Just got back last night from our weeklong trip! Had a great time, and we used a lot of tips that I gathered from these boards, so I just wanted to say a hearty thank you and share some things that worked for us that others will hopefully find helpful. These are random and in no particular order.
We did four days in the parks (me, DH, DS4 and DD6), and always did whichever park did not have EE, as we did not stay on site. Friday the 12th was our last day, and the most crowded, but Mon-Wed were very low crowds. We never waited more than 20 minutes for anything, and the only fast passes we ever even got were for RSR.
We stayed at Park Vue Inn. They recently remodeled it and it was small, but nice. The bed was kind of creaky, but still moderately comfortable. Although I was so tired at the end of every day that I probably could have slept on a brick and not cared. Breakfast was decent. They have hot items and waffles, so that's nice, but it wasn't anything to write home about. The location couldn't be beat though.
Rented a double stroller from City Strollers. I can't imagine doing Disneyland without a stroller, even with a 4 and 6 year old. And City Stroller was very easy to work with. Definitely would recommend over park strollers- better and cheaper.
We spent a lot of time meeting characters, all of whom were absolutely fabulous to interact with. We did the new ticket system for meeting Elsa and Anna and it worked out great. We didn't have to wait at all, except the 10 or so minutes to initially get the tickets. The first thing we did after getting the tickets was Pixie Hollow and the Royal Hall. I'm glad we did these things first thing in the morning, because even with low crowds, the lines seemed to get pretty long later in the day.
We also did the shows in the Royal Theater. Oddly, on Monday they only did Beauty and the Beast all day and Wednesday (the other day we were in DL), was only Tangled all day. We went to the first show for both, and waited after to see if they would come back for a meet and greet. We waited 10-15 minutes for Belle and she never came. But Rapunzel and Flynn came back in less than 5 minutes after the show ended on Wednesday and we got some great interaction (I suggest if you have a little boy to have Flynn teach him how to "smolder". My 4 year old son thought this was great).
We did the Jedi Training Academy and my kids both REALLY wanted to be picked. I made signs (my son's had a pic of Darth Vader's face with a red x through it and said "Pick me, you will" and my daughters had a picture of Rapunzel with a light saber and said "Jedi Princess". It was only the 2nd or 3rd show of the day, and there weren't a ton of people there, but my kids were the 1st and 3rd ones picked, so I do think the signs helped.
We used Rider Switch a lot. My four year old was scared of almost all the rides. We got him to go on quite a few (it helped to give rides alternate, really friendly sounding names - Pirates of the Caribbean turned into "Cubby's Treasure Hunt"), but sometimes he would just refuse. So we would take our 6 year old, do the ride, and then get a rider switch pass and the other adult would take the 6 year old and go again. She went on tons of rides multiple times this way and we didn't have to waste times waiting through lines twice. You can even combine Fastpass and Rider Switch to make it even faster.
My favorite treats in the park were the Boysen Apple Freeze and chocolate twist from Maurice's by the Royal Theater. The pretzel bites from Cozy Cone were good, as were the Churro bites with chocolate dip. I had a Mickey Pretzel and it was pretty hard and not very good. Dole Whip was great, of course, and the line inside the Tiki area was WAY smaller than the one outside. The corn dog from Corn Dog Castle was great, as was the chili dog from Award Weiners. Other little things, cotton candy, churros, etc, were what you would expect.
We only ate a couple of actual meals in the park. Cafe Orleans was great- excellent service (although, it was also the middle of the afternoon and hardly anyone else was there). The Pommes Frites were fantastic and the Monte Cristo even more so. My husband and I split both and it was more than enough food. Our kids split a kids' meal and it was sufficient for both of them as well. We also ate at Flo's and I was kind of disappointed in that meal. I had the half chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies and DH had the roast beef and cheddar. Neither of us were impressed.
I usually get motion sickness, so I took a Bonine every night before bed and also had ginger gum on me. I had a piece of gum whenever we were about to go on a motion sickness-y ride, and I rode everything and never felt sick at all.
We loved Radiator Springs Racers. DH and I thought it was the best amusement park ride we've ever been on. We rode it twice during the day and I rode it once at night. It was really awesome at night. We went straight to it on Tuesday morning and didn't have much of a wait (maybe 20 minutes). Then got fastpasses to ride it again later. I wanted to go over to TSMM first, but I'm glad we didn't, because it was down that morning anyway. Fast passes were lasting until 3 or 4 in the afternoon for RSR.
We watched the Soundsational parade on Monday and had a fantastic spot. It was by the Matterhorn and the King and Queen restrooms. It was a narrow spot, and they don't let anyone sit on the other side, so they focus the parade attention on that side. Hardly anyone was there, and even sitting directly in front of the restrooms, you're not so close that it feels gross or anything. And it's close to the beginning of the parade route so we could go get on rides after while most people were still watching the parade.
