Nothing to See Here...

[TheColtonsMom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheColtonsMom
Here's how that one works...A six year old boy melts down completyely in the Lego store after Mom says $400.00 is WAY TOO much money for the Death Star lego set. At that point said Mom is going WHY didn't DH & I do the Disney trip alone I am DONE. 20 minutes later the SAME 6 year old boy is on his knees talking to the 4 year old girl in line behind us on POTC telling her how it is OK to be scared but that Mr Disney would never make anything that would hurt a little kid so everything will be OK. Or 30 minutes after that he is regailing the CM dressed as Brer Bear with how he loves Splash but thinks he should stop hanging out with Brer Fox since he is a bad influence. Or later that night at Fantasmic when he says that was awesome! Can we do it again? Thanks for taking me here!

Everytime you think they have lost it completely and you are done, they surprise you, make you smile, just plain make you feel young again or melt your heart. No matter how bad the meltdown within Disneyland or elsewhere, at some precious moment they make it worth every minute.


Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

And the Lego Store passerby will have only seen the freakout moment. While the POTC/Splash/Fantasmic passerby will think he's a spectacular child with never a meltdown moment.


And then for future trips, you (or at I had to) learn to set clear and strict rules about the Lego Store! We managed to go there TWICE on our WDW trip, without a meltdown, woo!
__________________

We did manage 2 more trips into the lego store during our trip that went very well but like you said live & learn we had very specific goals going in both other times and it went fine. The
Death Star incident was partly our fault as we told him he could get a set of Star Wars Legos from DTD knowing they were expensive but I don't think even if I won the lottery I could ever justify $400 for 1 lego set. Told my husband he could buy some gray model paint and paint a bunch of Coltons older legos and figure out how to build the Death Star from pics.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

As far as all the "decor" blocking people from getting too close to the reindeer goes I have some comment. Keeping people back would have been better done with a second offset fence to keep people back without blocking the view. There was not one place where Colton could see the reindeer. There was either decor or a sign on the fence or both all around them. Colt is 48" tall, tall for his age and rather on the heavy side the only way he saw the reindeer was for us to pick him up, the decor/signage was so thick he couldn't even find a peephole to look through & no way was I letting him climb the decor which I did see other people letting their children do.

The first 2 times we went by there were several sleeping and lots of heavy breathing but we did go by on our last day just after the rain and they were quite perky I think they are too hot most of the time. Maybe their area should be inside a barn or something where the climate could be controlled. Poor guys!

Colton said they were sleeping because it would take a week of sleep to get rested after flying around the whole world in one night.

 

[amamax2]

Here's how that one works...A six year old boy melts down completyely in the Lego store after Mom says $400.00 is WAY TOO much money for the Death Star lego set. At that point said Mom is going WHY didn't DH & I do the Disney trip alone I am DONE. 20 minutes later the SAME 6 year old boy is on his knees talking to the 4 year old girl in line behind us on POTC telling her how it is OK to be scared but that Mr Disney would never make anything that would hurt a little kid so everything will be OK. Or 30 minutes after that he is regailing the CM dressed as Brer Bear with how he loves Splash but thinks he should stop hanging out with Brer Fox since he is a bad influence. Or later that night at Fantasmic when he says that was awesome! Can we do it again? Thanks for taking me here!

Everytime you think they have lost it completely and you are done, they surprise you, make you smile, just plain make you feel young again or melt your heart. No matter how bad the meltdown within Disneyland or elsewhere, at some precious moment they make it worth every minute.

If that doesn't sum up the life of a parent, I don't know what does!

Can't wait to read all about your trip!

 

[Sherry E]

Oh, gosh - I didn't know I had all these new replies! Stupid e-mail alert thingy! I was planning on commenting on people's posts after I do another few installments. I am trying to get as much of the rest of Day 2 posted so at least that day is done with! But I see some things that PHXscuba, amamax2, mariezp and Sherri mentioned that I definitely will have to comment on!

