Day 2 (sorry these are taking so long to get to)
Before going into our trip, we watched the weather carefully, so we were not surprised when we woke up to rain 
. It was coming down side ways. We weighed the pros and cons of using our ee at DCA that morning and opted the brave the incliment weather (we were spending the extra money at a DLR hotel and by Joe we were going to use the perks!).
We dawned our ponchos and rain jackets and head out only to find a break in the rain. It was slightly drizzly, but very manageable. We made our way to the DCA main gate ( I have heard mixed things about other resort guests using CG’s entrance, so I was reluctant to try my luck twice in one morning). As we walked down Downtown Disney, DS 13 and I ducked into Starbucks while DH and DS 12 got in line at the main gate. I felt like the Disneyland gods were shining on us for a second time b/c hardly anyone was in there. I was premature in celebrating, b/c it still ended up taking us 20 minutes to get our order. I started getting nervous texts from DH and DS12. I apparently didn’t take mobile orders into account. Note to self, do mobile order prior to leaving hotel room! With coffee in hand, we finally made it to DCA’s main gate.
We were positioned three families back. When the gates opened at 7:45 we made our over to rope drop at GotG. This wouldn’t necessarily be my advice to others (RSR would be my usual suggestion), but my boys had not been on it since it’s re-theming and DS 13 is a HUGE Guardians fan. Did I say huge? I mean seriously huge! In fact he asked for a Walkman like in the movie for his birthday (this kid never asks for anything easy). I anticipated that we would be riding it all day, but no. We were one and done. I was very surprised. However, I was not surprised when we spilled into the gift shop after our ride that it took forever to peel my oldest out. Did he not know that we were burning our ee on “browsing???”
After we peeled my oldest away from the plethora of treasures in the GotG gift shop, we made our way to PP to jump on TSMM. Once we got in line we were told that the ride was down and was not expected to be up anytime soon. Luckily they gave us an open fp good for most attractions on that same day.
Next we headed over to Cars Land. While waiting for RD, I had purchased our MP and made our first fp for 9am for RSR. While waiting for our fp return time, we jumped on MJJ (always one of my favorites). Unfortunately LRR were down due to rain and remained the way for our visit. We finally made our way onto RSR where we got the entire car to ourselves. Now I have to tell you that I am cursed. I have ridden RSR at least a dozen times and each time my car has been directed to Luigi’s tires. Not once have ever been in Ramon’s tattoos. It has become the family joke. Each of my family has made it to Ramon’s when they traveled in another car than me, but alas I have yet to experience Ramon’s elusive artistry and this ride was no exception.
After RSR we headed over to Flo’s for breakfast. Like others have mentioned previously on this forum in other threads, Flo’s used to be outstanding, but as of late has lost some of its quality. The food was okay, but as always the ambience and theme were exceptional. It has been drizzly up to this point, but the clouds parted and was sunny. We took advantage of this and ate out on the patio as racers zoomed past. I used our $20 dining voucher, so this made up for some lack of quality. My waffles were not warm (not cold, more room temp) and the boys did not like their turkey bacon. I should have asked for regular bacon for their meal. I also ordered the fruit plate with bran muffin for my family to share. I couldn’t help but laugh when they garnished our fruit plate with a bite size bran muffin. I didn’t get it for the muffin, but couldn’t help but empathize with the poor soul who orders this specifically for said muffin. While at breakfast I made fp reservations for GFS. After our breakfast we headed over to that neck of the woods and rode the SSS (again). While in that area GFS looked usually deserted and once we headed over, we learned it was down as well. We were informed our fp would turn in to a anytime pass to use for most rides that day only. So with two anytime passes in hand, we decided to cut our losses at DCA and head over DL.
As we headed over (11 ish I am guessing) it started to rain pretty good. There was almost no wait to get into the park. I took a moment to get us a fp BTMRR. Turns out we really didn’t need it as the standby line was 5 minutes, but I got MaxPass and I was going to use it! For those of you trying to keep count, we rode BTMRR 6 times total during our visit. One of my favorites, but even I was getting a little burned out riding by the end, but that is for a different day. Then we rode the #%*@ ride. Well not really, but we finally got to ride the Pooh ride. In all our visits we had never ridden it. I think it is the only ride we have never gone on at DL. We had tried, either the lines were too crazy long or it was down.
We started to get tired and hungry (not to mention very wet!), so we started back to the hotel. On the way, our boys wanted Wetzel Pretzel. I do not understand the WP craze. Whenever we are at DLR, we must hit it two or three times. The kicker is we have one where we live and they never ask to go there, go figure. The parental unit wanted something more substantial, so we ducked into CG and decided to eat at White Water Cafe. It has be a Breakfast favorite, but it was very good for lunch too. I had beef nachos and DH had the burger. DH thinks it is the best counter service burger he has had at DLR.
We returned to the hotel to warm up and catch a snooze. I had been up since 5 am (couldn’t sleep, too excited). We hung out all our wet clothes to dry and I snuggled under the covers (shout out for DLH beds! Super comfy). I don’t think I ever fell into a deep sleep, but it was enough to feel refreshed. we started getting ready to head back to the parks, but our clothes were not dry. I ended up having to take hair dryer to try and warm/dry them. Once the clothes were change and or warmed/dried to our liking, we headed back. We had to hurry as I had made us a fp for Indiana jones. We hustled our way back through DD to DL and over to IJ. Just as were heading into the fp line, one of my kids has to use the restroom, NOW! I momentarily panicked. Asked the CM if we had enough time. He looked at me like I was crazy and shrugged his shoulders. By this time the entrance to the ride is a madhouse and I am not sure what to do. I take my chances and run my son to the restroom. We made it back with about a minute to spare. I push us past the pack of people who are all just standing there not sure where to go. We get in just under the wire, phew! We walk through fp line and stop just short of the the room with the movie playing. Less than five minutes in line and they announce that the ride is having technical difficulties and they are not sure when the ride will reopen. We wait 10 minutes and decide to cut our losses.
We head back over BTMRR, where I was able to get another fp before we left IJ line. The rest of the evening is a bit fuzzy for me. I think we went on Pirates again and possibly jungle cruise??? I think I was so wet and tired I just became delirious at this point. We eventually did make it on IJ. We were also having trouble with our fast passes. The ones we were given when the rides had gone down earlier. They kept telling me that I had used them already, however I know I hadn’t and they were still showing on my phone. I thought about going to guest services regarding the issue, but I think we were able to use two of the 3 and just decided to call it good. By this time we were all fading and decided to put a fork in it, we were done. We were so tired no one could decide where to eat, so back to White Water Cafe. This time I got the burger and I have to agree will DH, they are the best counter service burger we have had at the resort. On our way back to DLH we stopped at the gift shop in GC and got caramel corn for dessert in our room. We all took some very needed hot showers and cuddled in bed and ate caramel corn and watched Disney princesses read us goodnight stories. Another days adventure to come soon!
