Do Not Die Today: Southern California, 2022 (COMPLETE 2/23)

I know. But if you had two jets, then you could trade them in for a one day ticket.
As always, you need to have money in order to make money.

And yet... given a choice, I'd go to MK over DL.
Nostalgia? (for me)
But POTC... better in DL
BTMRR... better in DL
Just two off the top of my head.
I would probably choose MK as well, but for the same reason. WDW is the resort I grew up with.

I think we feel like of the rides that MK and DL have in common, the DL version is almost always better. POTC, BTMRR, IASW, Space Mountain are all better in DL. HM is probably a wash.
 
Mark!!! I've been lurking periodically and even looked for a new report from you a couple weeks ago - didn't find it. I then found a thread you commented on and noticed a 'new to me' TR in your sig block! The following start made me a bit sad that I'd missed so much - but then so happy to be able to binge read most of the TR the past few days.
:welcome:Jen! Glad you found me. I thought I had put a link to this one on my last TR, but maybe I forgot that step. Anyway, I'm glad you're here.

I really love reading TR's that include what others do when they visit CA - your family has done many things my family has not done or heard of - and we live here!
:rotfl2:That seems to be a common response. I guess if you live there the traffic just slowly beats you down until you just don't want to fight it anymore.

This ALMOST makes me want to go see a game at Dodger stadium.....ALMOST. It is not worth the traffic nightmare for me.
If you like baseball at all, I think it's worth going at least once. We really enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. Despite the traffic, I would go back . It's a neat setting.

This is something we did not know about and is now on my must do somewhere list....I've always wanted to try and kick a field goal (well since I actually started watching football after meeting my hubs). I may have to search out other stadiums that may offer this - just to avoid driving to SOFI.
This is the first stadium tour I've ever done that actually allowed us on the playing surface. I was kind of shocked (in a good way). Every other stadium has snipers on standby if you so much as disturb a blade of grass.

We really need to make time to visit here - I think we would enjoy the grounds and views quite a bit.
That was a beautiful garden and museum, even if, like me, you're not an art scholar.

I was researching this within the past year and was a bit turned off by the boat ride and I think something I read something :eek: about getting off/on the boat at the island (I don't quite remember). After reading about your experience, this has moved down my list of things I want to do. For sure only if the seas are confirmed calm.
Getting on and off the boat was no issue. It was just the rough seas. Beautiful islands, tough trip to get there.

I've visited here a couple times - many many many years ago-for night time events. I'd like to go back during the day and really check out everything. My hubs has never been.
It didn't take a lot of time to visit. You could see it in an hour or two. It took longer to hike to/from the parking lot!

Yes....and I'm old and get off my lawn! Cool concept - but tired of seeing these and the scooters just left in random spots on sidewalks, making the area look trashy.
You can always count on people to mess up a good thing.

This is how we feel every time we go to LAX.
What a zoo. That was one of the worst I've ever been to in terms of drop-off/pickup.

This is so awesome! So happy you and your family got to experience this as well as Club 33. It is an amazing experience for any Disney fan. I really enjoyed reading about your day.
That was such a great day! We were grateful for the experience.

It is the favorite ride in our household. We were able to ride it twice within an hour yesterday. The first slingshot up gets me each time, but it is all really enjoyable and the bouncing is fun. I think it feels completely different than TOT.
Interesting. I just hate drops and ToT so much, I couldn't bring myself to try it. Everyone else had a blast though.

I think Random Dude did his part too - without his score, it wouldn't have happened.
This is true. Every little bit matters when you're going for the record. There's no I in team.

But there is a "me" if you look hard enough.

This is truth! I love this ride, except for the loop because of how my head feels. For me, making sure my head is firm against the headrest and closing my eyes before/through the loop makes the difference now. I just feel a bit of pressure for that bit and then I'm good.
The loop on RnRC in Florida didn't bother me in the least, but somehow this one hurts my head. I don't know how to explain the difference.

I have the opposite experience. Growing up here, it was natural to see the icons of the park (at the time of my youth, just the Matterhorn and Space Mountain) as you drove by - getting extra excited if we were going there for the day. Going to WDW was a whole new experience and we love it for the different experience that it provides.
They are definitely different experiences, and I'm very glad that 1) they both exist, and 2) they're different from each other. I feel like each Disney park really should have its own separate identity.

I picture Chevy Chase tipping scene in Vegas vacation. :D
(I've never seen Vegas Vacation) :duck:
This is something hubs and I talk about every time we visit (we are a couple with no kids). We can't imagine how hard it is for a family to visit and enjoy the parks. It is cost prohibitive for so many.

A suggestion if you do decide to spring for Genie+, pick one day when you are park hopping and have a couple people try to book in smaller groups and you might get time slots close enough together to ride together. Strategize beforehand the order you want to use the reservations. We personally do not feel it is worth it if only visiting one park.

We have not been successful purchasing individual LL and quite frankly, I'm glad - after riding without the LL, I would have been irritated spending more $$ for any of those rides.
That sounds like a good strategy. I just can't in good conscience keep paying an extra $100/day just so my family can get on rides after already paying exorbitant prices just to be able to enter the parks. It really feels like double jeopardy.

Everyone's mileage may vary - but in our experience, avoid Rise and Cars first thing in the morning. Those rides have always been down the mornings we do rope drop and all we would have done is waste precious time walking there, then to another ride.
Yeah, it does seem like those have more maintenance issues. We also learned that those are the two rides everyone heads for first thing in the morning as well.

