nvmom
03-06-2006, 08:53 PM
We've returned from second ever trip to DLR. It was wonderful! I've decided to write a trip report. I know some enjoy a trip report, others not so much. I really enjoyed writing a report from our trip last year.... and it was fun to print it out as a keepsake too. So, I'll go day by day. :)
Second ever trip to the DLR: Dh-age 34, me-age 32, dd #1-age 11.5, dd#2-age 8.5 and our son-age 3.5, also our niece age 13.5 yrs (first trip for her.)
Day #1, Thurs-Mar. 2
-Fly out of Reno NV at 6:50 a.m. on Aloha Airlines. Non-stop flight to SNA, arrive 8:10 a.m. Pick up luggage, call Tony the Limo King (our person of choice for private transportation) and our van pulls right up. We're out of the airport by 8:45 a.m. Tony gives us great converstation on the trip. We tell him who refered us to him and that we've given his card to several people (which we have.) This is kind of funny because we live in a small town in rural northern NV and Tony the Limo King is starting to have a folllowing. lol.
-Arrive at the Park Inn at 9:00 a.m. I had requested a recently renovated room. They'd made note of this and had us booked into one... but we opted to take a not yet renovated room and checked right in at 9:00 a.m. Dropped the luggage, unfolded the stroller and off we went to DLR.
-Had our ticket voucher from GAT. I got in line at the main ticket booth, but then a nice CM told me I could go to will call. Had the tickets in my hands in about 7 min. :) Lines were short to get in. Loved that the band was playing as we walked in. Several characters were out on Main St. It was about 9:55 and we waited w/the crowd for the rope drop. It was sooooo cool to hear the announcement before opening. The "Welcome ladies & gentleman, boys & girls... if it's your first visit or your 100th visit... etc." Ooh, chills. A Disney moment.
-Straight to Fantasyland. Walked on IASW. This appears to be becoming a tradition for us. It was our first ride last year too. Off to the Tea Cups- about 7-8 min wait. Almost got the gold tea cup. My girls wanted the gold tea cup sooo bad. Off to Alice- about a 15 min wait. Off to Mr. Toad- 5 min wait. Loved this ride! We didn't do it last year (down for refurb) and it's one of our Fantasyland favs now. Onto to Dumbo- 15 min wait. Off to the Matterhorn. Dh, niece and dd#1 go- probably 20 min from the time they got in line to the time they got off. Dd #2, son & I look at the collages (I guess that's what they're called? w/the pictures people sent in.) Very cool! So proud of my oldest dd this year. She was much, much braver to try the rides. Of course our niece is game for everything.
-Lunch time. We got to the Village Haus for convenience sake. Ok, I do not have sophisticated taste, but I wasn't terribly impressed. Just your typical menu choices and it was just "fine"- not better than fine. It did fill us up and we thought the portions were generous.
-Off to Toon Town. Dh & girls went on Roger Rabbit while I attemped to wake our son. He'd been waiting patiently to go on "his roller coaster" :) because he was tall enough for the Go Go Gadget Coaster this trip. Got him awake and alert enough to enjoy the coaster. Snappy little coaster. Got in line for Mickey's House. We didn't see Mickey in his house last year. About a 20 in wait. It was very fun! My son had on a shirt w/a small embroidered Mickey and he was so cute wanting to show Mickey his shirt. Mickey was great. Cute pictures!
-Got on the Disneyland railroad. This was a first for us too. The train wasn't running last March. Road the rails to New Orleans Square. Our younger two weren't really into the dinosaurs. Went into Adventure Land and went to Jungle Cruise. Another first for us. JC was down last Mar too. Ok, dh and I LOVE this ride! Our skipper/captain (whatever), I think his name was Jeff? was hysterical!! Of course all the jokes were new to us too. Still though, he was really fun. A new fav for us for sure.
