Elk Grove Chris
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2011
Friday,October 21
For the last couple of years I have had a reoccurring conference down south, this year it was at the San Diego Safari Park. Day and a half at the conference and then, yes, I'll have me some Disneyland for a few days.
Thought this was going to be a solo trip for a while until my Son decided he was ok coming down on the plane alone. He is 10, but extremely mature for his age so I knew he could handle it. They gave a special boarding pass to my Wife who was able to walk him all the way to the gate for a handoff to a flight attendant.They gave me something similar when I picked him up Friday morning.
I left Escondido around 6:15 and arrived at John Wayne airport around 7:20, traffic not too bad. Plenty of fog though. Cloudy skies until right about noon. Smooth flight according to my Son, and on time to boot. I let him know that this weekend was all about him, he would get to decide just about everything we did, suffice it to say he didn't stop grinning until around 3:00.
We headed to the Anaheim Plaza Inn & Suites, first time staying there. I would have probably booked Park Vue Inn if I had known for sure he was coming. Asked at the front desk if there was any way of checking in early, real early, no dice. Fortunately they gave me a parking pass and we were able to leave the rental car there. The walk was really only a block to the main crosswalk, less than 10 minutes from the lobby to the Esplanade.
Arrived at DL almost exactly at nine. Not too many people at security in front of us,plenty still pouring into the Parks though. We walked with a purpose to Star Tours to get FP'S's, return time was 11:30. We headed over to the Matterhorn,wait was about 20 minutes (Fantasyland side not open).
We then headed over to BTMRR, taking a swift look at the pumpkins at Big Thunder Ranch, we would come back later when there were more people in the park, which wouldn't take long.
We grabbed a set of FP'S for BTMRR at 9:30 before we got in the standby line. Return time was 10:10, wait in standby was about 10 minutes. The disconnected FP'S forBTMRR was awesome, we utilized it fairly well over the next couple of days.
Headed over to the Mint Julep Bar to share some beignets. So messy, but pretty tasty.Next stop was IJA, wait was about 20 minutes.
Looks like this one got licked already.
We were about due for another FP'S, so we made our way to Star Traders. After looking around for 10 minutes we got a FP'S for Ghost Galaxy at 10, return time was 12:15. First time for my Son to ride GG.
He wanted to head back over to BTMRR, so off we went. You will soon see a pattern forming. Crowds were really noticeable already at 10:30. We stopped for about 15-20 minutes to check out the pumpkin carvers and their impressive art.
We then proceeded to grab another FP'S for BTMRR, return time about an hour. We used our first FP'S, about 10 minutes to get through. Still fairly overcast at 11:30, but warming up.
After BTMRR we milled about Frontierland for a while and Billy Hill and the Hillbillies were playing in front of the Pioneer Mercantile. Farley joined up with them for a few tunes.
We grabbed a corn dog and some chicken at the Stage Door Cafe and went into the Golden Horseshoe. We found a table upstairs and stayed for the first show of the day, standing room only.
Show was great as usual.
We then headed over to get a FP'S for HM around 12:30, return time of an hour. FP'S's we would give away later.
Headed back over to BTMRR for FP'S's again, return time of an hour. Used our second set of FP'S's, about 10 minute wait (we waited for the last cart almost everytime). We then crossed all the way over again to Tomorrowland to use our FP'S's for ST, about a 10 minute wait. Summer like crowds in the park, actually felt busier than when we were here in August.
We then headed over the use our FP'S's for GG. My Son thought the overlay was a little weird, but he likes the ride when it is Space Mountain. We got a FP's for GG, return time of 4:55 at 1:40
Standby line at 60 minutes.
We walked over to Buzz and got on after a 10 minute wait. Decided to take a break and then check in to our hotel. Took the Monorail to DTD and spent about 20 minutes in the Lego store. Not a whole lot of people in DTD, they were all inDL!
Check in at hotel was a breeze, older hotel, showing its age, but room was nice and clean. We both actually took a nap for about 45 minutes, something either of us rarely do. Headed back to DL around 4:15, my Son had his costume in his backpack. He didn't want to wear it until it was dark (he was a glowing alien). Extremely easy to get our wristbands and candy bags when we went in. They had alot of CM's taking care of things.
Walked around a bit then used our FP'S for GG. We had a reservation at Cafe Orleans at 6:00 so we decided to go use our FP'S for HM. FP'S line was almost to Pirates,really? Since we knew we could hit it later during the party or over the next few days we decided not to wait and my Son gave the FP'S's to two young ladies.They were extremely grateful.
Sat down for a few minutes and soaked in all of the humanity, the park was packed before the party started. We had a nice leisurely dinner, sharing a Monte Cristo and Pommes Frites, so good. No room for dessert. Couldn't help but staring at one of the special desserts at the table next to us, the "Jack" cake looked pretty good.
