kmedina
Loves all things Disney
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2011
- Messages
- 5,049
When we finally made our way to Radiator Springs Racers, the standby line was at the three hour point. No one was interested in standing in line for three hours. Even the single rider line was at 30 minutes. With a five, six and eight year old in tow, no one was interested in the single rider line at this point. We all turned around. Our fastpass return time was between 2:10pm and 3:10pm. While we almost always return during the window, our lunch was scheduled for 1pm. There was a slight chance that we might not make it back before 3:10pm. After standing in line for 55 minutes and not getting to pick the time, I wanted to ensure we would be able to use them if we arrived late.
There have been some threads popping up that say cast members are finally cracking down on late fastpass returners. While these threads pop up often and are usually quickly discredited, this recent one seemed to hold merit. I approached the most official looking cast member and asked if we could arrive late. He said they do not care what time you arrive as long as it is after the window opens. Even though I hoped lunch would not take two hours, it felt nice that our fastpasses would still be good if it did. Since we were hosting, we could only be as fast as our slowest diner or latest attendee. After what happened that morning, I knew some people would be late. Would the servers take orders before that batch of late-birds arrived? Only time would tell.
After briefly looking at all Cars Land had to offer, we headed out of there almost as slowly as we arrived. It was so neat to see everything.
Ramones was the place for adult clothing. It had some kid items and souvenirs, but seemed to be the adult store. The Low and Slow Motto was the theme of this joint. Some of the clothing was really trendy while other clothing had a classic biker feel. Since it was the House of Body Art, it seemed appropriate that it was the adult store. I liked everything in the store. Picking out a souvenir would prove difficult the following day.
The Photopass line to get a picture in front of Cadillac Range died down a little. I insisted that we stop there.
First, we took a photo with our family.
Then, I insisted the boys take a picture with Papa and Lolo. I never remembered to ask Grandpa for the same picture later in the day, which bums me out. He was with us later for a bit in Cars Land. There is nothing worse than wanting a picture and forgetting when the opportunity finally presents itself. It would have been nice to get one with their Grandma too, but I forgot that too. They had three Grandpas there but only one Grandma.
As we walked out of Cars Land, we saw Mater again.
We finally saw Lightning too.
At this point, we had not seen Lightning drive down the street yet. He was in front of the Cozy Cone greeting guests. The line to see him was pretty long. It had been forming since we first walked in and saw Mater driving down the street. Knowing we had more time to see them, we walked right on by. After the character lines we just went through at WDW, I was hoping to get shorter lines and smarter times this trip. Unless Lightning or Mater were driving around, one of them would greet guests. When one left the area, the other one would arrive. I can go on and on about how cool it was to see them driving down the street. Everyone just needs to see this in person. The meet and greets are also much cooler than they used to be at DCA or currently are at DHS. Stay tuned for details.
When we exited Cars Land, my family members decided they wanted to ride The Little Mermaid. It was around 9:30am at this point. I knew the park would just keep getting busier as the park filled. After reading many trip reports, I learned that the line for this is almost always short at all times of the day. Trying to put my DIS knowledge to work, I suggested we go on something else and come back to ride this later. The wait was advertised at 5 minutes. Everyone insisted that we just ride it, since there was no line and we were right there anyway.
Reluctantly, I agreed. We had yet to ride anything after an hour and 45 minutes in the park. Since we skipped 2011 (when this ride first opened), we had never ridden this ride. When Crap got our RSR fastpasses that morning, he was given surprise fastpasses to this ride. Surprise, this was a waste of fastpass. We passed by this ride many times during the day and never saw the posted wait time longer than 5 minutes. The cast member would not even take our fastpass tickets because the line was not long enough to justify it. Just like the last trip report where I did a fastpass count, I will do that here as well. I will also do an unused fastpass count, because we had a few of those as well. This was unused fastpass number one.
After less than five minutes, our family loaded into the cars. Connor’s first DLR ride would be LM. I was already holding Connor, so I ended up riding with him. Crap, Xander and Lolo rode together in the shell before us. It looks like Billy and Rana were in the shell behind us. This ride is very similar to Nemo at Epcot. Even though I like the Little Mermaid better than Finding Nemo (just barely), I prefer the Nemo ride to the Little Mermaid. The line for Nemo is always short as well, so I am surprised Disney thought it would be a good idea to duplicate the ride in California. Then, they gave it a fast pass machine while TSMM does not have one.
