**** Official 2014 AUGUST - Disneyland thread ****

[Rubygoose]

Yay! I'm in my hotel room right now in Vancouver, with the alarm set for 4:30 am! We have to be at the airport at 6!

Usually we do space mountain first, but this time it will be whatever my 3 year picks. It's his first time

I bet you're up in the air by now!

Here now! The flight went really well. We arrived at 3:30 pm, then got to our hotel, changed our vouchers into tickets and went to Goofy's kitchen for supper. The characters were great and my 6 yrs old was ecstatic. She radiated joy. 9 pm and we are in bed. Ready for our big day tomorrow. I think that we'll head to Peter pan and then stars tour. We have lunch at Blue bayou at 11:30, so we'll have to see how much we can do before it.

Goofy's Kitchen is a great way to start off a trip.

Here now. Third night of our pixie dust "we're sorry" free stay at GCH. Grateful to Guest Services for the opportunity. Loving the parks as usual. But after looking forward to the trip and hotel for months, GCH has been a total nightmare. I'll trip report later, but here the highlights. Arrived to broken AC, maintenance guy who said he fixed it (and lied) gave us an earful about how much he hates the place and how stupid people are for staying here, broken refrigerator, impossible Wifi, out of the blue rudeness from several hotel CMs, and total sobbing come apart after missing an EMH from having to pack up and change rooms for two hours in the middle of the night after finding a roach crawling between our beds. Also, I think I went down in GCH history for being the first guest to bring a live roach in a Ziploc bag to the front desk as evidence. There's more, but the gist is we miss the HoJo incredibly right now, and feel extraordinarily disillusioned about GCH and west coast magic. After many years, my DLR brand loyalty is in tatters right now.

Oh No! But at least you didn't have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to stay there! Maybe they'll give you another set of comp. tickets and you can choose DLH next time! We loved DLH last summer and were humming and hawing about staying at GCH this time or sticking with DLH - after reading what you've said, I'm glad we stuck with DLH (with 3 nights at HOJO first to offset the cost). Good job catching the roach!

 

[Rubygoose]

Wishing safe travels to:
BriannaRuth and Peterpanandwendy who are on their way to DLR today!

And to those who should be actively packing today for their trip tomorrow:
Moonwolf, Tiffjoy, LisamWDW, and MPHARJ!

 

[sleepymouse]

I too am a bit disillusioned with the Grand. If paying top dollar, you definitely do not get what you are paying for. We stayed there last year and had bunk beds that rattled badly, even anytime you moved just slightly. Luckily, I solved the problem with a few small pieces of thick paper/cardboard. We also experienced a less than friendly CM while checking in. I asked about views and was told (condescendingly) that it would be an upgrade and that they never offer upgrades unless you pay for it. Not true from what I have read on this board.

Anyway, we are staying there again this month at a discounted rate because it is still my husband's first choice. I am sure that the odds of us having your room are incredibly slim but would love to know your room number after check out, just in case.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

Here now. Third night of our pixie dust "we're sorry" free stay at GCH. Grateful to Guest Services for the opportunity. Loving the parks as usual. But after looking forward to the trip and hotel for months, GCH has been a total nightmare. I'll trip report later, but here the highlights. Arrived to broken AC, maintenance guy who said he fixed it (and lied) gave us an earful about how much he hates the place and how stupid people are for staying here, broken refrigerator, impossible Wifi, out of the blue rudeness from several hotel CMs, and total sobbing come apart after missing an EMH from having to pack up and change rooms for two hours in the middle of the night after finding a roach crawling between our beds. Also, I think I went down in GCH history for being the first guest to bring a live roach in a Ziploc bag to the front desk as evidence. There's more, but the gist is we miss the HoJo incredibly right now, and feel extraordinarily disillusioned about GCH and west coast magic. After many years, my DLR brand loyalty is in tatters right now.

I think what makes me saddest about this is just knowing how excited you were for this trip. Sorry it hasn't lived up to your expectations! I hope you find some more magic along the way.

 

[Random Ninja]

I hope you're having a great trip. I can't recall what you're competing in, but congrats!

I competed in US Figure Skating National Showcase in Adult Bronze Dramatic Entertainment. It was an amazing event and finishing up the day with Disney fireworks just made it all the sweeter.

 

[modegard]

My Disboard friends who are lucky enough to be at the Disneyland Resort right now...

Have you noticed if the shareacoke kiosk is still in Downtown Disney? I have 3 out of four of my kids names on coke bottles but one of our middle children has an unusually spelt name (Jaxon) so his was not printed in their campaign. I know they were there at the beginning of the summer and I am hoping they are still there when we arrive in 8 days.

Question of the Week, We will be hitting DCA bright and early Wednesday morning. The first things we will do are RSR, TSM and then CS. Which the kids will probably want to ride repeatedly if there is no line. Can hardly wait!

