The players: me, my DH (36), DD (age: almost-6). We live near San Francisco.
Warning: For a lot of reasons, we didn't go on many of the "big" rides. If you are looking for reviews of things like Indiana Jones and Soarin', read no further.
It's almost been a year since we were last at Disneyland and California Adventure. We got a 1 day hopper via the Disney website. It was a smooth process to print the hopper tickets at home and exchange them at the turnstile. I was only sorry that we didn't get hopper cards with character pictures. Maybe 1-day hoppers never have those anyway.
We called the Blue Bayou on our way in for ADR but they were already booked for the day.
We planned to do the RideMax thing and "be in line for the first ride at 8:05". We actually arrived at the park at 8:30. That always seems to happen to us. Since this was a Saturday, in summer, on an EE day, I expected the worst. We jumped ahead in our schedule to ride POTC first, at about 8:45. It was nearly empty. We walked right on. This was a big deal for us, because DD has never been willing to go on it before. I told her "It's just like Small World but with pirates." Small World was closed for refurbishment. I also promised to buy her a Minnie Pirate doll at the end.
Of course, she loved it! She especially liked the roller coaster-like drops.
It has been a long time since I have been on POTC. It has changed quite a bit. Both DH and I felt that 1) there is too much constant harping about Jack Sparrow; 2) they have taken the "Pirates Life for Me" song and the slogan "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and made them as repetitive and annoying as the "Small World" song; and 3) there are more drunken pirate scenes than there used to be. We did like some of the new features such as the waterfalls and I really don't mind some reference to Jack Sparrow, I just thought it was excessive. Anyway, the ride was great.
We didn't have Haunted Mansion on our agenda but we were right by it and DD was game so we went for it. We walked right in. It was wonderful and DD loved it.
We walked through Frontierland and around the side path past Thunder Mountain. Around that bend there was a Cast Member handing out Super FastPasses. She gave each us a lanyard with two passes, one for Disneyland and one for DCA. Each had tokens for all the fast pass rides. The passes were good for that one day. That was very cool.
Next we walked over to Tomorrowland for the Astro Orbiter. We had never been on this one but DD has a toy version and we thought this was a nice change from the Dumbo ride. It was about a 10 minutes wait. Very satisfactory.
We did check the line for Finding Nemo Subs. It looked to be about 45 minutes or so even very early. We skipped it this time. We were only going to be at this park until mid-day so we had to watch our time.
We went over to Fantasyland and rode the teacups. Very short line. Alice looked like a long line already.
I completely forgot that we meant to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire at 9am. We didn't know where it was anyway. Around 9:30 we were heading into ToonTown and passed right by the PFF area. It turns out they had shows throughout the day, so I don't understand what special thing happens at 9am. We went to the Royal Coronation show. There was a big line out front but that turned out to be the "Meet the Princesses" line. There was no line to get into the show.
DD was too shy to go into the big area in front with the other kids, even though she was in an Ariel costume. The show was very nice and it was hot already so it gave us the chance to get out of the sun. I was struck by how elegant the "real" princesses were: Aurora, Snow White, and Cinderella. Their dancing seemed superior to the unnamed princesses. They made a point to include the little prince's equally.
After the show we grabbed a bite to eat at the little restaurant next to the theatre. They started Princess Storytelling while we were eating but we didn't go in for that. The restaurant only serves bratwust (pork) and knockwurst (beef) with saurkraut, peppers and onions. I guess they are trying to be all Renaissance. There are also kid's meals which are are Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly with apples slices (or chips if you choose) and either water, milk or juice. At the Coronation show we saw someone giving Coke and popcorn to their baby so we wondered. The kid's meal also came with a pink straw that changes color in cold liquid. DD had fun with this straw and was still playing with it days later.
The 3 princesses came out at one point and I saw them interacting nicely with little girls who ran up to them, even though they were obviously on their way to somewhere else.
