Not much to look at after visiting Big Thunder Mountain Railroad along with Fantasyland, Liberty Square, and lunch at Columbia Harbour House.
Disney doesn’t seem to be interested in offering more ECVs for rent at Magic Kingdom. As we’ve seen every day this summer, they’re “temporarily out,” though we may have two being returned.
Minus the strollers, this is a nice photo op with Goofy out in front of Town Square Theater. Just a reminder that he’s returned.
It’s 5:34pm and standby waits for the Princesses continue to far eclipse Mickey.
Remember that Rapunzel is only guaranteed to greet through 4pm currently. That symbol in between Belle and Cinderella means that a third wild princess will appear. It should be either Aurora or Rapunzel, but could theoretically be any other one as well.
Looking up Main Street. The rain just ended.
Rapunzel merchandise has replaced Merida in The Emporium. I doubt it’s a shortage thing, so I’m not sure if it wasn’t selling or what. It’s nice to see the stuffed Pascal chameleons in ample supply. They were nowhere to be found for months.
I’ve been making fun of these “longpants” since their introduction because they’re so long.
But this may be our first example that shows exactly how long they are. Since I don’t want to trick you again, I have crudely copy/pasted the pants in the right closer to this gentleman, who is about as tall as I am if you include the hat. They’re at least six inches too long.
Helpful. As Mother would say when there’s no price tag, “It’s free!” Or in this case, no waits to speak of.
The difference between a recommended and not recommended day. When Magic Kingdom isn’t recommended, you can expect the rest of this queue at Aladdin’s Magical Carpets to be full. In July, it’s busy everyday no matter where you go, but following the recommendations will lead to lower crowds, shorter waits, and increased FASTPASS availability. A 15 minute wait is a lot better than 30 minutes.
Jungle Cruise was down. I had mentioned in a previous post that the queue was dumped at Haunted Mansion while I was in line. Ride closures are most common at Magic Kingdom, where Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and Haunted Mansion are all reasonably likely to close for technical difficulties at some point during the day. Ride closures are less common at the other Parks. Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. Less often, DINOSAUR. At Hollywood Studios, Tower of Terror is the most likely to be down. At Epcot, Maelstrom is closed for technical difficulties most often. It’s rare to see the other attractions down.
Continuing over to Tomorrowland for a brief visit.
Meanwhile, this fan.
I’m not sure where it clips. Your face?
It’s much easier to do Build Your Own Lightsaber here than it is over at Tatooine Traders in Hollywood Studios, but the atmosphere might not be as good.
Since you’ll be surrounded by Stitch stuff rather than Star Wars stuff. I’d expect Disney to roll out the Droid Building thing whenever they can source more parts.
There’s a thread about Wall-E in the forums.
About the lack of Wall-E merchandise in the Parks.
While Stitch and other characters receive such a large amount.
I’m not necessarily a “Stitch hater.”
But the guy has had exactly one movie in theaters.
And a television series that ended in 2006. I mean, if they can make a walking, talking “Android Stitch,” they could certainly make a walking, “talking” Wall-E.
But no.
Stitch even gets a girlfriend, Angel.
Space Mountain had been on the fritz for most of the day and is actually closed here, despite the long wait time and line out the door.
If an attraction is down during your FASTPASS return window, you should be able to return anytime after. If that happens and you find yourself around Guest Services at the front of each Park, you may want to send someone in to talk to them if you have a moment. They should be able to exchange your FASTPASSes for an “anytime return” sort of FASTPASS. At the attraction, you can occasionally run into resistance depending on how long ago the attraction went down and whether the cast member is aware that the ride was down. If you run into a problem at the attraction, you can request a manager who should let you on. More often than not, you’ll be let through without incident.
Say what you will about Disney DJs (and we will), but the Tomorrowland Dance Party is pretty popular. We have a couple hundred people occupied by not much more than Goofy in a spacesuit and a bro with a laptop.
