Travel dates: 8/19 – 8/22
Travel method: Plane, Limo
Resort: Disneyland Resort
Accommodations: Anaheim Sheraton
Cast of characters: Me (turning 40), DH (38)
Experience Represented in Group: Moderate

Pre-trip Planning: I had been to DL a number of times for single day trips as a kid until about 1980. In 1999 I took DH for his first trip, also only for one day. Then in 2005 we took the kids, the first time we would go for more than one day and the first time we would see California Adventure. On that trip, I got very sick, only made it to DL one day, and missed DCA except for a quick trip in to Ariel’s Grotto for the princess dinner. Ever since that time, I have been obsessed with Disneyland - either because I was gyped out of my 3 day visit or because I am just a Disney geek at heart, or both. Then earlier this year, with my 40th birthday looming big at the end of August, DH said wanted to take me away for a few days. My first thought was DISNEYLAND! My next thought was that I could never go without the kids. I went back and forth about it and finally decided to celebrate getting older by acting young at heart. I must say this decision has made a huge difference in how I feel about turning 40. I really was able to focus on the trip and not worry about the numbers.

Since our two children would be staying with my parents we decided to have them all go to the family’s place in Lake Tahoe for the week. The plan was to drive up to Tahoe from Oakland on Saturday, stay over night and then fly out of Reno, NV on Sunday. We would return on Wednesday morning, giving us 2.5 days in the parks. The Reno flight was an eye-opener as fares from Reno were close to $100 more per person than from Oakland. Also, we could not find any good flight times into any of the closer airports so we had to fly into LAX. Bummer. After looking at all of the transportation options and taking into account that this was a special trip, we decided to hire a limo r/t to the airport. The Silver Lining! Using Limos.com I found a town car for $65 each way. Not bad so we booked that.
For the hotel I did not want to stay at one of the motels on Harbor Blvd. I wanted something a bit nicer, preferably with room service (not that I would end up using it, I just wanted the option open to me). I did not, however, feel like I needed to stay on property. I think that that would be a real treat for us and I would like to share it with my kids sometime, especially since they love to swim. For this trip I decided on the Sheraton Anaheim at the suggestions of some folks on these boards. I got a good rate ($96/night) on hotels.com. That done, I made PS for 3 dinners, one brunch, and Fantasmic! Riverside seating. Finally, because DH and I are pretty crowd averse and wanted to minimize wait times, I bought Ridemax.

A note on Ridemax: I had read a lot about Ridemax and how to get the most out of it but I still was unsure if I was making itineraries that were going to be what we wanted to do when we wanted to do them. DH, excited about the trip as he was, was perfectly happy to leave all this planning up to me so he was no help. As a result, I ran a number of plans for each day with different combos of rides. (I could not figure out how to do a nifty spreadsheet like Hydroguy’s). I think for me, it would have been great if I could have run Ridemax on a laptop in the hotel but that was not available to me. So I hoped my itineraries would work!

Day 1 – Sunday 8/19 – Travel and DCA: We had driven up to Lake Tahoe the day before and left Tahoe City around 7:00 am for our 9:40 flight. Our kids were great on the goodbye and traffic was fine so we had plenty of time to cool our heels in the airport. After an uneventful flight we arrived a bit late into LAX. Tom our limo driver was waiting for us and very courteous and helpful with the luggage. It was a real treat to be whisked away fro the airport and to not have to worry about transportation! We checked into the Sheraton Anaheim at about 2:00 and were pleased to be able to get into our very large and spacious room right away. We were on the first floor near the reception desk with a door that lead to outside to the Koi pond and around the corner from the pool area. That would have been very convenient had we had kids who wanted to swim. But no swimming for us – we were DLR bound. We hopped the very convenient hotel shuttle and were at the DCA gates by 2:45. We had decided to do DCA the first day because we were concerned that there would be heavy crowds due to the SoCal APs not being blocked and Bats Day. It was a good choice because we had VERY manageable crowds. First stop was for Soarin’ and GRR FPs then lunch of a corndog which I had been craving. Yum :) I especially liked the side of apple slices, a refreshing dessert. While we were eating we saw that there was no line for the Zephyr and it looked fun, we had nothing scheduled on our Ridemax plan until 4:00 pm so we rode and enjoyed it. Then we decided to take a look at the Screamin’ line. Ridemax predicted 45 minutes but we wanted to try it out really badly. We were pleasantly surprised by a posted 20 minute wait that was really only about 15 min. Man is that a GREAT ride. Easily one of my all-time favorite coasters. So good that we jumped back in line and rode it again. This time we got the last car. Wheee! As a result of these added rides we decided to skip going to the Animation building, which was on our Ridemax plan. Gotta leave things for next time, right?

