Back from our Disney vacation!

[candygirlIRE]

Been back a few days, trying to get back into the swing of things

We had an amazing trip! So much to tell... Will have to take it slow

We stayed at Embassy Suites NORTH location and it was fantastic!! We loved every minute of it - staff and hotel and food were wonderful!!

More later when I am not surrounded by kids and luggage

 

[Laurawill]

Can't wait to hear the rest

 

[candygirlIRE]

Sunday - we didn't actually arrive at Disneyland until around 1pm - I was a little disappointed as I wanted to be there early, but DH didn't want to rush from Las Vegas... But it was a lovely hot day and we got in a lot of rides and just wandered with no plan whatsoever! Astro Orbitor at night is very cool! Highly suggest a night ride! Took a lot of photos and caught the end of the parade! Saw most of Fantasmic from behind a tree (well, I was behind the tree, everyone else had a good view LOL) - neat show!
Rode Indiana Jones a couple of times (once during the day, once at night) and hit a Jungle Cruise! Got a lot in for minimal time really!

Monday - Chilled at the hotel indoor pool in the morning, went out for a late lunch and then got ready for the Halloween Party! We arrived to the gates at about 330pm and went right in, in full costume, it was great!! The park was pretty full but it was a super nice day out! We wandered for a bit and then closer to about 5 we hit a couple of rides including IASW!
We then got straight into the queue for the Princesses at 6pm - we were about 20-30 people back when they announced there was a problem with the lights in the Princess area and there would be a delay. We thought we'd better stay put. And luckily we did - about 45mins passed and a variety of announcements....with other people leaving we found ourselves only about 6 people deep in the queue!! Then there were lights!! We met Ariel, Rapunzel, and Cinderella - got some great photos!!
Straight over to Tomorrow land and met Stormtroopers! Line was quick and pretty short!
We rode Space Mountain (a huge mistake for my 5yr old who was terrified...) and Star Tours. Did Buzz a few times. Went on Nemo and then Matterhorn!
We hit EVERY treat station and scored big with the candy! Luckily DH brought an empty backpack to stash it all in! And it was heavy!!
Went to Critter Country and did Splash Mtn and Winnie the Pooh! NO LINE WHATSOEVER!

Tuesday - We focused on DCA this day. Did a lot of wandering around and hit The Little Mermaid 2 times! Such a cool ride! We met Mickey Mouse and saw a few other characters! We had booked WoC this night for the picnics. We were actually sadly disappointed in the whole WoC system. The lines got confused with Yellow and Blue and Red and we were pretty much out of luck even though we were there early and doing what they told us. This sucked. I saw about 1/3 of the show. DS had a bit better luck on DH's shoulders, but DH saw nothing. My DD1 (11yrs) had such a terrible view she started crying. I mean, I don't normally see her cry, she was soooo disappointed. But a super nice Aussie (I am guessing they were Aussie, however could have been NZ) came over and let her stand with their sons and watch the show from a great view....how super incredibly nice is that?!?! So nice! Anyway... I would say WoC was great, but I literally missed a lot of it Not sure what to suggest to people about this. We thought about trying it again with a FASTpass another night, but just couldn't be bothered with the chaos.
I loved loved loved the Sorcerer's Workshop! That is amazing!

Wednesday - RAIN! Rain. I mean, RAIN! Seriously, it poured like a monsoon! It was miserable! And we had rain ponchos! We were soaked! But the park was dead! LOL We tried to last as long as possible, but really gave up at the River Belle Restaurant about 330pm and then left to wander Downtown Disney for a bit as we thought it would be more "sheltered", but it wasn't... we hunkered down at the LEGO store for a bit and then just went home. We were soaked! Luckily the hotel (Embassy Suites NORTH) had dryers and we were able to dry our SOAKED clothes! My pant legs were soaked up to the knees!! Terrible. We tried out best, and I think we managed to last longer than some
We rode Matterhorn (a bucket of water at our feet hahaha), Mark Twain, Buzz, Star Tours, Autopia (which sucked sucked sucked with the rain), Thunder Mtn (which was awesome in the rain), Haunted Mansion (we actually did this every day of our trip, forgot to mention that hahaha), and I think one or two others.
I was such a miserable day out. Soaked through!

Thursday - Our final Disneyland day! We focused on Fantasyland right away... got all the rides in! It was great! And a lovely day out! Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan will always be my two favourite rides!! And I loved doing the Storybook Land! We then headed to ToonTown, which we visited only for about 15mins on Monday Party night, just to take a peek. We rode everything and really liked the time there! Wait, we didn't do the Gadget Coaster as the line was 60mins! No thank you. But it was fun hanging out in there!
We then did Innoventions, and were slightly disappointed. Blah.
Rode Star Tours about 8 times (DH fav if you can't tell) and caught the parade (although from near Alice in Wonderland, so it was not a great view for us - although the kids still enjoyed it!).
Shopping Shopping Shopping - the last 3 hours were pretty much devoted to that LOVE IT!


