Rob: In this episode of the Ear Scouts podcast, we are talking about big Disney days. We're talking days where new attractions are opening in the parks, or maybe it's the first day of a big event like Mickey's very Merry Christmas party or Mickey's not so scary Halloween party, or maybe it's just a big day in general like Christmas or Easter. If you're planning to visit Disney World on one of those big days, we've got a bunch of tips to share with you. So stick around. We got a lot to cover, let's get to it. Hi ho everybody, this is Rob with the Ear Scouts coming to you from Folly Beach, South Carolina. I am on a family vacation. I'm down here in Folly Beach, or actually I guess it's up here in Folly Beach because normally I'm down in Florida. But it's a lovely little beach town if you've never been, I encourage you to check it out. It's right outside of Charleston, South Carolina, which is where I grew up. Hi ho Jessica.

Jessica: Ha'aiho and may the fourth be with you.

Rob: Yes, we are recording this episode on May the 4th, AKA Star Wars Day. And I think we're going to talk a little bit about some Star Wars things, are we, in the show? think that's, yeah, yeah. And joining us, as always, from the Makeshift Studio in Celebration, Florida is Eric. Hi-ho, Eric.

Jessica: I hope so.

Erick: Hiho everyone.

Rob: So Eric is going to be keeping up with the live chat over on Patreon. If you'd like to join us live as we record each and every episode of the Ear Scouts podcast and take part in the Patreon exclusive after party, head on over to patreon.com forward slash Ear Scouts. Today we're going to have kind of a quick shorter episode because we're really just going to focus in on ⁓ some tips and strategies that we were talking about because we got a question from one of our earscouts, Patreon members. was Diana was asking about some tips because she's going to be here when there's going be a whole bunch of attractions opening ⁓ right around the corner in May. We're going to be having. ⁓ new attractions opening in all four parks. It's going to be the beginning of cool kids summer where there's going to be all kinds of new things happening. So this seemed like a great time to go over some things you might want to be thinking about. If you're planning to be here at one of those big days where something big is happening, we just thought we would share some of our best tips for making the most of those days. And I'm going to go ahead and start things off ⁓ talking about attraction openings, because that's what's about to happen in May. we, as luck would have it, just had an attraction opening. We were at the opening day of Big Thunder Mountain. And ⁓ it was definitely a classic example of what we're talking about today, where it was just a ton of people were there. everybody was excited about Big Thunder Mountain. saw everybody wearing their Big Thunder shirts and their ears and it was all about Big Thunder Mountain. And if you're coming on one of these days, ⁓ you're going to find that you're going to see a huge crowd of people right there at park open typically. ⁓ And they're all going to be headed straight for whatever that big attraction is that's opening. So in most cases, what we tell you is to zig when everyone else is zagging, right? To do the opposite thing as everyone else. However, this is one of those things where if this attraction is on your must do list, if this is the thing that you're also most excited about, you probably do just wanna be in that giant group of people and you probably wanna be experiencing this moment with them. And I would say the only opportunity you might have to kind of get ahead of that crowd of people is if you have early entry. Now, if your attraction happens to be in Magic Kingdom, ⁓ early entry only gives you access to Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. So you may not be able to get lined up for that attraction during early entry, but you will be able to kind of get to, there's in Fantasyland, there's a rope drop for the rest of the park. that is only accessible to folks who have early entry. So that can be a good way that you could kind of get to the front of the line if where you're headed is somewhere other than those two. But in the other parks, early entry typically will let you just go ahead and get in line for whatever it is that you want. And it's possible that that brand new attraction might even open for early entry. It's a case by case basis whether that happens. But if it does, then of course you can get a jump on. getting to even experience the attraction before everyone else. But ⁓ my first big tip is if this is a really big deal for you you're as excited as everyone else, I say just go ahead and jump in that queue as quickly as you can, get there as early as you can, be as close to the front of the line as you can, and just enjoy the moment. ⁓ Jessica, what is your first tip for someone who's there on the big opening day of a brand new attraction?

Jessica: Well, and I will start by saying just with what you had just said, like they have announced already the Soarin across America will open at 9 a.m. So they've already said it's not going to be open at early entry. just sometimes they will pre tell you that some of these newer attractions will not open at early entry. So that's important for you to know, but it's still important to line up. I think I agree. But

Rob: Yes, yeah.

Jessica: That's an example of one where they have already told us, hey, it's gonna open at nine. They've announced it and put it in as many places as possible. But it is not uncommon for these rides, ⁓ not even the first day, but first few days. ⁓ to have issues in the morning that they're working out. They're using the information from the day before and they're fixing things or they're working on things or the maintenance crew isn't quite sure how to make everything work. And so it might not open at nine o'clock. It might not open at nine 30. It might open at 10. It might open at 10 30. If you're there on a normal park day, normal park day, like you're not an annual pass holder. You didn't go just for big thunder. It is possible. that you will be spending a lot of time in this line, even if you early entry, even if you rope drop, you kind of need to decide if it matters to you that much. And what I like to do is set an internal timer and say, I'm going to give Big Thunder two hours of my day, two hours of my park time. If by 11 o'clock, I don't think I'm going to be on that ride, I'm going to cut and I'm going to go do the rest of the park that's important. And I do think it's important that you have sort of an internal timer, particularly if you get there and it's not open and it doesn't look like it's gonna open. ⁓ Because I think you may, if it's part of your normal visit to the park, you may miss out on a lot of other things. Just to say that you were there for the first day of Big Thunder, we're using that as an example, if Big Thunder doesn't really matter to you as much, you wasted your opportunity to ride a lot of other rides. So just bear that in mind. I really do suggest setting an internal clock for a timer, particularly on those first few days of a ride opening.

