Travel dates: June 25th, 2007 to June 29th, 2007
Travel method: Airplane
Resort: Disneyland Resort
Accommodations: Grand Californian Hotel (3 rooms)
Ages Represented in Group: 15, 19, 22, 43, 46, 68 & 69
DL Experience Represented in Group: All Disney Vetrans
Comments: Crowded Parks, Great Weather, Good Fun & Some Unmagical Moments
Cast of characters: Fred (my dad), Lyn (his fiance), Pat (me), Eileen (my wife), Kevin (my son), Katie (my daughter) & Jason (her fiance)

Pictures of our trip available at http://www.thompent.com/disneyland/disney2007/index.html

Day 1 (Monday, June 25th):
Fred & Lyn flew down from Sacramento a day ahead of the rest of us. They enjoyed Downtown Disney at places like Tortilla Joe's for lunch & margaritas, and visited the other DTD stores, but they did not go to the parks this day. They waited for us to arrive the next morning. Took some pictures from their park view room and enjoyed a relaxing travel day.

Day 2 (Tuesday, June 26th)
Rising to the alarm clock at 3:50am to take showers and get ready to go, Katie & Jason came over at 4:15am and at 4:30am we were on the road to the airport for our 6:30am flight to John Wayne Aiport. Check-in was quick and we waited at the terminal for our very pleasantly uncrowded flight on Aloha Airlines. Everything went smoothly. We landed right on time at 8:00am and since we didn't check any luggage, we made our way toward the pick-up zone.

I went to the restroom and snuck a phone call to the A-Limo King to check on our surprise limo that my family did not know about. Unfortunately our flight had changed times in the last few months and so we arrived about 30 minutes earlier than our original plan and the Limo wouldn't arrive until about 8:40am. My family asked if we were taking a Taxi (No), if we were taking a Shuttle (No).. and so during the wait I think they sort of figured out this surprise. Once the limo arrived we piled in and headed off.

My family (except Fred & Lyn) thought we were staying at the Best Western Park Place Inn but I had clued the Limo company earlier to my surprise that we were actually going to the Grand Californian. As we pulled around the back side of the resort my wife says "Honey, I think he's going to the wrong place" and I feigned my surprise. When he pulled up to the lobby check-in area, I said "Well, I guess we'll just have to stay here". The smiles were all around. My daughter started giggling, she loves the GCH. Fred & Lyn were there to greet us and capture the surprise on camera.

Our room wouldn't be ready until 3:00pm but we were able to check our bags and enjoy breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe before going to DCA.

Gotta Go for now, but I will continue this report later.

Day 2, Continued
We went into DCA, grabbed some FastPasses for Soarin' Over California and Grizzly River Run then went on into the Hollywood Backlot to check out Aladdin show times. Unfortunately the Hyperion Theater is dark on Tuesdays, so this would have to wait for another day. However, it was still early in DCA and the wait for Tower of Terror was short. Except for Fred & Lyn, we all went for a ride.

It seems as though California Screamin' was opening late (1:00pm) each day we were there, so we went back to use our FastPasses for Soarin' and checked out a few other things at DCA. We all rode on Grizzly River Run and got soaked, so we went up to Fred & Lyn's room (#4448 Park View) so they could towel off and change. They decided to stay and take a nap, so after that the rest of us headed over to the crowded Disneyland park and got FastPasses for Space Mountain and went on over to Buzz. Jason hadn't been to the park in 12 years. He really enjoyed Buzz.

We had priority seating reservations for 5:30pm at Blue Bayou, so we all decided to meet there about 5:20pm. We took the opportunity to roam the park a bit and take a ride on Pirates of the Carribbean. We really liked the changes they've made. The likeness to Johnny Depp's Captain Jack is excellent. We went to Haunted Mansion and took a ride before meeting up at Blue Bayou.

I had made priority seating reservations 60 days prior to our trip and they had us down. This was my dad's treat, so we were disappointed when after we told them we were all here, we waited 40 minutes before my dad checked on the delay. Finally after about a 50 minute wait, we finally got seated. We hadn't asked for a water side table, nor did we get one. We were seated in a cove right next to the kitchen. Fortinately, the service was good once we got in but my daughter was disappointed that they did not serve the Monte Cristo at dinner time. Her backup plan was to get the PB&J sandwich that she remembers so fondly. Her memory has a mickey shaped crustless sandwich stuffed to the gills with peanut butter. What they didn't tell her was that they deep fry that sandwich too.. which is not what she was after. Strike 1 in her attempts to get the PB&J.

The Dad's, Mom's & Grandpas were tiring out.. My excuse was the 3:50am wake up call. So we headed back for a nightcap at the hearthstone lounge while the kids hung out at Disneyland.

