J
JenniferW
Guest
Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to DCA and DL with a girlfriend of mine. I usually am there on weekends and during the summer, and boy was this a different experience. My hubby and I spent a weekend in San Diego and he felt "moused out" and since I had vacation anyway, decided to stay down and go to the park with a girlfriend who had never been to DCA. We bid on Priceline and stayed at the Residence Inn in Anaheim on Clementine Road. It was fine, nothing special. No fee for parking, free breakfast, just the basics and a free shuttle.
We had 4 day park hopper passes and I can't stress the value of these enough! We were at DL gates right at 9am and went straight to Matterhorn. They've been down for rehab the last 2 visits I've been so I was quite eager. I can't figure out what they did. There was no one there, I figured just because we were so early, and kept waiting for the crowds to arrive... We rode the bobsleds twice then off to Fanstasyland. Checked out all the classics and then off to DCA for its opening, we decided to get there about 10:10am. Just walked right in there and straight to Screaming and ended up riding that 3 times. There were so few people it was amazing. Needless to say we spent the whole day going from ride to ride with almost no wait, the longest was 5 minutes at most. What a dream!
The biggest surprise was the character interaction. Normally there are so many kids that I feel a bit bad taking up their time : ) I usually wait in line, get my pics and then don't spend a lot of time. Today was a whole different day! Just walking in DCA there were characters just dying to hang out: I danced with Goofy, communicated with Chip about Dale, giggled with Minnie and posed with Mickey. Now as if this wasn't enough... when we went to the attraction where you take a personality test in the Beast's castle, Goofy was right behind me the whole time, watching and adding to the fun. My friend was dying of laughter as he reacted to my answers. When we did Ursula's voice over the for character Mickey was our audience. I just loved it! We did have a few quick interactions with characters at DL, but nothing compared to DCA. I hgihly recommend this for anyone. Get the park hopper and go over!
We walked back to DL later on and the "crowds" still weren't more than a handful of people. On a few rides they let us ride twice without getting off. I asked a few people what the deal was and they said midweek was slow, it was forecasted to rain that day but didn't. and there was a sizeable convention in town so it was even slower than usual.
Another unexpected surprise was when the old firetruck seemed to be waiting for us each time we wanted to walk up and down Main Street and it was amazing because there was only one couple shairng it with us and one time it was just the two of us. The driver keep telling us to wave because we had ouw own chaffeur and people would assume we were famous! I had never riden in it before.
Had lunch at the San Francisco style place, Brocolli and Cheese soup, very good and kept my little packets of butter for when we went to the tortilla shop and the sourdough tour.
All in all a fabulous day! I have to admit now that I own Disney stock I feel a bit bad when the crowds aren't there, but I had such a day, I can't complain!
Jenn
We had 4 day park hopper passes and I can't stress the value of these enough! We were at DL gates right at 9am and went straight to Matterhorn. They've been down for rehab the last 2 visits I've been so I was quite eager. I can't figure out what they did. There was no one there, I figured just because we were so early, and kept waiting for the crowds to arrive... We rode the bobsleds twice then off to Fanstasyland. Checked out all the classics and then off to DCA for its opening, we decided to get there about 10:10am. Just walked right in there and straight to Screaming and ended up riding that 3 times. There were so few people it was amazing. Needless to say we spent the whole day going from ride to ride with almost no wait, the longest was 5 minutes at most. What a dream!
The biggest surprise was the character interaction. Normally there are so many kids that I feel a bit bad taking up their time : ) I usually wait in line, get my pics and then don't spend a lot of time. Today was a whole different day! Just walking in DCA there were characters just dying to hang out: I danced with Goofy, communicated with Chip about Dale, giggled with Minnie and posed with Mickey. Now as if this wasn't enough... when we went to the attraction where you take a personality test in the Beast's castle, Goofy was right behind me the whole time, watching and adding to the fun. My friend was dying of laughter as he reacted to my answers. When we did Ursula's voice over the for character Mickey was our audience. I just loved it! We did have a few quick interactions with characters at DL, but nothing compared to DCA. I hgihly recommend this for anyone. Get the park hopper and go over!
We walked back to DL later on and the "crowds" still weren't more than a handful of people. On a few rides they let us ride twice without getting off. I asked a few people what the deal was and they said midweek was slow, it was forecasted to rain that day but didn't. and there was a sizeable convention in town so it was even slower than usual.
Another unexpected surprise was when the old firetruck seemed to be waiting for us each time we wanted to walk up and down Main Street and it was amazing because there was only one couple shairng it with us and one time it was just the two of us. The driver keep telling us to wave because we had ouw own chaffeur and people would assume we were famous! I had never riden in it before.
Had lunch at the San Francisco style place, Brocolli and Cheese soup, very good and kept my little packets of butter for when we went to the tortilla shop and the sourdough tour.
All in all a fabulous day! I have to admit now that I own Disney stock I feel a bit bad when the crowds aren't there, but I had such a day, I can't complain!
Jenn