Rob: The one thing I will add to that though is that in my experience, ⁓ Murphy's law always applies on attraction opening day. I feel like ⁓ so many times I've been like, okay, this is my cutoff point. I'm gonna wait this long. And then I finally like, okay, this is not happening. ⁓ The time I remember this most recently was we were at the the grand opening of Epic Universe. And we were waiting and waiting and waiting for the Mario Kart ride to open, because that was also available during early entry. And wouldn't you know, finally we were like, OK, we're going to go enjoy the rest of the park. As soon as we got out of that line, of course, it started running like moments later. But here's the thing. Just make your peace with that. Right. You you've got to as Jessica said at the outset. Just go ahead and make your decision. This is how much time I'm willing to invest if things are not going smoothly and make your peace with the fact that it might start running as soon as you got out of that queue. But you know, it is what it is. There's no way to predict the future. ⁓ I'm going to talk though next about the flip side of that, which is if this is the most important thing to you, the other thing that can very commonly happen on opening days is that attraction goes down. Sometimes in the middle of the day, sometimes towards the end of the day, and sometimes it just doesn't come back, right? So if this is your one and only time, that's another thing that you just need to weigh, right? As you're trying to decide how willing you are to wait in that line. Or maybe if you did decide to leave, if you see it's come back online, it might be worth kind of making a beeline over and just... experiencing that attraction while it's still functioning. ⁓ Some cases in point that are recent. ⁓ We were just at the grand opening of Big Thunder Mountain. It kind of sorta caught on fire towards the latter part of the day. So they had to shut it down. It was a very minor thing. It was, you know, they had it taken care of, think, relatively quickly. But things happen on opening days. Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Holy guacamole. It was

Jessica: wow.

Rob: that attraction was down more than it was up in its initial days. So, you know, that's another thing I just, you need to weigh is that with a brand new attraction, things are going to happen. And the sooner you do ride it, ⁓ obviously the less chance you have of not being able to ride it at all because it's gone down for the rest of the day. ⁓ Jessica, what is the next thing you think people should be thinking about if they're there for the opening day of a brand new writer show.

Jessica: So I do want to bring it back to one of the things that I love, which is the merchandise. And sometimes, and sometimes it's not even advertised, there will be specialized merch or even just ⁓ pamphlets or park maps or buttons or things like that for that first day. And it will go quick. If you are there on an attraction, and I know for Big Thunder they had, I believe that, I'm sorry, for Country Bears, they had a Country Bear ⁓ pen that was there for the day that they opened, and they had a shirt. They were gone, what, in a couple of hours? It's okay to go and get that and then get in the line. If you really, really want it, the merch will actually sell out way faster than the line ride. The merch line and I know we've talked about scalpers, I know we've talked about people that are reselling and all of those things and that's horrible. But the reality is if having a $15 country bears pen to put on your wall to remind you that you were there was important to you, you should go get the pen and then get in line to see country bears. And I hate saying that, but it's actually the truth. I mean, it is just the reality of where we are right now in the Disney merch world. So some of the merchandise comes back, but that country bears pen has never come back. And I don't have it.

Rob: Yeah. I have a funny story about that, where we went to the opening day of guardians of the galaxy and there was a special pass holders only shirt for the very first day of, and it was dated for guardians and Eric got that shirt and I was like, I'm going to think about it. I'm going to think about it. We came back just a couple hours later and it was every single shirt was gone and we found out the reason it was gone on that day.

Jessica: Just saying. Mm-hmm. ⁓ Mm-hmm.

Rob: ⁓ It said pass holder, pass holder, pass holder all the way down, but there were some sections of the shirt where the P was covered. And apparently no one, no one in Disney merch noticed that until people pointed out to them on opening day and they pulled them. They pulled all those shirts. So it's a really limited edition shirt now because I mean, it didn't, and Eric has it and I do not. So it just goes to show, you know, sometimes it does make sense to get that merch first before you go.

Jessica: You've got it, Eric.

Erick: Yeah.

Jessica: Mm. We have a similar story with the Tiana's Bayou Adventure Annual Passholders shirt, except it just was gone before John and I could get ours, because we saw it in the Tiana Bayou store, and we decided, ⁓ we'll wait and get it at the end of the day. By the time we came back, they had it in my size and not John's or something, and so we didn't end up getting that one either. And he loves Louie. He loves Tiana. So.

Rob: Yeah.

Jessica: I'm just saying if merch is important to you and that stuff is important, get it and then get in the line. It's okay.

Erick: Some people like really want to see the shirt. So in the after party, I'm going to try to find it. And if I do, I will show it to you.

Rob: Yeah Yeah, it's it's kind of infamous actually. Yeah. So my next tip, this actually came from our experience for the grand opening of big grand reopening, I should say a big thunder that just happened. And my tip is to expect the unexpected operations. Park operations may do strange things that don't make sense to you that only makes sense to them and the park operations team. In many cases, they're not going to announce these strange things that they're going to do beforehand. In some cases, I don't even think they tell the cast members that they're going to do these strange things until the cast members are asked to just make everyone do them. The case in point of ⁓ Big Thunder Mountain, they closed off all of the connection points between Adventureland and ⁓ Frontierland, which that would be the logical way, right? If you were trying to cut through quickly from Adventureland into Frontierland, there are those, there are those, you know, points where you can cut through. They block those off. And then if you came around from Adventureland, all you walked all the way through Adventureland, then they were kind of looping you back up through, you know, into

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Rob: Frontierland, they created this whole kind of path that everyone needed to follow. What was unfortunate about that for folks who waited at that point rather than, because there's two bridges that you could have taken. You could take the one coming in from Adventureland or you could take the one coming in from Liberty Square. The folks who came in from Liberty Square, they were basically routed right to the front of the line. That was just kind of the way that the path went for them. The reason I share this with you is because I know that a lot of people were frustrated and a lot of people were getting angry at the cast members for, ⁓ and I'm sharing this to just don't be angry at the cast members. They're doing what they were probably told that they needed to do five minutes ago. They're just as surprised by this as you are. And they're just trying to make everything go as smoothly as possible. Basically, my tip, is just be polite, be patient ⁓ and go with the flow. Unexpected things are going to happen and it's going to be OK. You're still going to have an amazing day. We had an amazing day on that first day of Big Thunder. So, Jessica, what is your next tip for an opening day of an attraction?

Jessica: So you guys know that a lot of times what I do on Mondays is Belle and I go for a walk or we're in the car and we talk and Belle and I were in the car today and she asked, well, what's your topic for tonight? She always wants to know what the topic is. And I told her what the topic is and she said, ⁓ if I was there when Big Thunder was opening, I would ride seven doors, mind time as much as I could. And I said, that's a great tip. So the tip is, and this is kind of from Belle, so she gets a little bit of a shout out here, ⁓ which is sometimes, particularly if you're there in the early morning for one of these days where it's the opening day ⁓ or reopening day of an attraction, that's a great time to ride of the other, as she called, ballers ⁓ of ⁓ the park, ⁓ but the big rides of the park.

