Travel dates: July 6-15
Travel method: Guided bus tour (I was the guide!)
Resort: Disneyland Resort (also Universal Studios, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo)
Accommodations: Super 8 on West Katella. We had 2-2Q motel rooms (door to the outside)
Ages Represented in Group: 9-45
DL Experience Represented in Group: Half of us had been, the other half had not

Comments: We had a FANTABULOUS time! I will be breaking down this trip into day-by-day posts, as otherwise this would be too long to read!

Cast of characters:

Me - Guess who? - Avowed Disney fanatic, second trip to DLR - age 22
DH - My husband, not quite as much of a fanatic, but still loves it, third trip for him - age 23
FIL - My father-in-law, second trip (first was 20+ years ago) - age 45
MIL - My mother-in-law, first trip - age 45
S - My brother-in-law, first trip - age 10 (almost 11)
A - My sister-in-law, first trip - age 9


An Introduction
This was my second trip to Disneyland, after going for the first time during the 50th for my honeymoon. Before, during and after that trip, I became a Disney nut, and started to plan for the next trip. Over the years, I have used discussion groups such as this one, websites and travel books to try to learn everything there is to know about Disneyland. As a result of this, I got a job working for a bus company in Saskatchewan, Canada as a tour guide for it's Disneyland bus tour (occuring 2-3 times a year). This was my first trip as a tour guide.

My husband's family also came for this trip - they had been saving up since A was born for a trip like this, so it was a big deal to them. They left it up to me to plan the activities for the trip in order for us to see and do as much as possible. With the help of Ridemax we were able to do everything that we wanted to - and more!

It is a 37-hour bus trip from my home to Anaheim, and we were in California for six-days. Our itinerary looked like this:

July 6 & 7 - On the bus.
July 8 - Disneyland Resort
July 9 - Disneyland Resort
July 10 - San Diego Zoo & Sea World
July 11 - Free day (we spent it at Disneyland) & Medieval Times
July 12 - Disneyland Resort
July 13 - Universal Studios
July 14 & 15 - Bus ride home!


Please feel free to ask any questions or clarifications, as I want to share what I have learned on our fantastic trip with others!

Coming next... Day one at the Disneyland Resort!

I'm fascinated already...

So you were working and your family came along as guests on your bus?

I'll be reading to find out about your "job" on the trip because this sounds like a really fun job to have! I am curious about the itinerary - did everyone on the bus go to DLR three days and go to Sea World and Universal the same day that you did?

I should probably let you type and see if you answer the questions before I ask them, huh?

Adrienne

Day 1 - Sunday July 8th

We arrived at the Super 8 on West Katella at about 9:30 on Saturday evening. DH, S and I grabbed everybody's CityPasses and went to the Park to redeem our tickets. I am so glad that we did that, as the line-ups the next morning were huge!

That morning, we left our motel at about 7:15 and arrived through bag check at about 7:35. The line-ups for the main entry were about to the monorail track, not too bad. The anticipation was intense! We had a Ridemax plan made and we were ready to go. According to our plan, Finding Nemo was to be our first ride, but we decided to skip it for another day, as I had heard how crazy the line-ups had been. Space Mountain had been our favorite ride on our previous trip, so we put that in instead.

When the gates opened, it was a madhouse! People were running, jogging and weaving in and out of traffic to get to the Subs. Boy, did we make the correct decision. Going through the tunnel and around the bend went by in a rush, but our first view of Sleeping Beauty's Castle was like we were the only people in the park. Both myself and DH got teary-eyed, and the kids eyes were as wide as saucers. It was a beautiful moment, but it couldn't last. We walked quickly to Space Mountain, where we were treated to a less than 5-minute wait! It was as great as we had remembered it, and everyone was all smiles when they got off.

(We had a FastPass runner to obtain FastPasses (either myself or DH). In interests of space, I am not going to note when they got the FastPasses, just when we used them).

After Space Mountain we rode Buzz Lightyear (high score in the group was 177,000 - not bad for first-timers!), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice (both with less than 5 minute waits), Splash Mountain (6 minute wait), Pirates of the Caribbean (walk-on) and Haunted Mansion (walk-on), all before 10:00!

We then used FastPasses for Indiana Jones (although we didn't need to!), rode Jungle Cruise (walk-on), Star Tours (10 minute wait) and used FastPasses to ride Splash Mountain again. By now it was about 12:15 and we needed to stop for a lunch break. We ate at the Hungry Bear Restaurant, on the bottom level by the bathrooms. It is nice and shady and cool down there, and we were able to watch the ducks fight over other people's food scraps.

