My family and I just returned from a nine day, eight night vacation to Southern California. We had a great time. This was our first trip out west and California is beautiful.
Here is my trip report:
Family: dh 37, dd 9, ds 7 and me 34
We were in San Diego from 6/25 thru 6/28. We stayed at the Residence Inn-Poway. We went to Sea World, the Zoo and Mission Beach. On Tuesday, 6/28, we drove to Anaheim and checked into the Embassy Suites (the one across the street from Knott's Berry Farm). The hotel looks like it is straight out of the 70's as far as decor--but it was very clean. We also had reservations at HOJO, but we got spoiled at Residence Inn having two bedrooms so we cancelled them and went with our original plan of ES. I definitely could not argue with the expanded complimentary breakfast. We filled our tummies sufficiently every day that we were there.
On to the creme de la creme...
On Wednesday, 6/29, we went to Disneyland!!
We had citypasses so we promptly bypassed the long lines and went straight to Guest Services and redeemed our coupon for a 3 day park hopper. I had shirts specifically made for our trip by Disney direct.com. Our shirts read: The ___ Family Celebrating 50 years of Magic at Disneyland Summer 2005. We received so many compliments on the shirts from other guests as well as cast members. Thank you for noticing.
We had an 11:30 am reservation for Blue Bayou and we got to the park at about 9:00 am. We grabbed fast passes for Indiana Jones and then rode Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, the teacups, Story book boats and Pirates of the Carribean. Then we had lunch. I had the Monte Cristo--you all were right! That sandwich was DELICIOUS!! After lunch, we rode Indiana Jones. That ride was a lot of fun. Later on, we rode the Matterhorn--twice in a row!! When our train pulled into the station, the operator manually "pulled" our train onto another track and we watched at least four other cars come into the station and disembark. Finally, he pushed our train back onto the main track and told us to buckle up because we were going for another ride!
I think that it was the shirts that did it.
The parade started shortly afterward. To be honest, I think that WDW's parade with the snowglobes is a better parade. I expected so much more since this is the 50th. They also run the same parade twice/day: 4pm and 7:15pm. We must have seen all or parts of that parade 4 or 5 times! We also rode BTMR, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear. That evening, we went to DCA to see my favorite parade of all time--the Electrical Parade.
I was so frantic, we got our seats early and I was mesmerized by the music and the floats. A perfect way to end our first day!
On Thursday, 6/30, we started off at DCA at exactly 10 am--right when it opened. HARDLY ANYONE WAS THERE!! Which made it perfect for us. We rode Golden Zephyr and Mulholland Madness then my dd and I headed off to California Screamin' (which had a 5 minute wait) and had a blast! Dh and ds rode Mulholland once more. When we met back up with them, dd, ds and I rode Mulholland again--I kinda like this ride (similar to Triceratops Spin at AK @ WDW--but better). We then got fastpasses for Grizzly River and headed off to see the Aladdin show--which was GREAT! I didn't like that we had to wait outside in the hot sun for over 30 minutes--but it was worth it. We all gave it two thumbs up. Before getting on the GRR, we got fastpasses to
Soarin' Over California. We all loved this ride and you could really smell the oranges. Later that evening, we went to the Magic Kingdom and did some shopping and rode some more rides and got to see the Tiki Birds. We stayed for Fantasmic! and the Fireworks. I will say that Disneyland's Fantasmic! is way better than WDW. The fireworks were nice too. We could even see Tinkerbell "flying" across the sky. On the way out of the park, we stopped in to see The first 50 years program with Steve Martin. Another great way to end the day.
Friday, 7/1, we were so exhausted by then, we didn't even go to the parks until after 12 noon. We headed to the Magic Kingdom and we were determined to do Splash Mountain. While walking past the board that lists the waiting times for the major rides, I happened to notice that there was a 60 minute wait for Space Mountain. The two previous days, it stated: Coming in July. I put it out of my mind and got the FP for Splash. We then rode Winnie the Pooh and bought souvenirs at Pooh's Place, then lined up for pictures with Pooh and Pals. We rode the Matterhorn again and got FP for Autopia. Curiosity got the better of me, so we headed in the direction of Space Mountain and guess what folks? IT WAS OPEN!! The posted time by then was 75 minutes. This was our last day at the parks--it was now or never. We got in line and we actually boarded the ride 46 minutes later. WOW! is all that I can say about that ride. DL's SM is ten times better than WDW's SM. Unfortunately, my prescription sunglasses fell out of the basket. 
After riding Autopia and Buzz Lightyear (fastpass) and Star Tours, we made a beeline for the exit so that I could see the Electrical Parade one more time. It was great. I had to watch by myself, as the kids and dh wanted to do some more rides. After the parade, dh and I rode California Screamin'. The park stayed open til 10pm so we played some games and bought some souvenirs. At 10:10pm we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to pick up our bags out of the locker and just savor the atmosphere. We had a great day and we were exhausted. Unfortunately my favorite singer of all time, Luther Vandross passed away that same night--I was devastated. I'll always remember where I was when I heard the news
Saturday, 7/2, we checked out of the hotel and drove to my cousin's new home in Palmdale. It took almost three hours to drive 85 miles. Traffic in Southern CA is a joke! My cousin has a pool and had plenty of refreshments so that hit the spot.
Sunday, 7/3, we had to drive back down to San Diego to catch our flight home. We ended up giving my cousin and her dh our citypasses to Knott's Berry Farm since we were not going to use them and they would end up going to waste. We stopped in Oceanside at the Jolly Roger for a late lunch. The apple pie a la mode was delicious! I'm lactose intolerant, so I had sherbert on mine.
We arrived back safely to our home around 1am 7/4. We had a great time and I would like to thank everyone who responded to my questions and comments. I definitely plan to return to the area some day--hopefully for a longer stay.
