TR: The DLR 2/12

[ebl]

(This was posted on Westcoaster, so some of you might have already read it.)

 

Diana and Trent went to the DLR last month and had to use the second day of their Park Hopper within 30 days, so a trip down there was in order. I hadn't been since August, so it was about high time I went anyway. We got up at the crack of dawn, picked up Trent, and their friend Matt, and hit the road. By 10am, we were inside Disneyland and got a locker.

 

Just a tip: I purchased my 1-Day Park Hopper at the Disney Store on Saturday so I could avoid waiting at the park. Price: $79. Matt didn't have a ticket, so he had to purchase his at the park when we got there. He got a 1-Day Park Hopper for $79, but apparently there's some resident deal where he actually got a 2-Day one. I should have gone ahead and gotten mine at the park as well. The only thing is that I will be very busy on weekends for a couple of months, so I don't know when I'll get back down there. But keep this in mind if you live in SoCal.

 

Anyway, after filling our locker, our plans were to hit Space Mountain before the line got too long. But as we passed Buzz Lightyear, we noticed that the line was only 10 minutes, so we rode that. I managed to rack up 49,400 points (Level L-3). Kinda fun, really.

 

Next up was Space Mountain with a 25-minute wait. For whatever reason, I had a rather bumpy ride, but I still like what they've done with this ride.

 

The kids wanted to ride Indiana Jones, and I wanted to ride Big Thunder, so we headed that way.

 

After making plans to meet up for lunch on Main Street, the kids went to Indy and I went to Big Thunder. I waited all of 15 minutes, then met the kids at the Carnation place. After lunch, we decided to meet at the Taste Pilots Grill at DCA at 5 for dinner, so that freed us up for the entire afternoon. The kids went to use their Indy FastPass while I went over to Splash Mountain. The single rider line ownz u! Standby was 60 minutes, but I was able to get on in about two. I was assigned Row 3, which meant that I rode in the double-wide seat in the back of the log. No one was in front of me, making for a very enjoyable ride. It was good to get back on this ride again.

 

I spent the better part of the afternoon taking pictures of the 50th Anniversary mosaics all over the park. Interestingly, the monorail was running back and forth along the stretch between Tomorrowland and Downtown Disney. I had wanted to ride, but both Monorail Purple and Blue were down (blown motors), according to a very nice cast member at the bottom of the Speedramp.

 

Next, I headed over to DCA. I happened to bump into the kids in the area between the two parks. All of us went into DCA together, but the kids wanted to check out other stuff while I wanted to ride Monsters, Inc. All I can say is that it's an hour of my life that I'll never get back. I never rode Superstar Limo, but this couldn’t have been much better. After waiting just over an hour, I took a 3-1/2 minute trip through…whatever. The good thing is that it was air-conditioned and that I could sit down.

 

I took a quick spin on Mulholland Madness (single rider line, two-minute wait), then just wandered. Maliboomer (single rider line again!) was next. They had to move us to another tower because there was a problem with a guest (probably threw up), but I was on and off within ten minutes.

 

Next was my first ride on California Screamin' in well over a year. Five-minute wait, courtesy of my friend, the single rider line. It's rather strange how they do that here. You get a Single Rider ticket from a cast member at the FastPass entry point, go in the exit to the unload side of the ride. There's a "Single Rider Line" sign next to a waiting area, and you're directed to take the handicap elevator up to the bridge, then take the other one down to the middle platform level. From there, a cast member calls out when they need a rider, and you go where directed. It works well, really. I took three rides doing this, one of which was in the front seat! Four trains were running, and I rode in three different ones.

 

Soon, we met up at Taste Pilots Grill and had a very nice dinner. Afterwards, we wandered around and found ourselves at the Sun Wheel. Trent and Matt hadn't ridden this and wanted to check out the swinging cars. I think those are the only way to ride this particular Ferris wheel. The boys, however were freaked out by the swinging motion and couldn't wait to get off. (Mind you, these are 15-year-old boys who just couldn’t handle it. They even said later that it was the scariest ride they took all day.)

 

It was getting late (DCA closed at 10), and we wanted to watch the fireworks back over at Disneyland. There was some time, so we took advantage of a ten-minute wait on Tower of Terror. We had a nice ride on that, then started to head to Disneyland when Trent and Matt decided—for whatever reason—to ride Grizzly River Run. At the last minute, Diana decided to join them. It was starting to get cold, and I didn't want to ride and end up soaked. To make matters worse, they went twice! Luckily, they didn't get soaked, but the extra time cost us seeing the fireworks at Disneyland. By the time we got back in there, the mob was leaving and we could barely get up the first half of Main Street. Because it was so jammed, we decided that we'd ride one more attraction in Disneyland to let the crowd disperse. The kids went to Pirates of the Caribbean and I went to the Matterhorn. The Tomorrowland side wasn't running when I got in line (my guess is that some of the sleds got too close and closed the block brakes, which happens from time to time). It was up and running in about ten minutes, so I got on, then met the kids at the locker so we could head out.

 

Despite the crowds, we had a very nice time and did just about everything we wanted. I'm sure I'll get back there sometime soon.

 

Eric

[ECZenith]

I'm going to DLR for the first time in May of this year. I only hope all of the rides you mentioned are running when I get there. Indiana Jones and Cali Screamin' in particular.

[ebl]

^ I'm sure that with the 50th anniversary celebration going on---and with a new leader (Iger), the park will make every effort to have as many attractions open as possible.

 

In the days before you head out here, go the Disneyland website, click Calendar, then click "Get Schedule" for the day(s) you'll be there. Any attractions scheduled to be down for refurbishing will be listed. Keep in mind, though, that additional ones could be closed at a moment's notice.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip!

 

Eric