locals, what are your "rituals"?

[mr.bungle]

Being about an hour and change away from DL my fiancee and i have been AP holders for the last 3 years. We usually like to head down after work on fridays and sometimes stay with a friend in Tustin and go on a sunday morning.

When you go, what are your standard practices? rituals? quirky things you just have to do no matter what every time you go?

for us, i think my favorite thing to do is get there on a friday evening, in n out burger on the way down. Get there just before fireworks and go straight to tomorrow land infront of space mountain. They usually close down SM just before and during the fireworks. i stake my claim and when they open back up, i love just walking right on.


always at DCA we hit TOT and then grab a tortilla then hit soarin. i think now we need to work TSM into the route.

corn dog at corn dog castle

another fav. is to hit Chris n Pitt's after a day at DL. nothin like a good steak after a long day of dodging strollers

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

We always spend time with the gals who work at Baby Care. Comes with the territory.

When in DCA, after BC visit, we go next door to the "Tortilla Ride".

Our ritual pre-kids was to always hit the "dessert ride" at the Napa. That's changed!

Now we try to see the goats, Teacups with Daddy - cause you don't want to be around Mommy after them, Carousel. Oh yeah, the 6:30 parade. If we stay for fireworks, once we get a spot, one of us runs for Hot Cocoa at Coke Corner or the Bakery, while the other sits with the kids. Then we have cocoa during the show. Zoe and I always sing the "Wishes" song together during it, too!

Other than that, we try to mix it up every visit. Keep things fresher. We also don't mind not going on things. We like to do the little things people walk past.

I imagine that Pixie Hollow will end up on our "every visit" list.... The girls have Tink and Iridessa costumes that they love!

Oh - and I almost forgot - thanks to my friend's daughter, now Z has to have a handstamp every time we leave the park. We don't need them die to our passes, but since Katie had to have one when they visited us a couple months ago, Z sobs like a spoiled banshee if we walk out without it now. Oh well. Guess we have to train ourselves into a new habit or find out how to break her new one!

 

[Marciern22]

We always need tortillas! LOL! My DS is autistic and we r at DL A LOT!!! He loves those darn tortillas.
Our ritual for watching Fantasmic! (and I may regret saying this) is to hang out in front of HM during the first show. My DD usually goes on SM at this time, Brody, my DS, loves to stand over there and "conduct" the whole thing. Then we gather ourselves up while the crowd is watching Wishes and just as Julie Andrews is finishing speaking, we start moving slowly thru the crowd toward our front row seats.
While the whole crowd is heading toward the exit, the CMs aren't letting anyone go toward New Orleans Square.
Also while at DL, my DD and I like to notice the change in the flowers around the flagpole and the Partners statue. They r so pretty!

 

[Stacerita]

It always depends on who we are with and what time of the day we get there. But the one thing we always do is make a wish at the well when we go to DL. We've been doing that since DD was a baby. Shes 12 years old now. But we still do it.

 

[JaneJetson]

Being about an hour and change away from DL my fiancee and i have been AP holders for the last 3 years. We usually like to head down after work on fridays and sometimes stay with a friend in Tustin and go on a sunday morning.

When you go, what are your standard practices? rituals? quirky things you just have to do no matter what every time you go?

for us, i think my favorite thing to do is get there on a friday evening, in n out burger on the way down. Get there just before fireworks and go straight to tomorrow land infront of space mountain. They usually close down SM just before and during the fireworks. i stake my claim and when they open back up, i love just walking right on.


always at DCA we hit TOT and then grab a tortilla then hit soarin. i think now we need to work TSM into the route.

corn dog at corn dog castle

another fav. is to hit Chris n Pitt's after a day at DL. nothin like a good steak after a long day of dodging strollers

Since when have they closed Space Mountain during fireworks?? I've never heard of that. Nor have I ever experienced that (unless the ride was malfunctioning.)

 

[pumpkin5156]

We almost always get a churro! And if my son is with us we do Pirates at least 3 times. If it's a grown up trip we make sure and do everything I can't when my son is with me! I really like lingering on Main Street. It's just a good feeling...

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Hello mr.bungle! I'm down the grade from you, I'm over in Oxnard!!!

We always always always get a red hot from Corn Dog Castle.. And a Cherry Coke from the Coke Corner..

I guess it depends what we feel like, we try to change it up though..

We always try to catch the fireworks atleast once a weekend, even though we've seen it countless times. I love singing along...

We usually do Astro Orbitor too.. I have no clue why, but we love that ride..

 

[fairycat]

We always go do a wine tasting when ever we go into DCA. In fact most of them know me by name now. hahaha!

I so have to go this week!

 

[lulubelle]

Well, being our only child is 21, we have a different approach.
I like to take the train from DTD into Tomorrowland. First we get a FP for Space, then ride Buzz (sometimes twice) and occasionly ride Star Tours. Then we hit the "middle of the park" rides, Big Thunder, Teacups and Small World. Finally, get a FP for Indy, ride Jungle Cruise and Pirates, hit Indy and stroll down Main Street on the way out. If at night, we watch Wishes by the train station and head out before the masses right as it ends. I also love to ride the train around in a complete circle.

At DCA, we usually travel in a big circle. Rides we hit everytime are Monsters, Screamin', Stationary Sun Wheel car, Orange Stinger and Soarin'.

Of course if any ride had over a 15 minute standby wait, we skip it and do something else. Bear in mind, I do not go over holiday periods or in summer. I am spoiled by off season.

Dole Whips, Corn Dogs and Cafe Orleans are usual eats for us. And I love to shop (too much!)

I am in the parks at least 20 times per year, hubby not so much.

 

[Marciern22]

MMMMmmmmm... I feel the need for Bengal Barbecue right about now!

 

[mr.bungle]

Since when have they closed Space Mountain during fireworks?? I've never heard of that. Nor have I ever experienced that (unless the ride was malfunctioning.)

it was mid last year when we went maybe 3 times on a friday night. they closed down SM during the fireworks for some reason. the only reason i thought it was normal was because that particular show had fireworks all around the entire park.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

DD and I always hit star tours in DL and get a tortilla in DCA. Other than that we try to make each time different. We are so spoiled -- we never want to wait in line. We always know that we can ride the rides without much wait in the off season.

The only ride we wait for is TSMM. She loves that ride.

 

[JaneJetson]

it was mid last year when we went maybe 3 times on a friday night. they closed down SM during the fireworks for some reason. the only reason i thought it was normal was because that particular show had fireworks all around the entire park.

I think that was just a fluke. We've been on Space Mountain many, many times during the fireworks.

 

[kikiq]

We usually go on the weekends for our "date night". For the longest time, it was dinner at Plaza Inn, ride on Soarin' and a DL ride, whatever ride my DH wanted to check out.

We have a different routine now. This summer my DH refused to wait in TSM line at WDW and didn't want to wait in the line at DCA either, BUT several weeks as the wait times are less at night, I finally got him on the ride. So now our date night routine is dinner at either The Trattoria or Plaza Inn then we hit Buzz Lightyear and TSM to see who can get the highest scores. Right now, he's slightly ahead of me in Buzz, but I'm way ahead of him in TSM.
He says we'll be riding TSM until he beats me

Our family birthday tradition is it's not your birthday until you've spent it at DL and had dinner at Storytellers.