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View Full Version : Trip Report - May 6-7, 2005



ppmuse
05-09-2005, 08:10 AM
Introduction
My little family is consisted of 26 & 27 year old parents of a bouncy 11 month old. So our trips to Disneyland are designed for the little guy, not us. So keep that in mind. Also, most of the day the bouncy 11 month old (Conner) stayed in a back pack like device called a Snugly. A Snugly enables the infact to either ride on the back, ride on your chest facing your chest, or on your chest facing outwards. Conner faced the chest to sleep, and faced outwards so he could look around at the decorations.

Also, there are two kinds of trips that my Annual Pass holding family have dealt with over the last 6 months. The one where the cast members were nice, the guests were respectable, and the trip was awesome. The second kind, the one that occurred the last vacation, consisted of two of us being sick, the cast members being rude (at the candy store, we stood in front of the guy for a little while before he recognized us, sneezed, coughed, then asked what we wanted), and the guests were rude, dirty, and we even saw some overweight people wearing lingerie. Definitely not the family conditions. Luckily, this trip was of the first variety. And for that, we tooks tons of pictures.

HOTEL

We actually don't live near Anaheim, we live in Sacramento, so it's a 6 hour drive down to the park. So we stay one night, spend the next day at the park and drive home that night. We've learned that if we stay two nights, Sunday morning is usually rushed to catch some last minute rides and then the drive home is hectic and long. So we drive home Saturday night, and relax on Sunday. Doing it this way, we've been trying out the hotels on Harbor Blvd. We first stayed at Anaheim Desert Inn (nice, close to the park, but loud), then we stayed at Paradise Pier at the Disneyland Resort (quiet and nice, no real complaints), then we stayed at the Howard Johnson on Harbor (workers were nice, room was small, air conditioner brought in cigarrette smoke, and the highway could be heard quite loudly). This time around, we called the Disneyland resort and found that the cheapest room was for 400 dollars, and that was with the AP discount. So we went back to Harbor and stayed at the Best Western Park Place.

This hotel was awesome. Two big beds, a couch that could be made into a bed, two comfortable chairs, table, tv, refrigerator, and pretty large sink area for the rest room. We loved it, and cost us 116 dolalrs a night. The room was quiet, air conditioner worked just fine. The problems: Our bed sunk in the middle, my wife thought we were sleeping in a taco. The parking lot on the left side of the hotel was hard to get out of. People weren't too nice. And the Captain Kidd's restaurant sucked big time. The servers didn't care, nor did they really talk english. The food came out, and things that the menu said were included, we had to ask for because they "forgot to include them on the plate." Apparently the continental breakfast is on the second floor of the restaurant, but we ate at Goofy's Kitchen, so we didn't participate. Other than that, we loved the room, and we would go back. Oh, another problem was that you could only park there until 3. So if you were going to be in the park for the whole day, you had to move your car to the parking garage at the park.

GOOFY'S KITCHEN

Thinking that the park was going to be packed, we made reservations at Goofy's Kitchen for 7:00 AM. The restaurant was just opening up. At the register, we got our discount, and I asked about the Ice Cream Parlor pins that were released on the 5th. They gave us 2 pins (If you spend 25 dollars, you get a pin, spend 50, I guess you get 2). To point this out, the lady told me that they weren't giving the pins out UNLESS YOU ASKED FOR THEM!! I saw a couple of AP'ers paying for their meals, but not getting the pins. Make sure you ask.

Goofy, Max, Chip and Dale came to our table. We ate fast, thinking that the park was going to be packed. The food was good as usual, but a bit pricey. The problem with a buffet at Disneyland is that you don't have time to eat a lot. You eat and run. But it was good. We also found the gold Autopia Car outside of Goofy's Kitchen, Conner got some pictures in it.

DISNEYLAND

Once again, remember seeing all of those people standing in line to get in to the park at 7, we decided to bypass that and jump on the monorail. We even got to sit in the very front. Which gave us a great view of the Submarine Voyage. The guy driving the monorail didn't say a word, just stood there like a statue, while we talked to the young girls about what we had read on the internet about the Submarine Voyage and other things in the park.

