A 40th celebration to end the world! COMPLETED 6/24 About This Page:

[KMB733]

Wow, Carsland was certainly crowded! Glad you had a great dinner with Jeannie!!

[chezp]

Friday 28 December – part one: “good luck, you’ll need it, the wait’s an hour”

The alarm went off at 6:00am, and off we went, heading for the California Adventure for its opening time of 7:00am, except this wasn’t like all the other mornings. We rounded the corner by Storytellers’ Café, and saw people coming towards us. I couldn’t quite fathom that. Surely they hadn’t already been in the park? I heard someone mutter about “good luck, you’ll need it, the wait’s an hour”, but again I hadn’t quite twigged.

We emerged, and saw the problem – the line to get in through the California Adventure entrance from the resort was unbelievable. We asked the Cast Member how long it was, and he told us “it goes round the building”. Oh boy! We decided to brave the main entrance at the end of Downtown Disney, fearing that would be nuts as well.

When we got there, there was no line at all, and we were straight through. I think we waited maybe two or three minutes to enter the park, and we were inside before 7:10am. I have no idea how long those poor people waiting at the Grand Californian would’ve been standing there.



We headed towards Radiator Springs, and the line already seemed to be insane for the Racers, reaching back to the cross street, but as we neared it, I went ahead to check if this was the right line. I figured it was, but I thought maybe the single rider line would be a possibility. I rounded the corner, and saw it said “test” under the wait times. Uh-oh… Sure enough, there was a Cast Member saying that the Racers were down, and they had no idea how long it would be down for. Ok, the last time we heard that, it was Christmas Eve night, and the thing was down for the rest of the night. I wasn’t going to risk waiting in that…

Instead, we walked on to Luigi’s Flying Tires, which was absolutely dead.



After one fly round it, we asked the Cast Member if we could stay on, as there was barely anyone in line. In fact, we ended up with one other couple and ourselves, and that was it. Oh my goodness, how much fun did we have, having the whole thing to ourselves?

By the end of the second ride, there were a few more people in line, so we graciously got off – not bad, my count for the Flying Tires was five times during our visit. I just love these things!

We saw the fire truck come out to do meets and I wanted to get a photo with him, but these Photopass shots were horribly overexposed.



We got some Photopass pics done by a great photographer. We told him we wanted everything, and that’s pretty much what he did.



As we were doing the photos, we noticed Lightning McQueen was coming our way, as he was switching out with Tow Mater for meets and greets, so we asked the photographer if he’d take a photo with Lightning behind us – and he said I was amazed, as I figured that would be something he couldn’t do, but he was fine with it, and the shot turned out great.



After that, we decided to give Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree a go. We were worried that we might both get sick on it, as we don’t do well with spinning rides, but a couple of people had reassured us that they were fine with it, so we figured why not?


Notice their eyes – we knew from our visit to the Blue Sky Cellar that the eyes on every Tow Mater are different…

Oh wow, nothing can prepare you for this ride. We’d watched it, but not very carefully, and had assumed that the individual Maters went round in circles. They went round in loops of eight, criss-crossing the others. There’s a lot of throwing you from one side to the other as you do it, which can be a bit unnerving, but we managed Ok on it. It’s certainly an unusual addition, and much more complex than you think at first. I was really pleased we’d given it a go.

With that, we headed out of the park, and saw the huge crowd about to be unleashed on the park….



Next: “now sir, I thought you would’ve guessed that”

[chezp]

Friday 28 December – part one: “good luck, you’ll need it, the wait’s an hour”

The alarm went off at 6:00am, and off we went, heading for the California Adventure for its opening time of 7:00am, except this wasn’t like all the other mornings. We rounded the corner by Storytellers’ Café, and saw people coming towards us. I couldn’t quite fathom that. Surely they hadn’t already been in the park? I heard someone mutter about “good luck, you’ll need it, the wait’s an hour”, but again I hadn’t quite twigged.

We emerged, and saw the problem – the line to get in through the California Adventure entrance from the resort was unbelievable. We asked the Cast Member how long it was, and he told us “it goes round the building”. Oh boy! We decided to brave the main entrance at the end of Downtown Disney, fearing that would be nuts as well.

When we got there, there was no line at all, and we were straight through. I think we waited maybe two or three minutes to enter the park, and we were inside before 7:10am. I have no idea how long those poor people waiting at the Grand Californian would’ve been standing there.



We headed towards Radiator Springs, and the line already seemed to be insane for the Racers, reaching back to the cross street, but as we neared it, I went ahead to check if this was the right line. I figured it was, but I thought maybe the single rider line would be a possibility. I rounded the corner, and saw it said “test” under the wait times. Uh-oh… Sure enough, there was a Cast Member saying that the Racers were down, and they had no idea how long it would be down for. Ok, the last time we heard that, it was Christmas Eve night, and the thing was down for the rest of the night. I wasn’t going to risk waiting in that…

Instead, we walked on to Luigi’s Flying Tires, which was absolutely dead.



