Just me and the Kiddos: Returning to the Happiest Place on Earth! Sept 1-6, 2021 (Finally complete!)

[MaleficentMe]

We just returned from our SoCal trip on Monday. It was kind of a "gonzo" trip, except I didn't drive this time (my DS - 13, would have seceded from the family if I'd made him sit through another 15hr drive!). I've been seriously missing Disney, even though we did take our first trip (whole family) to WDW in November.

Cast of characters:
Me - 46, Disneyland veteran. Went to WDW way back in 1985 (?) and again in 2020.
DC - 17, First trip was in 2010 for their 6th Bday. They've been to DLR 5 times now, including this trip, and WDW once.
DS - 13, first trip was in 2012 for his 5th BDay. He's been to DLR 4 times now, including this trip, and WDW once.
DH - 49, sat this one out. He's not a Disney fan, and I didn't want to pressure him into another trip he wasn't 100% excited about.

Pre-trip Planning:
Booked our timeshare for this trip on February 17 with the expectation that COVID would be in the rearview mirror by the time Labor Day rolled around. Whoops. Booked the flights in April.
This was the initial itinerary:

Wednesday, Sept 1
Leave home at 7am for 11am flight from PDX (1.5ish hr drive from our house to PDX)
Arrive at SNA at 1:30, pick up rental car.
Grocery shop at Food 4 Less in Anaheim.
Check into Hotel at 4.
Settle in, pool time.
Bubba Gump's for Beer-Boiled Garlic Peel-n-Eat Shrimp!
Bed by 10 for Rope drop in AM.

Thursday, Sept 2 (isitpacked.com forecasted this day as "Ghost Town")
BG for RotR at 7
Rope Drop Disneyland at 8
BG for Webslingers at Noon
Back to Hotel for naps/pool time
Back to DCA for lunch at LLL and Webslingers.
Wing it after that

Friday, Sept 3
Drive to Huntington Beach for surf lesson at 10
Lunch at Brazilian restaurant in town just north of HB (forgot what it was called)
Back to Hotel for naps
*Leave hotel at 3:30 - head to Dodger stadium for Hella Mega Tour. (this was planned later... see later updates!)
Back to hotel

Saturday, Sept 4 (isitpacked.com forecasted this day as "It's Alright")
BG for Webslingers at 7
Rope Drop DCA at 8
BG for RotR at noon
Wing it after that

Sunday, Sept 5 (isitpacked.com forecasted this day as "It's Alright")
BG for RotR at 7
Rope Drop DL at 8
BG for WS at noon
Wing it after that

Monday, Sept 6
Flight from SNA to PDX at 2pm.
Drive home.
Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep.

This ended up being one of the most challenging trips to DLR I've ever had. Here's the upcoming sections:

Sept 1 - Travel Day
Part 1 - Background
Part 2 - What actually happened - PDX

Sept 2 - Disneyland!!
Part 1 - Disneyland (Rope drop AM)
Part 2 - DCA (PM)

Sept 3 - The Ultimate SoCal Experience

Sept 4 - DCA!!

Sept 5 - Disneyland!!

Sept 6 - Travel Day
The final crushing disappointment and Getting home

Hope to get the outline filled in within the next few days!!

 

[MaleficentMe]

Part 1 - Background

So the flight to SNA was originally supposed to depart from PDX at around 11. I was looking forward to being able to get up at a reasonable hour to get the kids going. We wouldn't have too much time between when we landed at SNA and when we could check in (4pm) - so it would be pretty chill with very little wasted time.

Alaska Airlines and COVID had other ideas.

A little bit of background/timelines.

So, as with everyone else, COVID really messed with our plans over the last 1.5+ yrs. We had (thank the Maker) sold our brewpub in November of 2019. 2020 was supposed to be our year of being able to do all the things we couldn't while owning a business. We had:

• AWESOME Tool tickets for March 13
• WDW March 24-31
• Hella Mega Tour tix July 14
• Roger Waters in September

All cancelled or rescheduled. As stated earlier we were able to do WDW in November - a bit scary (flying into Florida on Election day, no less) but very glad we did it. Tool was cancelled completely, HMT rescheduled for July 2021, and RW rescheduled for September 2022 (come on Roger, keep breathing, man!!) .

