Twinsmom
12-27-2002, 07:09 PM
I can finally say I have been to Disneyland! We had a wonderful time in both parks and the hotel. Hubby and daughter loved California Adventure and Mom and the boys loved the original DL! Our daughter had her first Space Mountain ride and I think I had my last....its amazing what 5 years can do to your memory and the recollection of what your stomach feels like when the ride is over!
First, to Keith the Lead CM at Aladdin on Christmas Day- You are my Hero! I am currently composing a letter to commend Keith for his handling of our "situation" experienced using Disney Travel show vouchers. The bottom line, some of you may know, your voucher is supposed to get you "priority" admission into the show with special seating. Well, if you don't wait in line to get a regular ticket to the show, you cannot use your voucher. Unfortunately, we received about 3 different stories on how to utilize this voucher upon arriving at the show. Keith saved the day of a very persistent, but nice, mom. Thank you Keith! Aladdin was awesome IMHO. The boys say this was their favorite part of the trip.
The Grand Californian Hotel was just that...grand! Our room was on the second floor above the lobby. We had two queen beds and a day bed in our room. I found the room to be quite sufficient spacewise and the housekeeping ladies were wonderful with extra touches -- like a cute snowman made from wash cloths on Christmas day! Too cute. (It helps when you tip appropriately.) A big thumbs down to the CMs working the gate from the hotel into CA on Christmas morning. At 9:00 we were told they would not open those gates until 10:00 sharp and they sent us to walk to CA. Of course, CA opened at 9:30 and we walked right by the hotel gate at 9:40 on the way to Grizzly River and it was open! So, the private entrance was not much of a benefit to us.
Thumbs down also to CM Kelly who informed a "line" of us patient people waiting for pictures with Stitch that "there is no line, we have a semi-circle". Please, after 3 days of waiting in nice lines to have pictures made and autographs signed, I wanted to throw her in the lake. (I am usually a nice person, but this sent me over the edge.)
Park Hopper tickets were great and definitely worth the price. I would buy them again, even if we did have one day left unused.
We made good use of the monorail, but were not pleased with the wait on Tuesday morning - 24th. We were in line around 7:30 to get in when DL opened at 8:00, but for some reason, the monorail did not start running until around 8:15. There were many unhappy people in line. Also, Christmas Eve we were told we had to be in line by 7:45pm for the last run. Needless to say, we did not get to see the fireworks. I know, I know, it was Christmas Eve, but for people with small children, you can't walk to the hotels after a long day at the park! (Where is the reason of convenience to stay on-site???)
We had a great meal at the Blue Bayou. Pirates went down while we were there and so we were serenaded by people in the boats singing Christmas carols. Too funny! The restaurant is truly magical. The service was excellent and you were not rushed with your meal either.
The Jazz Kitchen was excellent as was Naples. We had great service at both restaurants. Jazz Kitchen's food was just delicious.
On another thread I have already mentioned I was not pleased with the Storytellers character breakfast. If you want "paid for" interaction with characters, this is not the place to do it! Our kids were very disappointed. I knew I blew it on this one. We should have gone to Goofy's!
Vacation Planning - I arranged to have a Christmas Tree in the room for our family. The cost was $150.00 (the bill said $185.00 so we had that changed!). The 3 ft. tall tree had 5 collectible ornaments, 5 small plush characters, a sugar plum multi-colored garland, 5 red colored pinecone ornaments that looked like glass but were plastic, and plaid bows to complete the tree. It was very nice. I think I expected lights on the tree though. The kids were very impressed and squealed when they saw it basically. (I personally thought, "note to self" skip the tree next time. We did actually carry it home on the plane in a large duffle type bag. The tree did not disassemble into pieces as I hoped it would.
We also did the "Holiday Tour" at DL. I think this was the best part of the whole entire trip!!!! At $39.00 a person for 5, it was money well spent and I would do it again in a heartbeat! We started out on Main Street with our Tour Guide CM "Debbie". (She was wonderful by the way...) We went to Coke Corner and sang Christmas carols, then walked on with no wait at all into our own private "room" at Haunted Mansion. Next we hopped the train and arrived at Minnie's Christmas Party to be seated in a private section where we enjoyed a huge Christmas rice krispy treat and a large souvineer mug of hot chocolate. Next we walked into Small World through the Fast Pass line and then over to our reserved, front row, seats (chairs) in front of Small World for the evening viewing of the Christmas Parade. Our daughter helped to lead the crowd in the surrounding area in Christmas carols! Talk about great pictures and memories! We also learned a great deal of information about Walt and his beloved Park! It was a fabulous way to spend Christmas Eve!
Other items of note -- We did a private shuttle with Super Shuttle from LAX. It was $73.00 each way and served us well. We arrived promptly at the hotel and the airport with no waiting for other passengers or stops, etc. We flew United and I wouldn't do that again! The plane equipment was changed on the outbound flight and our family's seating was separated. Both flights were also overbooked by 12 people....Unbelievable.
The weather was great, the crowds were okay except for Monday! We were told by a CM on the train at DL that the attendance was around 78,000! We saw Cuba Gooding waiting to get on Pirate's, so we had the added bonus of a celeb sighting!
