Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

Pennywise

Victoria_Meldrew wrote: »

Has anyone been to Disney World in the last few weeks and have experience of the new fastpass system? Any tips? We won't be staying in a Disney hotel btw.

We've just got back.

We didn't stay at a Disney Hotel, but we could register our tickets via the internet before we left the UK (I've seen comments on the web that you can't pre-book if you're not staying at a Disney Resort but I tried anyway and it worked so they must have changed it). So we could book our fast pass rides via the internet, which we did approx 3 days before each park visit, so we had to be a bit prepared.

So glad we did! The fastpass booths all had long queues throughout the day. As each day approached, the fast pass time slot availability dropped dramatically - so much so that our fast pass time for Epcot's "Soarin" which we booked three days before we went couldn't be changed the day before as all other timeslots were already taken. On the day itself, we tried to change a fastpass booking to a different ride, but it, too, had no availability left for that day.

Do your research as to which rides actually need fastpass. You can get apps that show real time queueing times, so try one out beforehand at US peak times (11am-2pm their time) to see which rides have the longest times and choose wisely based on that. Some of the ones you think would have long queues are only 15-30 minute waits whereas others can easily be 2 hours!

At Hollywood, don't waste your fastpasses on the Indiana Jones nor the stunt shows - as long as you're there at the gate 10-20 mins before it starts, you'll get in as the auditoria are huge.

There are still tiers for Hollywood (pick 2 from list A and 1 from list , but not for Magic Kingdom, and I can't be sure whether it was Epcot or Animal Kingdom that still had tiers - it was one or the other, but you can easily see on the internet if you register your tickets beforehand.

We bought our tickets from Undercovertourist a couple of weeks before and they arrived very quickly - their customer service was excellent and I'd happily use them again.

N20Y1D

bump for bumpsake

ptkloon

We are planning on going to Disney this summer. We have 2 kids both under 2 and would like to visit disney for 2 days during the trip, probably Magic Kingdom both times, and spend a morning on each day - possibly returning in the evening after an afternoon nap.
Where is best place to book these tickets? we will also like to spend a couple of days at water parks - we will maybe goto the Disney parks so the tickets which incorporate magic kingdom plus water parks would be handy
The rest of the time will be spent relaxing in the villa or shopping!!

maemaesmummy

That's it guys...we begin our new life in florida next week!

ptkloon

I can't seem to find any 2-day tickets. Most places is 3 day at least but due to the amount of time we will be there we can only manage 2 days at Disney, the official website only sells 7 day tickets.
Can anyone direct me where to get 2 day tickets, or would I be as well buy 2 single day tickets? Or maybe best going to other theme parks as there are plenty to chose from!!

jackieblack

ptkloon wrote: »

I can't seem to find any 2-day tickets. Most places is 3 day at least but due to the amount of time we will be there we can only manage 2 days at Disney, the official website only sells 7 day tickets.
Can anyone direct me where to get 2 day tickets, or would I be as well buy 2 single day tickets? Or maybe best going to other theme parks as there are plenty to chose from!!

You can buy 2 days on the gate.
2014 prices here http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm

honeypop

ptkloon wrote: »

I can't seem to find any 2-day tickets. Most places is 3 day at least but due to the amount of time we will be there we can only manage 2 days at Disney, the official website only sells 7 day tickets.
Can anyone direct me where to get 2 day tickets, or would I be as well buy 2 single day tickets? Or maybe best going to other theme parks as there are plenty to chose from!!

I got a 2 day ticket from undercovertourist, the MYW 2 day: http://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/attractions/tickets.html (near to the bottom of the Disney section on that page).

I got all our tickets from there, no problems at all, got back from Orlando last week.

Re your plan of spending a morning at Magic Kingdom then going back later that day after kids nap, would they not sleep in strollers so you can at least stay there during the afternoon? Getting in and out of MK takes a while due to having to get a tram then a boat/monorail between the car park and the entrance to MK, it was taking us approx. 30 mins in total each way, once you factor in travelling between the villa and the park, it hardly seems worth it to leave and come back again. Also you won't get much done in a morning there, it's so busy that even with fast passes, we didn't cover much in a 10 hour day (with 3 & 4 year old).

