A Solo Trip 28 Years in the Making-Oct 16-17th, 2012

[solana131]

Originally Posted by DaveinFallsChurch

Divine! Oh, there’s more than one!! Does Disney know about this?
I may be biased, but I didn’t think they were as good as the one in Animal Kingdom.

That's just....weird. Divine is all vine and leaves and does not belong in the middle of a shopping mall. Just weird.....


Dave, I don't know how you do it...first your pictures made me want to go back to Williamsburg when I hadn't thought about that trip in years. Then I really wanted to see DC again and all the monuments. And now....well now I just HAVE to go to Vegas! Great pics!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Originally Posted by solana131

That's just....weird. Divine is all vine and leaves and does not belong in the middle of a shopping mall. Just weird.....


Dave, I don't know how you do it...first your pictures made me want to go back to Williamsburg when I hadn't thought about that trip in years. Then I really wanted to see DC again and all the monuments. And now....well now I just HAVE to go to Vegas! Great pics!

The weirdest part of that scene was when the two Divines started posing with some of the VIPs in the wine/cheese tasting event for pictures in the middle of the mall.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm trying to get as much practice as I can for the big event in October. Hoping to upgrade my standard lens before the trip, but not sure if I'll have enough money saved up by then. Got a new memory card though which has room for 4000 pictures. That should be enough for my trip, right?

[DaveinFallsChurch]

The National Zoo welcomed two cheetah cubs a few months ago and they were introduced to the public last month. Here are some pics I got when we went to see them.

[solana131]

Awww...how adorable! I want a cheetah to play with too

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Originally Posted by solana131

Awww...how adorable! I want a cheetah to play with too

We're headed out to the zoo again tomorrow to get a look at the new American Trail (Sea Lions, Seals, Bald eagle) that is opening this weekend.

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Day 3 (August 18th)

I was finally getting used to the new time zone and was able to sleep in a little. Wasn't suppose to meet up with my friends until noon for a brunch buffet at the Wynn so decided to stroll down the Strip again in the morning to enjoy the scenery and take some photos.

Walked past the front of the Mirage - never got to see the nighttime volcano erupting during this trip.


Through the Forum Shops.



One of the stores was a memorabilia shop and had this in the front. Brought back memories from the 80s and "Big". Not sure what the heck Yoda is doing on top of Zoltar with what appears to be a hybrid of a traffic light and a fire hydrant.



Walked through Caesars Palace then crossed the street over to Bellagio.

Lobby at Bellagio





Then the atrium in the Bellagio







There's a monorail-tram that runs between Bellagio and Aria/Monte Cristo. Took it over to the City Center Mall.



City Center Mall. Can't remember what stores they had in there probably because they were clearly out of my price range.



Over to Aria's lobby.



Caught a cab from the Aria's driveway back to the Wynn.

[khertz]

All caught up. I really enjoyed your Colonial Williamsburg TR. We considered going there when we thought we were not going to be able to take the DC trip we originally wanted to. I absolutely LOVE history, especially US. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was go on plantation tours with my grandparents! Colonial Williamsburg was right up my alley, but DH was less than excited about a week immersed in colonial times. Luckily for him we ended up able to taking the DC trip instead, but I would still love to visit Williamsburg one day.

I think you have the right idea about your DCA/DL touring plans. The only one I wholeheartedly disagree on is skipping WOC!! But I can understand your reasoning. If you get into the park and there are still FPs available, I would suggest still picking one up and trying to go to the show. You don't HAVE to be there when they let you in, and this might be the way to go if you just want to see the show but don't care about having the best viewing spot. I don't know the hours at that time of year, but if there is a later show, that's definitely your best bet. We walked up about 10 minutes before the show and got a great spot. It was a little obstructed, but we could still see pretty much everything, and it never got too crowded where we were standing. I think if you can fit it in, you definitely should try!

Hopefully you should be okay with Single Rider on RSR...it usually stays consistently about 30 minutes all day, which is significantly less than the standby line! Of course at a slower time of year, it may be even better for you. If you like roller coasters, I would bump California Screamin' higher on your priority list...it's so fun!!

Also enjoying your Las Vegas pics. We spent our first wedding anniversary there, and had a really fantastic time. Love that Alan shirt! I would love to go back to Vegas one day. We did so much, but barely scratched the surface of what Vegas has to offer!

I look forward to following along with your plans.

ETA: Just remembered something I wanted to mention when reading about your plans...I remember there were several riders riding solo on Luigi's. I would only do it though if the wait time is short...it's an okay ride, but not worth a long wait. We enjoyed Mater's Junkyard Jamboree better than Luigi's!

ETA 2: A good snack in DCA...some sourdough bread from the Bakery!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Originally Posted by khertz

I think you have the right idea about your DCA/DL touring plans. The only one I wholeheartedly disagree on is skipping WOC!! But I can understand your reasoning. If you get into the park and there are still FPs available, I would suggest still picking one up and trying to go to the show. You don't HAVE to be there when they let you in, and this might be the way to go if you just want to see the show but don't care about having the best viewing spot. I don't know the hours at that time of year, but if there is a later show, that's definitely your best bet. We walked up about 10 minutes before the show and got a great spot. It was a little obstructed, but we could still see pretty much everything, and it never got too crowded where we were standing. I think if you can fit it in, you definitely should try!

Hopefully you should be okay with Single Rider on RSR...it usually stays consistently about 30 minutes all day, which is significantly less than the standby line! Of course at a slower time of year, it may be even better for you. If you like roller coasters, I would bump California Screamin' higher on your priority list...it's so fun!!

ETA: Just remembered something I wanted to mention when reading about your plans...I remember there were several riders riding solo on Luigi's. I would only do it though if the wait time is short...it's an okay ride, but not worth a long wait. We enjoyed Mater's Junkyard Jamboree better than Luigi's!

