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Disney Vacation (1 Viewer)

Awesome. Shame MK doesn't have food like this. 

We are going for a 3-day trip this weekend. Ohana, cape may and a trip around whatever festival that Epcot has at the moment all on the schedule. Also doing the new show dessert party at MK, which I contend is a miserable waste of money, but at least I don't have to be in the hoard of people. 
Dante: You hate people!

Randall: But I love gatherings.  Isn't it ironic?

 
This is pretty cool. Disney Springs has a Photopass studio where you can get shots with unique backgrounds and they are added to your photopass account for free. No reservation required, no sitting fee. Just show up and get photographed.

If you have Memory Maker, you'll get the digital file free (well, free as in part of the package) or just pay for the download at home otherwise. 

Want that nice shot in front of the castle w/o some other stinkin' tourists in the way....just go there. lol 

 
That's pretty damn funny.

About to wake these girls up and get to MK around lunch.  Plan on staying late, park is open til 11pm.

We knocked Epcot out of the park yesterday.  Finally did Turtle Talk, kids really thought it was neat.

I finally grew a pair and told the family we were waiting in line for Fasttrack (the wife always chooses Soarin).  Get in line and it's a 60 minute wait...not too bad.  We get to the part of the line where you. An see the cars and they shut it down due to weather.  The radar looked bad too.  We decided to wait it out.  My 4 yo daughter fell asleep after about 15 minutes so we decided to wait it out.  After about another hour we were the only ones left in line then the weather breaks for a few minutes and they started testing cars.  They finally let us on after about 2 hours total of waiting.  We ride then start to unload and notice no one else is in line yet, still just us...so the let us stay on and ride again!  

Then it started raining again so they shut it down.  We walked back down to the pavilion in front and decide what to do next...some cast member comes up and gives us a fast pass for test track.  She really thought we waited all this time and never got to ride.  Didn't have the heart to tell her we actually went twice!

We were able to squeeze in the Frozen ride without a fast pass too.  

 
Good morning from Pandora

http://imgur.com/a/YF3BQ

GTFO....I'm not there, this was posted on a FB group I follow.  Idk.  I don't NEEED to be 1st for stuff like this.  Not if that is what's waiting for me.  
Yeah, not to be a complainer but this is the first time we've gone to Disney when school is out...not sure we'll do this again.  We pretty much hit up our fast passes at MK and called it a day.  It was 70+ minutes for any of the rides worth riding.

Can't say I'm dying to get to AK in tomorrow.  Hopefully we can just hit up Everest multiple times.

Side note, last time we were here (December) we had not trouble getting an uber for us and the kids, 6 and 4.  Now people are refusing to pick us up without a car seat.  I guess we just got lucky last time?  Takes our typical $10-12 ride up to about $25 which is starting to take a toll.  Mariott offers a shuttle but they aren't super reliable and they don't run very often.

 
Meanwhile, in Anaheim... today is the first Saturday for the new Guardians Of The Galaxy ride (repurposed Tower Of Terror).  

Park opened at 8:00 am.

At 10:20 am, the Standby wait time for GotG was 300 minutes.

 
Meanwhile, in Anaheim... today is the first Saturday for the new Guardians Of The Galaxy ride (repurposed Tower Of Terror).  

Park opened at 8:00 am.

At 10:20 am, the Standby wait time for GotG was 300 minutes.
did you see this? 

TV reporter rides the new GotG ride and...well, i guess no one told him what it was about.


In all seriousness,  these huge crowds are great, show people are really into the brand, but on the flip side, is it a sign that people are soooooo desperate for new things that they are willing to spend that much time to wait for it. I mean Pandora took somewhere close to 5+ years from announcement to completion. 

from Wiki

Disney began development on the attraction in 2011, jointly with Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment. Construction began on January 10, 2014, and the land opened to the public on May 27, 2017.
Mine train:

The Fantasyland section of the Magic Kingdom underwent a large expansion and renovation from March 2010[7] through May 2014.[8][9]...... A new area themed to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, featuring Snow White's cottage and the new the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster, ......fully opening a week later on May 28, 2014.


Simply put, are new things taking too long to open therefore causing huge buildup and expectation? I try not to compare WDW to Universal often, but they are pretty regularly pumping out new attractions ever other year. And while yes, WDW is building whole new lands—so it take time to demo the old stuff and create new—and WDW has a great deal of theming issues it needs to work within for anything new going into an existing land. But you look at the slow decline of Epcot future world, and the frozen ride (Malestom closed on September 12, 2014 and frozen opened on June 21, 2016)—almost 2 full years to change an attraction that was built in the same building and keeping a majority of the same track system. 

just thinking out loud....feel free to discuss  

 
We're bailing on AK.  I had already come to the conclusion we couldn't ride the new rides.  

We have some friends down here headed to Universal today so we're gonna tag along.  

No part of AK seemed like it was going to be any fun today.  

 
We're bailing on AK.  I had already come to the conclusion we couldn't ride the new rides.  

We have some friends down here headed to Universal today so we're gonna tag along.  