-Niece wants Indy so dh agrees to go on it with her. Only like a 10-15 min wait. 10-15 min turns into like 45+ minutes! They got on the ride and as soon as the jeep and the ride breaks down on the first ramp. They sit for a couple minutes and it starts again. They go a little further and it breaks down again. This time, they're stuck. Mean while, back by the rocks outside of Indy, I wait w/the 3 other kids. Time is getting a little long for us. The CMs start telling people the ride is broke. A ton of people come out of the ride & the que, but not dh and niece. Hmmmm. Finally our cell rings. It's dh, he's borrowed the cell from two teen guys next to them (thanks!) and tells me, "um hi, we're stuck on the ride, the lights are on, they're getting a ladder, we're coming out sometime." Sooo, they finally climb down some small ladder and walk out of the ride. All said from the moment they got in line to when they finally got out, it must've been close to an hour, seriously. Kind of a bummer for your first Indy ride. Then again an adventure too. CM gave them 5 fastpasses to use on any Fast Pass ride. This was nice, but the lines were so short on Thurs that we never needed them.
-Since the younger two were so patient we head straight to Tarzan's Treehouse that they've been waiting for.
-Head over and catch Billy Hill & Hillbillies. Dh & I love this show! Our kids aren't so in love with it, but it's a good chance to eat. We share a turkey leg, fries & choc cake.
-Back over to Indy now. A successful ride this time! Yay!
-Back to Thunder Mtn railroad. Dh, niece and dd#1 love this ride! Another first. Wait time was around 15 min. Dd #2, son & I sit on a bench and enjoy watching the ducks swim around River of America.
-Time for the parade! I've been so excited to see Parade of Dreams! We get a place on Main St and dh and I get coffee. LOVE the parade. Charming, magical. The kids loved it too! Another Disney moment.
-Head straight to Tomorrowland. Dh, dd #1, and niece ride Space Mtn. Another first. They love it! The other two kids & I place w/the big water bowling ball (as they call it) and visited with a very nice lady who was also waiting for her dh to come off of Space. She showed us fun pictures from Sea World.
-Back to the hotel. Tired. We've been up since 4:00 a.m.
Other thoughts: Dh especially is seeing a whole other side of DLR this year going on the big rides w/our niece. Very fun for him. I'll do a seperate review for the Park Inn. Briefly, we loved the location and we loved the two room family suite. Very spacious. The room was clean. Fridge, micro, bathroom very clean. Lots of towels. Good pillows. Furniture and carpet were worn. Very noisy hotel. Loud pipes & water from the rooms above you. Pool & hottub are small, but clean. Pool towels are very small- more like hand towels.
Second ever trip to the DLR: Dh-age 34, me-age 32, dd #1-age 11.5, dd#2-age 8.5 and our son-age 3.5, also our niece age 13.5 yrs (first trip for her.)
Day #1, Thurs-Mar. 2
-Fly out of Reno NV at 6:50 a.m. on Aloha Airlines. Non-stop flight to SNA, arrive 8:10 a.m. Pick up luggage, call Tony the Limo King (our person of choice for private transportation) and our van pulls right up. We're out of the airport by 8:45 a.m. Tony gives us great converstation on the trip. We tell him who refered us to him and that we've given his card to several people (which we have.) This is kind of funny because we live in a small town in rural northern NV and Tony the Limo King is starting to have a folllowing. lol.
-Arrive at the Park Inn at 9:00 a.m. I had requested a recently renovated room. They'd made note of this and had us booked into one... but we opted to take a not yet renovated room and checked right in at 9:00 a.m. Dropped the luggage, unfolded the stroller and off we went to DLR.
-Had our ticket voucher from GAT. I got in line at the main ticket booth, but then a nice CM told me I could go to will call. Had the tickets in my hands in about 7 min. :) Lines were short to get in. Loved that the band was playing as we walked in. Several characters were out on Main St. It was about 9:55 and we waited w/the crowd for the rope drop. It was sooooo cool to hear the announcement before opening. The "Welcome ladies & gentleman, boys & girls... if it's your first visit or your 100th visit... etc." Ooh, chills. A Disney moment.
-Straight to Fantasyland. Walked on IASW. This appears to be becoming a tradition for us. It was our first ride last year too. Off to the Tea Cups- about 7-8 min wait. Almost got the gold tea cup. My girls wanted the gold tea cup sooo bad. Off to Alice- about a 15 min wait. Off to Mr. Toad- 5 min wait. Loved this ride! We didn't do it last year (down for refurb) and it's one of our Fantasyland favs now. Onto to Dumbo- 15 min wait. Off to the Matterhorn. Dh, niece and dd#1 go- probably 20 min from the time they got in line to the time they got off. Dd #2, son & I look at the collages (I guess that's what they're called? w/the pictures people sent in.) Very cool! So proud of my oldest dd this year. She was much, much braver to try the rides. Of course our niece is game for everything.
