The attraction marathon...23 attractions in 6 hours About This Page:

[infinity&beyond]

Let's actually amend that subject to say 23 attractions, lunch and a mickey bar in 5 hours!

I'm lucky that my work sends me south to Los Angeles several times a year, and with a DL annual pass I have lots of opportunities to slip in to the park with a few free hours on my hands.

This happened on a warm January Wednesday last week. Crowds were light and many of the big attractions were closed for re-hab, including Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, and Space Mountain. My first idea was to go on EVERY open attraction, but I phased that down when I actaully started to feel kind of worn out around 5pm. And, I decided to skip the spinny rides (that's Dumbo and Astro-orbiter) 'cause they just aren't fun for me any more (I guess that's what happens when we get old.)

But wow, my day was great! My preliminary plan, as I had my bag inspected and passed through the gates into the park, was to grab a couple of fast passes for the e-tickets and head back to those rides later. Didn't want to waste any precious time standing in line. So, I headed for Pirates and Splash Mountain, and got fast passes for each. (Insider tip...Pirates is on a SEPARATE fast pass clock, so you can hold a fast pass for it and another attraction, even though it says you can't on the fast pass...try it, it works!) I was hungry, and thought I needed sustenance for the day, so I then went to Hungry Bear restaurant and had a delish veggie burger and a tall water, sitting by the Rivers of America watching hungry ducks and waving at the Columbia as it sailed by.

Wiping the ketchup from my chin, I walked right on Winnie the Pooh. Nice new dark ride, but I really miss the Country Bears...however Buff and his friends can still be seen on a back wall (you have to turn around in the ride vehicle to find them), so I said hello to them and re-lived the old memories. Also, the announcer at the beginning of the ride is the same voice actor who played Henry (of the country bears), so there are a few remnants of the old show to be found if you know where to look.

After departing Pooh, I skipped across the walkway to Splash Mtn. Fast pass time hadn't yet come up (about 5 minutes to go), but the cast member said there was no wait anyway...so I pocketed the pass for later and walked right on! I just love being thrown in the briar patch with Br'er Rabbit! And I got a little wet, but it's 80 degrees and sunny so I don't mind one bit! (Sorry to all you folks back east suffering through those freezing temperatures!)

Next stop is Pirates, again no line, so no need for the fast pass. Walking right on, I sit in the back row of the boat and smell that wonderful musty pirates smell, try to catch lightning bugs, and get a good look at that cursed treasure! And I think I now have all the words to the song memorized, so I sing along the entire way!!!

Time to head over to tomorrowland and Autopia. But on the way, this big snowy mountain got in the way with bobsleds zooming by. The Matterhorn! Very short lines on both tracks!!! I had to go, on both tracks! There is always the debate about which side to go on, so I thought I would solve the debate once and for all...so, which is better? Can't tell, one side has slightly more dips but the other side goes faster, so in my mom's words, it's "six of one, half a dozen of the other." Anyway, I counted that as two attractions and headed to Tomorrowland.

I was sure the line for Autopia would be long, so I went to get a fast pass, and then headed for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. It's been a while since I saw the show and it is still pretty cute. I love listening to people scream when the mice get loose in the theater! After that I headed to Star Tours...no line...but had to wait about five minutes for our ride vehicle to be ready. Sat in the back row, which is extra bumpy, we finally made it to Endor, but when I left the vehicle it seemed like I was back in Tomorrowland!

Time to go back to Autopia with my fast pass... NO LINE! Pocketed another fast pass and walked right on to my little pink convertible...drove nice and slow and DIDN'T bump the car in front of me! And I got my official autopia drivers' license, too!

Nothing left to do in Tomorrowland, since I decided to skip the Astro-Orbiter (there was no line, but I wasn't very tempted). I decided to walk over to Toontown.

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin had no line (what a surprise!) So I jogged through the queue (which is a close second to the Indiana Jones' queue for entertainment value), and spun my taxi cab through toontown...headed out the magically appearing hole and walked to tha back of toontown to take a ride on Gadget's Go Coaster!

This is so cute, but too short! I prefer the barnstormer at WDW, but still enjoyed it. Be sure to put your arms up when you go by the frogs so you get your hands wet!

Next stop, Fantasyland and the Storybook Canal Boats. I just love seeing the tiny villages where all my favorite characters live! As we headed back through the canal past toad hall, I noticed that our guide was talking about Pinnochio's village. Then she started laughing and said "Oops, wrong side of the canal!" Must get tough doing the same speech over and over. At least the Jungle Cruise pilots get a little variety!

I then went on the teacups and discovered that it is nearly impossible to spin a teacup by yourself...so I just sat back and enjoyed the music. Then I continued the Alice theme by going on Alice in Wonderland, following Alice down the rabbit hole, beating the Queen of Hearts at croquet, and then going down the leaves on the outside of the attraction to enjoy a quick, but very merry unbirthday with the mad hatter!

What better place to go next than to Hell on Mr. Toad? I just love the little devils!!!

Then it was time to soar over London on Peter Pan, probably the longest line I waited in all day (10 minutes). But I love that attraction so much, and it was nice to visit neverland.

Snow White's Scary Adventures and Pinocchio were both walk ons. And I loved both of them. I resisted the apple, but had a great time at Pleasure Island.