I have a splitting headache at the moment and I am trying to catch some of the "Twilight Zone" marathon. But I wanted to pop in and tell you that I already received my PPH special offer letter from DLR Guest Communications. The lady I spoke to the other day was right on the ball. She mailed out my 'special offer' letter the next day, and it arrived yesterday. This is definitely an improvement in customer service from a couple of years ago. I noticed that even after I booked the room for the December stay, I was getting e-mails every few days to build up excitement for my upcoming stay. It seems like they are really making an effort to please the people (which is good, since the prices keep going up).

Anyway,the interesting thing about this letter is that there is no voucher or PIN code or coupon or anything for me to use to claim the offer. What I have to do - and this will be unusual, as I've never gone this route before - is call the "Special Events" phone number she gave me in the letter and book my room that way. I can't call the regular Reservations number. I will mention speaking to her and what the offer is, exactly. So...I wonder if she forwarded my name and the attached offer to Special Events so they have it in their files, and will know what I was offered as soon as I call?

I imagine that this sort of Special Events hotel booking might be handled differently - like, perhaps, I might not be able to put one night's deposit down. I might have to pay for the whole thing up front. I'll have to see. I want to call the number and find out which dates are blocked out so I can get an idea of exactly when I can use it. If the whole holiday season appears to be blocked, then I'll have to use it before then.

Oh, and parking is included in it. The Resort Fee is going to be done away with as of tomorrow (yay!!), and DLR will simply start charging $15 per car for each reservation. So with this Special Events hotel booking I will have, I will also get free parking - which I won't need unless I have someone with me on any of the days.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see exactly how they handle the Special Events hotel bookings.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope to be back later today with several more TR installments!!

 

[amamax2]

Ooooh, very exciting to get the actual letter - I wondered how they were going to handle this.

That sounds like a really good idea to call Special Events and find out all the details. I hadn't realized when you said block out days that you meant something different than days restricted by your pass, and you are right, close to Christmas may very well be blocked out. But at least that way you'll know, and can start establishing a relationship with someone there. I would think the CM who offered this to you would have filled Special Events in on the whole thing...and I think you'd still be able to pay the way you want. I imagine they have turned it over to Special Events simply because it is an unusual offer - there are probably a lot less people who work there (kind of like Vacation Planning), so you wouldn't get lost in the shuffle, so to speak. And the regular reservationists might not be able to input a different price and things like that. It would just be easier to facilitate your "special" trip! And free parking if needed - woohoo!

Feel better with that headache!

 

[funatdisney]

Having Special Events take care of you is a very good thing. My experience with them was always very outstanding. In the past, we used to do the special event packages DL would offer for special venues. For instance, we were able to attend a special event for the Haunted Mansion Holiday for one of the first years HMH was set up. Usually the packages were tiered and the two higher tiered packages included a night stay at the GCH. When you booked the package, Special Events took care of your reservation and any other needs you may have for your visit. The event was held the first weekend in Oct. It just so happened that our check out day was our anniversary. I wanted to stay an extra night, so we could enjoy our anniversary at the GCH. I had to call Special Events to arrange the extra day booking. I explained why I wanted to book the extra night, and they took care of everything. When it came time to check out, I didn't get an invoice. I called the front desk and they said that it was taken care of, compliments of Special Events! You couldn't even have imagined how special I felt, and how appreciative I was on this most thoughtful gesture. If this is the same group that took care of us, then you are in very good hands.

I would call and see what they can do for you, Also, try to work with the same CM. They will know your circumstances and will make any arrangements you need easier for you (like adding a last minute guest so they can come and pick you up on your last day )

 

[Sherry E]

So you got comped a night at the GCH (at the end of your stay)? That's really cool. Of course, that was quite a few years ago (if it was in the early days of HMH), so I don't know if the same people are still in Special Events, but that's nice to know they are so generous. It sounds like Special Events gets involved whenever there is a free room/free night involved in the reservation, whether it's planned in advance or tacked on at the end of a stay.

I'm a no-frills person. I don't have a lot of requests when I stay onsite. I just need a clean room with the required Disney touches, and more than one bed if anyone else is sleeping there too. And preferably no poopy water!! I was thrilled just to get the park view room at the PPH when I wasn't expecting it. (Although, somehow, I think that the fact that Shawn showed up so early to get me worked to my advantage in that area - if she had not come until hours later, I probably would not have gotten that room.)

