48 Hours at Disneyland - It's Shocking How Much You Can Do! Solo at DLR May 2018 - FINAL Update 8/19

[bellebookworm9]

Hi everyone, I'm Gretchen - welcome to my newest Disneyland trip report! I love DLR but I hadn't been since September 2015 because, well, life happens. Now I'm living on the west coast though, in northwest Washington, and it's just a short plane ride away - nothing like the long haul involved to get to WDW!

When I heard about Pixar Fest, and specifically that Paint the Night was returning, I knew I had to go back - but I'm the lowest woman on the totem pole at work and my time off is limited for my first year, so I knew I'd have to go over a long weekend if I wanted any time there. That left me with Memorial Day weekend. Not ideal, but I could make it work. Our local airport is very small and pretty expensive, so that left me with Vancouver (one hour away) or Seattle (two hours away). The flights from Seattle were surprisingly cheap; my trip into Long Beach was only $80 and my flight home from SNA was $105. I booked Super Shuttle for both airport trips and found a good room with a AAA rate at Best Western Plus Stovall's Inn. My past two trips I've stayed onsite but that just wasn't in the budget this time. This hotel also offered free breakfast and free WiFi, and it's just a couple of minutes walk further than Paradise Pier Hotel, so I figured I'd be fine.

Picking my park schedule was a little tricky, because I'd only be there for one full and one 3/4 days. I decided to go to the parks on the day each had Early Entry even though I wasn't eligible. This was because I knew on my arrival day I wouldn't be arriving at the park until 10:30-11am, and I would rater do Disneyland knowing that it's open until 11pm. For DCA, I'd rather be one hour behind Early Entry (turns out it wasn't even that much) than 1.5-2 or more hours behind a regular opening. This plan actually worked out very well. I had made touring plans via TouringPlans.com and RideMax...but I ended up throwing them out the window and it was fine!

I had two dining reservations made: the Fantasmic! package dinner at River Belle Terrace and the Paint the Night package lunch at Wine Country Trattoria. I'd never had a table service meal at DCA before so I was looking forward to trying something new!

Hotel - check
Flights - check
Tickets - check
Airport parking reserved - check
Cat sitter hired - check
Dining reservations made - check

Let's go!

 

[Draes Miran]

I dig your ears! I went for a super quick trip last November, and I agree- it is amazing how much you can fit in!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I dig your ears! I went for a super quick trip last November, and I agree- it is amazing how much you can fit in!

Aww thank you! I was like "OK, I really, really don't need any more ears"...but Belle is my favorite princess and they matched my shirt perfectly! My previous trips to DLR have been 5-6 days so we've always had plenty of time and then some to see almost everything. I count 18 attractions + Pixar Play Parade, Fireworks, Fantasmic!, dinner at RBT, and two snack stops in 12 hours at Disneyland Park, on a day where there was Early Entry I didn't qualify for and I didn't arrive in the park until 11:30am. My DCA day was good but not quite as impressive. There was a couple waiting for the fireworks who was all proud of themselves for seeing 2-3 shows, the parade, and the fireworks. I was flabbergasted!

 

[missangelalexis]

I've read some of your past TRs so I look forward to reading about your most recent time in DL

 

[Daisybelle]

Yay! I love your reports. I look forward to living vicariously through your latest trip report!

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

Can't wait to see your report!

My wife and I are headed to DL for our very first time this upcoming February so I'm soaking in as much information as I can!

-Kyle

 

[bellebookworm9]

I've read some of your past TRs so I look forward to reading about your most recent time in DL

Yay! I love your reports. I look forward to living vicariously through your latest trip report!

Can't wait to see your report!

My wife and I are headed to DL for our very first time this upcoming February so I'm soaking in as much information as I can!

-Kyle

YAY! to old and new readers alike!