While I agree with Bret that the standby line would be longer if TSMM had a fastpass line, I would try to get a fastpass each trip and not be in the standby line.
Crap wanted to get a picture of Connor. He forgot to turn the flash off in the first picture, so it actually turned out all right. The others did not turn out, because it is a dark ride. I guess it was a good thing we rode with my family, since they were the only ones nearby when the forbidden flash went off. They deserved much worse than a single flash on a dark ride for arriving late, but that was the only payback we ever got, lol. All joking aside, they were late but they did come all the way to California to celebrate my baby’s birthday. By the time we were riding this, I was already back to being in a good mood.
It looks like Crap also took some blurry, non-flash pictures of the ride as well.
As soon as the ride let out, there was a Phineas and Ferb dance party just outside of it. My little sister made her way to the front of the large circle with her daughters without any mention to anyone else. I guess someone had just left and she wanted to act quickly to fill in the space. She is very crafty that way. I am a huge Phineas and Ferb fan. It is my favorite show of Xander’s on the Disney channel. We went to see the live stage show, which was amazing. Anyone who also read the recent WDW trip report knows I stood in line longer than I care to admit to let my boys have a meet and greet. However, as the time was ticking away, I was not interested in watching it at all. The boys and I were not as lucky in finding a spot, so I stood behind everyone with the large stroller and tried to hold Connor up.
Crap put Xander on his shoulders whilst still managing to get a couple of pictures. After the lack of pictures from our last trip, I was quite impressed with his picture taking effort thus far. My nieces were really into the show, so I was happy for my sister in acting fast to grab that spot. Connor was really disinterested, since he could not see anyway. Lolo, Connor and I were just hanging back chatting. When I noticed Xander slumping and not really paying attention, I told Crap and Lolo we were leaving. The others looked into the show, so I said nothing and just ditched them. We never agreed to stay together the whole day. Unlike my threat to go on a ride and not leave the line until we had ridden it if they arrived late, I planned on following through with my promise to separate when the agendas differed. As not to be completely rude, I made sure my brother saw us leaving.
We walked toward Paradise Pier with two agendas. Number one was to get fastpasses for Screamin’. Number two was to ride TSMM before the lines got insane. When I mentioned TSMM to my family before LM, no one seemed to care. My little group wanted to ride it, so we were on our way. A lot of people do not like Paradise Pier, because they say it is everything Walt was not. I love Paradise Pier. While it does not have a distinct Disneyland feel, it is a nice land at DLR. It is very bright and beautiful with a carnival and pier feel all wrapped up into one. Those are all things I love. Screamin’ is the best coaster at DLR, and I love TSMM. We never make a trip to DCA without visiting Paradise Pier. Let’s not forget that the carousel and Mickey’s Fun Wheel are back there as well. Xander was selected to be the prince of the carousel once when he was much younger. As we walked toward Paradise Pier, Crap stopped to take photos. Who was that man, and what did he do with my husband?
After getting our fastpasses for Screamin’, Lolo announced he needed to use the restroom. I used the restroom too and changed Connor. By the time we were parking our stroller, most of my family was now in front of TSMM. They must have remembered that is what I wanted to do and guessed that is where we took off to. My little sister decided the girls needed to ride the carousel first, so she chose not to join everyone else in line. Not wanting to waste any more time or wait for them to get off the carousel, we entered the line. The posted wait time was 45 minutes. Connor was in a great mood when we entered the line. He was playing with his birthday necklace and chilling in my arms.
Crap was still in happy picture taking mode. In addition to this odd shot he thought I would appreciate, he got a few pictures of the boys. The boys were still in a great mood for a while.
