Crowds? What crowds?! Mini TR

[PigletSeeker]

Just got back from a flying trip to DLR. We were there Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon. Crowds (with the exception of Cars Land) were sooo light. Here's what our trip looked like. Hopefully this will help others going soon in making realistic plans. I really think the changes at DCA made a HUGE difference. I've never seen a Sunday in summer like this!

Arrived at DL at 1:15 Sunday.
Walked through gates with no wait.
Walked on Pirates.
Walked on Haunted Mansion
Walked on Pooh.
Went up Tarzan's Treehouse (this was slightly backed up)
Waited 10 min for Jungle Cruise.
Met Sleeping Beauty and Snow White by the Grotto with no wait.
Waited 30 min for Peter Pan.
Waited 5 min for Snow White (first time on this- what a random, awful ride!)

The fam rode IASW while I went to do SR on Matterhorn. It was closed so I picked up 2 FP for Space Mtn and 3 for Star Tours (there are 5 of us, and only 3 of ride the "big" rides, so I use that to advantage for FPs) Return times were for around 5:00 (I think it was close to 4 at this point)

Met family again, rode Gadget (no wait), met Mickey at his house (10 min wait). Walked through Minnie's House- she had just left.

Matterhorn was up, so I did SR with about a 3 min wait. (bone crushing is the word) Family did Buzz (5-10 min wait). Then DH and DD rode SM and the rest of did Buzz again. Then I used Star Tours FP, no kids wanted to go (go figure!) and the fam went to ride Teacups.

Dinner at Village Haus with 5 min wait.
Then Storybook Land Canal, 10 min wait
Dumbo- 10 min wait
Mr. Toad- maybe a 5 min wait or less.

Decided to call it a night so we could make the 9:15 hotel shuttle since we planned to get to DCA early the next day. We could see fireworks from our room at Doubletree ($55/priceline).

MONDAY
Got to DCA gates at 7:55 and walked right in. The we saw the line-LOL. All the way back to the Animation Building. DH got in it while the rest of us got muffins at Starbucks with no wait. We took our time and met DH at 8:30, he had FP with 11:15 return time for RSR.
We walked through Carsland and it was crazy- RSR wasn't running most of the morning, so everything else was backed up.
We headed for Toy Story and had a 10 min wait.
Rode the Carousel, while DH walked on CS.
Walked on the Fun Wheel.
DH and DD Rode GSS with 5 min wait.
Walked on Zephyr.
5 min wait for Little Mermaid.
DD and I did Stand by for Soarin with 15-20 min wait.
Others rode Monsters Inc with short wait.
11:00 AM now and half of us did Animation Academy, half Turtle Talk
Walked though Animation Bldg.
Arrived at 11:45 for 11:55 Aladdin- got Mezzanine.
After sticker shock on Kid's Meals at Flo's, went to Taste Pilot for lunch- it was packed.
DDs and I used FP for RSR- which was closed again when we got there, but opened 5 min later. Line hadn't been moving due to closure so we had about a 30 min wait. It lived up to the hype- super fun!
DH and DS rode Mater JJ, but somehow my son (who's 3) hit his head hard on it (I wasn't there, so I'm not sure what happened) and was acting really weird (oh, did I mention it was also 95 degrees?) so DH rushed him to the First Aid and had him checked out. After an ice pack and some water, he seemed himself again, but DH was a bit shaken up, (and knowing we'll be back in a couple of months) so we called it a day at 3:15 as we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us.

I really felt like we got a lot in for such a short trip! 20 attractions in DL in 8 hours and 13 in DCA in 7 hrs!

 

[raftislander]

Wow, I would agree that you got a lot done especially with little ones in tow. Thanks for the report.

 

[kjs1976]

I agree....this was similar to our morning. RSR was finally up at 4:30 so we rushed back over and rode it after only waiting 5 min in FP Line.

