Fabulous quick trip...kids were still out of school, so we decided to stay overnight. First time at the HoJo (thanks to the recommendations on this board), and it was great. Would definitely stay there again. I loved the fact that Mimi's was right next door. Too cold for this SoCal girl to swim, but there were people swimming...and looks great for summer!
We actually decided to start at California Adventure, and finally for the first time rode TSMM. What a GREAT ride! Definitely my newest favorite ride. We hit the Tritons Carosel, then took the kids into Bugs Land as well since we hadn't done that in a while. We then went and visited Lightning and Mater (good thing we did...Lightning wasn't in the parade!). Had lunch at Taste Pilots..yummy. We then went and visited Crush (a must-do for my son!), and both my daughter and son got to talk to Crush....awwww.....and then, again thanks to THIS BOARD, I finally went and saw Aladdian which I had never done before. WOW! Amazing.
We then walked over to Disney and hit up Fantasyland. After a few rides, the kids started petering out on us, so went on a quick Toy Story ride and they were done for the night...EARLY :-( . Oh well. Went to the hotel, ordered Mimis, and ate dinner in the hotel room. Kids were konked out a few minutes later. We stayed in Build #2 overlooking the pool..nice!
Day 2....we were there at opening...and I promised myself I would go directly to the Fairy Land...still had about a 20 minute wait (maybe 20 peeps ahead of us)...and, sadly, there was only one fairy and Tinkerbell. I was really disappointed. Previously, I kept putting it off because of the wait always being 40+ minutes. The good part was that we saw Buzz Lightyear through the "fairy weeds" so my DH and DS went over and finally my son got to meet Buzz Lightyear..which was the highlight of the trip. After, we decided to check Nemo's wait, and the ride was down...so we walked through and repeated some Fantasy rides, then went to Pirates, Pooh, Steamship ride, and lunch at the cafe next to Pirates. DH had a roast beef sandwich and I had a salad...kids had uncrustables. Although it was close to $40, the lunch was yummy! The park was getting crowded at this point, so we decided to go back to CA and ride TSMM again. We then went to Playhouse Disney (since there wasn't an Aladdain show that day), and watched the parade. I was a bit disappointed in the parade...it was the only one while we were there for 2 days, and it was still abbreviated...no Lightning, not all of the characters, etc.
At that point, the kids were done again...this was our first trip trying without a stroller. Although I loved the convenience, it pooped the kids out early. Since we were driving home that night and my son had preschool the next day, we decided to leave then since we saw just about everything that I had wanted to. As much as I love Fantasmic, it scares my little ones, so that wasn't an option.
Great weather both days...not terribly crowded until later in the afternoon.
Great trip...with our SoCal passes, we don't have many additional choices to go throughout the year...but this was a nice, quick trip for everyone.
Nancy
We actually decided to start at California Adventure, and finally for the first time rode TSMM. What a GREAT ride! Definitely my newest favorite ride. We hit the Tritons Carosel, then took the kids into Bugs Land as well since we hadn't done that in a while. We then went and visited Lightning and Mater (good thing we did...Lightning wasn't in the parade!). Had lunch at Taste Pilots..yummy. We then went and visited Crush (a must-do for my son!), and both my daughter and son got to talk to Crush....awwww.....and then, again thanks to THIS BOARD, I finally went and saw Aladdian which I had never done before. WOW! Amazing.
We then walked over to Disney and hit up Fantasyland. After a few rides, the kids started petering out on us, so went on a quick Toy Story ride and they were done for the night...EARLY :-( . Oh well. Went to the hotel, ordered Mimis, and ate dinner in the hotel room. Kids were konked out a few minutes later. We stayed in Build #2 overlooking the pool..nice!
Day 2....we were there at opening...and I promised myself I would go directly to the Fairy Land...still had about a 20 minute wait (maybe 20 peeps ahead of us)...and, sadly, there was only one fairy and Tinkerbell. I was really disappointed. Previously, I kept putting it off because of the wait always being 40+ minutes. The good part was that we saw Buzz Lightyear through the "fairy weeds" so my DH and DS went over and finally my son got to meet Buzz Lightyear..which was the highlight of the trip. After, we decided to check Nemo's wait, and the ride was down...so we walked through and repeated some Fantasy rides, then went to Pirates, Pooh, Steamship ride, and lunch at the cafe next to Pirates. DH had a roast beef sandwich and I had a salad...kids had uncrustables. Although it was close to $40, the lunch was yummy! The park was getting crowded at this point, so we decided to go back to CA and ride TSMM again. We then went to Playhouse Disney (since there wasn't an Aladdain show that day), and watched the parade. I was a bit disappointed in the parade...it was the only one while we were there for 2 days, and it was still abbreviated...no Lightning, not all of the characters, etc.
At that point, the kids were done again...this was our first trip trying without a stroller. Although I loved the convenience, it pooped the kids out early. Since we were driving home that night and my son had preschool the next day, we decided to leave then since we saw just about everything that I had wanted to. As much as I love Fantasmic, it scares my little ones, so that wasn't an option.
Great weather both days...not terribly crowded until later in the afternoon.
Great trip...with our SoCal passes, we don't have many additional choices to go throughout the year...but this was a nice, quick trip for everyone.
Nancy
