kmedina
Loves all things Disney
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2011
Crap finally explained where the tall Asian man came from. He was the husband of the lady in the pink sweater. Their daughter was the girl in blue. The Mom and daughter stood in line while the Dad went on a ride. Once the Dad finished his ride, he relieved the Mom and daughter who went off on their own never to be seen by us again. It was still fun to tease him, because he was in almost the exact same spot I last saw him in after a bit of time went by.
After Lolo and I finished teasing Crap, we walked to the front gates to wait on my family who claimed to be in the parking lot. Lolo was entitled to purchase six military tickets that week. He had only purchased two so far, since his was purchased the previous month. In addition to getting tickets for us, he was going to get tickets for some of my family members.
That is why I was roaming around not doing much of anything. Even though I asked everyone who needed tickets to be there before 8am, I knew it would never happen. No one in my family runs on time, except my Dad. As he pointed out the night before though, he was staying with other people who were perpetually late. If we were to get in a ride line, I knew the call stating they needed us at the front gates would come. Thus, we waited for the late birds without doing much of anything other than taking pictures. It was better than the alternative of having everyone wait at the front gate for us to complete the ride. I actually threatened to do that, but my family obviously knew I would not.
After sitting near the front gates for over 10 minutes, I remembered reading in another trip report that Buena Vista Street was handing out free papers pertaining to the new opening. I grabbed 25 papers to hand out as souvenirs during Connor’s birthday lunch. The Chamber of Commerce (Guest Services) stamped them with the current date. This was only the seventh official day Cars Land was open to the public. We made it within the opening week. Unfortunately, I forgot to hand the papers out at lunch. I still have them in mint condition and plan on handing them out eventually.
While I was getting the papers stamped, Crap called to say that he finally received the fastpasses. It was 8:50am. He stood in the fastpass line for 55 minutes! Who knows how long it would have taken if he got in it right at 7:45am? Please ensure you find the line before rope drop and do not stand behind the rope with the other cattle. Getting in that line ten minutes earlier probably would have shaved way more than ten minutes off the wait, because lots of people poured in after us. Anyway, there was no need to harp on that. Lesson learned. Now that my papers were stamped, I joined Lolo and Crap with the boys. It was finally time to get an actual photopass picture with our whole family. The spot in front of Oswald’s would serve as our first ever family picture (that included Connor) at DLR.
My family sans my Dad arrived around 8:55am. My brother told me where my Dad was, but I did not remember. Lolo and I got our hands stamped and went to the ticket booths with my sister. It was just after 9am when we re-entered the park. Everyone was finally in tow, except of course my Dad. We had been in the park for over an hour and 15 minutes. While a few people ran off to the restroom, my Dad finally appeared from wherever he was.
Dad and Billy
My Dad was happy to see the birthday boy and promptly gave him a wad of cash.
Apparently, he learned that cash was a good thing sometime within the past two hours. Rather than throwing it, he seemed happy to have it. My Dad likes to give the money in all ones (he says it seems like more to kids), so that would not have been fun if he threw it. Maybe my Dad was onto something, because Lolo’s stack (while more money) was smaller, since it consisted only of 20s.
Billy was happy to see him too.
Meanwhile, I called my MIL to see where they were. She said they just arrived in the parking lot. After waiting over 20 minutes for my family after they claimed to be in the parking lot, I was not interested in waiting another 20 minutes. We would just see them at lunch or sooner if we should happen to pass by them (which we did twice). Plus, they did not need Lolo’s help entering the park, since my SFIL was also in the military. Everyone was finally out of the bathroom. It was finally time to see Cars Land. We had been waiting four years, since the plans were first announced. Let's not forget the hour and 15 minutes we waited for everyone to arrive.
Being in the park for well over an hour before I got to see it seemed like an eternity. Thank goodness I was able to see pictures before I arrived. When we turned the corner, I had to take a deep breath. It was more beautiful and spectacularly done than I imagined or the pictures gave credit. This was a sight to see. Everything looked exactly the same way it did in the movie. The imagery was absolutely fantastic, and the imagineers deserve a round of applause.
This welcome sign often had lines of people waiting to have their picture taken.
