nunzia
You can't top pigs with pigs, but you CAN top Toys
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2007
OK, so we went May 14-17.
Here's a quickie report
AMTRAK was great. Albuquerque to Fullerton...on tim, all well. Because of the size of our group (5 kids 5 adults) we needed a van and a cab to get the the resort. Pretty short ride and I saw the mall where the Character Warehouse is..next time maybe I'll make it there.
Checked in at DGC about 7:30 am (alot of new CMs), hit Whitewater then made DL pretty soon after opening. Low crowds, nice weather. Walked on pretty much everything. Autopia was a must and Buzz, plus the rocketships (the kids loved this ride..I don't know why) part of the group was getting hot and overly tired about 1:00 pm (long train ride, little kids)Called the hotel and their room was ready so off they went and the rest of us rode more rides very quickly (Pirates, Mansion and I dunno what else). Our other rooms were then ready so we all went and checked in and had some quiet time, then some pool time.
Dinner was rolling around and I thought the french dip at Whitewater would be great, but my grown kids wanted to try something else so we trudged around DTD forever with no one wanting to make a decision ( I got this trip for the kids and grandkids as a gift, so I was pretty much keeping my mouth shut). We ended up at Tortilla Joes, then...nooo...not a perfect place to sit, so off we go again and ended up at la Brea. OK..the Tomato Basil soup was good. Back to the park, caught the tail end of the parade. Wandered around then had ice cream as the park closed. Nice
Day 2: Early Entry::Magic Morning::Whatever. My crew is a bit slow..my son and his family have one speed and it is saunter. So we are dashing and then waiting up. We finally get through the gates at 8:15 and head for Nemo. I know what to expect, but keep my mouth shut. The Nemo line is ONE HOUR just from EE folks..nope. So we do other stuff (Star Tours, Fantasyland stuff) and then at park opening end up at Jungle Cruise (walk on) and Indy.
The configuration of our group was odd. We have all 5 grandkids with us (7, 5, 3, 2 and 1) Except for familiar things like Indy, Pirates and Star Tours (from TVs and movies) the oldest, who has Asperger's, is hesitant about riding and is sometimes forced and likes it or just sits out. The 5 year old will do everything but is too small for some stuff, and the other three are too small for alot. Adults in the group are me, DH, DD (22) DS (27) and DDIL (27) DDIL is not very excited about thrill rides, so alot of the time the group is split while someone rides something, but others not wanting to do other stuff during that time, so there's alot of waiting around and smoke breaks (for DS and DDIL). Anyway, this slowed down our riding time by quite alot. So,..for example: at Indy this is how it went: DS, DDIL and DGS (7) ride Indy. DH and DGS (5) go shoot guns in Frintierland, DD takes DGD (3) and DGD (2) to the tree house while I sit with DDG (18 months) in her stroller and try to keep her from freaking out because her Mom isn't in sight.
We go to Tom Sawyers Island..err..Pirates Lair.. and have a great time there..however we are split up because the one family group was having a cigarette and we weren't waiting AGAIN. The CM who plays Jack Sparrow is great! He bends down and says to DGD (2) "Hello Luv" and DGS (5) informs him that this is not Elizabeth it is his sister, then goes on to tell him he's seen all his movies. Jack takes their churro and asks if it's pixie dust and shakes suger all over them.. DGS gets a bloody lip at the water pump thing and hits his head in a cave, but still a fun time. We finally catch up with the rest of the family and do a bunch of PhotoPass pictures (with the same guy, different family configurations for a different time), and he thinks we are a cool family and so tells a dreamer guy about us, and a dreamer guy talks to us, but then we find out whatever he had planned was only for 4, and we have 10 so we were out. Almost got dreamed, but not quite.
We had 3:00 PS at BB so off we go, get seated fairly quickly and have a great server. We get done and ride Mansion again, and I'm feeling queasy (had been kinda off but the Monte Cristo and Key Lime pie must have put me over the top.. My daughter and son got varying degrees of this in the next couple days) Anyway I go back to the hotel (I love staying on site) and the famiy stays until close and rides stuff and watches the parade, which the kids loved ('Peter Pan looked at ME!')
