Texan
<font color=red>No extra charge for the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2002
- Messages
- 487
I have been going non-stop since the end of our vacation. Just wanted to give you readers out there a trip report. Here is our gang: Me, 42; DH, 41; DS, 15; and DS, 10. Visited DL in 2000, WDW in 2003, and WDW in 2005. It's hard to get DH on vacation, one of those workaholic types, and true penny pincher.
Our plan originally was to fly in Feb 3, go to Knotts Feb 4 and DL Feb 5 and 6. Our first trip in 2000 we learned to never, ever go to DL on a Saturday, especially when you have a DH who hates big crowds. That's the reason for the Knotts Sat trip. But the wonderful official DL website, which originally had 2-day hoppers at $116/each were advertising an on-line special for 3-day hoppers at $119/each. Woo hoo, an extra day. So, we took the first flight out of San Antonio, (Southwest 7:10 a.m., right on time, try to get a 15 year old out of bed at 4:30, somehow we managed). Checked into the HoJo due to the Mousesaver recommendation and rate (clean and quiet), and headed over to DL for our 2:00 PS at Blue Bayou. Was able to ride a couple of rides including POC (one of our top three) before eating. This was absolutely scrumptious and our waitress (I cannot remember her name, sorry!) was a delight. It was not too crowded this evening, but we did have to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain and Indiana Jones, and we did not get to do Buzz, lines for each were like 50 min. The last ride we rode was Indiana Jones, we did not get to stay for the fireworks or night parade, my husband was falling asleep in line and getting quite grumpy. I wanted to stay by myself but DS's did not like this idea at all, so I went with them which I regretted later. I love fireworks and parades, which DH and DS's could care less really. Anyway, Knotts was a lot of fun Sat (alot of thrill rides for DS15 and DH, DS10 did not feel well that day, was with me alot). Off to CA on Sunday, my husband kept predicting the crowds would be light due to the Super Bowl, boy, was he ever wrong, which we kept reminding him. It was very crowded, but we absolutely loved CA. It was not there in 2000 and neither was DD. Soarin' was a hit, and DS's actually got Mom to do TOT, which I would not do at WDW. DH and DS's said that TOT was totally different at DL than at WDW. We ate at Rainforest that afternoon at DD and it was pretty good. I think this restaurant is just too pricey, but we had a gift card from Christmas! Since CA closed earlier than DL each day, we headed over to DL after they closed, and they were just finishing up the night parade, to my disappointment. So, I parlayed on their guilt and made them stay for the fireworks, but we missed Fantasmic. And here was where I regretted my not staying Friday. They delayed the fireworks for about 20 min, not explaining why, and then when they finally went off you could not see them. Really, only a couple here and there, it looked like a blanket of fog, but it wasn't fog, so what was it??? No one explained. Mucho disappointed, especially after the thrill of Wishes last year. When we left we learned on the news that there was a huge wildfire right by and it was all the smoke from the fire! Bummer. And then there was no night parade and no fireworks and no Fantasmic on Monday when we went. I heaped plenty of guilt around believe me. I don't think I got much sympathy though. And I don't understand it, but we missed quite a bit in our three day visit, even with our commando style. Right before the 8:00 closing on Monday, I managed to drag my husband to the DL 50th Anniversary memorbilia on Main Street, and we had to do mad dash through as they kept saying it was closing, and I was really, really disappointed that I did not have more time. I about hit my DH when he turned to me and said "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? This is so great" I asked DS 15 how many times I mentioned I wanted to go there and he said about 20 times all weekend. Men. Anyway, we did have an absolutely wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, magical time, I sent an e-mail to Disneyland to let them know. The Castmembers were a delight, we talked to many including a true gentleman who had been there since 1960, the parks were very clean, the rides were all open (except HM, which we truly disppointed in), the lines were tolerable especially with FP, but we only got to ride Peter Pan and Alice once on early entry Monday morning due to the on-going long lines. DS 10 loved Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and Matterhorn, rides he wouldn't or couldn't ride at age 4; DS15 kept mentioning to us last year at WDW that there was a Pinnochio ride at DL and we kept giving him a hard time because we didn't remember it, and lo and behold there it was, he had his revenge believe me. We would still love to know what movie the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is based upon, I can't seem to find anything but a Mr. Toad and Ichabod Golden movie out there, and the ride doesn't seem to fit this. For some reason DH loves this ride, hmm, strange. I know the majority of people love WDW because of all of the variety, but we absolutely love and feel so at home at DL. Maybe because Walt walked there and his spirit is there, I don't know, but we loved it. Anyway, we rented a car and drove back, through the Grand Canyon, Sedona AZ, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, etc., and back to Texas late, late Saturday night. Back to school and work and reality on Monday. Just wanted to give my fellow Disney lovers a brief overview!
