We got back two days ago and I thought I would give a trip report.
First we used Get Away Today to book park hoppers, goofy's kitchen and the Ayres Inn Orange for our hotel. GAT was great and we will not hesitate to use them again! Vouchers were all correct and we had no trouble at all redeeming anything.
Day 1 - Checked into the Ayres Inn Orange - we arrived early and they were fantastic and let us check in several hours early. The hotel is WONDERFUL. Yes it isn't within walking distance BUT they have a free shuttle. You need to schedule your shuttle time in advance - but several times we called for an earlier pick-up and they came and rescued us early. Keep in mind however that if you want to get to the park early you should book your shuttle BEFORE you arrive! Many people couldn't get any shuttle earlier then 11am because they get booked in advance. Also the shuttle doesn't run in the afternoon which didn't matter for us anyway as we went against advice and slept in (which I HIGHLY suggest, since this is supposed to be a vacation
)so we didn't need an afternoon rest.
We rented a double jogging stroller from Travel Babees. It was GREAT. There service is really good too. The stroller was waiting for us at the hotel when we checked in. Our first stroller had a bad wheel and they had a replacement stroller waiting for us early the next morning before we needed it for DLR. I would use them again!
We rented a car from the Thrifty LAX location. They tried REALLY hard to up-sell us on additional insurance that we didn't not need as we had our regular insurance AND Visa insurance. My husband who never falls for these things almost panicked and got the insurance which would have DOUBLED!!! the rental cost! They made us feel really guilty for not taking the insurance. The car we got was a bit battered and the AC didn't work (I read online that you got to pick your car in a certain price range but we were not allowed), also they have a terrible set up where you have to wait in a huge line to get the car inspected before you leave the lot. - I won't rent from them again. OH, and the shuttle was not great - several other rental shuttles drove past multiple times before the thrifty one finally got there. The drop off was much better though and the drop off shuttle driver was really, really nice.
We ate at Rainforest our first night - the food was not great. Overpriced and we were seated in a hallway area next to the stairs on the second floor. There wasn't a lot of theme in the area we sat in but after a LONG wait we didn't want to move. I would skip it, it was the worse meal of our trip.
Ayres Inn offers free breakfast - breakfast was always the same -- eggs, pancakes, potatoes and either bancon or sausage, cereal and toast. It was filling and tasted great but didn't get boring eating it 8 days in a row. The food was always hot and even when we got there 15 minutes before closing they never ran out and the service was amazing.
The pool at the hotel is FANTASTIC! It is salt water so no chlorine burn and it is very large and well maintained. There is also a nice hot tub and very nice garden with BBQ.
The rooms are great - standard with nice furnishings. The laundry area is decent. There is a computer for guest use which is nice and they have snacks and wine every night in the lobby for free which was a nice little treat. I LOVED This hotel we will be back for sure!!! The service was amazing, the rooms clean and very nice.
We used our Give a Day vouchers for fast passes. We did this 4 out of the 5 days we were in the park. They did have some trouble with the GAD vouchers and the set up sucks! One day the CM didn't ask what we wanted to redeem for and just handed us a one day ticket - she then couldn't give us the fast passes we wanted because the computer wouldn't let her. So she gave us 6 passes good for any ride and told us that this was a better deal - MAYBE but because we have small kids the 24 passes we got with the GAD (24 passes because there were 4 of us and we each got 6 each time.) was better for us because we could split into two groups and each group could do fast pass rides. The 6 she gave us were for the entire group so we would have had to stay together the entire day and once a ticket got "spent" on a big ride the little people would have missed out on any benefit for that pass. The good thing about these passes was that you could use them on rides that didn't take a fast pass like the Matterhorn which had a 120 minute line and we walked right on After realizing that they passes sucked for the small people in our group I went to talk to a manage - we lost over an hour of our day BUT the gave us another 5 of these passes!!!!! So we had 11 passes that could be used to miss the line on any ride - we ended up not using them all and sharing them with people talked to while in the parks.
As for the GAD fast passes all I have to say is WOW! After the pain of lining up at the ticket booth, then again inside the park to actually get the passes it sure was GREAT having them. We got 24 passes each day and never were able to spend them all. It was very busy being spring break in a lot of places and we only stood in one long line our entire trip. (Toy story 45 minutes) The rest of the rides we walked right on or waiting at the very most 15 minutes. We rode every ride in the park (only our littlest kids skipping rides they were too small for) - many multiple times.
