Trip Report Let’s Hit It Outta The Park!!!

It’s been about 3.5 years since my last Disney trip report and I’m really rusty. While not truly live, I want to try and do sort of a day by day as we go. Of course, I’m already behind as today is day 3!

So, where are we? At a Holiday Inn about .5 miles from here…

This isn’t exactly a Disney trip. In fact, it’s going to be nearly a week and a half until we set foot in a Disney park. Sam…the kid who had just turned 2 in my very first trip report, is now almost 16 and playing travel softball. We’re in town for PGF nationals to cap off our summer season. Between our crazy summer tournament schedule, college stuff for Kendall, and recent hurricane related lodging, I feel like we’ve been living in hotels for nearly 2 months. Most of the team opted for beach adjacent/front rentals when we bought out of the stay to play requirement, but Disneyland was our priority. Imagine that!?!

Speaking of Kendall…she stayed home to organize things for dorm move in next month and give the dog a break from boarding after her storm experience. So, this is how she’s getting to experience much of this trip…

(Yeah, that’s me up there too)
It’s too bad because the fun stuff planned towards the end was supposed to be for her. I was going to head to Yosemite, but she insisted on Disney. She gave me this whole heartfelt speech about it being her childhood. Kids!

So, we decided to drive to California. It’s been drama trying to get my vehicle back for this (damaged in the May derecho that went through Houston) and it’s probably going to have to go back in. We were hoping we’d have it before Sam’s two tournaments in Colorado, but they ordered some incorrect parts. Oh well…I have it now even though it’s still got issues. We set out around 4:45am CT on the 17th with a goal of Tucson by dinner time. I was driving, so not much in the way of photos aside from this Texas Spiny Lizard at a gas station west of San Antonio.

The most surprising drama of the day was just west of El Paso. All traffic was being individually inspected by Border Patrol. So that was fun. We also had to keep an eye out for dust storms and dodge the dust devils in NM and AZ.

We got to Tucson around dinner. We checked into the hotel, but I was so road weary that we just opted for a nearby Denny’s and hoped the severe storm over the mountains didn’t hit us.

Thankfully, the storm lost its steam and we were all able to get some sleep. Well, sort of. I was up around 4:30am, which is probably good because I noticed an alert for one of Kendall’s prime day packages being delivered and saw this on the local Houston radar.

I have some serious PTSD from the derecho and Hurricane Beryl, so I woke Kendall up and had her move to a safer spot downstairs. Oh, and said a few prayers for the power to stay on. Thankfully all was good, but she’s going to Oklahoma, so I need her to be more weather aware.

I used sunrise to try and keep myself from freaking out.

It’s a really boring video, but I got tired of peaking, so I just put my phone in the window.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I had booked another lightning lane for Big Thunder since it was back up, but we still had some time and were thirsty. David found a refreshment cart while I tried to seek out more shade on the edge of Frontierland.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like Disneyland is missing all of the shaded and air conditioned areas you find at WDW.

I also noticed a lot of people working while at the park. I guess that also feeds into the difference in guest vibes. While WDW gets its locals, I always feel like it’s packed with people on legitimate vacations. DLRs crowds reminded me more of Six Flags… like it was primarily locals just popping in for a day. So much of the parking garage crowd conversations were like someone getting in a visit to a local beach for a day. In this shaded spot, we had a mom next to us getting some work done while her boys would run back and forth from getting things done for fun.

When it was lightning lane time, we passed another one of Sam’s teammates and family. I had no idea they were coming, but again…seeing people you know in a sea of thousands. On to the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!!!

After Big Thunder, I convinced David and Sam to ride IASW. They hate it and call it the “Demon Baby Ride,” but you sit for awhile and it’s air conditioned. So, comfort and relaxation won. So, I booked a lightning lane.

We went through Fantasyland and eventually had to dodge the parade on our way over.

A few things happened when we got there…
1. IASW was broken down and closed at the moment. I now had another multi experience lightning lane in the mix.
2. My phone was about to die and I didn’t bring the right cord for my portable charger. Thankfully, there was an operating FuelRod kiosk in the little Small World gift shop.
3. The gift shop did not have the spirit jersey I wanted.

The lightning lane return time for Runaway Railway would conflict with our dinner plans, but standby looked reasonable and it was close. Unfortunately, it was also having issues when we got there. So we decided to ride Roger Rabbit. The wait didn’t look bad, but the line took twice as long as posted. It was also not well air conditioned even though it was inside. Very little signal, but at least I could charge my phone.