I think you meant "THE 5". :rotfl2::duck:

I've enjoyed reading the TR so far and am happy to be subbed now to keep up on the rest. Thanks for sharing.

I hope Dave is enjoying his first year of college.
You can bring the east coaster to the west coast...

Dave's doing well! He comes home once in a while for a rest and recharge (and to use our washer/dryer), so we're always happy to have him. But I think he's handling the adjustment just fine.
 
Well... I guess it's a good thing you hammered out the headliners already. :headache:
It's hard to complain too much since we were gifted the magical day before that, but...yeah, we were really glad we'd done most of the rides we really wanted to.

Tell me about it. :faint:
You can just hear the cash register ringing.

This is actually a fantastic assessment of it. I mean, when you're paying adult prices for a 10 year old, and then have this on top. It really isn't a family friendly destination from a budget standpoint at all. We did budget in Genie+ and bought it (thank God we were there the week BEFORE it went up to $35 because I didn't budget for that) but it really increases the cost exponentially. We basically sacrificed food/snack budget for more rides is kind of how we looked at it. We did a few ADRs, but shared a lot of meals and didn't get many snacks at all. I think one of the biggest things that irks me is the fact that you can't even lock things in ahead of time. Not only would it be easier to budget if they'd allow you to order and pre-pay Genie+ as part of your package like they originally did, but they add that extra dagger by basically not even letting you know how much it will cost until the morning you go to buy it. Thankfully our week at WDW was $4 less than I had expected and budgeted for but I would have really preferred to have had it taken care of before we went rather than feel like my credit card might melt from the daily overuse that it was experiencing on our trip.
You saved 4 dollars? Wow, don't tell Disney about that.

More and more I feel like Disney is pricing out families and the middle class and just becoming a playground for the rich. And yet, people are still flocking there. I guess they haven't found the price people won't pay yet. They found mine.

And this is why we spent $133 for 5 people to ride with LL. :faint:

And I mean... $700/6 rides is, what, $140 per ride? Yes it is a cash grab and it is massively expensive. But they've engineered it so that there is some justifiable value. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
I don't see the value at all, honestly. In my mind, if I pay $700 for admission, I should be able to get on rides, not have to pay again just to be able to get on them. Disney atmosphere is great, but it's not worth $700 for one day.

You said it... :lmao::rotfl::rotfl2:
:headache:
::yes:: Very true. I've never seen standby waits posted as long as I saw last month. Ever.
It was so disheartening to realize that I wasn't going to beat one ride an hour. Ugh.

You can't trust the posted times at all. They use it to manipulate the crowd flow so much now. I really like the touringplans lines app for a better estimate of expected waits.
Yeah, it's become kind of shameless now. I didn't spring for Touring Plans on this go-round, so the only way to know was to be present and be able to gauge the ride queue by sight. Which you can't do if you want to ride something on the other side of the park.

That is actually a great summary of the experience!
We've been saying this a lot with movies now. "It's definitely one of the movies I've ever seen."

I knew you should have made him take you on them!
I remain flabbergasted to this day that someone had 8 precious hours on a VIP tour and decided they wanted to use some of that time on the canoes.

Yeah... it really doesn't work out so great. But they'd contend you did as much or more than the average person so you should be happy!

Sidenote, we have a family friend who took their kids and grandkids to the Orlando area last fall. They came back saying they'll never go back to WDW. They only did 1 day in MK but they were complaining that they spent so much money and only managed to ride 3 rides. Granted, I'm guessing they didn't know what they were getting into and probably didn't do much if any pre-planning, but this is the impression Disney leaves on new visitors now. Those who aren't Disney veterans/loyalists go to central Florida only to return home complaining about Disney World and singing the praises of Kennedy Space Center and Gatorland. :rotfl2:
I have a feeling that there is going to be some backlash to all the price-gouging going on. I can't imagine families are getting on very many rides per day now. And some of them might lose out on the draw and not even get to ride Guardians or Tron. So why spend all that money to go and not even get to ride the cool new rides? That would turn me off for sure. So I'm kind of expecting some negative vibes at some point, if not already.

I'm not at the point of heading to Gatorland, though. :rotfl:

But I also don't think my doing more rides than the "average" person gives me enough value for my dollar. I'd contend that the average is way to low, you should be able to accomplish much more in a day, and they need to seriously re-evaluate their capacity for handling crowds/attractions. I doubt they want to listen to me, though, so I'll just go other places for my vacation.

Seriously though. How can one team have 2 of (if not THE 2) the best and most entertaining players in the game and be so absolutely terrible? Did you get to see Ohtani pitch?
Those jokes were hilarious after the World Baseball Classic. "Can you imagine if these two were on the same team!" :rotfl2:

Sadly, we didn't get to see Ohtani pitch. I couldn't make the dates line up--I know my boys were really hoping we could do that. But I saw him and Trout in person a couple of times, so that was cool. Trout made an awesome catch at the wall in the Dodgers game.
 


