Subsonic Radio

Howdy! I know I said you shouldn't expect much from me (and you still shouldn't), but being true to form hubby and I overdid it yesterday and today so we're chilling in our hotel for the evening. So I decided to give you a little report about what we've done thus far. I have a few photos on my phone, so does hubby, and if you're FB friends with me you've seen them. And if you're not, why not?

Yesterday was our travel day. I awoke at 5:10 am so we could leave the house at 6:45 to catch an 8:45 am flight. Two-hour-plus layover in Phoenix which meant we had another breakfast instead of lunch due to the time difference (and which also wasn't horrible, as I bought two jars of cactus jelly to take home, the girls will love that!) and we got to Orange County / John Wayne Airport about 2. Bags, taxi, travel to our hotel, which is the Hyatt Place Anaheim Convention Center, and by 3:30 we were checked in and settled into our room. Walked the mile or so to the ticket office with my voucher for our tickets I'd purchased online through a reputable travel agent, and there was a glitch in pulling the order up. Three guest services representatives later we had our tickets and a fastpass for the Matterhorn, which we ended up not using.

First impression of Disneyland was how crowded it seemed, and I was a little worried about that, but there were ropes in place and people saving space for the daytime parade. Hang it if I can remember the name. Anyway, we got a couple of corn dogs and split a bottle of water for lunch, then made our way into Tomorrowland.

I don't know why. We always .... ALWAYS start our trip in Tomorrowland. And the first thing we did was ride Star Tours. That was fun. Had to escape Darth Vader, then went to Hoth, and finally ended on Corusant. Or however it's spelled. Hubby bought a popcorn container in the shape of Han Solo in carbonite, and then almost instantly regretted it because he had to carry it the rest of the evening. We also rode the Nemo submarines, Monorail, and started to board the train until they said it was stopped indefinitely due to locomotive issues. Then it was on to Small World, which we of course loved. Got to see the characters parade when the clock struck 6:30 pm. Not in the correct order, we also rode Roger Rabbit's spin thingamabob, Mr. Toad's Adventure, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and stayed to watch the first showing of Paint the Night and the new fireworks / laser / projection show. We weren't going to stay for the last two but as we were walking out we saw a space at the back of the roped off area on Main Street and said oh why not. Glad we did!

We were SHOCKED that Haunted Mansion and Pirates were essentially walk-on, and Small World was about a 10 minute wait. Mr. Toad was a bit longer, and Roger Rabbit was actually the longest wait at just about a half hour.

First impressions: Pirates is SO AWESOME at DLR. Night and day. I didn't even mind too much that I got wet on that first drop. Hatbox ghost was cool. Got to see the special effect that I won't spoil. Small World was in pristine condition (as in, no missing dolls, nothing looking like it didn't work right, absolutely no cobwebs anywhere).

PAINT THE NIGHT IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just love it. Hubby did, too. In fact, he said he could handle having a cd of the music. He's pretty sure the last song is from Wreck-it Ralph (can anyone confirm?).

And there is no way I can ever do the fireworks show any kind of justice. Projections are pretty cool (but not overwhelming as I've heard described on some podcasts). We were situated in about the middle of Main Street. Tinkerbell flew, and was pretty cool, but we were too far away to really see her. SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know anything skip to the next paragraph now. About 2/3 of the way through the show, Nemo also flew on the same system as Tinkerbell, which was cool. They have these AMAZING pyrotechnics that arc across the sky with shimmering sparkles behind them and a bright "star" at the lead, which looks JUST like animated shooting stars (think the shooting star from NBC's "the more you know" campaign, but with gold/yellow flame instead of rainbows). These things move in a parabolic pathway with the bright star leading the whole way. Got me wondering how they do that. Also, during the Frozen sequence, it freaking snowed on Main Street. The whole thing was like some kind of kids and grownups dance party singalong. HAD A GREAT TIME.

Today we got to the parks about 8:30 am. Decided to tour DCA and our first order of business was securing Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses, followed by World of Color fastpasses for the 9:00 show. In no particular order of the day, we hit Radiator Springs Racers, TSMM, Monsters Inc. (got to see Sully!), Tower of Terror, Soarin', California Screamer, Mickey's Fun Wheel (which hubby and I think is a stupid name, and on which we decided to ride the swinging cars and I got quite queasy.). We decided to head back for a nap, and just felt too tired, and feet hurting too badly, to return to the parks.

