LeeLeeLuvsDisney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2006
- Messages
- 443
Day 3: Thursday - 10/26/06
Today was our EE day, and getting out of bed early was physically difficult. We spent about 11 hours at the parks the day before, and we're not used to that. Our bones were creaking, our muscles stiff, but somehow we made it!
We got to the gate about 8:45am and got in line. The anticipation started building, the crowd's excitement was palpable. We got our game plan together: ride as much as we could in Fantasyland before our caffeine headaches hit (we hadn't had our coffee or breakfast yet).
Once inside, the beauty of a nearly empty Main Street, Plaza and Castle made us stop to get some photos. Then, it was on to attractions:
Peter Pan
Mr. Toad's
Pinocchio
Alice
Then the headaches began, so we headed back to Main Street around 9:45am to eat at Carnation Cafe. See the dining reviews & photos thread for pics.
The rich food upset our digestive systems, mine especially...so we spent quite a bit of time in the bathrooms in New Orleans Square that are near the RR station. I kept hoping and praying that the bad feeling would go away, so we could really enjoy the rest of our day. Thankfully, it did. So, we pressed on:
Haunted Mansion Holiday (had to see it again!)
Pirates (again!)
Then, we looked around the shops in Frontierland and the area around Woody's Roundup. Then, it was on to Tomorrowland:
Space Mountain (twice! I couldn't get enough of that song!)
Innoventions (where we sent e-cards to everyone back home)
Autopia (I almost handed the poll worker my Autopia license when I went to vote on Tuesday!)
Then, Pizza Port for dinner...again. Love that chicken fusilli!
Then we went to Toontown to look around and play a bit. I was a little disappointed that Chip and Dale's house was so small! I love them! We got a FP for Roger Rabbit. Then, it was over to FL to the Casey Jr. Train, then back to Toontown when our FP time came up. Then, it was off to do some more:
Indiana
Pooh
Haunted Mansion (yes, again!)
We kind of walked in circles all day, which led to us being very tired as we weren't very efficient in planning our routes. But, we were getting lots of pictures, checking out shops, and basically taking in the atmosphere.
Day 4: Friday - 10/27/06
Our last day in the parks! So sad. We had breakfast at the La Brea Bakery in DTD. Very yummy, but huge breakfasts! We could have shared one order. We fed all the cute little brown birds bread. We tried to help one little scraggly looking one with a hurt foot...the other birds were grabbing food out of his mouth...I managed to hand feed him. We named him Scraggles. I hope he made it!
Then, it was off to CA to finish the park:
CA Screamin'
Turtle Talk with Crush and looked around the animation area
Aladdin show
Muppets 3D
That took about 3 hours! Disappointing...more about that below.
Then, off to DL to make our Blue Bayou PS time. Oh, it was so delicious! See photos of our awesome food in the dining reviews & photos thread.
Then, we did lots of shopping! And we also did three of the things we had missed the days before: StorybookLand, Carrousel & Tiki Room. Then, we hit the Blue Ribbon Bakery on Main Street for snacks (yuck! We picked out a couple of bad items. I will choose something else the next time). Then, we went back to the hotel and took a much needed break. We were exhausted!
Once we were ready to go again, we decided to drive to DTD to shave some walking time as our feet were really hurting. We stopped in the Disneyland Hotel to look around. (I think I forgot to mention that on an earlier day, we looked around the Grand Californian Hotel...we sooooo want to stay there next time!) Then, back to DL for the fireworks. Unfortunately, they were cancelled. So, we went in 50 Years for a while, and then said our goodbyes to a park we had quickly grown to love.
Day 5: Friday - 10/28/06
I cried a bit leaving Anaheim. I'm already trying to figure out when we can go back!!!!!!!
General Thoughts on DLR:
I thought that the parks being surrounded by the city would mess with the magic, but it didn't. Especially in DL...we were so immersed...the magic was in full effect! I love the smaller size of California's MK compared to ours, as well as the layout. Every nook and cranny is themed, every bit of space is used effectively. The park is much cleaner than ours. I felt so at home there.