 

[Pixiegrrl1701]

That sounds amazing what you did in a short time!! Glad you had fun!!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Wow, glad to hear you got so much accomplished! Nicely done!

 

[KalamityJane]

So it sounds like if you aren't that interested in Carsland, everything else is pretty vacant? Sweet!! I am kind of scared - we are going over Columbus Day weekend AND Gay Days...

 

[Domchi002]

WOW! You did so much!
Glad it worked out well for you, hope it does for me too!!
But I'll be there for the half marathon so while the weekend might be busy (but manageable) I'm hoping Tues and Wed will be a little better!

 

[Eeee-va]

Great report and you accomplished so much! I'm amazed at all you could do at DL when you arrived after 1 PM. On a Sunday, no less!

 

[BriannaRuth]

Wow, that's great. I was a little concerned that the crowd levels would seriously pick up this week with the APs being unblocked. Sounds like not much other than Carsland is bad at all. Yay! Thanks for posting.

 

[FlyingBelle]

We're flying in tomorrow to do a quick day on Saturday - a little nervous that it might be packed because it's the first Saturday for annual passes since the summer. But I'm hoping it won't be too bad - school started in our area last week.

As for 3 year old hitting head on Mater's JJ, that happened to us last month when we were there. Our little ones got slammed into the wall and their little noggins were low enough that they hit the wall. It wasn't bad though - but the next time we rode we made sure an adult sat on the inside or at least had a good grip around them to prevent them from sliding into the side.

We were never able to go on RSR - the first day there was a line for FP and we stupidly skipped it. The standby wait was 3 hours every time we went past. The following days we didn't get there early enough to get fast passes

 

[JoannaK]

Our 5 year old also hit her head on MJJ. On the first swing around she slid and hit her head on the side. The next time we made sure the anchor her.

 

[cpster]

Our 5 year old also hit her head on MJJ. On the first swing around she slid and hit her head on the side. The next time we made sure the anchor her.

I also noticed this danger when riding with my DD. I remember thinking they should have some padding against the sides for the little ones. So make sure you hold them tight!

 

[SplashMo]

The single rider line for RSR is great from 8-9AM. Likely longer...

 

[PigletSeeker]

Our 5 year old also hit her head on MJJ. On the first swing around she slid and hit her head on the side. The next time we made sure the anchor her.

Yeah, DH didn't know there would be sliding involved and he (over 200+) slid into my son causing him to hit his head. He thought it would be more like the teacups I guess. My son also gets banged around a little on TSMM, but I've learned to stick my had behind his head on the turns.

 

[FlyingBelle]

We're flying in tomorrow to do a quick day on Saturday - a little nervous that it might be packed because it's the first Saturday for annual passes since the summer. But I'm hoping it won't be too bad - school started in our area last week.


We were never able to go on RSR - the first day there was a line for FP and we stupidly skipped it. The standby wait was 3 hours every time we went past. The following days we didn't get there early enough to get fast passes

Just got back on Monday - crowds weren't bad at all on Saturday! RSR line varied from 90 minutes - 180 minutes. Didn't have single rider wait time posted. Got in that line -was about 30 minutes, then got parent swap pass so my sister could ride, fast pass line was about 20 minutes.

 

[Eddygirl]

Just got back on Monday - crowds weren't bad at all on Saturday! RSR line varied from 90 minutes - 180 minutes. Didn't have single rider wait time posted. Got in that line -was about 30 minutes, then got parent swap pass so my sister could ride, fast pass line was about 20 minutes.

Thanks for this! How were the rest of the parks?

 

[FlyingBelle]

Thanks for this! How were the rest of the parks?

Not too bad. TSMM had lines between 25-45 minutes, depending on the time of day. We got in line when it said 25 minutes and it was less than that. Everything else we did was 5-10 minute waits - but keep in mind we travel with little ones, so we don't do many of the E-ticket rides.

Certainly less crowded that the times were were there in May/June (even on the weekdays)