Yesterday (12/22) my SIL and I visited DCA, and despite fairly heavy crowds, had a great day! She had never been, and I had visited once years ago, just after the Guardians of the Galaxy switch from ToT. Here's a very detailed recap, in case anyone's wondering how we navigated this holiday week!
We drove up from San Diego and got a super early start- leaving at 5am. We stopped a few miles from Anaheim to grab breakfast at Starbucks, and queued up at the entrance to the Toy Story lot (off of Harbor, the other was closed) just before 7am. Security and the tram ride were smooth, and they were already admitting guests when we arrived at the gates around 7:25. We had Genie+, but wanted to hit some non-LL rides first thing, so lined up right at the rope in Hollywood Land.
My SIL has a sprained ankle, so we lost a little bit of ground in the rope drop rush, but made it to Guardians fairly efficiently. Next we did Radiator Springs Racers (via Single Rider) and Luigi's Joy to the Whirl before using our first LL at Toy Story, followed immediately by one on Incredicoaster.
We decided to wait in our longest line of the day by riding Soarin standby (about 30 mins) and booking a LL for WEB Slingers, since those were already a few hours out. Then we headed to Avengers Campus where we checked out the Dora Milaje, Avengers Holiday show, and Spiderman, and enjoyed drinks from Pym's Tasting Lab and some shwarma for lunch. I'm not much of a character person, but have to admit it was quite cool when Ant Man and Wasp walked by as we were grabbing a bench to eat, and stopped to initiate a conversation about our holiday attire, and their holiday plans! Then it was time to ride WEB Slingers. While we were in the pre-show, the clock struck noon and I was able to grab a virtual queue for the first World of Color: Seasons of Light show, since we didn't think we'd make it to the 10:30.
Next we did Little Mermaid (stumbling upon the holiday cavalcade on the way there, and the Toy Drummers on the way out) before grabbing some treats from the Festival of the Holidays (drinks, queso fundido and a macaron) and watching Mariachi Divas. We also caught a bit of Blue13 from the promenade.
We had booked a LL for a second ride on Guardians once we checked in for WEB Slingers, and then grabbed another for Monsters, Inc. 2 hours later. We headed toward Hollywood Land and rode that, then grabbed some cocktails from Hollywood Lounge and finished them up watching Mickey's Philharmagic (also a good opportunity to rest my SIL's ankle). We tried each of the food options at the Wakanda Forever booth (best thing we ate all day!) and then it was time for our Guardians LL. We got off that and figured we would try to catch part of the Five and Dime show, but arrived 7 mins after it began and it was already ending? Oh well! We also picked up a LL for Goofy's Sky School once we were eligible.
We were starting to slow down and it was getting late in the afternoon, so we decided to head for Carsland and ride Mater's Jingle Jamboree, grab some snacks (esquite corn fritters- which would have been better if they were fresh- and a milkshake from Flo's), and wait for the street to light up. Honestly that was really freaking cool! While we were waiting, Goofy's Sky School went down and our LL turned into a multi-experience (excluding RSR, Guardians, WEB Slingers and Toy Story, I believe). Then we hopped into the SR line again for RSR, which was also about tied for our longest line of the day- 30 mins or so.
We booked it over to catch the final Viva Navidad of the day, and decided to use our multi-experience LL to ride Incredicoaster again. We'd been planning to use Single Rider, but this way we could ride together and wait for the front. Totally worth it, especially at night! Then it was on to a few more shows- Mostly Kosher (best entertainment all day, hands down don't miss these folks!) and the Mistletoes. At this point we were getting tired, so we slowly walked a lap through the Grizzly Peak area to check out the lights, looped through Hollywood Land and stopped in the Animation Building (mostly to warm up, but we did see the Beast's Library and all the things in that section). As we were walking through Avengers Campus at night, our virtual queue spot was called (it was not even 8pm!) so we quickly grabbed a final drink and a chocolate Twix tart and waited for our spot.
The virtual queue process was a little confusing to me, but after a lot of shuffling through different holding areas, they let us grab spots right on the waterfront and we were able to get one just one row away from the railing. The show was fabulous and being that close was kind of surreal. It was a very calm night, but had it been windier we would have been soaked! We ended up just getting misted a few times, which was chilly but honestly kind of added to the winter vibes.
We enjoyed a view of the 930 fireworks at Disneyland Park on our way out, and had a smooth ride back to the parking lot, where we grabbed the car and headed home. Thanks to construction traffic on the 5, I was walking in my front door right about midnight. SUCH an exhausting day, but totally worth it! I'm really glad we did Genie+ and went in with a plan. Honestly, we really did everything I'd hoped to do with a couple minor misses on things that were just "would be nice" kinds of items. I feel like we ate a ton of food and there are still things I wish we'd have had room for, lol. It did look like Lamplight Lounge- Boardwalk Dining was closed all day, so we missed out on the lobster nachos.
