In early January I visited Walt Disney World with my family.  We had a great time (of course), and despite the big crowds, the longest line we waited in was under five minutes. The trip was a huge success.

It was also our first chance to visit the brand new Fantasyland expansion myself.  What follows are my opinions, as well as my grades for each new attraction.

Overall look and "feel" of new Fantasyland
Grade: A

Disney absolutely nailed it on the overall look and feel of new Fantasyland.  There are two separate sections - the Storybook Circus area (which has been open for a while and I visited in October), and the Fantasyland Forest area.  Let's look at each of them:

Storybook Circus: There aren't any new attractions here - there are essentially just re-themed attractions (Dumbo, the Barnstormer, the train station, aa water play area, and a "meet 'n greet" with characters. But they made the place look great.  It truly does evoke a circus of yesteryear.  And Dumbo at night, with fountains and impressive lighting, looks gorgeous.

Fantasyland Forest: This consists of the Beauty and the Beast area (Beast's castle, and Belle's town), and the Little Mermaid area.  It's gorgeous, with waterfalls, mountains, elevation changes, excellent detail in the buildings, and just a terrific feel.

Finally, the new castle walls (which separate "old" Fantasyland with the forest area) even improve the feel of old Fantasyland - the generic look without trees or landscaping fits better, as it's supposed to be inside the main castle walls.

So overall, Disney hit a home run in the look of the area.  The only major quibble in the look is the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train construction area - a huge construction site in the middle of the Forest takes away from the theming and the magic.  However, this is a temporary situation - once the train is finished I am confident the area will look terrific.

Attractions, shops, and the like:
So let's look at the individual attractions in new Fantasyland. I'll start with the Storybook Circus area:

Dumbo:
Grade: A (for what it is)
As anyone who has ever visited a Disney park can tell you, Dumbo is a simple spinning ride where you can control how high your elephant goes.  Nothing too extravagant.  However, Disney has turned this simple carnival ride into the best possible experience by making the ride and its surrounding gorgeous.

First off, if there's a wait (there wasn't when we visited), they have an indoor, air-conditioned, circus-themed waiting area.  You get a pager (like at a restaurant), and your kids can run around in this play area while you wait.  Brilliant idea for an attraction that often has long waits.

Speaking of long waits, the second brilliant thing Disney did was add a second Dumbo ride.  So capacity has been doubled!  Great news.

Third, Disney has made the attraction much prettier.  Rather than flying over a concrete pit, Dumbo now flies over a fountain.  At night, it's particularly stunning with the great color effects on the water.

None of this makes Dumbo a "must-do" for all people.  If you have a couple of teenagers, it's completely skippable.  But for kids (and kids at heart) ages 2-92, it's a real winner!

The Barnstormer:
Grade: B-
The Barnstormer is the same thing it has always been - a simple, extremely short kiddie coaster.  It's been gussied up a little bit to fit the circus theme, but it's still a super-short coaster.  It's worth doing in the morning before the line builds up if you have kids that are big enough to ride but not ready for the "bigger" coasters, but it's nothing too special.  It is a great "tester" coaster though, because if your child doesn't like it, it'll be over in 15 seconds anyway!

I think when the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster opens, and takes the role of "first coaster", the Barnstormer will be pretty much obsolete.

Pete's Silly Sideshow
Grade: B
This is simply a character meeting area.  Several of the "classic" Disney characters (Donald, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy) are there.  It's nicely themed to the circus surroundings, but other than that, it's just another way to meet the characters.  If you have kids who are huge fans of the "classic" Disney characters it's worth a look.

Big Top Souvenirs
Grade: B
I don't usually review shops at the Magic Kingdom, but I thought I'd make an exception here.  The new Big Top Souvenirs is a nice shopping area - the highlight is the candy shop in the middle (with some high-quality chocolates and caramel apples, which were a hit with the family).  

Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid:
Grade: A-
I had been hearing mixed reviews on this attraction. Some people think it's not complete or has lulls in it.

I disagree.  I think the attraction, when compared to other "dark rides" like Winnie the Pooh, is an excellent effort.  The queue is beautiful, going by a waterfall and through gorgeous rockwork.  And the ride is a fun ride through the Little Mermaid story.  Is it groundbreaking?  No, it isn't.  But neither is Peter Pan, and that ride is still beloved.  It's a great addition to the park.

That being said, the wait times of 60+ minutes have been ridiculous. With the right strategies, though, you won't wait for Little Mermaid (our waits for every Fantasyland attraction we visited were under a minute each, on a busy day!)  Note that Fastpasses are currently available near Philharmagic (nowhere near the ride itself) - the unusual location of the Fastpass machines means that fewer people are getting Fastpasses, so it's often a good option.

Enchanted Tales with Belle
Grade: Incomplete

This elaborate "meet Belle and act in a mini-play with her" attraction has been a big hit, with extremely long lines (partly due to the low capacity of the attraction).  It's aimed towards younger kids.

Unfortunately, I couldn't convince my older kids (ages 8-14 and not into princesses) to go anywhere near this attraction, so I didn't get to visit it.

That being said, from what I hear, kids who love princesses love this attraction.  However, it has extremely long lines, unless you visit it first thing when the park opens.  However, since the attraction lasts 20 minutes, this strategy leads to long waits for the rest of Fantasyland.

So what to do?  The solution is actually pretty simple for most people.  If you have kids young enough to be interested in this attraction, you really should plan on two mornings at the Magic Kingdom anyway.  If you have two mornings, then it's easy - skip this attraction morning one and do the rest of Fantasyland (then head to the rest of the park).  On morning two, make a beeline to Enchanted Tales with Belle and visit it first.  The 20 minutes spent is no big deal on morning two, because you've already visited Peter Pan and the other "big line" Fantasyland attractions morning one.

I hope to visit this attraction at a later date to give my own review.

Ariel's Grotto
Grade: B
This is a slightly more elaborate meet-up with Ariel from the Little Mermaid.  Is it worth the wait?  If your kids are huge Ariel fans, then yes.  Otherwise, no.

Gaston
Grade: A
This isn't really an attraction, per se, but Gaston from Beauty and the Beast has been meeting guests in Belle's Village, near the fountain.  And let me tell you, he's hilarious.  Just an absolute riot.  Definitely go say hello to him!

Gaston's Tavern
Grade: B
Gaston's Tavern is fun to look at - he uses "antlers in all of his decorating" and the themeing is hilarious.

As for the food - it's simple fare, and I can't comment - we didn't eat here, because we had reservations at Be Our Guest restaurant

Be Our Guest Restaurant
Grade: C+ (but could improve)

The new Be Our Guest Restaurant is in some ways considered the crown jewel of New Fantasyland.  Themed to look like the interior of the Beast's Castle, with the ballroom and the west wing featured as places to eat.  This is a quick-service restaurant during the day, and transforms into a sit-down restaurant for dinner.  We had a reservation for dinner.  What follows is a full review of our dinner experience, which, unfortunately, wasn't all we were expecting.

