1). There is a Fantasmic package available at 12:05 that day at Hollywood Brown Derby… but I am super hesitant. We were planning on doing the Lounge version of the HBD - cheaper menu, same drinks list. First come first served starting at 12. I had read on this site that FPs / dining packages don’t really matter for Fantasmic - you have to line up an hour early regardless. Is it really worth it?
2). Great tip!
3). We had read about the Jawas- my kids are already excitedly planning on what trinket to bring to trade.
4). We are definitely excited about Star Tours - BUT, extremely worried about it at the same time. Many people comment they get far sicker on it than Mission Space. My 8 year old can’t handle rides at all - if you’ve ever heard of Idlewild Park in Ligonier, PA- they have the absolute tamest roller coaster you’ve ever seen, and afterwards he was sick and had diarrhea for hours. But he’s so desperate to ride it - he loves Star Wars so much. We’re going to give him some Dramamine, I scheduled it at the end of the day just in case - but more than once? Not sure about that.
5). It’s a crowd level 6 or 7, a spring break week. What else would I use the FPP for though?
Fastpasses…no. Dining packages, yes! We only watch F! with a dining package, you get center seats and do not need to be there an hour early (we usually show up 30 mins before). The fastpass seats are on the edges and you do need to be there before they let standby in. Go with the dining package, you won’t be sorry.
I can easily do Star Tours, but Mission Space (both orange and green) make me motion sick. Hopefully your son will do okay on it. Ask if you can sit in the first or second row on Star Tours, apparently most people think the back row on that ride is the worst place to be if you start to feel sick.
Now for your TP’s:
Day 1: AK looks good for a late start and early stop. Kali at the end is good in case you get soaked. I’d hit EE single rider too if you can, that ride is definitely worth riding multiple times.As for ROL, I changed our days around to make it work for our trip in early April. Can’t say if it is worth it yet, but I am excited to see the new show. If you were to see it, would it be this evening or Saturday evening? Sanaa is a great restaurant (as long as it is still light out so you can see the animals) but Tiffin’s is amazing too and is in the park if you wanted to see ROL.
Day 2: [quote=“shermND, post:1, topic:31832”]
is MS:Green still too rough for someone with a weak stomach
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Yes, in my opinion. I do not have a weak stomach and can ride most anything. Orange is horribly disorienting I felt terrible for 2-3 hours after riding. I tried Green after that (different trip) and it wasn’t as bad, but I still felt yucky. I wouldn’t think your son with the weak stomach could handle it. There are barf bags near your seat if that tells you anything.
I would not stop at Living with the Land after Test Track. To be very effective this morning, be at the gates by 8:15am. Head straight to Test Track when they let you in, and then immediately head to Soarin. Don’t stop to see things, tell your kiddos you will see all they want to see after Soarin. Ride LWLT after Soarin, this ride almost always has a short line. Soarin is probably the most boring queue in all of WDW, there is literally nothing to look at. Even better, see if you can get an early ADR at Garden Grill. A pre rope drop breakfast gives you priority access to Soarin before they let the rope drop crowds in. This worked great for us last month, the characters were fun, and the breakfast was delicious!
Your flow is a little weird- from Soarin building, back over to Mission Space, and then to World Showcase, but not going in on the closest side to Mission Space. I can’t seem to make the flow better though, so I guess it works. Also, the flower and garden festival will be going on. Make sure you try some foods and drinks from some of the booths- I think there are 15 of them this year, and they aren’t to be missed. Personally I would eat from them instead of fish and chips since you guys enjoy good food. The fish and chips are fine, but the food booths are fantastic. Most of the items are small, easy to share so you can try more things. All off the menus are here.
Try to catch Serveur Amusant in France, it is our favorite of the entertainment options in WS. You will be impressed! We like to watch while enjoying an ice cream (there is a great ice cream shop in France). His last show is at 4:30, so make sure to see him this day and not the day you arrive at 5pm.
Day 3: What is this sleeping in thing at Disney? I know not about that. Plans seem okay. I would only take the monorail once, it breaks down a lot. It will be much faster (and less frustrating) to just walk over to MK, that is the perk of staying at BLT/CR. Also, the walkway from BLT/CR has its own security checkpoint. If you take the monorail you will have to go through the main area with everyone else. I am all for using a perk if you have it!
