DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Planning a trip? Just get back? Talk about it here.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Fri 03, 2019 10:09 am

I was in Anaheim for work and decided to add a 3-day visit to Disneyland onto my trip. I grew up in Southern California but moved to Arizona in 2003. Since then, Florida has been more of my home park. Actually, I've been to all the global parks more than I've been back to Disneyland, so it was a bit of a homecoming for me.

Tuesday night was the last "work" night for me and I was booked at the Doubletree Suites Anaheim Resort. The hotel is within walking distance of the parks, located just south of the convention center and about a block from the Toy Story parking lot. That's important if you're going to stay in the area as there are no free hotel shuttles to the parks anymore. There's a local bus system that requires tickets (about $5 per day). So if you want to save money and are staying near the Toy Story lot my advice would be to walk to the lot and ride a Disney parking bus. We didn't do that, but I see no reason it wouldn't work.

The nice thing about the Doubletree (and many Hilton brands) is you get to pick your room in advance. I picked an upper floor room facing north. I could not see the parks from my room, but we had a good view of the fireworks.

Image

I'll comment on the firework show later, but it was a nice early start to the Disney vacation to get to see this from my off-property room. Coincidentally, I was in Anaheim at the end of March too. And while I was unable to go to the parks then, I did have a partial view of DCA from my Anaheim Marriott balcony room.

Image

The area surrounding Disneyland property has really been prettied up. Lots of greenery, fancy light fixtures and other general improvements do provide a somewhat consistent feel as you come within a couple miles of the parks. It helps to offset the disjointed feel from all the hotels and strip malls competing for your attention.

Net up: Day one
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

cousininmiami
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes Guide
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes Guide
Posts: 1038
Joined: Sep Thu 25, 2008 8:44 am

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by cousininmiami » May Fri 03, 2019 2:04 pm

Nice! Fun to read and great pics!
°o° "...it's a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day" °o°

Image

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Fri 03, 2019 3:11 pm

cousininmiami wrote:Nice! Fun to read and great pics!
Thanks. More to come!
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Fri 03, 2019 3:12 pm

Day One: Wednesday, April 24, 2019

We checked out of the Doubletree around 10am and headed over to the Disneyland Hotel to check in. While I didn't expect a room to be ready I knew that they allow early arrivals to get the front desk stuff out of the way and get to the parks while the rooms are readied. Well, I was quite pleased to find that a room was ready for us. Quite a treat.

I booked a 2-night stay with a 3-day park hopper ticket with MaxPass. Disneyland is running a promotion that expires at the end of May which effectively gives you 3 days for the price of 2. I booked through Costco Travel using their "Late Spring Offer with Limited-Time Special Ticket Offer" which gave me a $185 Disney gift card as a kickback on the package. With the gift card, which we used for all our food purchases, the package price was about $150 cheaper than if I had bought the hotel and tickets separately. The tickets were the "3-Day Special Offer Park Hopper® Ticket with Disney MaxPass and Magic Morning Early Access."

The overall check-in experience is pleasant, although still quite lengthy. I know Disney wants to provide high touch but there's got to be a way to streamline the process. Nevertheless, Titia was attentive and our package of tickets, gift card and welcome letter was ready and waiting for us.

We were given a choice of a couple room options. We had booed a "Standard View" and opted for a room with two queen beds vs one king. The 2-queen rooms are slightly larger than the single bed rooms. Plus, we got a room facing the pool which was better than facing the "outside world" which helped us stay in the magic the entire time.

Image

Image

The room was on the third floor at the end of the hall, making it quiet and convenient. Speaking of convenience, a bonus was being able to use the stairs next to our room to exit the building easily. Could not come back in that way but it did shave a couple minutes off whenever we ventured out.

A strange thing: When we got to our room there was a do not disturb door hanger. My key worked but I knocked all the same and a maintenance guy opened the door. He came out with his ladder and said he was just finishing something up. But I will say I think he was using the bathroom because there was a bit of a smell in there when we first went in. Yuck, tacky.

Other than that, the room was as advertised. Nice and big, with full length picture windows overlooking the central complex. The windows were covered in blue tint during the remodel a few years ago and you can see the hue in the picture above. Not a problem though.

Our building is the Fantasy building, the same one where the front desk is located. Each room has a headboard with the castle and fiber optic fireworks. They don't really sparkle, they just light up and a few fade on and off. There is a button on the nightstand that turns them on and when you first do it also plays "A Dream is a Wish" from Cinerella. There are two throw pillows, one on each bed, embroidered with "A dream is a wish your heart makes..." on one and "When you're fast asleep" on the other. Cute.

