Mini Trip Report

[AZpharmacist]

DH, myself and DD (2) arrived today. We are here until Thursday night and I'll try to update nightly.

Day 1:
Left Phoenix at 9:30 am. Due to I-10 construction after Blythe and traffic by Cabazon, we did not arrive in Anaheim until 5:30 pm!! Longest drive to Disney ever. We did take a 45 min break in Blythe so DD could play and eat.

Checking into Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites at 5:30. We had booked through Expedia and even though I called a couple of weeks ago to confirm, they couldn't find our reservation so it took 30 min to check in (3 other families checked in while we waited). We were in room 328. We will be joined by my friend , her husband and 3 year old DD tomorrow. They're in room 329. Our room has a very spacious bathroom as it's a handicap accessible room. Room is clean. It's a little bright at night due to wooden shutters and the mattresses are a little hard but it's quiet and cool with the AC on (it's so hot out)!

We got to the parks at 6 after unpacking and loading the stroller. We were literally across the street. It took 30 min to purchase tickets (4 day park hoppers). We entered DL at 6:30, went straight to the Fantasyland theater for Mickey and the Magical Map. We missed the first 10 min. DD loved this show in December (at 17 months) but seemed a little frightened today. We then went and grabbed fast passes for Fantasmic (10:45 show) by Big Thunder. DH then grabbed a turkey leg and we walked back to Toontown so DD could run around. It was about 7:30 pm and very quiet. We got pizza at Daisy's diner and sat by the gazebo and ate. DD had a great time climbing up and down the stairs while she ate. She made some liytl friends. At 8 ish we went to ride Small World (we walked on). There were plenty of spots of Paint the night when we went on but not so many when we got off. We then went to DCA, got a pear of dice soda (didn't enjoy it) in Carsland and rode Little Mermaid. Afterwards, we went to the baby care center to change and get my DD some milk. It was 9 and she was very sleepy. Fell asleep in the stroller around 9:30. We watched fireworks from the esplanade, then decided to skip Fantasmic. We had a long day and we didn't want to fight the rush of ppl leaving DL after fireworks. Plus I was nervous DD would wake up from the music (although we slept through fireworks). We only did 2 rides but it was very crowded and we were happy just to stretch our legs and looks around

 

[Disneyluvr2]

Sounds like a good first day! Hope the rest of your trip is magical!!

 

[AZpharmacist]

Day 2:

We decided to skip early entry as our friends didn't make it to the hotel until after midnight. We headed over around 9:30 am, they got tickets and then we started the day at DL.

We grabbed fast passes for Indy and then did jungle cruise first with about a 15 min wait. The 3 year old loved it but my DD2 got scared at the end when people cheered. We rode Pirates next. Both girls got scared but the adults enjoyed it. After that it was our fast pass window for Indy so the husbands went the ride and all of us ladies went and had lunch at Golden Horseshoe. I had the chili cheese fries and they were really good. It was the first time I had been in there and I enjoyed the show as well. By the time we finished, the husbands were back. We left the babies with them and went to ride. It was my friend's first time at DL and she loved Indy!

Afterwards, we grabbed fast passes for big thunder. DD2 was asleep so I decided to leave her with DH and ride Splash single rider. It took almost 45 min! By the the time I got off, DD to was awake so we headed to the baby care center for a diaper change. Plus is the super hot and she needed a cool place to hang out for a bit. DH left us there and went to ride Big Thunder. Our friends had taken their DD to Toontown while mine slept. We had also grabbed fast passes for star tours before DH went on BiG thunder. So they guys then did big thunder and met us up for the Soundsational parade. The kids LOVED this!

Afterwards, the girls ride Star Tours while the husbands watched the babies and got some pizza (redd's is so gross but the kids wanted pizza). I prefer Daisy's but the walk was far and it was HOT. Plus Redd's has AC.

After this, my friend decided she want to go to the hotel so we split up. My DH, DD and I went to DCA. We met Ana and Elsa and then tried to see the Frozen sing along but DD got scared again when people cheered so we left and went back to DL.

When we got to Main Street it was 6:30 and my friend was sitting curbside for Paint the Night. We sat next to her and took turns getting the kids snacks and walking around. We had a spot across from the Penny Arcade. Our spot was great and the parade was AMAZING!! Mack was my fav. I enjoyed this just as much as I used to enjoy the Maint Street electrical parade as a child. I would love the see it again tomorrow but it might be too much for DD.

After the parade, we got in the street for the fireworks. This The was amazing as well. I was in complete awe. I don't think I'll ever forget this. We had a wonderful, magical evening.

All in all, but we had a great day even though it wa super hot. Tomorrow, we will focus more on kiddie stuff. Fantasyland and then Bugs land. I also want to ride Big Thunder since I missed it. My must dos that are left are Alice, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Casey Jr, Matterehorn and BTMRR. We still have a ton to cover in DCA. RSR, Soarin', Grizzly, ToT and Goofy's sky school. I also want to check out Monsters if we can. So much to do and only 2 days left! Park seemed very busy today. Definitely not the TL prodiction of 2

 

[SMD]

Hey, do you guys know about ride swap for kids too short to ride? For the rides with height restrictions you can get 2 FP and then a rider swap for the parents who are waiting. Then you can get 2 more FP for something else. Although it can be faster to just have everyone get an FP or even single rider. But if you're close to the end of your FP window you could get the swap pass in case you run out of time. By the way, 45 minutes for Splash might not have been that bad. Around 11am there were CMs warning guests that the FP return queue was 40 minutes.

 

[AZpharmacist]

Hey, do you guys know about ride swap for kids too short to ride? For the rides with height restrictions you can get 2 FP and then a rider swap for the parents who are waiting. Then you can get 2 more FP for something else. Although it can be faster to just have everyone get an FP or even single rider. But if you're close to the end of your FP window you could get the swap pass in case you run out of time. By the way, 45 minutes for Splash might not have been that bad. Around 11am there were CMs warning guests that the FP return queue was 40 minutes.

We did know about this but we certainly didn't utilize the fp system as well as we should have. We will do better today.

You're right, 45 min isn't awful but there was 1 CM that wasn't pulling anyone at all from the single rider line. Once his shift ended, it started moving

 

[whoever]

Whew... 8 hours to do a 5 hour drive.... I'm not going to like that in October.

Glad you are having a blast. Share some pics when you get a chance!!

 

[lorijohnhill]

What is a pear of dice soda? I've never seen that.

 

[Astylla]

What is a pear of dice soda? I've never seen that.

It's at one of the "cone" kiosks in CarsLand. It's a favorite of mine, it's very refreshing but sweet.