Trip Reports
10-16-2005, 06:36 PM
* Time of Year: Fall
* Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations: Standard Room
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent (but soon to be veterans!)
* Comments: I'll just let Cheryl intro this one, "Brian - I feel like I know you! I really enjoy Mouseplanet - I go there daily. This sight keeps me excited about Disneyland, and is quite informative. This is my first trip report - I didn't know if I should write one or not, but finally just did it! Hope it comes through OK; it is a little long. - See you at the park!"
September 3-6, 2000
Introduction
Jim, my husband, 32 and I, Cheryl, 28 decided that after 6 years of marriage without a real vacation or a honeymoon (and working too hard) that we needed to go somewhere badly! I came up with Disneyland because of all my fond childhood memories and my love of thrill rides. Jim agreed this would be fun and we needed a vacation, but considered it more my vacation than his. He wanted to try and catch a baseball game or something different while we were there, but I talked him out of it. (Jim's lack of enthusiasm changed drastically once we got there!) We also decided to go to Universal Studios for one of our four days since I had never been there and Jim had not been there since he was a kid.
I started surfing the web to find out what was new at Disneyland, and WOW a lot has changed!! Mouseplanet.com of course was my favorite sight - and I'm so glad I found it because it definitely helped us have a more enjoyable trip. I originally scheduled our trip for 9/6 thru 9/9, but upon finding out that Big Thunder Mt was going to be closed for renovation I HAD to change our dates to 9/3 thru 9/6. That is one of my favorite rides and Jim had never been on it, so we decided to endure the Labor Day crowds.
9/2/00 Saturday
After 3 months of talking about Disneyland incessantly to everyone we know, it was finally time to go!! We did find ourselves very excited. That morning we did the last of the packing and discussed which ride we would go on first over breakfast. I won - we would make a beeline for Space Mt. My mom picked us up from our house, and we spent the night with my parents since they were driving us to the airport early for our flight at 6:50 am. They were also dog sitting for us. I was so anxious I could hardly sleep.
9/3/00 Sunday departure day!
I was up very early at 3:45am, but Jim decided to sleep in a little. We got to the airport in good time and had no trouble with our flight. We talked about Disneyland to the couple behind us on the plane. I know we must have been acting like a couple of kids. Once we got to LAX, I have to say they need better baggage claim signs. The sign for ours was pointing to the parking lot. Between us and the other confused travelers, we finally found it. We got our bags and got on the airport bus. (a new experience for both of us) The process was painless but the bus was hot and stinky. I think we will take the shuttle next time.
We got to our hotel (Best Western Anaheim Inn) at about 10:45 and we were able to check in almost right away. (only about a 10 min wait) We made our reservations for the Universal Studios transfer while we were waiting. Also painless. Our room was non-descript but clean. It had all we needed - we knew we would only be sleeping and showering there. I was disappointed, though; that we got a ground level because I noticed when we got there that you could probably see Space Mt. from your window on the higher floors. We quickly got our bags unpacked and headed for the park! The entrance was literally right across the street from our hotel. We liked this a lot.
We arrived at 11:30ish. Jim figured out that with a Flex pass you do not need to stand in the ticket line - that you can go straight to the turnstiles. We made it! I immediately took a picture of Jim in front of the Disneyland Railroad building, then we ventured on to Main Street. Disneyland is so cool.
Off to Space Mt.! We only had to wait about 30 minutes - I couldn't believe it! It being a holiday and a weekend I was very pleasantly surprised (I thought we would be waiting in line for an hour or more) In fact, we never waited more than about 35 minutes for anything and probably averaged about 15 to 20 minutes for each ride, if that. The Fastpass is wonderful for walking right on the rides. Well, Space Mt. is even better than I remembered it. The soundtrack is awesome!! It really added something. (if anyone knows where you can buy the actual soundtrack to Space Mt. - not the queue music, please let me know!!!) The ride seemed faster to me as an adult (it must be that getting old thing) and I had to hang on for dear life. What a stress reliever! Jim loved it too - we ended up riding it 13 times before our vacation was over. I thought I would remember step-by-step what we did, but without a writing pad, forget it. I gave up mid-day trying to remember everything in order.
