LauraAngel
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2001
- Messages
- 60
Hey all- I'm back from a trip July 12-16 to DL. I flew in from Chicago to Orange County airport and stayed at the Sheraton Anaheim. Just thought I'd pass along a few tips/comments from my trip, with the hope that they might help others:
1) I took a WDW pass that I got on a Feb. 2006 trip which had exactly 4 days left on it. It was a Magic Your Way ticket with park hopper and no expiration and was purchased separately from my room, though I bought the pass days at my hotel and they did add it to my room key, which I'm guessing may have made a difference. I took it up to the gate as people on here had done in the past and asked to use it for admission. The girl at the gate knew what to do and called a supervisor who took the ticket to the office. I waited a good 20 minutes before the woman returned with my ticket and informed me that she was sorry, as they usually can take WDW tickets, but this one they could not. They had tried calling WDW even to see if they could help, as the DL system could not do anything with it, and they said that the ticket could only be used at WDW. She couldn't give me any more explanation than that, but the woman was extremely sweet and actually gave me a one day park hopper to use that day, as she felt bad that she couldn't make my ticket work. I definitely felt like that was above and beyond the call of duty, but it was greatly appreciated. So... just a warning to anyone thinking of using a WDW ticket... go with the idea that you MAY be able to use it, but don't be shocked if you can't...
2) Nemo is best left for later in the day. It seemed like every morning everyone rushed the ride and the line got absolutely out of control long. It was definitely the longest of any time I saw it at that time. Meanwhile the rest of the park felt deserted and you could walk on almost any ride. I waited less than an hour to ride it on Sunday evening. After watching the fireworks at IASW, I was walking to Space Mountain and noticed how short the line seemed. After the fireworks was a great time to get in line. I had pretty well given up on seeing it this trip, as I wasn't really wanting to spend 3 hours in line by myself, but just happened into some good timing. All in all though, afternoon and evening seemed to have much shorter lines than morning. Also- watch for line cutters. I had a group of teenagers who magically appeared in front of me, even though 5 minutes earlier they were 3 lanes back... Also seemed like a LOT of people holding spots. I understand if you have little ones, or it's just a couple people, but I had one family in front of me that went from 2 people to literally 20 by the time we got up front... it was a bit much. I was happy to get to ride Nemo, but all in all, I'm very glad I didn't wait hours.
3) If you are thinking about staying at the Sheraton, I highly recommend it. The dedicated shuttle service was reliable and timely. My room was huge and had a very comfy bed. The deli/snack shop there stays open very late so you can get drinks and snacks when you get back to the hotel. All of the staff there were very very nice. The only negative thing I can say about it is that the bathroom was very tiny. (If anyone is interested in pics of the room, lemme know).
4) Flying INTO the OC airport was easy and I appreciated the small size and quick trip to DL. Flying OUT of the OC airport was H*LL! I got to the airport with 2 hours to spare and spend almost 30 minutes checking in and AN HOUR AND A HALF in security. I barely made my flight, and everyone in the security lane was totally stressed out and worried about missing flights. They clearly are not prepared for the number of people coming through during peak times, as they have only two security lanes on each of two lines (a total of 4 lanes for the ENTIRE airport), and they move VERY slowly. It also didn't help that there seemed to be a LOT of people who didn't understand the quart size baggie bit who were fiddling around with stuff and being forced to throw things out. The security lady on my lane was in quite a mood, yelling at everyone to "take their water and liquids OUT of the bag and NOT try to hide them." Then, because everyone had to rush onto the plane, they were starving, so by the time the flight attendents got to the back of my plane, they were out of pretty much every food item they had to sell and most of the kinds of drinks... I have to say, I personally would either go out of my way to travel there during off times or else go through LAX, where I've had better experiences.
5) Don't hesitate to go alone! I had no problems traveling solo, and while I enjoy going with others, it was fun and a very different experience doing it by myself!