Kyle, you have SO MUCH time to plan! Disneyland is so easy, it's like a breath of fresh air compared to WDW. It was a nice break not having to book things half a year in advance - I literally decided to do this trip on March 19th, so just a little over 60 days in advance, and all I really had to worry about was dining at that point, which was super easy, since my time was so limited.

 

[bellebookworm9]

"What is this ride? Is it like 'Magic-land'?" - Day 1, Part 1 (Saturday, May 26th)

My day began outrageously early, as I woke up around 1:30-1:45am. This was not from excitement, but necessity: I had a nearly two hour drive to Seattle to make! My flight was set to depart at 6:04am and I wanted to arrive at the airport about two hours early, meaning I had to leave my apartment around 2am. EEEEEK!

This was the first time ever I've not checked a bag but since I was only traveling for two nights, it really wasn't necessary to bring more than a carry on. The drive was uneventful, because who's on the road at that hour? No one. I had pre-paid for parking at a private lot literally next to the airport, since it was a bit cheaper than parking on site. It was quite nice; the shuttle picks you up at your car, makes a couple other stops to collect more people, and then it's less than five minutes to the airport.

As I parked, I checked my phone and had an email that my flight was delayed an hour, sent minutes before, as I was pulling into the parking lot! Boooooo. I have THE WORST luck with this! I believe the plane was coming from Fairbanks, Alaska, so I'll cut them a break. My colleagues had traveled on a Thursday morning around the same time the week before and warned me that security was outrageous. I recently got a NEXUS pass which also qualifies me for TSA Precheck, and that is the best $50 I've ever spent (for five years). The regular security line was lengthy but didn't look too bad. My line, however, was speedy and I was through in five minutes.

OK, so now I had an extra hour to kill, what to do? Well, I definitely needed to eat some breakfast, so I stopped at Starbucks. I ordered my daily Caramel Frappuccino and a sausage, egg, and cheese on an English Muffin sandwich. Or, I thought I did. Apparently they misheard me and gave me a different kind of sandwich, something with bacon, sausage, and a weird spread. I took a bite, didn't like it, thought about eating it anyway, but in the end went back to get the correct sandwich. No problem, and then I was back to my gate, where I sat, and sat.

We did end up departing approximately around 7am. When my mom and I were making the cross country drive to move me out west from New York, we had never seen "real" mountains. I think we were in, like, Nebraska and thought the plateaus were mountains. My mom mentioned it at a gas station and the people thought she was crazy! As we drove further west, we discovered what real mountains are. Now, whenever I see a particularly good shot, I send it to her and say "For your reference, THIS is a mountain." So here, from the plane around 7:30am...THIS is a mountain!

I managed to doze fitfully for the flight, which took a little over two hours. The Long Beach airport was like nothing I've experienced yet. It's tiny. First time I've ever exited a plane onto the tarmac! Plus like 85% of the airport is outside. It's so very Californian!

These pretty purple trees were everywhere throughout SoCal.

I followed the instructions from my SuperShuttle email that said, exit the airport, go to the center median, find the booth that says "Ground Transportation" and let the attendant know you're there for SuperShuttle. The woman there had no idea what the heck I was talking about, and told me I needed to call the company. I did that, and they told me I needed to go back to the booth and tell them I had a reservation. OK, back to the booth I go, where in the last five minutes a different employee had come in. He asked if I had the app (I didn't because I was under the impression that by, ya know, pre-booking and paying, they would just pick me up like they were supposed to!) and was going to call them himself to say I needed the ride. In that time, the app had finished downloading, and it said the driver was on his way. I don't know what the confusion was about on the airport's side, but it was a bit of a panicky start.

I had chosen SuperShuttle because I'd used them before and had a good experience. It was about the same price as an Uber or Lyft would be, but since I was a single woman traveling alone, I felt it would be a little safer to take a shared ride. Well, that backfired, because I was the only one in the van. A little awkward, because I'm not super talkative with strangers...unless we're talking about Disney, obviously. This ride made me very nervous because the driver was not driving safely. I mentioned this in my survey they emailed me. He outright ran a red light, would switch lanes without using his blinker, and I caught him more than once poking around on his phone and/or tablet while we were moving. We also managed to hit every red light, it seemed! Thankfully, I made it to the hotel in one piece!