You saved 4 dollars? Wow, don't tell Disney about that.
Ok... per person, per day. So $100. Definitely don't want them to know that.
More and more I feel like Disney is pricing out families and the middle class and just becoming a playground for the rich. And yet, people are still flocking there. I guess they haven't found the price people won't pay yet. They found mine.
This. Like I said, we went and we budgeted for the Genie+ and LL just to make sure we could do what we wanted with a little less stress and waiting. But if we go again, it will absolutely not be as frequently as we have in the past. Usually we get home and start to plan a trip for a year or 2 away. Going back anytime soon isn't even on our radar right now.
But I also don't think my doing more rides than the "average" person gives me enough value for my dollar. I'd contend that the average is way to low, you should be able to accomplish much more in a day, and they need to seriously re-evaluate their capacity for handling crowds/attractions. I doubt they want to listen to me, though, so I'll just go other places for my vacation.
I agree, 100%. I've just heard that argument that when people complain about Genie+ they tell them the average guest gets 2-3 attractions per day so if you got more than that you should be happy. Which to me is total bull poop. And let me tell you, when I paid for Genie+, I got way more than 2-3 per day. I wasn't going to let them win. :rotfl:
 
Ok... per person, per day. So $100. Definitely don't want them to know that.
Holy cow. I'd delete that comment before you get Disney goons knocking on your door to shake you down.

But seriously, nice work!
This. Like I said, we went and we budgeted for the Genie+ and LL just to make sure we could do what we wanted with a little less stress and waiting. But if we go again, it will absolutely not be as frequently as we have in the past. Usually we get home and start to plan a trip for a year or 2 away. Going back anytime soon isn't even on our radar right now.
I would like to go back with Andrew one more time now that he's tall enough to ride everything. And he's still a kid so Disney World is a special place for him. But I can also say that we were originally planning to go as a family this summer, and after all of the price changes we decided to pivot and go somewhere else. So they literally lost my business.

I'll always love Disney World, and I'll go back. I might go when my kids can pay their own way though!

I'm actually planning to go for a night with my wife this summer for our 25th anniversary. She has no idea. But it's just going to be a hotel/restaurant quick trip. No parks, no Genie+, etc.

I agree, 100%. I've just heard that argument that when people complain about Genie+ they tell them the average guest gets 2-3 attractions per day so if you got more than that you should be happy. Which to me is total bull poop. And let me tell you, when I paid for Genie+, I got way more than 2-3 per day. I wasn't going to let them win. :rotfl:
Attaboy. I knew you could beat the system. If they tell you the average is 2-3 rides/day, they're trying to set or lower the expectations for you. Sorry, fellas. You're Disney World. I'm coming in with higher expectations than that. You don't get to lower your own standards.

I did have one more trick up my sleeve when it came to our final day in the parks. That'll come in the next chapter.
 
I guess if you live there the traffic just slowly beats you down until you just don't want to fight it anymore.
Yep - my day to day life consists of a 10 mile side street radius.

If you like baseball at all, I think it's worth going at least once. We really enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. Despite the traffic, I would go back . It's a neat setting.
Ok - I'll add it to my list to check out - perhaps a day game on the weekend - maybe loop in the Getty and/or the Observatory (not sure how close they are) to get the most bang for the drive.

That was a beautiful garden and museum, even if, like me, you're not an art scholar.
Also not an art scholar. I do appreciate a nice garden.

Dave's doing well! He comes home once in a while for a rest and recharge (and to use our washer/dryer), so we're always happy to have him. But I think he's handling the adjustment just fine.
Glad to hear it's going well.

I might go when my kids can pay their own way though!
:rotfl2:This just made me laugh. Look forward to the day when they'll pay for you!
 


Chapter 11: The Re-Match

So our first attempt at touring a Disney park without using Genie+ didn’t go so well. But we are one of the following: a) intelligent enough to learn from our mistakes, b) resilient in the face of adversity, c) stubborn and too cheap to pay the freight, or d) all of the above. So on Tuesday we were back again for our last day in the parks. This time around, we were armed with both our foreknowledge of how Monday had gone and park-hopper passes, courtesy of Bob, which would basically double the number of rides/attractions available to us.

Another advantage: Julie had done some scouting work the previous evening while we were at the Angels game. She had managed to ride both the Millenium Falcon and the Matterhorn using the single-rider lines and then got on Rise of the Resistance late in the evening with only about a 40-45 minute wait. Armed with that knowledge, a new strategy was born: we would try and rope-drop a major attraction, then spend the middle of the day focusing on either smaller rides or rides offering single-rider lines, and then hopefully get a couple of major attractions done in the evening when the crowds were smaller.

The biggest issue with this plan was whether Drew would agree to try the single-rider lines. It was certainly possible that he wouldn’t feel comfortable riding next to strangers.

So we did what all good parents would do and kept the plan a secret from him until the last possible moment later that day, when we could spring it as a surprise.

Now we just needed a good day with no crowds.

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Ugh.

We decided upon entering DCA to try and rope-drop Radiator Springs Racers. This proved to be a terrible idea, because all of the crowds at the entrance also decided to rope-drop Radiator Springs Racers.

We stuck with it, though, because we are idiots. It took about an hour to get on the ride. About the only saving grace was that we had the opportunity to fill up on Butte Gas.

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We did have fun on the ride once we were actually able to get on it.

Enough of this “waiting in lines” crap. I’d had enough of that the day before. We looked up the list of single-rider offerings. The closest opportunity was Web Slingers. Works for us!

Next came the hard part: convincing Drew that the single-rider line was going to be a good thing for all of us. We knelt down so we could speak with him at eye-level, just like all the expert parenting books we never read tell you to do when having tough conversations with a child. And we said, “if we go in this line, you might have to ride with a stranger. But we won’t have to wait as long and we’ll be able to go on more rides.”

