Disney Feast West&East Day 12 : DisneyLand

[WileyCoyote]

Today we have our one magic morning – my plan is hit Indiana Jones first and nab fastpasses while the boys are in Tomorrowland – then at 8 we dash over to DCA to get into Carsland. It is an ingenious plan and cannot possibly fail


We are up very early and in line for DL at 7am . You can imagine how happy we all were – its meant to be a holiday for goodness sake.















We are not alone but as the crowd disperses in front of the castle, its actually quite empty. The boys leg it to Tomorrowland and tell me they were on Space mountain for 0710



but I am totally thwarted in my plan as Adventureland is NOT open . Noooooooooo. I cant get my coveted Indy fastpasses. Undeterred I march off to Tomorrowland thinking I can bag something there but noooooooooo, apparently the fastpass machines don’t open till 8am when the park opens. I am crestfallen . The plan is in tatters.

But now the others are off Space, which they really enjoyed. So at 0720 we all go on Buzz and we are off by 0730 . I still think its not a patch on ToyStory. We walk on to Star Tours and get the underwater story. Its very good.

We are off at 0745 and hot foot it out the park to join the frothing rabid hordes waiting to get into DCA. We are through the turnstiles and I see the FP queue is no better so the boys are given the nod to make their way to Single Riders. They weasel their way to the front of the crowd that is waiting to be walked into the park at 0800 . All family members have been drilled on their manoeuvres with military precision. . Andy and I take our positions – he is on the left as he is going to walk to RSR to meet the boys, I am going right to Grizzly River Run to bag fast passes for World Of Colour having read that the earlier you get a pass, the better the section.. And its like the grand national with baying crowds jostling behind a rope and jittery CMs not really quite knowing what to do but then with no warning they are off and its every man, woman , child and stuffed toy for themselves. I find I am almost completely on my own when I turn off to GRR – I am reminded of the scene from War of the Worlds when everyone is trying to get on a boat as I watch this seething mass of humanity surging towards Carsland. Quite incredible . I just hope the kids are at the front

[WileyCoyote]

I am at the FP machines and by 0805 I have my WoC passes for the 9pm show in the blue (wet ) section. Nice one. I feel very satisfied and confident that the boys will be off RSR , I stop to buy some muffins and drinks and a hot breakfast burrito for Andy. After all, we have now been in the parks for 2 hours and tumblies will be rumblies !. It’s a bit pricey at $31 but will do the job.

I walk back to RSR and am met by – no –one not a family member in sight – except I can see Andy and in he’s in the ( insert word of choice here) queue – what ? He signals for me to phone him and gives me some story about how he was waiting for the boys when the CM he was talking to basically ushered him into the line – Andy thinks he is in single rider, but he isn’t , he is standby – still he has somehow got himself in front of a lot of people and is confident he will be “on in a minute”.

There is no sign of the boys and the ride doesn’t seem to be working

I had hoped they would be off by now so that I could go on via Single rider myself but this is fast disappearing.

Its 0830 now and Single Rider is creeping up and at 35minutes. I carry on waiting and hurrah the ride starts and by 0900 the three boys are off – Nick and connor had got on together and Jamie was just behind. Apparently they had go to the front of the queue and were the first into Single Riders – had the ride been running, they would have been on and off in 5 minutes.

They gobble down the muffins and I debate whether I can get on the ride. But Standby is now already at a whopping 180 minutes and Single Rider at 45.





I resign myself to not going on but damn, I never got to go on TestTrack and now I miss this. I am doomed with car related rides. Finally Andy emerges at 0930 and eats his rather lukewarm burrito. But we are triumphant – we came, we saw, we got on Radiator Springs.

We stop here to look at how Carsland was designed and the kids watch some Cars film shorts

[WileyCoyote]

We walk back over to DL , much later than I had planned but still hopeful that most people are asleep in their beds.











The boys set off for Autopia and as its apparently a 15 minute wait, they go on Standby.







I set off again for Indiana Jones and there are no fast passes as the ride has broken down. Dilemma, what to do – stay or try something else. I will NOT be defeated by this infernal ride :angry:

I call Andy and as the boys are in the queue for Autopia I decide to stay . So I sit it out and 20 minutes later , its up and running and I can get a fast pass – hurrah , for 1135-1235.

I walk over to Tomorrowland to find them just exiting Autopia and so we all head over to join the queue for the Nemo Subs. It’s a 25 minute wait but likely to get longer and the queue is in the shade. Its now 1030. Nemo is cute and good fun ( and cool).





We are off by 1110 and take a slow walk over to Adventureland hoping to do something else before we can go on Indy but we just miss the Tiki Room show and Jungle Cruise is at 20 minutes so instead we get some drinks and sit in the shade.

