bakerudall
Real Boy
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2012
- Messages
- 623
I'm back from a special extended weekend trip from AZ with DS12 which consisted of Balboa Pier, whale watching cruise (got up close with a pack of 5 whales and a pod of leaping bottlenose dolphins!), the Lyon Air Museum, and two days at DLR.
The weather was perfect, and the parks were very comfortable--once we got inside! Day 1 we went to park in the M&F garage before opening (hadn't checked into our hotel yet), but were rerouted to the DTD parking area. That is a miserable walk to the parks, so we bailed and headed for Toy Story. I forgot that the North entrance to Toy Story is employees only, so they told me I had to park at DTD. This made me think all of Toy Story was now for employees and cast members. So I went back to DTD and paid $18 to park pretty much next to the Best Western and walk in.
Day 2 we wised up and walked into the West entrance of Toy Story and rode the shuttle in and arrived at 9:50 for a 10:00 opening. The baggage check line was backed up to Harbour Blvd, but luckily, the shuttle bus drops you off on the south side of the entry, so we just had to merge in with the much shorter left-most security line. Once through that, the gate lines for DL went back almost all the way to CA. We didn't get in the park until 10:40! I learned to NEVER COME TO DISNEYLAND ON TIME. Come 30-60 minutes early, or you may as well show up an hour late and skip all this.
Despite our tardiness, we were still able to do 22 rides each day with ample meal and rest breaks. How? Learning from awesome DISers and maximizing FP and single rider. It still floors me that so many people love standby lines. It's like they want a good story to tell later about how many hours they survived in lines at Disneyland. At 7pm, after using our RSR FP's, we went SR 2 more times with 5 minute waits while the standby wait was 70 minutes. We also did SR for Matterhorn in less than 10 minutes when the standby lines wrapped far around the mountain in the sun. DS12 ended up in the back of the first sled, and I was in the front of the second sled, so we still rode next to each other. Splash SR was no wait. It's funny when you walk through the FP lines and hear conversations like, "How are they skipping? They have Fastpasses. You have to pay extra for those." Disney has gone out of its way to make the FP program as easy to understand as possible, but I'm glad that most people still don't get it.
I finally got to try Bengal BBQ, and it did not disappoint. At first, I saw the little skewer with 3 chunks of steak on it, and I was like, "That's $1.50 per chunk." But then I put my steak skewer, bacon-asparagus skewer, and tiger tail together and thought, "That's a decent meal for $13." And that beef was so tender and delicious. I would take another buck fifty out of my wallet and start chewing on it right now if it tasted that good.
The fried chicken dinner is still the best bang for your buck in the parks, and the green beans taste amazing after a long day of mostly carbs.
The cheese stick corn dog at Corn Dog Castle is disgusting. It's not real cheese and it doesn't melt. It's a long mass of lukewarm processed cheese food with the texture of whipped butter. At least I got to eat half of my son's corn dog that he couldn't finish. I'm still mad at myself for not picking the hot link corn dog instead.
I hadn't watched WOC in a few years, and wow, it has come a long way! It was amazing (despite the overdose of Neil Patrick Harris and Frozen). All the new shows for the 60th were incredible. We came at the last minute for all of them because ride lines get really short an hour before each show, but they are worth camping out for if you have more time (more than 2 days at the parks) or are just tired of doing rides.
I know this will sound controversial, but I have come to the conclusion that DLR is not necessarily for small children. Sounds crazy. I know. But as a father of 6 (ages 4-15), I looked around at the meltdowns, the stroller graveyards, the kids randomly puking on the sidewalk, and the parents cowering in the dark corners of Disneyland trying to calm their little ones, and I thought, "Boy, am I glad I only brought one this time." I sat by a family at the breakfast room of our hotel with 2 of their 4 children already crying hysterically--and they hadn't even entered the parks yet! We went as a family six years ago, and DS12 hardly remembers any of it. He even forgot he fought Darth Maul. The same kid that made me go on Star Tours 5 times on Monday forgot he ever put on a Jedi robe! I'm sure we will do another full family trip soon. But it has been nice doing smaller trips in-between. I know the joy of watching little faces light up, and I understand that DLR is the Mecca of childhood, but if you're saving up for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, you may want to wait until your kids are in the 8-13 range. You will know the joy of touring DLR with no diapers or strollers, minimal meltdowns, and memories that will actually last. If you go often, none of this matters, because if one trip goes off the rails, there's always next time. And believe it or not, it is possible to make small children blissfully happy for a lot less money right in your own home town.