My hotel was the Best Western Plus Stovall's Inn. I've had really good experiences at Best Western Pluses in the past (one in San Antonio a few years ago, and one in Everett, WA on the drive out here last summer. Both of those options were basically equivalent of a studio villa at WDW). They offered a pre-check-in online, to let them know what time you'd be arriving (I said 8-10am since that was the original plan) and requested an upper floor room. There was a short line before I could check in, and they informed me they did not have a room ready yet. This was around 10:45am. They told me I could check back around noon, but I said I was going to the parks and wouldn't be back until later, so not a big deal. I freshened up in the public bathroom off the dining area and left my bag for them to store until later, then headed out.

This is the view standing outside the front of the hotel. You can obviously tell that's Pixar Pal-A-Round and The Incredicoaster, so that gives you an idea of how close the hotel is.

Miss you, Paradise Pier!

I got so excited at security that I had my bag checked and then tried to walk away because I didn't realize there are metal detectors now, too. Oooops. Continuing on, I took some photos as I walked through Downtown Disney - by the way, GIGANTIC bummer that you can't take the shortcut through Grand Californian anymore, even to cut through to Downtown Disney. Not even guests of the other Disney hotels. That shortcut saved easily 5-10 minutes when I stayed at Paradise Pier a few years ago.

The monorail station:

I was very, very hungry by this point and really wanted one of those wonderful Disneyland corn dogs...and lucky for me, there is now a kiosk right across from the Lego Store that has them! Like the Little Red Wagon in the park, these are made to order and hand dipped while you wait. I forgot how big they are too; I probably could have ordered the "kid's" size and been fine. This was legitimately the same length as my size 9.5 foot!

Yeah, I devoured that thing and the accompanying apple slices on the walk, before I even entered the park. As soon as I entered the park, I decided I was buying those Belle ears for myself, even though I absolutely do NOT need any more ears - I already have six pairs including headbands, Santa hat, Halloween ears, and graduation cap. Welp, now I have eight. I bought the Belle ears at the Mad Hatter on Main Street, and last weekend I bought a patriotic pair from Walmart for $4.97!

I also purchased Maxpass right after I walked through the gates. BEST. INVESTMENT. EVER. I cannot rave about this enough. I had a touring plan set up through TouringPlans.com, and it wanted me to get a Maxpass for Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters, and then head to Indiana Jones Adventure. I LOVE Touring Plans, like I'm a crazy Bible-thumper about it, but the downside is that there's no option to account for single rider lines. I also tried RideMax, which has worked really well for me in the past, but since it doesn't let you plan for Sundays and this was a holiday weekend with no similar hours for my DCA day in the surrounding days, I didn't think it was particularly helpful this time.

With my Buzz Lightyear return time reserved, I headed into

and right into the single rider line of (Standby wait was 40 minutes, single rider I timed at 20)

I know that guy ^ is one of the dwarves in Lord of the Rings and is famous for other things, but to me he'll always be that evil uncle trying to oust Princess Mia from the throne in Princess Diaries 2!

I forgot how wacky the single rider queue is here. Up one elevator, over the bridge, down the other elevator. My elevator group was pretty funny though. One guy was like, "We're going up to the rooftop piano bar, right?" Always a good ride, and a great start to the day!

I took a picture of the castle on my way to Tomorrowland

Matterhorn Mountain

Since my return time for Buzz was almost immediately after I selected the Fastpass, I was good to go:

I love this ride but I never score particularly well, despite my best efforts. Darn. And my photo got "lost in transmission". Next up was reserving a Maxpass for Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, and then riding Storybook Land Canal Boats.

