GotG Cosmic Rewind AP previews

[EpcotPhoenician]

I totally agree the information sharing from Disney was awful! It makes no sense to me why they couldn't have sent out the email BEFORE the queues opened???

I definitely would not have secured a date if I wasn't eyeing this thread like a hawk.

I remember circa 2005 when they were testing Soarin' for opening, my family was approached by a Cast Member outside The Land pavilion and was asked if we wanted to test a new attraction. We didn't have to refresh a message board thread every five minutes for days... it just happened while we were in the park.

Makes me miss how simple things were just a few years go.

 

[soniam]

Soooo disappointed in how these AP preview reservations were handled. We missed out because we were actually *in a Disney park* when they released the news that they had opened up ressies. Yep, checked this morning before leaving home and nothing was posted and no email sent. Left the park around noon to come home for lunch and found the email that had been sent to us at 9:15 AM, but registration was already filled. We even have EPCOT park reservations for the dates but no GotG previews for us. Congrats to those who were sitting around and actually got the message before they filled up. We just couldn't sit home day after day waiting for an email notice. Would have been nice if they had at least let APs know what day to be expecting the registration to finally open, but oh well. Eventually we will manage to experience it after it opens to everyone.

As an AP holder i'm a little disappointed I didn't get a spot. I don't follow these boards so I didn't know it was coming. I saw the email about 35 min after it was sent waited in line and it was full. I'm not sure why they couldn't make enough spots for everyone who has a pass.

I totally agree the information sharing from Disney was awful! It makes no sense to me why they couldn't have sent out the email BEFORE the queues opened???

Unfortunately, this is just how they do it. I have been watching the thread but had to drive DS to school. I have never gotten one of these, mostly because we live out of state. It would be great if everyone could get one, but we are lucky they even do this. There are people who work during the day who can’t access their computers or phones, So, it’s never going to be completely fair for everyone.

 

[brightlined]

I remember circa 2005 when they were testing Soarin' for opening, my family was approached by a Cast Member outside The Land pavilion and was asked if we wanted to test a new attraction. We didn't have to refresh a message board thread every five minutes for days... it just happened while we were in the park.

I was with two friends at Universal Orlando in March 1991, standing in front of the soon-to-open Back to the Future attraction admiring it. An employee at the entrance waved us over and asked if we'd like to ride it. We had to wait over an hour, but we could hear the pep talk that the ride staff were having, and they mentioned it was the first time they'd have "civilians" on the ride. One of my favorite days ever.

It's just too hard to do that now. With all of the Permanent Resident Influencers and how interconnected everything is - if they did that once, people would find out and just stand there waiting for it to happen again.

 

[CanucksRock]

How exactly was the registration link found prior to it going live? Worked great as I was in here and had my date within 2 min of it going live. But how did the link come about?

It’s always the same link and was on the first page of this thread.

 

[FSU Girl]

I know but I got a 12:30-1pm slot and none of the people I'm going with have a park hopper ticket so I wanted all of us to be able to go to the same park. I wanted a morning but was surprised to see that even at 9:00 am the earliest time wasn't until 11:30-12.

Btw I hope you enjoy going to Disney with your baby : )

Times went quick for this. That’s good you were able to switch everyone to Epcot I know a lot of the reservations for it disappeared. Sucks about losing dining reservations, but people do cancel closer to the trip so you can try and get them on a different day if you’re still going. And thank you I’m excited to share my love of Disney with my baby

 

[mistysue]

I definitely would not have secured a date if I wasn't eyeing this thread like a hawk.

I remember circa 2005 when they were testing Soarin' for opening, my family was approached by a Cast Member outside The Land pavilion and was asked if we wanted to test a new attraction. We didn't have to refresh a message board thread every five minutes for days... it just happened while we were in the park.

Makes me miss how simple things were just a few years go.

I wish they made it simpler like this as well.
As fun as it is to compete with thousands of people as we all stalk the website and ignore our real lives and responsibilities for days or weeks, they're creating this weird scenario where we now have people flying in from out of town to come to a ride preview. Why not just add magic to the day for people who were already coming to the parks? There used to be a lot of extra little magical moments for people who had simply planned to be there, It seems one by one they've taken away all of them and replaced all of it with a system that is consistently leaving nearly everyone disappointed that they were left out, Even those of us who are in the know.

Before random people had extra magic and the people who were left out didn't even know they were being left out.

 

[CAS239]

As an AP holder i'm a little disappointed I didn't get a spot. I don't follow these boards so I didn't know it was coming. I saw the email about 35 min after it was sent waited in line and it was full. I'm not sure why they couldn't make enough spots for everyone who has a pass.

