ArchOwl
The Highly Educated Owl
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2011
- Messages
- 2,480
Just back from a three day visit to the DLR. Overall, a magical trip! My friend had not been to Disneyland for 13 years, so we had a lot to catch up on. The first thing was the Mickey and Friends parking structure, lol. We started on Tuesday and stayed through Thursday. And I finally just broke down and got a Premium AP, because let's face it, I will be going again soon! 
Star Tours was our number one priority, followed by World of Color. I never thought I would see the day where I would prefer to walk through Adventureland in the middle of the day over Tomorrowland, but it was true. The area surrounding Star Tours was crazy!
We managed to ride Star Tours 5 times and saw every different variation except for one hologram message. I thought that was pretty amazing, kudos to Disney. My friend was over the moon about this ride and thought it easily the best ride in either park. 
He is a huge Star Wars fan and this ride and watching Darth Vader and the Sith guy during Jedi Academy was a huge "geek" moment for him.
The FPs were pretty consistently running out between 11am and noon during each of our days there. The line to get the FPs was about 5 minutes or so, not as bad as I was expecting. The FP return line was normally about 15 minutes or so, not bad for such a popular ride! However, on Wednesday night, the fastpass return line for ST was insane. We got in line at 11pm and it took us 45 minutes to get in and off the ride. The standby line at that time was 120 minutes. When we got inside, we saw that only two simulators were running (gates A and B), the other two were closed. I don't know if there was a technical problem or what, but the FP return line was past the restrooms between ST and Plaza Inn. Still worth it, though!
Another winner was World of Color. Man, I just love this show! We were able to get a FP for the 10:15 blue section. We snagged a spot one stairway to the left of the Preferred Section dining rail. Awesome spot! My friend was literally picking up his jaw from the ground at the end of the show. I was wiping away a tear or two.
It was interesting to see how they are handling the handicapped sections now. We were at the front of the blue section and they allowed the handicapped to pick any spot in the blue section first. I was just lucky in going down the correct ramp to snag a rail spot in such a good location. They still have benches, but they are in the very back of each of the color sections, not in the middle as they were before. But they now allow you to pick whatever section you want before they let the rest of the people in. In theory this should keep big parties from filling the benches.
The Soundsational parade was so cute! I especially loved the Mary Poppins section, including the chimney sweeps and the "carousel horses". What a creative way to incorporate a classic scene into a parade, just one more reason why I love Disney.
I would rate this parade quite high, especially when compared to the last parade, which shall remain nameless here.
Celebrity sighting! Paul Rudd was in Tomorrowland on Thursday in the early evening with a plaid contingent. I didn't recognize him, but my friend did. It was a good way to introduce the "rich or famous" game. When I see plaids in the park with guests, I always like to guess if they are celebrities or just regular ole rich folks
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Indiana Jones be needing some love, ya'll! Went on this ride early in the day on Tuesday, made it past the idol room and the ride totally shut down. Lights on, rails up. We sat for about 15 minutes and then told we would be sent through and then allowed a re-ride. Rode almost the entire ride with lights on until the final scene when it was dark. Approached the loading area and the ride broke down again. At this point, we all wanted off the ride. We were told everyone was going to be evacuated and the ride was closing indefinitely. We were escorted off, no special fastpasses or anything. Dang, harsh Disney! I finally was able to get a rider switch pass so we didn't waste an FP. Later on, we rode again and I have to say that this ride needs some TLC, and I say this with all the love in my heart. No fire in the bridge scene or cool lasers or anything
, the part when the rats fall into your vehicle was out, and the final scene stopped in the middle and there was a huge pause before the end. Awkward. It was like watching a movie and the DVD skips around right during the climactic ending!
Big Thunder was also hiccuping a lot during our visit. Tuesday we were in line for about 10 minutes and the ride shut down. They emptied out the entire queue. Ok, no biggie. We went to Indiana and it went 101 as well. Made it onto HM and then tried BTMRR again and it went down before we got on, crazy! We finally rode it once on Wednesday night and it was the scariest BTMRR ride ever! I was holding on for dear life, it felt like it had no brakes. We tried again on Thursday evening, but it was down again. Dang gremlins!
Ironically we had less problems in DCA, even though the cramped walkways made for a tight squeeze at times!
We both enjoyed Little Mermaid with reasonable wait times (always under 25 minutes or so), Ursula was especially impressive. Screamin' was a hit as was Toy Story. I kinda laughed after getting off of GSS, they basically repainted it. Not much of a rehab, but I understand that it is not destined to stay around long, so I understand why. Aladdin was amazing as usual, my friend was impressed with the quality of the production. He was totally freaked out by the Tower of Terror, especially since we had an especially creepy bellhop who played up the drama. We only rode it once 
. The only technical difficulty in DCA was Electronica. On Tuesday night, the opening of the portal was delayed and eventually cancelled. No big deal, though, they still had glowitos!
The new front gates at DCA were very beautiful and the construction in that park seems to be rolling right along. The Carthay Circle Theater seems to be apparating out of nowhere! Amazing progress on that building. The Carsland area keeps looking better and better. We braved the Wheel of Death (non swinging) for a good look at the construction.