Image

I bought the MaxPass option because I wanted to be able to book Fast Passes from the mobile app. Via Costco, MaxPass was I think half price, and it was totally worth it. You and your party have to enter a park in order to use MaxPass which is both good and bad. Good that it keeps people from grabbing the good passes early. Bad in that I was on property and it would've been nice to be able to book a pass from my room first thing in the morning. This issue was mitigated somewhat by the fact that we could take the Monorail, entering of course is the same as going through the main gate.

We got to the Monorail station around 11 and I pulled up the MaxPass options as soon as we entered the queue. The wait time was about 30 minutes. I'm used to getting on the next train at WDW so this was not that. But I've been to DL enough to not be surprised. This was the longest wait for the Monorail over our three days. I grabbed a MaxPass for Buzz as it was a close-in time.

Arriving in Tomorrowland, I noticed the park was crowded but not terribly so. The crowds the entire three days were moderate. We were after the spring break rushes and this was the first day after the Food & Wine Festival ended at DCA. From what I've been reading there's really no slow time at Disneyland anymore, but the time between spring break and Memorial Day is still a shoulder season and I was happy the crowds were managable.

First stop was Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. Wait time was less than 30 minutes. A line cutting family got in front of us (started with 4 people, grew to 12 because kids "were in the bathroom"). I complained to the cast member at the entrance and he first said he couldn't do anything but then pulled us over to the accessible entrance where our wait got shortened probably by about one sub-worth of guests.

Next, we rode Buzz which kept shifting to creep mode for wheelchairs, giving lots of chances to rack up points. Love when that happens and you get slowed down or stopped in an area with a clear view of some high scoring triangles. I booked an early afternoon MaxPass for Soarin.

I was told you could book MaxPasses for both DL and DCA at the same time because they are on two different systems. Well, that is only partly true. They are on different systems but I still had to wait a period of time before getting the next pass. However, you can book the evening spectaculars (World of Color or Fantasmic) as separate passes that don't block you from regular attraction passes. So we grabbed one for WoC.

Lunch at the Plaza Inn was delicious fried chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies and a buttermilk biscuit. About $17 which didn't seem too bad relative to some of the smaller meal prices. Plus we were using our $185 Disney gift card from Costco Travel which made it feel like the food was "free". Dangerous thinking!

After lunch, a blissfully relaxing ride on the Mark Twain. Got to see the new shortened river and changes made for Galaxy's Edge.

Image

You can see the tops of some of Galaxy's Edge from the upper deck of the river boat, as you can see below. Not intrusive though.

Image

After Mark Twain we went across to DCA to catch Soarin'. Still not a fan of all the CGI in this version of the attraction but it's a fun ride. My wife had not been on the new version and liked it until I spoiled it by telling her the polar bears were fake.

Afterward, we went to see the wait times for Radiator Springs Racers. 2+ hour standby line and 45 minutes for single rider. Decided to go back to hotel for an afternoon break instead.

A note on standby - It's gotten worse than ever. If you don't have a fast/max pass you are at the mercy of those passholders before you get on. They were actually announcing on some rides that the standby wait is estimated and may be adjusted - basically warning those people that they're gonna be in for a long day. It was handy that the Disneyland app lets you sort by Single Rider lines, helps find those ways to ride some stuff when the standby line is long and you don't have a pass.

After a couple hours' break back at the hotel we headed back to DCA for the evening. The single rider line for RSR was a bit shorter then (around 530p) at 30minutes so we got into that line. I've never been on this before. We got lucky and my wife and I both got to ride together. Oh, there was another line cutter - a teenage guy. The couple in front of us told him to get to the back of the line and we chimed in, shaming the kid to leave.

After RSR (fun!) it was a short wait for Little Mermaid, then Incredicoaster (MaxPass), then barbacoa nachos at the Lamplight Lounge. Really good nachos, so filling that ended up being my dinner.

Image

After nachos we rode Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters. This ride is delightful. The cars move to a quick little Italian song, and there are maybe five different songs so each ride is slightly different with different choreography. So cute and happy, plus riding at night under the open air string lights and pleasant night sky was magical.

