Our 3rd Annual Holiday Trip to DL in November - November 22nd - 25th, 2013 Post #3416

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – June 10, 2012– Part 7​

After a nice morning at DL & DCA, I was back at my hotel with my DA and rested up until we head on back to the DLR. Our next stop would be lunch and it would be a great idea to go to the ESPN Zone for lunch in the afternoon. I like to eat at the ESPN Zone everytime I am with my DA since we like to watch sporting events. But there wasn't any big spoting event that time, so we knew that it wouldn't be too crowded to have lunch.

We left BWAI around 11:45pm and heading on back to the DLR. When we got through the esplanade, I thought that we should go pick up our wristbands at the ticket booth. But when we got to the esplanade, the ticket booths from the bus plaza area were full and we didn't want to wait in those long lines.

Earlier when I was in DCA, there was a stand right by CL that was selling wristbands for the preview of the AP holders. I thought that would be a great place to get our wristbands so we don't have to wait in those long lines at the ticket booths.

So we head on over to DCA and had to go through the regular line in order to get inside DCA. We had to walk through Condor Flats and had to walk past BVS in order to get close to CL entrance. The park crowd level started to pick up around noon that day and I knew that it was going to be another busy day at DCA or DL, but it was nice that CL & BVS are opened for the preview.

Over at the stand where they are selling the AP wristbands and also handing out the wristbands for the people who pre-paid them which was a good thing so we didn't have t wait at the ticket booths at the esplanade.

Our color for that night was yellow while I saw green and blue for the other times that day.

Afer we got our wristbands, we head on over to BVS to get some pics until we head on over to the ESPN Zone for lunch.

More pics around BVS

Another look at the fountain

So we went through the entrance back to BVS during the preview. It was a little bit busier then the other day during the preview, but it was still walkable. A very nice beautiful day whicih is perfect to see BVS.

There is Chip & Dale

We just went roaming around BVS and the stores as well.

More light pole pictures on BVS.

After looking around BVS, we head on out of BVS and over towards the GCH so we don't have to go through the esplanade where it can be crowded.

Condor Flats area is starting to pick up with more and more guests around the area. I wasn't surprise to see Condor Flats so crowded since it is right by the entrance and exit of DCA.

We went through the GCH and towards DTD. While we were walking in DTD over to the ESPN Zone, I had to see the new Lego Store which was renovated and opened a few weeks ago. It looks even better then the old building. The one that I really like the most was the Maleficent dragon fighting Price Eric. I have seen that lego dragon before, I believe there was one in DTD at WDW that has a similar one.

So we head on over to the ESPN Zone and the good thing that there was barely anyone inside the restaurant even though it was close to lunch time. So we had lunch and enjoyed ourselves until it was time to head on back to DL/DCA that afternoon.

After finishing up around 1:30pm at the ESPN Zone, we head on back to the esplanade. We didn't know what park to go so I will tell you what park we went that afternoon.

 

[kylie71]

Thanks, all caught up again! Great pics of a slow morning at Disneyland. Also, love the pics from MFWOD... great to see it all the mountain range all completed from above!
Great update!

Lori

 

[franandaj]

Thank you Alison. It was actually Lucky Fortune Cookery at the Pacific Wharf what I meant to say. Maybe I did say LFT at the Lucky Fortune Cookery which should be LFC.

I was just messing with you. I knew what you meant, but figured you had LFT on the brain after the Preview. You are just so into acronyms and confuse me all the time I had to mess with you on the LFT vs LFC!

BTW nice pictures from the MFWoD of Carsland!

 

[tksbaskets]

Hi Bret,
SO many great pictures to see! I couldn't believe how empty DL was on this morning. You are right about your score on BLAB . I noticed Indy was broken down quite often on our trips too. You need to use the FP when you see the ride working not when you really wanted to work it into your day.

I love the pictures you get from MFW. Watching Carsland be built from your MFW pictures has been great!

Looking forward to your next installment

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

Thanks, all caught up again! Great pics of a slow morning at Disneyland. Also, love the pics from MFWOD... great to see it all the mountain range all completed from above!
Great update!

Lori

Thank you Lori. It is so amazing to see Cadillac Range completed in just four years as well as the rest of Cars Land.

I was just messing with you. I knew what you meant, but figured you had LFT on the brain after the Preview. You are just so into acronyms and confuse me all the time I had to mess with you on the LFT vs LFC!

BTW nice pictures from the MFWoD of Carsland!

It's no problem Alison. After I looked back at what I said of the acronyms at Lucky Fortune Cookery. I will try not to use too many acronyms on my TR and when I talk to you. Just the ones that are simple.

Thank you

Hi Bret,
SO many great pictures to see! I couldn't believe how empty DL was on this morning. You are right about your score on BLAB . I noticed Indy was broken down quite often on our trips too. You need to use the FP when you see the ride working not when you really wanted to work it into your day.

I love the pictures you get from MFW. Watching Carsland be built from your MFW pictures has been great!

Looking forward to your next installment

TK

Thank you TK. I was a little surprise to see DL empty that morning. Just like the time when I was there in March and this is the summer time which it should be busy. But it turned out great that it was empty. The score was nice when I rode it that morning. No surprise to see Indy broken down at least once a day. As you know that I like to collect FP for each ride and since I have rode everything at both parks (except for the Red Trolley which I will do in the future) I am not in a rush to ride anything even on a nice morning at DL. I understand what you are saying and I will try to go on rides when they are running.

It was nice to see CL built up since 2009 and it is going to be fun to go back to CL (hopefully it will be calmer when we go back to the DLR one day).

Thank you TK.


I will have the next installment up shortly today.

I also see that you are back Kim (kmedina) and I hope that you had a great trip.

 

[kmedina]

Xander and I got to ride Mandy this trip. Crap rode Mona. Thanks to the big double stroller, Connor did not get to ride at all. We drove by the Mad T party on Mandy, and it did not seem like many people were there. I got to ride the Matterhorn using the single rider line. The changes were not huge considering how long it was down. Are you going to that passholder event at the end of this month? I know you had not decided last I read.

