jcgoble3

I think his name is Ashy. Or Sooty. Or Fiery, or Devily, Or Evily, or Deathy, or Ytsorf, or.. I'll go with Ytsorf. Now how do you pronounce that?

^Nice! My two favorite parts of that video were seeing the camera spin around to capture the trains in the double helix and when he zoomed in on the spider.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into the Boardwalk.

Thanks for the tips. Anyone else want to chime in on the subject of car vs. Disney transportation? The more opinions I get, the better I can decide. I'll look into easywdw. I am on the dining plan, so the restaurants I listed are not a problem. My mother is not, which is why I said we would stick to someplace relatively cheap Monday night, which is the only night I'm meeting her. The rest of the week I'm on my own.

Great report! I finally thought to check, and yes, Drop Tower has permanently replaced Invertigo as an ERT ride. The spoiler button: Click the button immediately to the left of the font dropdown, then select "Spoiler" from the dropdown list in the pop-up. Or just type [spoiler]text to be hidden[/spoiler]

I think he meant wait time, as that's what he talks about for the rest of the paragraph. Anyway, thanks for telling us about your day!

As you progress through the level, the list of rewards available to you at that level expands at the same time that you get a second choice at that level. The $10 off season pass is one of those that does not show up until then.

I'm pretty sure that no hours have been lost on the first Saturday. I believe that afternoon is a park buyout, as it was last year and probably several years before that.

Thanks, but that plan sounds a little complicated for me, plus it means I would be both spending money on gas AND potentially waiting for a bus/boat/train, meaning I would get the disadvantages of both plans without the advantages of either (saving money on gas or potentially quicker service). I prefer to keep it simple. As for an app, I do not have a smartphone and thus cannot use apps, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Wow, you have a detailed memory! Great report! Thanks for posting it!

I'm not an expert by any means here, but I'll give it a shot based on what I've observed. In the morning, each ride must be tested before the park opens. The procedure probably varies from coaster to coaster, but often the first few test trains are sent off empty, then more are sent off with ride operators in them so that the ride ops can check to see if there's anything amiss that could only be noticed while riding. However, some rides cannot operate in the rain for safety reasons, e.g., TTD and Millie. This is due to a variety of reasons, but on fast coasters, one of the reasons is that raindrops hitting your face at the ride's top speed can hurt and potentially cause injury (especially if they hit you in the eye). Therefore, the faster the ride, the less rain it can tolerate before having to shut down. This is why TTD cannot operate in even a light sprinkle. I'm not sure what the policy is on Millie as to whether it can operate in a very light rain like Diamondback or not, but I would not be surprised to learn that it is the same as TTD. This is likely the source of your problem: they were probably unable to perform the necessary test runs on Millie before the park opened due to the rain, and thus had to wait until the rain stopped to begin testing. Again, that's my educated guess based on my observations. I invite anyone with better knowledge to correct me if I got something wrong.

Yes. Someone knows. More seriously, ask the park. There's a dedicated contact form for FUN Perks here. You could also ask at the FUN Perks information booth at the front of the park.

Are there fireworks during Haunt? I don't recall them from my one Haunt visit last year.

In the top row of buttons above the edit box, click the third one from the left (immediately to the left of the font dropdown). Then select "Spoiler", type the text to be hidden, and hit OK. Or you can just type [spoiler]text to be hidden[/spoiler]

Magic Mike, I believe, is the (spoilers for the part of the show with the kid assistant from the audience; if you've seen that section of the show, you're safe opening the spoiler)

If you're the type that wants to take advantage of cold temperatures to marathon a water ride, you would have loved this year's HoliWood Nights. Temperatures were in the 60s both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, creating perfect opportunities to do just that. (P.S. If you get the chance to ride Wildebeest when there's little or no line, ask to ride by yourself, choose the second seat from the front, and hold one tight. You'll get tons of airtime—so much that they will not allow a single rider to ride in the front seat.)

*sigh* I get it now. Sarcasm does not come across well in text form, hence my confusion.

"Perfect" does not make sense either. I would think that the faster it goes, the WORSE the head banging would be, not better.

