reddening's thread of DISNEY PARKS gossip

I have been in the Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve.

It reminded me of that scene in Blood Meridian when the cowboys see wave after wave of Indians rapidly approaching.

Four days!

We are here! No parks yet, we came in around dinnertime, got dinner, took the kids swimming, went to bed because we are planning to be up at 6 in order to storm the gates of Magic Kingdom for Magic Hour at 7am tomorrow. Observations:

1. The Dolphin hotel looks a lot like that hotel in Pyongyang.
2. I expected big crowds but the place is kind of empty. In front of a Santa display made out of chocolate, a trio of close-harmony singers was caroling to no one.
3. The "character dinner" meant that Goofy and Pluto alternated wandering in, going from table to table, and getting pictures and exchanging high fives with each group of kids. To me it seemed half-hearted and sad. My 9-year-old did not give a fig about it but my 4-year-old loved it -- too much so, in fact, she wanted to follow Goofy around from table to table and get in other people's pictures.
4. It's weird to me that there are lots of people smoking in the outdoor areas. I guess I didn't think of Disney as a place where people smoked.
5. Altogether, I am still nervous about tomorrow. But we're with my sister's family who go twice a year and we're basically going to just do whatever they think we should do. We have FastPasses for Thunder Mountain, Tales with Belle, and Buzz Lightyear tomorrow, and a lunch reservation. My brother-in-law and I have a pact to see the Hall of MFing Presidents, which no one will ever go to with him.

Two questions.

1. Because my sister has passes, this is not an expensive trip for us, which means that I am willing to spend some money to make the trip better. Are there obvious ways to do this? (One thing: we are renting a stroller for the 4-year-old as some above suggested.)
2. My daughter (the 4-year-old) has no particular thing for princesses but really likes Olaf. Can we see Olaf? I can't find any mention of it.

i got my photo taken with Chip at the character breakfast. i was 27 & we were there with my 5 yo niece :)

my general recommendation is dont b nervous abt tomorrow! dont get too hung up on plans...if it's fun hang out longer, if it sucks move on, rest when you get tired ( or go to a fun sitting down thing) & if you're completely & utterly over it, concede. i mean, with kids thats easier said than done. but it's a huuuge place. just enjoy each bit as it comes.

we planned to take my niece through all of epcot. we made it as far as england where mr veg & niece who were v tired of walking, promptly fell asleep on a park bench while the fake beatles played. nb it was fking august & like walking around in a crockpot :(
but we still had a fun day!

the Dolphin is a favorite of conventioneers, therefore there's more smoking.

I never reported back on my trip two weeks ago. May do it tomorrow.

I was in the Magic Kingdom for 16 straight hours yesterday, ask me anything

I was at the MK for eight hours two Saturdays ago; we crawled to the Contemporary's lounge.

in the ongoing war for supremacy between disneyland and walt disney world, disneyland is definitely winning the category of "total guests infected with a virulent disease."

No Disney work for Jenny McCarthy for a long time - I hope I hope - Jenny gets twitter hijacked

I'm going to Disneyland in March, will I get measels?

or even better, will I get a sweet discount on tickets and lodging?

The answers lie behind this door:
http://www.disunplugged.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Club33-02.jpg

http://rlv.zcache.com.au/keep_calm_and_focus_on_infection_mousepad-rf482a31c1b854831aa3c1d1aa52a02ba_x74vi_8byvr_324.jpg

one of the measles carriers is from our town, reddening! there was an article in the RG yesterday about all the places he went, warning people.

haha well shit, that measles guy and i go to the same grocery store. i'm going to be SO PISSED if i get the disneyland measles without even getting to GO to disneyland!

It is a small world after all.

At least it's not a small pox world. Yet.

Haven't posted much on here as I should. Went to Disneyland yesterday for one final visit before my move -- my pass officially runs through late November, though, so I may sneak down as I can for a later visit in mid-November as various friends are planning on the Avengers Half-Marathon. A couple of friends were able to join me for most of the day but I ended up doing Toy Story's Midway Mania by myself and then having a (perfectly wonderful) meal at the Carthay Circle to wrap things up, along with chatting with some friendly folks visiting from Portland in the lounge beforehand.

Which made the appearance of this from Rich Juzwiak well timed:

http://gawker.com/alone-in-disney-world-1693714369

And if you missed Rich and Caity Weaver's amazing EPCOT food/drink experience from earlier:

http://bestrestaurant.gawker.com/the-best-restaurant-in-the-world-is-disneys-epcot-them-1700655297

goin to Disneyland on the 27th. We had planned this trip and totally forgotten about all the Star Wars crap, I assume the park is going to be pretty nuts/crowded but too late to back out now!

