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

[tmkinney]

The parade looks awesome. Wow, can't believe the fireworks are better than WDW - they must be awesome!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

What a GREAT end to your day. That parade looked like so much fun, we love pixar movies
When we did the Nemo submarine, my Mom waited in line for 2 hours and we joined her for the last 30 min (just me and my son), a CM told her where we could join her and he let us in.
I LOVE IASW at DL, here is a pic I have from Christmas time one year:

It's not the best picture but you get the idea.

Looking forward to Universal

 

[Dizneydaz]

Great update! I totally agree about the DLR fireworks. I haven'n seen the new ones yet (blocked out) but I love the old ones and always tear up a little while watching.

Totally agree about Nemo We've ridden it only twice(CM gave DD a FP for any ride a few months back and we finally rode it.) Another time a guest gave us their anywhere FP. Otherwise we wouldn't have ridden it. The long it just too long. Oh, and since the subs aren't don't have A/C, avoid them in the summer at all costs!

We have "ridden" Nemo about 4-5 times, however, in the secret room. The observation room is great! Air conditioned and a great place to watch it-without claustrophobia setting in (My DM's problem).

 

[DisDancerina]

I actually liked the previous fireworks in comparison to Magical. The trip around the parks just seems more Disneyland-specified. But Magical is still pretty spectacular!

I love that hat, haha too precious on Faith, a little girl wearing a Tinkerbell dress

 

[pmama]

Great TR!! I am new to DIS and found you on Becky's TR! Your kids are adorable Really enjoying reading and can't wait to hear about your cruise! We are going to take one during Christmas 2010 so I am anxious to hear how it is!

Yeah for a Christmas time cruise! Are you going on the Wonder or Magic! I bet the wait is killing you. We booked ours almost a year out and the wait is killing me!

There goes the hat! You told me it would show up in the TR somewhere. Your hubby's bag is great! Where'd he get that? Sidney would want one.

The CA parade looks like a lot of fun! We love the Incredibles too. (Wish they'd make a second one...) And your costumes last year were the best! I need to come up with something a little cooler this year. Last year we were sooooooooooooo hot dressed up as NBC characters.


That firework show sounds nice! I have to get out there! Are you gonna do a side by side comparison of the two parks? I'd love to hear your views!

Can't wait to see what the CA US looks like!

Yep, there is the hat. Although thanks to you I will remember to try to get a picture with her and Fronteir Donald wearing it. Oddly enough the leather Disney bag was bought for me by my husband when he was in Disneyland with a buddy during our dating years. I think it was 1998. The bag sat unused for YEARS until we started coming to Disney. (DH practically had to drag me on our first trip. I did not want to go.) We get tons of compliments on it and it holds up great! I haven't seen anything like it in DLR or WDW so don't think they make them anymore.

It really looks like you all had a great trip! And your girls looked like little models every day

Aw, thanks. It was a fun trip!

Wow! What a great TR and beautiful, clear, colorful pictures! I love it...I think I'm going to do the photopass this trip. I wish we would have done that in WDW in 2003 when the kids were 7 and 11. Now they are going to be 14 and 17! What a fantastic sounding time you had...memories for years and years to come! It's great that the grandparents could be there too. I'm envious of you going on the "big red boat" (the old name for the original cruise line) have fun on that too! We did the 3 day Wonder on the same trip in 2003 to WDW. It was sooo much fun, Castaway Cay is the best!

Thanks again for sharing!

We can't wait for the cruise. Neither of us have ever cruised. The girls especially can't wait. We didn't do the photopass on our first trip in 2007 and still regret it too. So many fantastic memories captured really turns out to be priceless. I was lucky and got in on a share right before the Dis Boards stopped allowing them.

