Trip Report (7/29-8/1) with max pass/dining reviews

Babybears

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Our family of 5 just returned from a great trip to Disneyland. This is how our days went:

We usually stay at PPH, but changed it up this time and opted for a view room at FFI on Harbor Blvd. The walk from hotel to park was about 8 minutes, so felt closer than PPH and the room was nice, clean and with fun Disney theming. Also was a perfect spot to watch fireworks, right from the balcony outside our room. We checked in Sunday evening (7/29), did a short walk through DTD before calling it a night.

Mon 7/30 was our first day in the parks. Today we were doing Disneyland. Got through security and in line by 7:30. Once in park we purchased Max Pass and got a Fastpass for Space Mtn before getting to main street. We rode Snow White, Tea Cups, Buzz 2x, and Star Tours and then used our first SM fastpass. Our next fast pass was for BTM, but the wait was 10 min so we just waited in standby and then rode it again right after using our fast pass. We then rode Indy, Pooh, and Splash Mtn with next fast pass (first 4 got fully drenched....it was awesome). We had 11:40 reservations at Café Orleans so broke for lunch. DH & DD1 shared a Monte Cristo, I had two cups of gumbo (no bowls anymore, so got 2 cups), DD2 got kids steak and DS got the Steak and Potatoes. We also got two orders of Fries and one order of beignets. Food was good, as always, left very full. I must say that is was very cool to book fast passes from our phone while waiting for our food order to come! After lunch the park was getting very crowded, hot (surprisingly somewhat humid) with long wait times for most rides. We continued to use Max Pass and were able to ride ST, Splash, BTM multiple times as well as other rides. Explored Tom Sawyer Island for the first time and loved it. We had dinner at Carnation Café and it was my favorite meal of the trip. I had the Chicken Fried Chicken and it was delicious. DH had the Turkey Sandwich and kids all had side orders as they were still full from lunch and Dole Whips...lol! Food was so good we reserved lunch for our last day! We rode a few more rides and called in a night. We rode BTM at dusk and it that ended up being extra cool! Overall thoughts of the day was we were amazed at how much we got in, especially in the morning, using Max Pass. The park was busier than we've been in before and hot, but we got so much done, so it all was good!

Tues 7/31 was our second day in the park. Today we did California Adventure. We were through security by 7:30 and let in for rope drop by 7:45. We again got Max Pass and booked RSR fastpass and bee-lined directly over to TSMM and rode it twice in a row with no wait. IC was not running yet, so we went over to GOG and rode it standby, FANTASTIC ride, btw!! I was surprised how much I enjoyed it and all the smiles of other guests as they got off. It was fun and really an improvement, imho! The ride drop sequences were all over the place and were different every ride. Ended up being one of my favorites and a must do (multiple times) for all future visits. Afterwards, RSR was down but I got an "any ride" fastpass automatically on my app to use instead. IC was running now so we went back and rode it using the "anytime" fastpass. It was better than I thought as well. Fun themed and the cookie smell you get at the bottom of the second big drop was a fun addition. Well done! Next we got a fast pass for RSR for afternoon and rode standby on GRR. This was our longest and I mean longest wait of the day. Posted wait time was 30 minutes and it took 60-70 min through the line. However, once on, the wait was forgotten and we had a blast and got soaked! We went on Soarin, GOG again and then stopped for lunch at Flo's. The food here is my favorite in CA. I got the cobb salad and it was delicious. Both DD's got the club and it was large and yummy. DS got kids chicken strips and DH went to Award Weiners (his favorite) and got the Spicy street dog. He said it was great! After lunch the park was hot and busy. We continued to use max pass or single rider for all big rides, re-riding our favorites a few times and rode Little Mermaid, Maters, GSS, and Monsters Inc and RSR. DD did Animation Academy for first time (she's in High School) and loved it. We went back to hotel around 7:00, picked up Panera on the way and eased up the rest of the evening, watching fireworks again from our balcony.

Wed 8/1 was our final day in the parks. We packed up and checked out of our hotel and headed for Disneyland. Got in a little later, closer to 8:30 due to checking out of hotel. Rode Alice first thing, then Star Tours and Buzz, Nemo and then Space Mountain. Headed to other side of park and rode BTM and Pirates and shopped a bit before lunch. Lunch again at Carnation Café and it was amazing! My new favorite place! I had Chicken Fried Chicken again, DH had sourdough bacon burger and loved it, DD1 had Shrimp Cobb and DD2 had Turkey Sandwich and DS had Catch of Day which was salmon. Everyone enjoyed their food and we will go here every time! We went on BTM and ST using fast passes and rode Peter Pan, line was long but the ride is so worth it! Called it a day at 3:30 and headed to the airport, to fly home.

Final trip thoughts/observations:
The parks were busier than we have experienced in the past during the summer. This made Max Pass so valuable to us! We were able to set up rides while in line for others or eating lunch and didn't burn out our family Fast Pass runners. With Max Pass you can get another fast pass as soon as 30 minutes from your last one booked up to 90 minutes if the return time is longer than 90 minutes. While you can have multiple fastpasses at a time (we had 4 at one point) you cannot have two fastpasses for the same ride at the same time. For instance we had a FP for BTM and were eligible to get another fast pass but it wouldn't let us chose BTM as our next choice (while 1st BTM was not yet used).

We loved our trip and cannot wait to go back! Truly a special place!!
 
I can't believe you can't get gumbo in a bowl at Cafe Orleans any more!
 
Thanks for the report. This will be our first trip using MaxPass so I am looking forward to it. We'll also have to check out Carnation Café.

You didn't watch Paint The Night? It is the best parade ever!!
 


I really enjoyed reading your trip report. DH and I love Carnation Cafe, too. We make sure to eat there at least once every visit. Isn't MaxPass wonderful?!
 



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