We pushed pretty hard the rest of the day to get in as much as we could. I did make the grave mistake of riding Splash Mt. (Jim's favorite) without putting my feet up inside the log - and they got soaked. I walked around the rest of the day with wet socks and feet - and yes, I got horrible blisters. It was very hot - but my feet stayed wet. Blisters and all, however, I still had a wonderful time.
It is funny what you remember from your childhood - I remember the smell on the Pirates of Caribbean. Another one of our favorites. Jim desperately wanted the skull and crossbones t-shirt from pirates - but they were out of his size. This was a constant problem throughout our trip - a CM told us they were doing inventory in the park or something and were out of quite a few items. Oh-well, a good excuse to come back soon!! We didn't notice the maintenance problem on a large scale - we did notice a coke bottle lying on the beach at the entrance of pirates, and it seemed everywhere we ate, the table/counters were sticky or dirty. The good news is that when we went back the next day, the things we noticed were clean again. Our biggest frustration was the very rude visitors! We were rammed by strollers, and when we stopped for drinks at the Village Haus, this impatient guy pushed right in front of us (and others waiting) and demanded his coffee. This was the only restaurant we were disappointed in - the CMs seemed confused and frustrated and it took us almost a half hour to get two cokes with only 4 people ahead of us.
We also went on the Haunted Mansion and loved it. We of course rode Thunder Mt. quite a few times that day and we tried out the "goat trick" that I read about online. It works great! Jim and I (like 2 silly kids) yelled "Goat!" out loud every time so that we could get into position. We say that occasionally now to each other at home and giggle. This trip was so good for us. I made Jim go on the Matterhorn twice - but that was all he could take, as it hurt his back. He said it was just a little too jerky. We also went on Indy. We both loved the queue - but Jim was a little disappointed in the ride. He said it had been built up too much for him before hand - and it wasn't what he expected. However, we still enjoyed the ride. We ate at the Bengal barbecue also - which I thought was pretty good. Note: They no longer carry the shrunken heads in Adventureland shops! Bummer!
That evening we ate at the Blue Bayou. Unfortunately we got there too late to make reservations so we had to wait in line, which took about 45 minutes. We enjoyed our meal very much. The atmosphere is great and the staff is friendly. I had the Prime Rib, which was good, and Jim has the Shrimp Creole, which he liked as well. The calamari appetizer was a little tough, but very tasty. We did agree that it was a little over-priced, but oh well...
We thought about watching Fantasmic!, but we didn't want to waste our time getting a good spot and then having to sit there for 2 hours holding it - so we went on rides instead. This is a great time to go on rides - there are no lines! You can also catch the fireworks from pretty much anyplace in the park. My feet were pretty sore by the end of the evening but we stayed until the midnight close. We slept like rocks...
9/4/00 - Monday Day 2 Disneyland
We decided to use our Magic Morning entrance today at 7:30am. We walked right in and there was hardly anyone there!! We stopped at the Blue Ribbon Bakery to get our coffee fix. We both had mochas - yum!! I had the lemon bundt cake and Jim had the chocolate croissant. We agreed this was our favorite part of the trip. The bakery is fabulous and the atmosphere early in the morning on Main Street was very charming. We goofed around and took lots of pictures before the crowds arrived.
