A magical time...with a few bumps

[jonahsmommy]

Hi there,
Just got back and thought I would post about our trip, didn't see a certain area so I hope I'm posting in the right spot.

Who? DH, Me, DS- age 6 (had his birthday there along with me) and MIL- age 70

How long? Nov. 14-18

Where? We stayed at the DLH for the 2nd time in a 2 bedroom/bathroom suite on the 10th level in the Frontier tower with 2 balconies facing the park

Disneyland Hotel:
+ had our room ready when we arrived at 10:30 am, wow!!

- our suite was on the 12th floor, but faced the parking lot so I went to see if we could switch rooms. The front desk clerk who helped us when we checked in had told us that we would be able to see the fireworks from our room and since we couldn't, I thought that we would go check and see if maybe they had another room. It doesn't hurt to ask I thought, I was so wrong. She was already annoyed with me because I had to remind her to check our APs so we could get the discount, she replied well "I guess I could do that now". When was she going to check??

When I asked if there was any other room we even offered to switch to a different tower or a lower level floor, I just wanted to be able to have DS see the fireworks from our room, she told me "didn't you listen when I checked you in, I said that was all that I had, I can't just make a room appear you know."

I was so stunned I couldn't respond and DH took over and I sat in one of the teacups. I understand that they can't promise anything but to be told that in such a rude manner was horrible. DH asked to speak to the manager and we were told that the next night we would be able to move to the other side and see the fireworks. We moved the next day and yes I did speak to the manager and told him about our conversation. He said "oh sorry that happened to you" and that was that. Overall, not happy with the staff at the front desk, I am really going to have to think whether we will stay there again.
+the view from our room, the one on the 10th floor was amazing though and we loved watching the fireworks from there
+/- the pool with the slides was closed while we were there on Wed-Friday but opened at 3:00 on Friday and DS was so happy to go on the monorail slide

DCA:
+ Carsland was just stunning at night. We loved all the Christmas decorations
- bummed about the lack of Christmas themed stuff. We did get DS a Christmas Mater t-shirt and the 2 Christmas mugs but we would have loved to have seen Carsland Christmas pins or even a diecast Mater in a Santa hat with his tractors as his reindeers
+ Buena Street beautiful
+ played the Boardwalk games for the 1st time, DS LOVED this, thanks for those that mentioned it on a thread, I would have never thought to play the games
- Not alot of CM have pins to trade so I was bummed
+Almost all the CMs stopped and wished DS and I a Happy Birthday
+ LOVED watching Prep and Landing, an extra sweet surprise since we didn't know it would be playing while we were there
- again bummed about the lack of Prep and Landing merchandise
+ weather was just perfect!!
+ got in line for the fast pass for the racers at 9:03 am and had them 20 minutes later, line was very fast and talked to some great people, this was on Thursday

Disneyland:
+ what can I say....it's Disneyland!!!!
- a little bummed again about the lack of CM that had trading pins, but I got over it.
- bummed about the lack of Small World merchandise, we always get something to add to our collection (have the blanket, the pin, the sticker book) but they didn't have anything this time
- no more pressed pennies books, I checked everywhere

Overall had a wonderful time, perfect weather, it only rained once in a downpour for about 10 minutes while we were on the Jungle Cruise but I will have to really rethink DLR, maybe GC next time?

 

[Rhonna]

Hi there,

- bummed about the lack of Small World merchandise, we always get something to add to our collection (have the blanket, the pin, the sticker book) but they didn't have anything this time

We were there the week before you and saw two or three different (from each other) and unique looking SW mugs at WOD store. We weren't looking for SW merchandise but I remember them. We didn't bother to look at the little shop outside of SW.

The CM at check in was way out of line. We've had decent encounters but never super friendly service at their front desk.

 

[Fivers]

If you're looking for a good time to do CM pin trading and you're willing to give up a bit of your morning, often first thing when the gates open (if there's no rope drop) Main Street will be lined with CMs, and most of them will have pins. The CMs in front of Tiki Room usually had lots too. My Mom and I often got some great pins first thing in the morning, and had some really good conversations with really nice CMs! One very nice security guard even gave us a readmission pass to any ride we wanted, so we figured that made up the time we lost anyways, lol!

Also, all the Disney hotels have pin boards either behind the front desk, or at the visitor info booth. Granted, I couldn't blame you for not wanting to talk to the DLH front desk people again, that's awful! I can't believe she was so rude! Hope you had lots of good Disney magic to make up for it the rest of your trip!

 

[larina]

The betel gift shops also usually have pin books.