That ride was not worth the wait, but we did see Goofy on our way out.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Upon exiting, I also noticed that IASW was back up and running. David and Sam had to know that they wouldn’t be escaping the demon babies. Lol

Not a ton of pics from this ride, but it was nice. There was also nobody on line, so we each offered our own rows on the boat. Although Sam chose to ride next to me.

A few things…the facade for DLRs ride is the clear winner, but I actually prefer WDWs actual ride interior. It’s tough to pinpoint why, but I just love the FL ride a lot more. DLRs is also a bit odd with the air conditioning. It’s got big vents between each scene/room, so you get blasted with cool air and then warm up before the next room.

After that, we headed back to Fantasyland for Pinocchio…and Sam laughed at me for thinking that the part with Monstro is scary.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I also figured out how to use the multi pass lightning lanes for the breakdowns. We were limited on what was included and then had to decide what was convenient for our plans and just worth it in general.

We decided to head back into Galaxy’s Edge for another ride on Smugglers Run. David and Sam were interested in being pilots.

We were paired up with a father and son that were really in awe of it all, but also had some language barriers. So, it made for an interesting experience. I believe I was a gunner on this run.

Time to head back out.

I think he’s got something to say about the trash.

Just as we were leaving this section, we saw another family from a previous team Sam was on. Seriously…just so funny to keep bumping into people we know among the thousands in the crowd.

 

[rshell68]

They finished 5th out of 94 teams. What makes it even sweeter…they were a 14U team playing in a 16U division. Our girls just finished freshmen year and 8th grade in a few cases, while the vast majority of the girls we played are going into their junior and senior years. Quite a few among the competition have already committed for college ball. So, they really made a statement.

Congrats to the ladies! That is super impressive!!!

 

[springerfan]

Love it - demon baby ride. I also am not a fan of it’s a small world. Got stuck on it as a kid and scarred for life now.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Congrats to the ladies! That is super impressive!!!

Thank you!!! We’re so happy for them and their accomplishments.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Love it - demon baby ride. I also am not a fan of it’s a small world. Got stuck on it as a kid and scarred for life now.

Sneak preview…this was the first of several demon baby encounters this trip! It’s amazing what they’ll agree to for seating and air conditioning.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Well, it might be a bit before I can post again. I’m getting a strange message with my photo upload attempts that says:

The uploaded file was not an image as expected.

It’s odd because I can see it’s a jpeg. Anyone else experiencing this? I’m going to leave what was to be the first photo in my next post just to see what happens when I hit the Post Reply button.

Edit-just disappears. Hmmmmm…any ideas?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Looks like everything is working again.

So, I had a plan for that last multi pass from one of the closures/breakdowns.

First we headed to Fantasyland to get in something else with a short wait. Love how in Disneyland you can just randomly see characters along the way.

On to our first stop…

Next up…getting us closer to the rest of my plan…

Now, David and Sam weren’t happy about it, but this was my next planned stop.

I’m not sure why they were complaining. They were hot, they were tired, and they wanted to sit down on a more comfortable seat. The Tiki Room is indoors and out of the sun, it’s air conditioned, and the benches are padded. There was also no wait and it lasts a while.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

At some point in the opening song, Sam could see that I thought I was videoing. I guess I forgot to hit the record button. She made sure to let me know that I was just foolishly holding up my phone and doing absolutely nothing. I turned around to thank her…and apparently I took a tiki pic in the process.

Next up… using that multi pass. I figured we were having dinner at Blue Bayou, so PotC seemed like the best approach.

After the ride, we still had about 10-15 minutes before we could check in, so we looked around the New Orleans Square area.

We lost David just before check in time, but thankfully it wasn’t for too long. There was a small line…mainly people being turned away for walk ups…but we were checked in pretty quickly. We were also given the green light to use the restaurant’s restrooms. We passed by the table we had in 2015 and it triggered all kinds of worries.

In 2015, we waited around 45 minutes to be seated, They weren’t taking any table location requests and we ended up on the last row… near the bathroom and absolutely no view of the water. I was really hoping we’d have better luck this time.

We didn’t have to wait long for the text about our table being ready. We were led into the dining room and there were two open tables right near the bathroom. My heart initially sank…but we kept walking. We ended up a row off of the water.

