“This place better not burn down before I get my entrée!" – A DLR Feb16 TR (8/25 Wrap-up & new TR)

[skier_pete]

So if visit in the Sept-Dec timeframe.. I'd say the Haunted Mansion overlay of Nightmare Before Christmas is my favorite- but outside of that timeframe- Alice wins for me. I LOVE the Alice ride. I have always been a huge fan of the Alice story lines (relating back to my father who used to read them to me)...and I think the ride is well done. I wish we could get it in WDW.

Would love to see the NBC overlay @ HM but I don't foresee us getting out there in the fall anytime soon. I like the Alice ride a lot, I kind of wish they would do something more with the outdoor section towards the end, it sort grinds the ride to a halt temporarily. Can't say it's my favorite out there. (That has to be Radiator Springs Racers.) However I don't want them to import anything from DLR to WDW. I would like to see MORE differences between the two coasts - not less. To me the only disappointment about Star Wars lands is that they are supposedly going to be the same. I get wanting to build the same rides, but they really should make them somewhat difference, i.e. set them on different planets. I know they don't get a ton of overlap with travelers, but why not do things to encourage people to visit both coasts.

I never got to experience the subs in WDW so I would like to experience them in DLR.

It boggles my mind that they won't update the WDW Buzz and at least put in the guns that you can take off the vehicle.

I have heard the POTC in DL is better. I need to get to DL one of these days.

Considering they closed it before you were born is probably a good reason. Most of my childhood trips were in the 70s, and honestly the Subs is one of the few things I DO remember. The lagoon that was the ride was there for a long time after the 1994 closure, I remember it still being there in 1997 and 2000. As I said in my post, I remember as a small child thinking this ride was the coolest thing ever, but as an adult seeing it, it's not nearly as impressive by 2015 standards. I still would think little kids would LOVE it, which DD did when she was 9. Less impressed at 12.

The removable guns at Buzz in DL are nice I guess, but I don't find it much more helpful in terms of hitting targets and wouldn't say it really makes the ride better, though I know some disagree. Once TSMM came along, it sort of downgraded this ride a bit, but I still think it is fun to ride once or twice.

POTC is waayyy better in DLR, probably this and Space Mountain are the two rides that are clearly superior in California. POTC its mainly just a lot longer ride - and also feels much more spacious than the Florida one.

 

[skier_pete]

It was about 1130 AM and my mom was wearing out. I had wanted to be over in California Adventure by 11 AM to get our World of Color Fastpasses anyways, so we decided to head over to the other park. Disneyland was REALLY crowded today, and we were glad to leave the park. DCA was much less crowded.

We stopped at Clarabelle’s to get a soda and get a hand-dipped ice cream bar. These are really good, but I forgot to get a picture – follow this link on the food blog.
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2015/...ped-ice-cream-in-disney-california-adventure/

DW and I split a “whole herd” as seen in that post. It was kind of weird, because the blue raspberry bursts are actually POP rocks, so as you ate, you got that fizzing in your mouth. Really good ice cream though!

Once done with that, we decided to head to the hotel to check in. It was only around noontime, so we figured the room wouldn’t be ready, but it would be worth checking in. The rest of the family chilled in the lobby – which I for some reason neglected to take pictures of – and I waited to check-in. Other than a 10 minute wait to get through this, the check-in went smooth, but the room was not yet ready. We decided to go out into the park to get some lunch now that everyone had a bit of a rest. I suggested we eat at Flo’s Diner. It was a bit of a walk but not too bad. Plus we got to check out Carsland. We had made my mom was “Cars” with us before we left, so that she could understand why it was so amazing. I don’t really know that it actually impressed her, but it certainly impresses me every time!





Lunch at Flo’s!


There wasn’t a ton of seating. DD insisted that she didn’t want to eat anything after her ice cream. DW and I both got a Roast Beef sandwich with a side of pasta salad. DM got Chicken Salad with Cranberries. All were very tasty in our opinions.

We sat in the Doc Hudson’s service station wing. I love the details of carsland.


If you were a fan of the first movie, this little detail was really cool. Here’s Doc Hudson’s THREE piston cups! (Hear it in your head as Owen Wilson/Lightnin' McQueen: "You have THREE Piston Cups?")

While we were sitting down to eat we got a text – our room was available – YAY! So, I told everyone that I would go and get the car, and I would meet them back in the room with our bags.