Rob: Hahaha!

Jessica: ⁓ And I think that's something you should remember because a lot of the park will be full of ⁓ People that are there just like Rob said there was a huge crowd to go to Big Thunder The lines for the other rides in the morning are much lower now it's gonna even out as the day progresses and people have ridden Big Thunder and they go to out the other park but in that morning when a lot of people normally would have been at seven seven dwarves or ⁓ or at Tron, they're all funneled to Big Thunder. So it gives you the opportunity to ride some of the bigger attractions in the morning. And that's just something you should remember. If the ride that's opening is not your must do, sometimes go to that park and take advantage of that because it's a really good opportunity.

Rob: Yeah. And the other thing that happens too is that ⁓ a lot of folks who are just there for that, especially the locals, mean, we, we left, right? We left the park around, you know, probably noon. We wrote it a couple of times and you know, we were like, okay, you know, we, and you could tell that a lot of people were there. We're probably going to do that. So an opening day of an attraction, even if you're not into that attraction can be a great day in the parks because

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Rob: As Jessica said, you have those opportunities in the morning and then you're going to probably have a slower, you know, at least outside of that main attraction, everything's probably going to be slower later in the day as well because a lot of folks are going to head out. ⁓ So the next thing I want to talk about is lightning lanes because we actually got questions about this, about whether or not lightning lanes were going to be available. ⁓

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Rob: It's really kind of a case by case basis whether or not there will be lightning lanes for a brand new attraction. In some cases, obviously that's going to become a single pass lightning lane attraction, you know, but even if it's a multi pass like big thunder, I would say the most likely scenario is that there will be lightning lanes available on that first day, but you won't be able to book them until the day itself quite possibly. And it's going to be very limited because they don't know how things are going to go on opening day. Always right. They don't want to have a ton of people out there who have lightning lanes and then the attraction doesn't open or it goes down a lot. And they've got all these people who are excited in the standby queue and they're just watching lightning lane. People go by because everything got so backed up. That's their only option. They don't want that scenario, so they're going to really throttle typically. the amount of lightning lanes that are available. So just, I would just say, if you're doing lightning lane, I would not count on being able to get a lightning lane easily for that opening day of the attraction. ⁓ But it's possible, just, I would say, temper your expectations. ⁓ And if it is a single pass lightning lane, then that's gonna go. ⁓ probably double because in many cases those even in normal circumstances sell out in advance of most of the multi-pass attractions. Jessica, what is your next tip related to opening days of attractions?

Jessica: so I'd like to piggyback on what you were just talking about with Lightning Lanes for the new attractions and say when my mom and I were there, was in the beginning couple of ⁓ days of Buzz Lightyear. ⁓ And I had actually been able to pre-book Buzz Lightyear. I had held it on all day long. But when we went to get in line for Buzz Lightyear, we had noticed there was a very long line for the Lightning Lane. It had actually gone down for quite a bit of the time that day, but they had to honor all of those Lightning Lanes. And so we had to wait over 25 minutes. It was, and my mom actually commented on it. She had never waited that long in a Lightning Lane ever. And it was definitely due to them selling Lightning Lanes for a ride that kind of still they weren't sure, you know, they needed to have a little bit more runtime. So I would just say the Lightning Lanes are unpredictable on the first couple of weeks of a ride. ⁓ And even if you have it, be prepared to wait, even if you got that Lightning Lane, just a, just another point there. So the other thing I do wanna discuss, the reason I'm talking about it is so that Rob doesn't have to, but I will say we were there for the very first day of the Little Mermaid, the new Little Mermaid show and the new villain show. And it was John, myself, and every other human who thought that perhaps someone on the internet would like to see the villain show or the Little Mermaid show.

Rob: Hahaha

Jessica: The number of cameras and videotapes and pictures and people talking to themselves on the phone and all of that, that you're going to see on day one is more than you realize there were. And you're going to find yourself, if you're one of the people like John and I, and even at the time, I don't even think I was on the podcast at that point. We're not Disney vloggers. You're going to find yourself in footage. So.

Rob: Hahaha!

Jessica: It's really cool, so be careful what you look like that day. But they are everywhere on those first days.

Rob: haha

Jessica: but just be aware that they're all there. I think that's an important thing to note.

Rob: Yeah. And, you know, guilty as charged. I'm going to be there probably on the opening day of an attraction. I ⁓ think by and large, most folks who make content, at least I would hope, I certainly try to think a lot about not impacting other people's experience. Whenever I'm filming a show, for example, I try to keep the phone like right in front of my face so that I'm like, Basically my head is blocking my phone from the people behind me. ⁓ But I will say this on the opening day of an attraction, when you've done something many times, you know how to be polite and respectful of everyone around you. Cause you, you know what's going to happen. You know where sight lines are, you just, know, things. And so it can be that on the opening day of something, you know, maybe you just don't know that you're possibly, you know, ⁓ interrupting the experience for someone else by positioning yourself where you are, whatever it may be. So apologies in advance if ⁓ one of us impacts your day and that's certainly never my intention and I'm always sorry if I ever do. ⁓ But yeah, it's a thing. It's something that Disney really kind of, I don't want to say encourages, but... there, it's become part of the Disney experience because I think Disney thinks of this community as marketing, you know, and, they, they want as many YouTube videos, I think, and Tik Toks and Instagrams as possible showing what's new at Walt Disney World. So that people are excited about it. But yes, the downside is on those first days, it's going to be a lot of people, you know, doing that. Yeah.

Jessica: Hmm? Yeah.

