Just Back from Short Trip-Aug 23-24

[Elk Grove Chris]

Hit the Land for a day and half this past weekend. Had a great time, was not as crowded as I expected with no block outs. On Saturday we hit about a dozen rides before lunch, about a dozen rides after lunch-left parks at 7 to meet my Brother for dinner.

We could have done a lot more rides if we chose to, we were targeting specific rides my Son loves, so we crossed the parks a bit and spend a fair amount of time just walking.

Sunday the 24th saw a few more people, but still not bad. We left at noon, hit ten rides in the morning and spent a lot of time shopping. Great getaway, I will post a trip report in the next day or so with more detail and some pics.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

Looking forward to that Trip Report, Chris!

Glad you're back safe, and that you had a good trip!

We love it when Saturday ends up being pretty uncrowded, in spite of what one might think/expect---score!

 

[carol-lamb]

I was at both parks this past Saturday and Sunday. I thought it was more crowded on Saturday even though they were expecting higher crowds on Sunday as it was blocked out for cast members. Both days were very busy. I felt wait times on Sunday were a little shorter than Saturday.

 

[Ride Junkie]

Another "Sacramentan" who was there on Saturday. We started at DCA and walked right on to Toy Story, Mickey's Fun Wheel, Goofy's Sky School, and Ariel since most people were in Cars Land. Between the two parks, we managed to go on 23 rides, which is quite a bit for a Saturday. There were the usual long wait times for Space Mountain, Indy, and Peter Pan, which we skipped. But most rides we managed to get on in 20 minutes or under. I thought that was pretty decent for a Saturday. I guess being an AP blackout date helped. Seems like the longest waits were for the characters.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Yep-I thought they were fairly light crowds for a weekend in general. I think we did like 24-25 rides on Saturday from basically 9-7, but we did a lot of crisscrossing of the parks, so I think we could have squeezed in another 10 rides if we had toured more efficiently.

First day of trip:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=52159369&posted=1#post52159369

 

[disnyrtl]

Dammit where we're you guys? I just got back on Sunday from a 3 day trip. Friday night at DL was so crowded I left and took the kids to CA but I was happy to hear some fresh material at Aladdin. Drive back to Sactown wasn't too bad but it seems it took longer. Oh and I just LOVED all of that traffic on 5 going by LA and Hollywood

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

I lucked out in that I drove down on Friday morning, we hit Long Beach around 2:30. Traffic down was not bad at all. Flew back Sunday night, so no issues with traffic then

It really is about perception and previous experience when sizing up crowds. We usually go as a family in August and November (Thanksgiving week), but we have done several MHPs and October weekends. Over the last five or so years the only months we have missed have been April and May. We have never been over the Xmas to New Years time, so no reference to the busiest times. Almost every trip has covered at least part of a weekend, so this weekend seemed actually quite tolerable for us.

 

[Ride Junkie]

Friday night wasn't an AP holder blackout date, which is probably why it was so busy. We only went 1 day on Saturday and hopped between the 2 parks a few times. DL got pretty crowded but DCA wasn't bad at all.

Yeah, the drive home on I-5 out of LA is always 1.5 hours of stop & go. On the way down on Friday, we took 210 to 57 down into Anaheim, but it didn't save us any time since there was a lot of traffic on 210. And, as an added bonus, E. Ball Rd. was so packed it took us about 30 minutes to drive the mile and a half from there to the DLR area.

 

[KCmike]

Can't wait to see them pictures. Always enjoy your photography!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Can't wait to see them pictures. Always enjoy your photography!

Right back at you Mike, your pictures are always outstanding.

Second day of short trip up.

 

[KCmike]

Right back at you Mike, your pictures are always outstanding.

Second day of short trip up.

Thanks Chris. Hope the trip went well.

 

[DaveNinja]

Yeah, the drive home on I-5 out of LA is always 1.5 hours of stop & go. On the way down on Friday, we took 210 to 57 down into Anaheim, but it didn't save us any time since there was a lot of traffic on 210. And, as an added bonus, E. Ball Rd. was so packed it took us about 30 minutes to drive the mile and a half from there to the DLR area.

I was on the same freeway at the same time as you! We wanted 5-10 minutes to take the Ball Rd Exit before checking on the phone map and seeing there was no traffic at Katella so we ended up taking that exit instead. The traffic up on the 210 was terrible but our friends who took the 5 said it was really bad too.

 

[kylie71]

Great report, and Amazing images Chris!! Thank You!
Sounds like a Great weekend!

--Lori

 

[TinkerJR]

Thanks for the mini-trip report Chris. I love your pictures, still not sure how you got the ones on Screamin'!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Thanks Tinker, it is a bit disconcerting the first time you do it. I have white knuckle grip with both hands on the camera the whole time I am taking ride shots on the coasters.