Day Three: This morning is our Ariel's Grotto Princess breakfast but I'm still sick so they go without me and they all loved it. My daughter said there really wasn't enough food, but I dunno because I wasn't there. The princesses were all very good and multiple pictures were allowed. We had brought a cut out picture of our son who had to cancel at the last minute (we gave him mouse ears and a Mickey Mouse shirt) and stuck him on a popsicle stick and all the princesses held up 'flat Johnny" for a picture. They were great.
This is the first of the HTH (hotter than youinsertthelastword day) and I join the family about noon in DCA. That place needs more shade. They are all soaking wet in Bugs Playland and all the adults are just following the mister around. I bring a shoe mitt from the hotel (who really uses shoe mitts anymore) and keep getting it wet and cooling us off with it after we leave the Bugs land. We head to coolness and do Monsters and Crush and Animation building and Playhouse Disney (the new show is cute, just right for a crew our age, but they really should raise the stage. The characters are small and the kids had a very hard time seeing.) We never made it to Aladdin..darn. After we all finished wilting we ended up back at the hotel and swimming with plans to go back to evening stuff. I ended up just staying at the hotel with a melting down two year old and everyone else did more stuff. Right before Fantasmic, DD and DH and DGS (5) came back to the hotel too becasue 5 year old just couldn't keep the patience up to wait for one more thing. The other family (the saunterers) stayed for Fantasmic and the Fireworks. and were pretty well amazed. DDIL had never been to Disney and I think we have a convert! She is already talking about how she can save to bring the kids again. Anyway..we hear a huge boom and hustle to the balcony and have a fairly decent view of the fireworks. Some were blocked by trees (standard room, rather icky view..just pine trees) room 3319. DGS is recovered from his mood and we stand on the balcony and ooh and ahhh.
Day four: last day..bummer..still HTH. We take it easy since we have to check out by 11:00 and can't leave for the train until 5:00..no hotel!!! So take our time getting our stuff together and getting the baggage to bell captain. I had a credit on my bill (I had paid for a park hopper the son who could not go. I had paid in advance with bank check, and called a few days before to cancel the one park hopper, so I had a credit on the bill. Another new CM was trying to deal with this, then her trainer also couldn't figure it out and they had to go into the back several times, then tried to put it back on a credit card, but no, I paid with a check and they couldn't give cash back, sooo..it will be mailed to me? I hope? Anyway, this took some time and they had never seen this before (???)
We finally do some park stuff in the heat, HUGE crowds, the kind I hate where you can barely make forward motion and no one wants to leave so are a little sad and have that rushing trytopackmorein feeling. (however the sauntereres still seem to be sauntering). We eat at River Belle Terrace (REAL turkey..very good) slog back to the hotel, get our huge mass of luggage, bags, car seats etc to the curb and off we go back to the train station (where we are the cautious type so go to early 'just in case' but there is no 'case' so we sit too long with 5 wound up kids waiting for the train which is thankfully early and we are headed for home.
BTW..DVC members..10% off almost everywhere, and all CMs knew about it and didn't blink. That 10% came in handy at the meals we paid for...BB, Ariels and Riverbelle Terrace.
Housekeeping: Terrific. Spotless rooms, turn down service, very well done this time. I had even put up a don't disturb the morning I felt bad, then put out the clean the room sign when I left and it was all done just right. Just as an aside...the day we checked in, we're on the balcony and I notice the very wide rail is dusty (we were at the edge of a part of a roof, so the railing was at least 8 inckes wide). I don't care about this, but the next day notice it's been wiped clean. Great attention to the detail.
A great time and can't wait until our ABD Backstage Magic in January and to take grandkids back hopefully soon.
As my DGS (5) summed up "I don't want to leave Disneyland...it's too beautiful".
