Day Trippin'

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It looks like there will be a couple or three day trips to WDW coming up for the TCD gang.

 

Not as fun as a stay at the Fort, but I'll take what I can get.

 

The TCD girls are all finishing up their spring semesters at college.  They all have big summer plans, but over the next week or two, they will each be home for a few days.

 

Twin #1 made it home on Saturday, April 26th.  She still has to go back to Gainesville on Wednesday for exams on Wednesday and Thursday.   But, she had time for a quick trip to the MK yesterday, Sunday, April 27th.

 

So we went.

 

I have been experimenting with ways to beat the MagicBand/FP+ system, and decided to test some theories on this trip.  I'm able to book FP+ reservations for all of us.  Since only two of us were going, I booked the FP+'s for groups of two.  That meant I had six FP+ reservations.  All I needed was to make sure that I had MagicBands for the two TCD girls who wouldn't be with us.  The plan was for Twin #1 and I to try to use the other girls' MB's in addition to our own, which would give us six FP+ rides instead of the measly three that Disney wants us to settle for.  I have all kinds of extra MB's around, so I brought those with us.  In addition to the MB"s I have for the TCD DD's, I also had an extra for Mrs. TCD along with two others for cousins who were supposed to visit us during a previous Fort trip.  These last three MB's don't have a park ticket associated with them, so I couldn't pre-book any attractions with them.  But, I brought them to see if they could perhaps be used at a park kiosk.  For the six FP+ reservations, everything was available except for the Anna and Elsa meet and greet.  From what I've heard, those need to be booked at midnight 60 days out.  But, everything else, including Festival of Fantasy parade viewing, was wide open.

 

As a special reward for anyone who sticks around to read this report, I'll share the results of my FP+ experiments.  To entice you a bit, I'll share that my experimentation worked, and we ended up with more FP+ reservations than we could use.  So take that, Disney.  I won this battle.

 

On Saturday night, Twin #1 asked what time we would be leaving I the morning.  I told her I wanted to get there for rope drop.  She didn't like that so much.  But, I talked her into it.  I told her that I had heard reports of stampedes down Main Street for the Anna and Elsa meet and greet, and I also told her that the walls were down around the new Mine Train ride, so maybe there would be a soft opening, and we should check on that.  She was down.

 

We headed east a little after 6 am, and were through bag check and waiting for the MK opening show at just past 8:30 am.  The clock was broken this morning:

 

 

I suggested that we move over to the left so we could be near the front of the stampede when the show ended.  We moved over, and were in front of all these dummies:

 

 

The Mayor apparently had the day off, because we got the Fire Chief this morning:

 

 

There were plenty of peppy dancers:

 

 

And singing:

 

 

Then the train pulled in to the station.  The crowd around us didn't seem very interested in stampeding.  Maybe those stories I'd head were exaggerated:

 

 

Then there was more singing and dancing.  Even the big old Fire Chief got into the act.  Which impressed me:

 

 

The train was loaded with characters and a few princesses:

 

 

Mickey addressed the crowd.  This was the talking Mickey, which we haven't seen much of.  Kind of creepy:

 

 

The family of the day was introduced:

 

 

This was the group of characters we had in front of us:

 

 

They finished up with the dancing and singing and got ready to do the countdown.  Twin #1 and I started moving as the countdown was going.  So did everyone else around us.  We headed under the station and swiftly down Main Street.  We decided we would head to the Anna and Elsa meet and greet and see what things were like there.  Luckily, Twin #1 has already met them, and this was not something that we had to do today- we were just curious to see how things were in the MK now that these princesses are meeting guests here.  I did not see any running, and this was not anywhere near as impressive a stampede as we used to see at Hollywood Studios for the TSMM ride back in the good old days.  It turns out that we were somehow far behind the actual stampede.  We came to a grinding halt in the castle at 8:57 am:

 

 

What was this?

 

The line couldn't possibly stretch all the way from Princess Fairy Tale Hall to here.  Could it?

 

Twin #1 set off to scout ahead.  She came back to tell me that the line was stopped and cut-off near Sir Mickey's and that there was no one actually in line at PFTH yet.  Odd.

 

So, it wasn't as bad as I thought.  But still, this was a lot of people ahead of us.  And it was only 8:57.  How did they all get here so fast?  We were walking down Main Street a second after they opened the park, and while there were some people ahead of us, it wasn't this many.

