TR: Disneyland 6/1/07

[Rastuso]

Day 7 - Disneyland and DCA

 

This was our final day in LA, so we of course returned to the Happiest Place on Earth. We got there a little later since our son didn't even want to go because he still felt bad. Luckily, after breakfast and waking up, we did pretty good. We got to the parking lot and found a very long line as opposed to no line on Wednesday. We were about 45 minutes later, and of course it was a Friday. It took much longer to get into the park, which gave me a bad vibe. We split up at first, since my wife wanted to reride Pirates, and my son and I still need our Space Mountain credit, him for the first time, me for the new coaster that is in the building. Standby was posted as 40 minutes, but as usual was about half that.

 

The lighting effects were much improved, but gave me a bit of vertigo. Sound was working well, and the track is much smoother. It still should have been much more of an improvement. My wife grabbed some Splash Mountain FPs on the way, and we then all gathered at Indiana Jones. This is where the infamous queue battle occurred. I won't go into it again, but it involved three latino boys cutting in with a group of girls including one very mouthy one. We reported them, 2 of the boys were booted, and the girl said "f### you" in front of the CM multiple times and nothing happened to her. Right as we approached the station, we came to a standstill. They had closed the left station, and were having some difficulties. We cascaded on our ride starting at the dart room, and the boulder effect was not quite right. Still one of the best rides anywhere. We got another set of FPs after riding, but never did use them.

 

The place was getting real crowded, and I thought our day was doomed. We head to Mansion for a pretty quick wait. I really like the updates, even if the story has changed. The axe effect with the bride is really cool. We then hit Splash with the usual long walk past many many people waiting. I could never wait in that line.

 

We wanted to hit BTMRR once more, but it was DDM. So, I grabbed some OK fish and chips and sat at the edge of the river and watched my son throw bread to the ducks. DL sure hasn't lowered drink prices like WDW. Only one drink size, and it was 24oz and almost $3. After I finished, we totally lucked out to get to BTMRR right was it reopened, so we walked right on. Next we needed to finish Fantasyland. We waited about 20 minutes for the always great Toad. The line seemed a bit slower than I remember, perhaps fewer cars. Then we split up again. My wife wanted to ride Pan, and my son and I were to go get Roger Rabbit FPs and ride Matterhorn. Well, we go the FPs OK, but the Matterhorn line was around the mountain, and easily 3-40 minutes. I had an idea. If we hit Alice during the parade, the line will be short, and then my son and I can use the exit pass we got for the little bitch at Indy cussing in front of my kid. So, that's what we do, and we have a chocolate banana as a snack. Gotta love the Disney ice creams that are inedible for at least 5 minutes after you get one since they are frozen solid. Alice had about a 5 minute wait. Plus, the Alice float went by when we were in line, and the Mickey and Minnie float was parked by the ramps as we entered and exited the main building. They both waved at us as we came out on top of the leafs. A really great Disney moment for sure. Alice looks and sounds fantastic with the recent upgrades.

 

We went back to Roger to use the FPs. I always love this ride, especially since I can minimize the spinning. We hopped right on the Matterhorn with our exit pass for a great jerky ride. I wonder how much of the jerkiness is the track, and how much comes from the 20 or so brakes on the way down. I assume this thing was insane when it opened with less brake usage. Still, the jerkiness is part of its charm, and the splashdown is so iconic. I hadn't ridden this coaster since my son’s first visit about 8 years ago, and really missed it.

 

We took a sad look at the sub lagoon, since CMs were getting the first day of rides. We watched the "mine" seagulls and a few subs and headed over to Disney's California Adventure. Before anything else, I got Soarin FPs.

 

I was expecting very light crowds at DCA and was shocked at the very crowded pathways. The entry plaza had a huge crowd already sitting down. I thought this was for the Light Parade and got nervous since we were still almost 4 hours out from it. I found that the crowd was for the Block Party with Pixar characters. OK, that's better. Speaking of Pixar, we headed to the new Monster's Inc ride.

