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View Full Version : Had a great time! Trip report- Mar. 2-5 (long)



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.

Hoppypooh
03-07-2006, 07:51 AM
NVMOM - I liked your trip report! :)

We will be flying from Vegas to SNA in the fall and I was wondering if you could give me some insight on your flight? (I'm Canadian and don't know much about US flights.) I've seen prices about $80 one way - is that reasonable? Should I snag that now before it goes up or will it go lower? How was Aloha - a good experience? Any airlines to avoid?

Thanks for any advice you can offer...

nvmom
03-07-2006, 09:00 AM
Thanks! I'll add days 2-4 later... and they'll be shorter. :)
We've flown Aloha twice and had good service. Out of Reno we've paid between $100 -165 round trip into SNA on Aloha. I've only ever flown into SNA... but it's so close to DLR that I think it's worth searching out a flight for convenience sake.

nvmom

hlbtimes2
03-07-2006, 09:01 AM
Ok, I'm ready for the next day............

Friday can simply not get here fast enough. I need to read some trip reports to keep me busy!

Crazy4DL
03-07-2006, 09:35 AM
nvmom! awesome report! I loved it. :D

Thanks for taking the time to share!

nvmom
03-07-2006, 12:38 PM
Day #2: Fri, March 3

-Wake up to rain, just some good sprinkles & slight wind. Eat the continental breakfast at the Park Inn. Put on our long pants, layer sweatshirts & jackets, put on our rain ponchos and off we go. All seems well.

-We head to Fantasyland and pretty much walk on Snow White. Head to Peter Pan and wait about 15 minutes. Notice that the rain is picking up, but we're still ok. We're thankful that someone here gave us the tip to bring an extra poncho to cover our stroller. That worked great. Get off of Peter Pan and the rain has really picked up!! Hmmm, well what the heck, you only live once right? Sooo, imagine this, nobody is on Dumbo. How often can you walk on Dumbo? So, we go for it! We're the only people stupid enough to get on Dumbo at this point... but hey, the girls go the GOLDEN DUMBO baby!! Problem at this point... Dumbo was a bad choice. I swear from the time we jumped on to the time the ride finished, the rain turned into a torrential downpour! We were soaked! Like dump out your shoes & wring out your clothes kinda soaked. Dd #2 and son our pretty freaked out at this point. I head back to the hotel with them. Not dh, niece and other dd... nooo, great time to ride Thunder & Indy for them. On the walk back to the hotel there were places in Fantasyland and around the Hub that had a couple of inches to standing water to slosh thru. Drainage not keeping up at that moment. We also saw the cutest little girl in a Minnie dress & shoes fall flat on her bum in a puddle of water. It looked like she'd take a bath, poor thing.

*Meanwhile back at the hotel I start peeling off soaking wet clothes and hanging them everywhere. Start putting shoes on the heater (only dh has a second pair of tennis shoes.) Dh & the girls arrive back. We get McDonalds to eat in the room and dry up & warm out. By 1:00 the rain stopped. I was breezy & a bit cool, but hey- no rain.

-Back to the park. Watch the 50th movie & display. Very nice. Head to the Matterhorn and this time I go on the MH w/my son. This is a huge step for me. I am the world's biggest chicken! It was fun... although rougher and bumpier than I expected it to be.

-Off to Tomorrow Land. Did Astro Orb, Star Tours, Honey I Shrunk, & spent time in Innoventions (yes, we like Innoventions.) We especially love to talk to Stitch there. What a hoot! About 4:30 we get in line for the Monorail. We have 5:10 PS for Goofy's Kitchen.

-Head to Goofy's Kitchen. Fun for us to see the DL Hotel. Now I'll understand much better when people here talk about it. at 4:55 I signed in & paid. Dh sat down in the lounge next to it and had a beer. Kids went in the movie room. At 5:05 they called our name. Goofy's is actually a little "nicer" than I expected it to be. Not sure what I expected... liked the set-up. Wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, etc. Maybe we just got lucky. We saw Goofy, PLuto, Minnie, Chip-n-Dale, Captain Hook, Aurora & Belle. They were all great and came to our table more than once. We got fun pics & autographs and some great interaction. Food was good. Dh & I enjoyed the more adult offerings and the kids ate well too. Ok- I didn't like the coffee at all. Yuck. But, the best part was when dh took our son to the restroom. Pluto was out in the hall near the photo op (not busy) and started messing around w/Max (our son.) Pretty soon he's crawling around on all fours and our son is like, "hey Pluto, I can crawl too!" So, here we have our son & Pluto crawling around the lobby area for a good 5 min... Pluto is sniffing dh's shoes-which Max thinks is the funniest thing ever! It was great! (Of course I missed it... but dh was very excited about the whole thing.) So, the price of meal- meaning the actual food- probably more than it should be. But you can't put a price on my son & Pluto hanging out. Priceless.