We were both truly disappointed in California Adventure. A cheaply done park. There are some wonderful attractions there, but the theming from area to area doesn't flow like it does in DL. The outside world really comes in. There's not enough to do for a full day. Seeing what it is makes me feel so disappointed. Thinking about what it could have been makes me so sad.
We both loved DTD. Nice layout, nice mix of stores and restaurants...much better than ours.
Wednesday, the park was not crowded at all! Great day to go! Thursday was a little busier, but still manageable. Friday was very crowded, so glad we got so much done the two days before and could relax a bit!
General Thoughts on Attractions:
I loved Space Mountain! The queue is neat, I love the ride vehicles, and the music is awesome! I wish it had more dips like ours does, but it's still a top notch ride. Much smoother than ours, too.
Haunted Mansion Holiday was brilliant!!! I was so blown away by it. I would love to go back and see the regular HM, too.
I loved Pirates more than ours...longer, better. So many other rides were longer and/or better...Autopia, Buzz ('cause you can lift up the blaster), Tiki Room (the original!), Mickey & Minnie's house.
I loved some of the rides that we don't have, like Indy, Alice and Mr. Toad's.
Some rides were not as good, like Big Thunder (ours is better).
The Matterhorn and Small World were closed!!! STOMPS FEET! Must go back soon!
General Thoughts on Restaurants:
Everywhere that we ate was top notch, especially Blue Bayou. The only exception was Blue Ribbon Bakery, which I'm sure has awesome stuff, but we happened to pick out a couple of things that weren't. I feel that DL has much better dining than our Magic Kingdom...which is probably why we usually eat at EPCOT!
I'll probably post some photos in the next couple of days. For those who made it all the way through my review, thanks for reading the whole thing! I know it's not a very exciting review, but I still wanted to share my report with other DISboard-ers who love Disney as much as I do.
Today was our EE day, and getting out of bed early was physically difficult. We spent about 11 hours at the parks the day before, and we're not used to that. Our bones were creaking, our muscles stiff, but somehow we made it!
We got to the gate about 8:45am and got in line. The anticipation started building, the crowd's excitement was palpable. We got our game plan together: ride as much as we could in Fantasyland before our caffeine headaches hit (we hadn't had our coffee or breakfast yet).
Once inside, the beauty of a nearly empty Main Street, Plaza and Castle made us stop to get some photos. Then, it was on to attractions:
Peter Pan
Mr. Toad's
Pinocchio
Alice
Then the headaches began, so we headed back to Main Street around 9:45am to eat at Carnation Cafe. See the dining reviews & photos thread for pics.
The rich food upset our digestive systems, mine especially...so we spent quite a bit of time in the bathrooms in New Orleans Square that are near the RR station. I kept hoping and praying that the bad feeling would go away, so we could really enjoy the rest of our day. Thankfully, it did. So, we pressed on:
Haunted Mansion Holiday (had to see it again!)
Pirates (again!)
Then, we looked around the shops in Frontierland and the area around Woody's Roundup. Then, it was on to Tomorrowland:
Space Mountain (twice! I couldn't get enough of that song!)
Innoventions (where we sent e-cards to everyone back home)
Autopia (I almost handed the poll worker my Autopia license when I went to vote on Tuesday!)
Then, Pizza Port for dinner...again. Love that chicken fusilli!
Then we went to Toontown to look around and play a bit. I was a little disappointed that Chip and Dale's house was so small! I love them! We got a FP for Roger Rabbit. Then, it was over to FL to the Casey Jr. Train, then back to Toontown when our FP time came up. Then, it was off to do some more:
Indiana
Pooh
Haunted Mansion (yes, again!)
We kind of walked in circles all day, which led to us being very tired as we weren't very efficient in planning our routes. But, we were getting lots of pictures, checking out shops, and basically taking in the atmosphere.