 

The thing is, there were just as many, if not more, people behind us.  So, it could have been worse for us:

 

 

After standing there for a couple of minutes wondering what would happen next, the line moved.  CM's were leading this mob around the carousel and to the PFTH entrance.  It looked something like this.  As we walked, I could see around to the entrance, and the guests at the front of this line were already walking through the queue and into the building.  Not too bad I guess:

 

 

There were tons of CM's at the FP+ kiosks outside of Philhamagic.  I needed to see one of them, but there was no time for that now:

 

 

One point I want to be sure to make about these kiosks is that they apparently are supposed to be self service, but they have at least one CM per kiosk, and they don't let guests use the self service.  No wonder this mess is so expensive-they built all this stuff and paid for software that was supposed to be user friendly, but they have to pay all of these people to make it work.  Stupid.

 

As we rounded the carousel, the line stopped moving.  I guess the building was now full, and they were having guests fill in the outside queue. This was our reward for getting here at rope drop.  We stood here at 9:02 am:

 

 

This spot gave us a chance to look over at the new Mine Train ride though the new Fantasyland walls.  It looks good:

 

 

Like all Disney lines, this one kept moving.  Slowly. But, it gave us hope that we would get in that darned building and see those Frozen girls.  After a few minutes, we were in the actual queue.  If we wanted to settle for Rapunzel and Cindy, we would only have a five minute wait from here:

 

 

But those girls are so two thousand and late.  We needed to see the Frozen girls.

 

From the queue, we could see the Mine Train entrance.  This isn't where I thought the entrance would be, but there it is.  And, the bushes on wheels that I had seen photos of last week weren't blocking it.  And, there were CM's standing right in front.  What could that mean?:

 

 

 

We could see that the CM's were just talking to guests who walked up.  Nobody was being let in to the queue, and there were no trains running.  Nothing happening over there.  Yet.

 

In the meantime, we continued to wait.  Our first FP+ reservation was for 9:20 at BTMRR.  That gave us until 10:20 to make it.  I suggested that we stick around here until 10 to see how close we got to getting inside.

 

At  around 9:20, we heard a gasp as they adjusted the stand-by wait time.  We couldn't see the sign at that moment, but a couple of minutes later, we saw this:

 

 

 

How's your math?

 

Can you divide 320 by 60?

 

I tried to do it in my head.

 

I knew it was five something.

 

Five.

 

As in over Five hours.

 

I took those photos at 9:25 am on Sunday, April 27, 2014.  We were at the MK for the opening show, and entered the park the second it opened, and walked directly here.

 

And now there's over a five hour wait?  Five hours and twenty minutes to be precise.

 

How is that possible?

 

There really weren't very many people behind us in line.  They had slowly given up in defeat.

 

And no one was crazy enough to enter the queue with that wait time posted.

 

Twin #1 and I agreed there was no point waiting until 10.  We bailed.

 

I wish we could have met up later with the people we had been standing in line with.  I wonder how long it really took.  It couldn't really have been over five hours. Could it?

 

So, we rode Big Thunder.   Probably didn't need a FP.  The rest of the park wasn't very busy at all.  Everyone was in that Anna and Elsa line, I guess.

 

Our next FP was for the Ariel ride. 

 

We planned to walk the long way around the Mine Train ride to get there, as we haven't seen it with the construction walls down.  They just came down last week.

 

It looks really nice:

 

 

 

This is the corner that used to have the place where you could take a peek through the wall.  I must have looked through there a hundred times before today.  It was neat to see it with the walls finally down:

 

 

I haven't seen a car go around the track, so I don't know how fast the cars will go on these tracks, but it looks like the ride will be fun:

 

 

 

It's nice to finally see how things look with it all done.  I like how you can see the Beast's castle and the roof of Gaston's Tavern from here:

 

 

We moseyed over to the entrance.  I wanted to just stand nearby and listen to what the CM's said to guests.  I really didn't have any questions-as I know how that goes.  Without us even asking, one of the CM's went though a whole spiel about how they didn't know when it would open, or when there would be a soft open, or anything else.  This kid was about Twin #1's age, so she asked him if he was assigned to this attraction.  It turns out that he's a college kid who works custodial over at Hollywood Studios, and he had been drafted to come over here and try to placate anxious guests.  He was a nice kid, but he really didn't know anything about when the ride might possibly open.  I guess they want it that way.  This is the entrance:

 

 

We could see right down the queue.  I asked the kid if he would let me just walk down it and come right back.  He thought about that for a minute, and Twin #1 was the one who told him not to let me.  I think that I could have talked him in to it.:

 

 

We stood there for a bit longer, and then headed for a walk around the whole ride.  I have a bunch of photos from that little walk which I'll share in the next update.  We are at the photo limit for this one.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm in and first!

 

I can't believe anyone would wait that long just to see a princess.  That's insane.

 

Kudos to you for snagging the first Fiend photos of the mine train without walls!

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

Any trip is always a "Good trip".

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear the details of how you beat the system. Devores is going to be disappointed with you though. 