As for parking, in the past, when they were charging a Resort Fee, you'd get "free" parking for 2 cars. So they are giving me parking with this PPH deal I'm getting, but the letter did not indicate if it would be parking for one car or two cars. They may limit the freebies to one car now that they are charging $15 for parking for all other cars. We'll see. It's a long, long way off. I don't know how long I will be there. I don't know if I will be totally solo the whole time or have company half the time and be solo the rest of the time. Not sure yet. I mainly just want to know which dates will be blocked out (they probably operate similarly to the schedule they assign to PIN codes and things as far as blockout days go) so I can have an idea of when I have to go. And I want to make sure there won't be any hidden fees I am unaware of - for example, will they still charge tax on the free night, or will that be totally free? Some places will give you something totally free and others will still tax it even if it's free.

Hopefully, when I next check in at the PPH, I won't have that same CM checking me in who checked me in the last time!! I don't want to have to face him again. He will probably remember my name as being the person who got him "spoken to" about the mistake!!

 

[funatdisney]

Yes it was for the end of our stay. I had to call Special Events to add on the extra night, because reservations couldn't handle it.They had the room booked, but could not do what I requested. In order for me to stay in the same room and not have to check out and then check in after the two nights included in our package were finished, the reservation CM told me to have them handle it. SE had the reservation number and info and, therefore, could tack on my extra day request.

I think we attended the first year it opened?? It was the one where a very limited number of guests could have breakfast in the HM at midnight. We got the second tier offering which did not include the breakfast.

 

[amamax2]

It just so happened that our check out day was our anniversary. I wanted to stay an extra night, so we could enjoy our anniversary at the GCH. I had to call Special Events to arrange the extra day booking. I explained why I wanted to book the extra night, and they took care of everything. When it came time to check out, I didn't get an invoice. I called the front desk and they said that it was taken care of, compliments of Special Events! You couldn't even have imagined how special I felt, and how appreciative I was on this most thoughtful gesture. If this is the same group that took care of us, then you are in very good hands.

What a fantastic dose of pixie dust!!! I'm practically teary eyed just imagining this scenario!

I'm a no-frills person. I don't have a lot of requests when I stay onsite. I just need a clean room with the required Disney touches, and more than one bed if anyone else is sleeping there too.

Extra Mickey Shaped toiletries? And that bottle of mouthwash that you didn't get but where's_my_prince did?

 

[bumbershoot]

It's always good to have something in writing!

Now make some copies and file them all away in all the logical places you can think of, with a note on the copies telling you where the original is filed.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I'm a no-frills person. I don't have a lot of requests when I stay onsite. I just need a clean room with the required Disney touches, and more than one bed if anyone else is sleeping there too. And preferably no poopy water!! I was thrilled just to get the park view room at the PPH when I wasn't expecting it.

Just like you Sherry, I also don't request a lot when I am on-site. Just need a nice room at any of the three DLR hotels and a short walk to the parks and DTD. Than use MM on the selected days and go to DL early.

 

[funatdisney]

What a fantastic dose of pixie dust!!! I'm practically teary eyed just imagining this scenario!

I get a little teary eyed myself when I think about it. Even all these years later. I was walking on cloud nine that whole day. It was already a wonderful weekend, and then to learn of the kindness from SE on our last day was over the top. It is one of my fondest memories of DLR.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

Well I am home and of course brought a healthy PTPI home with me (PTPI = Post Theme Park Illness) so I am calling New Years an early night drinking a few "grown-up" root beer floats in my own bed. Hopefully will feel better after a good nights sleep. Plan to start TR tomorrow as long as I am feeling better. Despite the crowds and park closings we managed to have a wonderful time although there were a few pitfalls to negotiate which I will tell you all about. So TTFN as Tigger would say...see you soon

I wanted to stay an extra night, so we could enjoy our anniversary at the GCH. I had to call Special Events to arrange the extra day booking. I explained why I wanted to book the extra night, and they took care of everything. When it came time to check out, I didn't get an invoice.

Had to comment on this, it is so wonderful when something unexpected & magical happens. We experienced a fair amount of Pixie dust on our trip too and there are some CMs and guests that we will never forget because of it.

