SDMT - what did i miss?

[sponica]

Oh good I'm not the only one who shrugs at that ride....I don't see the need to a) waste a FP on it without kids or B) wait in a long standby line without kids (been there done that).

Next trip my daughter will be over the 38 inch threshold, so maybe we'll give it a go?

 

[Peppeperoni]

First time I rode in 2015 I thought it was just “ok”. I rode on a solo trip this past Halloween night and I enjoyed it much better the second time!

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

I enjoy SDD much more. 7DMT is fun thematically and has beautiful animatronics, but the "coaster" part of it is insanely short. It doesn't have a coaster feel at all to me. I didn't ride it until this past January and even after reading countless reports of how short the ride was, I was surprised by how short it really is. I would have been upset if we waited standby. It's also killer on the knees and I'm only 5'8". That being said-we will pick up FP when they're available because my son loves it.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Just finished our trip to WDW and the only ride i could not get a FP for was sdmt.

Nada at my 60 day mark.

Wait times were always 90+ and i wasn't going to wait that long.

What did i miss?

What are the FP strategies for next time?

you missed a great ride. lots of fun and the kind of ride that makes Disney, Disney.

just book a FP+ earlier, they aren't hard to get 30 or so days before your trip.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I was disappointed to read so many DISers go....that's it? I think though, because of my son and how he's just now starting to ride coasters again, this will be a good start for him. He did BTMRR at 3 years old and it didn't phase him an ounce. His mother however was screaming like a little girl in the seat behind him and his daddy. We did Barnstormer when he was 7 and he was "okay" on that one. Didn't really like or hate it, he was just meh. I showed him videos of Mine Train and Expedition Everest and Big Thunder and he says he wants to do all three on our June trip!

 

[Gentry2004]

I would also add a 3rd reason - the 38” height requirement makes it a spectacular first “big” ride for the littler kids. Still need 2 more inches for BTMRR.

I enjoy it a lot. I love the mix of dark ride and family friendly coaster. And my daughter’s reaction the first time she rode it at 3 years old (in May) was absolutely magical. All smiles the whole time. I’ll remember it forever.

She rode it again in January and was just as thrilled as the first time she went on it. It’s rare that a new WDW ride feels like an instant classic to me. It usually takes more time. But SDMT is definitely an instant classic for me.

I think the bold is a biggie. Now that my kids are taller and thrill-seekers, they will gladly sacrifice a 7DMT FP+ for another ride on Space or Thunder. Its not even a question.

 

[Randomsoulshine]

We aren’t huge fans. Would much rather ride Big Thunder Mountain twice than ride SDMT. We always skip it because we won’t waste a fast pass for it. My kids are over ten years old though. My daughter was always mad they got rid of Snow Whites Scary Adventure ride.

 

[WaterLinds]

SDMT is superior THEMATICALLY to SDD because of the setting, animatronics, the mine, etc. SDD is superior RIDE-wise but not thematically. BTMR is superior to both of them -- All just IMO, of course.

We had a FP for SDMT last month, which I got on 60+3, however, during our FP window the ride went down. The kids weren't going to wait in standby lines until the ride opened back up so I bit the bullet and used up the Anytime FP that it turned into for something else... the ride didn't come back up for at least 2 hours -- then the standby line was insane and I never was able to get another FP for it for the whole rest of the week (we had an additional MK day later that week). So we missed it. A bit of a bummer because the 38" requirement meant all 3 of my kids could ride, but we did lots and lots of other stuff all week so not an incredible loss.

If you can, rope drop it, or go right at closing -- we were not able to do either because by our 2nd MK day the kids were waking up later in the morning and not making it quite as long at night either.

Just FYI, you don’t have to use up an anytime FP before booking your 4th+ FP. So if that happens again and you want to go on booking FPs for other things, go ahead and save that anytime for when the ride comes back up. Once it converts to anytime, it doesn’t count as one of your original 3 anymore, the original one has effectively been used.

 

[firefly_ris]

Just FYI, you don’t have to use up an anytime FP before booking your 4th+ FP. So if that happens again and you want to go on booking FPs for other things, go ahead and save that anytime for when the ride comes back up. Once it converts to anytime, it doesn’t count as one of your original 3 anymore, the original one has effectively been used.

Thank you!! Now I'm racking my brain... I can't remember if my SDMT pass was my 2nd or 3rd pre-book for that day... I had Big Thunder but can't remember what the timing was now. Regardless, I think that I was unaware of that, and probably could have used that to our advantage. Oh well -- but hopefully this info could help someone else scrolling through here.

 

[WaterLinds]

Thank you!! Now I'm racking my brain... I can't remember if my SDMT pass was my 2nd or 3rd pre-book for that day... I had Big Thunder but can't remember what the timing was now. Regardless, I think that I was unaware of that, and probably could have used that to our advantage. Oh well -- but hopefully this info could help someone else scrolling through here.

Ah yeah, that’s only helpful if it’s your third, I guess, I didn’t think about that. It went down during our FP window, too, and it was our 2nd, so it did almost mess things up because it wasn’t time yet to use the next and I wasn’t having much luck moving the time up on the 3rd. We got lucky, though, we took a bathroom break and had a snack, and then peeked over and saw it running—the app still showed it as being down, but sure enough, it was good to go.

 

[Redarrow5150]

Love the details of the ride. Sure the roller coaster in itself is average but the details in and around the ride are top notch. Also the ride is IMO the smoothest of all roller coasters at WDW.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Love the details of the ride. Sure the roller coaster in itself is average but the details in and around the ride are top notch. Also the ride is IMO the smoothest of all roller coasters at WDW.

It definitely has that going for it. I was surprised by how much more vibration Slinky Dog Dash already has compared to just a few months earlier. 7DMT has been around a lot longer and is still smoother.

 

[b5sgqueen]

I got to ride it after breakfast at BOG before RD crowds came. I thought it was cute and fun, but definitely not worth the huge waits it usually has. I think the themed rides like JC and HM are much cooler.
I thought quite a bit about this and, after coming home, I think if I did Disney again, I would focus on those themed rides and the space itself(like walking through TSL), but coasters with large waits aren't worth it because we have a six flags in easy distance that I can get those rides on.
The rocking cars are kind of cool feature, but I think you made the right choice. The detailed areas you go through are cool, but not worth a 90 minute wait.

 

[mousefan73]

The theming is cool and at the top you have a great view of fantasyland.. and especially cool when fireworks. The ride itself as far a thrills go, is nothing you missed. BMTTR is much better.