What did you do today?

[gmpirate]

51 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

My issue with that is the expectation that because they laid out all that money, they expected to be treated differently.

Well, if you feel that was his point I would understand you feeling that way but I didn’t come away with impression.  He did what he thought he needed to do and he didn’t even get a reasonable chance.  Never said he deserved a better chance than anyone else.  My impression anyway . . .

Oh well, glad your daughter had a good time.  I miss those days.

[oneknightr]

Hey @Alpinemaps, we were there earlier this week as well! California Adventure on Monday and Disneyland on Tuesday. We go pretty much every year, except last year due to COVID. The park being at 35% capacity was amazing. The park never felt super crowded, and the lines for many rides were ridiculously short. Incredicoaster 10 mins, Goofy’s Flying School 10 mins, Star Tours 5 mins, Haunted Mansion 10 mins, Big Thunder Mountain 15 mins, Pirates of the Caribbean 10 mins, Autopia 15 mins, Indiana Jones 20 mins, and so on. You get the picture. Many of these rides are easily 40+ mins pre-COVID. We used the Disneyland app to check wait times and hit them when they were short, which was very often. The one criticism we had was that the Fast Pass system was shut down. We normally utilized that for popular rides like Radiator Springs and Guardians of the Galaxy. We waited 50 mins and 35 mins for each respectively, and they were our longest wait times due to that; however, we did hit Guardians two more times when the wait was 15 mins or less.

We were stressing a bit about not being able to get into the virtual queues for Web Slingers and Rise of the Resistance, but we got into both when they released at 7am each day. Just had to be super quick with the clicks. Web Slingers was great, but I was a little disappointed with the Avengers Campus. The only new ride there was Web Slingers and the rest of the land was just food, shops, and some photo op spots. I guess I was hoping for more. Rise of the Resistance was AMAZING. We were in boarding group 10, and when we got into the ride around 9:20am, we were literally the only ones there. We got to stop and take pictures. Without spoiling too much, this was my favorite part of the ride. Walking into this room was jaw-dropping. The picture doesn’t do the room any justice. The room is huge, and you’re just immersed in the experience. I hope you had a great time there too.

[Alpinemaps]

Hey [mention=5626]Alpinemaps[/mention], we were there earlier this week as well! California Adventure on Monday and Disneyland on Tuesday. We go pretty much every year, except last year due to COVID. The park being at 35% capacity was amazing. The park never felt super crowded, and the lines for many rides were ridiculously short. Incredicoaster 10 mins, Goofy’s Flying School 10 mins, Star Tours 5 mins, Haunted Mansion 10 mins, Big Thunder Mountain 15 mins, Pirates of the Caribbean 10 mins, Autopia 15 mins, Indiana Jones 20 mins, and so on. You get the picture. Many of these rides are easily 40+ mins pre-COVID. We used the Disneyland app to check wait times and hit them when they were short, which was very often. The one criticism we had was that the Fast Pass system was shut down. We normally utilized that for popular rides like Radiator Springs and Guardians of the Galaxy. We waited 50 mins and 35 mins for each respectively, and they were our longest wait times due to that; however, we did hit Guardians two more times when the wait was 15 mins or less.
We were stressing a bit about not being able to get into the virtual queues for Web Slingers and Rise of the Resistance, but we got into both when they released at 7am each day. Just had to be super quick with the clicks. Web Slingers was great, but I was a little disappointed with the Avengers Campus. The only new ride there was Web Slingers and the rest of the land was just food, shops, and some photo op spots. I guess I was hoping for more. Rise of the Resistance was AMAZING. We were in boarding group 10, and when we got into the ride around 9:20am, we were literally the only ones there. We got to stop and take pictures. Without spoiling too much, this was my favorite part of the ride. Walking into this room was jaw-dropping. The picture doesn’t do the room any justice. The room is huge, and you’re just immersed in the experience. I hope you had a great time there too.
http://bp-forum.s3.amazonaws.com/monthly_2021_06/RoR.thumb.jpg.5bd97f0f3aa116706d682d1625df5491.jpg

That’s awesome! We were at DCA on Tuesday so we just missed one another there. Sounds like you guys had a great time. And Guardians by far was my favorite!