More great pictures! I will say that I have not been fortunate enough to get to WDW at all (yet), so I cannot compare their Nemo attraction with ours at DLR, but I agree with you - I do NOT think an hour in the Nemo line is worth it. I would sooner stand for an hour in the Toy Story Midway Mania line than in the Nemo line. You know what my problem with the Nemo Sub is? I LOVE Finding Nemo, the movie, and I grew up riding the old retro version of the Sub ride at DL in the '70s and '80s, so it has a nostalgic place in my heart. But I don't think that the Nemo theme enhanced the Sub ride in any way, nor did the Sub ride enhance the Nemo story in any way. I realize they probably spent a lot of money to put that together, but to me, it just seems like they stuck a bunch of screens that show clips from the movie under the water in the existing Sub layout, and I would have MUCH preferred to see an all Animatronic- ride with all the Nemo characters actually swimming around (not just Darla). Even The Little Mermaid as a story may have worked better in the Sub ride......but now it sounds as if the much-anticipated Little Mermaid ride that is coming to DCA in a couple of years (yay!) will have the clamshell vehicles like what you said the Nemo attraction has in WDW!!


I think Nemo should have had a totally separate attraction not connected to the Sub somewhere in DCA and the Little Mermaid ride should have been in Disneyland. But I guess that it's better to have some kind of Nemo thing going on than to have NO Nemo at DLR at all!! I was just underwhelmed by the Nemo Sub and I think it could have been much better.

Ooooh, I hadn't heard of the Little Mermaid ride coming! Sounds fun.

I can't believe it was your last day DL but it seemed like a great last day there! Love all the pics, they turned out so nice and I laughed about the pic of DH with Faith's birthday ears and the new hat Faith got, too! Cute!! You're right, what are grandparents for, to do all the things we never would!! Sounds like the last fireworks show was amazing...I don't think I'll ever get to DL (the flight would be way to expensive all the way from the East coast to the West coast for the 5 of us!), so it's nice to read all about it, thanks for sharing!!

Never, say never.

 

[pmama]

The parade looks awesome. Wow, can't believe the fireworks are better than WDW - they must be awesome!

Top post again. How do you do that? Fireworks were Fantastic!

What a GREAT end to your day. That parade looked like so much fun, we love pixar movies
When we did the Nemo submarine, my Mom waited in line for 2 hours and we joined her for the last 30 min (just me and my son), a CM told her where we could join her and he let us in.
I LOVE IASW at DL, here is a pic I have from Christmas time one year:

It's not the best picture but you get the idea.

Looking forward to Universal

That was nice of a CM to let you know where you could join your mom. And very nice of your mom to stand in line 2 hours. Love the IASW picture at Christmas time. Next time we do DL we want it to be around Christmas time.

Great update! I totally agree about the DLR fireworks. I haven'n seen the new ones yet (blocked out) but I love the old ones and always tear up a little while watching.

Totally agree about Nemo We've ridden it only twice(CM gave DD a FP for any ride a few months back and we finally rode it.) Another time a guest gave us their anywhere FP. Otherwise we wouldn't have ridden it. The long it just too long. Oh, and since the subs aren't don't have A/C, avoid them in the summer at all costs!

We have "ridden" Nemo about 4-5 times, however, in the secret room. The observation room is great! Air conditioned and a great place to watch it-without claustrophobia setting in (My DM's problem).

I remember hearing about the secret room for Nemo on disunplugged. That definitely is the way to do it for sure.

I actually liked the previous fireworks in comparison to Magical. The trip around the parks just seems more Disneyland-specified. But Magical is still pretty spectacular!

I love that hat, haha too precious on Faith, a little girl wearing a Tinkerbell dress

I feel lucky we got to see the previous fireworks before they were changed.

 

[cannp123165]

It sounds like it was an amazing evening.

 

[chickyann]

Weren't the 'Remember...Dreams come true' Fireworks just amazing, I'm getting teary just thinking about them

 

[cdotla]

Great updates! Looks like another great trip!

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY!! Great update! The parade looks like so much fun!! And the fireworks sound AMAZING!! Love the last family pic of you in front of the castle!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[pmama]

It sounds like it was an amazing evening.

Weren't the 'Remember...Dreams come true' Fireworks just amazing, I'm getting teary just thinking about them

Yes, for sure!

Great updates! Looks like another great trip!

Thanks, it was.

YAY!! Great update! The parade looks like so much fun!! And the fireworks sound AMAZING!! Love the last family pic of you in front of the castle!! Can't wait to read more!

Love, night time castle pictures!

 

[pmama]

Side Note: Our Disney Cruise sets sail 5 months from yesterday!!!! I am getting so excited. We booked the flights last week. After I finish this report I'll start a PTR for our Christmas trip to WDW and Disney Cruise!
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Alright, in my last update we had just finished our final day in Disneyland. We ended the evening with the wonderful fireworks show and a ride on BTMR.

