Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Well, it looks like the Spirit will FINALLY hit the only Disney resort he has never made it to. Likely going to be there sometime around the Dec. 13th-20th period. Have the Christmas festivities/entertainment been announced by OLC yet? What are crowds typically like that time of year? (should I ask the dumb tourist question of how cold will it be?)
Originally Posted By Mr X Well, it's about time. It will probably be cold, it will DEFINITELY be crowded (particularly on the weekends).
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 It is about time. And I firmly EXPECT to meet ya if things work according to plan. You will get an email at some point, but feel free to drop a line first because things are totally crazy and I am about to leave for over two months in Asia. I don't mind the cold, especially that time of year ... crowds, I hate anywhere/anytime ... but will deal with them.
Originally Posted By Mr X Sounds good brutha. Not sure if I still have your email addy but mine is jammindave hotmail com if you don't still have it. Look forward to hearing from ya! Crowds...see karlg's recent posts in this section on how to deal with them, he offers some excellent advice. The most important of which, and I've done this often enough myself, is that when it gets overwhelming it's best to "get on what you can", which means stuff like Country Bears, Tiki Room, Small World (usually anyway), etc...I find that by the time you've done a lot of that "small stuff" and then get in a fastpass or two, the crowds DO tend to thin out later and you can catch a lot more.
Originally Posted By karlg Spirit, Be prepared for "crowded on an humanly unimaginable level" if you visit on a weekend. From my limited experience, weekdays are much more manageable. Christmas is extra very busy. If it rains AND you can stay late, the park really thins out late in the day. KarlG
Originally Posted By Mr X The park thins out late in the day regardless of rain, actually (though rain would drive the crowds out sooner, generally speaking). The last couple of hours at TDL are the most productive, in my experience. As long as you avoid the crowds all day and do small stuff, coupled with smart fast pass use, you can generally see what you missed (or ride something again if you want) between 8-10 no matter how ridiculous the crowds have been all day.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Likely going to be there sometime around the Dec. 13th-20th period.>> Ouch - best of luck that week - it will be monstrously busy. Expect a lot of schoolkids during the week and massive crowds at the weekend. TDS will be debuting a new Christmas event too so that park will also be busy. They just recorded the new score (it is good) at Abbey Road Studios this past weekend. I don't believe that OLC have released any further details as of yet about their Christmas events except for the fact that TDL is still Christmas Fantasy and TDS' new celebration is Christmas Wishes.
Originally Posted By Mr X I might just have to break my "family only" parks rule and head into the trenches so Spirit gets guided through properly (I know all the back doors, even more than Lee does! ). Maybe. I'll have to check with Ms X for permission though, of course.
Originally Posted By MagicalNezumi Well, we know it will be "snowing" at TDL. There's a loose translation of the Japanese press release floating around in cyberspace. Hint, hint: <a href="http://www.jtcent.com/extras/news/news_100902.html" target="_blank">http://www.jtcent.com/extras/n...902.html</a> -- MagicalNezumi
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Thanks for all the advice/comments ... I had read Karl's comments and it sure seems that things truly aren't ever that bad, if you opt for say Small World over Hunny Hunt ... or BTMRR over Monsters Ride and Go Seek ... or Tiki Room over Mansion. ... Kinda common sense, but nice to hear. As to the dates, they likely can't be changed. If I get to go, and it's looking very good, it's going to be that week ... cold and crowds be damned. Now ... off to HKDL next week!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I might just have to break my "family only" parks rule and head into the trenches so Spirit gets guided through properly (I know all the back doors, even more than Lee does! ). Maybe. I'll have to check with Ms X for permission though, of course. >> I'm impressed ... and will be in touch, likely in a few weeks from China, when I better know my exact plans.
Originally Posted By karlg Re Spirit of 74 #10: They really can be that bad. I kind of sampled around the park and at about 11AM Small World was about 45 minutes, Thunder Mountain was about 130 Minutes and Splash was something like 160 minutes, Pirates was about 1 hour and it seemed to stay that way until about 4 in the afternoon when times started going down. My one strategic blunder (due to a bunch of work emails I had to deal with while it was still Friday in the US) was not being at the park 1 hour before park opening. If I could have been through the gates nearer opening, then I could have gotten my first fastpass with and earlier return time AND gotten on a FP attraction before the fastpasses started coming back. I might have been able to get 3 fastpasses rather than 2 that way. I had a priority on Ride and Go Seek since I had never been on it again and it didn't take that long to get a fast pass. I went for Pooh hoping I could get on before the fastpasses and the line did move until the fastpasses started returning. At 8PM, Ride and Go Seek and Pooh were over an hour wait which was the least I saw all day. If I had waited until late in the day, then I might have missed one or both (they might have cut off the lines if they ran hours past closing) and I had no idea that they would drop below two hours which they were most of the day. I waited out Pirates and Small world until they were both walk-ons. So I don't know if it would have really helped for me to have waited on them. At 1 to 2 PM in the afternoon, the only things I could find that didn't have a long wait (under 1 hour) were Bears, Mark Twain and Tiki-room. I think you have to expect the park to be slammed from 10AM until 3 or 4 PM on a WEEKEND (hopefully it thins out as X commented). Weekdays are much more management. The strategy I would use is to get there early to get fastpasses and then go REST and wait until 3PM. I was able to go on a lot of attractions between 3 and 8PM (I had an early flight the next day). I'm actually in Hong Kong right now, but I have business meetings all day Saturday so no HKDL for me on this trip (went there last year). >Thanks for all the advice/comments ... I had read Karl's comments and it sure seems that things truly aren't ever that bad, if you opt for say Small World over Hunny Hunt ... or BTMRR over Monsters Ride and Go Seek ... or Tiki Room over Mansion. ... Kinda common sense, but nice to hear. As to the dates, they likely can't be changed. If I get to go, and it's looking very good, it's going to be that week ... cold and crowds be damned. Now ... off to HKDL next week!
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< As to the dates, they likely can't be changed. If I get to go, and it's looking very good, it's going to be that week ... cold and crowds be damned. >>> How much time will you actually get to spend at the resort?
