Summer Nightastic At Disneyland - August 16-18 2009 - Anaheim Hilton

[FFGirl15]

Summer Nightastic At Disneyland Pre-Trip Report!

Cast: Stephanie, 17(me); Sam, 19(boyfriend); Melissa, 14 (sister); Mom (48); Dad (55); {Patty, 44 (aunt); and my grandmother (79)} Only for the first evening.

Dates: August 16-18 2008

Hotel: Anaheim Hilton

Transportation: Driving 40 minutes from my grandmothers house.

Pre-Trip Report

First, before I begin this trip report, excuse me for the lack of creativity in the title of this upcoming report. I cant think of a creative name for this trip and were going during the Summer Nightastic promotion, so I decided to just name this trip after that promotion. Anyway, Ive been looking forward to this trip AND planning this trip ever since I returned from my trip back in the summer of 2008. And when I mean planning, I mean researching different restaurants, shops, etc. on the internet to figure out what to suggest for dining and shopping and Ive also been keeping track of refurbishments each week on the Disneyland update page. By the time I got back from my Spring Break trip of this year, I had everything planned out.

But, somehow, the plans changed.

Yep, thats right! I said it! Many of the plans were changed! First of all, we were originally supposed to go for two full days (one day at DL and one day at DCA), but that was back when we were planning to vacation in California for two weeks. However, the entire trip is going to be cut in half. So, that means one day at Disneyland and a one week trip overall. Reason for the change of plans? Well, first of all, I got a technical theatre internship at the University of Idaho that was going to last from the beginning of June to the beginning of August, which also brings us to another change of plans, which was to go in July, but again, the internship. Anyway, I wasnt going to be done with the internship until August 8th. Id have a week to relax and pack up and then we would leave for California on August 14th. If we spend two weeks there, we would barely get back in time for school to start again. So yeah, the trip is cut in half because of that and also were planning a Disney World trip in late April-early May of 2010.

Another change of plans was that it was supposed to be just the family, but Sam (my new boyfriend, yeah!) was going to a family reunion with his parents and siblings at about the same time we were and they just happened to be having the reunion in Long Beach. So, after asking (nicely), my parents decided itd be a good idea to invite Sam to come along with us, so we did and he greatly accepted. So, now Sams going with us! Also, a new plan is to have my aunt and grandmother come with us over to Downtown Disney the first night to have dinner at Rainforest Caf (itll be my grandmothers first time at Disneyland in a LONG time!). We wouldnt be going into the parks, but my aunt loves shopping, so shell really like to explore Downtown Disney(she couldnt the last time we went since we were only there for one day). Plus, my grandmother will love the Rainforest Caf.

So, other than those change of plans, everything is still remaining the same. I suggested having dinner at Blue Bayou since we havent done that in a long time and were a big seafood family. My parents love the idea of doing that since we plan on staying from opening to closing and seeing the 10:30 showing of Fantasmic (we dont have to sit for three hours! Yay!), so wed have time for a real sit-down dinner than a grab something to go dinner. We have yet to make reservations, but well eventually make those. Other than Blue Bayou, we dont really have any other special dining plans with the exception of Rainforest Caf, but thats the night before.

Our hotel plans still remain the same. After the amazing discount my friend, Brooke, and I got on our Spring Break trip at Anaheim Hilton, we decided to stay there again. Especially since it was such a nice hotel. We just recently booked our stay there, so that means we are confirmed!

Well, to end this report, I actually have a feeling that this is going to be a really good trip other than dealing with the August heat, but the only thing I usually get concerned about on a Disney trip is crowds. Crowd-wise, I have a theory why I have a feeling that the crowds wont be so bad. A) The declining economy, B) The spread of the swine flu, and C) Well be going in about the third week of August, so the college students are probably going to be getting ready to go back to school. Again, this is just a theory that I have, so it doesnt mean Im going to be right, but hopefully itll be as good as I hope it is! So, I have to wait for three and a half months now (hurry 3 months!) and Im as excited as ever!

Oh yeah, and we cant forget about the Summer Nightastic promotion and how excited I am about that. Its going to be awesome!

[D15]

Could this be the same Sam that you were "made" to sit with on TSMM?? lol, congats!

And we maybe just maybe might be there the 3rd week of August, too! (But I still have to convince a bunch of people that we can afford it and then actually figure out HOW we're gonna afford it, so nothing's nailed down quite yet ) Slightly off-topic, but your internship sounds really cool- congrats on that too!

Looking forward to your report again!

[FFGirl15]

Could this be the same Sam that you were "made" to sit with on TSMM?? lol, congats!

