Everything I touch turns to broken. A fantastic Festival of the Arts Trip – January 2023 (Updated 6/22!!)

[khertz]

This evening it was about a 45 minute wait in the LL (even though it was posted at 20 minutes for standby)!

That is CRAZY!!! We were in DHS that day too, but only until the afternoon!

I really tried to convince DH we should buy After Hours tickets for DHS for that same night because there are so many headliner attractions there and I was so worried we wouldn't get to ride them all. I gave up on it long before the trip took place, so it didn't even come together in my brain until reading your update that it took place the night it POURED!! We were at MK and got SO soaked!! It ended up ruining our plan to stay for the extended evening hours. What a bummer to spend extra for an event only to have it rain and interfere with one of the main rides being able to run, and the other main ride not operating either!

 

[VAtink]

Sorry you didn't get as many rides as you'd envisioned and that the weather was not fully cooperative but it still sounds like a fun evening. I've actually never done an after hours event -- between being an early to bed and early to rise kind of person and also usually being a day guest with an hour ride home it just hasn't worked out. I was just thinking that I need a return trip to Oga's. I got to experience it that empty back when Rise first opened and it was so fun. There's so much in background noise/narration that you miss when it's packed. And while I've had some fun conversations with people I don't totally love the sharing tables thing -- especially b/c they try to really pack you in. I wish that we had the food options that they do in CA. Not sure why we don't - maybe just the overall volume of business.

It was definitely still a fun evening, just very different than any of the after hours events I've been to in the past. The weather certainly didn't help with that!

Oga's empty is AMAZING! I went back in April 2021 when they were still doing the social distancing, and the place was empty, I think the closest guest to me was maybe 12'-15' away and there were maybe 3-4 other parties in there. They even had seats at the bar, no standing! I wish it could be like that all the time! It would be nice if they had some more food offerings in there, but I can see why they don't with the 45 minute time limit.

 

[VAtink]

One billion percent agree! And then it's like at 15 minute wait after the preshow, goodness gracious.

YES! Exactly this. I hate they stop the timer at the preshow since there is still a queue after it!

Right? There's an Epcot After Hours event going on during our planned trip in August and I'm on the fence, because I would want to go to ride Guardians over and over again and I assume the vast majority would be doing the same thing, and I'd be upset to pay that much money for 30 minute waits. Blargh.

Ohhh, that is a tough call. I was lucky enough to do the DIS after hours party in September at Epcot and Guardians was a walk-on until the end of the night (when the stopped loading one side) which was amazing, but it's such a gamble not knowing how crowded the official DAH will be. Plus Epcot is so big I feel like you'd waste half the event just walking between rides! That being said, I would probably do it at least once just to test it out!

Having done both as well (though my HS After Hours event was Feb 2019, so pre-Star Wars land), I would agree. I think they've started selling more tickets for these events than they should, and while MK can absorb more guests with all the rides that they have, at HS there just aren't that many. And even worse when rides are down! That's the worst.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. I've only done the MK after hours before this, but besides 7DMT and PPF, everything was walk-on even at the beginning of the night. Although as you said, there are more rides to absorb the crowds, so that helps. As much as I hate getting up early, I wish they would bring back the early morning magic events, we had so much fun at the HS one, 10 rides on Slinky in less than 1.5 hours (plus other rides), it was awesome!

Also really the boats had stopped running?! That surprises me. Bummer.

Right!?! Definitely did not expect for them to stop running early. At least it's not a horrible walk from HS to the YC, but still, totally ruined my lazy/easy return home plan at the end of the night!

 

[VAtink]

Disney needs to do something about the LL wait times taking as long as the standby lines. It seems as if the LL wait times are longer than the fastpast lines used to be.

Yeah, I totally agree with this. While there were some rides we saw some longish lines with FP+ (Frozen was always a longer one for us), I've seen a noticeable increase in waits in the LL line vs the FP line overall. You would think for a paid product the waits would be shorter!

You had good timing during your Oga visit. It feels like a big "win" to dodge a downpour like you did.

Haha, I really did, really great timing on my part.

The one time we were caught at HS during a storm that stopped the boats, it was worthless to try to catch a bus back to the BC. The bus stop at that time was uncovered and we would have gotten just as wet waiting for the bus to show up as we would get by walking back to the resort in the rain.

Oh ew, that's so annoying! At least this evening the boats were just down for the night since they don't run during after hours and not stopped for a storm, so I got to walk home in decent weather. It definitely would have been more annoying if it had been storming on the walk home!

