Delilah1310
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2008
- Messages
- 669
Hi all! We got back from an amazing 5 days in Anaheim and I wanted to share a few things in case it is helpful for anyone else who is planning.
Grand Californian Hotel –
We absolutely love this hotel. It’s our favorite at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World. When we got there, they offered us a room with a Queen and two bunk beds. She said they were phasing them out and they would not be available for long (I’m sorry … if she said specifically how long, I didn’t catch it). We asked if it was possible for a renovated room, and she said we would have to wait until one was available. We gave our bags to the bell services (also, they would refrigerate our milk for us). When we got our room later, we were excited to see it was a nice courtyard view with a little balcony. Very nice surprise as we had just booked a standard room.
Food –
We ate dinner at the Storyteller’s one night, which was great. My DS9 loved the turkey so he ate a bunch of that and I was thrilled that it wasn’t a hot dog! HA! DH loved the chicken and salmon; there was fresh fruit and lots of salads, baked ziti with zucchini, corn chowder, some veggies/mashed potatoes, the bread and cornbread they brought to the table was good, and I also enjoyed the bread pudding. There is not a lot of variety but we liked what they offered, so it was a good choice for us.
Rancho De Zocalo is our favorite lunch spot. DH got the carne asada and enchilada plate. I got the fish tacos this time, which was very good. DS9 doesn’t like anything there – shrug. We loved our meals. I have had several different things there and enjoy everything I’ve tried.
Pizza Press – we ate there on our way from the airport to the resort. It was good – if you have a Pie Five near you, it is very much like that. You pick your toppings (like of like a Subway restaurant when you walk down the counter) and then your pizza is ready pretty quickly. We each got our own and it was a lot of food. We could have easily shared.
Galactic Grill – DH and DS had cheeseburgers, I had the veggie wrap. Everyone liked their food, it wasn’t the best thing we had ever eaten, but it was pretty good.
Snacks – we had the pretzel bites at the Mickey and the Magical Map theater. Those were great! Root beer floats at the Golden Horseshoe – yummy but the line was LONG! Could be that it was just a bad time of day. Other standard stuff – fruit, churros, cotton candy. All favorites!
Rides –
As busy as it was, we were really surprised at how much we did! We did use every Extra Magic morning, and got 3 or 4 rides that hour each day. And we used the Extra Extra Magic Hour at 10 pm to ride Guardians late night. We rode everything we wanted to, except the railroad. The railroad line always seemed really, really long. We did the canoes for the first time and LOVED it! We wanted to see the new river and the canoes were a really fun option to do that! You really have to work, but the cast members kept it entertaining.
Guardians was amazing!!! The new theming makes it such a fun, upbeat ride … everyone was cheering and it felt like we were all having fun together. It felt like even the guests’ screams were more from fun, excitement and not scary, fear, in my opinion. Many of the cast members here were also having a good time and playing along with it.
Non-Disney stuff
Los Angeles Angels game – if you are a baseball fan, I highly recommend setting aside a night for a game here. It was a great time! The ballpark is super close … like 5 or 10 minutes and an easy drive from the DLR area. The ballpark itself is very intimate, seats are very close to the players and field. We got there early for batting practice and DS9 was able to get a couple of balls from the players. Other kids were able to get some autographs. It was a great time – bring your glove!
Knott’s Berry Farm – It is pretty close to the DLR area – maybe a 15-minute drive. Overall, we had mixed feelings about Knott’s. It was a cute park – if you have a Six Flags type park near you, I could describe this as a little more themed than those kinds of parks. Not Disney-level, but it was cute. Ghost Town especially had some fun with characters who lined the street. We wanted to go back to Ghost Town before we left and play around a little more, but the pool was more compelling. But it was super hot out there – might have just been the temps that day, but for some reason it was just draining. Seems like you could probably get just about everything done here in about 5 hours or so.
Hope this helps someone! Please let me know if you have any specific questions and I will be happy to answer!
Grand Californian Hotel –
We absolutely love this hotel. It’s our favorite at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World. When we got there, they offered us a room with a Queen and two bunk beds. She said they were phasing them out and they would not be available for long (I’m sorry … if she said specifically how long, I didn’t catch it). We asked if it was possible for a renovated room, and she said we would have to wait until one was available. We gave our bags to the bell services (also, they would refrigerate our milk for us). When we got our room later, we were excited to see it was a nice courtyard view with a little balcony. Very nice surprise as we had just booked a standard room.
Food –
We ate dinner at the Storyteller’s one night, which was great. My DS9 loved the turkey so he ate a bunch of that and I was thrilled that it wasn’t a hot dog! HA! DH loved the chicken and salmon; there was fresh fruit and lots of salads, baked ziti with zucchini, corn chowder, some veggies/mashed potatoes, the bread and cornbread they brought to the table was good, and I also enjoyed the bread pudding. There is not a lot of variety but we liked what they offered, so it was a good choice for us.
Rancho De Zocalo is our favorite lunch spot. DH got the carne asada and enchilada plate. I got the fish tacos this time, which was very good. DS9 doesn’t like anything there – shrug. We loved our meals. I have had several different things there and enjoy everything I’ve tried.
Pizza Press – we ate there on our way from the airport to the resort. It was good – if you have a Pie Five near you, it is very much like that. You pick your toppings (like of like a Subway restaurant when you walk down the counter) and then your pizza is ready pretty quickly. We each got our own and it was a lot of food. We could have easily shared.
Galactic Grill – DH and DS had cheeseburgers, I had the veggie wrap. Everyone liked their food, it wasn’t the best thing we had ever eaten, but it was pretty good.
Snacks – we had the pretzel bites at the Mickey and the Magical Map theater. Those were great! Root beer floats at the Golden Horseshoe – yummy but the line was LONG! Could be that it was just a bad time of day. Other standard stuff – fruit, churros, cotton candy. All favorites!
Rides –
As busy as it was, we were really surprised at how much we did! We did use every Extra Magic morning, and got 3 or 4 rides that hour each day. And we used the Extra Extra Magic Hour at 10 pm to ride Guardians late night. We rode everything we wanted to, except the railroad. The railroad line always seemed really, really long. We did the canoes for the first time and LOVED it! We wanted to see the new river and the canoes were a really fun option to do that! You really have to work, but the cast members kept it entertaining.
Guardians was amazing!!! The new theming makes it such a fun, upbeat ride … everyone was cheering and it felt like we were all having fun together. It felt like even the guests’ screams were more from fun, excitement and not scary, fear, in my opinion. Many of the cast members here were also having a good time and playing along with it.
Non-Disney stuff
Los Angeles Angels game – if you are a baseball fan, I highly recommend setting aside a night for a game here. It was a great time! The ballpark is super close … like 5 or 10 minutes and an easy drive from the DLR area. The ballpark itself is very intimate, seats are very close to the players and field. We got there early for batting practice and DS9 was able to get a couple of balls from the players. Other kids were able to get some autographs. It was a great time – bring your glove!
Knott’s Berry Farm – It is pretty close to the DLR area – maybe a 15-minute drive. Overall, we had mixed feelings about Knott’s. It was a cute park – if you have a Six Flags type park near you, I could describe this as a little more themed than those kinds of parks. Not Disney-level, but it was cute. Ghost Town especially had some fun with characters who lined the street. We wanted to go back to Ghost Town before we left and play around a little more, but the pool was more compelling. But it was super hot out there – might have just been the temps that day, but for some reason it was just draining. Seems like you could probably get just about everything done here in about 5 hours or so.
Hope this helps someone! Please let me know if you have any specific questions and I will be happy to answer!
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