** LIVE ** Great Glad Tidings Tell -- we're headed to DL! **Dec 7-14, 2010 TR**

[specialks]

I posted this on the Christmas thread but thought I would ask it on my trip thread too:

- What time do the characters come out from IASW? On the hour? We have never seen them!

- We are going to have a 5 day PH and are staying Dec 8-Dec 13 (7th & 14th are travel days). One day we want to spend at Knotts. I would like some scheduling help. We want to see only 1 major "event" per night (not counting parades) and catch the fireworks, WOC (w/picnic & hopefully bridge standing), and F! (again down front with a blanket - we did this before and the girls liked the show so much it was worth the wait). Fireworks are shown every night, WOC is every night, F! is only show Sat & Sun. Would you guys have a recommendation on which day to watch these shows (Sat is SoCal & SoCal Select blocked; Sun is SoCal Select only blocked; there are no other AP block days) and also which day to head over to Knotts.

Thanks!

 

[specialks]

Okay so I think I have our basic itinerary planned:

Tues Dec 7: arrive in SNA, rent car, check into RI GG, enjoy the free reception meal and a glass of wine.

Wed Dec 8: DCA day - my oldest daughter is finally tall enough for CS and literally cried in 2008 (she was 4.5) when we told her she couldn't ride it. Her favorite ride that year was Space Mountain. She is our roller coaster enthusiast. However, she doesn't like ToT (she tried it in 08 & 09) and now my youngest (just turned 4) is convinced she is going to give ToT a try. Crazy girls! This will also be our WOC night and I have preordered the picnics meals. I am hoping for a blue FP and bridge viewing.

Thurs Dec 9: MM & DL day, we will probably try to catch the parade and/or the fireworks on this day.

Fri Dec 10: Knotts - I am so bummed because I pre-purchased my tickets and now they have the Toys for Tots deal. It could have saved us $57. Oh well, no biggie.

Sat Dec 11: DL or DCA depending on where the girls want to go

Sun Dec 12: DL and F!

Mon Dec 13: our last day so we might park hop to finish out with our favorites!

Tues Dec 14: 6 pm flight home, we might head to a local beach just to see it and walk on it -- too cold to swim. (any advice on a good beach to drive to from DLR with our flight leaving out of SNA)??

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Looks good but why don't you park hop each day? We always do ~ we start in DL, hop over DCA and then back to DL in the evening - even when we take a mid day break. You have a lovely family and I'm sure you'll enjoy your visit to DLR during the holidays!

 

[specialks]

Looks good but why don't you park hop each day? We always do ~ we start in DL, hop over DCA and then back to DL in the evening - even when we take a mid day break. You have a lovely family and I'm sure you'll enjoy your visit to DLR during the holidays!

We might parkhop on a couple of the days. We really don't plan a lot and move at the pace our kids set. Completely against my planning nature! But, we have found that the whole family has a better vacation when we walk along and go with our girls' whims. I know, completely against the Disneyland guidebook. That is also why we are spending 5 days in the parks this time around.

 

[specialks]

Just made a reservation to eat at Rainforest Cafe on Saturday Dec 11th. They were fully booked for dinner time so we ended up with an 8:30 pm reservation. Hopefully the girls won't be too tired to enjoy it.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Your plans are coming right along.....I kinda wish I had gotten back on here sooner.......I hope you aren't disappointed in your Knott's day......WE WERE!! A total waste of money (and there was 10 of us). Camp Snoopy is mostly toddler & very small kids & then you have all the thrill coasters with not a lot in between for families. We only stayed for 3 hours. The park was filthy, I stepped in wads of gum within the first 15 mins, the bathroom floors were totally covered in tp & paper towels....you couldn't even see the floor, there are a ton of "carnie" run games & the food prices are ridiculous!! It reminded us of being at the fair.......gross!! The best part of Knotts.......Mrs Knott's Chicken Dinner.....it's on the outside of the park and absolutely a fabulous meal!! I have pics from the dinner here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2376961&page=70 Post # 1046

Hopefully your experience will be better than ours.....I was really looking forward to going (had gone as a kid & right after getting married) but since then, it was sold to Cedar Parks & it's really gone downhill!!


LVE the girls outfits....I wish I was talented in sewing.......my girls would always be "Disney-fied"......lol

 

[specialks]

Thanks DizNee Luver for the info & compliments. I am really worried because I am running out of time for all my sewing projects I want to do. I think I am going to be cutting back. I have started reading your TR and wow, you have some great pictures. We went to KBF last year and the girls had fun in Snoopy's and on some of the rides. My husband liked some of the more extreme rides and we all enjoyed the lack of crowds. However, it definitely is not as nice as DLR.

