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nvmom
03-15-2005, 01:11 PM
Mar. 10-14. Our first ever trip to the DLR, dh, myself, and 3 children ages 10, 7 and 2.5 yrs. I'd like to say thanks to everyone who answered my questions prior to our vacation. Even my husband had to admit that my obsessive planning and searching for info really helped. :) Also, special thanks to Rentayenta who sent us some Mickey Mouse soaps, lotions, etc. My kids thought that was so fun!!

Day #1- Mar 10

-Flew out of Reno NV at 7:15 a.m. arrived at John Wayne about 8:30 a.m. Love that airport. Small, easy to get around in, etc. Called our limo driver who was waiting for us. The limo ride was a special surprise for our girls. Got a $50 rate, friendly driver, and beverages. The girls thought they were pretty cool.

-Arrived at the Desert Palms Hotel (more on the Desert Palms later). Did a pre-check in. Put our luggage in holding. Emptied our pack back of plane necessary - but not Disney necessary items, bought our 4 day Park Hoppers, and asked for directions to Disneyland. Walked down Harbor, kids loved the palm trees (hey, we're from the high desert- anything green & leafy is great.)

-Went thru security. As a first timers we thought this was kind of a joke. Only one CM in our 4 days there actually asked us to move anything to look to the bottom of the back pack, etc. I have no issue w/security... I just expected it to be more detailed.

-Waited just a few minutes to get in. The park opened at 10:00, we got there about 10:15 a.m. Walked into the Mainstreet USA area, and guess who we saw? Mickey Mouse!! I'm sure we had the cheesiest grins on our faces because here we were, our first time at DLR, and there's Mickey- first thing- bigger than big. We get autographs and pics. Good thing. As it turned out, our 2.5 yr old would only talk to Mickey and Pooh.

-Went straight back to Fantasyland. Walked onto IASW. Again, cheesy grins. Even my husband was like "holy cow, we're actually at Disneyland."

-Went to the Toon Town gate, waited about 3 min for it to open. Did the little roller coaster, Chip-n-Dale Tree House, Minnie's House, Mickey's House. Stopped for a quick bite to eat. We all shared a turkey sandwich, fruit salad, and water bottles.

-Tried to go on Roger Rabbit. It was closed due to "a weasel to who stole someone's purse." Anyone who speaks "Disney" can translate this for us?? I'm assuming a mechanical problem or something?

-Went to Goofy's Bounce House. My girls were not impressed with this one. The thought it was hard to jump. The CM kept saying to them "you need to jump more." What's up w/that?

-Left Toon Town and walked right into "Snow White" at the Fantasyland theatre. We all thought this was a very charming show. I also love the atmosphere of this little outdoor style ampi-theatre.

-Left the park about 2:00 pm to go check into our hotel. Un-packed a bit, bought some water bottles at 7-11.

-Back to the DLR for the Princess character celebration. We loved all the parades and shows. We didn't have a good seat for this one... didn't realize we needed to be right in front of the castle. (We learned for the Mickey celebration.) Still, the girls were just enchanted by the Princesses and the dancers.

-We're hungry. We head back to Critter Country, only to be disapointed that the Hungry Bear Cafe was closed. Came back to the Stagedoor Cafe and shared an order of fish-n-chips and chicken strips.

-Back to Critter Country to ride Winnie the Pooh. Waited about 7 minutes I'd say. Cute ride. Dh and I actually enjoyed the friendly CM at the end of the ride w/his "Poohish" lines like "have a honey of a day" "make a bee-line for the exit on your right" What can I say- we're easily entertained.

-Took a peek into the Pooh gift shop.

-Back to Fantasyland. Rode the Tea Cups & Casey Jr. We waited 15-20 min for both of these.

-Back to the hotel for a swim and bed. We were tired, having to be at the airport by 5 a.m. (so up by 4:00 a.m.)