We were impressed by the fact that we had managed to get half an hour ahead of our RideMax plan, and had rode two more attractions than what were scheduled - it was a great morning!

After our 45-minute lunch break we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (less than a 10 minute wait) again, watched the Enchanted Tiki Room show, used FastPasses to ride Space Mountain again, and rode the Mad Tea Cups (walk-on), before finding a spot at it's a small world mall to watch the parade. We got there about 25 minutes early, and had great seats! The parade was fun, and the kids really enjoyed it.

Once the parade finished, we used FastPasses to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Indiana Jones before taking the Monorail to Downtown Disney for supper at ESPN Zone. We love ESPN Zone because the portions are HUGE (big enough to split), and the food has always been fresh, tasty and fast. Supper was fantastic, and once everyone was stuffed, we headed back to Disneyland via the monorail. We rode the Matterhorn (10 minutes or so) before settling down at the Hub to save places for the Fireworks. We got good seats, right on the curb facing the castle. We didn't find out until about 20 minutes before the show started that we would have to stand, but that didn't bother us. The show was fantastic, and I had goosebumps throughout.

When the fireworks were over, FIL and MIL decided that the kids needed to go home to bed. My DH and I weren't ready to go yet, and armed with six Space Mountain FastPasses from earlier in the day, we rode Indiana Jones (10 minute wait) and then Space Mountain three times before we decided to call it a night at 11:00.

Summary:
Finding Nemo kept the lines for the other E-Tickets in the park short or non-existant for the first 3+ hours that the park was open. Throughout the day, attendance was not as crazy as we had expected, and we never waited more than 15 minutes for anything. This was done with the help of RideMax, which helped us immeasurably, as we never really had to decide what to do next!

Total attractions (including Tiki Room): 22
Shows, Parades, etc...: Watched Parade of Dreams and Remember, Dreams Come True! Also ate supper off-site in Downtown Disney.

Coming next: Day 2 at the Disneyland Resort!

adriennek, they weren't silly questions, because I didn't even think about that aspect of it, so I will talk abit about my job as a tour guide - "hostess" as I am known on the bus.

Originally we had planned to go on this trip as passengers, and we had all booked. I had made enquiries about working for the company in the future, and outlined my experiences and interests. In about May, I was contacted by the tour operator and asked if I would be willing to work as a hostess on this trip, as family issues were preventing him from attending. I jumped on the opportunity.

As a hostess, I was responsible for making sure that all of the passengers on the bus were aware of when we would be stopping (and for how long) when we were en route, passing along important information about the process at the Canadian-American border, ticket information, and information about how best to utilize the time in Southern California. In a nutshell, I tried to keep the passengers informed and answer any questions that might be asked.

Being a hostess is pretty easy, especially if you are an information and trivia nut like myself. You have to be friendly and available, but there isn't as much work as one might think. It is a great way for me to feed my Disney obsession from so far away.

Re: Itinerary The itinerary was set in advance, and City Passes were part of the tour package price. Days were set aside for San Diego and Universal Studios and transportation was included, so everyone went together. On the free day, there was an option for transportation to Newport Beach, but our family did not take it this time. As well, Medieval Times was an extra add-on, and about 12 of the 35 on the bus took advantage of it.

I hope this answered some of the questions - keep them coming, I love to talk about this trip!

More! More! :D

More! More! :D

Thanks for the vote of confidence - I should have another installment done by this evening - they take awhile type (I hope that they aren't too long).

Day 2 - Monday July 9th

This day was an Early Entry day. The 3-Day Parkhopper that comes with the CityPass has Early Entry on it, so we were really excited. We contemplated trying for Nemo during Early Entry, but as we were trying to do EVERYTHING in Disneyland, didn't think that we'd have the opportunity to experience the rest of the attractions in Fantasyland any other time.

We arrived at the entry gates at about 6:35, but when the lines opened up, there was an extra gate attendant, so we ended up at the front of the line. Once again it was a mad rush to Nemo, but we were able to take a leisurely stroll down Main Street, through the castle, and on to our first ride - Peter Pan. On our last trip DH and I had skipped Fantasyland all together, but we were both impressed by how well done Peter Pan was (we were the third and fourth people on the ride!). During our hour of Early Entry we also did the following, in this order (all were walk-on):
Dumbo
Matterhorn Bobsleds (Tomorrowland side this time)
Alice in Wonderland
Mad Tea Party
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Pinocchio's Daring Adventure
Snow White's Scary Adventure
King Arthur's Carousol

We also rode the Storybookland Canal Boats as soon as it opened (15 minute wait). This ride was cute, but we had a bad tour guide, so it wasn't as nice as it could have been - you could tell he was reciting a script. We then went to it's a small world and rode with no wait. Determining that we had finished Fantasyland (we decided not to ride Casey Jr's Circus Train) we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (MIL and A's favourite) and Pirates of the Caribbean (one of my favourites) before planning to head over to California Adventure for the rest of the morning.