Our plan originally was to fly in Feb 3, go to Knotts Feb 4 and DL Feb 5 and 6. Our first trip in 2000 we learned to never, ever go to DL on a Saturday, especially when you have a DH who hates big crowds. That's the reason for the Knotts Sat trip. But the wonderful official DL website, which originally had 2-day hoppers at $116/each were advertising an on-line special for 3-day hoppers at $119/each. Woo hoo, an extra day. So, we took the first flight out of San Antonio, (Southwest 7:10 a.m., right on time, try to get a 15 year old out of bed at 4:30, somehow we managed). Checked into the HoJo due to the Mousesaver recommendation and rate (clean and quiet), and headed over to DL for our 2:00 PS at Blue Bayou. Was able to ride a couple of rides including POC (one of our top three) before eating. This was absolutely scrumptious and our waitress (I cannot remember her name, sorry!) was a delight. It was not too crowded this evening, but we did have to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain and Indiana Jones, and we did not get to do Buzz, lines for each were like 50 min. The last ride we rode was Indiana Jones, we did not get to stay for the fireworks or night parade, my husband was falling asleep in line and getting quite grumpy. I wanted to stay by myself but DS's did not like this idea at all, so I went with them which I regretted later. I love fireworks and parades, which DH and DS's could care less really. Anyway, Knotts was a lot of fun Sat (alot of thrill rides for DS15 and DH, DS10 did not feel well that day, was with me alot). Off to CA on Sunday, my husband kept predicting the crowds would be light due to the Super Bowl, boy, was he ever wrong, which we kept reminding him. It was very crowded, but we absolutely loved CA. It was not there in 2000 and neither was DD. Soarin' was a hit, and DS's actually got Mom to do TOT, which I would not do at WDW. DH and DS's said that TOT was totally different at DL than at WDW. We ate at Rainforest that afternoon at DD and it was pretty good. I think this restaurant is just too pricey, but we had a gift card from Christmas! Since CA closed earlier than DL each day, we headed over to DL after they closed, and they were just finishing up the night parade, to my disappointment. So, I parlayed on their guilt and made them stay for the fireworks, but we missed Fantasmic. And here was where I regretted my not staying Friday. They delayed the fireworks for about 20 min, not explaining why, and then when they finally went off you could not see them. Really, only a couple here and there, it looked like a blanket of fog, but it wasn't fog, so what was it??? No one explained. Mucho disappointed, especially after the thrill of Wishes last year. When we left we learned on the news that there was a huge wildfire right by and it was all the smoke from the fire! Bummer. And then there was no night parade and no fireworks and no Fantasmic on Monday when we went. I heaped plenty of guilt around believe me. I don't think I got much sympathy though. And I don't understand it, but we missed quite a bit in our three day visit, even with our commando style. Right before the 8:00 closing on Monday, I managed to drag my husband to the DL 50th Anniversary memorbilia on Main Street, and we had to do mad dash through as they kept saying it was closing, and I was really, really disappointed that I did not have more time. I about hit my DH when he turned to me and said "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? This is so great" I asked DS 15 how many times I mentioned I wanted to go there and he said about 20 times all weekend. Men. Anyway, we did have an absolutely wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, magical time, I sent an e-mail to Disneyland to let them know. The Castmembers were a delight, we talked to many including a true gentleman who had been there since 1960, the parks were very clean, the rides were all open (except HM, which we truly disppointed in), the lines were tolerable especially with FP, but we only got to ride Peter Pan and Alice once on early entry Monday morning due to the on-going long lines. DS 10 loved Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and Matterhorn, rides he wouldn't or couldn't ride at age 4; DS15 kept mentioning to us last year at WDW that there was a Pinnochio ride at DL and we kept giving him a hard time because we didn't remember it, and lo and behold there it was, he had his revenge believe me. We would still love to know what movie the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is based upon, I can't seem to find anything but a Mr. Toad and Ichabod Golden movie out there, and the ride doesn't seem to fit this. For some reason DH loves this ride, hmm, strange. I know the majority of people love WDW because of all of the variety, but we absolutely love and feel so at home at DL. Maybe because Walt walked there and his spirit is there, I don't know, but we loved it. Anyway, we rented a car and drove back, through the Grand Canyon, Sedona AZ, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, etc., and back to Texas late, late Saturday night. Back to school and work and reality on Monday. Just wanted to give my fellow Disney lovers a brief overview!
I loved DLR!!
and there is also a movie, which I missed 
). Also, above the POC ride, there is an awesome art display all about Disneyland, I did drag everyone there and refused to leave until I had my fill. POC and the Blue Bayou restaurant will be closed while you are there. Just enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. (Penny pinching workaholic DH was checking his cell phone after every ride, and was always asking "I'm not getting any calls, I wonder if this is working? Well, duh, honey, your on VACATION!)
