January 2023 Trip Report (1/2 - 1/6)

[ironband74]

Back again with another exciting ironband trip report. Well, maybe not exciting, but at least eventful, and if not eventful, at least full of events.

The surprise (1/2)

I managed to get my DW and DS (traveling with a smaller crew this time around) into the rental car and on our way at 7:10am, a feat we’ve never accomplished before. After grabbing some Starbucks for the road we hit the highway and made for the 5. Two short stops and 6 hours later, we were nearing Anaheim. DW was finding lunch options, and DS was resting, so no one noticed me getting off at the “wrong” exit. They both believed that we would be staying at the Del Sol Inn, as I have never shown a desire to stay on site due to the cost involved, and since our usual digs at the BWPPI were not available when we planned this trip…the Del Sol was the move. However, I found myself wanting to put one over on them, and managed to grab what I assume was a cancelled Premium View room a few weeks ago. Keeping the secret almost killed me, and I knew if we went to lunch before heading to the hotel, I’d either spill the beans or my DW would be very aware that I was going the wrong way, so I decided in my mind that we would go to the hotel, drop our luggage, and then get some lunch.

As we made our way down Disneyland Dr., my wife looked up and asked “Wait, did they change the offramp here? This doesn’t look right.” I replied that I had just punched Disneyland into the GPS and wasn’t really paying attention to the exit, but that I’d get us to Katella to find a place to eat, no problem. This satisfied her until I turned onto Magic Way and she asked “What’s on Magic Way?” I replied: “Magic!”

As we approached the turn off for the Disneyland Hotel, I pulled into the turn lane and stated “I have a confession to make: We aren’t staying at the Del Sol Inn.” My DW asked tentatively “Then where are we staying?” I pointed to the sign as the light turned green and we turned into the hotel while DW and DS freaked out. It was perfect and they agree that it is the greatest prank I’ve ever played.

Anyway, we dropped off our luggage with Bell Services and then went to get a bite at The Lazy Dog. While we ate I shared the reservation number with them so that they would have a key on their phone, and shortly thereafter I got a notification that our room was ready: 7th Floor, Fantasy Tower.

We returned to the hotel and I dropped DW and DS off at the lobby while I took the car to self-parking. I rendezvoused with them in the shop and then we headed up to our room.

The room was as expected, pool view, 2 queen beds. Very nice, except for some red food substance of some sort in a streak and a splotch on the ceiling that my wife noticed when she laid on the bed, and some remnants of scotch tape in various places where some previous guests had obviously hung party decorations. I could have called housekeeping to deal with these things, but honestly it was a small matter to grab a purell wipe and remove the juice or possibly jelly from the ceiling (I’m pretty tall, so with a chair it was easy to reach. We spent a few minutes trying to imagine how it got there and which kid decided to throw food or squirt juice to the ceiling, as well as wondering what sort of parents don’t clean up after themselves or their kids (or at least tell Housekeeping so they could clean it up, because who looks at the ceiling?), but we laughed it off while my DS discovered the headboard.

DS, 13, was thrilled by the headboard. Sometimes it is the little things.

Anyway, we hung out in the room, watched a little TV, then spent way too much time trying to pair a device to the TV so that we could cast Disney+. We never got it to work – the cast button never showed up on my wife’s app, and after updating the app on my phone I couldn’t get it to load. Kind of annoying (in fact, on my phone my Disney+ app still won’t load, it just spins. Update, I uninstalled and reinstalled and that helped…but still can’t cast.) So we gave up on any Disney entertainment (save for the headboard, which DS would periodically trigger) and watched the end of Rocky IV before walking my wife down to Tenaya Stone Spa for her massage and pedicure.

After dropping her off and paying for her services, my son and I went to do recon at the esplanade, check out the shops of DTD, explore the hotel grounds, and get a Dole Whip at Tangaroa before heading back to the room. Noting that it was starting to rain, I grabbed some socks and shoes for my wife (since she was wearing sandals for her pedi) and we went to meet her, taking note of the lines at various eateries for a potential dinner. I sent my son ahead to meet my wife with her shoes while I got in line at Tortilla Joes to put our name in for a 40 minute wait.

The timing worked out almost perfectly as I went to the spa to find my wife still sitting in the pedicure chair. Turns out her old polish was very difficult to remove, so she had to pay a small upcharge to have it soaked off. About 30 minutes later she rejoined us and as we walked over to the restaurant I got the notification that our table was ready. The food and drinks were very good, especially the chips and salsa. Satisfied and nourished, we returned to our room to rest up and prepare for rope drop the next day, interrupted only by about 12 triggerings of the headboard by DS.

