NetworkDad
08-17-2008, 12:54 PM
Travel Dates: 8/1/08 - 8/3/08
Travel Methdod: Delta/Alaska Air out of PDX
Resort: Grand Californian
Accomodations: Standard room, 2 Queens - booked thru Costco Travel
Ages: Wife and I are both 31
Disney Resort Experience: Wife grew up around DL, it's my 3rd trip in 3 years.
Comments: My wife and I were celebrating our 10-year anniversary. Although this trip is short, it was fantastic to leave the kids with Grandma/Grandpa. Normally we'd fly out of Seattle, but Grandparents live near PDX so it was more convenient.
Day One: Flew down on Delta on a 7am flight. Promptly arrived in LAX, and hopped on our supershuttle to the Grand. Have i told anyone how easy it is to fly with no kids, and only take carry-on? :-) Best trip ever
SuperShuttle dropped us off first which was nice. This was our first time at GC. Absolutely amazing detail, beautiful lobby. We were quickly pre-checked in. OUr rooms weren't quite ready yet, so we left our bags with the belldesk, and went over to Whitewater snacks to grab a quick bite to eat.
The parks own private entrance was perfect! Its supposed to be for hotel guests only, but i don't really think they care if anyone else was to show up. They never asked to see our hotel cards or anything. Zero wait time.
Since we're right by the Grizzly River run, we quickly went to grab some fastPass for a later ride. Oddly enough, we'd scan our cards and the ticket came out stating that our card was invalid. We went back to the entrance, and the CM was nice enough to give us 2 temporary fastPass cards that would work all day. Went back to Grizzly, and got our fastPass.
Headed down to Soarin. A thought crossed my mind, and wondered if there was just an issue with our cards at Grizzly. Since we had used the temporary cards to get fastPass at Grizzly, i tried our real parkhopper passes at Soarin, and IT WORKED! Fantastic. Now we have (4) cards to use all day to get fastPass for the 2 of us.
A quick note on Fastpass. We're pretty good experts on getting full use of these and NEVER waiting in any standby line. Our basic rule is if the standby line is more than 10 or 15 minutes, we don't wait in line. Honestly, I feel bad for the people that are waiting in those lines on warm days for well over an hour. We saw a few standby lines at 90 minutes. Do people just not know how to use fastpass? I truly feel bad for them. In past trips, we've often had extra fastpass at the end of the day, that we'll go find a lucky family or couple in line and give them our extras. It's so fun to put a smile on someone by sending them to the front of the line!
Later in the day, we quickly checked in our room. It was right above the disney store in downtown. Our view was somewhat obstructed by that globe thing right above the store. The room itself was clean and comfortable, but i think i'd prefer a different spot next time.
We headed off to the DL resort next. We had dinner reservations later at the Blue Bayou. This was our first time eating here. It was nice, good food, but VERY $$$. But you know what, it was our anniversary and i had a pretty flexible budget for stuff like this. I had the peppered steak, my wife had the Jambalaya. I think she was a little dissapointed, it was a little too spicy for her. Oh well, we've tried it. Don't know that i'll eat there again, but it was nice to go once.
We hung around to watch fantasmic after dinner. I didnt realize they had priority seating, otherwise i would have gotten that a month or so ago. But we ended up with somewhat decent viewing. This was our first time to stop and watch the show. Pretty amazing. I liked how they lit the water on fire :-)
By the time that was over, our feet were pretty tired and we mozied back to the GC. You know what, having that hotel is so convenient compared to our last trip, where we had to shuttle to get to it.
Day Two: We grabbed some breakfast downstairs at storytellers. The characters that came by were pretty fun to work with us, and my wife had a nice smile.
After breakfast, i suprised her with a trip to the spa! I got her the foot massage, and pedicure treatment. It must have taken her 3 hours or so. She came out afterwards SO happy begging for another trip to the spa. Her feet felt so good, and light as air. I kept myself busy grabbing some fastPass, and shopping.
I sweet-talked her into going on California Screaming at least once with me. I'm more big into the rides, although she has a few favorites as well.
Another relaxing day. No kids, just time to go at our own pace and RELAX, and go on some rides. She had never been on Tower of Terror before, but she absolutely LOVED it! She (and I) felt like she would fly out of her seat if it werent for those seatbelts.
In the evening, we at Dinner at storyTellers again. We had (2) dinner vouchers as part of our Costco travel package. Note to anyone else that gets these with their package: Each one of these vouchers is for one appetizer, one dinner, one drink, and one dessert. I didnt realize how big the portions were. I could have fed (3) people easily with each voucher. I think next time we go with our kids, we'll get these again and split among us. The appetizers themselves could have been dinner alone.
Day 3: Final day. We only have until 5pm, then we have to leave to go catch our flight. Today was another relaxing day. We did a few rides, but mostly caugh a lot of the shows in California Adventure park. We caught Alladin at the hyperion, which was quite nice. Also saw the muppets. I thought that was pretty cool, although my wife is blind in one eye so I dont think she gets the full 3D experience. She didnt see the characters coming off the screen like I would have.
We did a little bit of shopping in DD. Grabbed grandpa a pirate hat, and a few small items for the kids. We also had some coupons as part of our package from costco for build-a-bear, and snagged a bear each.
All in all, an very fantastic trip. Very relaxing, very romantic time with my wife. We'll be back for sure! I will probably take our kids to the GC hotel as well in the future.
