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The old man
04-18-2005, 02:36 PM
Drove up from San Diego on Friday, April 15 with my wife and 6.8 year old daughter. We are older parents; I am 52 and my wife shares her 50th year with DL. But, as you will see in my Day Two report, we can keep up with anyone when it comes to touring DL.

We go once a year and our plan was to be the same as last year's--use a socal 2 for 1 and stay within close walking distance of the parks. We do a 2/3 day on the first day at DCA and then, on the following day, a full day at DL.

We arrived at the BWPPI around noon, we got a parking pass, but we're told we'd have to return after 3pm before getting a room. They did take our information so that it would go faster when we came back. The big plus is getting the free parking upon arrival. I have reviewed the BWPPI in the MousePlanet review section but briefly: clean, low shower head, slightly lumpy beds, small pool (but only our daughter was going to use it and she was happy), small continential breakfast that's smaller than last year. But the big plus for us--the absolute shortest walk of any hotel to the DLR.

Got the DCA around 12:45pm. Our 2 fer's were pre-validated at the grocery store we bought them from and we did not have to go to a ticket booth but went right in at a gate. While my wife put things into a locker I went over and got a FP for Soaring (for 5pm) and GRR (for 6pm.) Met back up with my wife and daughter and off we went to TOT.

Now a word about TOT. It was not open yet when we were there last year and I knew that this year we would have to go on it (our daughter when she was 4.5 years old was riding and loving BTMRR, the Matterhorn & SM.) I enjoy the roller coasters at DL, but I am not a thrill rider and my wife is afraid of heights! TOT was showing a 15 minute wait so the next thing I knew we were standing there in the lobby, then in the library, then in the boiler room and then in the elevator. My unease was building. Up we went to the hallway with the mirror--well that was cool. Then up a floor or so to view the lost guests and then...Yaaaa down and then up up up and then the doors open and I say to myself "Oh no", but oh yes and then down and then up. Anyway my hands were shaking when I got off. My daughter's response: (I knew what was coming) "again." And back on we went two more times during the day and once at night. My wife found the floating feeling an almost spriritual experience and was enjoying it by the second time. I felt better by the third time. My daughter would like to live there and ride it forever. Of course this is a great ride at night.

We timed the Aladdin show perfectly and arrived about 15 minutes before showtime. Decided, from what I've read here, that at this point going to the Orchestra section would be best. Sure enough those that had waited for an hour went right for the front rows like you would at a regular play. We wound up a few rows back from the first aisle. Great seats for seeing all the things happening on the stage, the elephant in the aisle and the flying carpet. We absolutely loved this show. As usual at these sorts of things the audience never really applauds enough--we are enthusiatic clappers. This is a very hard working cast and they do a large number of shows per day they deserve appreciation.

Anyway from Soaring to GRR where my daughter got soaked. She refused the kids' pancho we got at the 99 cent store but we certainly wore our adult ones. Then back to Soaring, our first visit to the Animation building, and our nightime TOT. My daughter loves ITTBAB but it was closed (don't know if it was all day like Mouseplanet said; the CM's seemed to make it sound like it had just gone down.) Ate the bad as usual Mexican food near the Tortilla Factory and got a good view of the ELP. My daughter loves this parade, but in the two previous years she would yell out, "Hi Peter Pan!, Hi Snow White!", etc. This year she seems more blase about it and just sat quietly.

Speaking of food here are some notes.
Best of the day--churro at the cart near TOT,
Got the steaming whatever it's called ice scream sundae at the train car, wasn't anything special last year, wasn't anything special this year. As you will see I am very hard on food.

Got back to the hotel around 9:30 and to bed by 10. Saturday DL was opening at 8am and we would need all of our strengh for the grueling day of fun ahead!