 

[ironband74]

Early Entry DL, day one (1/3)

I woke up around 5:30, 15 minutes before the alarm at 5:45 out of sheer excitement. A light drizzle was falling outside, and I could see reflections on the ground below. I went over my morning plan as we got dressed and at 6am I put a mobile order for food in at the Coffee House while I brewed our coffee and hot chocolate using the Keurig. As we walked up to the coffee house at about 10 after I hit the “I’m here” button and we walked inside to get out of the rain. There was a small line formed as folks got their coffee and breakfast items. 10 minutes passed and I was not yet notified that our items were ready. DW finally grew impatient and asked the cast member there how long it would be as we had only ordered food items. Turns out they weren’t monitoring the mobile orders coming in. No apologies as she threw our stuff in a bag and handed it to us. I asked if she could put hot water in the oatmeal for us, and she asked “You want water in the oatmeal?” I said “yes please, we would like to be able to eat it…” She obliged and handed it back to us and we headed for security.

We did not return to the Coffee House for the rest of the trip.

It was now 6:25 – three families were lined up at security, and the water was still falling lightly, so we went to the seating outside Fantasy Tower and sat down to eat and finish our hot beverages. We went back around 6:35 and the line was slightly longer, but we were still near the front. We hung out and chatted with a few other folks in line until security opened at about 7. I got through first and made a bee-line for the esplanade, securing the first spot in line number 1. I made small talk with the family in line 2 until my family arrived. After a spell the CM at the gate tapped our magic bands, took our pictures, and we were released into the park at about 7:20.

We made our way at a moderate pace down Main Street and went to the EE rope on the right side of the hub. From there I purchased G+ and seeing from the physical tip board that Small World was going to be down at park open, grabbed a LL for it to try and get an MEP.

We were released at 7:30 and made our way to Peter Pan ready to start our trip like we always do…but it was down. Mr. Toad’s…down. Alice…down due to the rain. So now that we had made the trek to Fantasyland for…really no reason, we circled back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain. Despite being delayed, The wait was about 5 minutes and we got our first attraction of the day completed. Due to my DW having some knee issues, I had decided to take a more linear approach to our day to keep the walking down a bit and make things easier on her, so following Space Mountain we hopped on Star Tours where we got Vader, Hoth, and Naboo as our experience, then popped over to Buzz Lightyear where I destroyed my son 577,100 to 81,800 in round one of “Battle for Churros.” As we left we saw our Magic Bands displaying Buzz’s signature green and purple color scheme, so that was cool.

Noting that Small World had converted to an MEP, I booked Indiana Jones. We then went to the Matterhorn to get tossed around by Harold, waiting about 10 minutes, and then wandered over to Jungle Cruise. After about 10 minutes, we had a wet cruise that got backed up when they brought another boat in, causing a short round of bumper boats when we backed up and hit the boat behind us. Undeterred, we got in line at Indy, and used our Magicbands for the first time to enter a Lightning Lane.

Although I was not originally sold on the MagicBands, I will say that when it is raining, touch screens become more difficult to use, and so in the rain, the bands make things sooooo much easier. Yes, I still had to use finnicky touch screen to get LL, but not having to get the phone out and deal with swiping tickets in a wet environment was a benefit I hadn’t considered until this point of the trip.

So…We get in line for Indy. As we approached the merge, we found that there was NO CM at the merge point managing LL vs Standby. We had to merge ourselves into the standby line, which was a little weird. We would encounter this phenomenon again at our next LL attraction, that that would take some time to get to.

As we hit the staircase to go up and over the loading area, things got really quiet…too quiet…and the lights stopped flickering…and the line stopped moving…and…the dreaded announcement came over the intercom. Having already scanned our LLs, we knew if we got out of line without getting an MEP compensated, Indy was going to be a no-go for the day. We stuck it out and waited half an hour before finally they cleared the queue and scanned our tickets to give us a precious golden tier MEP.

Having grabbed a LL for Big Thunder, we hit the bathroom and then went for the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness. In line I grabbed a Haunted Mansion Holiday LL for later in the afternoon. We got on Big Thunder at about 10:10, and then I decided it was time to attempt LL Acceleration at HMH.

We scanned in with our bands at HM without incident, and a few minutes later I checked the app to find the Golden Tier MEP still intact, confirming that the acceleration bug was still in play. In line, I noted that Splash Mountain was down, and grabbed a LL for that. Again, there was no CM directing the merge of LL and Standby guests, which was odd and resulted in essentially a 50/50 mix at the merge.

After our encounter with Jack, Sally, and Oogie Boogie, we wandered over to Pirates to find the wait a fairly long 40 minutes. Asking the CM at the end of the line where we would go to redeem one of our MEPs, she directed us under the bridge, where the CM scanned our passes and we were soon off on our Pirate adventure.

We emerged at about 11:15 and began to make our way toward Main Street for our Carnation Café Reservation at 11:30. We checked in on the app and were informed when we arrived that they were in the process of shifting from Breakfast to Lunch. We were seated at 11:37 and enjoyed our lunch. DS and DW agreed that they would like to take a break back at the Hotel, so we headed back for an afternoon nap and some rest. DW asked me to purchase ILLs for Rise for when we returned, so I held my nose and pushed the button. I still hate ILL, but wanted to make absolutely sure that we got on Rise.