Being that we haven't been to florida before, I'm sure either that or one of the disney cruises will be our next trip. Hopefully next year!
Travel Methdod: Delta/Alaska Air out of PDX
Resort: Grand Californian
Accomodations: Standard room, 2 Queens - booked thru Costco Travel
Ages: Wife and I are both 31
Disney Resort Experience: Wife grew up around DL, it's my 3rd trip in 3 years.
Comments: My wife and I were celebrating our 10-year anniversary. Although this trip is short, it was fantastic to leave the kids with Grandma/Grandpa. Normally we'd fly out of Seattle, but Grandparents live near PDX so it was more convenient.
Day One: Flew down on Delta on a 7am flight. Promptly arrived in LAX, and hopped on our supershuttle to the Grand. Have i told anyone how easy it is to fly with no kids, and only take carry-on? :-) Best trip ever
SuperShuttle dropped us off first which was nice. This was our first time at GC. Absolutely amazing detail, beautiful lobby. We were quickly pre-checked in. OUr rooms weren't quite ready yet, so we left our bags with the belldesk, and went over to Whitewater snacks to grab a quick bite to eat.
The parks own private entrance was perfect! Its supposed to be for hotel guests only, but i don't really think they care if anyone else was to show up. They never asked to see our hotel cards or anything. Zero wait time.
Since we're right by the Grizzly River run, we quickly went to grab some fastPass for a later ride. Oddly enough, we'd scan our cards and the ticket came out stating that our card was invalid. We went back to the entrance, and the CM was nice enough to give us 2 temporary fastPass cards that would work all day. Went back to Grizzly, and got our fastPass.
Headed down to Soarin. A thought crossed my mind, and wondered if there was just an issue with our cards at Grizzly. Since we had used the temporary cards to get fastPass at Grizzly, i tried our real parkhopper passes at Soarin, and IT WORKED! Fantastic. Now we have (4) cards to use all day to get fastPass for the 2 of us.
A quick note on Fastpass. We're pretty good experts on getting full use of these and NEVER waiting in any standby line. Our basic rule is if the standby line is more than 10 or 15 minutes, we don't wait in line. Honestly, I feel bad for the people that are waiting in those lines on warm days for well over an hour. We saw a few standby lines at 90 minutes. Do people just not know how to use fastpass? I truly feel bad for them. In past trips, we've often had extra fastpass at the end of the day, that we'll go find a lucky family or couple in line and give them our extras. It's so fun to put a smile on someone by sending them to the front of the line!
Later in the day, we quickly checked in our room. It was right above the disney store in downtown. Our view was somewhat obstructed by that globe thing right above the store. The room itself was clean and comfortable, but i think i'd prefer a different spot next time.
We headed off to the DL resort next. We had dinner reservations later at the Blue Bayou. This was our first time eating here. It was nice, good food, but VERY $$$. But you know what, it was our anniversary and i had a pretty flexible budget for stuff like this. I had the peppered steak, my wife had the Jambalaya. I think she was a little dissapointed, it was a little too spicy for her. Oh well, we've tried it. Don't know that i'll eat there again, but it was nice to go once.
We hung around to watch fantasmic after dinner. I didnt realize they had priority seating, otherwise i would have gotten that a month or so ago. But we ended up with somewhat decent viewing. This was our first time to stop and watch the show. Pretty amazing. I liked how they lit the water on fire :-)
By the time that was over, our feet were pretty tired and we mozied back to the GC. You know what, having that hotel is so convenient compared to our last trip, where we had to shuttle to get to it.
Day Two: We grabbed some breakfast downstairs at storytellers. The characters that came by were pretty fun to work with us, and my wife had a nice smile.
After breakfast, i suprised her with a trip to the spa! I got her the foot massage, and pedicure treatment. It must have taken her 3 hours or so. She came out afterwards SO happy begging for another trip to the spa. Her feet felt so good, and light as air. I kept myself busy grabbing some fastPass, and shopping.
I sweet-talked her into going on California Screaming at least once with me. I'm more big into the rides, although she has a few favorites as well.
Another relaxing day. No kids, just time to go at our own pace and RELAX, and go on some rides. She had never been on Tower of Terror before, but she absolutely LOVED it! She (and I) felt like she would fly out of her seat if it werent for those seatbelts.
In the evening, we at Dinner at storyTellers again. We had (2) dinner vouchers as part of our Costco travel package. Note to anyone else that gets these with their package: Each one of these vouchers is for one appetizer, one dinner, one drink, and one dessert. I didnt realize how big the portions were. I could have fed (3) people easily with each voucher. I think next time we go with our kids, we'll get these again and split among us. The appetizers themselves could have been dinner alone.
Day 3: Final day. We only have until 5pm, then we have to leave to go catch our flight. Today was another relaxing day. We did a few rides, but mostly caugh a lot of the shows in California Adventure park. We caught Alladin at the hyperion, which was quite nice. Also saw the muppets. I thought that was pretty cool, although my wife is blind in one eye so I dont think she gets the full 3D experience. She didnt see the characters coming off the screen like I would have.
We did a little bit of shopping in DD. Grabbed grandpa a pirate hat, and a few small items for the kids. We also had some coupons as part of our package from costco for build-a-bear, and snagged a bear each.
All in all, an very fantastic trip. Very relaxing, very romantic time with my wife. We'll be back for sure! I will probably take our kids to the GC hotel as well in the future.
Being that we haven't been to florida before, I'm sure either that or one of the disney cruises will be our next trip. Hopefully next year!