East AND West is Best (Aug 2013): Day 15 Disneyland & California Adventure Duo

[tonymc]

Trip Index here.

Wednesday 7th August 2013

Our last full day – as ever, it’s come around too quickly  .The plan for today was to revisit the rides we had either missed or wanted to try again in both parks. After last night’s late return from Ventura, we didn’t get to DCA until 08:30.

Our first objective was for Radiator Springs Racers Fastpasses which we obtained after a 15 minute wait for a return window of 15:05-16:05. In passing, it was noticeable that a number of people (mainly Dad’s I presumed! ) had been sent on a mission to get the FPs whilst the rest of the family stayed in bed!

Then down to Paradise Pier for a Screamin’ Fastpass (return 09:35-10:35) and on to Toy Story Mania which had a 30 minute wait time posted (which seemed fairly constant all the time we were there).

After Alex had narrowly beaten me by 100 points, she went on Screamin’ with Joanne whilst I went over to Tower of Terror for another Fastpass (return 10:20-11:20). Once they arrived from Screamin, we had a few minutes before the ToT window opened so we enjoyed another ride on Sulley and Mike to the Rescue (nothing like the excellent Monsters Inc Laugh Floor though).

With our ToT Fastpasses used, we then moved over to Disneyland, with first port of call a Fastpass for Splash Mountain (13:10-14:10) – the temperature had picked up somewhat today, and it was no surprise to see the standby queue wait time posted at 60 mins. We had an early lunch at the Hungry Bear again, then made our way over to the highlight of any adult’s visits to Disney; those words that strike fear into people; It’s a Small World…………….

Nooooooooo...



Not!

Again, you can see where Disney have improved the ride in Florida, as the wait (30 mins posted but only took around 20 mins) is very much in the open with little shade, and loading also takes place in the open. Following a tip I had seen, we used the right lane as the left lane is used to load wheelchair and scooter riders – this proved to be a wise move. Then 15 minutes (really - it feels much, much longer…..) of torture and I was released back into civilisation, scarred yet again, and will probably be humming that song throughout the flight back to the UK.

Okay, torture over with, back to Splash Mountain where the standby time had increased to 80 mins – were we glad of those Fastpasses. It does seem quite strange that there were significant numbers of people prepared to wait in the standby lines when Fastpasses were still available at the same or less time than waiting, unless a lot of people use Annual Passes and cannot use FPs or are restricted?

Anyhow, we started to make our way back to DCA vias Space Mountain for a FP for the evening (return 18:10-19:10). Once in DCA, we obtained FPs for World of Color at 22:15, then made our way to see Aladdin. Another excellent show – 40 minutes and great comedy; well worth watching. After Aladdin, our Radiator Springs Racers FP window was open, and we arrived to a 120 mins standby time. Again, we felt the 15 mins of queuing was time well spent earlier in the day.

At this point, Alex started to look a bit green around the face, so we made our way back to the hotel, calling at Soarin’ to pick up FPs for the evening (return 19:45-20:45). Alex immediately fell asleep for a couple of hours, but woke up feeling better – may have been a combination of lack of sleep from the previous night’s late return and overexposure to the sun. In passing, we realised that given the fairly cool mornings, we hadn’t really been drinking a lot of fluids during the day, so that combined with the heat through the remainder of the day probably played a part in us all feeling unwell at some stage of our Disney visits.

Unfortunately we were too late to make use of our Space Mountain FPs, and I gave the Soarin’ FPs to a family who were leaving earlier to visit Disney. We made our way back to Disneyland for around 20:15 where we made our way over to the rivers of America and got a very good viewing spot for Fantasmic – again right opposite the main area, but slightly elevated from the crowd in front. Again a great show, following which we made our way quickly to Main Street to watch the fireworks.

We managed to grab a spot on the left of Main Street, but unfortunately the fireworks were appearing from the left of the castle as we were looking, and we had a tree obstructing the view. We managed to make our way over to a more central position for a better view, but still slightly obstructed.

Final Fireworks

Once the fireworks were over, it was then back to DCA for the 22:15 World of Color. As mentioned earlier, we had obtained Fastpasses for the blue zone, and fortunately everyone had been held back. After a few minutes, we were ushered into the area, and we managed to get a good position much nearer to the water than our last viewing. It was definitely a better experience this time as we could see much more of the lower-level display, and the images projected onto the water were clearer.

Final View of Paradise Pier

At 22:45, it was all over – the park was cleared and we made our way back to the HoJo for the last time, managing a quick snack using our remaining food in the fridge before a final night’s sleep in the USA.
 

[Aims]

The last full day already? Are you kidding? Doesn't seem possible. Once again, I've got to give you props for your skill at getting the most done in your time at Disney. I noticed you've eaten at the Hungry Bear more than once on this trip- that's my fav quick service place too. I usually eat lunch there on every trip to Disneyland. Lots of good pics, you did a fabulous job at making the most of your last day.

[tonymc]

It doesn't seem like 16 days for sure - it all went very, very quickly! Have to say that we were surprised at how easy it was to get Fastpasses up until late evening, with returns within an hour, which certainly saved us waiting time. I guess being familiar with the FP system from WDW also helps.

We ate at the Hungry bear simply because it had something to suit both ourselves and fussy eater Alex. As we learned from previous visits to WDW, Joanne and myself just shared a meal rather than one each, which was enough to keep us going through to dinner.

[Glee Fan]

Last day , but at least you made the most of it.

Sounds like Alex wasn't out of sorts for too long which is good.

As for Its A Small World, I am now humming the theme tune to myself which isn't a good move just before bed!

[TracyW]

Great trippie, really enjoyed your reports,

[tonymc]

Originally Posted by Glee Fan

As for Its A Small World, I am now humming the theme tune to myself which isn't a good move just before bed!

See more...

Counselling is available

[WileyCoyote]

What a great day, packed in loads !

[abiknox]

Another fun filled day!

[orlandosgr8]

Sad that it is your last day , have really enjoyed reading your report.