Safe travels to anyone visiting soon, and happy holidays, everyone! Thanks for answering all my questions and setting us up for a successful trip!
We drove up from San Diego and got a super early start- leaving at 5am. We stopped a few miles from Anaheim to grab breakfast at Starbucks, and queued up at the entrance to the Toy Story lot (off of Harbor, the other was closed) just before 7am. Security and the tram ride were smooth, and they were already admitting guests when we arrived at the gates around 7:25. We had Genie+, but wanted to hit some non-LL rides first thing, so lined up right at the rope in Hollywood Land.
My SIL has a sprained ankle, so we lost a little bit of ground in the rope drop rush, but made it to Guardians fairly efficiently. Next we did Radiator Springs Racers (via Single Rider) and Luigi's Joy to the Whirl before using our first LL at Toy Story, followed immediately by one on Incredicoaster.
We decided to wait in our longest line of the day by riding Soarin standby (about 30 mins) and booking a LL for WEB Slingers, since those were already a few hours out. Then we headed to Avengers Campus where we checked out the Dora Milaje, Avengers Holiday show, and Spiderman, and enjoyed drinks from Pym's Tasting Lab and some shwarma for lunch. I'm not much of a character person, but have to admit it was quite cool when Ant Man and Wasp walked by as we were grabbing a bench to eat, and stopped to initiate a conversation about our holiday attire, and their holiday plans! Then it was time to ride WEB Slingers. While we were in the pre-show, the clock struck noon and I was able to grab a virtual queue for the first World of Color: Seasons of Light show, since we didn't think we'd make it to the 10:30.
Next we did Little Mermaid (stumbling upon the holiday cavalcade on the way there, and the Toy Drummers on the way out) before grabbing some treats from the Festival of the Holidays (drinks, queso fundido and a macaron) and watching Mariachi Divas. We also caught a bit of Blue13 from the promenade.
We had booked a LL for a second ride on Guardians once we checked in for WEB Slingers, and then grabbed another for Monsters, Inc. 2 hours later. We headed toward Hollywood Land and rode that, then grabbed some cocktails from Hollywood Lounge and finished them up watching Mickey's Philharmagic (also a good opportunity to rest my SIL's ankle). We tried each of the food options at the Wakanda Forever booth (best thing we ate all day!) and then it was time for our Guardians LL. We got off that and figured we would try to catch part of the Five and Dime show, but arrived 7 mins after it began and it was already ending? Oh well! We also picked up a LL for Goofy's Sky School once we were eligible.
We were starting to slow down and it was getting late in the afternoon, so we decided to head for Carsland and ride Mater's Jingle Jamboree, grab some snacks (esquite corn fritters- which would have been better if they were fresh- and a milkshake from Flo's), and wait for the street to light up. Honestly that was really freaking cool! While we were waiting, Goofy's Sky School went down and our LL turned into a multi-experience (excluding RSR, Guardians, WEB Slingers and Toy Story, I believe). Then we hopped into the SR line again for RSR, which was also about tied for our longest line of the day- 30 mins or so.
We booked it over to catch the final Viva Navidad of the day, and decided to use our multi-experience LL to ride Incredicoaster again. We'd been planning to use Single Rider, but this way we could ride together and wait for the front. Totally worth it, especially at night! Then it was on to a few more shows- Mostly Kosher (best entertainment all day, hands down don't miss these folks!) and the Mistletoes. At this point we were getting tired, so we slowly walked a lap through the Grizzly Peak area to check out the lights, looped through Hollywood Land and stopped in the Animation Building (mostly to warm up, but we did see the Beast's Library and all the things in that section). As we were walking through Avengers Campus at night, our virtual queue spot was called (it was not even 8pm!) so we quickly grabbed a final drink and a chocolate Twix tart and waited for our spot.
The virtual queue process was a little confusing to me, but after a lot of shuffling through different holding areas, they let us grab spots right on the waterfront and we were able to get one just one row away from the railing. The show was fabulous and being that close was kind of surreal. It was a very calm night, but had it been windier we would have been soaked! We ended up just getting misted a few times, which was chilly but honestly kind of added to the winter vibes.
We enjoyed a view of the 930 fireworks at Disneyland Park on our way out, and had a smooth ride back to the parking lot, where we grabbed the car and headed home. Thanks to construction traffic on the 5, I was walking in my front door right about midnight. SUCH an exhausting day, but totally worth it! I'm really glad we did Genie+ and went in with a plan. Honestly, we really did everything I'd hoped to do with a couple minor misses on things that were just "would be nice" kinds of items. I feel like we ate a ton of food and there are still things I wish we'd have had room for, lol. It did look like Lamplight Lounge- Boardwalk Dining was closed all day, so we missed out on the lobster nachos.
Safe travels to anyone visiting soon, and happy holidays, everyone! Thanks for answering all my questions and setting us up for a successful trip!
