Live at Disneyland (DLH)

[tidefan]

Been a bit since I've been on the boards, but we've been at a convention in Costa Mesa, CA since last Thursday thru today and we have now made our way over to DLR for a 4-night stay.

Day 1

Our conference ended in Costa Mesa a little after noon and we arrived at DLH around 1:00pm. We unloaded our rental with Bell Services and went to check in. Room was not ready and they told us to check back around 3pm. DW asked about a pool view room with a day bed, and we were told that we may have to wait a bit longer. We wandered through DTD (very nice, very hot) and the World of Disney store before making our way back about 2:45pm. Our room did not become available until about an hour later, but the wait was not too bad as Goofy roams the lobby of the DLH entertaining everyone.

We ended up being assigned a room in the Dreams tower overlooking the pool. The view is really quite good. I have to say that I had a few apprehensions about booking DLH instead of GCH, but I have to say that the DLH is really, really nice. The rooms are big and clean and come with wifi, a fridge, and "Disneyland" furniture (I'll post pics tomorrow to describe). We have a King bed and a day bed, which is really a pull out couch. This is very similar to a studio without the microwave. We could have stayed at the GCH, but it would have been an extra 6 points a night and being the point miser that I am, just couldn't do it. Anyway, the DLH is great.

DD and I went down to the "Neverland Pool" here and it is really nice, complete with pirate ship, crocodile and "Skull Rock" slide. I would highly recommend it for parents with kids. We then got cleaned up and met my cousin, his wife, and their DS3 and DD1 at Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. Typical character dinner, expensive, but there is a 10% discount for DVC or AAA or Disney Visa. We then headed into the parks at about 8:30pm (I know, it's late, but hey, the extra day was only $10 to add on). We walked in and rode Big Thunder Mountain (no wait), Storybookland Boats (no wait), Alice in Wonderland (no wait), the Matterhorn (small wait), and Finding Nemo Submarine voyage (medium wait, bit disappointing IMHO). What was neat tonight was that only one of those rides is at WDW, so it is a bit different out here. Didn't really get to see the park though, so more on that tomorrow.

After Nemo, we caught the monorail in Tomorrowland at 11:15pm to the Downtown Disney station. By 11:25pm, we were back in our room. Can't beat that. Everything here is super-convienient. I am also very impressed by the general upkeep of the area. Disney has done a very good job here in Anaheim. I promise to post some pictures tomorrow and give updates and answer any questions that I can (yes, I promise to get by the GCV models), but now, I've got to get some sleep to be able to go in the morning...

 

[moredisneyplease]

thanks for posting! i look forward to more from you from DL! Let me know how the crowd levels are during the day. I'm curious because I'm a SoCal resident w/ an AP and i avoid the summers because i think its too crowded.

 

[marshmallow]

My understanding is the attendance figures are well below the projections for Disneyland this summer. It is a good time to go. We were there July 3rd and there were no waits or very low waits.

I look forward to hearing more about your trip. Don't miss Indiana Jones. I think Pirates and the Haunted Mansion are better at Disneyland.

 

[mcrabeck]

Thanks for posting! I can't wait for the photos!

 

[tidefan]

As to the questions, we were at California Adventure today and it didn't seem crowded at all (30 minute wait for TSMM). OK, here are some Day 1 photos.

Arriving!

Shots of our room (FYI, sorry about disheveling the couch before I took the picture, I had to check to see if it had a pull out. Ignore the wet towel residue too...)

Neverland pool from our "balcony"

DLH Furnishings

This is on the headboard of the bed...

This is the TV/Fridge cabinet...

Bathroom fixtures...

Shampoo, etc...

Goofy's Kitchen

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pizza! Yum!

Perfect end to our evening

 

[tidefan]

Today, we were meeting my Cousin and his family again as well as my Uncle and his wife for a day. Since we had priority seating reservations at Ariel's Grotto (for the princesses for our DD), we decided to make a day of it in Disney's California Adventure, which we had never been to prior to this. Now, I must say that I have seen numerous ridicule and downplay of DCA, and while it is certainly no Disneyland Park or Magic Kingdom, I do think that it is at least equivalent to Hollywood Studios in Florida. We had a great day and really enjoyed what the park had to offer.

These guys direct you the right way...