Anyhoo, Made timeshare reservations in February, booked airline tickets in April. May 17th, I get an alert that the Hella Mega Tour concert (Seattle) was being rescheduled AGAIN. To September 6th. The day we would be flying into PDX at 5pm. 4 hrs away from Seattle. I'm super bummed. My kids are super bummed. My DS actually said "we've been to Disneyland Mom, I've never seen Weezer and Green Day." WHAAAAAA? He actually thought we should cancel DLR for a concert?? I had to think fast to save my much MUCH needed Disney trip...

(Oh, I'll take this moment to state: I've been to every 5yr celebration at Disneyland since the 25th. Except for the 65th.)

Well heck, if the Tour was on the West Coast on September 6th, maybe they'd be on the West Coast either before or after the 6th as well. Check out Ticketmaster and voila'! Playing Dodger Stadium on September 3rd! YASSSSSSSS! as the kids say these days. Grabbed 3 tickets (not as good as the ones we had in Seattle but c'est la vie) put the Seattle tix up for sale, then planned for the ultimate SoCal day, as I already had planned (but not yet booked) surfing lessons in Huntington Beach for our non-park day.

Bought my park tickets and made park reservations May 27th.

June 5th, I get a notification that our flights to and from SNA have been bumped up 3hrs, meaning we have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn on Sept 1 and would get into SNA with hours to kill before we can even check into our hotel. Not optimal. But hey, I'm good at packing as much stuff into small spaces as possible. What if, instead of a day of SoCal experiences, we go from SNA straight to Newport Beach (20 mins away), do our surfing then, and then have a much more relaxed pool-day/Concert day on Friday? Found a company in NB, booked lessons for 2 (scheduled to land in SNA at 11:30, should leave plenty of time) and was stoked about not having anything to do other than relax (Trader Sam's, maybe!!) for the first half of the day on Friday AND not wasting precious vacation time on Wednesday!

Next up: What actually happened.

 

[Tasscrapper]

Following along. Kind of dreading what your arrival day might have actually been like.

 

[MaleficentMe]

Following along. Kind of dreading what your arrival day might have actually been like.

Thanks for following along! This is my first TR on this forum! And yes... there is much to dread. MWAAAAAHAAAAHAAAAA!

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Following! Love the outline, also bracing for the reality. Fingers crossed that all in all it was a positive trip for you though!

 

[MaleficentMe]

Following! Love the outline, also bracing for the reality. Fingers crossed that all in all it was a positive trip for you though!

It was, overall, a positive trip. I'm definitely experiencing post-Disney malaise right now.

 

[MaleficentMe]

Sept 1 Travel Day: Part 2 - What actually happened - PDX

Ok, so. Here's what actually happened on our travel day from PDX to SNA.

3:00AM - Mom (me) up to make coffee and breakfast burritos, pack up the last of my stuff.
3:30 - Crank up some Immigrant Song to wake up the kiddos, followed by a bunch of Green Day and FOB songs.
4:00 - Leave the house, on time and with all our stuff - great start so far! Yay!
4:05 - Realize I'm on some sort of auto-pilot while taking the "long" way to get to I5. No biggie - only added 10 mins to the drive. At that time of morning, we should still make it with PLENTY of time to spare.
5:45 - Arrive at Thrifty rental/parking. Return to car 3 times to make sure I got everything and to make sure car is locked.
5:55 - Catch courtesy shuttle to airport.
6:30 - Through security! Get patted down once again (think it's my bra straps? Happens every time.) Waiting at gate until we start boarding - which should be starting at 7:20
7:20 -
7:30 - Announcement that there is a maintenance issue and we'll board as soon as it's all cleared up.
7:45 -
8:00 -
8:15 -
8:20 - Finally board the plane!
8:35 - Announcement that there is yet another maintenance issue.
8:45 - Announcement that if we want, we can wait in the terminal.
9:00 - Deplane. Walk to a different gate for a new plane. The monitors at that gate say we will begin boarding at 9:27 and depart at 10:07.
9:27 -
10:07 - Board plane. (Keep in mind we had to get up 3 hrs earlier because Alaska rescheduled, just to end up leaving only 30 minutes earlier than our originally scheduled flight AND we have surf lessons at 2pm.)
10:28 - Off the ground. Plane erupts in cheers! Uneventful flight, except there's no snacks/catering, as they didn't have time to restock. No biggie - I travel with snacks 24/7.

