Tourists, why does it have to be tourists? - DLR Trip Report

[jenn94]

My parents, sister, and I were in DLR from 8/3-8/5. My dad’s a SoCal native (who’s been visiting since his first trip in 1956), so we’ve been many times when here visiting family, but this was our first time doing 3 days in the parks! Our last trip was Feb 2020 (I only went to DCA that time, the rest of my fam went to both parks). We’re from Mass, but had spent the last week in OR visiting family so we lost any east coast early wake up advantage.

We flew into LAX Tuesday evening, picked up our rental car after a brief fiasco, and made our first necessary stop on any CA trip!

After we ate, it was around 8pm so we didn’t have any traffic getting into Anaheim. We had realized in OR that we forgot our portable fans so we did a pickup order at the Anaheim Walmart and picked those up on our way to the hotel (with all of the other tourists of course). So glad we got them though because I would’ve died without it

We stayed at the SunCoast Park Hotel because we got a good rate and it had good reviews. The hotel itself was nice and clean and all of the staff were very friendly. The room was pretty spacious and my sister and I had a slight view of the fireworks. But, I could never stay here again because there was no fan in the bathroom (my number one hotel pet peeve - what are you supposed to do after you shower and it’s 1,000 degrees in there?!) and the bathroom had the sliding barn door instead of a real door. So it was basically like having a curtain for a door aka no point in it being there at all!

Wednesday, 8/3: We stopped at the hotel coffee bar and were out the door around 7:10am and walked over to the parks. We didn’t have park hoppers, so we did DL the first two days then DCA our last. We had pre-purchased G+ with our tickets so we had it for the 3 days.

We were through security and in line at 7:30am.

Made it through the taps at 7:45. I got Mirabel on my ticket

We waited in the hub outside of Frontierland and followed the crowds to ROTR. We got in line around 8:08 and waited ~35 mins. This was my first time doing ROTR in DL (I’ve done it in WDW) so I was a bit surprised that it ended outside!

I had made a LL reservation for IJ, but noticed HM was down and had a LL time not too far away, so I switched it and waited the 15 mins to see if it would convert and it did! So we got an anytime LL and then I got another LL for HM, but by that time it was back up, so we just went and rode it. Then I did a LL for IJ. We stopped for coffee and snacks at Jolly Holiday and my sister rode Matterhorn in the single rider line.

We made our way over to Fantasyland where we rode Snow White and Mr. Toad and saw Gaston, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and Aladdin while we waited.

We met Mirabel and then were going to ride IJ but noticed our LL had converted to an anytime so now we had 2!

We booked a BTMRR LL and used that early thanks to our anytime LL. Then lunch at Hungry Bear and watched the 1:15pm cavalcade with one of my fav Disney treats

We stopped for train station pics and then trekked back to the hotel for a much needed siesta.

When we returned (after a nice trek back), we went to use our IJ LL because it was back up, but right when we went to tap in, it went down again. So we decided to use our anytime LL from HM for JC, which worked out well by going through the exit and waiting maybe 5 mins. Then IJ was back up and we wanted to ride before dinner, so we stopped there. The LL was pretty long since everyone was using theirs now and these poor CMs were being yelled at because a group used their anytime LL on another ride and then also wanted to use it on IJ!

After IJ, we went to check into our reservation at RBT and told the CM we wanted to do the Fantasmic package. We picked the 9pm show since it was still available (and we were tired!). Dinner was good and the dessert was pretty cool, I was just blinded the entire time by the sun through the windows!

We wandered around a little before getting our spot for F! The spot was well worth the dining package and we stayed and watched the fireworks from the same place and then called it a night.

[motherofdaughtersthree]

Enjoying your report!

[lolabear_la]

Ahh what a great title for your trip report! Sounds like the first day was fantastic. Looking forward to the next couple of days & finding how you found it to come for a trip vs. visiting locally

[jenn94]

Thursday, August 4th: Day 2 was supposed to be a sleep-in day with a Storyteller’s breakfast at 10am buuuut then my sister had to get a virtual interview at 10:30am… eastern time. So I was out of the room by 7:10 and my parents and I enjoyed (if you can enjoy anything at that hour) a pre-breakfast breakfast in the lobby. Once she was done, we walked over to DL to enter the park first so we could start getting LLs and also get a locker, then went to Storyteller’s. This was our first time here and we enjoyed it! Got both our Mickey fix and Mickey waffle fix

We were seated by the window and also saw Aurora, Rapunzel, Pocahontas, Tiana, Mulan, and maybe Cinderella walk by during the course of the meal (assuming they were going to the princess breakfast). After we ate, we shopped in Downtown Disney before making our way back to DL. We caught the band and then headed to IJ to use our first LL of the day.

