Three Tips to Reduce Your Wait at Radiator Springs Racers

Even though Cars Land opened almost two years ago, the crowds can still be pretty intense, especially for this new land’s centerpiece attraction, Radiator Springs Racers.

Here are three tips to reduce your wait.

Tip #1: Use FastPass (duh!)

This may seem obvious, but using the FastPass system is a good way to reduce your wait on this ride. The trick, however, is that because the attraction is still so popular, FastPass tickets can run out very early in the day. So in order to take advantage of this tip, you’ll need to get in line for the FastPass machines no later than about 40 or 50 minutes after the park opens. You might get away with later than this on days of very low attendance, but why push your luck?

Another less-obvious point here is that the lines can start out very long just to get a FastPass ticket, with the line forming near the Carthay Circle Theater even before the park has opened for the day. After about 30 or 40 minutes though, the line to get FastPasses will normally start to die down. As a result, if you’re using RideMax to plan your visit, you may find that the plan doesn’t have you get in line for the FastPass tickets until after you’ve already visited another attraction, while you wait for the FastPass line to die down a bit here.

Tip #2: Use the Single Rider Line

A perhaps less well-known fact is that Radiator Springs Racers offers a separate “single rider” line. For those unfamiliar with the single rider concept, you can use this line to avoid most of the wait, but the cost is that your party will most likely be split up, so that you ride in separate vehicles. The picture above shows the entrance to the single rider line, which is just to the left of the main attraction entrance.

The single rider line likely won’t be an option for you if you have very young children who would be uncomfortable riding with strangers. But for older children and adults, it offers a very viable alternative to standing in a very long standby line. We’ve sometimes found ourselves even lucky enough to either ride in the same vehicle with someone else in our party, or — and this is even more fun — racing against someone in our group who happened to be seated in the car we “competed” with as part of the ride experience.

Tip #3: Arrive Early on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday

You may have read this tip and thought, “OK, I can see the logic in arriving early, but what is so special about Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday?”

Disney offers “Extra Magic Hours” (EMH) to its hotel guests, where they are allowed to enter DCA one hour before the “official” park opening time. EMH for DCA takes place on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So even if you arrive early on one of these days of the week hoping to beat the rush to Radiator Springs Racers, you’ll find hotel guests already in the park, many (most?) of which will try to visit RSR during the EMH hour, making for a long line right at park opening time.

One common misconception here is that park-hopper “bonus” ticket holders sometimes think that their one-day “Magic Morning” privileges apply to DCA — they don’t. Magic Morning is ONLY available for use at Disneyland. If you want access to DCA’s EMH, you’ll need to stay at one of the Disney hotels.

You know I have to save something for subscribers, so if you’re a RideMax subscriber, please also be sure to check out our “Tips & Hints” pages within RideMax itself, where we give some very detailed advice — complete with pictures — regarding this particular tip, including where to position yourself once inside the park. That advice can help you further beat the crowds to Radiator Springs Racers right at opening time.

For those of you who have visited DCA since Cars Land opened, what did you think? Do you like the new attractions? What is your favorite?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2014: Flora and Food!

The annual Epcot Flower and Garden Festival officially opened yesterday, but I went mostly for the food! Here’s a quick mini-tour of some of the flowers — and the food.

First up is the Snow White topiary (click on any of these images for a larger view). Is it just me, or is this the first year that Snow has actually had EYES painted onto her face? To me this looks way better than previous versions.

As a comparison, take a look at Belle in the image below, who is stationed in the gardens near France.

A bit creepy, no?

Like last year, Disney is offering FOOD for the Flower and Garden festival this year, and in my opinion, this really helps kick the whole experience up a notch. There aren’t as many food kiosks as you’ll see during the Food and Wine Festival, but the selection is still very good, and for the most part, Liesle and I both found the food delicious. We didn’t sample everything (all the more reason to go back!), but here’s a quick take on what we did try.