Next to the restaurant dining area is a separate area that includes coloring pages. I guess that is the princess craft area. There is nothing to stop people from eating in there and that might be fun.
It was super hot and we were looking for water out by Small World. We were told that there was no water for sales anywhere except on Main Street even after 11am! Next time we will stock up on water in advance.
We went into ToonTown to go on Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin using our Super FastPass. We got in quickly and then DD wanted to go again. We got a regular FastPass which had us coming back at 11:45. We tried to sneak in via the FastPass line at 11:35 but the Cast Member kicked us out. The stand-by line was about 50 minutes at that point.
We went through Minnie and Mickey's houses and then went to the Gadget GoCoaster. We didn't have to wait long to get on. It was a big favorite. It is super quick but that wasn't an issue since the line for it wasn't long at 11:30.
Characters wandering around ToonTown included Minnie Mouse, Pluto, and Goofy. All the characters were wandering around outside Roger Rabbit's CarToon spin and thereabouts. We saw Pluto again inside Minnie's house.
After riding Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin again, we went to Main Street and got a silhouette of DD made ($21 with frame). I have a silhouette of myself at the same age so I wanted to get hers before she gets any older. We also went shopping and got a baby Minnie plush ($19), a baby Mickey ($19), the promised pirate Minnie ($14), and a pirate Mickey ($14).
We were ready to go to California Adventure so DD changed out of her Ariel costume and into her High School Musical t-shirt and shorts.
We hopped over to California Adventure to get there in time for the High School Musical 2 Pep Rally show at 1pm. Do people go to DCA just because of HSM? Yes, I think people do. This was the thing DD wanted to do/see most when we talked about the trip. If they had High School Musical shows at Disneyland, I don't think we would have gotten a park hopper. Side note: When we were on the parking lot tram at the end of the day, I overheard a mom apologizing to her disappointed daughter because they had assumed that Disneyland would have some HSM content.
We staked out a spot for the show so that we could be in the front. Really, there weren't exactly crowds forming for it, but we couldn't be too careful. Did I mention it was hot? DD and I popped into the air conditioned stores to look at HSM merchandise near Sunshine Plaza while DH held our spot. There wasn't a lot of HSM merchandise anywhere but they did have a few t-shirts, and other items. There is a much better assortment at our local stores. We ended up getting a really nice HSM tee that I haven't seen anywhere else.
The show itself was really good. They didn't worry too much about making the characters look like the actual actors, and focused more on talent. There was one girl who looked and sang like Gabriella and she was very good. They did a nice job of including kids from the audience in the show at certain points. Even very little boys were able to play drums in the show. My own DD was too shy to participate but she loved it all anyway. They didn't sing "Fabulous" which was a surprise. They really didn't have a Sharpay character at all.
After the show ends, it travels over to another area of the park and they do it again. You have to admire those kids performing so well in that heat.
Next we went to the Monsters, Inc. ride. I don't know what the popular opinion of that ride is but we were underwhelmed. I've seen better animatronics at a Halloween Superstore. It looked like it was done on a very low budget. The Roz character at the end was cute but we will NOT be going on that ride again.
We were super hungry now and wanted a sit-down meal out of the heat so we headed over to the Wine Country area. We ate at the Wine Country Trattoria. We had the chicken panini, the veggie sandwich (I forget the name now) and DD has the pasta kid's meal. I got the broccoli soup and DH got a side salad.
Suddenly he noticed something with the salad and pushed it away. He said it had mold on it. I expected that there was some mysterious, unidentifiable spot. He showed me it was a black, furry patch about 1/2 inch across that was definitely mold. He told the waiter who looked right at the mold and said, "Oh, I'll get you another one." Not "Oh, yuck!" or "I'm sorry." or anything like that. He acted like it happened all the time. DH said that he didn't want another one!
