- Joined
- Apr 16, 2006
- Messages
- 9,585
Just got back from a 5-day, 4-night, 3-park-day trip, and just have to say that they still do things right in California.
Now if they could just get rid of all those TOURISTS!
Some tips and tidbits...
1) Early entry works a lot better on Party days. When DL hosts a MHP, they open the park at 0800 instead of 1000 (normal winter hours). This means your early entry starts at 0700, and we noticed that not as many people from off-property will use their Magic Morning entries that early. So if you're on property, take advantage of that early early hour -- the crowds won't pick up 'till 10 or so. Even with the early early hour, lines start forming at the bag check station an hour beforehand. Yes, 0600.
2) Check school break schedules. We heard online about Utah having a school break the first week of October. We didn't hear about Arizona and Northern California also being on school break. Consequently, Thursday morning was a regular opening day, and the plaza between DL and DCA was FULL at five minutes to open. That's a scary sight, especially when you're not expecting that many people.
3) Staying on property. If you can swing it, do it. GCH is a wonderful place to do it in.
4) Be Flexible. We had an early entry ride plan that quickly broke down (as most plans do) on first contact. On day one, we speedwalked to Space Mountain -- unfortunately, it was not yet running at early entry rope drop. Really, Disney? You only open two lands, and yet you don't have all the rides in those lands fired up for guests? What would Walt think? Same thing happened on our next early entry at DL: we speedwalked to Peter Pan's flight -- and watched boats fly by empty for the next 12 minutes. Again, Disney, you severely diminish the value of a perk by negating it with slow ride openings. Not everyone wants to rush to see two people pretending to be two fictional cartoon characters. That said...
5) Frozen M&G -- go to the left side of the crowd if you're in a Main Street rope drop experience. They actually walked them in early (5 minutes or so) to keep them under better control.
All in all, though, we had a fun 3 days in the parks, got to experience the Mahaloween party at Trader Sam's, and had a very good meal with family at Napa Rose (which looks great, by the way).
Feel free to ask if you have Q's, or add comments or suggestions below.
Now if they could just get rid of all those TOURISTS!
Some tips and tidbits...
1) Early entry works a lot better on Party days. When DL hosts a MHP, they open the park at 0800 instead of 1000 (normal winter hours). This means your early entry starts at 0700, and we noticed that not as many people from off-property will use their Magic Morning entries that early. So if you're on property, take advantage of that early early hour -- the crowds won't pick up 'till 10 or so. Even with the early early hour, lines start forming at the bag check station an hour beforehand. Yes, 0600.
2) Check school break schedules. We heard online about Utah having a school break the first week of October. We didn't hear about Arizona and Northern California also being on school break. Consequently, Thursday morning was a regular opening day, and the plaza between DL and DCA was FULL at five minutes to open. That's a scary sight, especially when you're not expecting that many people.
3) Staying on property. If you can swing it, do it. GCH is a wonderful place to do it in.
4) Be Flexible. We had an early entry ride plan that quickly broke down (as most plans do) on first contact. On day one, we speedwalked to Space Mountain -- unfortunately, it was not yet running at early entry rope drop. Really, Disney? You only open two lands, and yet you don't have all the rides in those lands fired up for guests? What would Walt think? Same thing happened on our next early entry at DL: we speedwalked to Peter Pan's flight -- and watched boats fly by empty for the next 12 minutes. Again, Disney, you severely diminish the value of a perk by negating it with slow ride openings. Not everyone wants to rush to see two people pretending to be two fictional cartoon characters. That said...
5) Frozen M&G -- go to the left side of the crowd if you're in a Main Street rope drop experience. They actually walked them in early (5 minutes or so) to keep them under better control.
All in all, though, we had a fun 3 days in the parks, got to experience the Mahaloween party at Trader Sam's, and had a very good meal with family at Napa Rose (which looks great, by the way).
Feel free to ask if you have Q's, or add comments or suggestions below.
