April 2017 check in thread, come in and chat!

[otten]

Day after tomorrow!

 

[Aurora_Australis]

Mon in DCA and Tues at DL were definitely busier. We tried for the 7am early entry at DL but with the late WOC the night before, we only made it in about 5 mins before rope drop! Which was great though as there was no line to sign DD8 up for Jedi Academy, got through all of Fantasy Land bar PP (which was down and we never made it back. Neither of us get the pull of waiting an hour for anything...) Star Tours then our late Plaza Inn breakfast. DD3 was a little freaked out with each character but by the end, she and Pinocchio were k8ssing each other on the nose.

Did some more, stayed til around 2pm but it was just sooo chockers. Waits around 30min but big thick crowds. Came back for dinner at Cafe Orleans then more rides, fireworks were on for the first time in a few nights and then home. Sunday was definitely more magical with empty streets and walkons but we ticked a whole bunch of boxes with shows and dining yesterday.

 

[maleficent55]

Two more sleeps before we start our journey!
Saturday we will finally arrive after a pit stop in San Francisco.
We have dinner reservations for Ralph Brennan's Jazz kitchen Saturday night after we spend time at the dapper day expo and spend some time on the monorail slides at DLH!
Woot woot!!!

 

[hodad]

We went to Disneyland yesterday (4/19), on a whim, while we are visiting family in Orange County. It's been 2 years since I was last there, and in the interim we've gone to WDW 4 times. I can't speak to any other day this week, but it seemed less crowded than an average day at MK. We arrived at 11, after upgrading to a Premier passport (because we're moving to SoCal this summer).

Got an Indian Jones FP, rode Pirates with a 10m wait, ate some beignets, rode Winnie the Pooh with a 5m wait, ate some watermelon, got a Haunted Mansion FP, rode Indiana Jones, got a Dole Whip while waiting for the Tiki Room (avoiding the 50+ people in line for Dole Whips outside the attraction queue), rode Haunted Mansion, ate some cotton candy, got a Star Wars FP, rode Nemo, took the Monorail to Disney Springs for walk-up 4pm dinner at Ralph Brennan's, walked back to the park, rode Star Wars, looked for hidden mickeys in Toontown, ate a churro, rode Alice in Wonderland, and watched the electric parade at 8:30. Out of the park and watching fireworks from our car at 9:30. The longest waits were for Nemo and the Monorail, both about 30m.

The very helpful CM at the photo store explained how I had to email an office to get photopass connected to my Premier AP because the barcodes are a different length, so I'll do that today.

 

[maleficent55]

We went to Disneyland yesterday (4/19), on a whim, while we are visiting family in Orange County. It's been 2 years since I was last there, and in the interim we've gone to WDW 4 times. I can't speak to any other day this week, but it seemed less crowded than an average day at MK. We arrived at 11, after upgrading to a Premier passport (because we're moving to SoCal this summer).

Got an Indian Jones FP, rode Pirates with a 10m wait, ate some beignets, rode Winnie the Pooh with a 5m wait, ate some watermelon, got a Haunted Mansion FP, rode Indiana Jones, got a Dole Whip while waiting for the Tiki Room (avoiding the 50+ people in line for Dole Whips outside the attraction queue), rode Haunted Mansion, ate some cotton candy, got a Star Wars FP, rode Nemo, took the Monorail to Disney Springs for walk-up 4pm dinner at Ralph Brennan's, walked back to the park, rode Star Wars, looked for hidden mickeys in Toontown, ate a churro, rode Alice in Wonderland, and watched the electric parade at 8:30. Out of the park and watching fireworks from our car at 9:30. The longest waits were for Nemo and the Monorail, both about 30m.

The very helpful CM at the photo store explained how I had to email an office to get photopass connected to my Premier AP because the barcodes are a different length, so I'll do that today.

what a magical sounding day!!! Welcome to California

 

[2princesses*Mom]

Is it just me, or is the app not working for wait times in DLR today? They come up for DCA...

 

[hodad]

Is it just me, or is the app not working for wait times in DLR today? They come up for DCA...

When I was there yesterday it took about a minute for the times to appear on the app. It was slower than the WDW one, for sure.

 

[Aladora]

Is it just me, or is the app not working for wait times in DLR today? They come up for DCA...

It was working earlier today but by 11ish it was down for us.

We are well on our way to doing every single attraction at both DL and DCA this trip! In DL, we have 5 left I think (carousel, Dumbo, Teacups, Pooh and Splash) and at DCA there are 4 (Screamin', Mickey's Wheel of Terror, Luigi's and Grizzly). I expect we will be able to knock all of them off tomorrow before we leave Saturday.

 

[lvdis]

We arrive on Saturday morning, just 2 more days!