And we maybe just maybe might be there the 3rd week of August, too! (But I still have to convince a bunch of people that we can afford it and then actually figure out HOW we're gonna afford it, so nothing's nailed down quite yet ) Slightly off-topic, but your internship sounds really cool- congrats on that too!

Looking forward to your report again!

Haha, yes this is the same Sam that I was "made" to sit with on my recent trip Thanks for reading!

[FFGirl15]

Well, we'll be arriving at the Disneyland resort in 59 days and we'll have our full day at Disneyland Park in exactly 2 months from today! We are all very excited to be going and I especially want to make the most of this trip since this'll be my last Disneyland trip before going off to college in 2010. So, hopefully, the weather will be nice and the crowds won't be too bad, right?

I have been keeping my eye on the Disneyland resort weekly updates and have realized that we'll just barely miss a couple of refurbishments going on at DL over the summer. Being a Fantasmic fan, I have heard about the meltdown of the brand new dragon and that it won't debut until later on. But, hopefully, Disney should fix it and have it ready soon. But, I'm also looking forward to seeing the new croc and the Flotsam and Jetsam characters. I will definitely be looking forward to seeing the new "Magical" fireworks as well (especially the flying Dumbo puppet)!

Oh yeah, there seems to have been another change of plans! Since we're heading to the Disneyland resort at around 11:30am on Monday, August 17, after countless days of begging, I was able to convince my parents to buy a one-day, one-park for that Monday! So, we planned out on spending half a day at DCA, then heading on over to our late dinner reservation at 9:15pm, which I just booked today, at Rainforest Cafe. Spending some time looking around there, and then heading back on over to the Hilton to rest up for the next day. The cool thing about this change of plans is that my aunt and grandmother are going to DCA with us! The coolest part of that is my grandmother is handicapped so we'll be able to get on most of the rides EASILY!!! Some rides I definitely want to take my grandmother on are Soarin', Mike & Sulley, Toy Story Mania, Mickey's Fun Wheel, the Aladdin show, and It's Tough To Be a Bug. She'll definitely sit out for the roller coasters, but my aunt is going to go on as much as she can. We plan on staying for the Electrical Parade so we can see the new stuff and then we'll go to dinner, walk around, and then go to bed.

On August 18th, we'll head to Disneyland park! Sam will be joining us that day. He'll meet us at the gate at 7:45am and we'll go from there. I've also finished booking Blue Bayou for August 18th. I think we picked out the perfect time so we can avoid the Fantasmic traffic. Not much to say except for we'll be staying from opening to closing time and we cannot wait to finally arrive!

[MammaSilva]

The cool thing about this change of plans is that my aunt and grandmother are going to DCA with us! The coolest part of that is my grandmother is handicapped so we'll be able to get on most of the rides EASILY!!! Some rides I definitely want to take my grandmother on are Soarin', Mike & Sulley, Toy Story Mania, Mickey's Fun Wheel, the Aladdin show, and It's Tough To Be a Bug. She'll definitely sit out for the roller coasters, but my aunt is going to go on as much as she can. We plan on staying for the Electrical Parade so we can see the new stuff and then we'll go to dinner, walk around, and then go to bed.

OK, not to rain on your parade here but...I'm not sure why you think your grandmothers disabilities is going to work in your favor at DCA, every single queue in the park is HCA ....that means Handicapped Accessible. There are no front of the line shortcuts simply because a person has a handicap in that park. If she uses a wheelchair or EVC all the queues are accessible, if she has other issues and needs a Guest assistance pass those are not front of the line passes either.

[FFGirl15]

OK, not to rain on your parade here but...I'm not sure why you think your grandmothers disabilities is going to work in your favor at DCA, every single queue in the park is HCA ....that means Handicapped Accessible. There are no front of the line shortcuts simply because a person has a handicap in that park. If she uses a wheelchair or EVC all the queues are accessible, if she has other issues and needs a Guest assistance pass those are not front of the line passes either.

Seriously? Darn... Oh well, we'll just have to get as much done as possible. Thanks for pointing that out!

[FFGirl15]

Well, we are exactly two weeks away from our trip and as excited as I am, there ended up being a few more changes to our trip. Unfortunately, Sam's job isn't letting him take extra time off, so he's not going to be going with us anymore But, it'll still be a fun trip. I ended up changing our Rainforest Cafe reservations to 5:20pm instead of 9:15pm because my grandmother decided that the original time would be too late for her.

I think that's it and I can't wait till we arrive!

