World of Color

[Camino]

Yup, just get to the park at 8:30ish (depending on the day) line up and they let you in at 9:30, then you will have to walk quickly towards condor flats then they will start a line there. They do ask that you take your whole parties passes up there yourself to make the line shorter.

[TsWade2]

Yup, just get to the park at 8:30ish (depending on the day) line up and they let you in at 9:30, then you will have to walk quickly towards condor flats then they will start a line there. They do ask that you take your whole parties passes up there yourself to make the line shorter.

Okay. Thanks.

[Disney Vault]

you really dont have to get there that early. passes for the final show have been selling out around 4:00 pm. at least that is what someone was posting on miceage. i would think if you get the fastpass before noon you would have no problem at all.

[KNRG]

I threw this together right now really quickly with the model from BSC... This is how I understand the viewig areas to work.

The center circle has no color and belongs to dining packages as Preferred viewing. It's the circle and the stairs infront of it, and I believe also that landing - if anything people spill out into it.

It has no side areas, those are actally blue and green. Red is the upper tiers behind yellow, and green sort of flanks behind the Preferred area. Orange sort of covers the back, but off to the side and also along the bridge.

[ratoncita]

you really dont have to get there that early. passes for the final show have been selling out around 4:00 pm. at least that is what someone was posting on miceage. i would think if you get the fastpass before noon you would have no problem at all.

On Sunday I got an 11:15 Fastpass around 1PM.

[SMlaunch2k5]

I threw this together right now really quickly with the model from BSC... This is how I understand the viewig areas to work.

Oh...that's interesting. I'm positive they change it on a regular basis now. That's not what our layout looked like at all for the 1st showing on Friday night...

We were in yellow and it was the the very back tier to the West of the center water play area.

Here this is what it looked like for that show from what I remember (its probably all wrong but this is what my memory is telling me):


EDIT: I may have jumped the gun on the very back tier on the right side of the photo...it may have been orange as originally stated.

[RollerCoaster]

Let me just repeat what you all are saying.

Basically, I should show up at 8:30 am, an hour and half prior to the advertised opening time, to stand in line to be let into the park to obtain a World of Color FastPass.

Second, they're going to actually open the park early at 9:30 am, so after standing there for an hour, I will then be in a mad dash for the FastPass machines.

Assuming I walk at a normal pace, I guess it's fair to assume that there might be a 15 minute wait (conservative) to get the FastPass.

I'm then going to just have take what they give me, since they give you no choice of performance times. I should expect that I'll get the 9:00pm performance.

I should then show up at Paradise Park no later than 7:00 pm (some are saying 6:30 pm), where I will be turned away by cast members who I should just ignore, to stand in an unorganized mob like crowd, so I can be one of the first ones let into my assigned section. This is necessary to secure a good spot to see the show.

After I select this awesome spot, I'm now expected to stand there for another hour and half and aggressively defend my standing room only space.

So basically, you all have said I'm going to half to waste 3 - 3.5 hours of my time, in lines, unorganized lines and standing to hold my spot, to see a 25 minute show. Is this correct?

And my only alternative is to pay $40 for dinner (per person) or buy a $15 picnic lunch (per person) to eliminate only part of the inconvenience, the morning wait to obtain a FastPass. However, if I choose the dinner option I'm going to have to commit an hour+ of my time dining, so its still a time commitment.

Basically, I think I can sum up what you all are telling me and that is that World of Color sucks for park guests. It's a colossal waste of time.

FastPass for a show is troublesome as well. If you're a late arrival and they're out of FastPass there is no stand-by. FastPass works for rides because the stand-by line is the alternative, but with World of Color that important part of the FastPass concept is missing.

On top of that World of Color forces the early closure of nine Paradise Pier rides and attractions. Three of them happen to be favorites -- California Screamin', Midway Mania and Maliboomer. I'm still trying to figure out what on Paradise Pier that's considered an attraction actually remains open. California Screamin' and Maliboomer are amazing night rides too, so this really sucks.

Then after the show I'm in a theme park that for the last 3 hours of its operating day is packed and half of its rides and attractions are closed. No wonder crowd control is such a nightmare.

Does that fairly sum up this show and the experience it creates for park guests?

[igmo]

Yes and no. If you believe the hype, then yes. You can do all you described above. But you don't have to.

We were there on Saturday 6/12. At 2:30PM there were still Fastpasses available for the third show. Getting to DCA before park opening is completely unnecessary (at least on a day where SC APs are blocked out). I'm guessing the third show is not full. I'm guessing you could arrive at DCA in the evening and stroll over to the third show at your leisure, without a FP.

WOC crowd control was not bad from what I saw.

And the park is not packed during its last 3 hours. Everyone still in the park is trying to see WOC. At least that was the case when I was there on 6/12. At 10PM (after the first WOC show had ended and cleared out), Soarin' and all Bugs Land rides were walk-ons. I did not venture into HPB, it looked pretty active.

[KNRG]

I think it needs a bit of time to normalize. This is a fairly big change for how to resort operates - note the "resort" not parks.

I remember when asking where to return to for entry to the viewing area one woman asked "if it opens at 7:30 why are all these people here?!" and another person nearby quipped "because they're not listening to anything the CM's tell them!"

Give it a few more weeks and those APs will pretty much go away or become minimal. The resort just has to stick to doing things the same daily and eventually they'll give up.

As far as getting the best spot - I was fine where I was and didn't squish in. If you're short then that's a problem but my short friend who is an adult can also fit into the children's princess dresses with little problem.

30 mins before the show is the preshow and it's pretty entertaining, so count that as part of the experience.

As for dining - that actually took two hours for me due to delays with the restaurant, but should be less once they get the operation tighter. Also - what's 4 hours to see an hour worth of entertainment and get fed if you're on vacation?

Again, we're talking resort not parks - vacation versus day trip. If you want DLR to remain catered to day trips you're going to be sorely dissapointed in the coming years.

[1FoolishMortal]

Realistically, if WoC didn't have Fastpass, you'd still be wasting a good chunk of your day waiting to get a prime spot. It's just the nature of the beast. A show this hyped and this new (and now with excellent word-of-mouth) is going to get a crapton of people trying to see it, there's no question about that. Quite honestly, many of the headaches RollerCoaster was describing above are ONLY applicable in the absolute worst case scenario (meaning you try to get FP for the 9pm show on a day where all AP's are unblocked and it's early on in the show's run). Like igmo said, FP's disappeared much slower on Saturday than they did on Sunday and especially Monday. It's going to be a long time before WoC is a "let's stop by after work today and see it" show, and that's due to it's obvious popularity.