This was easier said than done. Of course I had to walk out of the park and back over to the Tropicana. Then I had to drive around the parks over to the entrance to the Grand Californian. Since all the bags were in the car and I was by myself, I couldn’t just have them send the bags to the room apparently, so I had to bell service check all the bags, THEN go park the car, THEN get the bags out of bell services, and THEN go up to the room where they would bring my bags. Whew! It really is a beautiful hotel, though!




For those that didn’t follow my PTR, we went through a TON of iterations of the room, and in the end I was finally able to get the room I wanted, which was a 1-bedroom for THREE nights. This was a fairly expensive get for us as it cost 93 points in DVC terms. To give you an idea, we own 160 points each year. Our trip last August/September cost us 168 points, with 6 nights at the Beach Club and 4 nights at the Poly in studios. And this 93 points for 3 nights was low season, mind you, so not cheap. But still, at a cost per point of roughly $8, it’s still only $250 a night. I looked it up, a rack rate 1-bedroom studio at the GC goes for about $1,200 a night, so still a bargain.

I actually took quite a few pictures of the room at different times, but I’ll share most of them right now.
So this is the entrance to the room (on the left) with a view of the kitchen and dining table, as well as a peak at the 1st full bathroom forward right.


A better view of the kitchen:


The stove

The Table again:

DD electronics perch.

The TV and the fold-down bed where DD spent her time not perched on the stool.

Opposite the TV, the rest of the living room. The sofa bed also folds out to a bed, and this is where DM slept. It was very comfortable according to her.

That first (smaller) bathroom:

The shower and sink in the 2nd (main) bathroom. Massive Shower, really.

The view from the bathroom through to the main bedroom. Notice there is also a full-on tub here. (This is very common in DVC 1-bedrooms, though the TWO full bathrooms is not.)

The bed in the main bedroom – also shows a view out to the balcony:

The desk and TV in the main bedroom:

The balcony was relatively small, and it looked directly out on the trees that form the back of the Redwood Creek Forest Challenge. We were literally within spitting distance of the park interior, though of course you couldn’t actually get IN to the park this way. Looking to our left you could see the Paradise Pier area.

To our right you got a pretty good view of the pool. It actually wasn’t direct, which was probably good. I didn’t get any real good shots of the pool area on this trip, but we didn’t really go down there. DD refused to go to the pool at any point, and DW and I just went down once, and another time I went down to the hot tub myself. It’s a very oddly set up pool area in that there are 3 relatively small pools. In the evening they would close two of the pools and only leave one open. It was certainly warm enough this day for the pool though.

So what happened next was a bit of a mess. We had planned on going out to get groceries since we would be eating breakfasts and the occasional snacks / drinks in our room. I had even scoped out where the nearest grocery store was. I had planned to run out and get the stuff, and then have a little time to relax before we wanted to go out into the park. I really wanted to be out there to see them light up Carsland.

Well, when talking to Bell Services, they mentioned grocery delivery – so we started a debate about whether to get groceries here at the resort, delivery or go out. We ended up walking down to the place where they sold the “groceries” (not really) but the selection and pricing was terrible. So then we tried calling the two different places for delivery, and I kept switching between the two choices, because I was getting the runaround on the phone. Finally I spent like 20 minutes talking to Von’s when they said “Oh, you can’t get anything delivered today.” UGH. So, we wasted like an hour that I could’ve already been back and relaxing, so I stormed off super duper pissed off – not at my family, but at myself for wasting all that time. So I drove to the grocery store, spent about 20 minutes there picking stuff up, and was back within another hour. Of course at THIS point it was now like 5 PM, so I left myself ZERO time to just lay back and relax.

And meanwhile, my wife was having an adventure of her own. She didn’t tell me about it until the next day, because she saw how worked up I was about the groceries. Apparently she was putting stuff away in the room, and she was shaking out one of the empty bags on the balcony, when a knife that she carries flipped out of what she thought was the empty bag and landed out on the roof of the hotel that sticks out below our balcony. It was too far out to reach, so she called down to maintenance. Apparently they had some sort of grabber tool and were able to get the knife off of the roof. Lucky if had hung up, or might have plunged down onto some unsuspecting tourist on a lower floor. (It was in a sheath, so not as dangerous as it first appears.)

I can’t remember for sure, but I think this is when DW and I decided to go for a quick dip in the pool. Today was a warmest day by far, and I somehow think the timing made it such that we did this today.

Next update - evening in the park - and some meltdowns.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thanks for sharing the WB set tour. It looked like a lot of neat stuff, but might also have been because you posted the interesting pictures. I would definitely get a kick out of turning on the Bat signal and sitting on the couch in Central Perk and sitting at the forced perspective LotR table!