And Drew said, “Okay.”

I wish all conversations were that easy.

As luck would have it, they ended up putting Scotty and me in the same car, and this time Scott was having no part of being beaten in a video game by his old man. He destroyed everyone in the vehicle.

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Next, the big boys and I wanted to ride the Incredicoaster again. Drew wanted no part of it, so Julie took him on Toy Story while we headed to the roller coaster. Single rider worked like a charm here. We were on within 15 minutes.

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I got to ride in the very front car this time around. That was a blast, if a little intense.

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When we were finished, Julie and Drew hadn’t returned so the boys decided to go for another spin. I chose to catch my breath. Julie and Drew caught up with me while I was waiting for their second ride. This time, Dave and Scott got put on different trains. I managed to catch Dave going on the launch and giving us a nice pose (see if you can spot him).

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We were already on a much better pace than the previous day, so that made me feel like we could treat ourselves for lunch by having dessert first. We couldn’t pass up on a Nom-Nom cookie.

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Of course, even being super-sized, that one cookie wasn’t going to be enough for all of us, so we went to Avengers Campus to get some more super-sized food at the Pym Test Kitchen. When I’d first looked at the menu I had thought the theme was fun and I was curious about the giant fried chicken sandwich they had there.

So, on the plus side, the theme is fun. I loved how they set up the drink and condiment stations inside the restaurant.

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And on the downside, there wasn’t nearly enough seating for the number of people getting lunch. We wandered futilely for a few minutes before completely giving up. We ended up taking our trays across the walkway and sitting on the ground in the shade of the Avengers building.

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The food was…ok. Nothing really jumped out at us as being special. We definitely felt that for $16 they could afford to give us more than a tiny handful of tater tots.

We had to hurry and finish because a character greeting was starting soon and the CM’s started shooing us away from the building. Sorry, maybe next time put in some more chairs and tables for your guests.

With lunch finished, Andrew decided he wanted to do Radiator Springs Racers again. He had no problem going single-rider, so this time we were in and out within 20 minutes. Unfortunately, I got Wazowski-d on the ride photo, so I'm not bothering to post that one.

So, by mid-day we’d had two rides on RSR, one on Webslingers, and two on the Incredicoaster. Basically what we learned was that if you don’t do Genie+, then the single-rider lines are the only cheat code left available to you. So it’s a good idea to make use of them.

We stopped for a photo on the way out of DCA.

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We hopped over to Disneyland and tried the same strategy. Splash Mountain offered a single-rider line, so we walked over that way. SM isn’t my favorite ride, so I chose to rest on a bench while the others went for it. This one was a much more slow-loading ride, so even with the single-rider, I’d say it was at least a half-hour wait for them. So I got a nice nap and just enjoyed the surroundings.

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That was Drew’s first Splash Mountain experience, and it turned out that he loved it. So that was a win.

We walked into Galaxy’s Edge and did a little souvenir shopping. We also re-filled our water bottles at this station, where I loved the little detail that was waiting for us in the tank.

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Every so often this guy would pop up and have a look around.

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Mmm…refreshing.

We did single-rider again on Millenium Falcon and got on within 10 minutes. I think our pilots crashed the ship over and over again, but who cares? I didn’t have to wait in line.

We were texting with Alison and she managed to find some time in the afternoon to come over and join us for a bit, so she met us outside the Falcon.

Julie decided to get some green milk, which looks suspiciously like the Star Wars version of Gatorade, which looks like the color of—well, never mind.

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Alison had some magic fastpasses of her own to use, possibly from her annual pass? I forget now. But she got us into the FP line for Hyperspace Mountain, which was great until the ride went down. Luckily, it wasn’t too much of a delay. We had learned from our tour guide, Jeff, a few days earlier about the loading system for this coaster. It’s designed to unload and re-load a vehicle every 40 seconds or so, so there’s a reason why the CM’s are aggressively trying to get you out of your car when you get back to the loading area. When they get close, an alarm starts to sound letting them know that they have to send the car soon. If they don’t get it loaded in time, they have to send an empty car in order to keep the timing going. It all sounded like one of the more stressful minimum-wage positions you can have.

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Anyway, eventually we were able to climb aboard for another spin doing battle with TIE fighters and having John Williams’ music blasting in our ears (have I mentioned how great the Star Wars overlay is on this?). I’m going to go ahead and call it now. On this particular run, we as a group managed to take one of the greatest ride photos of all time.

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After that one, we didn’t see any good wait times available at the moment. Alison had a few more FP’s to use, so the kids decided they wanted to go get on Mission: Breakout. So we hoofed it back over to DCA.

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I still had no desire to lose my mediocre lunch or induce motion sickness, so I went souvenir shopping while the others save the galaxy with Rocket again.

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Alison had to get back home at that point, so we bade her a fond adieu and went back to DL (I should have tracked our step counters on this day). We checked the wait at Rise of the Resistance but incredibly, the ride was down, so we decided we could all use some dinner instead. The closest spot was the Hungry Bear restaurant, which I knew wouldn’t be anything special. But when you’re tired, hot and hungry, sometimes any available cheeseburger and fries just really hits the spot, and this one did. There’s nothing special about it at all, but it tasted really good in the moment.

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After eating, we wandered along the walkway next to the Rivers of America. There was a canoe just setting off from the dock with a load of fresh tourists aboard, and we heard the guide call out, "Ok, who's ready for the most exciting attraction in the park?"