Day 2 Magic Moment: The surprise of arriving at the GCH
Day 2 UnMagic Moment: Blue Bayou letting our reservation fall through the cracks.

Day 3 (Wednesday, June 27th)
This day we had Priority Seating reservations for Goofy's Kitchen at 7:00am. This breakfast was my treat. We got there about 6:55am and I was first in line. I remembered to present my AAA card for a 10% discount this time and we got right in. The omelettes and all of the buffet food was good. We had some nice character interaction and everything went well. This wasn't an early entry day, so we thought we'd do pretty well taking the monorail to tomorrowland at about 7:50am. We boarded monorail purple and oops! We broke down. The captain told us how he was restarting certain things and comparing it to rebooting your computer. We were stuck there for about 25 minutes. The worst part was, we were stuck right over the entrance area and it was a bit frustrating watching everyone going into the park while we were dead on the rail. They finally shut down all power and repowered up which did the trick. We hit tomorrowland station about 8:25.

Unfortunately, the line for Nemo was already back to It's a Small World and so we opted to go to Innoventions and try and see Asimo. His first show isn't until noon, so we cruised on into the rest of the park. Star Tours (Jason's a big Star Wars fan, loves that ride), Buzz Lightyear (where I kicked my video gaming guru son's butt) and off to Splash Mountain for FastPasses. We rode the Jungle Cruise (great skipper) then Indiana Jones. I can't recall exactly where our time went, but we were able to get on Splash later and we got absolutely soaked! Next we went to the store in Pooh Corner where we looked at clothes and picked up some Candy. I got Eileen a chocolate/caramel covered marshmallow treat, I had some chocolate & nut covered english toffee, my son had something with marshmallows, cookie crumbs and a gummy worm on it.

By this time, my right foot started bothering me. Right along the edge of the outside of my foot and this painful condition would only get worse as I walked. I'd have to put up with this for the rest of my trip :(

We went into Downtown Disney to find a place to eat but all the restaurants seemed to have a 2 hour wait, so we headed over to the Disneyland Hotel where I suggested we try Hooke's Point. The kids decided that was too pricey for them so they went over to Croc's & Bits and had cheeseburgers while we waited for our table. We got inside just about 15 minutes later which was good. Our waitress took our drink orders and appetizers and that was good. Unfortunately, the kitchen lost or misrouted our ticket and from appetizer time we waited almost an hour before anyone addressed us again. A party of 10 that came in after us was served before us and my dad got a little bit cranky. The waitress totally passed the buck to the kitchen for the problem - but we feel she should have been checking with them at regular intervals. She finally said, after an hour, "they have just pulled up your ticket". My dad told her nevermind, we were leaving when they said "oh, your dinner is ready". My dad had ordered the galley shrimp which arrived cold. I had the special, mahi mahi with shrimp which was also cold and the mahi was very dry. My wife's pork chop was good and hot and so we figure they had used hers for the party of 10 and had to cook a new one while our food sat under a heat lamp or something. Anyhow, we talked to the manager who didn't manage very well and offered us either a free dessert or 10% off. We took the discount (thinking it should have been much more) and left that episode behind us.

It was about 8:30pm by this time and we headed back through DTD. My wife generally turns in early, so we made a couple of stops on the way back to the hotel. I told her I wanted to take some nighttime pictures at DCA, but not realizing they closed at 9:00 I didn't have a lot of time. I took the Grizzly Peak night shots, the Fantasia hat entrance shot at DLH and the California shot before heading back to the room.

By the way, they gave us rooms 4441 & 4443 - adjoining and just across the hall and a couple of doors down from Fred & Lyn. Ours was a downtown disney sort of view with our rooms being near the Disneyland entrance over the World of Disney Store. It was a long walk to these rooms. Next time I'm going to ask for some closer to the elevator! :)

When the kids got back, they were excited because they experienced a celebrity sighting: Nicholas Cage walked by while they were in line for the Matterhorn.

Day 3 Magic Moment: Nicholas Cage Sighting
Day 3 UnMagic Moments: Monorail Breakdown & Hooke's Point staff blunder.

Day 4 (Thursday, June 29th)
This would be our last day in the parks and our only early entry possibility. Katie told me that she and Jason were going to try to make it early and possibly get to Nemo. My wife indicated she wanted to sleep in, so when I awoke early took a shower and was going to head out the door to meet Katie & Jason, my wife said "I thought we were sleeping in?". I said, go ahead but I'm going to the park. And just as many best laid plans go up in smoke she says "Hold on, let me take a shower and I'll go with you".. there went any early entry hopes I had. We made it to the park about 7:45 which was too late to really get much of a head start. So we went to Space Mountain, waited in the stand-by line and just as we were "powering up" and heading up the first climb, the ride broke down. We all had to be evacuated. They compensated us with a front of the line ticket good for up to 5 people for any ride in the park.... except Nemo :( So we went on our way. We met up with Katie & Jason later in the day to see Asimo. Unfortunately the Asimo show is at Noon and it took about 10 minutes to get through the innoventions entrance. We went upstairs and got to the Asimo show about 12:01. Too late, show already started. So we didn't get to see Asimo this trip.

