Disneyland February 2012 Days 3 and 4

I'm going to combine the last 2 days of the Disneyland trip into one post--pretty straight-forward days.  Got to see a lot of stuff.

Wednesday, 2/8/12

  9:05:  Left the Hotel

  9:25:  Waiting in line at the Disneyland entry gates

  9:45:  Waiting at the Tomorrowland entrance

10:00:  Star Tours: Andy, Maddy and Joel

                Star Tours Variations:  Stormtroopers, Hoth, Yoda, Geonosis

10:20:  Star Tours: Amanda and Maddy while the rest of us rode Buzz.  Elliott won (with a little help).

10:45:  Buzz

11:00:  Snow White

11:10:  Peter Pan

11:25:  Teacups

11:35:  It's a Small World

12:10:  Bathroom Break

12:15:  Gadget's Go-coaster

12:30:  Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin

Amanda and I left the kids here and went off by ourselves.

12:45:  Shopping in Toontown

Obligatory Toontown weight-lifting picture.

  1:00:  Railroad: Toontown to New Orleans Square

  1:20:  Bathroom Break

  1:35:  Chimichangas for lunch.

                Everyone always talks about the Churros, Dole Whips, Turkey legs, Soup bowls, Mickey Ice Cream Bars, etc., but no one ever mentions the chimichangas--we LOVE the chimichangas!!  They're huge, crispy, full of meat and beans--love 'em.  And if I remember correctly, they taste sort-of like the crispy burritos they used to sell in the BYU Cougareat (back in the early '80s, before the Fast Food Chain days).

  1:55:  Andy and Joel rode Thunder Mt.  Joel says he didn't like riding with me, because my larger size made it so the bar didn't lower enough onto him and he was "flying off the seat" during the hills.

  2:10:  Amanda and Maddy rode Thunder Mt.

  2:30:  Jungle Cruise

  2:45:  Amanda and Maddy rode the Indiana Jones ride while the rest of us toured Tarzan's Treehouse

  3:05:  Andy and Joel rode Indy

  3:25:  Bathroom Break

Yes, I do belong here.

  3:45:  Captain EO

  4:15:  Andy, Maddy, and Joel rode Star Tours

                Star Tours Variations:  Kashyykk, Naboo

  4:35:  Star Tours (Amanda, Joel, Abraham) while Andy, Maddy, and Elliott ride Buzz

  5:00:  Shopping

  5:50:  Plaza Inn for dinner.  Still our favorite place to eat.  Huge portions of delicious fried chicken.  I'm always tempted to try the pot roast (I hear it's delicious), but I always "chicken out."  Get it, CHICKEN out?!?!?! 

NOTE:  at the Plaza Inn and Rancho del Zocalo, you can get free soda refills during your meal.

In the foreground, you can see the cheetah stuffed animal Abe bought (he named it Chico).  He LOVES it.  Meanwhile, Elliott plays with Joel's custom-built lightsaber.

  6:40:  Alice in Wonderland

  6:55:  Amanda got some medicine for her headache

  7:00:  Mr. Toad

  7:10:  Dumbo

  7:15:  Casey Jr.

  7:30:  Peter Pan

  7:40:  Shopping

  7:50:  Leave for Hotel

Thursday, 2/9/12

  9:10:  Leave Hotel

  9:30:  Enter DCA

  9:35:  Andy, Maddy, Joel and Abe ride Soarin'

10:25:  Amanda and Maddy rode California Screamin'

Apparently, that's "Fablehaven" author Brandon Mull in front of Amanda. 

10:45:  Toy Story Midway Mania

11:00:  Little Mermaid Ride

11:15:  It's Tough to be a Bug

11:40:  Bathroom Break

11:45:  Hemlich's Chew Chew Train

11:50:  Tuck & Roll Drive 'em Buggies

12:05:  Amanda/Maddy rode Tower of Terror while Andy and the boys ride Monsters Inc.

12:20:  Animation Building

12:30:  Left California Adventure

  2:15:  Returned to Disneyland

  2:30:  Bathroom Break

  2:35:  Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

  3:00:  Omnibus--this was our first--and probably last--time riding a Main Street vehicle as a family.  It was fun to be on top of the double-decker bus, but we probably could've walked up and down Main Street twice in the time it took to go from the Disneyland Entrance to the Central Plaza.

