Semi-Cursed Kind of Trip

[DumboLover111]

Hello! We are back from our usual end-of-summer Disneyland trip, in which we fly from Massachusetts on the Thursday before Labor Day, visit Disneyland on Friday, and then do other Southern California stuff Saturday and Sunday before flying home on Monday (Labor Day). Three days of fun and sun before school and other real-life fall events get rolling. This time, we invited my brother, my sister-in-law, and my eight-year-old niece to join us. This was going to be exciting but tricky! They are sort of Disney haters based on a single awful experience at Animal Kingdom five years ago. Could we sell them on the wonder of Disneyland?? Let's dig into how everything (kind of) went wrong...

One aspect we suspected would go well was the Friday timing of our Disneyland visit. We have visited enough over the years to know that the Friday before Labor Day weekend is often very slow in the parks, at least until nighttime. The locals have work/school. The only downside is that this is the hottest time of the year for Anaheim and the last time we did this it was 109F. But this time, the weather looked GREAT! Only 80F for a high. What could go wrong?

Well, the weather on the other side of the country. Thunderstorms grounded my brother, SIL, and niece in D.C.. They missed their Thursday night flight meaning they would not be ready to hit Disney the following day. We coordinated over texts and all moved our tickets to Saturday. Our flights were fine and we went to bed in CA at 1AM eastern time with my brother's family on the plane, ready to fly to SoCal. When we awoke in the morning, we discovered the flight had been canceled after all, and they were still stuck in D.C.

Here we are sad they are not with us.

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Worse, because planes in D.C. had been grounded for half a day, they could not rebook soon enough to get there for Saturday either. They ended up having to skip the whole trip and we lost the chance to make them Disney-lovers. Boo!

We had moved our tickets to Saturday so we were trying to figure out what to do with our suddenly-free Friday when my husband suggested: why not go to Disneyland? Extra Disney is always a good idea so we hiked over from the Courtyard Marriott and started our day at around 8:30am. No park hopping. No lightning lanes. Still, it was Friday before Labor Day...would we get the low crowds?

The players: me, my husband, and our 15-year-old daughter.

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We missed rope drop but we still started with Indy. Posted time was 20 minutes. We were on the ride in 10. Around this time (8:50am) we remembered we were supposed to get in the virtual queue for Haunted Mansion, so we did that.

Next we went to our fave, Big Thunder. Posted time was 15 minutes. Actual wait was 5 minutes.

You can see from the fact that we still have our sweatshirts on that it was nice and cool! A total change for us this time of year.

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Next we went to Matterhorn. Posted wait time was 15 minutes. It was closer to 20 minutes.

Alice in Wonderland was right there so my daughter and I rode that while my husband doubled back to Big Thunder because I'd left my ears on the ride. Success, he found them! Alice had a posted wait time of 15 minutes. It was actually 10 minutes.

From there, we hoofed it to Toon Town to ride Mickey and Minnie's RR, which had a posted wait time of 10 minutes. It was actually 5 minutes, the time it took the walk the length of the queue.

 

[DumboLover111]

From there, we hit Pirates of the Caribbean, which had a posted wait of 20 minutes but was actually 13 minutes. (Do you see why we love visiting the Friday before Labor Day??)

By now, it was lunch time and we had some snacky type stuff. We got the seasonal "tangy apple" Mickey beignets and they were only okay. Not very tangy or apple-flavored. Next we went on to the Tropical Hideaway for some bao. Those were DELISH.

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Since we were right near Jungle Cruise, we rode that next. It had a posted wait of 15 minutes but it was actually 10 minutes.

We still had some time to kill before our Haunted Mansion group was called, so we went to Galaxy's Edge and rode Smuggler's Run, which was a 15-minute wait and posted right at 15 minutes.

Finally it was our turn to ride Haunted Mansion! The queue was smooth and so fast I only had time to snap one picture outside.

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For us, this is one of the minor drawbacks about visiting at Halloween time: we prefer the regular mansion to the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. Still fun, though!

At this point, we went back to the hotel for a three-hour break. We returned around 6pm and it was slammed at the gates. Getting through security was our longest wait of the day at close to 40 minutes! We got dinner at Rancho Del Zolocal, which was fine.

We next rode Dumbo which was posted 20 minutes and was actually 25 minutes. Then Mr. Toad which had an accurate wait time of 10 minutes.

Our biggest score of the day: we hiked back to look at Galaxy's Edge at night. Rise had a posted wait time of 45 minutes but the queue wasn't even sticking out of the caves. We hopped in the line and waited only 15 minutes!

Then we headed back to Main Street for ice cream. My daughter had the death sundae.

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At this point, we had our second-biggest score of the day: we rode Big Thunder during the fireworks and it was so cool! Like a totally different ride. The posted wait was 40 minutes but it was actually 20.

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Anyway, that was our bonus Disney day: plenty of rides with short waits, terrific weather, and some tasty eats. We were just sorry my brother and his family couldn't be there with us. Next up: our SECOND day, since we moved our original tix to Saturday. We generally avoid actual Labor Day weekend in the park since we figure it will be slammed. But...was it? Stay tuned...

 

[DumboLover111]

Disney Day Two: Saturday of a holiday weekend. Would the parks be slammed? We were prepped with lightning lanes and park-hopper tickets, prepared to be there from opening to near close. We started by getting some family pics at the entrance. This one was funny.

