Ugh! Giving advice is useless! Vent...

[LaurenT]

My friend asked for advice. Decided to go to Disney AND Universal this week! Tried to get her to stay with Disney since they're not on property at either and express pass at USO would be crazy. Nope.
So, I told her the best days to go to each park, told her which rides to hit first or fast pass, told her to et me know is she didn't know how fast pass works (old FP since she's offsite).
She posts to Facebook this morning at 9:15 from Spaceship Earth!!! Ahhhhh!!!'
So, I comment - did you FP Soarin or Test Track and ride one of them?
She comments back - "nope. Not in the budget. Really short lines at Soarin today".
I wrote back to explain that FP is free and that Soarin won't have a short line in a few minutes....

I spent so much time writing out advice for her. I think next time I'm just going to wish them luck...
Ok - vent over....

 

[mesaboy2]

You can lead a horse to water....

 

[glamdring269]

I know your pain. I've tried explaining methods for "best" success at the parks to a few only to be told after their trip that they will not be going back. Of course when asked if they followed my advice they always say no.

 

[Rosanne]

Hopefully this is her first day there. If so, she will probably better understand why you were so specific by noon. Maybe then she will take a better look at your recommendations for the rest of her stay.

 

[chartle]

And the kicker is that she is probably standing in a line that, at least on a normal day, will be a walk on later in the day but guests see it and want to ride it.

We got to Epcot at rope drop last Wednesday and there was a line, not a huge one but a line for Space Ship Earth. We high tailed it to Soaring to get FPs that came up in 45 minutes or so.

 

[sweetpea29488]

I know how you feel. Everyone comes to me for help. I type out detail instructions, tips, schedules. When they get back they tell me how long they waited for things, etc. I asked if they followed my tips, etc. and they say, not really Well, there you go.

 

[Robo]

And the kicker is that she is probably standing in a line that, at least on a normal day, will be a walk on later in the day because guests see it and what to ride it.

We got to Epcot at rope drop last Wednesday and there was a line, not a huge one but a line for Space Ship Earth. We high tailed it to Soaring to get FPs that came up in 45 minutes or so.

It's an unique situation regarding SE-

Spaceship Earth is the ONLY attraction in all of WDW that guests MUST pass on their way into a park from the front gates.
And, the "ball" is so massive and iconic, guests are drawn to it.
(Imagine if the Castle was right inside the gates at MK... and there was a RIDE inside it!)

Because of this unique-to-Epcot situation, many guests just automatically stop at Spaceship Earth first...
and, because other guests see a CROWD forming at this attraction (remember that they MUST pass by this on their way in from the front gates.)

So, this creates an artificial backlog of extra riders of Spaceship Earth in the mornings.

Experience says to avoid the SE "trap" and head deeper into the park to ride a different headliner or two or three... while those guests who don't know what's going on at Spaceship Earth will spend far too much time waiting in a very long line for an attraction that will become "walk-on" after the morning rush.
Something they could actually ride multiple times a bit later in the day without needing to stand in much of a line at all.

This situation can even become a "tradition" for guests who were caught up in it their first couple of times at Epcot, and have not learned the major advantage in passing by SE in the morning, in favor of coming back later to
grab more effective use of gaining "riding time " vs. "waiting time."

Anyone, of course, is free to ride attractions (or not) in any order they choose, but they should make sure that they're doing so for the right reasons and not just because a ride might be closer to the gate and "everybody else" was lining up too.

 

[patty57]

Hi Lauren, How are you? You did your duty as a friend...that's all you can do.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yep. The only advice I give first-timers is to buy The Unofficial Guide to WDW book. I figure that's a good start and if they won't even skim a guidebook to learn about a vacation that will cost $1000s, then so be it

 

[Luvchefmic]

You can lead a horse to water....

and sometimes they dump the bucket out and learn the hard way

 

[chartle]

Really short lines at Soarin today".
I wrote back to explain that FP is free and that Soarin won't have a short line in a few minutes....

I think she needs to define "short" and how she thinks they will stay short.

At 12:00 Soaring has a 70 minute wait and FP- should be gone within a few minutes if they haven't already as I type this.

ETA: Just jumped to 80 minutes as of 12:03.

ETA@: at 12:122 100 minutes no FP, Space Ship Earth 30 minutes, gotta love the Xmas season.

