melancholywings
Drinking by the pool
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2007
- Messages
- 1,046
We have been to DW and DL many times in the past but this was our first time staying on site at the DL hotel. We arrived a few days before the holiday weekend.
Disneyland Hotel:The new rooms are beautiful the beds are amazing. BUT our newly refurbished room was already showing signs of wear and tear, and some shoddy construction. Nicked up furniture, walls and doors and the wallpaper was peeling away from the wall in a couple of places. It didn't detract from the beauty but I can't imagine how it's going to hold up over time. The room fridges do not have a freezer. Mousekeeping was fantastic. And the headboard is stunning. The only noise we could hear in our room was the marching bands on race day.
The new monorail pool and slides are great. Tangaroa Terrace has delish french toast....really nommy. But the burgers were really nothing exciting. Also (even on the slow days) the lines at the register moved so slow. But the staff was very friendly.
Goofy came and hung out in the hotel lobby! Disneyland by far (sorry DW) has THE best characters. And unlike DW all the encounters feel so natural and random. They still have their 'spots' in the park but we often times would find them just roaming around the park - like they lived there. And all the characters were really into it - it wasn't just pose for a picture and move on to the next kid. They played and froliced with every kid that walked up to them. Even on the crazy day they took time to make each encounter special. The lobby also had cookies and lemonade.
Hated the walk from the parks to the hotel through downtown disney. At night it was ALWAYS busy.
On site perks Staying on site for Magic Mornings is completely worth the money. On Saturday we were able to do Star Tours twice in a row and every ride in Fantasy land in that first hour. Then we FP Star Tours at park opening and hit up other areas. I think an hour after park opening the line jumped for ST to 40 minutes. The 2 free fast passes per person are also TOTALLY worth it. We used those on the busiest day and saved so much time and stress. When it got hot, crowded and stressful we went back to the room to relax.
Minnie's Breakfast We did this as a walk in on Sunday and it is the best character meal we have ever done in all our trips in terms of characters and entertainment. The characters played with the children, they played with each other - Hook kept being extermely naughty by locking the others out of the room and Minnie had to put him in line. And we saw SO many characters, I expected only 4 like most of DW. But there was: Minnie, Chip, Dale, Hook, Max, Rabbit, Tigger, Eyore, Fairy Godmother, Briar Fox, Rafiki. And they were ALL so good. And Fairy Godmother recognized us later when we ran into her again in the park.
Coloring with Woody and Jessie Our kids didn't want to do this. They were hot and cranky. And I being a mean mother MADE them go in the empty, cool cabin and color with Woody and Jessie.....they had so much fun with them they didn't want to leave and wanted to go back and do it again. Even the tween.
California Adventure is a mess. The construction makes it so hard to move around. Electronica is fun - my tween LOVED it. I mean really really loved it. She could have spent our whole vacation doing just this every night.
I fell in Main Street I totally biffed it on the curb and fell in front of 100's of people staking out fireworks spots. Luckily I didn't get too bruised up. After talking to some other people it seems like this is a fairly common thing - LOL I want a pin that declares my great achievement.
Blue Bayou It was a lot of money, and the food was ok but not amazing. But it was something we've always wanted to try. A 11:30am reservation got us a great table on the water.
Cast DL wins for best characters but DW wins for best general cast. We encountered so many unhappy cast members. Even a pair that were griping about another cast member in front of us while we were waiting for them to take our order. We called them 'paid by the hour not by the smile cast members'. Even on the slow days they were so crabby, and had this very anti-tourist attitude. And the park was dirtier than we've seen it on previous visits. The hotel grounds also had a litter problem.
Disneyland Hotel:The new rooms are beautiful the beds are amazing. BUT our newly refurbished room was already showing signs of wear and tear, and some shoddy construction. Nicked up furniture, walls and doors and the wallpaper was peeling away from the wall in a couple of places. It didn't detract from the beauty but I can't imagine how it's going to hold up over time. The room fridges do not have a freezer. Mousekeeping was fantastic. And the headboard is stunning. The only noise we could hear in our room was the marching bands on race day.
The new monorail pool and slides are great. Tangaroa Terrace has delish french toast....really nommy. But the burgers were really nothing exciting. Also (even on the slow days) the lines at the register moved so slow. But the staff was very friendly.
Goofy came and hung out in the hotel lobby! Disneyland by far (sorry DW) has THE best characters. And unlike DW all the encounters feel so natural and random. They still have their 'spots' in the park but we often times would find them just roaming around the park - like they lived there. And all the characters were really into it - it wasn't just pose for a picture and move on to the next kid. They played and froliced with every kid that walked up to them. Even on the crazy day they took time to make each encounter special. The lobby also had cookies and lemonade.
Hated the walk from the parks to the hotel through downtown disney. At night it was ALWAYS busy.
On site perks Staying on site for Magic Mornings is completely worth the money. On Saturday we were able to do Star Tours twice in a row and every ride in Fantasy land in that first hour. Then we FP Star Tours at park opening and hit up other areas. I think an hour after park opening the line jumped for ST to 40 minutes. The 2 free fast passes per person are also TOTALLY worth it. We used those on the busiest day and saved so much time and stress. When it got hot, crowded and stressful we went back to the room to relax.
Minnie's Breakfast We did this as a walk in on Sunday and it is the best character meal we have ever done in all our trips in terms of characters and entertainment. The characters played with the children, they played with each other - Hook kept being extermely naughty by locking the others out of the room and Minnie had to put him in line. And we saw SO many characters, I expected only 4 like most of DW. But there was: Minnie, Chip, Dale, Hook, Max, Rabbit, Tigger, Eyore, Fairy Godmother, Briar Fox, Rafiki. And they were ALL so good. And Fairy Godmother recognized us later when we ran into her again in the park.
Coloring with Woody and Jessie Our kids didn't want to do this. They were hot and cranky. And I being a mean mother MADE them go in the empty, cool cabin and color with Woody and Jessie.....they had so much fun with them they didn't want to leave and wanted to go back and do it again. Even the tween.
California Adventure is a mess. The construction makes it so hard to move around. Electronica is fun - my tween LOVED it. I mean really really loved it. She could have spent our whole vacation doing just this every night.
I fell in Main Street I totally biffed it on the curb and fell in front of 100's of people staking out fireworks spots. Luckily I didn't get too bruised up. After talking to some other people it seems like this is a fairly common thing - LOL I want a pin that declares my great achievement.
Blue Bayou It was a lot of money, and the food was ok but not amazing. But it was something we've always wanted to try. A 11:30am reservation got us a great table on the water.
Cast DL wins for best characters but DW wins for best general cast. We encountered so many unhappy cast members. Even a pair that were griping about another cast member in front of us while we were waiting for them to take our order. We called them 'paid by the hour not by the smile cast members'. Even on the slow days they were so crabby, and had this very anti-tourist attitude. And the park was dirtier than we've seen it on previous visits. The hotel grounds also had a litter problem.
) I just wanted to say that my little girl 2 years tripped on Main st our first day in the park and made her lip and right under her nose bloody. I have no really great pictures after that incident. Seems like a good place to fall because I saw a lady trip and her husband grabbed her just in time! Glad you had fun!
They are dressing up like Jessie and Woody on our first day there and just thought we would try to find them for a regular meet and greet. So about what time did you find them in the cabin? Was this listed on the entertainment schedule? Thanks again.