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In the morning we did not follow our usual routine of hitting the thrill rides early when their lines are still short. This is because we met up with some family friends who are hardcore Disney-lovers. They live nearby and have annual passes and we always enjoy seeing them when we're in town. But their 11-year-old daughter doesn't like thrill rides, so we deferred to her tastes for the most part. We did rope drop Indy, though, and she waited outside.

Indy: posted 15 minutes, actually 15 minutes.

From there, we went on Jungle Cruise which was posted at 5 minutes and indeed was a walk-on.

We hiked up to Toon Town to do Roger Rabbit. It had a posted wait time of 10 minutes but was walk-on. So far, the park was not too much busier than the day before.

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While we were in Toon Town, we also rode the Gadget Coster. It was posted at 15 minutes but actually about 5 minutes. The marine layer kept things on the cooler side and the park remained not crazy crowded. So pleasant!

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From there, we went on Autopia, which we had never done before. We have similar rides to this one back in MA, so it's never a priority for us when visiting Disneyland. But the 11-year-old wanted to go, and thus we went. It was fine at a 15-minute wait.

At this point, those of us who were not the 11-year-old rode Matterhorn single rider. The standby wait was 25 minutes but we were on in 5 minutes.

Then it was time for MORE BAO at the Tropical Hideaway. The kids compared middle-school and high-school slang. Surprisingly, not a lot of overlap!

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From there, we all rode the Haunted Mansion. Our friends' group had technically expired already but they had no problems getting on.

Sidebar: look at this power move. Wearing a Big Thunder shirt and posing with Big Thunder.

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[DumboLover111]

At this point, our friends departed for home and we were on our own. We loved seeing them but it can be a challenge to try to navigate the parks together because we have different priorities. Because they are AP holders, they typically drop by for a few hours here and there. We live 3000 miles away and when we do Disney, it's a huge all-day marathon. One way this difference manifests is that they chase low wait times, even if it means crisscrossing the park endlessly, because they are not conserving energy. We try to do activities in nearby bunches when we can to minimize steps. All this is to say: it was only noon and we were already tired!

We hopped to DCA. One of the semi-cursed things about our trip was that we had originally scored dining reservations for Carthay Circle for us and my brother's family...but then we had to cancel them when my brother's family didn't make it. Still, we got good eats. My husband had beef curry in a breadbowl and my daughter got the "Slow Burn Mac & Cheese" from the Cozy Cone Cafe. It was so yummy but not very spicy to us.

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We rode Radiator Springs with Individual Lightning Lanes. My husband and daughter are visible but I am blocked by the woman in front of me throwing up her arms.

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The posted wait was 75 minutes but we pretty much walked on at 5 minutes with the LL.

We did a regular LL for Grizzy River Run. We warned the people riding with us that there was no way to tell who would be getting wet, but not to worry because statistically, it was likely to be me. Everyone usually get a little wet on this ride. I end up drenched. They politely smiled at this but later about died laughing when the wave rose up to hit me across the face. My daughter sitting next to me also caught the splash and both of us ended up pretty wet!

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Posted wait was 25 minutes and the LL wait was 10 minutes.

We caught Crush's Turtle Talk for a chance to sit down for a bit. Always so cute!

Then we did Monsters Inc with a LL. Posted 25 minutes, LL 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the rode broke down near the end for us and we had to be escorted off in a single-file line.

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[DumboLover111]

It was hard not to eat ALL the cute food!

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At this point, we hopped back to Disneyland, where we rode Pirates with a LL. It was posted 30 minutes and we waited 10.

Finally, we got to Big Thunder! We rode it in 5 minutes with a LL. The posted time was 40 minutes.

From there, we snagged a Mickey & Minnie's RR LL. It was 30 minutes standby and we waited 5 minutes.

I feel like Dumbo is one of the iconic must-do rides. I love taking these pics. Dumbo was posted 25 and we waited 15 minutes.

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Then we kind of sat around eating popcorn and drinking cool beverages in the shade. Eventually, we hiked back to DCA, where we rode Little Mermaid with a LL. It was posted 20 minutes and we were on in 5 minutes. We got a pasta dinner at Boardwalk that was only okay.

When it got dark, it was time to check out Carsland and ride Radiator Springs again. The cones with their Halloween faces always bring me joy.

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You may recall I got blocked in the previous Radiator Springs Racers photo by the woman in front of me raising her arms. Well, here's the second photo. My daughter looks fine. I am just hair...

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[DumboLover111]

Love Disney after dark during Halloween. So fun!

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We walked back to Disneyland to ride Big Thunder again. We tried to time it to the fireworks but just missed out. The ride was posted 35 minutes but was really more like 10-15 minutes, so we got in line and rode it a third time just because we love it that much.

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We passed this skeleton band. My daughter is a huge rock-n-roll fan and we took her to see the Rolling Stones live over the summer. When she saw the skeletons, she stopped dead with a gasp. "I can't believe I get to see the Stones TWICE in one summer!" (She adores them, they are one of her fave bands, but she does poke fun, hee.)

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[DumboLover111]

At this point, we had walked thirteen miles and it was time to go back to the hotel. You can see from the activity bars here that we didn't stop moving much the whole day, an indication that the lines were moving pretty well.

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Here are a few more fun Halloween shots just for color.

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Our conclusion was that Saturday was a bit busier than Friday, but our LLs managed to cancel that out. We managed a respectable 18 rides with minimal wait times. All in all, it was another magical visit!

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[Nicnicnic.nic]

Following

 

[erinch]

Love your report!