We could see the boats and hear some of the attraction. While the DLR attraction water doesn’t smell as strongly as the FL version, we also periodically got whiffs of the water. I was a happy girl!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I’m not really sure where to begin with the meal. We originally had written this off altogether, but my gut said we’d be ridiculously tired and I just happened to snap up a really good ADR time with some last minute stalking. Our last experience, beyond the table location, was subpar. So, this was really about giving it a second chance.

Our server was pretty quick to come by. I can’t find the right adjective to really describe her, but she was a pro. She was knowledgeable, she had some spunk, and there was that intangible bit of Disney magic about her before she ever did anything special. As we were discussing drinks, a woman with another party being seated, leaned in and gushed that we had the absolute best server. So, it probably was no fluke that I was getting a special vibe.

David and I were easy. We each got hurricanes. Sam, on the other hand, got a full explanation of the various julep offerings. She ordered without a glow cube to save some money, but our server thought the new Mickey ones were too cute. So she gave her one anyway.

(Warning-the flashing might bother some)

Honestly, my only complaint is that they no longer offer complimentary bread. Mind, you it was hard as a rock last time, but I do like things being included. What we paid for was tasty and as our server suggested…it was really good when dipped in the gumbo.

David and Sam each got the ribeye with double potatoes. I wasn’t feeling any of the regular dishes and wound up with the pistachio lemon basil pasta. David and Sam really liked theirs. Mine was decent, but could have used a little more salt.

I did at least capture a short video of the ambience from our table, including some shooting stars.



We thought about dessert but we were full and we had some drinks waiting for us back in the room. I highly recommend hitting up Costco while in CA for cheaper alcohol and gas.

It was time to say goodbye to Blue Bayou and good night to Disneyland. It was only a little after 8, but we were ready to drop and it was getting harder for David and Sam to remember to stay behind me to help guard my heel. I got kicked (unintentionally) by a young girl while we were in line at Snow White and I really needed to rest.

Good night, castle.

Good Night, Walt.

We took the tram back to the parking garage. I wanted to retrace our steps, but David swore there had to be a faster way. We wound up on this elevator at some point.

In the end, we just retraced our steps and I hobbled the entire way back…sometimes a full block behind David and Sam. While I know some people are fine with flip flops and Crocs, it was not great for me. It led to a lot of aches and pains and this night was the beginning of a handful of blisters… even with my cushy Oofos. Oh well, I was at Disneyland and making it work!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I won’t share the pictures, but my blister situation wasn’t great. On the middle toe of my right foot, I had a blister protruding that was about the size of a standard marble. On my left foot, the same toe and the one next to it had blisters each about the size of a baked bean. On the ball of that same foot, I had another blister about the size of a dime. I couldn’t go another park day in that shoe set up, so I really needed to think.

My Birkenstocks were a hard no and clearly the Oofos weren’t suitable for that much walking. I had a lightbulb moment with a twofold solution.
1. Sam had bought some running socks on the trip…the cushiony ones I like for long distance running and walking.
2. Socks and Crocs could work together, especially if I cover my toes in anti-chafing stick and put a large bandaid on my heel for additional protection.

So, it was socks n’ Crocs for our DCA day. Rope drop was tempting because it usually helps add a few better standby rides to the day, but we were still dragging after such an intense summer travel schedule. I was really starting to question the logic of doing more than 1 day. As it was, one of the families we saw the previous day was saying that we all should have planned a true break day before attempting a park. So, we slept until 8 and made it to DCA at some point after 9. It would have been earlier, but security lines at the garage were insane this day.

While it wouldn’t last, we also noticed something we hadn’t seen all week…clouds!

Lines…

Surprisingly, we walked right up to a tram after security.

Time to head into the park…

I had a 10:20am brunch reservation at Lamplight Lounge. We had enough time to get in one (maybe 2) attraction, but we were in disagreement on approach. I thought we should LL Soarin and standby Little Mermaid. Standby wait on Soarin was 20-25 min and Little Mermaid was 5. David and Sam didn’t want to burn a LL on a shorter standby, but I thought my approach would get in more and have less risk. In the end, we opted to ride standby…and I freaked out a lot since I feel like Soarin always takes longer than advertised.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We were moving, but I was still nervous.

We sat first row, which is always nice, but in a side section. So, there was a lot of noticeable lean/curve in the larger structures.