Image

DCA closed at 10, Disneyland at midnight. We got some hot cocoa and made our way to the "Yellow" entrance for the reserved viewing area of World of Color. The hot cocoa was way too sweet. I could've paid more to get the one at the Ghiradelli shop but I figured the regular Disney one would be fine. Oh well. WoC is not a great show. Maybe it's the lack of fireworks but it felt like the show just ran on too long and didn't feel like anything more than a review of animated hits. Meh.

After the show, we headed back over to DL. The first Fantasmic plus Mickey's Mix Magic fireworks were over and the park was thinning out fast. We went to Fantasyland and knocked out four attractions (Snow White, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad, Story Book Land, before our 11pm Matterhorn MaxPass. So fun when the park is open late, the last couple of hours make up for a full day of crowds.

Matterhorn broke down, so we got our first of what I call "Super Passes" which is sent automatically when your MaxPass attraction becomes unavailable. This is formally called a "Replacement Fast Pass" and is good on any fast pass attraction at the same park. The pass has a start time (same as your original pass) but NO END TIME, making it good all day long. Plus you can get other regular MaxPasses at the same time, so it's handy to keep this super pass in reserve.

Image

Interesting to note that nowhere on the page or on the pass itself does it state that you can only use at one park. It does say Disneyland Park but on the FastPass itself it just says "Multiple Experiences" and I didn't see any place that clearly said it wasn't good for park hopping. I found out later that the cast members don't always know this either - but I'll get to that. Also I just noticed that because it was so late the super pass was actually good for the next day too. Very generous.

Image

We used this super pass for Space Mountain, which at 11pm still had a 50min wait in the standby line. After Space Mountain it was a quick ride on Star Tours (no wait) and my wife hadn't experienced the new multiple story lines so that was fun that it was new to her.

We timed it perfectly to be at closing in Tomorrowland where we could easily catch the Monorail back to our hotel. A nice bit of convenience for DL Hotel guests and I like using the monorail as transport and not just as a ride.

Around 1230am, time for a nightcap at Trader Sam's. This outdoor bar adjacent to the pool complex in the DL Hotel seems to be a hangout for cast members. There were quite a few people outside enjoying drinks and food as this bar is open until 2am. A lot of them seemed to be employees. Probably got off work at DCA although I am not sure I'd pay expensive Disney drink prices on a cast member salary. Anyway, the weather was still nice and it was a great way to end a busy, fun first day.
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

Amy
Submarine Voyage Captain
Submarine Voyage Captain
Posts: 18542
Joined: Dec Wed 12, 2007 1:41 pm
Location: the flooded, flooded mitten

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by Amy » May Fri 03, 2019 8:29 pm

Wow, sounds like a great start to your trip! Lots of changes to the park/Disney app experience even since our last trip in 2016. Only difference so far is our family really enjoys World of Color ~ I think because it is different from the usual fireworks shows, and it adds the water which is always a fun element.
Looking forward to hearing about and seeing pictures from Day 2 :)
That's pretty nice that they helped you out at the Subs from that rather large party cutting in front of you. I probably would have grumbled but not thought to say something to the CMs.

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Sun 05, 2019 11:35 am

Amy wrote:Wow, sounds like a great start to your trip! Lots of changes to the park/Disney app experience even since our last trip in 2016. Only difference so far is our family really enjoys World of Color ~ I think because it is different from the usual fireworks shows, and it adds the water which is always a fun element.
Looking forward to hearing about and seeing pictures from Day 2 :)
That's pretty nice that they helped you out at the Subs from that rather large party cutting in front of you. I probably would have grumbled but not thought to say something to the CMs.
I'm all for dancing water shows. The water, lasers, lights and fire are really great. I think, for me, the problem was the underlying story the show was trying to tell. It starts out with the old-fashioned "Wonderful World of Color" song and then just devolves into a clip show. Some of the scenes, like Monstro, were lifted straight out of Fantasmic. It just felt like the story did not live up to the technology.

That group on the subs really put a sour taste on our lips and too bad it was the very first ride. The CM's first answer was "yeah, it's ok that they let people in" which I found completely unacceptable. Line jumping is becoming widespread, I've got other cases I mention in the rest of the TR but others I observed that I didn't bother writing about. I think it's a cultural thing. People have a grown a disproportionate sense of entitlement and a belief that the rules don't apply when someone commits what they perceive to be a "minor" infraction.
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Sun 05, 2019 11:38 am

Day Two: Thursday, April 25, 2019

Today we again rode the Monorail but boarded around 830am and it was almost completely empty. The crowds from spring break must've been continuing to leave as today was noticably less crowded for the most part. As a matter of fact, we were the only ones in our car:

Image

Once in Tomorrowland we headed straight across the Plaza, past all the construction walls and scrim covering the castle and boarded Jungle Cruise. The wait was about 15min. Haunted Mansion right afterward, no wait. Then Tom Sawyer Island where we were only among a handful of guests boarding the rafts. That is, however, typical for mornings in Frontierland.