The wait
We had a 7:20 pm reservation.  When we arrived, to our dismay, we saw a lot of people milling about in front of the restaurant (on the bridge to the Beast's castle).  We spoke to a host, and got a pager.  Then we proceeded to wait.  And wait.  And wait.

In all, we waited over FORTY minutes beyond our reservation time.  Outside.  With no place to sit. That's right - they had us standing on the bridge, waiting outside.  And we got lucky - there were thunderstorms in the area, but they (barely) missed the Magic Kingdom - I don't know what they would have done with the 50+ people waiting in an uncovered area if it started to pour.

This, simply enough, is unacceptable.  I understand that "things happen" and you may have a short wait after your reservation time.  But FORTY minutes waiting in a place with no cover and no place to sit is ridiculous.

I understand that Disney miscalculated the number of people it could serve per hour, so this is a regular occurrence until they burn through their current reservation list and can cut down the number of people they serve per night.  It's a major, major problem.

The setting
We finally were called for our table and were seated in the ballroom.  The ballroom is beautiful - it looks very much like the ballroom in the movie.  And there is "snow" falling outside a large window that overlooks the French countryside.  It looks very nice.

The attention to detail, too, is very nice.  Stained glass windows that tell the story of Beauty and the Beast.  Gorgeous chandeliers overhead.

However, there was a major problem - it is NOISY.  With all the tables, and lots of hard spaces (no sound muffling), it didn't feel "romantic" at all.  I'm not sure how they can address this problem, to tell the truth.

In all, however, even with the noise, the look of the room was magnificent, and I give Disney high marks on it.

The food
I applaud Disney for what they're trying to do here - they've tried to make a "fine dining" meal for a reasonable (for Disney) price.  And the kid's meals are much more interesting than the usual burgers and chicken nuggets.  So they get an A for effort.

However, Disney is trying to serve a "fine dining" meal to a lot of people at once.  And it's trying to get them in and out quickly.  What this meant is the food was, in the words of my wife Susan, "banquet food."  Think of the last time you went to a wedding where 200 people were served steak, chicken, or a vegetarian meal at once.  The food is often "fancy" but not great.  That's how I would describe the food at Be Our Guest.  There is so much potential here, but the quality and care just isn't there.

One last thing - Disney is offering wine and beer with dinner - first time alcohol has been served in the Magic Kingdom.  I had a beer, so that was unique!

Tips if you decide to eat at Be Our Guest:
I think Be Our Guest is worth trying in the right circumstances.  It's definitely better food than most offerings at the Magic Kingdom (but worse than most other "nice" restaurants at Disney World).  The setting is quite nice.  But if you're going to go, I suggest one of two strategies:

• Go for lunch: Lunch is "quick service" and cheaper, and "banquet" food for a quick service lunch isn't as much of an issue. You'll wait in line a bit (less if you go around 11:00am), but since you're waiting for dinner anyway with the reservation fiasco, it's not like you're saving a wait with dinner, so just go for lunch.
• Make an early dinner reservation: If you're going for dinner, make a reservation for as early in the night as possible.  Also, keep in mind you need to make your reservations exactly 180 days in advance - this restaurant is popular!

Overall, the expanded Fantasyland is a big improvement for the Magic Kingdom.  The attention to detail really adds a lot to the park - it feels fully immersive, and is very enjoyable.  The one issue is the incomplete Seven Dwarfs Coaster construction area in the middle of Fantasyland, but once that's done, it'll look incredible, I'm sure.

In addition, the attractions are a nice compilation of C-Ticket and D-Ticket - level attractions (in other words, not super-duper big "must-see" attractions, but well done smaller attractions).

The one big miss for us was the Be Our Guest restaurant.  But even that can (and I suspect will) be improved.  Now that the restaurant has been open for a while, I am sure that Disney has cut down on future reservations so they better match the capacity of the restaurant - that should minimize or eliminate the absurd 40 minute wait beyond our reservation time.  And I can only hope they make the waiting area more comfortable (benches alone would help).  And as the restaurant gets its legs I would expect the food to improve a bit as well.

Overall, however, Fantasyland has gone from the least-themed land in the Magic Kingdom to the most-themed land, and that's awesome.  Once the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is open in 2014, giving the area an "E-Ticket" and removing the construction walls, Fantasyland will be the most visually attractive area of the Magic Kingdom, and arguably of any theme park anywhere!

In my previous post, I discussed the already-in-place additions and changes to Walt Disney World from the newly announced MyMagic+ plan.  Today, I'm going to discuss what's coming up.

Keep in mind that everything is subject to change - things may be added or subtracted as Disney fine-tunes everything.

The "MagicBand"
Disney is going to roll out what they call the "MagicBand" - it's essentially a bracelet with an RFID chip embedded in it.  This bracelet is the key to many of the MyMagic+ features.  Some of the minor things this bracelet will allow you to do include:

• Enter the park without going through a turnstile (much like the RFID-enabled tickets Disney resort guests can now have)
• Purchase items by a tap of the wrist
• Use it as a room key for your Disney hotel room.

These are all fine and good, but they're basically the equivalent of having your theme park ticket and hotel key on your wrist. Convenient, possibly, but not exactly revolutionary.

However, the band will be used in conjunction with a couple of other technologies in a way that changes your vacation more.

Fastpass+ scheduling

It appears from some sources that up to three Fastpass times will be able to be scheduled in advance, either at home, or using a smart phone (or kiosk in the park) on-the-fly.  These Fastpasses will essentially be in your MagicBand - you can just tap your MagicBand at the Fastpass entrance.

I have mixed feelings about this addition, but they are partially due to mixed messages from Disney.  If these three Fastpasses are in addition to "regular" Fastpasses, they are a huge boon, particularly for Optimal Magic customers.  We can get additional Fastpasses, and schedule them at times that the "regular" Fastpasses would be less convenient.  And Disney is planning to have "special" Fastpass+ opportunities like a special fireworks viewing location - these could be GREAT additions to a trip, and I'm excited to build them into my customers plans.

While this sounds great, I'm a bit concerned that some sources indicate that you will not be able to use regular Fastpasses if you have Fastpass+.  If this is true, (and that you can only get three Fastpass+'s for the day), it's going to make planning more challenging.  After all, many people use far more than three Fastpasses over the course of a day!

Adding on top of that the need to plan your Fastpass+ times in advance (Disney says you can change them on the fly, but really, what are the odds of there being availability of prime Fastpasses at the last second), and I'm worried Disney is making the whole Fastpass experience more difficult and less "magical" than the current syst

Regardless of what happens, rest assured that Optimal Magic will be on top of it, and will make sure on your vacation you'll visit all the attractions you want, and avoid all the lines.

Personalized Experiences
One last addition from the new MyMagic technology is that Disney says it will allow for personalized experiences.  Meet up with Ariel, and she'll know your name and say "Hello Julia."  Ride an attraction, and your name could pop up somewhere in it.