An enthusiastic cheer went up from the crowd.

"Well, you shoulda gotten in a different line. This here's the canoe," he said. "Now you gotta do some work."

Despite that appealing message, we went for one last wild ride in the wilderness.

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Rise of the Resistance had opened back up, and it was getting on early evening, so we thought: why not see if our strategy works? The posted time was over an hour, if I recall. But when we got eyes on the queue, it wasn’t nearly as long as it had been at other times. So we gave it a shot.

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The gamble worked. A 40-minute wait.

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Perhaps even more surprising, I found an Imperial walkway that actually had safety handrails built in, instead of a random bottomless pit for careless employees to fall into.

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Awesome ride.

We were on a roll with our newfound anti-Genie+ strategy, so we went for another single-rider line on the Matterhorn. Again, it took about 15 minutes to ride.

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The sun was setting and the lights were just coming on, which is always a magical time in the parks. On our last visit in 2014, the kids had a terrible view of World of Color (ok, to be honest, everyone had a terrible view of it), so Dave mentioned wanting to give it another shot. We walked back to DCA. Along the way:

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By the time we got to the World of Color viewing area, it was already mobbed. We hadn’t secured any spots ahead of time, and there was frankly nowhere to go. There are huge swaths of walking path available, but the CM’s are aggressive about keeping them clear, even if there is a decent view. So there’s just no place to go unless you have a spot reserved well ahead of time.

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So, plan B: let’s get on another ride while everyone is watching the nighttime show.

We took another spin on Radiator Springs Racers.

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I believe the park was supposed to close at 10 p.m. We were all tired, but you know what? This was our last night in the parks. We were going to get our money’s worth! You can sleep when you’re dead!

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We asked the kids what they wanted for their last ride. They chose Mission: Breakout. Sigh. So be it.

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I waited again while they bounced all over the galaxy. And then we started our sad walk out of the park for the final time.

It was 9:55 p.m.

As we passed Web Slingers, we noticed that the line wasn’t terrible. And if you’re in line when the park closes, they still let you ride…

Aw, what the heck. Sleep can wait a little longer. This will be the last ride instead.

Scott destroyed me again, but who cares? We were getting a bonus ride after park closing.

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So, let me explain.

No, there is too much. Let me sum up: it is possible to have a full day with lots of headliners and not pay a fortune for Genie+. It involves Rope Drop, liberal use of the single-rider lines, and a willingness to burn the candle at both ends so you can get shorter lines at night as well. It also helps to have a park hopper, so you have more choices. But it works!

It was nice to end our park time on a high note.

Coming Up Next: Disney Departure Procrastination, and quick trip to an African safari.
 
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we are one of the following: a) intelligent enough to learn from our mistakes,
Nope. That's not it.
b) resilient in the face of adversity,
Hmmm... gonna have to go with "nope" on that one too.
c) stubborn and too cheap to pay the freight,
I'd say at least 50% of this statement is correct
or d) all of the above.
I don't think so.
which would basically double the number of rides/attractions available to us.
Potentially doubling your number of hours waiting in line...

(Glad that didn't happen)
So we did what all good parents would do and kept the plan a secret from him until the last possible moment later that day, when we could spring it as a surprise.
:laughing:
Parenting 101.
Now we just needed a good day with no crowds.

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Hardly anyone there. I can't see a single person through the crowd.
We stuck with it, though, because we are idiots.
Finally! An accurate assessment!


:rolleyes:
About the only saving grace was that we had the opportunity to fill up on Butte Gas.
Butte why?
just like all the expert parenting books we never read tell you to do when having tough conversations with a child.
:laughing:
And Drew said, “Okay.”
:eek:

Well... that was easy.
Scott was having no part of being beaten in a video game by his old man. He destroyed everyone in the vehicle.
Whoa. Does he know some secret???
I managed to catch Dave going on the launch and giving us a nice pose (see if you can spot him).
:laughing: If you squint, you can just make him out.
We couldn’t pass up on a Nom-Nom cookie.

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:rotfl:
I loved how they set up the drink and condiment stations inside the restaurant.
I really like that. I kept staring at the ceiling in the photo.
We definitely felt that for $16 they could afford to give us more than a tiny handful of tater tots.
Those meals look... more like worth $1.60, not $16
We had to hurry and finish because a character greeting was starting soon and the CM’s started shooing us away from the building. Sorry, maybe next time put in some more chairs and tables for your guests.
:sad2:
That was Drew’s first Splash Mountain experience, and it turned out that he loved it. So that was a win.
Really! I'm surprised since he didn't like the coaster.
Every so often this guy would pop up and have a look around.
:) I like that. Cool little touch.
We were texting with Alison and she managed to find some time in the afternoon to come over and join us for a bit, so she met us outside the Falcon.
Nice! Glad you guys got to meet up again. :)
Julie decided to get some green milk, which looks suspiciously like the Star Wars version of Gatorade, which looks like the color of—well, never mind.
Like the colour of what, Mark? What?????
It’s designed to unload and re-load a vehicle every 40 seconds or so, so there’s a reason why the CM’s are aggressively trying to get you out of your car when you get back to the loading area. When they get close, an alarm starts to sound letting them know that they have to send the car soon. If they don’t get it loaded in time, they have to send an empty car in order to keep the timing going. It all sounded like one of the more stressful minimum-wage positions you can have.
Huh. Sounds just a might bit too stressful for me to want that job. I'll pass, thanks.
Anyway, eventually we were able to climb aboard for another spin doing battle with TIE fighters and having John Williams’ music blasting in our ears (have I mentioned how great the Star Wars overlay is on this?).
I've never done the overlay, but would sure like to.
On this particular run, we as a group managed to take one of the greatest ride photos of all time.

