My rotten kid (CM Custodial at Animal Kingdom) had his CM Preview at the newest Epcot attraction last Friday. (I kept waiting to see anyone else talking about this or I would have posted sooner.) Anyway, Woodrow loved it. He sent me 25 photos and videos, and he and his friends are laughing out loud with delight. Woody says it is magical in the best sense, really reminds him of all the things he loved about Disney when he was little.
(Reminds me, of course, of the time our touring plan was trashed because there was a splash pad in the walkway going toward the World Showcase. That had to be '96 or '98, and my husband and I were totally unprepared for soaking wet children in street clothes halfway through the day. Not damp – sodden. Soaked. Duh-ripping wet. Learned valuable lessons that day.)
We think this attraction is going to be a magnet for children and a real gem for adults. Take spare clothes. And towels. And water shoes. … Disney is going to make a mint from locker rentals.
Great! Thank you. I am trying to help my brother and sister-in-law plan a 2-day trip at the end of October. They are clueless about planning. They are not up for thrill rides, so this will be nice for them!
ROFL – no, we knew before then that he was rotten.
Actually, what we learned was that we always needed to bring a full change of clothes for the kids to the parks with us. That’s when my husband started carrying the backpack to the park. Man, things were easier when they really little like that!
We also started employing all kinds of distraction techniques to keep our children from seeing the splash pads if at all possible.
There are places where there it splits into two paths: dry or wet. It looks like you will stay dry on the dry paths, and will risk getting a bit wet on the wet paths. There are also numerous places where a person could get your hand in water and end up splashing it around onto yourself or others.
I’m curious – for those who have gone to CM previews, have you encountered any lines / congestion? I doubt it will command long lines when it opens, except maybe the first couple of days, but I’m guessing the check-in process during previews is probably the only choke point.
Yes. Nothing horrible, just waiting a couple minutes to be in control of the water effects. If you just wanted to see them, while others did it you didn’t have to wait at all. There is one spot in particular that I think will always be a choke point. I’ll blur for those avoiding spoilers.
There is a rock you can sit on for a photo in front of Te Fiti that there was a long unmoving line for. We finally realized we could just stand beside the rock and grab a photo with no wait.
That was my understanding, too, but I’m unable to confirm it because Woodrow, being the rotten son that he is, is currently getting a backstage tour of The Seas. So he’s inaccessible. Rotten, rotten kid.
Thanks for this. I was just listening to a podcast today about JOW, and I definitely need to swing by on our next trip. We love AK with all the greenery and such, so this sounds great.
More thoughts about this. If you look at the pavement as you go through it, you will quickly find which areas get wet. Some are definite “you get wet here” areas, others are more the splash zone variety, when a person plays with an effect or jumping water fountains hit a hard surface.
I like to know what an attraction is like before I go, so I like to see photos and videos.
