Our First Trip to Disneyland! UPDATED - DAY 2

[mwehttam]

Finally back from a two week vacation. The first week (July 31 – Aug 6) we spent in DL while the second week we were in Jackson WY for a family wedding (Aug 6 – Aug 12; wedding was the 8th).

Sorry if this first post is a bit long. I tend to ramble as my DW wouls say, lol. Hopefully as I go along, they will shorten. As the week went on, we tended to repeat the different strategies that worked on certain days and repeated the attractions that we enjoyed the most.

It was just DW and I. No kids yet but DL is known as the Happiest Place on Earth…

Woke up at 4AM EDT (1AM DL Time) and we were picked up at 4:30 for our 7AM flight out of JFK bound for LGB on JetBlue. Can’t say enough good things about JetBlue. They are an amazing airline. I am very happy that starting in Oct they will be flying out of Newark to Orlando. Nice cheap flights for WDW!!

We landed at LGB at about 10AM DL time. Our driver was there waiting for us. We used best-trans.com and they were very reliable. No issues there.

Got to the Hotel by 11:00. One word: AMAZING! Such a beautiful hotel. We were able to put our luggage into storage and check in. Since it was early, we didn’t have a room number but they were able to give us our keys. We were to call at 3PM and they would be able to give us our room and assign the keys to the room so we didn’t need to go to the front desk. We had a standard room. We felt that we were splurging on this hotel as it was and didn’t need to splurge on the room type. I was hoping for a Courtyard View so we could see the Monorail. They didn’t have one available at 11 but the girl at the front desk said to mention it when we called at 3.

DW and I had already planned not to go to the Parks the first day. We had 5 Day Hoppers and would be using them Monday through Friday. We explored DTD, had lunch at Napolini. I had two slices of pizza (only needed one; they were big) and DW had a salad. Both were decent and did the job since we hadn’t eaten a real meal in about 20 hours. We then explored DTD some more then the other two hotels and of course, their gift shops.

We got done with the exploring close to 3 so we went back to the hotel and called about our room. It was ready, a king overlooking the Paradise Pier Hotel and Disneyland Hotel. I asked about a courtyard room. The lady said to call back in about 10 minutes and she would check. Called back and we could have a Courtyard view but it would be another hour wait and we would have two queens instead of the king. Since we were exhausted I decided to keep the king and get to our room now. Went to the elevator and a bellhop was bringing another guest’s luggage up. I held the door for him so he could use our elevator. He thanked me and I said “You’re welcome.” Then jokingly “But now you have to get our luggage next.” He said “Sure thing. Just give me your luggage ticket and I will be up in 5 minutes.” I said I was just joking but he said it was not a problem. True to his word, he was up in 5 minutes with our luggage.

The Room: It was beautiful. Nice wood furniture. Two lovely “Snow White” prints were on the walls. There was plenty of closet and dresser space for the two of us. Since we had a week in Jackson where the weather gets cold at night, we had a big suitcase with our warm clothes in that easily fit in the closet. Since it was a king bed, there was a pull out love seat that gave us a nice seating area. There was a 2 sink area outside of the bathroom with plenty of space for the two of us. The bathroom was kind of small but to save space the door was a pull out one from the wall so there was no room taken by a normal swinging door. The shower curtain had a nice woodsy theme with Bambi and Thumper hiding in the trees.

We had reservations for the Napa Rose at 6 as our “Vacation Kick-Off” meal so we had time to relax. We sat on the balcony and looked out over the resort. If we turned to our left we could see some of the rides in the Paradise Pier section of California Adventure.

Dinner at the Napa Rose was excellent. Our server, Mickey (as he liked to say “No, I am not that one!), was great. He recommended two great wines for our meal.

After dinner we attempted to walk around DTD but I was exhausted and barely could walk. I was fast asleep by 8:30PM.

Well, that was our first day, though I guess it is not an official day since we didn’t go into the park. More later!


-Matthew

 

[DisneyDotty]

Good start--looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip! Which hotel did you stay at? Thanks!

 

[2cute4u]

Our first trip is coming up, so I need to hear more details! How was the weather, the crowds, etc??

 

[mwehttam]

Monday, August 1



Sorry for the delay. I forgot how busy the real world is!!
Plus I tried to post this as a new thread and it wouldn't take. Not sure why though


Before leaving for the trip it was reported on the DIS that if you were staying in a DL Resort Hotel, you could use EE each day it was offered during your stay. This was confirmed when we checked in by the CM taking care of us. She also said to use the Monorail entrance in DTD to get in. I was a little confused by this because I think I read on the DIS not to use the Monorail. Since we would be able to due EE 3 times (Mon, Tues, and Thurs) during our trip, we decided to use the Monorail on Monday and see if it made sense.

Because I was asleep so early I got up at about 5:30AM. I showered and woke up DW. We usually don’t need breakfast in the morning. This was the case today since we knew we had a PS for the Blue Bayou at 11:30AM (to get a seat along the water of PoC). We got out to the Monorail station in DTD by about 6:30 and were the third or fourth group on line. We met some nice people that we talked to and that made the time go quick. We got on the Monorail a little before 7 and got under way a little after. A lady in the same car with us said it did make more sense to use the Monorail since the lines get very long at the front gate. We ended up using the Monorail all three times and even got into the park before 7! We also were able to get onto the first Monorail all three times, even after getting to the station at 10 of 7.