On the way to Main Street from Pirates of the Caribbean, we took the bridge for the first time. As we were crossing the bridge, I saw a bit of a backlog happening at the exit to Tarzan's Treehouse. I looked a little closer and saw Cast Members handing out Dream Fastpasses. Needless to say we raced up that Treehouse as fast as humanly possible, but got stuck behind some very slow moving guests on the way down - we thought that we would be out of luck. Well - guess what? They were still there when we got out of the Treehouse (about 3 minutes after we first saw the "Dream Team" and the six of us were the lucky recipients of Dream Fastpasses.

(In case anyone doesn't know, Dream Fastpasses are two little cards on a lanyard with one tab for each of the attractions at both Disneyland and California Adventure that offer FastPass. At each attraction, you can enter the FastPass line and pull off your little tab and voila!)

Needless to say, our touring plan was changed. We made it our goal to ride every single ride that offered FastPass.

We did still head over to California Adventure. We started by riding Monsters Inc., where Roz complimented me on my glasses. We then watched MuppetVision 3D before heading off to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Myself and S loved the ride, but DH, MIL and A didn't like it very much. We watched Turtle Talk with Crush afterwards, to give everyone a chance to settle down a bit - that is such a fantastic show! Being close to noon by this point, we stopped for lunch and a 1/2 hour break at Award Weiner's (the pizza hot dog was very good).

After lunch we rode Grizzly River Rapids, but didn't get very wet, and took on Muhullod Madness (which is just like a ride at the fair - not Disney at all!). I wouldn't ride Muhullod Madness again unless there was absolutely no wait. The rest of the family (without DH and I) rode the Sun Wheel in the moving cars and really enjoyed it, before we made our way over to California Screamin'.

The last time we came to Disneyland, Screamin' had been closed due to that accident, so this was our first chance to ride it. Not wanting to appear scared for the kid's sake, we had to put on brave faces, even though both DH and I were terrified. We absolutely loved it - we screamed throughout, but it was the good kind of screaming. We are so glad that we took that opportunity. MIL and FIL skipped this one. After Screamin' we went to Soarin' over California and then ran back to ride Screamin' again, using FastPasses that we had grabbed earlier. After that, it was back to Disneyland.

At Disneyland we rode Splash Mountain (with our FastPass), Winnie the Pooh and then Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (also with FastPass). We had supper at Redd Rocket's in Tomorrowland - we split a pizza between us and boy was it good!

After supper we rode Autopia, before MIL, FIL and the kids headed off for an early night. DH and I had Riverside seating for Fantasmic! so we checked in, took the train over to Toontown, rode Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin, took the train back to New Orleans Square and rode Haunted Mansion before returning to our seats for Fantasmic!

I would highly recommend Riverside Seating for Fantasmic! We had a great server, who was highly attentive, the desserts were great (it was a boxed dessert with two each of: Mickey Rice Krispie treats, brownies, macaroons, chocolate covered strawberries and biscotti) and the view was fantastic. It really made you feel like a VIP with hosts/hostesses that were in ties and jackets, who asked people outside of the ropes to sit so that we could see, who answered all of our questions graciously and who never let us run out of beverages. It was also a treat to be able to watch the fireworks from the same, relatively comfy seats. We are planning to do it again on our next trip.

After the fireworks, we wanted to finish off our Dream Fastpasses, so we rode Indiana Jones and Space Mountain before calling it a night at about 11:20.

Summary:
Early Entry was a fantastic way for us to experience all of the rides in Fantasyland without sacrificing anything else. The Dream FastPasses made us feel very special, as people were constantly staring at them, asking us where we got them, and talking about us. It really made it easy for us to pack a lot into that one day. Combined with the Riverside seating, we felt very much like VIP's. This was a fantastic day, one that I will never forget.

Total attractions (including Turtle Talk): 33 (can you believe it?)
Shows, Parades, etc...: Watched Fantasmic! and Remember, Dreams Come True.

Coming next: The San Deigo Zoo and Sea World!

Day 3 - Tuesday July 10th

This was the day that we all piled onto the bus for a long drive to San Diego. We left at 8:00 and arrived at the San Diego Zoo at about 10:00 (we would have been there earlier, but we got stopped by a 15-minute long funeral procession).

