[post=52236521]Last Installment on the Trip Report[/post]
Day 3 July 28th, 2014 Part 3
The other Party Members arrived and it was time to leave as well
After being in DL for a while I was waiting for the next party to be with at the park that morning is about to happen. Earlier during the day, I came to the DLR early so I can wait for M, S, SH & K that morning but they were arriving late and they told me that they would be at the DLR around 9am. So I just used that time to go in DL to go on some rides like AiW and BLAB. I was able to accomplish of riding AiW with the new updates and at least I was able to accomplish one of the rides that I wanted to go on at DL during the trip.
I exited DL before 9am and I just waited at the Esplanade until they arrived. It was about 5 minutes after 9am that they saw me when they were passing by the security check area. They were glad to see me and I was glad to see them that they got here safely. I did talk to SH and K before the trip and it was nice to see that they are having a fun time in the U.S. They were able to enjoy SoCal the first couple of days when they along with M and S were in SoCal.
This is SH and K first time at the DLR. They have been to Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan. When they were in the U.S., they wanted to come to the original
Disneyland Park and see it in person. They have been talking about this to M and S ever since they got here and their dream is about to come true.
Before we head on in the parks, they had to buy their tickets so we had to wait at the tickets booth queues to get their tickets. They bought two day park hopper tickets since they will be hopping from one park to another that day.
It took about 10 minutes to go through the queue and purchase the tickets. Now it was time to head on over to the parks that morning. They wanted to go to DCA first over DL and so we head on over to DCA first thing.
When we got in DCA, M and S were so surprised to see the new entrance to DCA which is different when they were here since 2008. They were also looking forward to riding Radiator Springs Racers since it debut in 2012 and werent able to go on it yet. So it was like a first for all of them at DCA.
The first thing we did was to head on over to the RSR FP queue and it was around 9:30am when we were at the queue and the return time was till 3:20pm to 4:20pm which was not that bad at 9:30am that morning.
They got the FPs while I didnt get one since I will be gone by then. After getting the FPs, they wanted to get FPs for WoC. So as we were walking on over to PP, they saw the Little Mermaid ride and I told them that I will get the FPs for them while they go on the ride. They told me not to go out of the way for them and just go on with them but I told them that I had no problem with getting the FPs for WoC for them while they ride the Little Mermaid ride. So they went on the ride and I head on over to get the FPs for WoC.
They went on the Little Mermaid ride while I went on over to GRR to pick up the FPs. Very interesting that when I got the FPs the return time was in the yellow section around 9:45am. Even with only one show a night, I was able to get WoC FPs for them at the 9:45pm show.
When I picked up the FPs, I head on back to the entrance/exit of the Little Mermaid ride and waited for them until they got off. It was nice to relax a while after walking at DL for part of the morning and being with them for the first hour at the DLR.
They were done finishing riding the Little Mermaid ride and we head on over to Paradise Pier to go on more rides that morning. We were now approaching California Screamin and SH wanted to go on this ride. K told us that she wont go on the ride but when they asked me if I wanted to go on, I said that I will pass. But they insisted on me to go with them since it will just be the three of them so I was dragged on the ride.
The wait time showed 10 minutes but it felt like 20 minutes to go through the standard queue. So we waited for a while to get on CS that morning.
It didnt took long until we got on CS and this was a good opportunity to take some pictures on the ride. I have never took pictures while riding CS since I put my camera away while riding rides like Space Mountain and CS. But this was a good opportunity to get some photos of CS since most of my other party members like DAF & DAW wont even go on any high intense roller coaster rides. I would not go on it as well like maybe once every two or three trips.
I used the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens for the pictures and it was nice to get some wide angle shots.
I had to hold on to my DSLR tight so I wont lose it on the ride.
That was a wild ride of riding CS that morning with M, S and SH while K was waiting for us. When we got off, we tried to look at our picture and for some reason, it wasnt showing on the screen where it must have been down during our ride. It was a little disappointing that our picture didnt show up but everyone had fun riding CS.
On our way out of CS, they wanted to go on Toy Story Midway Mania and I knew that the wait time was going to be in the 40 to 50 minute range wait time. But they were willing to wait in that queue to go and ride TSMM so I just went along with it and went on it with them. It was nice to use this time to talk to them about how they are doing and what they have been doing in SoCal these last couple of days.
It hasnt been long since I had to wait in that long queue to ride TSMM which I did the same thing with DB, V and V friend a couple of days ago.
While we were in the queue for TSMM, we have all been talking of what to do and not to do at DCA for that day along with plans for DL the next day in which they will be at the park .
Very interesting, we werent escorted to the regular loading area for TSMM but we were loaded towards the handicapped section which was quite unusual. We didnt have anyone in our party that are handicapped and I wonder why they took us to that area instead of going towards the loading dock.
It didnt took too long for us to get on the ride and it was time to ride TSMM. S and SH were together while M and K rode together while I was by myself. There was another person on the ride along with us which he was behind me on the ride.
For the score, I had 245,500 which was a good score in my opinion. I know that this score is nothing compared to your DSs TK where they can be in the 300,000+ range.
Unfortunately, I wasnt the highest score on our ride in which someone got 272,400 points and they were the highest during that hour. I was surprised that someone else had a better score than me on the ride.
