Family5LovesDisney
07-01-2005, 10:31 AM
This was a fun, last minute trip that my husband and I decided to do for our 15 year anniversary..........without the kids! He had business in San Diego so we added on two days and went to Disneyland the first day!
Our plane touched down on time at the L.A. Airport!!! We did not check on any luggage so we could just hop on a shuttle to get our rental car. We arrived at the Howard Johnson Hotel within 30 minutes of leaving the rental car place. They were able to give us a room right away so we did a quick change and then went right on over to the Park.
We had to pick up Fantasmic Dessert Tickets before we went into the park. The wait was about 45 minutes. That was the only sad point of the whole day and the longest we waited for anything!
We were into the Park by 2:00 p.m. We admired the front entrance with the special flowers and Mickey. We went right into the Opera House to view the Disney Movie with Steve Martin. It was nice to walk around inside and check out all of the things on display and the huge model map! The movie was nice and very interesting for us since we are much more knowledgeable about the history of WDW. It was fun to see how Disneyland looked like when it first started!
When were done, we went right out onto Main Place and found a park seat bench facing down towards the castle (in the center thing but the front gates) so we could view the Parade of Dreams. It was nice just to sit back and people watch for a while. Some of the Main Street bands entertained us while we were waiting. My husband went over to the Mad Hatter and bought his golden Mickey Ears which he wore the rest of the day and night! (Goofy husband!) Our seating locating was perfect for the afternoon parade. The parade started down by the castle and worked it's way towards where we were sitting. We had a perfect "front on" view!
The parade is really nice! Very colorful and full of golden touches. I liked how the parade did a stop and every float did their own show. From our location, we were able to see it all! My two favorites were the Lion King Float with the waterfalls and the gymnasts and the giant Ursula Float! I loved how Ursala's hands, eyes, arms, and mouth moved. She was singing right along!
I loved the golden touches down Main Street! From the special lamp posts with the Golden Mickey ears to the window displays that they brought back for the 50 year celebration! Not having the kids along allowed us to really take our time and notice little details that we normally would miss while trying to keep our eyes on the kids at all times!
The castle looked fantastic! Much better then the awful Birthday Cake Castle they did over in WDW several years ago. Those crowns were amazing!
We were able to get some fast pass tickets for Buzz Lightyear and hop on The Jungle Cruise. We got to ride in the Golden Boat so that was fun. My husband was curious to see if they shot the hippo anymore. He was in Disney Tokyo a few weeks ago and he said that they do on their Jungle Cruise.
We also rode Pirates (2 times), Haunted Mansion, Casey Jr., Buzz, Snow White, Pinochio, & IASW. We really weren't overly concerned about riding a lot of things. We just wanted to enjoy all of the 50th touches. We did get to ride on the golden Casey Jr. Train.
I know that I am forever spoiled with Pirates. I never want to ride it again at WDW after getting to experience it at Disneyland!
We had Riverside Seating for the Fantasmic Dessert Buffet. We checked in at 8:00 and had time to go and view the Gallery Display with all of the neat art work. The Dessert Buffet was nice. The chairs are very close together and there are no tables so you have to balance the plate on your lap along with your drink. The people that worked there were wonderful, especially Bora! The wonderful service made up for the chairs being so close and no tables! They really went out of their way to make you feel special. My husband mentioned to Bora that it was our 15 year anniversary and she had us stand up in front of everyone and blow out the candle on a small cheesecake. (which was delicious!) The desserts are very sweet here. My husband and I were only able to eat one chocolate covered strawberry and a bite of two out of the shortbreak cookie (way too sweet!) We figured the desserts are a bonus and it's nice to have such a wonderful seat. My husband enjoyed a cup of hot tea with honey and I drank about 4 water bottles (each time I was done, they would quickly bring me another one!)
FANTASMIC is awesome! We really enjoyed the show. It was a first time "see" for both of us! My two younger boys would have been scared to death with all of the noise and the fire so it was nice to see it without having to comfort freaked out children! :D
The fireworks show started about 2 minutes after the Fantasmic show was done. The soundtrack was quite clear and the fireworks were nice. We could see Tinkerbell. We could not see any of the special effects on the front of the castle or the Matterhorn. We would love to try and sneak back sometime before the 50 year celebration is done just to see the Remember show with a front view of the castle and of the Matterhorn!
We stayed almost until the Park closed at midnight.l Which felt like 3:00 a.m. to us (we were still on EST) it was fun to shop in the Christopher Radko shop in New Orleans and few other spots.
We were not impressed with the Howard Johnson. Our room was dirty, right on the freeway, and right next to the elevator. The walk to the park was easy but I would never stay there again. I would have loved to stay at a Disney Property but since our trip was last minute, everything was full.
We had a lovely breakfast at the Storytellers Cafe the next morning. We also had fun shopping in one of the Gift Stores at the Grand Californian hotel. We bought the special boxed CD set for the 50th (which I just opened up and can't wait to hear it all!) and my husband found a nice Golf Shirt that said Disneyland 50 years!
