9/19 trip report - DLR on a dime for a day!

LadyDarling

New Member
Original Poster
So my hubby and I made the pilgrimage to DLR yesterday (about an hour and a 1/2 drive 1 way for us). Since we're saving up for a few things, we decided to pack a lunch and only use the $30 we could find around the house for purchases. (Luckily, we already had gas!)

We arrived at about noon, having stopped for bagels on the way up (breakfast) and juice. In our cooler, we had packed 2 turkey sandwiches, 2 peaches, 2 plums, and a couple of small portable candies (Reeses sticks - hubby's fav). It was all packed in a small, soft cooler (a free cooler bag we got from a Padre's game years ago), using this plastic ice cubes to keep it cold. Hubby carried it around (without complaint :D ) all day.

Since many things are being referbished, it wasn't as crowded in Disneyland Park as we'd expected, though there were still PLENTY of strollers to contend with. We started out by walking around to Snow White's Grotto. Lucky us, there was no character greeting going on there, so we got to sit down at the bench now located there (maybe I never noticed it before) after making our wishes (a long time tradition with us) in the well. We enjoyed our peaches and 1 of our bottles of water as we got to people watch. (Yes, he reminded me that I got my engagment ring right there. ;) We're romantic saps! :sohappy: )

After that, we strolled through Fantasyland, poking into the Castle Heradlry shop (which we'd never been through before). It's currently located where the Villian's shop used to be in Fantasyland. We strolled around Fantasyland and were shocked to see the line for Peter Pans' flight was so short! Only 25 minutes (which is still short compared to most of the times I've given up and gone on it). We decided to save it for later though and headed over to Pirates of the Carribbean. This was almost a walk on attraction, with about a 5 minute wait. After that, we headed over to DCA for a while.

In DCA, we first headed over to the San Fransisco Wharf area. We found a shady spot and split a margarita as we had our sandwiches and some celery sticks we brought from home. Afterwards, we headed over to the Animation building and asked if a new preview was being shown in the "Drawn to Animation" show. Bummer! The cast member said they were still showing "Home on the Range". I'm surprised they aren't plugging the Incredibles there yet, since Disney is selling Halloween costumes for it and it won't be out in theaters until Nov. 5th. Oh well! We did stumble across Belle and Snow White in the pavillion though! We hung out and watched them tell the story of the The Little Mermaid (with the help of the kids). I do really miss the benches in there, but it is a good character greeting place - air conditioned - and it will probably bring more people to this little wonder of a spot that is often skipped (I skipped it for a couple visits and now it's my favorite place in the park!). From there, we headed towards the Tower of Terror, but got side tracked since an Aladdin show was just starting! We walked in and got great Orchestra, stage left seats. The genie was funnier than ever and stole the show. It's practically like his own stand up comedy show in the context of the show. :) Kudos to the cast!

After the show, we got a fast pass for the Tower of Terror. The line was 30 minutes long, and the fast pass was for 30 minutes out, so why spend it standing in line? We munched on our plums and strolled over to the Grand Californian.

Now - as ya'll that have been the DLR know, we've done a fair amount of walking by now! So we grabbed a couple of rocking chairs in the lobby in front of a roaring fire place and relaxed. It was great! Those seats are usually taken (and we've already dreamed about repeating this when we come up for a weekend in October and get a hotel room there and everything - the only difference will be, we'll be sipping at some drinks and it might be fairly late at night... to be followed by a chess game in thier bar, etc etc..) so it was nice to rest our feet for a while before our fast pass time came around and we headed that way again! :)

After Tower of Terror, we headed into Disneyland and rode Indiana Jones. The line was only about 20 minutes (but seemed like 45...). Then we strolled back to Fantasyland and braved the line for Peter Pan's flight before heading home.

Observations on rides:
Pirates:
The Pirates in the final scene are FINALLY shooting at someone on the left sides of the boats! One of the pirates has returned. HOWEVER, the "hairy leg" pirate was gone (probably for referb)

Indiana Jones looked great! The special effects seemed in high gear!

You can look up through the mesh ceiling of the elevator in Tower of Terror. I did this on our way up and it added to the freakiness (felt like we were going to be pulled right through the ceiling!).

The Lagoon in Tomorrowland does look cleaner, but is a far cry from being done. A co-woker of mine who is a Disney fan as well, has a brother-in-law who works in Disneyland, and swears that the current plan is to try to do "dry" animation and yes, rumor has it, it's going to stick with a Nemo theme. But again, it's just a rumor! If the "dry" animation doesn't work, it's back to the drawing board again.

Food reviews:
The "Grand margarita" from Rita's in DCA was pretty good for a little stand drink.
We got several cookies for the drive home from the Main Street Bakery - Snickerdoodle, Oatmeal Raisin, and White Chocolate Macademia. All of them were great.

We were only there about 6 1/2 hours and part of our mission was just to walk around and be together (told ya we are saps). So it was a fun, laid back day. The only "long" line was at Splash Moutain (75 minutes) and Soarin' (I didn't check the sign, but it was well outside the building and wrapped around a little, so I'm guessing at least 45 minutes).

