Ross3half
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2005
- Messages
- 348
Me, DH, DD6, and DD3 left for Disneyland on Tuesday May 12th. We picked the kids up from school at noon, told them our big surprise destination, and were in the parks by 5:45
pretty good! It was much more crowded than when we went 3 years ago in May. There seemed to be a lot of student groups there too.
We flew into Long Beach this time, which was sooo much easier than LAX. We couldnt believe how tiny the airport was with that one little luggage conveyor outside. We rented a car through Alamo which went very smooth they gave us our pick of three cars in the class wed rented and we were off. We took the straight-shot to the parks down Ball since it was rush hour time and we figured the freeways would be packed. The surface streets werent crowded at all and it was a fast drive.
We checked into the Carousel and they gave us the room wed requested. They were friendly and helpful as usual. We enjoyed the complimentary breakfasts and the afternoon cookies and fruit. The room was comfortable enough and always clean. The location is the best part of this motel! The kids enjoyed the small pool a couple times, but were hoping they add a hot tub for the adults sometime soon!
We headed over to Disneyland and made it on to Small World and the kids and my husband went on the tea cups (too much spinning for me!). We liked the additions to Small World, and the girls had fun finding the new character dolls. We caught the parade by Small World. The kids loved it but it wasnt as enjoyable to watch as the YOMD parade. When they pull your kids out to dance, it gets rather chaotic and my girls grabbed onto the wrong conga rope that took them quite a ways from us and I had to scramble around to find my 3 year old who had a look of panic on her face in the huge sea of people! The CM said it happens all the time that kids get out of their area and it gets messy seems like they need a better plan. They make everyone stand for the parade, so that adds to the chaos when youre two rows back of people watching the parade and trying to jump up and down to see your kids out there. Anyhow, my DD6 thought it was fabulous.
Wednesday we went to DL and rushed over to get in line for PFF first. We got there at 9:15 and were meeting the princesses by about 9:45. They always start with the main 3 (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) and rotate out every 30-35 minutes (I thought it used to be 15 minutes). Definitely get in line BEFORE they open if your kids want to do PFF, or else wait times are 1.5-2 hours typically insane!!! My oldest played musical chairs at Coke Corner with Alice and the Mad Hatter which was okay. We rode the monorail over to DTD for a trip to Build a Bear to buy some Disney clothes for the girls bears and then went to Rainforest Café for an early dinner. It was a good thing we had reservations because it was a long wait without one, even for an early dinner on a Wednesday night! Oh, I also surprised the kids with pins I bought off ebay, so we did our first pin trading on this trip and they had so much fun with it! They found some really cute ones and the CMs are so nice when they do the trading. One time my daughter accidentally traded away one she didnt mean to and the next CM was so helpful to find her one that was similar to it.
Thursday we started out our day at the Lilo and Stitch Aloha Breakfast. I surprised the girls with this because theyre always on the hunt for Daisy and I was told this was the only place to meet her. So, of course, as luck would have it, they had an issue and Daisy wasnt able to make it at all that day. We were told Minnie was on her way several times, and later were told she was called to help Mickey at his house. So, we had Lilo, Stitch, Pluto and Goofy. I was disappointed but the girls had so much fun with Pluto and Stitch, that they were fine. The hula was good but the island hop was a bit of a flop. The food was pretty good and we were STUFFED! We hit CA that day, watched Aladdin (love that show!), went on several rides, climbed all over the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, and played a couple of the new boardwalk games. That night we went for dessert at Blue Bayou with PS at 6:50 and we were quickly in there with our dessert at our table. We all shared the cookie boat which was great! The girls loved their pirate hat menus that they wore as we ate our dessert. Our bill was $8.95 so we tipped the waitress generously and huried away from our table as soon as we were finished since we felt a little bad just getting a dessert. We weren't served rolls or the coins that I read some others received but that was fine.
Friday we went to CA and DL. We went to the Animation Academy for the first time and learned to draw Minnie. That was fun! We wished we had time to do others too. Even my DD3 managed to pencil out a pretty good Minnie. Even though it was a little windy, we got to see the fireworks and saw Tinkerbell fly for the first time wed missed her the last 3 fireworks shows!
Saturday we stopped by for a quick visit to the Santa Ana zoo so the girls could ride Becky the elephant (great photo op and they love telling their friends they rode a real elephant not just Dumbo!). After that, we took the quick drive to Huntington Beach and had lunch at Rubys out on the pier. It was sooooo crowded at the beach, but it was fun for a couple hours. If we were going to be at the beach for a longer visit, I think Id rather go to Laguna for a more relaxing visit after all that busy time at the parks. It was fun though, and it put us close to the Long Beach airport for our 5:00 departure.