Some people may find this magical, and some may find it "Big Brother-esque" - I fall somewhere in the middle.

Conclusion
Despite all the marketing-speak, most of the MyMagic changes are relatively minor for the end consumer - conveniences like "tap your wrist to buy an item or enter the park" are nice (and may cut down on some lines at shops), but they're not really revolutionary.

The one revolutionary change will be that of Fastpass to Fastpass+.  This year will be an interesting one with the rollout - I suspect things will be added and subtracted as Disney tweaks things.  The great news about that is whenever Disney is tweaking and changing things, there are ways to take advantage of it for the smart visitor (which, if you're an Optimal Magic customer, is you)!

Regardless, be sure to keep checking this space to see what happens as different aspects of MyMagic are rolled out at Walt Disney World!

In my previous post, I discussed how Disney has announced "MyMagic+" - a new all-encompassing service that is supposed to use various technologies to improve the entire Disney guest experience.  MyMagic+ is being slowly rolled out - some aspects of MyMagic+ are already available, and some will be introduced as the year goes on.  This blog post will examine what's already here - in later posts I will discuss the new additions.

RFID-enabled keys/park tickets
If you're staying at a Disney hotel, you may well have a new hotel key/park ticket with an RFID chip in it.  As of now, RFID is being used for just two things - park entry and room entry at some hotels. Here are some details on both:

At the parks, there is a separate entrance area for those with RFID tickets - instead of turnstiles, there are poles that look like this:

So instead of putting your card in a turnstile machine and walking through a turnstile, you just put it against a pole.

In addition, Disney is installing RFID readers on hotel room doors - not all hotels are yet complete.  You can use your RFID-enabled card to enter your room as well.

As of now, this is just not a big deal. In fact, when I was at the parks earlier this week, it appeared the entry line at the RFID poles was a bit larger than at the "regular" turnstile! (Something I'd imagine Disney will address asap). 

While it isn't a big deal now, it WILL be a big deal in the future - RFID will be enabled for many more aspects of your trip. (This will be a topic of a future blog post)

"My Disney Experience" app for smartphones

Now THIS I love.  Disney has created an app called "My Disney Experience" for Walt Disney World.  This app has many aspects - it has maps, it can pull up all your restaurant and event reservations, and you can make dining reservations on it as well.  All fine and dandy, but not exactly revolutionary.

However, there is one aspect that is terrific - the app has real-time wait and FastPass return times!  This is absolutely terrific news if you're a "serial planner."  For example, say Space Mountain is down and you don't know when it'll be back up.  Rather than heading back to Space Mountain every 20 minutes to check or finding the Disney wait time tip board (what a pain), just check your smart phone!

Or, suppose you have a 6:00 dinner reservation, and want to check the Space Mountain Fastpass return times before getting a Fastpass (to see if they aren't over your dinner time).  Once again, use the app rather than walking around the park!

The app is still a bit buggy and can crash, but when it's working, it's a nice addition to make the day go easier for "serial planners."

Tests for "Fastpass+"
Disney has conducted tests for the new Fastpass+ system - it's not quite ready to go live yet, but some guests of Disney hotels have been asked to partake in tests.  If you're asked to participate, answer yes!  Ultimately, it means you'll be able to schedule a few more Fastpasses, but it does not (yet) affect the number of regular Fastpasses you can get.  That means more Fastpasses, and less waiting.

If you are an Optimal Magic customer and get asked to partake in a Fastpass+ test, please let me know asap -there are several factors that need to be juggled, and I'll help you use it in the absolute best way possible.

Conclusion
The currently aspects of MyMagic+ are relatively minor - RFID entry to the park (big deal), a nifty Disney app for your phone, and some testing of future services.  The big changes will be rolled out over the next year or so.  In the next blog post, I'll talk more about the bigger changes, and how you can optimally use it to have a better trip and avoid the lines!

And, as always, let me remind you that if you're not the type who wants to worry about this stuff, just drop me a note - the whole point of Optimal Magic is to help people have a stress-free, fun trip, and if you don't want to do any of the planning, I'll do it for you!

Happy New Year! Today is just a brief note to let you know that in the next week or two, I will be discussing several major new developments at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, most importantly, the just-announced "MyMagic+" at Walt Disney World.

Disney is pushing forward on what they're calling MyMagic+ - which Walt Disney Parks chairman Tom Staggs is calling a way to "give guests more opportunities to personalize and customize their entire visit." For details on MyMagic+ straight from Disney, check out their blog here.

As for my thoughts on MyMagic+ - I think it has some potential, but it also could make itMUCH more difficult to do everything you want without copious amounts of (pretty ridiculous) pre-planning. Already it is difficult to get reservations for dinner times at popular Disney restaurants if you don't reserve two, three, or even six months in advance.  If Disney follows through on their plans, it's potentially going to be difficult to even get a ride on Peter Pan's flight without similar advance planning, which is outright ridiculous.

In the next few weeks, I'll talk a bit more about what we know and don't know about MyMagic+, and how Optimal Magic will be able to help you avoid the pitfalls, and still get on Peter Pan, Space Mountain, or whatever attractions you want, with no wait - and I'll do the planning for you to ensure everything works out optimally!

A few months ago I wrote a blog post about the Fantasyland Expansion, with a description of the new attractions, as well as the expected waits for the attractions.

Now that the expansion has been "officially" open for about a week (and unofficially open for a while longer), I decided to revisit this section of the park, to ensure that my predictions for waits ended up accurate.

It looks like my predictions were pretty much spot on (which makes me pretty happy).  So the advice in that article is quite good and still relevant now.  But here are some tweaks and additional advice for visiting the land:

Best bet for visiting "Under the Sea" is to visit it early in the morning or use Fastpass
Wait times have been long for Under the Sea since the official opening - often topping 60 minutes (and this is during the slow season).  One would suspect that Fastpass return times would also balloon way out, but surprisingly, this is not the case - most days have seen Fastpass return times only 30-40 minutes out throughout even the busiest times of the day.  Why someone would get in a 60 minute standby line instead of getting a Fastpass for 40 minutes out, I'll never understand.  But use it to your advantage!  Get your Fastpass, see other nearby no-wait attractions (Philharmagic is a good choice in Fantasyland), and then come back with no wait.

Note that as this attraction ages, the lines should also decrease dramatically - it does have a very high capacity.  By the summer, this may be nearly a "walk-on" attraction for most of the day!

Enchanted Tales with Belle is a challenge
As I suspected, Enchanted Tales with Belle has seen long waits (45 minutes or longer) most of the day, every day.  It's not that surprising - it's a low-capacity attraction, it's brand new, and it's a chance to meet a beloved Disney character, so you get hit with a triple whammy there.