After one fly round it, we asked the Cast Member if we could stay on, as there was barely anyone in line. In fact, we ended up with one other couple and ourselves, and that was it. Oh my goodness, how much fun did we have, having the whole thing to ourselves?

By the end of the second ride, there were a few more people in line, so we graciously got off – not bad, my count for the Flying Tires was five times during our visit. I just love these things!

We saw the fire truck come out to do meets and I wanted to get a photo with him, but these Photopass shots were horribly overexposed.



We got some Photopass pics done by a great photographer. We told him we wanted everything, and that’s pretty much what he did.



As we were doing the photos, we noticed Lightning McQueen was coming our way, as he was switching out with Tow Mater for meets and greets, so we asked the photographer if he’d take a photo with Lightning behind us – and he said I was amazed, as I figured that would be something he couldn’t do, but he was fine with it, and the shot turned out great.



After that, we decided to give Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree a go. We were worried that we might both get sick on it, as we don’t do well with spinning rides, but a couple of people had reassured us that they were fine with it, so we figured why not?


Notice their eyes – we knew from our visit to the Blue Sky Cellar that the eyes on every Tow Mater are different…

Oh wow, nothing can prepare you for this ride. We’d watched it, but not very carefully, and had assumed that the individual Maters went round in circles. They went round in loops of eight, criss-crossing the others. There’s a lot of throwing you from one side to the other as you do it, which can be a bit unnerving, but we managed Ok on it. It’s certainly an unusual addition, and much more complex than you think at first. I was really pleased we’d given it a go.

With that, we headed out of the park, and saw the huge crowd about to be unleashed on the park….



Next: “now sir, I thought you would’ve guessed that”

[disney_duke]

I wonder why all those people remained in GCH? I hope a few realized there was a separate entrance.... Very odd! Bummer RSR was down again!!! But you got to ride the other rides, got some great photos (except the overexposed ones, yikes!), and with relatively few people around. Successful morning thus far!

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you were able to get into the park so quickly going thru the other entrance! Great pics from Carsland!

[dutchdisneyfamily]

Good idea to go to the Downtown Disney entrance. That other crowd sounds crazy! Nice job being able to ride the tires so many times! I hope you get to ride the Racers again!

[lauriep]

Good thinking to go to the other entrance of DCA. Wonder why all those people were at the hotel entrance?! It pays to do whatever the crowds are NOT doing. Great fun being on the tires nearly by yourself. Hearing what the lines were like for Racers and then looking at the Luigi's queue-- crazy that more people didn't take advantage of that!

[honeybee723]

Too bad that once again you weren't able to get on the RSR, but at least you tried something new, and ended up liking it.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

Good thinking to go to the other entrance of DCA. Wonder why all those people were at the hotel entrance?! It pays to do whatever the crowds are NOT doing. Great fun being on the tires nearly by yourself. Hearing what the lines were like for Racers and then looking at the Luigi's queue-- crazy that more people didn't take advantage of that!

I know, but heck it worked out for us!

[KMB733]

I wonder what the hold up was trying to get into the park from the hotel was. At least you made into the park through the front entrance with no problems. Sorry RSR was down again, but at least you had a chance to ride the other two rides.

[Dlandmom2]

It's been a long long time since I've been in the parks during Christmas/New Year week. So smart of you to try the front entrance. Even if it had been busy out front, at least there are a lot more gates to go through than at the GC!

Great morning at DCA. I've only done Luigi's once and enjoyed it. I'll have to try it again the next time we're there.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Dlandmom2

It's been a long long time since I've been in the parks during Christmas/New Year week. So smart of you to try the front entrance. Even if it had been busy out front, at least there are a lot more gates to go through than at the GC!

Great morning at DCA. I've only done Luigi's once and enjoyed it. I'll have to try it again the next time we're there.

You will!

[Roxie2006]

Wow, what a crowd!! I will not say anything about the ride being down!! The pictures with Lightening McQueen are really great!!!!

[cubfancolleen]

Did you ever find out why the line was so insane in the hotel? Sounded like everyone there was trying to enter at the same time!
Love the PHotopass pics today (well, the ones are overexposed, but otherwise ).

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Did you ever find out why the line was so insane in the hotel? Sounded like everyone there was trying to enter at the same time!

I can honestly say I have no idea. I guess maybe lots of people got up at the same time and overwhelmed the entrance, as there are only two entrances there, from memory.