While we were tempted to leave right then, we went ahead with the rest of the meal and everything was good. Well, they brought me someone else's entree at first, but that isn't a horrible thing. Not like moldy food. We checked to make sure they didn't charge us for the salad and they didn't. They didn't offer us a free dessert or anything either.
After the restaurant, we headed to Bug's Land. DD really loves the ladybug ride. On the way, she played in the water park area. It has a constantly changing maze of water spray. Rode the ladybug ride, Flik's Flyers, and went into the theatre for the "It's Tough To Be a Bug" show. We loved this! It was really one of the highlights of the visit.
We skipped The World's Slowest Bumper Cars and Heimlich's train. We headed over to the Pier area where DH rode California Screamin' with his Super FastPass while DD and I rode on King Triton's carousel. Next we all headed over to the Jellyfish Jump. It was pretty and kind of fun.
DD also enjoyed the play areas (SS Rustbucket?) next to the Jellyfish ride. Unfortunately, a lot of it was broken. We noticed throughout DCA that things didn't seem well maintained. Notice that Flik's Flyers apparently used to have propellers on each flyer. Now there are just bolts sticking out.
By this time we were constantly suffering from the heat no matter how much we got out of it, so it was time to leave. We found some deserving-looking people to give our Super FastPasses to since we had tons of passes left still. Overall it was a good, quick trip. There were quite a few rides I would have liked to have gone on at Disneyland that we couldn't fit in. DCA has very little that interests me since I don't like roller coasters or heights.
###
DH notes on doing a low-carb diet Disneyland:
-Fantasyland knockwurst stand: choice of beef or pork. Had a good lunch of knockwurst with saurkraut, onions, and peppers plus mustard. Took it out of the bun and onto the plastic tray.
-Turkey legs available around the entrance to the Castle area. Didn't try it but it looked good. $7.
-Wine Country Trattoria in DCA: Had chicken panini -- removed the bread. This gave him a full chicken breast, arugula, red peppers, mozzerella cheese, pesto aioli (pesto mayo). Very tasty and satisfying. (see DCA report for disturbing salad experience)
Warning: For a lot of reasons, we didn't go on many of the "big" rides. If you are looking for reviews of things like Indiana Jones and Soarin', read no further.
It's almost been a year since we were last at Disneyland and California Adventure. We got a 1 day hopper via the Disney website. It was a smooth process to print the hopper tickets at home and exchange them at the turnstile. I was only sorry that we didn't get hopper cards with character pictures. Maybe 1-day hoppers never have those anyway.
We called the Blue Bayou on our way in for ADR but they were already booked for the day.
We planned to do the RideMax thing and "be in line for the first ride at 8:05". We actually arrived at the park at 8:30. That always seems to happen to us. Since this was a Saturday, in summer, on an EE day, I expected the worst. We jumped ahead in our schedule to ride POTC first, at about 8:45. It was nearly empty. We walked right on. This was a big deal for us, because DD has never been willing to go on it before. I told her "It's just like Small World but with pirates." Small World was closed for refurbishment. I also promised to buy her a Minnie Pirate doll at the end.
Of course, she loved it! She especially liked the roller coaster-like drops.
It has been a long time since I have been on POTC. It has changed quite a bit. Both DH and I felt that 1) there is too much constant harping about Jack Sparrow; 2) they have taken the "Pirates Life for Me" song and the slogan "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and made them as repetitive and annoying as the "Small World" song; and 3) there are more drunken pirate scenes than there used to be. We did like some of the new features such as the waterfalls and I really don't mind some reference to Jack Sparrow, I just thought it was excessive. Anyway, the ride was great.
We didn't have Haunted Mansion on our agenda but we were right by it and DD was game so we went for it. We walked right in. It was wonderful and DD loved it.
We walked through Frontierland and around the side path past Thunder Mountain. Around that bend there was a Cast Member handing out Super FastPasses. She gave each us a lanyard with two passes, one for Disneyland and one for DCA. Each had tokens for all the fast pass rides. The passes were good for that one day. That was very cool.