 

[aliwas]

Just returned from 7 days in Anaheim (2-9). Our first to Disneyland after many WDW trips. Will highlight our trip for y'all.
*Arrived at LAX at 7:30 AM Sat and Lansky driver was waiting for us at baggage claim. Loaded our luggage and took us to a nearby Ralph's for water and breakfast items.
*Camelot Inn and Suites was our home for the week and we loved our family suite. It had 2 queen beds, king bed and sleeper sofa. We could walk out our door and watch the fireworks clearly. A room with this view at WDW would be way out of my budget.
*Went straight to the parks Sat and thought the crowds were great. Able to get everything done we wanted that day. Sunday was nice also. The most crowds we saw was Tuesday. We did parks on Sat, Sun, Tues, Wed and Friday.
*Didn't do any shows or parades, didn't plan any meals. Really wanted just a laid back experience.
*Loved the closeness of Downtown Disney, went there just about every evening. Had two teenage boys and they loved ESPN zone. We ended up eating there twice. Also ate at Rainforest and Uva. If you get there early able to get in without a wait.
*We booked excursions from Anaheim 411 for Mon and Thurs. We did Hollywood Grand tour and the Beach bus tour. Boys loved the waves and ocean at Newport Beach. Both tours were great and I highly recommend them.
*Weather was beautiful, did need light jacket most evenings when it cooled off
*Able to get fast passes mid morning for Racers. Usually out by early afternoon.

All in all great trip, felt so much more relaxed than WDW. Loved being able to walk to everything and not rely on bus service or monorail.

 

[ColdNeverBotheredMe]

LEAVING TOMORROW! Bright and early! Driving down from Oregon!

 

[caroluau]

Now... for the real question of the week...

What is the first thing you're going to do when you enter DCA or DL on your first park day of your trip? (and I don't mean get your tickets or your PP+ or any of that boring stuff.) And for those of you already there, what was the first thing you did when you got to the parks?

We are leaving in a week for our first DL trip! Our first stop will be DTD to have DD's hair done at Studio 365! She wants an Elsa hairstyle so hopefully it will hold until she actually meets Elsa!

 

[Grooovertoo]

Question of the week

What is the first thing you're going to do when you enter DCA or DL on your first park day of your trip? (and I don't mean get your tickets or your PP+ or any of that boring stuff.) And for those of you already there, what was the first thing you did when you got to the parks?

Fantasyland and Peter Pan's Flight! DD favorite next to Small World.


Is the Main Street Photo Shop still closed for refurb? Does anyone know where you can redeem your PP+ voucher?

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Told VIP coordinator our story this morning. She cried right there in the lobby of GCH (that blew me away) and comped our paid night and several hundred dollars of our expenses.

 

[Aladora]

Told VIP coordinator our story this morning. She cried right there in the lobby of GCH (that blew me away) and comped our paid night and several hundred dollars of our expenses.

Wow! Sorry you had to deal with the issue, but WTG Disney for taking care of you!

 

[scrapshappen]

Told VIP coordinator our story this morning. She cried right there in the lobby of GCH (that blew me away) and comped our paid night and several hundred dollars of our expenses.

So glad they took care of you. No excuse for bad service.

 

[Rubygoose]

Told VIP coordinator our story this morning. She cried right there in the lobby of GCH (that blew me away) and comped our paid night and several hundred dollars of our expenses.

WOW! I hope this restores your faith in DLR!

 

[nervous1sttimer]

Told VIP coordinator our story this morning. She cried right there in the lobby of GCH (that blew me away) and comped our paid night and several hundred dollars of our expenses.

She cried? I'm glad they took care of you and restored the magic, but that level of emotion seems strange to me. Almost creepy!

And this is coming from someone who cries A LOT. I cry when I am happy, sad, angry, frustrated, scared... But not in professional situations!

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm loving hearing from everyone who's there. Thanks for checking in with us

Told VIP coordinator our story this morning. She cried right there in the lobby of GCH (that blew me away) and comped our paid night and several hundred dollars of our expenses.

Sorry you had another bad experience. This is an amazing gesture though, I hope it's helped to restore your faith in Disney.

 

[tiffjoy]

Sitting in the lobby of the GCH right now!!! We aren't staying here, but we were passing through on our way to DTD for dinner. Our girls saw them playing Disney cartoons and had to stop and watch for a bit. I love enjoying the pretty hotel without paying for it!

 

[tiffjoy]

And right after I typed that, we ran into someone from work! It really is a small world after all (couldn't resist).

 

[wakica]

We arrived in LA today
It was hard to drive out of LA and away from DL!!! But, it's our last hurrah on this trip so we are saving it for the end when we head back this way.

We arrived in good time at our hotel and are heading to 6 Flags tomorrow.

I enjoyed reading about everyone starting their DL vacations and already in the parks having a great time (all except the GCH I'm so sorry that is turning out to be crumby and I hope it changes for you).

Question of the week
Who wants to write my final report for me on behaviour intervention strategies? It only has to be 4 pages and it's due on Friday.

Now... for the real question of the week...

What is the first thing you're going to do when you enter DCA or DL on your first park day of your trip? (and I don't mean get your tickets or your PP+ or any of that boring stuff.) And for those of you already there, what was the first thing you did when you got to the parks?

We head STRAIGHT and I mean STRAIGHT to a headliner in each park. We go directly there at a fast walking pace and do NOT get distracted by anything along the way. LOL.
It may sound sad to some who enjoy the ambiance of the park and I know there is so much to look at but our main goal in the parks is to ride the best rides and ride them lots Later in the day or in the evening is when we slow down and enjoy the feeling of being in the happiest place on earth.

 

[zaz]

Great first day over. This was a full day - we did all the rides that we wanted, except indy. It broke down while we were in lines (after a 3 hrs return fastpass). I don't know if they re-opened, we didn't end up going back.

Tomorrow is dCA, i just realized that WOC is at 9:45. That's quite late. Noy sure the girls willmake it!

I found cms to b very helpful and characters to give it all out.

Loved splash mountain, it remains our favorite.