DizMe
Here we gooooo...
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Messages
- 9,320
Fabulous!!!! Here are some of my thoughts about our trip:
*GCH was ok but not as great as expected. The architecture is stunning, but honestly, I prefer the DLH. The GCH rooms were fairly standard though they did have nice wood furniture and appointments. IMO there is a serious design flaw when they make wings off of wings with no way to get to the end rooms without a long, long, long walk. Couldn't they have put in a few more elevator locations? *Tip: if you get one of those rooms where you come off the elevator, walk down to the corner and turn, walk all the way down the long wing and turn, and then walk all the way to the end of that wing before you get to your room, take the stairs when you go down! It's a lot faster. I much prefer the pool and grounds at DLH and the restaurants offer better value. However, the location of GCH is fabulous! That's the best thing about it, IMO. You walk out into the best part of DTD or straight into CA. That is very cool.
*Never rode the monorail this year! It was so close to walk to the hotel and we just didn't try it out.
*Had a great time at BB but had to wait over an hour (75 min) for our waterside table at first seating. I'm pretty sure they either forgot about us or someone else with our last name (very common) got our table. When I finally asked when we could expect our table, the guy looked shocked that we had waited so long and went to check. When he came back, he said that the party was "just leaving" and our table would be ready in a minute. My dh was, shall we say, a bit skeptical at the coincidence. I was just glad we could finally sit and eat! 3 little girls don't do too well with long waits for food. However, they had a blast and it was worth it. Our table was awesome, too.
*I was totally disappointed in the new Toy Story ride. I guess a person like me who hates video games would not be one to appreciate this ride. My girls thought it was great fun but I thought it was boring and unimaginative. We can't all like the same things, though, right? Maybe the fact that the woman sitting next to me scored 152,000 to my 72,000 affected my enthusiasm
*I was scared to death that the crowds would be awful and dh would hate it (he's not one to deal well with crowds). We got in Fri night at 8:30 PM, and wow, it WAS really crowded. DH and I needed to validate our Costco APs so that's why we went. The AP part was very quick and went smoothly! We walked down Main St and decided to go back to the hotel because the crowds were crazy. The next morning we went in early--7 AM-- for MM and the whole day was super fun! The crowds were pretty light on Sat, we got in all our favorite rides, made great use of FPs and had a fantastic time. Went back to the hotel and got the girls dressed in their princess outfits for the princess dinner at Ariel's. Oh, my! What a grand time!! The girls have all said repeatedly that it was the best thing about our trip. When we got the bill, it was $150. I had paid $104 for vouchers from AAA, so I felt pretty good about saving that $46. It was a wonderful experience for $20/pp including tax and tip! We saw Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, and Snow White. Our food was very good, too--dh and I got the tri-tip which was excellent. I tried dd's chicken skewer and it was really tasty but she found it too spicy (ginger). DD2 had the spaghetti with meatball lollipop and was happy with it. DD3 had cheesy pasta shells, which were slightly better than the other mac & cheese dishes in the park. The dessert tray was nice but we didn't eat too much of it. My girls' favorite was the bread basket! Mmmm. We got seconds.
*I got to see another DISer! I ran into Tinkermell near POTC! It was so cool. It was the first and only time I saw another LGMH in the park, except for my board friend...
*I met a DISer from my hometown a few weeks before our trip! She noticed on my signature that we're from the same town and PM'd me. We got together for coffee and became friends, and we learned we were going to DL at the same time so we met up! How fun is that?! She is disneylvr2.
*I had my first churro and first Dole whip!! All these years, I've never tried either until now. My conclusion = Churro: yummy!! Dole whip: eh.
*We walked down to DLH one morning for breakfast because we love Steakhouse 55. It's such a good value and it was fun to check out the hotel grounds and shops. The girls watched Peter Pan in the movie room while dh and I waited for our table, then ran back out to it while we finished our coffee. I ordered the pancake stack, which is huge and fed all three girls AND me! They each got one very large pancake and I got 2.
*I kept getting that feeling, every day. I don't know how to express it but I'm sure many of you know the one I'm talking about...I guess I'll call it Disney Joy
. I just want to sing and dance and twirl around. In fact, I do, and the girls join me!