But on the way, I passed the Matterhorn. The posted wait was 60 minutes. Guys, I don't even LIKE the Matterhorn, but the single rider line had NO ONE in it, so I obviously had to ride. Less than 7 minutes. As I entered the nonexistent queue, one lady said, "Wait, you mean I DIDN'T have to wait in this crazy line?!" Welcome to the heaven that is solo traveling, random lady.

Every time I ride, I think the beginning is fine, and by the time I get off, I'm going "Why do I subject myself to this every time?!" It's so jerky! This was my third ride in four years, and the third time was definitely NOT the charm.

On to Storybook Land Canal Boats. I timed the wait here at right around 35 minutes, and that was the longest I waited for anything that wasn't a parade or nighttime spectacular the entire weekend (tied with the Splash Mountain single rider line, actually). No 80 minute waits for this girl, thanks very much! I was appalled by the number of parents in line who let their kids go (or even better, put their kids) into the area behind the chain with the little windmill house in the queue. Then they get upset when the kids open the door of the little house, leave it open, and won't come back when mom or dad tells them to. Lots of crying toddlers going on with that situation! This is also where I heard this section's title quote. A dad in line said "What is this ride? Is it like Magic-land? Oh! It must be Pinocchio, you're going into the mouth of the whale!" Face. Palm. There are little signs with descriptions of the ride in front of every single ride in Fantasyland.

I was quite amused with this duck, just paddling away in the water.

Speaking of the mouth of the whale:

"You Can Fly, You Can Fly, You Can Fly!"

"Arabian Niiiiiights"

"Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho"

"Cinderelly, Cinderelly"

Little pumpkin coach and all!

"Merrily, merrily, merrily on our way to nowhere in particular"

"Do you wanna build a snooowman?"

More ducks, making themselves at home among the Three Little Pigs' homes:

"I've Got Not Strings to Hold Me Down"

"Wish I Could Be, Part of Your World"

I promise, you can glimpse the kingdom Atlantica through the waterfall - right between the pink and green strands to the left is a peek at that castle!

A little over two hours in the park, with four rides down. Not great, but not terrible...I could have been one of those people in the 90 minute line for Splash Mountain or Space Mountain, after all.

Tune in next time for a twist of good luck that helped speed up my day!

 

[missangelalexis]

Yikes, super early wakeup call! And then to have them delay your flight an hour!

Sounds like you were off to a great start once you got in the park!

 

[Jaina]

A solo trip like that sounds so amazing! It's happening someday...
And WHAT? How long have corn dogs been in downtown Disney? I'm going to need to look into this!
Looking forward to reading how the rest of your trip goes!

 

[BrerMama]

Sounds like a great start to your trip! Travelling solo has an appeal... do whatever you'd like. Would be fun!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Yikes, super early wakeup call! And then to have them delay your flight an hour!

Sounds like you were off to a great start once you got in the park!

The rest of the day was surprisingly smooth. The crowd level reportedly turned out to be an 8, per Touring Plans, and even though the lines were long, it didn't have a really crowded *feeling*, which was great!

A solo trip like that sounds so amazing! It's happening someday...
And WHAT? How long have corn dogs been in downtown Disney? I'm going to need to look into this!
Looking forward to reading how the rest of your trip goes!

I love my solo trips! I want to say this is trip #3? I've done two to WDW previously. I haven't a clue as to how long the corndogs have been in Downtown, but I was very pleased, since I was able to walk and eat, and therefore save myself time from having to eat once I was in the park!

Sounds like a great start to your trip! Travelling solo has an appeal... do whatever you'd like. Would be fun!

Yup, it's great! My mom and I had a HUGE fight on the last day of our last trip to Disneyland a few years ago because she apparently didn't realize we'd be getting up early every day (Ummmm, hello, have you not traveled with me 5+ times before?!) and barely made it through like two hours in the park that final day before wanting to go back to the hotel to rest. One of my co-workers offered to come with me this time and I was like, "Erm, not this time, thanks. I haven't been in a Disney park in 2.5 years and I'm going to be full on commando style. This is a 'do as much as you can in very little time' trip."

