Just back! We braved the rains!

[momto2nenas]

We were at Disneyland Sun-Tuesday this week. Sunday was insanely crowded, more crowded than any Feb, March, May, June, or October trip we've ever taken...we were smart with our FPs even though we didn't arrive till the 3:30 Parade.

We ate dinner at Cafe Orleans with only a 25 min. wait and as usual our service and timely-ness of our food was terrible. We keep eating there and it's always bad. I finally decided I was going to talk to a manager after our food we waited 32 mins. for was cold and then took another 12 mins. to replace.. however the head CM came to us about the problem first and upgraded our AP discount to 15% off and gave us a family fast pass type thing for any ride in the park. (We chose IASM). We love the food at Cafe Orleans but the service gets worse and worse so we won't be back...

We saw the snow from the que at IASM but were too far away to be "in it". Even with our courtesy pass for IASM we waited about 35 mins. for the ride but it was AWESOME! Our 2yr old DD is currently obsessed with IASM so it was great.

We saw Fireworks and walked by Fantasmic and rode several rides after the shows were over and the crowds thinned out.

Monday was COLD and WET like crazy. We had ponchos but it was still a little miserable but the crowds were GONE gone gone! Fantasyland was a ghostland that morning and so was much of the park. We went to the hotel at 1/2 day to dry off and change shoes/socks.

We skipped over to California Adventure at 6pm like everyone else but it was completely empty as well. I'd read here before our trip that the speculation was it would be insane but it was far from it. We walked on to every ride we wanted including Little Mermaid. The only one that had a line was Toy Story and it wasn't that important to us this trip anyway. DD9 and I rode Tower of Terror for the first time at night, that was fun! Seeing Disneyland all lit up for Christmas from way up was great!

Tuesday morning was very quiet as well and we rode most of Fantasyland with no wait, had a great breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace and finished the trip with a family ride on POTC and hot coffee/chocolate and treats from Main Street.

Best tip I can offer for a rainy day: Ponchos (you wouldn't believe the amount of people we saw with just sweatshirts and cold miserable little children walking around!) and change shoes/socks midday. The best little spot to escape the rain and warm up is the eating area at the Mexican restaurant in Frontier land. It's covered and they have heat lamps and serve hot chocolate!

I'm working on a mini trip report as well with a few photos for the Trip Report Board. Merry Christmas!

 

[Gisele]

Welcome back!

Sounds like well apart from the Café Orleans experience (Again, no less) y'all had a very nice, fun filled vacation. I agree, rain ponchos can be a real life saver, staying dry wise.
Hot chocolate about right now sounds good....

 

[Hummingbird15]

Hi there,
My daughter and I were there Sun-Tues (11th-13th) as well. Sunday was about as busy as July and early August trips we've taken. We arrived in the park at about 1 pm and stayed until 11 pm since we knew it was going to close early and rain on Monday. We sat on the curb on Main St. at 4:30 for the tree lighting and 5:30 parade. It was wonderful!! We watched the fireworks from near the Matterhorn. The crowds cleared out after the fireworks. We rode all of the outdoor rides and enjoyed all of the beautiful lights and decorations while it was still dry. We were happy to be staying at the Park Vue this time because it was such a short walk back after a long day, even shorter than to the DL Hotel where we stayed in April.

I agree that Monday was pretty cold, wet and miserable...but we made the best of it, enjoying the very low crowds. We saw long lines at IASM on Sun. night but Mon (and Tue) it was just walk on. I appreciated all of the rainy day suggestions that we received here. We brought a change of socks and disposable ponchos (packs of 2 for $1. at the Dollar Tree). We went to CA after DL closed. It was very confusing with all of the walls up. It was like a maze. We rode Soarin, LM and TSMM and spent some time in Blue Sky Cellar. We've seen WOC and were too tired (and cold!) to stay for it, so we made it an early night.

We arrived at DL about 7:45 am on Tues which was our best day. It was a clear sunny day with very low crowds. We walked onto any ride we wanted which was fantastic! No FP needed anywhere. We headed to CA mid-morning and the crowds were even lower there. We were thrilled to see that TSMM had about a 5 minute wait. We rode it 3 times back to back! We spent our last couple of hours in DL before we sadly had to leave at 2 pm. It's amazing how much you can see and do without lines. We rode everything we wanted to at least once and our favorite rides twice that day.

We've been to DL at least once a year for many years and have never seen crowds as low as we did on Mon. and Tues. Until this year we always had to plan our trips around a school schedule. I'm spoiled now and envy the locals who can regularly go during the week during these low attendance days!.

 

[DLR29]

I was there on Monday as well and loved the crowds. Even though there was a "line" for Toy Story, it was only 25 min in the evening (around 7pm). We waited about 15 min for Space and 25 for Star Tours in the middle of the day. It was a great day, although as you mentioned it was FREEZING!

 

[lisachrystine]

We were there Monday as well. It was miserable in the morning. We did Minnie and Friends, which was a great thing to do on a rainy day except everyone looks pretty disheveled in their pictures! We sent DD2 home with my parents and DS4 and DS6 stayed with DH and I and we got right on Star Tours, Buzz and Pirates before we turned in for lunch. We went back to CA in the evening and it was amazing. I wish it had been like that all day. It wasn't too cold, everything was washed clean and there were no lines and no crowds. We waited about 10 min. for TSMM.