I preferred this welcome sign.
Fillmore’s was a snack stand that served mostly healthy snacks. We did sneak in there later and see that they sold a few unhealthy things, like coke. There were a lot of fruits and juice drinks here.
Sarge’s Surplus was the go to place to find Cars Land stuff geared toward kids.
This building did not appear to be open to the public
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree had a 50 minute wait posted. Cars Land had been open for over an hour. I’ve heard from the lucky few who were there before us that the ride was not worth a wait that long, so we just kept moving down the street. At this point, there were 15 of us roaming up and down the land together. Every time I turned around, people were disappearing. Some people were taking pictures. Others were looking over their maps. My older sister said she wanted to get in line to ride Tow Mater. I told her that we would ride it later and would be happy to meet up with them at lunch. After someone else dissented, all 15 of us moved past the line.
The Cozy Cone Motel consisted of five cones where one could buy snacks. The office in the middle was not open to the public.
Cadillac Range looked awesome in the distance. People were everywhere, so this was a difficult shot for Crap to catch.
Mater just drove by. He was actually driving down the road. Xander loved this, since he had never seen him drive anywhere else other than Radiator Springs.
Flo’s V8 Café is a lovely themed quick service restaurant.
It even had gas pumps near the outdoor tables, which was a lovely touch.
This sign speaks for itself. I always got excited when I saw it.
Radiator Springs Curios had smaller souvenirs that were mostly related to vehicles (like antenna balls, rearview mirror hangers, etc). It also had a large assortment of pins and Route 66 gear.
I love this Route 66 sign
This light flashed yellow all day long. In this shot, you can even see the leaning tires.
The wait for Luigi’s Flying Tires was 90 minutes by the time we arrived. No one in our group even suggested riding it.
Sparky’s Spark Plugs was another building that seemed closed to the public.
Stanley was very popular. He always had people near him. The line to get a picture with Stanley was always longer than the welcome to Cars Land sign.
It was finally time to turn the corner and see the long awaited ride. We knew it would just be a quick glimpse. If Mater’s ride had a 50 minute wait and Luigi’s ride had a 90 minute wait, what would the wait for Radiator Springs Racers look like between 9:15am and 9:30am on opening week. Stay tuned.
After Lolo and I finished teasing Crap, we walked to the front gates to wait on my family who claimed to be in the parking lot. Lolo was entitled to purchase six military tickets that week. He had only purchased two so far, since his was purchased the previous month. In addition to getting tickets for us, he was going to get tickets for some of my family members.
That is why I was roaming around not doing much of anything. Even though I asked everyone who needed tickets to be there before 8am, I knew it would never happen. No one in my family runs on time, except my Dad. As he pointed out the night before though, he was staying with other people who were perpetually late. If we were to get in a ride line, I knew the call stating they needed us at the front gates would come. Thus, we waited for the late birds without doing much of anything other than taking pictures. It was better than the alternative of having everyone wait at the front gate for us to complete the ride. I actually threatened to do that, but my family obviously knew I would not.
After sitting near the front gates for over 10 minutes, I remembered reading in another trip report that Buena Vista Street was handing out free papers pertaining to the new opening. I grabbed 25 papers to hand out as souvenirs during Connor’s birthday lunch. The Chamber of Commerce (Guest Services) stamped them with the current date. This was only the seventh official day Cars Land was open to the public. We made it within the opening week. Unfortunately, I forgot to hand the papers out at lunch. I still have them in mint condition and plan on handing them out eventually.
While I was getting the papers stamped, Crap called to say that he finally received the fastpasses. It was 8:50am. He stood in the fastpass line for 55 minutes! Who knows how long it would have taken if he got in it right at 7:45am? Please ensure you find the line before rope drop and do not stand behind the rope with the other cattle. Getting in that line ten minutes earlier probably would have shaved way more than ten minutes off the wait, because lots of people poured in after us. Anyway, there was no need to harp on that. Lesson learned. Now that my papers were stamped, I joined Lolo and Crap with the boys. It was finally time to get an actual photopass picture with our whole family. The spot in front of Oswald’s would serve as our first ever family picture (that included Connor) at DLR.