12:30 - Roughest. Landing. Ever. Audible gasps from the entire plane, a very distinct "JFC!!" from me. Once we stopped at the terminal, more cheers all around.
On a good note, the surfing instructor had texted me and said the conditions weren't ideal, could we reschedule for another day. So back to the "Do everything SoCal in one day!" (Friday) plan. No biggie, and takes a lot of stress off me at that very moment.
12:40 - Get into terminal - potty break for me and DC. DS was supposed to stand right outside of the bathrooms, but once I got out, he was nowhere to be found. DC zoomed out of the bathroom and pointed me in the right direction, then went to the bathroom themselves. I guess DS felt too crowded and in the way by the bathrooms and had moved down the terminal a ways. This is important because I think it helped lead to the next debacle....
1:10 - Catch courtesy shuttle to rental car company.
1:13 - DC realizes they left phone in the bathroom at Terminal B restroom at SNA.
1:20 - Convince very nice shuttle operator who was going to take a break to pleasepleaseplease take us right back to SNA. Positive we can get someone to let us back through security, find the phone and be right back on fun-time.
1:30 - After being sent to 4 different places and told to call 3 different people, wind up back at the Info desk (first place we started) to ask for a "day pass" to get through security to look in the bathrooms ourselves (sheriff's office said they looked and didn't find anything, but who knows how well and where they looked).
1:50 - Waiting for TSA program to boot
1:55 - Waiting for TSA program to boot
2:00 - Sheriff comes in to Info guy and says "oh yeah, the TSA system is down."

No Passes.
No Phone.
For my 17yo child who will be doing Disney, surfing for the first time, and an amazing concert with two of her favorite all-time bands.
All without access to a camera or SM. ​

2:30 - Arrive back at car rental place dejected and P***ED!! (Who puts their phone down in a public restroom???? And *** is the TSA system DOWN??) But doing my best not to go kablooie. In an effort to put some good in my mood, I open the door for a couple to enter the rental place.
3:00 - After a shockingly long wait for the folks I let in front of me, I finally get to the counter and get our car.
Yay!
Super tatted and pierced guy who bathed in his cologne checked out the car with me, and ended up being super cool:

"Heyyyy mannnnn, you going to the beeeeeeach?"
"Yeah, we're going surfing."
"Welllllll if you get sand in the carrrrrr, go to a gas station and payyyyy a couple of bucks to vacuum it ouuuuut yerself. A little is okayyyyy, but more than that, they'll charge you 75 bucks, mannnnn!"​

Sweet, thanks for the info, and very good to know! And a reminder to me to be kind to everyone, even if you have to hold your nose (I'm VERY sensitive to smell!!)
3:30 - DC (doing an incredible job of keeping their chin up and trying to lift my spirits) navigated us to I5 - from there I know my way 'round - and we made it to the hotel. Checked in, (13th floor?? After our day??? )signed up for the STOOOOPID owners update to get the incentives (3 nights free parking (used to be free anyway) and $75 Disney giftcards, plus whatever food/coffee I could scarf during the presentation) knowing that since my other half wasn't there, I couldn't buy anything anyway. After a few tries (had to go back-and-forth from room to car a few times) finally settled in room for a spell. View from our room:

4:30 - DC and I get some groceries at Food 4 Less and come home. Watch Cast Away until about 6:30.
6:45 - Bubba Gump's!! We love this place! If there was one close to us, I'd go there weekly! Order a pound of the garlic beer-boiled peel-n-eat shrimp, and begged a server (not ours, ours wasn't doing it) to ask us some trivia! Walked around the GW after. DC loves succulents!!

8:00 - Back to room for some strategic planning (DL, in promenade by 7:15, hit SM first) and a little TV.
9:00 - Crawled into bed and fell asleep immediately. The day was a beast!

Looking forward to our first Disney Day!

 

[Tasscrapper]

Oh my gosh what a day!! How horrible that you had to get up so early for no reason. I had to look up what the music you woke your kids up with as I'd never heard of it before. My family would have killed me, lol. It seems like a comedy of errors the whole day. That really sucks about the cell phone. My 21 year old did that last fall on the way home from a trip. Luckily she got it back but it added an hour to an already stressfull drive that we got diverted around a fire for. Did DC go the whole trip with no phone? Ugg. Am I right in remembering you stayed at Peacock Suites? Your next day must have been better right??