We proceeded to go to Space Mt., which we rode 5 times in a row. Let me tell you, this is a better wake-up than coffee. The sign said it was a 30 min wait, but there was NO wait! We walked on all 5 times. The longest part was walking through the queue! Uphill, ughh. We also went on Star Tours, then onto our Magic Morning breakfast at the Tomorrowland Terrace. The lines were even lighter than the previous day - no more than 10 min waits all day! (we did use a lot of fastpasses, though)We repeated all our favorite rides today: Splash, Pirates, HM, Thunder Mt, Indy, then added Small World (Jim made me go on this) and Mr. Toad. We also rode the train over to Toontown and went on the go coaster. It is a cute ride, but way too short! It also seemed hotter there, not as much shade. We did a lot of resting this day - my feet were in bad shape. We are smokers and were glad they still had places to smoke in the park - complete with shade and all! I hope they don't get rid of them all together - it would really be a drag to have to keep going outside the main gate.
We ate at Blue Bayou again, but made reservations this time. Again, dinner was pretty good - Jim had the prime rib this time and I had the special of tenderloin and crab cakes - yum. We also had the calamari again. After dinner we did some shopping and got our picture/frame for Splash Mt. We looked pretty silly - but it is a must to have. We rode the train again - then I needed to go back to the hotel to rest a little and put more bandages on my poor feet. We did go back to the park for a few more hours that night - I just couldn't stay away! When we went on Small World, the fireworks finale was in perfect view while we were getting into the boat. Beautiful! We even managed to catch a glimpse of Tinkerbell on her way down...I'm glad I got to see that.
9/5/00 Day 3 - Tuesday, Universal Studios
We caught the Pacific Coast bus to Universal Studios today. I ended up wearing my flip-flops because my feet wouldn't fit into my sneakers! I was much more comfortable this way. We loved the Jurassic Park ride - I loved getting completely soaked - seriously soaked. We even had to buy a towel and of course we bought our picture. The tram ride was interesting - good time to sit and relax. This was a very low-key day. We had "adult time" today being able to smoke anywhere in the park and yes, we did have some beers - they taste so good when it is hot. We went on Backdraft, ET, Back to the Future and saw the Terminator 2 show. T2 was very cool! The others were a bit of a yawn. We wanted to see the Waterworld show, but time was running out and Jim wanted to see the Citywalk - so that is what we did the remainder of the day. Jim got a few t-shirts and hats and we ate lunch at the Hard Rock Café. Good food, good atmosphere - and there was no one there! Citywalk is neat - but if you get motion sickness, I would not recommend the Nascar simulation!! We both felt sick after that and had to sit for a while. The only gripe we have is we didn't have enough time at the park - we would not have been able to do even half of what we did if the park had been crowded...and our bus was very late. It was supposed to come at 5pm sharp - but we sat and sat and by 6pm we gave up sitting in the scorching sun and went to go to the bathroom and get something to drink. By the time we got back - the bus had come and gone and we had to pay 80 bucks to take a cab back to our hotel. Other than that, it was a nice, relaxing day. Bless the person who put in the escalators!!
9/6/00 - Day 4 - Our last day at Disneyland
We got to sleep in a little today - the park did not open until 10am. We had breakfast at Denny's next to our hotel, and then headed to the park. We were so sad that this was our last day. Who would have thought this would be so much fun! I had to wear my flip flops again, but it worked out - thank God I brought them!
The lines were the shortest of all today. We got in the last of our favorite rides - including a couple of Pirates and Haunted Mansions. We also decided we might as well try the rocket rods before they close down just to say we had been on them. They were as dull as everyone had warned - but we were so enthralled with our vacation that nothing could bring us down. We ate lunch at the Hungry Bear - which was pretty good. Jim was bummed that the Thunder BBQ was closed - we didn't know it was only open on weekends or we would have gone earlier. We did more shopping today - taking frequent breaks. I also had to do the Tiki room for old time's sake. We started our vacation with Space Mt, and we ended it with Space Mt. We were both tired, but it was so hard to leave. We had to go at 5pm. Our airport bus did not come - but a nice shuttle driver accepted our vouchers and took us to the airport. Boohoo, back to reality. Jim decided that he wants to come back every year - maybe twice a year! Yeah!! I think the Disney magic got in his blood...