We enjoyed our time on the island and it's nice to see that most of the tunnels are still intact. I was bummed to see that the water wheel in the little mill no longer turns - it used to feed a mill wheel inside the building that rotated and now it just sits there. Also, the little treehouse on TS Island is no longer climb-able. Looks to be a completely different, smaller building just for looks. As we were leaving the island we heard some cheers from the passing Mark Twain and it turned out someone made a marriage proposal onboard. They announced it and blew the whistle. Aww.

We had a MaxPass for a 10am ride on Roger Rabbit. When we got to Toon Town we still had some time so we went through Mickey's house for a bit. Got to Roger and it broke down. Broken down rides was a theme of this trip which is a bit distressing. Got another of my "super passes" and decided to use it on Matterhorn. But then we didn't, because the single rider line was shorter. Got lucky on Matterhorn and got to ride with my wife in the same car. We were 2-for-2 on riding together from the single rider line with this plus RSR the day before. The new sleds on Matterhorn are nice, very much like the cars on Florida's Space Mountain. You no longer have someone sitting between your legs in your lap. Also, it cuts each sled down to three riders (vs 4 when you have two doubled-up the old way) so that presumably lightens each vehicle.

So now I still had an unused super pass and decided to sit on it until we needed it. We rode the railroad from Toon Town to Frontierland and went in Tarzan Treehouse then had lunch at Cafe Orleans where we shared a Monte Cristo sandwich and an order of parmesan garlic fries, minus the garlic. Delicious and easily that sandwich can be shared. We had no reservation but since we got there at 1130am right when the dining room opened they were able to seat the first few walk-ups.

After lunch, we did the single rider line for Indy. On a number of single rider lines where the lines intersect or parallel the normal queues they hand out these Single Rider tickets now. I guess line jumping is worse than just the occasional rude family or errant teen. Didn't ride together but that's ok.

Image

Afternoon break back at the pool. No need to wear ourselves out at the parks, again open late plus we still had Friday ahead of us. The "Monorail" pool was closed, pushing everybody over to the regular pool which used to be called the Neverland Pool in the previous makeover. Hard to find chairs but my wife was able to locate a couple in the shade and with a good view. This is supposedly called the "E-Ticket Pool" and is described on the Disneyland website as "Go for a dip at this pool that pays tribute to the park’s early days with decorative signs resembling the theme park tickets of yesteryear." But I saw no decorative signs.

Image

As I was lounging by the pool I began to think about how I really don't like getting soaked on Grizzly River Run and that I should really head over to to ride that while I have my bathing suit on. So I checked the app and wouldn't you know it - broken down. Ack. Would've been fun to be completely unafraid of getting drenched for once.

After the pool we headed back over to DCA around 5pm and decided to use our Roger Rabbit replacement pass for Midway Mania. Remember I said that I didn't know you cannot use these super passes across parks. Well, we scanned the tickets and they worked! The only way to ride Midway Mania is with a Fast Pass. It's totally not worth a wait in the standby line which goes sooooo slooooowwwllllyyy with those low-capacity, high load time cars.

For dinner, we were going to get dinner at Flo's V8 Cafe. The view in Cars Land at night is beautiful.

Image

Well, the Future Farmers of America were having a special group night at DCA and the park was overrun with teens in FFA t-shirts. The line at Flo's for dinner was out the door and online orders were backed up 25 minutes. So we went over to Smokejumpers Grill (formerly Taste Pilots) next to Soarin'. I ordered with the mobile app and had to wait a bit for the food but it wasn't too long and lots of seating. I had a buffalo chicken sandwich with a generously large chicken piece and my wife had a cheeseburger.

After dinner, Radiator Springs Racers had a crazy line again so we went over to Guardians. My wife doesn't like those droppy rides but went through the pre-show with me. I will say I was really skeptical about this overlay. But the execution was very good and the enthusiasm of my fellow riders tells me it's a hit. The ride was engaging and very fun. I'm still glad the Florida version is Twilight Zone and I am not happy with the ugly look of the outside of the Guardians building but the ride itself is good.