Great shots of Magical. We never got to watch it. After watching the MMY show, we knew we would not get great seats. That combined with the fact that Crap made it clear he wanted to leave after the fireworks meant I would not get to use our Star Tours fastpasses either. We rode Buzz instead, which Xander claimed was his favorite ride this trip. Then, five minutes before the show, Xander and I went on Star Tours while Crap and Connor walked back to the room.

I scored 130k on Buzz and was so proud. That may be my highest score ever. The top score for the month was 5??,???. You are right near the top. It could even be you for all I know. I was really hoping you would see a soft opening for the Matterhorn. Bummer. The line for Merida was insane when we were there too at all hours of the day. Love the flower shots.

Excellent shots from MFW. I had Crap take some this trip. Hopefully, he got some good ones. I have not started the uploading yet, so I have not seen any of them. There was only one person in front of me in Cone five for popcorn. The busiest line while I was there was the ice cream cone. We waited 55 minutes and 45 minutes for TSMM this trip. It seems like nothing compared to WDW. We got one of those free token tickets too but decided not to attend. Our bellman said the cast member preview dates were Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I do not think any cast members were at your previews on Saturday or Sunday unless they had a special exemption.

I spent a lot of time on BVS on 06-21-12 in the morning but Crap had the camera with him in the 55 minute line to get a RSR fastpass. I got as many photopass pictures as I could. I doubt Crap got a lot of pictures of it though. It was really beautiful in person. We loved eating at the ESPNZone that was here in Vegas and were sad when they decided to close it. My SIL worked there, so she was more sad than we were. Hope you had a nice lunch.

 

[kmedina]

I also see that you are back Kim (kmedina) and I hope that you had a great trip.

Thanks Bret. I reading your segments while you were typing this, so I just saw it. We had a great trip.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Xander and I got to ride Mandy this trip. Crap rode Mona. Thanks to the big double stroller, Connor did not get to ride at all. We drove by the Mad T party on Mandy, and it did not seem like many people were there. I got to ride the Matterhorn using the single rider line. The changes were not huge considering how long it was down. Are you going to that passholder event at the end of this month? I know you had not decided last I read.

Great shots of Magical. We never got to watch it. After watching the MMY show, we knew we would not get great seats. That combined with the fact that Crap made it clear he wanted to leave after the fireworks meant I would not get to use our Star Tours fastpasses either. We rode Buzz instead, which Xander claimed was his favorite ride this trip. Then, five minutes before the show, Xander and I went on Star Tours while Crap and Connor walked back to the room.

I scored 130k on Buzz and was so proud. That may be my highest score ever. The top score for the month was 5??,???. You are right near the top. It could even be you for all I know. I was really hoping you would see a soft opening for the Matterhorn. Bummer. The line for Merida was insane when we were there too at all hours of the day. Love the flower shots.

Excellent shots from MFW. I had Crap take some this trip. Hopefully, he got some good ones. I have not started the uploading yet, so I have not seen any of them. There was only one person in front of me in Cone five for popcorn. The busiest line while I was there was the ice cream cone. We waited 55 minutes and 45 minutes for TSMM this trip. It seems like nothing compared to WDW. We got one of those free token tickets too but decided not to attend. Our bellman said the cast member preview dates were Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I do not think any cast members were at your previews on Saturday or Sunday unless they had a special exemption.

I spent a lot of time on BVS on 06-21-12 in the morning but Crap had the camera with him in the 55 minute line to get a RSR fastpass. I got as many photopass pictures as I could. I doubt Crap got a lot of pictures of it though. It was really beautiful in person. We loved eating at the ESPNZone that was here in Vegas and were sad when they decided to close it. My SIL worked there, so she was more sad than we were. Hope you had a nice lunch.

Nice to hear from you Kim after you got back from your trip. I'm sorry to hear that Connor didn't get to ride on the monorails. I was going to ask you about the voices on the monorails since they are different people. My DA didn't like the voices and would prefer the old voice when riding the monorail. When you past Mad T Party, was it at night or during the day? I didn't see Mad T Party at night since I was not that interested.

Glad that you got to ride the Matterhorn using the single rider line. I haven't seen the video of riding the updated monorail with the new bobsleds and I am trying not to see it until I go back and ride it myself. And of course videotaping it when I ride it.

As of now, I am not going back down to Anaheim for the passholder event at the end of the month. I was really disappointed that I couldn't go down and I wanted to go down so badly. But with hotel prices being high at this time of the summer, crowd levels are extremely high especially at CL and I have to work that weekend so I couldn't go that week. Since you were gone, my DB and his GF are considering going to DL in mid August and I might join them so they can save some money. So this is a potential trip but right now it is all talk and I will keep everyone updated if we go or not in mid August.

Thank you. I was happy with the firework trails of Magical during my trip. Nice to hear that you got to watch MMY. What do you think about MMY at IASW and how do you compare both IASW at DL to Cinderella Castle at MK when you went in December? You did tell me that Crap didn't like to stay late at the park so I was not surprise to hear that he wanted to leave after the fireworks. It was interesting to hear that Xander favorite ride was BLAB.

Congrats on your score on BLAB. Not too many people can score over 100,000 points when some people don't know what targets to hit on the ride. Unlike TSMM which keeps all the highest scores on the ride for the day, week or month, BLAB only keeps the highest score on that park day. For the highest score of 500,000+ is kind of low when I see it. Mostly when I ride BLAB in the morning, I see scores over 1,000,000+ when the park is open. It was fine that the Matterhorn was not open during my trip, but I will get a chance to ride it later on. Just like Tangled meet & greet, I wouldn't be surprise to see the wait time for Merida an hour long or longer. Thank you that you like the flower shots.

