Last minute for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue

[Xerxella]

Hi. My husband, 2 kids (6&4) and I RE coming in on march 1st. Our flight lands at 3 pm and we want to make the hoop dee doo revue that night. I was able to get 3 seats for the show at 6:15, but despite continuous trying I haven't been able to score the 4th seat. So 3 questions:

1. Do I have any chance of making the 4:15 show (which has plenty of openings & I already made back up reservations for)?

2. What are my odds of getting the 4th seat if I just keep trying multiple times a day?

3. If I can't get the 4th seat, what are my chances of walking up to the box office the day of the show and getting a seat?

Thanks in advance!

 

[purple figment]

Hi. My husband, 2 kids (6&4) and I RE coming in on march 1st. Our flight lands at 3 pm and we want to make the hoop dee doo revue that night. I was able to get 3 seats for the show at 6:15, but despite continuous trying I haven't been able to score the 4th seat. So 3 questions:

1. Do I have any chance of making the 4:15 show (which has plenty of openings & I already made back up reservations for)? No. As it is you're cutting it pretty close with a 3PM flight arrival and a 6:15 showtime.

2. What are my odds of getting the 4th seat if I just keep trying multiple times a day? You can try, but you're looking for anew reservation for a party of 4, not just another seat.

3. If I can't get the 4th seat, what are my chances of walking up to the box office the day of the show and getting a seat? No one can predict, but what will you do if can't be accommodated? HDDR is a fully prepaid reservation, so one person in your family will have to eat elsewhere.

Thanks in advance!

Additional thought:

My rule of thumb is it takes us about 3 hours after getting off the plane to get to DW, check into our resort and arrive at a park or restaurant - assuming that there are no flight, travel or weather delays. If there are any delays you might not make it to the HDDR and you'll end up forfeiting the entire amount you paid for the dinner show as the penalty for not showing up. I would not recommend making a dinner show or CRT reservation for arrival night, especially one with no wiggle room.

 

[Xerxella]

Thanks for the response!

I was just able to confirm a 4 person table at 6:15 for the HDDR! Woo-hoo! I was just going to get a reservation for 1 and then combine the 2 reservations. And, if I couldn't and needed to sit further away from my family, so be it. As you pointed out, it doesn't exactly work that way! (Newbie here!) But, luckily we found a reservation for 4 and cancelled the reservation for 3 and it all worked out.

I know we're risking it, but this will be our only trip for a long time and I want to do as much as possible and this seems like a really good way to start the trip.

If we're running late, can we just go straight to the HDDR from the airport? Can we take the Magical Express to Fort Wilderness (even though we're staying at the All Star Sports)?

 

[TDC Nala]

There is no way you are going to make the 4:15 show with a 3 PM flight arrival at MCO. Not even if you have a car.

If you have a car, you can drive directly to Fort Wilderness. If you are taking DME they will drop you off at All-Star Sports - you won't be able to get them to drop you off at Fort Wilderness. Sounds as though you are on DME so you will have to go to Sports first.

If you're on the dining plan you will have to go to All Star Sports and check in first, if you are considering using the dining plan for the HDDR. If you need to go to Sports first and you don't have a car, then you have no wiggle room at all to deal with flight, traffic or check-in delays. You could take a taxi to Fort Wilderness - you would still need to ride their internal bus to get to Pioneer Hall. It might be a good way to start in your opinion, but I would do HDDR on another day.

From Sports, you should consider taking a bus to Magic Kingdom and then a boat to Fort Wilderness. The boat dock is very close to Pioneer Hall.

Remember that if you miss HDDR you're going to pay the full price for it, not just $10 per person like most reservations.

 

[Xerxella]

No, no. I realize we won't make the 4 pm reservation. We land at 3 (technically 2:50) and want to make the 6:15 show.

So, we could take a taxi to Fort Wilderness? Would the Magic Express still take our luggage?

If we miss it, would they bill my credit card or take 2 credits from the disney dining plan (which is how we made the reservation and intend to pay for the dinner)? If they bill me, I'll still have those 2 disney dining credits, right?

