This was a quick "weekend" trip for my boyfriend and I, as we are trying to get the most out of our AP's ;)

We left the Bay Area (CA) about 8.45am on Sunday and had a great drive through I-5, almost no traffic, hit a little bit of a rough patch in LA and made it to the Desert Inn at about 2.30ish pm.

We have never stayed at the Desert Inn before, but for the price that we got a night, it was good for our trip. It is a typical hotel on South Harbor, 2 queen beds, a large bathroom, and plenty of hot water lol.


Sunday was the most crowded of the days that we were there and the only night of our trip that the parks stayed open till midnight and 10pm (DCA). We took a small nap when we got to our hotel and headed for Disneyland to check out some rides. Indiana Jones had a 25 minute wait but broke down while we were in line, so we walked on to Pirates and then the Haunted Mansion. We headed over to DCA to grab a Karl Strauss and enjoy people watching and then The Tower of Terror. We took a stroll through GCH and took the monorail to Tomorrowland and finally got on Nemo with a 15 minute wait around 10.30 pm. We enjoyed it, but thought it might have been cooler if they had used an original story, but kept in mind that the little ones probably enjoy Finding Nemo re-enacted on a sub. We finished out night with a drink at the Lost Bar.

Monday & Tuesday were almost identical days, because the crowds were so low and the weather was perfect, we took the time to just ride hop and enjoy stuff around the parks we usually don't see. It was so nice to not have large crowds. We usually end up going peak times, or book before something big gets announced at the parks so we are stuck going at that time...so it was nice to really not have much of a crowd at all. The parks closed early, 6pm for DCA and 8pm for DL, and there was no fireworks or Fantasmic, so Mondayd night we ate at the ESPN Zone for some tasty sliders and then Tuesday we stuffed ourselves with foods we had been craving at the parks before we got to DL. Oh yeah and we enjoyed the Lost Bar once more :p It got chilly at night and we didn't want to head back to the hotel and they have great heat lamps LOL.

Wednesday we ate breakfast at the Riverbelle Terrace, which we usually love, but were disappointed like many by the new change to plastic plates/silverware and not being able to see your pancakes freshly made anymore. The meal seemed a lot smaller too for the price. We are still on the fence about eating there for breakfast again. Wednesday was also pretty low with the crowds, but we only did Indiana Jones and the Tower of Terror. We walked around and picked up the stuff we wanted to buy and ate a sandwich at the Pacific Wharf Bakery before we headed out. We noticed that some paramedics wheeled a woman out of the Paradise Pier area of DCA, I am hoping she was ok, it is not a sight you see everyday at DL. We also saw what seemed to be a DL employee scavenger (at least thats what we assumed it was) hunt going on at DL. We saw a couple groups of people in casual business clothes being filmed in the middle of the esplanade doing the can-can and singing 'it's a small world' and running around park with books and stopping randomly in front of different things. We could be completely wrong with our assumptions though lol.

We headed out of Anaheim about 4.15pm. Yikes bad decision on our part. We didn't even hit the mountains till almost 6. But the rest of the ride home was smooth and we walked through our front door at about 11pm

Sorry this was so short and a little jumbled, but I love the fact I have a place where I can tell my small trip reports and someone will listen. Our families think we talk about DL so much, they don't even bat an eye at our stories anymore hehe :D

All in all it was a great quickie trip and we can't wait to go back for one in May.

That sounded like an awesome trip with the crowds being so low...those always seem to be the most fun trips. Thanks for sharing.

loved your trip report you sound like me, we are from the bay area too and I am the ultimate disney freak, I think everyone is tired of hearing we are going too... We are trying to really take advantage of our AP's this year too. We are going for a miny trip for my b-day 3/16-3/19, but i am really nervous about "Spring Break" oh well we will make the most of being in my home away from home. We used to stay at Desert Inn but stopped around 4 years ago. I hope you have fun in May.... please keep writing your reports use crazy mouser's love to hear your reports.......

I like the Desert Inn. We are bay area too(Benicia) but I can't convince DH that I need to go to Disneyland more often. :( LOL

Thanks for the nice comments everyone..I am just glad I have people who understand me LOL.

Dznygrl73, that sounds exactly like us. We always worry about the crowds and then remember we will be in our "happy place" hehe and try to make the best like you said. I hope you have a great birthday, make sure you write a report and let us know how it went!

LdyApxr~~Hi from across the bridge in Pleasant Hill! :p

Hey! I know Pleasant Hill! LOL We have dog rescue adoptions at the Pet Food Express there once a month. I work with Norsled Husky Rescue. We are leaving in 12days but found out yesterday that we cannot rent a trailer there to bring the bike home so we will be hauling an empty trailer and having to go much slower on the way there. Dang it! I am too impatient to go slow when I am heading to DL so its a good thing that DH will be doing the driving. LMAO!

We are actually heading out on Thurday night and driving as far as Santa Nella(about 2hours or so) and then heading out of their early Friday morning. I have a free night at the Holiday Inn Express and this way we can get into Anaheim at a decent hour without leaving here at the bootay crack of dawn. LOL Of course with the two teenagers and the 9yr old we always have a few more stops than if it were just DH and I.

Nice! yeah we have been to that Pet Food Express to buy food for our kitties on adoption days, its so hard to not walk out with a new family member.

I am always impatient with the drive, and I think well it could be worse than 6 hours! I make my boyfriend drive anyways lol. That sucks that you have to go slower, but it will build the excitement hehe, I am trying to think of the best way to think of it but who am I to kid, no one likes to wait for DL LOL... and a free nite of rest never hurts either! LOL I hope you and your family have a great time, make sure you let the rest of us trippers know how yours went :)

My kids are planning a Disneyland road trip but unfortunately it won't be till June. (And not with me! :crying:) Part of this growing up business!
They hope to to do it on weekdays, maybe less crowds? I was wondering why Disneygrl73 stopped staying at the Desert Inn? (This is the one directly across from the Disneyland entrance right?) Always helpful to know; I was suggesting to the kids to stay there.

We've gone in June a couple of times and it has been crowded, but we had fun regardless, just made sure to make use of fast passes lol.

We liked the Desert Inn for the price, it is almost directly across from the DL entrance on S Harbor. It isn't by any means fancy tho! It's just your regular motel, kinda outdated looking on the inside, but it did the job since we weren't in the room too much. It also has underground parking and elevators. Oh and there was a fridge and microwave in the room as well, which can come in handy.

We never made it to the free breakfast or the indoor pool, which I think they said was heated and had a hot tub.

I hoped that helped a little bit, that was our first time staying there, but I know there are other people on her that have stayed there a couple of times and they could probably help you too. I hope your kids have fun & safe trip! :)

to be honest I really don't remember why we stopped staying there at the Anaheim Desert Inn. I think it had to do with the price seemed to go up but the hotel never got any better. Not to mention the parking was really tight there.Then we discovered the Park Vue Inn and loved the price there. We stayed there for a couple years in a row and then they seemed to have increased their rates. So anyways we are going next week and our reservation was for Anaheim Desert Inn so I could see why I left. Or maybe it was just a bad trip the last time we were there. Anyways that has now changed cause I tried priceline.com for the first time and got an awesome deal and am now staying at the Anaheim Hilton for the first time:fez:..... But our October trip is reserved at the Anaheim Desert Inn......