Definitely can't beat $99 a night at the Tropicana ... I'd love to stay at the DL Hotel someday but with the prices vs. the price at the "offsite" hotels it is hard to justify

The security lines and getting into the parks really are a bit intimidating at DLR ... as is that line for Peter Pan! Seems like you all were very productive though! If you read the book Wind in the Willows the Mr. Toad ride makes a bit more sense ... I can tell you my kids were all kinds of confused after riding it!

Really bummed we never made it on Alice ... ride was either down or with a huge line (45min+ ... likely from it having previously been down) - seems really cool!

Pirates there is so amazing, and I think you got pretty good pictures!

Bit of a hectic situation with moving the car and bags, and then the groceries but at least you got settled in the room - which looks huge! really nice, but not sure if I'd call it $1,200/night nice!

And scary story about the knife, but glad it wasn't a big deal in the end

 

[rteetz]

One of the big reasons I want to go to DLR is for carsland. It just looks so good.

The room looks great!

At least you got the grocery issue solved even if it took a while.

 

[ALEXandFAB]

That room is

 

[Krissy04]

Just getting caught up. Looks like you guys are having a ton of fun. Your Disneyland updates are really making want to get out there. I remember riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and especially 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my fist trip to WDW in the 80's. I was young and everything you are saying, I am nodding along in agreement...it seemed so real to me also. Someday...when my kiddos are a little older (DD9, DS4 and DD4) we'll get out there. I can't imagine all that travel time with them now. I don't even want to take a flight from BUF to MCO that isn't direct, lol

 

[skier_pete]

Thanks for sharing the WB set tour. It looked like a lot of neat stuff, but might also have been because you posted the interesting pictures. I would definitely get a kick out of turning on the Bat signal and sitting on the couch in Central Perk and sitting at the forced perspective LotR table!

Oh, the tour was still very good - I would even say worth it. Just disappointing that the first time was better.

Definitely can't beat $99 a night at the Tropicana ... I'd love to stay at the DL Hotel someday but with the prices vs. the price at the "offsite" hotels it is hard to justify

I agree - if we couldn't stay on DVC points, I would NEVER pay the $400 prices for the Disney hotels. They just aren't worth it IMO. We would be perfectly happy at the Tropicana. It is so close and really very clean.

Really bummed we never made it on Alice ... ride was either down or with a huge line (45min+ ... likely from it having previously been down) - seems really cool!

Pirates there is so amazing, and I think you got pretty good pictures!

Thnaks. Too bad about Alice - it really is a slow loader, but it WAS a great ride.

Bit of a hectic situation with moving the car and bags, and then the groceries but at least you got settled in the room - which looks huge! really nice, but not sure if I'd call it $1,200/night nice!

Right - can't believe that was the rack rate! Who in the world would pay that! It was a wonderful room though. Too bad we weren't in it more!

One of the big reasons I want to go to DLR is for carsland. It just looks so good.

The room looks great!

At least you got the grocery issue solved even if it took a while.

Carsland IS the big reason to go to DLR! That and World of Color. Well, plus it's the home park - right?

That room is

I agree! What a treat having DVC is!

Just getting caught up. Looks like you guys are having a ton of fun. Your Disneyland updates are really making want to get out there. I remember riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and especially 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my fist trip to WDW in the 80's. I was young and everything you are saying, I am nodding along in agreement...it seemed so real to me also. Someday...when my kiddos are a little older (DD9, DS4 and DD4) we'll get out there. I can't imagine all that travel time with them now. I don't even want to take a flight from BUF to MCO that isn't direct, lol

Yeah - no direct flights from here in Buffalo - the best you can do is a one-stop. IDK - we never really had a hard time flying with DD, give her a DVD player and she's would sit and watch for hours (still will). That said, it's also a pricey trip - hard to fly from here to there under $350! But yeah, you are probably better off waiting a few more years so they can experience everything.

 

[Vernie822]

Hey Pete! I'm a bit late catching up but I love your TR so far.

We decided not to go with the GCV waitlist - I don't have the patience for it LOL. Plus if we got down to the wire (30 days) that would be like 2 weeks before our wedding and I'm nervous I would have to scramble to figure out a place to stay before that. We ended up with a good neighbor Fairfield Inn across the street.

That villa is GORGEOUS though, wow! I can definitely see why you opted for the 1 BR with 4 people, seems like enough space and the kitchen area is definitely a nice bonus. Love DD's electronics perch.