I think you'll be OK. In the LA area, there will be dozens of other places to bump into crowds gathered to see people in storm trooper costumes. If anything Disneyland will be controlled chaos, taking into consideration that Christmas time is probably peak crowd volume regardless of Star Wars.

yeah I've never been there over the Xmas break, don't really know what to expect

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/art/2015/dl24crowd.jpg

I have heard anecdotal accounts that the crowds have gotten worse at Disney World in general, and/or that crowd management has gotten worse?

We went to Yellowstone over the summer, and I guess it was the third summer in a row with record crowds. 3.8 million people this year, with more this past September than any other time recorded. Disney probably reflects similar trends. Just saw this: "With 19,332,000 guests, Magic Kingdom was once again the most visited theme park in the world, seeing a 4 percent increase from 2013." So yeah.

I'm pretty familiar with how to handle the crowds at Disneyland - get there when the park opens, immediately go on whatever rides are top priority before the park fills up. After that, stake out which land has the most rides with the shortest lines that everyone wants to go on, go on those. Then get lunch and do something that's not popular/doesn't typically have huge lines (the Mark Twain/whatever they call the island now, the Tiki Room, etc.) By mid-afternoon the park is at peak capacity (due to the overlap between families that got their early and younger/childless folks who arrived later) so you're not going to get on much of anything very quickly - good time to either do some shopping or just wander around Toontown or something like that. As the sun goes down, families with younger children will start to leave, so the crowd starts to thin out a little bit - try to get in on any rides you've missed over the course of the day until the parade/fireworks. the end.

I loved whatever crowd app we bought, with real-time line info. Totally came in handy.

I have heard anecdotal accounts that the crowds have gotten worse at Disney World in general, and/or that crowd management has gotten worse?

― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Tuesday, December 15, 2015 12:00 PM

Well, stuff like Food & Wine festival, designed to boost attendance during what was for thirty years the slowest time of year, keeps the parks hopping year around. AK and Epcot didn't seem particularly crowded (the bartender at the Rose & Crown, on whose bar I leaned uninterrupted and unshoved for 30 mins, said it was unusually quiet). But the real crazy time is Dec. 15 through Jan. 1.

Customer service was as good as ever.

if you're a resort guest who buys passes, you can also reserve Fastpasses many weeks in advance.

Returning to Rich's piece from a few months ago, I reread this bit:

What I encountered during my first solo trip to Disney World wasn’t exactly meditative solitude. Mere minutes into my most recent journey through the enchanted fiefdom a suspicion was confirmed: There’s so much stimulation in every cubic square foot that you simply do not need a companion to have an enriching experience. Without another person to consider, I was free to enjoy the park exactly as I wanted. I could move as quickly as humanly possible through the Magic Kingdom, and then on a whim slow down to ponder the attractions, treating them as the works of art that they are.

This is OTM. My trip was essentially solo (I met my parents on the second day). At restaurants I could order dinner at the bar and talk to the bartenders. I wasn't condescended to either.

Huh. I like Disney a lot, but my enjoyment has largely been communal/vicarious. That is, I love watching other people have fun there, and love having others have fun with me. But alone? It would never occur to me to pay to do that.

Should say, I love watching other people I know have fun there. But I suppose the Happiest Place on Earth would be no less enjoyable if I was solo.

I went solo once. It was pretty awesome. It's so great to take exactly as much time as you want to do whatever you want. I just sat around in a bunch of the Epcot countries and appreciated the vibe. While drinking, natch.

long time listener, first time caller-- I got back from WDW a couple weeks ago and Hollywood Studios is dismal. a good half of the park is empty at any given time because all the stores and restaurants have shuttered in preparation for Star Wars and Frozen absorbing their spots. on the plus side I'm an annual passholder now until January 2017 so maybe I'll get to see some of it (I definitely want to go to the Halloween party regardless)

December visit.

nice!

I really want to try out the Snow White mine carts and see the re-vamped Hollywood Studios, don't know when I'll be back though.

Will be in L.A. this August. Definitely going to Universal Studios for a day, considering if I can fit Disneyland in there too.

i recently saw the gay romantic short film that was surreptitiously shot in D'land in the late '60s

so did i

i was the projectionist at its director's 90th birthday celebration

what's it called?

Country Bear Jamboree, iirc?

in his opening remarks he called it discovery; the title card read disneyland discovery; its release title i believe was ron and chuck in disneyland discovery

yes

the director phoned into the Lincoln Center screening, and gave out his number in Hawaii. "call anytime"

Disney's lawyers threatened him w/ prosecution, but to avoid publicity instead banned him from the parks for life.

it was sweet and iirc featured good ecstatic use of "when you wish upon a star"

i hope lincoln center had better turnout

wow I would love to see that!

a few dozen in a smallish theater; sound was fuct up tho

xp

now Disney makes a mint on Gay Days.

while I'm here, might as well show off these sweet Star Wars glasses done in the style of classic Disneyland posters that my sister-in-law brought back from Orlando

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/a8t03c5q2s8l9ua/20160608_153553.jpg?dl=0

wow those are super cool