Expectations... exceeded

[twitch]

So my theory post-COVID has been to go with low expectations (pick 3 or 4 major attractions and a handful of minor attractions) in hopes of exceeding those expectations. We used to be fastpass/maxpass strategists... so this has been a bit of a shift for us. I still like to strategize, but it feels a little different now... looking for reasonable/low wait times and clusters of rides that you can quickly assemble into a grouping (i.e., we'll wait a while for TSMM, but then we'll do Silly Symphony, Golden Zephyr, and Ariel) to round things out.

Yesterday certainly exceeded my low expectations.

In fairness, yesterday was a pretty light crowd day, although we certainly saw wait times (in the app) nudge or exceed 60 minutes a few times (GotG/RSR/BTMRR/HMH). However, we were able to do 20 attractions, (11 of which could be considered major attractions (used to have FP/MP access)), a table service meal, a quick service meal, and 3 mini-shows. We didn't wait longer than 35 minutes to ride anything, except for HMH which broke down and cost us an extra 15-20 minutes of wait time. We started at rope drop in DCA, and finished up at 8:30 in DL, having decided that getting home by 10pm was better than figuring out "what to do next" for the next 90 minutes.

If you care about our ride list and wait times, here you go (times listed are from when we entered the queue/line to when we got off the ride). While opinions probably differ on this, I've bolded what I'm considering to be my 11 major attractions.:

• Web Slingers - 805-840
• Guardians - 854-927
• Mike & Sully - 930-935 (truly a walk on, we bypassed 6 people in line in order to fill the back seat of a car)
• Wakonda Warrior Show
• Incredicoaster - 952-1004
• TSMM 1007-1037
• Jessie's Critter Carousel 1045-1050
• Pixar Pal Around 1057-1120
• Silly Symphony 1122-1135
• Golden Zephyr 1137-1146
• Ariel 1149-1158
• Soarin' 1204-1227
• Five & Dime Show
• Lunch at Wine Country 1240-137
• Cross over to DL
• Disneyland Band 150-205
• Indiana Jones 215-248
• Mark Twain 256-313
• POTC - 315-346
• HMH 349-446 (with a 15-20 minute breakdown)
• Pooh 449-459
• Space Mountain 512-546
• Jolly Holiday Cafe (Mobile Order) & Ragtime Pianist 600-635
• BTMRR 655-718
• MF:SR 724-751
• Tea Party 805-821

We could have easily stayed another 30 minutes and added in Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours, as they only had 5-10 minute waits by then. While we didn't chase wait times around the park, you'll notice one aberration, which is that we crossed all the way from Pooh to Space Mountain. Our plan had been to circle through Star Wars for MF:SR and then BTMRR, but MF:SR had grown its line quite a bit, BTMRR was broken down, and Space was showing only a 30 minute wait. The good news is that it only takes 10 minutes to walk from Pooh to Space Mountain! There are a couple of gaps in our time table which reflect lockers/restrooms/decision-making time/etc.

All in all, a pretty good day. As noted in a prior thread, our major mistake of the morning was rope dropping WS in Hollywood Land. Having never been on Avengers Campus before, I mistakenly assumed that the major entrance was through the GOTG entrance. By the time we got to the line, it had stretched down past the ride's exit. I bet we would have saved 10-15 minutes of waiting if we'd done rope drop from the other side.

 

[twitch]

I should add... I don't know that we have EVER been on a weekend. We had bought Flex passes just before COVID, with the intention of doing some weekends... but I don't think we ever did. So my experience is similar low-to-mid crowd weekday visits.

 

[Pluto468]

Wow! You were able to get SO much done. I'm glad your day went so smoothly

I'll have to remember what you said about the entrance for WS. I have never been to Avengers Campus, either.

How was mobile ordering at Jolly Holiday? I definitely want to go there.

 

[twitch]

Wow! You were able to get SO much done. I'm glad your day went so smoothly

I'll have to remember what you said about the entrance for WS. I have never been to Avengers Campus, either.

How was mobile ordering at Jolly Holiday? I definitely want to go there.

In regards to WS, if you want to do it as your rope drop ride, you should go straight out of the hub. Be on the left side of the crowd, as your entrance to Avengers Campus will be on your left (roughly where the Bug's Life Theater used to be). We made the mistake of turning left out of the hub headed toward GotG. We thought we were in pretty good shape with not a massive amount of people in front of us, but by the time we got to the "line starts here" sign, they were cautioning us that it could be a 45 minute wait (turned out to be about 30 (35 including ride time).

I've done mobile order twice now at JH, once at breakfast and once for dinner. Easy peasy. Put in your order and pick your arrival window. As you're approaching JH, hit the "I'm here" button, and go choose your tables. They have a pickup table where you used to exit if you took the left-hand service line (toward Refreshment Corner & Penny Arcade). Both times, our food came out as we were sitting down... you get a notification, walk up to the pickup table, give them your order number, and walk away with your food. Napkins/silverware/condiments are just to the left of the pickup table.

