ironband74
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2018
Today we rope dropped DCA. Got to security at 6:30 and was second in line behind one of the four cones. They let us in a little earlier today (maybe 7:05?) and I was able to post up first in line at one of the DCA gates. Scanned in at 7:30 and walked briskly to the rope, positioning on the right side for a RSR dash. Was passed by runners, which I hate, but what can you do? They tell you not to run but almost never enforce it.
Anyway that's where things got interesting. About 7:40, a film crew and a bunch of very trendy looking actor/models took up a position in the middle of the walkway, shooting photos and video for what I imagine are new promotional materials. At 7:50, they announced that Web slingers was down, so at that point I told my group that the competition had just doubled, since everyone would be going to RSR now.
As rope drop neared, the film crew was still merrily going about their business. One cast member mentioned that they were supposed to have been there earlier and have had their business done well before rope drop, but that there was nothing she could do. The moved the actors/models over to the right side of the walkway to do some photos, and then took down the rope that was previously strung across the walkway and angled it to shield the film crew and their subjects from the soon to be incoming crowd. This created a funnel that would take the walkway down to about a third of its normal width.
At rope drop, it was ugly. Everyone had to funnel through the reduced width walkway, and since we were on the far right side we had to press along the rope and wound up much further back than we would have normally. It was pretty horrible. To compound matters, folks started running, and again with no enforcement other than a "Walk Please" admonishment, we found ourselves well behind the leaders on the way to RSR.
In the end, we did ok, and only had to wait about 20 minutes for RSR. I grabbed a LL for TSMM while we were in line for about 8:40. We then went to the Incredicoaster and rode stand-by (about 5 minutes), then went and did TSMM on the LL. I pulled a LL for Guardians at 9:20 as we waited. Following TSMM we rode the pal-around before starting on our way to Guardians. Having picked up some time, we rode Little Mermaid enroute, and then Guardians. While in line for Guardians I pulled Soarin' for 10:20. We took a quick snack/bio/shopping break, and then rode Soarin with our LL before heading back to Avengers campus to look around and take a break. I ordered a quantum pretzel via mobile order while in the queue for Soarin and went to pick it up. Got a seat and enjoyed the tasty treat with some members of my party ( some had gone to do some shopping) and we were treated to Black Widow and Black Panther battling Taskmaster and his minions. After that we met up with our people in front of WEB slingers to watch the Spiderman show before doing some more shopping prior to our 12:30 res at Wine Country Trattoria.
While dining I pulled a LL for GRR, so we rode that after lunch before heading back to the hotel for a break. So the morning was:
RSR (Rope Drop)
Incredicoaster
TSMM (LL)
Pal Around
Ariel's Undersea Adventure
GOTG (LL)
Soarin (LL)
Snacks at Pym/Black Panther
Spiderman Show
Lunch at WCT
GRR (LL)
I was tasked with heading to Walgreens for Epsom Salts and Pain relievers. On the way I booked a LL for Indy. I got back to the hotel and took a little nap, waking up at 3:45 to head to our Lamplight Reservation at 4:05. On the way, Indy went down and I got an MEP. I saw that Matterhorn was down and booked it. about 20 minutes later, another MEP. During our drinks I saw that buzz was down. I booked Monsters for myself and my friends who were in the park having drinks with me, and Buzz for the rest of my party resting at the hotel. 20 minutes later, Buzz converted and we rode Monsters. As we got off Monsters, I booked Matterhorn again (which was still down). As I headed back to the hotel to check on my wife...it converted. So I now had 3 Golden Tier MEPs and one regular MEP for half of my crew. We were stacked going into the evening!
Fortunately, my wife was feeling much better after a four hour nap, so we got ready to go to our dinner reservation at Napa Rose with our dear friends who were celebrating 31 years of marriage today. Meanwhile, we unleashed the kids on the parks with all the power of four MEPs plus a Matterhorn LL for 7:45pm.
While we dined and laughed and joked, they went to DCA and rode Incredicoaster and Guardians before heading to DL to ride Matterhorn. They got caught up in the preview of the MSEP and Fireworks (which we had no idea was happening) and had some difficulty navigating the crowds, but managed to ride Matterhorn before grabbing some dinner and heading out of the parks since Disneyland and DCA both closed at 10pm today.
So a pretty successful day, even though it was a little frustrating at the outset.
