10 more days till DL...HELP!?!?!?!?!

[Mamabird80]

This is our first FAMILY trip with my girls and Dh to Disney land and hoping to get some ideas before we head out and get packing ...

We dont ride rides really and so basicly going to enjoy the sights and take pictures with the caracters for the girls. They are 4&1 so they are both pretty small for ALOT of the things there.

~~Am I thinking right, that really for them is Toon town that will fit their age group??

~~What the heck is a Reindeer round up, and what is there to do there???

~~Is there any Buffets in REASONABLE price w/in the area of the park???

~~I THINK last time we went Dh told me we were able to bring waters and snacks/sandwiches IN the park with us and they never said anything....Anyone know if u can still bring things in like that???

~~Where in the Park is the princess'es and caracters hiding at so we can plan out some good picture taking of them all???(If not all but the majority))

Any other tips/hints are always welcome i am just so excited this trip is coming up before my eyes so fast!!!!!
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We also are heading to MM for 2 of our 3 days out there.....

~~How far is MM, FROM Disney????
~~How much for parking??
~~Is it really worth the drive back and fourth btwn the 2prks in the time we will be there??

 

[bumbershoot]

Toontown is good for that age. There are only two rides in that section; one is a bitty coaster and the other is Roger Rabbit which is a "dark ride" with loud noises. DS is 4.5 and very brave for various things, but he won't go on RR again b/c of an image in it that scares him. He also won't go on the coaster, even though he's been on Matterhorn twice! So we go for him to play around with all the interactive things and to meet characters (mickey minnie goofy donald pluto...that sort of character). Your girls will likely love Minnie's house...just let them look around and push buttons, twirl knobs, etc.

The princesses are in Princess Fantasy Faire, which is just outside of ToonTown, to the left (facing ToonTown). Since you won't be riding many rides, you can take the time to wait in that line to meet 3 random princesses (you won't and can't know who they are before you're meeting them, so make sure your girls KNOW that). There's also princess storytimes, coronation ceremonies, and a spot for crafts (stickers, a crown that's like what you used to get at Burger King LOL, and coloring pages + crayons).

The Round-Up is a lovely spot. At Christmastime they have it decorated appropriately, and have cookies to buy and decorate (6 bucks each), they also have coloring pages and crayons. then there are reindeer that you can see, and Santa shows up at certain hours there, too.

You can still bring food and water in. Make the food ahead of time; no jars of mayo or jelly etc. Criminy, we saw someone with a reuseable KFC bag over her shoulder, LOL. (got a pic of it too)

Reasonable price is relative. All of the buffets with characters are at a premium cost, but your 1 year old is free so that's good. You can buy vouchers ahead of time at places like getawaytoday dot com and Ares travel which can reduce the cost by a little bit (they include tax and tip).

Since you won't be rushing to ride rides, you'll be able to wait for characters, stop when you see a character and wait in line, etc.

 

[SueTGGR]

Am I missing another destination with MM? Before I answer, is that it?

 

[Mamabird80]

Yes MM=Magic Mountian. I had also won a family 4pk for 2 days to magic mountian while we r out there for our disney trip.....would hate for these tickets to go to waste esp since we love all the shows and the walking around looking at the sites

 

[Mamabird80]

Also for you Cali drivers out there, how is the Ca-5 during this time.....

What Dh had planned is we go the 21 to MAgic Mountian,drive back when the park closes and check into our hotel acros from disney and get a good night rest...pick up our tickets from the front desk that am, go to Disney..do all that fun stuff watch the fireworks stay for the snow, head back to the hotel to rest...then the 3rd day we r there drive BACK to Magic Mountian to use our last day tickets there and come home that evening....

 

[bumbershoot]

OK I just got that you are only doing ONE day at Disney? I can't even imagine. Even without riding rides you are going to miss so much. You might not even make it over to DCA, and for little kids, bug's land is soooo wonderful. We enjoy it over Fantasyland, and we have a 4 year old.

So why don't you ride rides?

