Help Me Get To The Hoop Dee Doo Revue On Time?!

defhermit

Earning My Ears
Joined
Sep 17, 2019
Hello there!
I'm looking forward to my first trip to Disney World in 30 years in about a month (mid November).
In excitement I reserved a seat at Hoop Dee Doo Revue on the night of my arrival before learning how involved travel might be.
My flight is supposed to arrive in Orlando at ~6pm. My reservation is for 8:30pm.
Perhaps naively I assumed 2.5 hours was more than enough to take a Magical Express bus to Pop Century, check in, then take a bus to the Magic Kingdom area, then take the ferry/boat to the theater in Fort Wilderness.
I've since learned through a many helpful facebook group participants that I am cutting it very close, or this is impossible.

I refuse to believe that I can't get to this show on time. If I have to take a Lyft from the airport DIRECTLY to Fort Wilderness, I will.
What should I do? Ideally, I'd like to get on the ME bus after getting off my plane. If that is just unreasonable please let me know. Can you kind of gauge whether you just missed the last bus and/or if the next bus is about to arrive?
I heard that if I take a Lyft or Bus to HDDR it will take me to the general transportation drop off for Fort Wilderness where I'll have to then get on an internal FW shuttle to get to the theater. The ferry/boat from <somewhere> takes me right close to the theater directly, though? Which is a better option for someone like me trying to get there hot off an airplane?
I think I can check in to Pop Century online, or I may have already done so? Skipping that stop will certainly make it easier to make the show on time. I'm already reserved on the ME bus and have gotten luggage tags for it with my resort name printed on them. If I put them on my bags, but jump on a Lyft to get to the show quicker, will my bags wind up at Pop Century?

Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for reading.
 
I asked this exact questions before my last trip.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/cutting-it-too-close-for-magical-express.3767859/
Answers were overwhelmingly that it was cutting it way too close. I ended up rescheduling. My flight ended up arriving around 20 minutes early. If I took an Uber from the airport to my resort and a Minnie Van to HDDR I would have made it. That being said, it would have still been rushed. I did it a different night and enjoyed it more.

If you're dead set on this your absolute safest bet is to not check any luggage and take a Minnie Van from the airport to HDDR. This will cost $150. A Minnie Van is the only option that can go right up to Pioneer Hall, where HDDR takes place.
 
To me it makes no sense to put yourself through this type of stress on arrival night. The plane could be late and there is nothing you can do about that. I'd move the show to a different night. Arrival night is a great time to check out whatever quick serve place you'd wanted to try.
 
I can never recommend booking a use it or lose it ressie for arrival day...under ANY circumstance. That said, you may have tons of expendable income & could not care less if you actually see the show & would never be stressed out while making your way there in a hurry. I just don't particularly like starting a trip in hurry.

Since you haven't been in a while (i.e. haven't seen & done everything at WDW), I would lay very low the first evening. Eat dinner at or very near your hotel, unpack & settle in your room, maybe make your way to Disney Springs if you feel up to it, go to bed early & be ready to start the first morning bright & early.

Happy Planning!
 


Hello there!
I'm looking forward to my first trip to Disney World in 30 years in about a month (mid November).
In excitement I reserved a seat at Hoop Dee Doo Revue on the night of my arrival before learning how involved travel might be.
My flight is supposed to arrive in Orlando at ~6pm. My reservation is for 8:30pm.
Perhaps naively I assumed 2.5 hours was more than enough to take a Magical Express bus to Pop Century, check in, then take a bus to the Magic Kingdom area, then take the ferry/boat to the theater in Fort Wilderness.
I've since learned through a many helpful facebook group participants that I am cutting it very close, or this is impossible.

I refuse to believe that I can't get to this show on time. If I have to take a Lyft from the airport DIRECTLY to Fort Wilderness, I will.
What should I do? Ideally, I'd like to get on the ME bus after getting off my plane. If that is just unreasonable please let me know. Can you kind of gauge whether you just missed the last bus and/or if the next bus is about to arrive?
I heard that if I take a Lyft or Bus to HDDR it will take me to the general transportation drop off for Fort Wilderness where I'll have to then get on an internal FW shuttle to get to the theater. The ferry/boat from <somewhere> takes me right close to the theater directly, though? Which is a better option for someone like me trying to get there hot off an airplane?
I think I can check in to Pop Century online, or I may have already done so? Skipping that stop will certainly make it easier to make the show on time. I'm already reserved on the ME bus and have gotten luggage tags for it with my resort name printed on them. If I put them on my bags, but jump on a Lyft to get to the show quicker, will my bags wind up at Pop Century?

Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for reading.
Doesn't matter how many plans and backup plans you make, what if your plane is delayed?
Are you going to have any carryon luggage? That will affect what you do if you run late.
If everything works out correctly, you should be fine. However, any time dealing with long travel (whether flying or driving), the amount of things that could go wrong greatly increase.