Rob: Well, my final thing that I want to talk about ⁓ is something that in many cases can make that better. The blogger, vlogger thing we're talking about, and that is that in some cases, there are going to be previews of a new attraction. ⁓ Usually these will be limited to sometimes it'll be a media preview where they'll invite some of the larger bloggers and bloggers so that they can kind of get their footage before opening day. But there'll also be Other ones where, you know, average Joe's like, like I never get invited to the media events, but I do get to go to the annual pass holder events. get to go to, ⁓ sometimes they'll have a DVC preview and I have lots of friends who are DVC members, even though I am not a DVC member. So I can sometimes get an invitation to join one of them on a preview day. And so even if you're not an annual pass holder or you're not a DVC member, you can sometimes, you know, phone a friend who is, and they will have potentially the ability to bring a guest. ⁓ Cast members ⁓ oftentimes will get previews. So ⁓ the benefit of this obviously is that ⁓ you can avoid all of the chaos we're talking about on opening day if you have the opportunity to attend a preview. So keep your eyes peeled for those. They will get announced and they will usually announce when you can reserve your spot for those previews and mark your calendar. Those slots, if you are able to take advantage of this, the slots are going to be gone like that. And it's one of those things that you'll want to do as quickly as possible. And then if you are there on opening day, you can enjoy things like getting the merch without worrying about being first in line because you've already ridden the

Jessica: You

Rob: Well, that was the last tip that we had for opening day. What about our friends over on Patreon? Eric, have we gotten any any tips or any questions from Patreon about strategies or tips for being at the opening day of something big at Disney?

Erick: Henkel family, of of the new revamped attractions and experiences coming to the parks in May and June, ⁓ which do you might cause the most ⁓ magical chaos? ⁓

Rob: ⁓ Okay, let's let's go through really quickly. I'm gonna forget some of them in May and June. We're gonna have the new Mandalorian in Grogu. That'll be a little bit earlier than everything else because that's gonna go with the release of the movie. So that's like May 22nd and

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Rob: So there's going be a new mission for Mandalorian Grogu on Smuggler's Run, Malayne Falcon. There's going to be the brand new version of Rock and Roller Coaster featuring the Muppets. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think that's going to be the biggest mayhem.

Jessica: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rob: Possibly closely followed by Bluey. Bluey at Animal Kingdom is gonna be huge. It's, mean... Yeah. Yeah.

Jessica: Louis. I think that's the sleeper hit of that list. I really do. And I just think the age that, yeah, that's.

Rob: Yeah. So there's also, ⁓ what else do we have? We've got, yeah, the animation, the new animation experience and yeah.

Jessica: and the animation courtyard. experience with but Rapunzel meet and greet is it Mulan is that Rapunzel and Mulan meet and greet which we've had.

Rob: But the whole thing isn't reopening, right? It's just sections of it. Because like the main studio tour section or whatever that's going to be, that's not been announced yet, right?

Jessica: I don't, I don't, it hasn't been announced yet, but I think the meet and greets and the animation experience are all gonna open.

Rob: Mm-hmm. Yeah. What else are we forgetting? So Big Thunder's already reopened. ⁓ yes. Soarin' Across America, think, will be an elevated ⁓ line than normal. It'll be more people doing it than normal for sure. I don't think it's going to compete with Muppets or Mandalorian and Grogu or Bluey. ⁓

Jessica: ⁓ soaring across America. Mm-hmm. I think that's it. I mean, think that's the big ones.

Rob: There's the big ones. Yeah. So yeah, my guess is the biggest is going to be Muppets Rock and Roller Coaster closely followed by Bluey and Bluey is going to be extra chaotic because it's it's in a difficult area of the park to reach. I mean, you've got to take the Wildlife Express, which only has a certain number of seats. It can only run. I mean, it just basically goes back and forth. So it's not like they can add more trains onto the track.

Jessica: Mm-mm.

Rob: to get more people there, it's a bottleneck. And there's gonna be, think that line is gonna be all over social media, because it's gonna be insane how long the line is to get on the Wildlife Express. That's my guess. That might appear to be the most chaotic from the outside, I think.

Jessica: It's going to be a disaster.

Erick: massive

Jessica: so I did think of ⁓ one more and that is there have been cases and rides that they have done not lightning lanes, not delayed opening, but virtual queues. So just as a reminder, it is possible they did it for Rise of the Resistance. They ⁓ did it ⁓ almost for ⁓ Nick and Judy. They did it for Tiana's.

Rob: ⁓ yeah.

Jessica: So a virtual queue system may be used, which is where you enter the park and then you have to actually get into the queue. They did it for guardians for a very long time. So it is possible if a ride is super popular that you will be not allowed to even get in a standby line, but you will have to do the virtual queue. just be prepared for that. So not only may lightning lanes be chaotic, but it may even be that you'll have to do a virtual queue. just, that is another option that we didn't talk about and I just kind of, it kind of occurred to me.

Rob: Damn. Yeah, virtual queues. I feel like they're they're always reinventing them. Sometimes you have to physically enter the park before you can join the virtual queue. Sometimes you can join the virtual queue and starting at a certain time, but that they will give you very specific instructions whenever a virtual queue is going to be coming. They let you know how that particular flavor of virtual queue is going to work. So just keep your eyes on the on the Disney news. on the days before your visit, if that's gonna be in play. ⁓ So the next thing I wanna talk about is the first day of events, like not so scary and very Merry Christmas party. This is much of a lower stress thing. In fact, I recommend ⁓ considering doing these events on the first day if it works out with your trip, because ⁓ what's counterintuitive, you would think, it's the first day of a big event. Lots and lots of people are gonna be there. And they do tend to sell out ⁓ more quickly than the other days. But here's the catch. Lately, my experience has been that ⁓ Disney throttles the amount of people that can come in on the opening days. ⁓ I used to think that maybe they did it because all of us were there, the vloggers and vloggers, and they wanted things to... to look like they were more accessible and easier to do than maybe they would be when there's a whole ton more people in there. That was a very cynical view, but I think actually probably the real reason is because the cast members are still getting used to all the processes and the things that they're gonna have to do to make these parties run. And so obviously the fewer people that are there on those initial days, the easier it's gonna be for cast members to get this,

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Erick: Okay.

Rob: get in the swing of things. So I think that's probably really the reason why it happens. But it's definitely been noticeable. We've said it in multiple videos where we're like, wow, it's so much quieter than it's been in previous years. You're going to love it. Come to the party. It's quieter this year. And then like two weeks later, everyone's leaving in the comments, what were you talking about? This is crazy. This is chaos. So ⁓ it does seem to be a trend though. If you want lower crowd levels, if you want to enjoy the event, come to the first day or two and you're probably going to get that. That's my first tip for first days of events. Jessica, what you got?

Jessica: So remember what I said earlier? Remember that thing about vloggers and bloggers and everybody who thinks they're a vlogger or a blogger? They're at that first day with their cameras out, taking pictures, videotaping everything, fighting with all of their friends for the best spot to take the parade video or to photograph the haunted house with the cool overlay.