[oneknightr]

27 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

That’s awesome! We were at DCA on Tuesday so we just missed one another there. Sounds like you guys had a great time. And Guardians by far was my favorite!

Guardians is great! I loved the original Tower of Terror, but the revamp is great too. Two years ago, my son was 7 and super afraid after riding it. He's 9 now, and we rode it three times. Nuff said. 

On 6/23/2021 at 8:29 AM, Alpinemaps said:

As it was explained to me, by someone that's a big fan of the guy and listened to the rant (I didn't), his primary irritation was that he spent all of this money, so therefore, he should have gotten passes to the new Spider-Man ride.  But, they were not successful in getting passes.  And that one particular thing - not getting passes to that one particular new ride - ruined the entire trip for him.

On this topic, I saw a guy talking to a Disney Avengers Campus employee about the Web Slingers ride. As he walked away, I overheard him say to his friends, "What's a virtual queue??" Best piece of advice when planning a trip to Disneyland is to plan, plan, plan and know about what you need to do in advance. I'm lucky that my wife loves trip planning and making reservations for Disney restaurants, etc. when the windows open. It makes for a better experience. 

[Phil B]

17 minutes ago, oneknightr said:

<snip>

On this topic, I saw a guy talking to a Disney Avengers Campus employee about the Web Slingers ride. As he walked away, I overheard him say to his friends, "What's a virtual queue??" Best piece of advice when planning a trip to Disneyland is to plan, plan, plan and know about what you need to do in advance. I'm lucky that my wife loves trip planning and making reservations for Disney restaurants, etc. when the windows open. It makes for a better experience. 

And that is exactly how I do NOT like to spend my vacations - having to prebook all my commitments for the day. I think it is easier if you live close to a park, but for me, when I need to drive 1000-1500 miles, I like to relax and play each day by ear, and often only make decisions that day on what to do the next day. The new Disney reservations system is a total disaster for people like me.

[$20 on joe vs dan]

I have been reading up on Disneyland/World news since we are planning a trip either end of this year or next year.

something not mentioned is that Disney's "soft" re-openings gave the corporation a ton of new info. Everyone knows that crowds are the worse part...Disney knows this as well.  When they shut down season passes and locals perks a key metric ($ spent on non-ticket [ie the money makers w crazy high profit margins] per ticket holder) went through the roof.

yes, the "regulars" that buy a ticket and nothing else were basically contributing a large percentage to the crowding effect and NOT profiting Disney and discouraging the big spenders as well.   

[oneknightr]

2 hours ago, Phil B said:

And that is exactly how I do NOT like to spend my vacations - having to prebook all my commitments for the day. I think it is easier if you live close to a park, but for me, when I need to drive 1000-1500 miles, I like to relax and play each day by ear, and often only make decisions that day on what to do the next day. The new Disney reservations system is a total disaster for people like me.

I hear what you're saying. It all depends on the type of vacation you want or are looking for. For example, cruises are generally considered to be all inclusive, but if you want to dine in the nice restaurant on the ship, get a massage, or if you want to go on excursions/tours on your port days, you have to book that in advance. If you're fine with relaxing on the boat the entire time, eating in the main dining rooms, and just walking around the local area when you're at port, nothing to book in advance outside of the cruise itself. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by oneknightr

[TheOrcKing]

6 hours ago, oneknightr said:

Rise of the Resistance was AMAZING. We were in boarding group 10, and when we got into the ride around 9:20am, we were literally the only ones there. We got to stop and take pictures. Without spoiling too much, this was my favorite part of the ride. Walking into this room was jaw-dropping. The picture doesn’t do the room any justice. The room is huge, and you’re just immersed in the experience. I hope you had a great time there too.

Jeeze, that backdrop is incredible! I can kind of remember the queue line scenery for the original Star Wars ride at Disneyland. Impressive as that was at the time it seems like a Star Trek set compared to this shot.

Also, lovin' the smiles! And the R2-D2 shirt. And a tattoo I can't quite make out.

