Day 3 or 2.5....DCA. Grumbles. Time change catching up to us...first DDs were 'late' in getting up until ~6 or so. Internal alarm clocks adjusting after crashing last night ~11. DW had to check for flip flops @ the Di$ney Store on the way back, so we were later returning than I would have liked.
DD5 also woke up with a tummy ache, was quite grumpy for the first hour or so despite it being Cars Land day. Turned around and recovered by 6:30, so off we went (she had a great day and suffered no ill effects all day). Same deal when we arrived @ DL/DCA, but the security check line was longer (possibly due to be 5-10 minutes earlier). Lines @ DCA were a bit longer than DL, and folks were turned away from EMH entry. Wait for MYW tix was about the same, but only after I flagged the lead to do the needful. Commence strange/stupid stuff. She produced the tix, but didn't scan them. I queried about this, and she said it was cool. OK, so we race off to RSR. I flipped the over as we walked...hoppers. Odd, but we aren't planning to hop anyway...maybe some pixie dust that wasn't asked for nor explained. It later turned out that the tix not being scanned meant not good for FPs, which I learned about @ Soarin' around noon, humped my butt to the Chamber of Commerce (after first approaching two CMs near the front gate) and let the CM @ Guest Services have it. They ended up giving me two FPs for attractions other than RSR, which I used for TSM and Soarin'. She walked over with me to the front gate to get the tix scanned and we chatted nicely for a bit. Also, lots of unhappy guests in the GS line...sounded like gripes about CL and RSR. Back to the beginning...arrived in CL. Wow. Just wow. We found the RSR line or it found us...backed up to the traffic light and just beyond. It moved fairly quickly into the ride queue. Fun begins. Cars are running the track riderless. Uh oh. Queue still moving. OK. Then announcements start that the ride is experiencing problems blah, blah, blah. We're about halfway into the shortened queue @ this point and are making slow progress forward. Riders start riding about 30 minutes in or so ~7:45. Line moves again, slowly making progress to where we can see the beginning of the ride.
Ride goes down again.
So we're stuck again for another 30-45 minutes, but I'm busy taking pics of the range not to be know as Cadillac Range, the butte, waterfall, etc. to note the times. We finally get through to the ride and it is awesome. the AAs in the dark sequence are much better than I expected. The open part is much better than TT, but I expected that considering TT was ~12 years old when it was retired for refurb (noting comments on DIS Unplugged last week, to which I replied duh...
). Anyway, so we leave the ride and the scenery during the exit is awesome as well, and I make my way down to the FP area after a bathroom break (yes, I found one tucked away near Fillmore's) while I leave the harem to ride LFT, which I am thinking is a skip based on reviews. I'm in the FP line for ~10-15 minutes, and we are told FPs have run out @ 9:01. Holy crap, Batman! So back I go to LFT, and the girls have yet to ride it having stopped for photos with Mater or Lightning (they move these in and from the spot in front of the Cozey Cone). Anyway, so we all get into the queue for lFT @ 75 minutes, and when the queue snakes back to the entrance, I note that the wait time is now 105 minutes @ 9:30 or so. Ouch. All in all not a bad queue experience, but a long wait. Instructions are given by a CM on how to load/unload and how to operate, plus over the PA by Luigi. While in the queue I noticed the ride operation is better than I expected, which is heartening. All in all, it is a decent ride. Note that you cannot grab balls while riding (unless they bounce up into your vehicle), and you do feel them hit, as one hit me from behind. Also, the CM running the ride was dazed when one hit them, so the ride shutdown and had to cycle to restart as we approached the loading area. So it was ~ 10:45 and we had ridden two rides and an one m&g. I left the girls to get a pic with Mater while I ventured over to the cones for a chili cone. They were still serving bfast just before 11, so I had a scramble queso cone....good but not worth 6:49+tax. I devoured this and we headed to MJJ, which was ~45 minutes @ time. The queue was unremarkable and uneventful, and the ride was cute. Think The Scrambler. By the end of all that it was around noon and the girls got a snack...first hitch in my plan to eat @ Flo's, which we never did do.