Afterward, around 845pm, back across to DL for a train ride one stop to Fronterland. Fantasmic was going on and we rode Pirates with a short wait. Actually, the left queue had a long wait going around the side of the building but the right side was a straight shot. On the ride, in the scene of the skeleton sitting in the bed looking at the treasure map, the little kid behind me said "Why does he have a queen bed?" Um, I don't think even imagineers can answer that one, kid.

We came out of the ride just as Mickey's Mix Magic fireworks had begun. The projection effects were going on at the Fantasmic area. This is a lame show. Not magical at all. I heard that guests at first liked it but now it's so uninteresting that Disneyland will bring back their previous fireworks show in June.

Rode Big Thunder then went 'round the back way (past the new Galaxy's Edge pathways) to Alice. I still love this dark ride, it's such a clever mix of indoor and outdoor elements.

I got us 11pm Space Mountain fast passes and we made that our last right of the evening. Hey look, we're back in Tomorrowland at the end of the night. How nice - Monorail time once more!
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

Amy
Submarine Voyage Captain
Submarine Voyage Captain
Posts: 18542
Joined: Dec Wed 12, 2007 1:41 pm
Location: the flooded, flooded mitten

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by Amy » May Sun 05, 2019 4:30 pm

Nice 2nd day as well. I noticed that operations seemed a little more laid back in California vs. Florida. I just always attributed it to the more laid back style of California in general. It was especially noticeable in the evening hours.
I would think the monorail pool would be the e-ticket pool?
Agreed on Carsland ~ such a nicely decorated area, and truly beautiful at night with all the lights! Too bad about Flo's ~ they have really good food. Unless something changed, the Taste Pilot's Grill was never so tasty.
Looking forward to day 3!

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Sun 05, 2019 10:03 pm

Amy wrote:Nice 2nd day as well. I noticed that operations seemed a little more laid back in California vs. Florida. I just always attributed it to the more laid back style of California in general. It was especially noticeable in the evening hours.
I would think the monorail pool would be the e-ticket pool?
Agreed on Carsland ~ such a nicely decorated area, and truly beautiful at night with all the lights! Too bad about Flo's ~ they have really good food. Unless something changed, the Taste Pilot's Grill was never so tasty.
Looking forward to day 3!
There are three pools. The big pool used to be called the Neverland Pool and had the pirate ship. They took that out and added some tables and chairs. The smaller pool under the bridge is called the D-Ticket pool. The other pool is just listed as "Monorail Waterslides" but I assume there are normally lounge chairs around that area too. The real challenge was the lack of real estate for just relaxing, getting drinks/food, etc.

Smokejumpers is exactly the same as Taste Pilots used to be. The thing I liked about that restaurant was the toppings bar. They still have that. Sandwiches were fine but nothing to write home about.
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

Amy
Submarine Voyage Captain
Submarine Voyage Captain
Posts: 18542
Joined: Dec Wed 12, 2007 1:41 pm
Location: the flooded, flooded mitten

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by Amy » May Mon 06, 2019 10:31 am

They kept the toppings bar? That's good. That helps elevate a plain old theme park sandwich quite a bit when you can choose your own toppings :D

cousininmiami
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes Guide
Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes Guide
Posts: 1038
Joined: Sep Thu 25, 2008 8:44 am

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by cousininmiami » May Mon 06, 2019 1:15 pm

The inside of the Monorail looks different! Way nice pictures!
°o° "...it's a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day" °o°

Image

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Mon 06, 2019 2:53 pm

Amy wrote:They kept the toppings bar? That's good. That helps elevate a plain old theme park sandwich quite a bit when you can choose your own toppings :D
For sure. The pickles alone make it worth it!
cousininmiami wrote:The inside of the Monorail looks different! Way nice pictures!
Plus they let people ride up front. Oh how I miss that at WDW.
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Mon 06, 2019 2:55 pm

Day Three: Friday, April 26, 2019

We had done so much the first two days we didn't have much for this, our third and final day. Plus we were planning to drive up to Big Bear Lake for Friday night and decided to head out some time after lunch.

So, we checked out of the hotel around 10am, put our stuff in the car and headed back to the parks. This time we went into the Monorail station just to activate our tickets and then immediately exited. Went into DL through the main gates and caught the railroad to Toon Town. This allowed us to cross the new trestle bridge and waterfalls in the back of the Rivers of America that block the view of Galaxy's Edge. It's a well done area that will get even prettier as the foliage grows in.