We headed back to the park at 4:45 for our 5:30 reservation at River Belle Terrace. Well, actually it was 5:00, as we discovered DS was wearing two different shoes when we reached the monorail station…So he ran up to correct his error, and then we returned to the park via Monorail.

The rain was continuing to fall, and we were glad to see that River Belle was doing all indoor seating. We were seated fairly quickly and enjoyed our dinner and the ambiance before heading over to Galaxy’s Edge.

Having grabbed a MFSR LL for later in the evening, we used the acceleration bug to ride. Hondo was down, but we had a good flight, though we did more damage to the Falcon than I would have liked. We then decided to do a little Bounty Hunting with our Magic Bands. After a few bounties each, it was time for our ILL at Rise, where we walked right on, as expected, despite 90+ minute queue. We got the second path this time to the side of the AT-AT, so that was neat, though I think I prefer the other path now that I’ve experienced them both.

Finishing up in Galaxy’s Edge, I grabbed a Small World LL which we accelerated and we took our happy cruise, enjoying the projections on the façade, even if the clock was off by 15 minutes.

I had picked up some LLs for DCA just in case, but by now my family was starting to drag their tails a little. So I canceled those and suggested that on our way out of the park we hit Big Thunder with our lower level MEP and then attempt Indy again with our higher level one. This was met with agreement.

So another ride on Big Thunder later and we were back in the queue for Indy. After 10 minutes in the queue…it went quiet and bright again. As it was pushing 9:30pm as the first announcement was made, we decided to bug out and try again another day. As we arrived on Main Street, DS indicated that he’d like some ice cream, so I put in a mobile order at Gibson Girl. Ice Cream in hand, we headed out of the park and back to the hotel through DTD. There, we planned our strategy for day two as the magic headboard did its thing more times than I can count.

 

[ironband74]

Early Entry DCA day two (1/4)

As we awoke, my DW informed me that she was not up to going to the parks that morning, and that DS and I would have to go without her. Her knees were acting up in the weather and she wanted to take a hot bath and relax for the morning before meeting us later on. So we got dressed and headed down to security at about 6:45, hot drinks in hand.

We were in line on the DCA side and noted that the ground was pretty dry. We hoped that maybe the rain would hold out long enough for us to get on RSR at park open, but it was not meant to be as the rain started to fall. We put our hoods up and resolved to make the best of it. By 7:25 we were lined up at the EE rope and at 7:30, we walked into the first pre-show of the day for Web Slingers.

In round two of the “Battle for Churros,” I found myself outclassed by my younger opponent, who outscored me 235,800 to 226,500, taking the score to 1-1.

We then went straight for Guardians and rode, getting “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”

It was now 8AM and I made a slight tactical blunder in moving towards Soarin’, thinking that it wouldn’t be too bad at park open. We arrived at 8:04 to find the standby wait already at 40 minutes, so we redirected to the Incredicoaster and rode the standby there with a 10 minute wait. Then it was off to the Pal-Around, where my stomach turned a little bit queasy with the swinging. I pulled a LL for Midway Mania and we decided to go have some breakfast at Pyms while we waited for it to activate.

While I enjoyed the Calculated Breakfast, my son threw down on the Cinna-Pym Toast. After we had eaten, we started making our way to Midway Mania for the deciding bout in the “Battle for Churros.” On the way we saw a photo pass photographer without a line at the entrance to Avengers Campus, so we got some photos before rushing off to Pixar Pier. After the scores were tallied, I beat him in points 185,900 to 135,600, but he argued that as he had the better accuracy number at 29% to my 27%, it was technically a draw. I accepted the argument for what it was and as I never intended to make him buy the churros, I agreed that we would both enjoy one in the spirit of the competition.

The rain was falling steadily now, and we decided to go over to Cars Land just to look around. We joked with the CMs lined up across the street telling folks that RSR was down due to the weather and chatted with them for a while before doing a little shopping. DW texted me and let me know she was on her way over, so once she scanned in I booked a LL for all of us on Soarin’ She rode the Red Car Trolley over to Sunset and we met her there. She was starving, so we popped over to Pym’s for a Quantum Pretzel and some drinks before hopping the Red Car Trolley back to Carthay and getting in line for Soarin’.

The LL was way backed up – it was pretty clear that the attraction was having some issues. This was verified when we finally got on and just before take off they had a seat belt failure on the A carriage. As we were on B carriage, we rode after a brief delay while they unloaded A carriage and deactivated it.

While in line for Soarin’, I noticed that GRR was down and grabbed a LL for it, which converted shortly thereafter. Lower Tier, but better than nothing.

Following our flight, we did a little shopping and then headed to Flo’s for lunch before heading back to the hotel. We took a break and a nap before returning to DCA and our Lamplight reservation at 4:55. As the sun set, we enjoyed our food and comfortable seating, watching the lights come on. The rain had stopped for a spell and a band began to play on the main stage…They started just in time for the rain to hit again and had to cover up everything and stop the show. Still, from our cozy little spot we relaxed and enjoyed the drinks and the view and the food until we were ready to step back out into the wet afternoon.