First up are the Fresh-baked Lemon Scones near the UK pavillion. This may have been Liesle’s favorite treat of the entire day. The dish could use a bit more of the raspberry and creme dipping sauces, but otherwise these were really, really good!

Look up and find Peter Pan watching over the festivities. #peterwantsafacetoo

Next up, in France, we tried the “Gnocchi Parisien à la Provençal” (or Parisian-style Dumplings with Vegetables and Mushrooms), shown above. This was also very good, sort of a rich pasta dish with enough vegetable “accents” to provide some variety in the flavor.

Also in France is the Orange Blossom Macaron with White Chocolate Ganache (or the “Macaron à la Fleur d’ Oranger” for those of you who prefer to eat in French). A very tasty dessert!

Along with Belle, the Lumiere Topiary is also nearby. I’m still not sure why Lumiere gets a face and Belle doesn’t. Maybe the candlestick union just had really good representation at the face-bargaining-table?

The Temaki hand roll in Japan was probably one of our least favorite dishes of the day, although it was still OK, I guess. I’ve lived in Japan for a couple of years, so I’m somewhat used to the nori seaweed flavor, but there was so much of it here in comparison to the rest of the dish that it sort of overwhelmed the other flavors. We ended up scooping out the “insides” and enjoyed the rest of the dish nori-less.

It looks like they’ve recently repainted the Torii Gate in Japan. It looks a lot more “orange” (less red) than before. I think these are supposed to be “Vermillion” in color. Maybe this is closer than the previous shade of red?

Next up is the “Pulled Pig Slider with Cole Slaw” near the America Pavillion. This was very good, and very filling. The cole slaw added just enough change in texture and flavor to the rest of the dish that it enhanced it quite a bit.

Also near America is the bacon cupcake with maple frosting and pretzel crunch. This was a very good, but also very dense, cupcake. It also contained a surprisingly generous supply of bacon. If you try this, make sure you have a beverage nearby to wash it down with. (I say this because I didn’t, and regretted it.)

From the Florida Fresh kiosk near Germany (why not?!!), this dish is “Shrimp and stone ground grits with andouille sausage, sweet corn, tomatoes and cilantro.” Be forewarned that it’s a bit spicy, but it was also really, really good! Our dish contained three large-ish shrimp, and was quite filling. I think I’ll be having this one again before the Festival is over.

This is the watermelon salad, also at Florida Fresh. The dressing was a balsamic reduction, and the combination of flavors, including the watermelon on the bottom of the salad, made this one of our favorite dishes of the day.

Hang on, Rafiki!

By this point in the day we were pretty full, but the Beijing-style candied strawberries are one of Liesle’s favorites, so we had to stop and get these. Delicious, as always!

We finished the day by washing everything down with the frozen desert violet lemonade, at the Pineapple Promenade.

Finally, here are a few more scenes from the park. Above is Bambi. Note the face. Not sure how Bambi qualifies for membership in the candlestick union though.

Pretty flowers everywhere!

The picture above was taken inside the butterfly garden, as are the two below:

Still working on the sand sculpture. It’s looking good so far!

All in all, we really had a good time touring the Flower and Garden Festival, and I expect we’ll be back soon to try some of the dishes we missed this time!

What about you? Will you make it to the Flower and Garden Festival this year? Do you have a “must try” dish? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

My Incredible RideMax Journey

For some reason I’ve been in a reflective mood today, thinking back to the beginnings of RideMax, and how incredibly grateful I am that I get to do what I do for a living!

The picture above, of my wife Liesle and me earlier this week at the Magic Kingdom, reminds me of how RideMax started, way back in the late 90’s. Our young family was visiting Disneyland, trying to get as much out of our limited time in the park as possible. I don’t remember the exact attractions involved, but we were trying to decide whether to do attraction “A” next or “B” next, as the morning crowds were starting to build.

Whichever attraction we chose to visit next, we chose wrong.