Then now I'm confused. How does "impeccable" make sense there? Explanation, please? jcgoble3, now scratching his head instead of banging it

OK, let me see if I can go through all this: Transportation: A lot of people have recommended using Disney's system, while at least one has suggested using my own car. One reason several people in the former camp have made the suggestion they did is parking costs. It was in the OP, but I'll make the point again in bold so people don't miss it this time: resort guests like me get free parking at all of the theme parks. So parking costs are NOT an issue. Also, I don't mind a long walk to the car. The only thing I'm concerned about when making this choice is speed. All other factors being equal, I would prefer to use Disney's system simply to save on gas, but if I would have to spend 30 to 60 minutes getting from point A to point B using Disney's system when I can do it in 10 to 15 with my own car, then I'll spend the extra money on gas to do that. Crowd calendars: Undercover Tourist's calendar is available free, so I've bookmarked it. May switch my Epcot and Animal Kingdom days based on that; fortunately, neither is attached to dining reservations like the other two theme parks are. Skipping things: Rock 'n Roller Coaster is one I can skip if need be; I already have the credit and didn't care for it two years ago. Otherwise, I want to try to do as much as I can, but I recognize that may not be possible. Fastpass musts: Toy Story, Soarin', Kilimanjaro Safaris, MK coasters, Expedition Everest; any others that I missed? Cirque: Unfortunately, there's no show on Monday, which is the only day available to me to meet her (she'll be busy with a conference at the Contemporary the rest of the week). She does enjoy some rides (I know she'll want to do Star Tours at least, as she's a Star Wars fan like me), but isn't likely to do the big, aggressive rides (e.g. Rock 'n Roller Coaster). She also enjoys walking around parks and just taking in the atmosphere, so that, Star Tours, and the EMH are why we're thinking DHS for that evening. DTD dining reservation: Not gonna get one. She's on a budget like me, but unlike me, she does not have a dining plan. So we're probably going to stick with a quick-service place to save her money. Thanks for the tips so far! Keep 'em coming!

Sounds like both of you had good days! Which two? There's three water rides outside the waterpark: Raging Rapids, Frightful Falls, and Pilgrim's Plunge.

That ride would offer both amazing air time, and impeccable head banging. Impeccable head banging? You're saying that the head banging would be perfect? The only perfect head banging in my book is none at all. jcgoble3, banging his head on the wall for not noticing that three weeks ago

OK, this is my final tips thread for my big trip. Following the Universal/SeaWorld parks, I will be transferring to a Disney resort (specifically the All-Star Sports Resort) on Labor Day and the spending the next week at Disney World. The plan is as follows: Monday (Labor Day): Animal Kingdom in the morning and afternoon, then meet my mother somewhere for dinner (probably Downtown Disney) and then spend a few hours in a park with her (probably Hollywood Studios since they have the late Extra Magic Hours benefit that night) Tuesday: One of the waterparks, dinner reservation at Jiko - The Cooking Place that evening Wednesday: Magic Kingdom, including breakfast and lunch reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table and The Crystal Palace respectively Thursday: The other waterpark, dinner reservation at the California Grill early evening, then something (maybe ESPN Wide World of Sports) later Friday: Epcot, which has the late Extra Magic Hours benefit that night Saturday: Hollywood Studios (which has the morning Extra Magic Hour that day), including lunch and dinner reservations at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and the Hollywood Brown Derby respectively Sunday: A chance to go back to any park(s) I want to see more of before I leave on Monday This will be my first time at any of these parks except Hollywood Studios, which I couldn't get the "full experience" at because it was a private event for which many attractions were closed. All tips are welcome, but answers to the following specific questions would be very helpful: 1. I am driving to Florida and thus will have the option of using my own car available to me. Is it worth leaving my car at the resort and only using Disney's transportation system, considering that resort guests get free parking at all theme parks? How long does it typically take to get from the resort to a park, or vice versa? I'm not interested in spending close to an hour to get from point A to point B when I can probably do it in much less with my own car. I also have a tight turnaround on Thursday, with the waterpark closing at 5:00 and my dinner reservation at 5:35 (a case where I'll probably leave the waterpark a little early and go from there directly to the restaurant). 2. What's the best strategy on fastpasses? Keep in mind that I'm visiting at a time when kids have just returned to school, and so I suspect the parks will not be nearly as busy as they were today. I've never dealt with the fastpass system before. Also, do the waterparks have the fastpass system (I suspect not)? 3. ...I actually don't have a third question. Thanks in advance for all your help!

Hollywood Studios: Tower of Terror Haven't been to any of the other parks yet.

It was explicitly said during the live announcement that there would be no roar.