Did you ride on the first day or before?

[Snow White 610]

In DCA, got to ride ToT during soft opening. The way that park is set up made it difficult to know that it was even open. It wasn't until I recognized a "bellhop" walking through the park that I knew, needless to say we tracked him to the ride and got on instantly!

 

[Figment 2004]

I've never gone on a ride the day it opened but i go back to WDW in October and plan to go on Stitch's Great Escape

 

[sissa216]

I got to see Wishes about 5 times before they debuted it...that's one of my favorite memories, me and my friends sitting (yes, sitting!) in the Middle of Main Street between Caseys and the Bakery, with no one in front of me and only about 25 other people watching a few hours after the park closed.
I also got to work the press event last October for Wishes/ Philhar. I've never seen anything like that. They transformed the park into one glamorous media/celebrity party. Then when they shut off the lights to begin Wishes---the world premier and very first showing to the media---me and my friends ran to the center of the Hub (very carefully as we were in T-Land costumes), and were in front of the hundreds of people behind us. Eating complimentary Mickey Bars It was SOOOO cool!!!
Also typical cast previews of Philharmagic,
and the last show of Alien after it was closed (cast only show on the very last night)

Not to mention my veerrryyy special very illegal spot for the fireworks at midnight on New Years Eve :lookaroun

 

[Chape19714]

I rode Mission:Space 2 weeks before it opened at the Passholder Preview, and then again 1 week later during "soft Opening".

I saw the Disney stars and motor cars parade the 2nd day it ran.

I saw all of Animal Kindom 2 days after it opened (my mom was invited to Cast Preview Days :fork: , too bad you had to be 18, she's not a CM, she just knew one!) But we went with the same CM just after it opened and she got us to the frount of the lines. It was the 1st day it's tough to be a bug was open, and that scared me at the time, due to how young i was!

I saw PhilharMagic at the Passholder Previews

I rode the new JIYI with Figment on opening day!

I saw the 5th to last Fantasy in the Sky.

I think that is all!

 

[DisneyChik17]

this is soo cool you guys! Keep 'em comin!

 

[disneydata]

Wel let's see ...

I rode Mission Space in the second week of August (a few days before official soft opening), I saw Philharmagic during cast preview days (3 times!), I got to see Wishes a week before the press conference, and I got to see the New Year's fireworks at Epcot weeks before Dec 31st.

Oh the fun of being on the College Program!

 

[t3techcom18]

Let's see...I've done almost everything early due to CM previews ever since I was 5(1995)...sooooooooooooooooooooooo that's a lot(Except ToT, RNRC, AE). But the previews I went to without CM's, is Mission Space on exactly(weird how I remember this), June 13th, at 4:57 PM. I went on it 4 times before opening day....I did PhilharMagic 2 times before it fully opened...Saw Wishes 3 times before it debuted....and went to AK during the CM previews and did everything(Except Dinosaur, which I was afraid of at the time :lookaroun ). To this day, I've done all of the previews since TT. To tell you the truth, I'm going to say somthing very funny about the first time I went on TT:

It was a bright October day, and an unusually hot day for October. I came out of school that day happy, knowing I was going to go on TT for the first time. We picked up my Dad, wlaked through the Beach Club to Epcot, and as you know it, we were at TT. The sign read a 120 minute weight. We winded through the VERY long queue(before the single rider and Fastpass change), as I was entertained by the most biggest and coolest queue I had ever seen at the time. We went through the briefing room, I'm geting more and more excited. I go to the seat, I sit down. The moment I buckle the seat belt, the power in all of the cars go out, and the usual vibration of the car, goes out. We spend about 15 minutes stuck in the car in the loading bay, which you see that every CM is scrambling around like crazy. We finally get out, but we are instructed to stay on the loading platform. I looked as they were trying to get the cars activated again, going to the back of the car, and pressing tiny uttons on the side, and they pulled down the rear bumper of the vehicle, where the motor was, and always trying effortly trying to press a giant red button on the back of the motor. We stood there for a complete 2 and a half hours, and finally, the CM's at TT finally say that it would be down for more time, and they got everyone out, and giving everyone free passes for no wait time afterward. I dragged my depressed self to dinner, which I realized that I was hungry, and we were there from 5:10 in the afternoon, to 7:30 at night. We went to the nearest pavilion, Mexico, and ate some Mexican food. Afterward, I went back to TT, and I rode it at night, on opening day. :sohappy:

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

Afterward, I went back to TT, and I rode it at night, on opening day. :sohappy:

That last line makes the story hilarious. To see that it took them so long to get the ride open and then on OPENING DAY they have a problem that takes several hours to fix. Go figure, from what I've heard from everyone this is pretty typical. Excellent story though and I wish I could do some CM previews for other things. One day, one day I tell ya, I will be able to!

 

[Maria]

I also got to work the press event last October for Wishes/ Philhar. I've never seen anything like that. They transformed the park into one glamorous media/celebrity party. Then when they shut off the lights to begin Wishes---the world premier and very first showing to the media---me and my friends ran to the center of the Hub (very carefully as we were in T-Land costumes), and were in front of the hundreds of people behind us. Eating complimentary Mickey Bars It was SOOOO cool!!!

You reminded me when I worked during the press event on October 1st 1999 for the Millennium Celebration. WSC was AWESOME. It was amazing how they transformed it completely in such little time. For instance, in Mexico, they were serving tamales, tacos, and tons of typical stuff. In Norway, they set an open market and they had different fish and cheese to try. Same thing with France. In Canada, they had fires with the big buckets boiling some corn heads. :slurp: I was wearing my original regional dress (not the one from the pavillion which is a stylized dress) and so were my coworkers in the Fellowship Ambassador Program, and we toured around drinking and eating original stuff not sold regularly in the pavillions.

(If anyone saw the press invitations for that event, I am on them, please tell me how to get one! I would pay for it, of course!)

I also attended - as a guest :lookaroun - the dedication party of Test Track. Saw Earth, Wind and Fire that night along with the celebrities invited the night of March 17th., ' 99.

 

[Maria]

That last line makes the story hilarious. To see that it took them so long to get the ride open and then on OPENING DAY they have a problem that takes several hours to fix. Go figure, from what I've heard from everyone this is pretty typical. Excellent story though and I wish I could do some CM previews for other things. One day, one day I tell ya, I will be able to!

I only rode TT almost three months after it unnoficially opened. I was there every day, but the lines were incredibly long and the ride broke down too much. I finally rode it in December in costume and with all the holiday characters after the Christmas tree lighting ceremony hehe...

Don´t be so surprised about rides breaking down on openning nights... Illuminations RoE was delayed during the press event. The delay was less than five minutes, and it would have probably gone unnoticed if it wasn´t for the voiceover who said they were experiencing a delay. Seconds later, it started!
On the night Michael Eisner was there to watch it from a boat, days after the press event, the 'ball' in the middle didn´t work properly and the lights didn´t show any images, only a three colored line of lights around it.

So... chit happens... when you least want it to happen!