Rob: ⁓ yeah.

Jessica: It's even worse because they're all there and they're all sometimes in coordinated outfits doing bits like around the park. I get it. I watch all the videos. It's great.

Rob: I, I'm there usually on the opening night of the events. And I feel like it's one of those nights where it's like, ⁓ yeah, we, ⁓ I, I never see a lot the other bloggers and bloggers until those nights. I'm like, ⁓ Hey, there's, know, there's a mammoth club. ⁓ Hey, there's paging Mr. Morrow. ⁓ Hey, there's Tim tracker. And you know, we, all say hello to each other on those days, cause that's the days that we're all there. Yeah.

Jessica: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Because you're all there and you're all, yeah, first day of festivals, and you're all trying to get the same footage. So, but if you're a little old me and you just want to watch the parade or the fireworks and you're five foot three in shoes and you've got everybody with their cameras, it is not always the best experience. And you can avoid that just by going to a one week later, you know.

Rob: First day of festivals is another one, yeah. Yeah. Or really even just, just the second day is going to be a lot less, you know, and you'll still probably have the lower crowd. So if that is something that said, I can tell you a lot of people that is an appeal of going, if you, if you love watching, you know, the folks that I mentioned, Paging Mr. Morrow, Mammoth Club, Tim Tracker, there's a much higher probability that you're going to get the opportunity to say hello or meet them on that first day.

Jessica: that, yeah.

Erick: lovers.

Jessica: That's true. Yeah, John loves to go to the first day of festivals because he loves some of the all ears people and he has pictures with a lot of them and always on the he knows they'll be there at the first day of festival. ⁓ So the one time we met Breedlove, who is a lovely person and was great to us. Breedlove is awesome. Yeah. So ⁓ but yeah. So if you want on the flip side, if you want to. Hey, remember what I said? All the vloggers and bloggers will be there.

Rob: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Breed love is awesome. He's an awesome human being, yeah.

Erick: He's super nice. He's super nice.

Rob: Yes. So ⁓ this is kind of a relation to what you're talking about. And that is that that first day crowd, number one, it's going to be a lot of folks like us who doing content, but also it's going to be folks who are just really excited about the party itself. And so they're going to be focused on the things that are exclusive to the party. Now, once you get later, like into the, the, the event running, it becomes more of a 50-50 mix of people who are just there for the party events and people who are just there for shorter waits on rides. They're going to kind of do a little bit of everything. But on those first nights, people tend to be focused on the things you can only do at the party. So character meet and greets, ⁓ attractions that have overlays that are exclusive to the party, obviously the parades and shows. Folks are going to be clustered there on those opening nights. So if you're more interested in maybe enjoying short waits on rides, opening nights can be the best time to go because, know, probably, yeah, not many people are going to be over there riding Big Thunder, even though it just got refreshed. If there's not an overlay, they're going to be, you know, on the other side of the park doing the meet and greets and those sorts of things. So it can be a good opportunity if that's your goal.

Jessica: Mm-hmm. I would 100 % agree. Mm-hmm.

Rob: Jessica, what's your next tip for first nights?

Jessica: So one of the things you said earlier when you were discussing why crowds might be lower, why Disney might have limited crowds, was because sometimes the first night you have to get kinks out. ⁓ I want to focus on that and say sometimes the first night you have to get kinks out. ⁓ There are some things, and I'm looking at you, Jollywood, there are some things on that first night that people, the cast members just didn't know how it was gonna work, because they'd never done it before.

Rob: Hahaha.

Jessica: particularly if an event has a new something, a new meet and greet, a new show, a new parade. This is literally the first time it has been show ready. This is the first time it's been the show is on. So there may be kinks. ⁓ Starlight didn't have a full set of floats the first night. There are things that are missing. sometimes going to the first night you may miss what becomes a really good show. And Jollywood was definitely like that. The first couple of Jollywoods, the shows were not what they ended up being, which were even that first year when we went, we loved the shows. The first couple of shows had a lot of kinks. So if there's shows or parades or something that really mattered to you, and it's the first time they're ever doing it,

Erick: Yeah, yes.

Jessica: go to the third or fourth or fifth night is my personal opinion. Just be prepared for that. Also, it's never the cast member's fault. This is literally the first time they're doing this. So if they tell you, so and so is gonna be out at eight o'clock and it's really at 8.15, literally this is the first time they've had to answer that question. So just be prepared for that kind of stuff.

Rob: You And there's a very good chance that they were just told by someone else that was above them that it was going to be a clock and it just it turned into 8 15. So yeah, yeah.

Jessica: It was eight o'clock. Exactly. So I think sometimes the first night is rough, particularly on events that are newer or have parts that are newer. think ⁓ Mickey and Minnie's ⁓ Not Scary ⁓ doesn't a lot of new stuff, so the first night's pretty safe.

Rob: Yeah, yeah. And at this point, Jollywood runs very smoothly on the first night. Now, if they introduce a new show, so a good example of this would be ⁓ Glisten. So the first year of Jollywood, there was no Glisten, which is the ice skating show. And as Jessica said, they had a lot of issues. The second year, opening night of Jollywood was smooth as silk.

Jessica: ice skating.

Rob: I mean, they had work they knew they knew what they had to prepare for. But the new show glistened with had some issues right on opening night. So if it's a new thing, that's when you're going to see the issues. If it's a new event, if it's a new show at an event, that's when you're going to see more things like that. ⁓ My next thing is my next tip is for things that are not new.

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Rob: ⁓ One thing you might want to consider doing is watching videos ⁓ from the year before. If you're trying to prepare for the event, you want to know what to expect. Most of these events don't change a whole lot from year to year. There's going to be a little bit of change here and there, but for the most part, your experience is going to be rather similar to the previous year. So if you're going to the first night of not so scary and you're like, ⁓ gosh, I don't know what to expect, watch videos from your favorite creators from last year and you're going to get a good sense of what to expect. Not a whole lot is going to be different. ⁓ And, you know, we, we generally try to look for things each year that, that are different, you know, to kind of feature those at the top of the video. But I got to tell you, as someone who makes those videos every year, it's hard to do because there's not a lot of change. ⁓ And so, you know, we, end up kind of. figuring out how to make more or less the same video all over again because there's not a lot different about it. ⁓

Jessica: Well, one of the things that is different every year is the merchandise. Every year the merchandise is different. And every year at Not So Scary and at Jolly, well, not at Jollywood, but Not So Scary and at the Christmas party, they have this thing called a popcorn bucket. And here's the thing, particularly night one, and they have a limited amount at every party. Get in the popcorn bucket line first.