My family sans my Dad arrived around 8:55am. My brother told me where my Dad was, but I did not remember. Lolo and I got our hands stamped and went to the ticket booths with my sister. It was just after 9am when we re-entered the park. Everyone was finally in tow, except of course my Dad. We had been in the park for over an hour and 15 minutes. While a few people ran off to the restroom, my Dad finally appeared from wherever he was.
Dad and Billy
My Dad was happy to see the birthday boy and promptly gave him a wad of cash.
Apparently, he learned that cash was a good thing sometime within the past two hours. Rather than throwing it, he seemed happy to have it. My Dad likes to give the money in all ones (he says it seems like more to kids), so that would not have been fun if he threw it. Maybe my Dad was onto something, because Lolo’s stack (while more money) was smaller, since it consisted only of 20s.
Billy was happy to see him too.
Meanwhile, I called my MIL to see where they were. She said they just arrived in the parking lot. After waiting over 20 minutes for my family after they claimed to be in the parking lot, I was not interested in waiting another 20 minutes. We would just see them at lunch or sooner if we should happen to pass by them (which we did twice). Plus, they did not need Lolo’s help entering the park, since my SFIL was also in the military. Everyone was finally out of the bathroom. It was finally time to see Cars Land. We had been waiting four years, since the plans were first announced. Let's not forget the hour and 15 minutes we waited for everyone to arrive.
Being in the park for well over an hour before I got to see it seemed like an eternity. Thank goodness I was able to see pictures before I arrived. When we turned the corner, I had to take a deep breath. It was more beautiful and spectacularly done than I imagined or the pictures gave credit. This was a sight to see. Everything looked exactly the same way it did in the movie. The imagery was absolutely fantastic, and the imagineers deserve a round of applause.
This welcome sign often had lines of people waiting to have their picture taken.
I preferred this welcome sign.
Fillmore’s was a snack stand that served mostly healthy snacks. We did sneak in there later and see that they sold a few unhealthy things, like coke. There were a lot of fruits and juice drinks here.
Sarge’s Surplus was the go to place to find Cars Land stuff geared toward kids.
This building did not appear to be open to the public
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree had a 50 minute wait posted. Cars Land had been open for over an hour. I’ve heard from the lucky few who were there before us that the ride was not worth a wait that long, so we just kept moving down the street. At this point, there were 15 of us roaming up and down the land together. Every time I turned around, people were disappearing. Some people were taking pictures. Others were looking over their maps. My older sister said she wanted to get in line to ride Tow Mater. I told her that we would ride it later and would be happy to meet up with them at lunch. After someone else dissented, all 15 of us moved past the line.
The Cozy Cone Motel consisted of five cones where one could buy snacks. The office in the middle was not open to the public.
Cadillac Range looked awesome in the distance. People were everywhere, so this was a difficult shot for Crap to catch.
Mater just drove by. He was actually driving down the road. Xander loved this, since he had never seen him drive anywhere else other than Radiator Springs.
Flo’s V8 Café is a lovely themed quick service restaurant.
It even had gas pumps near the outdoor tables, which was a lovely touch.
This sign speaks for itself. I always got excited when I saw it.
Radiator Springs Curios had smaller souvenirs that were mostly related to vehicles (like antenna balls, rearview mirror hangers, etc). It also had a large assortment of pins and Route 66 gear.
I love this Route 66 sign
This light flashed yellow all day long. In this shot, you can even see the leaning tires.
The wait for Luigi’s Flying Tires was 90 minutes by the time we arrived. No one in our group even suggested riding it.
Sparky’s Spark Plugs was another building that seemed closed to the public.
Stanley was very popular. He always had people near him. The line to get a picture with Stanley was always longer than the welcome to Cars Land sign.
It was finally time to turn the corner and see the long awaited ride. We knew it would just be a quick glimpse. If Mater’s ride had a 50 minute wait and Luigi’s ride had a 90 minute wait, what would the wait for Radiator Springs Racers look like between 9:15am and 9:30am on opening week. Stay tuned.
Anyway Your TR is bringing back some fun memories!
)
You snooze you lose!