Unfortunately, Fastpass is not available for this attraction.  That means, to avoid lines, you need to make it one of the first attractions of the day (if not THE first).  But there's a problem with this strategy - this is a long attraction - from start to finish, almost 20 minutes.  So if you visit it first (at 9:00am opening for a "typical" day at the park), when you're done, it's 9:20. That means other Fantasyland attractions (like Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh) have had 20 minutes to build up lines.  Wait in those long lines, and then your next attractions will build up lines.  Ultimately, you fall way behind.

What's the solution?  There are four options:

Option 1 - Visit Enchanted Tales with Belle on your second day.  Heading to the Magic Kingdom for two days?  Great!  I'm going to suggest you skip Enchanted Tales with Belle on day 1, and make it your first stop on day 2.  Your day 1 plan will not be slowed down by this attraction, and on day 2, we'll skip the other "long-line" attractions that you already saw on day 1.

Option 2 - Go on an early-entry day.  I'm not always a fan of visiting the Magic Kingdom on an early-entry day.  But if it's not a busy time of year, it would work well in this case.  Enchanted Tales with Belle is not an early entry attraction.  That means during the early-entry hour, you can visit other attractions, arriving at Enchanted Tales with Belle right at the time it opens.

Option 3 - Do the best you can. If the first two options are not viable, then we just need to "sequence" your Fantasyland time to avoid lines as best you can.  You'll end up with a little time waiting to meet Belle, but we can keep it under 15 minutes with the best sequencing, and still not affect your waits too dramatically at other attractions.

Option 4 - don't visit this attraction.  Don't have kids that are huge Belle fans?  Then don't go.  There are some nice animatronic characters and a cool "magic mirror" effect, but really, this is mostly just a chance to briefly meet Belle.  So if that doesn't hold appeal, skip this attraction for something else.

Ariel's Grotto has similar challenges to Enchanted Tales with Belle


Is your kid an Ariel fan?  Then a trip to Ariel's Grotto may be in the works.  It has similar challenges to Enchanted Tales with Belle - long waits and no Fastpass.  However, the meet with Ariel is usually quicker (it's really just a meet-and-greet, there's no "show" aspect like Enchanted Tales with Belle).  Because of that, an early trip to visit Ariel won't throw quite as big a monkey wrench into your plans as Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Be Our Guest is great but a challenge to get reservations for dinner


No surprise - the Be Our Guest restaurant is terrific.  The ambiance is amazing, and the food is the best at the Magic Kingdom, by far.  However, this means one problem - crowds!

Your best bet is, if your vacation is more than 6 months out, making a reservation for dinner (which is table-service with waiters).  Reservations are a challenge if you don't make them 180 days out (or close to 180 days, at least).  If you don't have a reservation, then you're out of luck for dinner.

For lunch, the restaurant is "quick service" (but with much higher quality food than typical burgers and fries).  It's also very popular.  I recommend getting to lunch as early as possible (it opens at 11:00am and some people are waiting to enter as early as 10:30am), and recognize you will have some crowds.  But the space is so nice that you probably won't mind waiting a little to order!

The Storybook Circus rides (Barnstormer and Dumbo) have crowd levels similar to my projections in my previous article


The Storybook Circus area's rides are seeing crowds similar to how I projected in my previous article. However, there are a few things to note:

• Both attractions have Fastpass - for families focusing on Fantasyland (or trying to sneak in one more ride on Dumbo late in the day), this is a welcome addition.
• Some kids now want to wait for Dumbo! The indoor waiting area for Dumbo is a hugely fun (for little kids) circus-themed play area.  Instead of waiting in line, you receive a pager (like you get in restaurants), and your kids can climb, slide, and run around in the play area.  Some kids prefer this play area to the actual ride!  And there are comfortable places for adults to sit as the kids burn off steam.  And it's air-conditioned!  If this sounds good to you, then maybe you want to wait 20 minutes for Dumbo!

Conclusion

The Fantasyland Expansion has seen significant crowds - each of the three new attractions has seen waits upwards of 45 minutes, even on non-busy days.  However, if you follow the advice above, you can make your way around these crowds and still enjoy everything new Fantasyland has to offer, without missing any of the great "old" stuff at the Magic Kingdom either!

If you're traveling to Walt Disney World, you may be familiar with Disney's Magical Express service when arriving at Orlando International Airport. This free bus service takes you straight from the airport to your hotel room, and they even pick up your luggage and deliver it straight to your Disney hotel.  It's only available to people staying at a Disney hotel and flying into Orlando International Airport (if you're flying into Sanford it's not an option).

I get a lot of questions from people asking whether it's better to rent a car or use Magical Express. Like many things Disney, the answer is "it depends." This article will go through the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

Magical Express
There are three big advantages to Magical Express

1. It's free
2. It's easy - no need to pick up your bags
3. It's generally stress free and kind of fun!

This is offset by three big disadvantages:

1. Less flexibility during your trip, especially if you plan to head off of Disney property (for, say, a trip to Universal, Sea World, or NASA)
2. A bit less flexibility on departure (Disney's return bus times are non-negotiable and are quite early for flights).
3. It is only available for guests flying into Orlando International Airport (not Sanford), and only for guests staying at Disney resorts (and not the Swan and Dolphin resorts, either).

Renting a Car
Advantages to renting a car are:

1. Flexibility.  You can easily head to a grocery store, and you can drive to non-Disney destinations.
2. Convenience - depending on the resort you're staying at, driving can sometimes be quicker than Disney transportation to some (not all) Disney destinations

Disadvantages:

1. It's more expensive.  Especially if you're a large group (renting a minivan or multiple cars), the expense can add up!
2. It's one more thing to worry about and think about.  Getting back to the airport involves another two steps (getting gas and returning the car)

So what do I suggest?
It really does depend on the group visiting Disney, and where they're staying.  But here are some thoughts:


The resort you stay at makes a difference.

If you're staying at a monorail resort, then both Magic Kingdom and Epcot are easier (and more fun) to get to by Disney transportation than a car.  A car is still (marginally) quicker to get to Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, but most people spend more time (especially nights) at Magic Kingdom or Epcot. Also, f you're staying at an Epcot-area resort, then Disney transportation is quicker and more fun than driving to THREE of the four parks (all but Animal Kingdom).

However, if you're staying at a resort with only bus service to the parks (such as the All Star Resorts), then a car will be quicker and easier for transit to three of the four Disney parks (all but Magic Kingdom), so a car is more valuable there.

The ages of your traveling group makes a difference
Do you have younger kids?  It may not make sense to drive - you need to walk more in the parking lot (or wait for a tram).  Disney transportation drops you near the front of the park.  In addition, Disney's Magical Express from the airport is considerably more "fun" for a kid than a drive in a rental car - rather than wait for luggage and then wait in a rental car line, you just head straight to the buses.

The size of your party makes a difference.  I once planned for an extended family trip with over fifteen people - they used Magical Express and loved having everyone on the same bus heading to Disney together at the same time - much more fun than being in four cars - it felt like the vacation started sooner!