Day 4: Looks good except for the wait at Haunted Mansion. As soon as you use the 7DMT fastpass, get on your phone and try to book another. I bet HM will be available. I have had great success with extra FPP after using the first 3.
I would watch the parade from just in front of Liberty Tree Tavern restaurant. Great view and in the shade.
Definitely make rope drop, the lines are shortest in that first hour.
Day 5: I already mentioned getting a dining package at HBD for F! above if you can stomach the cost. You won’t make the Indy show at 1:15 though if you do that, plan 90 minutes. You probably want a later show, though FPP for the shows is not necessary. I would book Tower of Terror, it has the most amazing theming. My kids have ridden it since age 5.
Also, I see you have Jedi Training arriving at 6:55. Last show is at 6:40 and you have to check in 30 min early. Which show do you actually want? Right now you are eating when you will need to be checking in.
Day 6: Looks good, glad you changed Pecos Bills to the Plaza. Much better choice in my opinion. Just know that if you leave MK at 3 for a rest, and have to leave for Epcot at 4:30, you won’t actually get much rest. Are you going to take the monorail over? As for dinner…that’s a hard choice. There is so much good food in Epcot. I have not eaten at either of those restaurants, but we are planning Spice Road for our upcoming trip. It really comes down to whether you want a table service or a quick service. I think both are great choices, but Les Halles seems more like a breakfast/lunch place to me, whereas Spice Road and Illuminations seems like a nice way to spend your final evening.
Hope this is helpful. Good job planning for your first trip!
Wahoohokie - I truly appreciate your thoughtful and insightful response! Thanks!
Fastpasses…no. Dining packages, yes! We only watch F! with a dining package, you get center seats and do not need to be there an hour early (we usually show up 30 mins before). The fastpass seats are on the edges and you do need to be there before they let standby in. Go with the dining package, you won’t be sorry.
If anything, I think we’ll look for a package to replace PizzeRizzo. We’re not terribly excited about the legendary WDW pizza flatbread, but it’s the one food the kids love most, and we won’t have had any at this point on the trip. Perhaps we’ll look for a package at Mama Melrose instead… I just can’t stomach paying those prices for HBD, while still excited to try some of their food over in the lounge at lunch. If we did the HBD package we’d wind up missing Indy too.
Day 1: AK looks good for a late start and early stop. Kali at the end is good in case you get soaked. I’d hit EE single rider too if you can, that ride is definitely worth riding multiple times.As for ROL, I changed our days around to make it work for our trip in early April. Can’t say if it is worth it yet, but I am excited to see the new show. If you were to see it, would it be this evening or Saturday evening? Sanaa is a great restaurant (as long as it is still light out so you can see the animals) but Tiffin’s is amazing too and is in the park if you wanted to see ROL.
Question about the single rider situation: Can a 6 year old ride the single rider line? Would the adult ride first to be there waiting at the end for him?
I think we’ve given up on ROL. There are no FPPs left and it seems like the standby line can get crazy. We’ll have had a very late travel night the night before and have a long day the next day at EPCOT, so I think it’s better to have dinner and head right for the sheets.
Great tip on LwtL! I was never happy with it being in between the 2 heavy hitters, but the algorithm insisted. I found that I developed some pretty good skills using this software - it’s much more an art than I initially thought. At first you think the algorithm will do the work for you, but I quickly realized I could only hit “optimize” the first few passes at each plan as I was adding in attractions, shows, and meals - then eventually I had to start manually reshuffling and using the “evaluate” button. My goal was always to get those “wait” times down to 0, or else line them up beside a meal or break. I think I did pretty well.
GG’s only ADR time is 8:35 - a bit too late for us, I think. We’ll take our chances at RD.
Is there any advantage to lining up for RD at the International Gate? Further walk to get to TT, I know - but maybe less people?
Ahh yes, the F&G - the great mystery of our trip. We definitely are the kind of people who love festivals like this, and I did read the menus. I just didn’t know where to work it in! I think it’ll be one of those - snack as you go whenever wherever - kind of things. Regarding YF&C, that’d definitely be the one to sacrifice to do F&G booths - but it’s St. Patty’s Day. Having lived in Northern Ireland, we’ll be nostalgic for a chipper. We’ll see how it goes.