No part of AK seemed like it was going to be any fun today.  
I may need to rethink my AK strategy for our trip in September 

 
We have one more entree left on our FL residents 3 day pass that has to be used before 6/25. We live about 90 minutes away from the parks. I've checked almost every day to try for a fast pass for the Avatar two new rides- no luck.

Do you think if we crash the gate at 8:00am the wait will be reasonable if we hustle right to it? It looks like our only hope...

 
We have one more entree left on our FL residents 3 day pass that has to be used before 6/25. We live about 90 minutes away from the parks. I've checked almost every day to try for a fast pass for the Avatar two new rides- no luck.

Do you think if we crash the gate at 8:00am the wait will be reasonable if we hustle right to it? It looks like our only hope...
Local news was saying people are lining up at like 3am...that's what turned  us away today.

 
Local news was saying people are lining up at like 3am...that's what turned  us away today.
What time do the freaking parking gates with attendant open?

Oh well, this was our near-free bonus 4th pass anyway. We used our first of the three passes on Xmas day and they gave us an option to add a fourth pass for just $5 each. So, we'll be out $10 but save $100's on dining and maintain some level of sanity since we won't be doing any lines...just go next year when the hoopla has died down.

 
We're bailing on AK.  I had already come to the conclusion we couldn't ride the new rides.  

We have some friends down here headed to Universal today so we're gonna tag along.  

No part of AK seemed like it was going to be any fun today.  
I think that about it most of the time.

 
I think that about it most of the time.
No regrets on the last minute audible to Universal.  Universal was a blast.  The kids absolutely loved it...the only time they got scared was on the damn Simpsons ride of all things.  The story is basically that Sideshow Bob is trying to find you and kill you.  A 7 and 4 yo that aren't familiar with the Simpsons didn't think that was very funny. 

Wife and I discussed the pros and cons of each about the entire trip home.  We will definitely go back at some point, but probably make it a dedicated Universal trip. 

 
No regrets on the last minute audible to Universal.  Universal was a blast.  The kids absolutely loved it...the only time they got scared was on the damn Simpsons ride of all things.  The story is basically that Sideshow Bob is trying to find you and kill you.  A 7 and 4 yo that aren't familiar with the Simpsons didn't think that was very funny. 

Wife and I discussed the pros and cons of each about the entire trip home.  We will definitely go back at some point, but probably make it a dedicated Universal trip. 
Its funny. This past trip we went on was supposed to be a dedicated Universal trip. We had very cheap airfare so we booked it and decided on what we were doing after. However, after weighing the cost, Disney was the better option for us. Add in the fact that the 7 year old we have is not ready for thrill rides yet and it was a no brainer. 

I expect we will do a Universal trip in 2 years or so

 
No regrets on the last minute audible to Universal.  Universal was a blast.  The kids absolutely loved it...the only time they got scared was on the damn Simpsons ride of all things.  The story is basically that Sideshow Bob is trying to find you and kill you.  A 7 and 4 yo that aren't familiar with the Simpsons didn't think that was very funny. 

Wife and I discussed the pros and cons of each about the entire trip home.  We will definitely go back at some point, but probably make it a dedicated Universal trip. 
Was confused when you said the kids got scared on the Simpsons ride, but your explanation makes perfect sense.

My kid is still traumatized by the T2 attraction.  She didn't have any previous experience with liquid-metal-based time-traveling robot assassins, I guess.

 
Its funny. This past trip we went on was supposed to be a dedicated Universal trip. We had very cheap airfare so we booked it and decided on what we were doing after. However, after weighing the cost, Disney was the better option for us. Add in the fact that the 7 year old we have is not ready for thrill rides yet and it was a no brainer. 

I expect we will do a Universal trip in 2 years or so
My kids are good with the thrill rides, but aren't tall (51" and 47") enough to do a few things. We didn't do Adventure Island at all.  I'm guessing we're 2 years out from a dedicated Universal trip too. 

The addition of the water park seems like a game changer.  I had never thought much of it, or Universal at all.  From what little I know, if you stay on Property an Universal, you get the "express pass" on all rides, and it looked like there was truly never a wait for those guys at Universal.  Plus Volcano Bay gives you some sort of watch that gives you times that you can ride all the slides so there shouldn't be too much waiting there.  You could log a bunch of "thrill time" in 4 or 5 days by staying on property there. 

We've truly been spoiled by getting to go to Disney when we have.  All 3 trips have been while all the kids are in school in October and December.  I'll admit, I got frustrated for the first time at MK.  It was 80-90 minutes to ride Splash and Big Thunder, 2 hours for Snow White.  We were planning on spending 8-10 hours at MK and take advantage of the late hours (open til 11pm) but we pretty much did our fast passes (space, thunder and peter pan) and left.  We had lunch, watched the parade then waited 45 minutes for Ariel and called it a day.  

 
Was confused when you said the kids got scared on the Simpsons ride, but your explanation makes perfect sense.

