mrs_z
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2010
- Messages
- 76
We had a wonderful time, just wanted to finish it off by recapping for all of you that gave us so much help with the planning.
- The winter storm chased us all the way down from OR to CA. We did go through Nevada as the storm seemed to be even worse on the Oregon coast.
- We arrived Thursday afternoon, checked into HoJos and walked over to Disney to pick up our parkhoppers and character breakfast tickets that we had pre-purchased from getawaytoday.
- Dinner that first night at Benihana's (on Ball St.) - huge hit with the kids and delicious food. Perhaps the best meal of the whole trip.
- Spent Friday at DL and DCA, back and forth - wow, so much has been added in the past 6 years. Electronica was a huge hit. My family loved Flynn's. Flynn's arcade tokens (4/$1) are a fun souvenir. We had to give up and walk back to the room that evening because it was raining so hard, our raincoats finally "gave up" and we were getting soaked. WOC was canceled that night.
- Saturday morning we slept in a little later due to being exhausted and soaked the night before. Bought additional rain ponchos at HoJos gift shop and started getting a locker at DL. Glad we had our big coats as it was cold. We went back to Electronica Sat. night. We were all falling apart by 9 p.m. and had to go back to the room (except for dh, who thinks we're all wimps).
- Sunday we used the Magic Morning in Fantasyland, and ventured into ToonTown for the first time this trip. Toontown was a huge hit with our 6yo. Saw "Remember Dreams Come True" from a nice spot toward the Tomorrowland side of the Plaza Inn (no trees blocking us) - great show!
-Monday it finally warmed up -- too bad about the reduced park hours mid-week. Saw Aladdin at DCA - wonderful! Our last night was our last chance to see WOC but my family *hates* standing still for that long so we ended our vacation in DL, riding our favorite rides one last time and finishing up by shopping on Main Street and just enjoying the atmosphere. We also didn't see F! this time but we had seen it before and again, didn't want to camp out for a good spot.
Ride highlights -- The older kids loved Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, BTMRR, California Screamin'. Younger one (6) loved the roller coaster in Toontown, Buzz Lightyear, Autopia, all the Fantasyland rides, Casey's train, Storybookland boat ride, Pirates, and best of all, Haunted Mansion. My favorite as always is Pirates - many additions to it since we were here last. I also like Soarin' over California. We did fastpass everywhere we could and hardly ever had a wait time.
Food highlights -- Hits were Bengal BBQ, French Market (get the salmon, skip the mint julep), corn dogs, cream-cheese filled pretzels, Dole Whip, Taste Pilots Grill (ribs were great). Dinner one night at Mimi's - I thought it was fine but dh wasn't as impressed.
ETA: we also liked Pacific Wharf Cafe - broccoli & cheese soup in a bread bowl, and dh liked the tofu bowl at Fortune's Cookie.
We did not care much for the big mexican restaurant in DTD and Whitewater snacks was not very exciting.
We did a Character Breakfast at Plaza Inn on Monday morning - one of the low moments of the trip. DL needs to better manage letting people into the park when they have character meals that start before the park opens -- we were blocked by crowds and I was stressed trying to get to the right places. We eventually made it in but I expected DL to make it easier. The food was also not so great. I thought the food at Goofy's Kitchen (a few years ago) was much better. We saw a few characters including a very sweet Chip 'n' Dale and hilarious Tigger. Next time we'd probably skip the character breakfast - we saw many more characters just walking around everywhere.
Other highlights - One of my favorite places in DL is Tom Sawyer's Island - how wonderful to find that more had been added to it (caves) since last time. We also loved the play structure area by the Grand Californian - the one with the rope ladders, climbing wall, zip lines -- big hit with the kids.
Walking -- We went back to HoJos about once a day about 4 p.m. except for the last day. I'm so glad we had bought a $25 umbrella stroller at WalMart prior to the trip. Our 6yo is on the small side and she could not have kept up with us without the stroller - every night she was asleep in it as we walked back to the room. When we would go back I would switch shoes and it was a big relief to tired feet - be sure to bring more than one pair of shoes! The lockers in DL were also well worth because our rain gear and winter stuff was bulky.
After we left DLR we drove up the coast and spent the next two days on the beach and went to Monterey Bay Aquarium, then the long drive home.
Overall the trip was a huge success. I'm so glad we did 4 DLR days instead of the 3 we had originally planned - we did everything (with exception of F! and WOC) and it was hard to believe but we were still going on new rides and shows up until the last night - there are a tremendous amount of things to see and do in such a small area. I'm very impressed with all of it!