Even dh sings and rocks back and forth a bit 
*We never saw the Dream Team at all. Guess I'll have to wait a little longer to win a night in the Dream Suite, LOL.
*The CMs were all so nice, and we did not have a single bad experience in the parks (with one exception, which I'll note below, that had nothing to do with Disney). The girls had so much fun that they cried when it was time to go! I don't think that has ever happened, no matter how much they've enjoyed a vacation. Other than Friday night, the crowds were fine and we had no trouble doing everything we wanted. Even our flights went off without a hitch! We carried our bags on the plane on the way down so we could leave immediately for the parks since we were coming in rather late at night. We checked them on the flight home and they were the first ones off when we arrived!
*We usually take Super Shuttle to and from SNA, but this year we took the advice of others and grabbed a taxi when we got there. Wow! That's so easy! I was always nervous about doing that because there are 5 in our party and I thought we needed to make prior arrangements, but nope! It was $40 each way (metered--no flat rate was given to us in either direction). That makes it cheaper to take a taxi than a shuttle for us. When we left for the airport, we didn't have to do a thing because there are always taxis waiting at the hotel and the bell guys just rolled out our bags. Sweeeeet.
*The only bad thing on our trip was that I had to choose our vacation to have a kidney stone attack. I somehow made it back to the hotel Sunday, took some vicodin and slept. Felt better when I got up and insisted on going back to the park. MISTAKE!!! I told dh to stay in the park with the girls and I'd go back and sleep. I didn't tell him how much it hurt, so he doesn't know I was so close to passing out on my way back and was planning in my head what I might have to do to get to a hospital. Managed to make it to the room...have I mentioned it is 20 miles from the elevator?...and took a couple more vicodin. I couldn't get up on the bed so I just crashed on the floor. Fortunately, the stupid thing passed eventually and I was able to go back to the park the next day
I'm a chronic stone former but I've never had an attack on vacation before. I'm sooooo glad it only interrupted 1 day and didn't necessitate any medical assistance (besides pain killers!).
*Upgraded girls to APs, too. Looks like we'll have to go again.
*GCH was ok but not as great as expected. The architecture is stunning, but honestly, I prefer the DLH. The GCH rooms were fairly standard though they did have nice wood furniture and appointments. IMO there is a serious design flaw when they make wings off of wings with no way to get to the end rooms without a long, long, long walk. Couldn't they have put in a few more elevator locations? *Tip: if you get one of those rooms where you come off the elevator, walk down to the corner and turn, walk all the way down the long wing and turn, and then walk all the way to the end of that wing before you get to your room, take the stairs when you go down! It's a lot faster. I much prefer the pool and grounds at DLH and the restaurants offer better value. However, the location of GCH is fabulous! That's the best thing about it, IMO. You walk out into the best part of DTD or straight into CA. That is very cool.
*Never rode the monorail this year! It was so close to walk to the hotel and we just didn't try it out.
*Had a great time at BB but had to wait over an hour (75 min) for our waterside table at first seating. I'm pretty sure they either forgot about us or someone else with our last name (very common) got our table. When I finally asked when we could expect our table, the guy looked shocked that we had waited so long and went to check. When he came back, he said that the party was "just leaving" and our table would be ready in a minute. My dh was, shall we say, a bit skeptical at the coincidence. I was just glad we could finally sit and eat! 3 little girls don't do too well with long waits for food. However, they had a blast and it was worth it. Our table was awesome, too.