The lady in front of us who was very friendly chatted with us and the young couple in front of her all the way through the line. She was in town on business. What is her business? She is a recruiter for The University of Washington. I told her my SIL mentioned she wanted to go there back when she was still in high school but went locally instead. After she discovered my sister earned a nursing degree, she told me that they had the number one nursing program in the nation. That may have been the reason she wanted to go there, I said. This was the one morning I actually remembered to carry one of the drinks I brought into the park. As an avid Pepsi drinker herself, my new friend asked if I had another one. Her company did not provide her with a rental car, and her hotel was near the Anaheim Convention Center right next to Disneyland. Apparently, there was only Coke everywhere she went and she was in the mood for Pepsi. I only brought in one I sadly informed her.
About half way through the line, Connor made it clear he wanted to walk. That is backwards. I usually have Xander demanding to be carried. Luckily, he had not started in on that this time though. Connor’s walking was still a little shaky at this point, which meant he needed a lot of assistance. It was a killer on my back, so I endured it for only about five or ten minutes. He screamed bloody murder when I picked him up. Knowing he had been awake for almost four hours at this point, I knew he must be tired, hungry or both. Following an all too familiar experience from our last ride at DHS, I started nursing him through the line.
Before we even reached the front of the line, he was asleep. That was exactly like DHS. He was about to sleep through the ride again. Would he ever actually experience the ride? Knowing how much Crap loves to play the game, I once again decided to hold Connor through this ride. At DHS, it was so jolty that I held him the entire time without playing myself. Xander wanted to ride with Lolo. Crap and would I ride together in the same car for the first time. Just as we were about to board, I noticed my sister standing near the exit. She approached the cast member and told him she was with us. They let her through! As soon as she walked up she said, “That was perfect timing.” I looked at the time on my loaner phone and noticed we had been in line for 55 minutes (rather than the 45 posted). Not wanting to cause a scene but let her know how I felt I said, “Perfect timing for you. We’ve been in line for 55 minutes.”
We finally boarded TSMM. As soon as we made the first turn, I noticed it was not as jolty as the Hollywood Studios version. That or because he was older and bigger, it was easier to hold him in place with one arm. I was finally going to play for the first time since 2010. Granted, I only had one arm to work with, but I was actually excited. Crap just rapid fired at anything and everything while I actually took the time to aim. When the ride completed, he bragged (as he always does) that he won. He is honestly one of the most competitive people I know, so he did not care that he had two hands to my one. My score of 56k made me very happy, because I scored 0 the last time I rode it. The accuracy also impressed me.
Lolo did not get a picture of Xander’s score, but I believe he said the score was over 35k. Xander is getting better. He should be challenging Crap in a few years, which I am sure he will love.
There have been some threads popping up that say cast members are finally cracking down on late fastpass returners. While these threads pop up often and are usually quickly discredited, this recent one seemed to hold merit. I approached the most official looking cast member and asked if we could arrive late. He said they do not care what time you arrive as long as it is after the window opens. Even though I hoped lunch would not take two hours, it felt nice that our fastpasses would still be good if it did. Since we were hosting, we could only be as fast as our slowest diner or latest attendee. After what happened that morning, I knew some people would be late. Would the servers take orders before that batch of late-birds arrived? Only time would tell.
After briefly looking at all Cars Land had to offer, we headed out of there almost as slowly as we arrived. It was so neat to see everything.
Ramones was the place for adult clothing. It had some kid items and souvenirs, but seemed to be the adult store. The Low and Slow Motto was the theme of this joint. Some of the clothing was really trendy while other clothing had a classic biker feel. Since it was the House of Body Art, it seemed appropriate that it was the adult store. I liked everything in the store. Picking out a souvenir would prove difficult the following day.
The Photopass line to get a picture in front of Cadillac Range died down a little. I insisted that we stop there.
First, we took a photo with our family.
Then, I insisted the boys take a picture with Papa and Lolo. I never remembered to ask Grandpa for the same picture later in the day, which bums me out. He was with us later for a bit in Cars Land. There is nothing worse than wanting a picture and forgetting when the opportunity finally presents itself. It would have been nice to get one with their Grandma too, but I forgot that too. They had three Grandpas there but only one Grandma.
As we walked out of Cars Land, we saw Mater again.
We finally saw Lightning too.