It’s 8:15pm here and the wait is 15 minutes at Pirates. I’ll try to get over there to take pictures of the merchandise. There’s “literally” a ton of it, which is why I haven’t yet.
Jungle Cruise has come back online with a nominal wait.
Per usual, Tinker Bell has a decent posted wait.
But the air-conditioning is incredible in here. Gauging the line, you’re probably looking at a 30 minute wait. It’s going to take at least a minute per character for every group in front of you.
As usual, Disney finds a design it likes and “runs with it.”
A hat.
A wallet.
A backpack.
Wristlets, you ladies would call them?
Kind of subtle.
Or in a larger size.
Which run you $34.95, so we’re not breaking the bank.
A little Christmas-y for me.
Maybe in the smaller size.
$19.95 in this size.
Saying good night.
The same picture, cropped with the temperature turned up. The Electrical Parade steps off in 36 minutes.
A little more ominous in black and white.
The wait time has come down for the Princesses. Mickey is probably over exaggerated. With the Parade about to start, they don’t want you getting stuck in line if you were planning to see it. Thus, posted wait times are longer.
Now we have two unknown Princesses.
And one ECV available.
Looking across the lagoon.
It’s either Magic Kingdom or more crowd calendar work tomorrow.
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the spooky Main St. pic. Ugh, that purse (?) with the flowers reminds me of a shower curtain we had when I was a little kid. In the 70′s.
Yeah, there SHOULD be more Wall-E stuff! He only had one movie, but I liked him and Eve more than Stitch (I’m not a Stitch hater either, and the theatrical release movie was the best of all Stitch related films/shows). My kiddo has the little toy figurines (plastic) of Wall-E and Eve (or Eva?), but I bet they can’t be found easily any more. Rapunzel trumps Merida, eh? I still hope we can find Merida at DLand in October…I’ve heard from a friend that the area that supposedly has her meet’n'greet might be “no more.” At least this friend didn’t see her anywhere on July 4th. She was getting engaged at that time, though, so maybe she just didn’t notice. If she’s gone, oh well – we’ve met ALL the other princesses. Oh, and I’m going to Cars Land at DCA on September 2nd so I’ll add that “stuff” to my ongoing trip report later (I already have a lot there now, about Cars Land and other DLR tidbits).
I’m bothered by the idea of that fan now. Where ARE you supposed to clip it?!
I think the fan is supposed to go onto your stroller or ECV.
It doesn’t surprise me that Merida merch was replaced by Repunzel. My daughter who usually “needs” at least one doll and the costume of each princess hasn’t requested either. Which is a shame because I had totally planned on handing her last years Halloween costume which is very Merida like. The movie was cute but it wasn’t anything too special IMO
You can always use the fan to hold up the extra 6-8 inches of the bottom of the long pants. Or use it to mask the use of finger symbolism by inappropriate Sarah.
I’m guessing that it’s a stroller fan. There was a thread about those in the forums a while back. Looks like an accident waiting to happen to me.
I appreciate the princess info. Despite 14 months of anti-princess rhetoric from my 4 y/o son, suddenly after “Brave” they’re fair game. So now I’m trying to figure out who we need to see in the parks that we won’t see at Akershaus for our lunch ADR there. Sigh… What a Dad will do to make sure his boys meet some princesses…
I love Merida! I hope she sticks around at least through January.
How can they decide she’s not popular enough when the movie’s only been out for a month?
It’s a good thing my son didn’t see that Stitch Attacks toy or our house would have one … I too would like to see more Wall-E merchandise.
They must be accounting for shrinkage with the extra six inches. Don’t we all?
Not only is there way too much Stitch merchandise at Disney but I think we can all agree that Stitch’s Great Escape is an abomination of an attraction. If I wanted to sit in a dark room and have somebody burp and fart on me I’d go visit my brother in my parents’ basement.
How are the Merida waits? Does she still seem popular? It seems like Merida’s popularity is quickly waning; yesterday, our local Target had all of the Merida stuff in a clearance bin.
Thanks for my Daily Disney FIX…MK next pleeeeeesse!
