Aussie Shaz's Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland TR

[aussie shaz]

I thought I'd start a new thread with my TR, rather than continuing on from the PTR. I will probably repeat some of the stuff and photos from the 'Live TR' but thought it best to be all in one spot.

I think I have decided to do a TR about the different things we did and how I felt about them, rather than a blow by blow, day by day TR.

We'll see how it goes, and may change mid TR!

The flight: We flew Virgin and they were great. The only schedule change was by about 5 mins on the outbound, and that was advised early. I had booked the flights with an online company because they were a few dollars cheaper, but the problem was when I wanted to request seat allocations. Virgin told me they couldn't do it because I had booked through a travel agent, and the online company told me they couldn't do it, that I'd have to go through Virgin. I finally ended up booking them with Virgin directly, was told they were $20 per seat per flight and was happy with that to make sure we got the configuration we wanted. Ended up that Virgin called me back and said that no payment was required. No idea why, but I was pretty happy.

The seats on Virgin are pretty comfortable. The food is typical airline food, and served at the strangest of times. They do have a snack 'bar' which offered packets of chips, soft drinks, and at one time my son told me there was also sushi!

Overall, they were good and we'd definitely fly with them again.

And by the way, my hubby did not die on the flight, just didn't get any sleep

Our Accommodation:

We stayed in 2 types of accommodation. Basically we thought that a condo would be great for the extra room and homely feel, but couldn't get it confirmed for all of our nights. So we did 6 nights Hojo in a Kids Suite and 9 nights at the condo. This worked out great because our friends came with us for the first 5 nights, so we could all be at the same hotel. It also gave us that Harbour Blvd feel

Hojos was good. Reception was so much smaller than I imagined from the photos. Not a problem, just different. They held a whole heap of packages for me before we arrived, even from about 5 months out. I think that was brilliant service. I just about filled one of those bell hop luggage trolleys with my boxes. (No, I did not get a photo, but should have)

The Kids Suite was good. you walk into the Kids room from the inside corridor. It has a bunk, small coffee table, fold out sofa, bathroom, TV and drawers. The main bedroom had a king size bed, bathroom, TV, mini fridge and drawers. Comfortable for a hotel.

The pool was pretty nice, and there was also the kids water splash area with one of those bucket things. This area also had a spa. The only problem was not enough seats in the shade. (The weather was beautiful and about 25-30C)

The Kids Suite



Main bedroom



Splash park



The condo I found through a review from an Aussie on Tripadvisor and we loved it. It was off Walnut, which is on the other side of Disneyland. I had read about how far it was and how you could walk to the carpark trams and go from there. Really, these people have walked 10km around Disneyland every day, can you not just enjoy the lovely walk through Downtown Disney? It took just under 20 mins I guess, but half of this was through DTD, so it just didn't seem that far. We did try out the trams, and also took the Monorail, but neither saved time, just leg work. We chose to walk nearly every time.

The condos had a pool available for everyone to use, and also had a spa. I didn't go in but the kids did most days. It was perfect for watching the Disneyland fireworks. We could also see the fireworks from our upstairs bedroom window, which was amazing.

Our condo had everything imaginable that you might need, and we even left some vegemite for the next visitors. If they're Aussies, they'll probably love us for it, if not, I guess it will get chucked

Lounge with outdoor area



Kitchen/dining



Kids room included a gift bag for each kid, princess dresses to dress up in, toys, drawing pads and pencils, DVD's, etc etc etc



Main bedroom with double bed



Bathrooms: kids, main, downstairs. All gorgeously decorated

 

[kylieh]

Love a TR!! I'm in.

On the condo - I'm guessing we're staying the same set of condos where they are all advertised from IYKWIM!! IF you did do the tram was it easy to get to where the tram goes from? I street viewed and couldn't work out how to get through the bushes

Looking forward to reading and viewing more!

 

[aussie shaz]

Love a TR!! I'm in.

On the condo - I'm guessing we're staying the same set of condos where they are all advertised from IYKWIM!! IF you did do the tram was it easy to get to where the tram goes from? I street viewed and couldn't work out how to get through the bushes

Looking forward to reading and viewing more!

