My husband and I did a 19 day vacation that included 2 stays at DL and a 15 night cruise on Royal Caribbeans Radiance of the Seas. We had never been to CA before and I booked our trip through AAA to get all the anmenties and did get the Disney Visa perks too. We landed in Cal around 1130am and our luggage was first off the plane and we waited maybe 15 minutes for the Bus, We did use Disney Transport. The buses were nice and it was just us and the bus driver was not very personable like the ones in WDW are and gave us no info. We had 1 night at Paradise Pier prior to our cruise which was not part of the package and used an old WDW ticket. It did take about 45 minutes to get to PP from LAX. We had hoped our room would be ready but it was not and hubby was in the wrong clothes to go to the park so we had lunch at the deli $25 for a hamburger, club sandwhich, beer and coke and tip. We then checked out the gift shops and pool before getting to the room. As soon as we got to the room our DisneyBasket came. it was a nice basket the one with towel. It was about $60 I tihnk pricy but I was usefull. We then headed to the park. PP you cross the street and go through the Grand Cal hotel and end up in downtown Disneyland. Lots of shops and places to eat. We went to the gate and it took less than 5 minutes to get our new cards and we were off to the park. The park did not seem very crowded we had very little wait for most rides. The Nemo ride was 60 minutes so we opted to try after our cruise. The Pirate ride is slightly diffferent than the one in FL. We love the Haunted Mansion all light up. We then headed to the main street to watch the Parade. Not the best place but we did get to the parade and it was pretty good. Also in the petting farm are 2 Turkey's named Flyer and Fryer those were the Turkey's that were pardoned last year by President Bush. DL closed at 8pm so we walked around DTD until 830pm when we had reservations for the Rainforest Cafe. There was a Build a Bear, Disney Shop. Club Libby Lu, Bookstore, Lego and many more shops. We then went to rainforest cafe and had to wait about 15 minutes even with PS. We had never been to one before and had always wanted to go. We were pretty tired as we had been up since 3am and it was 11pm our time. We did get the appy combo and split it between us. It was really good and had these California egg rolls things that were really good. We turned in preet early as the next day would be a long one. We did have breakfast at the Lilo and Stitch Breakfast. We did the Ala cart as $22 for a buffett is too pricy when we will have all the food we wanted on the ship in a few hours time. I had the tropical fruit. It was awsome! There was Mango, Pineabble, Kiwi, Passion Fruit and Yogurt too. Not much character interaction we did see only Lilo and Max.But it was nice to have an Aloha breakfast prior to the cruise. We then waited for the shuttle to take us to San Pedro. We had 10am pick up and now show until 11am even after 3 calls! After the cruise we had Prime Time again for cruise ship pick up and the guy spoke no English! I think he just got off the plane from Russia. he also had no idea where DL was! Even with a GPS! It took us nearly 2 hour to get from San Pedro to DL! This time we were staying at the DL hotel with a 3 night package. We went to DTD and had lunch at the Mexican restraunt and then took a swim in the pool before taking a nap. We had to get up early on the ship. We had dinner reservations at Cafe New Orleans. It looked like DL was packed there were lines everywhere! Pirates had a 30 minute wait and haunted mansion was 90 minutes. So we had our dinner. I had the Monte Cristo and hubby had the Gumbo and seafood Crepe. I loved the Monte Cristo. We had the dinning plan so with that and the drinks it came to $44 so we paid only $4 plus tip. We then rode Pirates and watched fantasmic. Fantasmic was fabulous. We then decided to go back to the hotel as there were too many people for us. Sundam we did Miniies Breakfast buffet that came with our package. It was really good and way better character interaction. There was Minnie, Chip, Dale, Tigger, Eyore, and Rafiki. The food was good and you could go back several times. We then had Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour. It was not as good as I thought it would be. You had to wear headsets nad most of the time it did not work. You started on mainstreet ans then went to club 33 just to walk in, we got to ride the Jungle Cruise and see the Tiki room and saw some info about the matterhorn you then had lunch. By this time it was almost 1pm. We used this time to go back to the pool. The slide is pretty good and the pool is big enough to hold a lot of people. There was a nive hot tub too. Hubby had a nice cafe right next to our tower that had coffee and espresso so he used some of the snack coupons for those. We had reservations again Cafe New Orelans nad this time I had the Ratatooee. I know it is spelled wrong. This night they were giving away ornaments if you spent $30 or more. Our ornamnet was Zero the dog. We videoed Fantasmic and since the park was open until 12am we rode Spalsh Mt, Pooh, Haunted Mansion and Nemo. Spalsh Mt has more drops than the one in FL. You will not get wet you will get soaked! And We did. We then rode Nemo even then it was a 45-60 minute wait. Would I do it again? No way but it is nice to say that we did that. The Next day we did Cal adventure. It was somewhat of a clowdy cooler day but we had a lot less lines. The Lines were little to nothing. Hubby rode Screaming 5 times and won me a MOnkey at the games. We did the Muppetts which one of our favorite and then rode Soaring which is about a 15 minute wait. Later that evening it was our aniv and we had reservations at Blue Bayou. Blue Bayo is way overpriced. The Gumbo was pretty good but it was in such a small container. I had the Jumbalya and love hot things but this was way too hot for me. I would not go there again. The Cafe New Orelans had way better food. We had a great time but we were a little bit disapointed by the amt of people in the park on Saturday. You can ask at the desk for a signed photo of Mickey and Minnie. Would I go back? Yes I would go back if we were doing another cruise but to go strickly out for just DL the answer is no as we have a 6 hour drive to WDW.
Lexi
Lexi
