Back to work today, boo! I love reading trip reports so I thought I would write one as well. It's rather long winded so sorry about that. Here goes the first part:
I had a great time and want to thank everyone here on the DIS for all the insight and answers to my questions because it really made my trip wonderful, so thank you!
My trip consisted of: me, my husband, son (10), daughter (8) and my mom and dad.
Tuesday, July 16th
Arrived at Residence Inn Anaheim Maingate and checked in (we were coming in from Ventura after visiting family there.) Hotel was decent. Nothing fancy but it was fine for our stay. We stayed at the HOJO for our last visit in 2008 and I really don't have a preference either way. My parents, who came with us, prefer the RI due to having more space to relax with our party of six. We had a penthouse suite.
After checking in we got cleaned up and headed to Downtown Disney for shopping and to get to our 5pm reservation at Goofy's Kitchen. We drove and parked in an outdoor lot near Mickey and Friends structure (?) There was no one at the booth or a place to grab a ticket, so we ended up parking free. Maybe because it was Disneylands birthday? Not sure. We got on a tram and went over to the main entrance. But before we hit DTD I went to Guest Services to ask about a one hour shopping pass so I could exchange my PhotoPass Plus voucher for the actual card. The woman there said they no longer offer one hour shopping passes so I had to buy a one day ticket for myself and she said if I got back in one hour then she would refund the price of the ticket back to my credit card. I needed to exchange the PP+ voucher so I did this. I practically ran to the photo store in DL because I didnt want to be charged that ticket price! I went to the cashier and the first one (Sue I believe) said I had to go to the photo viewing people. So I got in a small line for that and when I got to the woman there she said I needed to go to the cashier. I said I had already and was sent to her. So the viewing lady took me back over to the cashier and said I needed to exchange it with her. So Sue took my voucher and stuffed it in the drawer and handed me the card. She seemed put out about it. The lady that walked me over said to Sue that I needed to be rung up so I had a receipt and Sue wasnt pleased about that. The viewing lady offered to do it on the register but Sue unhappily rang me up. The viewing lady explained to me that I needed the receipt just in case I lost my PP+ card so they could retrieve my information. Thank goodness for the viewing lady. Luckily Sue was the only cast member I ran in to that was snippy like that. The rest of the trip everyone was super nice.
PP+ card in hand, I speed walked back to Guest Services and got my refund. Yay me! Off to DTD for shopping and Goofys Kitchen. We arrived at GK about 15 minutes early and checked in and paid. There were already a quite a few people waiting there. About 5pm Goofy (or was it Pluto?) showed up and people started queuing up for their photos. This was a little disorganized as we had sort of lined up before his arrival and then he pointed to some people that they needed to be seated so people scattered. Then within a minute a rope was out and people scrambled to line up. There was family that was first in the original line but kind of got squished out by an aggressive family so I let them in (I was third in line for photos) front of me because I saw what happened. I handed over my PP+ card and got our photo. They were great about taking one of my family of four, then just my kids and then my whole family of 6. We were then seated and the following characters visited our table throughout the evening: Pluto, Chip, Date, Mad Hatter, Minnie and Cinderella. After dinner we did more shopping and then I realized we could have walked from the parking lot rather than taking the tram. Oops. So we walked back to our car and went to the hotel. The tram worked well though because we got to walk through all of DTD and see what was there. Then the walk back to the car was cake.
Wednesday, July 18th Disneyland
We got up early and headed to breakfast offered at the RI. The food was pretty good. I dont like to eat much in the morning so I didnt try a lot but the rest of the family was happy. We bought ART passes for our three days, but decided to walk to the park this morning because we wanted to see how far it was and were to antsy to wait for a shuttle. The walk was easy. My husband thinks its pretty much the same distance as it was from the HOJO. Kids handled it fine. I rented a stroller for my daughter for the three days and off we went. My daughter, despite being capable and eight years old whines a ton if she has to walk a lot so I decided on the stroller to save my own sanity as whining pushes me over the edge. It was a wise decision. We headed over to Splash and I grabbed fast passes and pretty much walked on, then while still in the log we asked if we could ride again and were told yes so we had another go! That is my favorite ride so it made me happy. We would have rode again but I figured we couldnt waste the entire morning on Splash so we headed to Haunted Mansion. We walked on that and it was fun. We then headed over to Indy and got on that within about 10 minutes and grabbed a FP on the way out. We got on Pirates next within about 10 minutes. We then headed over to tomorrow land and grabbed a Star Tours FP then rode Autotopia then Space. We then watched Captain EO until our ST FP was available. We rode that (made me dizzy) and headed over for some lunch. Grabbed Space FP on then rode Buzz Lightyear. My husband took the kids on the Astro Orbitors then we went back to the hotel for a rest. I feel like we got a ton done this morning. We caught the shuttle back to the hotel. We rested and my daughter swam. Pool was way too crowded in her opinion.
