As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
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To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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We've never been to CA before and are trying to plan a trip for the first weekend in Dec. We will be traveling with our 2 and 4 year old boys.
Someone please explain WoC..
Is this something my young boys will enjoy?
Is it worth it to get a dining package?
Where are the best places to watch?
Are there FP available?
I'm leaning towards getting the dining package as my kids won't be able to wait around for long periods of time.........
Fastpasses are available, as far as I'm aware, but we went with the dining package and thought that was well worth getting. If you're likely to eat at one of the restaurants included anyway, then in my eyes, it really is the way to go. The viewing area we had was dead centre and just superb.
Okay, so if I get a dining package how do I know when the World of Color will begin so that we are at the restaurant at the right time?? I must admit this has me baffled! Which restaurants have the dining package? Is this at night? I have three little ones and I don't know how late they can keep their eyes open.
Fastpasses are available, as far as I'm aware, but we went with the dining package and thought that was well worth getting. If you're likely to eat at one of the restaurants included anyway, then in my eyes, it really is the way to go. The viewing area we had was dead centre and just superb.
We also got the dining package and believe it was worth it as well. We enjoyed the show and the viewing area was amazing!!! It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Have fun!!!
Okay, so if I get a dining package how do I know when the World of Color will begin so that we are at the restaurant at the right time??
You will not watch World of Color from the restaurant when you are dining. :
When you book a dining package, you'd make a reservation for the time you'd like to dine at and at the end of your meal, you will be given passes to enter the viewing section that is reserved for folks who had dining packages.
There are several different, color-coded sections around the plaza facing Paradise Pier and the lagoon where World of Color takes place. The pass you are given should indicate the color of the section you need to return to and the time of the show you have a pass for. The shows are typically at 8:00 and 9:15pm or 9:00 and 10:15pm (it depends on the time of year you're visiting and what the park hours are).
There are a few different options as far as viewing goes. The first is the World of Color Dining Package, which you can book at either Wine Country Trattoria or Carthay Circle Restaurant.
Wine Country Trattoria offers fixed price WOC packages at lunch at dinner (lunch reservations between 11:30am-2:30pm and dinner reservations between 4:00-7:00pm get you viewing for the first show of the night, lunches from 2:40-3:30pm and dinners 7:05-8:30pm get you second show viewing). Carthay Circle reservations before 7:00pm will get you first show viewing and reservations between 7:00-9:00pm get you second show viewing. Packages offer either an appetizer and entree OR an entree and dessert.
The second option is a World of Color Picnic. You order cold picnic meals in advance of your trip for the day you'll be at DCA. When you order them, you will be able to choose if you'd like to see the first or second show of the night. You can pick the meals up on your reserved day anytime between 11:30am and an hour before your show starts. When you pick up your meal, you will be given a FastPass type ticket for a reserved viewing area. While the ticket you get with the picnic "guarantees" you a viewing spot, the sections are first come, first served so if you want a closer vantage point (where you may very well get wet, btw) you'd need to come early and sit for a while to keep your spot saved.
The third option is the FastPass, which you can get at the Grizzly River Run FastPass machines as soon as the park opens. This is a very popular option though so the lines can get VERY long and FP's can (and do!) run out fast.
Another option is to just not book any meals or get FastPasses and attempt to watch the show from outside of the viewing areas (all of the areas are roped off and you will not be allowed entry into any of the sections unless you have a FastPass or dining package ticket) but the vantage points for that are pretty . . . meh. My parents went with us a couple of summers ago and while we opted to try the picnic option (which was new at the time) they decided to just "chance it" as they don't like to make any plans when it comes to Disney trips (yikes!). They ended up standing on Paradise Pier watching the show from BEHIND the water screens (as the entire area in front is sectioned off) and said the viewing was pretty lousy.
If it were me, and I didn't want to have to sit around and wait forever for the show to start (especially with kids!), I would opt for the dinner package.
Which color coded section has the best view?
Do you get to pick the section? or does it depend on where you dine at?
How early do you have to arrive to get a good view? My kids won't be able to sit for more than 20 min or so.
Which color coded section has the best view?
Do you get to pick the section? or does it depend on where you dine at?
How early do you have to arrive to get a good view? My kids won't be able to sit for more than 20 min or so.
Thanks!
You don't get to pick the section. : Whichever way you go, the FastPass or dining package ticket you are given will indicate which section you will be in, which show you will be seeing and the window of "return time" to enter the viewing area. There are just three viewing sections now: Picnic meals (and some FastPasses) will be given tickets for the yellow section, Wine Country Trattoria LUNCH and some other FastPasses will be given tickets for the blue section and the dining package DINNERS will be given tickets for the "center section" marked PREFERRED VIEWING.
The front of the VIP area in the middle is for celebrities, Disney execs, Club 33 members, etc while the rest of the VIP area is for those with Dining Package tickets.
You are allowed entry into the viewing sections no earlier than an hour in advance and can enter anytime in that hour up to showtime. In busy times of year, like the summer, I would suggest arriving at least 30-45 minutes in advance if you'd like a great spot but in slower times, you should be OK with arriving 20-30 minutes prior to your show. If worse comes to worst and you need to take the kids for a walk, you can leave one person there with your stuff spread out to save your spot and take a walk for a few minutes. Just make sure you have your viewing section tickets with you when you come back or you will NOT be allowed back in.
I'm going to give you as honest an answer as I can based on my experiences and the age of my children.