 

5 hours ago, oneknightr said:

Best piece of advice when planning a trip to Disneyland is to plan, plan, plan and know about what you need to do in advance. I'm lucky that my wife loves trip planning and making reservations for Disney restaurants, etc. when the windows open. It makes for a better experience. 

Some amount of planning is required if one wants to actually do things on a vacation even to a degree of micromanaging with backup strategies for contingencies which sounds contradictory to the point of having a 'vacation'. No wonder a number of people end up finding planning for a trip stressful. Then again "when in Rome" why end up doing activities you could have just stayed at home for.

[oneknightr]

1 hour ago, TheOrcKing said:

Jeeze, that backdrop is incredible! I can kind of remember the queue line scenery for the original Star Wars ride at Disneyland. Impressive as that was at the time it seems like a Star Trek set compared to this shot.

Also, lovin' the smiles! And the R2-D2 shirt. And a tattoo I can't quite make out.

Here's another pic of the backdrop. Like I said earlier, it doesn't do it any justice. We all had a great time, so smiles were aplenty. My tattoo is of a Chinese dragon with my last name in Chinese. 

My R2 tank top got the Clone Troopers in another part of Galaxy's Edge talking to me. They said, "I'm watching you! Droids can have their memories scanned." among other things. It was great!

[$20 on joe vs dan]

At least he didn't threaten you with a restraining bolt

I have a C-3PO T-shirt I like to sport when at the parks.

[TheOrcKing]

4 hours ago, oneknightr said:

My tattoo is of a Chinese dragon with my last name in Chinese.

Now that's wearing your heritage on your sleeve as it were. Very nice.

 

4 hours ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

I have a C-3PO T-shirt I like to sport when at the parks.

For some reason that shirt looks like an odd face with its mouth wide open filled of multi colored spaghetti.

[exracer327]

We just returned home from Universal Studios Florida.  As others have said, plan, plan, plan...  We almost got caught because we didn't realize the reservation program for restaurants was not on the app but only available through the website.  That is a poor design.

Two must do rides: 1) Hagrid's Motorbike and definitely the 2) Velocicoaster (70 mph (twice - from inside box structures) and a 80 degree drop after the second "launch").

This is not my video, but it gives you a good impression of the Velocicoaster if you have not been there.  I confess I could not stop laughing the whole ride (all three times).  After the second launch, there are at least three times when you feel like you're going to fall out of your seat.

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by exracer327

[$20 on joe vs dan]

18 hours ago, exracer327 said:

We just returned home from Universal Studios Florida.  As others have said, plan, plan, plan...  We almost got caught because we didn't realize the reservation program for restaurants was not on the app but only available through the website.  That is a poor design.

Two must do rides: 1) Hagrid's Motorbike and definitely the 2) Velocicoaster (70 mph (twice - from inside box structures) and a 80 degree drop after the second "launch").

This is not my video, but it gives you a good impression of the Velocicoaster if you have not been there.  I confess I could not stop laughing the whole ride (all three times).  After the second launch, there are at least three times when you feel like you're going to fall out of your seat.

 

Did you guys do the multi-park thing to be able to take the Hogwarts train to the castle?  We were not sure if that was worth it (getting multi-park passes). I realize these are "old" rides, but last time we were there it was the HP land (castle only) debut.

thanks for sharing 

[BrickLegacy]

Did you guys do the multi-park thing to be able to take the Hogwarts train to the castle?  We were not sure if that was worth it (getting multi-park passes). I realize these are "old" rides, but last time we were there it was the HP land (castle only) debut.
thanks for sharing 

The Hogwarts train was not worth it. Huge letdown for our family.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[exracer327]

17 hours ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

Did you guys do the multi-park thing to be able to take the Hogwarts train to the castle?  We were not sure if that was worth it (getting multi-park passes). I realize these are "old" rides, but last time we were there it was the HP land (castle only) debut.

thanks for sharing 

Yes we did (multi-park), although we were only able to take advantage of the train once.  We thought it was fun, but if we had waited 45 minutes I don't think we would have enjoyed it as much.

The bottleneck occurs in the original park (King's Cross Station).  Coming the opposite direction the wait time is much less - usually.