Making enough spots for everyone with an AP to be able to get in they'd need 2 full months of previews. They're always limited so not everyone is going to get in. But if you're on when they drop you're pretty much guaranteed. Tens of thousands got a reservation, but it can't be everyone

 

[bookbabe626]

I couldn't unselect my AP friends who are on my planning list. Did anyone else have that problem? Well, my friend Emily from Orlando will probably come out and ride with us but my friend John isn't going to hop on a plane from Chicago to do it!

Why not? We’re flying down from Toronto Canada to do it…

 

[CanucksRock]

Why not? We’re flying down from Toronto Canada to do it…

I’m coming from Edmonton. Had to use points to book the flight ..because return is on Victoria Day Just booked it Tuesday. Thankful it panned out.

 

[focusondisney]

My DH, DS, DDIL & I flew from Buffalo for the Galaxy’s Edge preview. It’s a fun, spontaneous trip. And Disney doesn’t mind making money from extra hotel & restaurant reservations.

I don’t do coasters so had no interest in this one. DS & DDIL would have gone down, but airfare was crazy.

 

[MediumSizedMermaid]

Missed the AP previews. I'm not mad for myself since I was able to get the D23 ones and the rest of my party doesn't have APs anyway. But IMO they have announced at least the day before, if not two days, so everyone could have had an equal shot VS if you happened to get the email or a message board post or a tweet etc. In that respect the D23 one was fairer since it was right there on the D23 page that'd it'd be happening.

 

[SkyGuy]

I would’ve done a value but didn’t see any. I’m hoping for a last minute dvc rental but we’ll see

I did see a DVC rental for my day, but it was $250 more than Riverside. It’s Beach Club, which would be super convenient, and I’d do it if we weren’t coming from Universal - and if I weren’t coming from Beach Club club level just a week before that.

 

[Haley R]

I did see a DVC rental for my day, but it was $250 more than Riverside. It’s Beach Club, which would be super convenient, and I’d do it if we weren’t coming from Universal - and if I weren’t coming from Beach Club club level just a week before that.

I’m not seeing any good ones for 5/15 but I’ll keep checking. I don’t mind staying at POR. Ds loves the water slide and splash pad at POFQ and beignets. We’ll have a car so we’ll be driving to Epcot no matter what then driving home

 

[PPFlight75]

I appreciate all of these threads keeping me up to date. I was able to secure an AP preview and we're so excited. I was guessing on when the dates may be and happened to have already reserved the Swan for the weekend of May 21st about a week ago. That sure worked out! Thanks for all of the info and I'm sorry for those who did not get it.

 

[1lilspark]

I definitely would not have secured a date if I wasn't eyeing this thread like a hawk.

I remember circa 2005 when they were testing Soarin' for opening, my family was approached by a Cast Member outside The Land pavilion and was asked if we wanted to test a new attraction. We didn't have to refresh a message board thread every five minutes for days... it just happened while we were in the park.

Makes me miss how simple things were just a few years go.

With sdmt we were on our way to the park and a friend texted my sister saying they were letting people ride

 

[Smugpugmug]

I’m not seeing any good ones for 5/15 but I’ll keep checking. I don’t mind staying at POR. Ds loves the water slide and splash pad at POFQ and beignets. We’ll have a car so we’ll be driving to Epcot no matter what then driving home

Epcot is probably the best park to go to if staying at Port Orleans Riverside. I drove to Epcot when I stayed there and it was a 5 minute drive. The pool area is great if you have kids, even if it's tricky to get a pool chair.

Also love how a lot of people here are doing 1 day trips (as in flying there and back, not driving) just for the preview. I was SO lucky to have it happen during a vacation I paid off months ago but I love the dedication some of you guys have : D

 

[mom2missmous]

We just got notified about preview and was full before we could sign up! Typical of the Disney of today.. lots of hype, but limited availability , less value, and less caring about the guest experience. As a former die-hard Disney - fan , AP holder and long time DVC member, Universal is looking more and more appealing !

 

[SkyGuy]

I’m not seeing any good ones for 5/15 but I’ll keep checking. I don’t mind staying at POR. Ds loves the water slide and splash pad at POFQ and beignets. We’ll have a car so we’ll be driving to Epcot no matter what then driving home

I’ll admit, we mostly chose French Quarter for the beignets!

 

[PPFlight75]

With sdmt we were on our way to the park and a friend texted my sister saying they were letting people ride

Oh that cool! I bet that was fun.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

So I impulse chose May 8th because it was the first day I saw and on a weekend so I was like alright. I didn't realize it's also mothers day until after I booked it. Whoops. Guess mothers day is being spent at Epcot for everyone lol