No app day: trip report and random thoughts

emtink

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
Yesterday, I did a 'no app' day with my daughter at DL. The idea was to not use the app at all, not even to check wait times for rides. We went in with some priority rides: Space, Big Thunder, and Haunted Mansion. Second priority rides were 'boat rides': Small World, Canal Boats, Pirates, Jungle Cruise. Other must-do items were buying ears, wandering NOS, checking out the Main St pumpkins, admiring the Halloween Tree after sunset, eating fried dough. We also had a dinner reservation for Cafe Orleans at 5:40. Weather forecasted a high of 95, and yep it was hot. We tracked wait times on an actual note pad. The longest ride line was Space for 50 minutes. The longest food line was Jolly Holiday at 20 minutes. I would say the park was moderately crowded, and crowds seemed to build during the day. In the evening when we left, there did not seem to be any decline in the number of guests.

7:30a entered M&F parking garage, ended up in PP
7:42a on tram
8:01a entered the park, it was already hot!
8:08a in line for Space Mountain, posted wait 10 min, actual wait 11 min
8:31a in line for Big Thunder, posted wait 20 min, actual wait 14 min
8:52a in line for Haunted Mansion, posted wait 30 min, actual wait17 min (getting in doom buggy)
9:21a in line for Mint Julep Bar, got food at 9:35, the mobile order window had no line but people seemed to be waiting a while before getting their items, we got regular beignets and the hibiscus julep (yum!)
Took the leisurely route through NOS on our way to Pirates, stopped in some shops, a very nice man took photos for us so I didn't have to take a terrible selfie. I asked at BB what a guest could do if they didn't have the app and wanted to eat without a reservation. The CM said to just check at off times, and that they would definitely seat a walk-up if they could. We all know the odds of that are abysmal, but its is technically possible.
9:54a in line for Pirates, posted wait 30 min, actual wait 11 min
10:35a no line for Fantasyland churro cart, got a churro and the pumpkin pie dip (yum!)
10:42a in line for Small World, posted wait 5 min, actual wait 3 min
11:10a in line at Jolly Holiday for lunch, seated with food at 11:30a
Then I stopped tracking times for a while. We did the Tiki Room, which had no wait. We did our ear shopping on Main St. We did Great Moments, which my daughter still loves. We did a grand circle tour on the train, Main St station had no wait.
After the train, we sat on a bench in the shade. It was hot. We were both feeling tired, and my daughter wanted to ride Space again. I decided that we needed cold, sugary beverages.
2:00p in line at Starbucks, drinks in hand at 2:07
2:15p in line for Space, posted wait 45 min, actual wait 50 min
3:15p in line for Buzz, posted wait 25 min, actual wait 49 min (I was not aware of any breakdowns, I don't know why the line moved so slowly or why the wait time was so off)
time unknown, we did the Sleeping Beauty castle walk thru
4:16p in line for Canal boats, actual wait 15 min, I didn't see a posted wait time, Fantasyland was bananas, so we bailed and headed back towards NOS
4:50p on raft for Tom Sawyer, there was no wait, we stayed on the island until it closed
We headed over to Cafe Orleans to check in for our reservation, we checked in at the podium at 5:26 for our 5:40 res. I had to give a phone number so they could text when the table was ready. We stepped away to go wander, and I immediately got the text to come back at 5:27 lol. So we walked back and got seated on the patio. Dinner was fine. My daughter somehow convinced me that we should ride Splash even though I hate getting drenched on rides. We headed that way, saw the line looked long and the posted wait was 60 min. She didn't want to wait that long.
6:17p in line for Winnie the Pooh, posted wait 25 min, actual wait 13 min
6:48p in line for Mr Toad, actual wait 33 min, I didn't see a posted wait time. The line looked short and it moved quickly. But it broke down just as we got the front on the line. We decided to wait, as it sounded like it was a quick fix. The wait wasn't too bad, we were indoors with AC. Also, I enjoyed observing their maintenance lock out process. The CM who was operating the ride was still being trained. I'm sure it was stressful to have technical problems while a bunch of guests are staring at you. But she did a great job, even chatted with guests when she had a moment. My daughter declared Mr Toad 'worth the wait'.
7:25p in line for Pinocchio, I didn't see a posted wait time. We were in line for maybe two minutes when it broke down. I took that as a sign that we were done with rides for the day lol.
We headed back to Frontierland and admired the Halloween Tree. Then we went to Gibson Girl and got ice cream, which we ate at the train station overlooking Main St. We made a quick stop in World of Disney so I could get a specific item I hadn't seen in the park. I think we were back at the car around 8.

Over all, we had a great day. The wait times for the most part were reasonable, and generally less than the posted time. And even when we were waiting, I had some wonderful, silly conversations with my daughter.

Tips for a no-app day
Be prepared to wait. Bring distractions (my daughter doodled on our note pad). Bring conversation. Notice the small details, the plants, the background music.
Use your eyeballs, and don't solely rely on posted wait times. If a line looks shorter than the posted wait, it probably is.
Take advantage of rides/food/whatevers that pop up. If the churro cart has no line, get that churro. If the marching band is marching by, stop and watch.
Eat at non-peak times, lines will be shorter and it will be easier to find a place to sit.
If you really want to keep your phone tucked away, remember to wear a watch! I forgot to do this and so I was pulling out my phone a lot just to check the time.
Have your priority rides in mind, and do those first. We were able to get our top 3 done in the first hour, even though folks got in early and we weren't there for rope drop.

Other observations
DL needs more custodial cast members. I saw lots of CMs emptying trash cans. I only saw one sweeper the entire day. There was trash around the park, not a lot but any trash at all is unusual.
DL needs more maintenance cast members. I noticed areas that needed to be repainted, water features that weren't working, etc. They set a high bar, and they are no longer reaching it.
All of my CM interactions were good to great. They really are the ones who make the magic in the park.
 


I am so glad you gave this update! I loved hearing about your planning and now the actual day. It sounds incredible and I'm hoping to remind myself on our next trip to slow down and take it all in. I forget this sometimes and hustle around like crazy, finding the shortest lines and quickest food.

I am very jealous of your Starbucks experience. Our last two with the one inside DL were both hour long experiences. This was in the morning though.
 
I am so glad you gave this update! I loved hearing about your planning and now the actual day. It sounds incredible and I'm hoping to remind myself on our next trip to slow down and take it all in. I forget this sometimes and hustle around like crazy, finding the shortest lines and quickest food.

I am very jealous of your Starbucks experience. Our last two with the one inside DL were both hour long experiences. This was in the morning though.
Thank you! Yes, I feel like we lucked out with the short line. The queue wasn't full, and I picked the side that had a lot of strollers in it.
 


Glad you had an engaging and wonderful day without technology. Yes, you can survive at Disneyland without the app. Great memories for you and your daughter!
 
Glad you had a good time. Those tips definitely apply whether you are using the app or not.
I was a little suspicious of those posted wait times before, and now I'm treating them as 'suggestions'. The one that bothers me is Buzz. That line looked long, but it used to be such a fast loader. Now with LL, its hard to gauge how quickly a like will move. But some of them, like HM, I knew weren't going to take that long.
 
We were there the same day and I agree it was hot! Glad you had a good non app day. As this was our first time in about 20 years we were beholden to the app for navigation and Genie +.
 
We were there the same day and I agree it was hot! Glad you had a good non app day. As this was our first time in about 20 years we were beholden to the app for navigation and Genie +.
I wouldn't recommend doing a no-app day for folks who don't visit the parks often. I hope Genie never led you astray!
 

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