I don't think I'll get around to a full trip report so here's a few things of note:
I didn't realize that whether you enter the Pinochio parking lot from Katella or the parking garage from Ball Rd, you get fed into the same area to park. If going before park opening, entering from Katella seemed to be faster as it went directly into Pinocchio lot instead of going all the way around and ending up there anyway.
The trams ran frequently and smoothly the whole time except once when we waited 5-10 min. or so, longer than the other waits. We did not have any major complaints or problems parking and using the trams, although when budget allows I do prefer staying at a hotel across the street on Harbor and walking, but for the money we saved, parking was worth it!
Peacock Suites was wonderful!! One of the best hotels I have EVER stayed in and nicer than the Harbor hotels we have stayed at. I would stay here again in a heart beat.
Super clean, comfy beds, lots of room, nice staff. The cont. breakfast was better than the ones on Harbor we have had. There was 2 cereals, oatmeal, milk, toast, several pastries and donuts, oranges, and juice and coffee. The pastries were fresh and soft. We loved the hot chocolate chip cookies in the lobby and the ice water there. We stopped in each time we came back from the parks for a cool drink. The parking is expensive, but figured into the cost of our stay we still saved so much money. And the valet parking guys were awesome. They literally ran to get our car out of the garage each time and we never waited longer than a couple minutes.
If you have a car and have the opportunity to get lunch or dinner outside the parks, the McDonald's on Ball Rd, just a couple blocks from DL is WAY cheaper than the McDonald's on Harbor, across the street from DL. We went to that one first and noticed they have a sparse dollar menu. So I asked about the dollar chicken nuggets and discovered they don't have those at that location, they are around $3 there. But the girl was very nice when I asked if there was another McDonald's close by and she told me to head north on Harbor and take a right after going past the freeway entrance. It was about a block down that road. We got food for all 6 of us off the dollar menu for $10-11, which was less than half of what we would have spent at the McDonald's by
Disneyland. Definitely worth the extra 3 min. drive.
We went to DLR on Wed-Fri. Crowds were easily manageable by getting there early and using fast passes. It was super HOT though and we were glad to take an afternoon break at the hotel on Wed. and Thurs. Wed and Thurs we got a ton of rides done and fast passes collected in the first two hours of park opening. We went to CA Wed afternoon and Thurs morning. We got there around 9:45 am Thursday for opening and Soarin' was already a mad house. But since GRR isn't disconnected anymore we decided we better get a FP for that as it was already getting hot and the line gets super long, over an hour, on that ride on hot summer days. So I ran to get FPs for it while they got in line at Soarin' Luckily the line wasn't as bad as it looked--it was posted at about 30 min but they got into the building and down the ramp quickly and actually had to let people pass at that point because they beat me there. (I had to wait for rope drop by GRR in a mass of people). The line for Soarin' went over 60 min. by late morning and fast passes ran out quickly. We had no problems getting on Screamin' though and did that a few times using stand by and child swap. Never needed a fast pass for Screamin' or Tower of Terror. We did ToT around 1 pm and the line was about 20-25 min. We did it again in the evening and it was down to 10 min. or so. Toy Story lines stayed at around 30-40 min. throughout the day.
We saw the electrical parade on Wednesday and it was amazing. I haven't seen that since I was a kid. It was pretty crowded but we found decent seats in Sunshine Plaza just about 10 min. before it started. We saw the fireworks at DL on Thursday. It was super crowded. Worse than I've ever been there for. We didn't want to deal with the intense crowd level so we made our way to the train station and watched in front of there so we could make a quick exit. If we didn't have young kids we would have watched closer to the castle and then gone on some rides afterward while the crowd dispersed. They almost canceled the fireworks due to wind and the show was delayed a few minutes but did go on.
Friday we decided to take an easy day and sleep in a little, pack up, and check out in the morning. We didn't get to DL until around 9:30 am and figured we might miss out on getting fast passes and riding the more popular rides but thought we'd just do shows, shopping, and fast loaders since we were only staying until late afternoon. The parking garage was packed, as were the walkways, but surprisingly when we headed straight back to Splash Mountain the wait was still only 10 min. so we rode it and grabbed a fast pass for it. About an hour later, we also got a fast pass for Space Mountain, which already had a return time of about 2:40 pm. We were able to ride several rides with about 10-15 min. or less wait, including BTMRR, Pirates, Tea Cups, Small World, Buzz, and Star Tours. When we used our Space fast passes at about 2:20 pm, the stand by was at around 45 min. so still not super terrible. The Space Mountain child swap is the bomb. I forgot just how much faster you get on using it on that ride compared to the others. Instead of going in through the fast pass line, you go through the handicap entrance straight to the loading area. We got on the next car after showing the CM our ticket. We rode the train around to Splash after that, and the stand by line was at about 90 min., and with fast pass we got on in about 10-15 min. We rode Pirates again and then spent the last 1 1/2 hours shopping.
All in all, it was a GREAT trip! If you have to go in summer, it is definitely doable. Because of the heat, I will try to go late May/early June or fall next time but for our timing this year, this worked out fine.
