Originally Posted By MickeyChick Do Fast Passes work exactly the same way at DW as they do at DL? One ticket every two hours or when the window on the first ticket opens up, whichever is first. The end time doesn’t really matter, only the beginning time. If there are differences, what are they? On the Extra Magic Hours when one park is open an hour early and one is open late, is the one that’s open late always open for three hours? Or is it sometimes less? And do you have to be there before the park closes to stay late, or can you come from another park and get in after the official closing time, as long as you have your ticket and resort ID? Has anyone ever been in mid-June? We're planning to go June 17-23. Just wondering how bad the heat and the crowds are at that time of year. Thanks in advance. You've all been so helpful so far.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Do Fast Passes work exactly the same way at DW as they do at DL? One ticket every two hours or when the window on the first ticket opens up, whichever is first. The end time doesn’t really matter, only the beginning time. If there are differences, what are they?>> No difference. In theory end times make a difference, but I've never seen it enforced. <<On the Extra Magic Hours when one park is open an hour early and one is open late, is the one that’s open late always open for three hours? Or is it sometimes less?>> I believe it sometimes is less if the park already was open quite late to begin with (for instance, a night when the MK was open until 10:00 PM before Magic Hours). <<And do you have to be there before the park closes to stay late, or can you come from another park and get in after the official closing time, as long as you have your ticket and resort ID?>> You can come in late but it is kind of a pain. You get through the outer gates but you can’t ride anything until you have your EMH band. We got to WDW fairly late in the evening last year but decided we would go to Epcot for the EMH. We got in but had to go into the Innoventions courtyard to pick up our band before we could ride anything. Since Spaceship Earth is always one of our favorites it meant a bit of backtracking. Has anyone ever been in mid-June? We're planning to go June 17-23. Just wondering how bad the heat and the crowds are at that time of year.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Has anyone ever been in mid-June? We're planning to go June 17-23. Just wondering how bad the heat and the crowds are at that time of year. >> Oops... forgot the last question. Crowds are pretty heavy and heat and humidity are fairly high. It is considerably better than July or August though, so if you have to go during the summer it isn't a bad time. Expect it to rain most every day. The rain is usually strong but brief, although you will occasionally get a day that is cloudy and wet from beginning to end.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> The end time doesn’t really matter, only the beginning time << The end time doesn't really matter -- but it should. At least they enforce the date. Technically coming late for a 3pm Monday FastPass by arriving Tuesday morning 10am isn't much different than arriving late on Monday, isn't it?
Originally Posted By Doobie The end time does matter for busier rides. It do know it is enforced, to an extent, at Soarin (they may allow you to be minutes late, but not hours late). And as far as I know, Extra Magic Hours in the evening always last 3 hours - even when the park is already open late. Doobie.
Originally Posted By MickeyChick Thanks, all! I did call DW today and ask about the Extra Magic Hours. They did say it's always three hours. Just as a test I asked about June 17, when MK is open until 11:00 and they have the EMH. He looked and told me they were open until 2:00 am. Let me tell you, as a West Coaster that makes me very happy. 2:00 am will only feel like 11:00 pm, and we're night owls as it is.
Originally Posted By MickeyChick Hey, I have some more questions. Surprise! We plan to stay at Pop Century. Does anyone know how long it takes to get from there to each of the parks and Downtown Disney by bus? Just wondering how much travel time to factor in, and also how easy it is to go back to your hotel during the day. Also, are you able to catch transportation between parks? For example, if you're at Magic Kingdom and want to go to MGM Studios, can you go directly there, or do you have to make a connection somewhere?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<We plan to stay at Pop Century. Does anyone know how long it takes to get from there to each of the parks and Downtown Disney by bus?>> Not including time waiting for the bus(which can be up to 20 minutes at times but is usually more like 5-10). To Epcot and MGM: about 5-10 minutes To Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom: about 15-20 minutes To Downtown Disney: about 10-15 minutes. <<Also, are you able to catch transportation between parks? For example, if you're at Magic Kingdom and want to go to MGM Studios, can you go directly there, or do you have to make a connection somewhere? >> You can go between Epcot and MGM Studios via water taxi. I believe (I may be wrong on this) that you can get to any other park from the Animal Kingdom via bus. You can get from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot via Monorail, but you have to switch monorails at the Ticket and Transportation Center. I don't believe there is any way to get directly from the Magic Kingdom to any other park. You would need to transfer at a resort or at Downtown Disney. In general, transportation between Disney Resorts and the Parks is very good. Transportation between Parks is fair - good. Transportation between Disney Resorts is poor.