By this time my feet were starting to hurt. I have bad feet and this would be a theme for the next few days. We went on a hunt for new socks and got some cute Minnie and Mickey ones that did the trick for that day. By then it was time to get TOT FPs. Again, the line was quite short and we chose to ride it instead of FP. I must say I was underwhelmed with this ride. It was scary and thrilling but I got tired of going up and down and up and down and I started to feel uncomfortable. I chose not to ride this again this trip. I just wanted to use my time elsewhere. After TOT we waited about 15 min. for Monsters, Inc. which I thought was a great C ticket. Then on to use our Soarin’ FPs. We asked for row B1 and were blown away! What a great ride. Before we took off we noticed the girls next to us take off their flip flops. I took off my shoes too because they were mules and I was afraid they would fall off. The problem came when DH decided to take his off too. Let’s just say that we referred to that flight as Stinkin’ over California. And there was not enough time for him to put his shoes back on before we took off. :eek: I felt bad for the folks behind us and I only hope his stinky feet did not creep through the scents from the ride! After that we collected some FPs for Mulholland Madness and rode GRR with a really nice family of 6. They had 2 young teenage daughters, a son and a daughter about 6. The dad and my DH were sitting right next to each other and I thought the big guys would get soaked but it turned out to be the 3 girls. I came away pretty dry but that poor little 6 year old was drenched and had no body fat to keep her warm. Later we saw her folks buy her a new track suit to change into. I enjoyed this ride but DH felt it was not as fun as other similar rides he had been on. I thought that maybe they had turned down the intensity since it was late afternoon/early evening by this time?

Next we rode MM (fun!) and kicked around a bit waiting for our dinner reservations. We played some midway games (DH won me a purple monkey throwing baseballs) and would have ridden Screamin’ again but the line was longer at this point. We took some great pictures of the rides across the lagoon and then made our way to the Wine Country Trattoria for 8:20 PSs. We asked to be seated outside by the railing so we could watch the parade and they were able to accommodate us. What a good call this was. We really enjoyed our dinners of chicken dinner salad and veggie lasagna entrees which we split. I think this place is a gem and highly recommend it. Sure it is institutional food but it is done right so it tasted very fresh. We had a lovely view from our seat and just as our meal was over the Electric Light Parade passed by. I had seen it before and it was as good as I remembered. DH was thrilled with it too. What a perk for the summertime crowds. We paid and walked out following the parade. I wanted to go to DL at that point but we decided to call it a night because we were going to do EE the next day so we watched the fireworks from the plaza and shuttle bus as we made our way back to the hotel.

More to come!

Wonderful report!! Loved the "Stinkin' over California"!! Can't wait to hear more :)

I'm posting a trip report too... we flew out of Reno the same day! :) Also a couples trip for our 15th wedding anniv. We always take the Aloha airlines morning flight that leaves at 6:45 a.m. and gets in John Wayne about 8:00-8:10 a.m. We usually pay around $175 a piece... which I don't think is to bad, but maybe that's high compared to what you're used to? :)

We also spent Sun in DCA for the most part and found it to be quite light for crowds. I'll continue to read your report... and I'll finish mine. :)

nvmom

We usually pay around $175 a piece... which I don't think is to bad, but maybe that's high compared to what you're used to? :)


I can get r/t flights on Jetblue for around $95 from Oakland to Long Beach. I think I finally paid $180 on Southwest for our flights so I exaggerated a bit!:eek: That Aloha flight did sound convenient but the timing did not work for us. Ah well, it was all Sooooo worth it!

