Quick trip report - DL/CA during heat wave

[DaveNinja]

Just got back from DL trip (june 19-22). the 19th and 20th were during the recent southwestern heat wave. Temps in the park topped out at 105 and 106 on those two days. This resulted in unseasonably short wait times during the afternoon and early evening. When Hypserspace Mountain should have been a 75-90 minute wait, it was a 15-20 minute wait. Pirates and HM were walk ons. Splash and Grizzly River were about the only rides that maintained their usual wait times.
It was kind of eerie how empty the park was on sunday the 19th. The lack of lines at counter service restaurants made picking up free ice waters very easy.

Moral of the story: if you're ever going to be at DLR during a heat wave, there is a silver lining!

 

[OneThree]

I was checking out the DL app earlier this week and noticed the wait times just as you described. Splash and Grizzly seemed to be the only two with long waits. Hope you enjoyed the trip despite the heat!

 

[Winnowill]

Yeah - we're from Phoenix, and we're leaving Sunday. Weather was showing Monday and Tuesday as being 100 degrees each, and I was pretty jazzed about that, figuring that would work in our favor, since that's actually not too bad for us and our touring strategy works well for warm temps. Now it's showing Monday as 95 and Tuesday as 97. Still pretty warm, but nowhere near warm enough to scare away the locals.

 

[Angrose]

Sorry about the heat, but that is fantastic that you had such low crowds! I saw in the June thread that you stayed at the Clarion? How was it? I might stay there next month because it's so cheap, but haven't read the best reviews.

 

[DaveNinja]

The heat was manageable since we're from Sacramento and it gets that hot several times a summer.

The Clarion was pretty terrible. To me, it seemed like they're putting in the minimum upkeep in order to get people who want to stay in a hotel (instead of a motel) and want to save a few bucks over the other convention center area hotels. My wife, 2 of my kids and myself had one room while my other daughter and her orchestra friends had a different room. Their room had a couple cockroaches. One was in the bed sheets so one of the parents asked the front desk to send someone up to change the bedding but when they returned to the room they only found a pile of folded sheets on a chair. All the electric outlets in our room were used too many times and would not hold a plug in so if you tried to charge your phone, the charger would fall out of the wall. The kids said the pool was gross (water wasnt clear) and there were no towels. Water temp in the showers would jump between hot and cold almost like someone was playing a joke on you. One plus, however, was the AC unit in the room worked well.
We used the Toy Story lot shuttles to get to and from the park. This wasnt too bad but the extra 1/4 mile walk when its 100+ degrees was not a bonus.
The only way i could see the Clarion being worth staying at would be if it was like $50 or less a night.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We stayed at the Clarion last year for D23, and were also unimpressed with it.

 

[Astylla]

I would advise anyone to RUN from the Clarion , it's really just horrible.

I would stay almost anywhere else than that..place. No personal experience but not once have I heard a positive !

We were there Saturday the 18th and it was sooo hot. We were at Ramada Plaza and though walkable didn't want to do the walk back midday.
We opted to cool off at Whitewater Snacks , get a Grizzly FP and have a late lunch at Blue Bayou. Worked great!

Crowds were dewfinitely low we kept walking around asking if this was real..LOL.

 

[Angrose]

Thanks everyone, I will definitely stay away from the Clarion. We have a cockroach problem here in Davis so we exterminate regularly. There's no way I will put up with them on vacation! That story is giving me the heebie-jeebies as I think about it!

 

[pinkprincess30]

My son was there with his best friend's family during the heat wave too. I kept an eye on the wait times app & I couldn't believe how short the wait times were! Of course, if I had an option I would probably wait for a cooler day too! I was NOT surprised to see an 80 minute wait for GRR! lol

 

[Winnowill]

My son was there with his best friend's family during the heat wave too. I kept an eye on the wait times app & I couldn't believe how short the wait times were! Of course, if I had an option I would probably wait for a cooler day too! I was NOT surprised to see an 80 minute wait for GRR! lol

Sure - let's wait outside for an hour-plus in 104-degree weather to ride something we'll get a little damp on! Why ride something like, say, The Little Mermaid, that's air-conditioned and has a significantly shorter wait?

 

[Astylla]

Sure - let's wait outside for an hour-plus in 104-degree weather to ride something we'll get a little damp on! Why ride something like, say, The Little Mermaid, that's air-conditioned and has a significantly shorter wait?

Haha exactly ! That's when we get a FP for it , take a break inside GCH , do the current movie preview in Hollywood Land/ Little Mermaid/Animation Building with a cold beer hah.
Cooling towels are such a good investment too , really made the difference for us !