arcadiandj
Later in life Dis'er!
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2015
So this is my second report on a "briefer" trip to DLR. My wife had a work trip to a site very close to DL, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to take a day off, pick her up on Friday, and for us to enjoy Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday morning at DL. Lessons learned:
WOW! You can have A LOT OF FUN at Disneyland in a short time! We had a marvelous Friday evening at DL and DCA! We were able to have our first experience of the Haunted Mansion without the holiday overlay-which was a very interesting experience: I felt like I'd already seen it (and I had not) because of YouTube videos and all of the lore, and we really enjoyed it-while at the same time I was also able to appreciate the holiday overlay. So, that alone may have been worth the price of admission. Then we went over to have a meal at the Carthay circle lounge, rode Mike and Sully to the Rescue, Little Mermaid, and then went to stalk our favorite Disney cat: Francisco-who did not make an appearance. Then we went back to our hotel-can you imagine a better Friday evening? Let me know in the comment section
On Saturday, we were there for rope drop, got a fast pass for Hyper Space Mountain (and Astro Blasters), rode Matterhorn Mountain and Storybook boat ride, and then took a fatal turn into Darth by Chocolate, when we missed our fast pass for Astro Blasters (and made the only mar on the trip-because we totally lost track of time and weren't able to ride Astro Blasters). We took another ride on HM, went over to POC, climbed Tarzan's tree house, and then rode the monorail to downtown Disney where we walked over to Trader Sam's and waited a few minutes for it to open. We had an amazing lunch and drinks (I love that place!) and then walked over to DCA, got a fast pass for Soarin', rode their rides with shorter lines (Symphony swings, the Golden Zephyr, Mater, and watched the Zootopia promo). Francisco made an appearance on that day but snubbed my wife-which was tough, but we are cat people and understand they can be fickle with their affection (she hoped he would remember her from previous interactions). We walked around Cars Land, rode Soarin', and then I think we got in line at the Cover Bar for dinner (an hour and our longest wait). We love the lobster nachos and thought their quesadilla rolls were fine. I was surprised that I didn't really like their zombie or mai tai compared to Trader Sam's, but you have to love their décor and the views! We attempted to catch BTMRR during the fireworks, but were too late, rode HM again, and then called it a day.
On Sunday we did rope drop at DCA, got a FP for RSR (I found my first hidden mickey in the FP line and wasn't even looking-my wife is an expert, has found many, so we had a good laugh), then went over to ride TSM, Goofy, looked for Francisco (no luck), had a chili verde/chicken cone (Yummy! We wanted to try the chili/cheese, but decided we had had enough to eat for the trip) rode RSR, one more Mater, and called in a morning (it was 11:00).
There were some crowds, but I think we've found that with strategic fast past usage, use of the charades smart phone game for longer lines (POC, Storybook boats, and the Cover bar), and then leaving the park for lunch during the peak hours, we were able to ride everything we wanted (except Astro Blasters-our bad, going over to the dark side and all). Truly, we were exhausted after our "briefer" trip, and now are beginning to think a 3 day trip would be "the sweet spot." We will try a longer WDW trip in 2017, but probably won't do a longer DLR trip again. Ok, enough for now. Again, hopefully others can learn from our experience. Cheers!
WOW! You can have A LOT OF FUN at Disneyland in a short time! We had a marvelous Friday evening at DL and DCA! We were able to have our first experience of the Haunted Mansion without the holiday overlay-which was a very interesting experience: I felt like I'd already seen it (and I had not) because of YouTube videos and all of the lore, and we really enjoyed it-while at the same time I was also able to appreciate the holiday overlay. So, that alone may have been worth the price of admission. Then we went over to have a meal at the Carthay circle lounge, rode Mike and Sully to the Rescue, Little Mermaid, and then went to stalk our favorite Disney cat: Francisco-who did not make an appearance. Then we went back to our hotel-can you imagine a better Friday evening? Let me know in the comment section
On Saturday, we were there for rope drop, got a fast pass for Hyper Space Mountain (and Astro Blasters), rode Matterhorn Mountain and Storybook boat ride, and then took a fatal turn into Darth by Chocolate, when we missed our fast pass for Astro Blasters (and made the only mar on the trip-because we totally lost track of time and weren't able to ride Astro Blasters). We took another ride on HM, went over to POC, climbed Tarzan's tree house, and then rode the monorail to downtown Disney where we walked over to Trader Sam's and waited a few minutes for it to open. We had an amazing lunch and drinks (I love that place!) and then walked over to DCA, got a fast pass for Soarin', rode their rides with shorter lines (Symphony swings, the Golden Zephyr, Mater, and watched the Zootopia promo). Francisco made an appearance on that day but snubbed my wife-which was tough, but we are cat people and understand they can be fickle with their affection (she hoped he would remember her from previous interactions). We walked around Cars Land, rode Soarin', and then I think we got in line at the Cover Bar for dinner (an hour and our longest wait). We love the lobster nachos and thought their quesadilla rolls were fine. I was surprised that I didn't really like their zombie or mai tai compared to Trader Sam's, but you have to love their décor and the views! We attempted to catch BTMRR during the fireworks, but were too late, rode HM again, and then called it a day.
On Sunday we did rope drop at DCA, got a FP for RSR (I found my first hidden mickey in the FP line and wasn't even looking-my wife is an expert, has found many, so we had a good laugh), then went over to ride TSM, Goofy, looked for Francisco (no luck), had a chili verde/chicken cone (Yummy! We wanted to try the chili/cheese, but decided we had had enough to eat for the trip) rode RSR, one more Mater, and called in a morning (it was 11:00).
There were some crowds, but I think we've found that with strategic fast past usage, use of the charades smart phone game for longer lines (POC, Storybook boats, and the Cover bar), and then leaving the park for lunch during the peak hours, we were able to ride everything we wanted (except Astro Blasters-our bad, going over to the dark side and all). Truly, we were exhausted after our "briefer" trip, and now are beginning to think a 3 day trip would be "the sweet spot." We will try a longer WDW trip in 2017, but probably won't do a longer DLR trip again. Ok, enough for now. Again, hopefully others can learn from our experience. Cheers!
