ScottShaft
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2007
- Messages
- 35
Well......after a whirlwind 2 week Washington/Oregon/California/Nevada road trip, I thought I'd give a little report on the 5 days we spent at DL and the Best Western Pavilions.
First, the hotel. I really like this place for the price. The rooms are large, clean, and have been renovated in the last year or two. Comfy beds, decent sized fridge and microwave, and EXCELLENT shower heads. We timed the walk from the room to the security check and it took 12 minutes.
Wednesday 19th - Arrived at the park at 6pm. It was a complete ghost town. We have several pictures of us in front of the castle with NO ONE behind us. I've certainly never had that happen before. Every single ride was a walk on.......including Nemo. They didn't even bother to have any crowd control for Fantasmic. We walked up 10 minutes before the show and had an incredible view. It certainly was nice not being jostled and stepped on while watching the show. Also got some "hunny" apples to take back to the room. And fudge, and cookies, and candy ..Yum!
Thursday 20th - 9am-8pm. Again, the park was empty. Thankfully we did IASW today rather that wait for the weekend (the line was over 2 hours on Fri, Sat, and Sun.) DCA was the same.......very empty. My GF commented that it was almost "creepy" that the parks were so quiet. Personally, I loved it.......I'd be happy if I had the whole place to myself! TSM was either a walk on or at its busiest point was a 10 minute wait. (Loved this ride BTW...very fun. It makes Buzz seem really lame by comparison.) Dinner was at Ralph Brennens.....loved the food there. I'll definitely go back. We got to meet Oscar when we had breakfast at the Carnation Cafe too......very nice guy. Oh yeah, got dreamed coming out of Indy. We got YOAMD lanyards and pins. Disney sure is tricky this way. They start off with a couple of "free" pins and the next thing you know you've got $50 worth and 5 pounds of weight around your neck.
How did that happen!?!?!? Heheheheheh.
Friday 21st - 9am-12am. LOTS more people today. Christmas was in full swing! Still, most of the rides had very minimal waits. We collected lots of fastpasses in the morning with plans to use them when it got busier in the evening, but we only really needed them for Indy. The fireworks and the snow were AWESOME. Quite funny to see some of the reactions to the snow .we get the real stuff at home at least once or twice a year, so our excitement was definitely more muted compared to some of the SoCal folks.
Saturday 22nd 9:30-11pm. Crowds were about the same as Friday. Spent the day shopping and hitting the lesser know areas and attractions since we had been able to pack so much into the Thursday when it was dead. Caught both the day and night version of the Christmas Parade.....very good. Watched the fireworks again and finally got to see something Ive been waiting to see for quite a while. About 5 minutes before the show started, any extremely large (and might I add obnoxious) woman in a powered cart tried to force her way through the ropes and into the crowd. When the CM told here that there was no more room and that she most definitely would not be able to park her cart in the middle of the walkway, she proceeded to berate him because she was unable to see. Apparently she paid a lot of money for her trip!
I guess everyone else around her got in for free or something.
He finally got some backup from what looked to be his supervisor and although it was in a polite and Disneyesque way, they essentially told her to piss off and keep moving. ITS ABOUT TIME! 
If I wouldnt have been jammed shoulder to shoulder I would have liked to shake both of their hands. It just shows that while they make all kinds of accommodations for people that have mobility issues, they make everybody follow the rules. Loved it
.one of my trip highlights. (Damn, I can be petty sometimes. 
)
Sunday 23rd 9am - 10:30pm. Once again, crowds were pretty good. The only rides that had lines more than 10 minutes were Indy (40), IASW (2+ hours), Peter Pan (30), and Nemo (45). I have to say, I like the remodel and the Christmas overlay, but it is most definitely NOT worth 2+ hours. Had a wonderful late night snack at the Blue Bijou .actually got a tableside seat without asking or having to wait. A perfect end to our time at DL.
If anyone has any questions, let me know.
First, the hotel. I really like this place for the price. The rooms are large, clean, and have been renovated in the last year or two. Comfy beds, decent sized fridge and microwave, and EXCELLENT shower heads. We timed the walk from the room to the security check and it took 12 minutes.