Hi Kylieh,

I guess most of the condos are in the same area. excellent spot.
You walk across Walnut, and theres a road that leads to the parking lots and trams on the left, or turn right towards DLH and DTD. Very easy if you're in the condos we were in. Its a pretty big area. We were in near the pool, but pretty much could walk directly to where you cross the road to get to DL.

 

[aussie shaz]

Now to the weather and Time of Year to travel:

We picked May for a few reasons. I mostly worked back from about September, taking out school holidays (Aus and US), and things that the kids didn't want to miss out on at school. This brought us back to the end of May.

As I said, the weather was perfect. High 20's most days, pure blue after the marine layer had burnt off at about 10.30am. I only needed a light jacket on a couple of the evenings. No rain and no wind. Yay!

We had previously been in August and I would say most days the crowds were similar. Mornings were not too bad, and afternoons got busy. We really don't notice the crowds because we use Ridemax, and it has us going on all of the rides at the best times. We didn't wait in line for anything longer than about 20 mins, and that was about twice. On the days we didn't use Ridemax, we knew which rides to go on when.

The only downer to this time of year was Grad nights and other school kids. There were thousands of them! I think it was the middle school kids on band trips and dance concerts that were probably more noticeable. They and the Grads were all wearing matching t shirts and/or Grad Mickey Ears (which I would so get if I was graduating). There was lots of hooting and hollering and clapping around, especially a problem if you got caught near them in lines or on rides. As I said, we didn’t stand in lines much so it wasn’t too bad. We had other friends who went at the same time who said that their young children would have got an education on all things Teen with all of the PDA in lines etc. We saw none of this at all. I guess we weren’t in lines long enough to notice it.

We did lose a Space Mountain photo because one of the lovely Teen boys in our car decided to stick his middle finger up. I heard him tell his friend, so I knew what had happened when our photo was locked. Luckily the lovely photo CM asked if we would mind riding again, and we could get another photo. Mind riding again??? It was our last day and our last ride on Space, so we would be happy to ride again, Thank you very much

Otherwise, this time of the year was great.

You can see the beautiful blue sky here. There was never a cloud in the sky.

 

[aussie shaz]

Disneyland

Well, I guess you know how much I love Disneyland. I had so wanted to go back since last holiday, and finally we got to go. I will say that I would love to go back, but I think I’m happy with the fact that it may be a few years away. (I’m only home 3 days, so maybe I’ll change my mind in a few weeks!)

We arrived into Anaheim on a Saturday, and checked in straight away to our room (which was more great service by the HOJO). We met up with our friends who had arrived on a different flight and headed to Disneyland. We had done this last holiday and it worked really well.

We had to exchange our 10 day pass print-out for our tickets, which didn’t take long at all. No waiting at the ticket booth. We went in with the view that we would just walk around and immerse ourselves in Disneyland, get a lay of the land, and maybe do a ride or 2 if we could.
First things first was to take the train around the park. After this, we walked down Main St and I was so happy.



I had to exchange our Photopass Plus voucher for the real deal, so we stopped off at the Photo shop. There was a cashier serving a family and about 5 other staff members waiting around. Perfect, this won’t take long at all. Not so….The other staff members couldn’t help me, I had to go to the cashier. One cashier, 5 other staff members who weren’t cashiers. So I wait….and wait….and wait. I guess it was about 10 mins. I finally get to the cashier, give her my voucher, she gives me a receipt and tells me to go back over to the 5 other staff members who were still doing nothing to get my Photopass Plus card and lanyard. Appalling customer service. Not a good start to the day.