~Jay
 

stranger

New Member
LadyDarling said:
Now - as ya'll that have been the DLR know, we've done a fair amount of walking by now! So we grabbed a couple of rocking chairs in the lobby in front of a roaring fire place and relaxed. It was great! Those seats are usually taken (and we've already dreamed about repeating this when we come up for a weekend in October and get a hotel room there and everything - the only difference will be, we'll be sipping at some drinks and it might be fairly late at night... to be followed by a chess game in thier bar, etc etc..) so it was nice to rest our feet for a while before our fast pass time came around and we headed that way again! :)

I love sitting there, sipping on hot chocolate and just talking the night away.

LadyDarling said:
You can look up through the mesh ceiling of the elevator in Tower of Terror. I did this on our way up and it added to the freakiness (felt like we were going to be pulled right through the ceiling!).

I'll have to try that.


LadyDarling said:
We were only there about 6 1/2 hours and part of our mission was just to walk around and be together (told ya we are saps). So it was a fun, laid back day.

My friends and I will sometimes just drive to Disneyland and walk around without riding any attractions.
Disneyland is very romantic and glad you and your husband had a great time together. Thanks for sharing your trip with us :wave: .
 

musketeer

Well-Known Member
I have a question regarding the conditions of the scenery. We (my wife and I) have decided to make our first trip to Disneyland this coming Feb. We are concerned, however, about all the work being done for the 50th anniversary next year. Can you tell me what were things like during your visit? The picture that I have been getting from people on this forum is that it basically looks like a house being remodeled. And I'm referring to everything, not just the castle.

So I guess I really have two questions:

1) Were attractions up and running?
2) Did the parks look ok, or should we postpost our first visit until after everything is finished?

Thanks
 

stranger

New Member
musketeer said:
I have a question regarding the conditions of the scenery. We (my wife and I) have decided to make our first trip to Disneyland this coming Feb. We are concerned, however, about all the work being done for the 50th anniversary next year. Can you tell me what were things like during your visit? The picture that I have been getting from people on this forum is that it basically looks like a house being remodeled. And I'm referring to everything, not just the castle.

So I guess I really have two questions:

1) Were attractions up and running?
2) Did the parks look ok, or should we postpost our first visit until after everything is finished?

Thanks

I was at Disneyland a few days ago…Its true Disneyland is under major rehab mode, not just the rides but walkways as well.
To answer your question, most attractions were up and running and had no difficulties getting to them. Many of the attractions that are currently in rehab should be up and running by the time your trip rolls around.
I looked up a list of re-furbed attractions during your visit:
Splash Mountain (DL)
Disneyland Railroad (DL)
Aladdin's Oasis (DL)
Enchanted Tiki Room & Juice Bar (DL)
Plaza Pavilion (DL)
Space Mountain (DL)


With these down, you still have much to do in both parks for you and your wife to enjoy. :)
 

musketeer

Well-Known Member
THank you for looking that up for me, but I wasn't aware that splash mountain would be closed. Can you tell me where you found that list?

Thanks
 

stranger

New Member
musketeer said:
THank you for looking that up for me, but I wasn't aware that splash mountain would be closed. Can you tell me where you found that list?

Thanks


This is where I found the refurb list. This site has been reliable for me.
 

xfkirsten

New Member
Sounds like you had a great time!!

I miss Aladdin... I haven't seen it in over two weeks. :cry: But there's a new Genie, and he's great!!

I saw last time that the pirate in the finale was back... but hairy leg guy is news to me. Last few trips, they've been rotating through the singing pirates by the donkey in the burning town, and they look great when they came back!

Thanks for the report!!
 

LadyDarling

New Member
Original Poster
musketeer said:
I have a question regarding the conditions of the scenery. We (my wife and I) have decided to make our first trip to Disneyland this coming Feb. We are concerned, however, about all the work being done for the 50th anniversary next year. Can you tell me what were things like during your visit? The picture that I have been getting from people on this forum is that it basically looks like a house being remodeled. And I'm referring to everything, not just the castle.

So I guess I really have two questions:

1) Were attractions up and running?
2) Did the parks look ok, or should we postpost our first visit until after everything is finished?

Thanks

Sorry I'm SO late on getting back to you on this, but here's what things were like last Sunday:
The attractions were up and running except for the Tiki Room (big wall around it for rehab), the castle (big blue tarp with Alice and Wonderland cards all over it - at least it was decorated!), the Matterhorn (they were redoing the walkway too! Rumor has it it will be tiled instead of asphalt), and the Haunted Mansion (down for referb for the Haunted Mansion Holiday :xmas: ). It didn't exceptionally crowd the walk ways, nor did it feel like boards were up everywhere. :) Plenty to do and see still! :)

As for postponing your vacation... here's the way I look at it. Whenever I go to Disneyworld, it's usually the first week of December and invariably SOMETHING is closed (usually a water park), or there isn't as much to do as there is in the summer time, when the parks are open later. No matter what, I'll always miss out on something, usually just due to time (or closures). So, I don't consider my experience less than fulfilled. I just think of it as "something for next time". If you're willing to let the refurbed attractions be "something for next time" and just enjoy the time you have (and the less crowds), then go for it. If not, then you might want to wait. :)
 

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