Just Back!!!!

[JennSaint]

Hello everyone!

Just got in late last night from short 4 night stay! We visited Disneyland, DCA, Downtown Disney.

We stayed on Harbor at the Best Inn for $49.00 a night. Hotel was clean and had a nice pool. The room had 2 queen size beds, a fridge, mircrowave and t.v. For the amount of time we spent in our room we would definately stay here again. Also it only took a 5 minute walk and we were at the entrances to DCA & DL.

We had a 3 day pass and were told on our second day that they are now allowing park hopping with 3 day passes. So we did park hop a few times.

We ate at ESPN ZONE, Goofy's Kitchen, Character breakfast at the Plaza Inn, Denny's (right in front of the hotel), IHOP (just a couple of hotels up from us) and the rest were mostly counter service places.

We had a blast!

If anyone has any questions I'll try to answer as best as I can.inkbounc

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

<font color=navy>Hi Jenn,

Glad you had such a good time!

 

[Annie'sMom]

I am interested in your opinion of the Character meal at the Plaza Inn. How was the food and what characters were there? What did you think of Goofy's Kitchen? We are leaving for Disneyland on Monday and we will do one character meal, so I'm looking for options. Thanks

 

[Luv2Roam]

Tell all! Tell all!
What DL/DCA eatery did you like best?
What did you particularly enjoy?
What did you enjoy the least?

 

[snoopylovertoo]

I can tell you about Goofy's Kitchen as we just ate there on the 15th for dinner. We had a blast. Didn't have reservations and walked right in at 5pm when they opened. The characters were Goofy, Chip and Dale, Minnie, Pluto, and Princess Aurora. The character interaction was great and they spent quite a bit of time at each table. They also made it around the restaurant at least 3 times while we were there.
The food was very good and the deserts were WONDERFUL!! They had prime rib and lamb for slicing, mashed pototoes, veggies, salads, lots of fresh fruit, a whole mexican food section for make your own fajitas.
The kids part had about 5 different kinds of pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs.

The characters got up and danced twice while we were there. They did the Macarena and that song that goes "A little bit of rita on my mind" I can't think of the name.

All in all it was a good time and I would definately do it again. As we passed by the next couple of days we were staying at Disneyland hotel we saw Donald and Jasmine walking around during Breakfast and lunch time.

 

[JennSaint]

OK here it goes

Plaza Inn character breakfast
Food choices: made to order omelets, french toast, scrambled eggs, mickey waffles, biscuits & gravy, potatoes with onions & peppers, bacon, sausages, assorted breads, mini bagels, sliced fruits, mini muffins, coffee, juice, milk etc.
Characters this day were: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore & Tigger

Food and character interaction was very good!

Goofy's Kitchen
food choices: 2 soup choices, different salads, prime rib, lamb, different chicken dishes, fajhitas, different rice dishes, yummy mashed potatoes, sliced fruits, huge dessert buffet and also soft serve ice cream with toppings.
Kids choices inculded PB&J pizza, mac & cheese, regular pizza, fish sticks & corn on the cob.

Characters this day were: Goofy, Captain Hook, Snow White, The Genie from Aladin, Pluto and Minnie was at the entrance.

Food and Character interaction were excellent. Twice they played Mambo #5 and the characters would come out and dance. Very fun to watch!

I would do both of these character meals again but if I had to choose just one I would pick Goofy's Kitchen.

 

[JennSaint]

Now for which eateries we liked

In Disneyland for lunch we enjoyed Hungry Bear. Great Burgers and fries.

Things I really enjoyed about Disneyland:
Mr Toad's Wild Ride (Really miss this in WDW)
Alice in Wonderland, Indy, Pirates and Small world (I thought they were longer and better in DL), BTM seemed to have a little more theming than in WDW, Fantasmic was awesome my only complaint is there's hardly any seating we had to stand but I liked the show better than WDW. The Peter Pan scene was great! The fireworks were nicely done with all disney music. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things but can't think of them right now.


In DCA: we liked Taste Pilots Grill. Once again the burgers here were good and loved the waffle fries!
Make sure to do the Mission Tortilla Factory tour it only takes 5 minutes and they give you a free tortilla to eat. The tortilla was still warm and it was delicious!

Things I really enjoyed in DCA were Animation Studios. You get to find out which Disney character you are most like. I was most like Tinkerbell. Also enjoyed putting our voices into a scene from a Disney movie. I did Bambi and it was really cute.
Really loved Soarin over California! I hope WDW puts in a similar attraction. It was awesome!
Grizzly River Run was so much fun but prepare to get really wet!
It's Tough to be a Bug is just like the one in AK and is still my favorite 3D movie.
Really enjoyed the Eureka Parade. Hope the music makes it onto a CD!

We had a wonderful time but making the coast to coast trip for only a 4 night stay was too tiring. Someday I'm sure we'll return but stay for longer and see more of California too.

 

[Dawnee]

Sounds like you had a great time! I had a question about the breakfast served at the Best Inn, what kinds of stuff were there to choose from? Can you take it out and eat in your room? Did you get charged an Energy Tax? We are staying there in July, and had heard about some hotels charging an Energy Tax.

Where did you buy your passes? At the Hotel?

Thank you for the info about the Plaza Inn and Goofy's Kitchen. We have eaten at Goofy's before, for dinner, and thought it was great. After reading your report on it, will look forward to Plaza Inn.

Thanks again!
Dawn in Hawaii

 

[JennSaint]

Regarding the breakfast at the Best INN

Nothing to write home about! All they had was bread to make toast and danishes. The coffee was bad! This is probably my only complaint about this hotel. They advertise as having a deluxe continental breakfast and really don't offer one. We did have a good breakfast at the Denny's right in front of the hotel. Good coffee too!

As far as the Energy tax I couldn't tell you. My DH paid the bill and he's still in California so I'll have to ask about that when he gets home.