This won't be an official trip report, as I can't remember my day to day activities well enough, but some general thoughts, hints, reviews, regrets, etc.
Details: We were there from July 21-28. DH had a conference at the Anaheim convention center. I came with our daughters, Mary (10) and Else (16 mos). My mom joined us for four days. Mary and I had 6 day parkhoppers, DH had a five day. I'm glad we got the 6 day, as we could go to the park every day and didn't feel like we had to stay a long time if we were tired. We still didn't see everything and I'm kicking myself a bit over some things we missed (California Screaming! I love that ride. And the Pirate Island! How could I have not gone there w/two kids?).
Lodging: we stayed at the Howard Johnson and were generally pretty pleased with it. The walk was about 10 minutes each way-at the beginning of the week, I couldn't see how anyone could ever complain about the walk. By the end of the week, I got it. It was still worth it. I've stayed at the BWPPI and this was better-the rooms we had were huge and the pool was very nice. We had adjoining rooms in one of the small buildings, ground floor. The room was incredibly quiet-could hear some fireworks, but no neighbors and no highway noise. Our rooms were clean, and the fridge was key (for milk for the baby and DH's medication). A microwave would have been great, so we could've reheated all the leftovers we brought back. The room has a sizable closet with a rollaway-Mary partially unfolded it and slept curled up in there several nights (her choice, of course-she thought it was cozy).
Food: This, as I expected, was our biggest disappointment of the trip. I just don't find the food at DL to be very good, and it's so overpriced. We had one lunch at the Blue Bayou-the atmosphere was fun, but we didn't get a waterside table (would've been an additional hour after our 11:50 PS). The food was OK but not great. DH's gumbo was good, and we liked the creme brulee trio, esp the passion fruit (the vanilla was overdone and not very creamy). Service was fine but not stellar. We shared two entrees with three adults (monte cristo-eh-and the pork chops, which were good). The scalloped potatoes were great. All in all, a decent lunch, but not worth $100. Other than that, nothing was really outstanding. Mary and Else loved the turkey legs and they were probably our best value at $6 each (they'd feed the girls and I). The pasta at the Pizza Port was very good and a good value. We ate at Rainforest Cafe-overpriced and portions obscenely large-and Ralph Brennan's Express-decent red beans and rice and reasonably priced. We had breakfast at Mimi's and it was fine and reasonably priced. Twice we tried to order food to pick up for dinner, though, and no one answered the phone there either time. The first time, we just went to McDonald's. The second time, I ran over and waited, which was a little frustrating. Finally, I find that the one place where Disney doesn't manage lines well is in restaurants. We had excruciatingly long waits at River Belle, Pizza Port, and the corn dog stand, just to order and pay.
Crowds and Weather and Schedule: OK, I guess. The weather was much better than I had feared (I'm a hot weather wimp), especially at the beginning of the week, when it hovered around 80. It was around 90 at the end of the week, which was getting too hot for me. The crowds were better than I'd expected at DCA, worse than I'd hoped at DL. Oddly enough, it seemed like our least crowded day at DL was Sunday, our one weekend day. Hydroguy, I think your rules re the benefits of summer travel probably make more sense for families with older kids. If we could have stayed at the park all day and truly stuck with our touring plans, the long hours would've been a blessing. As it was, we tried to go early mornings and back in the evenings. The problem with that plan with small children is that they are tired if they stay up late, even with long naps, so it's hard to get them going the next morning. It did help to plan a couple of mornings to only go to DCA, so we could get a later start. In addition, once DL filled up, crowds never really seemed to die down. All in all, though I love DL the most, we had a better time at DCA. The water features there are so much fun for kids and adults, it was much less crowded, and I felt we could get away and hang out.
Rides: Mary's favorite rides were Grizzly River Run, Nemo, and the rollercoasters. DH loved Tower of Terror. Else loved the Tiki Room beyond all reason; DH sat through it with her two or three times in a row one night. (She handled the park really well, and was eager to go every morning. My ten year old, on the other hand, had a major meltdown most days, especially when she hadn't eaten enough). My mom loves the roller coasters. I love Haunted Mansion, GRR, Soaring, and Space Mountain. We made great use of Fast Passes combined with the baby swap-and only waited longer than 15 minutes once all week.
