Chapter 54
Surprises, Introductions, and Reunions

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(Originally posted August 7, 2013)

After riding Peter Pan’s Flight, it was getting close to 11:00, when DCA would be closing. We knew we wanted to try hopping over just in case the line for Radiator Springs Racers was short enough that we could ride. Of course we had the option of doing the single rider line, but for the first time we experienced this new attraction—lauded by so many people as one of the best things Disney had produced in years—we wanted to ride together.

We arrived in Cars Land, and the posted wait was still over 100 minutes. We knew they tended to stack the line at the end of the night, but we couldn’t be sure by how much. Turning away, therefore, we sat down on a curb along the street to decide what to do.

Suddenly, a group of four people went streaming by us, walking at the brisk pace of Disney people on a mission. Without breaking her stride, the leader of the group turned to us and said, “Do you want to go again?”

We looked up long enough to see that she was pointing at Radiator Springs Racers and holding out a pass in her hand. Jumping up from our spots, we followed her little group—unsure exactly if we had understood the scenario correctly. I’m still not sure, but I think the pass the woman had was a return pass from the attraction breaking down earlier in the day, and she was able to admit 6 people. We were all waved past the Fastpass checker and into that queue, so we realized that we were actually going to get to ride tonight!

Since we were just trying to keep up (and the Fastpass line was almost non-existent), I wasn’t fully able to appreciate the whole queue area. One thing was certain, though. We were about to get onboard one of the cars and explore Radiator Springs.

We only got to briefly talk to our little group. The leader of the pack was a middle-aged woman who definitely seemed like a local. She was accompanied by a man who was slightly older than us and also obviously quite familiar with the parks. The other two were a mother and daughter who were visiting and on the last day of their trip. I honestly don’t think anyone in the group had known each other for more than a few hours at most, which made me really appreciate the culture of Disneyland. You can always feel free to make new friends if you are inclined to.

Before more than a few minutes had passed, we were officially at the front of the line.

We got into our corral, and before we knew it, we were riding away!

It’s hard for me to put into words exactly how our first time on this attraction felt. We had completely avoided watching any videos or even reading about what happens on the ride, so everything was a complete surprise. We loved the entire dark ride section. It has all the elements of a classic Disney dark ride but with AMAZING technology and a nice mix of storytelling and humor. After we were chased away by Frank, we got to the point where your car either goes to Luigi’s or Ramone’s. This time around, we were sent through Ramone’s and we enjoyed coasting through the mist to get our car “painted.” When we got up to the starting line of the race, the ride definitely changed gears. Suddenly, it was what I always imagine Test Track wanted to be. I was never that impressed with Test Track’s “high speeds” because it just felt like driving in a convertible on the highway. Radiator Spring Racers, however, gives you a mix of high speeds along with hairpin turns and sudden hills. I definitely had my stomach lurch a few times on this ride—which was exactly what I was hoping for! After zooming around the curves and through Ornament Valley, we unfortunately lost our first race. Still, it was a blast, and I absolutely loved every minute of the ride! I felt so glad that we had this amazing attraction in our backyard here at DCA, and it felt really special to have the whole of Cars Land only exist out here.

Unloading, we ran up to take a picture of our ride photo. You can see that we were having a grand time!

We started out back into Cars Land and noticed just how extra pretty the façade looked from up close.

Profusely thanking our generous benefactor, we started to make our way toward the DCA exit. This had really been the perfect way to end our day. I can’t imagine a better way to have gotten our first experience on the latest “E-Ticket” ride to come to the resort.

We made our way toward the trams and soon found ourselves comfortably home and in bed.

February 24, 2013

Waking up for our third day as passholders, we made our way to the parks after lunch again.

Unfortunately, this time we hit a snag. As we turned to go into Mickey and Friends, we found that it was closed. We were redirected, therefore, to the Toy Story Lot. I can say from having had the experience several times now that this is one of the worst ways to start a day at the parks. The “simple” redirection, which literally sends you about three blocks away, takes at least a half-hour extra when you factor in traffic, parking, and waiting for the bus. Not to mention, this afternoon, since Mickey and Friends had JUST closed, we arrived at Toy Story to see THRONGS of people waiting for the buses to the parks. I think we had to wait for at least another 15-20 minutes just to get on the bus.

Today, as it turned out was Dapper Day at Disneyland. We had realized it was going to be happening when we heard people talking about it the day before, and we were actually a little excited to see everyone all dressed up. What we were not prepared for, however, was how incredibly crowded this event was going to make the parks.

Arriving in the Esplanade, the lines into Disneyland snaked back well past the halfway mark.

We stood and waited, but I knew this wasn’t going to bode well for us.

Finally making it into the park, we walked down Main Street alongside the trolley horse who was pulling it down the street.

We broke off to the right and grabbed Fastpasses at Space Mountain. Since the attraction had been closed already on our first night, we still hadn’t ridden yet.

Next, we decided to test the now-defunct claim that the Fastpasses for Autopia weren’t connected to the rest of the system. This proved true when we were able to pull them within minutes after getting our Space Mountain Fastpasses. (Again, none of the rides are disconnected from the Fastpass system anymore, so don’t try this today).

Fastpasses in hand for a little later in the afternoon, we started toward Big Thunder Ranch. We were so excited to visit all of our friends at the Ranch, especially Pancho—our best donkey friend in the world.

When we first arrived, we noticed that they had one of the trolley horses in the pen where they had kept the donkeys on our last trip.

We went through the line to pet her and found out that this was Venus.

She was much more interested in trying to eat hay off the ground than she was in paying us any mind.

We decided to continue into the performance area behind Big Thunder Ranch because we saw some characters just milling around in there without anyone to greet them. We walked in, and there were the Country Bears!

First we met Terrence (who is apparently also known as Shaker).

Next up was Liver Lips McGrowl. When we walked up to meet him, we noticed that he had a crayon stuck in his mouth. Tracy tried to casually point this out to him and he nodded and shushed her. I guess he was saving it as a snack for later.

Finally, we met Big Al. The biggest of the bears, he was quite friendly.

It was truly amazing to us that there was absolutely NO ONE else here paying any mind to these characters. Once they were done with us, they just had to go back to goofing off with the cast members in the area (eventually a cast member saw the crayon and made Liver Lips hand it over, which made him sad). We have been back here so many times since this first time, and it’s always laid back and practically empty. Even now, when the Big Thunder Jamboree is performed on the stage, there are still characters casually milling about with almost no one paying them any mind. It was just one of those reminders that we DEFINITELY weren’t at WDW anymore.

Coming back out from the back area and into the Ranch, we exited and saw our best friend Pancho in the pen out by the walkway!

Unfortunately, you can’t pet the animals in this pen, so we were nervous that he had been banished into isolation. I actually asked a cast member if Pancho was always in jail or if he still got to come out and greet people, and she just told me it was his afternoon off. He had been out earlier in the day and needed a break. She also told us that Pocahontas was out to greet people along Big Thunder Trail by Frontierland. We bade farewell to Pancho, therefore, and went to go see her.

Pocahontas seemed to be enjoying all the attention over at this spot as we got in line to pet her.

While we were waiting, we actually got to hear her whole life story. We were unaware, but Pocahontas is actually Pancho’s MOTHER! She is a miniature donkey, and when she was younger she was a “show donkey.” After some time, however, the cast member told us that Pocahontas “wanted to start a family” so she retired and had Pancho. The two now live happily here at Disneyland. We loved learning more about our donkey friends, and Pocahontas was being very sweet.

The reunions over, we went back to resume our day at Disneyland, though we may have been better off if we had just stayed at the Ranch for the rest of the day…

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