But Pandora wasn't even open yet.
We rode SDD 8 x Aliens 2 x and TSMM once. We met Buzz and got breakfast. We had an 8am slot and got back there at 7:30 and it was a ghost town.
While I don't think it's fair the masses came in before 9am I would think most APs had moved on from SDD.
I know Pandora wasn't open. But my time in Pandora was not encroached by the previous time slots nor rope drop guests. I had the full amount of time from start to finish.
Disney advertised to AP Holders (many of us who have to travel a long distance to arrive) a solid hour with just a limited number of guests in a new land. They did not deliver. It doesn't matter what some folks got done or didn't get done, it doesn't change that they did not fulfill what the offered.
They never emailed 8 am folks and said "hey, you can show up any time even 7 am" ... "hey, everyone gets to stay the whole two hours if they want" .... "just know your time is really only 40 minutes" ........... folks on here knew if they read this thread, but we are a small fraction of Disney guests and probably a small minority of AP holders.
So at the core, Disney did not fulfill what was promised. It is great others are happy with the result, and it's okay that I am disappointed that Disney did not stick to what they offered. Certainly not the first time they didn't follow up with what was supposed to happen and won't be the last.
Yeah, I was glad that I knew I could arrive early (thanks to DISBoards). We ended up having way more time than we really knew what to do with.
I will say, this AM was materially less people than the Pandora AP preview we attended. Much more intimate and “special” feeling because it was so few people. With the exception of the rope drop folks eating into published time, I found this more organized, stress-free, and fun. The entering an empty park when the sun isn’t even up yet vs Pandora/afternoon/already crowded park were obviously different situations so not totally apples to apples.
I guess not really fair comparisons overall as this was three rides and characters vs Pandora which was just two rides and a cool land, but my overall satisfaction level was higher with this event vs Pandora.
Caveat all of the above in that I was traveling with a 4 year old who is totally into the land, hence one of the reasons I felt this AM was a success.
Very glad you were happy and it would have been special with a 4 year old.
I've been in an empty DHS (EMM) and loved it ... and we got to wander a bit further then.
I think the satisfaction with Pandora was it was unseen before, highly anticipated, so different, so unique, so WOW and we were able to take in all the details of the land without worrying about the other groups or the public. We had zero waits for anything at all, we had a pick of seats to eat, we could enjoy the land and take pictures without people everywhere.
TSL is open, nothing new, one ride old, nothing to try since we've been a few times, looks pretty much like all the other TSL .......... so to make the effort to go somewhere I had been, I wanted what was advertised. Oh well, no big ...