Headed over to the bathroom near the NOS Train Station so my Son could put on his costume.
My Son decided that he wanted to ride Winnie the Pooh, he had never been on it before. It was a walk on at 6:50.
Decided to stay put and hit the three candy stations nearby. CM's being a bit stingy with the candy, maybe 2-3 pieces at each station. I got carrots, should have worn a costume, doh. Hit some candy stations at ROA on our way to BTMRR. Wait was only 5 minutes. Rode again, maybe 8 minute wait second time. Rode again, maybe 5 minute wait again. My Son has never been into the characters so we were doing rides and a few candy stations, his call.
We then headed over towards Big Thunder Ranch, went through the candy stations,maybe 3 of them. Went through the Village Haus, pretty tight inside for those candy stations. We then hit the Matterhorn twice, about a ten minute wait each time.
Sat down on a bench around 8 for a spot to watch the parade, on the east side of the Hub. Not terribly crowded there yet at 8. Watched parade, wish they did more. Honorary parade guests were all dressed as Minions, pretty cool.Big group of Smurfs too, overall costumes were pretty standard. I don't have room to really talk as I went as a Hawaiian dude, minus the grass skirt and coconut shells.
Stayed put for an hour so we would have a good view of the fireworks. Thought I had enough defensible space to use my tripod. Nice family on both sides of us, one had a huge stroller that I pushed my tripod all the way against. One side defended. Or so I thought. I know, there is no such thing as personable space in DL.
I knew it would get crowded around us and it did. What I didn't realize as I was snapping off photos during the fireworks was that the baby inside the bigstroller was rocking back and forth just enough to blur most of my shots. Still a great show though, so no big deal. A few shots were salvageable.
At this point my Son had been up for 17 straight hours and it was starting to show. As much as I want to give him a pep rally for some more rides as half of the crowd left for the night, I stopped myself. He was spent.
CM's had several carts of candy on the way out. They were much more generous than the other CM's at the regular stations. We were able to almost fill his entire backpack by going to three carts.
First CM took his bag and completely filled it up, sweet, literally. Had enough candy to spread the Disneyland joy to my whole neighborhood come Halloween time.
17.6 pounds, I bet 16 of that came from the last three stations. Twas a good day.Hard to tell, but that water bottle would have been covered about 3/4 of theway up in the middle of that pile.
For the last couple of years I have had a reoccurring conference down south, this year it was at the San Diego Safari Park. Day and a half at the conference and then, yes, I'll have me some Disneyland for a few days.
Thought this was going to be a solo trip for a while until my Son decided he was ok coming down on the plane alone. He is 10, but extremely mature for his age so I knew he could handle it. They gave a special boarding pass to my Wife who was able to walk him all the way to the gate for a handoff to a flight attendant.They gave me something similar when I picked him up Friday morning.
I left Escondido around 6:15 and arrived at John Wayne airport around 7:20, traffic not too bad. Plenty of fog though. Cloudy skies until right about noon. Smooth flight according to my Son, and on time to boot. I let him know that this weekend was all about him, he would get to decide just about everything we did, suffice it to say he didn't stop grinning until around 3:00.
We headed to the Anaheim Plaza Inn & Suites, first time staying there. I would have probably booked Park Vue Inn if I had known for sure he was coming. Asked at the front desk if there was any way of checking in early, real early, no dice. Fortunately they gave me a parking pass and we were able to leave the rental car there. The walk was really only a block to the main crosswalk, less than 10 minutes from the lobby to the Esplanade.
Arrived at DL almost exactly at nine. Not too many people at security in front of us,plenty still pouring into the Parks though. We walked with a purpose to Star Tours to get FP'S's, return time was 11:30. We headed over to the Matterhorn,wait was about 20 minutes (Fantasyland side not open).
We then headed over to BTMRR, taking a swift look at the pumpkins at Big Thunder Ranch, we would come back later when there were more people in the park, which wouldn't take long.
We grabbed a set of FP'S for BTMRR at 9:30 before we got in the standby line. Return time was 10:10, wait in standby was about 10 minutes. The disconnected FP'S forBTMRR was awesome, we utilized it fairly well over the next couple of days.
Headed over to the Mint Julep Bar to share some beignets. So messy, but pretty tasty.Next stop was IJA, wait was about 20 minutes.
Looks like this one got licked already.
We were about due for another FP'S, so we made our way to Star Traders. After looking around for 10 minutes we got a FP'S for Ghost Galaxy at 10, return time was 12:15. First time for my Son to ride GG.
He wanted to head back over to BTMRR, so off we went. You will soon see a pattern forming. Crowds were really noticeable already at 10:30. We stopped for about 15-20 minutes to check out the pumpkin carvers and their impressive art.
