Spassvogel
6'7" 350lbs of Fun
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2009
- Messages
- 94
Apologies that this is sorta stream of consciousness:
After trips to Disneyland in 2008, 2009, 2010, I thought we'd skip 2011 and save our money for a trip to WDW in 2012. We did a trip through Southern Oregon/Nor-Cal (Trees of Mystery, Oregon Caves, etc).
Then my wife at the last minute decided to drive to Disneyland during her Vacation-let this week. I wasn't feeling up to the 16 hour drive, but she really wanted to do it. We were able to find accommodations at the Fairfield Inn (After DL Hotel, Motel 6, and Desert Palms Suites). We booked through Costco for the character meal and the other perks. (preferred seating for the Aladdin show is one of our favorites as well).
The Fairfield Inn is basically across the street from the gate (a couple blocks down). I was pretty happy with it overall. The pool closed a bit early IMO, but the kids were able to watch the fireworks at Disney from the pool which was a nice bonus. Our particular room faced the wrong way to see the fireworks, but we could hear them, hehe.
The Fairfield room was comfortable, came standard with a fridge (inside a cupboard so the buzz didn't keep you awake) and had an excellent climate control system. There was plenty of hot water all three nights we were there and it was very relaxing to take a hot shower after 12 hours of walking. We never tried the restaurant, Millie's but some of our friends told us it was pretty good. If there's a downside of the Fairfield it's that there's no breakfast offered.
Disneyland was fairly crowded even though it was a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we were there, and in the high 80s all three days. I had hoped that the Star Tours lines would've thinned out by a bit after a couple months, but no such luck. Monday morning we got fast passes at 9:30am and they were for 4:45PM. By 11am the fast-passes were gone. Pretty amazing, but then once I went on the ride, I kinda understood, hehe. It was pretty cool. We managed to get on the ride four times over the three days. The line was down to 25 minutes during the fireworks usually.
I liked the new Little Mermaid ride. It's one of those nice relaxing air-conditioned areas that DCA really needed in that part of the complex. It was fun spotting Mr. Limpet hiding in the corner as well.
I think our main disappointment was the higher food prices at the places we usually eat. (Stagedoor Cafe in particilar).
Our longest lines were probably a 45 minute standby for Star Tours and a 60 minute standby for Grizzly River Rapids.
Soarin' Over California's standby line now has misting nozzles.
ElecTRONica was a bit of a letdown, even though our whole family are big fans of Tron. There should've been more to the stage-show portion, and "Zeus" didn't hang out in the grid area at all, he disappeared after the "portal" opened. There were people in suits throwing discs around at least. Very few people were dancing. I'm still not sure the whole night-party-alcohol-thing works well, but whatever.
I was very disappointed the Flynn's arcade wasn't open during the day.
Character Meal at Goofy's Kitchen was pretty great. There are plenty of characters about (we had Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Minnie, Mad Hatter at ours). There was lots of really good food and fresh fruit. We had fun drawing on our paper tablecloth.
Our drive from Oregon was fairly uneventful. We decided to spend the night halfway down which allowed the kids to swim in the pool and me to get some sleep. Motel 6 in Willows had lousy beds but great TV. There were signs on I-5 advising people to take highway 99 instead to avoid a one-lane choke-point. We took the advice and met up with I-5 again just North of the Grapevine. On the way back we took I-5 and only had the usual slowdowns. (rush hour near Sacremento).
Stayed at the Corning Best Western on the way back, very comfortable pillow-top beds. We all slept like rocks.
I think that's about it.
I think the walk from the Fairfield Inn was about the same as from the Disneyland Hotel so it wasn't even an issue. (not like when we stayed at Motel 6, hehe).
Despite the fact I wasn't feeling up to a trip, I still had fun. Wife and kids had all sorts of fun. Next year I think we're gong to WDW anyway.
After trips to Disneyland in 2008, 2009, 2010, I thought we'd skip 2011 and save our money for a trip to WDW in 2012. We did a trip through Southern Oregon/Nor-Cal (Trees of Mystery, Oregon Caves, etc).
Then my wife at the last minute decided to drive to Disneyland during her Vacation-let this week. I wasn't feeling up to the 16 hour drive, but she really wanted to do it. We were able to find accommodations at the Fairfield Inn (After DL Hotel, Motel 6, and Desert Palms Suites). We booked through Costco for the character meal and the other perks. (preferred seating for the Aladdin show is one of our favorites as well).
The Fairfield Inn is basically across the street from the gate (a couple blocks down). I was pretty happy with it overall. The pool closed a bit early IMO, but the kids were able to watch the fireworks at Disney from the pool which was a nice bonus. Our particular room faced the wrong way to see the fireworks, but we could hear them, hehe.
The Fairfield room was comfortable, came standard with a fridge (inside a cupboard so the buzz didn't keep you awake) and had an excellent climate control system. There was plenty of hot water all three nights we were there and it was very relaxing to take a hot shower after 12 hours of walking. We never tried the restaurant, Millie's but some of our friends told us it was pretty good. If there's a downside of the Fairfield it's that there's no breakfast offered.
Disneyland was fairly crowded even though it was a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we were there, and in the high 80s all three days. I had hoped that the Star Tours lines would've thinned out by a bit after a couple months, but no such luck. Monday morning we got fast passes at 9:30am and they were for 4:45PM. By 11am the fast-passes were gone. Pretty amazing, but then once I went on the ride, I kinda understood, hehe. It was pretty cool. We managed to get on the ride four times over the three days. The line was down to 25 minutes during the fireworks usually.
I liked the new Little Mermaid ride. It's one of those nice relaxing air-conditioned areas that DCA really needed in that part of the complex. It was fun spotting Mr. Limpet hiding in the corner as well.
I think our main disappointment was the higher food prices at the places we usually eat. (Stagedoor Cafe in particilar).
Our longest lines were probably a 45 minute standby for Star Tours and a 60 minute standby for Grizzly River Rapids.
Soarin' Over California's standby line now has misting nozzles.
ElecTRONica was a bit of a letdown, even though our whole family are big fans of Tron. There should've been more to the stage-show portion, and "Zeus" didn't hang out in the grid area at all, he disappeared after the "portal" opened. There were people in suits throwing discs around at least. Very few people were dancing. I'm still not sure the whole night-party-alcohol-thing works well, but whatever.
I was very disappointed the Flynn's arcade wasn't open during the day.
Character Meal at Goofy's Kitchen was pretty great. There are plenty of characters about (we had Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Minnie, Mad Hatter at ours). There was lots of really good food and fresh fruit. We had fun drawing on our paper tablecloth.
Our drive from Oregon was fairly uneventful. We decided to spend the night halfway down which allowed the kids to swim in the pool and me to get some sleep. Motel 6 in Willows had lousy beds but great TV. There were signs on I-5 advising people to take highway 99 instead to avoid a one-lane choke-point. We took the advice and met up with I-5 again just North of the Grapevine. On the way back we took I-5 and only had the usual slowdowns. (rush hour near Sacremento).
Stayed at the Corning Best Western on the way back, very comfortable pillow-top beds. We all slept like rocks.
I think that's about it.
I think the walk from the Fairfield Inn was about the same as from the Disneyland Hotel so it wasn't even an issue. (not like when we stayed at Motel 6, hehe). Despite the fact I wasn't feeling up to a trip, I still had fun. Wife and kids had all sorts of fun. Next year I think we're gong to WDW anyway.