 

[Kippa-Dee-Do-Dah]

Following along! I definitely feel you on being scared of taking Uber/Lyft/taxis in general. But your shuttle driver doesn't sound any better! Yikes!

 

[bellebookworm9]

A Stroke of Good Luck - Day 1, Part 2 (Saturday, May 26th)

After I disembarked from the Storyland boats, it was time to redeem my Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin Maxpass, so I walked towards Toontown. Can I just say how much I LOVE Disneyland's Toontown? It's so cute!

Unfortunately, as I approached the ride, the CM outside was telling people it was temporarily closed. This happened when I tried to ride it on my last trip, too! BUT - my twist of good luck was this Maxpass was now converted to an "any time, any ride" Maxpass! This meant I could go ride Space Mountain, right that very second, since my touring plan had me waiting an hour for it later in the evening. YAAAAYYY!

I was on the ride in less than 10 minutes...and my ears were totally about to fly off my head so I'm awkwardly holding them in place because I wanted to keep them on for the picture!

I'm pretty sure that anyone else who has ridden both the WDW and DLR versions of Space Mountain will agree that DLR's is onehundredmillion times better, but now I've ridden it in all three of it's incarnations. I really liked this one a lot, even though I've never seen Star Wars. (Yup, sorry not sorry). I know I liked the original version back in 2014. I did NOT like Ghost Galaxy in 2015.

It was around this time that the touring plan went out the window because now it just didn't know what to do anymore and I felt I could work the Maxpass system to my advantage. I was right! I had already obtained another one for a little bit later to try Roger Rabbit again. In the meantime, I was getting a bit warm and thirsty, and the only remedy for that is...a Dole Whip Float, am I right?

[/url]
I just liked the decor on top of the Tiki Juice Bar. The Adventureland line was long, I'm sure, so I went into the side that adjoins the Tiki Room queue. Still a bit of a wait. They were just cranking out the floats and dole whips that day, so they didn't take the time to put the cherry on top and decorate it with the little umbrellas like they have in the past.

I savored my Dole Whip Float as I wandered over to New Orleans Square since my Haunted Mansion Maxpass was now valid. Here's a lovely day on the Rivers of America:

Found a fun new detail that I've never noticed before - Lafitte's Anchor:

On to the Home of the Happiest Haunts!

The ride stopped about 4 times while I was on it, and we were in the ballroom for an extra long time, so I got some good photos of the party attendees!

Have you ever noticed these two portraits coming to life to shoot each other? They are in Disney World's version as well!

I tried to get pictures of the wedding portraits where the bride adds a string of pearls for each husband, but was unsuccessful.

And then we stopped here and I had to listen to the poor dog whimper and cry for a few minutes. Too realistic for my liking!

Time to head back to Toontown to attempt Roger Rabbit again! I took the train but had to wait for at least one full one to go before I could board.

I know it's hard to see but this is the Native American shaman overlooking his people:

Roger Rabbit was back up and running, yay!

The movie is weird, the ride is weird, it's all good!

It was just about 3:30 by this point and the first showing of Pixar Play Parade was going on, so I decided to try some of the Fantasyland rides while the wait times were down a little. First up was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The wait here was about 20 minutes.

Sorry folks, still don't understand the hype around this ride. Can't believe I waited 20 minutes for it.

Peter Pan's Flight wait time was posted about 40 minutes so I skipped that and headed for Snow White's Scary Adventures, where the wait was about 6 minutes.

...to be continued, probably tomorrow, I just have too many pictures!

 

[bellebookworm9]

"We're gonna get freaking SOAKED!" Part 1 - Day 1, Part 3 (Saturday, May 26th)
This will be a two part update in one night due to the number of pictures!

After I exited Snow White, I walked next door to Pinocchio's Daring Journey which also had a short wait (under five minutes).

