My Solo Trip Report Apr 16th -- Pics/Video

[senseiz]

My first time going solo to DLR, I have only been to Knotts solo. Both times have ended positive. I get to do whatever I want to do all day. No compromise! However I am happy I am going back with my girl (who just made an acct here on micechat: theKERI), my sis, and my baby nephew on the 27th.

Here is my report, I dropped my RideMax schedule around 10:30 because the park was empty.

Well, first off I woke up at 5am to have a really really early day. I created a strict itinerary with RideMax and I wanted to test it out and see how accurate it was, and I kind of wanted to give myself a workout charging through the park and high speed getting on as many rides as possible during my day.

I got to the trams at about 7:35 and noticed the horrible new doors. EVERYONE was complaining about them.




Got there, and the gates were opening and they were stacking the crowd into Main St. This was the first time I had ever been before opening, and it was really cool to see the die-hards wanting to get their full day in like me.

As you can see, pretty empty for 7:50 on a Friday. I have gone on two Friday's in April so far and they both have been pretty slow in my opinion:








My RideMax itinerary took me to get a Space Mtn fastpass first and then head over to BTMRR.

Here is the people all rushing towards Space Mtn immediately after the rope drop. I didn't stop walking while taking these:



10 min wait at 8:03am!


When I got to Space Mtn for my fastpass I came upon a wonderful surprise: TWO fastpasses came out! It must have been from someone before me?! I dunno, I was happy, but just you wait, there will be more FastPass miracles later this day...




I knew this scene would not last forever, in just an hour, this place would be much busier.
Not every day you get a view of paths like this:





Empty shooting gallery while walking by:



I rode Indiana Jones and The Jungle Cruise.
The only reason I had to wait about 10 mins for IJ was because it broke down for just a little bit. I got video of the whole queue but you have all seen it, so I don't really need to post it here.

I also recorded my Jungle Cruise... however the driver was HORRIBLE. The worst Jungle Cruise driver I have ever had. An older guy with a mustache. He was like "oh a snake, ahhhh" ... "oh a waterfall, ahhh" .... "oh a tiger, ahhh" etc etc etc etc the whole time, no jokes, nothing.

I will eventually put the vid on youtube but not right now.

BTMRR next, ride it with me: (I walked in, no wait, but I chose to wait for the back)
THIS VID WILL GET BETTER, it is still processing on YT
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaekB3MHWGE"]BTMRR[/ame]

Caught a couple great shots after riding BTMRR twice! There was literally ZERO wait. I walked straight up to the boarding area, but I did choose to wait for the back seat.







NOW I used my TWO fastpasses to ride space mountain twice with fastpasses. The wait was not long though, I think it was like 15 minutes at this time, 9:30am.

I am in the back


FAILED Monkey face:



At this point, I had ridden quite a few rides and it was not even like 10:30 yet! So I started to slow down, I walked through the arcade and took the Monorail to DTD and then eventually to my car for a bite to eat, and a little puff puff





From inside the monorial:


I got lost in the hotel on my way back thinking I could go through there... they said I couldnt without a room key
Got some good shots of the hotel though:







Some more shots of the trams with and without the ugly new pointless doors:





When I came back from my session at the car, I went into California Adventure, got a couple HORRIBLE shots of the Food and Wine Festival, it was the first day. Ended up being a "buy Dole foods" show in the beginning with the Dole chefs and stuff, but Guy Fieri was there, and I got some video of him later...







Dole guys saying: BUY DOLE!
The shorter guy was a lot more timid and quiet but he kept correcting the other guys mistakes. The taller guy kept like starting the wrong dish, and the shorter guy had to correct him. The taller guy seemed like the salesman, and the shorter guy was the chef. It was all a pretty poor production from what I saw, I feel bad for those who may have paid to sit at a table for this particular performance:


Walking through the Backlot to note the times of the Aladdin show, which I had never seen, saw Mr. Incredible...



More walking around:


Rode screamin (single rider, 5 min wait)....


Got off screamin, this lady walks up and asks if I want a fastpass!!!! I was like, heck yea! Thanks! So I ride screamin again....


And then I ride screamin again, there was minimal wait, I just couldn't help it....
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML2PYAej7dE"]California Screamin'[/ame]

Sat down for a while, by this time I had a really bad bad blister on my left foot (I still do) so I sat down for a bit and waited for Aladdin to start...

Random pics of California Adventure (these were throughout the day, not just at one time):






At 12 noon I went into the Hyperion to watch Aladdin, the show was spectacular, very well done! I would def watch it again, and my girlfriend was all excited when I told her about it and showed her the video I took. Again, I wont post the video, but here are pics:










Know where this is? Before Friday I would have not known. It's Tough To Be A Bug! Excellent show!!! I will def catch this every time. In my opinion, it's better than Honey I Shrunk The Audience, and much better than Muppet Vision.