We have a reservation now booked at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for the girls on Thursday Dec 9 at 11:10 & 11:20. They are really looking forward to this!

We are still trying to figure out what the discount for CMs on Parkhoppers are. My mom wants to buy us our tickets with her new CM discount but no one seems to know what the discount is. She even called Guest Services and they told her the discount was only on single day tickets which isn't what her store manager told her. Uggg, I am starting to get worried. Does anyone here know what the CM discount on a 5 day PH would be??

 

[Feistygirl916]

Your plans are coming right along.....I kinda wish I had gotten back on here sooner.......I hope you aren't disappointed in your Knott's day......WE WERE!! A total waste of money (and there was 10 of us). Camp Snoopy is mostly toddler & very small kids & then you have all the thrill coasters with not a lot in between for families. We only stayed for 3 hours. The park was filthy, I stepped in wads of gum within the first 15 mins, the bathroom floors were totally covered in tp & paper towels....you couldn't even see the floor, there are a ton of "carnie" run games & the food prices are ridiculous!! It reminded us of being at the fair.......gross!!

We had the EXACT same experience here! It was a couple years ago, but it sounds like nothing has changed. We were on one of those shuttle tours, and had booked a bus ride to/from KBF, which included the tickets. We were there for less than 3 hours and did not want to wait 6 more hours to catch the bus back to our hotel, so we got a cab. I had heard of the Disney character warehouse over in Fullerton, so that's where we went! I had to buy two duffle bags at Target (across the street) to haul all of our goodies back to the hotel! We took the city bus back, which was so crazy... 2 big duffle bags of Disney goodies, and my (at the time) 4 year old and me...

I think the bus driver thought I was a little nutty!

We will NOT be going back to KBF anytime soon.

 

[specialks]

Oh dear! Well, it will certainly be an experience at KBF. I look forward to covering our day there in my TR so you can all share in our experience.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Looks like you got your trip all setup and hope you and your family enjoy the Holiday season in just less than two weeks away.

 

[specialks]

I'm getting really excited now! We leave one week from today. Because of work & the holidays I haven't had anytime to sew outfits. I am really bummed but realize I just can't make it work. I think I might try to do a couple of iron-on tshirts and call it good!

 

[becstr]

Wow! Less than a week to go!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip!!

 

[specialks]

Tickets have been purchased. This is my first time ever using LMT so we will see how it works out. We bought our 5 day PHs through LMT ($190 adult, $162.73 child) and we are buying my mom her ticket through AAA so we can get the free parking on it. That way if we have a dreadful experience with the ART shuttle we can go back to parking in the M&F lot without paying the $15/day parking charge.

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS!!!

 

[specialks]

We are here! Headed out to watch Tangled then I plan to add some photos & info about our hotel tonight.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Have a great time at DL during the Holiday season and looking forward to your pics during your TR.

 

[skiingfast]

We are here! Headed out to watch Tangled then I plan to add some photos & info about our hotel tonight.

Sounds like a great night. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

 

[specialks]

So we checked into the Residence Inn Anaheim Resort in Garden Grove. I had requested a disney view room on a high floor. I was informed that they could only get us to floor 5 (of 8) but we are facing disney. Of course, upon arriving all we are facing is a bunch of other hotels. They will move us tomorrow if we want, but we decided to stay so we don't have to pack back up. The desk person was very friendly and helped explain why my request couldn't be fulfilled (big convention in town) and what they could do to try to help me. I appreciated his willingness to help and his explanation of the situation.

I had also requested some groceries to be purchased for us. They had the groceries ready and brought them up to my room as soon as I entered the room. The ham & cheese I had asked for were kept refrigerated and were still cold. Very pleased with this service.

The room has a very strong cleaning chemical smell. Almost like they recently cleaned the carpets. You do adjust but it is quite noticeable upon entering. I am very sensitive to smells and my mom & husband smell it but don't think it warrants moving rooms. The room is what I expected with some minor wear and outdated furniture. There is some minor warping on a seam on the kitchen formica. Perhaps the worst thing is the sofa bed. I had read previous reviews so I was prepared for it to be a little tough, but ours is actually falling apart. When we opened it up a spring was actually laying on the bed (it was supposed to be holding that fabric bottom to the frame). My mom is going to sleep on it and she is pretty easy going, but if you have someone who is a light/sensitive bed sleeper, this would not work for them. The sofa beds are in BAD need of replacement.

We took advantage of the free manager's reception meal before we went to see our movie. They served rice with teriyaki meatballs and some steamed veggies. The food was pretty mediocre cafeteria food, but after a full day of travel we were just happy to have a meal provided that we didn't have to plan, cook, or pay for!

