Which way to Disneyland? TR (comparison update 7/26)

[miprender]

Can't wait to see there faces when DH arrives

 

[JPFamilyMom]

jumping in late again, I subbed in your last TR toward the end. Now joining the party. Yes, D-land is lacking in character interactions compared to WDW.
Once again your family is just lovely, can't wait to see the reaction from the girls when your DH arrives.

 

[Princess_K]

I've been in Washington DC for the last week and had missed the last couple of updates. Your photos of Disneyland are great, but I'm not sure if I'd like having Splash Mountain only be one person across. The Alice in Wonderland musical chairs sounds like so much fun! Those are the types of things that really set Disney apart from other places.

 

[cannp123165]

Great update! The musical chairs looks really cute.

 

[Me&3]

Where are you? I want to see and hear more

 

[lmillercrew]

I am finally caught up again! You're trip is going along great!!!
Sorry you had to endure the craziness at Mickey's house. DH was at DL the end of May, and he agrees with you in that DL does not compare to WDW. NO WAY! It did, however, make him want to go back to the World soon! He was surprised at how small the castle is there. He wasn't expecting it, that's all.

 

[pmama]

What a great update the guy on SM is very funny. Musical chairs with Alice and the Madhatter seems fun. I'm sure you where excited with DH on his way. What a great surprise it was going to be.

I was very glad DH was on his way. I really missed him.

We had the BEST time with the Mad Hatter at Goofy's Kitchen last Dec...and I remember him telling us to come see him at DL...the musical chairs game must have been what he meant. Do they do it everyday? What time? This kind of stuff is what I love about DL.

Yes, I think they do it everyday at 2:30 p.m. It really is a magical moment that does make DL special.

Oh the Mad Hatter/Alice musical chairs thing is great! Looks like the girls had fun with that! The hotel pool looks like fun too. So which Disney park do the girls prefer? CA or FL?

Hm good question. I was surprised just how much DD8 enjoyed DLR. Especially because she always insisted she had no interest in even seeing DLR. When you ask the girls now DD8 can not pick a clear winner. They are both special to her in different ways. DD5 still prefers WDW.

My girls loved watching the musical chairs with Mad Hatter & Alice (we stumbled upon them twice during our time in DL, both times the game had already started), that Mad Hatter is hysterical.

My girls still quote him "everyone say HellOOOO Madison!... everyone say GoodBYEEEEE Madison!!"

That's great! I could hear him again just by reading your quote.

Great update!! Love that you pulled off a magical moment for your Mom with Alice and the Mad hatter!! That was a great tip from DIS!! Love the Splash Mountain pics...and that the guy in front mopped up for you girls!! What a guy! LOL!! MMM, the ice cream looks delish, even this early in the a.m. here, can you tell I'm dieting? LOL!! Your downtime at the hotel sounds so nice for you and the girls and yay DH is on his way!!! Woohoo!!!!

That is one bonus for sure about DLR. Downtime at the hotel is so easy as it is in walking distance. You don't have to spend so much time bussing around and waiting.

What a great day! Did ya'll ride Alice in Wonderland?

The musical chairs is a great tip and looks like great fun!

Good question. Thanks for reminding me. We tried to ride Alice in Wonderland in the morning but it was not running. When we asked a CM we were told Alice was away in Wonderland and would hopefully be back soon.

So glad for an awesome update to start my day!!! Now off to class!!

So, glad you enjoyed it.

 

[pmama]

So cool that your DD got picked to do the musical chairs! The splash park looks like a lot of fun. And the ice cream sure looks yummy!

Okay have you noticed that most times that you post you end up on the top post of the page? Ice cream was yummy but way over priced just like everything else.

Sorry to hear about your experience at Toontown with Mickey...we had purchased a vacation package and stayed at DLH, so we had tickets for Mickey's Morning Toontown Madness. It was great. They have a little show, then the characters were at their houses. We had a very short line for Mickey...actually the walk through his house took longer than the line (about 10 people). We were able to see and take pictures with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald. For us with my grandson (3) and granddaughter (1), it was perfect. We also were able to walk on all the rides. When we were finishing up, we saw that they had officially opened Toontown. Wow! Talk about people streaming in! We were glad that we had done the Toontown Madness. We were able to about everything in that hour.

I love your TR and photos!! Thanks!

Mickey's Morning Toontown Madness definitely sounds like the way to go. We did get to do Magic Morning later in the trip and it truly was a magic morning! We literally walked on everything that first hour.

Awesome trip report! I can't wait to read more.

Thanks so much for reading.

Great updates, i love your photos. Cant wait to read more

Thanks for reading along and posting.

I love the musical chairs pictures. I am going to have to make sure we can watch it while we are there. That is adorable and how fun.

Definitely worth stopping by to see.

Can't wait to see there faces when DH arrives

Yeah DH's coming soon.

jumping in late again, I subbed in your last TR toward the end. Now joining the party. Yes, D-land is lacking in character interactions compared to WDW.
Once again your family is just lovely, can't wait to see the reaction from the girls when your DH arrives.

I love it when people post who also read my first TR. So glad you found me here on the DLR side.

I've been in Washington DC for the last week and had missed the last couple of updates. Your photos of Disneyland are great, but I'm not sure if I'd like having Splash Mountain only be one person across. The Alice in Wonderland musical chairs sounds like so much fun! Those are the types of things that really set Disney apart from other places.

Yes, I prefer the double seat for Splash Mtn for sure. However, DLR beat WDW as far as Space as they already have the double seater for Space and that was a fun experience.