By this time it was pretty warm so I decided to ride GRR! Here is my final fastpass miracle for the day... same thing as that morning, I swipe my pass, and out comes TWO TICKETS!


Rode Soarin' as a single rider, met an awesome family. We actually chatted for a while before and after boarding.


Everyone waiting for Guy Fieri to start, I was practically in the front of the line, and got a great view! They roped it off like an hour before showtime (3:30). Eventually the rope dropped and we were allowed to approach the tent, row by row, organized, and slow. Those who paid were already in the area to the right, but not seated until about 10 mins before showtime.
Guy did a great job, and it was entertaining, my feet were killing me though, so I only stayed like 30 mins, it was an hour show.




When I was waiting I saw an elderly couple all decked out in Disney attire, it made me happy that they were there, probably after many times of being there to enjoy it for themselves. At that age, going and still enjoying it instead of going out there JUST for the kids and grandkids... made me happy Thats why I took this pic of his hat:


STILL WAITING:


I didn't take many more pics that day until night time, my feet were killing me, I ate and took a trip back to the car, by this time I needed a Monster to keep going through the pain of the blister on my left foot....

After puffing and chugging a Monster I didnt even think about the pain in my foot lol... rode many more rides and chilled at Disneyland until later when I wanted to catch the Electrical Parade one last time before it was gone.

Here are some random night shots just cruisin around:



So I think this is the Permanent WoC booth, it is under the bridge:




Testing WoC and some PP shots:



Parade, here is some horrible shots, and the video I got of the parade w/ some fireworks:




My Electrical Parade Video:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG9YZnfetRo"]Electrical Parade | Last Weekend @ DLR[/ame]

RUSH out of Cali Adv after the parade:



I rushed over the DL and used a faspass for Indiana Jones, it was fun because people were screaming loud. I know that there is only one door, but the mix of different murals, lighting makes it feel somewhat different. Also, I think the motion sequence is different depending on which path you take (yes I know its all one path)

Yum! Dinner...


After dinner I TRIED MY FIRST DOLE WHIP!! ... it was ok, refreshing, but nothing to get hyped over. It tasted delicious, but it was almost like soft serve pineapple ice cream mixed with marshmallow cream, strange texture! I would get it again, but I wont wait in a 20 minute line for one again. Of course I stayed for the Tiki Room and mozied my way out of the park....

My final trip around Disneyland on the RR:




Bye Disneyland! I will see you in less than two weeks!

[theKERI]

Extremely jelly that you got to eat a bread bowl without me, babe! :P
Those are some great night shots of the Paradise Pier.

[royaldisneyfan]

Great TR and wonderful shots! Glad you had fun!

[Rocker]

Great trip report! It looks like you really enjoyed yourself! And I too agree that the doors on the train is ridiculous!

[A113]

Am I the only one that thinks the doors are completely fantastic ? Because they are definitely magical! [/sarcasm]

Nice report! Lucky you got to do Screamin' 3 in a row, I'm usually limited to 2 per trip.

[2ndStar2theRight]

When I got to Space Mtn for my fastpass I came upon a wonderful surprise: TWO fastpasses came out! It must have been from someone before me?! I dunno, I was happy, but just you wait, there will be more FastPass miracles later this day...

By this time it was pretty warm so I decided to ride GRR! Here is my final fastpass miracle for the day... same thing as that morning, I swipe my pass, and out comes TWO TICKETS!

I was there on Friday too! I wanted to see the Electrical Parade before it left. For some reason the Fastpass machines gave me 2 fastpasses every time as well. It was very bizarre! That has never happened to me before and I'm pretty sure my ticket wasn't scanned 2x when I went through the turnstiles. It must have been a glitch in the system that day.

[Werner]

Wow, such a nice, uncrowded day. Glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed reading about it!

[Treasure]

Nice TR.....Thanks for posting the pics...

[MatterhornJ]

I enjoyed it.

[mickatey]

this is awesome! i love the pics for the wine and food festival, i am looking forward to it. i'm really itching to get to disneyland, i did my first solo trip not too long ago and i'm thinking about doin one tomorrow or tuesday...

[DannyLand]

S rider is awesome.
oh, u got 2 fp for Space Mt. that happened to me once.

[Sir Didymus]

Jeez, you must be good luck or something! If I were you, I'd buy some lotto tickets!

[clippers6]

Wow, I didn't know you could pay to skip the line for the chefs. Great TR.

[Risa]

I'm taking my first solo trip next month!

Maybe I can get double fastpasses too! Yeah!

[senseiz]

Wow, I didn't know you could pay to skip the line for the chefs. Great TR.

Some people were in the area, and they had SEATS! So it looks like they were either VIP or paid to have reserved seating in the area.

All the walk-up guests had to wait behind the rope and walk up slowly right before the show started.