Good rec on the Serveur Amusant - we definitely want to incorporate the street entertainment, I think we were just planning on being open to whatever we stumble across. We’ll find this one. I also went ahead and replaced Kabuki Cafe with L’Artisans des Glaces, now that we’ve replaced Les Halles with SRT on our other EPCOT day, I needed to fit in the ice cream today!
Did not know about the separate security check - great nugget. We’ll take the monorail to Kona Cafe on Sunday so that’ll be enough I think.
So my original plan was after 7DMT to get on the app for BTMR FPPs - do you think I have a chance at both BTMR and HM? I was worried as the BTMR seem to go quick when I check in on the Lines app.
Also on the topic of BTMR - I showed my ride-averse 8 year old a YouTube vid of it - he gives it a hard pass. Should I try to convince him to give it a try? (note - he’s not scared of theming/dark/effects, just the coaster itself).
Good catch on the JT times! Glad I have you guys to look over these for me. That’s a definite change from when I made this plan a month ago. There were two later shows beyond the current schedule. I doubt I would have caught that one my own. [quote=“Wahoohokie, post:22, topic:31832”]
Day 6: Looks good, glad you changed Pecos Bills to the Plaza. Much better choice in my opinion. Just know that if you leave MK at 3 for a rest, and have to leave for Epcot at 4:30, you won’t actually get much rest. Are you going to take the monorail over? As for dinner…that’s a hard choice. There is so much good food in Epcot. I have not eaten at either of those restaurants, but we are planning Spice Road for our upcoming trip. It really comes down to whether you want a table service or a quick service. I think both are great choices, but Les Halles seems more like a breakfast/lunch place to me, whereas Spice Road and Illuminations seems like a nice way to spend your final evening. Hope this is helpful. Good job planning for your first trip!
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You’re right, not much of a break, but we’re heading to EPCOT regardless, so either we’ll rest for a short bit or just keep on keepin’ on. We’ll see how we feel on our last day. I can cut PeopleMover and Carousel of Progress if need be - those are more just an exercise in nostalgia for my visits there in the 80s.
TT and the Algorithm:
The software might be correct. It might know of an expected “dip” in wait time after the initial onslaught of rope droppers. I saw three examples of the software outsmarting conventional wisdom on my trip, and it was cool as sh*t!. Just sayin. I bet if you changed the order, and evaluated, you might see that the tt wait time or the lwtl wait time is expected to be longer based on the data it has - just a thought on why it might be trying to order it that way.
This is what we do. I love HBD, but it is expensive for the F! dining.
You have to be 7. Of course Disney won’t know how old he is, but they will ask him. The adult can go first or second, many times you will be on the same ride vehicle.
You did very well for a first trip. I only use evaluate now, as I know the parks very well and know what orders make sense. There is definitely an art to it, and it is so worth it when you are there and everything works exactly as you planned.
Less people, but very few bag checks. Only do it if you are staying at one of the resorts there. You will be fine at the front gates.
Agree.
Yes. Even on busy Memorial Day last year I got a ton of FPP at MK. This past January on a Sunday I think I had 15 in a day easily.
This is one of my favorite rides, has been since I was a kid. My kids love it too, and have since they were tall enough to ride it. Is he going to ride 7DMT? If so try that first and if he does well, let him know BTMR isn’t much faster.
No! Don’t cut these! We love them both so much, but maybe it is nostalgia (I first went in the 80’s as well). My kids enjoy too though. Both of those rides are like taking a break anyway.
Whoops, acronym overload - My question was supposed to be in reference to 7DMT, not BTMR. There’s no chance in hell he’ll ride BTMR - see my earlier description of his reaction to the tamest roller coaster in the history of roller coasters for why. I was thinking perhaps it’d be worth an effort to convince him 7DMT is more a slightly faster “dark ride” rather than a roller coaster? Or is it a true roller coaster?
Couple of thoughts.
ROL, try and get FPP or DP, and alter your plans if you do.
My DD7 gets very carsick, I used to get carsick but rarely do now. DD7 loved Star Tours and Mission Space Green and did both twice. I had to keep my eyes closed during Star tours as I thought I was going to throw up, so I didn’t bother with MS. DD5 coped with ST, but had no desire to do it again, and opted out of MS when I did.
DD5’s favorite things at WDW were the pool at the Poly, the sand at the Poly and the Carousel. She had a brilliant time but started asking when it would be swimming time by breakfast. DD7’s favorites were Splash, MS, & Soarin, though she loved everything. My favorites were Soarin, Star Wars Fireworks, Lion King, and the Safari.