We got Blue fastpasses for World of Color on Tuesday night. I got in the line at about 7:00 and was towards the front. I got a spot on the rail one level behind the front "wet zone" area, left of center. It was a great spot. I had my double stroller, which I was going to leave somewhere else before the show, but never ended up having a chance to. No one seemed to mind that I had it there right up against the rail. (Well, we were standing in front of it).
To avoid the "I want that!" from the kids all the time, we told the kids that they could decide on one thing to get on the last day. They stopped asking for everything they saw about halfway through the first day, when they saw that we were serious. It worked really well and they each picked one thing to get on Friday.
On Friday, we saw the fireworks and the late Fantasmic show. We got a spot just to the left of the partners statue, by the entrance to Frontierland, about an hour and fifteen minutes before they started. We were just behind where they put up the rope to block the walkway, which was a great spot because it meant no one could be directly in front of us, and we still had a great view of the castle and Tinkerbell. It was also a good spot because we could get right into Frontierland for a Fantasmic spot. Right as the fireworks ended, we booked it over to find a spot. I dumped off my stroller as soon as we got into Frontierland and we manged to get a sitting spot one row of people back from the rail, right of center (on the right as you're looking at the show).
We loved all the shows, but I have to say the my favorite was World of Color. It just seems like such a cool feat of engineering to me. Loved it. Also, I went back by myself on Wednesday night and decided to try and see it again, so I went over to the bridge and managed a pretty decent spot there, despite having only walked up 5 minutes prior to the show.
We took a day off for the beach on Thursday and went to Huntington Beach. It was great. Also did the Surf's Up character breakfast that morning. The food was decent, and the character interaction was pretty good. Not sure if I'd spring for a character breakfast again.
I feel like we did almost everything - almost all the rides (some multiple times), and all the shows. Four days was perfect. I would go five if it was my first trip in busy season though. We would have been able to see most everything in three, but would have been more rushed. Also, three would probably work if we didn't have kids meeting characters and stuff. The Aladdin and Mickey and the Magical Map shows were really fun and not to be missed - I think the adults enjoyed them as much or more than the kids did. I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has. I'm no expert, this was our first trip, but I did a lot of research and I feel like it paid off. Thanks again for everyone's help and tips. Hopefully this super long post helps pay it forward!
We did four days in the parks (me, DH, DS4 and DD6), and always did whichever park did not have EE, as we did not stay on site. Friday the 12th was our last day, and the most crowded, but Mon-Wed were very low crowds. We never waited more than 20 minutes for anything, and the only fast passes we ever even got were for RSR.
We stayed at Park Vue Inn. They recently remodeled it and it was small, but nice. The bed was kind of creaky, but still moderately comfortable. Although I was so tired at the end of every day that I probably could have slept on a brick and not cared. Breakfast was decent. They have hot items and waffles, so that's nice, but it wasn't anything to write home about. The location couldn't be beat though.
Rented a double stroller from City Strollers. I can't imagine doing Disneyland without a stroller, even with a 4 and 6 year old. And City Stroller was very easy to work with. Definitely would recommend over park strollers- better and cheaper.
We spent a lot of time meeting characters, all of whom were absolutely fabulous to interact with. We did the new ticket system for meeting Elsa and Anna and it worked out great. We didn't have to wait at all, except the 10 or so minutes to initially get the tickets. The first thing we did after getting the tickets was Pixie Hollow and the Royal Hall. I'm glad we did these things first thing in the morning, because even with low crowds, the lines seemed to get pretty long later in the day.
We also did the shows in the Royal Theater. Oddly, on Monday they only did Beauty and the Beast all day and Wednesday (the other day we were in DL), was only Tangled all day. We went to the first show for both, and waited after to see if they would come back for a meet and greet. We waited 10-15 minutes for Belle and she never came. But Rapunzel and Flynn came back in less than 5 minutes after the show ended on Wednesday and we got some great interaction (I suggest if you have a little boy to have Flynn teach him how to "smolder". My 4 year old son thought this was great).
We did the Jedi Training Academy and my kids both REALLY wanted to be picked. I made signs (my son's had a pic of Darth Vader's face with a red x through it and said "Pick me, you will" and my daughters had a picture of Rapunzel with a light saber and said "Jedi Princess". It was only the 2nd or 3rd show of the day, and there weren't a ton of people there, but my kids were the 1st and 3rd ones picked, so I do think the signs helped.