 

[MaleficentMe]

I had to look up what the music you woke your kids up with as I'd never heard of it before. My family would have killed me, lol.

LOL! Me and my kiddos go snowboarding in winter. Don't have to get up at 3 or 3:30, but do need to get up in the pitch black, so waking them up with some rousing music has become pretty common. (My alarm music is the Raiders March - very motivating!)

Did DC go the whole trip with no phone?

No spoilers!!! You'll just have to keep reading!

Ugg. Am I right in remembering you stayed at Peacock Suites?

We have a timeshare at Worldmark - we stayed at Worldmark Anaheim. Love the Dolphin, but because it requires fewer points (much older resort) it is always booked up, plus it's like, 3 or 4 "Anaheim blocks" further away,

 

[MaleficentMe]

Sept 2 - Disneyland!!
Part 1 - Disneyland (Rope drop AM)

I was wide-eyed and bushy tailed at 5:07 (pretty much ALWAYS wake up before my alarm when I'm at Disney!). I worked on updating my notes for the eventual TR and brewed some sh***y coffee (Worldmark, what the heck? FOLGERS?? In Oregon, that's a hanging offense! )

At 6:59:59, ready to try for a RotR boarding group- got BG 27!


As soon as we got that win in the bag, we headed down to catch the bus, (forgot to mention in the last update that part of my bedtime-time was taken up with figuring out the new Anaheim Resort Transportation online system. Sheesh. Have to install 2 apps in order to ride ART now) which we missed by a minute. Because of that bummer timing, we didn't get into the promenade until 7:45. No biggie, as this was what it looked like:


Ghost Town! Just like isitpacked said it would be! We've never been to DL during Halloween, only at Christmas, so seeing the Halloween decorations was really BOOOOtiful:


And of course, are you really IN Disneyland if you don't have one of these?


We headed over to Tomorrowland for rope drop. We checked out the silhouette studio on the way, because we are overdue for our every-2.5-year-silhouette-of-our-kids, and were greeted by this sad news:


Good for them, tho - I hope they're having fun! I imagine those talented folks can get up to some mischief when they all get together!

At rope drop, we started to head for SM, but cast members were yelling above the fray that it was closed, so we took an immediate right and hit ST instead. Walk on.
Darth Vader
Hoth
Leia
Corscant

Hit Buzz Lightyear, where I smashed it (for me, at least) with 204k. My kiddos!


SM was still closed, so we headed over to FL.

BTMRR (walk on)


Indy (walk on)

High-tailed back to SM. Sign said 10 minute wait, but they were still experiencing some technical difficulties. It was more like 15 mins with a couple of stops. After that, I was thinking about maybe trying the Red Rose Tavern for breakfast when I realized "OH CRAP!! We have a boarding group!!" App said return by 9:47. It was 9:36 when I remembered! Zoomed over to GE, scanned in at exactly 9:47! Didn't matter tho, because the ride broke down. Twice. The second time, we were stuck in the transport for quite a while. That's always fun during a pandemic! They had to manually pry open the doors to release us. But hey, we got to see the inner workings of RotR and received an Anytime pass to ride again later.

Headed back to FL for big pickles. I generally don't like pickles, but they have the Spicy ones again, so we became the Spicy Pickle Posse!


Hung around on a bench in front of DH eating our pickles and getting strange looks from people!

Hit PotC at 10:44.
Dole Whip at the Tiki Room.
Jungle Cruise at 11:27. Near the end, the captain asked where we were from. I told him... he said, "Welcome to Civilization!"
Did a bit of shopping (very cool string bag for DC), then tried for a Webslingers BG at noon. Got it!

The kids put some holes in some stuff at BH:


Then we headed back to the hotel at 12:15 for some much needed R & R. ART is weird right now. Between 10:30 AM and 6:30 PM, you have to request (on demand) a bus. Seems like it should work well. It does not. It tells you a bus will be there at such-n-such time, then that time gets moved out, then out some more, then again. When we finally got to the hotel, I hit the pool (well, not really - a lounge chair adjacent to the pool) while DC called SNA Lost & Found (still no luck) and then napped and DS played on his phone. Planned to return to DCA in time for our 2:35 ADR at LLL, if not before.

