ZipaDeeDooDah
<font color=red>What happens on the DIS boards, st
- Joined
- May 8, 2006
- Messages
- 2,862
First of all, let me say again that the DIS rocks!!! 
I am a little hesitant to write a traditional trip report, but in the spirit of sharing (because I have learned so much fabulous info on this board!) I thought I would share some of the highlights of our trip, and some tips and hints that we learned along the way, which will hopefully help anyone else planning a vacation to Disneyland!
Travel/Activity Packs for Airplane Ride - In the months before we left, I started collecting "freebie" things for the kids prior to leaving, such as the little things that come in the cereal boxes, toys from the Happy Meals, free coloring booklets, etc. I also made up an activity book for each child from things I printed out from the internet, including Disney coloring sheets, mazes, crossword puzzles, and included lots of blank pages for stickers and drawing, etc. The only thing I bought for them was a huge pack of Disney stickers, which the kids made good use of. I kept all of the goodies hidden from the kids and when they started to get bored, I would pull out a little thing for them to play with. I also had lots of extra stickers and blank paper, so we were able to share some with the kids sitting around us on the airplane.
Best Western Park Place Inn - We stayed here, and it is located right across the street from the main entance of both parks and Downtown Disney. It is closer to the entrance of the parks than the Disneyland hotels. The stay included free breakfast buffets from the restaurant beside the hotel (buffet included cereal, oatmeal, toast, bagels, donuts, danishes, hard-boiled eggs, and beverages). There is also a McDonalds restaurant a few hotels up (with really good chicken wraps for $1.50 each - we do not have these in Canada yet!), and a Denny's restaurant a couple of doors down. Our room was spacious - 2 queen beds and a pull-out couch, and included a microwave and fridge. The cost was reasonable, the housekeeping was excellent, and although the wake-up calls were always prompt - do not depend on the front desk for essentials like calling a cab or a shuttle, double-check everything yourself (we learned this the hard way!) The only downside to staying there was that the garbage collection was anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. every morning and it was wickedly noisy!!! This was not a big deal for us as were always up by that time anyways, but it sure must have been annoying for anybody who may have trying to sleep in.
Over-the-door shoe holder - I would have been so disorganized without this thing, I loved it!!! Ours had 20 pockets and it held almost everything (singles drinks packages, medicines, hair stuff, suntan lotion, cosmetics, wet naps, etc.)
Baggallini Messenger Sling - I used this and loved it also! Beware though, it does get very heavy on your shoulder if you plan on loading it up and lugging it around all day. A fanny pack would have been much easier, but was not possible as we were packing essentials for 5. Hubby and I split the time carrying the sling which made it much easier.
Crocs - Sooooo glad we had these, they were the only pairs of shoes we needed all trip. The were light, comfy, and dried quickly after the wet rides.
Water/Drinks - Definitely bring your own water bottle and fill up at the fountains whenever you can. Bottled water is at least $2.50 a bottle, so we saved ourselves at least $25 a day by doing this. I also used the Kool-Aid and Iced Tea singles to flavor the water for a change. You can also ask for a cup of iced water at most counter service places if you forget your bottled water.
Water Misters - We never used ours at all, probably because the waits were never long for rides and although it was very warm when we were there, it was not as hot as it would have been in the heat of the summer. I wouldn't bother lugging this around again. I also noticed that some places in DL were selling large mister bottle/fan combos in the park for around $7, I believe.
Autograph Books - I was thankful that we had booked a couple of character meals for the kids to have opportunities to get autographs, otherwise we might have been spending a long time waiting in the lines for pics and autographs from characters around the park. For books, the kids used Disney storybooks I had picked up on clearance (Monster's Inc., Toy Story, and The Little Mermaid). The Mad Hatter insisted on drawing himself into the boys' books, he picked a page and "drew" himself into the story, it was quite cute!
