LizzyS
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2011
- Messages
- 3,035
Life has happened since our trip to Walt's park, so I haven't had time to do my trip report as of yet. I love reading these from everyone else, so I still want to do one. Here goes...
This trip was to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and we had a great time, despite the fact that we had some super rainy weather. We arrived at the Paradise Pier Hotel around 1pm and they were able to give us a room right away. I only booked the Standard, Anaheim-view room, but I was wearing my anniversary button from last year when we visited during our anniversary, so we got a little pixie dust and the cast member who checked us in gave us third floor, park view rooms. The cast member at the front desk also gave us new anniversary buttons and wrote "5" on them and gave us an autographed photo of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in front of the castle, which I thought was really cute. One thing I really liked about the room was that it was at the end of the hallway right next to the stairwell and since we were only 3 floors up, we just booked it down the stairs every morning to go to the parks. We really liked PPH and loved getting into the parks early every day. Also, the closeness to DTD and the ability to walk through DTD and/or ride the monorail back and forth were big plusses, in our opinion.
That night, we had dinner at Steakhouse 55 and we loved it. We both got the filet mignon and for sides, the risotto and mashed potatoes, which were all delicious. We had our new anniversary buttons on, so they gave us the chocolate mousse as a free dessert. YUM When we got back to the hotel room, someone had snuck in while we were gone to dinner and spelled out "LOVE" in flower petals on our bed. It was really sweet and it made a big impression on us, for sure.
The next three days we spent in the parks. On Thursday and Saturday, we did DL and on Friday, we did CA. This was dictated by which park we could get in early each day, obviously, since we were staying onsite. Thursday was gorgeous and there was no rain. On Friday, we got DUMPED on in CA. We actually went towards Carsland during the EMH and just waiting at the rope, as I wanted to BE SURE to get to ride RSR this time around. We stood there in a mild rain until they dropped the rope and lead us over to RSR. Then they held us at a certain (totally outdoor) part of the line, saying that the ride was not yet operational, but we were welcome to wait. People starting dropping out of the line like flies, but we stayed and about 20 minutes later, the ride was good to go and they released us to go through the rest of the queue. We were about 8 people back from the front of the line, but due to there being only 2 of us and the first people in line were a group of 2, we were in the very first car of the day! Even the ride operator pointed that out as we were entering the ride in the car. I'm glad it played out the way it did, because we both LOVED the ride. It's really fantastic and goes a LOT faster than I thought it would!
For being at Disneyland in the rain, I'd recommend bringing an actual small umbrella and definitely extra socks. One mistake we made was the thought that "oh well, we're already wet, let's ride GRR". WRONG Thank God we brought in extra socks. It saved us from being miserable. In my opinion, ponchos kind of suck and I'd rather wear a lightweight rain jacket of some sort.
We did a few things for the first time on this trip, including Winnie the Pooh, Monsters, Inc., Muppets 3D, Autopia, rode the Monorail, Star Tours, Ariel, and probably a couple of other things I can't think of at the moment. The train being down for refurb was a big bummer as my hubby loves riding the train. This is the third trip we've made to DL and the third time that IASW has been down! Maybe next time, I guess. The extension of the refurb on BTMRR caused us to miss it again as well. It was operational the first time we went, but it was a quick, one day trip and we didn't have it on the list as a priority.
The hubby let me watch Captain EO multiple times because I know it most likely won't be there next time we go. He's a swell guy.
The Matterhorn's seat belt gave me a bruise, but it's still my favorite ride. I LOVED riding it at night; it was so cool! I caught air in the last set of seats on Space Mountain, also. That was a little scary and we had never ridden in the last row of seats before!
On Saturday, we went back to the hotel to take a nap mid-afternoon due to the long hours on the weekend. We then went back to the park for a few hours for dinner and to ride a few more rides and it was awesome.
As for treats, I had a few new ones this time- a dole whip, a churro, a tigger tail, and a matterhorn macaroon. The latter I fell IN LOVE with, though they were all delicious. We had lunch at Riverbelle Terrace one day and the turkey sandwich is SO good.
As far as the rain, just prepare for it. A rainy day at Disney is FAR better than a sunny day at work!