 

[Sherry E]

Woo hoo! I’ve got another FIVE installments for you to start 2011 with!! Here we go…

Day 2 – December 13, 2010 – Part Fourteen​

I realize I neglected to mention a couple of things in this TR.

One of the things I left out is that, right after the ice cream incident on Main Street (or the Ice Cream Capade, as amamax2 called it!), I sat down for a brief moment to pull out a compact and check my face to be sure I didn’t have any giant gobs of peppermint goo stuck to my cheeks or anything. As I sat there and kind of silently mapped out what I was going to do next (in my mind), which was going to be Frontierland and the Round-Up, I found myself enjoying the holiday music coming in from the speakers. Even though I had certainly been enjoying the visuals of the season – the beauty of it all – and the various trees and wreaths, I hadn’t really found a moment to just sit and enjoy the sounds of the season yet. I hadn’t really gotten in the spirit yet. Shawn and I sat, briefly, on the previous evening (Day 1) as we watched Winter Sweater Goofy sign autographs, right before we headed back to the PPH. But I was in loads of pain at that time, so I wasn’t feeling like decking those halls just yet and I don’t think I really cared about music or atmosphere at that point.

Similarly, when I went on my 1/2-day trip to DLR in November (11/13), I was super-tired (had not had any sleep, really) and it felt too warm to be holiday-esque. Plus, it just felt a bit too early to be Christmas. So I couldn’t really let the holiday spirit overtake me then, either. I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around the fact that it was suddenly the holiday season.

But on this recent December trip to DLR, in the aftermath of the traumatic rescue of the camera, ice cream and trash can, I had to regroup for a minute. That seemed to be the perfect time to really hear the music and see the sights, and just take it all in together. I think that, often times, when we get to Disneyland, even if we aren’t doing it commando-style, we are still too busy just kind of moving from Point A to Point B, fighting crowds and strollers, or talking with our family/friends, that we don’t really absorb what’s around us. The chaos of it all can be very distracting. I like to pay attention and listen to the kind of music that’s being played in each land. Liza/funatdisney mentioned a similar thing as well – she was in the GCH lobby at one point and had not really taken the time to listen to the soft music that’s piped in over the speakers when the pianist isn’t playing. One day she had an opportunity to do that because she was doing something else in the lobby that kind of forced her to actually pay attention, and she realized that it was a really nice instrumental version of a Christmas song, and very fitting with the sort of ambiance of the GCH itself.

I’ve always known that each land has different versions of Yuletide favorites, but I don’t always get to really listen to them. Main Street has its own style of classic Christmas songs, while Adventureland has more steel drum/calypso-influenced holiday tunes, New Orleans Square offers jazz-inspired versions of things like “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and in Frontierland or Critter Country, you will hear Western variations of those same songs. And in ToonTown, they play Christmas songs sung by Mickey and friends. It’s just a really cool little touch that is a way to recognize the holidays in each land, and yet in a different way that’s unique to each place. Predictably, Tomorrowland does not have any holiday music from what I can recall.

Anyway, I was finding that, by way of the music in each land and even in Downtown Disney later on (and their holiday song choices range from Bing Crosby or Dinah Shore to Sheryl Crow or U2), I was really starting to get into the spirit. I love hearing a song I like and kind of bopping my head along or adding an extra spring to my step. Just like it doesn’t feel right to enter Disneyland in any other way except via Main Street, for some reason, the holidays just aren’t the holidays to me without music.

One thing I liked is that some of the Main Street vehicles will beep their horns to the familiar pattern of Christmas songs. Even when there are no songs playing from the speakers, you will hear “Jingle Bells” carefully executed by a driver of a Main Street vehicle. You can just imagine it now, I’m sure – the beeps in time to the chorus of “Jingle Bells” (Beep-beep-beep…beep-beep-beep…beep-beep-beep-beep-beep…) or “Deck the Halls.” Very clever. Another nice touch. They really do a lot at DLR to bring you into the whole holiday feeling. Even if you are rushing, rushing, rushing to and fro, eventually, if you sit down long enough you will get caught up in the merriment of it all.



