Southern Peach
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2008
- Messages
- 46
We just returned from our Southern California trip this past Saturday and I my feet are still trying to recover and so is my camera, I took 3,284 pictures. LOL
First of all I wanted to give a huge shout out to everyone on this board who faithfully answeres questions everyday. You guys rock!!
I learned so much by reading this board and it made our trip so much more.
Trip report.... Friday and Saturday we visited Sea World and loved it. Of course Saturday was alot busier than Friday so we just headed back to our hotel between 1:00 and 5:00 and let the kids rest and went back that night. Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel (La Jolla Embassy Suites) which we liked and headed to the beach for a couple of hours and then went to the Wild Animal Park which was just ok in my opinion.
We arrived at Hojo's in anaheim around 10pm that Sunday night and check in was a breeze. We loved the queen suite, we had a couple of issues with the room but was corrected immediately with a call to the front desk. The walk was a little much for us and the three kids because we would leave early in the morning, walk back and lunch rest for a few hours and head back to the park and then walk back to the hotel around 10pm. Though it was a little rough it would not keep us from staying there again. By the way, the kids loved .... I mean loved the new splash area at Hojos.
We got up Monday morning and headed straight to the Park Inn where we had reseverations for breakfast with Minnie first thing that morning. I was hoping it would break the ice witht he characters for my dd2 and it worked.
My dd1 was a little ham with them as well. Absoutley loved the breakfast, good food and many choices to choose from, nice atomsphere and a many characters. We saw Pooh, Tigger, Minnie, Eyore, Max, Fairy Godmother, Chip and Dale, Caption Hook and a fox or wolf... not sure what he was related to. Anyway it was a terrific way to start our first day there. We just kinda goofed around that morning with no paticular plan. We headed to the Princess Faire and upon arrival was asked by a cast member if we would like a private meet with Auroa, I was like heck yeah. So we were given a ticket to come back in an hour for the private meet. Now I don't know if this is something that is a norm but personally I felt like we had been dreamed. We left and came back for our time slot and was led by one by a prince to a private room for the meeting. My dd2 
loved it. Then get this, we had walked back up the stairs and was heading out when another CM stopped us and asked us if we would like a private meet with Belle, I was thinking OMG this is awesome. 
Tuesday morning we got up early for early entry and didn't make in line until 7:55 but was still able to ride everything. We hit Peter Pan first then Dumbo, Toad, Matterhorn, Teacups, Carousel, Buzz and then Space Mountain. I felt like we had gotten so much accomplished in that one hour.
Wednesday morning we got up and attended the Toontown Morning Madness which I personally liked and so did my three girls. We were the 3rd in line for Mickey's house which seemed to make everything else seem easier. After about 30 minutes the line was enourmous for Mickey. My dd2 was standing on the front steps of the City Hall buiding at 10am and the clock starting chimming and ringing and low and behold Minnie walks out grabs my daughters had and starts walking through TT with her. It was so sweet. That night after the fireworks we saw Micky come out in his blue dream outfit for pictures and autographs and grabbed a front spot for it. The CM there asked if we would like to meet Minnie and we of couse said yes and she pulled us over to the side and said we would be the first to meet her when she comes out. We only had to wait about 5 minutes.
Thursday we slept in a little later and spent the whole day at California Adventure.
All in all everything went pretty smooth. It was hot (hight 80's) but I know it could have been worse. It was crowded but again it could have been so much worse. We never waited in line more than 20 minutes for a ride with the exception of Toy Story which was 30 minutes. The only ride we used our fast passes for was Soarin and after we waited in line for about ten minutes they were calling for a three person ride after just a 10 minute wait we were soarin over California. Had fast passes for GRR but didn't use them because the wait time was only 5 minutes but now this was at 9pm. We never attempted Nemo after reading it really wasn't worth the wait and it did have a huge huge line. Loved the Electrial Parade it was so pretty and we also liked the Pixar Parade, and it was nice getting sprayed with the water. We also had lunch at Ariels which I went in with low expectations but no one complained about their food and my burger was pretty good. We did Goofy's Kitchen one morning and enjoyed it. Not busy at all, several of the characters came around a couple of times. Had a wonderful four days there.
Friday we went to Universal Studios and enjoyed it though I my dd2 and dd1 didn't get to do much there but my dd8 loved it. I really enjoyed the downtown part.
Saturday we went to Hollywood and I was really disappointed in it. It wasn't a glamerous as you see on TV very run down. But still glad we visited.