DD had been saying to this point she wanted to ride Pirates, but suddenly got into her mind she wanted to ride the Nemo Subs. Well, Nemo Subs are a “get there early” ride, and it had JUST turned to 9 AM, so we figured it was a good time to get over there before the crowds grew too enormous. While everyone got in line, I went and got my first paper FP in 3 years…remember these beauties!



(geez, I didn’t even notice this until just now – these FPs are stamped to indicate that you could hold an additional FP! I guess I should’ve grabbed Star Tours ones while I was at it.) I walked back over to the Nemo Subs and took a picture of Autotopia all under wraps…not missing this ride at all!

I can't decide if I should figure out a FP strategy or just go with the flow! I was a kid when we did paper FP's (hadn't visited WDW again until 2014 when FP+ was already in full swing) so I don't even know how to tour with them hahaha. Looks like I have some research to do. I'm excited to hear what you guys ended up doing for WOC (I can't decide between a dining package, dessert party, or just FP'ing it).

If you haven’t been on the Disneyland version of PotC, it sort of puts the WDW one to shame. It’s about twice as long, and has several additional scenes. There’s two drops that get you out from under the berm, but the whole ride must actually be underground. Again tried for some pictures. Not many came out very well, but better than most I’d taken on the old ride. I gotta try messing with the camera in a less automatic setting.

Nice!! I like Pirates at WDW but I need to make sure to see this one!!

It was about 1130 AM and my mom was wearing out. I had wanted to be over in California Adventure by 11 AM to get our World of Color Fastpasses anyways, so we decided to head over to the other park. Disneyland was REALLY crowded today, and we were glad to leave the park. DCA was much less crowded.

So did you think hopping was worth it? We only have 2 park days unfortunately and I have no idea where we'll spend more of our time. I'm thinking we will probably just do 1 day at each, but maybe once park hours open up I'll feel differently.

We stopped at Clarabelle’s to get a soda and get a hand-dipped ice cream bar. These are really good, but I forgot to get a picture – follow this link on the food blog.
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2015/...ped-ice-cream-in-disney-california-adventure/

Yum! I am going to have to put Clarabelle's on my list.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey Pete! I'm a bit late catching up but I love your TR so far.

HI there @Vernie822 and welcome along - Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! A Hawaii/Disneyland honeymoon sounds like a great idea!

We decided not to go with the GCV waitlist - I don't have the patience for it LOL. Plus if we got down to the wire (30 days) that would be like 2 weeks before our wedding and I'm nervous I would have to scramble to figure out a place to stay before that. We ended up with a good neighbor Fairfield Inn across the street.

I googled the Fairfield - you will be fine there. It's right behind the McDonalds I got breakfast at, and you are less than a 10 minute walk from the park entrance. It'll probably take you longer to get through security than to get there. As I've said before, "on-site" is far from a necessity at DLR!

I can't decide if I should figure out a FP strategy or just go with the flow! I was a kid when we did paper FP's (hadn't visited WDW again until 2014 when FP+ was already in full swing) so I don't even know how to tour with them hahaha. Looks like I have some research to do. I'm excited to hear what you guys ended up doing for WOC (I can't decide between a dining package, dessert party, or just FP'ing it).

You definitely should use FP. There are many FP attractions and the lines at DLR are long at the best of times. FP strategy is not that hard to do - as soon as you are eligible for a FP, go to the nearest ride that has one that you want to ride and get them! The nice thing is you are not limited to three a day like at WDW - so you can easily get 5 or more in a day. You can also take advantage of the single rider lines if you don't mind being split up on some rides. DLR has a bunch of single rider rides (I think 8 total.)

I checked out your PTR - you are going on mid-week in September, there should be no issue with just doing the regular FP for World Of Color. The crowds aren't that bad anymore. You still want to get there a little before the open up the area, so say 75 minutes before the show, but really with the dining package you STILL need to get there 60 minutes before the show, so it doesn't save you much. The dessert party I don't really know enough about to recommend it, but if it is just to get a good spot for World of Color I wouldn't bother. The World of Color FP are NOT linked to the other FP in the park, so you can get one in the morning and it doesn't affect getting other FP.

So did you think hopping was worth it? We only have 2 park days unfortunately and I have no idea where we'll spend more of our time. I'm thinking we will probably just do 1 day at each, but maybe once park hours open up I'll feel differently.