Conclusion


Whether you want to rent a car or use Disney's Magical Express as transit from the airport on a Disney trip is a decision that depends on a lot of factors.  It is best to consider what makes the most sense for your group.  If you're a group of 15 people with young kids staying at the Bay Lake Tower and focusing on the Disney parks (especially the Magic Kingdom), then a car makes no sense.  If you're a couple of adults staying at the Art of Animation Resort who want to visit Universal for two days, then a car definitely makes sense.  Most people won't be at those extremes, and will have to make a decision after weighing the advantages and disadvantages of renting a car vs. Disney's Magical Express.  Ultimately, it all depends on your own needs!

You've probably heard the classic Disney advice to arrive to the parks early. This is once piece of advice you see in many places that is actually correct.  If you are able to be at the Disney parks at opening, it makes it much easier to tour the parks without long waits.

But some people say "I'm on vacation - I don't want to get up early every day!"  That's an understandable position to take.  When I hear that from Optimal Magic customers, I try to explain exactly what that decision means.  Simply enough, sleeping in means your choice of some long waits or missing key attractions. In addition, it means fewer attractions, bigger crowds, and often more grumpiness. In addition, if you arrive early, there is time for three to six hours of rest or pool time in the middle of the day.

However, sometimes it simply isn't possible to make it to the parks early every day.  I understand that.  So if you're going to be a late-riser, here are some tips for your trip:

Tip 1: Have an occasional "sleep-in" day

If you can get up early some days, but want to sleep in others, that's great!  If you're going to have a "no park" day in the middle of the vacation (to explore Downtown Disney, for example), that's a great day to sleep in and recharge your batteries.

Tip 2: Use Fastpass smartly

It's important to not only use Fastpass, but to use it smartly when you arrive later.  It's a bad idea to get a Fastpass with a 3+ hour return time - you're better off using Fastpasses for attractions with closer return times - that way, you can get more. You may miss one "big name" attraction, but get in three or four other attractions this way, without waiting.

Tip 3: If you need to pick one park to arrive late to, make it Animal Kingdom

Okay, if one "sleep-in" day isn't enough, you're going to have to arrive late to a park at least one day.  If you're going to do that, make the park Animal Kingdom.  Other than the absolute busiest times of year (particularly around Christmas), Animal Kingdom is quite manageable to visit with a late arrival - even as late as 11:00am.  There are two "huge line" attractions at Animal Kingdom - Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest.  However, both have Fastpass, and unlike other "big line" attractions, Kilimanjaro Safaris Fastpasses are usually pretty easy to get with reasonable return times.

Even better - Expedition Everest has a "single rider" line - if you don't mind being split up from your party, you can get in the single-rider line and get on Everest in minimal time most days.

Best of all, most days, people start to leave Animal Kingdom around 3:00 - the last few hours at the park are usually relatively quiet, and a good time to visit "second tier" attractions (like Primeval Whirl) you may not have gotten a Fastpass for earlier in the day.

As long as you plan well for the Fastpass attractions, Animal Kingdom is the most manageable Disney World park with a late arrival.

Tip 4: If you're a night owl, the Magic Kingdom may work for a late arrival on "Extra Magic Hours" nights


Disney parks are often open for an extra three hours for Disney resort guests (to be cut to two hours in 2013).  If the "regular" park hours are until 10:00pm or later, the last hour or so of the Extra Magic Hours tends to be pretty quiet.  If you prefer the night to the morning, you just need to flip your day.  Save the "big line" attractions for LAST (around midnight).  You won't be completely "wait free" and you still need to use your Fastpasses judiciously, but it is possible to avoid the longest lines.

Tip 5: If you arrive late to Epcot, Soarin' and Test Track may be a challenge

At Epcot, if you don't want to wait, it is near impossible to ride both Soarin' and Test Track with a late arrival - the Fastpass return times will be too far out.  So recognize that a late arrival means either a long wait, or skipping one of those attractions.

Tip 6: If you arrive late to Disney Hollywood Studios, forget about Toy Story Midway Mania


Simply enough, the Fastpass return times and the wait times balloon so quickly at Toy Story Midway Mania that if you don't arrive first thing in the morning, you're going to be waiting 70+ minutes for the ride.  So if you're going to pick one park to arrive early for, make it Hollywood Studios!

Conclusion


I know it's difficult to get up early every day of a trip (especially if you have several late nights planned, as well).  If you're going to arrive late during your vacation, come armed with the absolute best information for your situation.  As always, I'll remind you that Optimal Magic customers always get the absolute best advice and best plans for their situation. If you simply cannot get up early, no problem!  We'll put together the best plan for a late arrival, and still help you avoid the longest lines as best as possible for your situation!

You may know already about the Fantasyland Expansion at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World - if not, check out my coverage on the Fantasyland Expansion, and what to expect line-wise.

Now that I've completed my detailed recap of how I visited every major Walt Disney World attraction in a single day, I wanted to offer a few concluding thoughts. In addition, to celebrate visiting 37 major attractions in one day, I am offering 37% off Optimal Magic services for an extremely limited time - details at the bottom of this post.

 I've gotten some questions about this quest, so let me answer them here.

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

There were three main reasons for this challenge. First, and most importantly, I wanted to raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation. (If you haven't donated yet, click here to make a donation!) Over half of the wishes granted by the Make A Wish Foundation involve the Walt Disney company, and it's a great organization to help out.

Second, I wanted to prove it can be done.  I hear so many people complain about the "incredibly long lines" and "huge crowds" at Disney World.  Optimal Magic is all about helping you avoid those lines and crowds, and having a much better time because of it.  Simply enough, if I can do an entire week's worth of Disney World in a day, and avoid all the lines, imagine what I can do for a family heading there for a vacation?

Third, it was fun!  I'm a little weird - I prefer "beating the system" more than actually riding the rides.  And this seemed like the ultimate "beat the system" idea - visit every major Disney World attraction in one day without waiting in line!

In total, I visited 37 attractions over a single day at Walt Disney World.  They were spread among the four parks, and included every single major attraction - the ones with the infamous Disney World lines.

In total, I waited 72 minutes over the course of the day.  That's an average of under two minutes waiting per attraction!  To put it in perspective, here's a sample of the wait times I saw posted later that day (believe it or not, on a relatively quiet day at Disney World):

• Toy Story Mania - 75 minutes
• Rock 'n Roller Coaster - 60 minutes
• Peter Pan's Flight - 70 minutes
• Soarin' - 60 minutes
• Kilimanjaro Safaris - 45 minutes
• Tower of Terror - 60 minutes
• Dumbo - 35 minutes
• Space Mountain - 50 minutes
• Thunder Mountain - 50 minutes

Yes, I waited less time for 37 attractions than some people waited for Toy Story Mania alone on the same day!

It depends on what you call an "attraction" - I didn't visit many of the minor attractions and relatively few shows.  Some people have tried to visit all of the Magic Kingdom in one day - if you count some things like listening to the "Dapper Dans" barbershop quartet, or meeting a Disney character as "attractions" (I didn't count these), then others have certainly visited more than 37 attractions.