We did wander around but it was just too busy. Really, really busy. So we went on Winnie the Pooh, and left Disneyland for our day. Not what I had hoped for. That night I was really worried that maybe this trip might not be as magical as the last. I had nothing to worry about

We did the next 4 days fairly much full DL and DCA. We tried to choose which park had no early entry to go to, unless we had early entry. On our Early Entry day at DL, we did all of the Fantasyland rides (Peter Pan, Alice, Teacups, Pinocchio and Snow White). Then we followed our Ridemax plan and did Astro Orbiter, Buzz, Space, Autopia, Indiana Jones and Splash. (Splash had been down earlier, as had Gadgets Go coaster in Toontown)

One of our favorites - Splash



We had one problem with the photopass CM at Splash. I guess some may say it was our fault, but I was pretty upset at her attitude. We had done heaps of rides before this day and had always remembered the last 3 digits of our photo. This day she asked us for all 6 digits. Of course we couldn’t remember them. She typed a number in and showed us and it wasn’t ours. She wouldn’t show us the photos before or after to see if maybe we’d got a number wrong. We went back to see if the photo was still showing, but of course it wasn’t. I went back and hoped to get another CM, but No, it was her again. She still had a horrid attitude, but allowed us to look through the photos. Apparently (and I didn’t notice it anywhere else) the photos aren’t necessarily in number order. Anyway, we didn’t find our photo so I was a bit sad.

After this it was getting pretty crowded, so we decide to leave the park and have some pool time. We were headed to the Baseball, so we didn’t go back. All in all, I think we fitted in a fair few rides for our Early Entry day.

We used Ridemax on most of our 4 days at DL/DCA. We got in heaps of rides. I had missed out on Small World, Teacups, Dumbo, Tarzans Treehouse, Matterhorn and Hollywood Tower last time, but did them this time, so that was great.

Small World





I think that maybe the Canoes are the only things I now haven’t done at Disneyland. (Oh, and Caseys Train. But I did Storybook Canal last time so I count them as one seeing you see the same things!)

We saw the Fireworks outside the castle one night, which is my absolute favourite thing at Disneyland. We watched a bit of Fantasmic, but didn’t stay as we’d seen it last time and it was getting pretty late. We saw the parade and sat outside the King and Queen bathrooms. It is a great spot because it's not too busy, the parade route gets really skinny so you're really close, and there's no-one allowed opposite you, so all of the characters face and interact with you.

Outside the King and Queen bathrooms



We also went to Innoventions to see the Ironman suits. We had seen Ironman 3 before we left so was interested to see the suits. It was OK, but very busy so we couldn’t get to do much. We should have gone early or late, but it just didn’t fit in anywhere else.

We rode our favourite rides many multiples of times. Of course they were Space and Splash. Some other rides we did over again too.

We did find something new that we missed last time and the kids loved it. It was the Petting Zoo at Big Thunder Ranch. I didn’t even know it existed until I read about it on the Disboards. It’s a great, quiet area to hang out in. We even saw The Country Bears at Big Thunder Ranch.

Country Bears were hilarious!











Petting zoo





Jessie and I

 

[Mum from oz]

Loving the TR so far. We have been twice in May and it is an awesome time to go. We also stayed in that condo. It is just perfect isn't it!!

 

[kylieh]

Cool - thanks for the info on the Condo location. We looked at the one you were lucky enough to stay in, it wasn't available on our dates, but we have another one in the same complex!

I had no idea about the petting zoo either! Or the Country Bears. Where I have been?

Weather looked great- thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Busy Busy]

Great TR so far Shaz and lovely photos too - very enjoyable for this jet-lagged reader!!

 

[aussie shaz]

Disney's California Adventure

I do really like this park, but it just isn’t Disneyland. It has some really great rides, fun areas to see, and great shows, but it just doesn’t have that Disneyland feel that only comes with 58 years of magic.

Our first full day spent at CA we followed Ridemax again. We started at Toy story Mania (which I really don’t see the hype in), then we did Mickeys Wheel of Death while hubby went to get us all RSR fastpasses. The line wasn’t very long at all and he also got fastpasses for Soarin. We then went to check out Grizzly River Run, but it was down, so we headed to The Little Mermaid. It’s not a bad ride, especially when there is zero wait.

Toy Story Mania



The little Mermaid





We then headed back to Grizzly. This is one of our very favourite rides. My 10yo gets upset if he isn’t the wettest when we come off it. We went on it over and over and over in our 10 days there. Didn’t matter what time of the day. We got wet, but we dried (usually within the day!)