DME is supposed to drop you at your resort 90 minutes from getting off the plane. So if you get off the plane at 6, you should be arriving at Pop at 7:30. That allows an hour for your to get to HDDR. You'll HAVE to take ride share or cab to FW, then internal transportation to HDDR. If anything goes wrong, you're late.

I agree with rescheduling.
 
Why? Why must you do this and not go another night? It’s cutting way too close and you risk loosing your money as you have already prepaid. I agree the best way to do it if you insist on doing it is paying for the mini van from the airport. Too many variables to take magical express. I’ve gotten lucky and not had to wait very long on the bus, but you never know. Personally I’d go another night.
 
I wouldn't do it. Planes get delayed all the time...weather, mechanical issues, etc.
 


If you go forward with this, you'll have to have contingency plans:
Best case - you land early, are able to take ME to POP and get checked in. If you have enough time, I'd take rideshare to Contemporary or MK and boat over from there. Probably a little quicker than rideshare to FW and internal transportation.
Worst (but still do-able) case - you have to rideshare direct from airport. If money is no object, Minnie Vans will get you directly. Otherwise to Contemporary of MK as mentioned above.

The problem is that once you find out a flight is delayed, it's too late and you can't cancel or refund so it's money and experience lost. We did the Villains After Hours at MK this past summer and ended up being delayed and got in about 1.5 hours late. It wasn't cheap and it went from an exciting first night to one that felt rushed and less enjoyable because of it. Lesson learned I wouldn't do that again on arrival night. I might feel different if we had a very early arrival but nothing that would cut it so close.
 
To me it makes no sense to put yourself through this type of stress on arrival night. The plane could be late and there is nothing you can do about that. I'd move the show to a different night. Arrival night is a great time to check out whatever quick serve place you'd wanted to try.
Agree 100%. I don't know where this comes from, but I increasingly see people freaking out to make some reservation soon after their scheduled arrival and researching all sorts of ground transportation options.

Getting from MCO to your reservation is NOT what you should be worried about. The most likely problem you will encounter is NOT slow transportation on the ground, but a delayed flight. And that is especially true if you are traveling in the afternoon with a connecting flight -- that's a very high probability of late arrival.

Late arrivals are not a big deal normally, but if you compound the felony by counting on doing something immediately on arrival, you are just begging for disappointment.

Relax. Schedule sensibly. ENJOY your Disney vacation!
 
I wouldn't do it. On our last trip our plane was delayed over 3 hours. We had been hoping to make it to Epcot for a few hours and had great FastPasses, but it was impossible. I always plan something and hope it will work out, but never something we have to pay for. We're usually late or really exhausted by the time we make it there.
 
I wouldn't do it. Planes get delayed all the time...weather, mechanical issues, etc.

Agree with the above. I would definitely change the reservation. We have not only been to Hoop several times and it's honestly 'challenging' to get there but Orlando is the Lightning Capital of the U.S. (we've been told by PILOTS many times) and we have not been able to land numerous times (including circling so much we had to land in TAMPA to refuel plus another time circle over Panama City Beach air space (instead of MCO).

Even IF they can land at MCO, they are not allowed to take the luggage off the plane if the lightning is within a certain amount of miles to MCO. Been there,, done that.

Change the reservation.
 
Argh. I don't like what I'm hearing but I guess I'll listen.

Do I automatically get my ~$65 bucks back if I click this 'cancel reservation' button? Or do I need to do something to get a refund?
 
Argh. I don't like what I'm hearing but I guess I'll listen.

Do I automatically get my ~$65 bucks back if I click this 'cancel reservation' button? Or do I need to do something to get a refund?

You'll get your money refunded automatically
 
If you have enough time, I'd take rideshare to Contemporary or MK and boat over from there.
Only MinjieVans can drive directly to MK. Contemporary would work, although it might not be a while lot faster than rideshare to the Outpost, then internal bus.
but Orlando is the Lightning Capital of the U.S.
Very true, but less likely in November.
 
Echoing everyone else's delay comments, we landed early last November, around 6pm. We then taxiied for 25 minutes (yes, I timed it). By the time we got to the gate, it was past our scheduled arrival time. It was never clear why it took so long to get to a gate. (We were on American.) Then we still had to get off the plane and walk to baggage/transportation.

So even with an on time departure, there could be a delay in leaving the airport.

Could you make it? Yes, it's possible. Will you be late or miss most of it? Very likely.
 
Argh. I don't like what I'm hearing but I guess I'll listen.

Do I automatically get my ~$65 bucks back if I click this 'cancel reservation' button? Or do I need to do something to get a refund?

A few years ago I booked HDDR and needed to reschedule and as others have said it was automatic.

It might take a few days to see it get credited back to your card though. That's normal.

With your timing even if I was staying at The Fort I don't think I would book HDDR for that arrival time.
 

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