Annual December Family DLR Trips (08, 09, 10, 11 IN PROGRESS)-We do it big

[DLR29]

We're going back!!! So I thought I would revive this.

But this time, we're doing it POST-Christmas = much more crowded!

So the plans are to go to DLR on the 29th (this Wednesday) and for only 1 day this year (although we will be park hopping). The cast of characters will be the exact same as in previous years. However, if you read last year's TR you would know that DC7(now) is all into the big rides now, which doesn't bode well for DGrandma as much, but we'll see.

Thankfully (?) Wednesday is the only day that has predicted showers, so that will hopefully deter some people away, but even still I'm expecting massive crowds.

Me, DB, DM and DD will be staying at the Hilton (got a free night for being a Hilton Honors member) on the 28th. DA&U along with DC7 and DC5 will be staying at the HOJO that night. DG&G will be picking up the other DCs around 6:30 and meeting us in line. The plan is to get in line between 7 and 7:15 (so early!).

DC7 really wants to do Matterhorn and Pirates this time. According to him, "Last time I thought the pirates were shooting at me, but this time I will know that it's just pretend." DC5 wants to do everything but especially Buzz. DA measured him the other day at about 47", which would mean that he is 1" short of being able to ride Screamin, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I think we'll be seeing World of Color and other than that just trying to get in as many rides as possible. Stay tuned for a report and pics!

 

[DLR29]

Another updated character list:
-Me (18)
-DB (14)
-DM (Mom)
-DD (Dad)
-DA&U (Aunt and Uncle)
-DC7 (Cousin)
-DC5
-DG&G (Grandma and Grandpa)
-DC14
-DC12
-DC11
(If you read my WDW report, DC14, DC12 and DC11 are the same cousins)

 

[DLR29]

At the Hojos right now! Going to bed early because we hope to be in line at the gates around 7AM!

 

[DLR29]

Alright. Back at home. I don't start school for another week so I'll do this little trip report thing now. Got the character list done, so let's just dive right in...

We visited DLR on 12/29/10.

Morning:

Expecting HUGE crowds (the 4 days before this DL had sold out), we arrived at the security tables a little after 7. My family (me, DB, DM, DD) and DA&U/DC7 and DC5 had stayed at the HoJo the night before so we were at the east security lines. The other cousins stayed at DG&Gs house the previous night and they drove to the parks, parked in the Mickey and Friends lot and were on the west security lines.

They didn't actually open the security lines until around 7:40ish. Oh and by the way, it was raining pretty hard at this point...a good thing for the crowds but there were still plenty of people there that early. We rushed to the front of one of the ticket lines and got undercover (barely) from the rain. We met up with the other half of our party and they let us into the park about 10 min after. We were allowed down Main Street but stopped at the end by a rope. Here's how rainy it was.

Crowd shot (from the front of the rope)

Group shot (almost...a few cut off and a couple not in there but still). Yup, pretty wet!

So they dropped the rope at 8 and I ran to get 13 Space FPs while the rest of my family ran to Peter Pan. I decided just to skip that ride because I knew I couldn't catch up to them after getting so many FPs, plus I have an AP and I'm going in a few weeks anyway so I didn't feel obligated to ride everything. I met everyone at the Matterhorn around 8:10 so they had a pretty short line for Peter Pan. Oddly, when I went to get FPs, 2 of the tickets said that they hadn't been used for admission that day when I know they had been. One small problem that we'd have to deal with later. Oh well...on my way to the Matterhorn.

If you read last year's report you'd know that DC7 (then DC6) became more of a thrill seeker by the end of the trip! This trip he REALLY wanted to ride the Matterhorn because last trip he missed out on it and his brother (DC5) rode it last time. In order to get a ride in with a short wait, I knew we had to get there early. The line was super short, but then again...it was POURING still! Riding the Matterhorn in the rain = a different experience. Coming in and out of the caves you are basically dodging waterfalls left and right! That's DC7 and DU in the front, random people behind them.

DD and DM in the back, DA and DC5 in front of them.

We just needed to get out of the rain, so we headed for IASWH. Walked on, filled a whole boat and set sail for the happiest cruise around the world! It was nice to just dry off for a sec. Some IASWH pics:

Unfortunately when we got out of the ride it was still raining! Next on our list was Buzz. DC5 was really looking forward to this one! After BLAB (4 rides in about an hour), I tried to figure out the ticket/admission/FP situation so we went to City Hall. They couldn't "reactivate" them but they gave us 2 "FP cards" that we used for FPs instead of the actual tickets. That was nice.