Grizzly





We then went on Goofys Sky School, Silly Symphony Swings, and then Soarin. We askede to wait to be in the front row, middle. This is the only way we’ve ever done this ride, and it’s the only way I ever want to. Who wants feet dangling to mess up the feel of flying. We only waited an extra 10 mins or so.

We then did Muppet Vision and Monsters Inc. By this time it was lunchtime.
After lunch the friends wanted to do some shopping in DL, so we headed over there. While they shopped we got heaps of Photopass photos near the hub. The photographer was brilliant and took heaps of different poses in different places and added some magic shots. After going on Astro Orbiter we went back to DCA.

Goofys Instant concert, just add water





Muppet vision



It was time for our RSR fastpasses, so we headed to Carsland for the very first time, ever.
Hmmmm, I was a little disappointed I hate to say. We have seen the movie and love that it is just like the show, but it was a bit of a letdown. I think it was a bit smaller than I imagined, and you could see the rest of DCA, so it kind of spoilt the feeling of being in Radiator Springs. I must say that being there at night is a completely different experience, and I absolutely loved it.
Our first ride on RSR was ok. Good to have a different ride, but not anything like the hype. Also, when we got to the photo area, it was all locked up. No photos for us.

Filmores Taste In



Hats my kids wanted (but didn't get)





The Cozy Cone Motel















We then headed to It’s Tough to be a Bug, and then California Screamin. Another favourite. Then back to Grizzly.

Then we went back to the hotel and had a swim. Didn’t go back to DCA.

The next time we went to DCA we had done Space, Haunted Mansion and Splash (twice without getting off!) and Jungle Cruise at DL. When we got to DCA we did Screamin (our 6th ride of the day). Other friends we saw there were doing their 2nd ride of the day (they had lined up in Standby for RSR)
We then did Hollywood Tower and Grizzly before having lunch. The rest of this day was in DL.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Loving your trip report Shaz. Your photos are wonderful

 

[aussie shaz]

Food Glorious Food!

Well, we’re not foodies at all, so this may be fairly boring for all of you foodies out there!

We had McDonalds for breakfast on a few mornings that we wanted to be at the park before opening. It was pretty handy as it was on the way from the Hojo. We had cereal or toast every morning while at the condo, so that was a good change from Maccas! We also cooked some home cooked dinners which again, was a nice change.

We did have Mimis for breakfast on the friends last morning, which was quite nice. The other morning we did the Minnie and Friends breakfast. Again, it is pretty expensive compared to other breakfast options, but it is so worth it for the character interaction. The food was standard breakfast buffet and the characters were great.

Minnies











Pinocchio is so cheeky!




Some lunches we had in the park, but we found each restaurant had a limited number of meal options, so it was difficult for everyone to find somewhere to eat all at the same place. We had corndogs from the Little Red Wagon at DL and Corndog castle at DCA (so yummy). We had hotdogs at Award Weiners in DCA. We tried out Village Haus in DL, which I’d never even seen before. It was pretty expensive for what we got, and really crowded. And we did Garden Grill in DCA a couple of times which was average.



Village Haus



We also ate at Subway, Dennys and McD’s for lunches. Dennys was surprisingly yummy!



Dinners were more McD’s and KFC if we had had a long day. We would stay in the room/condo and hubby would go out and get dinner. On one occasion I actually started to wonder how I would find out what happened to him if he didn’t return. How was anyone to know how to contact me? Anyway, he finally arrived home after over an hour and going to about 3 different places and picking up some cold and flu tablets for me.
Anyway, we did eat at some better places than junk food! We went to Millies on our first night and thought it was nice. On a par with Mimi’s if you ask me.
Tony Romas was another nice place. I really enjoyed it and it’s directly across from the Disneyland entrance. We walked by at lunchtime and made a reservation for dinner. It wasn’t busy at all.
We did Mimi’s for dinner and got our 4 free muffins which were yummo. If you join up to their e club within a week or so of going, they send you a voucher for the free muffins.