We are already planning our next return, with some "lessons learned" tweaking! Thank you all again for the great input you gave! It was an incredible visit to your favorite place!
;)
First, to Keith the Lead CM at Aladdin on Christmas Day- You are my Hero! I am currently composing a letter to commend Keith for his handling of our "situation" experienced using Disney Travel show vouchers. The bottom line, some of you may know, your voucher is supposed to get you "priority" admission into the show with special seating. Well, if you don't wait in line to get a regular ticket to the show, you cannot use your voucher. Unfortunately, we received about 3 different stories on how to utilize this voucher upon arriving at the show. Keith saved the day of a very persistent, but nice, mom. Thank you Keith! Aladdin was awesome IMHO. The boys say this was their favorite part of the trip.
The Grand Californian Hotel was just that...grand! Our room was on the second floor above the lobby. We had two queen beds and a day bed in our room. I found the room to be quite sufficient spacewise and the housekeeping ladies were wonderful with extra touches -- like a cute snowman made from wash cloths on Christmas day! Too cute. (It helps when you tip appropriately.) A big thumbs down to the CMs working the gate from the hotel into CA on Christmas morning. At 9:00 we were told they would not open those gates until 10:00 sharp and they sent us to walk to CA. Of course, CA opened at 9:30 and we walked right by the hotel gate at 9:40 on the way to Grizzly River and it was open! So, the private entrance was not much of a benefit to us.
Thumbs down also to CM Kelly who informed a "line" of us patient people waiting for pictures with Stitch that "there is no line, we have a semi-circle". Please, after 3 days of waiting in nice lines to have pictures made and autographs signed, I wanted to throw her in the lake. (I am usually a nice person, but this sent me over the edge.)
Park Hopper tickets were great and definitely worth the price. I would buy them again, even if we did have one day left unused.
We made good use of the monorail, but were not pleased with the wait on Tuesday morning - 24th. We were in line around 7:30 to get in when DL opened at 8:00, but for some reason, the monorail did not start running until around 8:15. There were many unhappy people in line. Also, Christmas Eve we were told we had to be in line by 7:45pm for the last run. Needless to say, we did not get to see the fireworks. I know, I know, it was Christmas Eve, but for people with small children, you can't walk to the hotels after a long day at the park! (Where is the reason of convenience to stay on-site???)
We had a great meal at the Blue Bayou. Pirates went down while we were there and so we were serenaded by people in the boats singing Christmas carols. Too funny! The restaurant is truly magical. The service was excellent and you were not rushed with your meal either.
The Jazz Kitchen was excellent as was Naples. We had great service at both restaurants. Jazz Kitchen's food was just delicious.
On another thread I have already mentioned I was not pleased with the Storytellers character breakfast. If you want "paid for" interaction with characters, this is not the place to do it! Our kids were very disappointed. I knew I blew it on this one. We should have gone to Goofy's!
Vacation Planning - I arranged to have a Christmas Tree in the room for our family. The cost was $150.00 (the bill said $185.00 so we had that changed!). The 3 ft. tall tree had 5 collectible ornaments, 5 small plush characters, a sugar plum multi-colored garland, 5 red colored pinecone ornaments that looked like glass but were plastic, and plaid bows to complete the tree. It was very nice. I think I expected lights on the tree though. The kids were very impressed and squealed when they saw it basically. (I personally thought, "note to self" skip the tree next time. We did actually carry it home on the plane in a large duffle type bag. The tree did not disassemble into pieces as I hoped it would.
We also did the "Holiday Tour" at DL. I think this was the best part of the whole entire trip!!!! At $39.00 a person for 5, it was money well spent and I would do it again in a heartbeat! We started out on Main Street with our Tour Guide CM "Debbie". (She was wonderful by the way...) We went to Coke Corner and sang Christmas carols, then walked on with no wait at all into our own private "room" at Haunted Mansion. Next we hopped the train and arrived at Minnie's Christmas Party to be seated in a private section where we enjoyed a huge Christmas rice krispy treat and a large souvineer mug of hot chocolate. Next we walked into Small World through the Fast Pass line and then over to our reserved, front row, seats (chairs) in front of Small World for the evening viewing of the Christmas Parade. Our daughter helped to lead the crowd in the surrounding area in Christmas carols! Talk about great pictures and memories! We also learned a great deal of information about Walt and his beloved Park! It was a fabulous way to spend Christmas Eve!
Other items of note -- We did a private shuttle with Super Shuttle from LAX. It was $73.00 each way and served us well. We arrived promptly at the hotel and the airport with no waiting for other passengers or stops, etc. We flew United and I wouldn't do that again! The plane equipment was changed on the outbound flight and our family's seating was separated. Both flights were also overbooked by 12 people....Unbelievable.
The weather was great, the crowds were okay except for Monday! We were told by a CM on the train at DL that the attendance was around 78,000! We saw Cuba Gooding waiting to get on Pirate's, so we had the added bonus of a celeb sighting!
We are already planning our next return, with some "lessons learned" tweaking! Thank you all again for the great input you gave! It was an incredible visit to your favorite place!
;)