Disneylovers
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 29, 1999
- Messages
- 566
O.K., I'm on the Disneyland trip report board, so finally, after indulging me in my babbling about skating, here comes the important part of the trip. Well, O.K., first we had to go to Paramount for Princess' last (possibly ever, sniff) competition, after a stop at the breakfast buffet at the hotel. WE thought she skated better than the judges did, so the skating portion of our trip ended on a bit of a downer, but hey, now we can concentrate fully on Disney!!!!
We stopped back at the hotel to change clothes, then walked to the main gate. Even with Little Legs, it was a quick, ten minutes max, trip. The bag check didn't faze us, we're used to it at WDW, but what DID surprise us was the line to get in! At 11:30 (ish) the lines were about 20 people deep, and not moving very quickly! Where were these people three and a half hours ago when the park opened? We fought the crowds to get the picture of the flowers in front, then entered to the right (always has to be to the right, we exit through the left, don't ask me why, we just do). And there we are! Us, and thousands of others! There was a character greet going on, so Main Street was buzzing. Since the breakfast buffet wore off long ago, our first priority was lunch. I quickly scanned the map, and we decided on Cafe Buzz in Tomorrowland. The line to get lunch was nuts too, and poor DH made the mistake of ordering the roast beef without the horseradish sauce, it took 15 minutes for him to get his sandwich! After we ate, we decided to hit the rides.
ALERT!! We have a very wierd way of touring the parks, the writers of the Unofficial Guide would run, screaming if they sat down and read this report. I don't recommend any family following our tour pattern, it's what works for us, especially with Little Legs.
Our first stop was to get FP for Buzz Lightyear, a family favorite at WDW. We then decided our first ride had to be a DL exclusive, which meant Matterhorn. For Little Legs, who has a need for speed, it was a perfect way to introduce her to DL! Killing time, we went on Tea Cups (DH and I scored the gold cup, denying my girls their chance to ride in it, I'm such a mean mom) and Autopia, then Buzz. My gun was broken, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. The pics were emailed home, then we decided to get out of Tomorrowland, and head to Small World. Little Legs insist on riding this ride every trip, the song was used for the very first program she skated to, so we "endure" it every trip. When we got off the ride, the first parade was just starting, so we worked our way over to Big Thunder. We wanted to get FP for Splash Mtn., but they were gone for the day, and we have a rule, we won't wait longer then 60 minutes for a ride (standby was at 90). Instead we visited the 999 friendly spirits, then the Pirates, and Tiki Birds. We grabbed supper at Village Haus, then worked our way back for a spot for the parade. This family had spread out this huge blanket, and they were all scrunched on one portion (at the curb) so we "helped" them fold it up some. The section with Ariel stopped right by us, so DH was happy she;s his favorite. We tried to get FP for Space Mountain, the ride was down, so we went back on Buzz. Decided to grab some pavement for the fireworks, could not believe the crowds. One CM told me people stake out a spot at 5:30 (for the 9:30 show.) I'm sorry, but if I'm going to spend the money to go to DL, I'm NOT going to sit on my posterior for 4 hours to see a 20 minute fireworks show! (remind me of this, please, next 3rd of July, when my family goes down to Chicago for Taste of Chicago, and the fireworks extravaganza, and we stake out a spot at 6 - but at least that's free!). ANYWAYS, there are these lovely trees around the castle, that look lovely, but get in the way of viewing the fireworks! We had a good view of the castle, and saw most of the fireworks. Which, are AWESOME!!!! I thought Wishes at WDW was great, this one is so much better! We had thought we didn't need to see Fantasmic, since we've seen it a few times at WDW, but decided, we're on this side of the castle, let's go! We got there in enough time to score a tiny peice of pavement, and I'm glad we did, I think I liked the DL show better!! After it was over, and the feeling came back to my legs, we slowly walked back home. Candy Cane Inn has a free shuttle, which we saw come in as we were almost at Harbor, so we made a note as to where it parked for tomorrow (we didn't feel like attempting to cross the bus lanes to get to it, and the walk over to it was just too long.....).
We stopped back at the hotel to change clothes, then walked to the main gate. Even with Little Legs, it was a quick, ten minutes max, trip. The bag check didn't faze us, we're used to it at WDW, but what DID surprise us was the line to get in! At 11:30 (ish) the lines were about 20 people deep, and not moving very quickly! Where were these people three and a half hours ago when the park opened? We fought the crowds to get the picture of the flowers in front, then entered to the right (always has to be to the right, we exit through the left, don't ask me why, we just do). And there we are! Us, and thousands of others! There was a character greet going on, so Main Street was buzzing. Since the breakfast buffet wore off long ago, our first priority was lunch. I quickly scanned the map, and we decided on Cafe Buzz in Tomorrowland. The line to get lunch was nuts too, and poor DH made the mistake of ordering the roast beef without the horseradish sauce, it took 15 minutes for him to get his sandwich! After we ate, we decided to hit the rides.
ALERT!! We have a very wierd way of touring the parks, the writers of the Unofficial Guide would run, screaming if they sat down and read this report. I don't recommend any family following our tour pattern, it's what works for us, especially with Little Legs.
Our first stop was to get FP for Buzz Lightyear, a family favorite at WDW. We then decided our first ride had to be a DL exclusive, which meant Matterhorn. For Little Legs, who has a need for speed, it was a perfect way to introduce her to DL! Killing time, we went on Tea Cups (DH and I scored the gold cup, denying my girls their chance to ride in it, I'm such a mean mom) and Autopia, then Buzz. My gun was broken, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. The pics were emailed home, then we decided to get out of Tomorrowland, and head to Small World. Little Legs insist on riding this ride every trip, the song was used for the very first program she skated to, so we "endure" it every trip. When we got off the ride, the first parade was just starting, so we worked our way over to Big Thunder. We wanted to get FP for Splash Mtn., but they were gone for the day, and we have a rule, we won't wait longer then 60 minutes for a ride (standby was at 90). Instead we visited the 999 friendly spirits, then the Pirates, and Tiki Birds. We grabbed supper at Village Haus, then worked our way back for a spot for the parade. This family had spread out this huge blanket, and they were all scrunched on one portion (at the curb) so we "helped" them fold it up some. The section with Ariel stopped right by us, so DH was happy she;s his favorite. We tried to get FP for Space Mountain, the ride was down, so we went back on Buzz. Decided to grab some pavement for the fireworks, could not believe the crowds. One CM told me people stake out a spot at 5:30 (for the 9:30 show.) I'm sorry, but if I'm going to spend the money to go to DL, I'm NOT going to sit on my posterior for 4 hours to see a 20 minute fireworks show! (remind me of this, please, next 3rd of July, when my family goes down to Chicago for Taste of Chicago, and the fireworks extravaganza, and we stake out a spot at 6 - but at least that's free!). ANYWAYS, there are these lovely trees around the castle, that look lovely, but get in the way of viewing the fireworks! We had a good view of the castle, and saw most of the fireworks. Which, are AWESOME!!!! I thought Wishes at WDW was great, this one is so much better! We had thought we didn't need to see Fantasmic, since we've seen it a few times at WDW, but decided, we're on this side of the castle, let's go! We got there in enough time to score a tiny peice of pavement, and I'm glad we did, I think I liked the DL show better!! After it was over, and the feeling came back to my legs, we slowly walked back home. Candy Cane Inn has a free shuttle, which we saw come in as we were almost at Harbor, so we made a note as to where it parked for tomorrow (we didn't feel like attempting to cross the bus lanes to get to it, and the walk over to it was just too long.....).