Ok, I didn't realize I was going to type so much hope no one gets board half way through. Just wanted to let everyone know what a great time we had at DL and alot of it was due to this board.
First of all I wanted to give a huge shout out to everyone on this board who faithfully answeres questions everyday. You guys rock!!
I learned so much by reading this board and it made our trip so much more. Trip report.... Friday and Saturday we visited Sea World and loved it. Of course Saturday was alot busier than Friday so we just headed back to our hotel between 1:00 and 5:00 and let the kids rest and went back that night. Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel (La Jolla Embassy Suites) which we liked and headed to the beach for a couple of hours and then went to the Wild Animal Park which was just ok in my opinion.
We arrived at Hojo's in anaheim around 10pm that Sunday night and check in was a breeze. We loved the queen suite, we had a couple of issues with the room but was corrected immediately with a call to the front desk. The walk was a little much for us and the three kids because we would leave early in the morning, walk back and lunch rest for a few hours and head back to the park and then walk back to the hotel around 10pm. Though it was a little rough it would not keep us from staying there again. By the way, the kids loved .... I mean loved the new splash area at Hojos.
We got up Monday morning and headed straight to the Park Inn where we had reseverations for breakfast with Minnie first thing that morning. I was hoping it would break the ice witht he characters for my dd2 and it worked.
My dd1 was a little ham with them as well. Absoutley loved the breakfast, good food and many choices to choose from, nice atomsphere and a many characters. We saw Pooh, Tigger, Minnie, Eyore, Max, Fairy Godmother, Chip and Dale, Caption Hook and a fox or wolf... not sure what he was related to. Anyway it was a terrific way to start our first day there. We just kinda goofed around that morning with no paticular plan. We headed to the Princess Faire and upon arrival was asked by a cast member if we would like a private meet with Auroa, I was like heck yeah. So we were given a ticket to come back in an hour for the private meet. Now I don't know if this is something that is a norm but personally I felt like we had been dreamed. We left and came back for our time slot and was led by one by a prince to a private room for the meeting. My dd2 loved it. Then get this, we had walked back up the stairs and was heading out when another CM stopped us and asked us if we would like a private meet with Belle, I was thinking OMG this is awesome. Tuesday morning we got up early for early entry and didn't make in line until 7:55 but was still able to ride everything. We hit Peter Pan first then Dumbo, Toad, Matterhorn, Teacups, Carousel, Buzz and then Space Mountain. I felt like we had gotten so much accomplished in that one hour.
Wednesday morning we got up and attended the Toontown Morning Madness which I personally liked and so did my three girls. We were the 3rd in line for Mickey's house which seemed to make everything else seem easier. After about 30 minutes the line was enourmous for Mickey. My dd2 was standing on the front steps of the City Hall buiding at 10am and the clock starting chimming and ringing and low and behold Minnie walks out grabs my daughters had and starts walking through TT with her. It was so sweet. That night after the fireworks we saw Micky come out in his blue dream outfit for pictures and autographs and grabbed a front spot for it. The CM there asked if we would like to meet Minnie and we of couse said yes and she pulled us over to the side and said we would be the first to meet her when she comes out. We only had to wait about 5 minutes.
Thursday we slept in a little later and spent the whole day at California Adventure.
All in all everything went pretty smooth. It was hot (hight 80's) but I know it could have been worse. It was crowded but again it could have been so much worse. We never waited in line more than 20 minutes for a ride with the exception of Toy Story which was 30 minutes. The only ride we used our fast passes for was Soarin and after we waited in line for about ten minutes they were calling for a three person ride after just a 10 minute wait we were soarin over California. Had fast passes for GRR but didn't use them because the wait time was only 5 minutes but now this was at 9pm. We never attempted Nemo after reading it really wasn't worth the wait and it did have a huge huge line. Loved the Electrial Parade it was so pretty and we also liked the Pixar Parade, and it was nice getting sprayed with the water. We also had lunch at Ariels which I went in with low expectations but no one complained about their food and my burger was pretty good. We did Goofy's Kitchen one morning and enjoyed it. Not busy at all, several of the characters came around a couple of times. Had a wonderful four days there.
Friday we went to Universal Studios and enjoyed it though I my dd2 and dd1 didn't get to do much there but my dd8 loved it. I really enjoyed the downtown part.
Saturday we went to Hollywood and I was really disappointed in it. It wasn't a glamerous as you see on TV very run down. But still glad we visited.
Ok, I didn't realize I was going to type so much hope no one gets board half way through. Just wanted to let everyone know what a great time we had at DL and alot of it was due to this board.
