mini TR - GCH 7/11-15 by a wdw veteran

[lynetteSC]

We purchased a DVC on our last trip to WDW in December and ended up having "developer points" to use since our home resort is not open yet!

As frequent WDW guests, we decided to use these points to go to DL ... none of us had been and were itching to see the Original Magic Kingdom where Walt walked!

Booked our stay in January at GCH in standard room for 4nts.
It is myself,dh,and ds who is 5. DS has flown, but it has been awhile so I was kind of worried about long flight and time change,but he did better than us actually!

After a long flight from Charlotte, NC, we grabbed our luggage and waited outside for just a few minutes until our prearranged SUPER SHUTTLE van arrived! Our driver was GREAT ...fast and efficient! No problems here!

Arrived at GCH and our room was not ready,so we dropped all luggage and went to California Adventure. WOW - the convenience of walking to the back gate through the resort was AWESOME!!! Not something we are use to as WDW vets unless we stay at Boardwalk area resorts!

After lunch and WALKING on a few rides, ds was BEGGING to go back to our resort to get his stroller and take a nap ...my first questions wre who are you and what have you done to my child??? He HATES his stroller and it seems like decades since he napped!

Got back to the hotel around 2:30 and went to see if our room was ready ...it was ...bell services beat us there b/c we went to the wrong set of elevators. They are FAST!

Nice room comparable to the deluxe resorts at WDW.

DS took a nap and we got unpacked.

Supper that nite at CA quick counter service and then caught the Electric LIght Parade. NO CROWDS at all....walked onto almost everything except Soarin and water/rapids ride. Ds LOVED Bug Life area! Even toy Story was not a long wait!

Sunday - got a later start than we wanted and ended up at DL around 8am .... ran to Nemo which had a 10 min wait! YAY SCORE!!! Did Nemo,Buzz, All of Toon Town, Most of Frontier Land and Bill Hilly(??spelling?) show allby 12:30! We were amazed by the lack of people! Did a few more rides and then back to hotel to nap again at ds rqst! GOTTA LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

Dinner at Rain Forest ...not planned,but not a long wait! It was great atmosphere,but $$$ in our opinion! Back to DL to ride Autopia and few things in Fantasy Land ... got to end of Main St just in time to get a great place for the fireworks! WOW! GREAT SHOW!!!

Scored and got to ride in front of the monorail! DS and dh loved this!!!!

Monday - up late! Back to CA to do Soarin,Turtle Talk with Crush and Rapids ...lunch at Pizza Place in CA. Again,no lines for these things! We were really expecting longer lines!

Back to hotel but no nap ...hit the pool when we discovered nap would not happen! Took ds to Pinocchio's Workshop at 5 and dh and I headed to Steakhouse 55 ...wow,YUMMMMM and much tastier and only $30 more than Rainforest! Our food was DEVINE and waiter brought us a wonderful free desert for our 15th anniversary! Ds LOVED Pinocchio's and asked to go back the next day!

Headed to DL rode few rides in Fantasy Land and then went to Rivers of America about 25 mins to spare ...I was worried we wouldn't get a good space, BUT THANKS TO YOU DIS'ERS we lucked up and found the secret speakers that lift up right before! We got GREAT area to stand in!
DH was impressed! He was telling me how the speakers would block his view, I said just trust me! (All the while saying a secret prayer!LOL!)

Tuesday - late start and headed to DL to finish rides in Fantasy Land(Circus train/storybook canals/mr toad)..walked on to all of these.It seemed to us that Monday and Tuesday were more crowded than the weekend!

lunch at Blue Bayou ....YUM... back to hotel to pack and veg by pool.
Dinner at Whitewater Snacks in our hotel then walked to CA to do a few things again then watched parade ....back to room to finish packing and get ready for a flight home!

OH My gosh --- so forgot that ds got picked for the Jedi training! I will try to post pics! that was AWESOME and so not expected!!!

Wed ..up and packed waiting outside about 15 mins early. As we were walking out,the Super Shuttle driver called and said he was early! We hopped on the van and picked up a few more people and headed to the arpt!
On the way to LAX,I asked ds which he liked better ...DL or WDW? His answer: I like them both! SMART KID!!!

Few things we did notice ....

-we are so used to dining plan, we had not really paid attention to how high the food really was! so,we wish they had a dining plan at DL!

-crowds much lower than we anticipated!

-all cast members were great! LOVE the "Welcome Home" you get as a DVC member and the 10% discount really adds up on the food prices!

-LOVE the closeness of all the parks/resorts!

Thanks for letting me share!!!

[basketballmom]

I'm glad you had a great trip! Don't you love how easy every thing is to get to at the Disneyland Resort?

[Hound 109]

Am glad you had a good time at Walt's Park.

Please post the pics of your little Padewan if you are able. (Who was his victim.....Vader or Maul?)

[Hawleys]

Ditto on the Hound's request for pictures of the Jedi Training Academy. This show is one of the coolest things for kids to participate in.

[AStamm]

Sounds like a fantastic trip--very similar to what we experienced on our 1st DL trip in June 2006.

We're using some of our BLT pts. from this year to stay at DLH next month and are really looking forward to the trip and many more to come...two months after buying at BLT we bit the bullet and got points at VGC as well, planning on a DL vacation every other year.

[tjl1388]

10% off dining with DVC? Is this everwhere at DL or just because you stayed onsite.

We are staying off site but are DVC'ers so wonder if I somehow missed that. We are doing some serious dining, BB, 33, Jazz, and Napa. 10% would add up in a BIG way.

[PrincessDeb]

Thanks for posting the trip report! We're planning on going next July and I was a little worried about the crowds. We were in DL the week before Thanksgiving last year and that Friday was VERY crowded, especially since it was the weekend that It's a Small World opened with the holiday overlay.