But we still have three days on our park hopper passes. Stay tuned!!

Oh my goodness, a TR started while still on the trip!
Sounds like you are having a blast! Isn't it nice how compact the parks are there so you can walk everywhere in just seconds (or so it seems)?!
I wonder if DL's It's a Small World is kept up better because they have the transition to the holiday show and back each year? And Pirates at DL is sooooooo much better than the WDW version!
Sounds like Paint the Night is pretty amazing. The fireworks sound very cool ~ as well as the
Yay for 3 more days!
What did you think of RSR? And the whole Radiator Springs area ~ isn't it amazing how they were able to recreate the scenes from the movie?
Hope your feet recuperate overnight and you're rarin' to go this morning!

RSR is a lot of fun. We decided we wouldn't wait more than 45 minutes for it, so a fastpass is a must for us. And we both agree that the theming and attention to detail in Carsland is the new standard. Disney can not, or at least should not, do anything that doesn't match it for detail, theming, etc.

Hubby is still sleeping. We crashed hard but got good sleep. On to day three...

More! More!

So far so good---I can just hear the giddiness in your voice on this TR. Sounds like you are having (had) a blast.

We DID have a blast! Half the photos are on hubby's phone, and the other half are on mine and my Dropbox account. So it's going to have to wait until I get back on the 25th to finish. Not to worry, I have my notes from each of our days so I'll remember the details.

...and this time I remembered to take some food pics.

Sunday July 5
Travel and First Impressions

So I've already listed the things we did on our first day. And WWDRH, you're right, we were just giddy with excitement. We love our kids very much, but this was THE WAY to travel. A few things to know about our trip: I planned a LOT. Made a list of restaurants to try. Made a couple touring plans on TouringPlans.com. Did all of our due dilligence in reading the Unofficial Guide, blogs, podcasts, etc.

And we didn't follow one bit of it.

Our first day, once we got past the snafu with our pre-paid tickets, we just strolled in (past the parade crowds) and decided to do whatever we wanted to. As in, whatever WE wanted to do. Parents, can you imagine? We had corn dogs and split a bottle of water. That was our lunch-supper (we were on a 3-hour time difference, so meal names just flew out the window). No photos of the corn dogs because, well, they're just corn dogs. But they were good.

As stated earlier, we always navigate right to Tomorrowland. I have no explanation for this phenomenon as it's not a conscious decision. Here's the Astro Orbiter, which is at ground level. MIND BLOWN.





Then it was on to Star Tours:








After Star Tours I was a tad queasy (must have been the early morning) so we took it (mostly) easy. Rode the submarines (meh) and the Monorail. This will make many of you be but I don't like the DLR monorail much. The seats are configured weird, they're hard, it's hot and kind of smelly inside (in spite of having the windows open) and there isn't a lot to see. Kind of a let down.

We were going to ride the train but it was down indefinitely due to issues with the locomotive. This became a recurring theme throughout our trip.

Next, we were on to It's A Small World, and the fun American West animal topiaries:








FUN DLR FACT: At the top and bottom of the hour, the clock has a "glockenspiel" kind of performance with a trumpet fanfare and little dolls that march around.





Then it was on to Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, and one of my most eagerly anticipated attractions, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! Yay!














Then on to the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE New Orleans Square! I could have stayed there all day.



After that we were going to leave for the evening, but decided to just slip under the rope and stay for Paint the Night.

SO GLAD WE DID! The characters like Lumierre are operated by a person walking, with a cart kind of strapped around him (I think they all were big, muscular men, ooh la la), and then holding poles that operate the "arms" of the characters. If you look really carefully you can see the dude working Lumiere:



If you like the looks of that, find a video of Paint the Night on You Tube and watch it. I was very impressed with all the innovative ways Disney has characters moving down the street, and the things they were doing on each of the floats.

For those of you who don't know, Monsters, Inc. is my favorite Pixar movie, and is second in all of Disney-dom only to Peter Pan. So I got kind of excited to see Sulley and Mike.