 

[Mad Hattered]

 

[NancyIL]

Yep. The only advice I give first-timers is to buy The Unofficial Guide to WDW book. I figure that's a good start and if they won't even skim a guidebook to learn about a vacation that will cost $1000s, then so be it

That's my recommendation, too!

 

[wdwloverz]

Maddening! Why on earth did she think she had to pay for FP? I don't give any unsolicited advice and I'm pretty skimpy w solicited advice these days as well. I too have spent lots of time writing things down for people who get there and pay NO attention! And yep, they usually hate it or complain about the very things they should have avoided. More room for us I say!! ;-)

 

[chartle]

Maddening! Why on earth did she think she had to pay for FP?

Many people either confuse it with US's program or even when in the old days off siter's with "paper" tickets would see on siters put what appeared to be a "credit card" , a KTTW card, into the FP machine and assume they were paying for FP's.

 

[EWDonald]

"You can't fix stupid" . . . . Ron White

 

[Karbase8]

This has happened to me as well. It's funny I hadn't been to Disney since 1996 and went for a one day trip with my son during Spring Break 2010!!!!!!! I had this insane thought to do 3 parks in one day not knowing all that had changed in Disney. I learned the hard way real fast and planned it the right way for 2011. It's like a fine art navigating through it all. Friends ask me for advice all the time and never take it. They will learn the hard way, I often say if you are not going to follow my advice then why ask? But I will say even with that insane day in 2010, I still had a great time and I went back ever since. I understand your need to ven though it's frustrating!

 

[Mad Hattered]

I think she needs to define "short" and how she thinks they will stay short.

At 12:00 Soaring has a 70 minute wait and FP- should be gone within a few minutes if they haven't already as I type this.

ETA: Just jumped to 80 minutes as of 12:03.

ETA@: at 12:122 100 minutes no FP, Space Ship Earth 30 minutes, gotta love the Xmas season.

According to the Lines app - Soarin' is at 100 minutes (FP gone) and TT is at 80 minutes (FP Gone) now.

 

[g-dad66]

The friend who found the Soarin line short probably exited the attraction thinking, well what's the big deal about that attraction anyway? It's only a slow boat ride through a greenhouse, and why in the world do they call it Soarin anyway?

 

[CarolinaMinnie]

Sorry, I too know your pain! Several years ago, 2 single dad friends of ours decided (separately) that they wanted to take their kids to Disney. At the time our family was going every year so they each asked for my advice. Knowing how men sometimes are about listening to details, etc., I typed and printed out all my advice, plus printed out cheat sheets and other info I found online; I gave them each a nice organized binder. One dad also asked me about accommodations, giving me his budget and wanting at least a one bedroom suite....the other dad said he always used Priceline bidding, and would handle that himself.
I found a great rate at DTD Doubletree Suites through Mousesavers for the first dad, and the second dad ignorantly bid on a distant area from Disney, about a 30 minute drive.
After each one's Disney vacation I asked how things went. The first dad thanked me for all the great advice/printed info and said that he and his little girls had a Magical trip that they would always remember....they met princesses, rode lots of rides, saw wonderful shows, ate at several character meals, etc....and the hotel was just perfect for them, loved the space and the bus service to the parks. Yay!
The second dad said that they drove 30 minutes+ from his $25 per night Priceline hotel to get to WDW, then it took another hour or so to finally get into MK on Easter Sunday. He griped that they all had a horrible time....then he said "I thought Disney World had lots of rides?....all we saw were terribly long lines of people waiting to go into buildings; I guess to see some show or something. We wanted rides, but only saw one or two rides in the whole place, silly little rides like you could ride at the beach; WDW is not for us" I told him that MK and all of WDW was full of wonderful rides and attractions and asked him if he had read any of the advice/info I had given him. Of course the answer was "no, I didn't have time".(he took the train from Charlotte, NC to Orlando....what the heck was he doing all those hours?) He then went on to tell me that he THREW AWAY their 3 day WDW passes, (4 passes with 2 days left on each of them!!!) got on Priceline again, and bid a hotel NEAR Cocoa Beach(NOT ON Cocoa Beach).....that's where he and his kids spent the rest of their vacation, for the most part swimming in a cheap little motel pool in Cocoa FL! I felt so bad for those kids, for months before their trip, they had talked about getting to go to Disney and what all they would do/see, etc. Geeze!!! ....as you can see I still have to occasionally vent over his stupidity.