Just Back - Random Notes

[longtimedisneylurker]

We visited from November 17-23 for our annual Thanksgiving trip. I told the boys before we went that we might take a break from Thanksgiving next year because of the crowds and expense. This might still be true, but we did have a good time this year although we ended up leaving one day early since I didn't feel well toward the end of the trip.

We decided to be very mellow this trip, and that worked well for us. With so many days to enjoy the parks and having visited so many times previously, we don't really feel pressure to run around trying to get everything in. While there were definitely things we missed, partly because we lost that last day, we did get to do most of what we wanted to do.

So on to some of my notes in no particular order:

For those who have been looking for them, I found both the Carthay Circle CD and the Carsland one. The Carsland one was in Sarge's Surplus, and the Carthay Circle one was in Elias and Co. Off the Page had also been selling the Carthay Circle CD but was out of stock.

Twice a day each during the holiday season you can learn to draw Wayne and Lanny from Prep and Landing at the Animation Academy in the Animation building. This was for some reason extremely exciting for DS11. He usually likes to do one of the learn to draw sessions every trip or two.

My DS13 can finally make buffet pricing worth it. Our tradition has been to have Thanksgiving dinner at Storyteller's Cafe, and, boy, did DS13 put down a lot of food. While the buffet selection isn't huge, our family finds the choices very tasty, and the desserts once again did not disappoint.

Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses were disconnected. They in fact said right on the fastpass tickets themselves that you could go immediately and get a fastpass for another ride which we did on one occasion.

Screamin' is still off-network as well, so there was one morning when we got three DCA fastpasses in quick succession.

If you're not going to Carsland, Toy Story has an awesomely short line first thing after park opening. We were able to ride twice in a row very quickly on Thanksgiving morning.

Lines to get into the parks seemed to move very slowly at almost any time throughout the day with the ID checks, and this did start to feel a little frustrating after a while.

DCA opened the gates at 7:30 AM each morning to allow people to start lining up for RSR fastpasses or rope drop.

To give a little sense of how busy things were, RSR fastpasses generally ran out between 9:30 and 9:45 each morning. On Tuesday at 1 PM, I picked up fastpasses for Star Tours with a 7:05 PM return time. On Wednesday at 11:30 AM, we got Space Mountain fastpasses with a 4:20 PM return time.

We ate mostly counter service food and generally enjoyed our choices. DS11 finally got to try Red's Apple Freeze from the Cozy Cone Motel and said it was delicious. He also tried the macaroni and cheese hot dog and thought it was super yummy. We finally did a Jazz Kitchen beignet and Mickey beignet comparison, and our family likes the Mickey beignets better. They just seemed less salty to us. We tried the special mint frosting holiday cupcake, and it was just ok. It didn't taste like toothpaste at least, but it wasn't really that exciting. We did try the lemon cupcake at Hungry Bear for a second time and still really liked it. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best cupcake at DLR. I generally find the cupcakes at DLR just don't live up to the hype.

We stayed at Hojo as we almost always do, and, honestly, I can't say enough good things about them. We had a very comfortable experience there, and the staff treated us well.

I'll add more if I think of anything. Feel free to ask questions, and I will answer if I can.

 

[sonnyjane]

I think the biggest news in your thread was RSR being disconnected?!?!?! Anyone else been recently? Fluke or (semi-)permanent?!!?!??

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I think the biggest news in your thread was RSR being disconnected?!?!?! Anyone else been recently? Fluke or (semi-)permanent?!!?!??

It was quite surprising to us too! We got RSR fastpasses on Tuesday and Thursday, and it was that way both times. We didn't ask any CMs about this, so we have no idea how long it's been going on or how temporary or permanent this is.

 

[DharmaLou]

we were there the same days as you at HoJo also. And yes, even up until well after 9am there were only 10 minute waits at TSMM and 5 minute waits at Screamin'. DD & I could stay on the swings, jellyfish & zephyr multiple times without having to get off, too.

 

[daniele_ut]

I can verify that RSR fast passes are disconnected as well. We got them on Wednesday morning and Thanksgiving morning and both times they said we could hold another fast pass immediately. We are also staying at Hojo and having a great stay. I honestly expected larger crowds this week given the research I did. We had an amazing 2 days at DCA with pretty short waits for everything except RSR. Even that we all managed to ride twice! DL has been more crowded the last 2 days but still not as bad as I expected.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I think the thing with the crowds is that with the new rides, space, and offerings at DCA and with most things up and running, the crowds spread out better. There are probably more people in the parks than last Thanksgiving week, but the parks absorb them better.

 

[Malcon10t]

I think the biggest news in your thread was RSR being disconnected?!?!?! Anyone else been recently? Fluke or (semi-)permanent?!!?!??

Its been like that since opening. Since most get their FP for much later in the day, I assumed they did it to help out keeping things flowing in the park.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Its been like that since opening. Since most get their FP for much later in the day, I assumed they did it to help out keeping things flowing in the park.

I too assumed it has to do with keeping people busy and happy since for most people their passes would be locked out for the first two hours of the day once they get that RSR pass if it was connected. I had never read on the boards any other comment about RSR being disconnected, so it surprised me. Has it really been that way since opening? I guess we didn't notice. Has it always explicitly stated on the fastpass that you could get another right away? We never noticed that wording on the fastpasses we got in July.

ETA: Just asked DH and he doesn't remember that wording being on the tickets when we were there in July. Found a few photos people took and posted of their RSR fastpasses in June and July, and they were printed normally and noted the time that the next fastpass would be available. Nothing unusual about those fastpasses. So if they weren't connected before, Disney wasn't advertising the fact, you just had to experiment and find out like people have done for Screamin' and Roger.