After that, almost immediately, the fireworks spectacular begins. I just loved it. It was a magical end to a magical night. I've already described it pretty well, but suffice it to say that each song that played, the fireworks matched, and the projections on the buildings were perfect. Chimney sweeps to "Step in Time", the houses looking cartoonish and wonky with "Heffalumps and Woozles" and the vines grew all over the buildings when songs from Tangled were played. There were two younger women in front of us, probably college age or a little older, singing their hearts out through the whole thing, and a BIG guy a little farther in front of us doing the same thing. In fact, I think everyone around us was an adult, and we all were bee-bopping, dancing, singing, and just enjoying ourselves.

The day ended, and we left exhausted and happy.

Wow ~ you really managed to fit a lot in your first day ~ love all your photos. I remember thinking the same thing about the Astro-Orbiter. So neat that it is right there! And it is so fun to be able to go on Mr. Toad out in DL
I wonder how heavy those Paint the Night floats are that the people are operating. Seems like it would be quite the workout by the time they operate the whole parade route.

Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort and Convention Center

Disclaimer: My personal bias in big-chain hotels lies with Hyatt Place hotels. I stay in a lot of Hampton Inns and Hilton Garden Inns (they're everywhere) but when I can, I choose a Hyatt Place. Each room has either one king or two double beds, a small partition, and a sofa sleeper. The TV is mounted such that it can be seen from either the bed or the sofa. There's a mini-fridge and while most have the sink/vanity outside the shower/toilet room, this hotel had them all together. Shower was nice and roomy. Hotel includes breakfast, and always has beer (WWDRH you'd like that, although they're typical mass produced brews), wine, some drinks, and a limited food menu. They also can do some Starbucks drinks and have some grab-and-go snacks. Breakfast is included in the rate, and the other things are an additional charge, but not high. For example, corn chips, queso, and salsa was about $8-9. Bottles of beer are $4-5. So it's expensive but not Disney expensive.

The Hyatt Place Anaheim is a Good Neighbor Hotel (assuming the sign behind the host desk is accurate) and they sell park tickets as well as passes to the Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) system. This particular hotel is about a mile's walk from the entrance. That doesn't sound too horrible, and it's not, if that's all you're going to do. But come on. So the first two days, we dutifully trekked from the hotel up Harbor Boulevard to the entrance, partied in the parks, then back. Any wonder, then, that on Monday, our first full day, we didn't go back after our afternoon nap? Nope. No wonder. We ended up buying 3-day passes to ART after that, and it made a HUGE difference. Stops are just up the block on the corner and buses run every 15-20 minutes. Made a world of difference. Single trips are $3 one-way per adult (exact change only, please) and our 3-day passes were $12 each. BARGAIN.

Additional bonus, I had 2 free nights plus enough points with Hyatt to make our entire 5-night stay COMPLETELY FREE. Well except for our chips, dips, and bottle of Sierra Mist. Parking on-site is $14 a night, FYI. Uber picks up and delivers. Taxi from John Wayne airport was $50 with tip, and Uber back to the hotel was $17. DO UBER. To get around Anaheim via Uber is reportedly $4-5 per trip one way. We also ordered dinner in to this hotel one night but there is plenty within reasonable reach and walking or Uber-ing distance.

Edited because I remembered something else: There's a CVS just a block and a half up Harbor that is very comprehensive and the staff are very helpful. There's also a Subway just across the corner from that CVS. With the fridge, meals and such on a budget in this location are more than manageable.

Amy wrote:Wow ~ you really managed to fit a lot in your first day ~ love all your photos. I remember thinking the same thing about the Astro-Orbiter. So neat that it is right there! And it is so fun to be able to go on Mr. Toad out in DL
I wonder how heavy those Paint the Night floats are that the people are operating. Seems like it would be quite the workout by the time they operate the whole parade route.

There are a lot of "walking" exhibits, including dancing butterflies at the beginning that are quite lovely. I liked all of the floats.

I forgot to explain the red box with the lit circles inside of it. That's the inside of Mack from Cars. They have a 3-dimensional grid of LED's inside of spheres that are like ping pong balls, and the lights turn on and off in colors to give a 3-D effect that is AWESOME.

We DID do a lot the first day... and a LOT of our favorites (Pirates, Haunted Mansion) were almost literally walk-ons. And there was NO PARADE going on.