 

[LizzyS]

Glad to hear it was a good day for you! I agree that tempering your expectations right now is probably a smart thing to do.

 

[GatorChris]

I have to say that I REALLY love that the parks are opening at 8am all through the fall. Used to, the earliest opening was 9am, which meant a zoo at security and the gates, plus a later start to the day. The worst was a 10am opening, where if you weren't in a security line by 9:15, you didn't make rope drop. But having an 8am start is great, even though it means the vacation isn't too relaxing. On top of that, the whole week we were there the parks would close at 10pm or 11pm. That was really awesome. Amazing what you can get done when the hours at that long.

If making reservations for the parks means longer hours (which I suspect), then I'm all for keeping it this way.

 

[tlcdoula]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip..... Your day reminds me of what we used to do pre covid and that makes me feel a lot better about the upcoming trip. I am going in with the mind set we will ride our favorites in the morning and then see what we get to later on.

 

[twitch]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip..... Your day reminds me of what we used to do pre covid and that makes me feel a lot better about the upcoming trip. I am going in with the mind set we will ride our favorites in the morning and then see what we get to later on.

Yes... yesterday felt a lot more like a typical day of rides that we might have done pre-COVID. But it's also hard for me to know how much the crowd levels and weather (it was pretty foggy yesterday morning) factored into our experience.

We did virtually no criss-crossing of the parks (except that one cross-park trip to ride Space). Most everything else we approached in a more linear/geographic formula than we are used to.

I think that a reasonable plan is for every person in the party to choose 1 major attraction and 2 minor attractions... do those first, and then make the best of whatever time you have left. (Or, 2 major/4 minor for a couple or solo guest).

 

[Pluto468]

In regards to WS, if you want to do it as your rope drop ride, you should go straight out of the hub. Be on the left side of the crowd, as your entrance to Avengers Campus will be on your left (roughly where the Bug's Life Theater used to be). We made the mistake of turning left out of the hub headed toward GotG. We thought we were in pretty good shape with not a massive amount of people in front of us, but by the time we got to the "line starts here" sign, they were cautioning us that it could be a 45 minute wait (turned out to be about 30 (35 including ride time).

I've done mobile order twice now at JH, once at breakfast and once for dinner. Easy peasy. Put in your order and pick your arrival window. As you're approaching JH, hit the "I'm here" button, and go choose your tables. They have a pickup table where you used to exit if you took the left-hand service line (toward Refreshment Corner & Penny Arcade). Both times, our food came out as we were sitting down... you get a notification, walk up to the pickup table, give them your order number, and walk away with your food. Napkins/silverware/condiments are just to the left of the pickup table.

Thanks so much! I know my DS will want to try WS. Jolly Holiday is one of my favorite restaurants and I was worried it would be tricky to eat there with mobile ordering. Sounds like it's working pretty well there.

 

[MonocularVision]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Folks are often more likely to take the time discuss a complaint than express satisfaction so it is nice to hear about these experiences.

 

[twitch]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Folks are often more likely to take the time discuss a complaint than express satisfaction so it is nice to hear about these experiences.

True. And I've done my fair share of hand-wringing over parking costs, reservations, magic keys, Genie+, ILL$, etc. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the elimination of free FP... we can all debate what Walt would have wanted... but the reality is that none of us know what Walt would do with today's conundrums.

However, yesterday it occurred to me that replacing free FP with paid Genie may actually do more than simply improve company profits. By putting such a high price tag on it, it may reduce the level of FP users to the degree that it improves guest experiences for everyone. Wait times often hit an self-adjusting cap (based on the ride), and crowds are somewhat fluid (seeking its own level). If they can redesign LLs to use less space than FP lines (and reduce the number of rides with LL), then they can improve queue efficiency. While 30 minutes is 30 minutes... it definitely feels different when you can just keep walking through the queue than when you have to stop every 15-20 people in order to let a FP group in. Reducing merges reduces bottlenecks, which may improve perceived throughput. Also, if they can improve queue efficiency, then they might be able to better keep queues from overflowing into main passageways. DL, in particular, needs to reduce bottlenecks. Genie+/LL/ILL may actually help us get there.

But I've also been wrong before.

 

[Juliek8]

Thanks for sharing! All these positive stories have helped me calm the heck down, adjust my expectations and realize I just need to go with the flow... something that I am definitely not known for. We'll be there next week and no matter how busy it is I am determined to enjoy spending time with my family in the happiest place on Earth!

 

[MonocularVision]

True. And I've done my fair share of hand-wringing over parking costs, reservations, magic keys, Genie+, ILL$, etc. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the elimination of free FP... we can all debate what Walt would have wanted... but the reality is that none of us know what Walt would do with today's conundrums.

Yeah, and in no way should my statement be taken as a complaint about complaints. I think it is important folks discuss the real pros and cons and their negative and positive experiences so folks can decide on whether they want to spend what is often thousands of dollars on a vacation or Magic Key.