Andy and I exchange some views about the merits of park touring my way . So I don’t get at all huffy (much). They can get on themselves from now on then. ! We get on Indy around 1215 and its very good fun so we are pleased we managed to do it



Its hot and busy now so we decide we have had enough with it being such an early start and we are back later for WoC. We catch some of the parade and then exit via the shops which are much cooler and emptier and we get to see the Dapper Dans ? in one the stores.



The boys head back to the hotel , via a stock up of chocolate at the shop. Andy and I stop at Mimis .

I think it was at this point that I started whingeing about a sore foot but it cant possibly be my trusty running shoes giving me blisters so it must be something else.

I try the wine flight, Andy has a couple of beers and we get a bar lunch of sliders and the Asian Sampler – both of which are delicious and it all totals $57. We also end up buying a box of muffins, giving no thought at all as to how they are going to make the journey from LA to Orlando, assuming they will be eaten in the next 48 hours.

[WileyCoyote]

We leave around 1.30 and the boys have been chilling in the room. We join them for a quick snooze and then I set off for the last laundry run before we get to our villa. Its around this point that I discover I do indeed have a blister which is nicely counterbalanced by the underside of my little toe which has been rubbed raw and bleeding – I presume the foot softening cream I have been using has been a tad too effective. So out comes the portable pharmacy and suitable swaddling and padding applied. We watch some TV and around 5.45 set out again .

The boys opt for Mcdonalds ( $27)





reservoir dogs and their mum !







Im not sure if Nick is trying to get in or out here !



We are in the park around 6.30pm ish – just as they are putting up the news that Soarin and Screamin fastpasses have all been distributed for the day .Boo.













As I am limping a bit, there is again a debate about whether this necessitates a wheelchair ( its only a blister for goodness sake) . We walk round and get FPs for GRR ( avoiding all errant small children on the way) and we leave the boys to do the Redwood Creek Challenge




while we go over to the Paradise Garden Grill again . We get a spicy beef and chicken kabob which we share ($11 each and we use our Disney Gift card) – they are yummy and very filling.

[WileyCoyote]

The boys are soon back and run off to do some arcade games.






Its 7.30 now and although the WoC fastpass says no early entry permitted a queue is already forming ( really ? already ? its like 90 minutes to go ). So with nothing better to do and unable to resist the “ there’s a queue, we better get in it” inner voice ,we get a spot around 7.45 near the waters edge. Its good but actually to appreciate the effects maybe further back is actually better. We have one person in front of us who spends the next 90 minutes with her arms outstretched holding a spot for 6 other people. She does look quite ridiculous and I bet her arms really ached. By 8.30 its quite full ( squashed) and the novelty of waiting has worn off. There are whingeing noises coming from the boys and they still have another 30 minutes to wait.

As time approaches it is lovely to see the lights around the pier and Mickey’s fun wheel changing colour.







And then it’s the show and at first its just “ok “ and then its brilliant – really , really good with the effects and fountains, music and fireworks. Really a great spectacle. I am glad we stood around to watch it.











sorry pics are a bit blurry !

[WileyCoyote]

As it finishes we again see the fireworks in DL but get ushered on as they are clearing the area for the second WoC show. We never saw the DL fireworks from start to finish, but what we did see looked really good.












The boys walk round to see if they can get on TSMM but it’s a 40 minute wait and they are a bit fatigued



So we walk back via Carsland and Luigis Flying Tires is at a 30 minute wait so , as it’s a ride we cant do in Florida , we decide we will wait and give it a go – it’s a very dull wait and this is a very slow loading ride. Which is over very quickly. The boys did like the beachballs but as they are so light they cant lean over to move their tire around. Lightness not being a problem that Andy or I suffer, we are much better and faster in the tire than they are. But its over before you start – shame, a bit longer and it would be a really super fun ride. Still we got on it so we feel we have triumphed over carsland!





i have no idea what was going on here ...












We walk back through a slightly spooky and deserted Bugsland so the boys jump into the ladybug bumper cars and have so much fun, they get back on again – and we join them although the cars are so teeny Andy has his knees displaced round his nostrils and watching him get out is quite amusing.

The tannoy tells us the park is now closing ( 11pm) and we have a slow walk out – its been an enjoyable evening even with the hanging about for WoC. We do seem to prefer this park to DL.

[Guest]

Fab Fab fab day! Sorry to hear you didn't get to do some rides :-( How did u get a magic morning?x

[WileyCoyote]

It was a really great day. MM entry came with the ticket , there was/is one MM for any ticket over a certain number of days but its only for DisneyLand , not DCA

[Guest]

We have a 5 day ticket but nothing to indicate a mm. Is this something we will be told when we get to Disney and do the first use?

[KarenG]

Amanda, what a great day!