We had dinner at Flo’s in Carsland which was great. We had roast beef, mashed potatos and veges, which was a great change from all the crap we had eaten. We ate outside and watched the cars race by.







One night we decided to try a place called Sonic Drive In. Its like one of those old places that you drive up and order, and eat in your car. Yeah, well, the idea was great, but the food was terrible. Stay away from it I say.



We also went to the Carnation Café for dinner one night. The kids loved eating inside Disneyland, but I thought it was just ok. I guess if you’re short on time then you don’t have to leave the park.
Lastly we went to the Cheesecake Factory. I had heard so much about it I really wanted to go. It was a toss up between here, Outback steakhouse and Bubba Gumps at Garden Walk. We decided against Bubba Gumps as none of us like shrimp, and went with Cheesecake factory. I had a steak and it was beautiful.

Bubba Gumps



Oh, and we also did Goofys Kitchen for dinner. I probably wouldn't do this again. Minnie's definitely, Goofys, probably not. There were less characters, the foods was pretty average (or less) and it just costs so much.

The kids outside Goofy's Kitchen











And we didn't know who this one was. She had to introduce herself!!



My desert plate



Oh, and lastly, my favourite meal, lunch or dinner, is In N Out Burger!

 

[aussie shaz]

OK, I'm hating Photobucket at the moment, so when I feel like dealing with it again, I will add more photos to the last post

 

[Mum from oz]

Great photos, especially Carsland.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great TR! Loving the pictures and the recaps.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Food Glorious Food!

But....but....but....where's the food porn?????

 

[Saskiwi]

Great TR- its cool reading from someone who was there at DL the same time as us! Gutted we didnt get to the Big Thunder Jamboree- if we'd known the Country Bears were there we would have been there in a shot...
Agree In n Out burger is just toooooo good. It is so nice to have a really short menu too, in the Land of a Gadzillion Options (see Cheesecake Factory's giant book of a menu!!) at In N Out you can have a burger, fries and a shake - end of story!

Just doing another load of washing and then will get round to finishing my TR.... Promise!

 

[Caroline NZ]

Great TR- its cool reading from someone who was there at DL the same time as us! Gutted we didnt get to the Big Thunder Jamboree- if we'd known the Country Bears were there we would have been there in a shot...
Agree In n Out burger is just toooooo good. It is so nice to have a really short menu too, in the Land of a Gadzillion Options (see Cheesecake Factory's giant book of a menu!!) at In N Out you can have a burger, fries and a shake - end of story!

Just doing another load of washing and then will get round to finishing my TR.... Promise!

At least it's a good day for washing

We haven't eaten at In and Out yet, but would like to this time.

 

[aussie shaz]

I have got a few food shots. Not sure how exciting they'll be, but will add them when I've got the patience to deal with Photobucket!

Caroline, you HAVE to have In N Out. It is so yummy.

Saskiwi, looking forward to hearing the rest of your trip. I agree about the menu book at Cheesecake factory. It's all well and good to have a big choice, but you just can't read the whole thing in enough time to not have your dinner at midnight.

 

[aussie shaz]

Shopping!

We love a bit of shopping, but it has to be nice and cheap, no high end brands for us!

Firstly, I was a bit disappointed about the cost of runners. We did get a couple of pairs that were pretty cheap, but still paying $90 for a pair of kids Nikes wasn't the greatest deal. We did end up with about 12 pairs of shoes. We also bought lots of t shirts, I got some yoga pants from Old Navy (we love it there) and a couple of tops from Gap.

We bought quite a few toys. My kids, although they are 10 and 12 year old boys, still love soft toys. They aren't allowed to buy them at home, so we came home with a few of them.

I also did quite a bit of online shopping and had it delivered to the Hojo, so that was great to get stuff we either can't get delivered here, or its prohibitively expensive (ie Disney Store)

Our favourite shop would be Walmart!! We really only bought groceries and a couple of cheap t shirts there, but we loved just looking around! Anything we needed....lets go to Walmart!



This is our stash. There was quite a few pieces of clothing missing due to them being in the wash.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Way to go. Love the stash!



And Where's Perry? x 3.