Day 2 – Monday 8/20 – Disneyland with Early Entry: Well this was our really big day and we had a great time all the way through! We started the day at the crack of dawn with a 5:30 am wakeup call. DH offered up the one opinion in trip planning that we should try to ride the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage so after much internal debate I decided we should try to ride first thing during our EE day as opposed to wait in line for it late at night (the other popular strategy I had heard about). We wanted to get to the park before the security booths opened in order to be first in line at the park gates. This meant we had to walk from the Sheraton Anaheim, since their shuttle starts running only 30 minutes prior to EE opening and that would be too late for pole position! It was actually a nice 15 minute walk, it woke us up and being there so early got us excited for riding the new ride. At about 6:30 they opened security. We were pleased that our side (DTD near parking lot tram) seemed to open first and we had no trouble being first in line at gate 13. At this point DH started to go into uber-planning mode. Which tunnel should we go through, what direction to head to reach the queue fastest, walk fast, jog or outright run? I started teasing him because he did so little planning for this trip in general and now he was like a coach with a play book. Then we got silly actually naming plays – Red 48 for the all-out sprint, Blue 52 for the block and tackle, just silly stuff but it was fun. In the end, when the gates opened DH took off at a jog through the left tunnel and most other people in the front of the lines went to the right tunnel. I tried to keep up but those darn achy feet mentioned earlier would not let me jog so I fast-walked and planned to meet him in the queue. Just inside the tunnel on the left side there were maintenance crew stationed telling people not to run. Ironically enough, no one was stationed at the right tunnel so as these guys were telling people to slow down there were other people racing by behind their backs! The crazy thing was, most of these sprinters, while they seemed to know to go through the right tunnel to be able to run, did not know to go left around the Matterhorn for the queue but went right into Tomorrowland instead. I would say easily 95% of the people who passed me (the lone walker) went right instead of left. DH stuck with our plan, though and did go left. I caught up with him in the queue and we were about 20th in line. They held the line at the back near the Matterhorn queue for a number of minutes until there was a critical mass and then it took us almost 10 minutes to walk through all the switchbacks and make it to the subs. We got on the first one! As we took off the sub captain asked us how we enjoyed our morning run! It was totally worth getting up early and the anticipation, but I was glad I did not have to wait in a terribly long line later in the day. I was really impressed with the attention to detail and obvious care they took with the ride and could not help but think that who else but Disney would take the time and money to put up an attraction like this – no one!

At this point it was still just 7:30ish so we had some EE time left. We decided to ride Space (no wait) and the Matterhorn (Fantasyland side had no wait). We were both kinda unimpressed with Space Mountain, previously one of our all-time favs. It felt like something was missing. We decided to give it another chance and grabbed FPs for later. Matterhorn was fun but we were trying to avoid lines so we decided to hit some other rides. We picked up a couple of pieces of fruit and, following our Ridemax plan, we hit BLAB (new to us and took some getting used to but I can see this becoming addictive!) Star Tours (fun for DH who works for LucasArts, the Lucasfilm gaming company) and HM all with no lines. Then to Splash Mountain for FPs but, Oh No! it is down. :( So we backtracked and consoled ourselves with a churro, which is really just a straight crispy cinnamon doughnut so perfectly good breakfast food, right? We picked up some Indy FPs and rode it because the line was only 10 minutes. Next we walked on to Pirates. This was the first time for us since they added Captain Jack (our last trip was the week before the refurb). I loved it! I thought Jack and Barbossa were great. I thought the sound was wonderful and it all seemed very fresh. Davy Jones was a neat effect but he was a bit hard to hear, I thought. I was very pleased with my all-time favorite DL ride.

