Here now: Tips for Toy Story Land and SDD

[rosiegmendez]

We were at DHS yesterday, Tuesday June 11 and arrived at Toy Story land at about 10:30 am ish for our Toy Story Mania fast pass. Couldn’t get Slinky Dog at 60+1.

Here’s our experience and what we recommend, especially for young families with toddlers and kids:

Go to Toy Story Land in the evening. Make your fast passes for the late evening. It is extremely hot there with no shade. At 10:30 am it was very hot and no breeze. Lots of miserable parents and kids waiting in very long wait times. We went on our fast pass and jetted back to the Poly for a swim. Let your toddlers take a nap at the hotel during the day. Rest them up, head to Toy Story Land in the evening.

For us the park closed at 9, we returned to Toy Story Land at about 7:45 pm and the lines were significantly shorter than earlier in the day and the temps dropped. All the characters were out for photos and the land really comes to life with all the lights. Happy parents and kids all around.

In one hour we took pictures with Jessie (Woody and Buzz were out too), rode Alien Swirling Saucers ride (20 minute wait), and decided to wait for Slinky Dog at 8:30 pm posted wait time was 50 minutes and we did it in 25, timed it on my phone. No joke. We asked and they close the line at park closing time. So as long as you get in line before closing, you are getting on.

Yes it is very, very hot during the day. No you don’t have to rope drop it. Make your fast passes for the evening. Kids can nap during the day. Don’t stress if you can’t get SDD FP, just get in line close to park close. Wait may be shorter than posted time.

I hope this helps our Dis Families!

 

[Kamy04]

My boys were begging for a last ride on Slinky, so that is what we did last night, too. We must have been with you in line. We got in line at 8:30 and got off at 9:01. Kinda bummed we missed getting on AS2 by a minute lol. It was very neat at night and Slinky in the dark was extra fun! It was a great way to end our trip!

People were streaming out of the land at 8:20, probably to get to Fantasmic. That’s when the lines really seemed to drop.

 

[InWonderlandMom]

Thanks for the report! I plan on following this advice in August.

 

[JuliaIsabella]

Thanks for the heads up! I was planning on doing RD for SDD, but now I'll do what you all did.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

Great advice! Thank you!!

 

[Lindscap]

Solid advice! I took my toddler to TSL at 9 am in September, and he hated everything, he was so miserable. Then he got heat exhaustion later in the day even though we left the park by noon! He never got as hot at other parks, and temps were high all week. After he got sick we took it really easy and stuck to evenings out. It was much more pleasant.

 

[Sara_H]

Thank you for the advice! We are heading there in January and I'm not sure about getting a FP for SDD based on the day we will be at HS so this strategy sounds perfect!

 

[Christine]

Very good advice. I have no small children, but last July we went to DHS and was over in TSL and I thought I was going to die of heat stroke. We couldn't get a pass for SDD and I waited in line for about 90 minutes, again feeling like I was going to die. I had to leave the park after that. We had similar ride experiences at AK when we were trying to do FoP without a Fastpass. Park was FABULOUS in the evening and the lines were manageable toward closing time. I've always been a rope-drop person, would get tons of stuff done during the day, but as I've gotten older, i can't take the heat. I'm going to be doing evening touring from now on I think. We've are planning a big extended family trip in September and will have a 2 and 3 year old with us so I think your experience is going to be one that we follow.

 

[figmentedfollies]

Thank you for this! For my upcoming trip in July, we were only able to get 2 SDD fast passes for 3 of us. So we switched to TSM in the evening with more than an hour left in the park. If we hop into line around 8:20 (just in time for Fantasmic! to empty the area), we might even get to ride it twice.

 

[rosiegmendez]

My boys were begging for a last ride on Slinky, so that is what we did last night, too. We must have been with you in line. We got in line at 8:30 and got off at 9:01. Kinda bummed we missed getting on AS2 by a minute lol. It was very neat at night and Slinky in the dark was extra fun! It was a great way to end our trip!

People were streaming out of the land at 8:20, probably to get to Fantasmic. That’s when the lines really seemed to drop.

I agree - Slinky is cool at night and it was a gunner ride than expected! Even my jaded teens loved it!

 

[rosiegmendez]

Thanks for the heads up! I was planning on doing RD for SDD, but now I'll do what you all did.