 

*****SPOILERS

 

We were unlucky enough to once ride Superstar Limo. A terrible dark ride inhabited by many celebrities that people really don't like. I despise Whoopi Goldberg, I sure don't want to see her in a lame ride, or movie for that matter. That's why I will never step foot in Golden Dreams. But WOW, have they improved this ride. They went from a total crap ride to a fantastic D ticket dark ride with great animatrons and effects. The queue was filled with funny advertising and vending machines. It is like the classic Disney dark rides in that it basically retells the story from the movie. There are great sets, with an excellent Pepper's Ghost Randall early on where he disappears in 2 phases. I do wish the CDA scene had more action in it though. The door scenes were great, including one section where you pass a lot of closed doors where one ride we saw the Abominable snowman with his lemon cones, and once we saw a Monster fumbling around a kid's room. The final appearance of Randall is phenomenal with Boo hitting him and him changing colors and patterns with each hit. VERY well done effect that looked like a combination of a TV screen, an animatron, and some advanced lighting. On our first ride, Roz was silent at the end. The second ride she commented about cameras, and I was filming. I don't know if this was a coincidence, or if her saying are controlled by someone. Again, this ride is awesome. Proof that Pooh was crappy because of budget, not Imagineering abilities.

 

********END SPOILERS

 

We did two rides in about 30 minutes total. Next we took my son to Muppets finally. Still a fun show, but since the theater had about 30 people in it, it's hardly a big draw. The water effect wasn't working. Now, our Soarin FPs were good, so I ran to get Tower ones and we went to Soarin'. Still about 15 minutes, even with FPs. My son was reasonable happy riding. This is a fun ride, but really nothing phenomenal. The scents weren't working, and it seemed like the seat weren't moving much. I got a little vertigo a few times that I've never experienced before.

 

We skipped Grizzly since it was just too cold, and with that big drop, you don't know what's going to happen. We split up again. My wife went to get some sourdough bread and dinner, and my son and I went to do standby on Screamin. We were welcomed with a full queue. Well, this blows. Time posted was 40, but it was more like 20. Line cutting was pretty bad here. A wide diversity of line cutters, but none matched the black guy in front of me a bit who started with one kid, and ended up with about 6 a few rows into the queue. No one around him cared, and the kids were climbing over the rails with ease. This is a bad setup. The queue slowly goes up, so someone at the entrance can easily see the whole queue. And, no one watching. A CM at the entrance would have stopped it all, since they could have watched over the whole queue.

 

The sound was working great this time, and it is still a real fun ride, although it does seem more speed controlled than a few years ago, before the issues. My son really enjoyed it. We joined my wife and decided our game plan for the parade. Folks were starting to line the route with about an hour to go. We still had FPs for Tower. So, my wife decided to get a parade spot, and we go do Tower. We walk WAAAAY around to Tower, since they for some reason refuse to connect it with the farm area. We get there 10 minutes before our FP is due, and are told to wait 5. The standby is an hour. Luckily, I overhear the CM say that FP wait is 35 minutes inside the hotel. WOW, that's too much. By the time we were done, we wouldn't be able to get to our spot for the parade. That stinks. So, no lame Tower for us. Honestly, the DCA Tower pales to the MGM one. We walk back to our spot and start waiting. There was only one drink stand nearby, and it was selling coffee, so the line was long and slow. We ended up right at the edge of one of the zones, so the music and lights were a bit weird at first, but were fine when the parade got to us. I still love this parade. The sounds the snails and stuff make are great, and Baroque Hoedown is great.

 

We were going to maybe go back to DL for some rides, but my son was pretty tired, and we were just happy he was much better today. The antibiotics were kicking in nicely. We did some quick shopping and saw the fireworks as we left the park. I wanted to watch them, but also wanted to beat the post fireworks crowd to the tram station. So, we end our vacation. We had a long walk since we were unluckily damn near as far from the escalators as possible in the parking structure.

Of course, I had to do one more In-N-Out trip. I've got it down to order a double-double, spread only, well done. Burger perfection.

 

Our trip back was uneventful except for the rental car. I had noticed after we picked up the car and hit In-N-Out the first time that we had almost no gas. My wife calls and Alamo says they’ll put down on the rental that we got it with no gas. Well, of course, the check in lady said it wasn’t there. After we got back, I had to call and complain. The lady told me to send proof I bought gas that night. Well, I forgot that we didn’t get it until the next morning on the way to Celebration, and that receipt had no time on it, and I didin’t buy much. I ended up sending receipts from our first few days showing where we went. Luckily, I did buy a lot of gas at SFMM, showing the tank was empty. After faxing it all in, I quickly got a return fax showing the credit of over $60 to my credit card. Good customer service. Lesson learned, ALWAYS check the rental car gas tank when you get the car.