That's a tough one - the problem is this: DCA has a LOT less to do than DL does, however - having never been there, you can probably spend a day in DCA without too much trouble. At this point that we've been there a couple times, we only spent probably a total of about 8-10 hours of our 3 days in DCA, and the rest was in DLR - but Soarin and GRR were both down which made us skip them.

I guess what I would suggest is NOT buying the 2-park option, then spend your first day at DL, and if you feel like you didn't get to do all the things you wanted, add the hopper on that evening. Remember with Disney tickets, you can always add more to your ticket! You may find in February DCA closes at 10 PM and DL at midnight, and you might just want that extra 2 hours!

 

[skier_pete]

Day 5 conclusion

So we last left off at the hotel, and it was around 5:30 PM at this point, not sure exactly, but it wasn’t dark yet. As I said before, I really wanted to catch then lighting up Carsland. Unfortunately even though it was still light when we got there, the lights were already on.




The wait for Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree was only 10 minutes, so we decided to go ahead and ride it.




You can see the light is just starting to fade. I rode with DD and DW rode alone. (DM didn’t dare ride this as she considered it a spinny ride.




I have to say I really like this ride. Sure it’s a standard amusement park ride, but Disney has so many spinners, but this is the only “whip” ride that they have. The Mater hoe-down music that plays during the ride combined with the way the interlocking track turn and the cars “whip” makes it a lot of fun in my book!
After that, the sun was setting over Carsland, so we got a few more pictures.





I love the sleeping car on the Cozy Cone sign. I want one of these!








Next trip we gotta do Radiator Springs Racers after dark!





DD at this stage said that we should take Grandma on The Little Mermaid ride. We were planning on heading to Paradise Pier at this point for dinner anyways, so we headed here next:








I like this ride just fine – there was a discussion somewhere (on another thread) that it wasn’t really a traditional dark ride because the traditional dark rides have separation between vehicles and immerse you in the action better, but I don’t see the issue with this myself, I think it’s a cute little ride and I enjoy the heck out of it.
It was time to hunt down some dinner. We decided that there are two places at the end of Paradise Pier – “Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta” and “Paradise Garden Grille”. The former has of course spaghetti and other pasta dishes, and the latter has skewers and Mediterranean choices. They have a common outdoor seating area that was a very nice area to eat in the weather. DW and DD got pasta dishes (which I apparently forgot to take a picture of). DM and I got the skewers with side cucumber salad and Tabouli. These were very tasty.



It was at this point that DD decided to throw a temper tantrum when we told her we were going to stick around and watch the World of Color show. Well she did NOT like this Idea, and basically refused to do anything but put her head down on the table.

Anyways, we left DD to her pouting and DM sitting with her for us to ride on Goofy’s Sky School. This is the first time we ever did this, and I don’t think would bother again. It was mostly boring, except that it was high up and slow moving, which made it a little bit unnerving to me.

When we got back, DD hadn’t spoked to DM once, so it was also at this time that DM decided to tell me how messed up DD was because she wouldn’t talk to her and that we clearly have to do something – but what she has no idea. We have this problem all the time with DD, she is a very shy, quiet kid, and she gets around her grandparents or other adults that she rarely if ever sees, and she clams up. Well, we’ve had talks with her but I don’t know how to get her to change her personality on this, other kids will hold conversations with adults, but not DD. So we continue to get scolded by all of our parents as bad parents. We then get yelled at that we “can’t give into her” (which we don’t ever do – but she’s the type of kid that refuses to EVER learn a lesson. We punish her repeatedly over the same things, yet she refuses to change her behavior.) How do you deal with someone so stubborn? Talk or else? In this case she was also over-tired, which exacerbates her worst behaviors. Enough about our problems.

She was trying to leverage all this into letting her go back to the room, but we as usual didn’t leave her a choice and dragged her over to the World of Color FP waiting area. We had about 15 minutes before they started letting people in – it was probably about 7:50 PM. The show wasn’t until 9 PM, but the way World of Color works, if you want a good view you just have to get there early. (The tiered standing areas for World of Color are poorly designed, that’s for sure.) At 8:10 or so, they let us into the WoC area, and we got a good spot and the front of one of the sections, DD continued to pout and whine about going back to the room. We decided to play “Heads Up” which is a charade like APP on your phone. This eventually got DD to join in, and she decided to stop pouting and play. Then we played the “Color Wheel challenge” which lets you play “simon says” with the Mickey’s Fun Wheel.



Whoever wins the game gets to control the wheel for 30 seconds. It appears we didn’t win, but it was a good 15 minute distraction.