Alright... more if I think of it, but please, if anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
-Laura
1) I took a WDW pass that I got on a Feb. 2006 trip which had exactly 4 days left on it. It was a Magic Your Way ticket with park hopper and no expiration and was purchased separately from my room, though I bought the pass days at my hotel and they did add it to my room key, which I'm guessing may have made a difference. I took it up to the gate as people on here had done in the past and asked to use it for admission. The girl at the gate knew what to do and called a supervisor who took the ticket to the office. I waited a good 20 minutes before the woman returned with my ticket and informed me that she was sorry, as they usually can take WDW tickets, but this one they could not. They had tried calling WDW even to see if they could help, as the DL system could not do anything with it, and they said that the ticket could only be used at WDW. She couldn't give me any more explanation than that, but the woman was extremely sweet and actually gave me a one day park hopper to use that day, as she felt bad that she couldn't make my ticket work. I definitely felt like that was above and beyond the call of duty, but it was greatly appreciated. So... just a warning to anyone thinking of using a WDW ticket... go with the idea that you MAY be able to use it, but don't be shocked if you can't...
2) Nemo is best left for later in the day. It seemed like every morning everyone rushed the ride and the line got absolutely out of control long. It was definitely the longest of any time I saw it at that time. Meanwhile the rest of the park felt deserted and you could walk on almost any ride. I waited less than an hour to ride it on Sunday evening. After watching the fireworks at IASW, I was walking to Space Mountain and noticed how short the line seemed. After the fireworks was a great time to get in line. I had pretty well given up on seeing it this trip, as I wasn't really wanting to spend 3 hours in line by myself, but just happened into some good timing. All in all though, afternoon and evening seemed to have much shorter lines than morning. Also- watch for line cutters. I had a group of teenagers who magically appeared in front of me, even though 5 minutes earlier they were 3 lanes back... Also seemed like a LOT of people holding spots. I understand if you have little ones, or it's just a couple people, but I had one family in front of me that went from 2 people to literally 20 by the time we got up front... it was a bit much. I was happy to get to ride Nemo, but all in all, I'm very glad I didn't wait hours.
3) If you are thinking about staying at the Sheraton, I highly recommend it. The dedicated shuttle service was reliable and timely. My room was huge and had a very comfy bed. The deli/snack shop there stays open very late so you can get drinks and snacks when you get back to the hotel. All of the staff there were very very nice. The only negative thing I can say about it is that the bathroom was very tiny. (If anyone is interested in pics of the room, lemme know).
4) Flying INTO the OC airport was easy and I appreciated the small size and quick trip to DL. Flying OUT of the OC airport was H*LL! I got to the airport with 2 hours to spare and spend almost 30 minutes checking in and AN HOUR AND A HALF in security. I barely made my flight, and everyone in the security lane was totally stressed out and worried about missing flights. They clearly are not prepared for the number of people coming through during peak times, as they have only two security lanes on each of two lines (a total of 4 lanes for the ENTIRE airport), and they move VERY slowly. It also didn't help that there seemed to be a LOT of people who didn't understand the quart size baggie bit who were fiddling around with stuff and being forced to throw things out. The security lady on my lane was in quite a mood, yelling at everyone to "take their water and liquids OUT of the bag and NOT try to hide them." Then, because everyone had to rush onto the plane, they were starving, so by the time the flight attendents got to the back of my plane, they were out of pretty much every food item they had to sell and most of the kinds of drinks... I have to say, I personally would either go out of my way to travel there during off times or else go through LAX, where I've had better experiences.
5) Don't hesitate to go alone! I had no problems traveling solo, and while I enjoy going with others, it was fun and a very different experience doing it by myself!
Alright... more if I think of it, but please, if anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
-Laura
Nonetheless, I made my flight, so I won't complain too much. I'd be curious to hear from others if they have had delays like that. If, in fact, it was just a fluke, I suppose I'd consider giving it another go at some point, but based on what I saw, I'd rather deal with LAX.
but well... all I can say is, I work retail and I'm good at biting my tongue when I need to. Much as I was annoyed, it wasn't the end of the world, even though I also did not enjoy their rather touchy feely (and frankly, since I was there by myself, really didn't want to get a group of surly teenagers worked up and angry at me, even though they were in the wrong). Besides... if they felt comfortable enough to cut in line, odds are they didn't really care that they were wrong or that I would have called them on it. But yes, I did the mental swearing and glaring at their backs.