Wednesday 19th - Arrived at the park at 6pm. It was a complete ghost town. We have several pictures of us in front of the castle with NO ONE behind us. I've certainly never had that happen before. Every single ride was a walk on.......including Nemo. They didn't even bother to have any crowd control for Fantasmic. We walked up 10 minutes before the show and had an incredible view. It certainly was nice not being jostled and stepped on while watching the show. Also got some "hunny" apples to take back to the room. And fudge, and cookies, and candy ..Yum!
Thursday 20th - 9am-8pm. Again, the park was empty. Thankfully we did IASW today rather that wait for the weekend (the line was over 2 hours on Fri, Sat, and Sun.) DCA was the same.......very empty. My GF commented that it was almost "creepy" that the parks were so quiet. Personally, I loved it.......I'd be happy if I had the whole place to myself! TSM was either a walk on or at its busiest point was a 10 minute wait. (Loved this ride BTW...very fun. It makes Buzz seem really lame by comparison.) Dinner was at Ralph Brennens.....loved the food there. I'll definitely go back. We got to meet Oscar when we had breakfast at the Carnation Cafe too......very nice guy. Oh yeah, got dreamed coming out of Indy. We got YOAMD lanyards and pins. Disney sure is tricky this way. They start off with a couple of "free" pins and the next thing you know you've got $50 worth and 5 pounds of weight around your neck.
How did that happen!?!?!? Heheheheheh.Friday 21st - 9am-12am. LOTS more people today. Christmas was in full swing! Still, most of the rides had very minimal waits. We collected lots of fastpasses in the morning with plans to use them when it got busier in the evening, but we only really needed them for Indy. The fireworks and the snow were AWESOME. Quite funny to see some of the reactions to the snow .we get the real stuff at home at least once or twice a year, so our excitement was definitely more muted compared to some of the SoCal folks.
Saturday 22nd 9:30-11pm. Crowds were about the same as Friday. Spent the day shopping and hitting the lesser know areas and attractions since we had been able to pack so much into the Thursday when it was dead. Caught both the day and night version of the Christmas Parade.....very good. Watched the fireworks again and finally got to see something Ive been waiting to see for quite a while. About 5 minutes before the show started, any extremely large (and might I add obnoxious) woman in a powered cart tried to force her way through the ropes and into the crowd. When the CM told here that there was no more room and that she most definitely would not be able to park her cart in the middle of the walkway, she proceeded to berate him because she was unable to see. Apparently she paid a lot of money for her trip!
I guess everyone else around her got in for free or something. He finally got some backup from what looked to be his supervisor and although it was in a polite and Disneyesque way, they essentially told her to piss off and keep moving. ITS ABOUT TIME! If I wouldnt have been jammed shoulder to shoulder I would have liked to shake both of their hands. It just shows that while they make all kinds of accommodations for people that have mobility issues, they make everybody follow the rules. Loved it
.one of my trip highlights. (Damn, I can be petty sometimes. )Sunday 23rd 9am - 10:30pm. Once again, crowds were pretty good. The only rides that had lines more than 10 minutes were Indy (40), IASW (2+ hours), Peter Pan (30), and Nemo (45). I have to say, I like the remodel and the Christmas overlay, but it is most definitely NOT worth 2+ hours. Had a wonderful late night snack at the Blue Bijou .actually got a tableside seat without asking or having to wait. A perfect end to our time at DL.
If anyone has any questions, let me know.
Since you asked.........it was excellent. We did Portland, San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Las Vagas and many points in between. San Fran was probably my favorite, but is it ever EXPENSIVE there. Makes DL seem cheap by comparison.
) Honestly, when I see how some of the kids behave at DLR, and how they are just throwing tantrums and running rampant, I don't know how the parents deal with it and still manage to have a good time. I would be a nervous wreck just keeping an eye on the little ones in the park and making sure I didn't lose sight of them, on top of trying to ride what they wanted to ride and buy what they wanted to have!