We also had some additional drama that delayed us a little. My seatbelt would not unlock. They had me roll and tilt to the left to create more pressure to release the belt. By the time we were on our way, we had about 10 minutes until ADR time. I was trying to distract myself by tracking the moon.

Almost there…

We checked in with about 5 minutes to spare and I got a lot of I told you so’s. I still liked my plan better, but oh well.

We relaxed along the rail as we waited for our table.

While waiting, we also witnessed some military operations during our wait.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We were instructed to head downstairs when we got the text that our table was ready. They initially put us in a spot with full sun for at least one seat and partial for the others. Thankfully, they were good with moving us to full shade…which was also a better view.

All of the animation nods are very cute.

We got our first round of drinks, but there wouldn’t be a second. Service was just so slow.

I went back to watching the moon.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It took a while, but we eventually got our food and the waters we asked for when we first were seated.

David had the Benedict.

He had mixed feelings. He said the egg was perfect, but when the menu said “spiced ham” his mind wasn’t thinking Spam. So, that was disappointing. He had also asked about the side options with the fruit. The girl told him that it was seasonal, but made it sound like it would be a variety. So, a couple of slices of watermelon wasn’t what he envisioned.

I had the NY Steak avocado toast.

I should have pivoted when I couldn’t select how my steak was cooked. While I was happy that it wasn’t a well done piece of meat, it was more of a steak strip/medallion sort of approach and it was really fatty and gristly.

Sam got the French toast.

Hers was really good. It was definitely the best thing we ordered. In fact, her non alcoholic beverage was also the best of the three drinks. She didn’t want her almond brittle, so I was the beneficiary. She also shared her berries and whipped cream.

I know this is a hard to snag ADR and people have raved about it, but it wasn’t amazing. It wasn’t awful, but I don’t understand the hype outside of the great views.

We popped by the restrooms on the way out and saw a number of fun Pixar quotes.

After brunch, we decided to divide and conquer. David and Sam still didn’t want to burn any LLs. The Incredicoaster had a standby of 30. I wasn’t in the mood, so I decided to go conquer the wheel. It supposedly only had a 20 minute wait and nobody else wanted to ride. David and Sam didn’t want to ride with their phones, so they gave me their stuff and we went our separate ways.

My line was slow moving. I knew it was going to be more than the posted 20 minutes when the CMs had to keep begging guests to fill in all available spaces so they could get an accurate idea of actual wait time. They also announced that parties of three or less should make friends with their neighbors because they would be put with others.

As I got closer to the front, I got some real perspective on how much the cars swing as they’re coming back down. It was only amplified by the CM managing the cars on our side leading chants of “One More Time!!!”

I can assure you… I will not be dancing!

And here’s where I begin to question all of my life choices!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I'm sorry that you were disappointed in your Lamplight Lounge brunch. I have gone twice and both times been underwhelmed as well, I thought maybe it was just me since so many people rave about it. I love the drink and the views/atmosphere of the Lamplight but the brunch is disappointing.

Looks like you had an encounter with Indiana Jones on your way into DCA too.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm sorry that you were disappointed in your Lamplight Lounge brunch. I have gone twice and both times been underwhelmed as well, I thought maybe it was just me since so many people rave about it. I love the drink and the views/atmosphere of the Lamplight but the brunch is disappointing.

Looks like you had an encounter with Indiana Jones on your way into DCA too.
View attachment 805849

First off…I didn’t even notice Indy!!! That’s hysterical

I’m glad it wasn’t just us with Lamplight. I wanted it to be good, but it just didn’t live up to the buzz. I can say that my wallet thanked me for not being able to order another drink. We probably would have been there another 30-45 minutes if we got another round.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Correction- in going through my pictures, I realized that we did actually book a LL. Standby for the Incredicoaster was noticeably less than TSMM. So, we booked a LL for that for after our divide and conquer efforts.

Ok…so back to my choice to tackle the wheel. I was obviously solo, so I started to get nervous about who I’d be combined with to share in this moment. There were two 20-something girls in front of me, so they seemed like an obvious choice. We got to the front and they got mixed with three 20-something guys. I started making friends with the party behind me, but they placed me with a group of three behind them. No idea on the logic, but I was with a family of three from San Antonio.

