DL Trip May 7th thru 10th The good and the bad!

[sorcerormickey]

Well, what a myriad of emotions mixed into one trip! I've never done a report before, so bear with me! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif I'll just give ya the highs and lows, and some gory details to!

We left on Sunday night, landing at LAX at 9PM. Haven't been there in 10 years, so I was a little lost in finding the baggage. (We just followed the herd of folks in front of us!!) After grabbing our bags, we headed to find a shuttle to DL. We had previously decided on SuperShuttle - mistake #1! It was awful! The driver did not speak much English, and listened to rap music the whole trip! He then did not know how to get to a certain hotel, so he asked me to write down the directions the dispatcher radioed over! We were very happy to get to the DLH and be rid of him!
We checked in and everything was fine.

The next morning was an EE for DL, so we caught the tram at 8AM, and stood at the end of the longest line I had ever seen! We finally made it to the gate a little after 9AM, and then they would not let us in! We had our 1-Day comp tix given to us at work. The girl asked us if we were on-site Guests, which we said we were at the DLH. She said "PROVE IT!" So, I got out my room key, she said it could have been from a year ago - she needed our resort ID. No one ever mentioned that, and I did not have it with me! She said we had to go back to the Hotel and get it. By this time, my girlfriend was in tears - this was her first visit to DL, and it was being ruined! By the time we got back to the room, got the ID, and took the tram back, it was after the 10AM opening time anyways.

The next 3 days went by without a hitch. The parade was fun (my girlfriend enjoyed the almost naked Tarzan!) and lots of restaurants with great food. Hard to choose a fave place to eat! (Maybe Redd Rockett's)

Took the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour. It was so great, and free! (It's a learning experience, you need this info for your job as a CM!) I listed lots of really cool info on the DL board!

Loved Indiana Jones and Rocket Rods! I hope RR is still there when we go to DL again next year! Long wait, but fun ride! Only used FastPass for Roger Rabbitt, they need FP in lots of other places.

Monorail service is sooo slow right now, but that will be fixed soon! I think the tram drop-off right outside the Bonita Tower was very convenient. I think that is the best tower to stay in.

Pretty much bummed around DL for the whole 3 days. Had no plans, so we just did whatever we felt like at the time. We were able to hit all of the attractions a couple times each, so it worked out well.

We left on Wednesday night, 10:30PM DL time - which got us home at 5AM our time the next day! We also chose to use AirportBus for the trip to LAX, the bellmen at the DLH recommend that you DO NOT take SuperShuttle. They said it is very unreliable, with over-all bad service. /infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

I think our 3 days there was the perfect amount of time to spend. On the afternoon of the 3rd day, we were kind of bored. We had walked around the park about 4 times already that day, so we decided to park ourselves on a porch on Main Street, and people watch. What some people wear to go to a theme park is just too funny! Lots of women in high heels, which we do not understand.

Can't wait for next year!!

 

[Goofster57]

Glad you had a great time. I'm surprised that you had trouble with the Main Gate Cast Members, they are usually very accommodating and try to help solve any problem that comes up. Did you get the Cast Members name by chance?

And what is wrong with me wearing Bermuda shorts with black socks and a Hawaiian shirt with a camera around my neck.(LOL).

Keith /infopop/emoticons\icon_wink.gif
Disneyland-Weekly
WDW-87 Disney Villas
99 Wilderness Lodge

 

[sorcerormickey]

KEITH~ Sorry, but if you were wearing that and walking down Main Street, you were picked on ! LOL!!

I was surprised about the whole ticket thing too. They could have just made a quick call to the DLH to verify our stay, in my opinion. Her name was Bobbi, and I wrote a very nasty letter about her and the situation and mailed it to DL already.

 

[Goofster57]

SM
It wasn't quite that bad. My socks were white.......

I have a friend that is a lead at Main Gate and I will mention the situation to her also, so that maybe that wouldn't happen to anyone else next time.

Keith /infopop/emoticons\icon_wink.gif
Disneyland-Weekly
WDW-87 Disney Villas
99 Wilderness Lodge

 

[sorcerormickey]

Thanks Keith! I hope it doesn't happen to anyone else, either. What a way to start a day!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I really enjoyed your trip report, and those tips you put on the Disneyland page were fantastic. I shared them with my kidlets.

I'm sorry to hear that your first day started so badly, and hope that didn't mar the rest of your trip too much.

<font color=blue>Mary Jo</font>
My Disneyland Site

 

[Annjanette]

LOL, we just got back ourselves today, and thought it was so funny too about the heels and uncomfortable sandals so many women were wearing.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with super shuttle. What's kind of funny is that we just had a bad experience with AirportBus this weekend and kept wishing we would have taken the super shuttle. After reading your experience, I think I got the lesser of the two evils.

 

[nativetxn]

I'm making a note: take resort id to EE! Thanks for the head up. Sorry you had a rough start.

I enjoyed reading this.


Katholyn

 

[Molokai Gram]

Even though we were just there last month, it seems as if it was soooo long ago. Thank you for the great report.

And Keith, I hope if you dress like that no one mistakes you for a Hawaiian! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif DH says a true Hawaiian would not wear socks!

 

[Marla Hellwig]

I just love to people watch - its so funny to look at people's clothing combinations. Sounds like a great trip (except for the beginning). Thanks for posting!