Since DW had missed out on most of the morning, I scheduled a LL for Guardians and we went to the Incredicoaster to use the MEP I had gotten earlier. As we waited to chase down Jack-Jack, I managed to modify the LL for Guardians and move it up to 7pm, so we headed back to Avengers Campus to help the Guardians Break out once again.

We were starting to feel a little fatigue, so I asked the fam if they wanted me to see if I could switch our WOC Dessert Party from the second show to the first. Rain looked more likely for the second show as well, so I figured if we could get in at the first one we’d be able to get back to the hotel before it set in.

So while DS and DW shopped at Elias and Co, I walked with purpose over to the water wheel, where the CM was checking folks in for the 9:15 party (no one in line yet). I asked if it might be possible to switch shows, and she indicated that there appeared to be a couple tables available, but that they needed to finish checking in before she could be sure. We should be there and ready at 8pm if we wanted to proceed. So I went back to grab the fam and returned. After the last of the folks from the original line were seated, she assigned us a table and passed us on to a guide who took us to our spot. The view was not perfect as there was a giant wrapped present with a peppermint stick sticking up in front of us, but as they did their best to accommodate us, we simply adjusted our seating slightly when the show started to get a better view.

The rain was falling steadily as our desserts arrived and it looked like we would be in for a fairly miserable wait for the show, but miraculously the rain slowed and then stopped by the time our drinks arrived. I had two mistletoes while DS had hot chocolate and DW had coffee. We ate our desserts and chatted with our assigned CM, Larry, about all things Disney, including his other position over at GE.

The show was really good – we all enjoyed it thoroughly – and then we slowly made our way back to the hotel to get some rest. Thursday had heavy rain in the forecast for the morning, and I made it known that I would be going to the park one way or another – I had purchased Frog Togs for the whole family, so we could be comfortable in a downpour. For DW it was a definite “No.” For DS it was a definite “Maybe.”

As I drifted off to sleep...I'm pretty sure I heard the headboard again...

 

[ironband74]

Deluge Adventure day 3 (1/5)

I didn’t set an alarm, figuring I’d let my body tell me if I was up to heading to the park early or not. I woke up at about quarter to seven and decided I’d give it a go. Checking with DS, he told me he wanted to sleep a bit longer, so I resolved to have an epic solo adventure. I pulled on my Frog Togs and headed downstairs a little after 7. The security line wasn’t too bad and was moving, but I came to the realization that I had forgotten my magic band, so I popped back up to the room to grab it and then rushed back to security.

The rain was coming down pretty well and I saw a twin with the same suit walk by. “Nice suit!” I half-shouted as she went by. After getting through security I saw that it was already 7:15 and I decided to give the monorail a try. The line wasn’t too long, curling back towards the Star Wars Trading Post. I took up a place in line and waited for them to open the line.

They opened the line at about 7:25 as a monorail pulled into the station. Two scanners, with a cast member directing folks to one or the other. As luck would have it, I wound up stuck behind two guests who had reservations for DCA and didn’t understand why they couldn’t ride the monorail to the parks. The ensuing discussion resulted in me getting to the platform just as the doors closed on the first train, and after they said another train would be along in 3 minutes I watched them depart without me.

Another train was not along in 3 minutes. It was closer to 10. I got off at Tomorrowland station at about 7:45 and made my way down the ramp behind some slow moving folks. With the limited time I had I decided to use my time to attempt a rope drop on Rise, lining up behind the doors near Red Rose Tavern.

I chatted with some folks in line to pass the time, and eventually the doors opened and we made our way towards Galaxy’s Edge. Cast members there informed us that Rise was down (of course), so I headed for MFSR as a consolation prize. The line was already stacking up since most folks were headed that direction. I walked up to the CM at the entrance and asked if I could use the single rider line, and she informed me that all guests had to use standby for now. So I hopped into Standby and waited about 10 minutes to get to the pre show, which was running (Hondo was not there for our first ride on day one), and then headed down the jet way to see that empty spots were being filled from the Single Rider queue. This made me a little frustrated, but at least I got to see the pre-show and I was on my own with no expectations, so I made the best of it and rode the engineer spot with a family who had clearly flown before.

I decided to ride Single rider a few times in a row. The left passage was essentially a walk on, while the right passage was always a few riders deep. Anyway, after riding with a few first time families (I offered to take their pictures at the chessboard each time) and genuinely enjoying the reactions of all the first-timers (but not necessarily their flying), I decided to go check on Rise.

It was still down, so Breakfast became the priority. I had never had the breakfast Ronto Wrap and wanted to try it, so I ordered that and a coffee and stood by the spit to eat. I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, I decided to pop down to Rise to be in position if it opened. I chatted with the CM who had the rueful duty of turning folks away for about 10 minutes, then returned to BSO proper to run a few bounties. As I did so, DW texted me that she was up, but that her knees were really bothering her with the rain, and she was trying to find a breakfast option. DS was still asleep. As it neared 10am, I offered to pick up something from Galactic Grill for them and then hop the monorail so it would still be warm, so I headed out of GE, pausing to get some pictures taken by a very in-character photographer in the first order area. It was a fun interaction for sure. I put the mobile order in under the tunnel (the rain was making it very hard to use the touch screen) and then hoofed it over to Galactic Grill to pick up the food, requested a bag to keep the food somewhat dry, and then hopped the monorail to take it back to the fam.