We had an amazing time, despite the crowds and the warm temps. Just a reminder to everyone out there who is hemming and hawing about dates and times and so on. It is Disneyland, it is amazing and magical and awe inspiring whenever you go. Even if you can only go in the middle of July (like my friend), just do it! As we were leaving the final day, he turned and said it would not be another 13 years before he returned again. I smiled.
Star Tours was our number one priority, followed by World of Color. I never thought I would see the day where I would prefer to walk through Adventureland in the middle of the day over Tomorrowland, but it was true. The area surrounding Star Tours was crazy!
We managed to ride Star Tours 5 times and saw every different variation except for one hologram message. I thought that was pretty amazing, kudos to Disney. My friend was over the moon about this ride and thought it easily the best ride in either park. He is a huge Star Wars fan and this ride and watching Darth Vader and the Sith guy during Jedi Academy was a huge "geek" moment for him. The FPs were pretty consistently running out between 11am and noon during each of our days there. The line to get the FPs was about 5 minutes or so, not as bad as I was expecting. The FP return line was normally about 15 minutes or so, not bad for such a popular ride! However, on Wednesday night, the fastpass return line for ST was insane. We got in line at 11pm and it took us 45 minutes to get in and off the ride. The standby line at that time was 120 minutes. When we got inside, we saw that only two simulators were running (gates A and B), the other two were closed. I don't know if there was a technical problem or what, but the FP return line was past the restrooms between ST and Plaza Inn. Still worth it, though!
Another winner was World of Color. Man, I just love this show! We were able to get a FP for the 10:15 blue section. We snagged a spot one stairway to the left of the Preferred Section dining rail. Awesome spot! My friend was literally picking up his jaw from the ground at the end of the show. I was wiping away a tear or two.
It was interesting to see how they are handling the handicapped sections now. We were at the front of the blue section and they allowed the handicapped to pick any spot in the blue section first. I was just lucky in going down the correct ramp to snag a rail spot in such a good location. They still have benches, but they are in the very back of each of the color sections, not in the middle as they were before. But they now allow you to pick whatever section you want before they let the rest of the people in. In theory this should keep big parties from filling the benches.The Soundsational parade was so cute! I especially loved the Mary Poppins section, including the chimney sweeps and the "carousel horses". What a creative way to incorporate a classic scene into a parade, just one more reason why I love Disney.
I would rate this parade quite high, especially when compared to the last parade, which shall remain nameless here. Celebrity sighting! Paul Rudd was in Tomorrowland on Thursday in the early evening with a plaid contingent. I didn't recognize him, but my friend did. It was a good way to introduce the "rich or famous" game. When I see plaids in the park with guests, I always like to guess if they are celebrities or just regular ole rich folks
.Indiana Jones be needing some love, ya'll! Went on this ride early in the day on Tuesday, made it past the idol room and the ride totally shut down. Lights on, rails up. We sat for about 15 minutes and then told we would be sent through and then allowed a re-ride. Rode almost the entire ride with lights on until the final scene when it was dark. Approached the loading area and the ride broke down again. At this point, we all wanted off the ride. We were told everyone was going to be evacuated and the ride was closing indefinitely. We were escorted off, no special fastpasses or anything. Dang, harsh Disney! I finally was able to get a rider switch pass so we didn't waste an FP. Later on, we rode again and I have to say that this ride needs some TLC, and I say this with all the love in my heart. No fire in the bridge scene or cool lasers or anything
, the part when the rats fall into your vehicle was out, and the final scene stopped in the middle and there was a huge pause before the end. Awkward. It was like watching a movie and the DVD skips around right during the climactic ending! Big Thunder was also hiccuping a lot during our visit. Tuesday we were in line for about 10 minutes and the ride shut down. They emptied out the entire queue. Ok, no biggie. We went to Indiana and it went 101 as well. Made it onto HM and then tried BTMRR again and it went down before we got on, crazy! We finally rode it once on Wednesday night and it was the scariest BTMRR ride ever! I was holding on for dear life, it felt like it had no brakes. We tried again on Thursday evening, but it was down again. Dang gremlins!
Ironically we had less problems in DCA, even though the cramped walkways made for a tight squeeze at times!
We both enjoyed Little Mermaid with reasonable wait times (always under 25 minutes or so), Ursula was especially impressive. Screamin' was a hit as was Toy Story. I kinda laughed after getting off of GSS, they basically repainted it. Not much of a rehab, but I understand that it is not destined to stay around long, so I understand why. Aladdin was amazing as usual, my friend was impressed with the quality of the production. He was totally freaked out by the Tower of Terror, especially since we had an especially creepy bellhop who played up the drama. We only rode it once . The only technical difficulty in DCA was Electronica. On Tuesday night, the opening of the portal was delayed and eventually cancelled. No big deal, though, they still had glowitos! The new front gates at DCA were very beautiful and the construction in that park seems to be rolling right along. The Carthay Circle Theater seems to be apparating out of nowhere! Amazing progress on that building. The Carsland area keeps looking better and better. We braved the Wheel of Death (non swinging) for a good look at the construction.
We had an amazing time, despite the crowds and the warm temps. Just a reminder to everyone out there who is hemming and hawing about dates and times and so on. It is Disneyland, it is amazing and magical and awe inspiring whenever you go. Even if you can only go in the middle of July (like my friend), just do it! As we were leaving the final day, he turned and said it would not be another 13 years before he returned again. I smiled.
