TR + GPS INFO (How far I walked!)

[Mark Mason]

I have read HUNDREDS of TR's and few have offered information that we've all asked at one time or another at DLR...How many times have you sat around at the end of the day and wondered "How far did we walk today?"

ARMED WITH A GPS unit I set out to map my day. On Sept. 28th my son and I left the Disneyland Hotel at 11am headed for Disneyland. We stayed until closing at midnite and walked back (Indy was our last ride). I left the GPS on during three outdoor rides -- Matterhorn, Thunder Mtn. Railroad, and California Screamin -- to see how fast these rides really go. The results were quite surprising and I posted them on my web page at KEX Radio.
There are maps and Google Earth overlays to show you just how far one can go in a day, and some Hidden Mickey stuff from our trip. If you dig deep enough there are videos of Splash Mountain (ruined my camera...look at that WAVE!). Some interesting tidbits: It's .5 miles from DL Hotel to the main gates. The fastest ride was California Screamin which topped out at 41 mph (Coming out of the tunnel, from what I could tell.) The Screamin' track is about 1-mile in length. Matterhorn speeds top out in the 20's (surprised?). About the same for BTMR. I will try to post more info as I digest the data.

Our trip (9/26-9/29) was intense. I was there for work (we did the radio show from Disneyland on Friday, HaloweenTime Opening) and we treated each day like it was our last. Few times did we truly rest, in fact it was usually between 5 and 7pm back at the pool. Then we hit the rides again. My body was aching. We were always pushing from one ride to another. For example, we took in 13 rides between 1pm and 8pm closing on Thursday 9/26. DLR cast members were as gracious as ever. In fact, I think they are more polite and helpful than I've ever seen them. Was this because we were at the opening of HalloweenTime? Wait times on Thursday were minimal, there were few crowds. I've been to DLR enough to proclaim that Thursday is the day to go to avoid crowds. Check out these two pictures:

This was THURSDAY at about 1pm. Now look at Saturday, 1pm:

Despite the Saturday crowds, we rarely waited more than 15 minutes on any one ride (we did not FastPass much on Saturday, our timing was poor). The longest wait was Peter Pan, which took 35 minutes. BTW -- the wait times posted on each ride was mostly accurate.
I could go on and on, and will in another post dedicated solely to the park and rides. This time I wanted to share the GPS info. If you want make/brand of GPS please feel free to write.
Enjoy HalloweenTime along with whatever you are "Celebrating" in 2009!

 

[tinkermell]

I have read HUNDREDS of TR's and few have offered information that we've all asked at one time or another at DLR...How many times have you sat around at the end of the day and wondered "How far did we walk today?"

ARMED WITH A GPS unit I set out to map my day. On Sept. 28th my son and I left the Disneyland Hotel at 11am headed for Disneyland. We stayed until closing at midnite and walked back (Indy was our last ride). I left the GPS on during three outdoor rides -- Matterhorn, Thunder Mtn. Railroad, and California Screamin -- to see how fast these rides really go. The results were quite surprising and I posted them on my web page at KEX Radio.
There are maps and Google Earth overlays to show you just how far one can go in a day, and some Hidden Mickey stuff from our trip. If you dig deep enough there are videos of Splash Mountain (ruined my camera...look at that WAVE!). Some interesting tidbits: It's .5 miles from DL Hotel to the main gates. The fastest ride was California Screamin which topped out at 41 mph (Coming out of the tunnel, from what I could tell.) The Screamin' track is about 1-mile in length. Matterhorn speeds top out in the 20's (surprised?). About the same for BTMR. I will try to post more info as I digest the data.

Our trip (9/26-9/29) was intense. I was there for work (we did the radio show from Disneyland on Friday, HaloweenTime Opening) and we treated each day like it was our last. Few times did we truly rest, in fact it was usually between 5 and 7pm back at the pool. Then we hit the rides again. My body was aching. We were always pushing from one ride to another. For example, we took in 13 rides between 1pm and 8pm closing on Thursday 9/26. DLR cast members were as gracious as ever. In fact, I think they are more polite and helpful than I've ever seen them. Was this because we were at the opening of HalloweenTime? Wait times on Thursday were minimal, there were few crowds. I've been to DLR enough to proclaim that Thursday is the day to go to avoid crowds. Check out these two pictures:

This was THURSDAY at about 1pm. Now look at Saturday, 1pm:

Despite the Saturday crowds, we rarely waited more than 15 minutes on any one ride (we did not FastPass much on Saturday, our timing was poor). The longest wait was Peter Pan, which took 35 minutes. BTW -- the wait times posted on each ride was mostly accurate.
I could go on and on, and will in another post dedicated solely to the park and rides. This time I wanted to share the GPS info. If you want make/brand of GPS please feel free to write.
Enjoy HalloweenTime along with whatever you are "Celebrating" in 2009!

Very Cool!!

Thanks for the info. It was fun to look at.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

GPS? You sound like my DH, "boys and their toys".

I have always wondered how far everything is and how much we walk, though, so I guess that makes me an accomplice.

The side-by-side photo of Main Street is really something, isn't it? I've also wondered about studies done on crowd movement patterns. You'd think if one spot in the park is crowded (ie. Main Street) that the whole park is crowded, but that doesn't necessarily hold true, it's very interesting!

 

[JaneJetson]

Over at www.rcdb.com it says that California Screamin' is 6072 feet long. And tops out at 55 mph.

 

[reynmagsmom]

mark i was suprised when i saw 1190 KEX im in SW Wa. also it is fun to discover others in my area who not only dis but love disney as much as i do

 

[Sherry E]

Mark, you are not the only one wondering how much walking is done. When we were there just last weekend, that very topic of conversation came up. I was saying that I vaguely remembered either reading on DISboards or some other site that someone attached a pedometer to themselves for a Disneyland day, and discovered they had walked a total of 15 miles in one day! I always eonder that and one day I will try that pedometer trick too! If that is true, no wonder everyone gets achy and sore!

I have done a lot of walking all my life, but I always wonder to myself after a day at DLR why I feel SO sore and exhausted because it never seems like we are walking that much, what with all the crowds and the long lines. But maybe we all are walking much more than we think. I mean, if I understood what you have told us correctly, this means that a walk from the DLH to the gates and then back to the DLH from the gates is one full mile round trip!!! If someone comes and goes from the DLH a lot, those miles add up! That alone is more than someone probably walks in a full day, and that is not even counting all the steps taken IN the parks!

 

[wendylady36]

Very interesting stuff.

Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[travelmel]

I enjoyed the google map with the walking overlay. I KNEW it was a long walk from one side of DCA to the other!! That map does a good job of showing me just how much. Trouble is.. DO I REALLY WANT TO KNOW???

From Mark's homepage
http://www.1190kex.com/pages/pages/md_disney_gps.php