The best rides (IMHO) in the original park are: The Mummy (roller coasterish) and Escape Gringotts (3D + roller coaster).  We spent most of our time in Islands of Adventure (new park).

[river41]

22 hours ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

Did you guys do the multi-park thing to be able to take the Hogwarts train to the castle?  We were not sure if that was worth it (getting multi-park passes). I realize these are "old" rides, but last time we were there it was the HP land (castle only) debut.

thanks for sharing 

for the train itself is definitely not worth it imho to get the multi park passes

i went on it both ways and took very little out of it

there are just the scenes flashing by the windows ( not real scenes that are built but the windows are like a movie screen ) honestly you can go to youtube for that 

of course if you only have one day and it's not peak time and you want to experience as many rides as possible that might change the calculation

Edited July 1, 2021 by river41

[Darth_Raichu]

Drove about 2000 miles for vacation.  The most exciting part was finding Costcos so I could fill up for 25 cents less per gallon than everybody else

[bonusbrick]

Today, while looking for pizza, I stumbled upon a LEGO store in...

Salt Lake City Airport

I travel a lot in the summer but have never seen this. Anyone else? The employee said they opened in December 2020 and they are the first store in an airport. I haven’t done the research yet to confirm or deny. They had nothing exclusive but said they’re trying to bring a ski resort set out of retirement. The strangest thing was how many big sets they had. Coliseum, Disney Castle, Harley Davidson, Typewriter, etc. I always bring home something for the kids when I travel, and grabbing a LEGO set before I head home would be a cool option. But who would impulse buy a Coliseum? It seemed like they try to do a Disney move which is get the impulse buy then offer to ship it wherever you’re going. Anyway, thought I’d share a cool find.

[gmpirate]

2 hours ago, bonusbrick said:

Today, while looking for pizza, I stumbled upon a LEGO store in...

Salt Lake City Airport

I travel a lot in the summer but have never seen this. Anyone else? The employee said they opened in December 2020 and they are the first store in an airport. I haven’t done the research yet to confirm or deny. They had nothing exclusive but said they’re trying to bring a ski resort set out of retirement. The strangest thing was how many big sets they had. Coliseum, Disney Castle, Harley Davidson, Typewriter, etc. I always bring home something for the kids when I travel, and grabbing a LEGO set before I head home would be a cool option. But who would impulse buy a Coliseum? It seemed like they try to do a Disney move which is get the impulse buy then offer to ship it wherever you’re going. Anyway, thought I’d share a cool find.

Whoda thought . . .  Especially considering you are only selling to arrivals.  Maybe it’s a test store

[TANV]

Saturday after midnight, my wife's water broke. Sunday morning at 244 AM, she delivered a healthy baby girl. Monday evening, I had a wonderful delicious steak dinner made by the hospital to celebrate. So yeah, super eventful.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

[Alpinemaps]

6 minutes ago, TANV said:

Saturday after midnight, my wife's water broke. Sunday morning at 244 AM, she delivered a healthy baby girl. Monday evening, I had a wonderful delicious steak dinner made by the hospital to celebrate. So yeah, super eventful.
 

Mazel tov!  Glad to hear all is well.

[TANV]

Bought $50 dollars worth of diapers. Got $15 Gift-Card from Target. Need to use it on baby stuff soon otherwise it'll tempt me for LEGO sets.

[melting]

Picked up my new Bike,  Trek Marlin 6.

Edited July 31, 2021 by melting

[Alpinemaps]

41 minutes ago, TANV said:

Bought $50 dollars worth of diapers. Got $15 Gift-Card from Target. Need to use it on baby stuff soon otherwise it'll tempt me for LEGO sets.

Oh.  You're not supposed to use those gift cards to fund the LEGO habit?

[Alpinemaps]

Started my new job today. It takes me into San Diego now, which means I’m only 5 minutes away from a LEGO store now. Luckily, it’s telework so I only go in a couple times a month (to work that is)

So of course I stopped after work. Unfortunately they only had two of the four new Brickheadz. Shucky darn - I’ll have to go back.