Great update! The musical chairs looks really cute.

They were very cute.

Where are you? I want to see and hear more

I'm so sorry. Getting ready for VBS as I am teaching. Also, hosting a Bunko party at my house Monday night. I hope to post an update Monday evening or Tuesday.

I am finally caught up again! You're trip is going along great!!!
Sorry you had to endure the craziness at Mickey's house. DH was at DL the end of May, and he agrees with you in that DL does not compare to WDW. NO WAY! It did, however, make him want to go back to the World soon! He was surprised at how small the castle is there. He wasn't expecting it, that's all.

DLR is a different experience for sure. I think if we'd stayed at a Disney resort and dined in Disney signature restaurants like we do in WDW it would have felt a little more like what we are used to. What this trip made me realize more than anything is that what I love about Disney is not so much all the rides, but the Disney "experience". It's experiencing everything as a child again through my kids' eyes. It's the top quality customer care that Disney is famous for. It's the walking through a park with two princesses and Mickey ears. I think I could have an amazing Disney trip without going on one ride. That's one reason I'm really looking forward to our Disney cruise in December.

 

[Me&3]

Glad your okay Have fun playing bunko we will be here waiting

 

[tmkinney]

Okay have you noticed that most times that you post you end up on the top post of the page? Ice cream was yummy but way over priced just like everything else.

I have noticed that, I almost posted something about it before!

 

[thmar]

DLR is a different experience for sure. I think if we'd stayed at a Disney resort and dined in Disney signature restaurants like we do in WDW it would have felt a little more like what we are used to. What this trip made me realize more than anything is that what I love about Disney is not so much all the rides, but the Disney "experience". It's experiencing everything as a child again through my kids' eyes. It's the top quality customer care that Disney is famous for. It's the walking through a park with two princesses and Mickey ears. I think I could have an amazing Disney trip without going on one ride. That's one reason I'm really looking forward to our Disney cruise in December.

I agree with the "Disney experience" that's why I love staying on site at Disneyland. I want it all from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep!!

 

[pmama]

Alrighty!

We left off last having a mid-day break from our first day at Disneyland the to let the girls spend time at our hotel's splash park. But first, I got my photopass pictures! So, let me post a couple pictures we've missed from our morning in DL.

We returned to Disneyland specifically for the new Celebrate! Parade.

We did have fast passes for Indiana Jones. We went to go use them and discovered that DD5 was too short. So we ended up going through the Sleepy Beauty Castle walk-through. This was very neat. It opened back up I think the very end of 2008 after being closed since 911. It is enhanced with three dimensional scenes that were really pretty neat. There were very few people in there at the time so it was a nice walk-through.

There were a lot more people lined up for the parade than I expected. We were told the best place to watch the parade would be back by Small World as it is one of the last stops and less crowded. It was good advice. We were able to squeeze in one of the last front seats and ended up with great spots when the parade arrived.

I had heard this parade was a lot like Hollywood Studios new block party in that it stops at certain places along the route for a "show". That seemed strange and because of that we did not watch the parade at HS last time we were there. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. It was great fun. A show, and a parade in one. Too funny that the float with Alice and Mad Hatter stopped in front of us. Boy we got our feel of them this day. I would have preferred Mickey. We could kind of see him a couple floats down.

I really did enjoy this new version of the parade. It is really worth researching good spots to view from. I would have hated to be in one of the spots they zoomed by. Granita went out with DD8 to dance during the audience interaction time.

I was exhausted just watching the dancers. Those cylinder stoods they are standing on held costume change materials. They changed costumes and outfits serveral times during the quick show.

Mickey got on the back of this bicycle and rode around so everyone could see him.

Flying Mickey head tissue paper. (Every child's dream.)

I was going to say this was my all time favorite Disney parade but then I remembered MNSSHP. Well, this comes in a close second. Really, to call it just a parade is not correct and does not do it justice.



CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[pmama]

On the way out we took one of my favorite photopass pictures. I love how our pink matches the colors in the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Goodnight to Main Street Disneyland and a fabulous 1st Day!

The girls put on their new matching Disney princess "peejaysis" as DD5 calls them and were giddy as can be.

I was giddy too when I crept to the bathroom with my cell phone and spoke to DH who was now in Anaheim. They had picked up the rental van and were on their way. They were first stopping for dinner. It was pretty late and I was tired so I decided to get my beauty rest and we would all see him in the morning.

 

[kaoden39]

What nice picture. I must honestly say I would not want the job of cleaning up after this parade.

 

[kaoden39]

Now, the wonderful surprise!!

 

[Me&3]

Cute pics Can't wait to see and hear what happens when DH arrives

 

[Sherry E]

All of your PhotoPass pictures came out great! I do like the nighttime/dusk Castle picture because of the pink tones matching, but I also like the daytime Castle PhotoPass pictures because the clouds are in kind of a dramatic pattern overhead!

 

[Princess_K]

Your photos were great! I can't wait to see the girls' reaction to Daddy showing up

 

[tmkinney]

Love the new update, the parade looks awesome! I haven't seen the block party bash at HS either, hope to see it next trip (which is now in December! ). I LOVE your pics in front of the castle, they are great!! Can't wait for the next update to see how the girls react to your DH showing up!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

What great photopass pictures. Love the extra decor they have for this years theme like the envelope with the balloons and thank you, that is so cute.
Your girls are just darling as always, they look like a blast to hang out with.
can't wait for the reveal of the DH.