However, I don't believe anyone else has ever visited every major attraction at all four theme parks in a single day. I certainly believe that if you hold a minimum standard for what counts as an "attraction" I broke any existing record - I can't find anyone who has done more!  (If you think someone has done better, please point me to it!)

Unlike a "normal" visit at the Disney parks, I needed long park hours.  October 29 fit the bill, as the Magic Kingdom was open until 1am (using Extra Magic Hours for Disney resort guests).

Also, I needed a relatively quiet day crowd-wise.  My "normal" Optimal Magic planning means crowds are never an issue, as we usually avoid the busiest parts of the day and know how to avoid the crowds.  However, since I was going to be visiting all four parks, I was going to need to do some park touring during busier times.  So a "less busy" day was necessary for this trip.

Finally, I wanted a day where I could have company.  My brother was going to be in Orlando on October 29 and had some free time, so it worked out perfectly.

I used all of my Optimal Magic analytical tools to plot out my itinerary, first at the high level (which order to visit the parks), and then the lower-level (when to visit each attraction, when to get what Fastpasses, etc.)

Some things were obvious - the Magic Kingdom was open four hours later than any other park, so that was clearly going to be my last park.  Other things were much less obvious - several people suggested I head to Animal Kingdom first, because it opened at 8am - an hour earlier than the other parks.

However, a careful analysis showed that it was much better to visit Hollywood Studios first, and save Animal Kingdom for later in the day! The primary reason is that the four "big" Hollywood Studios attractions get enormous crowds later in the day, with difficulties using Fastpass for two of them.  Animal Kingdom attractions, on the other hand, are easier to visit in the late afternoon. If I visited Animal Kingdom first, it would have cost me over two hours in line at Hollywood Studios.  And that would have snowballed to Epcot, costing me another hour or two of waiting there.  

If I had visited Animal Kingdom first (the "obvious" first park), I would not have been able to complete the entire itinerary! Putting Animal Kingdom third made the most sense - in fact, the early entry for Animal Kingdom still helped me - more people completed the park and left by the time I arrived!

Again, I used Optimal Magic planning tools, plus some on-the-fly creative problem-solving.  Some parts were easy - Hollywood Studios was a breeze because I know the crowd patterns in the early morning at each attraction and it was the first park visited.  The other parks took a bit more creativity, especially in mid-afternoon when the crowd levels are high and can vary dramatically from attraction to attraction and from minute-to-minute. I had a "suggested plan of attack" for that point (which I mostly followed), but I couldn't even have a ten-minute unexpected delay, so I adjusted on-the-fly using a combination of three strategies:

• Use Fastpass for the long-line attractions, being sure not to get a "far out" Fastpass that blocks off several hours of time (I used about seven Fastpasses for the day - note that my customers often use eight or more, but they're also re-riding favorite attractions, which I did not do.)
• Riding the "long line" attractions at times where the lines were smallest.
• Riding "medium line" attractions at times where their lines hadn't built up or had died down.
• Filling in the busiest time with "no-line" attractions like Carousel of Progress or the Peoplemover.

If you're an Optimal Magic customer, we usually avoid the busiest parts of the day, so the on-the-fly problem solving is minimized.  However, if you ever get in a bind or need help, I'm only a text or call away and can get you on the right track again!

No - not at all! Vacations planned with Optimal Magic are the exact opposite of crazy and stressful. The whole point of using Optimal Magic is to make your trip less stressful and more fun, by avoiding the lines and doing everything you want to do. And it's 100% customized to what you want to do, not what I think you should do!

I would never recommend an Optimal Magic customer visit all four parks in one day (in fact, I rarely even have customers go to two parks - there are exceptions, especially for people staying at an Epcot-area resort, but it's not too common).

Was this challenge crazy and stressful?  Yes, it was.  But it's not what I would ever have my clients do.  Instead, think of this challenge as a "stress test" on Optimal Magic modeling and planning.  If something as extreme as this worked so well, imagine how well it will work for a "regular" family vacation! Replace the stress and the rushing around with 4 hours of down-time to swim or have nice, long meals.  It becomes great vacation day after great vacation day!

No you don't. If you only have a day to visit Disney World, you most likely are best off visiting one park and having a great day.  Unless the idea of speed-walking 25 miles in a day sounds like fun to you, you really don't want to try this.

But if you really want to do it, drop me a line! I'm happy to help you plan your day.  And if you'd like a guide to come with you to climb Mount Disney, I'm happy to offer my services.  Heck - let's try to beat my record!

To celebrate the 37 Disney attractions I visited in a single day, I am offering 37% off of Optimal Magic services for an extremely limited time.  The offer is only good for services purchased through Friday, November 16th, or until claimed by twenty people - whichever comes first! So click here to buy my services before this offer ends!


Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

This is it - the big one.  I'd already visited three Disney parks, experienced every major attraction at them, and walked 13 miles.  But the Magic Kingdom trumps them all.  More attractions.  More walking.  And most of all, more lines! Can I get through all the major attractions in one night?

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts

After my much-needed rest in the Contemporary Resort lobby, I hoofed it over to the Magic Kingdom, and arrived at 4:45.  Wait times were horrendous at this point (it was one of the few nights of the week where the park was open late and the Main Street Electrical Parade and fireworks were on, so HUGE CROWDS were everywhere).  70 minutes for Peter Pan.  60 minutes for Space Mountain.  Even "smaller" rides had 20-30 minute waits.

However, I knew that with intelligent usage of Fastpass plus the eventual decrease in crowds late at night, I could get everything I wanted done!

Buzz Lightyear had 40 minute waits and a 40 minute window for the Fastpass return. Again - WHY do people get in these lines instead of getting Fastpasses?  I just don't get it.  Oh well - please carry on - it means shorter waits for us Fastpass users! Anyway, Fastpass in hand, it was time to experience other Tomorrowland attractions!

The Peoplemover was a no-brainer first stop - there is NEVER a wait, so it made sense at the huge crowds were still there.

However, it broke down JUST as I was about to board!  So I had to wait six minutes - six minutes longer than I've ever waited for the Peoplemover in my life.  Hilariously, the one ride that NEVER has ANY wait was one of the few I ended up waiting for!
Total Wait for Attraction: 6 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 38 minutes

Continuing my "rest my legs while visiting no-wait attractions" plan, it was time for a bit of Disney nostalgia with the Carousel of Progress.  Never a wait, and it's cheesy, hokey, and definitely has a 60's viewpoint towards "progress," but I love it!
Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 38 minutes

Using my Fastpass, I was able to ride Buzz Lightyear with a one-minute wait (again, WHY do people wait for 40 minutes in line - I don't get it!)