  3:15:  Got Star Tours Fastpasses

  3:20:  Tiki Room

  4:00:  Pirates of the Caribbean

  4:25:  Bathroom Break

  4:30:  Got Splash Mt. Fastpasses

  5:00:  Maddy, Abe and Amanda rode Star Tours while the others rode Buzz

                Star Tours Variations:  Princess Leia

  5:20:  Andy and Joel rode Star Tours while the others rode Buzz

                Star Tours Variations:  Stormtroopers,Podraces,Coruscant

  5:50:  Rancho Del Zocalo for dinner.  This is another place we go to almost every trip.  Really enjoy it, and the seating is right beside Thunder Mt., providing fun atmosphere.

  6:30:  Amanda and Maddy rode Splash Mountain while the boys rode Pooh TWICE

We got a cupcake to share--too much frosting!!!!

  6:55:  Pinocchio

  7:05:  Casey Jr.

  7:20:  Back to Hotel

Disney makes delicious desserts!

Well, that wraps up our 2012 Disneyland trip--only 14 months after-the-fact.  Definitely one of our best trips there.  The low crowds allowed us to see everything we wanted to see as many times as we wanted to see them.  In fact, if my calculations are correct, we were able to ride Star Tours 10 times and the Little Mermaid Ride 4 times, which were the two new attractions we were most interested in seeing.

Makes me want to go again this year!

2012 Disneyland - Day 2

Here's the recap for Feb. 7, 2012--a really great, uncrowded day at the parks.

  6:20: Andy and Amanda wake up.  Why do we have to get up so early when we're on vacation?  Because it's Disneyland!!!!

  8:05:  Left the hotel

  8:15:  Waited in line at the security check

  8:30:  In line at the Disneyland Entry Gates

Abe loved these Mickey benches.

  9:00:  Entered Disneyland for an Early Entry at 9 (park didn't officially open until 10).

This is what the park looks like on an uncrowded morning in February--FABULOUS!!

  9:05:  Amanda and the kids rode Star Tours while Elliott and I rode Buzz Lightear's Astro Blasters

                Star Tours Variations:  Darth Vader, Podrace, Yoda, Death Star/Geonosis

                Andy's Buzz Score:  143,300

                Elliott's Buzz Score:     2,800

Elliott got to see his idol, Buzz Lightyear.

[OK, let me interject here.  You'll be seeing these "Star Tours Variations" through these touring notes, so let me explain.  In the old version of Star Tours, there was only one version of the ride that was the same every time you rode.  In the new version (which requires 3-D glasses), the ride experience is randomized, with multiple possible destinations and characters.  The story is that one of the people riding with you is a spy who you have to deliver safely to the destination.  Essentially, there are 4 points of variation each time you ride:

Opening scene: either Darth Vader OR an army of Stormtroopers try to stop your ship from taking off.  You take off into hyperspace and arrive at:

First planet:  You will visit either Tatooine (desert planet), Kashyyyk (Chewbacca's forest planet), or Hoth (snow planet), then head back into space.

Hologram:  You receive a holographic message from either Yoda, Princess Leia or Admiral Ackbar, telling you to come to another planet.

Second Planet:  You either go to the City planet of Coruscant, Geonosis--where there is a new Death Star, or Naboo, where your ship goes underwater.  You land safely and the ride comes to an end.  And of course, no matter which version you go on, you'll have run-ins with bad guys, sea monsters, etc.  And C-3PO is your pilot this time.  Make sense?  OK, moving on.]

  9:20: Andy, Maddy, and Joel rode Star Tours; Buzz was closed down so Amanda took the younger boys to Fantasyland and rode the Carousel and Pinocchio

                Star Tours Trip:  Darth Vader, Hoth, Yoda, Death Star/Geonosis

10:00:  Got Star Tours Fastpasses

10:10:  Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

10:45:  Amanda, Maddy, Joel rode Star Tours while Andy got some Indiana Jones Fastpasses

                Star Tours Trip variations: Podraces, Coruscant

11:05:  Andy, Maddy, and Joel rode Star Tours.  While in the ride vehicle, we saw my friend Tarl (from BYU) and his wife, who were there for their anniversary.

                Star Tours Trip Variations:  Kashyyyk, Admiral Ackbar

Maddy and I took a look inside the new Jolly Holiday Bakery and Cafe.