Cheryl Arnold
* Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations: Standard Room
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent (but soon to be veterans!)
* Comments: I'll just let Cheryl intro this one, "Brian - I feel like I know you! I really enjoy Mouseplanet - I go there daily. This sight keeps me excited about Disneyland, and is quite informative. This is my first trip report - I didn't know if I should write one or not, but finally just did it! Hope it comes through OK; it is a little long. - See you at the park!"
September 3-6, 2000
Introduction
Jim, my husband, 32 and I, Cheryl, 28 decided that after 6 years of marriage without a real vacation or a honeymoon (and working too hard) that we needed to go somewhere badly! I came up with Disneyland because of all my fond childhood memories and my love of thrill rides. Jim agreed this would be fun and we needed a vacation, but considered it more my vacation than his. He wanted to try and catch a baseball game or something different while we were there, but I talked him out of it. (Jim's lack of enthusiasm changed drastically once we got there!) We also decided to go to Universal Studios for one of our four days since I had never been there and Jim had not been there since he was a kid.
I started surfing the web to find out what was new at Disneyland, and WOW a lot has changed!! Mouseplanet.com of course was my favorite sight - and I'm so glad I found it because it definitely helped us have a more enjoyable trip. I originally scheduled our trip for 9/6 thru 9/9, but upon finding out that Big Thunder Mt was going to be closed for renovation I HAD to change our dates to 9/3 thru 9/6. That is one of my favorite rides and Jim had never been on it, so we decided to endure the Labor Day crowds.
9/2/00 Saturday
After 3 months of talking about Disneyland incessantly to everyone we know, it was finally time to go!! We did find ourselves very excited. That morning we did the last of the packing and discussed which ride we would go on first over breakfast. I won - we would make a beeline for Space Mt. My mom picked us up from our house, and we spent the night with my parents since they were driving us to the airport early for our flight at 6:50 am. They were also dog sitting for us. I was so anxious I could hardly sleep.
9/3/00 Sunday departure day!
I was up very early at 3:45am, but Jim decided to sleep in a little. We got to the airport in good time and had no trouble with our flight. We talked about Disneyland to the couple behind us on the plane. I know we must have been acting like a couple of kids. Once we got to LAX, I have to say they need better baggage claim signs. The sign for ours was pointing to the parking lot. Between us and the other confused travelers, we finally found it. We got our bags and got on the airport bus. (a new experience for both of us) The process was painless but the bus was hot and stinky. I think we will take the shuttle next time.
We got to our hotel (Best Western Anaheim Inn) at about 10:45 and we were able to check in almost right away. (only about a 10 min wait) We made our reservations for the Universal Studios transfer while we were waiting. Also painless. Our room was non-descript but clean. It had all we needed - we knew we would only be sleeping and showering there. I was disappointed, though; that we got a ground level because I noticed when we got there that you could probably see Space Mt. from your window on the higher floors. We quickly got our bags unpacked and headed for the park! The entrance was literally right across the street from our hotel. We liked this a lot.
We arrived at 11:30ish. Jim figured out that with a Flex pass you do not need to stand in the ticket line - that you can go straight to the turnstiles. We made it! I immediately took a picture of Jim in front of the Disneyland Railroad building, then we ventured on to Main Street. Disneyland is so cool.
Off to Space Mt.! We only had to wait about 30 minutes - I couldn't believe it! It being a holiday and a weekend I was very pleasantly surprised (I thought we would be waiting in line for an hour or more) In fact, we never waited more than about 35 minutes for anything and probably averaged about 15 to 20 minutes for each ride, if that. The Fastpass is wonderful for walking right on the rides. Well, Space Mt. is even better than I remembered it. The soundtrack is awesome!! It really added something. (if anyone knows where you can buy the actual soundtrack to Space Mt. - not the queue music, please let me know!!!) The ride seemed faster to me as an adult (it must be that getting old thing) and I had to hang on for dear life. What a stress reliever! Jim loved it too - we ended up riding it 13 times before our vacation was over. I thought I would remember step-by-step what we did, but without a writing pad, forget it. I gave up mid-day trying to remember everything in order.
