Mark Winters

RideMax Updated with New Epcot Arrival Tips and Rope Drop Strategy for Frozen Ever After

Just a quick note today for RideMax subscribers…

I was out at Disneyland in late June and earlier in July, and missed the opening day for the new Frozen Ever After ride at Epcot. I had the chance to visit the ride at rope drop earlier this week, and as a result of closely watching how Disney runs the opening procedure, we’ve updated the arrival advice shown on RideMax plans for those who are visiting Epcot first thing in the morning on non-EMH days.

We’ve also added a new tip to Epcot RideMax plans which gives very specific advice on how to navigate yourself to the new Frozen Ever After ride at rope drop, should you be following a RideMax plan which has you visiting that ride as soon as the park opens. You should see both the updated arrival advice and the new Frozen tip by just refreshing the RideMax plan in your web browser or on your mobile device.

Note that we’ve also made some adjustments to our wait time estimates for Frozen Ever After, so if you have a RideMax plan which includes this attraction, we recommend creating a new plan (which will pick up the new estimates) before you visit the park.

Enjoy!

Playing Pokémon GO at Walt Disney World (And Why a Grown Man Would Do This)

With Pokémon GO sweeping the world in the last week since it was introduced, I thought it might be fun to try playing the game at Walt Disney World, so I spent a few hours playing Pokémon GO Monday at Epcot.

For those who don’t want to read the entire post, I’ll start with a summary of how the game went, and then I’ll add more details for those who are considering trying this themselves, or who have children who are. I’ll finish with some more personal and even philosophical comments on what drew me to the game in the first place, and why you might want to consider playing as well, even if you don’t fit the typical “Pokémon-loving” demographic.

Continue reading “Playing Pokémon GO at Walt Disney World (And Why a Grown Man Would Do This)”

Update: RideMax Disneyland Dates Available Through the End of July

Just a quick update to note that for those who’ve been asking, RideMax now has planning dates for Disneyland and DCA available through the end of July. This brings us current with Disney’s published park hours for Disneyland.

Also note that Disney hasn’t yet published showtimes for dates after July 4th for the new Frozen show playing at the Hyperion, so you won’t see it listed in RideMax for dates later in July just yet. After the showtimes are available, you can expect to see it listed in RideMax for planning purposes.

Disney has already expanded the number of showtimes for Frozen from three to four, and my guess is that they’re waiting to see how the new schedule works out before committing to showtimes for future dates.

Hopefully the dust will settle soon on this!

FOUR TIPS for Beating the Disneyland Crowds — Summer 2016 Edition

As the author of RideMax for Disneyland, I sometimes have friends ask if I have any “tips” for visiting Disneyland. Sometimes these friends are using RideMax to plan their visit, and sometimes not.

With the busy summer season now upon us, I thought I’d share some of the same tips I give to these friends who are visiting Disneyland. Some of this is advice that I don’t think you’ll see in more “mainstream” publications, so I’m hoping these will make a difference for *you* if you plan to visit Disneyland this summer of 2016. (And if you’re visiting Walt Disney World this summer, stay tuned. I plan to do a separate post on that topic in the next few days.)

With that, here you go…

Continue reading “FOUR TIPS for Beating the Disneyland Crowds — Summer 2016 Edition”

Tips for Nighttime Kilimanjaro Safaris, Jumble Book Show Opens at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tree of Life Awakening

Liesle and I visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom this past Friday, which marked the first night of the new extended hours, along with the new nighttime experiences taking place there now. Above is the scene on the river just across from Expedition Everest when we arrived in the early evening, complete with the floating stages used in the new show, titled Jungle Book: Alive with Magic.

The show is scheduled to run twice nightly, at 9:00pm and 10:30pm, and FastPass+ is available for the show.

Above is the scene on the pathway just in front of Expedition Everest, taken at around 7:30pm, or 90 minutes before the first show time. Note the rope running down the middle of the pathway, which is used to mark off the section of the pathway being used for the FastPass+ entrance.

Continue reading “Tips for Nighttime Kilimanjaro Safaris, Jumble Book Show Opens at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tree of Life Awakening”