Now the other thing I neglected to mention earlier is the chaos of parade crowd. If you are a person who has no interest in the parade (because you’ve already seen it) or are trying to get around or through the crowds waiting for the parade to get to another land, it is very frustrating.

After my visit to the Round-Up on Day 2 - Monday, 12/13 - and right after my rest break in Tomorrowland, I was going to try to make it back to ToonTown. Remember I said I felt the need to stay in DL all day on Monday and Tuesday to get as much done as possible, since DL was closing at 6 p.m.? Well, ToonTown was one of the main places on my list of lands to hit since my photo-taking efforts in TT back in 2008 were aborted when it rained and my old camera died.

I could not get back to ToonTown to save my life. I could not get around the parade crowd. The parade crowd basically dominates a chunk of the park that is necessary to pass through to get to other places. In the old days, if you had no interest in the parade and wanted to get back to ToonTown, you could walk the long way around, through Tomorrowland, past the Matterhorn, and over to IASW and then back to TT. You can’t do that now. And you can’t walk the other way around, either. A particularly surly CM sharply told me that I (and whoever was behind me) was not allowed to even stand next to Edelweiss Snacks for a minute (just so I could think and figure out where I was headed next) because that spot is reserved for parade viewing only. And if I wanted to get to any other lands, I had to use “the crosswalk over THERE. That’s the only way you can get to any other land.” Then, said surly CM motioned in a general direction that was supposed to indicate a crosswalk. Meanwhile, where was the crosswalk? I saw no crosswalk and no one was crossing. What I saw was a bunch of people who couldn’t go anywhere except back from where they came and basically forced onto Main Street.

And then, when those of us who were forced over to Main Street got to Main Street, we stopped in an area sort of around the camera shop where we didn’t seem to be bothering anyone. We were not in the path of anyone or anything…and were promptly told by another surly CM to keep moving!!

See, I understand what the CM’s are trying to do – they want to keep the people moving. I get that. Otherwise, you have a huge traffic jam where you don’t want one. But the thing is, the people they are forcing into certain directions are now being pushed into an area where they may not have wanted to go because there seems to be no way for them to get to where they do want to go! They force you onto Main Street, essentially, and then, when you get to Main Street you have to keep on walking. Basically, I think they are just trying to force us out of the park!! LOL! DLR lets the parade crowd area totally dictate what everyone else is trying to accomplish, and it just seems like there must be a better way. I’m sure I was not the only annoyed person who couldn’t access the land I wanted.

So that is how I ended up back on Main Street and in the China Closet, etc., after the Round-Up and Tomorrowland – I just simply had no way to get back to ToonTown and was forced onto Main Street!! I didn’t want to go back to Frontierland, as I had spent enough time there. Adventureland and NOS were both madhouses. But I didn’t want to leave DL when I knew that it would be closing soon for the CM party. So I had to abandon my ToonTown plan for that day and instead occupy myself on Main Street, either in shops or by window displays!!


That brings me to where I left off yesterday in the sequence of photos – I was in the China Closet, as I recall.

Time to start enjoying the window displays on Main Street…

Ahhh…Main Street at dusk, when the lights start to come on, is just lovely…

I think they forgot to ‘Fall back’ when the time changed? The time is wrong on this clock! This is an hour ahead of what it should be, basically. But I love the picture, anyway.

This is one of my favorites:

The moon is peeking through:

 

[Sherry E]

Day 2 – December 13, 2010 – Part Fifteen​

Arrrrrggggghhhhhh….This Trip Report should be called “The I Hate Photobucket Trip Report.” If you guys saw what I have to deal with in trying to simply copy links to photos to post here, you would wonder how or why I do it. It is a massive undertaking, and incredibly stressful when the PC locks up every hour due to Photobucket’s stupid videos and flashing things jumping across the screen. It should not take 5 minutes to copy the IMG code to one single photo, but that’s what happens when you combine an old PC with stupid Photobucket.