Rob: Yes.

Jessica: If it matters to you, get in the popcorn. You just get in the pop, rope drop the popcorn bucket. And I know there are people on this video who will make fun of me, but the popcorn buckets and the merchandise lines at Mickey and Minnie's, both the Halloween and the Christmas party are serious and they're serious with people that, particularly if you're an, ⁓

Rob: Rope drop the popcorn.

Jessica: a different kind of size. If you have a larger size and you want to make sure you get something that fits or if there's a, if you're an annual pass holder and you want to make sure you get the annual pass, whatever it is, and then get a locker and put it in the locker. Because what I said about merch from opening day of attractions, because they limit the number of, particularly the first couple of parties when they're not sure what's going to sell out, they limit the number. And we had stories of people who couldn't get popcorn buckets. on the first night of the parties. By the time we went like 15 parties in, there were popcorn buckets all night. But those first couple parties, they really limit the number of the things that they think are gonna sell well because they wanna have enough to make it through all the parties. And if you go to that first party, merch is gonna be at a premium supply just because Disney's trying to do the right thing, which is limit the merch for the first party so that people at the last party still have it. So just be aware, if it matters to you, you might wanna get in those lines.

Rob: I can't tell you how many times we've been leaving the first time I an event and I look around me. Everyone has the popcorn bucket except for me. I'm like, man, should I have gotten this popcorn bucket? I feel like everyone else got this popcorn bucket. It's a big deal. It's a big thing.

Jessica: Yeah, I have said, I said that the first few years and now I'm in the crowd getting the freaking popcorn bucket. I got shelves in my home to display popcorn buckets. I mean, don't start. It's like a drug. Don't start.

Rob: Hahaha I'm. ⁓ I've started. ⁓ I've started. I've started. Yeah. But right now, right now I'm doing the holiday theme popcorn buckets. So they go away. They just come out for the holidays, right? They come out for yeah, yeah.

Erick: Here he is, yes.

Jessica: I have only the holiday ones in Star Wars and Figment. Those are the ones I have. So I don't have a lot of the other ones, which is good.

Rob: Yeah. But man, just the figment ones alone, that's a shelf right there. Before we move on to the holidays, because that's going to be our next topic, ⁓ Eric, did we have anything from the Patreon chat of suggestions for ⁓ the night of events or questions?

Jessica: ⁓ is. It's a good shelf.

Erick: And so we do have questions related to the parties right now. From Christina, how are the lines for rights during the parties?

Rob: ⁓ So I will say, generally speaking, they tend to be short unless it is a ride that has an overlay. And even then, it's still usually relatively short. ⁓ But ⁓ they will be a little bit longer for the rides with overlays, especially early on. Once you get further into the party calendar, and there's just more General guests not like kind of the super excited for the event mega fans and and bloggers and bloggers ⁓ It gets you'll see the lines are a little bit longer because more people are just also there to experience the park for more hours They're not really just there to do the party things but it It rarely gets to be crazy long lines at these parties is in my experience the exception to that is ⁓ If you're doing a Hollywood studios, you're doing Jollywood, sometimes Slinky Dog will get kind of backed up. That's a popular one. But even Rise the Resistance is usually a walk on or close to it during these events. yeah. moving to the holidays, ⁓ which ⁓ our segment. If you're there ⁓ on holiday itself,

Erick: PC. Mm-hmm.

Rob: So if you're there on Christmas or you're there on Easter, those days tend to be really crowded. But there is, especially in the case of Easter and Christmas and to a lesser extent, 4th of July, the crowds don't arrive until later. So if you're gonna be there on one of these really big peak holiday days, it helps to get there as early as possible because think about it, Christmas morning, ⁓ Families have got to do, you know, family things for Christmas morning. They're going to maybe all have breakfast together. Maybe they're going to go to a church service on Christmas or Easter. Maybe they're going to see what the Easter bunny brought or what Santa Claus brought. And so there are things that are distracting people from coming to the parks right away on those days. But let me tell you, once they are done with those activities, the park is going to be mobbed. with people. So what I recommend, get there as early as you possibly can and focus on the rides that are going to have the longest waits later in the day. Because if they regularly have a long wait, it's going to be twice as bad on one of these big peak days. Jessica, your biggest suggestion for folks who are visiting on a holiday?

Jessica: So as we discussed earlier, today is the most important holiday that we will ever have, which is Star Wars Day, May the 4th. And ⁓ parks like today at Hollywood Studios, there are a large, large, large number of humans hanging out in Galaxy's Edge humorously waiting in line for a Jabba the Hutt popcorn bucket that I have never been so upset that I'm not getting. ever just putting that out there in case anybody was there today and got one that they want to give me. ⁓ But there are, mean, there are thousands of people in Galaxy's Edge, in Star Wars, waiting for a lightsaber light up event that's going to be beautiful and amazing. it's kind of what makes having the Millennium Falcon in the background an amazing day. But guess what's not as long? The Slinky Dog.

Rob: Hahaha.

Jessica: The Tower of Terror line, the Mickey Minis Runaway Railway line. People are hanging out to do that thing that they're really excited about, that they're there for for that day. ⁓ Another really good example is Easter. John and I happened to be there on Easter. And we went on Easter because it was on my bucket list to meet the Easter Bunny in Disney World. I was naive and I thought, ⁓ we'll go and we'll get in line and we'll meet the Easter Bunny. It was a three hour line to meet the Easter Bunny. It was a 45 minute Seven Dwarves Mine Train line. It was a, think it was less than an hour for Tron. And I stood in line and with John who was very nice for over two hours to meet the Easter Bunny. ⁓ And then we went and lined up for another 45 minutes to watch the Easter Parade that happens twice a year only. ⁓

Rob: Yeah.

