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Thread: Anaheim Hilton, late nights and a lot of firsts!

  1. #1
    it's just an expression D15's Avatar
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    Feb 2005
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    Counting days & dollars!

    Anaheim Hilton, late nights and a lot of firsts!

    Well! We are finally back from our trip and I've learned quite a few things, one of the most important being that in my ideal world, I would have taken notes on each of our days when we got back to the hotel... except that we all hit the pillows and slept like logs! So while I don't have all the details I would like, I will try my best to do a run-down of our trip! Let me start with some of the things I had been asking all your valuable advice about...

    Anaheim Hilton
    After all my questions and back-and-forth about the hotel, I'm very glad we went with the Hilton! Everyone we dealt with on the staff was friendly and happy to help, the room was definitely large enough for us and all our stuff (and we had a lot of stuff) and while we weren't really in the room often enough to enjoy it, the Disney View was lovely (we did catch the end of the fireworks from the room one night, which was pretty cool). Yes, two of the (six) elevators were down, but the service elevators were available and only a 1-minute walk at most from the lobby (plus, nobody else seemed to know or remember they were there, so there was never a single other person waiting!). Our rooms were in essence the furthest walk possible from the elevators (the complete other corner of the hotel) but it really wasn't something we thought about negatively. Honestly, the biggest concern was remembering all the turns to take to get there for the first day or so We had a brief situation with parking (our van couldn't fit in their garage and the Marriott wanted a much higher price per night to park in their lot (which serves as the Hilton's overflow lot)) but the wonderful gentleman at Hilton's guest relations fixed it all up and we didn't pay a cent more that Hilton's self-park fee. Hats off to you, sir! We walked to and from the Toy Story lot and took the shuttle to the parks every day, which was easy as could be. I can't think of anything else to mention about the hotel... if there are specific questions, I am happy to try and answer them!

    Fantasmic! FP
    We got FPs for F! twice (only ended up using them one night though) and did standby once. For standby, we were back in Critter Country and waiting for some of our party to get off Big Thunder, and we walked past the standby area about 10 minutes before the 9pm show was to start. I thought "well, why not" and asked if standby space was still available- and it certainly was! We ended up behind and just slightly to the right of the smoking area/dock (which is wheelchair viewing during F!) and while the view wasn't the greatest, it was amazing for waiting literally 5 minutes for the show to start. Our FP nights we wanted to aim for the second showing, so taking the CM's advice we got FPs around 3pm. The first time we did this we got the Blue section (which meets by the Haunted Mansion and is the closest to the center from what I gathered)- these are the ones we didn't end up using, since everyone was just too tuckered out and we caved to go to bed early. The second time we also picked up FPs a little after 3pm, and got Yellow. We met at the Mark Twain dock right at 10pm (DON'T be later than 10 if this is your goal- there was a crush of people!) and were ushered to our section just to the right of center. We were early enough to be in the seated part of the section, right in front of a row of wheelchairs and ECVs, and the view was fantastic! I couldn't have asked for more- except maybe advanced knowledge to get better pictures with my borrowed DSLR, but that's for another time, I guess!

    General notes
    This was the first trip for three of the kids in our group, and it went by far too fast for my liking- though I think it was just right for them. Aside from them, two others hadn't been to the parks in over 10 years, so there was a lot new to them, too! We traded off days (Disneyland one day, DCA the next) and had a couple of bounce-days where we did both. We hit the parks by 9am most days and didn't leave until 10pm or later almost every night (the latest was midnight (twice) and the earliest was 9:30, and man is it hard to psych yourself up to leave when the fireworks are going off!). The crowds were sizeable, but nothing unmanagable- though summer crowds are what make the experience for us, since we've always been summertime travelers. One thing that was odd to us though was the number of breakdowns during our trip- Peter Pan went down once while we were in line (was back up in about 20 minutes), Big Thunder went down once each day for 3 consecutive days (we were on it once, that was an experience for one of the first timers!), Matterhorn down once, Space down once, Soarin' down once for most of the afternoon and Screamin' down three times. We did only see one selfie stick in the parks, though...
    We hit up all the major things that were of interest at least one time each, saw PTN once, F! twice (as mentioned above), Mickey and the Magical Map, Aladdin at DCA, and a lot of atmosphere groups to boot. We had Dole Whips, got silhouettes done, danced our hearts out at Tomorrowland Terrace (thanks, Suburban Legends- you played Ducktales! Check that one off my bucket list!), had an impromptu mini-photoshoot on the Mark Twain, and rode Big Thunder four times in a row, among many other things. There were a ton of dance troupes at the parks- some huge competition was going on(?) and most of them were staying at the Hilton, too! We saw lots of tour groups, camps and others with some awesome neon coordinating shirts.
    We had some amazing interactions with CMs and guests alike, and it really made me happy to see how much courtesy and generally happiness I saw in the parks. People giving their seats to the elderly, letting kids see from the front row, helping strollers and wheelchairs get by in large crowds, even little things like saying "please" and "thank you" often and just keeping a good attitude. I saw a lot of CM appreciation, too, which gave me warm fuzzies. Some of our party started pin trading, and we met lots of super sweet people (guests and CMs) that they traded with. One of the nights the fireworks were cancelled due to wind, but even then people were staying positive overall. It's just nice when the Happiest Place on Earth is, well, happy

    Now I'm sure I'm missing a TON of what I wanted to write down and mention... so after I go through my trip photos I'm sure I will have things to add. In the meantime, if anyone has questions about anything that they think I can answer, I will be most happy to oblige to the best of my ability!

    And as always, THANK YOU, MPers! This trip would not have gone as well as it did without your valuable advice and insight.

    ~ Kaz
    Any time is food time, when you set your clock on Pooh time!

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  3. #2
    Registered User
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    Aug 2012
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    Drexel Hill, PA

    Sounds like a great trip. That does sound like a lot of ride breakdowns but I am glad you got to do the things you wanted


  4. #3

    selfie sticks. SPACE MOUNTAIN went down 50 times in a month due to selfie sticks. BTMRR went down usually 3 times a day as they have the most sensitive sensors in both parks.


  5. #4
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    Jan 2006
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    Beautiful Orange County, CA

    Great report! Glad you all had a great time!


  6. #5
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    Aug 2007
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    Washington State

    Great report! Thanks!


  7. #6
    it's just an expression D15's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Counting days & dollars!

    Thank you everyone! We had a fantastic trip and are so grateful!

    I've uploaded some of the photos I took (well, 10 of them for now!), here's hoping that they will display correctly here:






    And you should be able to click them for higher resolution! As I mentioned above, I am certainly a novice photographer, but I had a TON of fun finding things to shoot around the parks. Hopefully I can learn more (especially about night time photography) before our next trip!

    ~ Kaz
    Any time is food time, when you set your clock on Pooh time!

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