By the time we exited that next attraction, the line for the other one had a very long line, even though the attraction we had just visited still had a short line — about the same as when we boarded. It occurred to me that had we just swapped the order of the two rides, we could have saved ourselves a good chunk of time in line.

Then the thought occurred to me: why not take this to the extreme? If I had wait time estimates for all of the attractions as the day went on, I could use a computer to plug in the list of attractions I wanted to ride, and have it do a gazillion plan comparisons to come up with an “ideal” one designed to minimize the time in line.

I was working as a software engineering manager for a major networking company at the time, and thought, why not give this a try? That was the beginning of what would eventually become RideMax.

It took a LOT of hard work and experimentation to refine the optimization algorithm that’s at the core of RideMax (it turns out that optimizations of the sort RideMax does, especially if it involves more than about 12 attractions, are pretty difficult to do in a reasonable amount of computer time). And of course it also took a lot of legwork to sample those wait times at different seasons of the year and at various times of the day.

I still remember when I finally thought I had something that was “good enough” to try in the park. I created a plan for Disneyland that included all of the rides in the park (well, those that were open that day, anyway), and which began when the park opened, and finished later that night. If I remember right, it even included a nice break in the afternoon.

Liesle and I took that plan to the park on a busy fall Saturday. And even though I had written the software myself, I was actually sort of stunned by the results. The park itself seemed very crowded — we could definitely see the mobs of people around us — but we hardly felt the crowds at all.

As we used that first plan, it sort of felt like we were in an alternate universe where lines barely existed. It seemed that the park had given up a huge secret, one that had lay hidden from everyone who had ever visited the park since 1955, but that had finally been handed to just the two of us. It was an incredible experience!

As time went on and RideMax became more and more popular, it allowed me to leave the world of “big” programming and strike out on my own, doing RideMax full time. We moved to Florida to make it easier to cover the Disney World parks, and, as they say, the rest is history!

Of course, I realize that I wouldn’t be able to do this without your help. I think RideMax has sometimes succeeded in spite of me, rather than because of me. Most of our “advertising” has been plain ol’ word of mouth from satisfied customers.

And for that — for being part of this incredible journey — I thank you!

Avoiding the Wait at the New FP+ Kiosks

This is a short post for those planning a visit to Walt Disney World in the near future. Disneyland visitors can rest easy — at least for the time being!

After visiting both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot yesterday and looking again at the situation with the new FP+ kiosks, it’s pretty clear that your selection of which specific kiosk to visit can make a huge difference in how long you’ll have to wait at the kiosk itself, especially if you don’t arrive until after opening time and there are already crowds in the park.

Consider the line for one of the FP+ kiosks yesterday at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I took this picture at the kiosk near the Tower of Terror shortly before 11:00am:

I should note that setting up those FP+ reservations inside the park is something of a labor-intensive process for the cast members staffing the kiosks, so these folks could be standing in line for a while. (And the irony is that FP+ is supposed to help reduce the time you spend standing line.)

Now, look at the line for the kiosks near American Idol. The picture below was taken just a few minutes after the one shown above. Here you can see two very unbusy cast members, complete with FP+ tablets in hand, who without prompting from me were nice enough to pause and smile for the camera, as there wasn’t anyone in line for them to help at the moment:

As this was only about a three-minute walk from the very crowded kiosks near the Tower of Terror, it would have definitely been worth the walk for the poor folks standing in line over there.

I should also note that if you were in the back of the park, the line for the FP+ kiosks near Muppet Vision theater were also non-existent. Note the open machine on the right in the picture below.

Given how unevenly the lines for the kiosks are playing out so far (I saw similar disparities at Epcot), we expect to have some in-plan “tips” in RideMax soon to help steer folks to the shorter lines. In the meantime, remember that it can really pay to look around a bit before you commit to a particular FP+ kiosk.