The shots from MFW were nice and got some great pics of CL during the preview. I wished that I got my wristband earlier that day so I could go back to BVS and take some pics. I will be looking forward to your pics as well as Crap. I'm glad to hear that you didn't have to wait in line at Cozy Cone 5 for popcorn. At least the wait time for TSMM was not that bad. TSMM at DHS is way worse then DCA since it has the FP system which just slows the stand-by line. I see that you got one of those Mad T Party free tokens from the FP machines. I know for a fact that I saw some CM's during the preview on Saturday and Sunday since they had their CM cards during the preview. They were just all dressed up like regular guests and the other fact is that when I got to the counters at the restaurants or shops, they ask if you have a CM card and they get half off the price of what they purchase. They got half price off the food at the Cozy Cone while they didn't take the AP.

I'm glad that you spend a lot of time at BVS and hopefully we will get to see some great pics during your trip. I did read about the long wait time just to get FP's for RSR which is crazy. I thought it would go fast just to get a FP for RSR, but I was completely wrong. Did you eat at the ESPN Zone at DTD? I have ate at the ESPN Zone at New York New York where it used to be and it was nice. It is sad to see that it got closed while the only ones that are available are all in SoCal (Los Angeles is the other one that opened).

Glad that you got home safely and nice to hear you had a great time. I can't wait to hear about Connor's birthday trip and the lunch at WCT.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – June 10, 2012– Part 8​

After we ate at the ESPN Zone for lunch, we head on out and decided to go to DL to do a couple of rides until it was time for us to return to DCA for our preview of CL at 6pm. DTD was quite busy in the afternoon during the lunch time.

We were planning on getting to DL from the DL monorail, but the line to get to the station was close to the stairs. So we knew that it was going to be a long time until we get on the monorail. So we decided just to walk towards the esplanade and head on in the park.

When we got the turnstiles at DL< it was quite busy around the area around 1:30pm. But it didn't surprise me one bit that more and more people are coming in the park that afternoon.

Monorail Orange passing by

When we got in the park, we didn't ride the monorail all trip and decided to head on over to TL to ride the monorail.

At MS TS, it was not that busy that day but since we are in the summertime it could get crowded anytime. There were some people around the Disney Showcase. The Dapper Dans were performing right by the store.

So we walked down on MS

A look of Carnation Cafe

We head on over to TL and it was quite as busy in the afternoon. AO & BLAB had there long 30 minute wait time which is quite normal on a busy day. But the one I was surprised about the most was ST which was only a 25 minute wait. At least ST wait time is going down during the summertime. Maybe it was just coincidence tht it was only 25 minutes.

Right by Space Mountain the wait time was close to 40 minutes. It was not as crowded around TL

So my DA and I head on over to the TL monorail station to ride my favorite ride at DL. When we got to the station, Monorail Orange or Mona (was the name of Monorail Orange) was about to leave and we made it at the last second. I thought about waiting for the next monorail so we can ride in the front or back, but my DA just to get on it since it is here. So we board Monorail Orange and we were on our way to the DTD station.

So here are some pics from the monorail. When we rode the monorail, my DA didn't like the voice of Mona and would prefer the old voice of the monorails when riding it. Maybe she will like Mandy or Manny if we get to ride them during the trip.

Just leaving the TL monorail station

Now we are in DCA and some pics of Mad T Party set at HPB

Now we are passing BVS during the preview

We passed DCA and through the GCH and at the DTD monorail station. But we didn't get off the station since we plan on returning to DL. I wanted to see the Matterhorn while it is not even open yet. So we rode the monorail back to the TL monorail station.

Pics going back to DL

At least the turnstiles don't look that busy that afternoon

Now we are in TL and Monorail Blue was at the station

The Matterhorn Mountain looks great from the aerial view of the monorail.

The new bobsleds at the Matternorn

Passing right by the Matterhorn again

After passing the Matterhorn, we were back at the TL station. It was really neat to go on the monorail and see BVS and the new Matterhorn bobsleds.

That's it for this post and I will be back with more later tonight.

 

[kmedina]

You got a lot of great shots on the monorail. It was late at night when we rode, so I only took a few that Crap requested of Xander. I love the Matterhorn shots you got with the sleds.

Nice to hear from you Kim after you got back from your trip. I'm sorry to hear that Connor didn't get to ride on the monorails. I was going to ask you about the voices on the monorails since they are different people. My DA didn't like the voices and would prefer the old voice when riding the monorail. When you past Mad T Party, was it at night or during the day? I didn't see Mad T Party at night since I was not that interested.

Glad that you got to ride the Matterhorn using the single rider line. I haven't seen the video of riding the updated monorail with the new bobsleds and I am trying not to see it until I go back and ride it myself. And of course videotaping it when I ride it.

As of now, I am not going back down to Anaheim for the passholder event at the end of the month. I was really disappointed that I couldn't go down and I wanted to go down so badly. But with hotel prices being high at this time of the summer, crowd levels are extremely high especially at CL and I have to work that weekend so I couldn't go that week. Since you were gone, my DB and his GF are considering going to DL in mid August and I might join them so they can save some money. So this is a potential trip but right now it is all talk and I will keep everyone updated if we go or not in mid August.

Thank you. I was happy with the firework trails of Magical during my trip. Nice to hear that you got to watch MMY. What do you think about MMY at IASW and how do you compare both IASW at DL to Cinderella Castle at MK when you went in December? You did tell me that Crap didn't like to stay late at the park so I was not surprise to hear that he wanted to leave after the fireworks. It was interesting to hear that Xander favorite ride was BLAB.

Congrats on your score on BLAB. Not too many people can score over 100,000 points when some people don't know what targets to hit on the ride. Unlike TSMM which keeps all the highest scores on the ride for the day, week or month, BLAB only keeps the highest score on that park day. For the highest score of 500,000+ is kind of low when I see it. Mostly when I ride BLAB in the morning, I see scores over 1,000,000+ when the park is open. It was fine that the Matterhorn was not open during my trip, but I will get a chance to ride it later on. Just like Tangled meet & greet, I wouldn't be surprise to see the wait time for Merida an hour long or longer. Thank you that you like the flower shots.