[FFGirl15]

Monday, August 17, 2009

We got up bright and early and spent most of the morning doing some packing for our small, two-day trip. We left at about 11am and arrived in Anaheim after a smooth and, surprisingly quick, drive at 11:30am. Me, of course, being the Disneyland freak I am, beat my sister in the "who can spot the Matterhorn first" contest that we always have when driving to Disneyland. We checked in at the Hilton, but our room wasn't ready and we knew it wasn't going to be ready for a long time, but we wanted to head into the parks before it got too crowded. So, after checking in, we headed on over to the parks. We originally intended on bringing my aunt and grandmother to DCA with us, BUT she decided to just have dinner with us because she didn't want to "hold us up". I kept on trying to convince her to come, but she insisted, so we (me, my parents, and sister) ended up at the parks alone.

First thing we did was buy a two-day park hopper and then headed over to DCA. It was noon by the time we arrived at Disney's Construction...er, i mean...California Adventure and we were hungry. First thing, we grabbed FP for Soarin'. It wasn't too crowded right now, but from what I heard about the SoCal APs coming back, I figured that it was going to get busier as the day progressed and it did, but I'll get to that later. Anyway, we had lunch over at Taste Pilot's Grill and then started our "Adventure" in Hollywood Pictures Backlot. First thing I wanted to do was ride Mike & Sulley, so we rode that first. I <3 that ride! After that, we wanted to see the Aladdin show, but it wasn't playing that day! So, instead we walked around and hung out at the Animation Building. We did Turtle Talk while we were there and loved it. Our next stop was for my sis to grab FP to Tower of Terror. I wanted FP for Screamin', so we decided to start our way towards Paradise Pier. On the way we saw It's Tough To Be a Bug. Fun show! Great for when it starts getting warm out, which it was. We had pretty much covered a bug's land by that time and we were ready to head over to Paradise Pier, so we did.

In Paradise Pier, my sis and I REALLY wanted to ride Toy Story Mania, regardless of how ridiculously long the line was, but because of how loving my mother is, she and my dad offered to stand in line for us while we did something else. So, while that was going on, I grabbed FP for Screamin' and my parents said it would be a while before was our turn, so Melissa and I decided to go shop at Downtown Disney for a little while.

We went to World of Disney (one of the closest stores) where I officially started my pin trading collection! I bought a starter kit and we bought a few pins to go along with it. My starter kit came with four cheap pins, which I ended up trading throughout the trip, and I bought a Disney's Electrical Parade pin that I fell in love with. Once we were done shopping, we headed back into DCA and were shockingly given two FP to Grizzly River Run, so we rode that, got drenched, and then headed back to Paradise Pier. The Games of the Boardwalk were open and I wasn't able to do them last trip, so we played some games. We played the Bullseye, Goofy, and Dumbo games. Melissa won the Bullseye game and won a stuffed Bullseye and I won the Dumbo game and a stuffed Dumbo. By the time we were done with this, my mom called and said they were getting close, so we got into Toy Story Mania line and we took our turn. I completely owned my sister and she wanted a rematch, but the line was super long and we didn't want to wait anymore.

Once Toy Story was over, we split. Melissa went over to Hollywood Pictures Backlot to use her Tower of Terror FP (she had two of them) and I used one of my Screamin' FP (I also had two). My parents passed on those attractions and decided they'd meet us at Soarin'. Screamin'= awesome ride! Tower of Terror= SCARY!!!

After we were done with those, we headed to Downtown Disney to meet up with my aunt and grandmother over near the Disneyland Hotel. After meeting up, we did a little shopping over in that area since our 5:20 reservation for Rainforest Cafe was approaching. We bought a few pins at Pin Traders and checked in at Rainforest at 5pm. We were seated 10 minutes early and had a great dinner.

Dinner came and went and so did my aunt and grandmother. We wanted to hang out with them more, but we had to get back to DCA for Disney's Electrical Parade since it was about 6:45pm at this point. We said our good-byes and my parents, sis, and I headed back into DCA. The four of us rode Soarin' before my parents grabbed seats for the parade on Sunshine Plaza. Then, my sis and I split again so she could ride Tower of Terror again and then I could ride Screamin' again. We met up in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel afterwards and concluded the evening with a ride on the brand new ferris wheel, which looked FANTASTIC at night!!!! We waited quite a while, but it was still a great ride. Once we were done, we headed over to our spot along the parade route and then Disney's Electrical Parade started and for the first time in years, I saw the "almost original" electrical parade. Now, here's my opinion on the new stuff.

When I first found out that they were changing it, I was pretty mad, but after watching the parade, I realized that the changes weren't as bad as I thought. I miss the Blue Fairy float, but the Tinker Bell float looked really pretty, so that wasn't bad. It was GREAT seeing the Pinocchio float return, but I was SAD that the Dumbo float left. As for the music, it wasn't bad, but I still think they need to bring back the original soundtrack. Overall, did I enjoy the new parade, yes. But there's nothing wrong with missing the original, right? At least they kept Elliott!

