Author: touringplans.com

Any doubts about whether crowds would visit Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving were dispelled today, as the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom saw posted wait time averages in the top 3 of the past month.  Hollywood Studios was equally busy, but wait times are lower because of ride capacity that was added a couple of weeks ago.

Many Walt Disney World computer systems experienced issues today, including My Disney Experience and park tapstiles. It’s safe to assume this was related to an Amazon Web Services outage in the eastern part of the U.S.

We received exactly 200 actual wait times today from our Lines app Liners – thank you all. Let’s do the numbers!

Animal Kingdom Wait Times

The average posted wait for Avatar Flight of Passage hit two hours today. That 120 minutes may seem like a lot, but at #99 it’s barely in the top 100 days of the past year for FoP (and that counts days lost to the shutdown).  In good news, the actual wait times we measured at Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safari were only half of the posted wait times.

Magic Kingdom Wait Times

Not only was the Magic Kingdom busy today, but the posted wait times were pretty close to actual waits in line we measured throughout the park.  There’s something to be said for truth in advertising.  One bright spot at the Magic Kingdom was that the average wait to get into Country Bear Jamboree – the world’s best ursine-based animatronic stage show with country and western music – was only 5 minutes.

Hollywood Studios Wait Times

The big thing we saw at the Studios today was that the posted wait time at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run was underestimated by a fairly wide amount.  Smugglers Run’s average wait time today was 45 minutes. We received 8 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 149% of the posted wait time – so that average posted of 45 minutes was an actual of almost 70 minutes.

Rise of the Resistance was running really well until the AWS outage just after 1 p.m., and that resulted in an hour-long delay in calling boarding groups.  Things resumed around 2:15 p.m. and seemed to run well for a bit before calling boarding groups slowed down from around 3 p.m. to just before 5 p.m.  Things look better as I’m writing this, though, so hopefully everyone who got a boarding group will get a chance to ride the best attraction Disney’s done in decades.

EPCOT Wait Times

Sure, EPCOT was crowded, but the Mexico pavilion’s Gran Fiesta Tour only had an average wait of 9 minutes.  My guess is that everyone was celebrating the birthday of La Cava’s tequila ambassador, Hilda, with margaritas and shots.

The post Crowds Ahoy! Walt Disney World Wait Times for Wednesday, November 25, 2020 appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Walt Disney World (FL), wait times

Disney Springs has often been described as a glorified shopping mall — and when you get down to it, sometimes that’s what you’re looking for. This is especially true with the shopping crowds that come out on Black Friday. Although Disney Springs may not be the first location that comes to mind for shopping crowds, there are a decent number of people who come out for this shopping holiday. Here’s our tips if you plan to be among them.

Do arrive early for some stores — but not too early. 

There’s zero reason to show up before dawn to try and rope drop stores at Disney Springs. Posted hours are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., even on Black Friday. If you know of a particular retailer that you absolutely must be first in line for, then call the store directly to see if they will plan to open early. In general, as long as you are strolling into Disney Springs around 9:30, you will find almost all stores with no wait for Black Friday crowds. The exception to this tends to be World of Disney and the LEGO Store.

Don’t expect major discounts. 

Many stores actually exclude their Disney Springs locations from special deals and promotions. Verify with stores in advance if they will be participating in any sort of special Black Friday sales.

Do plan to park where you will shop the most.

Although selection of parking garages is a controversy of Disney Twitter legend, you’ll want to park based on what you where you want to shop. The Orange Garage is a great option if you intend to buy out everything at the Coca-Cola store, but if you’re buying, say, a 50 pound LEGO set, walking past the Lime Garage to get to the Orange Garage can feel like the ultimate walk of shame.

Don’t forget your annual pass, DVC membership card, Disney Visa, or anything else that might get you a discount (and don’t forget to ask if discounts are available).

Most shops are great about asking if you have various forms of cards that will provide a discount, but the biggest shopping day of the year is exhausting. Please help the cashiers out by having all cards that might provide a discount at the ready.

Do eat breakfast before you arrive.