We were fortunate enough in the last couple of years that we were able to visit DLR several times. We visited May 2011, December 2011, March 2012 and May 2012. At very different times of the year, in other words. I sorta did my homework beforehand and sent DH off to get the FP the first time. We got the Blue section, showed up maybe 1/2 hour before the show, and was about 2-3 people behind a railing. The various sections are set up where the closest viewing spot is a little lower than the one behind it and there are rails to separate those different sections of different heights (in some cases, there are steps). My girls were 3 and not quite 2 at that time. Honestly, halfway thru they lost interest in the show. The second time, same thing pretty much, Blue FPs, but we thought we could squeeze in one last ride on Toy Story Mania and found ourselves running back to even get to the Blue section before the show started maybe 5 minutes later. Even though we still saw the show, we were at the very back of the crowd, couldn't see anything that was happening down on the water and couldn't see about 1/3 of the water screens. I think my then 2 year old actually wound up falling asleep before the show was over. The third time we showed up a little earlier than the first to pretty much the same results where we weren't the closest people to the railings and therefore, still had a decent but obstructed view. -- And might I add it always seems I get stuck behind someone wearing literally a Goofy hat or puts their kid on their shoulders -- After that, and in planning for our 4th trip (what I knew would be our last for some time) I read several message boards where people were saying if you wanted to be at the front of a section, you needed to line up 90 minutes before the show. Well, with 2 young children, there is NO WAY they will stay in a holding area for that amount of time. So, I went the route of doing a WoC dining package at Ariel's Grotto. Honestly...it wasn't much better than any other time that we'd gotten the Blue FPs and showed up half an hour early. And, once again, while the girls -- not yet 3 and 4.5 -- enjoyed some aspects of the show, I think they would have been just as happy riding another ride or looking in the shops at toys. We always do afternoon breaks and the girls had taken naps in every case. But, that late in the day, they are often getting too tired to really enjoy much.
I hope you have a better experience that I!
I'm going to give you as honest an answer as I can based on my experiences and the age of my children.
We were fortunate enough in the last couple of years that we were able to visit DLR several times. We visited May 2011, December 2011, March 2012 and May 2012. At very different times of the year, in other words. I sorta did my homework beforehand and sent DH off to get the FP the first time. We got the Blue section, showed up maybe 1/2 hour before the show, and was about 2-3 people behind a railing. The various sections are set up where the closest viewing spot is a little lower than the one behind it and there are rails to separate those different sections of different heights (in some cases, there are steps). My girls were 3 and not quite 2 at that time. Honestly, halfway thru they lost interest in the show. The second time, same thing pretty much, Blue FPs, but we thought we could squeeze in one last ride on Toy Story Mania and found ourselves running back to even get to the Blue section before the show started maybe 5 minutes later. Even though we still saw the show, we were at the very back of the crowd, couldn't see anything that was happening down on the water and couldn't see about 1/3 of the water screens. I think my then 2 year old actually wound up falling asleep before the show was over. The third time we showed up a little earlier than the first to pretty much the same results where we weren't the closest people to the railings and therefore, still had a decent but obstructed view. -- And might I add it always seems I get stuck behind someone wearing literally a Goofy hat or puts their kid on their shoulders -- After that, and in planning for our 4th trip (what I knew would be our last for some time) I read several message boards where people were saying if you wanted to be at the front of a section, you needed to line up 90 minutes before the show. Well, with 2 young children, there is NO WAY they will stay in a holding area for that amount of time. So, I went the route of doing a WoC dining package at Ariel's Grotto. Honestly...it wasn't much better than any other time that we'd gotten the Blue FPs and showed up half an hour early. And, once again, while the girls -- not yet 3 and 4.5 -- enjoyed some aspects of the show, I think they would have been just as happy riding another ride or looking in the shops at toys. We always do afternoon breaks and the girls had taken naps in every case. But, that late in the day, they are often getting too tired to really enjoy much.
I hope you have a better experience that I!
Thanks so much for your honest response. My boys are 2 and 4 1/2 years. From the responses here, it seems like the dining package is the way to go for the best viewing. But looking at the menus above, I'm not sure if either of those restuarants will work for us due to price and menu selection.
I'm thinking that we will grab a FP and hope for the best, and if the kids aren't interested or if they are too tired, we can just give the FP to someone else to use. (I'm assumming that it's OK to do that?)
I'm thinking that we will grab a FP and hope for the best, and if the kids aren't interested or if they are too tired, we can just give the FP to someone else to use. (I'm assumming that it's OK to do that?)
I prefer to do the dining package as well, since the viewing area is higher up and you can see more of the show. I honestly don't know that I'd invest the time needed to secure a good spot unless one adult could save a spot and the other could bring the kids around 30 minutes before. It is an amazing show, and I love it. I'm not sure little kids would enjoy it as much. When we went this summer, it was much, much less crowded than any other time I've been. Lots of people were hanging out in Carsland. We picked up Fastpasses for the show after noon and had our choice of color areas. We arrived at the viewing area about an hour before the show and were about third row right in the front.
Another thing about getting FPs -- if you stay at one of the Disney properties, you can use the Grand Californian entrance into California Adventures (you have to present your room key prior to entering). Certain days of the week they have extra Magic Hours where the park is open to hotel guests before the general public and by utilizing this, you would have no problem snagging a Blue section FP for WoC. This is what we did every time aside from when we got the WoC Dining pkg at Ariel's grotto. The girls and I would go ride Ariel's Undersea Adventure and send DH off to get the FPs.
We got great Fastpasses in the afternoon on a very busy summer day this August. We had our choice of shows and color sections. It's not as crazy as it was a year ago. Carsland has changed everything.
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