We headed back to the parks about 6:30pm. We rode Matterhorn then Its a Small World. My son decided he had enough rides for the day so we went to save some seats for the fireworks and my husband and daughter when to ride Space again. The plan was to ride Splash and Indy again, but the kids were so tired after the Fireworks. We were heading toward Splash again and my daughter said she was done. So we gave away our FPs for Indy and Splash and headed home. My daughter fell asleep on the way out so my husband had to fireman carry her to the ART.
Thursday, July 19th California Adventure
We got up early again and I was confused what to do about Carsland. The kids wanted to ride but I was worried about the time suck it would be to stand in line. We got to the park about 20 minutes before opening and the crowds were huge (expected) so we just got in with the rest of them. We were walked over behind the rope (we were in the middle of the pack) to Carsland area. I saw the RSR FP line and it was crazy long so I just said lets suck it up and to standby. By the time we made it over to the line the board already showed 90 minutes. We were committed so we did it and it took the whole 90 minutes with two small break downs announced over the loudspeakers right when we were close to the end. Luckily they were back online quickly and we rode. I loved it! My kids wanted to ride again, but of course they didnt want to wait. In hindsight should have gotten a FP right then if they were available, but I didnt want to go over there. We then walked around and looked at the land and then rode Mater. Well the kids rode Mater. We got churros and then headed over to the boardwalk area. My daughter wanted to ride Luigis but I told her the posted wait was 45 minutes so she said never mind. I wanted to see what Toy Story was all about anyway. We went over there and line was long so my husband and daughter got in line and rode Mickeys Fun Wheel and I grabbed some fast passes Screaming for them. My son and I went to get something to drink while they did that and then stood in line to meet Donald.
Note: My kids noticed people getting autographs at Goofys and didnt really say anything. The next day at DL my daughter kept begging for an autograph book and I said no. I didnt want to stand in line waiting for that. I relented and picked up a book they could share at DCA when we headed over there. I could tell my son, despite acting like he didnt care, was excited about the characters. I figured if they shared a book then he would be more likely to want to get the autographs for his sister.
We met Donald and got a picture and headed over to fun wheel. I had texted my husband and they missed Donald. So my husband and daughter decided they wanted to try Screaming. The line was short so they did it. They loved it. Then used FP to ride again. We grabbed more FP for that and headed over to Soaring. Then off to the wilderness area. The kids and husband did the wilderness challenge and I grabbed FP for Grizzly. By then my kids were hungry. We headed over to Whitewater Snacks while my husband grabbed a FP for Tower of Terror. We ate lunch then headed out of the parks for a rest. Rode the ART back.
We went back to the parks about 6:30pm again. Went over to Carsland to see if Luigis was any better. It wasnt. We decided to split up while by husband/daughter rode TT and my son and I went to Tough To Be a Bug. We then met back at Carsland and met Mater and got some pictures taken. Went back over to screaming so husband/daughter could ride again. Then we headed over to Grizzly to ride. It was fun in the dark. After that we walked around and just took in the sights. After a while we went back to hotel.
Friday, July 20th DL/DCA
Originally this was our DL day but my son really wanted to ride Toy Story so we walked over and got on that rather quickly first thing. And for rather quickly it was about 20 to 30 minutes. Husband/Daughter rode screaming (again!) and grabbed FP for that. While in line for Toy Story a man gave us a bonus FP ticket for Screaming for 6 people. Nice! I figured husband/daughter would ride that a zillion times. We then went to grab a FP for Grizzly and head over to DL. But then my son wanted to ride Soaring again so we did that first.
