Our “Best Disney Day” January 5-7, 2023

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Thought I would check in and fill you in on the adventures so far! Yesterday was the “bomb cyclone” or “atmospheric river” aka a crap ton of rain! DD (18) and I flew in from Oregon Wednesday night, had a lovely dinner at goofy’s kitchen and crashed at 10:15 pm at DLH (deluxe view, fantasy tower, overlooking the pool) to be up and in line for security at 6:30 am. Armed with 2 cheap dollar store ponchos each, we braved the rain! Oh boy did it rain. Small note— we were doing great till we got on Matterhorn like a couple of loons and then Small World and I sat in a very deep puddle that soaked my bum to the skin. Genie Plus worked well for us, as did our magic bands, crowds were very low. I thought ahead and booked storytellers (inside, warm and toasty) at noon for lunch. But by 10:45 am we headed back to the room to warm up and put on a fresh change of clothes and try to instacart nicer ponchos (the park was completely sold out of adult size.) we had ridden Snow, Pinocchio, Toady, HM, Pirates, Rise, Buzz, Star tours, Matterhorn and Small World by this point. Longest wait of the morning was Matterhorn and about 10 minutes.

Our instacart shopper scored us the last two ponchos in Anaheim I think and had them to bell services by 11:50, which we grabbed and headed to Storytellers. The rain had mostly stopped by then, and didn’t make another appearance until dinner time (another soaker—but we had awesome ponchos!) We hit DCA in the sun for the first part of the afternoon, doing Monsters Inc, GoG, Soarin, and Incredicoaster 2x. Ate some dill pickle popcorn and crossed back to DL. I get foggy here, but DD kept track and said we had 18 rides done by the time we checked in for WOC (hopped again) at 8 pm. WOC was lovely, lower seats were great, crossed back to DL during the fireworks and hit Buzz again—twice, Storybook boats, Alice (finally open!) and Space. Rise was open mere minutes all day, I don’t think I saw BTMRR open, and Cars never opened—nor Luigi’s. 23 rides (5 dupes…18 unique) in one day, rope drop to close with basically an hour room break plus meals. Awesome Disney Day!

Our clothes are on hangers and still damp… dryers would be lovely but they are over at PPH.

About to head out for what will be a “normal“ day likely… including a nap. Stay tuned!

 

[magsnwonderland]

Sounds like you made the best of a super rainy day! I assume you did early entry, how did that work for you?

 

[DizMe]

WOW, I'm impressed!!! Kudos to you for making a fun, fantastic day out of something that others might have seen as ruining their trip. I love the way you and your daughter stayed positive and found the magic!!!

 

[evilmommie]

Disneyland can be magical in the rain with the right attitude and the right gear! What a great trip y’all are going to have…I’m headed over to the parks for a last hurrah of the Holidays. Have so much fun!!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

We did early entry, Peter Pan was down at the start, so we hit snow, Pinocchio and toady during it and then kinda stationed over by the entrance to frontier land and went for HM and pirates while everyone ran for rise (which was closed). So it was perfect for us!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Hello from our room just before midnight on day 2–it’s Friday the 6th if you are keeping track. So, for those planning for next year, a lot of kids went back to school on the 3rd but a lot have break until the 9th too. Today was crisp and cool and no rain… bonus for having dry clothes, but there were a lot more people in the parks too. The crowds were less than Columbus weekend in October has been the last few years (minus the Covid years, and we missed 2022.)

We were in line for security outside DLH at 6:35 am, that extra 5 minutes meant we were about 40th in line instead of 15th. Headed for DCA today. We gambled that RSR might be down, and didn’t want to do spidey first thing, so we went against the stream and did Incredicoaster, followed by the swings 2x without getting off, and then walked on Ariel at 3 minutes to 8. TSMM was not open. Post Ariel we did Monsters (LL) and RSR (paid LL) and then Mater (Luigi wasn’t open). Ate some food at Fidler and then did Spidey (LL), and Goofy (LL). 8 rides by 10:30 am. Then frankly the day before caught up to us—the late sleepers were flooding into the park and our feet and bodies were tired. We did 35,000 steps during the bomb cyclone day, and we decided it was nap time. So back to DLH we went, grabbing a caramel apple on the way to eat in the room. I stacked some LLs for after 4 pm to use in DL.

We ate meh food at Tangaroa Terrace before we went back into the parks, gyoza was cold and chicken bowls were fine, non-alcoholic drinks were yummy tho. Headed in and the (paid) LL for Rise was insanity, so we backtracked to BTMRR where we had an overlapping LL—also had a stupid long line, but it was moving quickly. Rode BTMRR in the dark (Love that!) And then did Rise (LL line had died way down). We were hungry after our meh early dinner and went to tropical hideaway and ate some much better food. Got LL for Smugglers (readily available all day honestly), and Indy—which turned into a MEP that we used on Matterhorn (again—it’s so good in the dark.) Did Space LL and then HM right as F! first show was starting. I started wearing out, we aren’t hydrating enough! Rode Buzz about 10 seconds after they announced no fireworks. Went and had ice cream and hot cocoa (two different mobile orders, but it worked out), finished with small world at nearly 11 and then we called it good enough, I literally couldn’t get any more LL (the one time per ride per day is dumb), and didn’t want to ride what had short lines. So we hopped on the monorail and were in our room by 11:30.

Breaking the cardinal rule tomorrow, but it’s our last day, and a short one, we are starting in DL where we have ridden everything but a couple non-priority smaller rides, Splash (too cold), Indy (keeps breaking), and Jungle Cruise (dd will only do if a walk on). So we are sleeping in… a little… I figure 8 am will be all the normal people and a little nuts at security and the gates, so we are going to sneak in after them, grab a few fast passes, a dole whip and a churro or two, and hit what we can before 1, then park hop and maybe get spidey again and Luigi’s before we head to the airport at 4:30. Wish us luck!
!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

That’s 16 rides today and a 5 hour break if you are counting… not bad, and nearly every single ride was using LL, longest wait was 20 minutes for BTMRR.

 

[Pluto468]

Wow, your trip sounds wonderful! You're getting so much done. Thanks for the details

Did you ever get on Peter Pan?

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Nope, every time we think about it, it’s at least 45 or 50 minutes, we have done Peter Pan nearly every trip over the years so it is fine

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Sitting in DCA now, have about 45 minutes till we have to walk back to DLH. Rode Matterhorn, Space, BTMRR, Rise, Spidey and GoG today, could squeeze in something else but we just want to snack and avoid people at this point.

Parks would have been amazing at early entry today, because even at 9 am they were very dead. They are quite busy now and if we were staying the night we would be back in the room for a break by now.

I don’t have any big suggestions for you all, other than bring 2 pair of shoes and more socks and undies than you think you need if rain is even slightly suggested—and decent ponchos!

We loved using our magic bands, can’t wait for them to open the hotel room too. But I will say, if you have a MEP use your phone and “redeem” any LL you want to use as the bands will just grab your MEP. Made things a little interesting for us, but the CMs were lenient.

DD has already said “Same time next year?” We shall see