One thing that I didn't realize was that the CityPass San Diego Zoo ticket got you the zoo tour by double-decker bus, as many trips around the zoo you wanted on the Zoo Express, and a trip on the SkyTram as well. The first thing that we did was take the 35-minute tour of the zoo, to get our bearings and decide what we wanted to do/see. The tour was a very good way to see about three-quarters of the animals at the zoo, which allowed us to skip many of them when it came time to walk the zoo.

After the tour was over DH and I went off on our own to explore. The first thing that we really wanted to see were the pandas, so we headed over to the panda viewing area. They were so cute, and soft and fuzzy - you just wanted to jump over the fence and hug one. After that we visited the hippo, ate lunch, and went over by the Children's Zoo to see the lizards, snakes, crocodiles and Galapagos Tortoises. Other than the pandas, the Tortoises were my favorite, as watching them move in such slow motion made us smile.

At about 2:30 we all were on the bus again and headed for Sea World. We had booked a Dolphin Encounter for MIL, so the first thing that we did was head over to the Dolphins to get her set up. After that we watched the Dolphin Show, and the Shamu Show. By then it was time for supper and we had the most amazing meal at the Calypso Bay Smokehouse (by the Dolphin Arena). The portions were huge, the meat so tender it fell off of the bone and the BBQ sauce was fantastic! DH and I had a half-chicken dinner between us, and along with a salad, could barely finish it.

After wiping our faces clean from all of that wonderful sauce, we headed over to watch Cirque du Mer, but because of the wind, many of the special effects/tricks were not able to work. Then we went to see the sharks, the manatees, the penguins (we were there for a good 1/2 hour) and the Wild Arctic exhibit (with polar bears and beluga whales). By this time we were getting tired, and we left the park at about 9:15, even though the bus wasn't leaving for home until 10:00. We arrived back at the hotel at about 11:30

Summary:

The zoo was pretty cool, but we didn't need any more time to see it, three and a half hours was enough for us.

Sea World was a lot of fun, we had to plan our day around the shows that we wanted to see, and were able to do pretty much everything that we wanted to.

Coming next: Day 3 at Disneyland (a 1/2 day)

Day 4 - Wednesday July 11th

Because we were going to Medieval Times for dinner, this was only a half-day at Disneyland.

We arrived at the park by 7:30 and were ready to get in as much as possible. We started out on Space Mountain, which we rode twice in a row with no wait on the first ride and about 3 minutes on the second. After that we went on Star Tours (5 minute wait), Indiana Jones (5 minute wait), Pirates of the Caribbean (no wait - it was a walk-on), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice (about 7 minutes the first time and 10 the second) and Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin (10 minutes). We had used FastPasses for Roger Rabbit on the previous day, but waiting in line was pretty cool, as the queue is so interesting.

One of our goals for this day was to meet some characters, so we stopped and got Goofy's autograph, Pluto's autograph, and then visited Mickey Mouse's house, where after about 25 minutes we got to meet Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey and get pictures and an autograph. We then all trekked over to Redd Rocket's for lunch - it is one of our favourite places as everyone can find something that they like, and you can get refills on your drinks.

After lunch we made the decision to finally attempt to ride Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage. When we got into line we were at about the two hour mark. The line moved very quickly at first, but when we hit the full sun patch, just after the Nemo snack cart, it slowed right down. For about forty-five minutes the waterfall going into the show building was turned off, and the subs were moving very S-L-O-W-L-Y, and even stopped a few times. Once that was over though, the line moved much faster - I am so glad that they were able to do umbrellas for most of the line, it was just our luck that we got stuck at the part where they weren't. Finally, after 1 hour and 57 minutes we made it into our sub. The ride was very cute and I found it quite entertaining, but I would not wait for more than about 40 minutes for it again.

After Nemo, we split up and DH and I went to do the shopping that I wanted to get done. Our first stop was World of Disney in Downtown Disney where I ordered the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction poster that I have been coveting for two years, as well as picked up a 2007 Disney scrapbook, a coffee table book about the history of Disneyland, and my Pirates of the Caribbean mouse ears (the red ones, not the silly pink Pirate Princess ones). We then went into California Adventure where I bought a Mr. Potato Head and an extra box of pieces. We headed back to World of Disney to pick up my poster (which is absolutely gorgeous and is getting framed as I write this), and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for Medieval Times.

We arrived at the hotel at about 4:30 and had to leave for Medieval Times at 6:00. Once we arrived we were given the Yellow Knight to cheer for and were on our own until we would be seated at about 8:00. We bought drinks in non-souvenier glasses (they were about $14.00 a drink if you wanted the souvenier glasses) and sat and waited for us to be able to be seated. There were a couple of knighting ceremonies, and then it was time for us to go in.