Now back to my
- The winter storm chased us all the way down from OR to CA. We did go through Nevada as the storm seemed to be even worse on the Oregon coast.
- We arrived Thursday afternoon, checked into HoJos and walked over to Disney to pick up our parkhoppers and character breakfast tickets that we had pre-purchased from getawaytoday.
- Dinner that first night at Benihana's (on Ball St.) - huge hit with the kids and delicious food. Perhaps the best meal of the whole trip.
- Spent Friday at DL and DCA, back and forth - wow, so much has been added in the past 6 years. Electronica was a huge hit. My family loved Flynn's. Flynn's arcade tokens (4/$1) are a fun souvenir. We had to give up and walk back to the room that evening because it was raining so hard, our raincoats finally "gave up" and we were getting soaked. WOC was canceled that night.
- Saturday morning we slept in a little later due to being exhausted and soaked the night before. Bought additional rain ponchos at HoJos gift shop and started getting a locker at DL. Glad we had our big coats as it was cold. We went back to Electronica Sat. night. We were all falling apart by 9 p.m. and had to go back to the room (except for dh, who thinks we're all wimps).
- Sunday we used the Magic Morning in Fantasyland, and ventured into ToonTown for the first time this trip. Toontown was a huge hit with our 6yo. Saw "Remember Dreams Come True" from a nice spot toward the Tomorrowland side of the Plaza Inn (no trees blocking us) - great show!
-Monday it finally warmed up -- too bad about the reduced park hours mid-week. Saw Aladdin at DCA - wonderful! Our last night was our last chance to see WOC but my family *hates* standing still for that long so we ended our vacation in DL, riding our favorite rides one last time and finishing up by shopping on Main Street and just enjoying the atmosphere. We also didn't see F! this time but we had seen it before and again, didn't want to camp out for a good spot.
Ride highlights -- The older kids loved Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, BTMRR, California Screamin'. Younger one (6) loved the roller coaster in Toontown, Buzz Lightyear, Autopia, all the Fantasyland rides, Casey's train, Storybookland boat ride, Pirates, and best of all, Haunted Mansion. My favorite as always is Pirates - many additions to it since we were here last. I also like Soarin' over California. We did fastpass everywhere we could and hardly ever had a wait time.
Food highlights -- Hits were Bengal BBQ, French Market (get the salmon, skip the mint julep), corn dogs, cream-cheese filled pretzels, Dole Whip, Taste Pilots Grill (ribs were great). Dinner one night at Mimi's - I thought it was fine but dh wasn't as impressed.
ETA: we also liked Pacific Wharf Cafe - broccoli & cheese soup in a bread bowl, and dh liked the tofu bowl at Fortune's Cookie.
We did not care much for the big mexican restaurant in DTD and Whitewater snacks was not very exciting.
We did a Character Breakfast at Plaza Inn on Monday morning - one of the low moments of the trip. DL needs to better manage letting people into the park when they have character meals that start before the park opens -- we were blocked by crowds and I was stressed trying to get to the right places. We eventually made it in but I expected DL to make it easier. The food was also not so great. I thought the food at Goofy's Kitchen (a few years ago) was much better. We saw a few characters including a very sweet Chip 'n' Dale and hilarious Tigger. Next time we'd probably skip the character breakfast - we saw many more characters just walking around everywhere.
Other highlights - One of my favorite places in DL is Tom Sawyer's Island - how wonderful to find that more had been added to it (caves) since last time. We also loved the play structure area by the Grand Californian - the one with the rope ladders, climbing wall, zip lines -- big hit with the kids.
Walking -- We went back to HoJos about once a day about 4 p.m. except for the last day. I'm so glad we had bought a $25 umbrella stroller at WalMart prior to the trip. Our 6yo is on the small side and she could not have kept up with us without the stroller - every night she was asleep in it as we walked back to the room. When we would go back I would switch shoes and it was a big relief to tired feet - be sure to bring more than one pair of shoes! The lockers in DL were also well worth because our rain gear and winter stuff was bulky.
After we left DLR we drove up the coast and spent the next two days on the beach and went to Monterey Bay Aquarium, then the long drive home.
Overall the trip was a huge success. I'm so glad we did 4 DLR days instead of the 3 we had originally planned - we did everything (with exception of F! and WOC) and it was hard to believe but we were still going on new rides and shows up until the last night - there are a tremendous amount of things to see and do in such a small area. I'm very impressed with all of it!
Now back to my