The shots from MFW were nice and got some great pics of CL during the preview. I wished that I got my wristband earlier that day so I could go back to BVS and take some pics. I will be looking forward to your pics as well as Crap. I'm glad to hear that you didn't have to wait in line at Cozy Cone 5 for popcorn. At least the wait time for TSMM was not that bad. TSMM at DHS is way worse then DCA since it has the FP system which just slows the stand-by line. I see that you got one of those Mad T Party free tokens from the FP machines. I know for a fact that I saw some CM's during the preview on Saturday and Sunday since they had their CM cards during the preview. They were just all dressed up like regular guests and the other fact is that when I got to the counters at the restaurants or shops, they ask if you have a CM card and they get half off the price of what they purchase. They got half price off the food at the Cozy Cone while they didn't take the AP.

I'm glad that you spend a lot of time at BVS and hopefully we will get to see some great pics during your trip. I did read about the long wait time just to get FP's for RSR which is crazy. I thought it would go fast just to get a FP for RSR, but I was completely wrong. Did you eat at the ESPN Zone at DTD? I have ate at the ESPN Zone at New York New York where it used to be and it was nice. It is sad to see that it got closed while the only ones that are available are all in SoCal (Los Angeles is the other one that opened).

Glad that you got home safely and nice to hear you had a great time. I can't wait to hear about Connor's birthday trip and the lunch at WCT.

It would have too much of a hassle dealing with the stroller on the new monorails, especially a big one like Connor’s. We just decided he would ride it next time when we only have a single stroller to fold up. Xander fully understands that was his last trip with a stroller. Even if we have another kid, it will be a couple of years. We should have at least one trip back to Dl with only one kid in a stroller. Crap and I both enjoyed the new voices on the monorails. While we never heard each other’s ride, he liked Mona, and I liked Mandy. It was neat that the monorail was talking to us. This made Xander happy. It was just before 10pm when we rode Mandy and saw the Mad T Party. I think there were less than 100 people there, so it does not seem like a big draw. We never walked by it during operating hours on either of our evenings in DCA, but we did see it during the day time. It looks pretty, but the club scene is not my thing. We did love the character dance party that was near that.

We did not take any video or pictures of the Matterhorn other than of the Mountain from far away. You have no worry of seeing it from me. August is not that long to wait to get back there. I have no clue when we will get back. Thinking about Xander’s school and Crap’s work, we decided not to get APs. The people who had APs did cancel on our lunch at the last minute. I still think we would have spent slightly more paying for their extra food than they would have saved us. It was still a great party with the 25 people who did show up.

I preferred MMY on IASW, but Crap still prefers it on CC. We made it back to the room before 10pm each night although it was very close or just after the 3rd night. It was 9:55pm when Xander and I boarded Mandy. Crap and Connor had already been in the room for a few minutes when we arrived, so he made it in before 10pm even if I did not. The funny thing about Buzz is that Crap did not want to ride it. Then, it became Xander’s favorite of the whole trip! I am glad we rode it even though we missed the fireworks to ride it and ST.

I got lucky with that score on Buzz, because I never scored that high before. Whenever I saw really high targets, I went for them. Crap was in the car behind me and copied me on that. He ended up beating me by over 30k. I was holding Connor though. Oh, maybe the 5??,??? was from that day then, and I just assumed it was from that month. The Merida wait was easily an hour. We did a few long character waits at WDW and it seemed just as long at times.

Crap really liked the popcorn (salt and vinegar) from cone five, so I am glad the line was short. The cast members at your preview must have been VIPs or execs, because the bellman was sure the preview dates were only Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. He asked if we saw Cars Land. When I told him we did, he told me about the preview dates when he saw. I mentioned that you saw cast members there over the weekend, and he said he is not aware of any cast members that went then.

I did not have the camera with me while I toured BVS. Crap had it with him in the 55 minute RSR fastpasss line on Day One and the 45 minute fastpass line on Day Two. I tried to get as many PP pictures as I could, but those are just backgrounds. Unless Crap took pictures that I am not aware of, the report will lack a lot of BVS pictures. We never ate at the ESPN Zone in DtD. We did eat at the one in Vegas many times, and I loved the chocolate chip cookie dessert. I think the one in Orlando on Disney’s Boardwalk is still there, although I have never eaten there either.

We had a great time. From leaving LA to arriving at our house was exactly a four hour drive with zero stops to eat or use the restroom. It was a safe trip. Thanks.

 

[mvf-m11c]

You got a lot of great shots on the monorail. It was late at night when we rode, so I only took a few that Crap requested of Xander. I love the Matterhorn shots you got with the sleds.



It would have too much of a hassle dealing with the stroller on the new monorails, especially a big one like Connor’s. We just decided he would ride it next time when we only have a single stroller to fold up. Xander fully understands that was his last trip with a stroller. Even if we have another kid, it will be a couple of years. We should have at least one trip back to Dl with only one kid in a stroller. Crap and I both enjoyed the new voices on the monorails. While we never heard each other’s ride, he liked Mona, and I liked Mandy. It was neat that the monorail was talking to us. This made Xander happy. It was just before 10pm when we rode Mandy and saw the Mad T Party. I think there were less than 100 people there, so it does not seem like a big draw. We never walked by it during operating hours on either of our evenings in DCA, but we did see it during the day time. It looks pretty, but the club scene is not my thing. We did love the character dance party that was near that.

We did not take any video or pictures of the Matterhorn other than of the Mountain from far away. You have no worry of seeing it from me. August is not that long to wait to get back there. I have no clue when we will get back. Thinking about Xander’s school and Crap’s work, we decided not to get APs. The people who had APs did cancel on our lunch at the last minute. I still think we would have spent slightly more paying for their extra food than they would have saved us. It was still a great party with the 25 people who did show up.

