I had enough fun earlier this week using Periscope briefly to live-stream a ride on Expedition Everest, that I thought I’d next try something a little more ambitious.
So, in that spirit, I’ve created a Magic Kingdom RideMax plan for Tuesday, January 19th, that should allow me to visit fifteen attractions by 2:00pm. More significantly, I plan to live stream the entire visit on Periscope. I’ll have my extra phone batteries (and leg muscles) ready to go bright and early Tuesday morning for park opening.
What is it that appeals to me about Periscope for this? Three things, really.
First, Periscope will allow me to show off this RideMax plan in a real-time setting. And since it’s a *live* video, you know that what you see is what you get.
Second, I expect to keep broadcasting even as I’m walking from one attraction to the next, and while I’m standing in line. And although if everything works out the lines should be fairly short, if anyone viewing the broadcast has questions you’d like to ask over Periscope during this lull between rides, I’ll try and answer what I can as I’m moving about the park.
Finally, I’d like to be able to share some of my favorite tips for visiting some of the attractions, and live video seems ideal for doing this.
If you want to join in but don’t want to spend all day watching for your favorite attraction, here is the plan I intend to follow, and yes, I already have those FP+ reservations lined up:
As you can see, the day begins with what might be the ultimate rope-drop challenge in all of Disney’s theme parks, visiting the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I’ll try to show you how I navigate the crowds for this to (hopefully) end up near the front of the line. That 10-minute estimate may look optimistic, but it all depends on how you make your way into the park, and hopefully the live-feed video can allow me to show that.
Looking at this plan you may be wondering if I plan to take a lunch break, and the answer is yes, sort of. I guess I’m cheating a bit by virtue of the fact that, based on the current weather forecast, I expect Tuesday to very cold, and that 31-minute estimated wait for Splash Mountain will instead be closer to 5 minutes. This should give me time for a lunch break somewhere in that timeline, probably right after Pirates.
I also decided I wouldn’t attempt to broadcast a ride on Space Mountain, as there wouldn’t be too much to see in the dark, so it’s omitted from the plan. In addition, Buzz Lightyear is scheduled to be closed for refurbishment, so that doesn’t leave us with much to see in Tomorrowland. Then again, I do have to admit that simultaneously driving and filming the Tomorrowland Speedway should be… interesting.
At any rate, if you want to join in the fun, be sure to follow me on Periscope. I’m new to “scoping” and don’t have a huge following there; this should make it easier to answer your questions as we hit those 15 rides.
I expect that the Magic Kingdom will open at roughly 8:45am, and I’ll start the scope just prior to that time.
I hope to see you on Tuesday!
Looks like fun and a great way to see how Ridemax works. I’ll be following along!!!
That’s awesome! Can’t wait to see how it goes!
Just a quick follow-up here to thank everyone who joined me Tuesday on Periscope for the broadcast. For those that may have missed it, the day went even better than expected. I ended up enough ahead of schedule mid-morning that I was also able to work in a ride on Aladdin’s Magic Carpets as well as visit the Country Bear Jamboree. With as cold as the weather was, Splash Mountain was also a walk-on, which left plenty of time for Pecos Bill’s. The longest wait of the day was for Pirates, at 15 minutes.
Once I had finished these 17 attractions (including Aladdin and the Bears), the Periscope viewers thought it would be fun to take the train from Fantasyland to the front gate, so I did that also, arriving at Main Street at 2:03pm. So this was basically EIGHTEEN attractions within three minutes of my 2:00pm goal, which I thought was pretty decent.
I should emphasize that this RideMax plan was created specifically for a day when the park wasn’t all that crowded. If I had created the plan for a busier day, it may have involved a bit more walking in order to help minimize the wait, even though RideMax does try to minimize walking time as well as waiting time. In general, the busier the park, the more walking that might be involved, as you’re trying to outrun the times at which the various attractions get busy as the day goes on.
I hope to do something similar soon, as it helps provide you a real-world glimpse into what it’s like to use a RideMax plan in the park. Thanks again for following along!