Wow! love the pictures! I am really enjoying your detailed report! I don't think we will ever go to DLR but it is nice to be able to see and hear about it... maybe one day we will be able to go!! Keep the pictures coming!!

Monday, July 6
California (Adventure), here we come!

The day dawned early (as they all do) because our bodies were still on EDT even though our location was PDT. But that turned out to be a good thing because we were up early enough to hit the park early. We decided to dedicate the day to DCA, and since we were so good about reading up, planning, listening to blogs, and talking to you all, we got Radiator Springs Races fastpasses first, and then went right to World of Color fastpasses. Funny thing happened after that. I needed a rest room, and decided to go into the Grand Californian through that gate they have back there. On the way through, the cast member at the gate asked me if I had my room key. I thought she meant ticket and I said yes. Found a rest room, all was well and then we returned to the gate to go back through. "Do you have your room key?" Uh, sorry, what room key? So I explained my blunder and misunderstanding, and after rolling her eyes and looking REALLY irritated (different cast member) we were allowed to re-enter DCA. I have to say, the hotel looks fantastic, wouldn't mind staying there for a day or two, but not sure it's worth the cost. Anyone have insight into this?

From there, we went to visit Sully, but he was leaving (not again! Just like WDW 2012!). Cast member assured us he would return around 10, so we decided to ride Tower of Terror - just love that one! Hubby tolerated it. The lady sitting next to me grabbed ahold of my hand and buried her face in her friend's shoulder for the whole thing. GREAT time. After that, we went back to the Monsters University area...

AND I GOT TO MEET JAMES T. SULLIVAN!!!!









From there we rode Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue! It was fun... we were entertained by the "vending machines" in the queue





After that, we needed a snack. (It doesn't matter how much breakfast I eat. At 10-10:30 am, I'm hungry. Always.) We headed toward Carsland to the Cozy Cone snack area, and got a cheese-filled pretzel twist. It wasn't nearly as tasty as the snack bars were cute.



It wasn't quite time for our RSR fastpass, so we sat on a bench for a bit and people watched. IMHO Carsland is the new standard for theming. Not that everything should look like it, but the attention to detail is phenomenal. I can't wait to see what they do with the former Luigi's flying tire area. Not having much beyond shops between the entrance to Carsland and RSR is a big bummer, but that is a temporary issue until the new attraction goes in. RSR is a GREAT ride. Having said that, there is no way I'd wait more than 45 minutes in line for it. It was fun, and I enjoyed it. That's about it. I probably wouldn't do it without the fastpass, even.

Hubby shot this on our way out:



Next, we made our way toward the Paradise Pier area.



We waited in standby line for TSMM, which was about a half hour. This is where I got annoyed at the line jumpers. It seems that in California, allowing one or two members of your larger party to wait in line while you do....whatever...and then jumping ahead of everyone else to catch up to your party is not only tolerated, it's enabled by cast members. WHAT THE HECK MAN?! It just irked me to no end as it happened day in and day out. I was also getting pretty tired so maybe I was a little snarkier than I should have been. Also got tired of teenaged girls not understanding the concept of "personal space" and constantly bumping into me when they turned around to yakkity yak with their friends. But I digress...

ON TSMM I was ahead in the first round, and then Jeff ended up handing me a solid defeat.



But I was more accurate.

Then it was on to California Screamin'. I LOVE this coaster. It's awesome.

After that we rode Mickey's Fun Wheel. That's a silly name as it's not fun to wait in that line, and it's really not fun to sit on those swinging cars, back and forth, back and forth, while the ride loads. Then one trip around (ONE) and the unloading begins. Sheesh. If we ever go to DCA again, we won't be riding this attraction. I got queasy from the swinging cars (I should have known better) and it wasn't very exciting at all. Did have an entertaining chat with the two girls, about high school age, who rode with us though.

We decided to leave and go back to the hotel for a nap. On our way out, Jeff saw that Oswald was available for photos.





We walked all the way back to the hotel. Again. The plan was to walk back after a nap, but I fell asleep. HARD. and at 6:30, my feet were swollen and puffy, and hubby played the husband card and told me we were staying in. It was disappointing, but we still had three days left to tour!