At this point, we had not seen Lightning drive down the street yet. He was in front of the Cozy Cone greeting guests. The line to see him was pretty long. It had been forming since we first walked in and saw Mater driving down the street. Knowing we had more time to see them, we walked right on by. After the character lines we just went through at WDW, I was hoping to get shorter lines and smarter times this trip. Unless Lightning or Mater were driving around, one of them would greet guests. When one left the area, the other one would arrive. I can go on and on about how cool it was to see them driving down the street. Everyone just needs to see this in person. The meet and greets are also much cooler than they used to be at DCA or currently are at DHS. Stay tuned for details.
When we exited Cars Land, my family members decided they wanted to ride The Little Mermaid. It was around 9:30am at this point. I knew the park would just keep getting busier as the park filled. After reading many trip reports, I learned that the line for this is almost always short at all times of the day. Trying to put my DIS knowledge to work, I suggested we go on something else and come back to ride this later. The wait was advertised at 5 minutes. Everyone insisted that we just ride it, since there was no line and we were right there anyway.
Reluctantly, I agreed. We had yet to ride anything after an hour and 45 minutes in the park. Since we skipped 2011 (when this ride first opened), we had never ridden this ride. When Crap got our RSR fastpasses that morning, he was given surprise fastpasses to this ride. Surprise, this was a waste of fastpass. We passed by this ride many times during the day and never saw the posted wait time longer than 5 minutes. The cast member would not even take our fastpass tickets because the line was not long enough to justify it. Just like the last trip report where I did a fastpass count, I will do that here as well. I will also do an unused fastpass count, because we had a few of those as well. This was unused fastpass number one.
After less than five minutes, our family loaded into the cars. Connor’s first DLR ride would be LM. I was already holding Connor, so I ended up riding with him. Crap, Xander and Lolo rode together in the shell before us. It looks like Billy and Rana were in the shell behind us. This ride is very similar to Nemo at Epcot. Even though I like the Little Mermaid better than Finding Nemo (just barely), I prefer the Nemo ride to the Little Mermaid. The line for Nemo is always short as well, so I am surprised Disney thought it would be a good idea to duplicate the ride in California. Then, they gave it a fast pass machine while TSMM does not have one.
While I agree with Bret that the standby line would be longer if TSMM had a fastpass line, I would try to get a fastpass each trip and not be in the standby line.Crap wanted to get a picture of Connor. He forgot to turn the flash off in the first picture, so it actually turned out all right. The others did not turn out, because it is a dark ride. I guess it was a good thing we rode with my family, since they were the only ones nearby when the forbidden flash went off. They deserved much worse than a single flash on a dark ride for arriving late, but that was the only payback we ever got, lol. All joking aside, they were late but they did come all the way to California to celebrate my baby’s birthday. By the time we were riding this, I was already back to being in a good mood.
It looks like Crap also took some blurry, non-flash pictures of the ride as well.
As soon as the ride let out, there was a Phineas and Ferb dance party just outside of it. My little sister made her way to the front of the large circle with her daughters without any mention to anyone else. I guess someone had just left and she wanted to act quickly to fill in the space. She is very crafty that way. I am a huge Phineas and Ferb fan. It is my favorite show of Xander’s on the Disney channel. We went to see the live stage show, which was amazing. Anyone who also read the recent WDW trip report knows I stood in line longer than I care to admit to let my boys have a meet and greet. However, as the time was ticking away, I was not interested in watching it at all. The boys and I were not as lucky in finding a spot, so I stood behind everyone with the large stroller and tried to hold Connor up.
Crap put Xander on his shoulders whilst still managing to get a couple of pictures. After the lack of pictures from our last trip, I was quite impressed with his picture taking effort thus far. My nieces were really into the show, so I was happy for my sister in acting fast to grab that spot. Connor was really disinterested, since he could not see anyway. Lolo, Connor and I were just hanging back chatting. When I noticed Xander slumping and not really paying attention, I told Crap and Lolo we were leaving. The others looked into the show, so I said nothing and just ditched them. We never agreed to stay together the whole day. Unlike my threat to go on a ride and not leave the line until we had ridden it if they arrived late, I planned on following through with my promise to separate when the agendas differed. As not to be completely rude, I made sure my brother saw us leaving.
