WonkaKid
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2009
Quick report from the park yesterday. I had a much better day than I’ve had for the past two Sundays. I made a conscious choice to do things a little differently: I went on different rides and visited parts of the park that I don’t usually frequent. I feel that I’ve been in something of a rut lately so I thought a change would help. Which it did. After my first few Fantasyland rides – Dumbo and Mr. Toad – I did do a few rounds of Buzz. But I placed a limit on the number of times I’d ride it in view of the horrible experiences I’ve had for the past two Sundays.
On my first ride, I scored a respectable 1.8M. Second was around 1.75M and my third I broke 2M (2,047,900). That’s a really good score. But it’s not unbeatable. My nemesis NAP was there yesterday (he’s actually pretty cool and we always talk and compare notes and, more often, share complaints ;-)). He often scores around 2,080,000 by no later than 8:30, which makes it hard to climb to the top of the board (especially since scores reset after about 2,097,000). But yesterday he didn’t do as well as he usually does and I still held the top slot when I left in the early afternoon. Incidentally, he’s told me that he holds the world record score for Toy Story Mania. I’m not sure if that’s true and certainly no one’s “certified” it. But as I recall, he said that his best is somewhere in the 600,000 range. I’ve only done that ride once about 15 years ago and have no idea what makes for a good score.
I then moved on to HM and Matterhorn. Both lines were short. In fact, yesterday was the first time in years that I actually got in the standby line for Matterhorn. The wait was only about five minutes.
I met a number of nice people. Here are two highlights plus a sprinkle of DL pixie dust.
Around 8:30 – shortly after RD – I met a pleasant mom and daughter visiting from Seattle. They only had six hours in the park before they had to leave to catch their flight. I helped them take a pic in front of the castle and then told them about single-rider lines for Space Mountain and the Matterhorn, for which they were appreciative. I left the park at around 1:30… and happened to bump into them again as they were also leaving. They said that they’d had a wonderful day, which, of course, I was glad to hear.
As I was getting honey for my tea at Jolly Holiday, I met a great local couple. The woman was wearing a NYC Yankees cap, which is what prompted our conversation. They’d both visited NYC recently -- my favorite city in the world. I’ve been about 18 times -- and Chicago, my hometown. She’s a CM in marketing at Disney Studios in Burbank. We talked for about ten minutes as we compared notes about the two cities and other things. I’ll keep an eye out for them over my next visits.
Something really nice happened at lunchtime. As I stepped into Pizza Planet and approached the counter to ask for a water cup, the CM saw me coming, recognized me and handed me the cup just as I got there. She was also kind about giving me a cup for hot water. For the past two Sundays, I was turned away when I asked for one. Ever since the PP refurb about five years ago, CMs are no longer allowed to give guests hot cups (i.e., Styrofoam). They’re supposed to charge the price of a cup of coffee – around $3. Most of the time CMs simply give me one. Sometimes they don’t and it’s always aggravating. It feels particularly chintzy and cynical to charge a guest three dollars for a cup that probably costs them about a dime. Especially in view of the premium price we all pay to visit the park. But as I say, most of the time the CMs smile and give me one. Moreover, as I often say to friends at the park, “Any complaint I have about Disneyland is a very First-World, one-percenter complaint.” ;-).
As always, I have park maps if anyone would like a set. Simply DM me (“Start Conversation”).
Some pics.
On my first ride, I scored a respectable 1.8M. Second was around 1.75M and my third I broke 2M (2,047,900). That’s a really good score. But it’s not unbeatable. My nemesis NAP was there yesterday (he’s actually pretty cool and we always talk and compare notes and, more often, share complaints ;-)). He often scores around 2,080,000 by no later than 8:30, which makes it hard to climb to the top of the board (especially since scores reset after about 2,097,000). But yesterday he didn’t do as well as he usually does and I still held the top slot when I left in the early afternoon. Incidentally, he’s told me that he holds the world record score for Toy Story Mania. I’m not sure if that’s true and certainly no one’s “certified” it. But as I recall, he said that his best is somewhere in the 600,000 range. I’ve only done that ride once about 15 years ago and have no idea what makes for a good score.
I then moved on to HM and Matterhorn. Both lines were short. In fact, yesterday was the first time in years that I actually got in the standby line for Matterhorn. The wait was only about five minutes.
I met a number of nice people. Here are two highlights plus a sprinkle of DL pixie dust.
Around 8:30 – shortly after RD – I met a pleasant mom and daughter visiting from Seattle. They only had six hours in the park before they had to leave to catch their flight. I helped them take a pic in front of the castle and then told them about single-rider lines for Space Mountain and the Matterhorn, for which they were appreciative. I left the park at around 1:30… and happened to bump into them again as they were also leaving. They said that they’d had a wonderful day, which, of course, I was glad to hear.
As I was getting honey for my tea at Jolly Holiday, I met a great local couple. The woman was wearing a NYC Yankees cap, which is what prompted our conversation. They’d both visited NYC recently -- my favorite city in the world. I’ve been about 18 times -- and Chicago, my hometown. She’s a CM in marketing at Disney Studios in Burbank. We talked for about ten minutes as we compared notes about the two cities and other things. I’ll keep an eye out for them over my next visits.
Something really nice happened at lunchtime. As I stepped into Pizza Planet and approached the counter to ask for a water cup, the CM saw me coming, recognized me and handed me the cup just as I got there. She was also kind about giving me a cup for hot water. For the past two Sundays, I was turned away when I asked for one. Ever since the PP refurb about five years ago, CMs are no longer allowed to give guests hot cups (i.e., Styrofoam). They’re supposed to charge the price of a cup of coffee – around $3. Most of the time CMs simply give me one. Sometimes they don’t and it’s always aggravating. It feels particularly chintzy and cynical to charge a guest three dollars for a cup that probably costs them about a dime. Especially in view of the premium price we all pay to visit the park. But as I say, most of the time the CMs smile and give me one. Moreover, as I often say to friends at the park, “Any complaint I have about Disneyland is a very First-World, one-percenter complaint.” ;-).
As always, I have park maps if anyone would like a set. Simply DM me (“Start Conversation”).
Some pics.
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