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Alice Fan
12-02-2005, 11:45 AM
Hi, everyone! We’ve been back from Anaheim for 5 days now, and since I’ve finally caught up here at work I thought I’d write a trip report – I tried to keep it short, but failed miserably…lol…too much to tell!

We arrived at Howard Johnson’s around 2 PM Thursday (Thanksgiving Day). They let us check in, even though we were an hour early. The staff was very friendly, and the room was nice – we were in building two overlooking a small pool. I do have one complaint – the parking was inadequate. One night we had to park in the “overflow” lot across the street by Mimi’s Café. It’s not far, except that after walking around DL and DCA all day, it would have been nice to be able to park closer to our room. We went to ESPN Zone around 4 PM for dinner, we only waited about 10 minutes to be seated and as always, we received great food and service. We hung out in Downtown Disney until 8:30. It was fairly crowded, we shopped at World of Disney and Illuminations, had a coffee, and then called it a night.

We had breakfast at Mimi’s Café Friday morning. Someone on this board recommended the cream-cheese and marmalade stuffed French toast – I would like to thank that person, that was SO delicious! Lol…We got to the Disneyland gates at 7:55. The line was already very long. But we went through gate 13 and got in fairly quickly…I read somewhere that the number 13 line moves the fastest for some reason. We always use it, and we find it to be true! All I can say about going to Disneyland the day after Thanksgiving is that we’ll probably never do it again. They closed the gates that day, I don’t know what time, but a cast member told us there were 75,000 people in the park that day! At least 50 of them stepped on my feet, I think! In the afternoon we headed over to DCA, which was the most crowded I’d ever seen it. But we just tried to roll with the punches, we knew before we went that it would be crowded, and all the beautiful Christmas decorations really put us in a good mood! We went back to DL around 7. We rode some more rides and then had planned to watch the fireworks, but we ended up leaving around 9. It was just TOO crowded. We figured we still had 2 days left to see them. We went back to our room and ordered pizza from Papa John’s – they deliver right to your room, and it was good!

On Saturday we used our EE (thank goodness for EE!) and got to ride Space Mountain, Buzz, and a couple of things in Fantasyland. We had breakfast at Carnation Café, which was delicious. We timed it just right, we got there about 5 minutes before 8, and by the time the gates opened and people were running down Main Street, we were enjoying coffee and hot chocolate. We got very lucky line-wise that morning and into the early afternoon. We started at Indy after breakfast and worked our way around – Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain…I think the longest line we waited in was Splash Mountain, and that was only 30 minutes. That day my sisters and their families who live in L.A. met us at the park, so there was quite a crowd of us (6 adults, 2 teenagers, 3 9-11 year olds, and a 2-year-old in a stroller). Disneyland wasn’t as crowded as it had been Friday, and neither was DCA – although we started noticing the crowds getting bigger and bigger as the day wore on. We went to DCA around 3, rode Grizzly Rapids (no line, so we rode it twice!), then saw It’s Tough To Be A Bug – what a cute show! Even my 15-year-old liked it! I discovered a “beer truck” in the Pacific Wharf area that I didn’t know was there, that was fantastic! I needed a beer by this time! We rode TOT, Screamin’ (10 minute wait, so we rode it twice!), and saw the Block Party Bash which we all enjoyed very much (my nephew got picked to dance – too cute!). Back to DL about 7, rode the train all around the park trying to decide what to do next. We decided to have dinner at Red Rockett’s Pizza Port, the pizza was OK, not great, but we really liked the pasta and salads. I’d go there again. They ended up canceling the fireworks that night due to high winds. So we rode Buzz one more time and went back to the hotel.

Sunday was great! SO much less crowded! It was just hubby and I and our two boys that day, so it was easier to plan out our day. We rode Space Mountain first again (I LOVE that ride!), then the Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, etc. We had Bengal BBQ (fantastic!), then Dole Whips…I’d never had one before, it was delicious. We happened to be standing in a great spot when the Walt Disney Parade of Dreams started, that was really cool. Went to DCA for a couple of hours (visited that beer truck once again…lol…), then came back to DL around 7 ready for dinner. We decided to try to get seats at River Belle Terrace, and got so lucky…we sat right at the rail, took our time over dinner, had luscious desserts and coffee, and had a great view of Fantasmic!. We watched the fireworks from there, too. We couldn’t see the castle, obviously, but to be able to sit and watch them was nice. And the snow…wow, I thought that was beautiful.

So that was our trip, all in all it was wonderful. I wanted to mention the Disneyland And DCA Cast Members, since there have been several threads about them lately. I can honestly say that every CM we came into contact with was pleasant and friendly. From the clerks in the photo shop to the CMs doing crowd control for the parades, we only saw smiling, hard-working people.

Each time we go to Disneyland I try to plan to do some things we haven’t done before. Here are Some Disneyland/DCA firsts we enjoyed this trip:

Saw the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies Show
Rode the Sailing Ship Columbia
Had dinner at Red Rockett’s Pizza Port
Rode the Omnibus from the Train Station to the Castle
Bengal BBQ – OMG, bacon-wrapped asparagus is SO GOOD!
Dole Whips….mmmm….
Watched Fantasmic!
Watched Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams
Saw “It’s Tough To Be A Bug” at DCA

Alas, we never got around to riding the Jungle Cruise at night, and I didn’t get a chance to look for the little donuts with lemon sauce in New Orleans Square. But that’s OK – hubby and I are going back for three days on March 30th by ourselves for our anniversary, so that gives us something to look forward to!

Thanks for reading!

Shelli

rentayenta
12-02-2005, 12:33 PM
Thanks for the report Shelli! I am glad you enjoyed the french toast. ;)


Isn't the staff at the HoJo's the nicest?

annieb727
12-02-2005, 07:57 PM
sounds awesome! thanks for the GREAT report!

makes me so excited to be going there!!!!

TowerofTerror
12-02-2005, 09:01 PM
Awesome report . Your trip seemed like it went very well.

disneyhound
12-03-2005, 06:16 AM
Great report, glad you enjoyed your visit even though the park was crowded!