Next was King Arthur's Carousel. I took an inside horse, and watched an adorable little girl dressed up as cinderella get on Jingles, the most popular horse on the carousel. We had a nice time, this little girl had her princess wave down PERFECTLY and she dutifully waved to her people the ENTIRE ride!

I wanted to go see Casey Jr., but the line was actually too long. So I decided to escape the madness of Fantasyland. I was ready for a trip to a tropical oasis. ACK! The dole whip bar was closed! Well, a mickey bar had to suffice as I took a seat in the tiki room for a lovely trip to the islands. Gotta love those tikis!

When I got out of the tiki room it was just getting to be dusk, my favorite time for the Jungle Cruise! We had a great Pilot, and I sat right next to him to enjoy his "spiel." Lots of classics along with a couple of new jokes I hadn't heard before, as it should always be on the jungle cruise!

After getting a quick look at the temple of doom on the Jungle Cruise, I decided to head inside. I got a single rider pass and took the long walk down the coolest queue in Disneyland. Walked right on, and thoroughly enjoyed dodging snakes, mice, bugs, poison darts, and everything else Indiana Jones' Temple of Doom could throw at me. Indy and I made it through just fine!

Time for a little exercise, so I took a walk up Tarzan's treehouse! As I peered into the room where Tarzan's parents lived, and where the tiger was growling...suddenly the tiger let out a great roar! I jumped and yelped myself! I'd never seen THAT before! It was a quick run down the steps and I narrowly escaped being his dinner!

All that excitement left me with one last attraction that I had to see, which is the Main Street Railroad. I'm a member of the Carolwood Pacific Railroad Society and the one rule of membership is that you have to take the Main Street Railroad at least once every time you visit a Disney park. So I got on at New Orlean's Square, stayed on through Toontown station. I noticed as we went through the facade of It's A Small World that all the water had been drained out while they are taking down the Holiday overlay. I enjoyed a visit to the Grand Canyon and Primeval World and got off at Main Street Station.

By now I was really getting tired. I thought that there were just a couple of things I hadn't seen, and the park wouldn't close for 2 1/2 more hours. But I did have lots of work in the morning, meetings to go to, people to see, so I waved goodbye and headed out of the park.

My day started at around 11:45, and I left the Park at 5:45. I think this is the most I have ever done in one day...usually I spend much more of my time shopping, which is much more relaxing!

Hope you enjoyed the trip with me!

[XmasDis]

WHEW!!! I am exhausted reading about your day!! What a great way to spend an afternoon. I wish my job sent me to S. Cal every so often. I should wipe the green off my face before anyone notices!!

Thanks for sharing!

Jess

[Colexis Mom]

Wow, another one exhausted just reading your trip report. Sounds like a great time of year to visit to not have any crowds Glad you had a great time

[loobyoxlip]

Way fun. Thanks for sharing. Gets me that much more excited for our trip the end of April. Hope we encounter some of those non-existent lines!

[tikibird]

Wow, what an excellent day (but a Dole Whip would have made it PERFECT!)

Glad you got to take in so many attractions - thanks for sharing with us!

[ProChristo]

I can't imagine a better day. Thanks for the TR.

[Mamacane71]

Thanks so much for the report. I now have a little idea of what attractions to look for in July. We are going to Cal. for vacation and I am alloted one day for Disneyland. Thanks again.

[JeanCA]

Thanks for the great tip about the fastpass at Pirates.

So is it still true that you can use your fastpass
even if the time on the window has expired?

[infinity&beyond]

Jean, I've never had a problem with it in the past. I've showed it to them and they've just let me on through...of course it's never been long after the fast pass expired (usually less than 30 minutes.) Once at Soarin' Over CA, the attraction was down, and the cast member said we could come back any time...just show our fast pass. I suppose that if the fast pass line was getting too long, they might not honor it.

[DisneyDoll]

Barbara,

That was a great report and it sounds like such a fun day.
I don't have a lot of experience doing Disneyland solo and am going by myself on the 23rd (for the Snow White thing) Your report has helped boost my courage. Thanks.

Here's an insider secret...I have a friend who works at Disney and he said that they are going to fix the Fastpass machines so that you won't be able to double up on Fastpasses anymore.
I'm sure you know there are other ways to "trick" the FP machines. I guess too many people found out about it. Actually, I'm of the crowd that thinks FP needs to go, but that's a whole other bag of worms.

Thanks again for sharing your Disneyland Day.

[infinity&beyond]

Bonnie,
You'll have a wonderful time going "solo." You can see what you want when you want, and take a break whenever you feel like it! As much as I love going with others I have to admit that I had just as much fun by myself! I'd even spend a week in WDW by myself if the opportunity arose!!

[DisneyDoll]

I'm going to go to WDW in September by myself. My DH went with me a couple of weeks ago but he won't go again for another couple of years at least. I saw a great special at mousesavers for HRP for $69 a nt for a deluxe room and decided I couldn't turn it down. So I will have to go this one alone. I think lots of trips to Disneyland this summer by myself will help get me ready.
Thanks

[DebiDebiDebi]

Whew! I am wore out just reading it! Sounds like you made excellent use of your time!