As they ate I changed socks and stripped off my togs. My clothes were dry, but my hiking boots were more water permeable than I thought they would be. The forecast called for it to stop storming around noon, so after relaxing in the room until around 12:30 my son and I headed back to the park. The sun had come out for the first time during our trip and we could see blue sky mixed with clouds as we pulled into Tomorrowland Station.

I purchased Genie Plus for the two of us and grabbed a LL for Indiana Jones, then refreshed it to a 1pm return. It was a win-win: If we got on, we rode, If it went down, we’d get MEPs I could use to accelerate anything. As it happened, we made it on this time and journeyed into the Temple of the Broken Effects. I’m looking forward to seeing it after the refurb as it needs some serious TLC.

We decided to grab a snack at Bengal BBQ. I had heard that a lot of people love the meat there, and wanted to give it a try. I had the spicy beef and my son had the sweet beef. Both were very tasty.

We then rode Space Mountain and Big Thunder via LL before heading to Galaxy’s Edge, where Rise was still down. So we rode MFSR twice via single rider and then ran some bounties for a bit. Along the way we saw our first costumed characters of the trip – Boba Fett, Mando and Grogu, Rey and Chewbacca, and of course Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers doing their thing.

DW texted that she was ready to make her way over via Monorail, so we headed to Tomorrowland to greet her. She wasn’t too interested in riding attractions, but we headed over to New Orleans Square for mint juleps and beignets. We enjoyed these and then browsed the shops for a bit. I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and purchased a couple of 1000 piece puzzles, while DW picked up some new Haunted Mansion PJs.

We then headed over to DCA in preparation for our 6:40 Carthay Circle reservation. As we scanned in, suddenly the rain started coming down again. We hopped the Red Car Trolley for refuge and rode it from the park entrance to the end of the line, and then back to Carthay. I hadn’t really ridden RCT before, but it’s kind of like a mini-Jungle Boat Cruise with lots of bad jokes and puns. It was very enjoyable.

I checked in on the app for our reservation, but after not being texted back after a spell I went up to the host, who informed me that they didn’t really do mobile check-in there and that I needed to check in at the podium. I let them know that I was there on time, but that I didn’t realize that there was a different procedure, especially since the app told me to check in. Anyway, after that hiccup we were eventually seated and enjoyed a very good dinner. I was a little bummed that we were seated in a side room, but those are the breaks. Our server and the service were very good.

Seeing that Rise had come up during our NOS shopping earlier, I suggested that we might try to get one more ride before heading back. It was a little after 8pm, and it was due to close at 9pm as the park was closing at 11pm, so the hope was that we could get in with a shorter wait. The risk was that it had been down most of the day so there was a lot of demand. I dropped our stuff off in a locker on Main St as we made our way over and arrived around 8:45. The posted wait was 105 minutes. I looked at the queue and told the family to trust me, this was not a 105 minute line. They obliged and we got into the line, which was moving fairly swiftly.

We played Disney trivia on the app to pass the time, and we were in our briefing after a short 40 minutes. We were shortly thereafter captured, interrogated, and rescued, along with a first timer. I love riding the attraction with first timers. He was blown away, and it was fun to experience that with him.

When this attraction is firing on all cylinders, it really moves the people through. I figured that the later time meant fewer lightning lanes coming in, and that since the attraction closed at 9pm, they wouldn’t be admitting them after that anyway.

It turns out I was wrong – though the app showed the attraction closed when we got off, they were still letting folks into the standby queue at 25 minutes. I asked the family if they wanted to go again, but they said they were good, but needed to use the facilities. We headed to the bathroom at the Hungry Bear, and then went over to NOS to hop the train back to Main Street. It was a fair wait for the train, about 25 minutes, but it pulled in just as the second show of Fantasmic started up (and our Magic Bands started lighting up). We took the train around to Main St. I went and picked up our bag from the locker, and then we did a little shopping until the park closed at 11pm.

Having closed the park, we returned to the Hotel, where my wife checked reservations for Goofy’s Kitchen the next morning, finding that quite a few had dropped. We picked up an 8:40 reservation and told DS that we’d be having breakfast here before heading to the park for the last time to celebrate his Birthday. He asked if he could build another droid as his birthday present, and naturally we obliged.

As midnight rolled around, we wished DS a happy birthday and went to bed as he triggered the headboard for the last time.

 

[ironband74]

Addendum: DS13-->DS14 Day four.

We got up around 8am and started packing before getting dressed and heading to Goofy’s Kitchen. We had never experienced this restaurant and had a great time. Food was good, the character interactions were fun, and my son got his Birthday button along with a very nice little cupcake. He isn’t really into characters, but by the end of the meal he had loosened up a bit. Our server had a lot of fun with his Birthday and made it a really memorable experience.