Here is my trip report:
Family: dh 37, dd 9, ds 7 and me 34
We were in San Diego from 6/25 thru 6/28. We stayed at the Residence Inn-Poway. We went to Sea World, the Zoo and Mission Beach. On Tuesday, 6/28, we drove to Anaheim and checked into the Embassy Suites (the one across the street from Knott's Berry Farm). The hotel looks like it is straight out of the 70's as far as decor--but it was very clean. We also had reservations at HOJO, but we got spoiled at Residence Inn having two bedrooms so we cancelled them and went with our original plan of ES. I definitely could not argue with the expanded complimentary breakfast. We filled our tummies sufficiently every day that we were there.
On to the creme de la creme...
On Wednesday, 6/29, we went to Disneyland!!
We had citypasses so we promptly bypassed the long lines and went straight to Guest Services and redeemed our coupon for a 3 day park hopper. I had shirts specifically made for our trip by Disney direct.com. Our shirts read: The ___ Family Celebrating 50 years of Magic at Disneyland Summer 2005. We received so many compliments on the shirts from other guests as well as cast members. Thank you for noticing. We had an 11:30 am reservation for Blue Bayou and we got to the park at about 9:00 am. We grabbed fast passes for Indiana Jones and then rode Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, the teacups, Story book boats and Pirates of the Carribean. Then we had lunch. I had the Monte Cristo--you all were right! That sandwich was DELICIOUS!! After lunch, we rode Indiana Jones. That ride was a lot of fun. Later on, we rode the Matterhorn--twice in a row!! When our train pulled into the station, the operator manually "pulled" our train onto another track and we watched at least four other cars come into the station and disembark. Finally, he pushed our train back onto the main track and told us to buckle up because we were going for another ride!
I think that it was the shirts that did it.
The parade started shortly afterward. To be honest, I think that WDW's parade with the snowglobes is a better parade. I expected so much more since this is the 50th. They also run the same parade twice/day: 4pm and 7:15pm. We must have seen all or parts of that parade 4 or 5 times! We also rode BTMR, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear. That evening, we went to DCA to see my favorite parade of all time--the Electrical Parade.
I was so frantic, we got our seats early and I was mesmerized by the music and the floats. A perfect way to end our first day!On Thursday, 6/30, we started off at DCA at exactly 10 am--right when it opened. HARDLY ANYONE WAS THERE!! Which made it perfect for us. We rode Golden Zephyr and Mulholland Madness then my dd and I headed off to California Screamin' (which had a 5 minute wait) and had a blast! Dh and ds rode Mulholland once more. When we met back up with them, dd, ds and I rode Mulholland again--I kinda like this ride (similar to Triceratops Spin at AK @ WDW--but better). We then got fastpasses for Grizzly River and headed off to see the Aladdin show--which was GREAT! I didn't like that we had to wait outside in the hot sun for over 30 minutes--but it was worth it. We all gave it two thumbs up. Before getting on the GRR, we got fastpasses to
Soarin' Over California. We all loved this ride and you could really smell the oranges. Later that evening, we went to the Magic Kingdom and did some shopping and rode some more rides and got to see the Tiki Birds. We stayed for Fantasmic! and the Fireworks. I will say that Disneyland's Fantasmic! is way better than WDW. The fireworks were nice too. We could even see Tinkerbell "flying" across the sky. On the way out of the park, we stopped in to see The first 50 years program with Steve Martin. Another great way to end the day.
Friday, 7/1, we were so exhausted by then, we didn't even go to the parks until after 12 noon. We headed to the Magic Kingdom and we were determined to do Splash Mountain. While walking past the board that lists the waiting times for the major rides, I happened to notice that there was a 60 minute wait for Space Mountain. The two previous days, it stated: Coming in July. I put it out of my mind and got the FP for Splash. We then rode Winnie the Pooh and bought souvenirs at Pooh's Place, then lined up for pictures with Pooh and Pals. We rode the Matterhorn again and got FP for Autopia. Curiosity got the better of me, so we headed in the direction of Space Mountain and guess what folks? IT WAS OPEN!!
The posted time by then was 75 minutes. This was our last day at the parks--it was now or never. We got in line and we actually boarded the ride 46 minutes later. WOW! is all that I can say about that ride. DL's SM is ten times better than WDW's SM. Unfortunately, my prescription sunglasses fell out of the basket. After riding Autopia and Buzz Lightyear (fastpass) and Star Tours, we made a beeline for the exit so that I could see the Electrical Parade one more time. It was great. I had to watch by myself, as the kids and dh wanted to do some more rides. After the parade, dh and I rode California Screamin'. The park stayed open til 10pm so we played some games and bought some souvenirs. At 10:10pm we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to pick up our bags out of the locker and just savor the atmosphere. We had a great day and we were exhausted. Unfortunately my favorite singer of all time, Luther Vandross passed away that same night--I was devastated. I'll always remember where I was when I heard the news Saturday, 7/2, we checked out of the hotel and drove to my cousin's new home in Palmdale. It took almost three hours to drive 85 miles. Traffic in Southern CA is a joke! My cousin has a pool and had plenty of refreshments so that hit the spot.
Sunday, 7/3, we had to drive back down to San Diego to catch our flight home. We ended up giving my cousin and her dh our citypasses to Knott's Berry Farm since we were not going to use them and they would end up going to waste. We stopped in Oceanside at the Jolly Roger for a late lunch. The apple pie a la mode was delicious! I'm lactose intolerant, so I had sherbert on mine.
We arrived back safely to our home around 1am 7/4. We had a great time and I would like to thank everyone who responded to my questions and comments. I definitely plan to return to the area some day--hopefully for a longer stay.