Tuesday, July 7
Subtitle this, We Wised Up

The night before, with sore, puffy feat, eating our Subway sandwiches for dinner, I wondered what on earth I was going to do for the rest of the week. The hotel isn't that far from Disneyland. Seriously. It's less than a mile. So we walked just under 2 miles in our there/back trek. But that doesn't take into account the walking and standing we were doing in the parks, nor does it factor our lack of physical fitness. As in, we have none. We had done some walking ahead of our trip, but not 6-8 miles every day, multiple days in a row. Keep this in mind...

These are on most of the corners in the Anaheim resort area.




We walked to the parks this morning, and decided to return to DCA. For one, we hadn't seen everything we wanted to, and for two, we hadn't used our World of Color fastpasses the night before. So, that was what we did first thing.

Having secured our WoC fastpasses, for the second time in as many nights, we rode the trolley from Tower of Terror back to the park entrance.

Then we beebopped over to Disneyland. Yes, this is definitely a great advantage California has over Florida. We left, walked a bit, and SHAZAM! we were there. No waiting for a bus and then a 20-30 minute bus trek.

This one needs no words.




Our first order of business was to ride Jungle Cruise, which was about 20 minute wait. Then we got fastpasses for Indiana Jones and moved on to ride Haunted Mansion and the Riverboat Columbia. We ate lunch at Harbor Galley - Hubby had a shrimp salad, which was good, and I had broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl which was also good.

ASIDE: We ate mostly at counter service locations in the parks. The first night it was Bengal BBQ, and also Harbor Galley and a few others I can't remember right now. And that's my point with this aside -- the food is good, and there is a lot of variety, but we never oohed or aaahed over anything we ate. It was good, but not great.

After lunch it was time to ride Indiana Jones, which was fun but bumpy, and then we got a Dole Whip (on the Tiki Room side, TYVM for that tip y'all!) and Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.









On our way out, we caught Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. The "lobby" for this attraction is a mini-museum with lots of concept drawings for the development of Disneyland Park:























The reverence and respect Walt Disney had for President Lincoln is evident in the artifacts assembled for this attraction. The model of the Capitol Building was hand-carved from stone.









Then we left the parks and walked back to the hotel. We put our feet up, and I got out my iPad to look up alternative transportation options. The walking back and forth was killing us. We determined that Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) was the answer. We went down to the lobby of our hotel and they sold ART passes. For $12 each we got 3-day passes, which was a STEAL. $4 a day? Pssshhhht! Yep! The stop on the southbound side was just a few steps from our hotel, or we could walk across the corner to the stop to catch the bus on the northbound leg of the route. The buses let off very near the esplanade. I cannot stress this enough... THIS SAVED OUR TRIP. $24 saved our over $2,000 (value) trip. So not kidding. Ok... Back to the park touring...

We went back to DCA, and got dinner at The Cove Bar. We ordered lobster nachos to share and each had a glass of sangria. This is the nachos:



After dinner we rode California Screamin again. I told you I liked it!

Then we got into line to move into WoC area. We had about a 10-minute wait there, and were let in to our waiting area. That was where everyone sat down, laid down, etc. all over the cement until WoC started. They turn on a Wifi system just for a game that is similar to the old Simon memory game, that you can play on your smart phone. I also took some photos of Paradise Pier as the sun went down.



This will give you an idea of where we were for WoC:



We were having a FANTASTIC trip. I look a little tired, but yeah, pretty daggone happy to be on this trip with my guy:















Suddenly, the show started. I've seen video of previous versions of WoC and this seemed very different. The focus was on the conversation with Neil Patrick Harris and different characters, mostly Mickey Mouse, and projections of film clips on the "mist fans" as well as using the center of the Mickey wheel for different clips.









And that was our day. Longer day. But ART SAVED OUR LIFE. Not art the nice thing to look at or experience, ART the bus system. It was a great day. Relaxing, enjoyable, and we didn't have any agenda except WoC and getting some lobster nachos at some point. Great day.