Here's a quickie report
AMTRAK was great. Albuquerque to Fullerton...on tim, all well. Because of the size of our group (5 kids 5 adults) we needed a van and a cab to get the the resort. Pretty short ride and I saw the mall where the Character Warehouse is..next time maybe I'll make it there.
Checked in at DGC about 7:30 am (alot of new CMs), hit Whitewater then made DL pretty soon after opening. Low crowds, nice weather. Walked on pretty much everything. Autopia was a must and Buzz, plus the rocketships (the kids loved this ride..I don't know why) part of the group was getting hot and overly tired about 1:00 pm (long train ride, little kids)Called the hotel and their room was ready so off they went and the rest of us rode more rides very quickly (Pirates, Mansion and I dunno what else). Our other rooms were then ready so we all went and checked in and had some quiet time, then some pool time.
Dinner was rolling around and I thought the french dip at Whitewater would be great, but my grown kids wanted to try something else so we trudged around DTD forever with no one wanting to make a decision ( I got this trip for the kids and grandkids as a gift, so I was pretty much keeping my mouth shut). We ended up at Tortilla Joes, then...nooo...not a perfect place to sit, so off we go again and ended up at la Brea. OK..the Tomato Basil soup was good. Back to the park, caught the tail end of the parade. Wandered around then had ice cream as the park closed. Nice
Day 2: Early Entry::Magic Morning::Whatever. My crew is a bit slow..my son and his family have one speed and it is saunter. So we are dashing and then waiting up. We finally get through the gates at 8:15 and head for Nemo. I know what to expect, but keep my mouth shut. The Nemo line is ONE HOUR just from EE folks..nope. So we do other stuff (Star Tours, Fantasyland stuff) and then at park opening end up at Jungle Cruise (walk on) and Indy.
The configuration of our group was odd. We have all 5 grandkids with us (7, 5, 3, 2 and 1) Except for familiar things like Indy, Pirates and Star Tours (from TVs and movies) the oldest, who has Asperger's, is hesitant about riding and is sometimes forced and likes it or just sits out. The 5 year old will do everything but is too small for some stuff, and the other three are too small for alot. Adults in the group are me, DH, DD (22) DS (27) and DDIL (27) DDIL is not very excited about thrill rides, so alot of the time the group is split while someone rides something, but others not wanting to do other stuff during that time, so there's alot of waiting around and smoke breaks (for DS and DDIL). Anyway, this slowed down our riding time by quite alot. So,..for example: at Indy this is how it went: DS, DDIL and DGS (7) ride Indy. DH and DGS (5) go shoot guns in Frintierland, DD takes DGD (3) and DGD (2) to the tree house while I sit with DDG (18 months) in her stroller and try to keep her from freaking out because her Mom isn't in sight.
We go to Tom Sawyers Island..err..Pirates Lair.. and have a great time there..however we are split up because the one family group was having a cigarette and we weren't waiting AGAIN. The CM who plays Jack Sparrow is great! He bends down and says to DGD (2) "Hello Luv" and DGS (5) informs him that this is not Elizabeth it is his sister, then goes on to tell him he's seen all his movies. Jack takes their churro and asks if it's pixie dust and shakes suger all over them.. DGS gets a bloody lip at the water pump thing and hits his head in a cave, but still a fun time. We finally catch up with the rest of the family and do a bunch of PhotoPass pictures (with the same guy, different family configurations for a different time), and he thinks we are a cool family and so tells a dreamer guy about us, and a dreamer guy talks to us, but then we find out whatever he had planned was only for 4, and we have 10 so we were out. Almost got dreamed, but not quite.
We had 3:00 PS at BB so off we go, get seated fairly quickly and have a great server. We get done and ride Mansion again, and I'm feeling queasy (had been kinda off but the Monte Cristo and Key Lime pie must have put me over the top.. My daughter and son got varying degrees of this in the next couple days) Anyway I go back to the hotel (I love staying on site) and the famiy stays until close and rides stuff and watches the parade, which the kids loved ('Peter Pan looked at ME!')