David

Mukta
04-18-2005, 02:42 PM
I was wondering what you would think of TOT. I'm glad you took a chance and rode it. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

Hakuna Makarla
04-18-2005, 02:43 PM
Awsome trip report there old man!! so you liked TOT man I thought I would faint but of course I went on again LOL! Tell me more......... ok...... more.......... :) and of course pictures please :)

The old man
04-18-2005, 02:45 PM
I was wondering what you would think of TOT. I'm glad you took a chance and rode it. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.
Thank you for remembering my thread, "am I going to hate TOT?" Fortunately the answer was ,"no". Now maybe next year Screaming--
Naw!
David

CoasterChickie
04-18-2005, 03:11 PM
Godd job on TOT!!! Did you get the "I survived" sticker?

rentayenta
04-18-2005, 03:15 PM
Great report! Can't wait to read the rest :)

Hakuna Makarla
04-18-2005, 03:32 PM
Godd job on TOT!!! Did you get the "I survived" sticker?

was there a sticker for this ride?? you must pick me up one bnext time you go there :)

Hawaiian Cinderella
04-18-2005, 03:37 PM
waiting to hear more.............

CrazyTrain
04-18-2005, 09:11 PM
Glad that you enjoyed ToT! It does do a number on you.... I thought that I was going to fall down those stairs *LOL*

I don't think they have the stickers anymore :confused:

Can't wait to hear the rest of it!

Crazy4DL
04-18-2005, 10:31 PM
fun report, thanks for sharing! :)

mkcbunny
04-18-2005, 10:37 PM
I was wondering what you would think of TOT. I'm glad you took a chance and rode it.

Me, too. And I wondered ... Having now done it, do you think what people said about it beforehand matched what you thought of the ride?

yellowrosedtxn
04-19-2005, 05:41 AM
Thanks for the trip report! I can't wait to hear more. I am scared to go on TOT myself, but I am going to try it AND see if I can talk my kids and dad to go on it too.

The old man
04-19-2005, 03:32 PM
Me, too. And I wondered ... Having now done it, do you think what people said about it beforehand matched what you thought of the ride?
It was as smooth as many reported and not a ride that should make you sick. I liked it but I found it very intimitating until the third or fourth time. I really think that everyone should try it. My wife did see a 10 year old boy crying hysterically. You can never tell.

Day 2 trip report posting tomorrow--very long.
David

SuefromRI
04-19-2005, 05:21 PM
Glad that you took everyone's advise to give TOT a try at least once. It is much worse in one's imagination than in reality. I was petrified the first time at WDW, but now it is my favorite, I've even rode it by myself.

Disney Vault
04-19-2005, 05:44 PM
You totally have to do screamin' next time. It is such a great ride and so smooth and fun. It has just enough thrill without crossing the line.

pirateabbie
04-20-2005, 07:43 AM
Thanks for the great trip report! I just can't read enough of those.

MammaSilva
04-20-2005, 08:04 AM
great trip report, can't wait to read Day Two!

tod
04-20-2005, 08:56 AM
You totally have to do screamin' next time. It is such a great ride and so smooth and fun. It has just enough thrill without crossing the line.

By all means try it, but I will tell you that when I got major headaches after two rides on different days, I stopped riding it and never felt bad about it.

--t

MsYumiBr
04-20-2005, 09:00 AM
That's interesting. I got a headache too. I just thought it was because it was after riding TOT twice and California Screamin' twice. :fez:

SilverStyle
04-20-2005, 10:48 AM
Glad you enjoyed yourself on ToT. I love it too. As for the stickers, we are not giving them out no more. People were getting crazy and demanding for those stickers. I still have a small roll in my car. "I took the dare"

The old man
04-20-2005, 07:31 PM
So my wife, Mindy, almost seven-year-old (July) daughter, Amanda, and I got back to the BWPPI at 10pm on Friday after our day at DCA. Set the alarm for 6:30am, daughter fell asleep at 10:15, my wife at 10:30, but not until around 11pm for me. Oh well.

In the morning I'm pushing to get everyone ready. Must get to park before opening. We go to the second floor of the restaurant next door where the hotel offers its free continental breakfast. It's smaller than last year's. Apples, oranges, corn flakes, raisin bran, four types of muffins (how do they make them all taste the same?), some prepackaged sweet rolls--done. We open up the Swanson frozen breakfasts we've brought and sit down to eggs, hash browns and sausages. Ah, what a little preplanning will do. Remember there are grocery stores within 1/2 mile of DLR and most hotels have refrigerators and microwaves.