Having completed the few attractions in Fantasyland I was aiming to do and with a good bit of time before my Big Thunder Mountain Maxpass was valid, I headed towards Critter Country. On the way, I stopped for a snack.

Guys, I have a bit of a blasphemous confession...I am always disappointed with Disney popcorn. The stands smell SO. GOOD. and then I start to eat the popcorn and it has no taste and a texture like cardboard. Every time I get it, I wonder why I've set myself up for this again.

Anyway, I sat on a bench watching the Rivers of America and eating my lackluster snack. Once I was done, I found The Petrified Tree, which I'd never located before!

On to Splash Mountain! The standby line was 90 minutes long. No thank you, I'll just go allllll the way around to the exit and in to the single rider line. That was still a 35 minute wait, but like I said earlier, that was a tie for the longest wait I had, so I was doing pretty good! The party I was riding with was a group of 11 split across two logs. Apparently the group in my log had never ridden before and also didn't realize the name "Splash" is literally in the attraction's name. I had grabbed a couple of $0.97 ponchos at Walmart for this exact reason (this and Grizzly River Run) and the family was super jealous. It was pretty comical. They are the ones who spoke this section's title quote! They freaked out at every single one of the little drops. Also on one of those little drops, a splash of water went RIGHT into my eye. I texted my mom later and was like "Please pray that I don't end up with a raging eye infection because who knows what is in that water!" It was fine though, no eye infections here!

Pretty certain that pulling his shirt over his head did not keep the guy ahead of me dry at all. My poncho did it's job perfectly though!

I was really close to being over the limit to redeem my Big Thunder Mountain Maxpass by this point, so I hustled over there, and thankfully the green light flashed even though it was 2 minutes past my stated return time (I suspect they also have the 10 minute grace period that WDW has?). Super fun, as always, but no pictures.

Then it was time for my Maxpass on it's a small world to be redeemed. When I got over there, the standby line didn't even have a wait and it was probably a tie if that or Maxpass was faster. I even got to skip some of the line because they were asking for a party of 2 to take the last row in a boat and when no one called out, I volunteered that I was a party of 1, and the CM took me right away!

This duck was pretending to be a topiary in the queue - he stood there for probably five minutes not moving at all.

I took a few photos here of characters that I hadn't gotten great photos of before on previous rides.

Aladdin, Jasmine, and Magic Carpet

Not a known character, but she was in this "come hither" pose that had me giggling:

The Three Caballeros

Ariel and Flounder

I thought these birds were pretty cool:

Lilo & Stitch

Marlin and Dory

I am unsure if this is actually Mowgli or just a random Indian child

Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye

Super fun postcards at the end, all of which were applying to me at that moment:

I had hoped to see the later (6pm) Pixar Play Parade but wasn't sure if I'd make it. With another stroke of good luck, it was just passing by Small World Mall on its way backstage, and I'd only missed the opening (with the two girls and the Pixar ball). Not the best spot for photos, but I could see everything just fine!

(I saw Incredibles 2 last night and it was WONDERFUL - go see it right now!)

 

[bellebookworm9]

"We're gonna get freaking SOAKED!" Part 2 - Day 1, Part 4 (Saturday, May 26th)

I was in awe of these acrobatic cowgirls!

The parade concluded by about 6:40pm and I meandered back over to New Orleans Square to catch my dinner reservation at River Belle Terrace, which was at 7:05. When I checked in, they informed me it was indoor seating only. I assumed this is because they were preparing the outdoor terrace for the 8pm upgraded seating to view the 9pm Fantasmic? Regardless, I was seated just inside the entrance promptly at 7:05 after a short wait outside.

I was in one of those weird booths where it's two tables right next to each other with two separate parties and the group next to me was clearly comprised of important manager types. One of them pulled a CM over after his companions had left and pointed out food splatters on the walls that weren't "show ready".

