Totally new to this thread! I'm planning a Surprise Birthday Getaway for my soon to be 12 yr old DD on June 5th to DL. I am driving down from Vegas the day before, maybe even having a beach day the day after.
We had a disastrous (well, sort of) 3 day trip to DL/DCA in May of 14. Was 8hrs late to Anahaeim due to fires on 15S, when we get to DL the next day all the rides kept shutting down constantly, plus all the closed rides for refurbishments, so many angry people at City Hall the lines were nearly out to the gates. DCA was better the second day but still wasn't able to go to all the rides because of many refurbishments, also my girls weren't tall enough for most of the rides available. Third day was waaaaay better, had breakfast at Ariel's Grotto. The girls enjoyed the Character Meet and Greets, they gave us extra time with them because I made Autograph books with a designated page for each Character and possibly because I mentioned I was a former CM. We mangaged to hop through both parks and still go on our favorite rides (at least the ones that were open). Wish I had known about DISboards back then because I would have posted a very interesting TR. Fortunately We made the best of everything, still had a great time. Now I kind of want to make up for the rides they haven't been on or can't remember because they were too young the previous times they went.