We wandered through the Grand Californian on one of our trips and were quite impressed as well, but the cost was too high for us to even seriously consider staying there. I wonder why it was a problem for you to go in and out of that entrance? When we were there, you could go through that entrance if you were staying at any of the hotels on property on the extra magic hour days, so you had to have your key for that, but I don't think they made us show a room key once the parks were opened. That was back on our 2003 trip though, so a lot could have changed since then I suppose.
Isn't it weird how different ToT is at California than it is in WDW? Still a fun attraction, but not nearly as cool without the elevator moving though the star field.
That is so neat you got to meet Sully ~ I love the first picture of you two hugging one another!
Have to agree on the entertaining vending machines in the Monster's queue. I have similar photos.
Bummer about the cozy cone snack not being all that great. We never were close to a snack/meal time when we were by them so we didn't even really look at them.
Isn't Carsland amazing?! We had just watched the movie for the first time on the plane on the way to California so of course it was super fresh in our heads, and we were just blown away ~ so much detail!
Envious that you got to go on TSMM, we just ran out of time and didn't get to it I love the swinging cars on Mickey's Fun Wheel. but you are right, the wait time isn't at all fun and the ride itself is way too short. California Screamin' is another total winner. Was the music playing when you rode? I've found that to be hit or miss on whether the music is working on the roller coaster cars when I've been there. Much better with the music going.
So neat that you got to meet Oswald while you were there ~ good spotting by Jeff!

I noticed the same thing about the line jumping when we were at DL/DCA back in 2003. I figured a lot of it was simply because I was by myself a good portion of the time and couldn't hold my place in line well as people edged around me. I have the same problem with personal space too. I realize I like a little more space than most people probably do though so I try not to be too huffy, but the constant bumping gets old fast

Yeah, that mile from the parks might not seem bad once or twice, but I wouldn't want to tackle it every day. Even if you only had to walk to the parks it wouldn't be too bad with fresh feet in the morning, but on the way home? Ugh! Cool manhole covers though.
I'm envious you were able to ride the new trolley while you were there ~ yet another thing we didn't quite get to do while we were there.
Isn't is incredible how easy it is to park hop in California? So close!
My brothers and I love Indy ~ such a fun ride. Better than Dinosaur with everything to look at in my opinion. Again, such attention to details.
Nice pictures from the Tiki Room ~
Love all the stuff in the lobby for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln ~ you got some great photos ~ it looks like it was pretty deserted. Was it not too busy at this point in your trip, or did you just luck out on getting photos with no one in them? The Capitol model is simply stunning! And I really enjoy the show, even if some find it sort of boring.
Smart thinking on the bus passes ~ I will have to remember those if we stay off site but sort of close in the future. Do you know if they were accessible for ECV or wheelchairs?
Beautiful pictures of the Paradise Pier area ~ they played the game when we were there too, but I couldn't get it to work on my phone for some reason. Looks like you were right about where we watched the WoC show from as well. I wonder where they store that screen that goes over Mickey's face on the Fun Wheel when it isn't in use for the show? Anyone know?
Cute picture of you and Jeff ~ you both look super happy

To answer a few of Amy's questions ( ) :

California Screamin' - music WAS playing. Loved the carnival feel to the whole thing. Someone who knows more about such things can tell us for sure, but I think the car and acceleration system is the same as that of Rock'n Roller Coaster at DHS. Sure felt the same. I seriously could have ridden that thing several more times. Didn't bother my heart murmur AT ALL. Ok maybe just a little but so? Gotta live a little.

ART buses are completely accessible. They of course insist that you fold strollers, but one family only sort of semi folded theirs and it was ok. The buses remind me of the Disney transportation buses at WDW. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same model. Then again, that style bus is pretty common. They're also the "kneeling" type.

It WAS nice to be able to easily park hop, but ya know, I'm not 100% sure it was necessary or worth it. We focused our attention mostly on one park in a day, except for in the middle, and could have easily been limited that way without feeling bad about missing something.

The crowds weren't too bad -- Lighter than they were on our 2012 WDW trip. So many attractions were walk-on or nearly so. Notable exceptions were the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, RSR, Roger Rabbit, and Jungle Cruise. Even ToT wasn't that long of a wait. And I couldn't believe how short the lines were for Pirates that first day, and Haunted Mansion never got very long. The crowds got larger as the morning went on, and afternoon crowds were obnoxious, which is why we left for rest time each day. The line for Pirates did get idiotic in the afternoon, but we kept an eye on it with our Disneyland Lines app and were able to get 3 rides in over the whole trip without waiting very long. The area around Fantasmic area, and Main Street, always got crowded near showtime, but that's to be expected. The cast members do a great job of setting up one-way crowd movement so everything keeps moving.