Day 2 November 17, 2012 Part 1
During my last part of the TR, my DA and I got to DL later in the afternoon and I was able to go around DCA to see all the new Holiday decorations at BVS and CL. I also got to go to see the Christmas Village at DTD which had the Ice Rink and the little merchandise stands that sells Holiday merchandise. We got to eat at our favorite restaurant at DTD which was the ESPN Zone. Later that night, I got to watch Believe
In Holiday Magic fireworks and got pictures of the firework trails which turned out really well. Then I went around DL to take pictures of the Holiday decorations.
Now it is a new day where my DA will join me and go on some rides that day as well as getting more pictures of the Holiday decorations. This is going to be a very fun day to do a lot of different things that day.
It was day 2 of our trip to DL in November and we woke up early that morning around 6:30am that morning since we are planning on going to DCA when they have the rope drop at 7:30am so we can get in the Radiator Springs Racers FP queue to get FP for RSR. Ever since RSR opened this summer, the FPs for RSR have been gone around 10am when the park opens at 8am. So we wanted to make sure that we would be able to ride RSR that day and not have to wait in the long stand-by queue during the day. I will get to that shortly when we are in the queue for RSR FPs.
After getting all dress up and packing our bags for our days at the park, we start heading on over to the DLR and get in the line at the turnstiles for DCA. We left around 7:00am that morning from BWAI and walked on over to the DLR.
The weather was not that bad that day where it was cloudy like always in Anaheim in the morning and had some blue sky which is very nice to see. There were some people walking down the streets of Harbor Blvd over to the DLR. At least it wasnt that busy that day since most of the people that were going to the park were still sleeping in their rooms or having breakfast since the parks dont open until 8am.
When we passed through security we head on over to the turnstiles at DCA where they were closed that morning. There were some groups waiting at the turnstiles to get in the park that morning to get on RSR first thing or get FP that morning.
Our plan is to get FP that morning instead of getting on RSR first thing. In the past when I went to CL first thing in the morning, sometimes RSR is not running first thing in the morning and wasted time going on the ride when it was down. So this time, we plan on getting FPs for the ride and come back later that day to ride it. Good thing that we did that instead of going on the ride first thing. I knew that half of these people are planning on going to the FP queue and the other half to RSR.
The garlands over the turnstiles is so nice during the Holiday season
It was almost 7:30am and the gates have started to open and it was almost time to go in the park that day.
I also forgot to mention that when my DA won PH tickets through the Coca Cola Contest for CL during the Summer time promotion, the two tickets that she got were not good for upgrading on PH tickets or APs. So she decided that she wont be getting an AP during this trip which was a little sad for me but we dont know how many times we will be coming back to the DLR in one year time. We do plan on coming back in August during the
D23 Expo and another Holiday trip in November or December.
We went through the turnstiles and walked as fast as we can over to the RSR FP queue. The CMs were telling a lot of teens that were running to walk.
We got in the RSR queue and we were not that far in the queue with about 20 people in front of us which is not that bad but also they must have their party members tickets so it is around 30-50 people in front of us with tickets. We had about 25 minutes to wait until the park opens at 8am.
There were a lot of people at the line to get into CL that morning. It was close to the backside of GRR where the line is to enter CL.
A look at GRR from the back side
The two of us waited in the FP queue until it was time to get our FPs at 8am. I was on my iPad reading the threads and ESPN while my DA was reading her book. It was a little cold that night but it was just a little cloudy that morning.
It was 8am and the park was now officially open. The RSR CMs have the rope area and now are taking the guests over to CL while some of us are still in the queue for RSR FPs.
That is a lot of people walking on over to CL
We were still at our same spots when the park opened and this was typical when it was time to go through the queue to get the FPs. It did took about a few minutes until we finally started moving to the FP machines which was at the former Its Tough to Be a Bug area which was also the character meet and greet in the past.
We got our FPs and it was really early that morning around 8:45am to 9:45am. It was early that morning to get on RSR but I knew that it would most likely be down until later that morning.
After getting the FPs for RSR, we passed by the entrance of CL and see what it was like that morning. When we looked down, there were a lot of people close to Town Hall and I knew that it was either closed or a lot of people head on over in that direction to ride RSR.
We decided not to go to CL for any of the rides since it will be really busy that morning at RSR, LFT and MJJ. So we head on over to GRR to get FPs for WoC. I am a big fan of the nighttime shows at DL which includes WoC, the fireworks, and F!. I really like WoC during the Holiday season is that they have the special Holiday segment.
While walking around PP and towards GRR, it was really like a ghost town while most of the people were over at CL. I knew that we would get our color selection that day since you have to be there first thing in the morning to get the first show and the first color which is blue.
At GRR FP machines, we gave our ticket and AP to the CM and we got the blue section as expected that morning.
After getting the FPs, we decided to head on over to PP and do our favorite ride which is Mickeys Fun Wheel or other DISers like Sherry E would call it Mickeys Fun Wheel of Death, Doom, etc. I always like to go on MFW or MFWoD to get aerial photos of the DLR where you dont see too much of it.
It was not that busy when we passed by the Little Mermaid ride which is a walk-on during anytime of the day except fin the afternoon which it can be as long as 15-20 minutes max.
I still have the quests to do during the Holiday season and I got another one on the light pole right by the restroom area of PP.
We now were walking up the bridge heading on over to PP. We passed by Treasures in Paradise which is Duffy meet and greet area with Holiday decorations.
Cant forget the giant wreath in the meet and greet area
The tree at PP looks great every time I see it with all those ornaments that had hidden Mickeys in them.
Mickey meet and greet area was empty that morning.
While we were walking down PP and passed through California Screamin and Toy Story Midway Mania, it looked like a ghost town in this area. I have never imagined in years that PP would be this empty when the park opens at its schedule time. In the past this land is the one that most of the people head on over to first thing in the morning and go on rides like TSMM and CS. But this time there were a few people in the area and it might be that TSMM might not have any people on the ride. So we head on over to see what the wait time was like at TSMM. I had a hunch when we were walking down towards TSMM that it was going to be a walk-on.
When we got over to TSMM, I would never imagine that TSMM would not have any people and it would be a walk-on. My DA and I were completely shocked that there was no one in the queue and it was a walk-on. This made our decision easily and go on TSMM before riding MFW.
If you are reading this post TK even though you are on vacation with your family at WDW during the Holiday season, you would never imagine seeing TSMM empty that morning. I know that you would keep going on that ride over and over until you are tired. I would say that you would have ridden it over 5+ times without any waiting time that morning.
We went on TSMM and didnt have to wait a minute to get on the ride. We were both happy that we didnt have to wait that long that morning to ride TSMM.
Through the ride, I was hoping to get a good score on TSMM. During the ride, we unlocked the plate toss scene which the mountain opens and shoot out plates as well as the ring toss where Zurgs mouth opens. I was excited to open the two secret target spots during the ride.
We had fine scores which I had 256,800 while my DA scored a personal best on TSMM with 117,900 points.
I was the high score in the vehicle and the best during the hour and today. But I knew that it wouldnt last that long where someone would have a better score. I also saw that someone had 604,500 points which is an outstanding score.
After we exited the ride and looked back at the queue of TSMM which was still a walk-on that morning. But we decided to head on over to MFW instead of riding it. I know TK you would have said that I should have gone on back on TSMM but we always like to do other attractions than going back and back of the same attraction.
0 minute wait time to ride TSMM which is something you will not see too often
We passed by TSMM and over to MFW. But that will be another time on the trip report. The next post will be part 2 and it will be from MFW or MFWoD.