Ok now try to follow me here cause I'm gonna be doing a lot of running around. The rest of my family stayed at City Hall/Main Street area (under cover to stay dry) while I went to get Indy FPs for later. When I got to Indy the FP machines weren't working because they were wet from the rain...neither were HMH's...nor BTMRR's. So I ran over to Space to try and get a FP there but the ride had broken down but they were still giving out FP so the line was huge just to get a FP there. So I went back to see if Indy's FPs were up because it had started to let up a little...nope! I just grabbed BLAB FP because it was like the only FP that was actually possible to get.

That's a good start. Gotta go walk the dog now. I'll post more tomorrow.

 

[DLR29]

After the whole FP machine fiasco, the weather looked like it was clearing up, and the crowds were still low, so I had a decent outlook. We hopped, I ran and got Soarin and WoC FP (BLUE!) and when the rope dropped, we all headed over to TSMM. Despite having a big party with some slow walkers (the youngest and the oldest lol), we only had to wait about 20 min for the ride. Here are some pics:
DC14 and DC11

DG&G

DU

After the ride we were starting to dry...but that was short lived. We measured DC5 and he was JUST tall enough to ride Screamin! The little thrill seeker wanted to ride it really badly, and his brother reluctantly agreed to ride also. The rain had just started again but we stood in line for Screamin for about 15-20 min. DG&G, DM and DM didn't ride and went to find cover at the shop by Ariel's Grotto/Duffy. When we got up to the platform, DC7 decided that he didn't want to ride. Oh well.

Anyway, we see the people coming off of the ride DRENCHED! We board and head off into the rain on the ride. From the launch to the brakes, the rain pelted us like little needles pricking our face! None of us could keep our eyes open, and I had never had a Screamin ride like that one before. Needless to say, we were all soaked and our faces tingled after the ride, but we were all laughing and DC5 loved it! You can tell from the water, how it was raining

We met up with the others in the store. By this time, it was really coming down hard. I ran from Paradise Pier to ToT to get FP and met everyone over at the Animation building. Since the next Turtle Talk wasn't for another 20-30 min, we hopped on over to Monster's Inc. for a quick, dry ride.

Then we trekked back to the Animation building and caught the 10:30 Turtle Talk show. The little kids loved it but there weren't that many original lines/jokes that I hadn't heard before. Since it was raining, there were many characters inside the Animation building. DC7 got a pic with both Pluto and Woody.

It was time to use our ToT FP, but not everyone wanted to ride. We only used 7 FP (Me, DB, DC14, 12, 11, DU, and DM) so I pocketed the other 6 for later. Since the ride is inside, the line was a little long and we were glad that we had FP.

By now, it was getting to be lunch time, so we all met up again and went over to Taste Pilot's grill. Even though it was peak lunch hours there was no wait to order (although ordering 13 meals still takes a while). While they were ordering, I went over to DL to see if the FP machines were working again...still nope. They weren't gonna use the FP machines for Indy/HMH/BTMRR for the rest of the day. Fortunately, Indy only had a 30 min wait, HMH-10 and BTMRR-10!!! This is in the middle of the day people! The rain clearly kept the crowds away today. And, finally, by this time the sun came out and there was no more rain for the rest of the day! Granted, our clothes were still dripping, but at least the sun felt nice and we started to dry off. I returned to DCA, ate lunch, and we started the afternoon with good weather and a good outlook for the rest of the day!

 

[DLR29]

After lunch, it was super bright and sunny outside! We rode Soarin with FPs from earlier although DGrandma didn't want to so she and DGrandpa sat out. We requested to sit in the top middle row. With 11 people riding, we took up the entire row!

We left DCA and hopped. When we entered DL, the lines were still very low for many rides! We literally walked onto Jungle Cruise!

Continuing around the park, Indy was next on our list. With no FP, the whole inside part of the line was being used. Even still...we waited 30 minutes in total! (the line moved so quickly) And everyone in our party rode! I rode next to DGrandma and she was hootin' and hollerin' through the whole ride! The little DCs loved it too!

Next was Pirates. Two trips ago DC7 rode PotC and was a little scared but he assured us that this time he would know that it was all pretend. Everybody had a fun pirate adventure.

Little DCs had never rode HMH in the previous two trips, so that was another priority. Fortunately, there was NO line and we just walked into the mansion.