11:50:  Amanda and Maddy rode Splash Mt. while the rest of us rode the Winnie the Pooh ride

12:05:  Andy and Maddy rode Splash Mt. while everyone else rode Pooh

12:25:  Haunted Mansion

12:40:  Bathroom Break--I'm pretty sure the bathrooms in New Orleans Square are our most-visited bathrooms.

12:45:  Pirates of the Caribbean

  1:05:  We left Disneyland

  1:35:  Arrived at the hotel for a lunch break

  2:30:  Left hotel

  2:45:  Arrived at Disney California Adventure

[Amanda's sister Molly and her husband and daughter Emyli were down there for a vacation as well, and we spent some time at the park with them.]

  2:55:  Maddy, Doug and Molly rode Soarin' Over California while the rest of us (with Emyli) looked at the Cars display (Elliott was so excited to see Mater and McQueen!) and the Blue Sky Cellar

  3:15:  Andy, Abe and Maddy rode Soarin'

  3:45:  Doug and Molly rode the Tower of Terror, while the rest of us rode Flik's Flyers

  4:00:  Andy, Amanda, and Maddy rode the Tower of Terror

  4:15:  Done riding the Tower of Terror

  4:25:  Little Mermaid ride

  4:45:  Toy Story Midway Mania

  5:05:  Bathroom Break

  5:10:  Amanda and Maddy rode California Screamin' while the rest of us rode the carousel.

  5:20:  Mickey's Fun Wheel--for some reason, we always ride the Ferris wheel when it's really cold and windy and Amanda and the kids HATE it.  Sissies.

  5:50:  Toy Story Midway Mania

  6:10:  Dinner at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta/Paradise Garden Grill--really delicious!!!  Maddy got 5-cheese  ravioli, the boys got spaghetti  and meatballs, and Amanda got chicken sun-dried tomato pasta.  I got a Mediterranean Skewer Platter with cucumber salad, rice pilaf and pita bread.

  6:45:  Andy and Maddy rode Goofy's Sky Skool while the others rode Little Mermaid

  7:00:  We all rode Little Mermaid

  7:15:  Bathroom break

  7:20:  Muppetvision 3-D.  Amanda revealed that she likes Fozzie Bear, and that's why she married me, because I'm hairy and tell bad jokes.

  7:55:  Monster's Inc. ride

  8:00:  Returned to the hotel

  9:30:  There was a special fireworks display, which Abe LOVED watching from our hotel room.

So that was day 2 (our first full day at the parks) some observations:

--As you can see, we like to park-hop during the day.  On this day, we had an Early Entry for Disneyland, so we started there, then after our lunch break at the hotel, we spent the afternoon in DCA.  

--We got Indiana Jones Fastpasses, but ended up not using them.  That's the way it goes sometimes--changing plans on-the-fly.

--NOTE:  After several years of loose enforcement, Disneyland (and Disney World) now REQUIRE you to use the Fastpass during the 1-hour time window printed on the Fastpass.  They used to let you ride anytime in the day after the time widow began, but now it has to be used within the stated time.

--We don't use it as often because of Fastpass, but rides that have a height restriction, like Star Tours and Soarin' also have a Child Swap Pass (just ask a ride attendant for one when you walk up to the attraction), where one parent stays off the ride with the baby/toddler while the rest of the group goes on the ride (waiting in the regular line).  Then, using the Pass, the other adult and a guest get to go on the ride via the Fastpass line with minimal waiting time.  VERY useful.

--Another thing we've sometimes done is used the smaller kids' tickets to get Fastpasses for the rides the bigger kids want to go on more than once.  For instance, there's no way Joel or Abe will ride California Screamin', so we could get Fastpasses for Amanda, Maddy, Joel, and Abe, then let Amanda and Maddy use all 4 Fastpasses to ride the ride twice.

-- If you don't count doubles (ie, one group rides Buzz while the others are on Star Tours), we saw 23 attractions in one day.  That's pretty impressive, but we maximized our use of Fastpasses, and the park was really not crowded AT ALL.  Our longest wait was at 11:05, when one of the Star Tours vehicles wasn't working and we had to exit that vehicle and wait at the exit for another Starspeeder to become available--but if that wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't have seen my friend--how fortuitous our obstacles can sometimes be!

And we'll end with that inspiring thought!