Whew- OK, so I was trying to make the title something really specific for people looking for this info!
We were at Disneyland from April 7th-10th! This was our first visit at a family. My kids are 5 and 8.
The weather was VERY wet and chilly our first night, but we were determined to go right in that first night. Well, it was worth it. We walked on practically everything! I know it may not be the dream experience to be chilly and wet part of the time, but for us, it worked out great. The 2nd day was a bit warmer, but still got very chilly at night.
I used MANY of the tips I got from this board such as purchasing the photo pass gallery cd with the photopass coupon etc. Although, honestly, we had such a hard time finding photo pass people, I'm not sure I'd do it again. We ended up with only 28 photos taken, and about 3 or 4 were from the same "sitting", so only like 6 or 7 different settings. Not sure it was worth it. I'm guessing they have more photopass people out in summer?? We also used the light tower trick for viewing Fantasmic, and it worked like a charm!!! We walked right up at about 8:30pm. Stood until 9pm, and then up went the tower and we had a great view! We did the Princess Fantasy Faire first thing one morning (doesn't open until 9am, got in line at about 8:30 and were like 6th in line) and then Peter Pan on our Magic Morning. Speaking of Magic Morning, it's awesome! We probably rode 5 to 6 rides in that one hour, including the Matterhorn, TWICE! It was worth getting up early for.
As for characters. This was a very expensive, once in a lifetime trip for us, and being on a budget we chose to eliminate any character meals. I was very worried that my girls wouldn't get enough character interaction, and second guessed my decision over and over. Well, I'm happy to report without meals, we interacted and have photos with: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, TinkerBelle, Belle, Snow White, Tiana, Ariel, Snow White, Fairy Godmother, Peter Pan and Captain Hook. We also watched the whole Disney Band and Character Parade they do in front of the castle, so while I don't have pics of my Girls with the other characters, they did get to also see many others up close that were part of that.
We used the tip about being by the right side of the castle from 2:20-2:40pm, and that is where we saw Fairy Godmother, Snow White, Peter Pan and Captain Hook. It was AMAZING! The last 3 mentioned actually put on a whole private little show for the 20 or so of us that were there for a good 15 to 20 minutes back by the wishing well. It was so intimate and cool. Just thought others might like to know that if you elect NOT to do a meal, it IS possible to still have great interaction and not spend your life in lines. We didn't.
We stayed at the Tropicana Inn, and were quite happy with it. It's true what they say, the breakfast is not great, but it worked fine for us, as a tide me over to lunch in the park which we did each day. Juice, Coffee, Donuts, a couple danishes, apples and oranges. That's it. Other stuff you have to pay for. We kept our water bottles though, and would fill them with lemonade from the breakfast to take into the park first thing.
The pool and hot tub were fine, and we actually were quite pleased with our room. We live in the country and are VERY used to quiet. I was worried after hearing horror stories of noise from people on these boards, but we had no issues at the Tropicana. I will say there are exterior doors by the pool area etc. and then interior hallways, and we had an interior hallway entrance, so that may have made a difference. The room was clean,and beds were comfy. The only thing was they didn't have an actual tub, so if your little one needs baths and not showers, you may want to think about this. Mine were fine with showers, but it's just a walk in shower.
Also, I'm sure it's not a new thing to the savvy Disneyland goers, but our first night there we noticed Dominoes Pizza delivering to our hotel. Such a great idea, so we ended up doing that one night ourselves. Much cheaper then most the area restaurants.
We brought cheap 99 cent ponchos from walmart with us, and I'm glad we did. It was so chilly but we wanted to do the Grizzly River Run at CA. It's CRAZY what they sell ponchos for. We rode once, then just tossed them, and they took very little room in my little baggalini backpack.
The other thing we noticed, was if a ride goes down, many people bolt out of the line, however, for two different rides we were in line for that went down, we stayed, and they had the ride back up within 10 minutes and we practically walked on after that. So you might want to give it a minute or two.
Turtle Talk with Crush at CA was AMAZING!! He singled out our 5 year old and talked to her, and my husband and I first thing in the show! It was so exciting! We really had amazing luck during our trip, and much of it was due to info I got here. So thank you to EVERYONE that posts here, and hopefully my little addition here will help someone else!