Nemo: Mary and I rode Nemo, getting there at 6:20 on our EE day. It worked out fine, though we had not anticipated getting stuck at bag check as long as we were (that often slowed our park arrival way down). The bag guy we had was the one really mean cast member we encountered. They began letting folks through security on the DTD side and he refused to start letting our side through, saying he didn't have enough people to help him. When he finally did let us through, he made a couple in front of us stand there and wait (they had no bags) while he checked the bags of the family BEHIND them. When the man said they weren't with that party and asked if they could go, he told him to just stand there and wait. It was bizarre. Still, we made it to the gate, and were on the third boat for Nemo (would've been on the first if everyone in front of us hadn't let their large families cut in, which was totally annoying). By the time we got off, the wait was 90 minutes.
Pintrading: this was so great for Mary. We bought a bunch of pins-maybe 25-off eBay-paying two or three bucks a piece. She had such fun trading with CM, and everyone was very helpful and friendly. I had to bite my tongue a few times when she traded rarer pins for common ones, but I reminded myself this was about what she wanted and loved, not what is valuable. Pintrading led to the best moment of our trip...
Highlights: We encountered really friendly guests and CM, and had no major problems. Our very best memory was on our last day. Mary was talking to a CM at "It's Tough to be a Bug" and looking at his pins, though he didn't have any she wanted. We were on our way to wait in line for Aladdin. We chatted with him, and he asked if we'd seen Aladdin, then asked what seats we'd want when we saw it. He ended up calling over there and making Mary a VIP guest, and we had front row center seats. While we were in line, we started chatting with the men in front of us, who had a fabulous pin collection. Turns out they had VIP seating because one of them taught vocal performance at a local college, and had taught the actress playing Jasmine, the vocal lead in High School Musical, and three out of the four barbershop quartet. They ended up finding us after the show and trading Mary-taking 2 pins from her and giving her six. The musical was fabulous and it was an amazing experience to meet such nice folks.
Low spots: The low point of our trip was the night of our last day-we went back to the park about 7 and stopped at DTD to get souvenirs. THe WOrld of Disney, which had been mellow the day before, was insane, and we had to wait forever in line. DH then took Else back to the hotel, while Mary and I rode the monorail to DL with the intent of riding Autopia and Splash Mountain (we had fast passes for both and she hadn't ridden Autopia yet). I made the mistake of not keeping a close eye on the time. The line for Autopia said 25 minute stand by-we spent at least that long waiting on our Fast Passes. When we finally got on the ride it was late, but we would have still had time to make it across the park to ride Splash. Until the child two cars in front of us froze completely, and repeatedly, through the whole ride. It took forever to complete that stupid ride, and it wasn't until the very end that a CM got in and drove him home. We tried to run to Splash afterwards, but they announced park closing when we were partway there. We were both in tears-a dumb thing to be said about, I know, but it was such a bummer to end our trip with our worst ride experience.
Gear: Generally, my research paid off here. Mary and I both had crocs-I had two pairs and rotated them-and we had no problems with our feet at all. My mom and DH had blisters develop early, and that became a big barrier for all of us. I bought the baggalini messenger bag, and was generally happy with it, though got tired of always having to have the weight on the same shoulder. Our tie dyed Mickey Mouse shirts were great, and we had people constantly complimenting us on them. DH bought a SLR digital camera right before we left, and while it took fabulous pictures, it was a pain the butt to drag around-if we hadn't had the stroller, I would have left it in the room when he wasn't with me. We shared a photopass CD with other folks from this board and I'm happy about the pics we got from that.
Whew! Wow, that was long, but I wanted to jot stuff down while I thought about it. I'm envious of all of you with trips still ahead-though I was exhausted at the end of the week, I'm still sad that we left. Maybe WDW next year???