Definitely avoid the stampede at rope drop. It was leisurely in the evening.

 

[DisLiss]

Great advice! The parks really are lovely in the evenings. Why broil during the hottest part of the day if you don't have to? Glad you had such a nice time!

 

[JuliaIsabella]

rosiegmendez did you try the same strategy at AK for FOP? Just curious, it should work too.

 

[rosiegmendez]

rosiegmendez did you try the same strategy at AK for FOP? Just curious, it should work too.

We are at AK today and have fast passes for FOP shortly but will try it again tonight near park close and report back!

 

[Christine]

rosiegmendez did you try the same strategy at AK for FOP? Just curious, it should work too.

That strategy worked for me last July. I did it a number of times.

 

[eeyoreland]

rosiegmendez did you try the same strategy at AK for FOP? Just curious, it should work too.

We did this last year and it worked great. The posted time was 45 minutes, but honestly, I think we were through in 20.

 

[jbehr12]

My boys were begging for a last ride on Slinky, so that is what we did last night, too. We must have been with you in line. We got in line at 8:30 and got off at 9:01. Kinda bummed we missed getting on AS2 by a minute lol. It was very neat at night and Slinky in the dark was extra fun! It was a great way to end our trip!

People were streaming out of the land at 8:20, probably to get to Fantasmic. That’s when the lines really seemed to drop.

During EMH last summer in August I remember riding SDD just before 1 am. It was absolutely awesome.

 

[EsseG]

There's something about the configuration of TSL that makes it much hotter than the rest of HS. You notice it as soon as you walk through the gate. It's like stepping into a hot metal bowl with no air circulation. All the crowd noise (and "body essence") just echoes round and round. Plus the walkways are narrow and there are no stores or restaurants sending cool AC out through open doors. Even the Mickey bars melted faster. No one in our party, 4 adults and 4 children, wanted to return after FP'ing SD.

 

[rosiegmendez]

We are at AK today and have fast passes for FOP shortly but will try it again tonight near park close and report back!

FOP Update: we walked into the line at 9:45 (10:00 park close) posted wait time was 130 minutes, we were on the ride in 50.

 

[nalacat]

We were at DHS yesterday, Tuesday June 11 and arrived at Toy Story land at about 10:30 am ish for our Toy Story Mania fast pass. Couldn’t get Slinky Dog at 60+1.

Here’s our experience and what we recommend, especially for young families with toddlers and kids:

Go to Toy Story Land in the evening. Make your fast passes for the late evening. It is extremely hot there with no shade. At 10:30 am it was very hot and no breeze. Lots of miserable parents and kids waiting in very long wait times. We went on our fast pass and jetted back to the Poly for a swim. Let your toddlers take a nap at the hotel during the day. Rest them up, head to Toy Story Land in the evening.

For us the park closed at 9, we returned to Toy Story Land at about 7:45 pm and the lines were significantly shorter than earlier in the day and the temps dropped. All the characters were out for photos and the land really comes to life with all the lights. Happy parents and kids all around.

In one hour we took pictures with Jessie (Woody and Buzz were out too), rode Alien Swirling Saucers ride (20 minute wait), and decided to wait for Slinky Dog at 8:30 pm posted wait time was 50 minutes and we did it in 25, timed it on my phone. No joke. We asked and they close the line at park closing time. So as long as you get in line before closing, you are getting on.

Yes it is very, very hot during the day. No you don’t have to rope drop it. Make your fast passes for the evening. Kids can nap during the day. Don’t stress if you can’t get SDD FP, just get in line close to park close. Wait may be shorter than posted time.

I hope this helps our Dis Families!

I agree this is a great strategy, but it can back-fire too. We followed this same plan in February. The park closed at 8. We ride Saucers at 7 with a 20 minute wait. Got in line for Slinky about 7:30. At 7:50, the ride went down while we were still in line. At 7:55, the CMs came around and told everyone it would not be back up that evening and to head out. That was our only HS day and we did not have a hopper so we were out of luck. Just kept in mind that if you wait til the end to ride, this is an unfortunate possibility. We were pretty disappointed to miss the ride and also that we gave up our last 1/2 hour waiting for it when we could have ridden something else. It can be a gamble to wait til the end.