Now it was 9:30 and we had some time to kill on our ride plan since Splash was still down. We took the time to walk down Main Street and poke around. I got my Birthday Button which is a really nice tradition and we went into a number of stores – a totally luxury because the kids would not have stood for this. At 10:30 we checked in for our Carnation Café ressies and, despite a long standby line, were seated right away. We had a great relaxing brunch, good food, nice to sit down and we got to chat a bit with Oscar! Feeling rejuvenated we decided to head over to see if Splash was back up. Yes it was but the line for FPs seemed to be really long so we left and went over to BTMRR. I always forget how much I love this ride. The line was about 10 minutes so we rode it twice and got FPs for later. We were just in time for a cruise on the Mark Twain so we did that, which was a fun new experience for me. Then DH really wanted to spend time at the shooting gallery. This is not my cup of tea so I offered to walk over to Splash again for FPs and meet him over by the ROA where we would grab the train back to Main Street. I had a nice rest in the shade for my aching feet but by the time DH came there was a HUGE line at the train station. What was up with that? We skipped that and walked out to the hub where we gave my feet a break by enjoying a horseless carriage ride down Main Street, another first for us. Then it was off to the 1:45 shuttle back to the hotel for naps before dinner.

We returned for the evening at 5:45 pm. We thought it would be fun to ride Screamin’ at night so we got some FPs for later – but never used them. Too bad. Anyway, we had 6:30 reservations for Napa Rose and decided to check out the Grand Californian beforehand. We enjoyed hanging out in the lobby and took the time to call and check on the kids. Doing great! Then off to the most memorable part of the trip, our dinner at Napa Rose. This is a truly great restaurant. We both were attracted to the same items as an appetizer and main course and then the Vintner’s Table prix fixe dinner caught our eye so DH ordered that - Black bass and heirloom tomato carpaccio, summer corn soufflé, jalapeno stuffed quail with chanterelle and bacon risotto and a plum reduction, nectarine sorbet and poundcake sandwich for dessert) and I had the zucchini blossom filled with goat cheese and pesto and the Alaskan Halibut with lobster tempura and a lemon grass-red pepper sauce. The quail was the best part of the meal but it was all sooooo yummy. And we had a really great waiter who was friendly and helpful and very interested in DH’s work after he found out he worked for George Lucas! I got a dessert of mixed berry crumble and they wrote Happy Birthday in chocolate on the plate and put a candle in it for me. I forgot to add that I am not a wine drinker as it gives me headaches but I made an exception and had some nice wine with dinner and I my head was fine (I took 2 Advil at the end of the meal.) Somehow or other drinking wine makes me feel so grown-up, like I did not just turn 40! Hah.

After dinner we waddled over to the Monorail and rode it to the park where we hopped on Space using our FP. This time we got seats in the first row and were blown away by the ride. Perhaps that was our problem this morning but we still thought there were more stars and a faster ride the second time. Could this be true? No big deal we are in love with SM again. We then hiked it over to ride Splash. This was our first experience with the pedestrian traffic controls for the fireworks and we impressed with how they moved so many people. Here were all the crowds we had been trying to avoid with our strategies and Ridemax plans. Wow, were they big! No worries, though, we were being very go-with-the-flow. We got on Splash and were able to see some fireworks from the top of the big drop. DH got rather wet but he is a good sport and that ride is quite charming as well as fun! Then we rode Indy again and the Jungle cruise (fun at night). I wanted to make sure to ride the teacups at night so we went to Fantasyland and rode Dumbo and finished the day on the Teacups. DH wanted to go again but I was ready to hit the hay so we wandered down Main Street and left the park at about 11:45. What a great day!