For the last week I've been running scenarios through Ridemax to see what comes up and I don't like what I see. For example two 30-minute nighttime waits in a row for the Matterhorn. I figure I can do better, but let me not appear to be knocking Ridemax here. If you were not really into planning or had no real experience at DL I would highly recommend it. It is also great for bouncing test runs off of. We arrived at the gates around 7:50 and there were about 20 people in each line. One of Ridemax's tips is to hang back near the early entry gate and then enter easily when it changes to open admission. I do not recommend this. As we discovered it takes them a few minutes to get their computers to recognize non-EE tickets and we could have been in by that time. No matter, we are in at 8:05am.

So now my master plan begins...where's Amanda? Noooo, she's trying to shop at the first souvenir stand by the right entry tunnel. A little reasoning with her (no worry--plenty of shopping time later) and we're on our way.

First stop Fantasyland. I figure to knock off the four most popular rides and not return there. The waits for Mr. Toad can easily go an hour plus by late morning. So, PP 5 minute wait, Mr. Toad 2 min. wait. Amanda wants a repeat. My plan is for them to ride again while I go to BLY and get a FP for later, meet back at the Matterhorn.

Last year we attempted, with poor results, to communicate by cell phone. Now this may have improved because they were in use everywhere. We brought walkie talkies and they were a big help. Our rule was that anytime we get out of sight of each other make sure they are turned and held near the ear. So it was very easy for me to find them at the Matterhorn and we rode it twice with about a 2-minute wait each time.

Next step--they ride Alice while I go to Splash to get a FP and we meet at Indy. But when I get to SM the FP is closed! And the ride is already showing a 30 minute wait. Out comes the walkie talkies (W-T's from now on). We are communicating all the way from SM to Fantasyland. I will get a FP for Indy. and then I will meet you at Splash because without FP this will be our only chance to ride it. Without any problem I meet them at Splash and for the second day in a row Amanda gets soaked. While she changes I pay for a great picture. One nice thing about the new logs is that the three of us were in the front so that there are only two strangers in the picture and one of them is blocked by my head. (The other one I'm Photoshopping to a blur.) I have time to run over to Big Thunder and grab a FP, but also note that the wait isn't too long. I W-T to Mindy to meet me there. We ride once and go over to Indy to use our FP

This will be our first of four times on Indy for the day. Amanda loves this ride and we are sitting in the front. This is the first time we have seen the snake working. Also I don't remember the bugs in the headlights but they look great.

We hit POTC (20 min. wait) and HM (also a 20 min. wait). Absolutely loved the new floating ball effect on HM. Now to my favorite lunch spot--the Hungry Bear. I've always like sitting in the lower level away from the bustle with the various boats and ships going by. I also find that the food is OK. Unfortunately I am behind here--I like to arrive by 11 to 11:30am and it's closer to 12:30. So the line is long, but my wife waits in it with our order. We split the double cheeseburger and it was luke-warm (which has never happened before.) Not worth taking it back but a downer. As always the onion rings were good.

Now I don't want to go into too much detail but I am hitting FP machines throughout the day and we always had one or two rides in my pocket. We head back to Indy to stir up our meal. And again to Big Thunder.

Now to Buzz Lightyear for our first time ever. Used a FP, though it only had a 30 min. wait, but we were getting tired and were due to go back to the hotel room shortly. I can only say that this is an enjoyable ride. I tired of seeing flat panel characters (ala Pooh). It's nice it's interactive but what's new here? They don't compare to Indy or Splash the last great DL rides or Soaring or TOT over at DCA. My daughter didn't even want me to get a FP for later and showed no real interest in riding again. Walked over to ST and waited about 30 minutes. This is my first time in years riding it without FP and it was nice to look at the queue area. However this ride really does make me sick these days. It always seems airless and the motion just gets me nauseous. This even happens at our Science Museum's mini-simulator ride. Ah...old age.

A quick note about Tomorrowland. I did not have the time or energy to go back and explore and it's always sad to see the defunct Peoplemover, but I've always liked the use of vegetables and herbs as plantings. In front of Buzz strawberries were growing, but still green. By ST it was a combo planting of mint and oregano. Very nice.

So back to the hotel by 3:30 for a rest. Well that was the plan. While my wife slept, Amanda played in the pool and I sat outside playing lifeguard. Note she is a much better swimmer than I am, in fact I really could not be called a swimmer.