I preferred MMY on IASW, but Crap still prefers it on CC. We made it back to the room before 10pm each night although it was very close or just after the 3rd night. It was 9:55pm when Xander and I boarded Mandy. Crap and Connor had already been in the room for a few minutes when we arrived, so he made it in before 10pm even if I did not. The funny thing about Buzz is that Crap did not want to ride it. Then, it became Xander’s favorite of the whole trip! I am glad we rode it even though we missed the fireworks to ride it and ST.

I got lucky with that score on Buzz, because I never scored that high before. Whenever I saw really high targets, I went for them. Crap was in the car behind me and copied me on that. He ended up beating me by over 30k. I was holding Connor though. Oh, maybe the 5??,??? was from that day then, and I just assumed it was from that month. The Merida wait was easily an hour. We did a few long character waits at WDW and it seemed just as long at times.

Crap really liked the popcorn (salt and vinegar) from cone five, so I am glad the line was short. The cast members at your preview must have been VIPs or execs, because the bellman was sure the preview dates were only Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. He asked if we saw Cars Land. When I told him we did, he told me about the preview dates when he saw. I mentioned that you saw cast members there over the weekend, and he said he is not aware of any cast members that went then.

I did not have the camera with me while I toured BVS. Crap had it with him in the 55 minute RSR fastpasss line on Day One and the 45 minute fastpass line on Day Two. I tried to get as many PP pictures as I could, but those are just backgrounds. Unless Crap took pictures that I am not aware of, the report will lack a lot of BVS pictures. We never ate at the ESPN Zone in DtD. We did eat at the one in Vegas many times, and I loved the chocolate chip cookie dessert. I think the one in Orlando on Disney’s Boardwalk is still there, although I have never eaten there either.

We had a great time. From leaving LA to arriving at our house was exactly a four hour drive with zero stops to eat or use the restroom. It was a safe trip. Thanks.

Thank you Kim. I love to ride the monorail every time I go to any Disney parks.

I understand about the double stroller on the monorail since they are big and you have to fold them up in order to get them in. It will be easier when you only have one kid in a stroller since you or Crap don't have to push two children. I did push two seat strollers and they were hard to push and hard to fold up. I rode both Mandy (Blue) and Mona (Orange) during my trip, I was hoping that Manny (Red) would be running, but never got on the line during my visit. So you rode it at night and saw Mad T Party running. It's always fun to ride the monorail at night with all the nighttime lights up at night.

It won't be too long if I go or not and ride the Matterhorn. I thought you were going to upgrade to AP's since you were thinking of making another trip. I'm hoping that you will be going back to DL soon. I'm sorry to hear that the people who had AP's canceled on you the last second, it's good to hear that you had a great party at WCT.

I will always prefer IASW over Cinderella's Castle for MMY. Very funny that Crap did not want to ride BLAB while Xander's favorite ride is BLAB. Good thing you rode BLAB and ST during the fireworks since the fireworks do draws crowds so the lines are short.

I thought when you read my TR's on BLAB you will know what targets to hit on the ride. I told you about the Zurg secret target on the chest and try to hit the triangle targets which is the most. That is really a good score on BLAB while you were holding Connor during the ride. What about Xander, what did he get on BLAB? I know that they always reset the high scores each day on BLAB since I have seen the highest at 700,000 in the morning and have seen people get over 3,000,000+ on BLAB. I wasn't surprise to see the Merida wait time at an hour since she is a new character.

I know that the CM's were there during my previews were young adults. Someone on the threads posted it and said that since the 9th and 10th preview days didn't sell enough, they made those days as CM preview days for the CM's who didn't get to see CL & BVS on the 6th to 8th. Maybe the bellman you talked to didn't know anything about that weekend as being a CM preview day with the AP holders, D23 members and Club 33 members.

Hopefully Crap took some pictures while he was walking with the camera. I thought you would try to eat at the ESPN Zone which is a nice place to watch sporting events. The one you are talking about at Disney's Boardwalk is actually called the ESPN Club. It is almost similar to the ESPN Zone's in SoCal, but I don't think they have all those video arcade games like the one's in SoCal. It is more of a restaurant instead of like the ESPN Zone's at SoCal and Vegas. It is still a great place to have lunch or dinner to watch sporting events.

Glad that your whole trip went well and four hour drive with zero stops is a fast trip home.

 

[kmedina]

Thank you Kim. I love to ride the monorail every time I go to any Disney parks.

I understand about the double stroller on the monorail since they are big and you have to fold them up in order to get them in. It will be easier when you only have one kid in a stroller since you or Crap don't have to push two children. I did push two seat strollers and they were hard to push and hard to fold up. I rode both Mandy (Blue) and Mona (Orange) during my trip, I was hoping that Manny (Red) would be running, but never got on the line during my visit. So you rode it at night and saw Mad T Party running. It's always fun to ride the monorail at night with all the nighttime lights up at night.

It won't be too long if I go or not and ride the Matterhorn. I thought you were going to upgrade to AP's since you were thinking of making another trip. I'm hoping that you will be going back to DL soon. I'm sorry to hear that the people who had AP's canceled on you the last second, it's good to hear that you had a great party at WCT.

I will always prefer IASW over Cinderella's Castle for MMY. Very funny that Crap did not want to ride BLAB while Xander's favorite ride is BLAB. Good thing you rode BLAB and ST during the fireworks since the fireworks do draws crowds so the lines are short.

I thought when you read my TR's on BLAB you will know what targets to hit on the ride. I told you about the Zurg secret target on the chest and try to hit the triangle targets which is the most. That is really a good score on BLAB while you were holding Connor during the ride. What about Xander, what did he get on BLAB? I know that they always reset the high scores each day on BLAB since I have seen the highest at 700,000 in the morning and have seen people get over 3,000,000+ on BLAB. I wasn't surprise to see the Merida wait time at an hour since she is a new character.

I know that the CM's were there during my previews were young adults. Someone on the threads posted it and said that since the 9th and 10th preview days didn't sell enough, they made those days as CM preview days for the CM's who didn't get to see CL & BVS on the 6th to 8th. Maybe the bellman you talked to didn't know anything about that weekend as being a CM preview day with the AP holders, D23 members and Club 33 members.

