fireworks that started right after.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Thanks a lot for the answers! I was planning on getting dole whip in the afternoon but will definitely stop by earlier for the #DisneySnackTime buttons.

I just realized that roaming characters are listed in the app with the info "Roaming near ..." but I find roaming characters a bit difficult to take pictures with (more fun to take pictures OF though). Do they tend to have hosts and/or photopass to take photos when they roam or is it best to do that at meet & greet? Also, are there "secret" characters that aren't listed? For example, in Hong Kong the app will say Aurora's time but not tell you which times Prince Phillip will be with her and you have to ask a CM to find out if/when Alice will appear.