After getting off the monorail, we headed towards Fantasyland. Over the last couple of months, my wife has been haunted by the Matterhorn. She needed to go on it. So we decided to try out the baby swap. It turned out relatively easy, but each cast member had a different story on how it was supposed to work. The first cast member told us that we take the green card, and then one person could go on the ride after we stood in line, then the second person would be able to go on the ride any time during the day. So we took the green card and put it in our back pack. When we got to the front of the line, the guy there told us that one person would go on the ride, then would swap with the other person. Okay. So we got the card out again. My wife went on the ride, and during this time the cast members changed positions. When she got off, I went to swap with her where I was told that I was supposed to go to the front and to get back in line. So I did, where the guy there told me that I was supposed to swap, and he took me back, and I got directly on the ride. All in all, tons of different ideas on how this is supposed to work, and kind of confusing.

At this time, Conner started getting angry because he wanted to do something, instead of stand around. So we went on the teacups, where we rode the golden tea cup. We then went on Dumbo (where the golden Dumbo was picked up by whoever was first in line, not us), Mr Toad, Snow White, Pinochio, and Storybook Land. We were told at Mr Toad's that there was no golden car in that ride, but there was one outside.

As for the Golden Cars, there is usually a castmember by each Golden attractions car to take a family picture. We didn't find a castmember at Mr Toads, but we did at all the others. We also got cast members to take our picture in all the vehicles in Fantasyland, which was really cool. We also saw the golden horse on the Carousel, the golden train on Casey Jr. Did not see the golden boat on Story Book land. As for Casey Jr, apparently he had a bad day. He broke down a couple of times during the morning, and we saw ti break down again later that day. It wasn't the Golden train, but the other one.

We then headed to Toon Town and got our picture taken at Mickey's house and with Goofy. Then we left to meet my brother for lunch at Captain Kidds, read above, and we won't go back, even if somebody is paying.

A couple of other things before I continue: We spent all day looking for the 50 50's and found maybe 30 in all. It's kind of confusing on what exactly are the 50 50's because there are some that, according to a castmember, don't count, like the 20 on Main Street hanging from the planters. The rule for the 50's (the circle with a 50 in the middle with ears) according to the castmember is that the 50 has to be on a building or attraction. We also found one on an indian. They are hard to find, and we hope to find them all in the next year, without the help of the listing that you can get on Main Street.

Also, we looked to see if any of the 15 pictures I sent in were represented in the collages. And to our disappointment, not yet. We saw people walking away with huge lists, they must have sent in at least a hundred pictures. It took awhile, because the lady with the long list wanted to write down the exact location and what the picture looked like. We hope that our picture will show up in later collages, or during the update of the database.

We also found our brick, which is right outside of the Disneyland gates. The 50th anniversary bricks are very easy to find, thanks to the 50th medallion, and it was cool to see our name at Disneyland. If your a huge Disneyland fan, I recommend you doing it.

We then moved our car to the parking garage, which is really laid out quite nicely. First time we've parked in there over the past year, and we never got lost. The trams were even more impressive, we don't believe they ever stopped.

Okay, back to the park. It's now about 12:30 and the park is still pretty empty. The only thing that really crowds the people is the huge stage outside of the castle for the Regis and Kelly show, and of course, the siting of Kelly right next to the Jungle Cruise. I saw her for a second, realized it wasn't a big deal, and moved on.

We went on Tiki Room, where Conner stood on my lap and clapped, then almost fell asleep when the fountain started up and the lights dimmed. The show looked awesome.

Even more awesome was the Jungle Cruise. I had read that it wasn't funny and that the crew was reading from a script. Our tour guide didn't read from the script, but he definitely wasn't familiar with it yet. At times he kind of mumbled. But the show was funny. And I think for the show to be really funny, you have to be in a good boat. Unfortunately, we weren't in a good boat, and my wife was the only one that really participated. We were also the only ones laughing. As for the ride: the tiger looks awesome, there were TONS of elephants in the bathing pool, the new gorilla scene was Awesome and the explosions really add to the show, the natives looked great, and Trader Joe looks like a real person. I just wish he still had his mask on. Maybe in rainy weather? But the best part of the show was the piranahs. I was sitting on the wrong side, but a lot of people got drenched. They have actually made an old ride better, AWESOME.

Went on Pirates, still awesome. Then we went on Pooh, where, with the help of mom and dad, Conner walked most of the line. When we got off of Pooh, we saw that Splash Mountain was still closed, but the line was growing. When Conner was 6 months old, we got his picture taken in front of the measuring stick because my father in law told us that we would sneak Conner on. So to continue the joke, we decided to get another picture in front of the stick. The guy didn't get our joke and told us that he was sure that Conner wasn't going to be able to go on the ride (DUH, he's only 27 inches long). But we got a great shot, and he was smiling.