Wow, such an ambitious Day #2 for you... :) Sounds great. I've always wanted to do the early entry thing, but we never have. We've been there for rope drop on a non early entry day though. I love that!

nvmom

Day 3 – Tuesday 8/22 – DL & DCA: This day started out slow but ended with a bang! We planned on getting the 7:30 am shuttle from our hotel to get to the gates about 7:45 am. However, when we got to the hotel lobby at 7:25 they said the bus had left about 5 minutes earlier and we would have to wait 30 minutes. I was NOT happy or content to wait so we decided to walk over. Well, my feet were quite sore from the pounding I had given them the day before and I had to stop on the way over to try and adjust my shoes and orthotics to try to get some relief. I was pretty low. Then, we arrived at the area where the parking tram lets off about 30 seconds after a FULL tram pulls up, and I am so bummed that we will have to be behind all of these folks at security check, adding to my grumpiness. Then I think to myself, “I am in Disneyland! You can’t be grumpy in Disneyland!” So I look to DH and say, let’s try to take the Monorail into the park, perhaps the lines will be shorter getting in and I can save my feet the walk down Main Street. Great plan! We got on the first Monorail that they were letting non EE guests board and rode to Tomorrowland in style. My spirits were back up and we rode BLAB, Space, Small World (DH loves this one :)) and headed over to BTMRR for FP and a ride. BTW – we sat in front on Space and loved it again. We are still wondering why we were unimpressed the morning before but are happy it was a one-time-only deal!

An aside about food: At this point it was about 9:30 and we were hungry. On This day, I had not made PSs for breakfast or lunch, nor had I really had an idea in my mind what we would do for meals. This, I must say, was a mistake. Even grownups lose steam when they need food and it is so much harder to get a satisfying meal when you are trying to grab something quick! My biggest learning on what to do next time we visit is to plan out those meals! Even if it means knowing in advance which counter service joint you will visit, I am going to plan it out. That way you don’t have to think so much when your blood sugar level gets low. For breakfast we grabbed a muffin, cinnamon roll and juice from the Bakery on Main Street. This was very yummy and picked us up but the sugar high set us up for a major sugar low right before lunch. Ugh. We’ll get to that later.

Anyway, as we gorged ourselves on sugar, we left DL and headed over to DCA. We were in the park really close to opening so we grabbed Soarin’ FPs and waited about 15 minutes to ride it then too. We kept our shoes on this time! Next, we had planned to ride Screamin’ but before we walked over there I remembered that it was not scheduled to open until 1:00 pm because of Toy Story Mania construction. Too bad. So we poked around EnginEARS toys for a while and literally lost each other in this small store! I think we must have overdone it the day before and my brain was still asleep or something. DH was tired so he sat down in a corner while I was looking around. When I was ready to go I could not find him at all. I thought he might have gone outside to sit or wandered to the store across the way - very unlike him but I guess I was not thinking clearly. He had our backpack with our cell phone so I finally went to the payphones and called him (collect because he had my wallet) and he tells me he was still in the store! D’oh.

Now that we were back together, we decided to leave DCA but DH has the good idea to check with the information desk to make sure Screamin’ (which is in a really far corner of the park, don’tcha think?) is not open yet. Good call! Screamin’ was open (it was about 11:30 am) so we ran over and rode it. I love that roller coaster! Then the sugar lows started to kick in big time. DH decides he wants a hamburger, but not some fast food burger. He wants to sit down in air conditioning because by this time it was getting really hot, hotter than any of our other days. So, he turns to me and asks, “Where can I get a good burger.” And I, who have been dazzling him for 3 days with all the useful and arcane DLR knowledge that I have gleaned from MousePlanet, reply with an eloquent “I dunno.” So we drag ourselves off to DTD to see if we can find a good place for a burger. I thought we might check out Whitewater Snacks (which I have heard good things about) but we passed Storytellers Café first and my feet and DH’s stomach said stop right here, sit and eat. We had an excellent lunch. I recommend both the yummy burger and the quesadilla. Our nice server also brought me a free b-day dessert (she saw my button) and sang to me with a couple of other servers. This meal was an unexpected treat and I would definitely go back. With our energy restored we hit some of the shops in DTD, finishing up with the World of Disney, where I spent a lot of time and money! I was like a kid in a candy store shopping for me, my kids and nieces. However, I think I did a good job only buying what was on my list and not caving to the impulse buys. DH was helpful and did not get lost this time. :) With purchases in hand we stopped at guest services to pick up Fantasmic! Tickets for later and went back to the hotel for our afternoon rest.

