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View Full Version : Trip Report Feb. 22nd-25th



stitchlvr
02-26-2005, 12:34 PM
Well, I'm finally ready to start my trip report (at least the first installment). We left San Jose at 6:30 AM on the 22nd. The weather was fine until we hit the Grapevine, but even then it was rain, not snow (thank goodness). There was a landslide which was just being cleared when we went by. The traffic from Magic Mountain to Orange County was very slow (I guess it's often like that). We checked into the motel (Park Place Inn) and got organized to go to the park. It was raining pretty hard, but we often visit during rainy times. It was 2:00 by the time we got over there. We decided to go to California Adventures first since it was the last day for the 75 Mickeys and we wanted to see them. CA was surprisingly crowded for a Tuesday, and torrential rainy conditions, but we managed to see all of the Mickeys. We're glad we did since we enjoyed the exhibit (some more than others). We did check out the Animation studio as well (one of my daughter's favorites). It was pretty crowded so we went into Ursula's Grotto for awhile in the Sorcerer's Workshop. After that, we headed to Disneyland and stayed until closing at 8. We had lunch at Rancho De Zocolo under the heat lamps. It was the drying out we needed. After lunch, we headed to POTC and walked right on. We went on a couple of more times before the day was over. We headed to HM which had a 10 minute wait. It was my daughter's first time without the NBC overlay. She has seen the movie and felt ready to try it. We have a deal that she goes on a ride once a trip even if she doesn't like it. She used to hate POTC and Thunder Mountain, but loves them both now. She really did not like HM. She thought it was too scary, but she said she'd try it again next trip and would probably get used to it. We headed over to the Pooh ride (my daughter was grateful for this after HM). Then we headed over to Fantasyland. Teacups and Alice were closed because of the rain, but we rode Dumbo and the Storybook land boats. We basically walked on all the rides at Disneyland which still puzzles me since CA seemed crowded with lines. We then rode IASW and headed to ToonTown. My daughter really got into all the buildings and effects. There was no one there so she really took quite a bit of time. We went into Mickey's house where we got to see Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy as well as Mickey. We also rode Roger Rabbit and my daughter went into Goofy's Bounce House (by herself) which was special since it's probably her last time- she was right under the height restriction. On the way out, we checked out some of the stores and the Cinema (we have to do that every time we walk out of the park). We caught a late dinner off site and got ready for the next day.

rentayenta
02-26-2005, 12:42 PM
Great first day! I can't wait to read the rest.

How did you like the Best Western Park Place Inn?

Rouxe1688
02-26-2005, 01:26 PM
did you hear anything about space mountain? I know you can't see it as it's inside, but i'm hoping it will be open for the 50th. Glad you had fun dispite the rain :)

stitchlvr
02-26-2005, 05:46 PM
Great first day! I can't wait to read the rest.

How did you like the Best Western Park Place Inn?

I liked it a lot! Clean rooms, great price. The only negatives were parking (had to park really far from the room, but at least they had parking!) and Friday morning was pretty noisy really early (they are next door to a restaurant that got a lot of deliveries at 6 AM). Other than that it was great. I would definitely stay there again!

stitchlvr
02-26-2005, 05:46 PM
did you hear anything about space mountain? I know you can't see it as it's inside, but i'm hoping it will be open for the 50th. Glad you had fun dispite the rain :)

Sorry, but I didn't hear a thing. I have to admit, I didn't stop to ask about it.

stitchlvr
02-27-2005, 08:50 AM
Day 2- After the continental breakfast at the hotel, we headed over for opening. The weather was much better- no rain, overcast in the morning, but sunny later in the day. Since it was a Wednesday, the crowds were fairly light. We headed over to Peter Pan first thing since that ride gets crowded quickly. We also hit a lot of the other Fantasyland rides while we were there- Casey Jr., Alice In Wonderland and Mr. Toad. The Tea Cup line was very long- probably because it had been closed so we left that for later in the day. We used some fast passes for Autopia and stopped for lunch at Redd Rocket's Pizza Port. We wanted to have lunch at Carnation Cafe, but it was still closed. Throughout the day, we worked on a list of pressed penny machines we wanted to visit.