Originally Posted By Roger55 Pop is the best value resort at WDW when it comes to location. Its verry close to Epcot and Disny/MGM. Id say less than 10 min to those two. AK and MK are probably closer to 15-20 min. DTD is probably 10-15 min. Pop is very centrally located. Bigest issue with WDW transportation is the time spent waiting for a bus. Thats usually longer than the bus ride. Value resorts seem to have the least frequent departures and their bus stop is almost always the furthest from the entrace to the parks. There is always direct buses that can take you from any park to another. Resort to resort usually takes some creative transfering of buses.
Originally Posted By Roger55 RoadTrip. Seems we were both posting at the same time. Our estimates and advice match so I feel better about what I stated. What's that they say about great minds? LoL!
Originally Posted By MickeyChick More questions, you ask? Why yes! Does WDW do Haunted Mansion Holiday, or is that only a DL thing? Can you use Disney Dollars at WDW? Do they have the gift cards as well? Is it necessary to make dining reservations? If so, what are good places to go to? There will be four of us, including two teenagers, so we want to go cheap. I have no desire to eat at any nice restaurants, because it will just cost too much. There was something else I wanted to ask, but it's escaping me right now...
Originally Posted By Tiggirl I found all Disney Worlds Counter service places really tasty. We (Disneyland regulars... one cast member, one former cast member and one AP) all felt the counter service was heads and shoulders above Disneyland quick dining. Not to mention cheaper. ~Beth
Originally Posted By MickeyChick Sounds good to me! We don't usually do any of the table service restaurants at DL anyway. Plus we're going in October (made a change in plans from our original June trip) so it shouldn't be too crowded.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl If you haveb't checked it out yet check out the menus as Allearsnet.com (<a href="http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm" target="_blank">http://allearsnet.com/menu/men us.htm</a>). They include recent menues as well as prices. We sat down and looked at it together so we'd have an idea of where we wanted to go. Saved us a lot of time wandering from place to place trying to figure out what they served. ~Beth
Originally Posted By Labuda "I don't believe there is any way to get directly from the Magic Kingdom to any other park. You would need to transfer at a resort or at Downtown Disney." If you've found a Disney bus that'll get you from any park to DTD then you're a better man than any other I've ever met, Trippy.
Originally Posted By Labuda "Does WDW do Haunted Mansion Holiday, or is that only a DL thing?" DL only. "Can you use Disney Dollars at WDW?" Yes. "Do they have the gift cards as well?" Yes. "Is it necessary to make dining reservations? If so, what are good places to go to? There will be four of us, including two teenagers, so we want to go cheap. I have no desire to eat at any nice restaurants, because it will just cost too much. " I'd recommend you do at least one or two buffets, and even in October, I'd make ADRs (WDW calls them Advanced Dining Reservations now) for any sit-down/buffet places you eat. Trail's End Buffet @ Ft. Wilderness is the cheapest eats on property - breakfast buffet is $12, lunch $13, and dinner $18. <a href="http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_teb.htm" target="_blank">http://www.allearsnet.com/menu /menu_teb.htm</a> Most of us here LOVE the food at Boma, which is in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. $26 per person for dinner there <a href="http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menu_bomadin.htm" target="_blank">http://www.allearsnet.com/menu /menu_bomadin.htm</a> And, I must disagree with Beth - nothing at WDW beats Bengal BBQ skewers! Oh, and the food court at Pop Century is actually really quite good!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Most of the questions have been answered here. And BTW MickeyChick, missing out on table service restaurants is really missing out a lot of the awesomeness that is WDW. The counter service restaurants get really old after a while and I suspect you may not enjoy Epcot as much. So have a look at Deb's site at all the restaurants and go from there. But our priorities are different - I'd rather be in the Napa Rose than on Splash Mountain, or we dined in Epcot 5 times last trip, but we only did Everest once and skipped Dinosaur. Personally I find counter service to be a false economy as you end up snacking all the time, whereas I can happily get by on one table service meal a day. But there is indeed something for everyone. If you do want to eat at a TS, be sure to get ADRs.
Originally Posted By MickeyChick Thanks to everyone for answering my millions of questions. And I do have another one! Are there any "stand alone" Fast Pass machines at WDW like there are at DL? Ones that aren't hooked up to the rest of the network? I need Darkbeer's Fast Pass guide for WDW!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros To my knowledge there aren't any stand alones like in DL. I'm not sure, but I heard that Living with the Land may be, but hopefully someone can come along and help clear that up. (I'm not sure if they even use it at all anymore with Soarin' next door)
Originally Posted By danyoung I've also heard that all the FP machines in WDW are computer linked. Why they have some stand-alones at DL is beyond me.