When we left, Granita and I went to get in line at the ticket office outside the main gate. She wanted to upgrade her ticket for one more day. (It was only $15 for another day in both DLR and CA.) Her friend was coming to visit her again tomorrow and she thought perhaps they would visit DLR while the rest of us went to Universal. I sooooooooooo wanted to upgrade the tickets for the girls and I and visit the parks one more day. We had just about done everything but we did miss quite a bit in CA. DD8 hadn't gotten to see the HSM show. We didn't visit Turtle Talk with Crush or ride GRR. I think 4 days would have been perfect. I hear it debated a lot about how many days you need in DLR. I say 4. After 4 you probably would have done everything.

So anyway, I even asked DH if perhaps the girls and I should just stay at DLR another day. Well, his dad had specifically rented a van just for our day of travel to Universal and I felt like we really should spend time with DH so I reluctantly decided not to upgrade my tickets. Okay, to all of you that plan to upgrade your tickets (either by a day or to APs) here is a tip. DO NOT wait until you leave late at night the last day to upgrade. It was late, we all were tired and there were only three windows open. Everyone and their mother were at the ticket office upgrading. The lines were long and not moving. Apparently this upgrade process takes a while. After a while I sent DH, DFIL, and the girls ahead and I waited with Granita. When we finally did make it to the window she was able to add one day for $15 no problem. Pretty good deal.

It was late and we were all tired so I immediately abandoned the idea of getting to Universal at opening time. I told DH we'd leave when the girls woke up and we were off to bed.

I had read all the horrer stories about the drive to LA and Hollywood so had specifically chosen Sat. as the day we'd visit Universal hoping the traffic wouldn't be as bad. And, it really wasn't all that bad. We came to a stand-still just a couple times. In about an hour we were there. We all enjoyed our glimpse of the Hollywood sign on the way. I didn't get a picture of it however.

So, I can't believe at Universal Studios they charge an extra $35 for a front of the line pass. Ridiculous. We were worried about this but did not want to pay the $175 for all of us to get it. I am so glad we didn't because lines here were way shorter than in DLR even on the Saturday before Memorial Day. We never stood in line more than 10 minutes.

Universal Studios Hollywood was something I really was not really ever looking forward too. I didn't think there would be much for the girls to do and felt I would just wish I was at DLR. Well, I was pretty much right. There was even another scare later in the day that I'll share with you that made me feel I should not be left alone in that park with just the girls and I. It was not safe. That being said, looking back at the pictures we did have some fun for sure.

We've arrived!

First we went to see the Shrek 4-D show. Very cute and fun. This was the waiting room. The three pigs were in crates and would talk from the crates. When they talked the crates would move. Oh, on the right is Pinocchio upside down in a crate.

The magic mirror retold the story of Shrek and Fiona for us. It really by far was the best holding room for a 3-D/4-D show I've ever been in. Really felt like a show in and of itself.

When we were let in the theatre I was surprised to see people just picking their spot in the middle of the rows and sitting down. I guess we are too used to Disney where they make you slide all the way to the end seat. I guess it was okay today as the theatre was only about 50% full.

By now it was approaching the time we needed to do our online registration for Southwest airlines. DH planned to do it using his phone. So, we went to grab lunch. We found a nice shaded area and DH was able to easily register us and get us all in Group A for the return flight. I love Southwest!

After lunch we went to the 1 p.m. showing of Water World.

I was surprised at just how much DD8 loved this testosterone filled action show. It was pretty neat. Especially the ended when a full sized plane comes flying towards all the audience. We were all impressed. Boy, word to the wise. Do not sit anywhere near the front. The pre-show entertainers litterally dunk buckets of water and use water hose to drench all people near the front. We had fun laughing at them.

Next up was the Simpson's ride.

As we got in line for this attraction DD5 announced her stomach hurt and she did not want to ride. I'm not sure where that came from as after we left she was just fine. We decided we'd child-swap. I however, was a little nervous to ride because it is a motion simulator like Star Tours. I feel sick for an hour or two after star tours. So, I told DH that I'd stay with DD5 while they rode, then he could let me know if he thought I'd get sick.