That about sums it up it was a great time!
We flew into Long Beach this time, which was sooo much easier than LAX. We couldnt believe how tiny the airport was with that one little luggage conveyor outside. We rented a car through Alamo which went very smooth they gave us our pick of three cars in the class wed rented and we were off. We took the straight-shot to the parks down Ball since it was rush hour time and we figured the freeways would be packed. The surface streets werent crowded at all and it was a fast drive.
We checked into the Carousel and they gave us the room wed requested. They were friendly and helpful as usual. We enjoyed the complimentary breakfasts and the afternoon cookies and fruit. The room was comfortable enough and always clean. The location is the best part of this motel! The kids enjoyed the small pool a couple times, but were hoping they add a hot tub for the adults sometime soon!
We headed over to Disneyland and made it on to Small World and the kids and my husband went on the tea cups (too much spinning for me!). We liked the additions to Small World, and the girls had fun finding the new character dolls. We caught the parade by Small World. The kids loved it but it wasnt as enjoyable to watch as the YOMD parade. When they pull your kids out to dance, it gets rather chaotic and my girls grabbed onto the wrong conga rope that took them quite a ways from us and I had to scramble around to find my 3 year old who had a look of panic on her face in the huge sea of people! The CM said it happens all the time that kids get out of their area and it gets messy seems like they need a better plan. They make everyone stand for the parade, so that adds to the chaos when youre two rows back of people watching the parade and trying to jump up and down to see your kids out there. Anyhow, my DD6 thought it was fabulous.
Wednesday we went to DL and rushed over to get in line for PFF first. We got there at 9:15 and were meeting the princesses by about 9:45. They always start with the main 3 (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) and rotate out every 30-35 minutes (I thought it used to be 15 minutes). Definitely get in line BEFORE they open if your kids want to do PFF, or else wait times are 1.5-2 hours typically insane!!! My oldest played musical chairs at Coke Corner with Alice and the Mad Hatter which was okay. We rode the monorail over to DTD for a trip to Build a Bear to buy some Disney clothes for the girls bears and then went to Rainforest Café for an early dinner. It was a good thing we had reservations because it was a long wait without one, even for an early dinner on a Wednesday night! Oh, I also surprised the kids with pins I bought off ebay, so we did our first pin trading on this trip and they had so much fun with it! They found some really cute ones and the CMs are so nice when they do the trading. One time my daughter accidentally traded away one she didnt mean to and the next CM was so helpful to find her one that was similar to it.
Thursday we started out our day at the Lilo and Stitch Aloha Breakfast. I surprised the girls with this because theyre always on the hunt for Daisy and I was told this was the only place to meet her. So, of course, as luck would have it, they had an issue and Daisy wasnt able to make it at all that day. We were told Minnie was on her way several times, and later were told she was called to help Mickey at his house. So, we had Lilo, Stitch, Pluto and Goofy. I was disappointed but the girls had so much fun with Pluto and Stitch, that they were fine. The hula was good but the island hop was a bit of a flop. The food was pretty good and we were STUFFED! We hit CA that day, watched Aladdin (love that show!), went on several rides, climbed all over the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, and played a couple of the new boardwalk games. That night we went for dessert at Blue Bayou with PS at 6:50 and we were quickly in there with our dessert at our table. We all shared the cookie boat which was great! The girls loved their pirate hat menus that they wore as we ate our dessert. Our bill was $8.95 so we tipped the waitress generously and huried away from our table as soon as we were finished since we felt a little bad just getting a dessert. We weren't served rolls or the coins that I read some others received but that was fine.
Friday we went to CA and DL. We went to the Animation Academy for the first time and learned to draw Minnie. That was fun! We wished we had time to do others too. Even my DD3 managed to pencil out a pretty good Minnie. Even though it was a little windy, we got to see the fireworks and saw Tinkerbell fly for the first time wed missed her the last 3 fireworks shows!
Saturday we stopped by for a quick visit to the Santa Ana zoo so the girls could ride Becky the elephant (great photo op and they love telling their friends they rode a real elephant not just Dumbo!). After that, we took the quick drive to Huntington Beach and had lunch at Rubys out on the pier. It was sooooo crowded at the beach, but it was fun for a couple hours. If we were going to be at the beach for a longer visit, I think Id rather go to Laguna for a more relaxing visit after all that busy time at the parks. It was fun though, and it put us close to the Long Beach airport for our 5:00 departure.
That about sums it up it was a great time!
