Originally Posted By barboy Yes, FP for Pooh immediately upon "gate open" is the way to do business(assumes that Pooh is on the must see list) being it has to be the most popular attraction in Japan but yet doesn't have a staggering capacity. I know that there is an ideal sequence out there to seeing and doing as much as possible based on FP, location of attraction in the park, popularity and capacity as well as one's own must see's and disregards. (I just wish that I knew what it is ) We need a "Tour Guide Mike" for TDR.
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara Very Simple: 1) On line at the gates at least 30 minutes before the park opens. 2) Gates open--walk brisky to Pooh and ride it immediately. 3) When you exit Pooh, if you are so infatuated that you want to ride it again (likely), get a FastPass right now. This should take about 10 minutes and your FastPass time should be between 10 and 11 (if the park has opened at 9 am). 4) Walk directly to Splash Moutain and ride it--should be no wait. If you didn't get a FastPass at Pooh, get one for Splash now. 5) Walk directly to Big Thunder Mountain and ride it. 6) Your FastPass window should be open now, meaning you can get another FastPass. If it's Halloween season, walk to the Haunted Mansion and get a FastPass for Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare. If it's not Halloween, walk to Space Mountain and either ride it (if the line is less than 30 minutes) or get a FastPass. 7) Do Pirates before the line gets too long (or wait to the end of the day when the line is short). 8) Do Haunted Mansion (if it's not Halloween season). And so on. This plan will change when the Tiki room with Stich reopens because I think there will be big crowds, at least initially. I think one of the reasons the entire building and exterior area is covered is because they're building some sort of queue--which they've never needed before. FastPass would be a good idea for this, since it would allow you to arrive just when your show would start and you wouldn't have to wait in line at all!
Originally Posted By barboy Very good Mara, However, just a slight change I feel is better: get the FP for Pooh 1st, then immediately ride. (assuming one wants two shots at it). Why is that even better? Because in the opening 20 minutes of the park the FP machines become mayhem very, very quickly whereas the Pooh ride will be an absolute walk on both before one would get a FP or right after. I guess what I'm saying is that it looks like the crowds form around the machines even quicker than the ride itself--- in my experience.
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara I've tried that, barboy, but the line for a FastPass for Pooh gets quite long because many Japanese go right for the FastPass first thing. Good FastPass use dictates that you never obtain a FastPass if the line for the ride is under 30 minutes. There are exceptions, of course, but I don't this is one of them. The line for Pooh is shorter when you enter it immediately after walking into the park, and the line for the FastPass is shorter if you get one after exiting the ride! At least that's been my experience.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris "I guess what I'm saying is that it looks like the crowds form around the machines even quicker than the ride itself--- in my experience." That was my experience as well. Before we even got to FL, the queue for FP tix for Pooh was OUT TO THE FRIKKIN HUB!!!!!! It was INCREDIBLE!
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< The line for Pooh is shorter when you enter it immediately after walking into the park, and the line for the FastPass is shorter if you get one after exiting the ride! >>> <<< Before we even got to FL, the queue for FP tix for Pooh was OUT TO THE FRIKKIN HUB!!!!!! It was INCREDIBLE! >>> My recommendation is to get on Hunny Hunt first thing in the morning stand-by. If the FP-issuing line is still long after riding standby, and you're going to be in the park the whole day, consider doing something else then coming back. In my experience, the FastPasses never run out before 11am (the machines only issue passes and the line moves only so fast no matter what the demand), so come back at 11am and then get your Pooh FP. It will be for near the end of the day, but so what if you're going to be there anyway. This can easily save you from an extra 30 minutes in the FP issue line.
Originally Posted By X-san That's an excellent recommendation. And the 11am "target" is only for the busiest of days, I believe. On most days, if you stroll by to pick up a Pooh Fastpass anytime in the late morning you'll get one, and usually with not much wait at all. Always seems to be around electrical parade time though. (works out okay since the parade passes by the attraction, you can enjoy the parade then hop on the ride right after)
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "To BARS so the moms can been their favorite prince charming character who hangs out at the hub (shameful)..." Ok...stalkers! The fact that they know where the characters hang out after work is kind of creepy, but somehow not surprising. I'm sure there are fans in the US that try to do this too...
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Well, I don't know how the performers react to this either. What do you say to them if they've tracked you down at your local hangout? It makes things very awkward...poor guys!