I hit the secret "robot arm" target several times but was overall off a bit - score was in the 300,000 range - I've done better in the past, but hey, I've walked 15 miles so far today and it's my fourth theme park - I have an excuse!
Total Wait for Attraction: 1 minute
Total Wait for entire day so far: 39 minutes

Due to the "cold" (c'mon - it was still over 60), lots of people were apparently avoiding Splash Mountain. I saw that Splash Mountain had a Fastpass return time only 45 minutes out.  So I trudged across the park to get one.

Philharmagic is my favorite of the four Disney "4-D" experiences (though Muppetvision comes a close second). I had to wait maybe 4 minutes for the previous show to end. The theater is huge, so there is almost never a wait longer than just waiting for the next show to begin - this is the one attraction in Fantasyland that you can usually experience any time of day.
Total Wait for Attraction: 4 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 43 minutes

The Fantasyland Expansion was essentially complete, but not open yet - it was in "cast previews" that day, which meant that Disney cast members with tickets could go visit.  I really wanted to get in anyway (how cool would that be to add attractions that weren't even open to the general public?) I tried to talk my way into the land, but no dice.  I tried to convince cast members heading to the preview to let me be their "plus one" but unfortunately I found out they had to sign people in at the front of the park.  So it wasn't to be - oh well! (And yes, I tried again later in the night, with no more success.)

Before heading back to Splash Mountain, I took a detour and got a Jungle Cruise Fastpass - return time was about 55 minutes out or so.

The sun was setting, the wind was picking up, and it was getting noticeably colder.  Plus, I had FINALLY dried off completely from Kali River Rapids.  So naturally, time to get wet again! With Fastpass, there was no wait at all.

Splash Mountain may be my favorite theme park attraction anywhere in the world.  The theming is wonderful - you're fully immersed in the story, and there are several great drops interspersed.  So it was disappointing to see it in bad shape - the "laughing place" scene was in terrible shape - none of the water effects were working - even the water was turned off where the turtles are riding on water fountains - instead, they just looked like turtles on their backs with a pole coming out of their back.  And some of the animatronics in the final boat "Zip A Dee Doo Dah" scene were out too.

This is not to say it's a bad ride - frankly, 99% of people wouldn't even notice the issues I saw, and they don't detract TOO much from the overall experience - the drops are still fantastic!  And the good news is Splash Mountain is getting a major refurbishment in January.  Here's hoping they can bring it back to its former glory!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 43 minutes

At this point, lines were still long but off their ridiculous peaks.  I knew they'd fade a lot more in a few hours.  I was going to try a few more no-wait attractions (the Tiki Room, for example), but saw a 10 minute wait for Pirates of the Caribbean and decided it was worth it to "check it off the list" (the wait had been 25 minutes not long before). Turns out the wait was closer to twelve minutes.

I would NEVER have a client wait in a twelve minute line if I could at all avoid it.  But my clients aren't trying to visit all four parks in one day! This was a rare wait that I was willing to make in order to complete my quest. Irritating, but what can you do.

You may be thinking "twelve minutes?  That's nothing - why do you care?"  But here's the thing - if we can avoid twelve minutes of waiting on eight attractions, that's an hour and a half! Even avoiding these short waits can give you an extra ninety minutes of time to do what you want (whether it's visiting more attractions, going for a swim, or having a relaxing meal).  The most valuable thing you're spending on a vacation is your time - it's limited!  If we can make every minute as fun as can be and skip the "boring" waiting parts, the vacation will be much more fun. Avoiding the "big lines" is the most important thing, of course, but minimizing the short lines is how you can truly optimize your vacation!

Anyway, I digress.  Pirates of the Caribbean was fun as always, and the new mermaid effects are pretty cool.

Total Wait for Attraction: 12 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

I had a few minutes to kill before the Jungle Cruise Fastpass time opened.  I debated walking the Swiss Family Treehouse, but after 16 or so miles walking, I decided it was a bad idea.  I also debated the Tiki Room, but it would take a while, and I couldn't get caught on the wrong side of the parade (starting at 8pm) - I had attractions I planned to visit in Fantasyland during the parade, and if I was on the wrong side, I'd be stuck in Adventureland! So I just checked out a few shops and took a break until 7:30.

Once again (like most of the time when using Fastpass), there was no wait.  I had a good skipper, and I like the Jungle Cruise better at night, so it was a fun ride, back side of water and all...

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

I saw that Fantasyland waits were still long (even with the parade about to begin).  Besides, I was beyond exhausted - my legs were aching and I was extremely hungry.  And my phone was about to die (again).  So it was time for a long break - I had a meal, and then found an outlet to charge my phone. After about an hour, I got a Space Mountain Fastpass (return time of 9:15-10:00) then headed to Fantasyland.

Now we're getting to the part of the day where I feel a little foolish - riding kids rides without the kids.  But what the heck - it's Disney!  Other people do the same thing!

At 8:41, the families are watching the end of the parade or getting ready for the fireworks - they're NOT riding most Fantasyland attractions.  So it was time to hit some of these "kid" attractions.

The Barnstormer (mild, and extremely short coaster) had a two-minute wait (if that).  Of course, it's a 30 second ride, so maybe it's not worth it!  If you have little kids, though, it's a terrific "first coaster."

Total Wait for Attraction: 2 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 57 minutes

I don't particularly like the teacups.  Of course, I usually am in a teacup with a daughter who wants to spin the thing at nauseating speeds.  When I'm alone, it's a nice gentle ride! As expected, there was no wait (frankly, the Teacups rarely have longer than a 5 minute wait anyway).

By the way, this is my 25th attraction - my original goal!  Of course, I still haven't hit some of the "big" attractions I said I would.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 57 minutes

This was my oldest daughter's favorite attraction when she was six years old.  Of course, now she's 14 so her opinion has changed, but we still joke that it's still her favorite.  So as I was on the ride, I had a lot of fun texting her pictures and videos, saying "aren't you jealous? Don't you with you were here right now?" I could hear her eyes rolling from over 1000 miles away!

There was no wait - there was almost nobody on the ride (with fireworks about to start).  I feel a little bad for the couple who shared my boat with me - they had to have some random guy ruin their nice private ride together!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

I'm not counting it as an "attraction" per se, but I did get to watch the Wishes fireworks show.  I watched from the less-preferred Fantasyland location (some fireworks go by the castle, and some behind Fantasyland - it's just cooler if all the fireworks are behind the castle, which is the view you get from Main Street).  But if you can put up with a different (not worse, just different) view of the fireworks, it's a LOT less crowded in Fantasyland.

Plus, best of all, I positioned myself near the Winnie the Pooh attraction, which was hugely valuable as you're about to see...

Winnie the Pooh has long lines almost the entire day.  But NOT if you get in line the exact moment the fireworks end!  I did that, and walked on to the ride. But by the time I finished the three-minute ride, the line was enormous again!  Nothing more satisfying than NOT waiting for a ride, then seeing people in a 15+ minute line after you're done!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 55 minutes

My brother returned from his trade show!  I met up with him at the Tomorrowland arcade, and gave him my phone to charge (too many photos, videos, and tweets, I guess), and used my Fastpass for Space Mountain.