Up Next: Afternoon in DCA.

 

[MaleficentMe]

Sept 2 - Disneyland!!
Part 2 - DCA (PM)

Alrighty, picking up where we left off - naps and such at the hotel.

1:30 - caught bus back to DCA.
2:10 - GotG - Free Ride.
2:35 - ADR at Lamplight Lounge. We split the lobster nachos and Cheddar burger between the 3 of us. I had a locally brewed beer, DC had a mocktail, DS had a sprite.

Although we were STUFFED, our amazing (and extremely professional) server offered up dessert - freshly made donuts with raspberry and warm chocolate dipping sauce.

O. M. G. AMAZING. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. We drank the sauce that was left over and licked up ALLLLLL the cinnamon/sugar from the bottom of the box!

4:00ish - waddled over to Webslingers for our boarding group. That is a pretty fun ride! Kind of like TSMM. My shoulders were a bit sore! The parks were still pretty sparse, so in rapid succession, we hit all these:

Mater
Luigi


GRR - got pretty soaked



Soarin' (asked for Section B - Got Section B Row 1! YAY!)

Incredicoaster twice (DC is not pulling down the mask - trying to keep it on!)



Critter Carousel



TSMM - DC actually beat me, dammit!! Flexing!



Stopped for some churros.

Little Mermaid.

Realized we need to use up our anytime pass for RotR, so headed back over to Disneyland. Finally had an "immersive" ride on RotR. Back in WDW in November, there was none of the build-up because of COVID, so the ride was just meh. This was much better!
!

Hit Smugglers Run - disappointed that Hondo is now on TV, not the super amazing animatronic he used to be. Also, again, because of COVID, in WDW, we got the Falcon all to ourselves. This time we had to share. When I am 25 years dead, hopefully someone will nominate me for sainthood , as I willingly (mostly ) gave up pilot seat for the little kiddo (dad and son (7 or 8ish?) combo). He and my DS did an excellent job piloting us, while I and other parent blasted the bejeezus outta everything, and my DC kept it all together as the engineer. My "big" kiddo gave "little" kiddo copilot a big high-five when it was all done.

Then, on to the the one thing that was on ALL of our "Must do" lists: BTMRR at night. Sighhhhhh!!


After a pretty full day and hitting nearly everything we wanted to, we decided to call it a day. Took about 35 mins for the bus to come. Got to hotel around 8:45 - ate some grocery-store food, then hit the sack for our super full, super awesome SoCal day tomorrow!!

 

[Jaina]

I enjoyed reading about your trip so far! Sounds like a lot of travel craziness, but I'm glad you were able to roll with it for the most part! I had that experience with Hondo on the tv in late July when I went, but we went at the end of September and the animatronic was back! In general, it sounds like the crowds were amazing for you!

 

[ishbit92]

Enjoying this TR! Me and my husband were supposed to go to the Hella Mega Tour in 2020 in Seattle too but we ended up getting refunds since the new dates didn't work with our plans. Can't wait to see how it went for you guys! Also, we fly Alaska Airlines too and I have been noticing that they have been changing flights a lot lately. They changed our flights when we went to Vegas in September and they've changed our flights like 2 or 3 times already for our upcoming December California trip.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Really enjoy reading about this trip (also getting some mild anxiety over the phone story! I hope we have a happy resolution soon!)

 

[MaleficentMe]

Sorry for the long delay! I'll try to get us back on track...

Sept 3 - The Ultimate SoCal Experience.

I can't ever sleep in when I'm at Disney! I was up (again, before my alarm) at 5:45. I had the Owners Update meeting at 7:30, so I just puttered around the room drinking coffee and watching the local morning shows. Headed down to the corporate office, loaded my pockets with snacks, loaded up on more coffee, and got my $75 in Disney gift cards. Sat through the presentation, got double-teamed by TWO sales reps, and resisted upgrading our points. Still trying to figure out WHYYYYYY I had to do all that. My other half wasn't there, so it's not like I could have said yes, so why waste my time?? Grrr! At least that $75 and "Free" (parking at worldmark used to be free!!) make up for it a bit!

