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View Full Version : Veteran's Day Trip Report -- it wasn't bad if there at opening



Leap for Joy
11-12-2006, 05:40 AM
I chaperoned a group of high school students to DL on Friday. We left Tucson Thursday night at 10pm, and arrived in Anaheim at about 6:00 Friday morning. We stopped at McDonald's on Harbor to change our clothes, brush our teeth, and have breakfast before walking over to the gates. (For me, all of this equates to about 2 hours of sleep Thursday night! :eek: )

There was filming going on at the crosswalk when we drove by at 6:00, and they were still requiring people to walk across Harbor on the north side of the intersection at 7:15. I couldn't see who was being taped.

We were in line by 7:30 and there were only a few people ahead of our group at the gate. I used the time to give my kids instructions about their behavior in the park and to make sure they knew what time check-ins were. I also took digital pictures of each group that I could show to DL security if any of them didn't show up for check-in. By the time the gates opened at 8:00, the lines behind us went back far enough that I couldn't tell where they ended.

There was a countdown for gate opening, but no band and no characters. I was disappointed not to hear the band! That's one of my favorite things about going through at gate opening.

Once we went through the gates the kids were on their own and so were the chaperones. We had a runner get Space fastpasses while we rented a locker, then we met at Peter Pan for our first ride.

After Peter Pan we rode Buzz and then Big Thunder, both with no wait. Next we picked up fastpasses for Splash, then did Haunted Mansion with no wait and Pirates with a short wait (5 minutes maybe). Next we picked up fastpasses for Indy and decided to head over to DCA.

We arrived at DCA at about 9:55 (five minutes before official opening). We picked up fastpasses for Soarin' then walked toward Grizzly and waited for rope drop. Once through we picked up fastpasses for Grizzly then went to ride Screamin' with a short wait (less than 10 minutes). After Screamin' we walked along the boardwalk and decided to ride the Orange Stinger. From there we walked back to Grizzly and to Soarin' for a 2nd set of fastpasses. We walked over to the Hollywood backlot area and our group split up. Part of the group wanted to do Tower and the others wanted to do Animation. I went to Animation and we played in the Sorcerer's workshop and then saw Crush. The others met us by that time so the wait for Tower was reasonably short. We went to Taste Pilots Grill for lunch (I don't recommend their veggie burgers!) then met up with some students and rode Grizzly once.

It was almost time for the first student check-in so we needed to arrange which chaperones would be in which park. The other group of chaperones had just entered DCA so we gave them our 2nd set of Grizzly fastpasses and our group returned to DL. This was at about 1:30 and the lines didn't seem long. After seeing other threads I understand that was probably because they had stopped selling tickets for new entries.

The first student check-in was at 2:00, and all of the students were on time! I was very happy with them!!

After check-in we used our Space fastpasses. Then went to get a dole whip. CMs had one-way traffic going from Frontierland around to Adventureland. We were directed to enter through the Frontierland entrance and loop around to get dole whips. We went through the store instead. The dole whip line was our longest wait of the day! Part of our group shopped while the others waited and ordered. I think we spent 30 minutes in this line!!

Dole whips in hand, we went back through the store to the Frontierland side and walked along the river to use our Splash Mountain fastpass. As we were loading, we saw Chip and Dale, Mickey, and Goofy enter from the exit side with a family. They loaded up a short way behind us and we spent most of the ride looking back to try to catch a glimpse of them! After the ride we found out it was a Dream or Magical Moment. The family looked very happy to have ridden with the characters!!

I got soaked on Splash and the sun was hidden behind clouds or smog. I was still not dry when we left at midnight!

After Splash we rode Indy and then DH and I split up from the group. I was extremely tired and getting sensory overloaded! When we go to DL on vacation we always take naps in the afternoon. Since we didn't have a hotel room we didn't have that option. We went over to the tables north of Carnation Plaza and just sat and rested for about 45 minutes. That is such a nice quiet spot to unwind!

At about 5:30 we made our way back down to the flagpole to stake out a bench for 6:00 check-in. We called the other chaperones and found out they had just re-entered DL so we crossed to DCA for check-in there.

All of the students were on time except for one group, but they called to let us know where they were and they arrived a few minutes later. I am so proud of how well the kids did!!

After check-in we rode Soarin' with our fastpasses from the morning, and we gave our 2nd set of fastpasses away. There was a celebrity group on Soarin' who we didn't recognize -- a young man and two blonde teen girls. I noticed the young man quietly say "yay" during the spiel about no photography during the ride. They were alone with their plaid-vested CM on the center top row.

