Seriously, we had a great time--better than we expected. I didn't post much before we went, because I was busy soaking up all of your wonderful knowledge. We arrived late on March 14, and stayed until March 18. Then we visited the inlaws in AZ, and now I'm suffering some serious jetlag!
I'll just post a few details for now, but go ahead and ask questions. I'll be happy to answer as I'm doing my laundry
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We stayed at the Aneheim Desert Inn and Suites. MAJOR plus was how close it was to the parks. We had a Parlor A Suite for DH, DS 13, DD 11, and myself. Room and breakfast were both adequate, but everything was overlooked because of the great commute. They let us park until 4 PM on the day of departure. Negative that breakfast does not open until 7:30 AM.
We got our tickets from getawaytoday.com thanks to these boards. BEST thing was the two MM's, which we used on Sat. and Sun. We were the first to arrive at the park on Sat. morning (um, it was still dark out and they were just setting up the security checkpoints. Made for some good picture taking time).
Arriving at the parks before opening was KEY. For example, we arrived at 6:30 AM on Saturday (it helps that we're East coasters), and were among the first at the gate. We altered our original plan to do FL first, and headed to Nemo. We were on the first sub, got off, and headed to FL. There were no lines for anything, and we were able to do ALL of the FL rides before MM ended (IASM and the Carrousel were both closed.) We also did both sides of the Matterhorn. Next, we did Autopia (5 min wait), SM, and Buzz twice.
We started collecting our fastpasses as soon as the park opened. We had three sets by 10 AM, when we had the Welcome to Disneyland Tour scheduled. More details on this later.
We took afternoon breaks each day, and parkhopped freely between the parks. We saw every show and parade. Crowds grew both as it got later in the day and as the days progressed. MM was so key to getting everything done that we wanted to. I did purchase Ridemax, and had fun playing with it. We brought it with us each day, but only very loosely followed it, as we were way ahead of schedule by use of the MMs.
We did not do any character meals, nor have any PS. We did eat at Rainforest Cafe in DD, as well as Mimi's twice (we loved this). We also had to try In-n-Out Burger when we went to the Character Warehouse.
Must go to sleep now. Will answer questions and post more tomorrow.
Lauri
I'll just post a few details for now, but go ahead and ask questions. I'll be happy to answer as I'm doing my laundry
.We stayed at the Aneheim Desert Inn and Suites. MAJOR plus was how close it was to the parks. We had a Parlor A Suite for DH, DS 13, DD 11, and myself. Room and breakfast were both adequate, but everything was overlooked because of the great commute. They let us park until 4 PM on the day of departure. Negative that breakfast does not open until 7:30 AM.
We got our tickets from getawaytoday.com thanks to these boards. BEST thing was the two MM's, which we used on Sat. and Sun. We were the first to arrive at the park on Sat. morning (um, it was still dark out and they were just setting up the security checkpoints. Made for some good picture taking time).
Arriving at the parks before opening was KEY. For example, we arrived at 6:30 AM on Saturday (it helps that we're East coasters), and were among the first at the gate. We altered our original plan to do FL first, and headed to Nemo. We were on the first sub, got off, and headed to FL. There were no lines for anything, and we were able to do ALL of the FL rides before MM ended (IASM and the Carrousel were both closed.) We also did both sides of the Matterhorn. Next, we did Autopia (5 min wait), SM, and Buzz twice.
We started collecting our fastpasses as soon as the park opened. We had three sets by 10 AM, when we had the Welcome to Disneyland Tour scheduled. More details on this later.
We took afternoon breaks each day, and parkhopped freely between the parks. We saw every show and parade. Crowds grew both as it got later in the day and as the days progressed. MM was so key to getting everything done that we wanted to. I did purchase Ridemax, and had fun playing with it. We brought it with us each day, but only very loosely followed it, as we were way ahead of schedule by use of the MMs.
We did not do any character meals, nor have any PS. We did eat at Rainforest Cafe in DD, as well as Mimi's twice (we loved this). We also had to try In-n-Out Burger when we went to the Character Warehouse.
Must go to sleep now. Will answer questions and post more tomorrow.
Lauri
