Xipo’s Disneyland Trip Report…He look! Its a snack place!!

[xipotec]

Greeting DIS Friends!

Well we made it back from our first DL trip ( and California as well).

I won’t bore you with the California trip details, or the rough travel both ways, unless people request it.

So lets get right to it! With our first day (actually a half day) at DCA!

Well, that was the plan, but plans changed!

 

[xipotec]

DCA Day 1 (but not really)

We arrived in Anaheim much earlier than expected. We never really saw any of the famous LA traffic on any of our travels up and down the coast.

Check in at The Camelot Suites was at 4, but we arrived at 1:00pm. So we asked the valet to keep the bags in the trunk of the car and qe walked to 4 minute walk to security a and the gates, intending to goto DCA for our ADR….but DL was calling….so we went to DL first…

Walking through those gates was like a dream. coming under the bridge, the band was playing “You got a friend in me” , and the balloons were blowing in the light breeze on Main Street.

We decides to honor Walt and ride the Disneyland Railroad first. It was a great and quick start to tour the land by the train.

We had a few issues with our tickets we fixed at City Hall ,after getting off the train and made ILL for RSR later that night.

We were going to leave at that point for DCA, but again, Walt was calling, so we went over the Adventureland, (as we always do in WDW) Rode POTC (way better than MK version) and also managed Jungle Cruise as the waits were pretty reasonable.

We then hopped over to DCA, caught a spontanious dance party at GOTG, and the LL that ride almost right away. We hung about in Avengers Camous for a while killig time will our ADR.

Which was at Lamplight Lounge. This was the first hiccup of the trip. We arrived 10 minutes early to check in, but were not seated for over 45 minutes. We requested outdoor in the shade but got put in a round table on the deck….right in the sun.

It took almost 2 hours of very slow service to get in an out, and the food was very mediocre….which surprised me considering how many people seem to like it. The coveted Lobster Nachos we just not good…..

We left there a bit disappointed and went over to TSMM for a LL. That LL took about 30 minutes , so we missed the Shaboom opening at Carsland. But it was worth seeing Carland at night for the first visit.
That place is amazing! We got on RSR in about 10 minutes with the ILL. The ride was smooth and worked very well for us. But I could see some of the Cars were not working correctly. Mcqueens projection face was not working at the end of the ride either….still a great ride!

We were pretty tired at this point, and went back to the hotel to get some rest.

Day 2 post to follow!

 

[Tinkaboo]

Sounds like you are off to a good start…cept for the food. That’s always disappointing when it’s something that’s been so hyped up on these boards (lobsters nachos) which don’t even sound appealing to me…lol

Love your pics, very nice! Can’t wait to read more!

 

[DLgal]

Yay! Can't wait to read more!

Lobster Nachos have always been so vile to me. Who combines shellfish and CHEESE? Gross. Sorry you didn't have a great experience at LL. It is a completely different experience when you get to sit inside. I hate being put out in the sun. Happened once and my friend actually threw up right there at the table due to the heat.

 

[wassily]

Yay! Can't wait to read more!

Lobster Nachos have always been so vile to me. Who combines shellfish and CHEESE? Gross. Sorry you didn't have a great experience at LL. It is a completely different experience when you get to sit inside. I hate being put out in the sun. Happened once and my friend actually threw up right there at the table due to the heat.

+1 to that. Tried it once, not ordering it again. To each their own. Where they sit me impacts what I order and how long I plan to dine there.

 

[helenk]

I too was disappointed by Lamplight. I
booked it last year and just didn't get the hype. But I am glad I tried it, everyone's tastes are different.

 

[Pluto468]

Thanks for the report on day 1! I've been wondering how your trip went. I agree about Carsland-it was amazing at night. I'm so jealous you saw Gamora and Quill! Great pictures and looking forward to hearing how your second day went

 

[Gypsybear]

Good start (minus the food)! I do enjoy LL, but then again, I don't order the nachos (allergies did right by me...lol). Carsland is amazing to look at in the evening. And I totally agree. PotC at DL blows the WDW version away. There's just no comparison.

Looking forward to more of your report.

 

[mdmost]

Cars Land is so great at night. It's also enjoyable at the various holidays like Halloween and Christmas where they add holiday specific ornaments and touches throughout the land. I love how Flo's V8 looks at night.

We had a good time at Lamplight Lounge when we went as we were indoors at a booth. I don't think I could've done 2 hours in the sun either.

I'll be honest on Toy Story Midway Mania. I only do it for my kids because they enjoy it. If it were just the wife and me, we'd skip it. It's a giant video game and that's not why I go to Disneyland. Web Slingers felt like that. Enjoyable but give me a true ride any day over an interactive video game. I will only do those rides with LLs.

Your entry to Disneyland was what my wife and I did after seeing our kids off at rope drop. We grabbed a coffee from Starbucks, rode the double decker around and the little fire truck back. Then we boarded the train for a trip around Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. I would love to do that each time we go but my kids would riot.

I'm glad your time at Disneyland was good to counter your bad experience at Lamplight. It's frustrating because there is a bit of ADRs stopping down the flow of your day and if they aren't efficient, you lose even more precious time in the parks. That's why we tend to opt for sit downs only as a part of a dining package where we use it for better seating for a show or parade.

 

[evilmommie]

Yay! Glad to see you’re writing a trip report after all of your planning.