After Soarin' my memory is somewhat foggy. I was getting so tired that I wasn't processing well! Two hours of sleep on a bus full of teenagers before a full day at DL makes for a challenging day! I don't know what else we did from 6:30 until 8:15, but we were at the Main Street Train Station by 8:30. We boarded the last train before the fireworks (which was earlier than usual -- they said it was because of the wind (?)). We got off at New Orleans square before the 1st showing of Fantasmic! began and waited on a bench to make our way over for the 2nd showing.

After the 1st showing the lights came back on and I was sure they were going to cancel the fireworks. The lights were on for at least 5 minutes and we started to make our way over (usually we wait until after the fireworks). We hadn't gone very far before the lights went back down and fireworks started, so we went back to our bench and waited some more.

At the end of the show we started to make our way over for the next Fantasmic! but the crowds froze during the snow! People didn't move out like they normally do. It snowed and snowed, some of the machines were dropping snowballs instead of snowflakes, lol. Everyone was covered in white. We got our normal place for the 2nd showing and tried to stay awake while we waited.

Fantasmic! was great, as usual, but the crocodile float was absent. It wasn't especially crowded for the 2nd showing, no more than I'm used to in the summer anyway. I was a little surprised they kept the 3rd showing.

After Fantasmic! we walked over to Small World. We heard it was down during the day, but it was operational when we got there. The line was fairly short, we were loaded after about 10 minutes. But that's as far as we got!

Just before our boat was released, a CM came over to the ride operator to let her know that a boat was stuck at the key (which we found out was the spot where the boat goes left or right to unload). Since we were right under the ride operator's tower, we heard most of the conversations that ensued. It was very interesting! They got the first boat unstuck and then the next one got stuck too. A couple of DL firemen came along, not because a CM called for them but because one had received a call from inside the ride from a family member!

The ride operator tried to keep us amused while we waited, we wished a few waiting guests happy birthday, we joked back and forth with the guests in the boat waiting on the other side, etc. We asked about the projection light show because we should have seen it by this time. She told us that it usually runs every 30 minutes but it hadn't been working since before the fireworks. Then she performed a light show for us by unplugging and plugging the lights around her control tower. Very funny.

At some point during the wait she powered down the attraction. Imagine being stuck inside Small World and having the power go off! I think that would be so creepy!!

If you're wondering why we were still waiting, it's because we were tired and it was a comfy place to sit! Yep, that's how tired we were!! After we had been waiting about 40 minutes, they thought it was fixed but they needed to send a test boat through to be sure. We knew that would take another 15 minutes, and there was still no guarantee, so we gave up.

It was close to midnight and the students were supposed to meet us at the last A in California at 12:30. We decided to go see if any students were early and most of them were! I sent those who were there to the trams with one set of chaperones and waited for the others. It wasn't a long wait. Everyone was accounted for by 12:10 and we returned to the bus at Mickey and Friends Parking.

We were on the road by 12:30, and the students slept the entire way home! They were so tired they were sleeping in crazy positions -- even hanging out of their seats into the aisle!! We were back to school at 9:30 Saturday morning and the students' parents were very timely picking them up. DH and I were home, fed, showered, and to bed by 2:00. Even so, I slept until 5:00 this morning!!

Getting to the parks early made it possible to deal with the crowds comfortably. I had trained the students about fastpass use and they did pretty well too. Most of them got to ride everything they wanted to with reasonable waits. Two students in our group won Dream Mickey Ears, but they didn't realize how cool it was!

The students did so well that I'm already planning another student trip! Look for us again in February!! :D

momuvseven
11-12-2006, 06:12 AM
Thanks for a really nice trip report! I am totally impressed that you pulled this off with a busload of teens.

hippiemama
11-12-2006, 06:16 AM
we were there too! My trip report is below. I forgot to mention that we were in line for small world when it went down :(.
Second year in a row my kids have been to disneyland and not been on small world.
Oh well - there is always next year! lol

MammaSilva
11-12-2006, 06:24 AM
The students did so well that I'm already planning another student trip! Look for us again in February!! :D

I loved reading the trip report! It's wonderful to 'hear' how well the students followed trip rules and that it went so well. In all my trips I only had one time that I was doing the "what was I thinking" because of the kids behaviors. Congrats on a great trip!

jcruise86
11-12-2006, 06:37 AM
. . .a CM came over to the ride operator to let her know that a boat was stuck at the key (which we found out was the spot where the boat goes left or right to unload). Since we were right under the ride operator's tower, we heard most of the conversations that ensued. It was very interesting!. . .The ride operator tried to keep us amused while we waited, we wished a few waiting guests happy birthday, we joked back and forth with the guests in the boat waiting on the other side, etc. We asked about the projection light show. . .Imagine being stuck inside Small World and having the power go off! I think that would be so creepy!!. . .The students did so well that I'm already planning another student trip! Look for us again in February!! :D
Very impressive use of Fastpasses! You are a Disney park pro. I was also impressed by your reaction to the Small World breakdown. I imagine that with your attitude, working with you would be more enjoyable than recreating with most people.