We got the park and went in and got our Disneyland stroller. Oh yes, the Disneyland stroller. I'd like to pause here and point out one of the areas where the California park beats out Orlando hands down, and that is in the area of strollers. Many threads have been posted debating the increase in stroller fees at WDW. At DL, they are $10 per day, but wait, if you have a Disney Visa (now, I know a few of you do), you get the stroller for FREE. That's right, FREE.

The Disneyland Stroller (FREE with Disney Visa)!

We started our day at Soarin and got fastpasses for later. We also went ahead and jumped on as the standby line was only 20 minutes. BTW, this was at 10:40am. Can't say that at Epcot. We finished our ride and headed towards our lunch date with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto.

Ariel's was pretty standard character meal fare, but the interaction with the princesses was great. Character meals are expensive in CA too, BTW. Now, I did feel sorry for the poor souls seated outside. One of the things that proponents of DL will tell you is how great the California weather is. Now, while overall I don't disagree with them, today (especially during mid-day) was about as hot and miserable as I ever remember Orlando being, but I digress. After Ariel's we headed down to get fastpasses for California Screamin, let the kids ride King Triton's Carousel and then headed over to the Hollywood backlot area for Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. I believe that this is the exact show that is at DHS, and it is fun for the little ones. It was fun for the big ones too because it was air conditioned. After that, we looked for another air conditioned attraction and went into Turtle Talk with Crush right next door. We have done this before at Epcot and enjoyed it equally as much this time. Monsters, Inc. and Muppets 3-D were also in this area, but we passed on those for now. If we have time, we'll hit them Wednesday.

King Triton's Carousel

Monsters, Inc Ride

I then dutifully did my job as fastpass runner to get us all fastpasses for TOT, then met up with our gang at "A Bug's Land". This area was a fun little area to pass a little bit of time with the kids and it also had the benefit of lots of shade. DD and DW rode Flik's Flyers and we spent some time in here until the Pixar Play Parade started.

Flik's Flyers

We got to the parade area about 30 minutes before the parade started and we split up as some of us went to ride TOT while a 2nd group watched the kids. My DD5 (just turning 5) decided to go with us. I thought that she might hate it, but she loved it. TOT was good, but I do think that the one at DHS is better. The one at DCA is missing the sequence where you go through the little ride part (if that makes any sense). You just start basically right into the drops. Anyway, we came back out and got caught on the other side of the main area as the parade had started. The parade was fun, and most kids should like it. I was hoping to see WALL-E though...

DCA's TOT

Hollywood Section of DCA

Pixar Play Parade starts with Lightning McQueen...

... and ends with Tow Mater

My cousin and his family had tired out by this point in the day (having a 1 and 3 yr old), so we toiled on with our group and my Aunt and Uncle. We let my DD, DW, and Aunt ride TOT, since they missed out before the parade and after that we headed back over to California Screamin to use our fastpasses there. This was a good move as the general line was at about 40 minutes and we were on in about 5. The coaster was really good and very smooth (which I can't say for the Matterhorn the night before...) and we do plan on hitting that ride again. We then succumbed to the smell of Turkey legs and did our damage on a couple of them.

California Screamin

We then moved next to Toy Story Midway Mania. We had about a 30 minute wait and the ride was worth it. This will definitely go on the rotation as a must do. FYI, I scored 130,400 points. Not bad for a first effort. We then walked around Paradise Pier and rode the Golden Zephyr for no other reason than the wait was 0 minutes. At this point my Aunt and Uncle had to go, so we saw them out at the Grand Californian exit and we headed over to Soarin to use those fastpasses we had gotten early in the morning. We rode Soarin again and then headed into the central area to get seats for the Main Street Electrical Parade, oops, Disney's Electrical Parade. I highly recommend anyone that grew up with the Electrical Parade in their youth to go back and see it. It really brought back a lot of memories and the parade is every bit as wonderful as I had remembered it. It capped off a great day at DCA.

Brings back memories...

After the parade, we headed back to DLH and hit the hot tub for awhile. Then we got our DD to sleep and I went to work on this report. That's it for now. Feel free to shoot any questions.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, here's the best pic of the day. Get those villas done!!!

 

[jelawson]

Thanks for the report and great photos! I haven't been to DLR in 3 years and it's amazing what has been added since we were there. They have really built up California Adventure. Did you do the Aladdin show? It was one of my favorite things when we were there.