Biggest piece of advice I can give you is to arrive at the parks an hour before they open, you can get so much done in the first hour, especially when they are short rides. And plan flexible time.
I found it more coaster than I was expecting given the reviews of others - I’d say it’s a notch below BTMR certainly, but not as big a notch as I was expecting. There are very slow dark ride cinematic type things to 7DMT though in places - I’d probably try it and see. But there are some quick side to side moments akin to BTMR as well so depending on the kid and just how timid they are that may not go over well. I’d encourage trying though as they may have “matured” some in that area and it opens a new ride world for them. Worst case you say how brave they were and buy them a Mickey Ice Cream and your sins will soon be forgotten…
Seems logical, but this is not a psychological condition, it’s physiological. After riding the tamest roller coaster ever constructed (Rollo Coaster at Idlewild in PA), he was in the bathroom for 30 minutes with the runs, and felt sick the rest of the day. So worst case scenario is actually - day ruined, no more rides, back to the hotel. I want to cautiously test the waters of seeing if age (2 years since the incident) has tempered his reaction, but not sure if 7DMT is the place to try or not…
Ah - OK - that may be a different scenario then, although there are times where the psychological is strong enough to overwhelm the physiological. Does he want to try again? If so, a test run to end the day might be ideal - Barnstormer, 7DMT or BTMR would all be candidates and probably in that preferred order. If you’re planning on leaving anyway, if he gets sick it wouldn’t be a disaster. Now scheduling a test run may be near impossible though…
And obviously I wouldn’t suggest trying one to start the day.
7DMT is very tame, barely a coaster. It is possible that he actually had a virus that caused the effects after the coaster at Idlewild. There is no way to know if it was a one time thing unless he tries again. Of all the coasters at WDW, the one to try it on is 7DMT. However, it is not worth ruining the rest of the day over. Since you have a FPP in the middle of the day…this makes it hard to recommend he ride it at that time.
What I CAN do though (i think!) is child swap 7DMT at midday, then right at the end of the day use the other half of the child swap ticket with the child in question. They don’t actually check to see which kid is being swapped, do they??
FPs not so much, but dining package is the only way I’ll see F!. Best seats in the house, and you can get there 20-30 min prior to showtime. On a bust day, for SB, 60 min will get you in, but you won’r necessarily have choice of seats.
I’m the guy who thinks a “serious” coaster will have a couple hundred foot first hill, speeds over 60 mph, high-G banked turns and a couple of inversions thrown in for good measure - so 7DMT is certainly “barely” a coaster by those standards. But it is a coaster in places with small hills, steeply banked curves, and a bit more speed than it appears to have. But it’s only for 30 seconds at the beginning and 30 seconds at the end, including the time it takes to go up the two hills.
So I was able to change our Monday 3-20 dinner plan to a Fantasmic dining package as recommended by many in this very thread. However, it’s a bit earlier than our original dining plan - 4:40 pm. Here’s the new TP I put together with this modification:
Major problem I see is that many Mama Melrose reviews comment on the slow speed of service. Right now my plan is predicated on being able to get in and out in about an hour. I’m assuming many of you wouldn’t think this feasible? The casualty if it runs late would be MuppetVision 3D - not sure how I would fit that in elsewhere, might just have to skip it. We have a hard out assuming we get signed up for the 6:10 Jedi Training show - anyone think this might be a problem?
With the extra half hour we now have due to not having to line up early for Fantasmic, I added in a FPP for Rock n Roller Coaster, though we might also use it for ToT or one of the other rides the kids want to do again. This is to use that extra FPP we get for signing up for JT.
We have done the MM F! package twice, and both times it took about an hour. Order your food as soon as you can, with your drinks. Ask for the check before dessert comes. You should be fine.
Plans seem okay. I would only take the monorail once, it breaks down a lot. It will be much faster (and less frustrating) to just walk over to MK, that is the perk of staying at BLT/CR. Also, the walkway from BLT/CR has its own security checkpoint. If you take the monorail you will have to go through the main area with everyone else. I am all for using a perk if you have it!
We love them both so much, but maybe it is nostalgia (I first went in the 80’s as well). My kids enjoy too though. Both of those rides are like taking a break anyway.