My DS8 HAD to have Stich hands last trip…why?? Who knows…but they are still played with! Yea, we did that sStich ride once and I have no desire to do that again…my guess is my big boys will be curious again…that’s a gross boy thing!
As far as the stroller fan….my toddler would have that thing dissassembled in no time…and then throw it at some innocent passerby I am sure! i am going to get one of the mister water bottles for someone to squirt at him if he looks like he’s overheating….but we are from Texas..as far as I can tell should be a few degrees less there than what we are used to.
Oh and love the blk and white pic….i may have to learn how to do that!
Wait…..MK plan PLEEEAASE, your highness! ( now i’m done, sorry
“I’m not sure where it clips. Your face?”
Your stroller.
While I’m a big fan of the park updates, my vote would be for crowd calendar updates. September especially if anything needs changing, last update was 2/23. Looking forward to all your touring plan updates as well!
There was a Disney promo email a few days ago that talked about how HUGE Stitch is in Japan. Way more than the U.S. That could be why there is a big stash of merch for him, to cater to the Japanese tourists.
Your Highness Celebrity Blogger,
I would like more info on your MK perfect touring plan, any calendar updates for Sept/Oct, a guess on whether you think Rapunzel will stay at the princess meet-and-greet after summer, more of your photog tips (I just bought a 50mm 1.8 for my Nikon), and more of those cool black and white photos (love the clouds in the Main St one) instead of HDR. Oh, and the return of logo’ed napkins. That is all. Carry on.
Oh, and please ask your friend Kenny the Pirate to have his character locator app available for iPhone before my mid-October trip! I will pay triple for it.
Thanks for the update, Josh. But I think my picture with Goofy in front of the Town Square Theater is ruined by those strollers. Free Grand Flo upgrade??
And how about you take a gamble on Princess Roulette for us by going into the Town Square Theater when 2 mystery princesses are there?
I have been looking for the Merida bow and arrow set. Both Disney stores by me are out. They Don’t have it on line anymore and when I called the 877 merchandise number they told me the parks are out and won’t have them until September.
Back in the 80′s we used to buy pants that were extra long so that we could roll them up and “peg them”.
From ask.com “Tight rolled pants, or more commonly called pegged pants, was a fad of the late 1980s early 1990s in which girls and boys would tight-roll the bottoms of their jeans or any pants that they wore. On full length pants tight rolling is performed by taking up the slack around the ankles at the hem of the pants, folding the extra material over and then rolling upwards 2 or 3 times over. A proper tight-roll should have the extra material folded inward across the lower shin. “
I did the math to explain why there is more Stitch merch than Wall-E. Stitch > Wall-E. Done.
What is the price on that clip on fan? I’m guessing the blades are foam and the cage/cover is to protect the blades? We have a foam clip on fan (dream baby, $9.99) that we LOVED until our daughter discovered she could rip off the blades.
I dont understand Disney and there merchandise swings. When we were there last September, there was a line stretched out to meet Rapunzel all the away across the bridge in the sun for over an hour and I couldnt find a single Rapunzel doll or toy except for a plastic hairbrush and a rumor of a stuffed Pascal that was sold out………..My kids love Brave and are more excited about meeting Merida then any other character and I hope they still have Brave merchandise when we get there in late September.
The stroller fans are a good idea, but the one we have has foam blades so you cant get hurt by sticking a finger (or face) in it.
The fan is intended mainly for strollers. Some stores actually have lightweight strollers for sale right below the fans.
There were actually several Stitch movies even if they didn’t make theatrical releases. We have them all on DVD. Angel is in one of the movies. My family isn’t so fond of Wall-E but Stitch they all love. I’m personally not a fan of being preached at when watching movies and I felt like that’s what was happening the whole time I watched Wall-E.
I didn’t realize JUST how long those pants are. Maybe my DH can actually get a pair and have them be long enough for him. He’s 6’4″ and all leg so usually these kinds of things are too short.
Thanks for another great blog post!
