Lotsa Fun at DLR this week - Some random observations

[HydroGuy]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up, will be very helpful for our upcoming trip.

We are also ding the WoC dining package, due to having my 10 and 7 year olds, our reservation is 630 to 700pm, should we plan on immediately trying to line up? Really would like my kids to see it standing last March was rough holding my youngest.

Your dinign reservation is at 6:30PM for a 9PM WOC? I would strongly recommend you not do a dining reservation after 6:10PM if you want to get a good spot for WOC at 9PM. You should plan for 75 minutes for dining and you really want to be at the queueing area 90 minutes before the show - at 7:30PM.

 

[Butterfly123]

We just got back from a Tuesday thru Sat trip (drove home today). We were not staying on property. On Tuesday we got in to California at 9:30, picked up FP's for Soaring, then picked up FP's for WOC, then went to LM. Acast member started walking us through the line while hotel guests were entering the building. They started lettin us on the ride about 9:50. I think the whole line thing took us about ten minutes. We enjoyed the ride, and I agree, the line never seems long. We then went over to rope drop for Toy Story, Screaming, then back to ride Soaring. It all went really smoothly, and the parks were much less busy than I expected every day we were there.

Star Tours made me a little sick, so I rode once. The rest of my family was able to see it enough times that they saw all possible beginnings, middles, and ends, and tour guides. I think they saw it six times.

On a side note, there is something about Fantasmic, and seeing people playing characters, and the sailing ship Columbia that I really love. WOC was amazing, and a true spectacle, but didn't have the same cozier Disney feel to me, if that makes sense. To me they are like comparing apples and oranges. Love them both! But if I had to pick one to watch it would be Fantasmic.

 

[Lissame]

We just got back as well--some observations:

--This year (as opposed to last year) we had no problems getting the FastPass for WOC. We went to the early show on Monday. Liked the show better than last year, but I completely agree, it has a ton to do with your vantage point. It totally sucks to have a great place to stand, then the person directly in front of you puts their 10 year old kid on their shoulders and blocks your view. It makes Fantasmic much more appealing to me. Love the addition of the Pirates 4 portion to WOC though.

--This time, for the absolute first time ever, we were told (at GRR) that we should make more of an effort to return with our FP during the window. It was on a very crowded day (Tuesday, the last day before the SoCal APs were blocked) but I was still totally shocked that it was mentioned.

--Maybe I'm just becoming more intolerant, but people seemed much more rude and oblivious to others during our trip. I was *slammed* in the back with a wheelchair in front of the Matterhorn on Friday night. Almost knocked me over and I was screaming in pain from where it hit me in the Achilles tendon on the back of my leg. The people didn't stop longer than a second to say "sorry" but didn't wait to see if I was ok. I have a huge bruise and a sore leg still.

--I still maintain that it is very important to go early. Be there at rope drop in the morning. We rode so much before noon, it was amazing.

--ITA that DCA is a huge mess. Almost not worth going over there. We didn't spend as much time there as we wanted to just because it was a pain to get around.

--Those lemon cupcakes at the Hungry Bear are fabulous. Went back twice for more. Totally worth the price. I get a craving just thinking about them now.

 

[Butterfly123]

Oh, and I completely agree with lining up for WOC at 7:30. We saw it from the bridge one night, and from a lower blue section railing spot a couple nights later. It is so worth a little extra time in line to get a good spot.

 

[Lissame]

Star Tours made me a little sick, so I rode once. The rest of my family was able to see it enough times that they saw all possible beginnings, middles, and ends, and tour guides. I think they saw it six times.

We went on it four times during our stay, and didn't have as many combinations as we thought we would. Had two beginnings, two middles, and two ends, in different combinations.

It was a great ride, I would definitely go more times to try to get more combos in the future.

It made my husband and son a bit sick, they did wear SeaBands which helped a lot. The 3-D is the problem for them. Had to time it just right where they weren't too full or too hungry and it was fine.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Will be there Thursday and Friday til lunchtime. Plan to make rope drop but do not have MM. Can anyone who's been please advise-after rope drop they have the separate queue line-up to ride ST standby but if I want to just go straight and collect FP (as DD will get sick if rides straight away early) is there a separate line? Do I follow the instructions for the ST line? Don't want to be q in a stand-by line and then discover I've been wasting time in the wrong place! Thanks.

 

[HydroGuy]

Will be there Thursday and Friday til lunchtime. Plan to make rope drop but do not have MM. Can anyone who's been please advise-after rope drop they have the separate queue line-up to ride ST standby but if I want to just go straight and collect FP (as DD will get sick if rides straight away early) is there a separate line? Do I follow the instructions for the ST line? Don't want to be q in a stand-by line and then discover I've been wasting time in the wrong place! Thanks.

There was no separate queue for ST FP when we were there the last few days. Folks at the rope just walked to ST and got in the FP line. This line built pretty quickly. Be aware that the ST FP machines are the same ones used previously by BLAB and are across the walkway from the ST ride.

 

[benolathe]

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing your observations.