We hooked up with Fred & Lyn and we all went to see Billy Hill & the Hillbillies. Great fun as always with a very spunky lady named Nikki Sue from the audience who had a great time being called up on stage to play the violin. We went to ride Great Thunder Mountain Railroad and then decided to head off in our separate ways. Eileen and I went to meet Fred & Lyn at Wine Country Trattoria but we were going to eat with the kids, so we hung out with them while they enjoyed some wine & lasagna, then got the call from Katie to meet at Rainforest Cafe.. Well, that was a 2 hour wait even at 7:00 at night, so we went back to the Hotel.

We met up later for dinner and decided on Storytellers Cafe. The boys wanted Whitewater Snacks but were too lazy to figure out that you could order your burger at the register.. so they came over to Storytellers a few minutes later.

I attempted to go with the kids after dinner back to Disneyland, but I didn't even make it out of the Hotel as my foot was just hurting too bad. So I took some night shots around GCH and went back to the room to watch TV with Eileen, capture some Fireworks pictures from our room and turn in for our early rise in the morning to catch our 7:45 flight home.

This day was the lightest as far as crowds go. Tuesday and Wednesday had been very busy. Even DCA had it going on. Anyone who claims DCA is a failure should have been there last week! Unfortunately, with a group of 7, things get run by committee which is pretty inefficient. We didn't get to ride nearly as many rides as usual - partly due to crowds, partly due to the contraints of a larger group. I'm glad we did this, but I likely won't do another trip like this again. I prefer Disneyland in my smaller family groups of 2 to 4.

Got back last Friday from our Disneyland trip last week. You can read all about it in the Trip Reports from California (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/forumdisplay.php?f=53)forum.

You can see the pictures ..::||HERE||::.. (http://www.thompent.com/disneyland/disney2007/index.html)

All in all it was fun. The Limo I surprised my family with wasn't as much of a surprise as the upgrade to the GCH Hotel surprise. The crowds there were thick with Thursday seeming to be the most manageable day.

Enough went wrong that I decided against the AP. If we decide to go again in January - and I think we will - we'll just get the tickets then. Who knows, maybe AAA will bring back the enhanced FastPass!?!? One can only hope.

Loved looking at your photos. Thanks for sharing them

Thank you for sharing!:) I am going to check out your trip report.

It looks like you had a great time. Looking at your pics makes me want to go NOW, NOW,NOW. I cant wait for my own trip. And the limo looked great, Im glad you got it all done.:D

And did you ride Nemo and if so how was the line?

Thanks for the report. I understand what you mean about going with a big group. There was 8 of us last time and it makes it alot harder. I am sorry you had a bad experience at the Blue Bayou. That is always one of my favorite things to do on our trip. Hopefully next time you have better luck with your meals :)

Great report. Thanks.

Where was photo dlr0607-090 taken? Is that at DCA? If so whereabouts, looks like a fun spot.

http://www.thompent.com/disneyland/disney2007/pictures/slides/dlr0607-090.html

Thanks for the report. Upon reading it, I was reminded why I never go during the summer as it's just too crowded... january should be much more relaxing:)

Great report. Thanks.

Where was photo dlr0607-090 taken? Is that at DCA? If so whereabouts, looks like a fun spot.

http://www.thompent.com/disneyland/disney2007/pictures/slides/dlr0607-090.html

That is the Cove Bar in DCA. It is over Ariel's Grotto and faces the California Screamin' coaster. I forgot to mention that in my trip report, but we had a great time relaxing in the shade there.. That was the first day :)

I had an orange freeze and so did my daughter. Jason had some kind of blue-tini and my dad went foo foo with a pina colada. Lynn sticks with wine. My wife had a Tanguerey (sp?) & tonic and my son probably did something with blue raspberry. It is a full bar, so you can get whatever beverage you desire. Good place.

It is a full bar, so you can get whatever beverage you desire. Good place.

Thanks I never knew that was up there. I always settle for a beer at the Pier area....now I know!

Thanks for the report. Upon reading it, I was reminded why I never go during the summer as it's just too crowded... january should be much more relaxing:)

I always view a Disneyland family trip as escaping.. but not necessarily relaxing. There's too much I normally want to do.. so relaxing by the pool or in my room just isn't usually on the agenda.