 

[TDC Nala]

Unless everything goes perfectly, you might have trouble making that one too.

 

[purple figment]

Thanks for the response!

I know we're risking it, but this will be our only trip for a long time and I want to do as much as possible and this seems like a really good way to start the trip.

While it sounds like a fun way to start a vacation, it can be stressful if your plane is delayed. I don't know where you are flying from, but there could be weather problems elsewhere that can impact your flight. For example, right now there's a massive storm on the East Coast, while here in northern California we're having clear and sunny weather, but there are flight delays at our local airports because of the bad weather elsewhere.

If we're running late, can we just go straight to the HDDR from the airport? Can we take the Magical Express to Fort Wilderness (even though we're staying at the All Star Sports)?

No, you will have to take ME to Sports, especially since you'll need to check in to activate the dining plan. From there you'll have to take a bus to the MK and transfer to the boat to FW which will dock near Pioneer Hall where HDDR is performed. If you take a taxi to FW, it will drop you at the entrance and you will have to take the internal campground bus to get to Pioneer Hall.

No, no. I realize we won't make the 4 pm reservation. We land at 3 (technically 2:50) and want to make the 6:15 show.

You'll be cutting it close for the 6:15 show as well. There's very little margin for delays.

So, we could take a taxi to Fort Wilderness? Would the Magic Express still take our luggage?

Here's a link to a sticky that addresses the luggage question:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2015788

If we miss it, would they bill my credit card or take 2 credits from the disney dining plan (which is how we made the reservation and intend to pay for the dinner)? If they bill me, I'll still have those 2 disney dining credits, right?

You will have to check in at Sports first to activate your dining plan if you want to use dining credits. Make sure the seating category you booked is covered by the dining plan.

If you miss the reservation, your credit card will be charged the $200 or so for the 2 Adults and 2 Children on the reservation. You'll keep the dining credits. Note, the cancellation deadline for the dinner show is either 1 or 2 days in advance so you won't be able to call that day to cancel if you are delayed.

 

[DCDisney]

Really you should reconsider your plans!!! I frequently cut things close for my first day ADRs and my luck has always held but NO WAY for HDDR!!!! So you land at 3, takes a while to walk to DME, wait for bus, wait on bus for it to fill, ride 40ish mins to WDW, stop at none 1 or 2 other resorts first, check in to your resort, wait for bus to MK, walk to boat launch, wait for boat to FW, ride boat, etc etc etc. The quickest I have ever gotten to my resort from landing time is 75 minutes (longest was 1 hr 45 mins), it always takes about 20 mins to check in BUT I have had some huge lines at Value resorts before. If things are pretty average you are done checking in about 5. Bus to MK is listed as 30 minutes ride on the web calculators. You can wait for 20 mins to catch that bus. Then walk 5-10 mins to the boat which is listed as a 15 min ride plus again can be a 20 min wait for the boat. If you had no waits at all for the bus and boat you'd essentially be walking up right as they start seating for the show. This is all far more complicated than it even sounds because I can make these transitions quickly because I know where the bus stops are, exactly where to walk, catch the boat, etc. It's not complicated but it's not super easy either. Even without any flight delays you'd be very lucky to make it. A cab wouldn't even help you much because if you cab to FW you then have to take the internal bus system to HDDR. We've had a dinner before going from All Stars to Wilderness Lodge that took a full 2 hours to get to and though that wasn't totally normal it wasn't that abnormal. Your odds of losing over $200 on that meal are very high.

 

[DVCTigger]

Have you considered the later show? Seems like this would be a better option

 

[foohpah]

I know you don't want to hear it but it sounds like you have never been to WDW before. It is really hard to understand the size of the place and the transportation logistics until you have seen/done it for yourself. The only way I would do the 6:15 show is if I was really prepared to lose the money on the reservation. You would have to time everything just right to make it on time. Disney magic can get you pretty far but getting you to the 6:15 show when your plane lands at MCO at 3:00 is pushing it far more than the comfort level of most seasoned WDW travelers.

I