After breakfast we finished packing and I called Bell Services to get our bags. Our bellhop had been working at the hotel for 39 years and shared some fun trivia and facts with us as he loaded our bags onto his cart. With the room cleared, we headed down to security for the last time just before 11am. As we waited in line, I clicked the online checkout and our stay at the hotel was over.

We took the monorail back to the park and made our way to Galaxy’s Edge where DS was excited to build a C-unit droid. We accompanied him as he picked his parts, built his droid, and brought it to life.

With his new droid on his back, we departed Galaxy’s Edge. DS said he was ready to go home, so we headed to the Monorail, which was closed with no ETA. We went to the hub and found a bench where we sat and reflected on the trip and the memories. The trip had its ups and downs, but more ups than downs, and the time spent with my youngest child as he slowly becomes a man was precious. I’m tearing up just writing this now. The time spent was time well spent, building memories and bonds that I hope will far outlast any of the physical things we brought home.



I checked my app to see if maybe I could get a mobile order for a corn dog, but the orders were pushed out too far to be practical. We opted for one last churro instead. Churros in hand, I saw that the monorail was back up, and with a heavy sigh we boarded our final attraction of the trip.

At the hotel entrance, I handed my ticket to the bellhop and went to get the car. We loaded in and began the journey home.



Final thoughts:

On the state of maintenance: We definitely saw more downtime for attractions this trip, even than our April trip. Some of that was accounted for by the rain, but the number of times we saw Fantasyland attractions go down during our trip was concerning. Indeed, we never made it onto Peter Pan or any of the fantasyland dark rides. We could have, sure, but with so many being out that first morning, and my child getting older, they just never became a priority, and every time we thought of going they just happened to be down.

Indy, of course, needs some serious TLC and will hopefully get it this time around. I’ve started referring to the boulder as the “Disco Ball.”

On park management: I really hate the 1pm hopping rule. I mean I hate it. With a passion. I worked around it, but on our last day it would have been really nice to have had the option with the good weather to go and try to ride RSR and Luigis, but needing to get on the road and holding a DL reservation that just wasn’t possible. And getting stuck behind folks at the Monorail station that third day because they had the wrong reservation was also frustrating. The 1pm restriction really makes park hopping less valuable and if it remains I may just opt for single park/day tickets next time.

I can live with the reservation system, but if someone has a park hopper, let them into either park for goodness sake. Some flexibility would go a long way.

On Disneyland Hotel: I really enjoyed staying in the “Disney Bubble” – it is an intangible that can’t be overlooked. The room amenities were nice, and if the weather had been better I might have been able to convince the family to use the pool. That said, the walk to the esplanade is about twice what it is from a close harbor hotel. This is somewhat mitigated by the monorail, but only in certain scenarios. I was also a little taken aback that there were no in room dining options for breakfast for my wife and/or son to use on their mornings in. I’m also slightly frustrated that I haven’t received a final bill in my email yet.

The expense might be worth it if the perks were better, which brings me to…

On Early Entry: 30 minutes is great if you have a plan and everything is working to plan. But any hiccup and EE loses effectiveness. Day one we got to Fantasyland to find Peter, Mr. Toad, and Alice (predictable from the rain) down, causing us to reroute to Tomorrowland and costing us 10 minutes of EE time. Day two went according to plan, but the rain taking RSR down meant that other attractions got busier faster and reduced the effectiveness of EE. Day three, in the pouring rain, I got held up at the monorail station due to the reservation system being stupid, missed the train, and lost 10 minutes of EE time, and then essentially wasted EE waiting in line for an attraction that was closed all morning.

I would vastly prefer the old EE system where one or the other park’s EE attractions were open for a full hour on alternating days. This 30 minute system is just too sensitive to hiccups.

That said, I did like that EE saved me the stress of regular rope drop, so there is that.

On Magic Bands: I liked these more than I wanted to. In the rain, they are priceless since touch screens and water are a frustrating combination. The show lights are fun and the utility is nice. The Bounty Hunter Game is fun, but starts to feel like a grind after a while. Overall I consider them a net positive and I hope that they do more to integrate them into various attractions and experiences, with more functionality. They are marketing them pretty hard, But I do think the price point is a little higher than it needs to be. I would love to see more of them in the park as they would speed LL entry and park entry, especially for large groups where one person manages the tickets.

On Genie Plus: $30 each day, even the crazy rainy day, was steep. And I still really hate the individual lightning lane money grab. If everything were included, it would be a better product. That said, if you can fulfill the conditions needed (holding a golden tier MEP) and you know how to use the acceleration trick, this thing powers up in a big way. So far not enough people know about this for them to see a need to fix it, and I actually think it might be a back door put there by the developers rather than a bug.