Where are you staying?

mariebar1970

We just got back from our 3rd visit to Florida. Stayed off site, but were able to book fastpass slots before we left home. We were limited with the tiers etc, but as off yesterday things changed again. once you have used all your selections, you should now be able to choose 1 more, and then another when that is used. of course this needs tweeking, because if you have booked fastpass for the fire works show, you won't be able to choose any more, as too late.

I recommend using the disney app on your phones. the booths always had long queues, it was so much easier to do on a phone or tablet. Check queue times, before using your fast pass, so it's not wasted, and you can change it to something else.

On the whole, I think the new system is really good, it just needs some work in places.

we were in parks most days, and took a picnic with us. we ate once at cosmic rays in Magic kingdom, and it was not good. My daughter had ribs, and it was inedible. Disney are fine with picnic bags etc, and there are tables around to eat at.

Disney days can be a killer. We did Magic kingdom last Friday. Got there at 9am, and left at 11pm. comfortable shoes are a must, as are ponchos. We could have taken some with us, but didn't. We got a right soaking just running to the nearest shop to buy some.


We all had a fab time, and can't wait to return. just might slow things down a little next time. 11 parks done (Inc water parks) in 14 days!

Victoria_Meldrew

Just back from 2 weeks in Orlando - bought a 2 week Disney pass from Travel Republic before we left and although we didn't go to theme parks every hour of every day it gave us more flexibility for the extra few pounds it cost. We were restricted to 3 fast pass uses per day which wasn't enough in my opinion. the old system was much better in that regard. However the app was brilliant and there was free wi-fi in lots of areas within the parks so we could check queue times before trekking to the other side of the park. Stand-by queues were however horrendous, the worst I've ever seen them, so we ended up going on the less popular rides simply because of the wait times. (To meet two princesses from Frozen and another, was 120 minutes). The big blow (for me anyway) was that the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom is not running until the new arena for it is built, also Pirates of the C.... was closed for refurbishment. I particularly didn't like the tier system as you can't ride Soarin' and Test Track on the same day which you could under the old system. If you're staying in a Disney Hotel I'd advise making use of the extra magic hours especially in the morning when it's much quieter. If you're planning to watch Fantasmic using the fast pass you do get to sit right opposite the action but it takes a little while longer to leave the stadium. We sat in stand-by and were seated on the far right as you look at the stage so could leave quickly and beat the crowds. It was more restricting to have to decide where we were going each day in order to get the fast passes and even then we sometimes couldn't get anything until the evening and because of a thunderstorm we didn't get to use our fastpass for Test Track, so all things considered I don't like the new system as much as the old and the queues were definitely worse.

ptkloon

honeypop wrote: »

I got a 2 day ticket from undercovertourist, the MYW 2 day: http://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/attractions/tickets.html (near to the bottom of the Disney section on that page).

I got all our tickets from there, no problems at all, got back from Orlando last week.

Re your plan of spending a morning at Magic Kingdom then going back later that day after kids nap, would they not sleep in strollers so you can at least stay there during the afternoon? Getting in and out of MK takes a while due to having to get a tram then a boat/monorail between the car park and the entrance to MK, it was taking us approx. 30 mins in total each way, once you factor in travelling between the villa and the park, it hardly seems worth it to leave and come back again. Also you won't get much done in a morning there, it's so busy that even with fast passes, we didn't cover much in a 10 hour day (with 3 & 4 year old).

Where are you staying?

Thanks for the reply, we are staying in a villa in Kissimmee, 8 miles from the Magic Kingdom car park
We are not expecting to see or do much, and will return when our kids are older.
Is it possible to get the water park & more tickets with a 2 day pass? If so we will probably do that, if not we will maybe go to Wet n Wild for a day instead, which is the best water park for young kids? (2 year old)