Here is the Fantasmic! Prix Fixe menu from that night:

I had booked this over Blue Bayou or Hungry Bear in large part because the menu I had seen listed Strawberry Shortcake as a dessert option...but as you can see, no Strawberry Shortcake was on the menu, and I was very sad.

I started off with the House Salad, which was very good. Just a little bit tangy from the arugula, and the flavors blended well. I ate every single bite.

For my entree, I got the Pulled Pork Sandwich with sides of beans and coleslaw. Clearly I didn't think the sides through very well because there is also coleslaw on the sandwich. This was good but it was so incredibly messy. I couldn't eat it all, and the bread on the sandwich got way too soggy from the coleslaw topping. I would order something different next time.

And for dessert, I had the seasonal caramel pudding parfait. It was delicious, but strawberry shortcake it was not.

Based on the food alone, I feel this meal is overpriced. I thought my meal the following day at Wine Country Trattoria had better food and service for several dollars less. The service here was friendly, but I felt very rushed. They legitimately checked on me every 3-5 minutes for the whole meal. Not sure if it was because I was a solo diner and they wanted me to not be lonely, or if they were just trying to turn the table over quickly. I was here for about 45 minutes, which I'd say is an average dining time at a Disney table service restaurant, but it felt like that was too long for them and like I needed to gulp down my food.

The positive thing that I like about the Fantasmic! packages is that they don't assign you to a viewing based on your dining time (at least, they haven't in my two experiences there). They always ask which show I'd like and it's never a problem for me to get the later one.

After dinner I headed over to Jungle Cruise. It was definitely cooling down a bit and I was very glad I'd thought to bring a long-sleeved shirt with me for this very reason. (Yay DCP Alumni Homecoming shirt that one of my fellow TAs snagged at the event back in January!) The wait for Jungle Cruise was maybe 20 minutes? How annoying is that squawking bird in the queue though?! I wanted earplugs! The ride was corny fun, as usual.

Next up was Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and then I took the train from New Orleans Square to Tomorrowland because I had my sixth and final Maxpass of the day to use for a second ride on Buzz Lightyear. This time I think my picture did come through but I couldn't find it easily so I didn't spend a lot of time looking for it, plus it was approaching fireworks time and I wanted to grab a spot on Main Street.

When I say it was "approaching", I mean it was 9:25 and the fireworks were at 9:30. I found a spot without too much effort - benefits of being solo is that no one really cares if one more person squeezes into the crowd in the middle of the street (literally everything was already roped off at this point). This was the only time I felt the park was really crowded, was when I was squashed like a sardine to see the fireworks.
At 9:32, the horrid announcement was made that "due to unforeseen circumstances, the fireworks have been delayed for a little while". OK, just delayed, not canceled, and they did in fact begin at 9:40pm instead of 9:30.

The next installments (probably 2 to 3 of them) are literally all pictures and videos from the fireworks, Fantasmic! and my hotel room, when I finally staggered back there around 11:45pm!

 

[limace]

Loving your report! A solo trip needs to be on my agenda soon.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great afternoon and evening! You were making such great use of Maxpass! I agree with you- DL Space Mountain is wayyyyy better than WDWs!

 

[Jaina]

Loving living vicariously through your trip! Also really loved your Splash Mountain story and picture. That one is a keeper!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Following along from your cruise TR!

My day began outrageously early, as I woke up around 1:30-1:45am. This was not from excitement, but necessity: I had a nearly two hour drive to Seattle to make! My flight was set to depart at 6:04am and I wanted to arrive at the airport about two hours early, meaning I had to leave my apartment around 2am. EEEEEK!

Oof! That is waaay too early for me!

I recently got a NEXUS pass which also qualifies me for TSA Precheck, and that is the best $50 I've ever spent (for five years). The regular security line was lengthy but didn't look too bad. My line, however, was speedy and I was through in five minutes.

I know-precheck is the best! At MCO, I use it and barely have to wait in the security line!