After lunch, we walked right in to the first performance of the Snow White musical and sat in the front section. This was kind of exciting, since on our last visit this musical was pretty new and there were two hour waits to get in. Obviously, we skipped it last trip so this was our first time seeing it. It was enjoyable. Not quite as impressive as Aladdin, but we both liked it and would probably see it again. We headed over to the TeaCups. The line had subsided. They spun better than our last trip, but not as well as years past. Still, my daughter was happy enough with them that she wanted to go on again (it had been her favorite ride prior to them being slowed down, and I had to convince her to try them again, the last time was so frustrating). We also rode Snow White. We headed over to Thunder Mountain to use our fast passes. We picked up another pair of fast passes on the way out and rode POTC again. Then we headed over to the Castle to catch the Princess Celebration. This was a thrill because since my daughter was about three, Aurora has been her favorite princess. She has been very disappointed because she is always dressed in blue (except in parades) on every trip we have made. She even wrote a letter to Disney at one point to ask about it (she got a very cute letter back & a picture of Aurora). Any way, she got to be close to Aurora dressed in pink. We headed over to Toon Town to check out the line for Gadget's Go Coaster, but it was long. My daughter played at Chip and Dale's treehouse for awhile. We found out that Aurora was going to be on the other side of the castle so we went back and I got a picture of my daughter with Aurora in pink. What a thrill! We then went on the Matterhorn (her first time). She did enjoy it and we wanted to ride it again, but unfortunately the line was pretty long the rest of our trip. We headed back to Thunder Mountain to use our fast passes, but it was down. Unfortunately, even though the ride came back up in the evening, we never got back to ride it again. We headed over to Pooh Corner for a treat, and did Tarzan's Treehouse on the way back. We stopped at Rajah's Mint for the first time. My daughter rubbed Aladdin's lamp and is convinced that the genie gave her a message about her future. We rode Roger Rabbit again. We explored some more of the shops around the park. We had planned to take the Monorail to DTD to look at the shops, but it was down every time we checked from 3 to evening so we gave up on that. We went on HISTA, explored Main Street and the Cinema once again. We ate dinner off site. Went back to the hotel to relax and soak my aching feet. I always think I should bring a pedometer to see how far I actually walk, but I always forget.

stitchlvr
02-28-2005, 05:19 PM
Day 3- After breakfast, we headed to DCA. Went right to Soaring Over California for Fast passes and went to Bug's Land. We walked on every ride with no wait (which is great since these aren't my favorite rides and waiting in a long line makes it worse). We tried the 3D bug show for the first time in four years. My daughter still didn't like it- too gross and scary. Went to the Playground area for about 45 minutes- she still loves that place. Went back to ride on Soarin' and grabbed another set of fast passes. That's our favorite ride at DCA.My daughter rode Orange Stinger- I hate this ride it makes me sick- so she did it without me. Tried Golden Dreams for the first time. We enjoyed it, but it's not something we'll do every trip. Waited in a very long line for Jumpin' Jellyfish (about 1/2 hour-45 minutes)- long wait for a 2 min ride, but it's one of her favorites. We headed to lunch at Taste Pilots Grill. Used the machines; they weren't too bad. We used our second fastpasses for Soarin'. We headed to the Hollywood Backlot to see the Muppet 3D show. When we were heading to the Animation Studio, the Incredibles were out front. My daughter was thrilled! We got some pictures and headed into the studio. The Fairy Godmother was there practically all alone- there was a huge line for Belle in the storybook area. We got pictures and an autograph and explored some of the studio, went into the Sorcer's workshop and did the first two rooms- skipped the last one since we had done that previously. When we came out, we watched the animator in the Off the Page Store for awhile (we had never done that before). We collected some pressed pennies around the park.

We headed to Disneyland around 4 PM, waited for the vehicles to make a trip down Main Street, but I guess we missed the last one because they drove them backstage. We rode Pinocchio in Fantasy land. We checked out Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn, Gadget's Go Coaster and the Monorail, but the waits were too long- Monorail was temporarily down. We rode the Jungle Cruise, IASW and went into Innoventions for awhile. When we came out, we rode the Monorail to DTD and looked around the shops. We rode back to the park to eat dinner (Redd Rocket's again because it wasn't crowded and was close). Even though park hours were extended to 10 PM because of the crowd (I guess), we ended up leaving around 8PM. We were tired and my feet were killing me at this point.

stitchlvr
03-03-2005, 07:40 PM
Last morning- We packed and checked out of the hotel. We got to the park in plenty of time for our 9:20 priority seating at the Plaza Inn Princess Breakfast. On the way in, we spotted Gepetto (never seen him before) and waited for pictures and an autograph. When we got to the Plaza Inn, the line for Priority Seating wound around and ended in front of the camera shop. I've posted about this experience in the Character Dining thread if any one is interested. I'm not going to go into the details again here, but our experience was not great. It was kind of a bummer that this was how our trip would end. We had planned to do some rides, but by the time the meal was over, we had very little time before we had to get on the road to San Jose. My daughter was very excited when we left the Plaza Inn because she spotted Aurora (again in pink, and also Prince Phillip who we've never seen other than in the Princess Celebration). Unfortunately, a CM had already capped the line, but he did tell us that he thought Prince Phillip would be at the entrance to the park around 11:30. We did our last minute shopping on Main Street. Then, something truly spectacular happened. The Dapper Dans were performing in front of the Jewelry Shop. Now I have seen them perform many times, but I had not realized that my daughter had never seen them (I don't know how that happened). Anyway, she heard them from down the street and ran up and firmly planted herself directly front and center (she loves music). The crowd was very small and she got a lot of personalized attention from the Dapper Dans. It made the whole morning a lot better, and I think it made her whole trip (she talked about it throughout the 7 hour ride home). We watched a few songs and my daughter even got to play the Deagan Organ Chimes (Pop Goes the Weasel). Boy was she thrilled. Then, unfortunately, we had to leave, but we were able to catch Cruella, the mice from Cinderella (also new to us) and Prince Phillip on the way out. We drove to the Character Warehouse for some discount shopping on the way out and then drove home. It was so great that even though the morning started out not so great, the magic of Disneyland and the Dapper Dans really repaired that. It was truly special.