I have gotten such great information from the Disboards over the past few years! Thanks for all the excellent tips everyone. I wanted to give back, especially since I had a wonderful time and thought it'd be nice to add a positive review. I decided to post here as opposed to the trip report section as this is more of an overview and I don't have photos to add.
I stayed with my DH, DS6 and DS4 at the GCH last week. My mom joined us for this trip as well, but stayed in a connecting room. The GCH was a once-in-a-lifetime splurge because my mom needed its proximity to the parks. Now I'm spoiled! We stayed 5/26-5/31. Every cast member at the GCH was amazing. When we checked-in, Sebrina made sure to ask if we were celebrating, and finding out it was DS4's birthday, gave him an autographed picture of Chip and Dale, his favorite characters. She also made sure my DS6 got a special "Honorary Citizen of Disneyland" button so he didn't feel left out. I had two room requests, that mom's and our room be connecting, and that DH and my room have bunk beds. We got our requests! The rooms were very clean and in great shape (3227 and 3229). The location actually turned out to be great because the closest elevators were near Pinocchio's Workshop which is right outside of the main lobby. These are also the elevators you take to the 6th floor for the WOC viewing area.
We tried several of the GCH's amenities during the stay, including the "Art of the Craft" tour. We received the weekly activity sheet at check-in. It listed the tour on both Thursday and Friday at 1pm. If no one signs up for the tour, they will cancel it. We signed up for Friday's tour the day before, and Mom and I were the only ones taking it! It was amazing having a tour guide to ourselves. Sierra was cheery and spoke for an hour-and-a-half because we were so interested. One of the many amazing facts we learned is that near the pool's sun gate is a circular mosaic that was created by a craftsman to be an actual working sundial. If you stand in its center facing the sun gate, your shadow tells the hour. How amazing is that! I was geeking out over the minutiae of the GCH. Everything is symbolic!
We also did one of the classic ride trivia challenges for IASW. If you ask to do a challenge, the guest services desk will give you a sheet with questions on one side. Complete it (they do not check the answers) and they will ask your room number. For IASW, I received a pencil that was white and said "It's a world of laughter..." in pink type. I gave it to my DMIL who was staying with other members of our family at BWPPI. We normally stay with them but changed to help out my mom for this trip (it wasn't too difficult to convince me to stay at GCH). Anyway, IASW is my DMIL's favorite ride.
The pool at the GCH was great, and servers were taking drink orders to people watching the swimmers from the table. It was pretty nice to drink a piña colada and watch my kids swim with DH! Finally, I had a pedicure at the Mandara Spa which was fantastic! The massage went on for 15 minutes and my legs felt so much better after all the walking we'd done.
Now onto the rest of DLR...I didn't win a diamond - darn. I still had a great time, though. Even with four grad nights! The 30th was a blocked AP day. So we hung out in DD and the GCH. It was a great way to unwind. Overall the crowds were pretty crazy while we were there. But because of the amazing strategies discussed on these boards, we had a plan and did it all!
We used the 7am EMH to our advantage. Then we parkhopped to the other park when it opened. We avoided grads this way and did most of our rides each morning. Definitely do the bigger rides in the morning to avoid problems! There were a lot of nice grads there on Tues., the 26th. DS4 wanted to ride Grizzly River Run, and then started to get nervous a bit too late. Too grads told him how great the ride was and tried to ease his fears. The only semi-issue we had with the grads at all was when I took DS6 onto SM. A group of them were chanting in the queue and it unnerved DS6 because he couldn't see them and it had a weird echo. One of them tried to jump ahead of several people, but the rest of his friends corrected him and called him back to his rightful place in line. More than anything, the grads kind of park themselves in bad locations where they block walking traffic. It made the congestion worse.
We left the parks each day after lunch, took naps, then came back in the evenings. The BB Fantasmic! dinner package was worth it. We had great seats for both Fantasmic! and Disneyland Forever. I heard someone else say that they did a dinner package where they had to stand (I assume it was River Belle Terrace) and people stepped in front of them near showtime, obstructing their view. It sounded to me like what happens to me (I'm short) at WOC, so I'm glad we did BB and were able to sit down. My DMIL waited several hours to see Paint the Night on main street with an amazing view, and said that her view from main street of Disneyland Forever gave her a great view of the fireworks, but the BB seated spot at the Rivers of America gave her the best view of the projections. My children are too young to wait too long for anything, which is why I'm a crazy planner. So we didn't bother waiting for Paint the Night. However, I discovered something interesting by pure chance. We rode IASW right before PTN started on Friday, 5/30. They were letting people exit IASW and then watch the parade from the bridge. We didn't, but as we were passing through Fantasyland, I could have walked up to the gate surrounding the Tea Cups and had a great view with NO WAIT. We watched a few minutes, but we didn't want to be crushed to death when everyone left after the fireworks, so we grabbed a fast dole whip and got out of there, following the parade. People watch the afternoon parade and are staying in their spots until Paint the Night. It's making Main Street SOOOOO CROWDED in the evening. Urgh.
I thought Disneyland Forever and Paint the Night were pretty amazing. I only watched WOC from the GCH's viewing terrace, which doesn't give a view of the water projections. It didn't look like something I would enjoy waiting that long for, but others will disagree. The thing about WOC is that I'm short and I'd have to wait a long time to see it. I have a "will not wait more than 30 minutes for anything" policy which I rarely break. Thanks to the touring tips on Disboards!
Oh, finally, my absolute best magical moment this trip was when someone gave DS4 a free baymax balloon! Those cost $14! It was SO nice. I was able to pass on some Haunted Mansion Fastpasses to two very happy girls. It's so great to pay it forward when you can!