Thoughts on Day 1:
*The Desert Palms: On a scale of 1-5, I'd give it about a 3. Our room was exactly as promised. There were some bad red stains on the carpet (fruit punch I'm sure.) The rooms was clean. It was very nice to have the extra room in the little family suite. It was nice to have the refridge, could've done w/out the microwave. The continental breakfast is crowded and very basic. They do keep the tables cleaned off and wiped down promptly. I'd say I was most disapointed by the staff. They answered all questions, but there was no extra effort to be friendly or helpful. (Except the gentleman working our last night there.) We asked for a wake-up call on Fri morning- never got it. Good thing I woke up anyway. The pool is small, but adequate, the hot tub felt great in the evening. We liked that it was close to 7-11 and a some other stores/restaurants. The have no hotel shuttle to Disneyland. Also, we decided that coming from NV, we're used to getting a nice room in the newer casinos for a great rate, plus we're used to valet, concierge... things that are just standard in a casino.

*Again, as a first timers, we were amazed at the whole "stroller parking" thing. I did read that someone on here had their stroller stolen once. But we didn't run across anyone who had any trouble. We kept our backpack w/us, but we did leave other personal items on the stroller. I like to think there's an "unspoken Disney law" that you just don't mess w/other people's strollers. Cool.

*We thought people were amazingly polite and friendly. We talked to so many great people waiting in line.

*The park is very clean. Wow. The bathrooms are very clean. Wow.

*The look on my girls faces when they saw some of the characters was worth every penny, and then some.

nvmom

... to be continued (if you can stand to read more. :) )

Faith Trust & Pixie Dust
03-15-2005, 01:29 PM
More, more! It's so fun to hear from a first-timer. I'm glad you had such a great time.

Hakuna Makarla
03-15-2005, 01:53 PM
yeah!! good report, ok, keep it coming pleaseeeee!
I love seeing how happy you were and easily impressed I am to so I know what you mean! when I saw goofy the first time I like wanted to cry ( me cry himmmmm) So yes being easy to please is what its all about :)

miss_sonja
03-15-2005, 03:38 PM
Great report! More!:-)

Earkid
03-15-2005, 07:08 PM
Keep 'em comin' NVMom. THose that don't like to read trip reports don't need to click on them. :)

stitchlvr
03-15-2005, 07:31 PM
I love reading everyone's trip reports. It makes it easier to wait for the next trip and also triggers a lot of great memories. I appreciate all the details. Keep it coming and don't worry that it's too long!

Crazy4DL
03-15-2005, 08:06 PM
I too enjoy trip reports and yours is excellent so far - love the added thoughts. It is especially fun to hear first time reactions. My 12 yr nephew is going with us this summer and it will be his first trip and we are all extra excited about the trip. thanks for the report and I am looking forward to reading more. rrazey

nvmom
03-15-2005, 08:26 PM
Day #2- Fri Mar 11

We were up bright and early to arrive at the park about 8:15 for our 8:30 priority seating at the Princess Breakfast. Waited in line, heard the countdown, were some of first people onto Main St. The band came marching out... I was totally charmed, yet again. I think tears came to my eyes (don't think I'm a dork.) Alice, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were out. Alice was SO cute... we didn't stop for photos because we thought we had to hurry to the breakfast. I'm kinda bummed out about that because we never saw them again.

-Got to the Plaza Inn. We waited about 5 min, got our priority seating slip, waited about another 3 min and were brought inside. We paid, got crowns & buttons, were given a brief tour, and then seated. Dh and I took turns getting food for the kids. While the food wasn't exceptional, we thought it was very good. A nice variety for kids and adults. Portions were generous. Saw Jasmine, Snow White (she was so cute and said the cutest things to my dd and her voice sounded just like the movie), Bert & Mary Poppins- they were great too (when the girls posed for a pic w/them Mary was giving them girls the old one-two "don't slouch now ladies."), Cinderella, and the Fairy Godmother. We did not feel rushed. The Princesses all came to our table and seemed to be making the rounds in an organized manner. We all enjoyed the meal.

-Headed towards the castle and saw Aurora. Got in a short line. We must have every Princess autograph you know.

-Take two steps and see a small line (like 2 people) by some rocks. Realize this must be Ariel's place. She's do at 10 am.- it's 5 'til... so we get in line for Ariel. Then the CM announces that she'll be 10 min late because they're having electrical problems. I'm assuming they had to fix whatever makes her shell spin around. We tried to convince the CM to just carry her on out! Great CM, very friendly. Got Ariel's autograph and pic. She was good.

