The 321 Trip - Day 3 - Disney Day Part 2! (2/11/16)

[pinkstargirl]

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Day 3 - 2/11/16

I woke up twice again during the small hours, at around 3am and 5:30am, before my alarm went off at 7am. I got up and got ready, and decided to have an Ihop breakfast. There was one just down the road, and I managed to find it without using my satnav! I arrived there at 8am and ordered a vanilla iced coffee (I love that these are free refills!) and a breakfast sampler. Two each of eggs, bacon, sausage, ham and pancakes, with hash browns. Yummy! I had a refill on my iced coffee and then asked for another to go when I paid the bill. I left at 8:45.

I arrived at Disneyland at 9:05 and parked up in Donald. This is in the multi-storey parking so I had to make my way down a couple of escalators before getting on the tram. We arrived at the parks at 9:30, and after a quick toilet break, I made my way into DL at 9:45, and had to wait at Frontierland until rope drop at 10. I made my way to BTM and was the 7th person on! As always a really fun ride!

I walked to Haunted Mansion Holiday, beautifully decorated and showing a 5 minute wait time. This actually was around 15 minutes but there was a lot to see in the queue so I didn't mind too much! I really enjoyed the theming in this ride, it was fun! I made my way to Pirates of the Caribbean afterwards and queued for around 10 minutes. Its a ride that I always enjoy at WDW and here was no exception!

I had another quick break before using the single rider queue for Indiana Jones, which is all the way down the exit path of the ride, past everyone coming off the ride (which means you get some very strange looks) before you get to the single rider entrance. There was a guy here (early 20's probably) who was obsessed with the ride. And he started talking to the only other person around who was on their own. Lucky me. :arm: He was harmless, just very enthusiastic, but I'm very bad at making conversation with someone I don't know. The ride was fun, it reminded me a little of Dinosaur at AK.

Afterwards, I made my way towards Fantasyland, walking through the castle and taking a nice picture of the Cinderella statue the other side. There wasn't much here that I wanted to go on, and I couldn't find any wait times displayed for things that I did want to ride, so I continued on to Mickey's Toontown. Again, there wasn't much here that I wanted to ride. I went on Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, and then made my way to Tomorrowland, where I queued for about 20 minutes for Nemo's Submarine Voyage - I thought this was very well done and quite clever!

I got a FP for Star Wars for a little later in the afternoon and went to wait for the monorail. I went for the last gate, as I'd read that the front and back were available and offered better views. I was joined by an English family who then proceeded to push in front of me and take the end carriage. :angry: I sat in there as well but couldn't take any good pictures as I wasn't near the windows.

As the DTD monorail stop is so close, it seemed rude not to dine at Earl of Sandwich again! And now that we are into Thanksgiving month, I should probably have another Holiday Sandwich, right? I asked for it without cranberry sauce today and it was even more delicious! After that I made my way back to the monorail and managed to get the last seat in the front compartment with the driver. There was a family in there as well but I was able to enjoy the scenery and it was great to be able to see the driver operating the monorail.

I used my FP on Star Tours at 14:25, and afterwards realised that I'd done everything I was able to do in DL. Some of the rides I was really looking forward to were closed which was very disappointing, like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and It's A Small World. I know that Space especially is very different to WDW and I would have liked to have seen that. If anyone has ridden Splash or IASW in DL, how similar/different are they to their Floridian counterparts?

I made my way back to the entrance and into California Adventure. I first went and got a FP for Soarin, for between 6 and 7pm. I went to watch the Moana Sneak Peek which I really enjoyed and left me looking forward to the movie. I got a frozen strawberry lemonade in Cars Land and just sat and chilled out for a while while I ate it. I wish I'd ridden a couple of the other rides in Cars Land instead of just Radiator Springs. I hadn't seen the film when I went but I have now so I think I'd 'get' it a bit more! I joined the RSR single rider queue at 4pm and waited around 20 minutes. The car I was in lost today.

I walked round to ride California Screamin' and happened upon the single rider queue, not very well signposted and nowhere near the main entrance. I didn't have to wait very long and my row was actually one seat and a box where the other seat would be. Perfect! I decided that I would brave Mickey's Fun Wheel again but in the non-moving gondola, hoping this would be more enjoyable. I was in the gondola on my own, and this meant I could get some better pictures. I still didn't enjoy it very much as I could feel the movement of the moving gondolas and every time I shifted slightly so did mine. It just made me feel very nervous!

I decided to queue for Toy Story Mania which had a wait time of 30 minutes posted. I was on the ride in just under 20 minutes so that was good. I scored 155,800 which was the best in vehicle! I had a look at a couple of the shops on the boardwalk area before making my way round to Soarin, which I really enjoyed. I got given the red tag to measure the queue, I probably wasn't the best person for this as I was on the ride within 5 minutes as they needed a single rider! I have in my notes that it was so much better than 'Snorin' at WDW!

I left the park and went to World of Disney for a few bits. I'd found a lot of stuff I'd wanted the day before, but I decided that I really didn't need it all. I got myself a small Stitch stuffed toy as I'd wanted one for ages! I chose the slowest line ever as someone in front was buying loads of places and they ran out of the wrapping stuff half way through. Never mind. I grabbed a which chocolate mocha from Starbucks (tradition before an evening Disney show now!) before making my way back into CA at 7:45 to get a space for World of Color. I was feeling very tired and did consider not bothering and just heading back to the hotel, but I stuck around and watched the show and I was so glad I did! I didn't have a great view but I saw a good portion of it! Really wonderfully done!

I left just before 9pm, and walked to the McDonalds that was across the carpark to grab something for dinner. I ate it and had a shower, then chilled out watching a bit of TV before going to bed around 12.

Next day

[Disney Wishing]

Nice report. Shame some of the ride were unavailable. Splash Mountain is very similar to WDW's. The main difference is that the log seating is single seat in width rather than two seats. This did seem to mean you got wetter! IASW is also very similar but they do have the addition of disney characters mixed in with the tradition dolls located in where they would be base i.e Stitch in the Indian Ocean section. They're dressed in the Mary Blair style to match in with the ride.

[Rincelex]

Loving reading this. I have only been to DL once and that was in 1997 so I think a lot has changed since then. I can't think of anything more perfect than going to the place I love (anywhere in the US) on my own - setting my own timetable and eating where I want and doing what I want when I want.

[katebush95]

Brill day again 😀

[Twinkletoes47]

Loving your trippy

[Jake71]

It must be disappointing when some of the rides are closed, but you still got loads done. We are going at the end of September and will only have 2 Disney days, do you think that is enough time to fit everything in?