CoachBeard
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2022
This became a bit long winded so bare with me.
A little background on me… I’m just about 40, I’ve lived 70 miles from DL my whole life, been an AP holder many years, DL Paris in 1998, WDW in 1994, 2008, 2011. My last DL trip was January 2019.
I started writing this at the bar late Thursday night and am updating it now Saturday morning from home.
Well, I took a chance and bought a magic key recently with today being my first day using it and first day back in the parks since January. I also went a little crazy and booked a night at the Disneyland hotel since I’ve never stayed here ever and since this was my first solo trip and I was able to reserve today and tomorrow, I did a little “YOLO”. In hindsight probably not the best idea. This trip has been… different.
I also planned the stay to prep for my upcoming 5 day solo trip to WDW. I needed to get a feel for being solo, the recent changes with needing to constantly use the app, and staying overnight.
My first issue is that online checkin did not work for me. There was an issue with the card I had on file for incidentals and no one bothered to tell me. So I took a chance and went to guest services around 5:00 to sort it out. I also decided to have a shower and some fresh socks and stuff. Had I not gone there I’d probably still be wondering when my room would be ready. There’s no system in place to let me know there was an issue.
*update: I got the text with my room info and that it was ready at 9am the day I checked out*
A couple hours in I decided to buy genie+ for the day and I’m glad I did. Being a local, my tolerance for lines is small. However, there’s a lot of new stuff I’ve never done before. I could’ve gone on more rides but I’m tired.
Millennium Falcon: single rider walked on
Thunder mountain: LL 10 min
Rise of the resistance: lightning lane 15 min
Oga’s walk up: 10 min
Web slingers: single rider 30 min
Guardians: LL 30 min
Soarin: LL 30 min
I’ve noticed a lot of indecision on my part and a lot of aimless walking. That’s ok, tomorrow I will have a list of what to do/where to go. Early in the day I was chilled out and having a great time. I need to work on my physical stamina for my WDW trip. I’m deliriously tired at this point and day drinking didn’t help.
I’ve mainly been grazing at various quick service places today. I went to DTD to ballast point and had some nice barrel aged beers and quiet possibly the worst smash burger I’ve ever had. It was like eating pencil eraser jerky and was missing items like grilled onion and sauce for some reason. I didn’t say anything, it didn’t matter. $20 gone. Will only drink there next time. Every time I looked for dining reservations there was nothing, as I sort of expected. Walking up as a party of 1 didn’t seem to make a difference anywhere. I say that in my 30th minute waiting by the fireplace for a spot at Trader Sam’s to have a night cap. Somewhat ignored for 20 min after being sat but it’s ok. Lots of open seating but they’re limiting people coming in. I assume because there’s one bartender and each drink takes 20 minutes to make.
Some thoughts after day 1:
I don’t want to come off negative but there are some things I just can’t stand. I hate that I’m forced to be on my phone a lot throughout the day. From finding lightning lanes to my ticket to my hotel room key. Trying to book dinner reservations or looking at menus or wait times. It’s just too much. I used to come into the park, put my phone on airplane mode and leave after 12 hours with at least 80% charge. I also don’t want to be buried in my phone when I’m here.
Lots of ride breakdowns. It seemed like Thursday every time I checked the app, the LL ride I wanted was offline. Yesterday morning I went direct to webslingers about 9 and it was down. Went to Monsters Inc and as I’m boarding it was determined to be a breakdown. The communication from there was chaotic at best. Since I was at the boarding station I could hear everything. The CM kept saying “yes, we’ll let people wait but they can also leave while receiving an experience redemption. She used a different word but I forgot. So, rather than getting people off the ride and out then letting us at the front of the line go, she let about 60 people from a different lane go through. I didn’t want to wait for the ride to come back up. Finally about 15 min later I left and outside were two lines of people from the queue getting their passes scanned for the redemption. That was frustrating. I already waited and was boarding, priority should have gone differently. No biggie.
Then I go to guardians and it’s down. Later in the afternoon I went to redeem the pass for Matterhorn but some CM’s were directing people off the street near the entrance for some short frozen parade. I asked the CM “ok, so how can I get around to Matterhorn?”
She gruffly replied “it’s down you can’t go!”
I circled back and around and got to Matterhorn only to discover it was not down.
I got a churro and went home after that around 4:00. Took 2 hours with traffic but I was just happy to be off my feet.
Pros: Lamplight lounge brunch was awesome! Eggs Benedict with crab cakes was just killer
Tropical Hideaway was a great and cost effective snack. I wish they offered more items like that in DCA.
I was happy to be back. All the security crew checking bags were great and not typical “don’t talk to me” guards.
The folks I met at trader Sam’s were great and made my night much better. That’s the experience I love when solo places.
Galaxy’s edge was incredible and rise of the resistance exceeded my expectations. I don’t even particularly like star wars!
Some thoughts:
I wish there were better ways, transportation wise to get between areas within each park and even between the 2 parks. I always expect to walk a lot but now having these pre-scheduled return times for rides, a lot of walking was redundant. I utilize the DTD/GC entrance to DCA and the monorail to DL. It’s not enough.
There needs to be free places to plug your phone in to charge. I couldn’t find my power bank at home for the life of me and if I hadn’t had the hotel room in the evening to charge before I went back out, I’d have been in a pickle.
I can’t wait for WDW and I plan to take more rest breaks and prioritize my time better
If you read this far, thanks.
