The Adventure Continues…Live Trip Updates

[JC1984]

Hi All,
This is a continuation of the second half of our trip. We are coming off a week at Aulani in Hawaii. We are now in OC for 10 days. 4 of which will be spent at DLR. I just like to post updates, thoughts, observations, and answer any questions real time as I see them. If you would like to see my Aulani thread please visit it here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-journey-begins…live-aulani-trip-updates.3866206/
Just a little history been visiting Disneyland for A VERY LONG time almost 40 years. I was a cast member from 1999-2002 when I left home for the military. Born and raised in the Anaheim area now live in peaceful Big Sky Country but am a huge Disney Fan. Park days will be as follows:
DL: Jan 20th and 27th
DCA: Jan 24th and 26th

As of this moment we do not plan on using Genie+ as TP is only predicting 2/10 crowd levels. We will see and I will update as we progress through the parks. Party will be Myself and my wife, my mother, and our kids 4,3, and 10 months). Will be checking in to our vacation rental this afternoon will have a few details about that this evening. Thanks for joining and hope you enjoy the ride. To all who come to this happy place welcome!

 

[carone0318]

Found you (from over on the Aulani board). Looking forward to how the trip goes.

 

[JC1984]

Alright. Arrived at front gate at 0830. Security was a breeze. We rope dropped and headed straight for Peter Pan. Broke while we were in line. Knocked out the rest of Fantasyland and now BTMRR. No need for any Genie yet. May need to LL$ RoTR. That was the rope drop for SWGE

 

[JC1984]

Thoughts from today:

Wait Times were all over the place and inaccurate.
2 examples:
BTMRR posted standby: 5 mins
Actual: 17 mins
SM: Posted standby 1 hour before close: 120 min
Actual: Heard a CM tell another they put a super high standby time in hopes no one would ride and drive down the way time. We had Genie+ and still waited 17

We ended up getting Genie+ because our littles were not too patient but what do you expect from a 3 and 4 year old boy? My wife and I liked it and thought it was worth the money to skip a few lines essentially. We did pay as well to ride ROTR and I thought it was worth it since we have waited almost 3 years to ride it; and I got to ride it twice back to back because of Rider Swap which was awesome. YouTube did not do it justice a beautiful amazing ride.

I was proud of my sons 4 & 3 rode every “big” ride except Indy which they were too short for. Proud Dad moment! The YouTube training paid off the only ride they didn’t ask to ride again was Matterhorn. It was WAY too rough and Harold scared them a little.

We had a 1730 reservation for dinner at Cafe Orleans. We waited almost 20 minutes for our table after our reservation time which kind of bummed me out since I was hauling butt from Tomorrowland to New Orleans Square to be on time just to sit there waiting to be blessed with a table ready text. The food was good but I think the portion size is lacking. Don’t know if it is a COVID thing or was just a cost saving measure.

Complaint: Disneyland has changed. I can’t put my finger on what exactly it is. Maybe the culture? But things I see now just blow my mind from when I was a CM. First the way they allow guests to wear whatever in the park. I saw numerous provocative outfits today and shirts that could be deemed offensive on men. Disney used to have a guest dress code and I don’t know if it went to the wayside when Disney changed their CM appearance guidelines. And just a general feeling of no body being happy. We had to speak to a Guest Relations CM about a Genie+ issue and he seemed like he could care less and would rather be anywhere but Tomorrowland. In the past I wouldn’t have to argue my point with a CM they would use “the guest is always right” approach and it would of been handled I am almost had to as this CM to speak to to a lead or manager.

Overall a great wonderful day had by all!

 

[JC1984]

Well the adventure took a dramatic turn. I am in the hospital tonight. Did not realize I was a diabetic and found out the hard way today. Our trip to DCA for tomorrow will be cancelled. We will see how the rest of the week pans out.

 

[carone0318]

Holy cow!! Definitely an unexpected turn, keep us posted and I hope you are feeling better!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Well the adventure took a dramatic turn. I am in the hospital tonight. Did not realize I was a diabetic and found out the hard way today. Our trip to DCA for tomorrow will be cancelled. We will see how the rest of the week pans out.

Omg I am so sorry! Please keep us updated! Hope you recover soon!

 

[auroralark]

I've been lurking because we're planning a similar trip and I'm so sorry you ended up in the hospital! Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

OP how are you feeling? Been thinking of you and saw the Aulani portion pop up on my news feed ANS immediately jumped over here.

 

[JC1984]

OP how are you feeling? Been thinking of you and saw the Aulani portion pop up on my news feed ANS immediately jumped over here.

Hi,
Thanks for asking. Just been getting back to real life. Learning to live life as a diabetic and navigate the murky water of medical treatments and of course the dreaded Veterans Healthcare system and all the red tape that comes with government run healthcare. 37 is young to be a diabetic and it crept up really suddenly so they are trying to figure out what caused it and didn’t start showing on my blood work especially as type 2. Our DL portion of our trip didn’t turn out how we wanted it to but already planning our WDW trip for January. Also we got addonitis now and are shopping more Aulani points so we can slowly make our way to Grand Villa status! Thank you again for checking in and sorry about the DL trip report.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Hi,
Thanks for asking. Just been getting back to real life. Learning to live life as a diabetic and navigate the murky water of medical treatments and of course the dreaded Veterans Healthcare system and all the red tape that comes with government run healthcare. 37 is young to be a diabetic and it crept up really suddenly so they are trying to figure out what caused it and didn’t start showing on my blood work especially as type 2. Our DL portion of our trip didn’t turn out how we wanted it to but already planning our WDW trip for January. Also we got addonitis now and are shopping more Aulani points so we can slowly make our way to Grand Villa status! Thank you again for checking in and sorry about the DL trip report.

There is absolutely no need to apologize-your health is more important!
Happy to hear you are in good spirits and are working towards a goal.

That is so weird it didn’t show up in your bloodwork. And don’t even get me started on healthcare in this country. Ive long said I’d rather be paying my student loans off for the rest of time then not have universal healthcare for all.

And fingers crossed you get more points for grand villa status