Character Meals - I had a really hard time convincing DH that this would be well worth the time and money. We went to Goofy's Kitchen the first morning we arrrived, and the family (including the Grandparents) loved it so much we booked another visit to Goofy's Kitchen on the last day also! The quality of the food, character interaction time, pictures, and autograph opportunities are well worth the cost of the meal if you do not plan on spending much time in line-ups waiting for autographs and pictures around the park (some character line-ups around the park were not bad, but others were quite long!)
Goofy's Kitchen - The buffet was awesome - sooooo much good food to choose from! We went at 10:30 a.m., so this was basically our breakfast and lunch meal - we did not need to eat again until way later that day!!! The characters at both meals were Goofy, Donald Duck, Chip and Dale, Mad Hatter, Alice, and Pluto.
Ariel's Grotto - This was an unexpected surprise for DD (3.5) and I. I booked us a lunch there, not really knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by all of the princess characters we saw; Mulan, Snow White, Jasmine, Ariel, Wendy Darling. DD was in princess heaven!!! The food was excellent and served as a 3-course meal with great choices for starters, entrees, and desserts.
Stroller - This was totally worth it too, especially for our 3.5 year old DD. Had I known ahead of time how much we would have been using it, I think I would have bought a stroller myself to take. We spent about $60 on stoller rentals throughout our trip - well worth it IMHO. The strollers also made it much easier to pack our bags around. Just a little tip - the strollers at DCA are much cleaner and newer, and the line-ups were almost non-existent for the stroller rentals compared to DL when we were there. I am a little unclear though on whether the ones at DCA fold or not (this would only be a concern though if you were planning on taking the DL railroad). You can take the strollers freely back and forth between both parks, but you cannot take them into Downtown Disney.
Silhouette Studio - On Main Street in Disneyland. This is probably my favorite souvenir. It cost $7 each to get the kids' silhouettes done, and you get 2 copies for each child. The frames are an extra $9 each (you don't have to buy the frames).
Club Libby Lu (DTD) - DD loved this, and for $25 I thought it was a great deal. The price included nails, hairdo, tiny makeup kit, glitter, tiara, CLL bag, and 5 "trinkets" that she got to choose to take home in her bag (she chose 2 small makeup kits, 2 necklaces and a bracelet).
Live Webcam in Anne Geddes store (DTD) - This was another great tip that I learned on the DIS boards!!! We all got to "wave" to our families via the live webcam from Downtown Disney! You would never even know it was in the store if you weren't looking for it - be sure to check it out if you can! http://www.annegeddes.com/webcam.aspx?log=nav_shop_webcam
Rainforest Cafe (DTD) - This is a really neat restaurant with great food and a cool atmosphere. Had I known ahead of time how huge the portions would be I could have easily split a meal with DH, and our 3 kids could have easily have shared 2 kids meals. We ended up taking our leftovers home and having them for dinner!!! Another tip - be sure to request an upstairs table if you can, because most of the jungle "action" seemed to be taking place upstairs.
Build-A-Bear (DTD) - This was definitely a highlight for our kids, getting to build their own keepsake stuffed animals. DS #1 chose a monkey, DS #2 chose a puppy, and DD chose the Snow Leopard. I believe the cost for a basic bear starts at about $10 and up (and expect the "up" because every bear apparently needs add-ons and accessories!!!)
Seaworld - We spent one day visiting Seaworld, and enjoyed it very much, although we felt very rushed to try to fit everything into our 6-hour visit. The Dining with Shamu looked interesting, but I had not heard anything about it and was hesitant to book and pay for it without any positive recommendations. We ate lunch at the deli in the Anheuser-Busch Hospitality Center - DH loved the free samples of beer, and the kids loved their meals served in the plastic Shamu containers! The sandwiches were unbelievably fresh and tasty (real carved meat!) and huge! - DH and I shared a delicious sandwich. While the rest of the park was quite busy, the hospitality section was nice and quiet and cool, and the kids loved visiting the Clydsdale horses. The Atlantis ride was really fun, and the kids loved watching the show with Shamu.