A little background on me… I’m just about 40, I’ve lived 70 miles from DL my whole life, been an AP holder many years, DL Paris in 1998, WDW in 1994, 2008, 2011. My last DL trip was January 2019.
I started writing this at the bar late Thursday night and am updating it now Saturday morning from home.
Well, I took a chance and bought a magic key recently with today being my first day using it and first day back in the parks since January. I also went a little crazy and booked a night at the Disneyland hotel since I’ve never stayed here ever and since this was my first solo trip and I was able to reserve today and tomorrow, I did a little “YOLO”. In hindsight probably not the best idea. This trip has been… different.
I also planned the stay to prep for my upcoming 5 day solo trip to WDW. I needed to get a feel for being solo, the recent changes with needing to constantly use the app, and staying overnight.
My first issue is that online checkin did not work for me. There was an issue with the card I had on file for incidentals and no one bothered to tell me. So I took a chance and went to guest services around 5:00 to sort it out. I also decided to have a shower and some fresh socks and stuff. Had I not gone there I’d probably still be wondering when my room would be ready. There’s no system in place to let me know there was an issue.
*update: I got the text with my room info and that it was ready at 9am the day I checked out*
A couple hours in I decided to buy genie+ for the day and I’m glad I did. Being a local, my tolerance for lines is small. However, there’s a lot of new stuff I’ve never done before. I could’ve gone on more rides but I’m tired.
Millennium Falcon: single rider walked on
Thunder mountain: LL 10 min
Rise of the resistance: lightning lane 15 min
Oga’s walk up: 10 min
Web slingers: single rider 30 min
Guardians: LL 30 min
Soarin: LL 30 min
I’ve noticed a lot of indecision on my part and a lot of aimless walking. That’s ok, tomorrow I will have a list of what to do/where to go. Early in the day I was chilled out and having a great time. I need to work on my physical stamina for my WDW trip. I’m deliriously tired at this point and day drinking didn’t help.
I’ve mainly been grazing at various quick service places today. I went to DTD to ballast point and had some nice barrel aged beers and quiet possibly the worst smash burger I’ve ever had. It was like eating pencil eraser jerky and was missing items like grilled onion and sauce for some reason. I didn’t say anything, it didn’t matter. $20 gone. Will only drink there next time. Every time I looked for dining reservations there was nothing, as I sort of expected. Walking up as a party of 1 didn’t seem to make a difference anywhere. I say that in my 30th minute waiting by the fireplace for a spot at Trader Sam’s to have a night cap. Somewhat ignored for 20 min after being sat but it’s ok. Lots of open seating but they’re limiting people coming in. I assume because there’s one bartender and each drink takes 20 minutes to make.
Some thoughts after day 1:
I don’t want to come off negative but there are some things I just can’t stand. I hate that I’m forced to be on my phone a lot throughout the day. From finding lightning lanes to my ticket to my hotel room key. Trying to book dinner reservations or looking at menus or wait times. It’s just too much. I used to come into the park, put my phone on airplane mode and leave after 12 hours with at least 80% charge. I also don’t want to be buried in my phone when I’m here.
Lots of ride breakdowns. It seemed like Thursday every time I checked the app, the LL ride I wanted was offline. Yesterday morning I went direct to webslingers about 9 and it was down. Went to Monsters Inc and as I’m boarding it was determined to be a breakdown. The communication from there was chaotic at best. Since I was at the boarding station I could hear everything. The CM kept saying “yes, we’ll let people wait but they can also leave while receiving an experience redemption. She used a different word but I forgot. So, rather than getting people off the ride and out then letting us at the front of the line go, she let about 60 people from a different lane go through. I didn’t want to wait for the ride to come back up. Finally about 15 min later I left and outside were two lines of people from the queue getting their passes scanned for the redemption. That was frustrating. I already waited and was boarding, priority should have gone differently. No biggie.
Then I go to guardians and it’s down. Later in the afternoon I went to redeem the pass for Matterhorn but some CM’s were directing people off the street near the entrance for some short frozen parade. I asked the CM “ok, so how can I get around to Matterhorn?”
She gruffly replied “it’s down you can’t go!”
I circled back and around and got to Matterhorn only to discover it was not down.
I got a churro and went home after that around 4:00. Took 2 hours with traffic but I was just happy to be off my feet.
Pros: Lamplight lounge brunch was awesome! Eggs Benedict with crab cakes was just killer
Tropical Hideaway was a great and cost effective snack. I wish they offered more items like that in DCA.
I was happy to be back. All the security crew checking bags were great and not typical “don’t talk to me” guards.
The folks I met at trader Sam’s were great and made my night much better. That’s the experience I love when solo places.
Galaxy’s edge was incredible and rise of the resistance exceeded my expectations. I don’t even particularly like star wars!
Some thoughts:
I wish there were better ways, transportation wise to get between areas within each park and even between the 2 parks. I always expect to walk a lot but now having these pre-scheduled return times for rides, a lot of walking was redundant. I utilize the DTD/GC entrance to DCA and the monorail to DL. It’s not enough.
There needs to be free places to plug your phone in to charge. I couldn’t find my power bank at home for the life of me and if I hadn’t had the hotel room in the evening to charge before I went back out, I’d have been in a pickle.
I can’t wait for WDW and I plan to take more rest breaks and prioritize my time better
If you read this far, thanks.