Hopefully Crap took some pictures while he was walking with the camera. I thought you would try to eat at the ESPN Zone which is a nice place to watch sporting events. The one you are talking about at Disney's Boardwalk is actually called the ESPN Club. It is almost similar to the ESPN Zone's in SoCal, but I don't think they have all those video arcade games like the one's in SoCal. It is more of a restaurant instead of like the ESPN Zone's at SoCal and Vegas. It is still a great place to have lunch or dinner to watch sporting events.

Glad that your whole trip went well and four hour drive with zero stops is a fast trip home.

Our double is very easy to push. It is hard for me to fold but easy for Crap. The issue was more of storing it and taking everything including the kids out of it to ride the monorail. Crap had to hold it while standing a few times at Disneyworld. Seems like no one gets to ride Manny. Hopefully, you get to ride him next time.

I cannot wait to see what your thoughts on the monorail.

I would have liked to do ST, Buzz and see the fireworks, but I am married to someone who likes to go to sleep early on vacation. Turns out I made the right choice based on Xander's reaction.

I do remember reading the tricks for Buzz on your report, but I could not remember what they were. By the time I go again, I am sure I will forget again. Xander got 2900.

Maybe, our bellman was not aware that they allowed additional cast members in over the weekend. It could have been limited to people who did not get a chance to do it the previous three days. If Disney was smart, they would not have allowed cast members to enter more than once.

You are always teaching me new things. I had no idea the one in Orlando was a Club, not a Zone. I've never been inside, so I am unaware if there are games in there.

Crap always said it was a four hour drive to LA from our house. I always teased him, since we had never done it in only four hours. It was four hours to the minute. We stopped twice on the way to Disneyland, and it took around five hours.

 

[franandaj]

The new bobsleds at the Matternorn

Passing right by the Matterhorn again

Those new sleds should really speed up the ride. The fact that they now fit four single riders is a great enhancement over this...where you can choose one or two riders (depending on how close you want to get). Now if I had a special someone who wanted to ride it with me, two would be great like this, but they can't get two total strangers on this ride, so single riders slow the line. Now single riders can fill out a car. I was happy to hear Kimberly say that they have added a single rider line. But no more of this....

 

[mvf-m11c]

Our double is very easy to push. It is hard for me to fold but easy for Crap. The issue was more of storing it and taking everything including the kids out of it to ride the monorail. Crap had to hold it while standing a few times at Disneyworld. Seems like no one gets to ride Manny. Hopefully, you get to ride him next time.

I cannot wait to see what your thoughts on the monorail.

I would have liked to do ST, Buzz and see the fireworks, but I am married to someone who likes to go to sleep early on vacation. Turns out I made the right choice based on Xander's reaction.

I do remember reading the tricks for Buzz on your report, but I could not remember what they were. By the time I go again, I am sure I will forget again. Xander got 2900.

Maybe, our bellman was not aware that they allowed additional cast members in over the weekend. It could have been limited to people who did not get a chance to do it the previous three days. If Disney was smart, they would not have allowed cast members to enter more than once.

You are always teaching me new things. I had no idea the one in Orlando was a Club, not a Zone. I've never been inside, so I am unaware if there are games in there.

Crap always said it was a four hour drive to LA from our house. I always teased him, since we had never done it in only four hours. It was four hours to the minute. We stopped twice on the way to Disneyland, and it took around five hours.

Those double strollers can be very hard to store when you are getting on rides or transportation's. It's almost like Monorail Red (Manny) hasn't been out since they unveiled the artwork on the front of the monorails. We haven't seen much of Monorail Red lately. Maybe it will be running when I go back to DL if they still have them.

As you already know the Disney Monorails are my favorite ride and transportation. My first impression of the DL monorails having new faces on the front and have their own expression while riding them was so exciting. Each of the monorails which I rode Mandy & Mona had very interesting thoughts when riding them across the DLR. At first when I heard about it, I was hoping that DL doesn't put a theme wrapped on the Mark VII like they did with WDW Mark VI monorails. I believe the WDW monorails have a Avenger's theme wrap advertisement on one of the monorails just like when they had Tron on one of them. At least they didn't change the whole appearance of the monorail. My DA didn't like Mona voice on Monorail Orange and I had no problem with the voices.

Crap really like to go to bed early on a trip. Does he even get up early in the morning or just sleeps in.

Maybe when you go ride BLAB again, you can try to get a high score on BLAB.

It could have been limited to CM's that didn't see the event on the 6th to 8th since they were working and had no time. But the extra CM's on those days didn't make a big difference of the crowd level.

I see. He must have driven at a nice pace coming back home in just four hours. It takes me 6 1/2 hours with one stop (gas) to get from Sacramento to Anaheim (that includes I-5 traffic which is bad).

Those new sleds should really speed up the ride. The fact that they now fit four single riders is a great enhancement over this...where you can choose one or two riders (depending on how close you want to get). Now if I had a special someone who wanted to ride it with me, two would be great like this, but they can't get two total strangers on this ride, so single riders slow the line. Now single riders can fill out a car. I was happy to hear Kimberly say that they have added a single rider line. But no more of this....

I really do missed the old bobsleds where I had to be in the back of the seat while someone was in front of me. The new bobsleds speed up the lines and can have add more people that are in the single digits. The bobsleds use the same seating arrangements similar to Space Mountain at the MK where they have three seats in one car and two cars per train.

Very nice pic Alison.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – June 10, 2012– Part 9​

After we got off the monorail, we decided to head on back to DCA and go around BVS. Actually my DA wants to see the newly revamed Little Mermaid ride at DCA. So we headed on over to DCA, but first we had to walk through all those crowds on the way back to DCA.

We got off Monorail Orange and heading on out

We went though FL and through SB Castle instead of coming out of TL. Most of the ride wait times at FL were close to average wait times where PP was at 30+ minute wait while Dumbo, AiW, etc. were at their regular wait time during the afternoon.