It was a great trip and we were once again impressed with Disneyland. (still like Disneyland Park better then the Magic Kingdom Park)
Our plane touched down on time at the L.A. Airport!!! We did not check on any luggage so we could just hop on a shuttle to get our rental car. We arrived at the Howard Johnson Hotel within 30 minutes of leaving the rental car place. They were able to give us a room right away so we did a quick change and then went right on over to the Park.
We had to pick up Fantasmic Dessert Tickets before we went into the park. The wait was about 45 minutes. That was the only sad point of the whole day and the longest we waited for anything!
We were into the Park by 2:00 p.m. We admired the front entrance with the special flowers and Mickey. We went right into the Opera House to view the Disney Movie with Steve Martin. It was nice to walk around inside and check out all of the things on display and the huge model map! The movie was nice and very interesting for us since we are much more knowledgeable about the history of WDW. It was fun to see how Disneyland looked like when it first started!
When were done, we went right out onto Main Place and found a park seat bench facing down towards the castle (in the center thing but the front gates) so we could view the Parade of Dreams. It was nice just to sit back and people watch for a while. Some of the Main Street bands entertained us while we were waiting. My husband went over to the Mad Hatter and bought his golden Mickey Ears which he wore the rest of the day and night! (Goofy husband!) Our seating locating was perfect for the afternoon parade. The parade started down by the castle and worked it's way towards where we were sitting. We had a perfect "front on" view!
The parade is really nice! Very colorful and full of golden touches. I liked how the parade did a stop and every float did their own show. From our location, we were able to see it all! My two favorites were the Lion King Float with the waterfalls and the gymnasts and the giant Ursula Float! I loved how Ursala's hands, eyes, arms, and mouth moved. She was singing right along!
I loved the golden touches down Main Street! From the special lamp posts with the Golden Mickey ears to the window displays that they brought back for the 50 year celebration! Not having the kids along allowed us to really take our time and notice little details that we normally would miss while trying to keep our eyes on the kids at all times!
The castle looked fantastic! Much better then the awful Birthday Cake Castle they did over in WDW several years ago. Those crowns were amazing!
We were able to get some fast pass tickets for Buzz Lightyear and hop on The Jungle Cruise. We got to ride in the Golden Boat so that was fun. My husband was curious to see if they shot the hippo anymore. He was in Disney Tokyo a few weeks ago and he said that they do on their Jungle Cruise.
We also rode Pirates (2 times), Haunted Mansion, Casey Jr., Buzz, Snow White, Pinochio, & IASW. We really weren't overly concerned about riding a lot of things. We just wanted to enjoy all of the 50th touches. We did get to ride on the golden Casey Jr. Train.
I know that I am forever spoiled with Pirates. I never want to ride it again at WDW after getting to experience it at Disneyland!
We had Riverside Seating for the Fantasmic Dessert Buffet. We checked in at 8:00 and had time to go and view the Gallery Display with all of the neat art work. The Dessert Buffet was nice. The chairs are very close together and there are no tables so you have to balance the plate on your lap along with your drink. The people that worked there were wonderful, especially Bora! The wonderful service made up for the chairs being so close and no tables! They really went out of their way to make you feel special. My husband mentioned to Bora that it was our 15 year anniversary and she had us stand up in front of everyone and blow out the candle on a small cheesecake. (which was delicious!) The desserts are very sweet here. My husband and I were only able to eat one chocolate covered strawberry and a bite of two out of the shortbreak cookie (way too sweet!) We figured the desserts are a bonus and it's nice to have such a wonderful seat. My husband enjoyed a cup of hot tea with honey and I drank about 4 water bottles (each time I was done, they would quickly bring me another one!)
FANTASMIC is awesome! We really enjoyed the show. It was a first time "see" for both of us! My two younger boys would have been scared to death with all of the noise and the fire so it was nice to see it without having to comfort freaked out children! :D
The fireworks show started about 2 minutes after the Fantasmic show was done. The soundtrack was quite clear and the fireworks were nice. We could see Tinkerbell. We could not see any of the special effects on the front of the castle or the Matterhorn. We would love to try and sneak back sometime before the 50 year celebration is done just to see the Remember show with a front view of the castle and of the Matterhorn!
We stayed almost until the Park closed at midnight.l Which felt like 3:00 a.m. to us (we were still on EST) it was fun to shop in the Christopher Radko shop in New Orleans and few other spots.
We were not impressed with the Howard Johnson. Our room was dirty, right on the freeway, and right next to the elevator. The walk to the park was easy but I would never stay there again. I would have loved to stay at a Disney Property but since our trip was last minute, everything was full.
We had a lovely breakfast at the Storytellers Cafe the next morning. We also had fun shopping in one of the Gift Stores at the Grand Californian hotel. We bought the special boxed CD set for the 50th (which I just opened up and can't wait to hear it all!) and my husband found a nice Golf Shirt that said Disneyland 50 years!
It was a great trip and we were once again impressed with Disneyland. (still like Disneyland Park better then the Magic Kingdom Park)