*I was totally disappointed in the new Toy Story ride. I guess a person like me who hates video games would not be one to appreciate this ride. My girls thought it was great fun but I thought it was boring and unimaginative. We can't all like the same things, though, right? Maybe the fact that the woman sitting next to me scored 152,000 to my 72,000 affected my enthusiasm
*I was scared to death that the crowds would be awful and dh would hate it (he's not one to deal well with crowds). We got in Fri night at 8:30 PM, and wow, it WAS really crowded. DH and I needed to validate our Costco APs so that's why we went. The AP part was very quick and went smoothly! We walked down Main St and decided to go back to the hotel because the crowds were crazy. The next morning we went in early--7 AM-- for MM and the whole day was super fun! The crowds were pretty light on Sat, we got in all our favorite rides, made great use of FPs and had a fantastic time. Went back to the hotel and got the girls dressed in their princess outfits for the princess dinner at Ariel's. Oh, my! What a grand time!! The girls have all said repeatedly that it was the best thing about our trip. When we got the bill, it was $150. I had paid $104 for vouchers from AAA, so I felt pretty good about saving that $46. It was a wonderful experience for $20/pp including tax and tip! We saw Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, and Snow White. Our food was very good, too--dh and I got the tri-tip which was excellent. I tried dd's chicken skewer and it was really tasty but she found it too spicy (ginger). DD2 had the spaghetti with meatball lollipop and was happy with it. DD3 had cheesy pasta shells, which were slightly better than the other mac & cheese dishes in the park. The dessert tray was nice but we didn't eat too much of it. My girls' favorite was the bread basket! Mmmm. We got seconds.
*I got to see another DISer! I ran into Tinkermell near POTC! It was so cool. It was the first and only time I saw another LGMH in the park, except for my board friend...
*I met a DISer from my hometown a few weeks before our trip! She noticed on my signature that we're from the same town and PM'd me. We got together for coffee and became friends, and we learned we were going to DL at the same time so we met up! How fun is that?! She is disneylvr2.
*I had my first churro and first Dole whip!! All these years, I've never tried either until now. My conclusion = Churro: yummy!! Dole whip: eh.
*We walked down to DLH one morning for breakfast because we love Steakhouse 55. It's such a good value and it was fun to check out the hotel grounds and shops. The girls watched Peter Pan in the movie room while dh and I waited for our table, then ran back out to it while we finished our coffee. I ordered the pancake stack, which is huge and fed all three girls AND me! They each got one very large pancake and I got 2.
*I kept getting that feeling, every day. I don't know how to express it but I'm sure many of you know the one I'm talking about...I guess I'll call it Disney Joy
. I just want to sing and dance and twirl around. In fact, I do, and the girls join me! Even dh sings and rocks back and forth a bit *We never saw the Dream Team at all. Guess I'll have to wait a little longer to win a night in the Dream Suite, LOL.
*The CMs were all so nice, and we did not have a single bad experience in the parks (with one exception, which I'll note below, that had nothing to do with Disney). The girls had so much fun that they cried when it was time to go! I don't think that has ever happened, no matter how much they've enjoyed a vacation. Other than Friday night, the crowds were fine and we had no trouble doing everything we wanted. Even our flights went off without a hitch! We carried our bags on the plane on the way down so we could leave immediately for the parks since we were coming in rather late at night. We checked them on the flight home and they were the first ones off when we arrived!
*We usually take Super Shuttle to and from SNA, but this year we took the advice of others and grabbed a taxi when we got there. Wow! That's so easy! I was always nervous about doing that because there are 5 in our party and I thought we needed to make prior arrangements, but nope! It was $40 each way (metered--no flat rate was given to us in either direction). That makes it cheaper to take a taxi than a shuttle for us. When we left for the airport, we didn't have to do a thing because there are always taxis waiting at the hotel and the bell guys just rolled out our bags. Sweeeeet.
*The only bad thing on our trip was that I had to choose our vacation to have a kidney stone attack. I somehow made it back to the hotel Sunday, took some vicodin and slept. Felt better when I got up and insisted on going back to the park. MISTAKE!!! I told dh to stay in the park with the girls and I'd go back and sleep. I didn't tell him how much it hurt, so he doesn't know I was so close to passing out on my way back and was planning in my head what I might have to do to get to a hospital. Managed to make it to the room...have I mentioned it is 20 miles from the elevator?...and took a couple more vicodin. I couldn't get up on the bed so I just crashed on the floor. Fortunately, the stupid thing passed eventually and I was able to go back to the park the next day
I'm a chronic stone former but I've never had an attack on vacation before. I'm sooooo glad it only interrupted 1 day and didn't necessitate any medical assistance (besides pain killers!).*Upgraded girls to APs, too. Looks like we'll have to go again.