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:laughing: Epic!!
We checked the wait at Rise of the Resistance but incredibly, the ride was down,
What? How is that possible? That ride practically never goes down!
Hardly ever.

Very rarely.

Next to impossible.
The gamble worked. A 40-minute wait.
For that ride? Not bad at all!
Perhaps even more surprising, I found an Imperial walkway that actually had safety handrails built in, instead of a random bottomless pit for careless employees to fall into.
:lmao:
believe the park was supposed to close at 10 p.m. We were all tired, but you know what? This was our last night in the parks. We were going to get our money’s worth! You can sleep when you’re dead!
::yes::
We asked the kids what they wanted for their last ride. They chose Mission: Breakout. Sigh. So be it.
:laughing: Sorry, dude! Next time don't ask. "We're paying for this little shindig, so this is the ride we're going on."

Wait... nevermind. These are the same people who will one day determine what home you are going to.
As we passed Web Slingers, we noticed that the line wasn’t terrible. And if you’re in line when the park closes, they still let you ride…
::yes::
 
Nope. That's not it.

Hmmm... gonna have to go with "nope" on that one too.

I'd say at least 50% of this statement is correct

I don't think so.
So...C? That's the final answer? Because we're out of options otherwise.

Potentially doubling your number of hours waiting in line...

(Glad that didn't happen)
Yeah, that was a danger. I guess I was optimistic that there couldn't be a long line for everything. Maybe that was a bit naive.

:laughing:
Parenting 101.
The dirty secret of parenting: nobody knows what they're doing.

Hardly anyone there. I can't see a single person through the crowd.
Oh, it's in there. Trust me.

Finally! An accurate assessment!


:rolleyes:
Ah, we're going with option 5 out of 4.

Butte why?
Pull my finger and find out.

:eek:

Well... that was easy.
Yeah...didn't see that one coming. But we didn't question it, either.

Whoa. Does he know some secret???
No, he's just been training for hours every week on Xbox.

:laughing: If you squint, you can just make him out.
He got me laughing pretty good.

I really like that. I kept staring at the ceiling in the photo.
It was a fun idea. Too bad the food didn't follow through.

Those meals look... more like worth $1.60, not $16
Definitely a bit disappointing.

Really! I'm surprised since he didn't like the coaster.
Yeah, I can't figure this kid out. But again, we didn't question it.

:) I like that. Cool little touch.
This is the Disney I love. All that work and innovation just for a little gag to immerse you in the theme.

Nice! Glad you guys got to meet up again. :)
Me too! Always great to spend time with @franandaj .

Like the colour of what, Mark? What?????
Perhaps a certain bodily fluid...

Huh. Sounds just a might bit too stressful for me to want that job. I'll pass, thanks.
Yeah, I was surprised at the system. I can't imagine having to do that for hours.

I've never done the overlay, but would sure like to.
It's so cool. Worth trying to see, for sure.

The best part is that all of this was spontaneous!

What? How is that possible? That ride practically never goes down!
Hardly ever.

Very rarely.

Next to impossible.
At the rate things normally go, I'm just glad we got to ride it at all!

For that ride? Not bad at all!
::yes::

:laughing: Sorry, dude! Next time don't ask. "We're paying for this little shindig, so this is the ride we're going on."

Wait... nevermind. These are the same people who will one day determine what home you are going to.
I pull the "this family is a dictatorship, not a democracy" card whenever I can. But now the kids are bigger than me.
 
I forgot one anecdote, so I'm going to go back and edit the chapter to add it in. But in case you missed it on an earlier read, here it is:

After eating dinner, we wandered along the walkway next to the Rivers of America. There was a canoe just setting off from the dock with a load of fresh tourists aboard, and we heard the guide call out, "Ok, who's ready for the most exciting attraction in the park?"

An enthusiastic cheer went up from the crowd.

"Well, you shoulda gotten in a different line. This here's the canoe," he said. "Now you gotta do some work."
 
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So...C? That's the final answer? Because we're out of options otherwise.
No. Q.
The dirty secret of parenting: nobody knows what they're doing.
::yes::
Pull my finger and find out.
No thank you. I know how that turns out.
No, he's just been training for hours every week on Xbox.
Ohhhhhhh...
It was a fun idea. Too bad the food didn't follow through.
Shame. Really liked the look of the place.
This is the Disney I love. All that work and innovation just for a little gag to immerse you in the theme.
::yes::
Perhaps a certain bodily fluid...
Saliva? So... clear?
I pull the "this family is a dictatorship, not a democracy" card whenever I can. But now the kids are bigger than me.
Oh, it's a dictatorship. She just hasn't let you figure that out yet.
After eating dinner, we wandered along the walkway next to the Rivers of America. There was a canoe just setting off from the dock with a load of fresh tourists aboard, and we heard the guide call out, "Ok, who's ready for the most exciting attraction in the park?"

An enthusiastic cheer went up from the crowd.