Random crowd shots:

So…about this time, the snow began to fall on Main Street (that’s the kind of grainy stuff you see in this photo below). I was trying to get a good snow photo for deejdigsdis, as she had requested that of me. I just couldn’t get a shot where it was very visible! I’ve seen other photos in the past where you can make out the snow quite clearly. But the snow ‘flakes’ used to be a little bigger, as I remember them. When Jackie, Shawn and I serendipitously exited Carnation Café onto Main Street back in December 2007, it just happened to be when the snow started to fall, and it was much more visible around us and on us. However, on this evening at DLR a couple of weeks ago, I could barely even see the snow falling. I almost couldn’t tell that it was falling because the flakes were so tiny. (Has the flailing economy resulted in less snow? LOL!) I don’t know if I was just standing in the wrong spot to get a good coating of the fake snow or if they have just decreased it overall, but I could barely see it. Maybe I needed to get closer to the blower thingy that expels it?

So I aimed my camera in hopes that it would pick up the snow that I couldn’t see. And it didn’t really get the job done, sadly. Maybe a super-nifty DSLR would be able to catch the flakes so you could actually see them, but I failed miserably.

Now that my attempt to capture the snow failed miserably, it was back to the window displays!

I absolutely adore this – I like the Halloween version too, but the Christmas version of this box is so awesome. Notice the detail – the ‘I’ is from IASW Holiday, and the ‘A’ is the DCA candy cane-striped letter A!:

Love the Mickey shape that Jiminy Cricket is standing in:

And the Halloween version of the framed box thingy:

And the Pirates version:

And the Tiki Room version:

This window display was one of my favorites. I think this was at the Market House:

This is definitely one of my favorite Tree Quest trees, as it has cakes and ‘cookie people’ hanging from it:

 

[Sherry E]

Day 2 – December 13, 2010 – Part Sixteen​

Love these ginger-people:

And I have to thank amamax2 for letting me know where to find this particular window display, as it was my other favorite (as you can tell, I love the displays with fake cookies, candies and cakes showcased!):

Now, if I’m not mistaken, I think this was the second window display that I actually caused the same person to move away from! There was a man standing there, and I didn’t need him to move on my behalf. I was just going to maneuver around him to get the shots I wanted. I saw a little space that I could crawl into and take pictures. I guess he noticed that I was intently trying to get a photo of something and moved out of the way to give me a clear view. I felt bad for displacing him so I kind of backed off. He said with a chuckle, ‘What exactly are you taking pictures of?” And I pointed to something or other in the display. He kind of grinned and said, “Okay, I just wondered because this was the second time I moved out of the way and I wasn’t sure what I was moving out of the way for!” He wasn’t mad at all – in fact, I don’t even think I noticed him the first time he claimed to have moved out of the way. If I had seen this same man standing in front of two windows I wanted to catch, I would have just moved on. I wouldn’t have bothered him. But he must have been there when I didn’t see him! He took it in good humor, and after we started chatting for a minute and I explained what I was doing, he was pointing out other window displays to me to be sure I didn’t skip them!!

 

[Sherry E]

Day 2 – December 13, 2010 – Part Seventeen​

The very underwhelming snowflake display that adorns the turnstile area of DL – I think they should put character snowmen/snow people or character gingerbread cookies above the turnstiles. I think this is the one area where Halloween Time has the advantage over the holiday season at DLR. Halloween Time has the character pumpkins greeting you as you enter DL. It seems like it would be so easy to make character snowmen, wouldn’t it? This snowflake business is really kind of anti-climactic:

At this point, I had the option of either heading into DCA, which looked like a madhouse because all of the people who had vacated DL were heading there, OR I could wander aimlessly through Downtown Disney, OR I could get something to eat. I was pretty exhausted after a long day of photo-taking, AND I was super-hungry!! Plus, I was still in a bit of pain (though not as bad as the day before). Keep in mind, it was now after 6 p.m. on Monday night, and I had not eaten any protein since my breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen the day before, Sunday, at about 8:00 a.m.–ish. The ice cream was the only thing I had eaten since Goofy’s, period, but I had gone well over 24 hours without any substantial protein, and that was a bad thing for my blood sugar. I’m actually shocked I went that long without having my blood sugar get crazy. I was lucky, but I should not tempt fate like that.

So I paused in the Esplanade for a minute to ponder my next move.

The fireworks were going off in DL.