Since we entered the park at Tomorrow land, we made a b-line for SM. One word: Amazing! (when it was up and running at least; more on that later) We were in WDW back in Oct for our Honeymoon and there was a noticeable difference in smoothness and darkness. The music was great too!

Since I am writing about the rides, I would just like to make a comment. Reading posts and the like to get ready for the trip, I noticed a lot of “better in DL’ or “better in WDW.” I have to admit, I can only say this about one ride, Splash Mountain. It is much better in WDW. The story is told better in Florida. We noticed in DL that it is choppier, for lack of a better word. I guess this might have to do with using the creatures from Song of America. Plus, because of the long lines, it seems that the water moves the log fast, so the ride is over quickly. As for all the other rides, not including the rides that are pretty much the same thing in both parks, they were different enough to make them equal.

Some examples:

Tower of Terror: Before going, we both expected it not to be as good as Florida. The elevator doesn’t move down the hall in DL. But instead, they used a cool mirror trick that is not in Florida. After riding it in DCA we felt it was just as good and ended up riding it at least a half a dozen times in the two days we were in DCA.

Buzz Lightyear: Shorter ride at DL and it seemed that there were less targets but you can pick up the laser. In Florida, my DW and I fought over who would rotate the car; in DL we never really moved the car since we could move the gun instead. Also, DL had some targets that light up, giving you more points if hit. That was also a nice touch.

Okay, back on track.

After Space, we did Buzz and then we did Matterhorn. We then went into Fantasyland. Peter Pan was already packed, which we discovered was pretty much packed from opening to closing. We were able to ride the rest of the rides in Fantasyland (except Storybook and Small World which I don’t think were open during EE). By this time it was 8 so we worked our way over to Adventureland. We decided to FP Indy and did the Jungle Boat cruise. We had an okay driver (funnier one later in the week). The piranha are a nice touch that we learned was new. Indy was great. We loved it. The theme was great and I especially loved the chamber where air was blown at you making you think you had darts firing at you. Even after the 3rd and 4th time on it I still ducked, lol.

After this we were getting a little hungry so we grabbed a mixed fruit container (delicious!!) from the stand right next to Jungle Boat and headed over to Big Thunder. Fun ride, especially at night during the fireworks. Then it was off to Pirates and Haunted Mansion.

By this time it was close to lunch time so we looked around the shops in New Orleans Square taking mental note of what we might want to buy, then checked in at the Blue Bayou. We were the 5th ones seated, right along the water. The food was good. DW had the Monte Cristo sandwich and I had the gumbo and chicken caeser salad. After lunch we walked over to Splash but the line was insane! Over two hours and the FP were already late into the day. We skipped it and went on Pooh (huge Pooh fan here).

We walked back to the Hub and caught the end of the show where Mickey climbs the Matterhorn and plants the flag. Very cool. By now we were feeling the day. We headed back to the Hotel to relax by the pool. One of the reasons we planned 5 days was so that we could relax by the pool.

After a few hours by the pool and a couple of drinks it was time to head back into the park. We had tickets for the Fantasmic! dessert balcony seating for the 10:30 show, so we decided to eat dinner in the park, to keep it relatively light. It was early so we headed over to Space and decided to wait on line. It was only about an hour (the longest we had to wait for any ride all week; didn’t use FP to its full potential this first day) then was able to catch the 7:00 Parade of Dreams. Awesome. If Disney knows anything, it is putting on a show. We then headed over to Rancho del Zocalo for dinner. We split a cup of tortilla soup and a chicken burrito.

After dinner we got on BTM and were able to catch the fireworks while riding. Pretty cool especially since the fireworks are fired from what seemed like all over the place, lol. We rode Pirates again and then walked up to the Gallery to sit and wait to be seated for Fantasmic.

This is when Disney magic hit us. As we made it to the little courtyard in the middle of the gallery there was a couple with the Bride and Groom ears. I congratulated them, telling them that my wife and I did the same thing at WDW for our honeymoon. The bride then asked if we were from New Jersey. My wife had a “Long Beach Island, New Jersey” sweatshirt on and the bride noticed it. I said “No, but I grew up in Jersey and we usually go to LBI every summer.” We proceeded to talk and it turns out they are both religion teachers at one of the Catholic HS were I grew up. My brother was the team physician for their football team a few seasons ago. I also went to one of the other Catholic HS in the county and the groom’s father happened to be one of my teachers! They were staying in the GC as well and we ran into them several times.

Fantasmic! was great. I saw it in WDW back in 2000 and we were unable to squeeze it in during our Honeymoon. The balcony seating is a great view. Highly recommend if you can swing it. The desserts were pretty decent but that is not the main reason to go. Not having to fight the crowds was well worth the money!

After the show we talked with the couple some more then headed back to the room. It was a long day and we going to do EE again in the morning.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Really enjoying your trip report. We also enjoy the Fantasmic Dessert Buffet but it ruins seeing Fantasmic at Disneyland any other way! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Judy from Boise]

Did I miss the other segments....or do you need to write them

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Great report, so far, Matthew!

I especially like reading your observations. I agree with you about Splash Mountain. At WDW it has more of storyline, and at Disneyland it's just various scenes - in my opinion. That is really neat that you met people from your neck of the woods.

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