Weekend Crowds & Touring Plan

[ekarlberg]

We will be headed to DLP for 2 days the last weekend of June - arriving Friday night and departing Sunday mid-day. What can we realistically expect for crowds? We are frequent WDW visitors and have been there during their busy periods, but how does DLP compare? When WDW is busy, some of the major rides have 90-120 minute waits and Fastpasses are gone early. Can we expect the same at DLP?

Also, are there any "must-see" attractions? We like to do the rides that are at all the parks and compare like Pirates or Big Thunder Mountain, but don't want to miss any unique DLP rides (I can live with missing the weaker DLP-only rides). And it looks like Indiana Jones will be closed while we are there and Crush would make us sick with the spinning, so is there any compelling reason to hit the Studios at all? Maybe Rock 'n Roller Coaster if the lines are manageable?

Thanks in advance, Eric

 

[jothp]

We normally find that the queues for rrc are relatively short. You should also try to see cinemagique in the studios, it is a great show. If queues are really long the alice maze in the disneyland park is pleasant to walk through. The tarzan show is also worth watching and don't forget dreams.

 

[ekarlberg]

Maybe we can do RRC and Cinemagique in the afternoon on Saturday and spend the rest of the time at DLP. I think Cinemagique is a scheduled show so we could head over then.

And I'm hoping we can catch Dreams Friday night when we get there so we aren't worried about it on Saturday night. Plus that will make Friday night less stressful than trying to cram in too many rides and would allow us to just walk around and take in things, grabbing a ride when the lines aren't bad.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

End of June you've got Italian and Spanish schools already on holiday so the park will be busier than a usual weekend which are already busy.

BTM, Peter Pan and Buzz (to a lesser extent) are often out of FP early on.

You can be looking at long waiting times - these are from 2 years ago


Big Thunder Mountain : 60-70 min
Phantom Manor : 30-35 min
Pirates of the Caribbean : 60 min
Indiana Jones : 50 min
Space Mountain Mission II : 60 min
Buzz Lightyear LaserBlast : 60 min
Star Tours : 60 min

Crush's Coaster : 95 min
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror : 50 min
Rock'n'Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith : 80 min

hth

 

[ekarlberg]

Thanks, Carrie, that does help. Doesn't make me feel great of our prospects of getting all the rides in but WDW has been worse before and we've managed. If we can knock off a few of the good rides on Friday night, either through Fastpass or luck with a short line, and try to get the rest Saturday or early Sunday. Early entry should help, too.

 

[zavandor]

Are you staying on site?
If so, you'll have extra magical hours in the morning, if you are a WDW vets you know that you can accomplish a lot in that time.
Must dos during the EMH: Peter Pan, Space Mountains and Buzz. They get long queues during the day.
Be aware that SM is very different from the US versions. It's much more intense.

Right after the EMH finish and regular park time starts, head to BTM, it's not to be missed (many think it's the best version worldwide) and it has long queue in the late morning and afternoon. Then Phantom Manor, it's very different from the MK version (but not better), you'll be able to walk-in to both.
By that time you should have much of the most important "Must Do". Don't miss PotC, it's much longer than the WDW version, I like it more, but it has often shorter queues than other attractions.

Most of the attractions unique to Paris are in the Studios: Cinemagique (must do), Animagique (nice for little ones), Armageddon (I hate it, worst Disney Attraction for me after Narnia closed at DHS), Toy Story Playland (nice, but nothing exceptional).
Studios are just a few steps away from the main park, like Disneyland and DCA. If you want only to see the shows it's just a few minutes to get there, it's worth it.

True: Crush is bad for motion sickness, but it's a very nice ride, with a little dark ride section at the beginning. If someone in your group wants to ride it, you must do it with a rope drop and running there as first thing. After 10 minutes the park opens it will go to 90 minutes at least and stays that level all day. Like TTMM, but worst, since it has no Fast Passes.


Watch Dreams on Friday, you'll want to see it again on Saturday

Restaurants are nothing to die for, Toad's Hall (in Fantasyland) is a very nice counter service, it has simple fish and chips, but the theming is very nice.

 

[ekarlberg]

We're staying at the Hotel New York so we'll get the 2 extra morning hours, I think on both Saturday and Sunday. I like your advice about BTM; it isn't the major ride in either Florida or California so I wouldn't have thought to go there first. I think it should be doable to catch SM, BTM, Pirates, Buzz, and Peter Pan between Friday night and Saturday allowing us to just relax and walk around on Sunday before our flight leaves. And if we can catch Dreams twice, we will. Is it viewable outside the park, maybe someplace in the Village?

Thanks for the pointers!

 

[zavandor]

Dreams cannot be viewed outside the park, because the Disneyland Hotel will block the view. It can be viewed from the California Grill, a restaurant inside the Disneyland Hotel, but only with a costly package (it includes the dinner and champagne).

SM, Buzz, and Peter Pan can all be done during one EMH morning.
Pirates is often a short wait during all the day.
IJ can be fastpassed. Star Tour can be fastpassed too, but it often has a short wait.

 

[ekarlberg]

We've never done coasters with inversions, so I'm hoping we can sneak on SM on Friday night so it doesn't potentially ruin the day if it goes bad... And it looks like IJ is closed while we are there so there are fewer rides we need to cram in. BTM and Pirates are probably the 2 biggest we want to ride and it seems like we should be able to do it without a lot of problems. And maybe Phantom Manor. Some of the others would be great if we can do them but I don't think we'll be crushed if we don't.

Thanks for the pointers.