I know this all sounds dreadful but all in all it isn't that bad. We are hoping we can just make it work and enjoy our time here in our little home away from home!

Tomorrow we are headed to CA. We had originally planned to take the ART but after discussing the ART with 2 different front desk people, we have decided to take our car. It sounds like the ART just isn't reliable so you have no way of know a time schedule of when to expect the next shuttle. We also have WOC tomorrow night and the ART only has limited service between 830-930 for the WOC (815 pm) showing. So, my mom has her AAA ticket so we are just going to drive & park at M&F which we have done before. I wanted to avoid that at all costs but we can't see paying more money for ART when it sounds like it is not an ideal transportation option.

Below are the photos of our room and the manager's meal.

View from door entry

View from Living Room towards kitchen & entry door

View from the Living Room window

Main Bedroom Sink & Vanity

Main Bath

Main Bed - King Bed - Viewed from Bathroom Vanity area

2nd Bedroom - Bunk Beds

2nd Bathroom

Manager's Meal area

Serving Dishes

Food

Hopefully I will check in with you all tomorrow after our day at CA with picnic WOC meals. I might be too tired, but I will give it a shot!

 

[specialks]

So we headed to CA today. We got a late start which isn't really uncommon for our family. We did actually arrange to change rooms because the sofa bed was terrible for my mom and the smell was starting to really bother me. They told us they would move us and we just had to leave everything packed up in the room. So, we arrived back just after 9 pm and had a new room that is very similar but the beds are better and there is no weird smell. All our stuff had been neatly delivered and there was even a plate of cookies waiting for us. They really were very helpful and I am glad we went ahead and changed.

We started off at Soarin' then headed to GRR. No photos of those (I guess we were all just lost in our first moments at DLR!) Then we checked in about the picnics stating that we wanted to get blue fp and when we should pick them up. We were told that they were only giving out blue that day (no yellow) so we could get our meals anytime we wanted. We chose to wait. Our photos will show that we had a pretty slow day and just worked our way around Paradise Pier then to Bugs Land, then to the Pixar Parade, then to Tower of Terror, then finally to our Picnic meals and waiting for WOC.

Here are some photos from our fun today!

Green Army Men with my 2 little girls

Woody & Green Army Man!

Mickey's Wheel of Death. My youngest loves the swinging gondolas but I can't stand them. I feel like I am going to throw up or die or throw up then die. But, I endure for my darling daughter!

First time ever on the Silly Symphony Swings. They loved it!

Christmas time Mickey!

Silly Pluto, using his nose for a table!

Donald

Bug's Land Christmas Ornaments

The only male ladybug I know. No wonder he's so mad...

And the finale... World of Color

 

[roxy72]

Your daughters are SO CUTE!!! They are beautiful with that blonde hair and pretty eyes.

I'm glad you got to switch rooms, so your mother can sleep more comfortably and you can get away from the stinky old room. I wonder why it smelled so bad- maybe the previous person made a big mess and they had to bring in strong chemicals to clean up?

 

[specialks]

Day 2 - Disneyland Park

To start I want to share a timeline of our trip to the park in case anyone has ever thought about staying offsite. We finally pulled out of the hotel parking lot at 9:59 am to start our day. We had paid and were entering the base of the M&F parking garage at 10:06. We were parked at 10:10 and waiting for the trams at 10:15 (the line was average in depth maybe even slightly below). We got off the trams at 10:29 and headed towards the security checkpoints. I just wanted to give everyone a run down of what our drive to the parks was like in case they were wondering.

We had a very slow easy day yet again. I think we are all just really using this trip as a relaxing vacation and not a plan & run crazy for the most rides type of trip. We had appts at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for both the girls and had to head pretty much straight there. We took some photos and did the castle walk-through then headed into the BBB. After that we did the Teacups (my mom & I sat out since we both can't do spinny rides), Storybook Land Canal Boats, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Alice in Wonderland, It's A Small World, Princess Fantasy Faire, Toontown for the Gadget's Go Coaster, then we sat & waited for the parade. After the parade we used our FPs to go on SpcM then headed to Red Robin for dinner and back to the hotel. The parks felt fairly crowded and the parade route was front line full at 4:25 (for a 5:30) parade. FPs were all gone for SpcM and it was a 45 min wait when we went after the parade. A CM even commented that it seemed unusually busy for a Thursday and that the weekends have been really busy. I thought I had picked a good time to visit for low crowds but it looks like there really wasn't a low crowd time this holiday season!

Thought it was so neat to see flowers on the floors in the BBB. According to the FGMIT (Fairy Godmother in Training) they were planted by Rosetta and the Fairy Godmother waved her wand to protect the flowers from being picked.

continued...