Older DCs liked the classic Hidden Mickey in the plates during the Ballroom scene. On our WDW trip we introduced them to the concept of Hidden Mickeys and ever since, they've been asking where they are in each of the rides.

Exiting HMH we went around the Rivers of America, heading to BTMRR.

Since they weren't using FP here either, the line moved very quickly for BTMRR and although a bit lengthy, the wait was a manageable 20 min tops. Here's DC14 and DB in the front with DM and DD behind them.

Quite a bit of a difference from the rain we had earlier in the morning.

We crossed the hub and rode Space with our FPs from the beginning of the day. The line was 65 min. Not terrible for Christmas week but I'd take a FP over that on any day! DG&G sat this out because DGrandma is scarred for life from this ride from when DU (dad of older DCs) took her on it a long time ago and told her that he would tell her which way to lean at each turn but told her the wrong direction every time...or so the story goes!

Leave off here for now.

 

[DLR29]

Alright, let's finish this up. After Space we rode BLAB again with FP. With some time to spare before dinner, we trekked over to Fantasyland and rode Pinocchio. Even though the ride can be a little intimidating for some young kids, youngest DCs had seen the movie so they weren't scared.

Then we rode Mr. Toad and, although DCs haven't seen "Wind in the Willows", everybody enjoyed it! As we walked to dinner at Rancho del Zocal, we first stopped and walked through the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough. DG&G really liked it because they said they hadn't been in there since they were kids. We went the side route from Fantasyland to Frontierland and grabbed dinner at Rancho. No line...it was really empty!

DGrandma was getting exhausted so DG&G left after dinner. I asked DGrandma what her favorite part of the day was. She just enjoyed having a fun time with everyone together. At the restaurant they had space heaters that we were all standing near to try and keep warm. Then we set off for DCA with a quick stop at the Candy Parlor and for DB and I to get a pic by the tree.

And DC7 and DC5

By the time we all hopped and walked over to Paradise Park, they had already let people into the viewing area. With Blue FP, I wanted to try the bridge. Fortunately we found space along the bridge rail for all 11 of us. DC12 and I went and got churros mmmmmm. The show started at 8. The view was really good but occasionally we got misted on. Everyone loved the show! Nobody but me and DM had seen it. DD really appreciated all of the little details.

Our view

After the show

Oh and the TRONcore was STILL amazing, the second time seeing it, although you get a better view of that part from the regular standing area. As everyone was heading out of the park, we took a slight detour and checked out ElecTRONica.

Frisbee golf with the discs from the film

The atmosphere is really cool although we didn't get to see the laser bending man, which I hear is cool. We went into Flynn's Arcade and played a couple of games with our free tokens from the ToT FP machines earlier that day.

The TRON game in the arcade was very cool too. It did some simulation of revealing the entrance to the office, if you've seen the movie.

Speaking of ToT FP, we still had 6 from before so DB, DC14, 12, 11, DU and I rode it again, although this time the FP line was still a little lengthy. When we got off of the ride, ElecTRONica was basically a ghost town..a little eerie.

We asked DC7 what he wanted to do 1 mroe time. He said matterhorn so we hopped 1 more time and rode the Matterhorn Tomorrowland side (not in the rain this time!) with a very short wait.

Knowing that we only had a little bit more time, we went over to BTMRR because it usually has a short line in the evenings of even the busiest days. Sure enough, we were in line and off the ride in 10 min! As the 10:30 F! was playing, we went over to Indy for our final ride, waiting a mere 15 min. By the time we exited, the F! crowds had already left and we called it a day and left the park.

We had a fantastic day overall. Very glad that the rain kept the crowds away. So in 1 day, we got 24 rides done with 4 FP in approx. 15 hours of fun!

Stay tuned next year for another TR!

 

[DLR29]

Just got the ok from DMom today that we will have our 4th annual December Family DLR Trip on 12/21/11!

Time to start planning!

 

[deejdigsdis]

Just got the ok from DMom today that we will have our 4th annual December Family DLR Trip on 12/21/11!

Time to start planning!

Looking forward to hearing about it! Seems like it's been a while since we've had a TR from you...

 

[DLR29]

Looking forward to hearing about it! Seems like it's been a while since we've had a TR from you...

Thanks for stopping by again! I haven't done an official big TR in a while because now that I go to USC I go to DLR about once a month so I do little "Trip observations" which are like mini TRs. I've been meaning to compile them all into one thread.