9/21/18 Update: Major update to map, FastPass+ priority, touring plans, etc.

The information below is available in an easily printable PDF here. Consider downloading it to your smart device for easy referencing.

Larger: Here.

PDF: Here.

General Touring Philosophy: Most guests arriving prior to park opening will want to begin their day in Toy Story Land with Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, and Toy Story Mania, which are relatively easy to ride back to back in standby. FastPass+ can then be utilized at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Thrill seekers may elect to begin the day at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, where it’s possible to ride in standby a couple of times and use FastPass+ at a Toy Story Land attraction later in the day. Starting with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is also less stressful because far fewer people are headed in that direction. A typical problem is trying to see all of the scheduled shows, most of which take 40 to 60 minutes to experience, in a single day. With one day, you may need to prioritize several of the lengthy shows that appeal to your group while skipping others – there just isn’t enough time.

Continue reading “Hollywood Studios – Touring Plans, Rope Drop, Wait Times, and FastPass+ Priority”

9/21/18 Update: A major update to the map, touring plans, etc.

The information below is available in an easily printable PDF here. Consider downloading it to your smart device for easy referencing.

Larger: Here.

PDF: Here.

General Touring Philosophy: With 60+ attractions, Magic Kingdom is best toured over two or more days. The best plans compartmentalize the park by visiting two or three Lands each day. Visit the character and attraction priorities in one Land before moving on to the next. Have lunch and then head back to the same Lands visiting the “anytime attractions.”  This minimizes both waiting and walking. One-day touring will require more walking. You can still accomplish a lot by touring intelligently, but some attractions will need to be skipped.

Characters: Home to about 40 characters at any given time, the princesses are typically high priorities, whether it means meeting them early in the morning or with FastPass+ to avoid long waits. Check the My Disney Experience app or https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/magic-kingdom/ for times and locations.

Rope Drop: With a 9am open, Disney lets guests enter the park around 7:45am. Most of Main Street is open, including Guest Relations, stroller/ECV rental, most stores, and Starbucks. Guests are held in the Hub area in front of Cinderella Castle with ropes blocking access to the other Lands. At 8:55am, a 4-minute opening show featuring Mickey Mouse welcomes guests and then the ropes are dropped and guests are free to visit the attraction of their choice. For Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, arrive no later than 8:15am and position yourself on the walkway to the right of Cinderella Castle heading towards Mad Tea Party. Get as close to the rope as possible. For Peter Pan’s Flight or Princess Fairytale Hall, position yourself in front of the Castle at the rope leading up through the Castle. For other attractions, there is much less of a rush and you can enjoy the Welcome Show front and center in the Hub. On morning extra magic hour days, the Welcome Show still starts five minutes before regular park open. For regular 8am opens, guests are allowed inside Magic Kingdom at 7:45am with the Welcome Show at 7:55am. Arrive by 7:20am for Mine Train or 7:40am for other attractions.

Continue reading “Magic Kingdom – Touring Plans, Rope Drop, Wait Times, and FastPass+ Priority”

“You could have fooled me,” but apparently autumn officially begins this weekend, so I thought it would be prudent to return to our analysis of Walt Disney World wait times and see if our expectations about summer crowds proved true or if we ended up being far off base. Spoiler: If I was wrong, I probably wouldn’t be writing this.

Our discussion began in earnest earlier this year, primarily in “When is the Best Time to Visit Walt Disney World Based On A Lot of Wait Times.” At this point in the year, our discussion takes over 500,000 individual wait times into account. Obviously, the posted wait times at the attractions are not always accurate, but we’re largely interested in exploring the trends we see from day to day, week to week, and month to month. With the website’s vast catalog of “data,” we can hopefully come to some conclusions about how crowd patterns have changed at Walt Disney World and Magic Kingdom in particular. Of course, don’t let that stop you from tweeting me about that one day you saw that one wait time at that one attraction at that one time in March. We both know you’re right and I’ll delete this article posthaste. The majority of our discussion will focus on the summer months and how crowds have shifted away from June, July, and August. We’ll also spend some time talking about whether or not there really is a “best” day of the week to visit Magic Kingdom. That discussion goes back to this post.

Continue reading “Walt Disney World Crowds Continue to Shift Away from the Summer”

The website has posted quite a bit of coverage about Toy Story Land since the new area opened back on June 30, 2018. Now that the summer is largely behind us and the Land has been open for about 11 weeks, we can probably start to get a better understanding about what the addition means for Hollywood Studios as a Park and Walt Disney World as a whole.

Before we go any further, I will say that I don’t know the answer to the question in the title. For me and you, your average tourists, the expansion is only good news. Slinky Dog Dash is a ton of fun and Alien Swirling Saucers is a fine diversion. Toy Story Mania is mostly the same other than the long walk out of the building, which now offers a nice opportunity to reflect on all of the mistakes you’ve made in your life that have brought you to Hollywood Studios. And if you don’t care about any of that, the additions pull so many people away from Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror that you’re looking at being able to enjoy at least two rides on each first thing in the morning with virtually no waits.

Continue reading “Is Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios A Dud?”

Every time I think things have gotten bad at Hollywood Studios, I feel like the Park laughs and bellows, “THIS IS NOT EVEN MY FINAL FORM!”

The good news is that once you actually get inside the Park, things are pretty chill on the construction front. There’s a couple of walls blocking access to what will become Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, but that’s about the extent of it. Outside is another story as the bus stops have moved to a temporary location a little further away from the entrance.

Continue reading “Hollywood Studios Construction and Bus Stop Update”