We are not fans of LL at all! We tried the lobster nachos once. Stinky! And, service has always been wonky there for us. Will not go again, even though a couple of our friends rave about sitting at the bar.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts and pics!

 

[mdmost]

Hey, what happened to the Day 2 post? Wanted to hear the rest of your trip recap.

 

[xipotec]

Day two incoming. Lots of work drama!

 

[xipotec]

DAY TWO!!

Well day 2 was the “official” DL rope drop day.
Left the hotel about 7:15, and by the time we got through security it was about 7:30 and they had been letting folks in for about 15 minutes….still we got to the front of Jolly Holiday and were only a bit back from actual rope.

We HAD thought briefly of rope dropping ROTR , but after stalking the wait times, and considering how much early AM park time we would be giving up, we changed plans and went with doing Jungle Cruise (INDY was down) . We had an awesome cast member experience at JC, both in line and as our skipper. She set a great tone for the day, so big shout out to her for playing around with me as I laughed heartily at all the puns, and kept the mood fun during out trip out.

After JC , Indy was open for a 30 minute wait, and we jumped on. Our first experience with indy was great, no breakdowns. My son LOVES this ride but I felt it was a bit underwhelming, lots of totally dark areas, and like dinosaur, the truck throwing you around just took away from looking at the set pieces. Still fun, but not as great as I think alot of people made out.

We had hoped to “fish” for some MEP , but it never worked out for us that morning, we later got one for….Small World, which was only down for 30 minutes, but it changed into a MEP within seconds of making a LL time that was not even within the actual down time…very odd but we were happy to get it. We had a quick breakfast at Jolly Holiday, which was very good….we would return here several more times and it became our goto mobile order place.

Next up was BTMRR, POTC and HM





We then headed to our actual goal of Galaxys Edge. The kids and wifey had never been so they were spellbound with the theming
I had gotten a ROTR time of 10:45 just stalking the times through the morning till it lined up with our plans. It took till almost 10 to get that time, but all the times were gone by 3pm for reference.

Tried for a black twice…got red both times! Oh well!

We hung out in GE after ROTR, and decided to kill some time on the standby for MFSR…HUGE mistake. 50 minute standby ended up over an hour due to breakdown and having to let all the LL go. The family had tons of fun even though we were only gunners and engineers to the other party.

 

[xipotec]

Made our Ogs ADR , which to be honest, was a bit of a disappointment to me. The family liked it, but Ogas is WAY different that 2 years ago. Music is way more toned down, barkeeps were not really playing the part, and the drinks were boring now. No special effect drinks, and no fuzzy Tantaun…kind let down this visit. Pretzel dish was good, but talk about over priced!

Next up was Savi’s. Every SW fan should do this. It was hoekey and over theatrical, but I have to admit, I got sentimental when that music starts to play….and holding up your finished saber ….was just a great feeling.

Go accosted by Storm Troopers, Drank Blue milk, did some scanning, hacking and crate looting….then left GE for the rest of the park.


Went exploring again , warned Rey about the “Bucketheads”….she agrees to atand with me and fight if the came over the the Falcon….

Basically we hung out in the “left side” planning to Rope Drop the right side in 2 days (which actually did not happen).

We ate at Carnation cafe, and with a little magic , the hostess seated us outside, as MSEP went by, as I ate Walts Chili and the Fried Chicken. This would turn out to be the best meal we had in our trip….we all agreed.

The family got tired after viewing the fireworks from a weirs spot in Fantasyland, and they went back to the hotel. I stayed and closed to park alone, which is always ok with me, as I am the Disney junkie in my family….by a long shot.


In that time, I did HM 3 times, walk on POTC, ROTR at 8 was “closed” on the app, but was still open, and got in after about a 30 minutes….

Walking home, tired but feeling great, eating a cake pop…..was just magical…..

Next Up, Day 3 at DCA….or so we THOUGHT!

 

[Pluto468]

What an awesome second day! I love all the pictures. Your evening alone sounds especially nice. I love being at the park alone while DH and the kids go on rides I can't do. Jolly Holiday is the best, I go there multiple times on every trip.

But...what is that red thing...?

 

[xipotec]

What an awesome second day! I love all the pictures. Your evening alone sounds especially nice. I love being at the park alone while DH and the kids go on rides I can't do. Jolly Holiday is the best, I go there multiple times on every trip.

But...what is that red thing...?

Thats a Kyber crystal, it goes into lightsabers and dictates the color of the blade.

There is a secret black crystal, thats randomly hidden inside of the red packaged ones. (1 out of about 50 contain a black in place of red.)

So for SW fans, its a rare object to get.

 

[Pluto468]

Thats a Kyber crystal, it goes into lightsabers and dictates the color of the blade.

There is a secret black crystal, thats randomly hidden inside of the red packaged ones. (1 out of about 50 contain a black in place of red.)

So for SW fans, its a rare object to get.

oh man, I should have recognized it. My son bought 5 of those when we were in Galaxy's edge but they were in these little tube containers.

 

[xipotec]

oh man, I should have recognized it. My son bought 5 of those when we were in Galaxy's edge but they were in these little tube containers.

Yup, thats whats in there!

 

[bennifer]

Great trip so far! I'm living vicariously through this trip report because my DL/DCA portion got cut short because I started to feel sick and tested positive after 1 day in DL! Also - I'd love to hear about the rest of your trip throughout California!