Just Back - A Few Thoughts!

[ZoZo]

Just back from a four-day trip. A few random thoughts:

Candy Cane Inn was wonderful, as always! We got a premium room, and appreciated the extras (extra room, microwave, having breakfast "delivered," and late check-out @ 2:00 our last day). The beds and pillows were extremely comfortable! Would definitely stay there again.

Restaurant experiences were mostly good. A few highlights:

• We ended up having a last-minute meal at Catal. Excellent food! I had the marinated hanger steak with roasted apples and pearl onions. Also got a side of their au gratin potatoes. It was so good! My friend had the skillet chicken, which she said was very good.
• Dinner at Cafe Orleans. Was originally planning on the Monte Cristo sandwich, but didn't want anything heavy. Got the Crescent City Salad with Blackened Chicken - what a great choice! One of the best salads I've ever had. It had glazed pecans, fresh oranges, grapes, roasted corn, caramelized onions, and a yummy orange-cilantro dressing. The beignets were wonderful, especially with the berry dipping sauce (it made them taste like the best jelly donut in the world!). The only disappointment was the pommes frites. I had heard such wonderful things about them, but to me, they tasted like McDonalds fries with a little parmesan and a little garlic (and the toppings kept falling off, so it was mostly just plain french fries!). Maybe I hit an off night - wish they'd been better!
• Good corn chowder at Jolly Holiday bakery.
• Lunch at Tortilla Joe's was pretty good. My friend had huaraches with chicken, which she said were very good. My Carnitas were just okay - the meat was fairly fatty, so only about half of the pieces were edible.
• The warm brownie sundae from Ghirardelli is absolutely wonderful!
• Churros were great as usual!

The Halloween party was really fun. We got in three hours early with our party tickets, but it was very crowded and we didn't get much done. Once the party started at 6:00 pm, the crowds cleared out and the rides were a walk-on, which was great. Staked out a spot about an hour early for the parade, which was fantastic! We didn't stay until the end of the party, though, since I'd gotten up so early to catch my airline flight. If we were to do the party again, we probably wouldn't arrive until shortly before the party started, since we mostly wandered around and didn't get much done before the party started.

Arriving before rope drop was a great strategy! I rode Toy Story three times in half an hour our second day. But we realized it's important to find out if there's any kind of early-entry when rope-dropping. My friend went straight to Peter Pan on Saturday, for regular park hours (we weren't eligilble for early entry). She said the posted wait time for Peter Pan was 20 minutes when she arrived, but she ended up standing in line for 45 minutes due to all of the people who were able to enter the park early.

And the single rider lines were fantastic! We used them for Soarin', Radiator Springs Racers, and California Screaming. Never had to wait more than five minutes!

It's helpful to check the weather forecast before going, and be prepared for hot weather. We knew one of our days was likely to be in the low 90s (it ended up being 95 degrees!). I had brought battery operated mini-fans (Coleman brand) which really helped. Drank lots of ice water (asked for free ice water at CS restaurants and poured into my refillable water bottle). Getting up early, getting lots of stuff done by noon, and taking afternoon breaks really helped. It cooled off in the evenings, so that helped. And taking a shower in the afternoon and changing clothes was really helpful, too. Who knew when we picked late October for our trip that it would be so darn hot?!?

All in all, it was a great trip. Would be glad to answer any questions that I can!