I was just trying to double-check the park hours and entertainment times on the Disneyland website and suddenly none of the days show parade or fireworks times, including today. When I go into day view, which would usually show that, it says Schedule unavailable. When I looked at it a while back, I was sure it showed the MSEP happening twice a night (8:30/10:30) while we are there. Hopefully that hasn't changed.

 

[Aladora]

We arrive on Saturday morning, just 2 more days!

I was just trying to double-check the park hours and entertainment times on the Disneyland website and suddenly none of the days show parade or fireworks times, including today. When I go into day view, which would usually show that, it says Schedule unavailable. When I looked at it a while back, I was sure it showed the MSEP happening twice a night (8:30/10:30) while we are there. Hopefully that hasn't changed.
View attachment 232375

It is so busy here that I can't imagine not having the parade twice!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

My app told me that disneyland times are down right now and that CA times are still working

 

[pepperandchips]

April visitors, I have a question for you! A few weeks back I saw a thread (that of course I can't find now) where someone mentioned that Radiator Springs Racer fastpasses were being distributed during EMH. Does anyone have any firsthand experience of whether that was the case during your recent visit? I know that normally FP are not distributed during EMH but several people confirmed that was happening for RSR at one point, so I am wondering whether that's still the case. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!

 

[Aladora]

April visitors, I have a question for you! A few weeks back I saw a thread (that of course I can't find now) where someone mentioned that Radiator Springs Racer fastpasses were being distributed during EMH. Does anyone have any firsthand experience of whether that was the case during your recent visit? I know that normally FP are not distributed during EMH but several people confirmed that was happening for RSR at one point, so I am wondering whether that's still the case. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!

It was happening when we were there the week after Easter.

 

[MacMama0930]

The app showed RSR FPs available this morning during EMH. I am starting to creep on the app more for our upcoming trip and I do believe it's still happening.

 

[minniecarousel]

Here now! Our room is about as far away from elevators as possible! We're in a Park view room at the Grand Calif. We're almost over Soarin & can see the Guardians structure from our balcony (formerly the Hollywood Hotel). Huge crowds today. We're hoping that Mon & Tues are quieter.

Couldn't get them to issue us a refurbished room - oh well.

 

[marsh0013]

Sorry duplicate post.

 

[dislaney]

April visitors, I have a question for you! A few weeks back I saw a thread (that of course I can't find now) where someone mentioned that Radiator Springs Racer fastpasses were being distributed during EMH. Does anyone have any firsthand experience of whether that was the case during your recent visit? I know that normally FP are not distributed during EMH but several people confirmed that was happening for RSR at one point, so I am wondering whether that's still the case. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!

We were there last week and fastpasses were being distributed during EMH. One of the cast members told us about it when we were entering the park.

 

[Meriweather]

We're too....just arrived. In our room at the Grand. Walked around DCA for awhile....so crowded.
Lots of traffic getting here too. More so than usual.
Hope it is less this week. I know Sundays are always busy.
Off to Napa Rose for dinner tonight

 

[marsh0013]

April visitors, I have a question for you! A few weeks back I saw a thread (that of course I can't find now) where someone mentioned that Radiator Springs Racer fastpasses were being distributed during EMH. Does anyone have any firsthand experience of whether that was the case during your recent visit? I know that normally FP are not distributed during EMH but several people confirmed that was happening for RSR at one point, so I am wondering whether that's still the case. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!

Yes and it was a great advantage! We were at the parks Fri April 21-Tues April 25. We did EMH at DCA Fri and Sun. We immediately grabbed FP which were good for park opening both days. Friday crowds were so low that we rode RSR twice right at the end of EMH, then again with our FP, then got a night time FP as well. RSR and Toy Story were both down during EMH on Sunday unfortunately (I think it was that day!).

We were very surprised how low crowds were Fri-Sun vs Mon and Tues. We got so much done those first few days that it took the sting out a bit of the last 2.

Monday we slept in, headed to DL right after opening, but as we went by the monorail, the CMs told us the regular lines to get in were really bad so we took the monorail, even though it also had a wait. Glad we did as we saw the awful lines! Tuesday was rough. We tried to make EMH at DL at 8am Tuesday, but with checking out, we got to security around 7:40am and it was a disaster. We were at DLH and hadn't seen it so bad the whole trip. We didn't make it in until around 8:30am as the entry lines were super backed up too. We just weren't expecting it since our first 3 days were so very different.

Also found it odd that there was one security tent that said "DL hotel guests only" but they never checked room keys. Thought that would have been nice if they enforced it, at least when it's so busy. But I'm guessing they never do?

We had a great trip and hopefully will make it back in a few years!

(Disboards told me this posted earlier, thought my post was duplicated, no idea what happened)

 

[lvdis]

I found it odd too that the security line marked "Hotel guests only" never checked for hotel keys. Some mornings we found the non-hotel security line to be shorter.