Day Three: This morning is our Ariel's Grotto Princess breakfast but I'm still sick so they go without me and they all loved it. My daughter said there really wasn't enough food, but I dunno because I wasn't there. The princesses were all very good and multiple pictures were allowed. We had brought a cut out picture of our son who had to cancel at the last minute (we gave him mouse ears and a Mickey Mouse shirt) and stuck him on a popsicle stick and all the princesses held up 'flat Johnny" for a picture. They were great.
This is the first of the HTH (hotter than youinsertthelastword day) and I join the family about noon in DCA. That place needs more shade. They are all soaking wet in Bugs Playland and all the adults are just following the mister around. I bring a shoe mitt from the hotel (who really uses shoe mitts anymore) and keep getting it wet and cooling us off with it after we leave the Bugs land. We head to coolness and do Monsters and Crush and Animation building and Playhouse Disney (the new show is cute, just right for a crew our age, but they really should raise the stage. The characters are small and the kids had a very hard time seeing.) We never made it to Aladdin..darn. After we all finished wilting we ended up back at the hotel and swimming with plans to go back to evening stuff. I ended up just staying at the hotel with a melting down two year old and everyone else did more stuff. Right before Fantasmic, DD and DH and DGS (5) came back to the hotel too becasue 5 year old just couldn't keep the patience up to wait for one more thing. The other family (the saunterers) stayed for Fantasmic and the Fireworks. and were pretty well amazed. DDIL had never been to Disney and I think we have a convert! She is already talking about how she can save to bring the kids again. Anyway..we hear a huge boom and hustle to the balcony and have a fairly decent view of the fireworks. Some were blocked by trees (standard room, rather icky view..just pine trees) room 3319. DGS is recovered from his mood and we stand on the balcony and ooh and ahhh.
Day four: last day..bummer..still HTH. We take it easy since we have to check out by 11:00 and can't leave for the train until 5:00..no hotel!!! So take our time getting our stuff together and getting the baggage to bell captain. I had a credit on my bill (I had paid for a park hopper the son who could not go. I had paid in advance with bank check, and called a few days before to cancel the one park hopper, so I had a credit on the bill. Another new CM was trying to deal with this, then her trainer also couldn't figure it out and they had to go into the back several times, then tried to put it back on a credit card, but no, I paid with a check and they couldn't give cash back, sooo..it will be mailed to me? I hope? Anyway, this took some time and they had never seen this before (???)
We finally do some park stuff in the heat, HUGE crowds, the kind I hate where you can barely make forward motion and no one wants to leave so are a little sad and have that rushing trytopackmorein feeling. (however the sauntereres still seem to be sauntering). We eat at River Belle Terrace (REAL turkey..very good) slog back to the hotel, get our huge mass of luggage, bags, car seats etc to the curb and off we go back to the train station (where we are the cautious type so go to early 'just in case' but there is no 'case' so we sit too long with 5 wound up kids waiting for the train which is thankfully early and we are headed for home.
BTW..DVC members..10% off almost everywhere, and all CMs knew about it and didn't blink. That 10% came in handy at the meals we paid for...BB, Ariels and Riverbelle Terrace.
Housekeeping: Terrific. Spotless rooms, turn down service, very well done this time. I had even put up a don't disturb the morning I felt bad, then put out the clean the room sign when I left and it was all done just right. Just as an aside...the day we checked in, we're on the balcony and I notice the very wide rail is dusty (we were at the edge of a part of a roof, so the railing was at least 8 inckes wide). I don't care about this, but the next day notice it's been wiped clean. Great attention to the detail.
A great time and can't wait until our ABD Backstage Magic in January and to take grandkids back hopefully soon.
As my DGS (5) summed up "I don't want to leave Disneyland...it's too beautiful".
.................. To bad you didn't get to go on more rides, but hey 