 

[Nonsuch]

o If you have to buy park tickets do not wait until you come in for Magic Morning to do it. The ticket windows did not open til 7AM which threw me off because I needed a day ticket because my Deluxe AP was blocked Saturday. With MM at 7AM and the ticket windows opening at 7AM, you cannot be at the front of MM.

Resort guests may purchase tickets at hotel registration at 6:30AM

 

[HydroGuy]

Resort guests may purchase tickets at hotel registration at 6:30AM

Good point. By the time I realized the ticket booths were not open before 7AM it was bordering on too late for me to go back to the hotel to get the day ticket I needed. But in hindsight using the hotel would have been a better strategy for me.

 

[liesel]

Thanks for the report. How did it compare crowd wise to other summer trips and what is the longest you waited in line?

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks for the report. How did it compare crowd wise to other summer trips and what is the longest you waited in line?

We waited for a little over 30 minutes for TSMM at 5PM. We also waited for about 25-30 minutes on ToT on Saturday afternoon at 2PM. Those were the longest.

Crowds to me seemed on the low side of previous summer trips. But it was hard to tell because Star Tours sucked in so many people and DCA had all the walls up and it feels way more crowded.

I am glad we chose days that were not on unblocked AP days.

 

[Armadillo4]

Hydroguy, thanks for the detailed and plentiful observations from your trip! These are very helpful to those planning to visit the park this summer.

Thanks so much. So, from your experience, for non-Disney guests, what do you think would be a good strategy for riding TSMM and LM on the same day, with a shorter wait?

You do not need a "strategy" for LM with a short line because the line rarely gets very long. It is often 10-20 minutes all day - sometimes surging to 30 minutes. It is a high capacity fast loading ride and the line does not get long.

Note, wait times for TLM are impacted by SoCal APs. On Sunday (the day after Hydroguy and fam left), wait times for TLM were up to 45 minutes for almost the entire afternoon. And unlike previous visits when the posted "45 minutes" was really 30-35 minutes, the extended queue made certain you were waiting closer to 45 minutes.

It's also a matter of perspective as some folks don't think 45 minutes is that long of a wait. But as often mentioned on these boards, it always help to check the AP blockout calendar when you're planning a trip. This is the last full week that SoCal APs can visit, until a 7 week blockout period for the summer. So there will be plenty APs visiting the parks this week to get a fix of TLM, Star Tours and yes, even Goofy's Sky School before the summer.

 

[candygirlIRE]

Thanks for sharing the tips! This year will be our first year of FULLY enjoying DCA...last year we only had a 1/2 day there before leaving California. We managed to enjoy a couple of rides and the games area.

Now we know what to look for!!

 

[HydroGuy]

Note, wait times for TLM are impacted by SoCal APs. On Sunday (the day after Hydroguy and fam left), wait times for TLM were up to 45 minutes for almost the entire afternoon. And unlike previous visits when the posted "45 minutes" was really 30-35 minutes, the extended queue made certain you were waiting closer to 45 minutes.

It's also a matter of perspective as some folks don't think 45 minutes is that long of a wait. But as often mentioned on these boards, it always help to check the AP blockout calendar when you're planning a trip. This is the last full week that SoCal APs can visit, until a 7 week blockout period for the summer. So there will be plenty APs visiting the parks this week to get a fix of TLM, Star Tours and yes, even Goofy's Sky School before the summer.

Yes, I looked at the Lines iPhone app and it reported 45 minutes yesterday/Sunday for LM. You should pay attention to the details provided by armadillo above!

 

[ddwlms]

--This time, for the absolute first time ever, we were told (at GRR) that we should make more of an effort to return with our FP during the window. It was on a very crowded day (Tuesday, the last day before the SoCal APs were blocked) but I was still totally shocked that it was mentioned.

Do you remember how much later it was then your window when you arrived?
thanx

 

[HydroGuy]

Do you remember how much later it was then your window when you arrived?
thanx

If your question relates to a concern that using expired FPs will be an issue for you or anyone else, it won't. We used expired FPs numerous times without issue - as usual.

 

[ArchOwl]

Thanks for the observations and glad you had a great time!

 

[DisneyIsMagical]

I was also there last week (Wed. afternoon- Friday night). My aunts' and I got fast passes for ST @ 8:11 am Thursday, our return window was 10:00 -11:00 am. One of the CM's at the fast pass return line did try to give my aunt a little grief that the FP had expired but did let them go on. He was an older CM, not sure if it was just an off day for him or what?

Getting around in DCA is a pain right now, we did use the Bug's Land area to get through to ToT. LM was a 10-15 min wait on Thursday around 3 pm, which had lightened up since SoCal AP's were blocked. We were able to get in a quick ride on TSMM after WoC on Wed. 9pm show.

For some reason Wednesday afternoon the crowds seemed decent, Thursday it seemed packed all day (no clue why) and Friday the crowds seemed more like Wednesday, which is opposite of what we thought. We figured Friday would be busy as alot of folks might be arriving then....

 

[vicloo]

Thanks for the detailed report. We will be making our first trip back since 1985!