Details: We were there from July 21-28. DH had a conference at the Anaheim convention center. I came with our daughters, Mary (10) and Else (16 mos). My mom joined us for four days. Mary and I had 6 day parkhoppers, DH had a five day. I'm glad we got the 6 day, as we could go to the park every day and didn't feel like we had to stay a long time if we were tired. We still didn't see everything and I'm kicking myself a bit over some things we missed (California Screaming! I love that ride. And the Pirate Island! How could I have not gone there w/two kids?).
Lodging: we stayed at the Howard Johnson and were generally pretty pleased with it. The walk was about 10 minutes each way-at the beginning of the week, I couldn't see how anyone could ever complain about the walk. By the end of the week, I got it. It was still worth it. I've stayed at the BWPPI and this was better-the rooms we had were huge and the pool was very nice. We had adjoining rooms in one of the small buildings, ground floor. The room was incredibly quiet-could hear some fireworks, but no neighbors and no highway noise. Our rooms were clean, and the fridge was key (for milk for the baby and DH's medication). A microwave would have been great, so we could've reheated all the leftovers we brought back. The room has a sizable closet with a rollaway-Mary partially unfolded it and slept curled up in there several nights (her choice, of course-she thought it was cozy). Food: This, as I expected, was our biggest disappointment of the trip. I just don't find the food at DL to be very good, and it's so overpriced. We had one lunch at the Blue Bayou-the atmosphere was fun, but we didn't get a waterside table (would've been an additional hour after our 11:50 PS). The food was OK but not great. DH's gumbo was good, and we liked the creme brulee trio, esp the passion fruit (the vanilla was overdone and not very creamy). Service was fine but not stellar. We shared two entrees with three adults (monte cristo-eh-and the pork chops, which were good). The scalloped potatoes were great. All in all, a decent lunch, but not worth $100. Other than that, nothing was really outstanding. Mary and Else loved the turkey legs and they were probably our best value at $6 each (they'd feed the girls and I). The pasta at the Pizza Port was very good and a good value. We ate at Rainforest Cafe-overpriced and portions obscenely large-and Ralph Brennan's Express-decent red beans and rice and reasonably priced. We had breakfast at Mimi's and it was fine and reasonably priced. Twice we tried to order food to pick up for dinner, though, and no one answered the phone there either time. The first time, we just went to McDonald's. The second time, I ran over and waited, which was a little frustrating. Finally, I find that the one place where Disney doesn't manage lines well is in restaurants. We had excruciatingly long waits at River Belle, Pizza Port, and the corn dog stand, just to order and pay. Crowds and Weather and Schedule: OK, I guess. The weather was much better than I had feared (I'm a hot weather wimp), especially at the beginning of the week, when it hovered around 80. It was around 90 at the end of the week, which was getting too hot for me. The crowds were better than I'd expected at DCA, worse than I'd hoped at DL. Oddly enough, it seemed like our least crowded day at DL was Sunday, our one weekend day. Hydroguy, I think your rules re the benefits of summer travel probably make more sense for families with older kids. If we could have stayed at the park all day and truly stuck with our touring plans, the long hours would've been a blessing. As it was, we tried to go early mornings and back in the evenings. The problem with that plan with small children is that they are tired if they stay up late, even with long naps, so it's hard to get them going the next morning. It did help to plan a couple of mornings to only go to DCA, so we could get a later start. In addition, once DL filled up, crowds never really seemed to die down. All in all, though I love DL the most, we had a better time at DCA. The water features there are so much fun for kids and adults, it was much less crowded, and I felt we could get away and hang out. Rides: Mary's favorite rides were Grizzly River Run, Nemo, and the rollercoasters. DH loved Tower of Terror. Else loved the Tiki Room beyond all reason; DH sat through it with her two or three times in a row one night. (She handled the park really well, and was eager to go every morning. My ten year old, on the other hand, had a major meltdown most days, especially when she hadn't eaten enough). My mom loves the roller coasters. I love Haunted Mansion, GRR, Soaring, and Space Mountain. We made great use of Fast Passes combined with the baby swap-and only waited longer than 15 minutes once all week.Nemo: Mary and I rode Nemo, getting there at 6:20 on our EE day. It worked out fine, though we had not anticipated getting stuck at bag check as long as we were (that often slowed our park arrival way down). The bag guy we had was the one really mean cast member we encountered. They began letting folks through security on the DTD side and he refused to start letting our side through, saying he didn't have enough people to help him. When he finally did let us through, he made a couple in front of us stand there and wait (they had no bags) while he checked the bags of the family BEHIND them. When the man said they weren't with that party and asked if they could go, he told him to just stand there and wait. It was bizarre. Still, we made it to the gate, and were on the third boat for Nemo (would've been on the first if everyone in front of us hadn't let their large families cut in, which was totally annoying). By the time we got off, the wait was 90 minutes.