My wife and I have discussed January, however.. and we think that the lesser crowds as well as just being the two of us will allow us to wander and stroll and take in everything. All of the stores, attractions, shows.. we'll only be there for two days, but we won't be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. That is my desire anyway.. we'll be in relaxed mode anyhow since we'll have just gotten off the ship from our 7 day cruise that morning ;)

Thanks I never knew that was up there. I always settle for a beer at the Pier area....now I know!

Yeah, and they also have some interesting appetizers too.. lobster nachos & onion ring loaf just to name a couple.

:cool: pictures, thanks for sharing.

THis is not what I want to be reminded of right before we head down there in a few weeks...sigh. I'm happy we'll be there a full week so maybe we can fit some stuff in that you mixed and escape the crowds a bit. Yeah, going with a big group can be a pain. I definitely appreciate my family's style of splitting up a lot when travelling together-makes it easier. Thanks for the report!

I'm really curious to compare the July and August crowds. I've only been to D-Land in late June, August, and New Year's, and noticed that of those three times, late June is lighter, but they're all pretty bad crowd-wise. I now have this goal that I will try D-Land out at least one time for each month of the year over my next many trips. That way I can really compare and contrast first-hand!

-Foodie :D

We head there in 11 days. We are heading up a total group of 20 (plus dog). :) Actually, we enjoy going in big groups. 8 of the people we are going with have never "stopped and smelled the roses" at Disneyland. They've never been to Billy Hill, Aladdin, Fantasmic!, the parades, etc... They have always been the ride-ride-ride types. They have told us we are in charge, they will follow us. We plan on doing all we can to intro them to a new side of Disneyland.

I've been to DL a few times in June, during various times of the day, and I guess I should chime in a few cents...

The first time I went was June 11th - the opening day for Finding Nemo. Needless to say it was crazy. However, Nemo had the benefit of sucking out the line and the crowds from the other lands, which actually made things much more bearable around New Orleans Square and Adventureland.

I went next a few days later, on a Saturday. It was decidedly more crowded than before. However, I did seem to notice that there was a large crowd of candy ravers (probably numbering several hundred) that were there. The lines were still not terrible, considering fastpass and all that. I still managed to get on most of the rides I wanted to go to without a significant delay.

The next weekend, I decided to try my luck again. With the fireworks and Fantasmic returning, I really wanted to see the shows again. Again, the Nemo effect remained, and aside from the fireworks and Fantasmic crowds, I still found most crowds edging towards Nemo, but the effect of that seemed to be diminishing. Peter Pan was down that evening for some reason, so most other Fantasyland attractions were crowded. Nemo's line, however, did shorten to just shy of one hour by about 1130pm, and a few people were still getting in line...

Nonetheless, I think with some careful planning (and avoiding Nemo for now), it should be bearable to more people. While the weather has warmed up significantly the past week, that may actually deter some of the local crowds from going to DL... so the weather may or may not be a double edged sword. I always try to go in the evening so as to avoid the weather and some of the crowds.

The threads have been merged to keep discussion of the trip report with the trip report thread.

How interesting this should come up as a topic. I was just remarking last night that I will never go to WDW again in the summer. (Being local Disneyland is a day trip.) Between the heat and the crowds it was horrible.

As to when the busiest time of year is at DLR, it has to be Christmas. Having worked at DLR going on six years now hands down it is the most crowded. The Summer season (offerings and hours) is three months long. Christmas offerings though, only go on for about a month. Everyone jams in (the last two weeks of the year in particular) during that time frame to see the Christmas offerings. Gate closures happen regularly.

Thanks for the cogent explanation stan4d_steph, I appreciate it.

I always view a Disneyland family trip as escaping.. but not necessarily relaxing. There's too much I normally want to do.. so relaxing by the pool or in my room just isn't usually on the agenda.

My wife and I have discussed January, however.. and we think that the lesser crowds as well as just being the two of us will allow us to wander and stroll and take in everything. All of the stores, attractions, shows.. we'll only be there for two days, but we won't be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. That is my desire anyway.. we'll be in relaxed mode anyhow since we'll have just gotten off the ship from our 7 day cruise that morning ;)
Hi Pat;
My hubby and I have stayed at the Grand (sans teens). I have to say we have the most wonderful, relaxing time. We enjoy sitting on the balcony reading, eating at Napa, wine tasting in DCA, and watching shows that our boys refuse to sit through.
I hope you have a much more pleasant experience on your next 'non-family' trip!;)
kikid

Yep, my wife is not as big a Disneyland-a-holic as I am, but last night she said she's really looking forward to our trip there in January. Our plan is to make it relaxing, romantic, easy-going this time. We plan on wandering the entire park and maybe finding things we've overlooked in the past. This doesn't mean we won't be getting on Space Mountain, GTMRR, Pirates, etc.. just that we're not going to just run around trying to ride all the rides all the time as we usually do.

I wonder if I'll be able to get a 1 night stay at the Grand or the DLH?