Greetings all. I'm brand new to the forums but have been reading your very informative posts for several months now.
And I have a question:
Were any of you at WDW during Christmas vacation? If so, were any of the parks, especially MK, letting in guests prior to official opening times? I'm planning a ten person (3 family) jaunt to WDW for Easter Break (we're nuts to be going then but have kids in school). I think I read one post were someone out there said that they got into MK at 8:00am when WDW posted a 9:00am opening. That would be cool if that's how WDW now handles peak seasons--soft opening parks an hour early.
Also does anyone know or have recently experienced the times in which FASTPASS systems begin to operate? Are they issuing FASTPASSES as soon as the parks open or is it more like once the crowds arrive the machines start working? I've read that sometimes they don't operate the machines on attractions like the Pooh Bear Ride or Jungle Cruise until after parks have been open for a while. Since we're kinda little kid oriented (four kids from ages 2 to 8), we want to still take advantage of FASTPASS so we don't get caught in huge lines for shorter kid-type rides.
No one in our crew has been out to Florida for over a decade, so we're totally jacked to do EVERYTHING.
But some of us do Disneyland at least once a year. Hey, I live in L.A.! Gotta get my Disney fix. We've done FASTPASS there (as recently as a month ago) and successfully cut at least 2 hours of waiting in line by doing so--a must for Splash Mountain, Autopia, Indiana Jones Adventure, and most recently Haunted Mansion Holiday--stand by lines are always way too long and exhausting. Problem is, we've never started getting FASTPASSES until late morning, so we have no experience of rushing first thing for a special FASTPASS.
Any advise would be appreciated.
And I have a question:
Were any of you at WDW during Christmas vacation? If so, were any of the parks, especially MK, letting in guests prior to official opening times? I'm planning a ten person (3 family) jaunt to WDW for Easter Break (we're nuts to be going then but have kids in school). I think I read one post were someone out there said that they got into MK at 8:00am when WDW posted a 9:00am opening. That would be cool if that's how WDW now handles peak seasons--soft opening parks an hour early.
Also does anyone know or have recently experienced the times in which FASTPASS systems begin to operate? Are they issuing FASTPASSES as soon as the parks open or is it more like once the crowds arrive the machines start working? I've read that sometimes they don't operate the machines on attractions like the Pooh Bear Ride or Jungle Cruise until after parks have been open for a while. Since we're kinda little kid oriented (four kids from ages 2 to 8), we want to still take advantage of FASTPASS so we don't get caught in huge lines for shorter kid-type rides.
No one in our crew has been out to Florida for over a decade, so we're totally jacked to do EVERYTHING.
But some of us do Disneyland at least once a year. Hey, I live in L.A.! Gotta get my Disney fix. We've done FASTPASS there (as recently as a month ago) and successfully cut at least 2 hours of waiting in line by doing so--a must for Splash Mountain, Autopia, Indiana Jones Adventure, and most recently Haunted Mansion Holiday--stand by lines are always way too long and exhausting. Problem is, we've never started getting FASTPASSES until late morning, so we have no experience of rushing first thing for a special FASTPASS.
Any advise would be appreciated.