Also glad to hear you liked the Disneyland Hotel. We stayed at the GC when we were there but were thinking of going back and staying at the DLH because of cheaper points too. The pool looks so cute!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[disney-super-mom]

Coming from a DLR vet, this is a great report....and wonderful pics too!

I hope that you and your family is having another wonderful day at Disneyland today. I'm really looking forward to reading more.

(If you get a chance, try to see Aladdin at DCA. It really is a great show!)

 

[LIFERBABE]

Thanks for the great report!! We are heading that way next month!!

We are using points for the GCH but DLH looks really nice too!

What kind of tickets did you purchase?

 

[ACDSNY]

Great pics! We're headed to DL in Sept at the GC!

 

[grizbuzz]

Thanks for the report!

I'm thinking of using points for DLH instead of GCH, but I just don't want to get there and wish I were staying somewhere else...

 

[tink6137130]

Love your pics...thanks for sharing!

 

[bigsmooth]

It has been 6 years since I've been to DLR. I really hope to be able to try the new villas at some point. I really miss the DL version of Pirates, Indiana Jones, and the Blue Bayou.

Keep the pictures coming.

 

[tidefan]

First off, no pics today, we stayed at the park until midnight and have reservations tomorrow at 8:50am for the Lilo and Stitch breakfast at Paradise Pier, but I promise to add them tomorrow...

First to some questions. We have 4-day hoppers, and got a discounted rate on them through the Juvenile Arthritis convention we attended prior to our stay. We haven't seen Aladdin yet (it is dark on Monday and Tuesday), but it is on our agenda tomorrow. Grizbuzz, DLH is great, I would not be apprehensive at all. That said, GCH looks great too. Can't go wrong either way.

OK, so we started our day a bit late as we slept in and didn't get to the park until about 10:30am. So much for magic mornings. Anyway, we got our FREE stroller and saw Mickey, Minnie, and a new character for us, Cruella DeVil all in town square (we also saw a Donald that was having some "issues", but I digress). Met up with my cousins family and we headed into Fantasyland. I must say that DL's Fantasyland is really head and shoulders better than the one at WDW. The folks in Orlando should take a cue from their California cousins. We rode Snow White and Pinocchio (again, another ride not at WDW) and then went over to Toon Town and wandered around a bit and got pics and autographs from Pluto. At this point the kids were a bit cranky, so we decided to head to lunch and to take a break, so we headed to the Monorail. They were only running one monorail at the time, so I asked the operator why the other one (the new Monorail Red) wasn't running. I was informed that it was because the new Monorail didn't have air conditioning and it was too hot, so we waited another 15 minutes for it to come back (Side Note: We rode the aforementioned Monorail Red home this evening and guess what, the AC was going full blast ...).

We got to DTD and decided to eat at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen express. Good Gumbo, Jambalaya, Red Beans and Rice, Beneigts, etc, all with a handy 10% DVC discount. We then headed back to DLH to take an afternoon break (my cousins family went back to their hotel as well...) by swimming in the Neverland pool, which is fast becoming DD5's favorite. While at the pool, I engaged a lifeguard (I know, bus drivers, monorail drivers, lifeguards, and rumors...) in discussion about the future of the DLH as I have read in certain places that they might raze the whole place, a la Vegas, in the near future and build something else here. He told me that wasn't the case and that there were plans for expansion of the cove pools and that the acreage over on Katella (the famous "Strawberry Fields") would be used to build a Water Park. Take it for what it's worth...

Before we headed back to the park, we stopped off at the DVC office and took a tour of the new Grand Californian Villas models. All I can say is "Wow"! No one will be disappointed in these. Very upscale and very roomy. I especially liked the murphy bed that comes out from under the TV in the living room. The kitchen is also very nice with granite countertops and the like. We have a lot to look forward to with the GCVs. Also, I got the distinct impression that those would not be the last of DVC at DL. We shall see...

After our tour, we headed into the park via Monorail and rode Buzz, then headed over towards Main Street to catch the "Dreams Come True" parade. We were shuffling down Main Street trying to find a seat when one of the CM's guided us to a great location over on the side. Funny that he put us right in front of the Ice Cream store where the strong odor of waffle cones was emanating throughout. These Disney types know their marketing as 15 minutes later, we were the proud owners of a Chocolate Dipped with Sprinkles double scoop of chocolate waffle cone. It was delish. We then watched the parade, which was good, though a technical malfunction stopped it for about 5 minutes. The CM's in the parade, though, went right on with their acts, unfazed by the stoppage. Very impressive. In the end, it was a good thing that we had the delay because without it, I think the whole parade lasts about maybe 10 minutes. We enjoyed it though. Belle blew DD a kiss and made her night...