-Lunch time. We got to the Village Haus for convenience sake. Ok, I do not have sophisticated taste, but I wasn't terribly impressed. Just your typical menu choices and it was just "fine"- not better than fine. It did fill us up and we thought the portions were generous.
-Off to Toon Town. Dh & girls went on Roger Rabbit while I attemped to wake our son. He'd been waiting patiently to go on "his roller coaster" :) because he was tall enough for the Go Go Gadget Coaster this trip. Got him awake and alert enough to enjoy the coaster. Snappy little coaster. Got in line for Mickey's House. We didn't see Mickey in his house last year. About a 20 in wait. It was very fun! My son had on a shirt w/a small embroidered Mickey and he was so cute wanting to show Mickey his shirt. Mickey was great. Cute pictures!
-Got on the Disneyland railroad. This was a first for us too. The train wasn't running last March. Road the rails to New Orleans Square. Our younger two weren't really into the dinosaurs. Went into Adventure Land and went to Jungle Cruise. Another first for us. JC was down last Mar too. Ok, dh and I LOVE this ride! Our skipper/captain (whatever), I think his name was Jeff? was hysterical!! Of course all the jokes were new to us too. Still though, he was really fun. A new fav for us for sure.
-Niece wants Indy so dh agrees to go on it with her. Only like a 10-15 min wait. 10-15 min turns into like 45+ minutes! They got on the ride and as soon as the jeep and the ride breaks down on the first ramp. They sit for a couple minutes and it starts again. They go a little further and it breaks down again. This time, they're stuck. Mean while, back by the rocks outside of Indy, I wait w/the 3 other kids. Time is getting a little long for us. The CMs start telling people the ride is broke. A ton of people come out of the ride & the que, but not dh and niece. Hmmmm. Finally our cell rings. It's dh, he's borrowed the cell from two teen guys next to them (thanks!) and tells me, "um hi, we're stuck on the ride, the lights are on, they're getting a ladder, we're coming out sometime." Sooo, they finally climb down some small ladder and walk out of the ride. All said from the moment they got in line to when they finally got out, it must've been close to an hour, seriously. Kind of a bummer for your first Indy ride. Then again an adventure too. CM gave them 5 fastpasses to use on any Fast Pass ride. This was nice, but the lines were so short on Thurs that we never needed them.
-Since the younger two were so patient we head straight to Tarzan's Treehouse that they've been waiting for.
-Head over and catch Billy Hill & Hillbillies. Dh & I love this show! Our kids aren't so in love with it, but it's a good chance to eat. We share a turkey leg, fries & choc cake.
-Back over to Indy now. A successful ride this time! Yay!
-Back to Thunder Mtn railroad. Dh, niece and dd#1 love this ride! Another first. Wait time was around 15 min. Dd #2, son & I sit on a bench and enjoy watching the ducks swim around River of America.
-Time for the parade! I've been so excited to see Parade of Dreams! We get a place on Main St and dh and I get coffee. LOVE the parade. Charming, magical. The kids loved it too! Another Disney moment.
-Head straight to Tomorrowland. Dh, dd #1, and niece ride Space Mtn. Another first. They love it! The other two kids & I place w/the big water bowling ball (as they call it) and visited with a very nice lady who was also waiting for her dh to come off of Space. She showed us fun pictures from Sea World.
-Back to the hotel. Tired. We've been up since 4:00 a.m.
Other thoughts: Dh especially is seeing a whole other side of DLR this year going on the big rides w/our niece. Very fun for him. I'll do a seperate review for the Park Inn. Briefly, we loved the location and we loved the two room family suite. Very spacious. The room was clean. Fridge, micro, bathroom very clean. Lots of towels. Good pillows. Furniture and carpet were worn. Very noisy hotel. Loud pipes & water from the rooms above you. Pool & hottub are small, but clean. Pool towels are very small- more like hand towels.