The food was great - vegetable soup, 1/2 a chicken, a rib, a herbed baked potato and a chocolate danish. The portions were huge and there was no way I could finish my dinner. The entertainment was pretty good, I loved watching the horses. Overall, I really enjoyed the evening, but would not pay to do it again (I will be going again at Christmas, but because I am the tour guide, I don't have to pay). I found that they were a little bit agressive about trying to get more money out of you - not asking if you wanted the souvenier glass, just asking which one you would like, trying to get you to buy a mediocre souvenier picture, etc...

Summary:

We were glad to have time on this day to meet characters and finally ride Nemo.

Medieval Times is one of those things that you should really do once, but it is not a terribly good value for $50.00.

Total attractions: 9
Shows, Parades, etc...: none at Disneyland, Medieval Times outside of the parks

Coming next: Day 4 at the Disneyland Resort

Wow ~ what a fun job!

Thanks for a fun trip report to read! :D

Day 5 - Thursday July 12th

This was our last day at Disneyland, and so it was a bittersweet sort of day. We arrived at the gates by 7:10, but because of Early Entry, the park was pretty busy when we got in. Usually, we would have went to Space Mountain first, but because of EE, we headed over to Indiana Jones, with one of us running to get Space Mountain FastPasses. We rode Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion to begin our day. We went over to ride Big Thunder, but it was down. We then went to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear again (and got more Space Mountain Fast Passes)

After these we headed towards California Adventure where we rode Soarin' over California, and Grizzly River Rapids (twice in a row). The first time we rode Grizzly, we barely got wet, but the second time we were drenched! We then had lunch at Taste Pilot's Grill, where the burgers were fantastic, and I really liked being able to top them the way I wanted to.

Following lunch, we went to see Aladdin at the Hyperion Theatre. This show always blows me away because even when the singers aren't very good, the genie is always hilarious, and the show is so beautiful visually. We then rode Screamin' twice. Although the wait time indicator showed that it was a 25 minute wait time, we got on both times in less than 10 minutes. After these two rides, we decided it was time to head back to Disneyland.

In Disneyland we rode Space Mountain, the Matterhorn Bobsleds and it's a small world before sending FIL and MIL on the monorail for supper at Downtown Disney. We took the kidlets and went to the Golden Horseshoe Saloon for supper and to watch Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, which we thouroughly enjoyed. I was dissapointed by the service at the Golden Horseshoe though, as when I got into line there were only three people in front of me and it took over 15 minutes to get my order taken, although only 2 minutes to get my food. Oh well - the show was fabulous and really funny!

After supper, we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Haunted Mansion before getting really good seats for Fantasmic! (the stairs right in front of the furthest to the right seats for the Premium seating). We arrived there right at 7:00 and in 10 minutes, the rest of the spots were taken. We sat with an APer who lived just a few miles away, and a family from Reno who were there for the daughter's birthday. We had a great time chatting with them! Once Tom's parents arrived we went on Pirates of the Caribbean and headed to the Blue Bayou for our 8:00 Priority Seating (we were planning on taking the kidlets out for dessert).

We didn't get seated until 8:30 and were very worried that we were going to miss Fantasmic! We told our waiter (Dennis) that we just wanted desserts and explained that we were in a bit of a hurry. He was wonderful, and had our drinks and desserts out in less than five minutes! The pirate cookie boats were absolutely amazingly awesome (very very good!). We made it in and out in less than 15 minutes, and to show our appreciation, we left him $50.00 to cover a $28.00 bill - he practically tripped over himself trying to say thank you (I think that was my favorite part of the trip).

We got back to watch Fantasmic! with about three minutes to spare. The show was fantastic, as were the fireworks immediately afterwards. Once both of the shows were over, everyone but DH and I went home. It was at that point that we realized that we had 4 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FastPasses, and 12 Space Mountain Fastpasses that we hadn't had time to use that day.

We immediately went and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice in a row, and then headed over to Space Mountain. It was 10:35 when we used the first of six sets of FastPasses, and 12:03 when we got off of the ride for the very last time. It was a fantastic way to end our Disney days! We walked down Main Street v-e-r-y slowly, stopped at the Penny Arcade to squish some pennies and then left, both of us with a little tear in our eyes.

Summary:
Riding Space Mountain six times in less than an hour and a half is a very enjoyable experience!

Waiting two hours for those seats at Fantasmic is worth it - you can see the whites of Mickey's eyes from there!

Total attractions: 23
Shows, Parades, etc...: Aladdin, Fantasmic! and Remember, Dreams come True.

Coming next: Universal Studios