ETA 2: A good snack in DCA...some sourdough bread from the Bakery!

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions! Much appreciated!

I've been rethinking my plans of whether to include WOC. Since Indiana Jones is down for refurb (I had planned on going on this twice) and since I am staying the second night in Anaheim giving me an option to stay through park closings, I may hop over to DCA to grab a FP in the morning and head back as you said 10-15 minutes before it starts. I'm going to put together my hour to hour touring plan this week once the park hours are officially published.

I would be perfectly happy with a 30 minute wait time in the single rider line for RSR! I'm allotting an hour in Carsland so if I can get at least 20 minutes to just take in the scenery, then that would be a success!

Thanks for the heads up about Luigi's and Mater's. Depending how much time I have and what the lines are, may not get to do either. I'm starting to lean towards Mater's. Seems like Luigi's requires a good amount of work (and stress in some cases) to enjoy it.

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Park hours for my second day is now published on DL's website! Time to start finalizing my touring plans! The only unknown at this point would be whether BTMRR will be closed for refurb while I'm there - here's to hoping they'll keep it open until then.

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Day 3/ Day 4 (August 18-19th)

Last posting for the Vegas trip so I can start working on my touring plan!

After taking the cab back up to the Wynn, had lunch at The Buffet my friends.

Eating area at the Wynn buffet



It was good, and I was starving so made four trips to the buffet line!
In the afternoon, it was time for the actual draft for our fantasy football league for our league in my hotel room. 3 hours. Yup. Nothing too exciting happened.

We had dinner plans at the Sinatra located in Encore. I got there a little early so walked around the Encore. Not sure how I feel about the overall design, but it was certainly interesting.

Encore lobby





Shops between Wynn and Encore





Dinner was good. Everyone ordered the filet mignon special except me which I later regretted. I was still pretty full from the buffet so ordered the lobster risotto which was decent. The filet was apparently really good based on the reactions from my friends.

Next morning, before checkout, I walked over to the Venetian to eat Bouchon which is well known for its bakery. Had a great breakfast.

The Venetian





After breakfast, checked out and left my baggage with the bellhop. Walked over to the Bellagio to watch the fountains.









Afterwards, headed to the airport. So that was my trip to Vegas! A lot of sightseeing and walking. It was fun seeing my friends and hanging out with them. But not too excited about going back anytime soon.

[khertz]

The Bellagio fountains were my absolute favorite thing in Vegas! Great mini-TR.

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Originally Posted by khertz

The Bellagio fountains were my absolute favorite thing in Vegas! Great mini-TR.

Thanks! I wish I could have seen the fountains at night, but it was still pretty impressive during the daytime. Plus, there were no crowds during the middle of the day.

[204charity]

Getting closer!!! And PS - I got the movie "Big" right on your facebook page too!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Originally Posted by 204charity

Getting closer!!! And PS - I got the movie "Big" right on your facebook page too!

Hi Charity! Yes, just a little over a month left!

[DaveinFallsChurch]

With the official park hours posted now, I can start tinkering with the 2 day touring plan! A couple of disclaimers. Since this is essentially my first trip for all intents and purposes, I really don't have a good feel of how realistic my time estimations are. I guess the biggest problem I'm having is judging how long it will take to move between attractions. Sooo, if you see something that is unrealistic, please shout it out!

Secondly, even though I went as far as to list the times on my plans, I'm keeping my expectations realistic and I would be surprised if I can actually keep up with this schedule. This is really more like a best-case scenario and just to give me an idea of the order of business. As always, any ideas, suggestions, or opinions would be very welcomed from you!

For this first day, I’m at the mercy of my transportation schedule for this day. My flight could get delayed and I could miss my train. My train could get delayed which I heard happens fairly frequently. The touring plan I have drawn up for this day is based on the assumption that everything stays on schedule and I can maximize my time in the park. If there’s a delay, I will have to improvise quite a bit, and if the delay is really significant, then I may have to scratch the whole day off for a park tour and cram everything into the next day.

So here goes!

Tuesday, OCTOBER 16th 2012

12:05pm Scheduled Arrival Time in San Diego via Southwest Airlines
Take cab to Westin San Diego (two blocks from train station)
where I’ll check in on 10/18/2012 and check my large luggage
with the front desk.
Will just have my backpack and walk over to train station.

1:40pm Scheduled Departure Time from San Diego Downtown Train Station

3:35pm Scheduled Arrival Time in Anaheim from San Diego via Amtrak

4:30pm Hope to arrive by DLR gates by this time via taxi cab from train station

Buy Park Tickets at the Gate – Don’t think I should buy this ahead of time since there’s a chance I may not be able to tour the parks on this day if things get delayed.

4:40pm Enter DCA
FP Run to Soarin (Anticipated RT 6:20-7:20pm)
4:50pm Radiator Springs Raceway (Single Rider Line)
Tour of Carsland during remaining time, if any.
6:00pm California Screamin (Single Rider Line)
6:30pm FP Run to ToT (Anticipated RT 7:15pm - )
6:40pm Soarin’ (FP)
7:10pm Monsters Inc
7:30pm ToT (FP)
Whatever remaining time I have, will use to tour Buena Vista Street

8:00-8:15pm Exit DCA
8:45pm Check in at Anaheim Plaza and Suites
9:15pm Dinner at Roy’s (Gardenwalk)

What I had to reluctantly leave out of my touring plan:

1. Toy Story Mania: The projected wait times of 25-30 minutes made it difficult to fit this in. I will have to get my fix in January at DHS.
2. Little Mermaid: Since we now have a family trip planned to WDW in January, and New FL will be open, decided to shelve this one until then.

Next Up: Day 2!