Space Mountain was SLAMMED with people using their Fastpasses (all the folks who watched the fireworks then headed over to Space Mountain).  But the Disney cast members did an AMAZING job.  There are two (identical mirror image) Space Mountain tracks - usually one is used for Standby and one for Fastpass.  The Disney cast members rerouted half the Fastpass people to the Standby side, so they in essence doubled the Fastpass capacity (at the cost of longer waits for the people who got in Standby).  It was brilliantly executed, and even with all the other Fastpass holders there, I waited no more than 7 minutes. Well done, Disney cast members!

Space Mountain, by the way, is MUCH improved with the refurb from a few years ago.  Considerably darker, which makes it feel far more "out of control."

Side note - I've finally surpassed an hour total of waiting!  It took 28 attractions at four parks to wait a total of an hour - some people wait longer than that for their FIRST attraction!

Total Wait for Attraction: 7 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 62 minutes

After the fireworks, most people head out.  So naturally, we headed further IN to the park. Next stop was Haunted Mansion.  There were still a handful of people in line - we waited maybe 4 minutes - enough time to have fun with the new interactive queue items!  This is one ride where a 5 minute wait may actually be preferable to no wait, because the stuff in the line is fun to play with!

One bummer - the ride shut down for about 30 seconds during the updated end "hitchhiking ghost" scene.  And our ghost disappeared, and didn't return when the ride started up again!  Oh well...
Total Wait for Attraction: 5 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 67 minutes

We've now hit "Extra Magic Hours" - the park is only open to Disney Resort guests from 10:00pm to 1:00am.  Good news for us - crowds will continue to die down.  So we headed to Big Thunder Mountain, where we waited perhaps four minutes for our ride. Definitely an attraction that has a different "feel" at night, which I love!
Total Wait for Attraction: 4 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

We exited Thunder Mountain in time to see the vast majority of the Main Street Electrical Parade.  We didn't count this as an attraction (once again, I probably should), but nice! I'm singing the happy, bouncy 70's electronic Main Street Electrical Parade them again right now!

Next stop was the Country Bear Jamboree.  It had no wait, as expected - we had walked by earlier and learned for the evening they were doing only a handful of shows, and 10:45 was the next start time. 

Incidentally, Disney just re-opened the Country Bear Jamboree after a refurbishment. They have reduced the length of the show, with several edits. Some Disney "purists" are aghast at the edits, but I think the update really helped the show. The old show had lots of "dead" space in the past, and frankly, it was too long for a theme park show with animatronic bears.  I vividly recall people leaving mid-show in the past.

Nobody left the new show, and frankly, they were kind of getting into it! So I think the edits helped the show tremendously.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Another "what the heck - why not" attraction.  There's not going to be a wait for the Magic Carpets at 11:15pm, so I went for a spin.

Why Disney has three "spinning, go up and down" rides in one park, I'll never know.  My brother and I were talking, and think they should move this ride to the Morocco pavilion at Epcot.  It's a relatively close fit to the pavilion (heck, Aladdin and Jasmine are often there).  And Epcot World Showcase is sorely lacking in "kid friendly" things to do.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Continuing my tour of Magic Kingdom spinning rides, we headed over to Dumbo.

Dumbo is still the same ride, but it has been dramatically improved in three ways.  First, there are two Dumbos, alleviating some capacity concerns.  Second, it is MUCH prettier - the lighting and fountains at night are just amazing.  Third, the "play area" in the (indoor, air-conditioned) waiting area is a great idea.  My brother didn't know about it, and when he saw it, he got excited for coming back with his kids.

There was no wait for Dumbo at 11:30 at night - in fact, we could have stayed on for a second ride if we wanted to! (We declined). Compare this to the 20-30 minute waits earlier in the day!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

The things I do to prove a point... We next headed to Stitch's Great Escape and "experienced" it.

Stitch's Great Escape is terrible.  Worst attraction at Disney, by a mile.  It may be the worst theme park attraction I have ever experienced. It's too scary for young kids (lots of time in complete dark with a weird restraint on you, which is bouncing up and down).  It's too convoluted and uninteresting for adults. Then they throw in a disgusting chili dog burp that smells like vomit.  It's awful.  The animatronics are impressive, but the actual attraction is beyond terrible. If someone offered me $20 to ride it again, I would say no.

I experienced the old "Alien Encounter" attraction in the same location.  It had its flaws (primarily that it wasn't appropriate for ANYONE under about age 13), but at least it delivered thrills for an older set.  Stitch's Great Escape isn't thrilling, it isn't funny, and it's still terrifying for young kids.  Who the heck is it for?

Sorry - rant over.  I have ALWAYS told my clients to avoid this attraction, and that will not change!
Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

I generally have my clients avoid the Tomorrowland Speedway.  It's a very slow-loading attraction with low capacity. Unless you get there first thing, it has long lines.  And even if you do get there first thing, you're going to have longer lines at other, better attractions as a result of wasting time on this mediocre attraction (Frankly, any local go-kart place is more fun because the cars aren't on a track). There are SO MANY unique, awesome experiences at Disney World.  This isn't one of them. (Apologies if I've insulted your favorite ride!)

However, for my "ride as much as I can" purposes, it was worth a ride.  And once it's past midnight, the line melts away! I resisted the urge to bump my brother in the car ahead of me as we went around the track.

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Question: How do you make a 41-year-old feel foolish?
Answer: Have him ride a merry-go-round by himself after midnight! My brother declined (I think he may have run off to ride Winnie the Pooh)

What the heck though - I'm at Disney!

Total Wait for Attraction: 0 minutes
Total Wait for entire day so far: 71 minutes

Finally, the last attraction of the night.  Some people waited 70+ minutes for Peter Pan earlier in the day.  Or they got Fastpasses for six hours later.

Me?  I just walked on - waited maybe one minute.

Total Wait for Attraction: 1 minute
Total Wait for entire day so far: 72 minutes

There were still a couple of attractions that were open that I missed, and the park was open for another 30 minutes. But honestly, I felt I had proved my point, and I had walked almost a full marathon over the course of the day.  It was time to call it a day!  So I got myself a Mickey ice cream bar and we headed back to the hotel for the night.

In my final post in the series, I'll provide some final concluding thoughts, plus answer some questions you may have.

For now, however, here's my favorite stat:  I experienced 37 attractions in a single day, and waited 72 minutes.  That's less than 2 minutes of waiting per attraction!

Stay tuned for my final thoughts in the next post!

Read the rest of this blog series
Part 1 - List of attractions visited
Part 2 - How to plan for such a challenge
Part 3 - Hollywood Studios recap
Part 4 - Epcot recap
Part 5 - Animal Kingdom recap
Part 6 - Magic Kingdom recap
Part 7 - Final concluding thoughts