I was with my girlfriend Jenn the other day at Disney California Adventure trying to get one last meet-up in before school starts, and we were saying how nice it would be to go back and ride all the “adult” rides without the kids. If you know me, you know that a big light bulb went off in my head to plan it. Moms need breaks too so we asked our other girlfriend, Kirstin (who also has an annual passport) to take a morning off for ourselves and have some fun.
The Big Plan:
- pick a morning when all the kids are in school or make arrangements for a few hours
- meet-up for coffee at 9:30am before the park opens at 10am
- leave park by noon (12pm)
- TOTAL time at park = 2.5 hours
Today was our lucky break. The hard part was deciding between Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park. As we were passing the check point, Kirstin noticed Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and Haunted Mansion were closed for maintenance so that made it easy to head over to Disney California Adventure. Don’t forget we have “adult” rides on our brains. What Do We Ride First?
10:00am
We’re walking and talking along the way. My girlfriends are super easy and I think I’m pretty flexible myself so the minute someone makes a suggestion, we just run with it. “I want to ride Radiator Springs Racers,” my girlfriend Jenn simply stated and off we went. I’m telling you – we’re that easy.
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Of course, I stopped for this photo opp. =)
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As we’re walking toward Cars Land, we pass up this extremely long FASTPASS line for Radiator Springs Racers (this ride just opened in June 2012 and is very popular). By now, we’re a little discouraged, but I was very optimistic, because they have a single rider line. Kirstin checks her mobile app and it says “single rider line closed.” With time ticking away, I encouraged them to check it out anyway (sometimes those apps rely on live people to submit wait times so it’s off by a few minutes).
We get there and find out the wait time for single rider line is 15 minutes – Oh heck yeah! (as we all jump in line enthusiastically). While we waited, Kirstin told us that once she waited in line for about 1.5 hours for this new ride only to get turned away at the front of the line because her 3 year old daughter was off by an inch – That sucks, but not today on our Mom’s Morning out at Disney!
| A view of the mini-canyon in Radiator Springs. |
Time flies by when it’s our turn to get on. We’re sitting in different cars, but we’re waving to each other smiling and the race is on! We are laughing as we get off the ride, because this ride is so freaking awesome – yes, the hype is all that and more.
Radiator Springs Racers Wait Time: about 20 minutes
Ride #2 – California Screamin’
10:50am
We head over to California Screamin’ and Kirstin remembers they have a single rider line, but we don’t see a sign, so we ask a staff member and he hands us single rider tickets. Note to self: always ask if they have a single rider line. We’re walking through a little maze and it takes us past a bunch of restless people – it takes us to the front of the line! I was impressed. (It felt like we’re getting the VIP treatment.)
This ride I have to tell you… it’s been years. I’m not as brave as I used to be. I was screaming my head off! The drops are a killer! The young kid next to me keeps screaming, “this ride is awesome!” I have a picture of me looking at him like he’s nuts. Screaming doesn’t help and I realize too late that it’s better to keep my eyes open.
California Screamin’ Wait time: 0 minute
Ride #3 – Tower of Terror
11:10am
We have less than an hour left so Jenn says, “Let’s go back to the Tower of Terror since Mary hasn’t been on it,” and off we go. I’m all shook up so I asked if there were a lot of drops and they just laughed. The wait time was 15 minutes so we didn’t even bother to ask about the single rider line.
| Me screaming my head off on the Tower of Terror. =) |
I see a bunch of small kids so I think to myself, “Hey if a bunch of kids aren’t scared, easy breezy.” OMG was I in for a surprise! The minute I thought I couldn’t handle another drop, the ride ends. I’m not sure if you can see me in the picture screaming while my girlfriends are laughing next to me.
I even stopped to tweet about it and DCAToday tweeted me back (see image). =) DCAToday is the official in-park Twitter feed for Disney California Adventure. They send you live updates (if you turn the notification on) and are very responsive if you have questions. All you have to do is tag them @DCAToday (it’s now @DisneylandToday) in your new tweet and they will often times comment back. I’ve tried this a few times already and love them.
Tower of Terror Wait Time: about 15 minutes
Do We Have Time For One More?
11:50am
It’s 10 minutes til noon as we’ve been saying we should all leave about noon to pick up our kids from school or the bus stop and I mentioned, “hey I’ve never been on Soarin’ Over California.” Kirstin asks, “Hey Jenn, don’t we have time for one more?” and off we went. I’m telling you these girls are so chill – Love them!
This ride had a clear sign for single rider and again we get passes to enter a special line. There was barely a 5 minute wait as they separated us into groups. We’re in different rows again but we’re still smiling and waving at each other. This ride is amazing and I want to go back already. We get to see different parts of beautiful California from a birds-eye view, and we feel like we’re actually gliding in the air.
Soarin’ Over California Wait Time: about 5 minutes
. I think that's pretty darn productive now that we know about the awesome <b>single rider lines</b>. If you’re not sure, just ask a staff member at the entrance of the line or you can also check this list from their <a href=)
website. Also, if you’re wondering if I made it back to the bus stop in time, I was there exactly at 12:30pm without a minute to spare.
Disclosure: I am an annual passholder. All opinions are my own. Not all rides have single-rider lines.