Well we had a wonderful time in DL/DCA. Its funny.. after doing so much research here and preparing myself before hand.. once we got there, everything went great. I am so thankful for the advice we got here. Each time we always had some leftover FassPasses and we never waited in line more than 10-15 minutes.. with the exception of waiting to see Mickey Mouse in his house. We had no idea that his house was so big and how it went into the movie barn. By the time we left for CA, I was focused on our family having a good time and I wasn't concerned about my niece. My sister called while we were there to see how things were. Honestly it probably worked out for the better because we only had to push one double stroller around vs. 2 strollers.. and my kids who like rides got to enjoy them.. I am not sure how my niece would have done.
My daughter who I was worried about her height cleared all the 40"rides by a half an inch with her normal shoes so we were very thankful for that. We brought lots of snacks, bottled water, crystal light, and koolaid single packs in and settled for a nice dinner in the evening. I am so glad we did this. We did Ariels Grotto for lunch one day as well. Each day we went back to the hotel for a nap and swim.. some nights we never made it back to the park. We did buy some Dole Whip's a couple of times and Churros once. Other than that we did not do any other park food.
We will probably go back in a couple of years or do DW. Only sad thing that happened was our camera bag which had my DSLR and new Vid. Cam was stolen the last day of our trip at Huntington Beach. So we have no pictures except we did have lunch at Ariels Grotto with some friends who gave us some of their pictures of all of our kids together.
Most importantly when I asked my kids about their trip.. they both just go on and on how much they loved it. This was so different than when I went as a little kid.. cause I hated it.. long lines.. walking too much, way too hot.. and I remember drinking icky tasting fountain water. This time I came really prepared so we all enjoyed it. And those FassPass tips helped so much. I will say though.. I was like a FP Drill Sargeant wanting to stay on schedule and this was not good for me and my husband. By the second and third day.. we went with the flow since I understood how everything worked.
***On a side note we stayed at Holiday Inn Express in Garden Grove. It was about 10 minutes from the Park. I was very impressed with this hotel. Lots of DL Families staying there the day we went. It is only a couple blocks from Harbour Street where most of the Hotels were. And there was a Starbucks a couple blocks down from the Hotel. The only other Starbucks I found was one that was hidden in a hotel on Harbour.
We also rented from Enterprise and was very happy with them. We walked right onto the shuttle at the LAX airport and once we arrived at the rental desk there were several CSR people waiting to help us. We paid $20/Day for a Chrysler Pacifica SUV-Crossover.
We did eat Dinner at Outback, Joes Crabshack and Mimi's cafe. I didn't like dinner at Outback or Joes, but we LOVED Mimi's Cafe! I didn't even finish half of my dinner, I was stuffed. This restaurant was laid back and we did not feel rushed. The other too restaurants were loud, bad service, and the food was not very good.
The only other thing I did and I was glad I did it...every day I had waiting back at the hotel some gifts for the kids I had bought before hand at the dollar store and Disney Outlet. However on the last day of our trip I did go to VIVA 99 Cents store next to Target on Harbour. And I loaded up with Disney gifts for our kids for one final gift bag home from
Disneyland. From the beginning the kids though the gifts were from Mickey and Friends since there was always a personalized note from Mickey that I brought down and made with Disney Font. Not once did my kids even want us to buy them any souvenirs because they were excited to see what Mickey left for them in the hotel. That store is awesome. Best Disney stuff at a Dollar Store I ever saw.