We have a PPO reservation for Akershus at 8:05 AM, but I’m entertaining the idea of accepting the $10 per person no show fee just to get into the park. So ideally we’d get into Epcot via the gondola at around 8:00 and just ride FEA over and over and then do the Anna and Elsa meet until 9:00. (My kids are obsessed with Frozen.)
But if they don’t open FEA until 8:45 or so, we might as well have breakfast first. Does anyone have experience doing this?
FEA will open at 9. Try to arrive at the restaurant at 8am to get seated right away. You can finish in time to get in line for FEA before the RD crowd arrives and then do the M&G after.
Unfortunately that won’t work. The ride really does not open as @heidelj says until exactly 9 (or maybe a few minutes before).
Just a little tip though, depending on how you feel about it. You can bump and run it (credit to @jeremy1002 for coining the phrase) which will save you the missed ADR fee.
How does this work? Move the reservation time once you’re already in the park and then attend the later reservation? Or can you get away with not attending at all?
Modify the time to another time outside the cancellation penalty window, then cancel it.
eta: the ethics are a little sketchy. I have not done it this in particular before, but I have had need to modify an ADR within the cancellation period, and had no problem moving it. So I’m pretty positive it works.
Will this actually work with PPO, though? They would need the reservation to get into the park early. I thought that you couldn’t actually change the res once it got that close to the time.
Or are you saying to just not do the PPO at all and wait until RD to come in the park?
I’m not sure of the nuances on timing of the bump and run, because as I mentioned I have not done it. I would assume that the whole point is to make use of a PPO breakfast as a means to gain early access to the park and be first in line for whatever ride you choose (Soarin, FEA, 7DMT). I can’t think of any other reason to use it, other than you’re within the cancellation window and you’ve changed your mind about whatever ADR you have.
Let’s see if @jeremy1002 or maybe @OBNurseNH or @ApolloAndy can shed some light?
I have no personal experience with the “bump and run” but I do know from experience that they do check you against a list of PPO ADR’s before letting you into the parks. That said, I’m not sure if that list gets cross-referenced with actual physical check-ins at a restaurant or not… could be a tricky area, but yeah, I’d think you’d still need to have that reservation active to get in the gate, but I kind of wonder if they do cross reference this list at some point and would maybe charge for being a no-show at the restaurant?
I think @jeremy1002 mentioned something about a 15 or 30 minute window when discussing H&V for bump and run use for Jedi Academy.
I’ve never used it for that purpose, but when I have used it I for sure was within an hour of the reservation when I bumped it out to a future date (and then cancelled).
For PPO, if you had an 8:30 reservation you’d be let in early by 7:45 or so - to get to the reservation and I would think this would be enough time to bump and run.
But since OP was okay with paying the $10pp fee for not showing up, the calisthenics are probably not necessary. Pay up, play up.
You have 20 minutes before your ADR to bump and run and if your ressie is PPO, you will be let in as early as you want to be there (since they often seat PPO’s before their actual stated reservation time). So the idea is that you make an 8:50, you’re let into the park at 8:00, as soon as you walk through the gate, you bump and run it, then go take pictures for 45 minutes, then get in line for something.
Unfortunately, this is becoming mantra with Disney vacations. Thanks for the info @obnursenh and @ApolloAndy! I knew you guys wouldn’t let me down.