Will write more, but I'm getting confused on details and need to check my pictures to see where we were when as we went back and forth on Friday to both parks.
I had a great time and want to thank everyone here on the DIS for all the insight and answers to my questions because it really made my trip wonderful, so thank you!
My trip consisted of: me, my husband, son (10), daughter (8) and my mom and dad.
Tuesday, July 16th
Arrived at Residence Inn Anaheim Maingate and checked in (we were coming in from Ventura after visiting family there.) Hotel was decent. Nothing fancy but it was fine for our stay. We stayed at the HOJO for our last visit in 2008 and I really don't have a preference either way. My parents, who came with us, prefer the RI due to having more space to relax with our party of six. We had a penthouse suite.
After checking in we got cleaned up and headed to Downtown Disney for shopping and to get to our 5pm reservation at Goofy's Kitchen. We drove and parked in an outdoor lot near Mickey and Friends structure (?) There was no one at the booth or a place to grab a ticket, so we ended up parking free. Maybe because it was Disneylands birthday? Not sure. We got on a tram and went over to the main entrance. But before we hit DTD I went to Guest Services to ask about a one hour shopping pass so I could exchange my PhotoPass Plus voucher for the actual card. The woman there said they no longer offer one hour shopping passes so I had to buy a one day ticket for myself and she said if I got back in one hour then she would refund the price of the ticket back to my credit card. I needed to exchange the PP+ voucher so I did this. I practically ran to the photo store in DL because I didnt want to be charged that ticket price! I went to the cashier and the first one (Sue I believe) said I had to go to the photo viewing people. So I got in a small line for that and when I got to the woman there she said I needed to go to the cashier. I said I had already and was sent to her. So the viewing lady took me back over to the cashier and said I needed to exchange it with her. So Sue took my voucher and stuffed it in the drawer and handed me the card. She seemed put out about it. The lady that walked me over said to Sue that I needed to be rung up so I had a receipt and Sue wasnt pleased about that. The viewing lady offered to do it on the register but Sue unhappily rang me up. The viewing lady explained to me that I needed the receipt just in case I lost my PP+ card so they could retrieve my information. Thank goodness for the viewing lady. Luckily Sue was the only cast member I ran in to that was snippy like that. The rest of the trip everyone was super nice.
PP+ card in hand, I speed walked back to Guest Services and got my refund. Yay me! Off to DTD for shopping and Goofys Kitchen. We arrived at GK about 15 minutes early and checked in and paid. There were already a quite a few people waiting there. About 5pm Goofy (or was it Pluto?) showed up and people started queuing up for their photos. This was a little disorganized as we had sort of lined up before his arrival and then he pointed to some people that they needed to be seated so people scattered. Then within a minute a rope was out and people scrambled to line up. There was family that was first in the original line but kind of got squished out by an aggressive family so I let them in (I was third in line for photos) front of me because I saw what happened. I handed over my PP+ card and got our photo. They were great about taking one of my family of four, then just my kids and then my whole family of 6. We were then seated and the following characters visited our table throughout the evening: Pluto, Chip, Date, Mad Hatter, Minnie and Cinderella. After dinner we did more shopping and then I realized we could have walked from the parking lot rather than taking the tram. Oops. So we walked back to our car and went to the hotel. The tram worked well though because we got to walk through all of DTD and see what was there. Then the walk back to the car was cake.
Wednesday, July 18th Disneyland
We got up early and headed to breakfast offered at the RI. The food was pretty good. I dont like to eat much in the morning so I didnt try a lot but the rest of the family was happy. We bought ART passes for our three days, but decided to walk to the park this morning because we wanted to see how far it was and were to antsy to wait for a shuttle. The walk was easy. My husband thinks its pretty much the same distance as it was from the HOJO. Kids handled it fine. I rented a stroller for my daughter for the three days and off we went. My daughter, despite being capable and eight years old whines a ton if she has to walk a lot so I decided on the stroller to save my own sanity as whining pushes me over the edge. It was a wise decision. We headed over to Splash and I grabbed fast passes and pretty much walked on, then while still in the log we asked if we could ride again and were told yes so we had another go! That is my favorite ride so it made me happy. We would have rode again but I figured we couldnt waste the entire morning on Splash so we headed to Haunted Mansion. We walked on that and it was fun. We then headed over to Indy and got on that within about 10 minutes and grabbed a FP on the way out. We got on Pirates next within about 10 minutes. We then headed over to tomorrow land and grabbed a Star Tours FP then rode Autotopia then Space. We then watched Captain EO until our ST FP was available. We rode that (made me dizzy) and headed over for some lunch. Grabbed Space FP on then rode Buzz Lightyear. My husband took the kids on the Astro Orbitors then we went back to the hotel for a rest. I feel like we got a ton done this morning. We caught the shuttle back to the hotel. We rested and my daughter swam. Pool was way too crowded in her opinion.
