Originally Posted By dlport The continuing saga, well, continues... Day 3 of our trip was a Tuesday, and another early entry day to DL. We were a little more timely this day, and arrived at 8:15 (Early Entry is an hour before regular park opening.) My daughter (3.5) wanted to spend the morning with her grandparents (early 60s), so they took her to ride Autopia, Alice, and some others. My wife and I queued up for Nemo, for the first time. The line was already 45 minutes, although it lasted closer to 30. Overall, I thought the new Subs were pretty good, but not fantastic. The scenes with the video/water projections were great. But there were just too many spots in near darkness with nothing happening, it had poor "flow" in my opinion. And let me ask a question, I though the rumor was that there would be multiple anglerfish mounted on Kuka arms? I just saw some static anglerfish lit by strobes. I would probably equate Nemo with Peter Pan, in that it is far better than a standard dark ride, and has a far more interesting ride system than standard attractions. But would I wait any more than 15-25 minutes to ride it? Not really. We found my daughter with her grandparents still on Autopia (2x). So my wife and I took a spin on Space Mountain. I had heard the new soundtrack previously, but I must say, as much as I LOVED the old Dick Dale track, I really enjoy the Incredibles-esque current version. We met up with the rest of the family afterwards, and while my wife and daughter shopped in Tomorrowland, I took my mom for a spin on Buzz. I am ashamed to admit my 60 year old mother had a higher score! Sad. My dad was not feeling 100%, so he went back to the room to take a break. My mom, wife, and daughter and I hit Small World. My daughter liked it, but was a little bored by the end (the attention span of a 3 year old!) Into Toontown, which had now opened (10am, an hour past regular park opening.) And who should we find? Pluto at one side, Goody in front of the fire station, and Minnie nearby! We were able to get pics with Minnie and Goof before the characters went on their break. Then to Mickey's house. And surprise! He was not greeting folks in the movie barn, but literally in the house itself! My daugher loves the Mouse, so a quick hug and pic, and she was in heaven! I decided to take a chance and see if she would like CarToon Spin. On one hand, it is a little "dark" in tone, but on the other hand you can spin, which she loves. My wife headed to check out the Princess Fair to scout the line, and my daughter and I braved Roger. She loved it at first, when towards the end, with the weasels and foreboding voices, she was a little leery. Then to the Line that Will Not End: Princess meet and greet at the Fantasy Faire. For those that do not know, the big theater in Dl is now home to a couple of different Priness-related activities. The stage itself hosts a Princess show, and they come out one by one to enormous applause, and there is a little show the ensues. On one side of the upper section is a crafts area (paper crowns, coloring, stickers, coloring-pages), the other has sort of a Princess makeover area ($$), and in the center of the upper area is a Princess meet & greet. The area processes like the Pooh area I disussed in an earlier report. You stand in one line, and are eventually let into an area with 3 princesses (they rotate constantly.) You then wait briefly for your turn with each, and there is a Photopass photog there to take a pic, and also use your camera. The problem is that the line for this is SLOW. We waited close to an hour. The other problem is that you cannot see the Princesses until you get into the photo area. While this is nice because it lessens disappointment, it is also hard to judge if it is worth standing in line. For our visit, we found Belle first (nice), but then was Prince Phillip. A dude? Come on now. My daughter was not thrilled, although the CM was great. Most of the little girls at the meet & greet skipped the poor guy. The last was Cinderella, my daughter's favorite. If you have a little girl, it is worth braving the line. We headed out, out of DL after this, probably around 1pm. We had a stroller, so we had a choice, either leave the stroller at the security checkpoint at Downtown Disney (you can take the strollers between parks, but not past the checkpoints) when walked to our room, or just cross to DCA, and enter the GCH that way. I actually think it was less walking to just exit DL and enter DCA, and walk to the in-park entrance to the GCH. On the way, we did two things. While I waited in line and got us lunch at Taste Pilot's Grill, my wife and daughter went to meet Mater and Lighting next to the Fly & Buy shop. When we went to DL last year, Lighting and Mater did a small little show (they drove up with music playing) out in the Pier. Now they are parked next to the Fly & Buy in a covered area, in Condor Flats. Their engines still rumble, and their eyes still move, which is cool. A CM was always with them to keep people off of them, and it is a great photo op. Lunch was solid, and although the like looked bad, good CM's at Taste Pilot's Grill kept it moving. And with that, we headed to our room for a nap. Around 3:30 we headed back to DCA, after our rest. My wife and mom took my daughter to EngineEars Toys to pick out Mr. PotatoHead pieces. That is THE stop for Disney Potatohead stuff. Meanwhile I took another spin on TOT. We walked through Hollywood again, catching Sulley for pictures. My daugher loves Sulley, he is a giant blue ball of fur! We were forced to ride everything twice in Flik's Fun Fair again, although I do really like that area. Around 5:30 we handed our daughter off to her grandparents, which she enjoyed anyway, and my wife and I wandered off on our own. Out of DCA, over to DL, and rides on Indy, POTC, HM, and we also caught the Castle lighting show again. I have to say that Indy looks better than it had in years. The sound worked consistently and well in the jeep, the gates were working, the lighting was good, even the rat room was working. Nice to see it back to top condition again. Pirates looked fantastic, although the Davey Jones mist-screen was not working. HM looked great too. After riding the big 3, we headed out of DL, and had a nice dinner at Ralph Brennan's. They have an outdoor eating section, with heaters built into the iron ceiling structure. Dinner was around $50 total, which is not bad for the Resort, and steak and seafood. We considered heading back to DL for the fireworks, but we did not have the energy, and we wanted to make sure my mom was able to get our daughter to sleep, so thus ended our 3rd day at the Resort as we went back to our room.
Originally Posted By MouseBear Salutations dlport, I fully agree with your assessment of Nemo. We went the week it opened and waited more than TWO hours to ride. I would never wait more than thirty minutes to ride it again. I also think Flik's Fun Fair is well themed. Our kids were still young enough to enjoy it, a little, when it first opened, but the rides were always too tame for them. Thanks for the reports, MouseBear
