ironband74
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2018
- Messages
- 1,365
Alright, December 28 - A crazy day in the parks and my 22nd anniversary to boot. Here we go:
Based on yesterday's recon I hit the esplanade at 0615, this time alone, to hold a spot for my family at the gate. There were people in front of most of the right-side gates, but most of the left-side were open except for #7, so I jumped into #8. For the next 35 minutes, I watched, mildly bemused, as lines grew at gate 7 and gate 9. People seemed to assume that I was with the group at gate 7 and just standing off to the side and didn't realize there was a line there until my two sons joined me at 0647. Funny how that works! Anyway, I started to sweat it as my son informed me that my teenage daughter was taking her time getting ready...with no sign of my wife, daughter, and her boyfriend as the gates were unlocked, I started formulating a plan to get together with them, realizing that this was going to throw off my Maxpass strategy for the morning.
The cast member scanned our tickets as we waited for the countdown. The rest of my party finally arrived and joined us at the last possible moment. I felt a little bad about them jumping into the line, but the cast member was fine with it and scanned their tickets just as the countdown started. I pulled up the app and bought maxpass, and we skipped into the park, under the bridge, and made a beeline for Peter Pan.
We arrived quickly enough to not have to wait more than 2 minutes, so that was a successful start. We finished our magical flight and headed to Matterhorn for an alpine excursion. The line was a little longer than expected, I think due to a wheelchair transfer perhaps? Not sure, but it took about 10 minutes to get on. I had planned on Dumbo, but made an executive decision to skip Dumbo and hit Alice in Wonderland instead.
I came to a terrible realization after leaving Wonderland that I hadn't selected a fastpass yet. I opened my phone up and grabbed Space Mountain Fastpasses for 0835, feeling silly(oops!). After Alice, we popped into the teacups, before going with Mr. Toad on a Wild Ride.
Pinocchio was sadly broken down, so we skipped it and headed to Autopia (my 9 year old really wanted to get his drive on). As we were walking the clock struck 8 and Magic Morning was over. Normally I get way more done in a MM, but I knew it was going to be a busy day! We then jumped onto Buzz Lightyear before heading to Space Mountain to redeem our fast passes. On the way I grabbed passes for Star Tours at 0845.
We rode Space Mountain and then went to Star Tours. My next fastpass wasn't supposed to be pulled until 0903, but once we scanned the Star Tours passes I was able to snag a fastpass for Small World Holiday.
We rode Star Tours and then decided to take a break and get some coffee and food. The lack of both were making some members of our party...well...cranky. We swung by Tomorrowland Terrace for Breakfast Burritos and caffienation.
After we ate, we sauntered over to Small World for our cruise and I picked up a fast pass for Indy at 1300. We sailed the holiday seas and then decided that boats were a thing as we headed for Jungle Cruise.
This was a longish wait, but I really like the queue theming there so I didn't mind much. We rode through the treacherous waters with Christina, our deadpan skipper, delivering the hits. I then picked up a fastpass for Big Thunder at 1340 and we did a little shopping and went through the Tarzan Treehouse before heading to our lunch reservation at Carnation Cafe at 1140.
We had a leisurely light lunch (the breakfast burritos were still weighing a little heavy on us, so I enjoyed the baked potato soup and a house salad), then we went to do a little more shopping in New Orleans Square while we waited for our Indy fp to activate. I picked up some fast passes for Space Mountain this evening at 2130 while we looked around. Crowds were starting to get ridiculous, with light-wavers already directing traffic around the Rivers of America. We made our way back to Indy and rode through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.
Upon exiting, I checked the app and saw that Big Thunder was down and we now had some "Multiple Experience" fastpasses in our name. We decided to head out of the park for a break, grabbing a few Churros on the heels of the Christmas parade before walking to the hotel for a break.
At the hotel, I snagged fast passes for Star Tours at 2000, so the evening looks to be Tomorrowland repeats. I'll probably grab a pass for BLAB once my MaxPass cools down, so we'll have the whole set plus a Multiple Experience to burn. We'll likely avoid the Rivers of America until after the fireworks so as to avoid the nuttiness of the crowd control, but with a good nap here and no super-early plans tomorrow (getting some breakfast at River Belle at 0900), we may stay until closing tonight.
All in all happy with the way things shaped up. I probably could have stacked up one more fastpass if I hadn't forgotten to get the first one right after entry, but I really couldn't have asked for a much better morning on a day like today.