SO that's our trip in a nutshell!

The hotel was fantastic - the breakfast every morning was soooo good and filled us up until late in the day! Very much worth it! Pool is wonderful, and we LOOOOOVED that it was indoor! Parking free! And ample and well lit
Only about an 11min trip to the Toy Story lot (great tip on here to park there - we liked it so much). We got free parking at Disneyland at M&F lot for the party night and that parking is terrible compared to the TS lot! Never waited in line and always got straight on a bus, even at the end of the night!

Interesting tip - We had gotten 4 FastPasses to Star Tours so when DH went up with one of the kids to ride, the CM told us to take a rider switch pass (as they saw me there with the stroller) and save 2 of the FastPasses for later - basically getting to ride a total of 4 times (2 times for DH with fastpasses+ 1 and 2 times for Me + 1 with rider switch cards) for the 4 FastPasses! Make sense??
It was great they allowed us to do this!

 

[disneymom0104]

We were there the same days! Sun-Friday. We were also at DCA all day Tuesday! And you lasted longer than us on Wed. We barely made it to our 10:45 Plaza Inn reservation. We were also SOAKED even with the ponchos and so so cold. After our breakfast we went back to our hotel but went back at about 6:30 until it closed at 8pm. The rain had stopped and it was SO awesome! The parks were empty and we were able to walk on to almost everything. So worth it. That morning was our Toontown Morning Madness morning and it was soo miserable. I still can't get over that rain!

So interesting about your WoC experience. We felt the same way! We got FP that morning and had Blue. We walked over to a CM at the blue area and she pointed and told us the line was behind us. There was no differentiating between any of the colors at that point (it was maybe 7pm). We ended going back to our room. We could see it from our room (although not real clearly) and the music played on our TV. I'm sad we didn't get to see it up close but it just seemed so crazy and none of us felt like dealing with it. I think because DL closed that night at 6pm for a private party made DCA SO much more crowded than we saw it at any other time.

We thought Thursday morning was SO crowded! Did you think so? My girls did ride Gadget's go coaster that day but we were in Toontown the second they opened it! Still waited like 10 mins.

Anyway- so neat to read your report of the same time we were there

 

[ron_robin]

We were also there last week . We had a awesome time, we had 10 of us all togetther . The weather was pretty crazy but couldnt ask for any better weather for the Halloween party. We also came home with a ton of candy. The rain was pretty crazy Wed. but once we where wet just made the best of it no lines for any rides.



Next Trip May 2012

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Thanks for some reports! I am, unfortunately, not too surprised to hear another tale of WoC chaos. Some days people report that things just seem to be completely out of control there.
So glad to hear the party was fun.

AJ

 

[candygirlIRE]

The rain was pretty crazy Wed. but once we where wet just made the best of it no lines for any rides.

Yep! I think that's why we lasted as long as we did We were just too soaked to stay too late though - it was getting too cold for the kids! The Matterhorn was actually pretty fun with all that water sloshing at our feet

 

[candygirlIRE]

We thought Thursday morning was SO crowded! Did you think so? My girls did ride Gadget's go coaster that day but we were in Toontown the second they opened it! Still waited like 10 mins.

Anyway- so neat to read your report of the same time we were there

Yes! Thursday we got there the earliest we were all week and it was packed so early on - but then again after all that rain on Wednesday, it was actually a nice day out!
I felt so bad for those people who maybe only had one or two days, and one of them was Wednesday!! How much would that suck!?!?

 

[candygirlIRE]

OH!!! I forgot to mention!! We managed to keep it a surprise for the kids!!

We were so amazed with ourselves

We told them on the way to the Toy Story Parking lot!! Annnnnd we got it all on video!!! It was brilliant!! My son's face was priceless (well, not Disney priceless, but regular priceless )


It was wonderful!!!

 

[candygirlIRE]

OH OH i forgot!!!

DS got into the JEDI training!!! It was our final day and we were originally going to do this on the Wednesday, but due to the rain they canceled it (however the characters/cast did come out under the terrace and take pics and sign autographs, so that was nice). So we only had Thursday to try to get it... and yes, being bad parents, we totally forgot about it!! So then we remembered before the final showing YIKES
We showed up early for it and just waited on the ground for it to start - we had printed up a little paper sign at home (secretly of course) that said "I want to be a Jedi" in black and a Canadian flag in the background

HE GOT PICKED!!!! We were shocked.... our stomachs were turning when they were picking kids out of the crowd... He wears glasses (super cool black framed Ray Bans) and they said, little boy with pop racing goggles!!! BRILLIANT!!

He even got to stand up on stage right next to the instructor at the start!!! YAY!!
He "fought" Darth Vader and I got it on video! I was soooo pleased....

