Was our 3rd trip to DL a charm??

[Twinprincesses]

I have been going to WDW since I was little. We try to go once a year but my DH family lives in California so we headed out here for our 3rd time. I will post about our Southern California days over there.

We are DVC members so we usually get a studio room. Booking at the GC is not easy with DVC points since the rooms get taken fast. We had to get a 1 bedroom for 2 days and a studio the rest. I have to say the 1 bedroom is amazing with the full kitchen and jet tub. We filled it up with water at the end of the night and stuck our feet in.

We spent Monday at CA. We used the enterance for Early Magic from GC. The line was insane, we got down there 20 min before EMH started and the line was so long they started requesting people go to the main enterance. I wish we would have done that because the line did not move fast. We did not have bag with us but there was not a seperate security line for no bags. We headed straight back to CarsLand.

There was nobody at all on Flying Tires so we hoped on that first. The kids loved it and we had fun too. I had heard so much complaining about them from so many people in the park though.

We then moved over to Maters Junkyard and there was also no wait so we rode that.
We stopped and saw McQueen

Then we headed over to RSR. It said a 60 min wait so we thought we would go ahead and wait. The line went really fast probably 40 minutes. I do love this ride and have to say it is worth the wait but breaks down alot. The falls portion was broken so the "cruise" portion was not as cool. DH went to get a fast pass (the park had just opened) and had about a 15 min wait. The passes were to come back at around 3 pm.

On the way out of Carsland we did see Joey Fatone getting on Maters. You can see him with his hand up here.

We went on almost all the other rides there with little if no wait.

For lunch my daughter got a corn dog from the Corn Dog Castle, I had a grilled vege salad from the Mexican place and everyone else had the Chicken from the Asian place. We all wish we would have gotten the corn dog because we were not impressed with the other places. I fell the asian food was really fatty pieces of chicken.

So we head back to RSR with our FP, get on and get stopped right before Filmore and Sarge. We sat there for about 10 min before we saw 2 CM walk by. They ignored us and we asked what the deal was. They said they would be back to get us. My shoulder belt had tightened so tight that I could not wait to get out of there. They did come back to get us and we slowly walked out rescuing people from their Cars. On the way out I eased the kids feelings with photos.

The CM asked us to stop taking photos. They did give us FP for later in the day so we did get to come back a couple hrs later. The FP line was longer about 20 min but we got on and right when we were done the ride went down again.

Carsland is nothing short of amazing. Our of any Disney park I have been to this is the best theme. Dinner we did Flos V8, DH and I shared the Chicken Salad which was good, and on of our daughters had the roast beef, which was a bit fatty.

We had gotten FP to the WOC but it was super packed. People were not to willing to make room for others. We did get to see it but not as great as I would like. I have to say it is a great show.

 

[Twinprincesses]

We went to DL on the Wednesday. We had a great day being gifted with early entry to Toon Town Madness. I am so glad we did because Toontown at DL is amazing (and I guess WDW is no more). Crowd levels were somewhat easy to manage. It was funny bc we had early magic hours and spent 30 of those minutes in the hat store.

We ate lunch at Golden Horseshoe. The Fish and Chips is enough to feed 2 adults and is pretty decent.

I loved Small World, normally when we go to DL IASWAA is closed preparing for the holidays. I love the addition of the characters on the ride. The longest we waited for anything was 30 min for the HM. Everything else was about a 5-15 min wait. I am not a fan of Matterhorn, it killed my back. No fireworks or Fantasmic tonight. So we headed back to the room. We had switched to our Studio and had a view of CA from our balcony. We had an amazing view of WOC so it made up for the smaller room.

 

[Twinprincesses]

Our 3rd day at Disney we decided to park hop. We started the morning at CA. We again headed back to Carsland but since this was a Saturday the crowd was out of control. You can get in the FP line for RSR before rope drop so I headed there. When I got in line it was down to the Aladdin theatre, we were about 30 min before rope drop so I was shocked at how busy it was. I did get my FP once the park opened it took about 20 minutes to actually get the pass with a return time of 11am. There were many people in line that came to get the FP while the rest of the party slept in at the room and were disappointed when they could not get them bc their tickets had not been scanned for the entry to the park.

DH took the kids on Soarin and they actually got Lugis and Maters done as well. We hit a few more rides before our FP time. We rode the rides and hoped on over to DL.