Well, I knew I wasn’t going to bother with DCA because I was just too tired and hungry and it looked too crowded. So whether I was going to find somewhere to eat or roam around DTD for a bit, I needed to head to DTD to do it!

 

[Sherry E]

Day 2 – December 13, 2010 – Part Eighteen​

I decided that I had to get back to the PPH and rest. I didn’t want to push it with the pain issue. But I still needed to figure out what to do about food as I made my way onto the GCH property…where would I eat?


Light fixture alert!

Aha! Look who is finally there! Ho ho ho!

I’ve been caught! He caught me snapping his photo from afar! But being the jolly old soul that he is, the waved at me and grinned right after I snapped this picture!

Did I stop in Acorn Goods again? I don’t recall stopping in there but it appears as though I did! I must have been so delirious from exhaustion and hunger that I blanked out:

In case you all thought I was headed to Storytellers Café, I did, indeed, stop by there to see what it looked like in terms of a wait time. Apparently every single person who had not gone to DCA had ended up at Storytellers after DL closed. So there were tons of people waiting to be seated and I just couldn’t bear the idea of waiting.

So I just figured my last shot for food would be PCH Grill in the Paradise Pier. I continued on the short cut path back to the PPH…

Well, the PCH Grill was pretty crowded, too. It always looks as though it has no customers every time I pass by, but on this occasion it looked quite busy. And I was still hungry. There was only one other option that seemed feasible to me at that moment – at least, if I had to wait another 30 minutes to eat, I could do it in the comfort of my PPH room. I could either thumb through the phone book in the room and get something delivered, or I could order room service.

So I made my way past the PCH Grill and onto my room:

This was the view from my room at night:

I decided on room service. I didn’t get fancy. I just wanted a burger. I think the PPH room service food comes from PCH Grill, so, in a way, I was still eating at PCH Grill…but not really. I ordered the burger, a coke and something called the Kilauea Molten Apple Pie with vanilla ice cream. The CM who delivered my (expensive) room service order was very friendly and courteous.

But…the thing is…the burger was not great. As you can see, it was dry. In fact, it was overcooked, even for a medium well burger. It was not only dry but also lukewarm. Plus, it was a thin patty, and for the amount of money they charge, it should be a little thicker.

The thing is, when you are absolutely starving, you will wolf down a not-so-great burger in 2 minutes flat rather than send it back and wait another 20 minutes for them to bring you a good one. And that’s what I did. I piled on the garnishments, I dumped ketchup and mustard on it and I wolfed down the lukewarm, dry, overcooked burger. Oh, and I kept the miniature ketchup and mustard bottles that came with my order because, (A) they are meant for only one person to use – it’s like travel size condiments, and (2) they were so darn cute! But, for some reason, I didn’t get photos of the baby condiment bottles. I guess I assumed that anyone who has ever ordered room service has seen those.

Now this Kilauea Molten Apple Pie, on the other hand, was delicious! It was bigger and more substantial than it appears in this photo…and I had vanilla ice cream with it. Excuse the dim lighting in these food photos, but the PPH rooms seem to have dim lighting. There was nothing I could do to get the room much brighter at night. I turned on every lamp, and it still stayed dim. I could have used a flash for the food photos but I was too hungry to bother with that.

I should mention, too, that not only is the PPH lighting dim (though the rooms are still brighter in general than the GCH rooms), but I also have a problem with their electrical outlets. This happens to me in whichever PPH room I happen to stay in – their outlets simply don’t provide much juice. I had to try 3 different plugs before I got my camera battery charged properly. And I had to try 2 different plugs before my cell phone would start charging. This is okay if you only have 1 person in the room, but if you have 2 or more people who all need to plug in various things to charge, it could be a big problem because there won’t be enough good outlets to go around!


After scarfing down the dry burger and the yummy apple pie, I was ready to get in bed. I placed my dishes outside the door, changed clothes, turned on the TV to catch a bit of news and crawled in bed. It didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

And that ends Day 2 – FINALLY!!!




