Thanks for all the nice comments!
Yes, only 3 nights, because we are spending one day at American Girl Place, and 5 days in Carlsbad near San Diego.
We went to Downtown Disney and
Disneyland last night. I had been prepared by lots of people to be "disappointed" because it is (or seems) smaller and more cramped than WDW, but we really liked how close everything is. DH says they could never handle the amount of people that come to WDW, because it is so close together. I loved how Disneyland and CA are right across from each other, and DTD too.
We walked from the Residence Inn Maingate last night, DH says it was a 2 block walk, I say it's more like 4 blocks, but it was very doable. But because we both have foot issues, and a 9 year old that is WAY too heavy to carry when she gets tired, we will probably buy ART passes for today and tomorrow.
You can enter DL by boarding the monorail in DTD, that was neat. The monorail looks so tiny compared to WDW! We had to wait about 25 minutes, because each train that came by only had a few seats available, because not many people were getting off. They only let on as many as they have seats for, and no standing. It was a fun ride too!
One thing that struck us when we got to DL that it all seemed so familiar, yet strange in that we couldn't easily find our way around. We had to resort to using a map, which we NEVER do anymore at WDW. We also found ourselves saying many times, "This is different than WDW" or "you know, in WDW, they do this different". It's really like we can enjoy DL because it's not as familiar, so we can appreciate it more. I have to say that, when we entered DL, I did not get that lump in the throat that I always get when we first get into WDW. But I'm sure that people that grew up taking their family to DL have the emotional response that they don't feel at WDW.
One more funny thing: after the fireworks show at DL, we were going to head down Main Street, when cast members directed a bunch of people to a "short cut" to the end of Main Street, which was a back alley. and we saw things that I would have never believed they would show at a Disney park, like cast members in a breakroom smoking cigarettes! I always believed that was a big NO NO for Disney. DH said "wouldn't it be funny to see Goofy walking around without his head, going to take a smoke break". I think that would be very sad!