We then proceeded to grab another FP'S for BTMRR, return time about an hour. We used our first FP'S, about 10 minutes to get through. Still fairly overcast at 11:30, but warming up.
After BTMRR we milled about Frontierland for a while and Billy Hill and the Hillbillies were playing in front of the Pioneer Mercantile. Farley joined up with them for a few tunes.
We grabbed a corn dog and some chicken at the Stage Door Cafe and went into the Golden Horseshoe. We found a table upstairs and stayed for the first show of the day, standing room only.
Show was great as usual.
We then headed over to get a FP'S for HM around 12:30, return time of an hour. FP'S's we would give away later.
Headed back over to BTMRR for FP'S's again, return time of an hour. Used our second set of FP'S's, about 10 minute wait (we waited for the last cart almost everytime). We then crossed all the way over again to Tomorrowland to use our FP'S's for ST, about a 10 minute wait. Summer like crowds in the park, actually felt busier than when we were here in August.
We then headed over the use our FP'S's for GG. My Son thought the overlay was a little weird, but he likes the ride when it is Space Mountain. We got a FP's for GG, return time of 4:55 at 1:40
Standby line at 60 minutes.
We walked over to Buzz and got on after a 10 minute wait. Decided to take a break and then check in to our hotel. Took the Monorail to DTD and spent about 20 minutes in the Lego store. Not a whole lot of people in DTD, they were all inDL!
Check in at hotel was a breeze, older hotel, showing its age, but room was nice and clean. We both actually took a nap for about 45 minutes, something either of us rarely do. Headed back to DL around 4:15, my Son had his costume in his backpack. He didn't want to wear it until it was dark (he was a glowing alien). Extremely easy to get our wristbands and candy bags when we went in. They had alot of CM's taking care of things.
Walked around a bit then used our FP'S for GG. We had a reservation at Cafe Orleans at 6:00 so we decided to go use our FP'S for HM. FP'S line was almost to Pirates,really? Since we knew we could hit it later during the party or over the next few days we decided not to wait and my Son gave the FP'S's to two young ladies.They were extremely grateful.
Sat down for a few minutes and soaked in all of the humanity, the park was packed before the party started. We had a nice leisurely dinner, sharing a Monte Cristo and Pommes Frites, so good. No room for dessert. Couldn't help but staring at one of the special desserts at the table next to us, the "Jack" cake looked pretty good.
Headed over to the bathroom near the NOS Train Station so my Son could put on his costume.
My Son decided that he wanted to ride Winnie the Pooh, he had never been on it before. It was a walk on at 6:50.
Decided to stay put and hit the three candy stations nearby. CM's being a bit stingy with the candy, maybe 2-3 pieces at each station. I got carrots, should have worn a costume, doh. Hit some candy stations at ROA on our way to BTMRR. Wait was only 5 minutes. Rode again, maybe 8 minute wait second time. Rode again, maybe 5 minute wait again. My Son has never been into the characters so we were doing rides and a few candy stations, his call.
We then headed over towards Big Thunder Ranch, went through the candy stations,maybe 3 of them. Went through the Village Haus, pretty tight inside for those candy stations. We then hit the Matterhorn twice, about a ten minute wait each time.
Sat down on a bench around 8 for a spot to watch the parade, on the east side of the Hub. Not terribly crowded there yet at 8. Watched parade, wish they did more. Honorary parade guests were all dressed as Minions, pretty cool.Big group of Smurfs too, overall costumes were pretty standard. I don't have room to really talk as I went as a Hawaiian dude, minus the grass skirt and coconut shells.
Stayed put for an hour so we would have a good view of the fireworks. Thought I had enough defensible space to use my tripod. Nice family on both sides of us, one had a huge stroller that I pushed my tripod all the way against. One side defended. Or so I thought. I know, there is no such thing as personable space in DL.
I knew it would get crowded around us and it did. What I didn't realize as I was snapping off photos during the fireworks was that the baby inside the bigstroller was rocking back and forth just enough to blur most of my shots. Still a great show though, so no big deal. A few shots were salvageable.
At this point my Son had been up for 17 straight hours and it was starting to show. As much as I want to give him a pep rally for some more rides as half of the crowd left for the night, I stopped myself. He was spent.
CM's had several carts of candy on the way out. They were much more generous than the other CM's at the regular stations. We were able to almost fill his entire backpack by going to three carts.
First CM took his bag and completely filled it up, sweet, literally. Had enough candy to spread the Disneyland joy to my whole neighborhood come Halloween time.
17.6 pounds, I bet 16 of that came from the last three stations. Twas a good day.Hard to tell, but that water bottle would have been covered about 3/4 of theway up in the middle of that pile.