We came back to the park at around 6:00ish and thought we would run in to DCA to use up our FPs for Soarin’ and Screamin’ before heading over to our 7:30 PSs at Café Orleans. So we hop in a longish Soarin’ FP line, get row B1 without even asking and take off on our flight. ¾ of the way through, just after the aircraft carrier scene the whole screen goes dark! We could still hear the soundtrack – crashing waves mostly – but we were just hanging up there in the dark. It was pretty creepy. Finally the lights come on and they lower us back down. The CMs are not saying anything, however, so we start joking with the people around us that someone must have accidentally turned off the light switch. We never did find out what happened but we were treated to another flight as soon as they worked out the glitch, almost 2 whole rides for the price of one! Pretty cool.

After the double ride on Soarin’ we did not think we had enough time to run over to ride Screamin’ and make it to our reservations on time so we left DCA and made our way over to New Orleans Square in DCA. We had 10:30 Fantasmic! Riverside tickets and were told we could check in any time after 7:00 pm so we did that and then checked in at Café Orleans. Even with PSs we ended up waiting almost 20 minutes for a table and when we were seated (outside as requested) we had a terrible table and terrible service. I had heard pretty good things about this place but I was rather disappointed and I would not go back. We shared the crab sandwich and the gumbo crepes and the pommes frites. The frites were pretty good but the rest was just so-so. And forget about getting water or refills on our sodas. I had to ask other servers to get our waitress a number of times and finally ended up standing up at the table just to get attention to get our check. It was bad enough that we left a meager tip, and I hate having to do that. We did not let it get us down, however, and headed over to BTMRR , because I especially like it at night. Then, DH said he would like to try and ride Peter Pan, which we had yet to do. We thought that it might be possible to do it right after the fireworks so we headed to Fantasyland and caught the last of the fireworks from there and had a great view of Tink. DH managed to position himself to the left of the Caroussel and when the fireworks ended he was quite near the front of the line that would become the Peter Pan line when they dropped the ropes to let people back into that part of Fantasyland. Unfortunately, we did not know that they wait quite a while after the fireworks end to drop that rope. We ended up having to bail out of that line in order to make it over to our Fantasmic! seating.

By this time we felt like old pros at navigating around Frontierland/ROA/New Orleans Square with all the crazy crowds. We got to our priority seating and had a nice server named Laura who gave us our desserts and got us drinks. We had front row seats and were pleased we did not have to crush in with the crowds around us, that looked hectic. Interesting to note, there were plenty of unsold seats in our section. Before the show started Laura lead the crowd in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” for me and another woman sitting in our section, a nice touch. Laura seemed nice and quiet but when she wanted to she could really yell and sing loud and did a great job leading the crowd. Then Fantasmic! started. We had never seen it before and were truly amazed. Really, there is nothing quite like it, is there? After the show, we lingered to let the crowds disperse and then hopped the train in NOS to take it to Main Street. We never get on the train at Main Street, only off, so this time DH decided to take the opportunity to look around at all of the train exhibits in the station and that was fun. We ended our night at the Opera House, taking in all of the exhibits there and watching the last showing of the night of the Steve Martin movie. We agreed that this was a great way to end our trip, a nice mellow tribute to Disneyland on our way out of the park. What a great trip!

The following day we were up and out of our hotel by 6:20am for our 9:15 am flight out of LAX. We had the same limo driver as on the way out and were really happy that we did not have to drive ourselves at that early hour. We were very tired, after all of our fun, but it was a good kind of tired! :D

Thanks for reading my very long trop report:O. If I get a chance I hope to add some thoughts about Ridemax, our hotel and some other take-aways that I have. All to help others, and myself, plan that next DLR trip!