On Guest Good Will: Despite all of the little things that didn’t go our way on this trip, I still had a better feeling about the trip than I did on the April trip. Part of this is that I slowed down a little and didn’t overdo the planning or trying to min/max lightning lanes. I did a fair amount of modification to move times up as well as using the acceleration trick on day one to make things work better, but I took it slower and didn’t try to maximize each day this time. Time to smell the roses is a good thing and going at a breakneck pace at my age can be too much. Everybody was satisfied even though we didn’t do some of our favorites this time around. There are things I want to see changed for sure. But cast members seemed happier and more relaxed this trip. I can’t say if that is reality, but that was my perception. I am hopeful that the coming year will bring positive changes.

Restaurants/food:

Coffee House: Skip it. Service was horrible.

Carnation Café: Good as always, though the soup was not as hot as I would have liked.

River Belle Terrace: Good as always. Wedge Salad with Brisket was tasty!

Pym’s Test Kitchen (Breakfast): Very good. DS really enjoyed the Cinna-Pym Toast, and my Calculated Breakfast was fun!

Pym’s Test Kitchen (Snack): The Beer Cheese has gotten thicker with the Quantum Pretzel. Quite improved.

Flo’s V8 Café: Good as always. Fried Chicken was delicious.

Lamplight Lounge: Excellent – the food and the ambiance can’t be beat

Ronto Roasters (Breakfast): If you haven’t tried this, you should. Better than it should be.

Galactic Grill: Good in a pinch if you need to get warm food to the hotel for your starving family via monorail.

Bengal BBQ: Skewers were a good snack. I think I prefer Tropical Hideaway though.

Carthay Circle: Very good, DW was not terribly impressed. I liked the Pork Chop, DS liked the chicken. I was disappointed that the holiday menu was replaced before the “holidays” ended at the park (DW was looking forward to the Prime Rib which fell off when they moved to the Winter Menu).

Goofy’s Kitchen: It has been a long time since I’ve been to a buffet. Food was decent, character interactions were fun, our server was really great. Maybe a little overpriced, but probably worth it especially for a birthday.

Final word:

I felt like a guest again. But I paid for that feeling. I don’t know if I would have felt the same coming from the harbor side. It is hard to say how much of the emotion I have is wrapped up in nostalgia and how much is from the actual experience. In any case, I’ll be back again, probably in 2024 sometime.

 

[chezcurrie]

So happy to hear you had such a special trip. My eldest is the same age as your son and I teared up reading your commentary. Finding places or experiences where they are able to still be kids is priceless. Glad you made more happy memories.

 

[crystal1313]

Awesome TR! I call the boulder the “disco boulder” too. Lol. I certainly hope all the broken things in Indy get fixed in this refurb!

Glad you had an awesome trip!!

 

[DizMe]

Loved reading about your adventures! Thanks so much for sharing. I just love your writing style, too!

 

[RoseColored97]

Loved the trip report! It was great to compare/contrast experiences because we were there in the days before your trip. The rain was definitely crazy.

I think RSR is never available for EE. They actually told us while we were waiting for 7:30am that there is no lining up during EE for RSR, but that doesn't stop people and the line was already out to Flo's about 10 minutes before rope drop. It's one of our favorites to hit right before rope drop at 8:00am because of watching the crush of humanity that comes flooding into Radiator Springs.

 

[Pluto468]

Thanks for taking time to write such a detailed report. It sounds like a wonderful trip, and I'm so glad the surprise stayed a surprise! Also glad you finally made it on to Rise. That ride is amazing.

Do you think you will stay at DLH again or stick with Harbor from now on? The headboard is so much fun, I'm glad your DS liked it.

 

[ironband74]

Do you think you will stay at DLH again or stick with Harbor from now on? The headboard is so much fun, I'm glad your DS liked it.

It is hard to say what I'll do in the future. I really liked staying on site, but I'm not totally sold on it. Harbor has a lot going for it and EE is not quite "good" enough for me to be able to justify things alone. At the same time, the bubble is real and staying at DLH fed my Disney feels pretty hard. Additionally, I may have spoiled DW to where it may not be possible to stay on Harbor in the future. I suspect it will depend greatly on what my budget for future trips looks like. I am also curious to try GCH and see how it compares...budget permitting, of course.

Time will tell. Personally I'm on the fence. DW and DS are sold, though.

 

[ironband74]

I think RSR is never available for EE. They actually told us while we were waiting for 7:30am that there is no lining up during EE for RSR, but that doesn't stop people and the line was already out to Flo's about 10 minutes before rope drop. It's one of our favorites to hit right before rope drop at 8:00am because of watching the crush of humanity that comes flooding into Radiator Springs.

Yeah, RSR is not available for EE, but as you point out people do line up for it. Additionally when it is closed at park open, that "crush of humanity" goes elsewhere.

Back in the EMH days, RSR was available. The cynic in me says that RSR is not available during EE purely because it has an ILL and not for any real logistical reason.

 

[ComeToSocialize]

Great TR! Seems like some bad luck with all the things being down (partially expected in the rain) but otherwise overall a great trip.