 

[VAtink]

I think part of the problem is that some rides are going down so frequently and then everyone in line (both lightning lane and standby) get a return LL and they just get overwhelmed and never quite recover. I'm not sure what the answer is but it's super frustrating. We've "noped" out of a few seemingly extra-long LL queues. Although I will say that sometimes the length of the line can be deceiving as it can move fairly quickly. But "lightning" has certainly seemed to be a misnomer lately, more often than not.

Ohhhh, I didn't think of that. That makes a lot of sense, and is really kind of annoying. The waits we've seen in the LL have been much longer than they had been for FP, so I can see it being a combination of selling more LL and rides going down more frequently, both not a good thing.

 

[VAtink]

Hi!! That was me I was so excited to see someone I recognized from the boards - it's like meeting a celebrity! And I'd also eaten too much ice cream so I apologize if I seemed a little frantic. (I was there with my 18-year old, and he was a bit embarrassed for me!)

Hi! Oh my goodness, I felt so rude after you left and I realized I never asked your name, thank you for stopping to say hi and for dropping in here! It was so nice to me you!

We actually had an amazing night! We rode 11 rides in total (2 Rise, 2 MFSR, 2 ToT, RnR, Slinky, MMRR, TSMM, Alien SS) and that was just during the after hours part. We got there early and they let us in at 6:45 (tickets say 7:00, so that was a little bonus). We did Star Tours, MFSR single rider and ate at Docking Bay before the official start of AH. Also did a bit of shopping on Batuu.

Wow! Ok, I should have just followed you around the park, you had a much better touring plan than I did! That's so awesome you got on so many rides that night. I'm impressed you got on Rise twice! After the one longer wait for me I was done, ha!

There were definitely fewer snack stations than MK, but we did get bottled pop and water at the stand on Sunset Blvd. The snack line by Slinky was crazy long.

Ohhh, I never made it all the way down Sunset, the stand I stopped at at the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood (ie the popcorn stand ) were doing the cups of soda. The stand by Slinky did have bottled water though, so that was nice. I just wish all of the stands had the bottles, I didn't want to waste time trying to finish a massive drink before getting on another ride!

Thanks so much for taking the time to write your trip reports - I really enjoy them! And if I see you in the future, I promise to be calmer

Aw, thank you so much! And I promise if you say hi I'll actually be more social and not half asleep (well, can't promise the half asleep part, it is Disney after all )

 

[VAtink]

That is CRAZY!!! We were in DHS that day too, but only until the afternoon!

Exactly! I was so shocked at the wait. Especially since the LLs were so easy to book this afternoon, I figured the park was empty!

I really tried to convince DH we should buy After Hours tickets for DHS for that same night because there are so many headliner attractions there and I was so worried we wouldn't get to ride them all. I gave up on it long before the trip took place, so it didn't even come together in my brain until reading your update that it took place the night it POURED!! We were at MK and got SO soaked!! It ended up ruining our plan to stay for the extended evening hours. What a bummer to spend extra for an event only to have it rain and interfere with one of the main rides being able to run, and the other main ride not operating either!

I had originally planned to do the deluxe extra evening hours at MK that night, but decided to do the HS after hours instead since (at the time) I thought I could boat back to the YC which seemed so much easier than the buses. It was annoying the weather hit over the after hours event, although f it hadn't hit I likely would have never swung by Oga's, so I guess it worked out somewhat ok since I got the drink I really like there! Sorry your night was rained out, it's so annoying when weather impacts trips like this!

 

[VAtink]

Ok guys, I think I may have a minor shopping problem. I *almost* booked a flight down to Disney for next week for a single day for the sole purpose of buying all the flower and garden merchandise. Seriously, why does the only festival this year I'm not going to have the cutest merchandise! Plus the food, ugh, it looks so good! I'm so annoyed that out of the four festivals this year I'm going to three of them, and THIS is the one I'm missing. (and yes, I'm still debating a day trip down there... )

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Ok guys, I think I may have a minor shopping problem. I *almost* booked a flight down to Disney for next week for a single day for the sole purpose of buying all the flower and garden merchandise. Seriously, why does the only festival this year I'm not going to have the cutest merchandise! Plus the food, ugh, it looks so good! I'm so annoyed that out of the four festivals this year I'm going to three of them, and THIS is the one I'm missing. (and yes, I'm still debating a day trip down there... )

Is that a problem? I will be there this weekend and multiple times over the course of the festival and am happy to pick up any must haves for you and ship them to you. Just let me know! But I don't want to rob you of the fun that a one day visit might be. I've seen a few people do that recently!