MS Hub didn't look so crowded

But going down MS was a different story where it wasn't super crowded, but there were crowds

A look back at MS while exiting the park

Now at MS TS and seeing some of the flower beds

I also remember that the Trains of Disney at the Disney Gallery is going to be replace with "Crowning Achievements: Creating Castles for Magical Kingdoms"which features art of Disney theme park castles around the world. I believe the Gallery will have the new theme sometime around the end of June.

The MS RR station

The Fred Gurley pulling into the station

We exited DL and over to DCA. It wasn't that busy to pass the turnstiles at DCA.

So we went through the door towards BVS during the preview and now back at BVS. Here are more pics of BVS during the preview.

We haven't been inside the Red Trolley so it was a perfect time to check the inside.

I got a pic of me inside the Red Trolley

The Red Trolley from the inside was well themed when you are riding a trolley back in the 60s and have adds like you see in any bus or transportation today.

Mortimer's Market

Kingswell Camera Shop sign which is actually the PhotoPass Pick-Up area

Mortimer's sign

That's it for now on this post and I will be back with more from BVS.

 

[kmedina]

Those double strollers can be very hard to store when you are getting on rides or transportation's. It's almost like Monorail Red (Manny) hasn't been out since they unveiled the artwork on the front of the monorails. We haven't seen much of Monorail Red lately. Maybe it will be running when I go back to DL if they still have them.

As you already know the Disney Monorails are my favorite ride and transportation. My first impression of the DL monorails having new faces on the front and have their own expression while riding them was so exciting. Each of the monorails which I rode Mandy & Mona had very interesting thoughts when riding them across the DLR. At first when I heard about it, I was hoping that DL doesn't put a theme wrapped on the Mark VII like they did with WDW Mark VI monorails. I believe the WDW monorails have a Avenger's theme wrap advertisement on one of the monorails just like when they had Tron on one of them. At least they didn't change the whole appearance of the monorail. My DA didn't like Mona voice on Monorail Orange and I had no problem with the voices.

Crap really like to go to bed early on a trip. Does he even get up early in the morning or just sleeps in.

Maybe when you go ride BLAB again, you can try to get a high score on BLAB.

It could have been limited to CM's that didn't see the event on the 6th to 8th since they were working and had no time. But the extra CM's on those days didn't make a big difference of the crowd level.

I see. He must have driven at a nice pace coming back home in just four hours. It takes me 6 1/2 hours with one stop (gas) to get from Sacramento to Anaheim (that includes I-5 traffic which is bad).

I really do missed the old bobsleds where I had to be in the back of the seat while someone was in front of me. The new bobsleds speed up the lines and can have add more people that are in the single digits. The bobsleds use the same seating arrangements similar to Space Mountain at the MK where they have three seats in one car and two cars per train.

Very nice pic Alison.

The double strollers are a hassle on most transportation, except the Disneyworld Monorail, where we never even had to fold it.

I was tired and mistyped. I meant to type I cannot wait to hear what you think of the Matterhorn. I already knew that you loved the monorails. Sorry your DA did not like the new voices. We all liked them a lot.

Crap is an early riser everyday (at home or on vacation). At home, he always goes to bed late too. I always tease him for not sleeping enough. On vacation, he gets up so much earlier than we do and is tired long before I am. I would love to sleep in and stay out late once in a while.

If I remember, I will ask you again before my next trip. I already forgot what you said and will have a hard time finding the specific post before leaving.

I think it was limited to CMs who did not already see it from the 6th to the 8th, which explains why he did not know about it. He said he saw on Wednesday, I believe.

We have never driven straight to or from Disneyland with no stops. Traffic is sometimes bad on our way there or back. This time, we left LA/Hollywood at 7:14pm and pulled up to our house at 11:14pm. One of our two stops on the way to Disneyland was to buy rice for my phone. Too bad it did not help.

I remember Crap holding Xander on the Matterhorn in the old sleds when he was 2.5 years old. Xander did not like it very much, so I knew he would not want to ride the new sleds. Thus, we did the single rider line. That is a nice picture of Alison.

 

[kmedina]

I wish the train place would have been open when we were there. Xander adores trains. I did not even think about riding the trolley car. That bums me out. I am glad you got to ride it though. That is really neat. I hope the monorails are still Cars themed when we go back. Nice shot of Mona. I want to ride her, since Crap liked her so much. Hope I can ride Manny too. Who knows when we will get back though? Crap and I have even more reservations about driving up just for the weekends, because that is a lot of work with the boys and exhaustion for 1.5 or two .5 park days. If Halloween landed on the weekend this year, I would have considered it. He celebrates one year at his new job in February, and we are taking the only week they give him to go on the Wonder on Spring Break. I am going to miss Disneyland and Disneyworld!

 

[mvf-m11c]

The double strollers are a hassle on most transportation, except the Disneyworld Monorail, where we never even had to fold it.

I was tired and mistyped. I meant to type I cannot wait to hear what you think of the Matterhorn. I already knew that you loved the monorails. Sorry your DA did not like the new voices. We all liked them a lot.

Crap is an early riser everyday (at home or on vacation). At home, he always goes to bed late too. I always tease him for not sleeping enough. On vacation, he gets up so much earlier than we do and is tired long before I am. I would love to sleep in and stay out late once in a while.

If I remember, I will ask you again before my next trip. I already forgot what you said and will have a hard time finding the specific post before leaving.

I think it was limited to CMs who did not already see it from the 6th to the 8th, which explains why he did not know about it. He said he saw on Wednesday, I believe.

We have never driven straight to or from Disneyland with no stops. Traffic is sometimes bad on our way there or back. This time, we left LA/Hollywood at 7:14pm and pulled up to our house at 11:14pm. One of our two stops on the way to Disneyland was to buy rice for my phone. Too bad it did not help.

I remember Crap holding Xander on the Matterhorn in the old sleds when he was 2.5 years old. Xander did not like it very much, so I knew he would not want to ride the new sleds. Thus, we did the single rider line. That is a nice picture of Alison.

