We got back last night from our trip. We went into our Saturday and Sunday park days with low expectations, especially after we found out that our daughter’s favorite ride would not be accessible unless we got into Avenger’s Campus. But we ended up having an amazing time!
We checked into the Grand around 1pm and were told we should hurry down to the pool and put ourselves on the waitlist. I sent my daughter down and there ended up being no wait, so she got to hang out in the pool while I was stuck on a work call in the room until 3:30 then I joined her at the pool. My husband arrived by train (he had to work a full day) at around 7:30 and we all went to dinner at Naples. After dinner, we got dessert from Hearthstone and got everything ready in our room for an early morning.
The next day, we woke up at 6:15am, got ready to go, snagged a boarding group for RotR (12), and then headed down to Craftsman Grill. The line to get into DCA through the GC entrance stretched all the way to Storytellers and as we passed by, we noticed the security gates were down and there was no security or Hoag (temperature) personnel there yet. After a quick breakfast, we headed toward the DTD security entrance at around 7:40. At this point, I still didn’t see any security personnel and the line for DCA went to the lobby doors. When we got to the DTD entrance, there was no line for security. We got through quickly and got into a line being held outside La Brea. As soon as we got in line they let the line into the Esplanade. We hurried over to the DL entrance and were the second group in line. They let the Harbor entrance in between 7:50-7:55. I didn’t notice when people started coming in from Mickey & Friends. They opened the gates at 8am and started letting people in at around 8:10. We went first thing to guest services were we got our daughter a
DAS pass. GS explained that it was their goal to have most rides open by 8:30am. Space Mountain wasn’t open yet but that’s what our daughter wanted on her card, so he gave us a later return time and we headed over to Haunted Mansion.
The rest of our day went like this:
HM
PotC
BTMRR (all before 9am)
RotR (our BG was called before 9am)
Indy (got in the VQ around 9:30)
SM
Autopia
Dole Whip break and attempted to get WS BG. Got an error message saying our whole party had to be in the park (it said 2 out of 3 of our party wasn’t
). Went to GS to get GotG return time while my daughter and husband were on Star Tours. I asked about the WS error message and ended up with a little Pixie Dust and a WS boarding group. We then headed back to the hotel for a lunch and pool break. There was a waiting list at around 1pm when we got to the pool, so we ordered food to go from Craftsman and headed to our room to eat, get changed, and relax. We got a text to return to the pool at around 2pm. Daughter and I hung out at the pool while my husband napped in the room. We returned to DCA at around 4:30 when there was about 20 minutes left on our WS BG. Our BG ended up being called in less than 5 mins.
The rest of our day:
-WS
-GotG (bought drink for husband from Pym’s with an immediate return time while husband and daughter were on ride)
-looked around AC
-dinner at Carthay
-Monsters
-Shopping
-Mater’s (walk-on)
-Luigi’s (walk-on)
-Watched the Sh-Boom
-RSR
-Goofy’s (I went on Ariel while daughter and husband rode Goofy)
-GR
-Back to Hotel
The next day, we tried for WS at 7am but no luck. Had breakfast at Craftsman. We noticed the DCA line was much shorter when we walked by. Plus, the security gates were up and security and temp taking personnel were out, although they weren’t letting people through yet. Finished breakfast at 8am and were in DCA by 8:10.
The rest of our day went like this:
Before 9am
-IC 4x’s in a row
-TS
-EW
-SS (daughter rode twice)
After 9am
-Goofy
-Ariel
-Shopping
-Soarin
-GotG
At noon, we tried again for WS but no luck. Went to lunch at Lamplight. I asked if we could not be seated at a high top table, as I need a seat where I can have my feet on the ground. I am 8 1/2 months pregnant and just can’t sit in a high chair without my feet on the ground to support me and my giant belly. I was told they could not guarantee any seating and of course ended up being seated at a high top table. I ended up having to stand for most of the meal because sitting was pretty unbearable. We were also very disappointed to be seated upstairs way in the back close to the store with no view of anything. We usually have such great service at LL, but the service was terrible on top of it. Our server was super grouchy and didn’t check on us at all once she took our order. Someone else brought us our food and drinks and we had to flag her down to get her to take our payment. These were the only less than positive CM interactions we had of the whole trip. All the other CMs we encountered were really nice and seemed genuinely happy to be there.
The rest of our day:
-GR
-park hopped to DL
-Pinocchio (walk-on)
-Peter Pan
-Mr. Toad (2 min wait)
-Teacups (walk-on)
-Alice (did all these FL rides in under an hour)
-RR
-I headed back to the hotel to hang by the pool because I was DONE. Husband and daughter went on Smuggler’s Run and Splash Mountain and were out of the park by 4pm. There was a waitlist for the pool so I hung out in the lobby while my daughter and husband went shopping in DTD. By the time they were done, I still hadn’t received a text to return to the pool, so we decided to call it a day and head home. We finally received the text about 30 minutes after we got on the road.
Overall, it was a great trip! We saw lots of characters. My favorite was watching Tigger in a grass planter trying to catch bugs in a butterfly net. We were able to continue our tradition of celebrating our daughter’s birthday at DLR, and got in one last quick vacation as a family of 3 before I have the baby.
Feel free to ask me any questions about our trip!
wow, that was good planning lol. or maybe not if you are CA resident
but we had a great time! Yesterday felt busier in DL than our earlier days. Not terrible but it was more difficult to find the shorter wait times on a lot of the rides most of the morning and day. They opened the parks around 8, but not a single ride that we could find was open yet. We walked by Indy, Pirates, HM, BTMRR (we were 2nd in line when the CMs were informed there was an issue that would delay the ride opening and said we all had to come back later) so we went to FL, and then the tomorrow land rides and none were going yet. 