Everyone really enjoyed riding TSMM and we are now back outside and walking through Paradise Pier. The next ride that we passed by was Mickeys Fun Wheel of Doom. I looked at the wait time and it was at 35 minutes to ride the swinging and 30 minutes for the non-swinging gondola. SH wanted to go on the swinging gondola. K didnt want to go on the swinging gondola and of course I said I would pass as well. They were really pushing me to go on the swinging gondola that afternoon when we got here. I told them that I never go on the swinging gondola and would not even go on. So while M, S & SH went on the swinging gondola, K and I just waited until they were on the ride.
It was nice to have some time to talk with K and she really speaks good English. We had a very nice talk and she asked me what kind of rides to do at DL. I told her specific rides that Tokyo Disney Resort doesnt have and do go on them since DL in Anaheim and Tokyo Disneyland have different rides and are not the same.
It took them 40 minutes to get on the swinging gondola and I got pictures of them. They can just see us enough where I was able to get pictures of them. Very interesting to see that they are with another group of people which means that the CMs are making room for the gondolas of where even with three people, they had to share with another group.
K and I were watching them on the swinging gondola and they were having their fingers on the cage which means that they are scared. This is why I dont like to ride the swinging gondola where it moves a lot than the non-swinging gondola.
After they got off MFWoD from the swinging gondola, M and S understood why I dont ride the swinging gondola and they were holding on the cage every time it was moving up.
We started to walk around PP until our next ride that was in the area was Goofys Sky School. M, K and I didnt want to ride it while S and SH went on it together.
While we were waiting for S and SH to ride GSS, we head on over to Soarin to get FPs for their ride since it was time to get a new set of FPs after waiting 2 hours since we got RSR that morning. We were able to get a return time around 1pm to 2pm which was a nice return time that afternoon where it was around 12pm.
On the way back to PP, we did passed by GRR and had to get some pictures from the backside.
When we got back to PP at GSS, they were still on the ride and they had to wait about 30 minutes to get on the ride which was quite a wait time for S and SH.
Phineas and Ferb truck was passing by at PP.
They were finally off GSS and I looked at the time and I had to meet up with DB and V since we were planning on leaving Anaheim around 1pm. So I had to depart from M, S, SH and K that afternoon. It was nice to be with them for a short time at DCA that day in which I was hoping that it would have been longer but I couldnt keep DB and V waiting for me.
So we parted ways and they told me when they got back to Sacramento that they had an awesome time at both DL and DCA even though the crowds were very high during that trip. They were able to go on most of the rides and what shows what they wanted to do. So I was glad that they had a great time at the DLR for a couple of days.
I walked all the way from PP to the drop off/pick-up loading area on Harbor Blvd since DB and V have checked out of our hotel at Best Western Pavilions. Luckily I didnt have to walk all the way over to BW Pavilions to meet up with them with that long walk.
I met up with them at 1pm at the drop off/pick up area at Harbor Blvd and we are now on our way out of Anaheim.
But before we head on out and back to Sacramento, DB and V wanted to have lunch at a specific restaurant that it is only in SoCal. So we head on over to a restaurant called California Fish Grill which is located in Cypress. I remember eating at this restaurant during the 2012 trip with DB and V in which this is V favorite restaurant where she ate at when she went to Irvine University. So it was appropriate to eat at this restaurant since it is only located in SoCal and not in NorCal. I have enjoyed eating at this restaurant where it offers a nice variety of seafood dishes.
It was the busy time of the day which the restaurant was filled that afternoon.
I had the fish and chips.
DB and V shared the same plate which was Mahi, Mahi
The food is very nice at California Fish Grill and we would recommend this place if you are interested in seafood dishes.
After eating at California Fish Grill, we head on home for the seven hour drive. We didnt stop at any other place except for gas and of course we stopped at our grandmothers house in Livingston to see how she was doing and glad that we stopped on the way back to see her.
We got home around 10pm that night and this concludes the July trip.
This was a nice trip in which I went with DB and V at the last second and we did quite a lot even though we left so early that Saturday morning and were able to enjoy two full days at the DLR. It was also nice to meet V friend Jen and to be able to be with us for a few hours at the DLR and to be able to do all these different rides. Even though I only had a part of the day with M, S, SH and K it was so fun to be able to go around DCA with them for a few hours and to be able to go on some of the rides were fun. I was also glad that they had a great time during their visit at the DLR as well. The crowd levels were quite high in late July but this is the first time I have been at the DLR in July since 2007 during 4th of July weekend.
Overall the trip was good and now I am looking forward to my next upcoming trip which is in a couple of days on the 14th where I will be heading back with DAW. We just have been to the DLR since June and all of a sudden we will be there to see the Halloween decorations in September which is the opening weekend of the Halloween season. It will be nice to go back and see the Halloween decorations. This will be DAW first time seeing the Halloween decorations at the DLR which she has seen them during the October/November 2012 WDW trip report which was her first Disney trip in a long time and since then she has been with me to five DL trips since January 2013. She has been looking forward to this trip since she has been so busy with work. This was a great opportunity for her to use her Premium AP since she renewed it in June which was a shocker to me. I might not be doing a trip report for the September trip since it is going to be close to the October and November trip reports that are coming up not too shortly. I will do live uploads of the pictures during this trip so stay tune for any updates.
Thank you for following along the July trip report.