So we returned to DL a little before 6 and were did we go? Back to Indy. Then Amanda went up the Swiss Family Robinson Tree. How Tarzan wound up on the island I'll never know. Back to HM and then again to POTC. My daughter was suckered into buying that $6 velvet bag of rocks (hey, as much as you can stuff), but she used her own allowance money to buy it.

Now it was time to eat, again later than I like, it was about 7:30pm but we went over to the French Market. Like the Hungry Bear I find it very relaxing there. Especially when I can sit while my wife places the order. She W-T'ed me when it was time for me to help her bring the food to the table.

Now all this time a plan has been stirring in the back of my mind--how to see Fantasmic! I, in the past, have usually just avoided the area. We were once caught in the crush with no view and nowhere to move. But this year I paid attention to the tip on the site about the rising middle light platform. It was around 8:20 when we finished eating and of course it was getting packed. There were a maze of ropes all over the place and I couldn't really tell where one was suppose to stand or sit or walk. But I knew where that pole was because earlier in the day I saw the metal plates on the ground were it rises from. Sure enough we got over there and almost no one was there. I said to a woman there, "Well, this certainly is a terrible place to watch the show." She started to explain that it rises up and I said I knew but it was too much fun to pretend ignorance.

Interestingly enough the woman, who was from Oregon, had at the last minute that day flown down were her daughter whose 12th birthday it was that day. She had not read about the pole trick but had figured out herself from here last visit. I was very impressed. Anyway Amanda and I went off to get ice cream while my wife held down the fort (very easy to do since no one wanted to sit there...yet.)

So there we are with only a 15 minute wait and my daughter starts complaining that it's boring (she's never seen Fantasmic.) I tell her just wait and then up goes the platform and there's a perfect view. Other people in the back are starting to wake up, but too late. We are in front with a concrete planter for Amanda to stand up that brings her up to five feet but doesn't block anyone else's view. Perfect and we are in heaven.

Now to ride Big Thunder at night. Not being able to see what's ahead really throws you around. And then, yes, one more time at Indy. One loading track was stalled so we had to wait about 10 minutes. Some teenagers had done something and Disney Security was down there in force.

Time to finish up. At Coke Corner there was a "kid" playing. He had a shaved head with a bowl cut and did not resemble the old fashioned Disney musicians. He was absolutely incredible. He was playing a medley of Disney and other tunes with incredible "stride" style. Who is this kid?

My wife had already gotten the news earlier that Gibson Girl no longer had Fantasia ice cream and was pretty much bummed out so we ate fudge instead which isn’t really what we’d call fudge. We visited with the artist who was signing the limited edition prints for the 50th anniversary watches. I had never seen this area of the watch store and it was very interesting. That's one of the great things about Disneyland--you can always discover new things tucked away in corners.

Our daughter bought an Ariel doll set for twelve bucks (not bad) and it was time to go back to the hotel. We got back in around 11:30pm, which is very late for Amanda, but she just wanted to watch TV, we just wanted to go to sleep--we won.

On the way back home Mindy said to me it really is special to have a place to escape from the daily grind and that its slogan of the "Happiest Place On Earth" is more than a saying--it's true. On Mouseplanet we often complain, partly because we want to see Disneyland be all it can be, but we all know we really love it and we are fortunate to be able to share it through the generations.

Earkid
04-20-2005, 09:28 PM
Hey old man, I'm there w/ ya. I haven't been able to go on Star Tours for years because of nausea, and that began around age 35. Really sux cause I used to be able to go on anything in any direction.

Congrats on your awesome fantasmic location. I am assuming that Amanda liked it when all was said and done? And what is it w/ kids and those $6 jewel bags? Every kid I've ever taken to DL has insisted on getting one.

I hope you will post your Splash pic. Thanks for taking the time to post your trip report, it's great.

Rhiannon8404
04-20-2005, 09:43 PM
Sounds like you had a great day!

FWIW, my son (7 yo in August - about a month younger than your daughter) also loves those jewel bags. It's his pirates' treasure.

yellowrosedtxn
04-21-2005, 04:44 AM
Thank you for a wonderful trip report! It sounds like you had a great time!! Thank you for writing it!

oregontraveler
04-21-2005, 04:48 AM
Great report! At Coke Corner, they often ask if anyone in the audience can play. So you might have seen a tourist up there, shaved head and all.