The dad was giddy and immediately kicked back and rocked the car a bit. I braced myself and happened to find the barf bags in the same motion! Going up actually wasn’t too bad. In fact, I took some pictures of the view…

Aaaaaaand then we started to descend for the first time. I wasn’t ready for it! Facing the water and then rocking back made my stomach start to churn. I tried using the boating trick to look at the horizon, but the horizon kept moving. I started to hear the “one more time chant,” meaning I was about to repeat this entire cycle at full speed. I tried to focus on the trees… we’d which David said is cheating. It’s not like he braved this attraction!

I survived and I didn’t lose my brunch. I’d also find out that my car was Joy and Sadness. Sounds pretty fitting.

I knew my wait was more than 20 minutes, but we were still good on LL time. Now to find David and Sam. I was hoping I didn’t keep them waiting too long.

When I came around, I saw a super cranky looking David sitting near the ride. Apparently, the coaster broke down right after they got in line and people were being evacuated. They didn’t have their phones and didn’t think to try anything else. So, they sat there the entire time just waiting for me.

Everyone reset and headed to TSMM.

I really enjoy this one, but I always lose.

We had a character spotting on our way out.

We were torn on what to do next. There were multiple things that were temporarily closed. This would become a frustrating theme of the day. Spider-Man didn’t have much of a wait, so that became the goal. I wanted to LL it but I think the timing didn’t work for us.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Standby was listed at 25 minutes when we entered the line, but the wait was more like 40-45 and it had a number of areas in direct sun. Yeah, we were really missing those early morning clouds.

I had no idea what to expect with this. I hadn’t done any research. We were still pretty clueless when we got inside. We were still clueless after the preshow.

Our bands also started going nuts, but not sure if there was something more we were supposed to be looking for with the response.

Once I got a closer look at the ride vehicles and put all of the queue and pre show materials together, it became clear that it was going to be sort of a shooting ride.

So, we became web slingers. It’s a lot more physically demanding than something like TSMM, but I thought it was fun.

Somewhere in all of this, I booked a LL for Grizzly River Run. I had wanted to do GotG Mission Breakout with Sam, but the LL times were crazy and the average wait was 85 minutes. So, whitewater rafting seemed like a fun alternative. We still had some time before the window opened. Nobody was interested in things like the Golden Zephyr, so we decided to wait for Ariel. This would be another example of grossly inaccurate wait times. It was either 5 or 10 minutes when we entered the line and we easily waited 25.

(It had no wait if we wanted to jump out of line)

We were really happy to be at the front because the people around us were frustrating. The kids behind us kept kicking and hitting Sam. They also didn’t know how to cover their mouths when they sneezed. The ones in front of us had toddlers and were deeply engaged in conversation. Their kids were either running amok in the line or they just completely ignored the movement of the line.

Oh well, at least we were nearly free from these people.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

That hidden Mickey pic above reminded me…those were the only things we saw that could be hidden Mickeys. I know they’re there…a little over 400 of them…but we just didn’t see them.

So, we went under the sea.

Then it was time for Grizzly River Run.

I was nervous with my cut heel and blisters…as well as the water in general. The lockers were all take too, so I needed a plan with my bag as well.

- while not ideal, a group had left a cluster of used Disney ponchos tucked around a light near the store by the ride entrance. I grabbed one to wrap around my bag.
- I took off my socks since I didn’t want them getting wet.
- I had a big bandaid on my heel with ointment to help keep that covered. I’d go to the bathroom after to wash it off and redress it…while also drying my crocs and putting back on my socks.

The ride was a blast! This was one of the best rapids style rides I’ve ever been on. We also rode with a fun group. There was a mother and elementary school age son as well as some kids that appeared to be older teens. When the CM asked if everything was good, the little boy noted how bad the raft smelled.

We also got lucky. The ride closed down right after we got off.

We also saw a few charters as I was cleaning up my foot post ride.

We were struggling to find something to do that was open and didn’t have an insane wait or LL time. We actually contemplated going back to the Little Mermaid, but once again, the line didn’t match the posted standby.

It was around this time that Incredicoaster reopened and I was able to get a decent LL time. We still needed something to do in the meantime. This was when David said something about taking a look at TSMMs line.

The posted wait was 80 minutes, but he remembered how this one often had an inaccurate standby posted at DHS. The line certainly didn’t look 80 minutes long. So, we gave it a try. It was something like 15-20 minutes to this point at the front.

It’s probably a good thing because this queue is not nearly as fun as Florida’s.

At least my score was better.