Trip observations - 11/25 - 11/28 (food, fireworks, crowds, etc)

[starshine514]

I just wanted to post a few observations for our trip last week.

Crowds - crowds were pretty low overall, I was very happy going the week after Thanksgiving.

Fireworks - DL was running FW every night - 7:45 PM on 8:00 closing nights. I don't remember ever seeing them that early before...

Food - tried the Gingerbread Begneits - they were fantastic, I highly recommend. We also stood in line, got bracelets, and got fresh-made candy canes - these were also excellent! Finally, we tried Earl of Sandwich, wow, I see what all the hubub is about! We tried the Full Montaque and the Carribean Jerk Chicken and both were very good. We then hopped on the Monorail to get back into the park.

RSR - the FP printed that you could hold another FP simultaneously.

20% off shopping pass before 1:00 PM - we had several of these printed from the French Market, and various other quick service restaurants (sorry, the French Market one is the only one I received. So, I don't remember where the others came from). So, keep an eye out for them on the receipts!

Photographers - there was a PP out with Jack Skellington, I've never seen that before - but it was neat (now we just need some Jack borders - there are finally Rapunzel borders, though!)

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Sounds fantastic! I'm glad you enjoyed your visit.

 

[wiigirl]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

 

[HollyL]

We also went last week (Tuesday and Wednesday). We were able to get RSR pastpasses without a problem and that was an awesome ride. Once we got into the Fastpass line, it took about 10 minutes to get on. Getting there right at opening and getting the FP was definitely worth it. The line to get the FP looks very daunting, but it wasn't that bad....maybe 20 minutes.

My husband took my son on the Luigi's tire ride while I stayed with our 18 month old who was sleeping in the stroller. He said that ride was so lame and couldn't beleive he wasted 40 minutes waiting in line for it. I did notice that as most people exited from the ride, they seemed pretty bored and let down. I heard several people say, "well, that's one we don't have to repeat". Wonder what the deal is.
Unfortunately, we missed doing Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.

All in all, we did most of the rides in Bugs Land, Mickey's Wheel, the carousel multiple times, The little Mermaid ride, and we pretty much walked right on with no waits at all. Unfortunately we missed out on Tower of Terror, Soarin Over California, and Toy Story Mania. Our 4 year old was adamant that we head over to Disneyland to go on the Submarine Ride. By 4pm, we all were so exhausted that we headed back to the hotel and called it a day.

On Wednesday, we started off at Disneyland, and even though we had Hopper tickets, we never made it back to DCA. We did BTMR first and just walked on, then my son demanded that we do the Submarine ride again, which luckily was only a 10 minute wait. We also walked right onto Pirates, and the longest line we waited in all day was about 20 minutes for the Jungle Cruise. Even though it was really uncrowded, we still weren't able to do everything. Probably because my son kept wanting to go back on the Submarine and Buzz Lightyear over and over. He freaked out and decided that he didn't want to go on Space Mountain, and he didn't want to go on the Haunted Mansion, so my 18 month old daughter and I went on HM while DH stayed with our son.
We ended up having to skip Splash Mountain, The Matterhorn, Alice in Wonderland (my favorite), pretty much everything in Fantasyland, and didn't even find time for the train.

As much as I love going to Disneyland, it's a lot of hard work with a very squirmy 18 month old and an unpredictable 4 year old. I think we are going to wait another couple of years before we go again, and we will need to go for at least 3-4 days. A 2-day hopper just wasn't enough to be able to do everything.

And as far as food goes, we were so busy, we really didn't have a chance to indulge. The only thing I ate was clam chowder in a bread bowl, and it was okay. I wish I would have got one of those corn dogs instead.

Didn't run into any rude people, but I did think it was pretty obnoxious when we had to get out of the way of a group of 3 Moms with double wide strollers walking in a row all next to each other. They pretty much ran anyone over that was in their way. I don't mind one double wide, but three is just too much!

 

[audrey2580]

Ohhh where were the Gingerbread Begneits?

 

[starshine514]

Ohhh where were the Gingerbread Begneits?

We got them at the Mint Julep Bar (in NOS, right by the French Market).

Oh, one more food item - the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate at Ghiredelli (sp?) was soooo good!

 

[starshine514]

Oh, one more thing. We didn't test it at RSR, but throughout the rest of the resort, they were not enforcing FP return windows (as long as the start time had passed). We weren't brave enough to try RSR outside of the window (since the FPs are so hard to come by).

 

[audrey2580]

We got them at the Mint Julep Bar (in NOS, right by the French Market).

Oh, one more food item - the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate at Ghiredelli (sp?) was soooo good!

Yeah can't wait!!!! thanks