-Went and got in line for Dumbo. Things were busier today. We waited about 25 min for Dumbo. Then waited about 25-30 min for Story Book Canal boats.

-Headed over to Tomorrow Land. Rode the monorail roundtrip just for fun.

-Got fastpasses for Autopia.

-Our 2.5 yr old falls asleep, so I sit down and relax at Red Rocket pizza w/pizza and a coke and dh and girls go to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. This 3D movie scared my 7 yr old so bad. She was still shaking when they came out. Apparently the mice made her jump about 20 fit in the air and land straight on my husband's lap. She lost her glasses and everything!

-The rest of the family ate. We all enjoyed just watching the people.

-Went to Autopia. The kids really liked this and it was more fun than I expected it to be.

-Went into Innoventions. This was an attraction I'd heard nothing about. Call us weird, but my kids spent a ton of time in here. All 3 of them really liked the games and such. One thing that we got such a kick out of was talking to stitch in the little booth on his video phone. We all laughed and laughed. Who ever is on the other side of that wall was quick. They really pegged our kids and asked the funnest questions and we got a really cute photo too. I'd really recommend taking time to talk to Stitch.

-Headed back to Critter Country since the Pooh characters weren't out the night before. Got pics and autographs. There was a long line, but it moved quickly.

-Got some of the honey carmel corn. Yum! and a lemonade cup and staked out a spot for the Mickey character celebration.

-Got great seats for the Mickey show. I just love their productions. I own a dance studio so I'm all about the choreography and how they put these shows together. One of my daughters got asked by a dancer to come dance in their circle. She declined. Fun as that would've been... I wouldn't have done it at age 7 either.

-Went over see Tarzans Treehouse, played at the Shooting Expo, and got a seat for Billy Hill and Hillbillies. This was one of my husband's fav shows. We were all entertained and cracked up at how these guys played off of one another.

-At about 7:30 pm we headed down Main St and stopped for Mickey pretzels and hotdogs. I just love Main St. We didn't look in even half the shops. I could've spent several hours their just browsing and soaking it all in.

-Stopped at a cart and bought our Mickey ears. Ran into Pluto. Pluto was everywhere!

-Noticed the Lion King tram was running now. Took that back to the North (I think) parking lot and then walked back on Katella. This shortened the walk considerably.

-A quick dip in the pool, and we were all out like a light.

*I think our family is a perfect example of how there's something for everyone at Disneyland. We are not thrill seakers. You'll notice as I continue that we went on only one "big" ride... and still had the time of our lives.

*Yes, the food in the park is expensive. We just tried to use common sense. Our kids are used to sharing anyway, so it was nothing new to them if we said you're sharing the chicken strips or the slice of pizza or whatever. I thought a lot of the portions were pretty big. Our kids are still young enough that we can do this, plus this allowed us to try more items. We brought in our own water bottles. I also had some juice boxes, jerkey, and animal crackers in our backpack.

*I was happy to be able to say that we had a great time at the Princess breakfast. I've read recently that some people here weren't as lucky. Maybe they made some adjustments in the service? We also had the earliest priority seating time, which made all the diff too, I'm sure. I think one big problem is that so many people just don't understand what priority seating is (or isn't.) If I hadn't read here, I'd have assumed it was like a reservation and would've been mad that I was standing in a long line too. There was one irate women when we came out demanding to know where here table was for a 10:00 seating and it was only about 9:45 or so. This of course rubs off on those around her and pretty soon you've got an entire line of people who don't understand why they're waiting.

nvmom

MsYumiBr
03-15-2005, 08:52 PM
I just posted something about one of my pet peeves being those pushy women! They get upset or controlling and make everyone around them feel uncomfortable. It's DL for crying out loud.

Great trip report by the way. I really like how you make each thought a paragraph and then put comments on the bottom. It makes it easy to read and give time to take the info in. Keep them coming. This is great!

Hakuna Makarla
03-16-2005, 02:52 AM
Awsome !!! I am really enjoying this!!