 

[pixiewings71]

MM, you'll probably need about half a day for that one. Seriously, we did it 2 years ago because we had season passes for our local 6 Flags (Discovery Kingdom/Marine World in Vallejo) and we stopped because it would be free, we just had to pay for parking (I think it was $15-20, it was $$$). So we went in, walked around, the kids rode rides and we left after about 4 hours. It wasn't worth more than that. MM is more thrill rides so if you guys don't ride rides it's mostly a waste. The drive between the 2 takes about an hour and a half or so, depending on traffic which normally sucks. LOL

for everything else Molly gave you great info!

 

[chibichibirei]

Pixie and Bumbershoot both said it really, you will really want more time in Disney than at MM, even sans rides ( but there are so many wonderful rides I cant imagine not wanting to ride at least some of them no matter the age) there is just too much to see and do in the parks.

 

[goofycathy]

The traffic alone makes the highway trip miserable, especially with two small children ( I thought the ride was horrible and my kids are 6 and 11! especially if you arent used to driving in heavy heavy traffic ) We made the mistake of going to Universal Studios and now I wish we had spent that extra day at DL, we would have spent less money (believe it or not) and seeing how you dont ride the rides, doesnt seem like it wouldnt be worth it for me.

 

[Mamabird80]

The reason for so many days in MM, instead of disney. Is Dh won this timeshare Vacation package which only gives us 1 day for DISNEY(which sucks) But thought it would be a awesome gift to take our 4yr old to get out and see,even for a small amt of time. $ is tight other wise we would of upgraded our package to be able to stay longer. Oh well another year...but thank you girls for the great advice.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Just wanted to mention that you can meet Mickey in Toon Town at his house. Usually the line to see him is shorter in the evening.

 

[goofycathy]

The reason for so many days in MM, instead of disney. Is Dh won this timeshare Vacation package which only gives us 1 day for DISNEY(which sucks) But thought it would be a awesome gift to take our 4yr old to get out and see,even for a small amt of time. $ is tight other wise we would of upgraded our package to be able to stay longer. Oh well another year...but thank you girls for the great advice.

Well that all makes sense, make the most of it and take lots of pics, you guys will have a blast!

 

[lavawalker]

Is there any way you can try and sell those MM tickets in the next 10 days and put the money towards DL? DD won some DL passes one time at youth group, and we listed them on eBay because we already had annual passes. We got almost full price for them.

Honestly, I would just not bother with MM.... in fact, I don't know how it is now, but for awhile they were having gang problems there on the weekends. also, IMHO your girls are young for MM.

 

[grumpy's fan]

Honestly, I would just not bother with MM.... in fact, I don't know how it is now, but for awhile they were having gang problems there on the weekends. also, IMHO your girls are young for MM.

I agree - I grew up in So Cal and loved MM but it has gotten a bit scary over the last few years..plus your girls wouldn't find much to enjoy there as the park is built around thrill rides for teens/young adults and there isn't much else to see...maybe you could sell the tkts on ebay like lavawalker suggested...

 

[pixiewings71]

The reason for so many days in MM, instead of disney. Is Dh won this timeshare Vacation package which only gives us 1 day for DISNEY(which sucks) But thought it would be a awesome gift to take our 4yr old to get out and see,even for a small amt of time. $ is tight other wise we would of upgraded our package to be able to stay longer. Oh well another year...but thank you girls for the great advice.

I totally get this, we have done this ourselves actually. Actually we are spending 2 nights in Jan on a free timeshare offer stay (our timeshare wants us to buy more points so they are giving us 2 nights free), I was supposed to get 2 free 1 day DL tickets but I asked for something else instead (we will have AP's). Maybe you could do that? Ask for an extra DL day instead of MM, you're really not going to have fun at MM, it's just not DL in any way. Or you could try to sell the tickets, but generally with timeshares you don't get the tickets until after you do the presentation.

 

[LucyDingo]

I'm confused...why don't you go on rides? There are numerous rides at Disneyland for small kids. Pretty much all of the fantasyland rides (although Mr. Toad is probably too scary.)