pblack
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2017
- Messages
- 1,598
Hello! 
Just back from our really quick weekend trip to the park and I thought i'd write up a brief overview. We left our area (Sacramento) at 4:30 Friday afternoon and managed to get to our hotel just after 11 PM. We stayed at the Best Western Anaheim Inn across from the main entrance to the parks.
We really enjoyed this hotel! It was a quick 5 minute walk to the main gates/security area. The breakfast they provide is pretty decent. Saturday morning they had: eggs, sausage patties, french toast sticks, potatoes, pastries, yogurts (both Greek and regular), oatmeal, apples, bananas, cereal, juice, coffee. Sunday morning was pretty much the same except instead of sausage patties they had ham. We had room 109 which was first floor, just past the lobby and next to the elevator. At first I thought being directly next to the elevator would be an issue noise wise, but we actually never even heard it! It was also right next to ice and a soda vending machine. There was a snack vending machine near the lobby.
I had two very minor complaints, neither of which ruined or impacted my experience at all. The first was that I was only able to book a 2 double bed room. It was just my husband and I, and let's just be honest...a double bed for two adults is just a little tight. The hotel is going through a refurbishment though, and it sounds like the new rooms will have 2 queen beds which I would definitely be happy with. Second minor complaint was that every so often the room had a rotten egg smell and we couldn't tell if it came from the A/C or the bathroom. It didn't last long enough any particular time to complain about and it really wasn't that huge of a deal. Would we stay here again? Definitely!
Saturday morning we were in the park at 7:30 AM for rope drop. My first order of business was getting the new Starbucks "You are here" cup. We waited in the short line for Starbucks, bought MaxPass, bought my cup, rented a locker, and then we were off to wait at the rope for adventureland. This was our first encounter with using MaxPass and we absolutely loved it! I will say that it wasn't necessarily needed as early as we got there, but come lunch time and in the evening, it definitely paid for itself!
We mostly rode attractions that had Fastpass available. Space Mountain is currently down for the ghost galaxy overlay (and I think refurbishment) so we didn't get to go on it. Here's a list of what we did go on throughout the day (mostly in order I think): Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, the train, Soarin, Toy Story Mania, Screamin', Toy Story Mania, Radiator Springs Racers, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion. I feel like we did one or two others that I just can't think of at the moment. We never waited more than 15 mins for any particular ride with MaxPass.
For lunch we tried Carnation Cafe (for my first time) because I always hear how great the potato soup and fried pickles are. Well....I'm going to be completely honest and say that I wasn't overly impressed with either of them. The fried pickles we're decent, but they needed some seasoning on the breading. As far as the soup goes, I feel like I make better potato soup
. We did get their special which was a turkey club sandwich and it was decent enough. My husband also got the chili which he liked. With the $50 price tag for lunch, I probably won't be going back. I'm glad I at least tried it though.
For dinner we ate at the French Market Cafe which I really like. I had the chicken plate and hubby had the french dip. We both enjoyed our meal. We did have beignets for dessert, but since I tried Cafe du Monde beignets last year...these ones were just kinda sad. I did feel like they were having an off night though, because I've had the Mickey beignets before and thoroughly enjoyed them.
We never really felt like the crowds were ridiculous on Saturday. It was really warm and humid out though, so that could have kept some people away. We decided to take a break after lunch and head back to the hotel for a nap. We were probably in the parks from 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM and then 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM. We didn't go into the parks yesterday (Sunday) due to the parks late opening for ChocWalk. Instead we checked out Roasting Water coffee house (which my co-workers rave about) and hit the road home. I definitely recommend checking them out if you're in the area (with a car). I think I've covered all the main points I wanted to hit. If anyone has any questions please let me know and i'll try to answer!
Just back from our really quick weekend trip to the park and I thought i'd write up a brief overview. We left our area (Sacramento) at 4:30 Friday afternoon and managed to get to our hotel just after 11 PM. We stayed at the Best Western Anaheim Inn across from the main entrance to the parks.
We really enjoyed this hotel! It was a quick 5 minute walk to the main gates/security area. The breakfast they provide is pretty decent. Saturday morning they had: eggs, sausage patties, french toast sticks, potatoes, pastries, yogurts (both Greek and regular), oatmeal, apples, bananas, cereal, juice, coffee. Sunday morning was pretty much the same except instead of sausage patties they had ham. We had room 109 which was first floor, just past the lobby and next to the elevator. At first I thought being directly next to the elevator would be an issue noise wise, but we actually never even heard it! It was also right next to ice and a soda vending machine. There was a snack vending machine near the lobby.
I had two very minor complaints, neither of which ruined or impacted my experience at all. The first was that I was only able to book a 2 double bed room. It was just my husband and I, and let's just be honest...a double bed for two adults is just a little tight. The hotel is going through a refurbishment though, and it sounds like the new rooms will have 2 queen beds which I would definitely be happy with. Second minor complaint was that every so often the room had a rotten egg smell and we couldn't tell if it came from the A/C or the bathroom. It didn't last long enough any particular time to complain about and it really wasn't that huge of a deal. Would we stay here again? Definitely!
Saturday morning we were in the park at 7:30 AM for rope drop. My first order of business was getting the new Starbucks "You are here" cup. We waited in the short line for Starbucks, bought MaxPass, bought my cup, rented a locker, and then we were off to wait at the rope for adventureland. This was our first encounter with using MaxPass and we absolutely loved it! I will say that it wasn't necessarily needed as early as we got there, but come lunch time and in the evening, it definitely paid for itself!
We mostly rode attractions that had Fastpass available. Space Mountain is currently down for the ghost galaxy overlay (and I think refurbishment) so we didn't get to go on it. Here's a list of what we did go on throughout the day (mostly in order I think): Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Indiana Jones, the train, Soarin, Toy Story Mania, Screamin', Toy Story Mania, Radiator Springs Racers, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion. I feel like we did one or two others that I just can't think of at the moment. We never waited more than 15 mins for any particular ride with MaxPass.
For lunch we tried Carnation Cafe (for my first time) because I always hear how great the potato soup and fried pickles are. Well....I'm going to be completely honest and say that I wasn't overly impressed with either of them. The fried pickles we're decent, but they needed some seasoning on the breading. As far as the soup goes, I feel like I make better potato soup
. We did get their special which was a turkey club sandwich and it was decent enough. My husband also got the chili which he liked. With the $50 price tag for lunch, I probably won't be going back. I'm glad I at least tried it though. For dinner we ate at the French Market Cafe which I really like. I had the chicken plate and hubby had the french dip. We both enjoyed our meal. We did have beignets for dessert, but since I tried Cafe du Monde beignets last year...these ones were just kinda sad. I did feel like they were having an off night though, because I've had the Mickey beignets before and thoroughly enjoyed them.
We never really felt like the crowds were ridiculous on Saturday. It was really warm and humid out though, so that could have kept some people away. We decided to take a break after lunch and head back to the hotel for a nap. We were probably in the parks from 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM and then 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM. We didn't go into the parks yesterday (Sunday) due to the parks late opening for ChocWalk. Instead we checked out Roasting Water coffee house (which my co-workers rave about) and hit the road home. I definitely recommend checking them out if you're in the area (with a car). I think I've covered all the main points I wanted to hit. If anyone has any questions please let me know and i'll try to answer!