My kid is still traumatized by the T2 attraction.  She didn't have any previous experience with liquid-metal-based time-traveling robot assassins, I guess.
Haha, We didn't do T2 or MIB.  Honestly, we just didn't get around to it.  I think both would have scared them a little. 

You couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces during transformers (rode that one twice).  Escape from Gringotts, both were all smiles there too. 

Gringotts and Jimmy Fallon were the favorites of the day. 

 
Haha, We didn't do T2 or MIB.  Honestly, we just didn't get around to it.  I think both would have scared them a little. 

You couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces during transformers (rode that one twice).  Escape from Gringotts, both were all smiles there too. 

Gringotts and Jimmy Fallon were the favorites of the day. 
You caught Universal on a good year.  Their big addition this year is the Volcano Bay water park, so there isn't a big push from regulars to see the new stuff at Studios and IOA.

I'm not as big a Harry Potter fan as my wife and daughter are, but wow Diagon Alley is a ton of fun.  The ride designers hit the right notes on Gringotts, telling a story you can actually follow while riding with cool visuals but not trauma-inducing.  Forbidden Journey over in IOA is IMO a masterpiece, but there are some herky-jerky movements and scary visuals that are designed to scare people.  It's not for everybody.

BTW, most rooms on Universal property come with eXpress, their equivalent of FastPass.  Their "value" resort, Cabana Bay, is often excluded from that deal, and occasionally some deep room discounts at their other places will either exclude eXpress or offer an upgrade to buy eXpress with the room package.  I dug Cabana Bay and their shuttle buses to the parks ran constantly - since you know the off-peak travel game, there will be a lot of times in October/November where you won't need eXpress.  Universal gets a little complicated in October because the Halloween events at Studios are such high demand (and this is not Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party; this is legitimately scary #### inspired by properties like The Walking Dead and The Purge) but you can work around it.  

And yeah, haven't tried it out yet but Volcano Bay has a FastPass-like queue system where you check in at a slide with your wristband and it gives you a ride time.  They're trying to avoid the worst part of water parks: standing in long lines on ladders and ramps holding mats and tubes and not being in the water.      

 
Big moment over at the new Toy Storyland. 

The Slink Dog coaster track as started to get laid.  

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2017/05/photos-coaster-track-installed-slinky-dog-dash-toy-story-land-hollywood-studios/

I guess there are some construction workers freed up from Animal Kingdom now and we should really start seeing the lands start shaping up  
BTW, the person that was looking at those photos in one browser window and comparing them to a Google Maps aerial shot of DHS in another was totally not me and I'm going to let myself be completely surprised by Toy Story Land if I ever visit it in like 2021 or 2022.  

 
One other note...We saw Fantasmic for the first time with the kids.  They loved it.  I saw it probably 15 years ago.  I swear half of the show was just projections on sprays of water.  Has it always been like that?  I saw it in probably 2002 and just don't remember that.  I remember being blown away by it 15 years ago.  Left a little disappointment this time.

Has the show changed in 15 years?  Or am I just old and lame now?

 
One other note...We saw Fantasmic for the first time with the kids.  They loved it.  I saw it probably 15 years ago.  I swear half of the show was just projections on sprays of water.  Has it always been like that?  I saw it in probably 2002 and just don't remember that.  I remember being blown away by it 15 years ago.  Left a little disappointment this time.

Has the show changed in 15 years?  Or am I just old and lame now?
Hasnt changed since I saw it the first time. 

 
Out of state peeps, that get the Annual Pass...is it true that you don't get the custom Magic Bands with those until AFTER you activate them?

 
Out of state peeps, that get the Annual Pass...is it true that you don't get the custom Magic Bands with those until AFTER you activate them?
you'll get them if you have a hotel reservation. 

We live in NY and are AP holders. We don't activate our passes until our 1st day there, but get the bands b/c it is linked to an active resort reservation. 

Edit: that was with the old style bands...i don't see a reason for it to change with the new style bands, but just wanted to postscript that

 
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you'll get them if you have a hotel reservation. 

We live in NY and are AP holders. We don't activate our passes until our 1st day there, but get the bands b/c it is linked to an active resort reservation. 
Ah, so without a hotel reservation we wouldn't get them?  We're staying off property.

 
Ah, so without a hotel reservation we wouldn't get them?  We're staying off property.
then yes, you wouldn't get them until you activate the APs. But be sure and buy them outside of 30 days of travel so that you can have them linked in your MDE a make FP's 

 

 
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Thanks.  Buying them this week for a trip starting July 29th. :thumbup:  
while your whole group will be getting basic grey (I believe, they don't let you pick the color), one way to help 'customize' them is to order Magic band skins from places like Magic Your Band or etsy.   

This will be cheaper then buying MBs in the gift shops and will help keep them straight within your group. 

 
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Has anyone done the Music of Pixar Live! show at Hollywood Studios yet?  Thoughts?
Our friends did it last week and they really enjoyed it. We left shortly before they rolled it out. My friend was a music (sax) major so perhaps that's why but I've looked at a couple You Tube videos of it and it looks cool. I think it will be a nice addition. 

 

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