Originally Posted By SMCD <<You managed to do quite a bit though anyway, nice job! The two things I'd have done differently (just out of general experience, if it were my first time I'd probably have done it exactly the same way SMCD did!) would be to save Pirates for later.>> Thanks, and yes, the Pirates queue was only 10 minutes when we left the park. Well, well. <<Sounds like an average day, crowd wise, at Tokyo Disneyland.>> Really? Wow. I was however puzzled how quiet DisneySea was in comparison to Disneyland. I guess Disneyland is the original and all that, but being as good as it is, DisneySea should have been packed. << I've tried that, barboy, but the line for a FastPass for Pooh gets quite long because many Japanese go right for the FastPass first thing.>> The length of the line for FastPass was what made us decide to go for the Stand By line on Pooh.
Originally Posted By X-san ***I was however puzzled how quiet DisneySea was in comparison to Disneyland.*** I've seen DisneySea pretty busy over holiday and summer events, but it has never been comparable to Tokyo Disneyland (except for the year of the grand opening at times, and pretty much every new year where both parks are ridiculously busy). Which is understandable, but also a bit strange when you look at the "official" OLC numbers. According to them, DisneySea is very nearly as crowded as TDL in terms of yearly numbers, but that's hard to believe given the fact that TDL hits capacity often while DisneySea rarely does, not to mention the fact that DisneySea has a lower capacity number than TDL to begin with...plus the fact that it's pretty obvious whenever you walk into DisneySea that is it, almost always, far less busy. One might almost imagine OLC is cooking the books. Nah...that's impossible.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris When the OLC starts giving away the sister park on desperate twofers and billing The Delltones as the big summer entertainment, THEN you can worry about how TDS is doing.
Originally Posted By Malin <<< One might almost imagine OLC is cooking the books. >>> I would be very interested to see the real attendance figures for both parks which OLC is hiding away from Shareholders due to the amount it spent of the park in the first place. I remember visiting TDS on a Holiday Weekend and watching a performance of Big Band Beat in a theatre not filled to capacity and only waiting 40 minutes for the Tower of Terror. While over at TDL the lines were insane. I have never worked out why TDS has failed to compete with TDL as its a fantastic park with a massive budget. It also has some of the best attractions and shows found anywhere, but its never that busy. Clearly something about the park is failing to win the Japanese over.
Originally Posted By X-san ***I have never worked out why TDS has failed to compete with TDL*** Such a weird situation, isn't it? I suppose according to the official numbers it's no failure at all. But I have to wonder...whenever you go to DisneySea it is NOTICEABLY less busy than TDL. TDL frequently closes its doors in the late morning, TDS almost never. TDS has a lower capacity and less attractions, and still appears far less busy. And yet according to the "official" numbers TDS welcomes almost the same amount of visitors as TDL? Really?? Hard to believe.
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara Why is Tokyo DisneySea not as busy as Tokyo Disneyland? For the same reason that California Adventure is not as popular as Disneyland. It has nothing to do with the quality of the park, or the amount of money spent on it. I believe that the reason is because neither group is willing to accept the second gate as a "Disney" park. In other words, because they've only had one park, a Magic Kingdom, for so long, no matter what the other park is they're not going to accept it in the way they accept a Magic Kingdom. (It's the same in Paris, by the way, but Walt Disney Studios Paris really is a turd and not worth more than a few hours attention.) The only place in the world where the multiple park concept has entirely succeeded is Orlando, where everyone now accepts that a park doesn't have to be a Magic Kingdom in order to be a "Disney" park. Perhaps it's because most of the visitors are not locals, but people coming from a long distance--why that might make a difference I don't know. But only in Orlando do people embrace the other three parks. All are busy. You don't leave the busy Magic Kingdom and hop over to Animal Kingdom and find no lines and few people. Yet that is precisely what happens when you leave Tokyo Disneyland and take the Resort Liner around to DisneySea: far fewer people, always far fewer people. Most ride lines managable. It parallels exactly the experience when Disneyland in Anaheim is insanely busy. You go across the way to California Adventure and there are far fewer people and the lines are managable.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Perhaps it's because most of the visitors are not locals, but people coming from a long distance--why that might make a difference I don't know. >>> I suspect it has a lot to do with the average length of stay. Rounded to the nearest whole day, it would not surprise me if the mean number of days in a row for a TDR stay is 1. Although people staying on property are going to stay longer for the most part, there are only so many rooms, and it's small as compared to daily park capacity. For those not staying on-site, I suspect that a great majority of them are there on day trips. And if you had only one day to spend at the resort, which park will most people pick? That, combined with how many guests seem to be character fanatics to a degree unseen in the US parks, is going to make TDL much more popular. Orlando is a totally different story. The average length of stay is probably more in the 4-6 day range, if not longer.
Originally Posted By X-san But that's the strange thing to me...I would EXPECT DisneySea to be less popular and it certainly seems more empty, but haven't the official reports indicated that it's almost the same (like 12 million guests versus 13 million or something...though I know I'm quoting old numbers here)?