The gift shop seemed to be a bit confused with what park it was at

It felt like a million and a half degrees outside so it was Tiki Room and dole whip time. Mango and pineapple swirl

Then it was IASW with LL, a stop for castle pics, a cavalcade, and popcorn while watching the band.

We had LLs for HM and Splash so we headed over there next and saw Jack Sparrow and Redd on our way. Redd was being a giraffe

We got absolutely drenched on Splash. Like buckets of water dumped on us drenched. It was still fun! But the aftermath wasn’t My sister and I were wearing sneakers and there was no saving those because there was a pool of water inside our log. It was also so humid out there was no way we would dry off so we made the trek back to the hotel instead to change. You can tell in our ride pic we were wet before we made it to the final drop!

[jenn94]

We returned to DL Wednesday evening for our ADR at Carnation Cafe, then decided we would try to see the first MSEP rather than the second because we were tired. We got front row seats in front of IASW (everything else was filling up fast) and got to sit directly across from the reserved seating like peasants

Necessary pre-parade sustenance:

Stood up and watched the Encanto projections on IASW before the parade.

And then it was time for MSEP! It was nice being near the beginning so we didn’t have to wait for it to come around.

We then headed over to Tomorrowland where we met Goofy, rode Buzz with a LL (wasn’t necessary), and then met Chip, Dale, and Clarice. We left through Fantasyland and the line for PPF didn’t look bad, so we did that as our last ride but it was sloooow moving.

[jenn94]

Friday, 8/5: Friday was DCA day. We grabbed food in the hotel and walked to the park and arrived at the gates around 7:35. We were waiting at Cars Land around 7:45 to RD RSR when a CM started walking by saying it wouldn’t be opening at 8 So we pivoted to do Web Slingers instead, which was new for us at least.

We got on around 8:30. We did the first screen and then when we got the second, nothing happened. Same with the next two. So it was not a very exciting first ride Luckily, the CMs were having everyone get off and get back into a small line of everyone who wanted to reride so we were back on within 5 minutes and it worked that time!

We then did Soarin’ with a LL and then a very important stop at Starbucks.

Then back to Cars Land where we stopped for pics, then rode Mater and Luigi’s.

Then we did Turtle Talk and used a LL for Monsters Inc. Took a pic of the Animation Academy schedule with the intention of coming back but never did

We had a 12:15pm ADR for La Brea so we headed to Downtown Disney. Lunch was good (especially the Cajun fries!) but we were seated outside so it was toasty. Then a quick trip to Marceline’s Confectionery and back to the hotel for a siesta.

After our rest, we drove over to Joe’s Italian Ice for a joe-latti because we can’t visit Anaheim without one

Then back to the park for some shopping and then Pixar Pier.

We had a LL for TSMM which went down right after we got in line, of course. Luckily it wasn’t down for too long though and the line moved pretty quickly once it was back. I got best in vehicle!

We had dinner at Flo’s (those fries are also gooood!)

We did the VQ for WoC at 12 so we headed over there next and got a spot in the blue section. This was my first time seeing WoC (my family’s seen it) and I enjoyed it! We’ve had FPs for it tons of times but were always too tired to stay and use them. I would’ve preferred Paint the Night but this wasn’t a bad alternative. Except for the kid next to me who was standing on his mom’s walker blocking the dessert party view (a CM came over eventually) and the multiple people holding their phones up in the air to livestream it!

We debated doing RSR after but TP was still estimating 45 mins and we had to get up early to drive to LAX the next morning. So no RSR, but that just means I need to go back!!

That’s a wrap on our Disneyland trip!

[Bubblez]

Great report! I love the little add-ins too (Little Mermaid and Woody).

Thank you for sharing!