Nap Time!
Andre
Based on yesterday's recon I hit the esplanade at 0615, this time alone, to hold a spot for my family at the gate. There were people in front of most of the right-side gates, but most of the left-side were open except for #7, so I jumped into #8. For the next 35 minutes, I watched, mildly bemused, as lines grew at gate 7 and gate 9. People seemed to assume that I was with the group at gate 7 and just standing off to the side and didn't realize there was a line there until my two sons joined me at 0647. Funny how that works! Anyway, I started to sweat it as my son informed me that my teenage daughter was taking her time getting ready...with no sign of my wife, daughter, and her boyfriend as the gates were unlocked, I started formulating a plan to get together with them, realizing that this was going to throw off my Maxpass strategy for the morning.
The cast member scanned our tickets as we waited for the countdown. The rest of my party finally arrived and joined us at the last possible moment. I felt a little bad about them jumping into the line, but the cast member was fine with it and scanned their tickets just as the countdown started. I pulled up the app and bought maxpass, and we skipped into the park, under the bridge, and made a beeline for Peter Pan.
We arrived quickly enough to not have to wait more than 2 minutes, so that was a successful start. We finished our magical flight and headed to Matterhorn for an alpine excursion. The line was a little longer than expected, I think due to a wheelchair transfer perhaps? Not sure, but it took about 10 minutes to get on. I had planned on Dumbo, but made an executive decision to skip Dumbo and hit Alice in Wonderland instead.
I came to a terrible realization after leaving Wonderland that I hadn't selected a fastpass yet. I opened my phone up and grabbed Space Mountain Fastpasses for 0835, feeling silly(oops!). After Alice, we popped into the teacups, before going with Mr. Toad on a Wild Ride.
Pinocchio was sadly broken down, so we skipped it and headed to Autopia (my 9 year old really wanted to get his drive on). As we were walking the clock struck 8 and Magic Morning was over. Normally I get way more done in a MM, but I knew it was going to be a busy day! We then jumped onto Buzz Lightyear before heading to Space Mountain to redeem our fast passes. On the way I grabbed passes for Star Tours at 0845.
We rode Space Mountain and then went to Star Tours. My next fastpass wasn't supposed to be pulled until 0903, but once we scanned the Star Tours passes I was able to snag a fastpass for Small World Holiday.
We rode Star Tours and then decided to take a break and get some coffee and food. The lack of both were making some members of our party...well...cranky. We swung by Tomorrowland Terrace for Breakfast Burritos and caffienation.
After we ate, we sauntered over to Small World for our cruise and I picked up a fast pass for Indy at 1300. We sailed the holiday seas and then decided that boats were a thing as we headed for Jungle Cruise.
This was a longish wait, but I really like the queue theming there so I didn't mind much. We rode through the treacherous waters with Christina, our deadpan skipper, delivering the hits. I then picked up a fastpass for Big Thunder at 1340 and we did a little shopping and went through the Tarzan Treehouse before heading to our lunch reservation at Carnation Cafe at 1140.
We had a leisurely light lunch (the breakfast burritos were still weighing a little heavy on us, so I enjoyed the baked potato soup and a house salad), then we went to do a little more shopping in New Orleans Square while we waited for our Indy fp to activate. I picked up some fast passes for Space Mountain this evening at 2130 while we looked around. Crowds were starting to get ridiculous, with light-wavers already directing traffic around the Rivers of America. We made our way back to Indy and rode through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.
Upon exiting, I checked the app and saw that Big Thunder was down and we now had some "Multiple Experience" fastpasses in our name. We decided to head out of the park for a break, grabbing a few Churros on the heels of the Christmas parade before walking to the hotel for a break.
At the hotel, I snagged fast passes for Star Tours at 2000, so the evening looks to be Tomorrowland repeats. I'll probably grab a pass for BLAB once my MaxPass cools down, so we'll have the whole set plus a Multiple Experience to burn. We'll likely avoid the Rivers of America until after the fireworks so as to avoid the nuttiness of the crowd control, but with a good nap here and no super-early plans tomorrow (getting some breakfast at River Belle at 0900), we may stay until closing tonight.
All in all happy with the way things shaped up. I probably could have stacked up one more fastpass if I hadn't forgotten to get the first one right after entry, but I really couldn't have asked for a much better morning on a day like today.
Nap Time!
Andre