We used the double stroller that we rented as a wheel chair and got the Guest Assistance Pass from Main street for this. I thought that the guest assistance pass would let us take the stroller in the line as our middle son is sick and can not stand that long. (The reason we used a double stroller is we have a baby too. I wanted to be able to push both of my younger boys together so my husband and older son could leave us to ride big rides when they wanted. Which they did MANY times.) What I didn't realize was how great the GAC would work out for us. We were able to access many of the rides through the handicapped lines thus allowing us to bring the stroller right into the attraction and our son only had to walk a few feet to transfer into the ride car. We did have some trouble at the main gates to California adventure, monorail, Mr. Lincoln, Turtle Talk, and the Handicapped entrance to the Cinderella walk through as the stroller was too wide - so we either had to fold it, go through another gate, or leave one person behind.
I also had the need to use the baby care center and first aid station in CA which I must say are FANTASTIC. If we ever go back again with little ones in diapers I will never use a bathroom change table again!
We attended the D23 ani party. It was great - maybe a little over priced but we did enjoy ourselves. We were not really interested (and didn't know) who some of the celebrities and characters were so we didn't stand in the VERY long lines to see them. Instead we managed to ride every ride in FL and peter pan 3 times so we wouldn't have to do those rides during regular hours which huge lines. I was disappointed with the desserts - they did have lots of them but it was only Mickey rice crispies and cup cakes I expected something fancier.
Memorable meals we had were Blue Bayou, Cafe Orleans, and Goofy's the rest we ate counter service. I must say the counter service meals were not that much cheaper and so SLOW in the lines that we started making reservations for our meals instead and will always do this if we go back again. Blue Bayou was fantastic it was our first time there and we would love to go back. We laughed that the reason you pay so much is it actually has a bathroom!!! (What is up with that anyway? Why are there no bathrooms in the restaurants and show buildings?)
We had a great trip BUT all three of our kids got REALLY, REALLY sick with a respiratory infection. We landed home and drove directly to the doctors office as the boys were ok when we left the hotel but getting sicker and sicker as the flight landed. 2 are on the mend but our baby spent 8 hours in hospital yesterday and is a very sick little guy. I honestly don't think I will do a big trip to a crowded place with a baby again. We have travelled by air many times with our children at all ages but usually we visit family
First we used Get Away Today to book park hoppers, goofy's kitchen and the Ayres Inn Orange for our hotel. GAT was great and we will not hesitate to use them again! Vouchers were all correct and we had no trouble at all redeeming anything.
Day 1 - Checked into the Ayres Inn Orange - we arrived early and they were fantastic and let us check in several hours early. The hotel is WONDERFUL. Yes it isn't within walking distance BUT they have a free shuttle. You need to schedule your shuttle time in advance - but several times we called for an earlier pick-up and they came and rescued us early. Keep in mind however that if you want to get to the park early you should book your shuttle BEFORE you arrive! Many people couldn't get any shuttle earlier then 11am because they get booked in advance. Also the shuttle doesn't run in the afternoon which didn't matter for us anyway as we went against advice and slept in (which I HIGHLY suggest, since this is supposed to be a vacation
)so we didn't need an afternoon rest.We rented a double jogging stroller from Travel Babees. It was GREAT. There service is really good too. The stroller was waiting for us at the hotel when we checked in. Our first stroller had a bad wheel and they had a replacement stroller waiting for us early the next morning before we needed it for DLR. I would use them again!
We rented a car from the Thrifty LAX location. They tried REALLY hard to up-sell us on additional insurance that we didn't not need as we had our regular insurance AND Visa insurance. My husband who never falls for these things almost panicked and got the insurance which would have DOUBLED!!! the rental cost! They made us feel really guilty for not taking the insurance. The car we got was a bit battered and the AC didn't work (I read online that you got to pick your car in a certain price range but we were not allowed), also they have a terrible set up where you have to wait in a huge line to get the car inspected before you leave the lot. - I won't rent from them again. OH, and the shuttle was not great - several other rental shuttles drove past multiple times before the thrifty one finally got there. The drop off was much better though and the drop off shuttle driver was really, really nice.
We ate at Rainforest our first night - the food was not great. Overpriced and we were seated in a hallway area next to the stairs on the second floor. There wasn't a lot of theme in the area we sat in but after a LONG wait we didn't want to move. I would skip it, it was the worse meal of our trip.