 

[mrswh]

RSR still disconnected as of this morning. I do not recall that being the case over Labor Day weekend.

 

[wiigirl]

Its been like that since opening. Since most get their FP for much later in the day, I assumed they did it to help out keeping things flowing in the park.

Ahhhh......

 

[sonnyjane]

Its been like that since opening. Since most get their FP for much later in the day, I assumed they did it to help out keeping things flowing in the park.

But that only ties up FP's for the first two hours of the day, not until their return time. And as others have posted, this was not their experience just a few months ago, and there are photos posted online of RSR FP's that do indeed prove that they have not always been disconnected.

 

[luulu1999]

What exactly does disconnected mean....you can't do fp for it?

 

[sonnyjane]

What exactly does disconnected mean....you can't do fp for it?

Disconnected means not connected to the rest of the FP system in the park. For example, when you get a FP in the system, you can't get ANOTHER FP until your window is up OR until 2 hours have passed, whichever comes first. Some rides are DISCONNECTED which means that you can get a FP for that ride but then get a FP for another ride immediately - the standard rules don't apply. The two parks are also disconnected from each other. You can get a FP for a ride in Disneyland then walk across the way and get a FP in California Adventure immediately.

 

[Malcon10t]

But that only ties up FP's for the first two hours of the day, not until their return time. And as others have posted, this was not their experience just a few months ago, and there are photos posted online of RSR FP's that do indeed prove that they have not always been disconnected.

I know I got RSR FP and Soarin' FP with in 30 mins of each other over 4th of July. Not sure how I did it then.

 

[sonnyjane]

I know I got RSR FP and Soarin' FP with in 30 mins of each other over 4th of July. Not sure how I did it then.

Weird. I dunno. In my searching, I've found pictures posted of FP's distributed in August (so after your trip) that clearly follow the normal (aka not disconnected) rules.

 

[TB'sWidow]

Could you tell me more about hojo, as we will be staying there in march. This will be our first time at DL. Thanks

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Could you tell me more about hojo, as we will be staying there in march. This will be our first time at DL. Thanks

Is there anything in particular you would like to know?

We have stayed there 18 times. We have tried the queen rooms in building 2, the Disney facing queen room in building 1, and the kids suite in building 1. The kids suite is definitely our favorite: two connected rooms, one with a king bed and the other with a bunk bed and pull-out sofa and two bathrooms. For quietness, I like the building 2 rooms best. The Disney facing rooms do give you at least a partial view of the park/fireworks, but I found it a little noisy for my sensitivities. I'm a light sleeper though, and the rest of my family wasn't really bothered. The freeway facing rooms in building 1 have been much improved with the addition of sound-proofing on all but the 7th floor. Rooms on the top floor (7th) of building 1 and the top floor of the two-story buildings that have the double-double rooms have skylights, and I prefer not to have all that light coming in so haven't stayed in one of those.

The rooms aren't fancy, but they have been doing a lot of upgrades in recent years. I know all the queen rooms and kids suites have flat screen t.v.s. We noticed too that they seem to have recently updated their channel package, so there are now a lot more choices. There is a mini fridge, microwave, keurig coffeemaker, and a safe in each room. The hotel offers wi-fi and says they are working on upgrading it. The wi-fi definitely still needs some improvement, but I will say it was better this trip than on our previous ones so I do think they are making progress.

I have not experienced any problems with cleanliness during any of our stays, and housekeeping is less intrusive than ever before. A few years ago we occasionally had issues with housekeeping ignoring the Do Not Disturb sign or popping in unexpectedly mid-afternoon for an extra check even though the room had already been cleaned. We have not encountered any such problems now for well over a year. Also, they recently added an express housekeeping option which we actually really liked. If you ask for it, they will come in and empty the trash, change the towels, and replace the toiletries and coffee supplies, guaranteed done by 1 PM. This is great if you want to take a mid-afternoon break and not be disturbed. We weren't too fussed about having the beds made up or anything else done, so we took advantage of the express service on a couple of our days.

The property is very well-kept. The kid's water play area can be a lot of fun, mostly for kids 12 and under I would say. DS13 seems to have finally lost interest in it. The water play area has a splash area for tots, a water play structure with water slides, and some water cannons. In a separate area, there is a decent size pool. Some have complained that the pool runs on the cool side, but during the summer my family has never complained. At holiday time, they put up a Christmas tree, so that adds to the festive feeling of the season.

If you have any specific questions that I didn't cover here, feel free to ask.

 

[TB'sWidow]

Thank you so much for that in depth review. I am bringing my children an grandchildren to celebrate my 50th birthday an since I have never been I guess I just wanted some reviews from someone who recently went

 

[Eeee-va]

I think the biggest news in your thread was RSR being disconnected?!?!?! Anyone else been recently? Fluke or (semi-)permanent?!!?!??

November 1, RSR was NOT disconnected; I have a photo of the FP and my return time was 12:30 PM. (The park opened at 10 AM and we got there a bit after opening.) I double-checked to make sure I hadn't missed an important change!

I almost wonder if they disconnect it during BUSIER times to help ensure all the other rides' FPs get distributed. With RSR tying most people up for their first 2 hours in the park, I'd wager that the FPs at other rides would go unused, even when the park is very crowded.

 

[ccvh]

We also found the RSR fastpasses said "go ahead and get another", so we went and got them for Cali Screaming', which stated on them that we could not get another FP for the allotted time. But I'd heard that the ride was disconnected, so we got ToT ones also, so counting WoC we had four fastpasses in hand before 9:00.