Disneyland two day trip, just back

[My3SonsandMaya]

The cast of characters were me and my husband, our boys ages 12, 10, 6 and our daughter who is two. We rented a car at LAX, used the directions from the Dis board, which were great directions, thank you. And ate at Proud Bird, a great restaurant, as suggested also by the disboards.

We stayed at BWPPI which I would not recommend to anyone. Thought is was a poorly kept motel. But the location is in fact great. We arrived 45 minutes before opening on Thursday August 2nd. We did not have EE but I thought we would be let in to main street 1/2 hour before regular opening, this was not the case. They did not let us in early to mainstreet on friday either. I asked a CM about this and they said they do not do that in the summer. That was contrary to everything I had read here and elsewhere, so really we could've showed up about 20 minutes before park opening.

We had bought ridemax and I had fiddled around with it for hours before going but I also read and studied all of hydroguy's tips here. Ridemax kept telling me to start in tomorrowland but I went with some suggestions here and we went to adventureland first, which ended up being a good choice, most of the crowds go straight to Fantasy land and Tomorrowland.

We went directly to Indy got FP then went to BTMMR which ended up being my DS who is 6 favorite ride. We rode that twice, then rode Splash and got fp for it. We then rode Pirates and HM and Winnie the Pooh. We then went back and used our FP for Indy and also got a baby switch pass so my husband could come back and ride it with one of the boys. We continued this system with all of the big rides, we would get a FP for everyone, so five FP, then we would get a baby switch pass. So I would ride with all three boys then my husband could come back and ride with two of the boys. It was awesome because the kids got to ride everything twice with no wait.

By 10:15 we headed over to Tomorrowland. My 6 year old had worn his Star Wars shirt and made two signs that said ""The Force is Strong In this One" and "Luke I am your Father" He was the first one picked for the Jedi training. It was a fun show, and he got to fight Darth Maul so that totally made his day.

After Jedi Traiing I went with the two year old to stand in line for the Red Rocket Pizza Place to open up. The boys went with Dad and rode Buzz and Star Tours. I order a whole pizza the boys met up with us and we ate.

After lunch it was crowded and hot so I took the younger two back to the motel for a two hour nap. DAd took the older two on Indy and Splash.
When we came back we rode Buzz two more times, space mountain twice and tried to get in line for the Matterhorn but after walking on to rides all morning we did not want to wait in a 40 minute line.

So we got great seats by the stone benches across from the matterhorn for the parade. The kids loved the parade. Afterwards we headed over to splash again but it was down. We had dinner at the Golden Horseshoe just because we happened to be right there and we were hungry. We weren't expecting to see the Billy Hill and the Hillbilly show but it started right when we got our food. It ended up being a highlight of the day, it was so funny and entertaining and boy those Billy's sure are talented. We loved the Mile High chocolate cake they served there too.

After dinner we walked around the park for awhile and decided to call it a night. We went back to the motel exhausted. Our oldest son has Down syndrome and has problems with his left foot by the end of the day he could hardly walk so we decided the next day we would check in to getting him a wheelchair or a guest assistance pass.

Stay tuned for day two.

 

[My3SonsandMaya]

Day two: We at the Disney gates 1/2 hour before opening. At opening we rented a wheelchair for our oldest right away. It was so helpful to him, we wish we would've done it on day 1. We headed straight to fantasyland as we had already decided not to attempt Nemo. I have to tell you though, watching people run to get in line for Nemo was so amusing. It amazes me that people will wait 3 hours for one ride!!! THat is crazy to me.

We rode MAtterhorn twice, Dumbos, Alice, Peter Pan, Toad, the carrousel the boys wanted to ride Splash again so we went over there but it was down. So we headed to California Adventure. We were able to take the wheelchair over there. We went directly to Soarin and did the baby switch thing. While my Dh rode Soarin with the boys I got FP for Grizzly and Tot. After Soaring we did Grizzly twice, fun ride and we sat with the nicest people who were so nice to my son with special needs. After Grizzly we did Tot and also did the swichpass. We had lunch in the place by Soarin, it was good. Then headed over to get FP for Screamin, this ended up being our biggest dissapointment as it was down and remained that way for the rest of the day.

So we did the swings and the jellyfish then headed back to the backlot where we did ToT again, then Playhouse Disney, then Aladdin, then Turtletalk with crush.

We had a great time at Disney. We came with a plan, got there early and did almost everything we set out to do. We did not focus on the characters as much, didn't get any autographs (two oldes sons are growing out of that and youngest is still a little too young) We took our pins to trade and never ended up doing that either. Somehow we missed Jungle cruise and never made it to toontown.

But we rode all the big rides multiple times, we ate, smelled, breathed and lived Disney for two solid, jam-packed days. It was so much fun. We have done Disneyworld for a week during off-season. If I had my choice I would always choose off-season. But because of the tips I read here we were able to experience so much during peak season that I think most of the people there were not able to do. So thanks for everything!!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Great report. Thanks. We head down tomorrow.

Jack

 

[daisy_77]

Thank you for your trip report! I am thinking of heading to Adventureland first...my parents have never been on Indiana Jones and I would love for them to see that before it gets too crazy.
That is great that you all got to everything you set out to do.

 

[talie95]

Sounds like you had a great time and did a lot in 2 days. I'm assuming that since it's summer that DL opens at 8 am. IF that's the case they don't let you onto MS early, they only do it when the park opens at 9am or later. Sorry you had to find that out after the fact. Anyway, we head down in 55 days!! Reading all the TR's makes me so excited!!

 

[Hound 109]

Great report.

Sorry that Soarin' was down, but good for you on all the Major rides you were able to ride.

Poor Darth Maul.....he's really taking a beating from all the Dis kids.

Thanks for sharing.

hound -