Have you experienced FP+ yet, and if so, what did you think of the experience?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Disney Spring Break: Three Tips for Beating the Crowds at Disney’s Theme Parks

It’s that time of year again when folks start planning spring break vacations to Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Although crowds during this time of year can be very heavy, there are a few simple things you can do to help beat those crowds. I’ll expand on each of these below, but to cut right to the chase, my three tips are:

Arrive early
Have a plan
Choose the “right” park for your visit date

Let’s hit each of these in more detail.

Tip #1: Arrive Early

Regardless of whether you’re visiting Disneyland or Walt Disney World, it’s very important to arrive well before the park opens for the day so that you’re among the first group of guests in the park right when it opens for business.

Consider the two pictures below, taken last year at the Magic Kingdom during spring break. The first shows what Fantasyland looked like just after the park opened for the day:

Now, check out the following picture taken two hours later:

Not only are the lines for the attractions lower first thing in the morning, arriving early also gives you an important advantage in using Disney’s FASTPASS (FP) system at Disneyland, or in using the FASTPASS-Plus (FP+) system at Walt Disney World.

To explain more, first thing in the morning the FP “return windows” for most attractions at Disneyland and at California Adventure are just 40 minutes away, and this is also the time at which you can get your next FP ticket. Contrast this with later in the day, when you may have to wait two hours to obtain your next FP ticket, if they’re even available at all.

Similarly, at Disney World’s theme parks, where the FP+ system is now in full use, arriving early gets you quicker access to the FP+ kiosks which are scattered throughout the parks.

Arriving later in the day could result in a line for the FP+ kiosks that looks like the following picture from the Animal Kingdom, taken at around 11:00am during another busy season of the year (the way some of these folks are camped out makes it look like they’ve been waiting a while):

Tip #2: Have a Plan

OK, I know this one is self-serving, since I earn my living from the RideMax custom itinerary planning tool. But even if you don’t use RideMax, I recommend you at least do some planning before you leave for the park, even if it’s just to sit down and make a list of priority attractions and their general location within the park. (And if you are visiting Walt Disney World and don’t feel like you need the detail that RideMax offers, you can also find good touring advice at the easywdw website. No affiliation, BTW.)

Tip #3: Choose the “Right” Park For Your Visit Date

In addition to arriving early, it’s important to choose the “right” day of the week to visit a given park. For example, the above picture shows the empty line for Radiator Springs Racers first thing in the morning, right after the park opened for the day.

The catch is that for the majority of guests, this scene is only possible on certain days of the week.

What’s important to remember is that both Disneyland and Walt Disney World host some sort of “early entry” program for their hotel guests, which gives these guests access to one of the parks one hour early on specific days of the week. For example, Disney hotel guests are normally allowed early entry to Disneyland on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and to DCA on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Walt Disney World also normally hosts early entry at one or more of its parks on any given day, but the exact day of the week is not always as predictable as it is for the Disneyland resort. (RideMax subscribers can find our “Which Day, Which Park?” recommendations in the RideMax “Tips & Hints” pages, or you can consult the Disney World website for the early entry information as well.)

If you’re not staying at a Disney-owned hotel and still want to get a jump on the crowds by arriving early, the best way to do this is to simply avoid the park hosting early entry on the day of you visit, and go to another park instead. For example, the picture above was taken on a Tuesday, when Disneyland, and NOT DCA, was hosting early entry. Had I gone straight to Radiator Springs Racers when the park opened to the public on a Monday instead, I would have found a large line for this attraction right at opening time. (And don’t even attempt to visit Peter Pan on an early entry day for Disneyland if you don’t have early entry access yourself!)

During a busy season like spring break, a similar scenario can play out at the Disney World theme parks, with hotel guests streaming into the park hosting early entry (or “Extra Magic Hours” (EMH), as Disney calls it) well before the park opens to the public. To start your day with lower crowds, I strongly encourage you to visit a non-EMH park instead.

Do you have a favorite crowd-beating tip you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments below!