We headed back to the parks about 6:30pm. We rode Matterhorn then Its a Small World. My son decided he had enough rides for the day so we went to save some seats for the fireworks and my husband and daughter when to ride Space again. The plan was to ride Splash and Indy again, but the kids were so tired after the Fireworks. We were heading toward Splash again and my daughter said she was done. So we gave away our FPs for Indy and Splash and headed home. My daughter fell asleep on the way out so my husband had to fireman carry her to the ART.
Thursday, July 19th California Adventure
We got up early again and I was confused what to do about Carsland. The kids wanted to ride but I was worried about the time suck it would be to stand in line. We got to the park about 20 minutes before opening and the crowds were huge (expected) so we just got in with the rest of them. We were walked over behind the rope (we were in the middle of the pack) to Carsland area. I saw the RSR FP line and it was crazy long so I just said lets suck it up and to standby. By the time we made it over to the line the board already showed 90 minutes. We were committed so we did it and it took the whole 90 minutes with two small break downs announced over the loudspeakers right when we were close to the end. Luckily they were back online quickly and we rode. I loved it! My kids wanted to ride again, but of course they didnt want to wait. In hindsight should have gotten a FP right then if they were available, but I didnt want to go over there. We then walked around and looked at the land and then rode Mater. Well the kids rode Mater. We got churros and then headed over to the boardwalk area. My daughter wanted to ride Luigis but I told her the posted wait was 45 minutes so she said never mind. I wanted to see what Toy Story was all about anyway. We went over there and line was long so my husband and daughter got in line and rode Mickeys Fun Wheel and I grabbed some fast passes Screaming for them. My son and I went to get something to drink while they did that and then stood in line to meet Donald.
Note: My kids noticed people getting autographs at Goofys and didnt really say anything. The next day at DL my daughter kept begging for an autograph book and I said no. I didnt want to stand in line waiting for that. I relented and picked up a book they could share at DCA when we headed over there. I could tell my son, despite acting like he didnt care, was excited about the characters. I figured if they shared a book then he would be more likely to want to get the autographs for his sister.
We met Donald and got a picture and headed over to fun wheel. I had texted my husband and they missed Donald. So my husband and daughter decided they wanted to try Screaming. The line was short so they did it. They loved it. Then used FP to ride again. We grabbed more FP for that and headed over to Soaring. Then off to the wilderness area. The kids and husband did the wilderness challenge and I grabbed FP for Grizzly. By then my kids were hungry. We headed over to Whitewater Snacks while my husband grabbed a FP for Tower of Terror. We ate lunch then headed out of the parks for a rest. Rode the ART back.
We went back to the parks about 6:30pm again. Went over to Carsland to see if Luigis was any better. It wasnt. We decided to split up while by husband/daughter rode TT and my son and I went to Tough To Be a Bug. We then met back at Carsland and met Mater and got some pictures taken. Went back over to screaming so husband/daughter could ride again. Then we headed over to Grizzly to ride. It was fun in the dark. After that we walked around and just took in the sights. After a while we went back to hotel.
Friday, July 20th DL/DCA
Originally this was our DL day but my son really wanted to ride Toy Story so we walked over and got on that rather quickly first thing. And for rather quickly it was about 20 to 30 minutes. Husband/Daughter rode screaming (again!) and grabbed FP for that. While in line for Toy Story a man gave us a bonus FP ticket for Screaming for 6 people. Nice! I figured husband/daughter would ride that a zillion times. We then went to grab a FP for Grizzly and head over to DL. But then my son wanted to ride Soaring again so we did that first.
Will write more, but I'm getting confused on details and need to check my pictures to see where we were when as we went back and forth on Friday to both parks.