I had decided rather than try and take pictures/video of World of Color, I would simply enjoy the show. Especially since pictures cannot do justice to how amazing World of Color is. If you want, go look up a video, but really you need to go to California to experience it. Realizing now, I probably should have tried a FEW pictures for the TR. This was the 60th anniversary show, which everyone says isn’t as good as the regular show, and I agree. The problem is, the regular show uses the fountains set to scenes/music from various Disney movies. This show more showed a history of Walt Disney and his studio, and so showed very short clips of a lot of different things. The best parts of the show were in the middle, when they did a block totally from Frozen of “let it go” – surprise. But I think by the normal show using Disney movies/music scenes to really evoke the memories and emotions, it’s much more effective than this version. I hope they bring the original back someday.

With that, we called it a night. The park was closing, and everyone was tired from our early start to the day. We headed back to the room, and all went to bed pretty quickly. One of the nicest thing of the VGC stay was the close proximity to the park at closing!

Oh – lastly I wanted to point out that I was using my phone to track steps – and today I had done just over 20,000 steps, which was the most of the trip. This total came up as just over 10 miles of walking! I probably outstripped the rest of the family by 2-3 miles though, between getting breakfast, going to get the car, and the grocery shopping. The next two days were similar distances.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I love your TR and I just wanted to say, my DD11 is similar to yours - she is very shy (hate that word) around adults, especially those she doesn't know. She has anxiety, but I don't know if your girl does, and our plan when DD is around a family member adult she doesn't know well (ie: her grandmothers), we have told her she doesn't have to hug or touch, but she DOES need to be polite and respectful. If she's tired or hungry, well that's on us to sort out, but it's on her to be polite and in control of herself.

And don't get upset when your parents or other 'well meaning' adults tell you how to raise your kid - she's YOUR kid, not theirs, and they aren't raising her, YOU are. Every family is different and every child is different, and what worked for you as a kid may not work for your kid now.

Remind me of these words when I take the kids to visit my Mum this summer, would you?

 

[rteetz]

Oh how I want to see Carsland! And World of Color. I understand not taking photos of World of Color.

 

[franandaj]

So in getting prepared for my trip, I've fallen behind on commenting. I'm glad you got to see WoC, but too bad that your DD was being a pain. I don't know that there is much you can do about it. Your parents shouldn't be criticizing you for her personality. There is nothing you can do to change her unless she decides that she wants to change. In fact I was a bit like that. As a kid I never learned the niceties, like saying "please" and "thank you" or "nice to meet you" and stuff like that. It wasn't until I grew up and noticed that I was lacking in common courtesy that I began to observe how to behave like an adult, and that was because I didn't want to be an outcast. She's going to do what she wants, and you just need to let her be herself.

As far as rides and attractions, you really packed them in that day! Now I understand why the next day was like it was!

 

[melk]

Just found your report and I'm really enjoying it!

We are heading out for our first visit in June. We also are going to start out in Burbank and will take the WB tour then head to Disneyland for a couple of days, then we are heading north.

But as far as Warner Brothers goes, how is the parking? Did you have to pay for parking? The tour looks good, thanks for sharing your pictures.

 

[skier_pete]

I love your TR and I just wanted to say, my DD11 is similar to yours - she is very shy (hate that word) around adults, especially those she doesn't know. She has anxiety, but I don't know if your girl does, and our plan when DD is around a family member adult she doesn't know well (ie: her grandmothers), we have told her she doesn't have to hug or touch, but she DOES need to be polite and respectful. If she's tired or hungry, well that's on us to sort out, but it's on her to be polite and in control of herself.

And don't get upset when your parents or other 'well meaning' adults tell you how to raise your kid - she's YOUR kid, not theirs, and they aren't raising her, YOU are. Every family is different and every child is different, and what worked for you as a kid may not work for your kid now.

Remind me of these words when I take the kids to visit my Mum this summer, would you?

Thank you for your comments - our DD can be difficult at times, but she's mostly a good kid. We know some other parents that have similar problems, but not to the extreme of our DD - she literally wants to do NOTHING - everything other than her Ipod/Kindle she declares as "boring".

The funny thing is...in this respect I was a LOT like her when I was her age, at least personality wise. I didn't have many friends and I kept to myself around strangers. But when I say this to my mom she says, "Oh, you weren't like that at all!" I think she doesn't remember properly. I did have more interests than DD, but I also didn't have access to the electronic entertainment that she does. The best we had was the Atari, and I DID spend a lot of time on that sucker!