Next we walked over to Tomorrowland for the Astro Orbiter. We had never been on this one but DD has a toy version and we thought this was a nice change from the Dumbo ride. It was about a 10 minutes wait. Very satisfactory.
We did check the line for Finding Nemo Subs. It looked to be about 45 minutes or so even very early. We skipped it this time. We were only going to be at this park until mid-day so we had to watch our time.
We went over to Fantasyland and rode the teacups. Very short line. Alice looked like a long line already.
I completely forgot that we meant to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire at 9am. We didn't know where it was anyway. Around 9:30 we were heading into ToonTown and passed right by the PFF area. It turns out they had shows throughout the day, so I don't understand what special thing happens at 9am. We went to the Royal Coronation show. There was a big line out front but that turned out to be the "Meet the Princesses" line. There was no line to get into the show.
DD was too shy to go into the big area in front with the other kids, even though she was in an Ariel costume. The show was very nice and it was hot already so it gave us the chance to get out of the sun. I was struck by how elegant the "real" princesses were: Aurora, Snow White, and Cinderella. Their dancing seemed superior to the unnamed princesses. They made a point to include the little prince's equally.
After the show we grabbed a bite to eat at the little restaurant next to the theatre. They started Princess Storytelling while we were eating but we didn't go in for that. The restaurant only serves bratwust (pork) and knockwurst (beef) with saurkraut, peppers and onions. I guess they are trying to be all Renaissance. There are also kid's meals which are are Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly with apples slices (or chips if you choose) and either water, milk or juice. At the Coronation show we saw someone giving Coke and popcorn to their baby so we wondered. The kid's meal also came with a pink straw that changes color in cold liquid. DD had fun with this straw and was still playing with it days later.
The 3 princesses came out at one point and I saw them interacting nicely with little girls who ran up to them, even though they were obviously on their way to somewhere else.
Next to the restaurant dining area is a separate area that includes coloring pages. I guess that is the princess craft area. There is nothing to stop people from eating in there and that might be fun.
It was super hot and we were looking for water out by Small World. We were told that there was no water for sales anywhere except on Main Street even after 11am! Next time we will stock up on water in advance.
We went into ToonTown to go on Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin using our Super FastPass. We got in quickly and then DD wanted to go again. We got a regular FastPass which had us coming back at 11:45. We tried to sneak in via the FastPass line at 11:35 but the Cast Member kicked us out. The stand-by line was about 50 minutes at that point.
We went through Minnie and Mickey's houses and then went to the Gadget GoCoaster. We didn't have to wait long to get on. It was a big favorite. It is super quick but that wasn't an issue since the line for it wasn't long at 11:30.
Characters wandering around ToonTown included Minnie Mouse, Pluto, and Goofy. All the characters were wandering around outside Roger Rabbit's CarToon spin and thereabouts. We saw Pluto again inside Minnie's house.
After riding Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin again, we went to Main Street and got a silhouette of DD made ($21 with frame). I have a silhouette of myself at the same age so I wanted to get hers before she gets any older. We also went shopping and got a baby Minnie plush ($19), a baby Mickey ($19), the promised pirate Minnie ($14), and a pirate Mickey ($14).
We were ready to go to California Adventure so DD changed out of her Ariel costume and into her High School Musical t-shirt and shorts.
We hopped over to California Adventure to get there in time for the High School Musical 2 Pep Rally show at 1pm. Do people go to DCA just because of HSM? Yes, I think people do. This was the thing DD wanted to do/see most when we talked about the trip. If they had High School Musical shows at Disneyland, I don't think we would have gotten a park hopper. Side note: When we were on the parking lot tram at the end of the day, I overheard a mom apologizing to her disappointed daughter because they had assumed that Disneyland would have some HSM content.