I'm curious for your take on EE:

• If you want to be in the park by ~730 but not necessarily first in line for a specific ride, when do you think someone needs to be at security... would 7am be enough time to get through security, walk to esplanade, and get into the park? Seems like you go to security around 635 day 1 and 645 day 2.
• Obviously your EE was kind of screwed up by PP, FL rides, Rise, RSR all being down on various days. The FL thing seems like an anomaly, but maybe the play is to always do TomorrowLand or Pixar Pier for EE to minimize those risks?

 

[ironband74]

Great TR! Seems like some bad luck with all the things being down (partially expected in the rain) but otherwise overall a great trip.

I'm curious for your take on EE:

• If you want to be in the park by ~730 but not necessarily first in line for a specific ride, when do you think someone needs to be at security... would 7am be enough time to get through security, walk to esplanade, and get into the park? Seems like you go to security around 635 day 1 and 645 day 2.
• Obviously your EE was kind of screwed up by PP, FL rides, Rise, RSR all being down on various days. The FL thing seems like an anomaly, but maybe the play is to always do TomorrowLand or Pixar Pier for EE to minimize those risks?

It was overall a good trip.

On EE:

• 7am would probably work on all but the busiest of days, with the possible issue being getting into the park behind throngs of guests lined up in the esplanade. I'd say going to DCA you have a little more time than going to DL as it seems to be a 60/40 split
• For DL, Tomorrowland is probably a safe bet. Then again FL is usually a safe bet as well. It really depends on your priorities. There have been EE mornings where Space has been down. It really is a crapshoot and if you roll snake eyes you lose time.
• For DCA - The only thing on Pixar Pier open for EE is Incredicoaster. I still think that the best move is to hit Web Slingers and then Guardians. After that heading to RSR if open or Pixar Pier is probably the move depending on whether you finish Guardians early enough to get in position at RSR before 8am. Incredicoaster wait stays pretty low for the first hour.
  

 

[BobaFettFan]

Thank you for your thoughts. What an interesting read!


I want to try the accelerating thing.. but also dont' want to screw up lightning lanes for my family :/

How difficult was it for you to do? Was it reliable?

 

[ironband74]

Thank you for your thoughts. What an interesting read!


I want to try the accelerating thing.. but also dont' want to screw up lightning lanes for my family :/

How difficult was it for you to do? Was it reliable?

Once you have the MEP, it is pretty foolproof. Just keep in mind that if it is the lower level MEP, you can only accelerate lower level attractions. If you have the higher level MEP, you can accelerate everything.

And if the loophole closes, the worst case scenario is that your MEP gets used up riding the thing you want to ride.

Using the modify to move LL up is more likely to screw you up. The reason is that if you see a better time pop up and you tap it, you have to make sure that is indeed the time that shows on the next screen. There were a couple of times when I accidentally modified us to a later time when trying to move up to an earlier time because my fingers were faster than my eyes. Fortunately I was able to fix it in most cases, but it was really stressful!

 

[ComeToSocialize]

It was overall a good trip.

On EE:

• 7am would probably work on all but the busiest of days, with the possible issue being getting into the park behind throngs of guests lined up in the esplanade. I'd say going to DCA you have a little more time than going to DL as it seems to be a 60/40 split
• For DL, Tomorrowland is probably a safe bet. Then again FL is usually a safe bet as well. It really depends on your priorities. There have been EE mornings where Space has been down. It really is a crapshoot and if you roll snake eyes you lose time.
• For DCA - The only thing on Pixar Pier open for EE is Incredicoaster. I still think that the best move is to hit Web Slingers and then Guardians. After that heading to RSR if open or Pixar Pier is probably the move depending on whether you finish Guardians early enough to get in position at RSR before 8am. Incredicoaster wait stays pretty low for the first hour.

Super helpful. Thanks!

The other interesting this was the lack of merge point cast members. Was that just a one off a couple times in the morning, possibly due to the rain? Or it sounds like you had it happen a few times?

Once the lines get longer, I can't see how they could manage Genie + without fights at the merge point without a cast member there. For something like Indy, the queue post-merge is very long, but usually is just walk through until you get to the pre-show video. That would go away if there's no merge point cast member.

 

[BobaFettFan]

Disney must have heard you .. making 11am the start to hopping parks.

 

[ironband74]

Super helpful. Thanks!

The other interesting this was the lack of merge point cast members. Was that just a one off a couple times in the morning, possibly due to the rain? Or it sounds like you had it happen a few times?

Once the lines get longer, I can't see how they could manage Genie + without fights at the merge point without a cast member there. For something like Indy, the queue post-merge is very long, but usually is just walk through until you get to the pre-show video. That would go away if there's no merge point cast member.

The lack of merge point cast members was something we only experienced a few times that first day at Indy, Big Thunder, and HMH. It was weird. On our return to Indy there was a merge point CM, as well as at Big Thunder. We only rode HM the one time.

It may have been the rain, it may have been that the CM got pulled away for something else.

 

[marcar12]

Gret trip report! Thank you so much for sharing so many details!

What is this Genie+ Acceleration that you speak of??