Then we headed over to Tom Saywer's Island. First, they were only using one raft. Second, the place felt like a Ghost town. The only place we saw any kids was around the cave structure. The rest of the island was either empty (the play area and tree house), had a couple of teenagers (around the two bridges), or was filled with resting adults or young couples trying to get away from the park. What happened to the island I knew when I was a kid. Seeing Fort Wilderness all closed off was the saddest thing of the trip. Something needs to be done, NOW!!

After waiting forever to get off the island, people saw the raft coming and came running, cutting in front of everybody who had been waiting, they really need a line, we then headed to Small World. Where we realized we were really hungry, headed through Tomorrowland, and back to Frontierland where we had lunch at Rancho Del Zocalo. With holding Conner and all the stuff we need to carry with a baby, one of the cast members serving the food asked if she could help us. It was amazing. She stopped what she was doing, came out grabbed some the food items, went through the cash register with us, and helped us to our table. She even offered to help us by getting our drinks, which we passed on. It was one of those experiences I wish we had a pin to thank her with. At the register, we got ANOTHER ice cream parlor pin, we now have 3. And we decided that we would keep our eyes open for a young pin trader. Conner loved his little lunch box, and loved his chicken nuggets. We got quite a few pictures with the huge smile.

After dinner we rode on Small World (where we saw Hawaii, I read in Kevin Yee's book where the USA was represented, isn't Hawaii part of the US??). All the rides we went on today, we waited maybe 15 minutes for. The lines did increase during the day, but all in all, it was a pretty easy day with not too many people. The busiest section we saw was at the ice cream parlor at around 7:30, and the Emporium, where we ran into ANOTHER nice cast member who looked everywhere for an XL shirt.

This was also the first trip we stayed in Disneyland for the whole day. It usually gets too crowded so we head over to DCA, but now this time. The only reason we went over to DCA is for the ice cream, which was served by someone who seemed like she was having a bad day. Back on the tram, back to the car, and we were headed back home. We'll see the fireworks, 50th show on Main Street, and the two parades another day. We left with 109 pictures, smiles, and tired feet. Just another wonderful day at Disneyland. It looks great!!

tod
05-09-2005, 09:07 AM
Should this be May 6-7?

--t

Gramiangel420
05-10-2005, 10:50 AM
Thanks for sharing your magical trip and thank you for the hotel reports. :)

Hawaiian Cinderella
05-10-2005, 11:54 AM
Thanks for sharing.....and btw...HAWAII IS THE 50TH STATE..that is one of my pet peeves....

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
05-10-2005, 01:41 PM
Thanks for your trip report.
Sorry to hear you didn't like HoJo We have stayed there numerous times, in building 2 with our porch facing the pool and cannot hear the highway at all. We love HoJo!

adriennek
05-10-2005, 03:48 PM
Bold is mine.


my wife has been haunted by the Matterhorn. She needed to go on it. So we decided to try out the baby swap. It turned out relatively easy, but each cast member had a different story on how it was supposed to work. The first cast member told us that we take the green card, and then one person could go on the ride after we stood in line, then the second person would be able to go on the ride any time during the day. So we took the green card and put it in our back pack. When we got to the front of the line, the guy there told us that one person would go on the ride, then would swap with the other person. Okay. So we got the card out again. My wife went on the ride, and during this time the cast members changed positions. When she got off, I went to swap with her where I was told that I was supposed to go to the front and to get back in line. So I did, where the guy there told me that I was supposed to swap, and he took me back, and I got directly on the ride. All in all, tons of different ideas on how this is supposed to work, and kind of confusing.

I think the confusion may have come if you all stood in line together? It sounds like that's what happened?

Usually they don't have you stand in line together. When we've used the passes, one person stood in line, while the other stood outside of the line with the baby/kids. Then, at Matterhorn anyway, the parent who waited, took the childswap pass through the wheelchair entrance and handed it to the CM there to have his/her turn to ride.

Adrienne

ppmuse
05-11-2005, 07:00 AM
Usually they don't have you stand in line together. When we've used the passes, one person stood in line, while the other stood outside of the line with the baby/kids.
Adrienne

My problem with this is that we go to Disneyland to be together. If you get in line that is long, then your spending a lot of time apart. So we stood in line together, then I got out of line and waited at the handicap area, which is when I got sent to different places after my wife got off. It would be hard for me to let her stand in an hour line while I hung out at the handicap area. Not sure I find the fun in that.