We walked toward Paradise Pier with two agendas. Number one was to get fastpasses for Screamin’. Number two was to ride TSMM before the lines got insane. When I mentioned TSMM to my family before LM, no one seemed to care. My little group wanted to ride it, so we were on our way. A lot of people do not like Paradise Pier, because they say it is everything Walt was not. I love Paradise Pier. While it does not have a distinct Disneyland feel, it is a nice land at DLR. It is very bright and beautiful with a carnival and pier feel all wrapped up into one. Those are all things I love. Screamin’ is the best coaster at DLR, and I love TSMM. We never make a trip to DCA without visiting Paradise Pier. Let’s not forget that the carousel and Mickey’s Fun Wheel are back there as well. Xander was selected to be the prince of the carousel once when he was much younger. As we walked toward Paradise Pier, Crap stopped to take photos. Who was that man, and what did he do with my husband?
After getting our fastpasses for Screamin’, Lolo announced he needed to use the restroom. I used the restroom too and changed Connor. By the time we were parking our stroller, most of my family was now in front of TSMM. They must have remembered that is what I wanted to do and guessed that is where we took off to. My little sister decided the girls needed to ride the carousel first, so she chose not to join everyone else in line. Not wanting to waste any more time or wait for them to get off the carousel, we entered the line. The posted wait time was 45 minutes. Connor was in a great mood when we entered the line. He was playing with his birthday necklace and chilling in my arms.
Crap was still in happy picture taking mode. In addition to this odd shot he thought I would appreciate, he got a few pictures of the boys. The boys were still in a great mood for a while.
The lady in front of us who was very friendly chatted with us and the young couple in front of her all the way through the line. She was in town on business. What is her business? She is a recruiter for The University of Washington. I told her my SIL mentioned she wanted to go there back when she was still in high school but went locally instead. After she discovered my sister earned a nursing degree, she told me that they had the number one nursing program in the nation. That may have been the reason she wanted to go there, I said. This was the one morning I actually remembered to carry one of the drinks I brought into the park. As an avid Pepsi drinker herself, my new friend asked if I had another one. Her company did not provide her with a rental car, and her hotel was near the Anaheim Convention Center right next to Disneyland. Apparently, there was only Coke everywhere she went and she was in the mood for Pepsi. I only brought in one I sadly informed her.
About half way through the line, Connor made it clear he wanted to walk. That is backwards. I usually have Xander demanding to be carried. Luckily, he had not started in on that this time though. Connor’s walking was still a little shaky at this point, which meant he needed a lot of assistance. It was a killer on my back, so I endured it for only about five or ten minutes. He screamed bloody murder when I picked him up. Knowing he had been awake for almost four hours at this point, I knew he must be tired, hungry or both. Following an all too familiar experience from our last ride at DHS, I started nursing him through the line.
Before we even reached the front of the line, he was asleep. That was exactly like DHS. He was about to sleep through the ride again. Would he ever actually experience the ride? Knowing how much Crap loves to play the game, I once again decided to hold Connor through this ride. At DHS, it was so jolty that I held him the entire time without playing myself. Xander wanted to ride with Lolo. Crap and would I ride together in the same car for the first time. Just as we were about to board, I noticed my sister standing near the exit. She approached the cast member and told him she was with us. They let her through! As soon as she walked up she said, “That was perfect timing.” I looked at the time on my loaner phone and noticed we had been in line for 55 minutes (rather than the 45 posted). Not wanting to cause a scene but let her know how I felt I said, “Perfect timing for you. We’ve been in line for 55 minutes.”
We finally boarded TSMM. As soon as we made the first turn, I noticed it was not as jolty as the Hollywood Studios version. That or because he was older and bigger, it was easier to hold him in place with one arm. I was finally going to play for the first time since 2010. Granted, I only had one arm to work with, but I was actually excited. Crap just rapid fired at anything and everything while I actually took the time to aim. When the ride completed, he bragged (as he always does) that he won. He is honestly one of the most competitive people I know, so he did not care that he had two hands to my one. My score of 56k made me very happy, because I scored 0 the last time I rode it. The accuracy also impressed me.
Lolo did not get a picture of Xander’s score, but I believe he said the score was over 35k. Xander is getting better. He should be challenging Crap in a few years, which I am sure he will love.
That's insane!!! I can't wait to hear how you liked the ride.
Another game. 