We staked out a spot for the show so that we could be in the front. Really, there weren't exactly crowds forming for it, but we couldn't be too careful. Did I mention it was hot? DD and I popped into the air conditioned stores to look at HSM merchandise near Sunshine Plaza while DH held our spot. There wasn't a lot of HSM merchandise anywhere but they did have a few t-shirts, and other items. There is a much better assortment at our local stores. We ended up getting a really nice HSM tee that I haven't seen anywhere else.
The show itself was really good. They didn't worry too much about making the characters look like the actual actors, and focused more on talent. There was one girl who looked and sang like Gabriella and she was very good. They did a nice job of including kids from the audience in the show at certain points. Even very little boys were able to play drums in the show. My own DD was too shy to participate but she loved it all anyway. They didn't sing "Fabulous" which was a surprise. They really didn't have a Sharpay character at all.
After the show ends, it travels over to another area of the park and they do it again. You have to admire those kids performing so well in that heat.
Next we went to the Monsters, Inc. ride. I don't know what the popular opinion of that ride is but we were underwhelmed. I've seen better animatronics at a Halloween Superstore. It looked like it was done on a very low budget. The Roz character at the end was cute but we will NOT be going on that ride again.
We were super hungry now and wanted a sit-down meal out of the heat so we headed over to the Wine Country area. We ate at the Wine Country Trattoria. We had the chicken panini, the veggie sandwich (I forget the name now) and DD has the pasta kid's meal. I got the broccoli soup and DH got a side salad.
Suddenly he noticed something with the salad and pushed it away. He said it had mold on it. I expected that there was some mysterious, unidentifiable spot. He showed me it was a black, furry patch about 1/2 inch across that was definitely mold. He told the waiter who looked right at the mold and said, "Oh, I'll get you another one." Not "Oh, yuck!" or "I'm sorry." or anything like that. He acted like it happened all the time. DH said that he didn't want another one!
While we were tempted to leave right then, we went ahead with the rest of the meal and everything was good. Well, they brought me someone else's entree at first, but that isn't a horrible thing. Not like moldy food. We checked to make sure they didn't charge us for the salad and they didn't. They didn't offer us a free dessert or anything either.
After the restaurant, we headed to Bug's Land. DD really loves the ladybug ride. On the way, she played in the water park area. It has a constantly changing maze of water spray. Rode the ladybug ride, Flik's Flyers, and went into the theatre for the "It's Tough To Be a Bug" show. We loved this! It was really one of the highlights of the visit.
We skipped The World's Slowest Bumper Cars and Heimlich's train. We headed over to the Pier area where DH rode California Screamin' with his Super FastPass while DD and I rode on King Triton's carousel. Next we all headed over to the Jellyfish Jump. It was pretty and kind of fun.
DD also enjoyed the play areas (SS Rustbucket?) next to the Jellyfish ride. Unfortunately, a lot of it was broken. We noticed throughout DCA that things didn't seem well maintained. Notice that Flik's Flyers apparently used to have propellers on each flyer. Now there are just bolts sticking out.
By this time we were constantly suffering from the heat no matter how much we got out of it, so it was time to leave. We found some deserving-looking people to give our Super FastPasses to since we had tons of passes left still. Overall it was a good, quick trip. There were quite a few rides I would have liked to have gone on at Disneyland that we couldn't fit in. DCA has very little that interests me since I don't like roller coasters or heights.
###
DH notes on doing a low-carb diet Disneyland:
-Fantasyland knockwurst stand: choice of beef or pork. Had a good lunch of knockwurst with saurkraut, onions, and peppers plus mustard. Took it out of the bun and onto the plastic tray.
-Turkey legs available around the entrance to the Castle area. Didn't try it but it looked good. $7.
-Wine Country Trattoria in DCA: Had chicken panini -- removed the bread. This gave him a full chicken breast, arugula, red peppers, mozzerella cheese, pesto aioli (pesto mayo). Very tasty and satisfying. (see DCA report for disturbing salad experience)