Jessica: These are things that were really important to me, but if you had been there and wanted to ride rides, you would have gotten a lot of low weights. So sometimes these days that have special things, ⁓ you can get good low weights or if you really wanted to meet the Easter bunny, this is the only day you can do it. Be prepared for, I was not, I was very naive about how long that line was gonna be. It did not occur to me. And it was a three hour line for the Easter bunny that day.

Rob: Yeah. But again, that's, that's earlier in the day because the Easter bunny, he, hops out of there pretty, pretty, pretty early as well. So it's after the Easter bunny goes, when you're going to see that mine train line shoot up to the, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Jessica: and I did it and I have the picture. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. So he was there. We we rope dropped the Easter bunny. That's what we did. We rope dropped the Easter bunny and it was still ⁓ it was still I think we were two hours. The longest I saw it that day was three hours away.

Rob: So my next tip is very specifically for anyone who's going to the Magic Kingdom on one of these holidays. And one of the things that we're talking about today are very Magic Kingdom specific. For some reason on big holidays, like the Hallmark holidays, Magic Kingdom tends to be the park everyone heads to. But it also tends to be where lots of special things are happening like a special fireworks show or a special thing like the Easter bunny so there's a lot of reasons why people go there, but The other thing that's special about the Magic Kingdom is that you cannot park at the Magic Kingdom You park at the transportation and ticket center, which means you're going to have to take a monorail or a ferry ⁓ Or in some cases they even add in buses You're going to take another form of transportation to get to the Magic Kingdom. And the reason I bring this up is if you are, if you're parking, if you're having to take that transportation, or if you're staying at a monorail loop resort, you're going to have this same issue getting to your monorail resort. At the end of the night, stay at the park as long as you possibly can. Because if you leave, right after the fireworks, for example, it's going to be just chaos getting out of Magic Kingdom. You will wait for an hour, possibly or more for a ferry or a monorail. mean, the line for the monorail will switch back, switch back, switch back all the way back into the park. Like you've exited the park and the line is going to basically go back into the park to get you onto the monorail. So The good news is, however, the longer you wait, if you if you plan your day to kind of maybe stay there really late, get in line for an attraction right before that attraction is going to the park is going to close and, you know, wait in line for that attraction. The later you you stay in the park, the less that wait is going to be to leave. And my feeling about this is I would much rather. be spending my time shopping at the Emporium or at, you know, the most those shops there on ⁓ Main Street will stay open past park close. ⁓ I'd rather be there enjoying myself than just standing in a really long line to get on the ferry or the monorail. So consider enjoying the park longer those days. Stay longer because you're going to wait either way. You might as well wait doing something fun in the park rather than waiting outside. Now, if you're taking buses to resorts, this is less of an issue. They are going to be putting a lot more buses usually on the road to those resorts at that key time. I mean, it's still going to be a longer wait than normal, but it won't be usually as bad as folks going to monorail resorts or to the TTC. Jessica.

Jessica: So I'm going to piggyback on that and talk about a day in particular, which is the 4th of July. ⁓ The 4th of July is, it's going to get busier the closer you get to fireworks. The 4th of July may start off slow, but in the afternoon and evening at Magic Kingdom specifically, it's going to be one of the busiest days of the year. And the fireworks for 4th of July, although hot take, don't think are as good as happily ever after, but it's important to see 4th of July fireworks. If you got to see Fourth of July fireworks, Magic Kingdom is a good place to see them. They will be one of the most attended fireworks that you will have all year long. It is important that you do what Rob's saying on this day, if no other day, and that is do not leave right at the fireworks, right after the fireworks. Stay in the parks, dilly dally, do something, or do what John and I did, walk over to the contemporary. get a drink sit on the chairs, watch the and then take the monorail the Contemporary to the TTC, ⁓ or ⁓ in our case, we walked down and got an Uber the back to our hotel. So ⁓ I really recommend, and ⁓ going to the Contemporary to me, because can walk there. and hanging out for a little while to let that crowd settle down is one of the best ways to handle it. either way, do not try to get in that monorail or that bus or that ferry line right after the fireworks.

Rob: Yeah, thousand percent. And that actually is the perfect tie into my final tip, which is if there are special things happening for that holiday, like for example, the fireworks on the 4th of July, the Christmas parade is another really good example of this. In many cases, they will run these special things for more nights or days than just that. special day itself. And the best thing you can do is if you don't mind seeing your 4th July fireworks on the 3rd of July, ⁓ that's going to be a way better experience for you. And it's going to mean that on the 4th of July, you can be at a different park and not have to be in that crowd of craziness that we were just talking about. ⁓ And so I would say Always look in the app. If you're here during a holiday and you know you wanna do one of these big holiday things, they will have, it's also in the calendar on the website. You'll see the special events calendar. ⁓ Just look to see when that special fireworks show or special parade is running. ⁓ And if you can, do it on a different night and you're gonna be much happier. ⁓ And that's really all the tips that we have for the holidays, but I'm sure that our friends on Patreon probably have some some other thoughts to share as well, or possibly questions. What do we got Eric?

Erick: one World if you were not going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party?

Rob: Ooh, I have an easy answer for this one. Do you have an answer, ⁓ Jessica?

Jessica: I know what your answer is gonna be, so you should go.

Rob: Okay. ⁓ I, I discovered this quite by accident. Was it last year? was last year. Yeah. ⁓ so we live in celebration, where it's just chaos at Halloween. mean, it's just craziness and we happen to live where we live. don't really get trick or treaters. So, ⁓ it's a great opportunity for us to just leave celebration. That's what we did this past year. We got to, we stayed at a resort.

Jessica: Yeah, last year.

Rob: ⁓ on Disney property we stayed at pop century or art of it no see art of animation we stayed at art of animation and I discovered that they do trick-or-treating at the resorts they have all kinds of crazy fun activities at the resorts for Halloween so if you're staying on property go just go to your resort if you're not doing not so scary when you leave whatever park it is that you're at go to your resort, there's gonna be dance parties, there's gonna be, you know, earlier in the day they have other activities as well, but there's gonna be trick or treating, they'll have multiple trick or treat stops set up all around. ⁓ It was a lot of fun. I mean, it was a really cool thing that they do and they do it at all the resorts. It's especially good at the resorts that are connected. So like we were at Art of Animation, we were able to trick or treat at Art of Animation and over at pop century. ⁓ But I imagine the monorail loop would be great for this as well. But ⁓ the other thing that's fun about it as an adult, other than it like Mickey's not so scary, which isn't really like trick or treating. I don't know. Like you don't trick or treat anymore. It's something that you don't get to do anymore. They encourage adults and kids and and you know, everyone in between teenagers who can't trick or treat anymore can trick or treat at the resorts and it's a lot of fun. So, yeah, so that would be my suggestion. Enjoy the resorts.