Thanks to everyone on this board for answering any questions I had prior to this trip and for posting their trip reports, which are chock full of information and good advice!
This trip was to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary and we had a great time, despite the fact that we had some super rainy weather. We arrived at the Paradise Pier Hotel around 1pm and they were able to give us a room right away. I only booked the Standard, Anaheim-view room, but I was wearing my anniversary button from last year when we visited during our anniversary, so we got a little pixie dust and the cast member who checked us in gave us third floor, park view rooms. The cast member at the front desk also gave us new anniversary buttons and wrote "5" on them and gave us an autographed photo of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in front of the castle, which I thought was really cute. One thing I really liked about the room was that it was at the end of the hallway right next to the stairwell and since we were only 3 floors up, we just booked it down the stairs every morning to go to the parks. We really liked PPH and loved getting into the parks early every day. Also, the closeness to DTD and the ability to walk through DTD and/or ride the monorail back and forth were big plusses, in our opinion.
That night, we had dinner at Steakhouse 55 and we loved it. We both got the filet mignon and for sides, the risotto and mashed potatoes, which were all delicious. We had our new anniversary buttons on, so they gave us the chocolate mousse as a free dessert. YUM When we got back to the hotel room, someone had snuck in while we were gone to dinner and spelled out "LOVE" in flower petals on our bed. It was really sweet and it made a big impression on us, for sure.
The next three days we spent in the parks. On Thursday and Saturday, we did DL and on Friday, we did CA. This was dictated by which park we could get in early each day, obviously, since we were staying onsite. Thursday was gorgeous and there was no rain. On Friday, we got DUMPED on in CA. We actually went towards Carsland during the EMH and just waiting at the rope, as I wanted to BE SURE to get to ride RSR this time around. We stood there in a mild rain until they dropped the rope and lead us over to RSR. Then they held us at a certain (totally outdoor) part of the line, saying that the ride was not yet operational, but we were welcome to wait. People starting dropping out of the line like flies, but we stayed and about 20 minutes later, the ride was good to go and they released us to go through the rest of the queue. We were about 8 people back from the front of the line, but due to there being only 2 of us and the first people in line were a group of 2, we were in the very first car of the day! Even the ride operator pointed that out as we were entering the ride in the car. I'm glad it played out the way it did, because we both LOVED the ride. It's really fantastic and goes a LOT faster than I thought it would!
For being at Disneyland in the rain, I'd recommend bringing an actual small umbrella and definitely extra socks. One mistake we made was the thought that "oh well, we're already wet, let's ride GRR". WRONG Thank God we brought in extra socks. It saved us from being miserable. In my opinion, ponchos kind of suck and I'd rather wear a lightweight rain jacket of some sort.
We did a few things for the first time on this trip, including Winnie the Pooh, Monsters, Inc., Muppets 3D, Autopia, rode the Monorail, Star Tours, Ariel, and probably a couple of other things I can't think of at the moment. The train being down for refurb was a big bummer as my hubby loves riding the train. This is the third trip we've made to DL and the third time that IASW has been down! Maybe next time, I guess. The extension of the refurb on BTMRR caused us to miss it again as well. It was operational the first time we went, but it was a quick, one day trip and we didn't have it on the list as a priority.
The hubby let me watch Captain EO multiple times because I know it most likely won't be there next time we go. He's a swell guy.
The Matterhorn's seat belt gave me a bruise, but it's still my favorite ride. I LOVED riding it at night; it was so cool! I caught air in the last set of seats on Space Mountain, also. That was a little scary and we had never ridden in the last row of seats before!
On Saturday, we went back to the hotel to take a nap mid-afternoon due to the long hours on the weekend. We then went back to the park for a few hours for dinner and to ride a few more rides and it was awesome.
As for treats, I had a few new ones this time- a dole whip, a churro, a tigger tail, and a matterhorn macaroon. The latter I fell IN LOVE with, though they were all delicious. We had lunch at Riverbelle Terrace one day and the turkey sandwich is SO good.
As far as the rain, just prepare for it. A rainy day at Disney is FAR better than a sunny day at work!
Thanks to everyone on this board for answering any questions I had prior to this trip and for posting their trip reports, which are chock full of information and good advice!
---waiting for the rain to subside!