We pushed pretty hard the rest of the day to get in as much as we could. I did make the grave mistake of riding Splash Mt. (Jim's favorite) without putting my feet up inside the log - and they got soaked. I walked around the rest of the day with wet socks and feet - and yes, I got horrible blisters. It was very hot - but my feet stayed wet. Blisters and all, however, I still had a wonderful time.
It is funny what you remember from your childhood - I remember the smell on the Pirates of Caribbean. Another one of our favorites. Jim desperately wanted the skull and crossbones t-shirt from pirates - but they were out of his size. This was a constant problem throughout our trip - a CM told us they were doing inventory in the park or something and were out of quite a few items. Oh-well, a good excuse to come back soon!! We didn't notice the maintenance problem on a large scale - we did notice a coke bottle lying on the beach at the entrance of pirates, and it seemed everywhere we ate, the table/counters were sticky or dirty. The good news is that when we went back the next day, the things we noticed were clean again. Our biggest frustration was the very rude visitors! We were rammed by strollers, and when we stopped for drinks at the Village Haus, this impatient guy pushed right in front of us (and others waiting) and demanded his coffee. This was the only restaurant we were disappointed in - the CMs seemed confused and frustrated and it took us almost a half hour to get two cokes with only 4 people ahead of us.
We also went on the Haunted Mansion and loved it. We of course rode Thunder Mt. quite a few times that day and we tried out the "goat trick" that I read about online. It works great! Jim and I (like 2 silly kids) yelled "Goat!" out loud every time so that we could get into position. We say that occasionally now to each other at home and giggle. This trip was so good for us. I made Jim go on the Matterhorn twice - but that was all he could take, as it hurt his back. He said it was just a little too jerky. We also went on Indy. We both loved the queue - but Jim was a little disappointed in the ride. He said it had been built up too much for him before hand - and it wasn't what he expected. However, we still enjoyed the ride. We ate at the Bengal barbecue also - which I thought was pretty good. Note: They no longer carry the shrunken heads in Adventureland shops! Bummer!
That evening we ate at the Blue Bayou. Unfortunately we got there too late to make reservations so we had to wait in line, which took about 45 minutes. We enjoyed our meal very much. The atmosphere is great and the staff is friendly. I had the Prime Rib, which was good, and Jim has the Shrimp Creole, which he liked as well. The calamari appetizer was a little tough, but very tasty. We did agree that it was a little over-priced, but oh well...
We thought about watching Fantasmic!, but we didn't want to waste our time getting a good spot and then having to sit there for 2 hours holding it - so we went on rides instead. This is a great time to go on rides - there are no lines! You can also catch the fireworks from pretty much anyplace in the park. My feet were pretty sore by the end of the evening but we stayed until the midnight close. We slept like rocks...
9/4/00 - Monday Day 2 Disneyland
We decided to use our Magic Morning entrance today at 7:30am. We walked right in and there was hardly anyone there!! We stopped at the Blue Ribbon Bakery to get our coffee fix. We both had mochas - yum!! I had the lemon bundt cake and Jim had the chocolate croissant. We agreed this was our favorite part of the trip. The bakery is fabulous and the atmosphere early in the morning on Main Street was very charming. We goofed around and took lots of pictures before the crowds arrived.