We then headed over to Adventureland. At this point, DD5 had enough and fell asleep in the stroller. DW sat with her in New Orleans Square while I ran into the Haunted Mansion. When we got out, we heard from my cousin (they had gotten into the park as well and rode Autopia) and we decided to meet up for Dinner at Pinocchio's Village Haus for a completely non-descript dinner (not what I would have chosen, but hey, another 10% DVC discount). After dinner, we rode Dumbo and the Tea Cups, then headed over to Autopia and Space Mountain. By this time, it was getting on towards 10pm, so we headed back to New Orleans Square for the second showing of Fantasmic. After that we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. I had been very looking forward to this as I have heard numerous times how much better the DL version was. I must say that the ride itself is much longer and has better drops. So on that point I agree that it is better in ways. Two issues though. First, we seemed to be getting very backed up during the ride, getting bumped from behind almost the whole way. I think that it is because you have to ride the lift back up at the end and it backs everything up throughout the ride. Second, I think that the queue in Florida is far superior to the one in DL. No dungeons to descend into. I also didn't get the whole cajun thing at the beginning, but I digress.

We left that and headed back to the Monorail to leave, catching one more ride on Space Mountain before we left. BTW, what they have done to Space Mountain out here is really, really good. Much better that the current WDW setup. I have heard that Space Mountain is getting ready to go through the same transformation at WDW and it will be well worth it. Also, tonight I decided to time the trip from the Tomorrowland Monorail station to unlocking the door of our hotel room at DLH. Total time of travel: 9 minutes. Do that at WDW...

So tomorrow is our last day and we plan to hit the things we haven't rode yet. Aladdin and Grizzly River at DCA and Indy, Splash Mountain, Pooh, Peter Pan and yes, Mr. Toad tomorrow at DL. Here's wishing everyone a good night and hoping that I can somehow get up in the morning for that breakfast reservation...

 

[honeymo78]

thanks for all the DLH and DL info. We hope to use developer points for an early Feb stay. Haven't decided on DLH or GCH yet (will depend on how many points we have to play with after our dec trip). Will 3 nights be enough - its just me and DH. We would plan to arrive early afternoon on check in day and take a mid afternoon flight back home. No plans to see anything outside of DL.

 

[disney-super-mom]

Great 3rd day report Tidefan! I'm really enjoying it and I can't wait to read more about today.....day four.

 

[tobidisney]

we are going and staying at DLH too, on our points for 5 nights in August, what Room number do you have? and did you pay extra points for the prefered view? Do they give you a list of what places offer the DVC discount? we are canadian so no FREE disney Visa stroller for us
however I am glad to hear that DLH is nice becuase we too were worried about not using extra points for GC, so agian any tips on room location would be great and how to spot the places that offer DVC discount, as well as MUST DO's for us WDW vets.

have a great trip

 

[kerickson]

I'm a California native and am heading to WDW for the first time in Jan. I'm so excited for my 1st trip (and 1st trip home), but your report now makes me miss the magic in my own backyard. So glad they are building villas out here too...

 

[tidefan]

It's 1:00am here and we have to be up at 8am to get packed for the trip home, so I am going to postpone this part of the report (and more pics, promise) until tomorrow. I can say that we have had a wonderful stay and this visit to DLR has been every bit as enjoyable as our trips to WDW, just different. I can also say that I am about as tired as I have ever been after a Disney trip, and this one was just for 4 days...

tobidisney, can you not get a Disney Visa in Canada? Our room is 2736 and I think that we have a standard view. It was 24 points per night. The other side of our tower looks out on DTD and can see the fireworks at night. Yes, they give you a portable perks book at check-in. One nice thing is that most of the counter service places have a 10% discount.

honeymo78, I'd do 4 nights if you could. That's what we did and it went by awfully fast...

I'll check back in tomorrow.

 

[grizbuzz]

Went ahead and booked DLH for our quick September trip. Staying Saturday night on discounted cash rate and Sunday night on points. Thanks for any/all tips on DLH!