Erick: from Lassie Scout. ⁓ When is the best time to trick or treat with kiddos ⁓ during the party?

Rob: ⁓ during not so scary. ⁓ Really, mean, anytime. Here's the thing though. The lines tend to get shorter the longer you wait, but the catch is that's because kiddos get tired, right? And maybe can't make it that late into the party. So I mean, you know, your kiddos, if they're night owls and you know, they're going to be, you know, raring to go all night long, then

Erick: anytime.

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Rob: Yeah, maybe wait till later because it will as soon as those trick-or-treat lines open, they'll be at their longest and it'll gradually get shorter waits later the later you wait.

Jessica: And the later you wait, the more candy you're going to get in individual scoops. And here's the thing, there is no shame in as an adult going through the lines eight, nine, 10 times and filling up bags, putting them in a locker, filling up more bags and then using that candy as your trick or treat candy at home. So you didn't have to buy any. So really going to Mickey and Minnie's saved you 50 bucks in candy because you didn't have to buy any for the trick or treaters.

Erick: I was going to say that. I was going to say that.

Rob: ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm.

Erick: Ha ha ha.

Rob: Yeah.

Jessica: It is the later you go and the kids are so happy. Those kids that get that big, huge, like 10 pieces at a time, they think they have hit the jackpot. It is the best. Oh, maybe 20, 30. They're getting handfuls of candy. And, and, and then they're so proud. They're so proud of their trick or treat bags. It is so much fun.

Rob: Oh, 10? No. Yeah, yeah. that is all the time we have for holiday tips, but now it is time for our final segment that we like to call Happy Thoughts, because we love to end the show on a happy note. Jessica, what is your happy thought this week?

Jessica: So my happy thought is on Saturday, ⁓ I got to go to the Mystic Aquarium and there was a galactic takeover of the Mystic Aquarium. The local chapter of the 501st, if you're not sure what that is, that is ⁓ a, it's actually international, ⁓ what they call the cosplayers that dress up like different characters from Star Wars. ⁓ And they took over the Mystic Aquarium and they had photo opportunities. There were lightsabers around that you could hold. The kids could hold. You could take pictures with all different characters from the Star Wars franchises. And it's just an amazing day. of course, John and I were super excited. And I'm going to put in the camera so you can see it. This is John and Belle and I galactic takeover with the Beluga whales. It's very exciting. Obviously, this is a green screen picture. But the three of us went. And it's just really cool. I'll do a shout out to the 501st. If you have a local 501st chapter, they do things like this. know they did Mystic Aquarium, they did the Yard Goats, which is a local baseball team, but they do a lot of those things and a lot of the proceeds go to charities. ⁓ And they're really great people who give kids opportunities to take pictures with characters. there's an R2 unit just roaming the aquarium. ⁓ It was awesome. He was free flowing, roaming the aquarium, talking to kids and it made a lot of kids' days and it made one 50 year old woman's day. So ⁓ it was a great experience. That's my happy thought. But also look out for your 501st because they usually in a lot of areas do things like that locally in your community.

Rob: Very cool. Eric, what is your happy thought this week?

Erick: So ⁓ someone gave me a ⁓ late birthday present. well, it's actually like my work wife, ⁓ Emilia. Shout out to her. She will listen to the podcast. And it's something very unique. And I love it. ⁓ For the people who are watching this, ⁓ I got the VHS. ⁓

Jessica: Holy cow.

Erick: the beaches of Brother Bear, but actually she turned the case into a pin board. So you can display your pins. Well, in this case, like, yeah.

Rob: What a cool idea is that?

Jessica: That's an amazing idea. What a great idea.

Erick: So this is a very unique thing that I have and I will treasure forever and yeah this is is my happy one.

Jessica: I am so stealing that idea. That's a great idea.

Rob: So for those who are listening to the show and not able to see what Eric's holding up, if you remember back in the day when in the heyday of VHS, Disney never had a simple cardboard sleeve. They always had that fancy kind of, it was like a plastic, like almost like a book and you opened it up and you know, it was like it opened from both sides like a book. And ⁓ she took cork like a cork ⁓ material. and filled the inside of each of the sides with cork and turned it into a place where displaying pins. It's beautiful.

Jessica: That's a beautiful gift.

Rob: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that Eric. And yeah, thank you. Thank you to your work wife for creating such a cool thing for us to share. My happy thought this week is actually about Big Thunder, which, know, we were we were talking about earlier, we got to go to the grand reopening of Big Thunder. And I gotta say, I was very terrified that when they redid the entire track, that it just wasn't gonna be the same experience, that it wasn't still gonna be the wildest ride in the wilderness. Now, it is true, it is smooth as silk, for the most part. It is a much smoother ride, a lot of people will love that. The first time we rode it, though, we were seated pretty close to the front and it felt pretty tame. And I was like, ⁓ no, ⁓ no, big thunder isn't big thunder anymore. But then we asked to be seated in my favorite row, which is row 13. And that's basically the front row of the back car of the train. And you got a great view there and you get the full like experience of being in the back car. And it was very much still. the big thunder that you know and love. mean, we were sliding back and forth around each of the turns just like always. So if you're a fan of the wildest ride in the wilderness, just ⁓ ask to be seated towards the back of the train and you will still have that classic big thunder experience. But if you want a smoother ride and a tamer ride, just ask to be closer to the front and that is exactly what you're going to get. So. That's all the time we have today for ⁓ tips and happy thoughts related to big days at Disney World, but I hope your next big day at Disney is a huge success. And if it is, you'll have to let us know in one of the comments of our videos. Until then, don't forget to think happy thoughts, everybody. We'll see you again real soon. unfortunately, ⁓ Quizmaster Craig, who is usually here, was not able to be with us for tonight's episode, but he is going be back ⁓ next week with a brand new episode. ⁓ And Jessica actually sadly will not be able to join us next but Jessica is able to join us this week from the great state of Connecticut.