wickesy
<font color=royalblue>Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love y
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2006
- Messages
- 3,797
We were up by 7:45 this morning and downstairs by 8:40 as we had Execucar booked again to take us to the airport at 9:00. The car arrived on time and we were at the airport by the United check-in desks at 9:30.
Although there was a long queue for check-in we were done in about 15 minutes. United operate a combined self check-in kiosk/check-in agent system whereby you check yourself in at one of a bank of around 50 self check-in kiosks which prints out your boarding passes and your luggage tags that one of a group of patrolling check-in agents comes along and attaches to your luggage before taking it from you.
Security was also relatively quick and painless and by 10:10 we were airside. Boarding for our flight started at 11:30 and we pushed back just a few minutes late at 12:00. We had another looong wait at the runway so it was around 12:30 by the time we took off and we were back on the ground just about an hour later.
We made our way down to baggage claim where were met by Junior, our driver from Luken Limo and by 2:05 our bags had come up and we were on our way.
Thanks to being able to use the car pool lanes we sailed past most of the traffic and at 3:10 we were being checked in by Nikki who handed over our package and gave us our hotel id and room keys. We were assigned room 4006, which can still just about be described as a theme park view although Im sure many will say we should have asked for it to be changed.
After some time spent looking at the contents of our package there was only one thing to do break out our lanyards and go exploring! I had intended to have a look around the hotel first but as we passed the exit for Downtown Disney I decided to head out that way first.
We turned right out of the hotel and began walking along the shops until we reached World of Disney, which we popped into to have a quick nose around and Dad bought a closeable pouch for his lanyard to save the contents from getting wet on Splash Mountain. We then carried on walking and here is where I will make the first of only a few comparisons with WDW it is very bizarre to be walking around Downtown Disney only to realise that you have just stumbled upon the entrance to the parks!
Leaving the parks for later we re-traced our steps past the entrance to the Grand Californian and up the other way before making our second stop, which was at Tortilla Jos Taqueria where we had a shredded beef Mexican sandwich and root beer each for a total of $25.21. We sat eating enjoying the view and enjoying the music being played from the Disney Mania series of CDs.
After we finished eating we completed the circuit of Downtown Disney and went through the bag check at the entrance to the parks. We turned left towards Disneyland and went under the railway station for the first time.
---cont.---
Although there was a long queue for check-in we were done in about 15 minutes. United operate a combined self check-in kiosk/check-in agent system whereby you check yourself in at one of a bank of around 50 self check-in kiosks which prints out your boarding passes and your luggage tags that one of a group of patrolling check-in agents comes along and attaches to your luggage before taking it from you.
Security was also relatively quick and painless and by 10:10 we were airside. Boarding for our flight started at 11:30 and we pushed back just a few minutes late at 12:00. We had another looong wait at the runway so it was around 12:30 by the time we took off and we were back on the ground just about an hour later.
We made our way down to baggage claim where were met by Junior, our driver from Luken Limo and by 2:05 our bags had come up and we were on our way.
Thanks to being able to use the car pool lanes we sailed past most of the traffic and at 3:10 we were being checked in by Nikki who handed over our package and gave us our hotel id and room keys. We were assigned room 4006, which can still just about be described as a theme park view although Im sure many will say we should have asked for it to be changed.
After some time spent looking at the contents of our package there was only one thing to do break out our lanyards and go exploring! I had intended to have a look around the hotel first but as we passed the exit for Downtown Disney I decided to head out that way first.
We turned right out of the hotel and began walking along the shops until we reached World of Disney, which we popped into to have a quick nose around and Dad bought a closeable pouch for his lanyard to save the contents from getting wet on Splash Mountain. We then carried on walking and here is where I will make the first of only a few comparisons with WDW it is very bizarre to be walking around Downtown Disney only to realise that you have just stumbled upon the entrance to the parks!
Leaving the parks for later we re-traced our steps past the entrance to the Grand Californian and up the other way before making our second stop, which was at Tortilla Jos Taqueria where we had a shredded beef Mexican sandwich and root beer each for a total of $25.21. We sat eating enjoying the view and enjoying the music being played from the Disney Mania series of CDs.
After we finished eating we completed the circuit of Downtown Disney and went through the bag check at the entrance to the parks. We turned left towards Disneyland and went under the railway station for the first time.
---cont.---
Shame about the fireworks but hopefully you get to see them in full later in your trip 