Hustled back to the room, dispersed my purloined treats to the kiddos, then got ready for surfing. We left the room at 9:15. Arrived at Newport Beach at 9:45 for our 10 o'clock lessons. Kids easily got into their wetsuits... I had to have some Crisco and a shoehorn, but I managed to finally get into mine.



I'm not dissing on the company, but this really wasn't a "lessons" type company. The owner dropped the equipment to a parking lot, while a very young "instructor" took us about 20 miles (okay, maybe only around a mile, but when you're carrying a surfboard in sand, it feels like miles!) down the beach to a "good" spot, then basically threw us in. The only real instruction was "you can duck dive or lift your torso up off the board (I took to calling this the Ariel - see my "fluffy Ariel" pic in my WDW trip report) to avoid the incoming waves." But we had fun, and at least my oldest is hooked. No one had a watch or phone, so we had no idea whn our 2 hours was up. We ended up kind of getting screwed with only about 1.5 hrs of actual surf time.



We arrived back at the hotel at 12:15. We had some lunchy-type snacks, then I hung out by the pool for about an hour. Headed back to the room to shower and try to take a nap. Not successful. I suck at naps, dammit. The plan was to leave the room for the concert (5:30 at Dodger Stadium) at 3:45. We actually left the room at 3:59, but the kids realized they forgot pit-stick, so we actually left at 4:15.

Yikes.

DC was navigating and every time we looked at the maps app, it changed arrival time and route. Won't go into all the gory details, but we ended up seeing a LOT of SoCal towns I've never seen before. Including the oldest operating McDonalds.

Miracle of miracles, we pulled into the Stadium parking lot at 5:30! Of course, that didn't account for finding a parking spot (I had at least pre-paid for parking, so yay!) and then the trek to the stadium. We finally found our seats about 4 songs into the Weezer set.



Happy music lovers in the Warm California sun!


Rivers is looking good with the mullet and 70's porno-stash these days!

Let me just say that if you ever get a chance to see a concert at Dodger stadium, DO IT. What an amazing venue. For once, I wasn't sad about having "nose bleed" seats, because the venue is just spectacular. We were facing west, so we could see the sunset and palm trees right in front of us,



and to our extreme right, the Sierra Nevadas.

Anyhoo, Weezer finished up, so I decided to get in line for merchandise. Out of the 3 of us, I actually am the only "fan" of Fall Out Boy, but I really wanted to get the kiddos some merch, and since all three of us are huge Green Day fans, I wanted to make sure I got to share that experience with them. I was in line for the entire FOB set. The only bright point was that I was behind a really nice woman whose spot I held while she got us beers.
FOB had a LOT of pyrotechnics, so at least I got to see those!

Kids came and found me in line when FOB finished up, so they got to choose what they wanted. We all 3 got the Hella Mega Tour shirt, and DC also got a Green Day specific shirt. I got another beer, then we headed back to the seats for Green Day. They killed it. It was truly one of the best concerts I have ever attended!



BILLIE JOE!!

When GD finished up, it took us about 45 mins to get to the car, then another 1.5 hrs to get out of the parking lot. Thankfully, I5 was pretty darn clear by then. Unthankfully, those 2 beers over the period of the last 6 hrs finally hit my bladder... as a PNWer, peeing in the wild is no big deal, but there's not a lot of wild to be had between LA and Anaheim!! I'll leave it to your imagination what happened next.

Got into our room at nearly 1am. Told the kiddos we didn't haaaaaaavvvvvvve to do rope drop in 7 hrs, but if we did, we'd be able to do all the rides we want and then come back fairly early for a nap. Snacks, water, bed!

We'll see what happens!

 

[MaleficentMe]

Me and my husband were supposed to go to the Hella Mega Tour in 2020 in Seattle too but we ended up getting refunds since the new dates didn't work with our plans.

ishbit92 - I'm sorry you had to cancel. It was a great experience to see all 3 bands together. Hopefully you'll get another chance. We had Tool tickets for March 13th, 2020. The day AFTER the world shut down. We are finally getting to see them on January 10th!!

(also getting some mild anxiety over the phone story! I hope we have a happy resolution soon!)

BroadwayHermoine5 - no spoilers! ;-)

it sounds like the crowds were amazing for you!

Jaina - Welllllllllllll....

 

[MaleficentMe]

Sept 4 - DCA!!