And then we went straight over to the store to buy him a light saber As he had been asking all week


It was amazing! The lady we were standing next to said they had been about 8 times in 2 days and this was the first time her son got in! Man, we were lucky!!!

 

[Eeee-va]

I'm glad you had a fun trip, despite the rain! So it sounds like Rapunzel has moved to the PFF for real now, huh?

 

[candygirlIRE]

I'm glad you had a fun trip, despite the rain! So it sounds like Rapunzel has moved to the PFF for real now, huh?

Well, I think that was for the Halloween Party - We did see her at the area near the Snow White ride on other days.... So maybe not an official move yet. Either way, she is just so pretty, they chose her very well!

 

[HydroGuy]

We had booked WoC this night for the picnics. We were actually sadly disappointed in the whole WoC system. The lines got confused with Yellow and Blue and Red and we were pretty much out of luck even though we were there early and doing what they told us. This sucked. I saw about 1/3 of the show. DS had a bit better luck on DH's shoulders, but DH saw nothing. My DD1 (11yrs) had such a terrible view she started crying. I mean, I don't normally see her cry, she was soooo disappointed. But a super nice Aussie (I am guessing they were Aussie, however could have been NZ) came over and let her stand with their sons and watch the show from a great view....how super incredibly nice is that?!?! So nice! Anyway... I would say WoC was great, but I literally missed a lot of it Not sure what to suggest to people about this. We thought about trying it again with a FASTpass another night, but just couldn't be bothered with the chaos.

I am so bummed for you! WOC is such an awesome show and unfortunately experiences like yours are too common.

For others contemplating WOC, make sure you do your homework (not that the OP didn't) and are aggressive in getting to a front rail spot. Or go for a spot like the fire hydrant. See "World of Color Superthread" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=37986447

 

[candygirlIRE]

I am so bummed for you! WOC is such an awesome show and unfortunately experiences like yours are too common.

For others contemplating WOC, make sure you do your homework (not that the OP didn't) and are aggressive in getting to a front rail spot. Or go for a spot like the fire hydrant. See "World of Color Superthread" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=37986447

Yes, I agree, and I am glad that I did do my homework, although it still did not work out very well for us

We did the picnics - which were suggested to eat prior to actually attending the show, as there is no where really to eat during the show. We ate a late lunch (out downfall hahaha) so we only really picked at the picnics and ended up bringing them back to our hotel, stashed them in the fridge and ate them the next night! The cold chicken is much better warmed in the microwave btw

What I found particularly frustrating with the show is that they MAKE everyone stand??? Why??? I think if we would have all been sitting, as most were while waiting for the show to start, then we would have ALL had a great view - this seems sooooo dumb. I was super pissed at that.

It was pure chaos. Not at all what I would have expected from Disney. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers on my daughter's behalf.

I am pretty sure we would skip it, if we had to opportunity again.

 

[HydroGuy]

Yes, I agree, and I am glad that I did do my homework, although it still did not work out very well for us

We did the picnics - which were suggested to eat prior to actually attending the show, as there is no where really to eat during the show. We ate a late lunch (out downfall hahaha) so we only really picked at the picnics and ended up bringing them back to our hotel, stashed them in the fridge and ate them the next night! The cold chicken is much better warmed in the microwave btw

What I found particularly frustrating with the show is that they MAKE everyone stand??? Why??? I think if we would have all been sitting, as most were while waiting for the show to start, then we would have ALL had a great view - this seems sooooo dumb. I was super pissed at that.

It was pure chaos. Not at all what I would have expected from Disney. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers on my daughter's behalf.

I am pretty sure we would skip it, if we had to opportunity again.

In my own words I would not say WOC is "pure chaos" but I would definitely say it is "chaotic". There is some structure which helps if you know it (where to queue, when to queue, etc.). Unfortunately the structure changes every so often (queue locations are changed, entry points are changed).

If you show up early you have to be highly vigilant of where the queue will form and to get to the front of that queue. This is complicated by the fact that the CMs are instructed not to give this information out too early - they are very vague.

Once you are in the queue - hopefully near the front - you have to know exactly where you want to go - and have backup plans.

Then you need to go there. Then you need to work to hold onto your viewing spot because people will move in front of you if you let them.

The first time we saw WOC I was military-like disciplined with having all seven of us hurry to our spot and then work together to hold our spot - for over an hour. My kids thought I went overboard I am sure, but our view was perfect and everyone in my family now thinks WOC is incredible. Other folks with a poor view come to different conclusions.

There are things one can do now to improve your chances of a good WOC experience. And having seen WOC seven times now I can see that Disney has improved the process. But still the viewing process for WOC is very imperfect and Disney is to blame for this. On the one hand I give them slack because getting things like WOC right the first time is hard. Even Fantasmic had issues initially until Disney redesigned the viewing area. On the other hand Disney is supposed to be expert at this kind of thing. And what they created is imperfect and needs to be improved. Really redesigned.