Day 5, Christmas Day, Dec 25th. WHERE IS EVERYBODY!
Not at
Disneyland I can tell you that. . . . . . .
waiting for our MM. Roughly 6-40am.
We got up early as planned and were walking to the Elevators by about 5-55am. I called for a Lyft and there was one about 25 mins away but there was a Lux only 15 mins away so we chose that one. We were dropped off at the
Disneyland Hotel again about 6-20am but this proved to be wholly unnecessary as it turned out there was not much of a line at the Harbour Entrance. No worries, we joined the line (1 other family) at 6-30am for our MM entry. When we arrived, there were less than than 50 people waiting and by the time 7am rolled around, I’d say there were less than 500 people waiting to get in and most of them arrived just before 7am.
Great.
So we headed in, bought. MaxPass again (really wish that lady at the ticket counter had sold us the 5 days as I originally asked), got a FP for Haunted Mansion (what else) and headed to Fantasyland. I was a little worried as the only things open were Matterhorn and Snow White. After a few minutes though Peter Pan opened up and we were about the 3rd group in line. Then we did Mr Toads and with Casey and the Canal boats still closed we headed over to Tomorrowland. Hunger got the better of us so we mobile ordered from the Galactic Grill which wasted 10-15 mins of our MM (along with the 5 mins waiting for PP to open) then we did Star Tours, Buzz, Nemo, caught the train to
New Orleans Square for our Haunted Mansion FP but we didn’t need it as it was a walk on. Then we did Pirates, headed back to Fantasyland for Casey’s, across to ToonTown for Roger Rabbit, wandered through Minnie’s house, did the walkthrough of the Mickey meet and greet but turned around at the garden before the actual M&G, wandered around Toon Town a bit, saw Pluto and decided to head to GE for my Droid reservation (Mel was just an observer)
It was 10-06am.
On Christmas Day.
Wow. . . . .
So we headed to the Droid Depot, waited about 5-10 mins and built ourselves our very own BB-8 complete with Resistance personality chip and carry backpack. It’s a lot heavier than I expected, stands about 10” tall (say 25cm), looks to be good quality and should be hours of fun chasing the cat around the house. Also bought a clockwork R2-D2 which looks great and stands about 3” tall.
It was now 10-36am.
So we went to Jolly Holiday for a pastry and a drink (juice for me, Hot Chocolate for Mel) using Mobile Order and it was ready while we were still in New Orleans Square so hot footed it and had a little rest while watching the crowds in the hub get bigger but still nowhere what I expected. If there were more than 40000 people in the park, I’d be very surprised.
It’s Christmas Day, where is everyone.
No really, where are you?
Toontown, it’s about 9-15am
Well we found some people
OK, this is silly. Galaxy’s Edge at 10-36am after we built our droid.
I didn’t build that one, out of my price range :-(
We then ambled back to our 11-40am Blue Bayou lunch reservation and checked out the shops around the restaurant. Bought an enchanted rose hanging decoration for the Christmas tree next year and headed over to the restaurant.
We were seated in
Blue Bayou by 11-45am and both decided on the Surf and Turf which was delicious although Melisssa’s filet was a little dry. I also got a Louisiana
Lemonade with the glowy ice cube and Mel just had a Diet Coke. Great fun watching the boats go by and Mel’s phone took some great shots and video in the low light.
After a leisurely lunch, we ambled back to the hotel and rested up for a while as we had another World of Color and RSR FP. I also got a Toy Story FP for just after WoC (if it was on).
We napped at the hotel for a couple of hours and got some preliminary packing done then headed back to DCA for our RSR fastpass. We decided to travel light so just took our phones and camera. For dinner Mel got some Chowder from Pacific Wharf Cafe and I had some pot stickers from Fortune Cookie along with an IPA “beer”.
OMG what a foul concoction that was, dreamt up by someone who hates beer drinkers and Australians. It tasted like bath water that had been shown a picture of some hops once, strained through grandmas pot pourri and gassed with a soda stream machine. Haven’t had such a terrible beer since the pumpkin spiced ale I had in
Yosemite 14 years ago. Or my last Budweiser in 1991. I’ll stick with Sam Adams or
Corona (no fruit, you don’t put fruit in beer) while I’m here. That was my last of a few failed experiments with “something different” when it comes to beer in the USA.
At least the pot stickers were good
More crowded by now and as we got off RSR the crowds were beginning to gather for WoC. About 20 mins before the show started, the rain came in. Luckily I had my waterproof jacket on but Mel’s parka was not waterproof. After a few minutes, Mel left to seek refuge on Pixar Pier in one of the shops while I waited in the rain.
The show was great but I was soaked from the waist down but we did Toy Story anyway and wandered back to the hotel. Time for a shower to warm up, catch up on the cricket and get some sleep.
We were determined to have a more relaxing day tomorrow!
21756 steps, 17km (10.5 miles).
BTW, those are my steps, you can probably add about 20% to 25% for Mel as she is quite petite and has to do more steps than myself who is a tall strapping hulk of a man with a long stride, film star looks and a well adjusted sense of modesty.
Well. . . . . . . . .
I’m a 6 foot Aussie with glasses and a beer gut, but you know what I mean.