"Well, you shoulda gotten in a different line. There here's the canoe," he said. "Now you gotta do some work."
:laughing:
 
This seemed like a great day. We just recently got back from WDW. DH and I did buy Genie + but our kids went with the band and so they did not. Our first night DH and I got on Smuggler's Run (well her rode and I used the chicken out line) using the single rider line. It was a walk on that way so that was the suggestion we gave our kids to use with their friends. It was the only way they were going to get on rides in the crowded mess of the week spring break (the week after Easter). It worked great for them too.
 
Ohhh, he's awesome in the James Bond movies.

No thank you. I know how that turns out.
I can't fool my kids with that one anymore, either.

Shame. Really liked the look of the place.
Yeah, it was a neat idea.

Saliva? So... clear?
Urine the ballpark.

Oh, it's a dictatorship. She just hasn't let you figure that out yet.
Oh, trust me. I figured that one out.

This seemed like a great day. We just recently got back from WDW. DH and I did buy Genie + but our kids went with the band and so they did not. Our first night DH and I got on Smuggler's Run (well her rode and I used the chicken out line) using the single rider line. It was a walk on that way so that was the suggestion we gave our kids to use with their friends. It was the only way they were going to get on rides in the crowded mess of the week spring break (the week after Easter). It worked great for them too.
Sounds like you had the same experience. I don't know any other tricks at this point other than the single-rider line. They've almost forced everyone into Genie+ or long waits otherwise.
 
So our first attempt at touring a Disney park without using Genie+ didn’t go so well. But we are one of the following: a) intelligent enough to learn from our mistakes, b) resilient in the face of adversity, c) stubborn and too cheap to pay the freight, or d) all of the above.
D, of course!
Now we just needed a good day with no crowds.
Well, you're in Disneyland, so at least you got that good day part down. 1 out of 2 ain't bad.
Next came the hard part: convincing Drew that the single-rider line was going to be a good thing for all of us. We knelt down so we could speak with him at eye-level, just like all the expert parenting books we never read tell you to do when having tough conversations with a child. And we said, “if we go in this line, you might have to ride with a stranger. But we won’t have to wait as long and we’ll be able to go on more rides.”

And Drew said, “Okay.”

I wish all conversations were that easy.
:lmao:I'm glad it worked out. It usually seems to be like that. The things you tiptoe around and worry about resulting in a meltdown go over just fine. But something completely innocuous results in a full blown Chernobyl type scorched earth meltdown.
That shirt is fantastic!
We were already on a much better pace than the previous day
::yes::
We ended up taking our trays across the walkway and sitting on the ground in the shade of the Avengers building.
Well at least there was a place to sit in some shade.
We definitely felt that for $16 they could afford to give us more than a tiny handful of tater tots.
::yes:: That's pretty skimpy.
We had to hurry and finish because a character greeting was starting soon and the CM’s started shooing us away from the building. Sorry, maybe next time put in some more chairs and tables for your guests.
That's just really crappy. I get that they have to have a spot for a character greeting, but if they have to have that precise spot, just block it off so that people know it is off limits.

And yeah, buy some dang chairs!
Alison had to get back home at that point, so we bade her a fond adieu and went back to DL (I should have tracked our step counters on this day).
A lot of steps, but I love how the parks are so close and you can just hop back and forth!
The gamble worked. A 40-minute wait.
Well played! That is one of the rides that I would most definitely wait 40 minutes for!
So, plan B: let’s get on another ride while everyone is watching the nighttime show.

We took another spin on Radiator Springs Racers.
Sorry WOC didn't work out, but this was definitely a great plan B.
I believe the park was supposed to close at 10 p.m. We were all tired, but you know what? This was our last night in the parks. We were going to get our money’s worth! You can sleep when you’re dead!
::yes::
It was 9:55 p.m.

As we passed Web Slingers, we noticed that the line wasn’t terrible. And if you’re in line when the park closes, they still let you ride…

Aw, what the heck. Sleep can wait a little longer. This will be the last ride instead.
That's fantastic!!! I'm glad that you were able to sneak in a few late rides on some headliners... even though somebody wasn't up for riding one of them. :rolleyes1
 
D, of course!
I think we have a winner!

Well, you're in Disneyland, so at least you got that good day part down. 1 out of 2 ain't bad.
Yeah, we could never really complain about the weather.

:lmao:I'm glad it worked out. It usually seems to be like that. The things you tiptoe around and worry about resulting in a meltdown go over just fine. But something completely innocuous results in a full blown Chernobyl type scorched earth meltdown.
I think he was probably tired of waiting in lines just like the rest of us, so he thought anything that resulted in a shorter wait was a good thing! Smart kid.

That shirt is fantastic!
Hey, thanks! I was wondering if anyone would notice that. It's truth in advertising.

Well at least there was a place to sit in some shade.
Yep, a nice cooler piece of concrete.

That's just really crappy. I get that they have to have a spot for a character greeting, but if they have to have that precise spot, just block it off so that people know it is off limits.

And yeah, buy some dang chairs!
It was very annoying. They really underestimated the seating capacity there by quite a bit.

A lot of steps, but I love how the parks are so close and you can just hop back and forth!
The park hopper make so much sense there. It really is great and convenient.

Well played! That is one of the rides that I would most definitely wait 40 minutes for!
Yeah, 40 minutes seems on the shorter side for that one.

Sorry WOC didn't work out, but this was definitely a great plan B.
I agree. Truth be told, I was less than impressed when we saw WOC anyway.