Amtrack - We used this to travel to Seaworld instead of a shuttle, just to try it out. The kids loved it - it really was a nice relaxing trip, and we saw lots of beautiful scenery including the ocean and beaches. The kids could move around a bit and there was a snack car where we were able to get some beverages and food. The train ride did require a bit more planning and extra cost as we required a cab ride from the hotel to the Amtrack station (about $12 each way), and a cab ride from the Amtrack station to Seaworld (about $18 each way), but we were really glad we did it once just to experience it.
Knott's Berry - We did not go to this park, and none of us felt like we had missed out (DH and I have been there before, but the kids have not). Having said that though, if I known they had a separate waterpark earlier in the planning stages, I would have liked to have booked a day at the waterpark just for something different.
Medieval Times - Great fun, DSs 7 and 10 loved it. Good and plentiful food - a fun experience and the entertainment was excellent!!! Beware though, that they do serve your drinks in special souvenir cups and you will be charged for (and taking home!) those cups unless you ask for their standard plastic disposable cups (we learned this the hard way after paying $28 for 2 drinks!!!) Refills were $6 per drink. Although we do love our souvenir cups, the initial cost really caught us off guard!
Universal Studios - Another great day! We had so much fun, although again, it was hard to try to fit everything into an 8-hour day. The highlight for the kids was definitely the Waterworld show, and they loved the Jurassic Park ride also. We saw lots of characters including Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Captain America, Green Goblin, Spiderman, Wolverine, Dora, SpongeBob, Marilyn Monroe, and Beetlejuice. My favorite part was the Studio Tour - although they were filming Desperate Housewives so we couldn't go down that particular "street" part of the tour, but from what I remember from our last visit, Matlock, The Munsters, and Leave It To Beaver's houses (among others) were all down that part of the road.
Angels Baseball - My DH, boys and inlaws went to a major league game last-minute when they discovered that the stadium for the Angels was only a short $10 to $12 cab ride away from our hotel. The tickets and souvenirs were very reasonable, and they had a great time and were really glad they added that on to the trip.
If you got this far, thanks for reading this! We really had an awesome family time, and I wish we could take the kids back to visit every year!!!
I am a little hesitant to write a traditional trip report, but in the spirit of sharing (because I have learned so much fabulous info on this board!) I thought I would share some of the highlights of our trip, and some tips and hints that we learned along the way, which will hopefully help anyone else planning a vacation to Disneyland!Travel/Activity Packs for Airplane Ride - In the months before we left, I started collecting "freebie" things for the kids prior to leaving, such as the little things that come in the cereal boxes, toys from the Happy Meals, free coloring booklets, etc. I also made up an activity book for each child from things I printed out from the internet, including Disney coloring sheets, mazes, crossword puzzles, and included lots of blank pages for stickers and drawing, etc. The only thing I bought for them was a huge pack of Disney stickers, which the kids made good use of. I kept all of the goodies hidden from the kids and when they started to get bored, I would pull out a little thing for them to play with. I also had lots of extra stickers and blank paper, so we were able to share some with the kids sitting around us on the airplane.
Best Western Park Place Inn - We stayed here, and it is located right across the street from the main entance of both parks and Downtown Disney. It is closer to the entrance of the parks than the Disneyland hotels. The stay included free breakfast buffets from the restaurant beside the hotel (buffet included cereal, oatmeal, toast, bagels, donuts, danishes, hard-boiled eggs, and beverages). There is also a McDonalds restaurant a few hotels up (with really good chicken wraps for $1.50 each - we do not have these in Canada yet!), and a Denny's restaurant a couple of doors down. Our room was spacious - 2 queen beds and a pull-out couch, and included a microwave and fridge. The cost was reasonable, the housekeeping was excellent, and although the wake-up calls were always prompt - do not depend on the front desk for essentials like calling a cab or a shuttle, double-check everything yourself (we learned this the hard way!) The only downside to staying there was that the garbage collection was anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. every morning and it was wickedly noisy!!! This was not a big deal for us as were always up by that time anyways, but it sure must have been annoying for anybody who may have trying to sleep in.