I was on a mission to ride Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, having not been able to use my fast pass the day before. It was open today and had about a 25min wait. I haven't been on it in sooo long.

We also booked a 1150am fast pass for Radiator Springs Racers, planning for that to be our last ride before lunch and departure. After Roger Rabbit we caught the train once more for a ride around to Main Street, then across to DCA. The queues for RSR was a mess. 120 minutes for standby. But the single rider line stretched all the way out to Flo's. If you know the layout of this land you'd know that is a good 1000 feet to the entrance to the ride, let alone the regular fast pass queue beyond. This was not the first time either, the line the night before was just as bad for fast pass. I am not sure if all the breakdowns was causing an inordinate number of people to use their replacement passes for RSR or if the timing of the passes is just messed up, but things have to change here.

Here's a pic that attempts to illustrate. That guy in the foreground in the backpack was in the fast pass line and he wasn't even at the end of the queue!!!

Image

And I am probably not wrong on the fast pass time assignments being part of the problem. I found that I could repeatedly refresh a request on the app for a fast pass time and get a completely different window. At one point I had 1150am, then 130pm, then 5pm, then 2pm, then 1150am again. It was all over the place. Needless to say, we went in the 25min single rider line. This time we rode separately but had a great time.

We had lunch at Flo's (more fried chicken for me, not as good as the Plaza Inn but still good) and my wife had a BLT. That's not on the menu, she just asked for the turkey club with no turkey and extra bacon. Took some explaining and she only got one extra slice of bacon but whatever.

We got a 1220pm fast pass for the Incredicoaster. I didn't mention it before but the Incredibles overlay on this ride is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the experience.

Looking at the map, I realized they stuck Mickey's Philharmagic in where Muppet-Vision used to be. They weren't advertising it at all, but today happened to be opening day for the attraction. We walked right in, no line and maybe 30% full. I was curious to see how they'd make a show designed for very specific wide screens work in this theater. Turns out: pretty poorly. As you might be able to make out below, the ultra-wide format of the original show takes up only the bottom half of the more standard sized Muppet movie screen. That leaves a lot of black bar at the top of the screen:

Image

Then, when the show goes into its wide format the side panels are used as projection screens but the effect is not as nice as on the dedicated screens in Florida.

Image

Donald's duck feet were not visible to me in the back of the theater in the finale, although I heard him and I read online that his feet are there but that they don't move. I don't know, maybe they weren't working. Fortunately, we've both seen this show enough to still know what to expect and enjoy it. I think it's a fine little temporary bolt-on for DCA but certainly not a permanant addition.

OK, that was it for our days in the parks. We wanted to get up into the mountains at a decent time so now around 130p we decided to end our day. As we were headed back to our car, my wife reminded me that she never got the giant pretzel she had been craving. So we stopped at Wetzel's and lo-and-behold it turns out to be National Pretzel Day with FREE ORIGINAL PRETZELS being given away. Worth the 20min wait for two free snacks on our way out.

Image

Well, that about wraps up our 3-day Disneyland adventure. All in all, nice to be back in my home resort. The hotels are pricey but staying on property cannot be beat. I'm also glad we avoided the nightmare that will greet the Galaxy's Edge crowds next month.
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

Amy
Submarine Voyage Captain
Submarine Voyage Captain
Posts: 18542
Joined: Dec Wed 12, 2007 1:41 pm
Location: the flooded, flooded mitten

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by Amy » May Tue 07, 2019 1:04 pm

Nice third day, though a bit short. I understand Cali traffic and wanting to get where you are going in a reasonable time frame though.
That is really sad about Mickey's Philharmagic. Hopefully they can make some tweaks to it so it looks/fits a bit better? I imagine they are just trying to get something that will swallow a large crowd up when the Star Wars hordes descend though.
Woot for the free pretzels! I'm surprised the parks location actually was participating in the promotion.

horizons1
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2654
Joined: Mar Thu 18, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Contact:

Re: DLR Trip Report April 24-26, 2019

Post by horizons1 » May Thu 09, 2019 2:21 pm

Amy wrote:Nice third day, though a bit short....I'm surprised the parks location actually was participating in the promotion.
Yeah, we did grow up in SoCal so three full days didn't feel necessary. I know, sacrilege. Plus the drive was definitely a factor.

Me too on the pretzels - what a total surprise.
No one's gloomy or complaining while the flatware's entertaining.

Post Reply