Great half day at DLR 8/4/19

AuntieMe3

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
First time doing a trip report but I had such a fun day yesterday I wanted to share....

On Saturday, my wonderful hubby surprised our daughter and myself with APs. :love1: A little back story...all three of us had the premium AP's for many years in the past, so many years in fact my hubby and daughter kind of got tired of going. :scared: Then almost 10 years ago, our family was affected by another family members medical crisis and I ended up becoming their caregiver, being away from my home 3-4 nights a week, all while working part time and trying to still take care of our little family. It was really rough in the beginning but things settled down after a couple years so I was able to have more free time to myself and was able to get an AP again. I had a deluxe until last year when I let my pass expire and didn't renew after a terrible year with only maybe 3 visits. Recently a couple close friends got passes so for my birthday I asked for a ticket I could upgrade to a pass myself and hubby blew me away with just getting the passes for both of our DD and I. I was hoping for deluxe so I was absolutely thrilled to get the Signature plus.

DD just recently started working for her dad so yesterday they headed out of town on business and I was sitting at home with a new AP in my Disneyland app just waiting to be activated. :laughing: After checking the app wait times and checking traffic, about 1pm, I got dressed, got in the car and went to DLR. We aren't super local, its takes over an hour, sometimes a lot longer with traffic to get to the parks but traffic was in my favor and I got there in great time for a Sunday. I parked at Toy Story lot, walked right onto an empty bus, through an empty security check and didn't even have to wait at the DL turnstile. I walked into the park at 3p.

Right away, I tried for a Guardians maxpass as I walked toward my first ride Star Tours(25 min wait). The soonest mp for GOTG was 8:50p so as I waited in like I kept refreshing and finally got one for 5:50. After Star Tours, I went over to Pirates and then Haunted Mansion...both with about 20 minute waits. I was starting to get a little hungry but figured it would be a good time to stop at the ticket booth to get my physical pass so I could eat before GOTG. Walking through Adventure Land I noticed , IJ had a 20 min wait and Jungle Cruise was literal walk on. At the ticket booth I walked right up to a booth and was done in about 10/15 mins, would have been quicker except my parking pass wouldn't scan to get my parking refunded and they couldn't refund me unless it got scanned. :confused3 After that was handled I was on my way....headed into DCA and went straight to GCH to try out the Craftmans Grill...Whitewater Snacks eas always a must on every trip so had to try out the "new" place. I got the beef nachos and even though the prices is almost double what it used to be, the nachos are also double the size...holy cow! I barely put a dent in it...now I know not to order those when I'm by myself. :laughing: Oh...and as soon as I could I kept trying for mps but everything was for around the same return time as my GOTG so I didnt get anything right away. Can't remember which I got first but I ended up with IncrediCoaster and Soarin' for after Guardians.

Finally, my time to ride Guardians, my most favorite ride of all time. I have always wished I could ride over and over again but long lines and not enough FPs have got in the way until this day...:laughing: As I walked up I noticed standby was 45 min, I scanned my mp and was on in no time. I got "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" which im.pretty sure I've had many times. As I was exiting I noticed standby was only 25 minutes and still had time before my next IC mp so I hopped in line again. This time I got "Born to be Wild", I'm pretty sure I've had that before too. Exiting again, standby says 45 minutes but the line is less than I had just been in, still had time before my next mp so I hopped in line again. This time the line was continously moving and was maybe 20 minutes...so weird. This time I got "Give up the Funk" which I had never had before...:thumbsup2 I was ready to hit the line again but the line was 45 minutes and definitely looked it. Oh well...moving on. I headed toward Pixar Pier and my first ride on IncrediCoaster....so much fun. Incredibles is a favorite of ours so it was a lot of fun to hear the music and see the characters. From there, I walked around the boardwalk, saw the Emotional Whirlwind, which looks really cute but 45 min wait was not happening. LOL I hopped on Little Mermaid and then moved on toward Soarin'. The fp line was ridiculous and we were completely stopped even before getting in the building, I almost left the line but I LOVE the California version and didn't want to miss out. So I stuck it out and was rewarded after being the last person let into the long hallway, all the way from the front of the line they called out for a single rider and of all those people ahead of me no one was a single rider so I got to "come on down"...lol And as I said before I LOVE the California version...the smells and all the familiar sights...:lovestruc so happy they brought it back for at least a short while.

After that I rushed back over to DL for a Thunder Mountain fp. I wanted to be done with it before fireworks but the delay at Soarin plus getting held up by the electrical parade on Main St, put me closer to the end of my return time and close to fireworks...and once I got there I didn't even need the fp... lol Someone that walked in Standby after me was on before I was because I was walking slow by that point. Ha...
After the ride, the fireworks were just starting and I was hoping to squeeze in somewhere to watch on Main St...I didn't have a great view but I could still see some. It's been awhile for me to see fireworks and I loved the Nemo part....so cute. I was starting to get a little hungry so I got a corn dog from the little red wagon and plopped down on a bench with a castle view. Enjoyed my corn dog but I think I like them better from the corn dog castle in DCA. I had an IJ mp but didn't want to fight the 2nd Fantasmic crowd so I cancelled it and decided to take a stroll through the shops on my way out. Bad idea, too crowded....lol after one shop, I headed back out to Main Street and headed for the exit. I'm guessing they do 2 parades every night because the curbs were packed with people. Out to the Toy Story buses and had to wait for a bus or two but was back at the my car in no time...I was driving out of the lot by 10:30p.

I had such a great time and can't wait for my next visit...which should be very soon when DD is back from her work trip and wants to go activate her pass. :hyper:
 
So fun! I hope you get to go again soon :)
Thanks....DD and I went last Wednesday evening after work...so we were there from about 7 to 11pm. We were going to go today because neither of us worked but DD decided she didn't want to go. I'm almost tempted to go myself right now...lol
 


Thanks....DD and I went last Wednesday evening after work...so we were there from about 7 to 11pm. We were going to go today because neither of us worked but DD decided she didn't want to go. I'm almost tempted to go myself right now...lol
Do it!! :)
 



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