That's why I like the Mark VI Monorails at WDW where you don't have to fold up the double seat stroller. You don't have to fold them up and there is plenty of space except for rush hour times where it can be crammed.

It was really nice to see the Matterhorn without the scaffolding. I just don't like those railings on the outside of the Matterhorn which makes it look even more dull. I really like the Matterhorn without the safety railings at the bridge and edges of the mountain. But they need to keep up with the safety codes when they escort guests off the ride and won't fall.

Very interesting to ear that crap is a early riser during a trip and gets tired on a trip.

I will remind you on BLAB secret targets.

That make sense for the CM's who didn't get to see CL & BVS during the CM preview. But I would say it would be better for the CM's who like to take pictures where they couldn't take pictures during the CM preview.

You did tell me about your phone and it would been nice if the rice worked on your phone.

I wish the train place would have been open when we were there. Xander adores trains. I did not even think about riding the trolley car. That bums me out. I am glad you got to ride it though. That is really neat. I hope the monorails are still Cars themed when we go back. Nice shot of Mona. I want to ride her, since Crap liked her so much. Hope I can ride Manny too. Who knows when we will get back though? Crap and I have even more reservations about driving up just for the weekends, because that is a lot of work with the boys and exhaustion for 1.5 or two .5 park days. If Halloween landed on the weekend this year, I would have considered it. He celebrates one year at his new job in February, and we are taking the only week they give him to go on the Wonder on Spring Break. I am going to miss Disneyland and Disneyworld!

Wait a minute, the Trains of Disney at the Disney Gallery was not open during your trip? When I read on Mouseplanet that the Trains of Disney exhibit was suppose to close on June 27th. So it wasn't open during your trip last week?

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't ride the Red Trolley. We actually didn't ride the Red Trolley towards HPB during the preview since the Red Trolley was at the BVS station close the main entrance. It was just used to show to the guests at BVS.

Hopefully they will leave the Cars theme wrap monorails when you go back to Anaheim. I was hoping that you got the AP's at DL that week so you can make some weekend trips to DL. You have


The next update will be up later tonight. So stay tune for the next post.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2– June 10, 2012– Part 10​

Now back with more pics from BVS during the preview of CL & BVS.

Julius Katz & Sons store sign

A look at Elias & Company store

The whole day during the preview which was nice and quiet with about a hundred guests during the preview at BVS with all the times.

When we exited BVS during the preview, my DA wanted to ride LM ride at PP in order to see the newely revamped LM ride. On the way over to PP, the park crowd level was starting to pick up with more and more people.

Soarin was already at 45 minute wait

Some people are leaving DCA while more people are coming in

We were now in PP and now about to ride the LM ride.

When we got to the LM ride, the wait time was 20 mintues which was way too long for the two of us to ride the LM ride. So we just skipped the ride and do it another day. It's not like this is our last day and we had to do all the rides.

Since it wasn't time for our preview at 6pm, we decided to head on back to the room and relax for awhile. But on the way, I wanted to get some more pics of BVS until we head on out.

Now passing the CCT

Now we are back at BVS during the preview and more picture taking

Goofy was right by the Elias & Company store area

Another look at the Red Trolley

Light pole that has a sign that leads towards the GR and FA

That's it for this post and I will be back with more tomorrow.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – June 10, 2012– Part 11​

Now back at BVS and we are about to head back to the hotel to rest up until it is time for our preview at 6pm. We were still in BVS heading on out of the park and back to the room while it was nice and quiet.

We head on out of DCA around 4:00pm and on our way back to the hotel to rest up for awhile and get some heavier clothing for the nighttime.

It was a decent day when my DA and I got back to the DLR that afternoon. We got to eat at the ESPN Zone for lunch which is our favorite restaurant that we always eat on any trip to the DLR. I was hoping to get the wristbands for the preview that day when we got to the park, but it was alright to get it later since BVS can be a little busy with the preview.

So we got our stuff for the nighttime event that night and on our way back to DCA again. When we got to the esplanade, the turnstiles at DCA were not that crowded since most of the guests are at DL. After seeing that DCA is so busy at DL these last few weeks, I can imagine what it will be like when I go back to DCA in the future.

We were back at DCA and towards BVS. It was around 5:30pm when we got in at BVS. There were quite a lot of people in BVS when we got in. I would guess since the guests who were there for the 1 to 5pm preview are now leaving. So we are on our way on over back to ABL to get into CL. We thought about going towards Pacific Wharf to the preview, but my DA wanted to go back towards ABL since it will be less crowded.

Now we were out of BVS and by the CCT. THere were some people waiting at the front of the CCT. I would guess that they were the people who bought the $500 dinner at the CCT during the preview. They had white DCA wristbands and I would guess that those were the people who bought the expensive ticket.

So now we are heading on over to ABL for our preview at 6pm

We head on over to ABL, there were quite a few people that were at CL during the preview. The blue wristband were for the 2nd time while the 1st time was the green wristbands. For the later time that day, we were wearing yellow.

It was around 5:35pm when we got to the entrance for the preview, but we were surprise to see that they were letting the 6pm people for the preview. Last time we had to wait until 12:45pm to get in. So this time we were let in 10 minutes earlier than yesterday.

So we head on in CL for our 6pm preview time. On the way over to CL, we saw they Bug's Life characters right by the entrance to ABL.

There is Rosie and Heimlich

I cut off Manny and Gypsy in the picture while I was walking. Opps

There were some people that were in CL during the 1 to 5pm time are now leaving

There's Red

RS sign (The sunlight was in our direction so it was bright)

This will be always my favorite sign when we enter RS. Maybe I need to go through ABL instead of through the regular entrance to CL

LFT looks so empty so we decided to head on over to ride LFT first before RSR. Last time when we rode LFT, we had to wait 40 mintues to ride LFT. So we know that if we ride LFT first, we will only have to wait 5 minutes or less to get on the ride.

That's it for this post and I will have more from CL during our 2nd time at the CL preview.