That's fantastic!!! I'm glad that you were able to sneak in a few late rides on some headliners... even though somebody wasn't up for riding one of them. :rolleyes1
I don't regret any of our decisions for that evening. :rolleyes1
 
Chapter 12: In the Wilds of Escondido

Do you smash your alarm clock? Procrastinate getting out of bed, preferring to look at wait times online, even though you don’t have a park ticket? Do you avoid packing your suitcase, preferring to linger by the hotel breakfast and then tell your family you’re “going for a walk”?

If so, you may be among the thousands of people who suffer from Disney Departure Procrastination, or DDP. Fortunately, there is help available.

That’s right, we’re here to enable you by showing you exactly how we procrastinated our own departure.

First, we woke up with no alarm clock, a very underrated sensation. We got dressed and made our way downstairs to the breakfast area in the lobby, taking our sweet time eating there. I have to admit, it was nice not to rush to try and beat everyone else to the park gates. But then that made me sad, because we weren’t going to the park gates.

Then we thought: do we have to leave right now? We have time, don’t we?

The answer was: yes, yes we did. We decided we could all use an after-breakfast snack. So we packed up the van and checked out of the hotel and then bet that they wouldn’t kick us out of the parking lot quite yet. We took a stroll once more through the streets of Anaheim and found ourselves at Downtown Disney. They had some nice Encanto-inspired decorations waiting for us.

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We walked the entire length of the shopping center, because what else were we going to do, leave? We stopped in the Lego Store because that’s always a good way to distract ourselves. Then we made our way back to the Jazzy Kitchen Express, which offers the extremely reliable post-breakfast (or continued breakfast) snack of beignets, which I’m pretty sure are very good for you.

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Our breakfast photo wasn’t nearly as fun as the last time we’d been here, when the boys were just eating pure sugar.

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We poked our heads into the Grand Californian next, because what else were we going to do, leave?

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With that, we ran out of ideas (and money to spend in the gift shops). But hey, we managed to stay on Disney property until at least mid-morning. That’s not terrible, right?

Dave had bought himself a pair of Disney grad ears to celebrate his achievement, so we couldn’t resist getting a cheesy photo of him that he immediately hated and forbade me from showing it in public.

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And then we finally left Anaheim behind.

From there it was about an hour and a half, taking I-5 the 5 down the coast before turning inland to the town of Escondido. Just southeast of town is the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

The safari park was opened in 1972 as an “alternate environment” zoo, an extension of the regular zoo where animals could roam in a more natural environment. It mostly features animals that you would find in the plains and savannas of Africa and Asia.

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We started by randomly taking one of the hiking trails off to the right of the entrance. This took us to a lagoon with many exotic birds in the area. They’re not in the photos, but trust me, they’re there.

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In short order, we found some cheetahs, which come to think of it may have been the reason no exotic birds were in the above photos.

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After hiking around for a while, we found the loading area for the safari. Yes, you can take an actual safari ride around the park—in fact, it’s the only way to see a large portion of it. Here you can see the open savanna area. The trucks follow a dirt road that travels a loop around the outer edge of this land.

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You can see giraffes…

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I think these are okapis? You can see one of the safari vehicles way in the background here.

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Ankole cattle…

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And several rhinoceros.

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The driver will narrate the entire trip to you and give you many details about the animals so you can not write any of it down and forget everything you learned by dinnertime. Not that I would know anything about that.

The safari took about 30-60 minutes or so. Then we took some more trails on the other side of the park, where we found some tigers avoiding the sunlight.

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And on another trail, some kangaroos were doing the same.

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All of these animals were smarter than we were, standing in the bright sun to photograph them.

One side path took us into a nice little bonsai garden.

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And with that, I think we covered everything available in the park that didn’t have an extra fee associated with it.

We drove a short distance to our hotel, a Springhill Suites in Mission Valley, and then another short distance to grab some dinner. One of Scotty’s requests for the California trip was to get some authentic tacos, so we did some research (also known as googling “best tacos in San Diego”) and went through the lists. We decided on a local place with the exotic name of “The Taco Stand”, which has a few locations around the city. We went to the one on Upas Street northeast of downtown. I had to hunt for parking in a nearby residential neighborhood, but it didn’t take too long to find a spot, and then we walked a couple of blocks back to the restaurant.

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This place was tiny, but the food smelled really good. Everything is made fresh on site, including the tortillas. Here’s the pork al pastor:

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Julie ended up ordering the California burrito, which was a massive concoction of carne asada, guacamole, tomato, salsa, sour cream, and…french fries? Whatever, she loved it.

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I went with two tacos, one steak and one pork. They have some basic ingredients but there was also a side bar with several different kinds of salsa you could put on your taco. I went with the fresh diced tomatoes.

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Both were equally excellent. Fresh ingredients really made a difference. I also loved that I could order fries as a side item—lots of taco places don’t offer that, instead inexplicably offering only refried beans as a side, which are one of the few foods that eventually come out of you looking exactly the same as they went in.

We couldn’t resist dessert. They offered fried churros covered in cinnamon sugar and accompanied with frosting to dip them in. They were fresh out of the fryer, too.

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Yeah…that’s the stuff.

I’m please to announce that this meal resulted in the creation of a new dining award. We were all very happy with it and ready to award a Drooling Homer, but this was easily Scotty’s favorite meal of the trip. So we now proudly award the Taco Stand a Drooling Scotty Award for Excellence in Unpretentious Dining.

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Naturally, Scotty hated that photo and immediately forbade me from posting it in public.

Coming Up Next: More zoo! More San Diego! More baseball!
 

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