We used Rider Switch a lot. My four year old was scared of almost all the rides. We got him to go on quite a few (it helped to give rides alternate, really friendly sounding names - Pirates of the Caribbean turned into "Cubby's Treasure Hunt"), but sometimes he would just refuse. So we would take our 6 year old, do the ride, and then get a rider switch pass and the other adult would take the 6 year old and go again. She went on tons of rides multiple times this way and we didn't have to waste times waiting through lines twice. You can even combine Fastpass and Rider Switch to make it even faster.
My favorite treats in the park were the Boysen Apple Freeze and chocolate twist from Maurice's by the Royal Theater. The pretzel bites from Cozy Cone were good, as were the Churro bites with chocolate dip. I had a Mickey Pretzel and it was pretty hard and not very good. Dole Whip was great, of course, and the line inside the Tiki area was WAY smaller than the one outside. The corn dog from Corn Dog Castle was great, as was the chili dog from Award Weiners. Other little things, cotton candy, churros, etc, were what you would expect.
We only ate a couple of actual meals in the park. Cafe Orleans was great- excellent service (although, it was also the middle of the afternoon and hardly anyone else was there). The Pommes Frites were fantastic and the Monte Cristo even more so. My husband and I split both and it was more than enough food. Our kids split a kids' meal and it was sufficient for both of them as well. We also ate at Flo's and I was kind of disappointed in that meal. I had the half chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies and DH had the roast beef and cheddar. Neither of us were impressed.
I usually get motion sickness, so I took a Bonine every night before bed and also had ginger gum on me. I had a piece of gum whenever we were about to go on a motion sickness-y ride, and I rode everything and never felt sick at all.
We loved Radiator Springs Racers. DH and I thought it was the best amusement park ride we've ever been on. We rode it twice during the day and I rode it once at night. It was really awesome at night. We went straight to it on Tuesday morning and didn't have much of a wait (maybe 20 minutes). Then got fastpasses to ride it again later. I wanted to go over to TSMM first, but I'm glad we didn't, because it was down that morning anyway. Fast passes were lasting until 3 or 4 in the afternoon for RSR.
We watched the Soundsational parade on Monday and had a fantastic spot. It was by the Matterhorn and the King and Queen restrooms. It was a narrow spot, and they don't let anyone sit on the other side, so they focus the parade attention on that side. Hardly anyone was there, and even sitting directly in front of the restrooms, you're not so close that it feels gross or anything. And it's close to the beginning of the parade route so we could go get on rides after while most people were still watching the parade.
We got Blue fastpasses for World of Color on Tuesday night. I got in the line at about 7:00 and was towards the front. I got a spot on the rail one level behind the front "wet zone" area, left of center. It was a great spot. I had my double stroller, which I was going to leave somewhere else before the show, but never ended up having a chance to. No one seemed to mind that I had it there right up against the rail. (Well, we were standing in front of it).
To avoid the "I want that!" from the kids all the time, we told the kids that they could decide on one thing to get on the last day. They stopped asking for everything they saw about halfway through the first day, when they saw that we were serious. It worked really well and they each picked one thing to get on Friday.
On Friday, we saw the fireworks and the late Fantasmic show. We got a spot just to the left of the partners statue, by the entrance to Frontierland, about an hour and fifteen minutes before they started. We were just behind where they put up the rope to block the walkway, which was a great spot because it meant no one could be directly in front of us, and we still had a great view of the castle and Tinkerbell. It was also a good spot because we could get right into Frontierland for a Fantasmic spot. Right as the fireworks ended, we booked it over to find a spot. I dumped off my stroller as soon as we got into Frontierland and we manged to get a sitting spot one row of people back from the rail, right of center (on the right as you're looking at the show).
We loved all the shows, but I have to say the my favorite was World of Color. It just seems like such a cool feat of engineering to me. Loved it. Also, I went back by myself on Wednesday night and decided to try and see it again, so I went over to the bridge and managed a pretty decent spot there, despite having only walked up 5 minutes prior to the show.
We took a day off for the beach on Thursday and went to Huntington Beach. It was great. Also did the Surf's Up character breakfast that morning. The food was decent, and the character interaction was pretty good. Not sure if I'd spring for a character breakfast again.
I feel like we did almost everything - almost all the rides (some multiple times), and all the shows. Four days was perfect. I would go five if it was my first trip in busy season though. We would have been able to see most everything in three, but would have been more rushed. Also, three would probably work if we didn't have kids meeting characters and stuff. The Aladdin and Mickey and the Magical Map shows were really fun and not to be missed - I think the adults enjoyed them as much or more than the kids did. I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has. I'm no expert, this was our first trip, but I did a lot of research and I feel like it paid off. Thanks again for everyone's help and tips. Hopefully this super long post helps pay it forward!
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