I followed the instructions from my SuperShuttle email that said, exit the airport, go to the center median, find the booth that says "Ground Transportation" and let the attendant know you're there for SuperShuttle. The woman there had no idea what the heck I was talking about, and told me I needed to call the company. I did that, and they told me I needed to go back to the booth and tell them I had a reservation. OK, back to the booth I go, where in the last five minutes a different employee had come in. He asked if I had the app (I didn't because I was under the impression that by, ya know, pre-booking and paying, they would just pick me up like they were supposed to!) and was going to call them himself to say I needed the ride. In that time, the app had finished downloading, and it said the driver was on his way. I don't know what the confusion was about on the airport's side, but it was a bit of a panicky start.

Well that is weird and annoying! I would also be a bit freaked out!

I had chosen SuperShuttle because I'd used them before and had a good experience. It was about the same price as an Uber or Lyft would be, but since I was a single woman traveling alone, I felt it would be a little safer to take a shared ride. Well, that backfired, because I was the only one in the van. A little awkward, because I'm not super talkative with strangers...unless we're talking about Disney, obviously. This ride made me very nervous because the driver was not driving safely. I mentioned this in my survey they emailed me. He outright ran a red light, would switch lanes without using his blinker, and I caught him more than once poking around on his phone and/or tablet while we were moving. We also managed to hit every red light, it seemed! Thankfully, I made it to the hotel in one piece!

That totally sucks! Not fun at all!

More ducks, making themselves at home among the Three Little Pigs' homes:

I LOOOOVE the ducks in the Storybook Land Canal Boats! They are just hilarious!

Unfortunately, as I approached the ride, the CM outside was telling people it was temporarily closed. This happened when I tried to ride it on my last trip, too! BUT - my twist of good luck was this Maxpass was now converted to an "any time, any ride" Maxpass! This meant I could go ride Space Mountain, right that very second, since my touring plan had me waiting an hour for it later in the evening. YAAAAYYY!

Anytime FP for the win! I don't know when the change happened, but they used to have general "tiers" for FPs, so you'd only be able to use it on Space Mountain if you already had a FP for Space that got converted; same thing for Racers or Guardians. But now, it goes for any ride in that park!

It was around this time that the touring plan went out the window because now it just didn't know what to do anymore and I felt I could work the Maxpass system to my advantage. I was right! I had already obtained another one for a little bit later to try Roger Rabbit again.

I totally use it to my advantage. Sometimes I'll be in the parks and see a ride just went down. If I can, I grab a MP right away for it, hoping it will turn into an anytime. Definitely have good luck with Grizzly River Run or Indiana Jones! Because if the ride goes down at anytime in your window, it will convert over!

I was really close to being over the limit to redeem my Big Thunder Mountain Maxpass by this point, so I hustled over there, and thankfully the green light flashed even though it was 2 minutes past my stated return time (I suspect they also have the 10 minute grace period that WDW has?). Super fun, as always, but no pictures.

It's 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after. But most CMs will still let people in a reasonable time after your window, just use the excuse of being stuck on a ride or behind a parade or something. Also being a nice solo visitor who looks to be around the same age as lots of the CMs helps!

I am unsure if this is actually Mowgli or just a random Indian child

I think it's actually an aboriginal Australian kid!

I had booked this over Blue Bayou or Hungry Bear in large part because the menu I had seen listed Strawberry Shortcake as a dessert option...but as you can see, no Strawberry Shortcake was on the menu, and I was very sad.

That's too bad! I think I did like the shortcake the time I had it. Though I prefer Blue Bayou in general for everything else (they also are good about letting me get 2 desserts instead of an appetizer).

The positive thing that I like about the Fantasmic! packages is that they don't assign you to a viewing based on your dining time (at least, they haven't in my two experiences there). They always ask which show I'd like and it's never a problem for me to get the later one.

Yeah, especially if you want the later show, they'll usually give you that one.