deej696
They say the recipe for Sprite is lemon and lime,
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
- Messages
- 2,508
Well after almost a year of planning, my fiancé and I have returned from our first trip to Disneyland. We are hard core WDW vets. Thanks to DVC and living nearby, we visit WDW at least 1-2 nights a month. We were a little concerned that Disneyland would be a disappointment, simply because of its location, and lack of seclusion like in Orlando. Everyone that I talked to said it would be a let down, and I began to wonder if they were right when I saw the Denny’s located across the street from the park, but we went into it totally open minded. Boy were they wrong!
We arrived on Dec. 29th for a 5 night stay at the Disneyland Hotel. We were excited to spend New Year’s at DL (something we have never done at WDW), but knew going into it that the crowds would be crazy. They weren’t just crazy, they were INSANE! New Years Eve, they had the crowds routed one way around the spoke in front of the castle, making it impossible to cross Main Street. This did help with crowd flow though, as there were many places that you simply could not move, especially in Adventureland. We fast passed a few rides, but for the most part just hung out and waited for the New Year. There were of courses lines for everything. Lines for coffee, lines for the bathroom, everywhere lines, lines, lines! It was a really long day (I took a nap on a bench and one of the penguins from Mary Poppins woke up up, scared me to death!) but it was great ringing in the New Year, and we enjoyed it overall, although it was disappointing that there were no fireworks due to the high winds.
We chose the Disneyland Hotel because I wanted to stay in the original. While I figured I would like GCH better, we really enjoyed the hotel. We were on the top floor and had a great view of DL to our right, and downtown LA to our left. We also had a great meal at Steakhouse 55, although I think the server was the snobbiest I have ever encountered in all the fine restaurants we have dined. Our room was located at the very end of the hall, which seemed to mean we had the smallest room in the place, but it served our purpose well, and we would gladly stay there again. Although I hope next time it is easier to control the temperature of the shower, boy was that a trip!
We set aside two full days for each park, which was more than enough time, even with the crowds. We loved Space Mountain and Indiana Jones in DL, and California Screamin is AWESOME
! My fiancé loves Tower of Terror, and I think she decided she likes the DL version better than WDW. The highlight for me was getting to ride in the rear cone of the monorail, something that would never happen at WDW.
It’s clear that California Adventure is the stepchild of the two parks. We were shocked to see how empty the park was compared to DL on a holiday weekend. I know the park has had a tough time winning the hearts and minds of the locals, and I can understand why. For example, I would not be thrilled to visit “Disney’s Florida Adventure” if it were built in Orlando, as I don’t need to visit a theme park about my home. Hopefully the revamp that Disney has planned will go a long way to change that, as it’s a great park and we really enjoyed it, perhaps as much as DL…
The highlight of our trip by far, however, was Sunday brunch at Club 33
. It was one of the best meals I have ever had, and I think I managed to put away 4 lobster tails off the seafood bar
. Mickey and Pluto were there as well, and we got a lot of great pictures that you wouldn’t otherwise get in the park. Not sure if we will ever get back there, but if we don’t, at least I’ll always know we did it once.
All in all, we had a fantastic trip, and can’t wait to return. It was great to see Walt’s original creation, and what it has become today. To compare WDW to DL is impossible as they are both great in their own way. Hopefully when they finish the villas at GCH, it will enable us to go more often. Until then….
We arrived on Dec. 29th for a 5 night stay at the Disneyland Hotel. We were excited to spend New Year’s at DL (something we have never done at WDW), but knew going into it that the crowds would be crazy. They weren’t just crazy, they were INSANE! New Years Eve, they had the crowds routed one way around the spoke in front of the castle, making it impossible to cross Main Street. This did help with crowd flow though, as there were many places that you simply could not move, especially in Adventureland. We fast passed a few rides, but for the most part just hung out and waited for the New Year. There were of courses lines for everything. Lines for coffee, lines for the bathroom, everywhere lines, lines, lines! It was a really long day (I took a nap on a bench and one of the penguins from Mary Poppins woke up up, scared me to death!) but it was great ringing in the New Year, and we enjoyed it overall, although it was disappointing that there were no fireworks due to the high winds.
We chose the Disneyland Hotel because I wanted to stay in the original. While I figured I would like GCH better, we really enjoyed the hotel. We were on the top floor and had a great view of DL to our right, and downtown LA to our left. We also had a great meal at Steakhouse 55, although I think the server was the snobbiest I have ever encountered in all the fine restaurants we have dined. Our room was located at the very end of the hall, which seemed to mean we had the smallest room in the place, but it served our purpose well, and we would gladly stay there again. Although I hope next time it is easier to control the temperature of the shower, boy was that a trip!
We set aside two full days for each park, which was more than enough time, even with the crowds. We loved Space Mountain and Indiana Jones in DL, and California Screamin is AWESOME
! My fiancé loves Tower of Terror, and I think she decided she likes the DL version better than WDW. The highlight for me was getting to ride in the rear cone of the monorail, something that would never happen at WDW.It’s clear that California Adventure is the stepchild of the two parks. We were shocked to see how empty the park was compared to DL on a holiday weekend. I know the park has had a tough time winning the hearts and minds of the locals, and I can understand why. For example, I would not be thrilled to visit “Disney’s Florida Adventure” if it were built in Orlando, as I don’t need to visit a theme park about my home. Hopefully the revamp that Disney has planned will go a long way to change that, as it’s a great park and we really enjoyed it, perhaps as much as DL…
The highlight of our trip by far, however, was Sunday brunch at Club 33
. It was one of the best meals I have ever had, and I think I managed to put away 4 lobster tails off the seafood bar . Mickey and Pluto were there as well, and we got a lot of great pictures that you wouldn’t otherwise get in the park. Not sure if we will ever get back there, but if we don’t, at least I’ll always know we did it once.All in all, we had a fantastic trip, and can’t wait to return. It was great to see Walt’s original creation, and what it has become today. To compare WDW to DL is impossible as they are both great in their own way. Hopefully when they finish the villas at GCH, it will enable us to go more often. Until then….
