We set our sights on Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom, which debuted a new, 3-course fixed price dinner on July 27, 2018.

Housed inside of Beast’s Castle as part of the New Fantasyland expansion, Be Our Guest offers three very different experiences depending on the time of day you visit.

Continue reading “Be Our Guest Prix Fixe Dinner Menu Review at Disney’s Magic Kingdom”

We’ll take a look at some new-ish food and drink items available around Magic Kingdom.

Hopefully, looking at a number of snacks in context will offer some insight into what’s actually worth trying.

Continue reading “Disney’s Magic Kingdom Summer 2018 Snack Update”

Larger: Here.

Our Saturday afternoon at Magic Kingdom continues now in its fourth and final part. I’m crying too. We started the day by rope dropping Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Part 1, followed by a visit to Frontierland and New Fantasyland in Part 2, and then stopped for snacks and lunch at Pecos Bill in Part 3, along with a few more rides with FastPass+.

During afternoon touring, most guests will find themselves blending some of the less popular/high capacity attractions with additional FastPass+ opportunities. One of the more frustrating aspects of FastPass+ refreshing is the knowledge that whatever attraction/time you’re trying to book will eventually become available if you just refresh often enough.

Obviously, higher priority attractions that save the most time are the least likely to be canceled by others and the most likely to be gobbled up by the hundreds or thousands of other people also refreshing. Whenever I see someone actively refreshing FP+ availability, I slap the phone out of their hands and scream, “YOU SHOULD BE ENJOYING THIS TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY.” They’ll thank me someday.

People are constantly changing their plans and when Space Mountain is distributing 800 FastPass+ experiences per hour, eventually somebody is going to switch out their Space Mountain FP+ for something else. And whether or not you’re the one that books that newly-available FP+ depends entirely on whether or not you’re sitting there constantly refreshing availability. There are times when I’m feeling stubborn and will sit there for 15 or more minutes trying to grab Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Slinky Dog Dash. There’s no better way to mentally check out from everything else happening around you. But more often than not, I’ll select some relatively easy FP+ experiences to acquire and spend my time enjoying the atmosphere/checking fountain beverage pricing at the quick services.

Continue reading “Magic Kingdom Summer Afternoon Touring”

Our late July, Saturday morning touring continues after Part 1, where we started the day by rope dropping Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Part 2, where we continued in Frontierland with Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain.

Dumbo is posting a 15-minute wait at 11:15am, which seems reasonable considering the Park has been open for more than three hours.

Continue reading “Magic Kingdom Summer 2018 Touring with a Toasty Marshmallow Frozen Coke and Jerk Chicken Lettuce Wraps”

Our early morning visit continues from Part 1, where we started the day by rope dropping Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Things are going swimmingly thus far, having already accomplished:

1. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 7:59am – 8:16am
2. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 8:17am – 8:25am
3. Haunted Mansion: 8:30am – 8:46am
4. Jungle Cruise: 8:54am – 9:06am
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: 9:08am – 9:21am

This is an intelligent order of attractions, whether we’re visiting on a day with relatively low attendance and an 8am open in July, or a busier day with the potential for a 9am open this fall. With the 8am open and the short wait times, I could be a little more aggressive if I wanted to be, but this should prove to be a foolproof way of going about things for most people on most days.

To push things further, I could have visited Peter Pan’s Flight in standby after Winnie the Pooh, and potentially gone to Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain in standby after Haunted Mansion. But that would mean I’d need to use, at a minimum, FastPass+ at Jungle Cruise and probably at Pirates of the Caribbean, since I’d be arriving in Adventureland much later in the morning. You never know when Disney is going to be operating attractions at reduced capacities or when unexpected snags might develop, like attractions that have gone down for technical problems. By choosing to visit moderate priorities that will see 50+ minute peak waits, but also see waits that rise slower in the morning, I’m able to check off a couple of key boxes while saving my FastPass+ experiences for top priorities that are riskier morning propositions. That seems smarter than hoping I can make it to a few top priorities in standby before using FastPass+ at those same moderate priorities once they’ve actually reached those 60-minute waits.

We pick things up in Frontierland at 9:23am with Big Thunder’s 30-minute posted wait in the distance.Continue reading “Touring Magic Kingdom on a Saturday Summer Morning”