Note: Due to a problem with migrating to an upgraded server, this post was temporarily missing and the comments previously made were lost.

The website has been threatening October crowds for some number of months now, so I thought it would be prudent to pick the most humid morning possible and set out to see whether or not the people and wait times have materialized. This is 7:15am on the morning of Saturday October 7, 2017 as I stroll over from my penthouse in the clouds high above Bay Lake.

Spoiler: We are going to run into a considerable number of people. This is the extended queue sign for Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, which you do not want to see. I feel like it should say “Time to go home” underneath.

Continue reading “Magic Kingdom 8am Rope Drop On A Saturday in October – 10/7/17 Part 1”

We pick things up from Part 1, where we began the day riding Na’vi River Journey twice in the standby line. Our ultimate destination is Flight of Passage, which will have a 240-minute wait when we arrive with FastPass+ before 12:30pm. So far, this is what I have accomplished with my arrival around 8:15am with the regular 9am open:

1. Na’vi River Journey: 8:32am – 8:50am
2. Na’vi River Journey: 8:50am – 9:04am
3. Kilimanjaro Safaris: 9:10am – 9:43am
4. Primeval Whirl: 9:55am – 10:02am
5. DINOSAUR: 10:05am – 10:20am

That’s a pretty solid lineup for the first 80 minutes of regular operation.

And that puts us here at TriceraTop Spin of all places at 10:27am.

Continue reading “Animal Kingdom Pandora Rope Drop Part 2 – DinoLand, Asia, Pandora, and Africa”

The website has spent a considerable amount of time covering Animal Kingdom touring since Pandora opened over Memorial Day Weekend back in May. We started here with a post back on June 1st that tracked opening week crowds headed towards Flight of Passage. I followed that up with a morning touring plan that did not go particularly well the next week in this post, with Part 2 here. Then a few days later, I returned with a better plan of action in this post. July saw another update on how things were progressing with part 2 here. Then in August, I offered a detailed update on wait times inside Pandora and around the Park.

The above picture was taken at Animal Kingdom’s entrance at 8:17am on the morning of Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017 with a regular 9am open. We’ll pick things up there.

If you accidentally clicked “like” on the website’s Facebook page, you may have seen this update from a couple of weeks ago:

Disney released tens of thousands of Flight of Passage FastPass+ experiences back on September 22nd for dates beginning later in the month and continuing through the end of November. We saw a similar phenomenon at Frozen Ever After and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train where Disney released a ton of FastPass+ availability on a seemingly random day a few months after those rides opened.

New attractions obviously have theoretical hourly capacities based on load time and attraction duration, but the real world capacity is going to be some number less. People take longer to load than expected. Downtime needs to be tracked. Disney is typically conservative in the number of FP+ experiences that it initially releases. Once Disney gets a handle on a new attraction’s throughput, they can distribute a number of FastPass+ experiences closer to 70% of the attraction’s actual capacity. My estimation is that’s what we saw Disney do on September 22nd – they got a handle on how many people could ride Flight of Passage per hour and increased the number of FastPass+ experiences offered for any specific window to be in line with those numbers.

Continue reading “Animal Kingdom Pandora Rope Drop to Navi River Journey – 10/3/17”

We head into Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the morning of September 29th, 2017.

The closer you get to the Studios’ entrance, the more likely it is that your central nervous system will fail, as mine has here. Luckily, AdSense offers hazard pay. Otherwise I would have gone broke years ago.

Continue reading “Disney’s Hollywood Studios October Construction Update”

Larger: Here.

BaseLine Tap House opened in what is now called the “Grand Avenue” section of Hollywood Studios to the left of Sci-Fi Dine-In and on the walk towards Muppet Vision and PizzeRizzo.

BaseLine opens about two years before it’s really “needed” as Grand Avenue should prove to be the main thoroughfare/flop house on the long journey into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Continue reading “Review: BaseLine Tap House at Disney’s Hollywood Studios”