Oh how I want to see Carsland! And World of Color. I understand not taking photos of World of Color.

Gotta tell your mom and dad next Disney trip should be to California! OR convince Pete W. that he should take you out there for a "Disneyland for Teens" report!

So in getting prepared for my trip, I've fallen behind on commenting. I'm glad you got to see WoC, but too bad that your DD was being a pain. I don't know that there is much you can do about it. Your parents shouldn't be criticizing you for her personality. There is nothing you can do to change her unless she decides that she wants to change. In fact I was a bit like that. As a kid I never learned the niceties, like saying "please" and "thank you" or "nice to meet you" and stuff like that. It wasn't until I grew up and noticed that I was lacking in common courtesy that I began to observe how to behave like an adult, and that was because I didn't want to be an outcast. She's going to do what she wants, and you just need to let her be herself.

As far as rides and attractions, you really packed them in that day! Now I understand why the next day was like it was!

The funny thing is - we would've gone harder than we didn't have DM with us. Really we tried to take it easy. I have a hard time not pushing to get a bunch done in the first few hours. As I'm sure you've noticed that's our pretty typical modus operandi!

To me - I just feel like we need to continue to let her know that she should behave properly. I have a theory that even as kids if we don't listen to our parents, we are still learning, and our behavior as adults is shaped by that. It's not like we are constantly punishing her, but just gently reminding her to use her manners.

Just found your report and I'm really enjoying it!

We are heading out for our first visit in June. We also are going to start out in Burbank and will take the WB tour then head to Disneyland for a couple of days, then we are heading north.

But as far as Warner Brothers goes, how is the parking? Did you have to pay for parking? The tour looks good, thanks for sharing your pictures.

Welcome aboard! Yes, you have to pay for parking at the Warner Brothers lot - I think it was $10 for parking. The lot is just across the street from the studio tour entrance, it's not at all like at Disneyland or Disney World - the lot maybe holds 300 cars. You should consider pre-buying your tickets as the tours do sell out. Also if you search on line - you can find discount codes to save $4 off per ticket. I do think it is worth doing, but it does remind you that prices for Disney aren't really out of whack. $60 for a 3-hour tour or $100 for an all-day experience, right? Also, if you want to see more "behind the scenes" stuff, it's better to go on a weekend. More "working studio" stuff would be better during the week.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Here! I know I'm horribly late....but real life has just been madness lately. I haven't had any time for the Dis lately!!!

Anyway, all caught up.
Loving the updates.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

bummer you didn't get to see the lights come up in Carsland - we never got to see that either ... but despite that Carsland does look rather cool at night with the neon on. Glad you enjoyed Mater's ride - I agree that while nothing earth shattering it is a cute little ride. Based on the pictures I think the Alien ride that is coming to DHS as part of Toy Story Land will be similar.

Kids are just tough sometimes - and to be honest, if she doesn't want to talk, doesn't seem like that big of a deal. As long as she isn't being rude or anything ... and like you said, she was probably tired which didn't help things. I agree with not giving in though and glad you turned it around with the Heads Up game.

I never saw the prior version of WoC but everything I heard is that version had better flow to it ... and I agree that at parts this one seemed like a collection of scenes rather than one show. Still, the Frozen part and Star Wars and then the scenes of Walt were all just awesome!

 

[khertz]

Seems like I got a little too behind!! I'm here to catch up though.

We had finally watched “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” back in October, and it was not good at all, but it made the ride make SLIGHTLY more sense. The ride makes very little sense.

I don't get this ride AT ALL. I never got to ride it in WDW, but with the way people lament over its removal from there, I thought for sure I was missing out on something great and couldn't wait to ride it in DL. My first time riding it, I was like what the heck was that?!

Cute pic of DW!!

Aww, too bad she's not having any fun. lol

Well, when talking to Bell Services, they mentioned grocery delivery – so we started a debate about whether to get groceries here at the resort, delivery or go out. We ended up walking down to the place where they sold the “groceries” (not really) but the selection and pricing was terrible. So then we tried calling the two different places for delivery, and I kept switching between the two choices, because I was getting the runaround on the phone. Finally I spent like 20 minutes talking to Von’s when they said “Oh, you can’t get anything delivered today.” UGH. So, we wasted like an hour that I could’ve already been back and relaxing, so I stormed off super duper pissed off – not at my family, but at myself for wasting all that time. So I drove to the grocery store, spent about 20 minutes there picking stuff up, and was back within another hour. Of course at THIS point it was now like 5 PM, so I left myself ZERO time to just lay back and relax.