After the parade ended, I figured I'd have enough time to make it over to Disneyland to watch the 10:30 Fantasmic show. Why would I watch it when I was planning to watch it the next night anyway? One word: dragon. I needed to see the show just in case the dragon showed up, so my parents and sis headed back to the Hilton while I headed to Disneyland. I saw Magical from DCA and from outside the park entrance, so from that little "sneak preview", it looked like a pretty good show. I made it inside Disneyland by 9:45pm and I figured that I had enough time to get a decent seat at Fantasmic. So, I walked over and realized that I was WRONG!!!!! It was super crowded! I didn't expect that! I attempted to get a seat, but one of the yellow-shirt CMs told me it was full, but there was an 11:30 peformance scheduled, so I heaved a sigh of relief and decided to hang around New Orleans Square for about an hour. I didn't want to just shop, so I decided to ride Pirates since I was right there. After riding Pirates, I walked around the store near the exit for a little bit and came out only to see people exiting the 10:30 Fantasmic, so that was my time to move in. And I did. I got a great seat in the center hoping that the dragon would show up.

I watched the show only to get to the big climactic scene and finally see the dragon!!!!

No, sorry, I'm kidding. There wasn't any dragon. I saw the other new stuff, which I will share my opinion on later. Disappointed at the dragon being a no-go, I dragged out of Disneyland as it got ready to close for the night. My mom met me at the entrance and we headed back to the Hilton together (paranoid mother) and crashed for the night knowing that the next day will he a big and busy day.

Other than the dragon being a no-show and having massive crowds, great day! In my next post, I will write about the big day at Disneyland!

[FFGirl15]

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Regardless of us not going to bed until a little past midnight last night, we were up at 6:30am and were ready to head over to Disneyland by 7am. We grabbed a quick breakfast to go from the hotel and made it to the gate by 7:15am. At first I thought we were too early, but then I saw how long the line at the gates were at 7:45am and they were quite long, so it's a good thing we got there early. We were let in at 8am and first thing we did was take pictures in front of the castle.

After our quick photo-op, Melissa and I made a dash for the Nemo subs while my parents headed over to Space Mountain to grab FP. After a short wait, the four of use rode Nemo. My parents liked it, but miss the original subs. Me, I don't remember what the original subs were like, so I have to say I like the Nemo ones better. After Nemo, Melissa wanted to ride Astro Orbiter, but Autopia didn't have a line, so my parents took Melissa to Astro Orbiter and I rode a pretty blue Autopia car. By the time I was done, the rest of my family was just getting off the ride. Melissa REALLY wanted to get pictures with Tinker Bell, so my parents stood in line for Pixie Hollow while Melissa and I rode Buzz. Surprisingly, my sister and I had the EXACT SAME SCORE of 172,342! When does that ever happen? Once that was done, my sister met up with my parents in the Pixie Hollow line. I'm not really into Tinker Bell and the fairies (even though I LOVE Tink in Peter Pan and the Disney fireworks shows), so instead, I passed on Pixie Hollow and decided to get Matterhorn out of the way before it had a super long line. Matterhorn, such a fun ride! Once I was done with that, my family was done with Pixie Hollow and showed me the pictures that my sister took with Tink and Rosetta(I think that's her name). I had also discovered that my parents got FP to Indy while I was gone. By this time, Melissa and I were ready to ride Space Mountain and my parents, who I told about the rumor of Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin not being wired to the FP system, decided to try for a Roger Rabbit FP and meet us over at the Tiki Room. So, my sister and I rode my favorite Disneyland ride ever, and put our picture on hold since we ended up in the very front row, before meeting back at the Tiki Room. Unfortunately, they couldn't get the FP to Roger Rabbit, but instead, they got some for Splash Mountain.

We rode the Jungle Cruise before using our Indy FP. We had a funny skipper and were surprised that it was a walk-on considering that in the past, we've had to wait such a long time for it. My favorite joke that our skipper told was one about the Nile river. I also liked a joke that he told about zebras as we passed by the lions. After Jungle Cruise, we rode Indy. My parents hadn't had been on Indy in a long time, so they really enjoyed going on it. Afterwards, my mom got Melissa and I two more FP for later. My parents decided to grab a table at River Belle Terrace and have a drink while they wait for them to start serving lunch (they were starving by this time). While waiting, my sis and I climbed Tarzan's Treehouse for a while, and then walked over and grabbed FP for Big Thunder. At the same time, we saw that it also didn't have a long line, so we rode stand-by as well. It was great that my sis got over her fear of Big Thunder because she enjoyed it very much. Afterwards, we were all ready for lunch. We had turkey and roast beef sandwiches for lunch, which were all very yummy.