DL was absolutly insane. There was a light drizzle that morning so I was shocked it was actually that busy. The wait time for almost every line was 60 or more minutes. Splash and Space mountain both had over 2 hr wait times. HM had 90+ min, Pirates 45 min yeah you get the point. I saw so many kids throw up that day too.

What made me mad about this day is the number of rides that broke down all when we were in line. Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Mr Toad, Roger Rabbitt and Peter Pan.

We did go back to the BBQ area where they had a fun show going on and the girls got to see alot of characters.

We grabbed lunch at the Bengal BBQ (the spicy is really spicy) and tried a couple more rides.

At 5pm people were sitting on blankets already for Fantasmic that did not start until 9. Once I saw that I knew we were not going to get a spot. After getting frustrated we decided to head back to the hotel for a break and dinner. DH picked up El Pollo Loco (they have a great $19.99 family meal that would feed 4-6).

We tried CA again but the T Party was going on. It would have been fun but the music was insanley loud so we left. We did swing by Carsland one more time because it is amazing in the night with the neon on.

We got back to the DL park at around 8:30 pm. The fireworks were starting at 9:30 so we thought we would have time to go to Fantasyland. I asked a CM if Fantastyland was still open bc I saw a sign that said some rides would close. He told me the rides were open and we had plenty of time that they would not be closing. We try to get back there and when we finally do we realize it was indeed closed along time ago. Frustrated now bc Fantasmic is going on so that area is packed we go back to get a spot for fireworks. There are not a ton of good places for firework viewing so we got stuck behind the trees. Good fireworks but I was disspoointed in the view (and was pouting at this point).

After the fireworks we run back to Fantasyland. They told us they do not drop the rope until 10pm. At 10:10 people were not being to patient anymore and the guy said they would let everyone in once the Peter Pan and Mr Toad line got in. WHAT!!! There is a seperate line to Peter Pan (honestly you would only know that if you came there often. So we find the line that at this point is going past Mad Hatter. We waited and they finally dropped the rope. People just walking by jumped in the line, there was no order as to who got in if they were in line or not. It was like Black Friday morning the way people were running. We end up getting to PP and getting an ok spot, probably a 20 min wait. Only about 5 ships had gone of the ride when you head 2 of them smack together. The girl working the controls looked like she zoned out and did not hit the proper button. The boats smacked and she just started hitting a bunch of buttons. Nobody got hurt but guess what, yep the ride went down. We waited 15 minutes but after a horrible day we decided to get out of line. My Dh waited another 10 min w one of my daughters but got out of line and went on Snow White. He said it was still closed when he got out.

We went back to the hotel worn out and disappointed.

 

[Twinprincesses]

The next morning we had breakfast reservations at Goofys Kitchen. I was still mad that the prior day was so messed up and nothing seemed to go right. We got there right at our reservation time and they asked us to sit on the sofas. 20 minutes later we finally got called. I have to say the attitude of the front desk staff right off the bat was rude. There were 3 people standing up there one waiting on someone and the other 2 just ignored us talking to each other. Instead of telling us the other person would be right with us.

We sat down at the tables closest to the back door at the windows. We got food and started eating. Sadly it was cold and the character interaction was almost nothing. After 1 hr our waitress stopped coming and we had not seen a character in a very long time (except Belle that was slowly walking by over and over again). DH went up to complain that we had only seen 2 characters but saw over 5 of them go out the back door. They said they would take care of it but nothing happened. We saw the character handler and stopped him to tell him how angry we were. I was super emotional from the day before and was on the verge of tears (yes I am a baby). The guy said he would see what he could do and 20 min later nothing. At this point we got up and walked out. I figure we had already paid so why did they want to make us happy.

At the GC I complained again because it started eating away at me that we just dropped $100+ on a cold meal with horrible character interaction. Even at the GC they really did not care and handed me a comment card with honestly 2 lines to fill in and told me they would forward it to DL hotel.

All in all Monday and Wednesday were picture perfect days of vacation. I truely do love the feel of DL and the rides, but I feel the employees do not even care the way WDW employees do. Even at the World of Disney store I asked if they had an item and they told me they were busy and to stand in the register line to ask.

 

[hollyshoffbrau]

Thanks for posting your trip report!

 

[ttig34]

Thanks for sharing. Sorry for the few downers, but sounds like you basically had a good time.