Tomorrow is clean up and a Low Key 8am arrival to do the fantasyland stuff we have not made it to yet, the train, tiki room, and other fairly easy attractions, while fishing for LL for later in the day. We still need to hit Web Slingers (we might just pay for it if it remains at $12, we'll see) and want to do Rise again (Not paying for that at $20 each, though). We will close the park tomorrow for sure.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Anyway that's where things got interesting. About 7:40, a film crew and a bunch of very trendy looking actor/models took up a position in the middle of the walkway, shooting photos and video for what I imagine are new promotional materials. At 7:50, they announced that Web slingers was down, so at that point I told my group that the competition had just doubled, since everyone would be going to RSR now.
As rope drop neared, the film crew was still merrily going about their business. One cast member mentioned that they were supposed to have been there earlier and have had their business done well before rope drop, but that there was nothing she could do. The moved the actors/models over to the right side of the walkway to do some photos, and then took down the rope that was previously strung across the walkway and angled it to shield the film crew and their subjects from the soon to be incoming crowd. This created a funnel that would take the walkway down to about a third of its normal width.
At rope drop, it was ugly. Everyone had to funnel through the reduced width walkway, and since we were on the far right side we had to press along the rope and wound up much further back than we would have normally. It was pretty horrible. To compound matters, folks started running, and again with no enforcement other than a "Walk Please" admonishment, we found ourselves well behind the leaders on the way to RSR.
In the end, we did ok, and only had to wait about 20 minutes for RSR. I grabbed a LL for TSMM while we were in line for about 8:40. We then went to the Incredicoaster and rode stand-by (about 5 minutes), then went and did TSMM on the LL. I pulled a LL for Guardians at 9:20 as we waited. Following TSMM we rode the pal-around before starting on our way to Guardians. Having picked up some time, we rode Little Mermaid enroute, and then Guardians. While in line for Guardians I pulled Soarin' for 10:20. We took a quick snack/bio/shopping break, and then rode Soarin with our LL before heading back to Avengers campus to look around and take a break. I ordered a quantum pretzel via mobile order while in the queue for Soarin and went to pick it up. Got a seat and enjoyed the tasty treat with some members of my party ( some had gone to do some shopping) and we were treated to Black Widow and Black Panther battling Taskmaster and his minions. After that we met up with our people in front of WEB slingers to watch the Spiderman show before doing some more shopping prior to our 12:30 res at Wine Country Trattoria.
While dining I pulled a LL for GRR, so we rode that after lunch before heading back to the hotel for a break. So the morning was:
RSR (Rope Drop)
Incredicoaster
TSMM (LL)
Pal Around
Ariel's Undersea Adventure
GOTG (LL)
Soarin (LL)
Snacks at Pym/Black Panther
Spiderman Show
Lunch at WCT
GRR (LL)
I was tasked with heading to Walgreens for Epsom Salts and Pain relievers. On the way I booked a LL for Indy. I got back to the hotel and took a little nap, waking up at 3:45 to head to our Lamplight Reservation at 4:05. On the way, Indy went down and I got an MEP. I saw that Matterhorn was down and booked it. about 20 minutes later, another MEP. During our drinks I saw that buzz was down. I booked Monsters for myself and my friends who were in the park having drinks with me, and Buzz for the rest of my party resting at the hotel. 20 minutes later, Buzz converted and we rode Monsters. As we got off Monsters, I booked Matterhorn again (which was still down). As I headed back to the hotel to check on my wife...it converted. So I now had 3 Golden Tier MEPs and one regular MEP for half of my crew. We were stacked going into the evening!
Fortunately, my wife was feeling much better after a four hour nap, so we got ready to go to our dinner reservation at Napa Rose with our dear friends who were celebrating 31 years of marriage today. Meanwhile, we unleashed the kids on the parks with all the power of four MEPs plus a Matterhorn LL for 7:45pm.
While we dined and laughed and joked, they went to DCA and rode Incredicoaster and Guardians before heading to DL to ride Matterhorn. They got caught up in the preview of the MSEP and Fireworks (which we had no idea was happening) and had some difficulty navigating the crowds, but managed to ride Matterhorn before grabbing some dinner and heading out of the parks since Disneyland and DCA both closed at 10pm today.
So a pretty successful day, even though it was a little frustrating at the outset.
Tomorrow is clean up and a Low Key 8am arrival to do the fantasyland stuff we have not made it to yet, the train, tiki room, and other fairly easy attractions, while fishing for LL for later in the day. We still need to hit Web Slingers (we might just pay for it if it remains at $12, we'll see) and want to do Rise again (Not paying for that at $20 each, though). We will close the park tomorrow for sure.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