Let me know if there are any questions that I might be able to answer while it's fresh in my mind.
I stayed with my DH, DS6 and DS4 at the GCH last week. My mom joined us for this trip as well, but stayed in a connecting room. The GCH was a once-in-a-lifetime splurge because my mom needed its proximity to the parks. Now I'm spoiled! We stayed 5/26-5/31. Every cast member at the GCH was amazing. When we checked-in, Sebrina made sure to ask if we were celebrating, and finding out it was DS4's birthday, gave him an autographed picture of Chip and Dale, his favorite characters. She also made sure my DS6 got a special "Honorary Citizen of Disneyland" button so he didn't feel left out. I had two room requests, that mom's and our room be connecting, and that DH and my room have bunk beds. We got our requests! The rooms were very clean and in great shape (3227 and 3229). The location actually turned out to be great because the closest elevators were near Pinocchio's Workshop which is right outside of the main lobby. These are also the elevators you take to the 6th floor for the WOC viewing area.
We tried several of the GCH's amenities during the stay, including the "Art of the Craft" tour. We received the weekly activity sheet at check-in. It listed the tour on both Thursday and Friday at 1pm. If no one signs up for the tour, they will cancel it. We signed up for Friday's tour the day before, and Mom and I were the only ones taking it! It was amazing having a tour guide to ourselves. Sierra was cheery and spoke for an hour-and-a-half because we were so interested. One of the many amazing facts we learned is that near the pool's sun gate is a circular mosaic that was created by a craftsman to be an actual working sundial. If you stand in its center facing the sun gate, your shadow tells the hour. How amazing is that! I was geeking out over the minutiae of the GCH. Everything is symbolic!
We also did one of the classic ride trivia challenges for IASW. If you ask to do a challenge, the guest services desk will give you a sheet with questions on one side. Complete it (they do not check the answers) and they will ask your room number. For IASW, I received a pencil that was white and said "It's a world of laughter..." in pink type. I gave it to my DMIL who was staying with other members of our family at BWPPI. We normally stay with them but changed to help out my mom for this trip (it wasn't too difficult to convince me to stay at GCH). Anyway, IASW is my DMIL's favorite ride.
The pool at the GCH was great, and servers were taking drink orders to people watching the swimmers from the table. It was pretty nice to drink a piña colada and watch my kids swim with DH! Finally, I had a pedicure at the Mandara Spa which was fantastic! The massage went on for 15 minutes and my legs felt so much better after all the walking we'd done.
Now onto the rest of DLR...I didn't win a diamond - darn. I still had a great time, though. Even with four grad nights! The 30th was a blocked AP day. So we hung out in DD and the GCH. It was a great way to unwind. Overall the crowds were pretty crazy while we were there. But because of the amazing strategies discussed on these boards, we had a plan and did it all!
We used the 7am EMH to our advantage. Then we parkhopped to the other park when it opened. We avoided grads this way and did most of our rides each morning. Definitely do the bigger rides in the morning to avoid problems! There were a lot of nice grads there on Tues., the 26th. DS4 wanted to ride Grizzly River Run, and then started to get nervous a bit too late. Too grads told him how great the ride was and tried to ease his fears. The only semi-issue we had with the grads at all was when I took DS6 onto SM. A group of them were chanting in the queue and it unnerved DS6 because he couldn't see them and it had a weird echo. One of them tried to jump ahead of several people, but the rest of his friends corrected him and called him back to his rightful place in line. More than anything, the grads kind of park themselves in bad locations where they block walking traffic. It made the congestion worse.
We left the parks each day after lunch, took naps, then came back in the evenings. The BB Fantasmic! dinner package was worth it. We had great seats for both Fantasmic! and Disneyland Forever. I heard someone else say that they did a dinner package where they had to stand (I assume it was River Belle Terrace) and people stepped in front of them near showtime, obstructing their view. It sounded to me like what happens to me (I'm short) at WOC, so I'm glad we did BB and were able to sit down. My DMIL waited several hours to see Paint the Night on main street with an amazing view, and said that her view from main street of Disneyland Forever gave her a great view of the fireworks, but the BB seated spot at the Rivers of America gave her the best view of the projections. My children are too young to wait too long for anything, which is why I'm a crazy planner. So we didn't bother waiting for Paint the Night. However, I discovered something interesting by pure chance. We rode IASW right before PTN started on Friday, 5/30. They were letting people exit IASW and then watch the parade from the bridge. We didn't, but as we were passing through Fantasyland, I could have walked up to the gate surrounding the Tea Cups and had a great view with NO WAIT. We watched a few minutes, but we didn't want to be crushed to death when everyone left after the fireworks, so we grabbed a fast dole whip and got out of there, following the parade. People watch the afternoon parade and are staying in their spots until Paint the Night. It's making Main Street SOOOOO CROWDED in the evening. Urgh.
I thought Disneyland Forever and Paint the Night were pretty amazing. I only watched WOC from the GCH's viewing terrace, which doesn't give a view of the water projections. It didn't look like something I would enjoy waiting that long for, but others will disagree. The thing about WOC is that I'm short and I'd have to wait a long time to see it. I have a "will not wait more than 30 minutes for anything" policy which I rarely break. Thanks to the touring tips on Disboards!
Oh, finally, my absolute best magical moment this trip was when someone gave DS4 a free baymax balloon! Those cost $14! It was SO nice. I was able to pass on some Haunted Mansion Fastpasses to two very happy girls. It's so great to pay it forward when you can!
Let me know if there are any questions that I might be able to answer while it's fresh in my mind.