Once again, even though I didn't get to sleep until after 1am, I awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5:50am. Drank allllll the Gatorade, then jotted down some notes for the TR. While thinking very seriously about making some loud noises to "accidentally" wake up the kids. SO. BORED.

I decided to show some mercy (I am a kind and merciful overlord) and let the little boogers sleep. Decided to just watch the morning shows, try for a Webslingers BG and see how the day unfolded. Trying not to freak out as each minute ticks by and we're NOT at the parks!!



ticktockticktockticktockticktock

Kids FINALLLLLLY woke up at 8 (gah!!). We walked through the DCA turnstiles at 9:15.

10 minute wait for Monsters Inc. Entered line at 9:23, on ride at 9:35. Spoiler alert: This doesn't bode well for the rest of the day.

Returned for our Webslingers BG at 10. While in a very long, not-moving-at-all line, we made a food order at Pym's test kitchen for pickup at 11:20. Finally got on the Webslingers ride at 10:41 (what's the point of the BG, again?)

We puttered around in Off The Page killing time until our food order was ready. Moved on into Animation Academy enjoying the AC and saw that Stich would be the subject at noon. We planned to return for that.


Hollywood, baybee!

So then we meandered over to Pym's for our food: a Pym-ini, the Not-So-Little Chicken Sandwich, and a Sprite to share between the 3 of us. The size mismatches are all very funny! However, we couldn't find a single place to sit! We ended up finding a kind of quiet spot behind the shawarma cart. I placed my foot up on the railing and balanced the tray on my knee (standing on one leg) the whole time we were eating. The food was really good! But the seating setup, not-do-much.



Headed back to Animation Academy to draw Stitch. Tried for a RotR BG at noon - no luck. But our drawings of Stitch turned out really good!



The park was PACKED and it was HOT, so we puttered around the stored on Buena Vista street. Bought a beanie for DC and some treats from the candy store for DS. At this point, we all decided there was no point in being in the park - all the lines were ridiculously long and it was just too hot (forecast said 93, it was 97!!) so we headed back to the hotel for a siesta (all the while me saying "THIS is why we have to do rope drop, people!!") Also, DC called SNA about phone, still no-go.

We returned to DCA at around 6.
RSR had 55 minute queue. Figured this would be our best bet. in line at 6:10 - on ride at 6:40. WHOO HOOOO!



Line for GotG said 35 mins, so we went for it. Like I said earlier, I've been to DLR during Christmas several times, so I've experienced the HMH overlay many times, but never Halloween, so I didn't know GotG has an overlay too. That was super cool! I just wish it was a litttttttle scarier - it's Spooky Season, after all - scare the bejeezus outta us! The lighting was pretty epic tho.



DC and I hit GRR - DS didn't want to get wet and cold, so he got a churro while we rode. Hit Rushin River shop after, DC bought me a really great hat (sucha sweetie!) and I bought a trinket for my boss.

We walked over to the Plaza de Familia for a really spectacular wet burrito, then decided, well heck, all the lines are long, might as well get into one. Incredicoaster said it was a 45 minute wait, so we decided to do it. In line at 8:51, on ride at 9:07. Whoo hoo!



On top of that deceptively short wait, we could see the fireworks from DL as we rode, making it all the more magical!! Whoo hoo!



We got right back on and rode it again in like 10 minutes.

At this point we were bushed, and the lines were still longer than we wanted to wait. (Disclaimer: prior to Covid, I was a master DLR planner. Except for the first time we ever rode RSR (sign said 90mins, but the line didn't really LOOK that long! We obviously had no idea how well that queue was hidden!! ) we've never waited in any line for more than 25 minutes. I really REALLY miss MaxPass!! Heck, I miss the paper tickets for FastPass - I have no problem running all over the place to fetch those!!) But I digress.

So we went back to the hotel.

We got to see some beautiful things on the way out:





Took an hour to get to the hotel. Stupid new ART setup.

So this wasn't the best day I've ever had in the parks... but hey, the worst day in Disney is better than the best day anywhere else!

ROPE DROP PEOPLE!! It's a requirement!

Up next: Our last day in the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

[ishbit92]

ishbit92 - I'm sorry you had to cancel. It was a great experience to see all 3 bands together. Hopefully you'll get another chance. We had Tool tickets for March 13th, 2020. The day AFTER the world shut down. We are finally getting to see them on January 10th!!