We proceeded to go to Space Mt., which we rode 5 times in a row. Let me tell you, this is a better wake-up than coffee. The sign said it was a 30 min wait, but there was NO wait! We walked on all 5 times. The longest part was walking through the queue! Uphill, ughh. We also went on Star Tours, then onto our Magic Morning breakfast at the Tomorrowland Terrace. The lines were even lighter than the previous day - no more than 10 min waits all day! (we did use a lot of fastpasses, though)We repeated all our favorite rides today: Splash, Pirates, HM, Thunder Mt, Indy, then added Small World (Jim made me go on this) and Mr. Toad. We also rode the train over to Toontown and went on the go coaster. It is a cute ride, but way too short! It also seemed hotter there, not as much shade. We did a lot of resting this day - my feet were in bad shape. We are smokers and were glad they still had places to smoke in the park - complete with shade and all! I hope they don't get rid of them all together - it would really be a drag to have to keep going outside the main gate.
We ate at Blue Bayou again, but made reservations this time. Again, dinner was pretty good - Jim had the prime rib this time and I had the special of tenderloin and crab cakes - yum. We also had the calamari again. After dinner we did some shopping and got our picture/frame for Splash Mt. We looked pretty silly - but it is a must to have. We rode the train again - then I needed to go back to the hotel to rest a little and put more bandages on my poor feet. We did go back to the park for a few more hours that night - I just couldn't stay away! When we went on Small World, the fireworks finale was in perfect view while we were getting into the boat. Beautiful! We even managed to catch a glimpse of Tinkerbell on her way down...I'm glad I got to see that.
9/5/00 Day 3 - Tuesday, Universal Studios
We caught the Pacific Coast bus to Universal Studios today. I ended up wearing my flip-flops because my feet wouldn't fit into my sneakers! I was much more comfortable this way. We loved the Jurassic Park ride - I loved getting completely soaked - seriously soaked. We even had to buy a towel and of course we bought our picture. The tram ride was interesting - good time to sit and relax. This was a very low-key day. We had "adult time" today being able to smoke anywhere in the park and yes, we did have some beers - they taste so good when it is hot. We went on Backdraft, ET, Back to the Future and saw the Terminator 2 show. T2 was very cool! The others were a bit of a yawn. We wanted to see the Waterworld show, but time was running out and Jim wanted to see the Citywalk - so that is what we did the remainder of the day. Jim got a few t-shirts and hats and we ate lunch at the Hard Rock Café. Good food, good atmosphere - and there was no one there! Citywalk is neat - but if you get motion sickness, I would not recommend the Nascar simulation!! We both felt sick after that and had to sit for a while. The only gripe we have is we didn't have enough time at the park - we would not have been able to do even half of what we did if the park had been crowded...and our bus was very late. It was supposed to come at 5pm sharp - but we sat and sat and by 6pm we gave up sitting in the scorching sun and went to go to the bathroom and get something to drink. By the time we got back - the bus had come and gone and we had to pay 80 bucks to take a cab back to our hotel. Other than that, it was a nice, relaxing day. Bless the person who put in the escalators!!
9/6/00 - Day 4 - Our last day at Disneyland
We got to sleep in a little today - the park did not open until 10am. We had breakfast at Denny's next to our hotel, and then headed to the park. We were so sad that this was our last day. Who would have thought this would be so much fun! I had to wear my flip flops again, but it worked out - thank God I brought them!
The lines were the shortest of all today. We got in the last of our favorite rides - including a couple of Pirates and Haunted Mansions. We also decided we might as well try the rocket rods before they close down just to say we had been on them. They were as dull as everyone had warned - but we were so enthralled with our vacation that nothing could bring us down. We ate lunch at the Hungry Bear - which was pretty good. Jim was bummed that the Thunder BBQ was closed - we didn't know it was only open on weekends or we would have gone earlier. We did more shopping today - taking frequent breaks. I also had to do the Tiki room for old time's sake. We started our vacation with Space Mt, and we ended it with Space Mt. We were both tired, but it was so hard to leave. We had to go at 5pm. Our airport bus did not come - but a nice shuttle driver accepted our vouchers and took us to the airport. Boohoo, back to reality. Jim decided that he wants to come back every year - maybe twice a year! Yeah!! I think the Disney magic got in his blood...
Cheryl Arnold