Chris
We were at Disneyland from April 7th-10th! This was our first visit at a family. My kids are 5 and 8.
The weather was VERY wet and chilly our first night, but we were determined to go right in that first night. Well, it was worth it. We walked on practically everything! I know it may not be the dream experience to be chilly and wet part of the time, but for us, it worked out great. The 2nd day was a bit warmer, but still got very chilly at night.
I used MANY of the tips I got from this board such as purchasing the photo pass gallery cd with the photopass coupon etc. Although, honestly, we had such a hard time finding photo pass people, I'm not sure I'd do it again. We ended up with only 28 photos taken, and about 3 or 4 were from the same "sitting", so only like 6 or 7 different settings. Not sure it was worth it. I'm guessing they have more photopass people out in summer?? We also used the light tower trick for viewing Fantasmic, and it worked like a charm!!! We walked right up at about 8:30pm. Stood until 9pm, and then up went the tower and we had a great view! We did the Princess Fantasy Faire first thing one morning (doesn't open until 9am, got in line at about 8:30 and were like 6th in line) and then Peter Pan on our Magic Morning. Speaking of Magic Morning, it's awesome! We probably rode 5 to 6 rides in that one hour, including the Matterhorn, TWICE! It was worth getting up early for.
As for characters. This was a very expensive, once in a lifetime trip for us, and being on a budget we chose to eliminate any character meals. I was very worried that my girls wouldn't get enough character interaction, and second guessed my decision over and over. Well, I'm happy to report without meals, we interacted and have photos with: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, TinkerBelle, Belle, Snow White, Tiana, Ariel, Snow White, Fairy Godmother, Peter Pan and Captain Hook. We also watched the whole Disney Band and Character Parade they do in front of the castle, so while I don't have pics of my Girls with the other characters, they did get to also see many others up close that were part of that.
We used the tip about being by the right side of the castle from 2:20-2:40pm, and that is where we saw Fairy Godmother, Snow White, Peter Pan and Captain Hook. It was AMAZING! The last 3 mentioned actually put on a whole private little show for the 20 or so of us that were there for a good 15 to 20 minutes back by the wishing well. It was so intimate and cool. Just thought others might like to know that if you elect NOT to do a meal, it IS possible to still have great interaction and not spend your life in lines. We didn't.
We stayed at the Tropicana Inn, and were quite happy with it. It's true what they say, the breakfast is not great, but it worked fine for us, as a tide me over to lunch in the park which we did each day. Juice, Coffee, Donuts, a couple danishes, apples and oranges. That's it. Other stuff you have to pay for. We kept our water bottles though, and would fill them with lemonade from the breakfast to take into the park first thing.
The pool and hot tub were fine, and we actually were quite pleased with our room. We live in the country and are VERY used to quiet. I was worried after hearing horror stories of noise from people on these boards, but we had no issues at the Tropicana. I will say there are exterior doors by the pool area etc. and then interior hallways, and we had an interior hallway entrance, so that may have made a difference. The room was clean,and beds were comfy. The only thing was they didn't have an actual tub, so if your little one needs baths and not showers, you may want to think about this. Mine were fine with showers, but it's just a walk in shower.
Also, I'm sure it's not a new thing to the savvy Disneyland goers, but our first night there we noticed Dominoes Pizza delivering to our hotel. Such a great idea, so we ended up doing that one night ourselves. Much cheaper then most the area restaurants.
We brought cheap 99 cent ponchos from walmart with us, and I'm glad we did. It was so chilly but we wanted to do the Grizzly River Run at CA. It's CRAZY what they sell ponchos for. We rode once, then just tossed them, and they took very little room in my little baggalini backpack.
The other thing we noticed, was if a ride goes down, many people bolt out of the line, however, for two different rides we were in line for that went down, we stayed, and they had the ride back up within 10 minutes and we practically walked on after that. So you might want to give it a minute or two.
Turtle Talk with Crush at CA was AMAZING!! He singled out our 5 year old and talked to her, and my husband and I first thing in the show! It was so exciting! We really had amazing luck during our trip, and much of it was due to info I got here. So thank you to EVERYONE that posts here, and hopefully my little addition here will help someone else!
Chris
We were there on April 7th too! Maybe we walked right by each other.