Ayres Inn offers free breakfast - breakfast was always the same -- eggs, pancakes, potatoes and either bancon or sausage, cereal and toast. It was filling and tasted great but didn't get boring eating it 8 days in a row. The food was always hot and even when we got there 15 minutes before closing they never ran out and the service was amazing.
The pool at the hotel is FANTASTIC! It is salt water so no chlorine burn and it is very large and well maintained. There is also a nice hot tub and very nice garden with BBQ.
The rooms are great - standard with nice furnishings. The laundry area is decent. There is a computer for guest use which is nice and they have snacks and wine every night in the lobby for free which was a nice little treat. I LOVED This hotel we will be back for sure!!! The service was amazing, the rooms clean and very nice.
We used our Give a Day vouchers for fast passes. We did this 4 out of the 5 days we were in the park. They did have some trouble with the GAD vouchers and the set up sucks! One day the CM didn't ask what we wanted to redeem for and just handed us a one day ticket - she then couldn't give us the fast passes we wanted because the computer wouldn't let her. So she gave us 6 passes good for any ride and told us that this was a better deal - MAYBE but because we have small kids the 24 passes we got with the GAD (24 passes because there were 4 of us and we each got 6 each time.) was better for us because we could split into two groups and each group could do fast pass rides. The 6 she gave us were for the entire group so we would have had to stay together the entire day and once a ticket got "spent" on a big ride the little people would have missed out on any benefit for that pass. The good thing about these passes was that you could use them on rides that didn't take a fast pass like the Matterhorn which had a 120 minute line and we walked right on
After realizing that they passes sucked for the small people in our group I went to talk to a manage - we lost over an hour of our day BUT the gave us another 5 of these passes!!!!! So we had 11 passes that could be used to miss the line on any ride - we ended up not using them all and sharing them with people talked to while in the parks.As for the GAD fast passes all I have to say is WOW! After the pain of lining up at the ticket booth, then again inside the park to actually get the passes it sure was GREAT having them. We got 24 passes each day and never were able to spend them all. It was very busy being spring break in a lot of places and we only stood in one long line our entire trip. (Toy story 45 minutes) The rest of the rides we walked right on or waiting at the very most 15 minutes. We rode every ride in the park (only our littlest kids skipping rides they were too small for) - many multiple times.
We used the double stroller that we rented as a wheel chair and got the Guest Assistance Pass from Main street for this. I thought that the guest assistance pass would let us take the stroller in the line as our middle son is sick and can not stand that long. (The reason we used a double stroller is we have a baby too. I wanted to be able to push both of my younger boys together so my husband and older son could leave us to ride big rides when they wanted. Which they did MANY times.) What I didn't realize was how great the GAC would work out for us. We were able to access many of the rides through the handicapped lines thus allowing us to bring the stroller right into the attraction and our son only had to walk a few feet to transfer into the ride car. We did have some trouble at the main gates to California adventure, monorail, Mr. Lincoln, Turtle Talk, and the Handicapped entrance to the Cinderella walk through as the stroller was too wide - so we either had to fold it, go through another gate, or leave one person behind.
I also had the need to use the baby care center and first aid station in CA which I must say are FANTASTIC. If we ever go back again with little ones in diapers I will never use a bathroom change table again!
We attended the D23 ani party. It was great - maybe a little over priced but we did enjoy ourselves. We were not really interested (and didn't know) who some of the celebrities and characters were so we didn't stand in the VERY long lines to see them. Instead we managed to ride every ride in FL and peter pan 3 times so we wouldn't have to do those rides during regular hours which huge lines. I was disappointed with the desserts - they did have lots of them but it was only Mickey rice crispies and cup cakes I expected something fancier.
Memorable meals we had were Blue Bayou, Cafe Orleans, and Goofy's the rest we ate counter service. I must say the counter service meals were not that much cheaper and so SLOW in the lines that we started making reservations for our meals instead and will always do this if we go back again. Blue Bayou was fantastic it was our first time there and we would love to go back. We laughed that the reason you pay so much is it actually has a bathroom!!! (What is up with that anyway? Why are there no bathrooms in the restaurants and show buildings?)
We had a great trip BUT all three of our kids got REALLY, REALLY sick with a respiratory infection. We landed home and drove directly to the doctors office as the boys were ok when we left the hotel but getting sicker and sicker as the flight landed. 2 are on the mend but our baby spent 8 hours in hospital yesterday and is a very sick little guy. I honestly don't think I will do a big trip to a crowded place with a baby again. We have travelled by air many times with our children at all ages but usually we visit family
