Going for the first time with kids. Suggestions please!

[disneyred]

ok . i have to ask.. what is FJ??

 

[Metro West]

ok . i have to ask.. what is FJ??

Forbidden Journey

 

[hibricc]

I've never noticed that but I tend to be oblivious. How rude!

I went in knowing that we would have to wait longer for everything without Express Pass, but I guess I wasn't prepared for how 'in your face' the class system is there. I'm not a "Disney does everything better" person (Universal beats WDW in thrill rides, hands down), but the whole "haves and havenots" system left a bad taste for me.

I always feel a little like a second class citizen at WDW when I'm offsite but I think that's just in my own head.

I've been to WDW both offsite and onsite, and never noticed such a difference - although to be fair, I never went to offsite rope drop after morning EMH (the only thing comparable to WWHOP early entry). I'm sure that Universal is doing the best they can to manage ovewhelming crowds at such a ridiculously popular attraction as WWHOP, and giving their own hotel guests first crack at the hot new park is understandable. But the "pay for privilege" ExpressPass system really feels like a moneygrab. What's next, a "SuperExpressPassDoublePlus" line for another fifty bucks?

As for Express Pass vs. FastPass... As complicated as it is, Disney's FP system has an egalitarianism(!) to it that makes it easier to watch FastPassers go by while I'm stuck in standby. Those people are in the FP line because they took the time and trouble to get a FP while I was doing something else, not because they paid more money than I did.

Before everyone jumps down my throat about whining, I'm not (well maybe a little). We really enjoyed WWHOP and USF, and will likely go back, but this time I'll turn my back to the hotel guests at rope drop so I don't end up in their photoset of 'losers' on flickr.

 

[Momw/aplan]

I tend to think the better of people--and admittedly I'm often proven wrong -- but perhaps they weren't taking pictures of the "losers" who couldn't/wouldn't pay extra money for ride privileges? Maybe it was something more along the lines of "Wow! Look at this huge crowd waiting to get onto this ride! That's crazy! I've got to get a picture so I can tweet about this."

Or maybe it was someone feeling so gleeful that they didn't have to wait and they wanted to get a picture of the long line for future use, as in: "Yes honey, I do understand that we'd only pay half as much to stay off site, but do you remember how little we had to wait in the 100 degree heat? Now look at this pic I took of the line we would have been standing in."

It was literally 100 degrees at times during our trip in June, with humidity so thick you could swim in it. I felt really bad for the people we were passing with our express pass (and would NEVER have laughed at them for sure!), however I was really thankful that the extra money we forked over by staying onsite allowed us to still have a relaxing vacation despite the heat and extreme crowds during the week leading up to the WW grand opening. Fast Pass could never have given us that.

I was so glad to know how to effectively use WDW's Fast Pass when we went last year (THANK YOU DIS BOARDS), but the whole sprinting through the crowds to line up to get a ticket to ride a ride ONE time later on and then the constant need to juggle things around and plan things out to be in the right areas at the right times to not have to zig-zag all over the park got exhausting.

Don't get me wrong, we loved our WDW trip and had a blast, but thanks to Uni's Express Pass system our Universal trip was a VACATION by comparison. AND our trip to Uni w/ EP was actually cheaper than our trip to WDW with their FP.

Like I said before though, I am often proven wrong for believing the best in people. If they truly were pointing and laughing and making it obvious they thought they were superior then I'm sorry anyone would have to go through that. Just know it says nothing about you and everything about them. If they weren't proving their idiocy in that way they'd just be proving it somehow else. It's not the system that does it, it's the people.

 

[Momw/aplan]

Come to think of it, I remember one instance at WDW when a pack of teenage boys were sprinting through the FP line at BTMRR chanting "Woohoo, woohoo!" into the faces of the people standing in the non-FP line. So it really is the people, not the system.

hmmm. Perhaps I should rethink this thinking-the-best-of people thing?

 

[IdesOmarch]

we will be going in Feb but are NOT staying at an on property US hotel. If we are going in after the pre-opening time does the plan to go to Ollivander's first still stand?

Also, this is my first US/IOA experince. I have no idea and need a gameplan-not just for HP but for everything. We gog to WDW twice a yr and this is my first time venturing away from WDW. Needless to say I am excited to try something new, however I am so used to knowing exactly where when and why I am going someplace in WDW -I need a little idea of what to do at Universal.

We have 2 days-doing 1 full day at each park and staying at Old Key West on Dis property.

Thanks for any advice!

The people that live there and post a lot, know more than me, but from what I know, February is extremely light crowds, shouldn't have many crowd problems at all, should be able to just walk around and do whatever at whenever. When I've been in off-peak times everything is pretty much no lines, walk right on, now the HP section will probably be a little more crowded than the rest of the parks, but February I'm guessing should still be pretty light.

 

[hibricc]

Come to think of it, I remember one instance at WDW when a pack of teenage boys were sprinting through the FP line at BTMRR chanting "Woohoo, woohoo!" into the faces of the people standing in the non-FP line. So it really is the people, not the system.

hmmm. Perhaps I should rethink this thinking-the-best-of people thing?

Nah, I'm probably just being overly negative about the whole EP+/EarlyEntry thing (although there is no doubt the 'photographers' were rubbing our noses in it). I just wish there were a way for it not to be so overt, ya know?

 

[Momw/aplan]

Nah, I'm probably just being overly negative about the whole EP+/EarlyEntry thing (although there is no doubt the 'photographers' were rubbing our noses in it). I just wish there were a way for it not to be so overt, ya know?

That's just sad that anyone would think it's okay to be rude like that.

Maybe they could hand out invisibility cloaks to the people using Early Entry or the EP lines. If you didn't have to watch the people breezing by it probably wouldn't hurt nearly as much. (Or they should at least let you chunk waterballoons at any one rubbing your face in it. You'd feel better, and they might even learn a little humility!)

 

[Planogirl]

At WDW, I've only noticed rude people in the stand-by lines. Some of them seem to take the fastpass system personally which is weird to me.

I would hope that those who jeer at the offsite people at Universal are very rare. I remember that we walked past a seemingly endless line waiting to get into WWoHP and we kept saying "wow!" but only because of the length. We were offsite but knew to get to the park early. Some people don't of course but we would never have jeered at them or made pictures (?)