My 9 year old DS is just about “over” all the characters, but he still waits in line to see Stitch. He has never seen the movies, or the TV show. He simply knows him from WDW…
Although my family is princess-less, that is interesting that all the Rapunzel merchandise replaced the Merida (sp?) stuff. In June it was EVERYWHERE while Rapunzel was greatly lacking, which was shocking considering how long her meet n greet lines are. It always amazes me that Disney doesn’t understand the concept of “balance” when it comes to merchandise…
I remember that trend of rolling up the pants and pegging them into place with special folds. They’re trying to bring that back? I’d think in Florida it wouldn’t be good to trap the heat on the whole leg, unless the pants are very light and “breathable.” They probably are.
Maybe Disney could have the Test Track Singers open up for the Disney DJ to add some crossover advertising? I believe they just need one big break to be seen by hundreds to really improve the turnout at their shows. Sort of like all the vile acts Disney has forced onto the American public with their TV network. I’m looking at you Jonas Boys, Timberlake, Spears, and Bieber. (Okay, Bieber wasn’t Disney, but still vile)
Stitch, Duffy, and the Orange Bird are all big in Japan. I assume that’s why we have them here in the States now. I won’t complain about the first two if we get to keep the third, but WALL-E seems like a much better fit for Tomorrowland.
Calender or walking update is fine, just need an update/fix… Thank you Josh
The pictures of the parks are flat out gorgeous.
I was told when I ask about Stitch on another forum that he’s actually very popular. (I don’t get it.) I love Wall-E so much! He’s adorable. I get the preachy thing, but maybe it wasn’t a big deal to me because I agree with the message.
Thanks for acknowledging my request for Pirate merch. pics. I remember the shop being pretty big. Pretty much looking for kids hats, outfits, treasure chests, maps, an anything else cool.
I have camera envy.
I think Merida stuff is on the way out. Already on heavy discount at Target.
My daughters hadn’t seen “Lilo & Stitch” before we made our first trip to WDW, but they loved, loved, LOVED him after meeting him several times. They are OBSESSED with him and of course have now seen the movie a million times. We’ve seen “Wall-E” a million times too, and they love it, but for sure they are waaaay more interested in Stitch merch than Wall-E.
Actually — we rode the Stitch ride on our first afternoon in the MK. Somehow I hadn’t read anything about this ride and didn’t realize how awful it was. We were like: “Air conditioning and no line? Sign us up!” Ehhh, that should have been a clue for us. So there we are, all strapped in, and my 2 daughters were crying and screaming for the duration. My husband and I kept throwing panicked looks at each other over their heads like, “OH GOD WHAT HAVE WE DONE? We have traumatized them and ruined the whole trip before it even really got started!” But as soon as the lights came up and the restraints were lifted, the girls stopped crying and started chattering a mile a minute about Stitch and how funny he was and they chattered to the princesses at CRT that night to be on the lookout for Stitch and kept screaming, “You’re not my prince!” and cackling wildly for the rest of the days. And they made a beeline to Stitch every time we saw him for the rest of the trip (which was a lot). Stitch merchandise was practically all they asked for on the whole trip. (Er…Stitch and Duffy…heheheh.) For months afterward if you asked what their favorite ride at WDW was, they would answer Stitch, but say “Noooooo!” if you asked whether they wanted to ride again.
Somehow even though it is the worst ride ever, it made them fall in love with Stitch. So crazy.
Add another one here in the Pro-Wall-E camp. We search and search every trip without success. *sigh*
We love Stitch, and Stitch’s great escape! I saw all your featured Stitch merch when we were there in January, but I think the first shirt is new. Want!
Haha!! I have that Stitch attacks toy but I did not pay $12 for it. Got it in a Happy Meal when the movie first came out
Pants that are “too long”??
Hooray!!!! Hope they’re still there when we go
Josh – please be on the look out for some T-shirts that are “too long” also
Will be looking for you soon
I love those plastic pods they use to protect the moving lights pictured in the photo of the dance party.