Tutter
03-16-2005, 02:58 AM
It's lovely to read first impressions - more more.

yellowrosedtxn
03-16-2005, 03:37 AM
-Flew out of Reno NV at 7:15 a.m. arrived at John Wayne about 8:30 a.m. Love that airport. Small, easy to get around in, etc. Called our limo driver who was waiting for us. The limo ride was a special surprise for our girls. Got a $50 rate, friendly driver, and beverages. The girls thought they were pretty cool.

Do you have the numver of that limo service still? I would love to get a limo to surprise my kids - the cheapest I got wasa $71.00 rate one way.

I forgot to say I am REALLY enjoying your trip report! Thanks for posting!

HTHgal12
03-16-2005, 08:41 AM
More More!

Faith Trust & Pixie Dust
03-16-2005, 09:10 AM
I'm glad you enjoyed the Princess breakfast-it was the highlight of our trip in January (my girls filled their autograph books). Love the report!

Wendi
03-16-2005, 09:34 AM
Sounds like a fantastic trip!!! I can't wait for more!!!

Gramiangel420
03-16-2005, 11:37 AM
Thank you for the wonderful report.
We have priority seating for this Sunday, at the Princess Breakfast, so I was very glad to read that you had a great experience. My granddaughter is 7 and really looking forward to this part of our trip.
My grandson, 4 and my granddaughter 1 are going to be at DL for the first time and it will be fun to see everything through their eyes.
Thanks again for the wonderful report!

disney jones
03-16-2005, 01:48 PM
i'm enjopying this report too, especially the HISTA reaction. :p The 3D shows just aren't for kids.

nvmom
03-17-2005, 08:44 AM
Day #3- Sat March 12

We'd decided previously that this would be our California Adventure day. We were hoping that this park would be the less crowded of the two. We don't have anything to compare it to, but DL looked insane to us last Sat.

-Slept in some, had continental breakfast at our hotel, and then walked to the N parking lot to take the Lion King Tram. Parking lot was full, lines for the trams. We waited in a security line then waited in line for about 10-15 min to get into the CA park. Once inside, however, it didn't seem to crowded.

-Stopped at the Disney Animation building. Went into a small theatre like room and watched a little presentation on creating characters. Went into another room where you answer ?'s on the magic books to see which characters you're most like. There were several characters in this building. We tried to get a pic w/Woody, but he was leaving.

-Headed over to a Bugsland. While the rides are just carnival rides, the Land itself is really cute. I loved all the details like the popsicle stick park benches, etc. We rode Heimlich's Chew-Chew, the spinning Lady Bugs and played in the farm area. All their water areas are fun for the little ones, but it wasn't quite warm enough IMO to get wet.

-Proceeded over to the Tortilla Factory. I guess I expected more here. We walked thru, got our tortilla and left. I'd say it took all of 5-7 min. No lines.

-We checked Ariel's Grotto, but the standby line was to long for us.

-We went over the bridge (I think?) to the Pier area. I got a corn dog (fabulous! & huge.) Dh & kids wanted McDonalds (crack me up) so my husband stood in line for about 20-25 to get burgers. McDonalds was crazy busy.

-The girls wanted to ride Jumpin Jellyfish. I agreed to go with. Of course they both wanted to sit by me, so I asked the CM what we could do. He very nicely offered to sit by one of them for the ride. As it turns out, they decided to sit together, and I sat alone- but we still appreciated his offer. I don't do heights, so even this ride made me nervous. Then dh and the girls went on that airplane looking ride next to the Jellyfish. We went over to the playboat/fire engine. Our little guy was asleep, so the girls just walked thru.

-Headed towards Grizzly Peak. We all thought this area was very pretty and well done. We got there just in time for the Brother Bear show. This is a simple little show, but it's cute, and you get to meet & greet the bears afterwards. Got cute pics w/Kodda.

-Played on the rope bridges and such.