Yes, there are a few places to grab breakfast at Disney Springs (most notably Starbucks, but also places like Earl of Sandwich and, in a pinch, a Rice Krispy treat at Goofy’s Candy Company is basically just a cereal bar, right?). Overall, breakfast offerings are slim, and lines there may be some of the longest you encounter all day.

Do follow COVID safety protocols.

These include social distancing, proper mask usage, making use of entrances and exits that are posted, and so on. By now we all know the drill, right?

Do take hydration breaks.

Yes, it is November. This is Florida. Stay hydrated.

Do pack your patience. 

There will be crowds. There will be lines. There will be some people who are providing a less-than-magical vibe. Let’s be excellent to each other so that everyone can have an enjoyable day.

Black Friday is still a fairly new experience for Disney Springs, with its first year offering the Black Friday experience being 2016. Want a blast from the past? Check out this article about the first year Disney Springs was open for Black Friday in 2016 — when they had a very special offering for that year only.

Are you planning to shop at Disney Springs on Black Friday or during the holiday season? What would you want on your wish list?

The post Do’s and Don’ts for Black Friday Shopping at Disney Springs appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Disney Springs, Walt Disney World (FL), Black Friday

It comes as no surprise that this week is a busy one at Walt Disney World. Every day we are in the parks to ensure our resources and tools are as up to date and as accurate as possible. We are seeing some of the largest crowds we’ve seen, though still at very limited capacity, since the parks reopened in July. Let’s look at the crowds, how wait times are shaking out, and some tips for how to navigate this busy time.

So far this week we’ve seen each of the four Walt Disney World theme parks have their busiest days of the past month. Every day we recap the day’s wait times and compare them again lots of other data. We also indicate what the actual wait times were when we’ve received such data that day.

With such a busy week, here are some tips for navigating it all.

1. Get to the parks for “rope drop”.
2. Take a midday break outside of the park, and come back for the final hour or two of operation.
3. Be prepared to be outside more, including in extended queues.
4. Be prepared to be stationary in order to eat or drink; no roaming around.
5. Talk to your family members, including kids, ahead of time to set expectations about masks, distancing, and other changes.
6. Mobile order your meals well in advance. The earlier in the day, the more time slots for pick up are available.
7. Take frequent breaks and hydrate.
8. Since FastPass+ is no longer available, use our Lines app to make a Touring Plan and to know which attractions to visit when.
9. Use our Disney restaurant ratings on our site and our Lines app to know the best places to eat.
10. If you’re trying to snag a last-minute dining reservation use our Reservation Finder – it’s free!

In the past we’ve talked about extended queues and how they spill into the parks. It can make the lines for popular rides seem endless (like The Haunted Mansion line shown above that extends into Frontierland). It’s just important to keep in mind that these lines extend so long because of social distancing.

In order to keep your stamina and your sanity, we highly recommend taking a break outside of the park. Our tips for park hopping alternatives can give you some pointers are how to change up your day so the grind of the busy theme parks doesn’t wear you down.

Most quick service restaurants and dining locations use mobile ordering through the MyDisneyExperience app. Make sure you’ve read our steps on how to use mobile ordering. Then, on the day of your park visit, get the exact timeslot you want by placing your order well in advance. As the day goes on the time slots book up and there can be a 45 minute to hour long wait for a time to pick up your order. Meaning, when you sign into the app to select an Arrival Time to pick up your order the available arrival times can be an hour or later past the current time.

Our site and Lines app collect real-time data constantly. We’re able to collect Disney’s posted wait times as well as measure expected wait times. Even though there’s never been a period like this at Disney before, the data repeatedly shows us how visiting any park at its opening will give you the ability to ride multiple attractions with minimum waits during the first hour. It also shows us that the last hour of operation is a good opportunity.

You can create your own Touring Plan, or use one of ours that is ready to go. You can also visit without a plan, but view Expected Wait Times in our app and know whether you should wait until later in the day to ride any particular ride.

Finally, the holidays wouldn’t be the holidays without some good eating. The bad news is most of the popular restaurants are already booked up for dining reservations. The good news is you can use our Reservation Finder for free. This tool will alert you when an opening at your preferred restaurant and timeslot becomes available so you can go snag that desired reservation.

Have you visited on a busy holiday before? What are some of your tips?