All that being said, this was a fabulous trip. No matter how you tour the parks, with a positive attitude and a little preparation, DLR is always magical.
The weather was perfect, and the parks were very comfortable--once we got inside! Day 1 we went to park in the M&F garage before opening (hadn't checked into our hotel yet), but were rerouted to the DTD parking area. That is a miserable walk to the parks, so we bailed and headed for Toy Story. I forgot that the North entrance to Toy Story is employees only, so they told me I had to park at DTD. This made me think all of Toy Story was now for employees and cast members. So I went back to DTD and paid $18 to park pretty much next to the Best Western and walk in.
Day 2 we wised up and walked into the West entrance of Toy Story and rode the shuttle in and arrived at 9:50 for a 10:00 opening. The baggage check line was backed up to Harbour Blvd, but luckily, the shuttle bus drops you off on the south side of the entry, so we just had to merge in with the much shorter left-most security line. Once through that, the gate lines for DL went back almost all the way to CA. We didn't get in the park until 10:40! I learned to NEVER COME TO DISNEYLAND ON TIME. Come 30-60 minutes early, or you may as well show up an hour late and skip all this.
Despite our tardiness, we were still able to do 22 rides each day with ample meal and rest breaks. How? Learning from awesome DISers and maximizing FP and single rider. It still floors me that so many people love standby lines. It's like they want a good story to tell later about how many hours they survived in lines at Disneyland. At 7pm, after using our RSR FP's, we went SR 2 more times with 5 minute waits while the standby wait was 70 minutes. We also did SR for Matterhorn in less than 10 minutes when the standby lines wrapped far around the mountain in the sun. DS12 ended up in the back of the first sled, and I was in the front of the second sled, so we still rode next to each other. Splash SR was no wait. It's funny when you walk through the FP lines and hear conversations like, "How are they skipping? They have Fastpasses. You have to pay extra for those." Disney has gone out of its way to make the FP program as easy to understand as possible, but I'm glad that most people still don't get it.
I finally got to try Bengal BBQ, and it did not disappoint. At first, I saw the little skewer with 3 chunks of steak on it, and I was like, "That's $1.50 per chunk." But then I put my steak skewer, bacon-asparagus skewer, and tiger tail together and thought, "That's a decent meal for $13." And that beef was so tender and delicious. I would take another buck fifty out of my wallet and start chewing on it right now if it tasted that good.
The fried chicken dinner is still the best bang for your buck in the parks, and the green beans taste amazing after a long day of mostly carbs.
The cheese stick corn dog at Corn Dog Castle is disgusting. It's not real cheese and it doesn't melt. It's a long mass of lukewarm processed cheese food with the texture of whipped butter. At least I got to eat half of my son's corn dog that he couldn't finish. I'm still mad at myself for not picking the hot link corn dog instead.
I hadn't watched WOC in a few years, and wow, it has come a long way! It was amazing (despite the overdose of Neil Patrick Harris and Frozen). All the new shows for the 60th were incredible. We came at the last minute for all of them because ride lines get really short an hour before each show, but they are worth camping out for if you have more time (more than 2 days at the parks) or are just tired of doing rides.
I know this will sound controversial, but I have come to the conclusion that DLR is not necessarily for small children. Sounds crazy. I know. But as a father of 6 (ages 4-15), I looked around at the meltdowns, the stroller graveyards, the kids randomly puking on the sidewalk, and the parents cowering in the dark corners of Disneyland trying to calm their little ones, and I thought, "Boy, am I glad I only brought one this time." I sat by a family at the breakfast room of our hotel with 2 of their 4 children already crying hysterically--and they hadn't even entered the parks yet! We went as a family six years ago, and DS12 hardly remembers any of it. He even forgot he fought Darth Maul. The same kid that made me go on Star Tours 5 times on Monday forgot he ever put on a Jedi robe! I'm sure we will do another full family trip soon. But it has been nice doing smaller trips in-between. I know the joy of watching little faces light up, and I understand that DLR is the Mecca of childhood, but if you're saving up for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, you may want to wait until your kids are in the 8-13 range. You will know the joy of touring DLR with no diapers or strollers, minimal meltdowns, and memories that will actually last. If you go often, none of this matters, because if one trip goes off the rails, there's always next time. And believe it or not, it is possible to make small children blissfully happy for a lot less money right in your own home town.
All that being said, this was a fabulous trip. No matter how you tour the parks, with a positive attitude and a little preparation, DLR is always magical.
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