-After asking many people's opinions on Soarin'... we finally talked ourselves into it. We got Fast Passes about 2:30 pm - they were for 7:40-8:40 pm that night. My oldest dd and I were so scared about Soarin'

-Time to get in line for Aladdin. We waited 45-50 min to get in... but we're so glad we did. Wow! Beautiful theatre, great show. This is probably one of our top 3 fav things we did at either park. We were on the mezzanine level. Great place for the magic carpet. The CM near us, however, was the only crabby, rude CM we saw the whole time there. There was a group of high school girls & their moms in the 2 rows behind us. They were having a good time, talking about the Aladdin songs, the movie, etc. They were not being rude or obnoxious- in fact most people seemed to be getting a kick out of them. The CM kept waving his hand at them and making "quiet" signals. I thought this was the norm, until I looked around and noticed not a single other CM doing this. They were all chatting w/guests, etc. Then, next a bit further down our row, there was a family w/a baby (maybe 12-14 mos old.) The baby was just sitting on his dad's lap. This CM walked right up to him and says "if that baby gets loud or distracting, I "will" escort you to the exit." Now, maybe he had good intentions w/this info... but his tone of voice didn't come across that way. The poor mom then just looked all nervous. I felt bad for them.

-After Aladdin we went back to our hotel and changed into some pants and jackets for the evening.

-We got back into CA and headed to White Water Snacks. It was about 7:15 pm. They close at 7:00. Never mind that plan.

-So, we went to the Airport Grill (right next to Soarin'.) The food here was good, but we waited almost 30 min to order and get our food. Dh and younger daughter went on Soarin while I stood in line and got food. I had ribs, dh had a burgers and the girls had a kids meal. This was one of the most expensive meals we ate, but we let everyone order on their own too. The ribs were really good, but I didn't get to enjoy them hot because we realized that if I and our other dd didn't get on Soarin we wouldn't be done in time for the Elec Parade. So, I muster up all my courage and head to Soarin. Lucky for us 2 chickens we were behind the nicest people in line who re-assured us about the ride and even asked the CM to put us in the 3rd row. My poor dd had a death grip on me. But, we're SO glad we did it. What a cool ride!! In fact, I wish we'd have had time to go on it again, because I would've liked to relax and enjoy it more a second time. How dorky do you feel when you realize you're lifting your feet up because it actually seems like one of those waves might hit you. :)

-Got off the ride and received high 5's from dh and our 7 yr old for going for it. :) Took our food and found a place for the Elec. Parade. We are all in love w/the Elec Parade!! It's so cool. My girls were just taken w/the Cinderella carriage and such... and I thoughts the Dwarfs in their mining cars were just precious. I could watch this parade again and again.

-After the parade, we went into DTD to Build a Bear. The girls were so excited to do this. They $ from Grandma, so they put that towards the bears and we paid the difference. We got out of their for about $30 per bear. Not bad. Cute place.

-Back to the tram and back to the hotel about 11 pm.

Thoughts:
*Having seen the crowds at Disneyland this Sat pretty much convinced us that we need to be "off season" people. I can't imagine what it will be like on Spring Break or thru the summer.

*Having read many not so favorable opinions of CA park, I just didn't know what to expect. It's no Disneyland, but it's fun. We loved the beach music and the Wave Rider band that went around the park on the float.

*I didn't realize the Grand Californian was "that" close to the CA. Wow, that kind of accesiblity would be great.

*IMO, CA park is easily done in a day. I think even if we'd have wanted to do the other big, popular rides- if we'd planned Fast Pass correctly, no problem.

Crazy4DL
03-17-2005, 09:03 AM
nvmom, your report has been such a joy to read!!

We'd get along great at CA ;)

- Aladin, we missed on a Christmas trip but then caught it last May and kicked ourselves for missing it - it was great!

-Electric Parade - feel in love with it years ago and still love it!

-My very favorite ride in CA is Soarin and yeah I picked up my feet too :D

thanks for letting us all in on your fanastic trip, rrazey

Chadsgal
03-17-2005, 11:27 AM
I love reading all this. Thank you soooo much for posting it. :)

Susan L
03-17-2005, 12:20 PM
Love your trip report. I'm so happy you had such a good time. DCA isn't as bad as alot of people make it out to be. We always have a great time in that park.

nvmom
03-17-2005, 12:48 PM
Day #4 (last day) Sun March 13

It's been fun to write this and sort of re-live the trip. Good thing I took time to make notes at the end of each day (a suggestion from someone here.)

-I wanted to be at the park for the opening & rope drop today, but my family didn't wake up early and I didn't have the heart to wake the 3 kids. Finally got everyone out the door about 9:00 a.m.