BroadwayHermoine5 - no spoilers! ;-)


Jaina - Welllllllllllll....

Thanks for posting your concert experience!! It looked amazing. I'll go someday I'm sure--I owe it to my middle school self (and my current self because I still love those bands lol)! Ah man, that's rough that is was the day after everything shut down but I'm glad you guys are going to see them in January!

I am with you 110% on rope drop! But I agree that the worst day in Disney is better than the best day anywhere else The lack of Maxpass/Fastpass/Genie+ really slows things down too. I hope that Genie+ alleviates a lot of the waiting in lines when it's rolled out.

 

[MaleficentMe]

Sept 5 - Disneyland !!

Up at some gawdawful hour trying to get the BG for RotR. My phone/service/hotel wifi everything was giving me major problems, so I went outside hoping for a better signal (and to get my oldest an energy drink from the 7-11 around the corner. Missed the BG.

Also was having major issues with the ART app, it just would NOT let me buy new tickets for the day. Thankfully, the bus driver saw my struggles and let us on. We were in the park at 7:20 (my kiddos DO learn eventually, and they know now there is NO EXCUSE for not hitting rope drop!! )

• Space Mountain (walk on)

• Matterhorn (5)
• Indy (11)

• HMH (25)
• Splash (15 - and we got SOAKED!!)

Before the soaking -------------- After the soaking!

• BTMRR (20 - Just me and DC, as DS forgot to take Dramamine and was feeling a bit oogy!)

Stopped for some strawberry/chocolate Beignets.
Hit some of the NOS stores.

• MHTP

Spin fight!!

• RR from Toon town to NOS.

Tried to get a BG at noon for RotR, no go again. Tried for Webslingers, got a "backup" BG.

Tropical Hideaway for baos and Dole Whips. I tried the new (to me) dole whip with Tajin.

It was interesting. Good, but now that I've tried it, I'll probably stick with the classic from now on.

• Tiki Room.

DC feet were hurting - wet shoes from our soaking on Splash Mountain! so we headed back to the hotel. Took a VERY roundabout way (guess the driver figured we'd rather be sitting in an air-conditioned bus driving all over North Anaheim than sitting and waiting for the next "on demand" bus at the Bus stop...? Saw a lot of Anaheim I haven't seen since I was a kid and we stayed in the cheapest motels we could!
We napped for about 45 minutes (well, my eyes closed for about 45 seconds, then my mind said "yay, I'm asleep!" Then I woke up,) then DC and I went down to the pool to chillax, as the kids say these days. It was a super cool vibe: DJ PARTY TIME! Great music and lots of guests dancing and just general being uber happy. I've stayed at that Timeshare quite a few times... this was the first time getting to experience that!

DC called SNA AGAIN - still no phone.

As expected, had some on-demand bus issues. Again. Got into DCA at around 6.

The app said GotG had a 55 minute wait, but we figured this was our last chance, so we took the plunge. Turns out it was only about 1/2 hr. Yay!

Hung around in the Animation Academy again just to listen to the music and watch the screens, then we headed back over to Disneyland.

• Star Tours (15). We had Darth, Kashyyyk, Yoda, Slave 1 this go 'round.
• The app said 45 minutes for Space Mountain. I convinced kids it wouldn't be that long, so we got in line. We were on in 33 (whew!)

The fireworks started just as we got off SM.



WOW! I'd love to post the video we took as we crossed in front of the castle towards Frontier Land - we got FLASH BANGED! Like, all three of us were walking blind for the next 30 feet or so! Thankfully the aisles were clear and the CMs were guiding us well!

Hit BTMRR. Asked for a back row seat. We were put into "timeout" and got the 2 back rows - Pixie dust!


Stopped at Bengal BBQ (always on my must-do list!) for the beef and chicken skewers. The sauces are so amazing... I could drink them straight.

Took our obligatory "Partners" pictures,



then hit the Emporium for some last minute souvenirs. Bought the kiddos matching (not on purpose, they just both wanted the same thing!) spirit jerseys and blue wave bracelets to commemorate their first time surfing. Exited the park for the last time in who-knows-how-long.

Caught the bus at 10:34. Spent about an hour at the hotel decompressing and getting organized for our semi-early departure for SNA in the morning.

 

[erinch]

Great report!