 

I wonder if that 5 hour wait was exaggerated. But I know who the people in front of you are.... they're getting pre-RD ADRs to get a head start. 

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

OK, how did the ghost skip a post?

[Duane 152]

Not sure what number I will be, but I do know that in the "history of Duane" I made it to the first page of a trip report!  I can lay down and die now!

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

In!

[Beckers 1,136]

My parents were at MK yesterday. Now I will have to search your photos for them.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

I'm in!

I wonder if many are booking early morning breakfast reservations. Wouldn't this allow them to be ahead of the crowds headed to see Elsa and Anna? To clarify ahead of those entering the MK at Rope Drop.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

I'm in, would not miss it.

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm in!

I wonder if many are booking early morning breakfast reservations. Wouldn't this allow them to be ahead of the crowds headed to see Elsa and Anna? To clarify ahead of those entering the MK at Rope Drop.

That's what I'm assuming.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I'm in!

I wonder if many are booking early morning breakfast reservations. Wouldn't this allow them to be ahead of the crowds headed to see Elsa and Anna? To clarify ahead of those entering the MK at Rope Drop.

 

 

That's what I'm assuming.

That's what I was thinking as well, but I didn't want to take up valuable first page space to say so.

 

[dvccamper 32]

Page one! Hurray!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Count me in as well

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm in and first!

 

I can't believe anyone would wait that long just to see a princess.  That's insane.

 

Kudos to you for snagging the first Fiend photos of the mine train without walls!

 

Way to go, Gwen!

 

I don't understand the over-the-tip reaction people have to Frozen.

 

The other day, I read in the paper that it is currently the sixth highest grossing movie in history.  How?

 

We have never seen anything like this. 

 

A five hour and twenty minute wait to meet a character? 

 

 

Any trip is always a "Good trip".

 

True.

 

This one ended up being especially great.  Spoiler alert- we will be making it over to the Fort at one point.

 

I'm in! Can't wait to hear the details of how you beat the system. Devores is going to be disappointed with you though. 

 

I wonder if that 5 hour wait was exaggerated. But I know who the people in front of you are.... they're getting pre-RD ADRs to get a head start. 

 

That system is easy to beat.  The first trick is using others' MagicBands.  Worked fine.  CM's knew what we were doing.  On our second FP+ Space Mountain ride, the CM called me by my oldest daughter's name and smiled.

 

That 5 hour wait had to be exaggerated.  There was no way it could have taken that long. 

 

And you're right- it had to be guests from the castle and Crystal Palace who used ADR's to jump the line.

 

OK, how did the ghost skip a post?

 

I guess KFK left her ghost behind.

 

I wish the ghost would leave and she would come back.

 

Not sure what number I will be, but I do know that in the "history of Duane" I made it to the first page of a trip report!  I can lay down and die now!

 

Congratulations!

 

You have arrived!

 

In!

 

Glad to have you along.

 

FPBR for you again.

 

My parents were at MK yesterday. Now I will have to search your photos for them.

 

What?

 

I think I may have seen them.

 

Does your dad have a white moustache?

 

Was he wearing a FortFiends shirt?

 

I'm in!

I wonder if many are booking early morning breakfast reservations. Wouldn't this allow them to be ahead of the crowds headed to see Elsa and Anna? To clarify ahead of those entering the MK at Rope Drop.

 

Yup.  That has to be it.

 

I'm in, would not miss it.

 

Glad you're here, Rennie.

 

And, it won't be long until you're there.

 

Right?

 

TCD

[Starbuc71 162]

Rolling the dice for page one

[DaveInTN 3,247]

We've been expecting this report! 

 

Page one for me!!

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

I don't read TRs.

And y'all need to stay off the buses!!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Wow, page one is filling up fast!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Won't be long and it will be FULL!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, that is that.

 

On to page two.

 

Page one! Hurray!

 

You made it!  Congratulations!

 

Count me in as well

 

OK, you are counted in.

 

Rolling the dice for page one

 

Nice.  Page one for you too.

 

We've been expecting this report! 

 

Page one for me!!

 

Yes, you made it.

 

We all know what that means.

 

I don't read TRs.
And y'all need to stay off the buses!!!

 

 

Way to go, Lou Ray!  You snuck one in before Dave hogged them all.

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

TCD this is them.

They actually met Devores when they got this photo printed yesterday.

[superloopers 2]

I'm in. did I make page 1?

[dblr....Rennie 224]

 

Glad you're here, Rennie.

 

And, it won't be long until you're there.

 

Right?

 

TCD

 

Yes sir that's right the end of June thru the 4th of July, with any luck maybe you will be there near the 4th also.

[BigTom 76]

I am in, you should have gotten that CM to let you take a preview ride for us.