Crazy4DL
11-12-2006, 07:21 AM
What a fun report. Just makes me smile that you did this for a bus load of high school kids. I am so glad they were so well behaved. I am thinking they probably had the time of their lives! :D

Way to go, Leap for Joy!!!

PhiSigDuchessCV
11-12-2006, 03:23 PM
I just discovered today what Leap For Joy meant about the park not being bad if there at opening. What a difference today was from when I went late Friday morning.

I live Carson which is about 30 minutes from Disneyland. I left the house about 7:15 this morning. This was just in time to get on the freeway and see a lot of Harley Davidsons on the road. I think they were all heading to the Love Ride. Anyway, I made it to park about 7:45 where they sent me to park in Pinocchio - I've never parked there unless it was overflow parking for Downtown Disney.

Walked over to the tram and there really wasn't a long wait for it. Got to the gates just after 8:05 (there was a wait at the security check). I made it on in to the park and headed straight over to IASW Holiday. There was no wait for the ride. I got some great pictures inside the ride so I'm really happy.

I left IASW and walked over to Fantasyland. It had been a few years since I had done any of the rides in that area and it wasn't crowded so I went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. After that I was going to go on Peter Pan but there was about a 10 minute wait so I went on Snow White. I should have done Peter Pan first, when I got out of Snow White the line was long for Peter Pan so I said the heck with it.

I decided to leave Fantasyland since it was starting to fill up a little. I took the Fantasyland entrance over to Froniterland. Big Thunder didn't have a long line so I decided to ride that. From there I was going to do Mark Twain but saw that it didn't appear there was a long line at Haunted Mansion. Sure enough I walked right on in to the waiting room. Next I went over to Splash Mountain - got absolutely soaked. There wasn't a wait on Pooh's ride so I went on that one again (reminded me why I usually don't ride it).

It was about 9:30 now so I thought I'd start heading over to DCA for it's opening. On the way there I stopped at the Jungle Boat and waited about 5 minutes. Left the Jungle Boat and then headed again towards DCA. I got side tracked at the pin traders on Main Street. Hung out there for quite a while. By the time I left them it was 10:00 a.m.

Walked across the entrance and entered DCA where I promptly headed towards Soarin Over California. I did the single rider line and was on the ride fairly quick. I got off the ride and wandered around the main plaza of DCA a little bit trying to decided if I wanted to get something from the bakery. While I was trying to decide they opened up Test Pilots Grill so I decided to get lunch. While there I saw someone win one of those Disney Experiences - they got the table service, white tablecloth, china, and their food brought out to them and attentive service from a cast member. The father/daughter pair looked rather bored I think.

When I finished lunch I was going to go see how the line was at Tower of Terror but got sidetracked again. The High School Musical Pep Rally was going on so I watched it. By this point it was starting to get a little warm and a bit crowded so I called it a day. I was home by 12:30 and did more in the parks in 4 hours this morning then I have done in 6 hours in the evening.

I'm definitely going to try to go back at opening time again. Especially since I'm trying to win things :-)

Carolyn

Leap for Joy
11-12-2006, 03:42 PM
Very impressive use of Fastpasses! You are a Disney park pro.
I owe my expertise to RideMax! I used it a lot for a couple of years and now I've got a really good feel for how to get around the parks. I didn't have one for this trip but I knew what to do.


I was also impressed by your reaction to the Small World breakdown. I imagine that with your attitude, working with you would be more enjoyable than recreating with most people.
Wow, thank you, that's such a nice thing to hear!


I loved reading the trip report! It's wonderful to 'hear' how well the students followed trip rules and that it went so well. In all my trips I only had one time that I was doing the "what was I thinking" because of the kids behaviors. Congrats on a great trip!
Thanks! I was really nervous about taking kids so far. I'm very proud of them!


I am thinking they probably had the time of their lives!
I really hope so! It was a first time to Disneyland for many of them.


Thanks for a really nice trip report! I am totally impressed that you pulled this off with a busload of teens.
Honestly, I'm totally impressed too, lol!!!

rentayenta
11-12-2006, 04:27 PM
What a fun read! Seems like you were able to do a lot. Nice to read about well behaved teens too. I am glad you had fun and kudos to you for being brave enough to take a busful on a holiday! :)