When we were done eating, we decided to catch the Sailing Ship Columbia or as my sister would call it, "Captain Hook's ship", since we hadn't ridden that in the longest time. After the relaxing and explosive ride, we went ahead and rode Indy once again. This time we ended up in the front row (we ended up in the back last time), so we had a whole different experience. After Indy, we got popcorn and Dole Whips and watched the Tiki show. Boy, I sure love those dole whips!! After the Tiki show, we headed back to Space Mountain to use the extra FP that we had from our parents not riding, but unfortunately, the power outage meant that Space Mountain was down! So, instead of riding Space, we headed over a very crowded Fantasyland, but luckily we were able to get in Pinocchio, the Carrousel, Mr. Toad, and the Teacups.

The park was getting crowded and it was getting a little hot, so we went back to Main Street, grabbed a stuffed pretzel from the Coke Corner and rode the train all the way around. Then, we rode it over to Toontown and grabbed FP for Roger Rabbit. We figured that Space Mountain would be up and running again, so we went back to Tomorrowland and ended up being able to use our Space FP. After riding my favorite ride once again, my parents thought about watching Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. It was hot and the park was crowded, so that ended up working out perfectly. After the movie, the Celebrate Street Parade was going on and Star Tours didn't have a long wait, so we rode that. I didn't really care for Celebrate parade (saw it on youtube), so we skipped. After riding Star Tours, we walked over to Critter Country and used our Splash FP. Melissa ended up in the very first row and got soaked! Same went with my mom and I, we got pretty wet as well. After Splash, we had a little time till our dinner reservation at Blue Bayou, so we rode Winnie the Pooh. It was a pretty decent wait, so we were ready for dinner by the time we got off of that.

Dinner was pricey, but the food was really good. I had the crab cakes and they were to die for! After dinner, we all rode Pirates of the Caribbean. When we got off that, we headed over to Fantasyland and I dragged my family onto it's a small world, but they ended up enjoying it. Once we were done with that, my parents went back to Main Street to grab a seat for the Magical fireworks while my sis and I rode Roger Rabbit, which my sister has not ridden in a long time, and Alice in Wonderland. After that, we had just enough time to get changed into pants (it surprisingly got chilly) and make it to the hub for Magical. Now, my opinion on Magical:

The fireworks weren't bad, but they weren't great either. Remember was definitely better as I had thought. I liked Magical, but I would've enjoyed them A LOT more if Tink and Dumbo had flown. Oh yeah, there was no Tink and no Dumbo, so I was pretty disappointed with that. Other than that, good fireworks show, but nothing can beat Remember, EVER!

After Magical, I made a dash for the 10:30 Fantasmic show, this time, I was for sure able to get a seat near Pirates. We waited for about 45 minutes before the show started. I watched the show and enjoyed it, as always, but, like the night before, no dragon appeared. Well, it looked like I was going to have to wait for my next trip to see Murphy. Luckily, I was able to see everything else new, including the new croc and Flotsam and Jetsam and now, here's my opinion on those.

I absolutely LOVED all of the new additions! The croc was adorable with his blinking eyes and snapping jaws and the Flotsam and Jetsam were huge! They were bigger than I had thought! And if these guys were awesome, then the dragon is probably AMAZING!!! Anyway, I loved the new additions and cannot wait to finally see Murphy the dragon!

After Fantasmic, we had about an hour before the park closed, so my parents went to the Carnation because they were tired while my sis walked onto Haunted Mansion. I must say, it's a lot of fun to ride Haunted Mansion late at night! After that, we had our Big Thunder FP to use. It was a lot of fun riding it in the dark as well and got scary when the lights on the mountain were turned off for the 11:30 Fantasmic. After Big Thunder, we concluded our evening with shopping at the Emporium on Main Street and then we left at midnight.

I should point out before I end this, that I did end up buying and trading a lot of pins and it is a blast! Now, I have a total of twelve pins and cannot wait to expand my collection later in the future!

The next day, Wednesday, we left Anaheim at about 10am. I was sad to say good-bye to my precious Disneyland, but now this trip is over, I have to start counting down to my next trip to Walt Disney World in April of 2010! And also, my cousin is getting married next July in Southern California and I think I might be able to squeeze a few days at Disneyland while we're down there!

Anyway, thanks for reading! I enjoy being able to help others plan their trips, so if you have any questions, send me a message!