-Decided we go out for a big breakfast. Went to the I-HOP across from the main gates. It was terrible. I thought it was WAY overpriced, the portions were half of a typical I-HOP. We could've eaten in the park for just a bit more than we paid at I-HOP... that would've been way more fun. Never going there again.

-Into DL. Lines today, but nothing like Sat. First thing, we see Jane (from Tarzan.) She was one of the cutest, chatty, friendly characters we saw.

-Went into the MadHatter to get the girl's Mickey Ears embroidered. Let's hear it for those ladies in the MadHatter. Running that machine all day doesn't look like much fun to me.

-Then, my husband rushes in and says "hey, I saw the train running" - let's ask if it'll per chance be open at all today." No such luck. They shouldn't tease us by running the train, blowing the whistle.... :) We were bummed out we missed the DL Railroad.

-We headed down Main St and bought souviners. I got a sweatshirt, dh a Grump jersey, and we bought Italian charms for my sister & her 4 girls. This is the one thing that was cheaper in Disneyland than anywhere else I've seen. Most of Disney theme charmes are in the $10 & up range... at the park they were only $4-6. We also bought a lil Princess T-shirt as a bday gift for a friend. Again, I would've loved to have seen more of the shops on Main St.

-Headed for Tikki Room since it opened the day before. Ok, I know there's lots of Tikki lovers out there... but this didn't exactly thrill me. I was glad we did it... but some how it wasn't what I expected. We did all like the lightening & rain at the end. Our 2 yr was so cute as we're exiting he says "we better get our 'brellas Mama!" Hark! It wasn't really raining outside. :)

-Headed to Toon Town and got Fast Passes for Roger Rabbit cars. Went on the Miss Daisy boat (it had been closed on Thurs.) Went back to Roger Rabbit. Fun ride- went faster and spun more than I expected.

-Went over to Frontierland and got a turkey leg. Does Disney have their own super steroid turkey farm? Those legs are huge!! We all snacked on it and watched the people.

-At this point we were seeing lots of Mouse Adventure teams. My husband wanted to know what it was. I told him I thought it was a scavenger hunt of some sort, but I wasn't exactly sure. So, he's like- well let's just ask some of them. Ok, all you MA teams looked very serious.... is there a time limit? We tried to talk to 2 diff teams. One stood next to our bench and I made eye contact and very nicely said "so what exactly are all these teams doing today?" I got a very short "a scavenger hunt." I'm sure these teams are made up of super nice people... but they take their MA seriously :)

-Now it was time to go back to CA for Playhouse Disney Live. Got in the park, first went to the Muppet 3-D movie (fine, nothing great.) Got in line for Playhouse almost 1 hr ahead of show time. The good part is that we got a bench seat to wait on. The CM blew bubbles and handed out Jo-Jo postcards... our son loved this. Dh left and got a couple hotdogs and fries for everyone to share. With food, any wait is tolerable. Show time, finally. We were right up front & center. Cute show. I wasn't expecting puppets, I was expecting actual characters. Only Bear is big character. Not that my son knew (or cared) that they were puppets, he loved it all. The music, the streamers, the bubbles, and Jamie (the actress/real person in the show.) She sat right down next to us (in the aisle) and conversed w/my son about the show.

-Nap time for us. Back to the hotel. We all slept, thank goodness. Our plan was stay up for the late show of Fantasmic!

-We got back to the park about 8:00 pm or so. What a great time, the crowds had seriously cleared out.

-Went back to Fantasyland and rode Alice for the first time (10-15 min wait) You could really tell when the 9 pm Fantasmic! show was getting closer, things seemed to clear out even more. We went on Dumbo again (waited about 3-4 min), walked onto the Tea Cups, and because it just didn't seem right not to-got in line for Peter Pan. We waited about 20 min (deceiving que- didn't look half that long.) This is really special little ride. We were all gald we got on it.