Grabbed a snack @ Fillmore's...healthy except for the Cheetos the DDs were allowed to have (Fillmore's was out of pickles, which irked me), quick shopping next door for hats for the DDs and off to the Pier we go after a few grumbles from moi. That's when I left the girls to ride the swings and a few other things while I embarked on the ill-fated FP run mentioned earlier. After taking car of that and finally finding pickles (and buying 5 of them....yes, I love the large pickles for a snack in the parks), I meet up with them just before the parade begins @ 2, and we ride the swings (I do not like swings, Sam I Am) and then the Mickey wheel after some cajoling of DD8 (she loved it and ended up riding the non-swinging gondolas twice). Grabbed some dogs (3 dogs, 1 bag of Doritos and a water was $25), hit TSM and they did the carousel and wheel while I did Screaming. Was the water part removed from Screaming? I seem to recall t being there in the past while reading about DCA, and there were mentions on the signage about getting wet. In any case, it was a decent coaster. After meeting up @ the wheel, we talked DD8 into Goofy's Flying School, and she screamed like a girl all throughout the ride. DD5 was like meh, but had mentioned becoming afraid of heights during the wait for the wheel. SHe rode Splash, BTMRR and Barnstormer @ 3, but DD8's influence is growing on her. Grumbles. Anyway, we hit the restroom and begin discussing the evening plan since the DW thinks the are falling asleep, but it's only ~4:30. I'm not happy about missing Carthay and WoC, but begin to look into alternatives. I was planning a short day/night tomorrow, but this is unexpected. I'm feeling the pain, too, with shin splints beginning in my tina man legs. Long story short after a 'discussion', no takers on GRR (but DD5 is thinking tomorrow when we walk by it), but Soarin' is on, so we do that with the comp FPs/GA pass (first time on the top row for me in ~5 rides), and we end up around Carthay ~6. After a few photos and a quick check my me in Elias & Co. for a Storytellers replica ($155!?!) and Oswald the Mouse (DIS Unplugged reference), we leave DCA and wind up @ Naples. I'm not happy the plan blew up, but accept the deal and the need to adapt. Food was good, service poor, and $106 later we're off to DLH for showers, snack and bed. Meanwhile DW thinks DD8 has pink eye...eyes are red, but the discharge appears to be minimal. :fingers crossed: They were asleep by 8:30, BTW. Good call to end it early and wait for Wed for WoC. Need to check on Carthay Circle for lunch on Wed (DD5 ==> DD6) for WoC package or brave the resort guest FP line early. Not sure on when or where to do that. Plus, we now know that RSR is a crap shoot and possible time/timing killer. I really want to hit that @ night as well as CL. That was a bigger miss than missing WoC, IMO. Oh, and while I began typing this, Magical happened in full view from our room (DW claimed no view of it Sat). How she missed that I have no idea, but she was also in a bunch unpacking and over perceived room issues. Good thing I packed her vino, which she had found and 'uncorked' by the time we returned from the pool Sat.
Long story short, a good day that went awry, but we soldiered on and persevered. I'm mixed about DCA. BVS looks very nice, CL is awesome, but the Pier is cheesey (this from a Jersey Shore/OCNJ vet), and the rest of what we saw was a hodge podge. Better than DHS? Yes (with CL and BVS/Hollywood done right), the rest fits in like crop circles in a corn field, IMO.
I get the same mixed feeling I have @ DHS, but that's also usually when the Osborne Lights are up, so I give it a pass based on that. Otherwise, DHS is an epic. fail., IMO. Onto tomorrow @ DL, bfast with Minnie & Friends, leaving early...may skip F! and Magical to hit the pool and rest up for DCA part II. Plus, I now know we have a fireworks view as well. Question is what to do about dinner plans, which was @ Orleans Cafe with a possible change to BTR BBQ.
When I called late today, everything was boked up until after 8 except Storytellers @ 6:50, and I just haven't studied DtD enough other than Ralph's and now Naples. What I need/want now is a good burger or a steak. Beginning to regret not getting the chef's special bone-in ribeye on Sun @ BB.
Thoughts?
-Kevin
I'll try to post a link to our surprise video later today. 
Trip updates and feedback to follow. 
SWA plane from PHX to SNA was a brand new plane, and still had that new plane smell. 
Big first day tomorrow @ DL. Hitting it first thing (DW questioning 5am alarm), Goofy's fo brunch @ noon, pool time and then back to DL for some rides, dinner @ BB @ 6:30, rides, F!, fireworks and then carting my sorry *** off to bed (maybe the DLH hot tub, too.). Also a note for anyone flying into SNA, the walk to the transportation center is a bit of a hike, but that likely depends on which baggage claim you have. Ours was #5. All in all, I pretty much had the timing down precisely. 
Wx was awesome, tho it appeared to 'rain' a bit during F! despite seeing stars above. 
to the DW when I was proven correct on the ticket exchange @ the gate (after confirming with the CM that I could only do the exchange there). 