The post The Thanksgiving Crowds Are Here: Here’s How to Navigate This Busy Week appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Crowd Blog, Dos and Don’ts, In the Parks, Trip Planning, disney crowds, disney thanksgiving, disney wait times

Well, the hidden deal arms race appears to be in full swing now. A few weeks ago we reported on some Coronado Springs Hotwire deals in December and now, Voilà! (that’s French for Voila!) there are a whole batch of similar deals on Priceline Express.

At this time there are Express Deals for Coronado Springs every day in the month except for December 5th. The rates all seem to be a few dollars less than the Hot Rate deals – although using the Hotwire app often adds a little savings over their web site pricing.

When it comes to deals, a good technique with any service is to sign up for their email newsletters in the hopes of receiving good coupon codes. In the past, I’ve gotten some up to 15% off of Express Deals, which can add up to a pretty penny and I’ve seen some decent 5% off codes recently. Currently you can also click through the Priceline page on RetailMeNot to use their 7% off coupon.

The Nitty Gritty

To find Coronado on Priceline Express, you’ll want to look for a 3.5-star 8-guest rated resort in Bonnet Creek with 400 reviews. The only other 3.5-star resorts in that location are Caribbean Beach (321 reviews right now) and Wyndham Bonnet Creek (21 reviews). For comparison, here’s how Coronado appears in both hidden and regular deal results.

More Nitty Less Gritty

We’ve also gone the extra mile here at Touring Plans HQ and once again run a comparison of these Express Deals to the current Disney direct pricing. As you can see, even with Priceline’s additional fees tacked on these Coronado prices are a really nice savings.

All Gravy

Here’s a birds-eye view of the deals, assuming your bird understood time-based scheduling concepts.

If you have any questions, comments, or interesting bird-intelligence stories (extra points for French), let us know in the comments!

The post Priceline Express Deals: Coronado on Priceline for December appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: discounts, Resorts, Saving Money, Walt Disney World (FL), priceline

With the busy holiday season upon us, we thought it would be a good idea to share with you the best places to grab a quick bite to eat inside Magic Kingdom. Our readers have submitted over 500,000 surveys over the past two years and we have ratings for every Walt Disney World restaurant on our site and Lines app. Let’s look at the best places for quick food at Magic Kingdom.

In order of thumbs up rating:

1. Main Street Bakery 91.9% (Much Above Average)
2. Columbia Harbour House 90.3% (Much Above Average) – Temporarily Unavailable
3. The Friar’s Nook 88.5% (Above Average)
4. Casey’s Corner 87.1% (Above Average) – Temporarily Unavailable
5. Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe 85.6% (Average)
6. Pinocchio Village Haus 80.6% (Below Average)

Unfortunately, right now two of the highest rated quick dining spots in Magic Kingdom are not open. With that in mind we would recommend The Friar’s Nook and Pecos Bill Tale Tale Inn as the two best places for a quick bite to eat inside Magic Kingdom.

During the busy holiday season it is very important that you dine outside of peak hours. We would recommend using Disney’s Mobile Ordering for Pecos Bill and to do so as early as possible. When you go to view available pick up times in the app, you can select “More Times” to find all available pick up times. The earlier in the day you do this the more availability there will be.

Friar’s Nook in Fantasyland, another highly rated spot, does not have mobile ordering due to its size. We would recommend dining there either before 11:30 a.m. or after 2:00 p.m. Seating is limited here, and it is outdoor only. Also in Fantasyland is Pinocchio Village Haus which is not highly rated, but many guests enjoy its cute storybook setting.

During the holiday season you can heat things up with the Spice Up Your Holiday Chicken Sandwich at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. This spicy chicken sandwich is well received and given a good review by our field team. If all you’re after is something super quick and easy then The Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland will be just the thing.

You can view listings for all Walt Disney World restaurants on the go in our Lines app. We’re in the parks every day to ensure our information and resources are as up to date and as accurate as possible.

What’s your favorite quick service option at Magic Kingdom? What’s your favorite quick snack?

The post The Best Places for Quick Food at Magic Kingdom appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Dining, Magic Kingdom, magic kingdom dining, Magic Kingdom Restaurants, magic kingdom snacks