Over-the-door shoe holder - I would have been so disorganized without this thing, I loved it!!! Ours had 20 pockets and it held almost everything (singles drinks packages, medicines, hair stuff, suntan lotion, cosmetics, wet naps, etc.)
Baggallini Messenger Sling - I used this and loved it also! Beware though, it does get very heavy on your shoulder if you plan on loading it up and lugging it around all day. A fanny pack would have been much easier, but was not possible as we were packing essentials for 5. Hubby and I split the time carrying the sling which made it much easier.
Crocs - Sooooo glad we had these, they were the only pairs of shoes we needed all trip. The were light, comfy, and dried quickly after the wet rides.
Water/Drinks - Definitely bring your own water bottle and fill up at the fountains whenever you can. Bottled water is at least $2.50 a bottle, so we saved ourselves at least $25 a day by doing this. I also used the Kool-Aid and Iced Tea singles to flavor the water for a change. You can also ask for a cup of iced water at most counter service places if you forget your bottled water.
Water Misters - We never used ours at all, probably because the waits were never long for rides and although it was very warm when we were there, it was not as hot as it would have been in the heat of the summer. I wouldn't bother lugging this around again. I also noticed that some places in DL were selling large mister bottle/fan combos in the park for around $7, I believe.
Autograph Books - I was thankful that we had booked a couple of character meals for the kids to have opportunities to get autographs, otherwise we might have been spending a long time waiting in the lines for pics and autographs from characters around the park. For books, the kids used Disney storybooks I had picked up on clearance (Monster's Inc., Toy Story, and The Little Mermaid). The Mad Hatter insisted on drawing himself into the boys' books, he picked a page and "drew" himself into the story, it was quite cute!
Character Meals - I had a really hard time convincing DH that this would be well worth the time and money. We went to Goofy's Kitchen the first morning we arrrived, and the family (including the Grandparents) loved it so much we booked another visit to Goofy's Kitchen on the last day also! The quality of the food, character interaction time, pictures, and autograph opportunities are well worth the cost of the meal if you do not plan on spending much time in line-ups waiting for autographs and pictures around the park (some character line-ups around the park were not bad, but others were quite long!)
Goofy's Kitchen - The buffet was awesome - sooooo much good food to choose from! We went at 10:30 a.m., so this was basically our breakfast and lunch meal - we did not need to eat again until way later that day!!! The characters at both meals were Goofy, Donald Duck, Chip and Dale, Mad Hatter, Alice, and Pluto.
Ariel's Grotto - This was an unexpected surprise for DD (3.5) and I. I booked us a lunch there, not really knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by all of the princess characters we saw; Mulan, Snow White, Jasmine, Ariel, Wendy Darling. DD was in princess heaven!!! The food was excellent and served as a 3-course meal with great choices for starters, entrees, and desserts.
Stroller - This was totally worth it too, especially for our 3.5 year old DD. Had I known ahead of time how much we would have been using it, I think I would have bought a stroller myself to take. We spent about $60 on stoller rentals throughout our trip - well worth it IMHO. The strollers also made it much easier to pack our bags around. Just a little tip - the strollers at DCA are much cleaner and newer, and the line-ups were almost non-existent for the stroller rentals compared to DL when we were there. I am a little unclear though on whether the ones at DCA fold or not (this would only be a concern though if you were planning on taking the DL railroad). You can take the strollers freely back and forth between both parks, but you cannot take them into Downtown Disney.
Silhouette Studio - On Main Street in Disneyland. This is probably my favorite souvenir. It cost $7 each to get the kids' silhouettes done, and you get 2 copies for each child. The frames are an extra $9 each (you don't have to buy the frames).
Club Libby Lu (DTD) - DD loved this, and for $25 I thought it was a great deal. The price included nails, hairdo, tiny makeup kit, glitter, tiara, CLL bag, and 5 "trinkets" that she got to choose to take home in her bag (she chose 2 small makeup kits, 2 necklaces and a bracelet).