Pintrading: this was so great for Mary. We bought a bunch of pins-maybe 25-off eBay-paying two or three bucks a piece. She had such fun trading with CM, and everyone was very helpful and friendly. I had to bite my tongue a few times when she traded rarer pins for common ones, but I reminded myself this was about what she wanted and loved, not what is valuable. Pintrading led to the best moment of our trip... Highlights: We encountered really friendly guests and CM, and had no major problems. Our very best memory was on our last day. Mary was talking to a CM at "It's Tough to be a Bug" and looking at his pins, though he didn't have any she wanted. We were on our way to wait in line for Aladdin. We chatted with him, and he asked if we'd seen Aladdin, then asked what seats we'd want when we saw it. He ended up calling over there and making Mary a VIP guest, and we had front row center seats. While we were in line, we started chatting with the men in front of us, who had a fabulous pin collection. Turns out they had VIP seating because one of them taught vocal performance at a local college, and had taught the actress playing Jasmine, the vocal lead in High School Musical, and three out of the four barbershop quartet. They ended up finding us after the show and trading Mary-taking 2 pins from her and giving her six. The musical was fabulous and it was an amazing experience to meet such nice folks. Low spots: The low point of our trip was the night of our last day-we went back to the park about 7 and stopped at DTD to get souvenirs. THe WOrld of Disney, which had been mellow the day before, was insane, and we had to wait forever in line. DH then took Else back to the hotel, while Mary and I rode the monorail to DL with the intent of riding Autopia and Splash Mountain (we had fast passes for both and she hadn't ridden Autopia yet). I made the mistake of not keeping a close eye on the time. The line for Autopia said 25 minute stand by-we spent at least that long waiting on our Fast Passes. When we finally got on the ride it was late, but we would have still had time to make it across the park to ride Splash. Until the child two cars in front of us froze completely, and repeatedly, through the whole ride. It took forever to complete that stupid ride, and it wasn't until the very end that a CM got in and drove him home. We tried to run to Splash afterwards, but they announced park closing when we were partway there. We were both in tears-a dumb thing to be said about, I know, but it was such a bummer to end our trip with our worst ride experience. Gear: Generally, my research paid off here. Mary and I both had crocs-I had two pairs and rotated them-and we had no problems with our feet at all. My mom and DH had blisters develop early, and that became a big barrier for all of us. I bought the baggalini messenger bag, and was generally happy with it, though got tired of always having to have the weight on the same shoulder. Our tie dyed Mickey Mouse shirts were great, and we had people constantly complimenting us on them. DH bought a SLR digital camera right before we left, and while it took fabulous pictures, it was a pain the butt to drag around-if we hadn't had the stroller, I would have left it in the room when he wasn't with me. We shared a photopass CD with other folks from this board and I'm happy about the pics we got from that.Whew! Wow, that was long, but I wanted to jot stuff down while I thought about it. I'm envious of all of you with trips still ahead-though I was exhausted at the end of the week, I'm still sad that we left. Maybe WDW next year???
Anyway, that would have really frustrated me and I would have had to chat with someone about it. 