Ugh, I hate when stuff like that happens and you feel like you're just wasting time. Especially time you could have spent resting!!

What a great picture!

We punish her repeatedly over the same things, yet she refuses to change her behavior.

DS is exactly the same way. It is like bashing my head into a brick wall sometimes! Can't wait until he is DD's age... lol

 

[DnA2010]

Really enjoying your trip so far- the GC pics are great- we'd love to stay onsite but as we aren't dvc or anything, I don't see that happening with all the hotels across the street.
Kids are tricky at this age- our DD is 11 (my stepdaughter actually but she lives with DH and I and visits bio mom) and we are lucky as she thinks Disney travelling is the most amazing thing ever, however other than this years DL and DCL Fantasy trips, she had only been when she was 6. She was really into the thrill rides and we a few minor moments when she had to endulge mom and dad on the simple stuff technology is a tricky one- we've been mean parents and she only just got an old iPhone last year (will no plan do essentially an iPod) and we do limit screen time, but we know it is coming...sigh

Looking forward to seeing what happens next!

 

[skier_pete]

Here! I know I'm horribly late....but real life has just been madness lately. I haven't had any time for the Dis lately!!!

Anyway, all caught up.
Loving the updates.

Wait, what. YOU have been on the DIS? Oh my!
Glad you could join in.

bummer you didn't get to see the lights come up in Carsland - we never got to see that either ... but despite that Carsland does look rather cool at night with the neon on. Glad you enjoyed Mater's ride - I agree that while nothing earth shattering it is a cute little ride. Based on the pictures I think the Alien ride that is coming to DHS as part of Toy Story Land will be similar.

Yeah - I think the same thing - that Alien ride will be similar design. I hope so, except that at DHS it'll have a 90 minute wait.

Kids are just tough sometimes - and to be honest, if she doesn't want to talk, doesn't seem like that big of a deal. As long as she isn't being rude or anything ... and like you said, she was probably tired which didn't help things. I agree with not giving in though and glad you turned it around with the Heads Up game.

She was pretty chatty this weekend. Even talked to Grandma on the phone for about 5 minutes.

I never saw the prior version of WoC but everything I heard is that version had better flow to it ... and I agree that at parts this one seemed like a collection of scenes rather than one show. Still, the Frozen part and Star Wars and then the scenes of Walt were all just awesome!

Agree those were the best parts. And yes, the older version flowed much better.

I don't get this ride AT ALL. I never got to ride it in WDW, but with the way people lament over its removal from there, I thought for sure I was missing out on something great and couldn't wait to ride it in DL. My first time riding it, I was like what the heck was that?!

I'm of course old enough to remember Mr. Toad at WDW, though I only remember it really from our first "adult" trip in 1997. The biggest thing was it had two separate tracks, and the ride went through different rooms based on which track you were on. However, not being nostalgic at all for it, I would Pooh is a better ride than Mr. Toad. Much less of a loss than Snow White - which of course I would lament anytime they take out a ride to put in a Meet and Greet.

DS is exactly the same way. It is like bashing my head into a brick wall sometimes! Can't wait until he is DD's age... lol

Funny, I see the pictures of your DS and he's so happy looking. I always think, "Ahh, those were the days!"

Really enjoying your trip so far- the GC pics are great- we'd love to stay onsite but as we aren't dvc or anything, I don't see that happening with all the hotels across the street.
Kids are tricky at this age- our DD is 11 (my stepdaughter actually but she lives with DH and I and visits bio mom) and we are lucky as she thinks Disney travelling is the most amazing thing ever, however other than this years DL and DCL Fantasy trips, she had only been when she was 6. She was really into the thrill rides and we a few minor moments when she had to endulge mom and dad on the simple stuff technology is a tricky one- we've been mean parents and she only just got an old iPhone last year (will no plan do essentially an iPod) and we do limit screen time, but we know it is coming...sigh

Looking forward to seeing what happens next!

Thanks for joining in.

Yeah, we know many parents that have as bad if not worse electronic issues with their kids. We restrict it to a degree, but we are also using it as a motivating factor for getting good grades. She doesn't really care about doing well in school, or so she claims, but we are trying to use this as a motivator. She was maintaining good grades for the first two marking periods, so we try to tolerate her with the electroincs. This third MP is looking shaky, so she knows she going to lose electronics Mon - Thurs if the grades don't stay up. Hopefully, this will work as motivator.