 

[NJlauren]

Ok guys, I think I may have a minor shopping problem. I *almost* booked a flight down to Disney for next week for a single day for the sole purpose of buying all the flower and garden merchandise. Seriously, why does the only festival this year I'm not going to have the cutest merchandise! Plus the food, ugh, it looks so good! I'm so annoyed that out of the four festivals this year I'm going to three of them, and THIS is the one I'm missing. (and yes, I'm still debating a day trip down there... )

I’ve done 2 day trips now and they are amazing!!! So if you’re looking for someone to talk you into it I’m your girl!!!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Now it’s time to play “BroadwayHermione5 didn’t realize VATink started her fARTS trip report”




Loving it so far!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Ok guys, I think I may have a minor shopping problem. I *almost* booked a flight down to Disney for next week for a single day for the sole purpose of buying all the flower and garden merchandise. Seriously, why does the only festival this year I'm not going to have the cutest merchandise! Plus the food, ugh, it looks so good! I'm so annoyed that out of the four festivals this year I'm going to three of them, and THIS is the one I'm missing. (and yes, I'm still debating a day trip down there... )

We have booked a trip just because we were able to go to a passholder preview for a new ride.

I agree about some of the cute F&G merchandise. Snow White is one of my favorites.

 

[VAtink]

Is that a problem? I will be there this weekend and multiple times over the course of the festival and am happy to pick up any must haves for you and ship them to you. Just let me know! But I don't want to rob you of the fun that a one day visit might be. I've seen a few people do that recently!

Haha, I mean my bank account thinks it's a problem!

Thank you for the offer! I maaaay take you up on it, but I think I saw that some of the stuff will be available online tomorrow, so hopefully they have the stuff I want!

Have a great time there this weekend!

 

[VAtink]

I’ve done 2 day trips now and they are amazing!!! So if you’re looking for someone to talk you into it I’m your girl!!!

You've done it twice now? Wow! I have to ask is it totally exhausting? I feel like usually on arrival day I'm a zombie due to the lack of sleep and having to get up so early for the flight, it worries me a bit just getting hit with exhaustion in the middle of the day and having no where to go rest.

 

[VAtink]

Now it’s time to play “BroadwayHermione5 didn’t realize VATink started her fARTS trip report”




Loving it so far!

Haha! ! Thank you so much, this was such a fun trip, it's a great one to recap!

 

[VAtink]

We have booked a trip just because we were able to go to a passholder preview for a new ride.

Ohhhh, are you going to the Tron preview? I'm so jealous, hope you have a great trip!

I agree about some of the cute F&G merchandise. Snow White is one of my favorites.

It is so cute this year, I love so much of it, which is rare lately for me and festival merch.

 

[Wood Nymph]

are you going to the Tron preview? I'm so jealous, hope you have a great trip!

We're not going to the Tron preview. But we've gone to Guardians of the Galaxy, Remi, Pandora, and some others.

 

[NJlauren]

You've done it twice now? Wow! I have to ask is it totally exhausting? I feel like usually on arrival day I'm a zombie due to the lack of sleep and having to get up so early for the flight, it worries me a bit just getting hit with exhaustion in the middle of the day and having no where to go rest.

It’s exhausting but totally worth it. Granted I have a short flight just over 2 hours, sleep on the way down and home. I did a one day trip report for my last time, which was slightly less exhausting than the first time. I am going down next weekend but for a little less than 48 hours.

Here is this times trip report - https://www.disboards.com/threads/epic-1-day-trip-take-2-part-5-updated-12-29.3903156/

 

[VAtink]

Is that a problem? I will be there this weekend and multiple times over the course of the festival and am happy to pick up any must haves for you and ship them to you. Just let me know! But I don't want to rob you of the fun that a one day visit might be. I've seen a few people do that recently!

Just following up on your offer, they had everything I wanted from the orange bird collection this morning online, and it looks like they're dropping the snow white collection next week, so I should be good. Thank you so much for offering though, that was so incredibly kind! Hope you have an amazing trip!

 

[khertz]

Ok guys, I think I may have a minor shopping problem. I *almost* booked a flight down to Disney for next week for a single day for the sole purpose of buying all the flower and garden merchandise. Seriously, why does the only festival this year I'm not going to have the cutest merchandise! Plus the food, ugh, it looks so good! I'm so annoyed that out of the four festivals this year I'm going to three of them, and THIS is the one I'm missing. (and yes, I'm still debating a day trip down there... )

Disney FOMO is SO real!! I totally get it.