Live Webcam in Anne Geddes store (DTD) - This was another great tip that I learned on the DIS boards!!! We all got to "wave" to our families via the live webcam from Downtown Disney! You would never even know it was in the store if you weren't looking for it - be sure to check it out if you can! http://www.annegeddes.com/webcam.aspx?log=nav_shop_webcam
Rainforest Cafe (DTD) - This is a really neat restaurant with great food and a cool atmosphere. Had I known ahead of time how huge the portions would be I could have easily split a meal with DH, and our 3 kids could have easily have shared 2 kids meals. We ended up taking our leftovers home and having them for dinner!!! Another tip - be sure to request an upstairs table if you can, because most of the jungle "action" seemed to be taking place upstairs.
Build-A-Bear (DTD) - This was definitely a highlight for our kids, getting to build their own keepsake stuffed animals. DS #1 chose a monkey, DS #2 chose a puppy, and DD chose the Snow Leopard. I believe the cost for a basic bear starts at about $10 and up (and expect the "up" because every bear apparently needs add-ons and accessories!!!)
Seaworld - We spent one day visiting Seaworld, and enjoyed it very much, although we felt very rushed to try to fit everything into our 6-hour visit. The Dining with Shamu looked interesting, but I had not heard anything about it and was hesitant to book and pay for it without any positive recommendations. We ate lunch at the deli in the Anheuser-Busch Hospitality Center - DH loved the free samples of beer, and the kids loved their meals served in the plastic Shamu containers! The sandwiches were unbelievably fresh and tasty (real carved meat!) and huge! - DH and I shared a delicious sandwich. While the rest of the park was quite busy, the hospitality section was nice and quiet and cool, and the kids loved visiting the Clydsdale horses. The Atlantis ride was really fun, and the kids loved watching the show with Shamu.
Amtrack - We used this to travel to Seaworld instead of a shuttle, just to try it out. The kids loved it - it really was a nice relaxing trip, and we saw lots of beautiful scenery including the ocean and beaches. The kids could move around a bit and there was a snack car where we were able to get some beverages and food. The train ride did require a bit more planning and extra cost as we required a cab ride from the hotel to the Amtrack station (about $12 each way), and a cab ride from the Amtrack station to Seaworld (about $18 each way), but we were really glad we did it once just to experience it.
Knott's Berry - We did not go to this park, and none of us felt like we had missed out (DH and I have been there before, but the kids have not). Having said that though, if I known they had a separate waterpark earlier in the planning stages, I would have liked to have booked a day at the waterpark just for something different.
Medieval Times - Great fun, DSs 7 and 10 loved it. Good and plentiful food - a fun experience and the entertainment was excellent!!! Beware though, that they do serve your drinks in special souvenir cups and you will be charged for (and taking home!) those cups unless you ask for their standard plastic disposable cups (we learned this the hard way after paying $28 for 2 drinks!!!) Refills were $6 per drink. Although we do love our souvenir cups, the initial cost really caught us off guard!
Universal Studios - Another great day! We had so much fun, although again, it was hard to try to fit everything into an 8-hour day. The highlight for the kids was definitely the Waterworld show, and they loved the Jurassic Park ride also. We saw lots of characters including Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Captain America, Green Goblin, Spiderman, Wolverine, Dora, SpongeBob, Marilyn Monroe, and Beetlejuice. My favorite part was the Studio Tour - although they were filming Desperate Housewives so we couldn't go down that particular "street" part of the tour, but from what I remember from our last visit, Matlock, The Munsters, and Leave It To Beaver's houses (among others) were all down that part of the road.
Angels Baseball - My DH, boys and inlaws went to a major league game last-minute when they discovered that the stadium for the Angels was only a short $10 to $12 cab ride away from our hotel. The tickets and souvenirs were very reasonable, and they had a great time and were really glad they added that on to the trip.
If you got this far, thanks for reading this! We really had an awesome family time, and I wish we could take the kids back to visit every year!!!
We were in Anaheim a total of 8 nights. We spent 5 days at 
I was attempting to make it easier to read because there was so much random info, but I am not sure if it made it any easier or not!!! 