For child swap they take you and your child all the way into the very small holding room that fits I think 6 people and you wait there while the ground shakes from the ride just outside your door. DD5 had too much fun with the mirror in this room.

In fact, that mirror was one of the highlights of her day. After the ride the doors opened and DH said it shakes you around like Star Tours and thought I would get sick. So we left. I regret not trying it as I've heard great things about it. Also DD loved it sooo much and asked all day to ride it again. If I had ridden she would have been able to ride it again.

I didn't get a picture of the everlasting outside escalators there. Universal Hollywood is basically on a mountain. Some attractions are up higher and you get there via steep moving escalators. Provided for some good views.

So next up on my plan was for DH and Papa to go ride Mummy and watch Terminator in 3-D while I took the girls to some character greetings and to the splash area.

DD5 really wanted to meet Dora so I asked where she greeted. I was told you just have to watch for her she appears in different places throughout the day. This worried me but we got lucky as while I was still asking about it we saw Dora walk out. The character greetings at Universal are crazy disorganzied. You basically have to shove your children toward the character and hope other people back out of the way. So I watched as people shoved for the picture, then I shoved my kids in and got a picture. Crazy huh?

CONINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[pmama]

After meeting Dora we saw Shrek and Fiona walking by to their greeting area. Everybody started pushing over there. I literally lost DD5 in the crowd for a moment which was scary. Here they actually had a little roped area where you were supposed to get in line. Even though a line formed some would just forget the line and walk straight up (cutting) to get their picture. (I miss Disney) So, even though it was chaotic we did score a good character interaction with Shrek and Fiona.

They were both so sweet and tender with the girls. DD5 was still wearing her birthday pin from Disneyland (because what kid doesn't want their birthday to last all week?) Fiona noticed it and told Shrek it was her birthday. So they both started clapping and singing a cute little birthday song. The girls were fascinated throughout the greeting. We love Shrek!

I like this picture where they are both looking at separate characters.

Up Next: The rest of our day in Universal Hollywood and a great evening watching DLR fireworks from our balcony!

Also, for those that have requested a WDW, DLR comparison I'll do that at the end of the report.

 

[DisDancerina]

Being in another theme park makes you remember how great DL is, huh? Trust me, I had a great time at Universal, but I kind of felt like I was gonna be jumped the whole time... White, blonde girl with some money- JACKPOT!
Yeah, I was pretty freaked out. But it was busy and with a front of the line and the food pass, we had a pretty good time

Disney could learn a tip or two from Universal though, those fans are a god! They feel so good on a burning hot day!
*It's Fiona by the way.

 

[pmama]

Being in another theme park makes you remember how great DL is, huh? Trust me, I had a great time at Universal, but I kind of felt like I was gonna be jumped the whole time... White, blonde girl with some money- JACKPOT!
Yeah, I was pretty freaked out. But it was busy and with a front of the line and the food pass, we had a pretty good time

Disney could learn a tip or two from Universal though, those fans are a god! They feel so good on a burning hot day!
*It's Fiona by the way.

Oh, thanks noted! I corrected Fiona.

Yes, sounds like you felt the same way I did. Wait until I update my next post.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

oh boy, can't wait to read what happened.

cute Shrek pictures

 

[DisDancerina]

Oh, thanks noted! I corrected Fiona.

Yes, sounds like you felt the same way I did. Wait until I update my next post.

No problem

I can't wait! By the way, what did ur hubby think of The Mummy ride?

 

[ladybugmom]

Oh my!! I think those character meet and greets would STRESS ME OUT!! How scary that you lost Faith! Glad it didn't take too long to find her! Shrek and Fiona look like sooo much fun!!

 

[lmillercrew]

Finally caught up again. Whew!
That Davey Crockett hat is SUPERTASTIC!!!!
I can't believe the crowd levels for the fireworks. Holy cow! Standing room only??
I'm looking forward to reading about your cruise plans. Hopefully I'll be a better follow a longer on your next report.
The girls Tink dresses were cute.

 

[Me&3]

Just caught up everything looks so fun. We are away on vacation we have been gone since 6/30 went to WDW for eight days and are going back to WDW on 7/24 thru. 7/27 then I guess we will head back home.