Day 4: Friday - 10/27/06
Our last day in the parks! So sad. We had breakfast at the La Brea Bakery in DTD. Very yummy, but huge breakfasts! We could have shared one order. We fed all the cute little brown birds bread. We tried to help one little scraggly looking one with a hurt foot...the other birds were grabbing food out of his mouth...I managed to hand feed him. We named him Scraggles. I hope he made it!
Then, it was off to CA to finish the park:
CA Screamin'
Turtle Talk with Crush and looked around the animation area
Aladdin show
Muppets 3D
That took about 3 hours! Disappointing...more about that below.
Then, off to DL to make our Blue Bayou PS time. Oh, it was so delicious! See photos of our awesome food in the dining reviews & photos thread.
Then, we did lots of shopping! And we also did three of the things we had missed the days before: StorybookLand, Carrousel & Tiki Room. Then, we hit the Blue Ribbon Bakery on Main Street for snacks (yuck! We picked out a couple of bad items. I will choose something else the next time). Then, we went back to the hotel and took a much needed break. We were exhausted!
Once we were ready to go again, we decided to drive to DTD to shave some walking time as our feet were really hurting. We stopped in the Disneyland Hotel to look around. (I think I forgot to mention that on an earlier day, we looked around the Grand Californian Hotel...we sooooo want to stay there next time!) Then, back to DL for the fireworks. Unfortunately, they were cancelled. So, we went in 50 Years for a while, and then said our goodbyes to a park we had quickly grown to love.
Day 5: Friday - 10/28/06
I cried a bit leaving Anaheim. I'm already trying to figure out when we can go back!!!!!!!
General Thoughts on DLR:
I thought that the parks being surrounded by the city would mess with the magic, but it didn't. Especially in DL...we were so immersed...the magic was in full effect! I love the smaller size of California's MK compared to ours, as well as the layout. Every nook and cranny is themed, every bit of space is used effectively. The park is much cleaner than ours. I felt so at home there.
We were both truly disappointed in California Adventure. A cheaply done park. There are some wonderful attractions there, but the theming from area to area doesn't flow like it does in DL. The outside world really comes in. There's not enough to do for a full day. Seeing what it is makes me feel so disappointed. Thinking about what it could have been makes me so sad.
We both loved DTD. Nice layout, nice mix of stores and restaurants...much better than ours.
Wednesday, the park was not crowded at all! Great day to go! Thursday was a little busier, but still manageable. Friday was very crowded, so glad we got so much done the two days before and could relax a bit!
General Thoughts on Attractions:
I loved Space Mountain! The queue is neat, I love the ride vehicles, and the music is awesome! I wish it had more dips like ours does, but it's still a top notch ride. Much smoother than ours, too.
Haunted Mansion Holiday was brilliant!!! I was so blown away by it. I would love to go back and see the regular HM, too.
I loved Pirates more than ours...longer, better. So many other rides were longer and/or better...Autopia, Buzz ('cause you can lift up the blaster), Tiki Room (the original!), Mickey & Minnie's house.
I loved some of the rides that we don't have, like Indy, Alice and Mr. Toad's.
Some rides were not as good, like Big Thunder (ours is better).
The Matterhorn and Small World were closed!!! STOMPS FEET! Must go back soon!
General Thoughts on Restaurants:
Everywhere that we ate was top notch, especially Blue Bayou. The only exception was Blue Ribbon Bakery, which I'm sure has awesome stuff, but we happened to pick out a couple of things that weren't. I feel that DL has much better dining than our Magic Kingdom...which is probably why we usually eat at EPCOT!
I'll probably post some photos in the next couple of days. For those who made it all the way through my review, thanks for reading the whole thing! I know it's not a very exciting review, but I still wanted to share my report with other DISboard-ers who love Disney as much as I do.
Looking forward to your photos soon! 