-Headed for the river and got seats inside the ropes (sitting down) at about 10 pm for the 10:30 Fantasmic! I decided that I need beignet, so off I go. I asked 2 CMs where to go and they referred me to a couple diff restaurants- which I knew weren't right. Then I wandered into that cute little street area w/the crystal and the Xmas ornaments. Bought an ornament and asked this CM about a bakery type place that sold beignet. He had no idea, but whipped out his guide and found La Petite Patisserie- bingo! "Sorry ma'am, it's closed." Has it been closed for a while and I just missed this?? No beignet this trip.

-Back to the family. I sit down on the ground (a blanket would've been nice) and hold my 7 yr old, little guy in stroller (we're at the back of the crowd) and older dd next to dad. They give the warning about once the lights are turned down please stay in your place, etc. Ok, I'm excited to see Fantasmic!

-um HOLY COW! No one, but no one, told us it was going to be as loud or intense as it is. It was way, way, way more than I expected it to be. My 7 yr old was scared to death! (nevermind she didn't blink on Soarin.) She cried thru most of the show. I finally turned her around on my lap, put her face in my chest, and covered her ears. I just occasionally told her when to look (Princesses, Mickey, the ending, etc.) She kept asking to leave - no go sweetie, we gotta stay now. It is an amazing show... but the sound is very loud. And, it's all pretty close to you... you can certainly feel the spray off the water and heat from the fire. What do you think it costs Disney to produce that show 1-2 times a night most months out of the year?

-Our plan was to leave Fantasmic! and go straight to POTC... no way. 7 yr old was way to wigged out to consider something even "kinda" scary. Good thing Fantamic! was the last thing we did :) I'm sad I didn't go on POTC... something for the next trip I guess.

-Walked back down Main St, stopped in the candyshop and got our last Disney treats. Choc strawberries, a carmel apple, a Mickey rice krispie, and Nemo suger cookie.

-My oldest cried when we left... (not snotty) she's just sentimental.... loved that Disney magic.

-Thanks Mickey.... we had the time of our lives!!

Thoughts:
*As you can read, we didn't go on many "big" rides. There were few dh & I would've tried, but w/our kids the age they are it's not easy for 2 adults to go on a ride by themselves. That's just fine. We knew we were doing when we went.

*Rides that we know were closed when we there: Mr Toad, Jungle Cruise, Splash Mt, Space Mt, Disneyland Railroad.... The thing is, is that there's so much to do, and especially for first timers, what you don't know, you don't miss. Look at all the things we can do next time.

*Set your shopping/souviner plans ahead of time. We told our girls right off that we weren't buying anything the first 2 days. They had some money of their own from Grandma that they could do as they choose. They did each choose to buy something from the candy store the first night. Fine. We bought them Mickey Ears. Our son had ears from when his Godmother went to DL. We brought them along.

As it turned out we left Disneyland w/one sweatshirt (mine), one Grumpy jersey (husband's), 2 Build a Bears (each girl put $20 of their own money towards their bear), 1 small Mickey and 1 mini-Mickey basketball (our son), 2 pairs of mouse ears, and 1 Xmas ornament. Not bad, I don't think. We avoided all expensive extras like balloons, character straws, etc.

*Disneyland doesn't come for nothing. But, interestingly enough... it didn't end up costing us near what we thought it might. In fact, we came home w/$350 cash. How about that? :)

*Plan ahead, read, and learn. I can't imagine walking into DL without having read books, looked at maps, and sought out info on great website like this one.

Crazy4DL
03-17-2005, 03:32 PM
This is the best trip report I have ever read! thank you so much! :)

TOTFan
03-17-2005, 03:55 PM
This is not a critisism at all, but its amazing how different people influence their childs behavior. My 5 and 7 year old were going on TOT and California Screamin and never flinched. The bigger louder the ride the more they loved it. Her kids freaked out at well it seems like alot. Very interesting.

stitchlvr
03-17-2005, 06:01 PM
This is not a critisism at all, but its amazing how different people influence their childs behavior. My 5 and 7 year old were going on TOT and California Screamin and never flinched. The bigger louder the ride the more they loved it. Her kids freaked out at well it seems like alot. Very interesting.

Kids have different temperments. They are born that way. Although parents can obviously influence their children's behavior, I don't think we can assume these kids freaked out because of parental influence. Some kids are naturally more sensitive to loud noises and are scared more easily. Some love wild rides at an early age. This is the beauty of being human.