Coming up in Day 3 (December 14th), exploring the Disneyland Hotel, strolling through Downtown Disney, ToonTown and New Orleans Square, stumbling upon some cute, random character moments, and maybe even a few more duck photos, tree photos, wreath photos, light photos and GCH photos!! Plus, I finally do a sit-down, table service meal solo at DLR…and a small child injures herself on my chair.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh Sherry!! So pretty things for the eyes to behold. I have a friend that is going to DLR for her first time 2012 and she told me that she wants to go when it is not dressed for the holidays for the first time. I think that she is right, as much as I love the holiday finery if I was probably only going to come across the country once to see the DLR I would want to see the park the way Walt had it. It seems like it could overwhelm you.

I love the view from your room still, and it makes me want to stay at the PPH, my luck though I wouldn't get that view. The last time I stayed there I had a great view of the pool. No thank you. The view of the pool at the DLH is cool with me because it is so much fun. I can remember staying at the DLH when I was a young adult and the view was not of the pool but was of a lagoon with paddle boats and such. I just aged myself.

 

[Sherry E]

Oh Sherry!! So pretty things for the eyes to behold. I have a friend that is going to DLR for her first time 2012 and she told me that she wants to go when it is not dressed for the holidays for the first time. I think that she is right, as much as I love the holiday finery if I was probably only going to come across the country once to see the DLR I would want to see the park the way Walt had it. It seems like it could overwhelm you.

I love the view from your room still, and it makes me want to stay at the PPH, my luck though I wouldn't get that view. The last time I stayed there I had a great view of the pool. No thank you. The view of the pool at the DLH is cool with me because it is so much fun. I can remember staying at the DLH when I was a young adult and the view was not of the pool but was of a lagoon with paddle boats and such. I just aged myself.

I'm sure if I had asked for that PPH room view of DCA, I would never have gotten it. I would have gotten something that had a teeny sliver of the Matterhorn in the view. I've had a pool view room, too, which was at least better than the parking lot view I had on another PPH stay.

I stayed at the DLH all the time before the PPH came on the scene (with lower rates, while the DLH rates went up). I loved the DLH rooms with the views of the marina and the pedal boats. I also had rooms with views of the waterfall. I didn't even ask for views at the DLH and usually ended up with something great.

Sadly, the whole landscape of DLH has changed, and the views are not the same anymore. That's why I'm not as gung ho to stay at the DLH again - because the views I specifically loved are gone. No more waterfalls. No more marina. I mean, I'm sure I'll end up at the DLH again in the future if I get a good rate, but the views that I loved are totally gone.

I would say that if your friend wants to hit DLR when it's not decked out in holiday stuff, that it is a good way to see Disneyland in its semi-original state. For someone's first-time trip, that makes total sense. That's what many people prefer - to see DL as it originally was. Of course, so many things have changed since Walt built DL and so many things have been added that it's not even quite like he had it in many places now anyway. It's like a different place...but still the same, if that makes sense!!

I know what you mean, though - I totally see the point. Covering things in decorations can detract from just the natural state of things in DL.

What I will say, though, is that if someone doesn't have a choice of when to go and has to go to DLR during the holiday season (maybe because of vacation time), and that happens to be their first trip ever to DLR, I don't think they will be missing anything or overlooking any special Disney details. If anything, there is just more to see.

Another thing is that I am honing in on a lot of details in my photos that other people might ordinarily overlook. Some of our seasoned DIS'ers wouldn't even stop and take the time to look at what I am getting on camera, let alone the average, non-DIS, non-hardcore Disney fan visitor.

So it probably seems like it would be more overwhelming than it is for a first-timer because I am focusing on all that stuff in my photos. That was my personal goal - to try to catch a lot of details and a lot of holiday decor. But, in reality, I would bet that the majority of visitors to the park are going to skip right past 50% of the stuff you've been seeing in my photos. Much of it is not 'in-your-face.' You see the lights and decorations on Main Street, but then you go to Tomorrowland, and...nothing. You go to Adventureland and...nothing (other than maybe some calypso-flavored holiday classics being played). Even Fantasyland is largely untouched until you get back to where IASWH is. I think they do a great job of playing up the decorations in areas where it's really visually complementary - like Main Street - and leaving other areas essentially untouched.

Of course, for me, I can't get enough of the Christmasy stuff! I would rather be at DLR during the holidays than any other time. It's the same DL magic I grew up with - but magnified by 1000 percent!