-Enjoy our meal and head back to the motel for warmer clothes. Back into the park at 8:00 p.m. We get a place on the curb across the street from the Castle and slightly to the right (towards the MH) for the fireworks. Spread our blanket out. For the record, at least two of us were on the blanket at all times. LOL. We let the oldest two go over and do Pinnochio by themselves. I love it that DLR is one of the only places on the planet that at age 11.5 & 13.5 yrs the girls will grab hands and skip towards the castle. Another Disney moment. They're back in about 15 min and then dh takes them over to ride Thunder again. Now, it seems we have a great place for the fireworks. What we didn't realize, is that 10 min before the show a zillion people would walk right into the street, crowd in front of you... and we'd have to stand anyway. Now, that might sound stupid to those of you who've been there many times, but from reading threads here... I was under the impression that people sat down for the fireworks- thus the reason for staking out a place. My dh was rather ticked off about this. We got over it, however, when the fireworks started. I had no idea we were in for something this spectacular!! We were in awe! We all just stood there w/our mouths open and then dd #1 & I cried because we're weird emotional about things like that. DLR jsut hits us in a special way, I guess. Tinkerbell, is the coolest, just the coolest.

-Fireworks are over and we've got dh calmed down. Over to Fantasmic. We walk over and have no trouble getting a place in front of the rope to sit down. Blanket out again. Dh & niece go over and walk onto Pirates. The rest of the kids & I visit w/a nice family from Canada. Son falls asleep. Dd#2 gets her ear plugs in place because she hated Fantasmic last year. Pretty much I missed the whole show because she was a wreck. She promptly falls asleep w/the ear plugs in. The rest of us enjoy the show. Really liked the Mark Twain at the end. We didn't see that last year. Back to the motel for some sleep. Tomorrow is DCA.

*So, with it being the off season and not so crowded that particular Fri... not sure I'd stake out a place for the fireworks again. Seriously, we could've just been like everyone else I guess and walked up & stood right in front of people who were sitting down 10-20 min before. No time wasted then, I guess. I understand that during summer & holidays you'd have to think differently.

nvmom
03-07-2006, 12:40 PM
Ok, the truth is, I'm just being snarky. I'd feel bad if I went and stood right in front of a family who's sitting down.

nvmom

Malcon10t
03-07-2006, 03:57 PM
Ok, the truth is, I'm just being snarky. I'd feel bad if I went and stood right in front of a family who's sitting down.

nvmom
There is a sitting area on the castle side of the street, where the compass is, however, sitting there, you miss fireworks that go off behind the castle that you can't see from the angle. We generally sit in the street til fireworks start, then we stand. That way we have a great view. Next trip, we will have 5 kids, 3-5yo girls and 2-8yo boys, so not sure where we will decide to stake out so we can be sure the shorter girls can see too.

TowerofTerror
03-07-2006, 03:58 PM
great trip report

yellowrosedtxn
03-08-2006, 04:06 AM
Thanks for the trip report! I love reading about it all and I am picking up things I never thought about before. (i.e. Stitch at Innoventions!)

Chadsgal
03-08-2006, 06:25 AM
Great report!!! :D It makes me want to go back sooooo bad!!!

bekky
03-08-2006, 09:07 AM
There is a sitting area on the castle side of the street, where the compass is, however, sitting there, you miss fireworks that go off behind the castle that you can't see from the angle. We generally sit in the street til fireworks start, then we stand. That way we have a great view. Next trip, we will have 5 kids, 3-5yo girls and 2-8yo boys, so not sure where we will decide to stake out so we can be sure the shorter girls can see too.

How long beforehand do you have to go and sit ?

We watched them Friday & Sat & both nights got in too late to really get any good spots (about 20 minutes before)

its hard to run get spots for a show with 4 little kids who inevitably all had to go potty every 10 minutes leading up to it !

We stood under a tree next to the plaza bathroms one night and behind a pole on main street the other because we didnt want to be rude to anyone since we walked in later ... but I felt bad for the kiddos - they were too short to see anything unless we held them on our shoulders
( good thing we were BEHIND everyone huh )

And I have to say ... after reading the threads about "saving spots" on the board before our trip, I really took time & looked at peoples faces when we were walking around looking for somewhere to sit ( both for parade & fireworks )

& I just have to say OMG .. the looks on some of those faces - some people get sooo territorial with "their spots" ... they get the stink eyes that tell you " DONT EVEN think of sitting HERE " !

I was scared ! :eek: & of course we would just moooove on away.

BUT ... in the grand scheme of things, it didnt bother us at all or fade our smiles - just had to say that when I looked - yep I noticed it.

And all in all I have to say that THAT WAS THE BEST fireworks show Ive ever seen !!! :)

From what we could see of the castle lighting effects ( the top part ) and the 360' fireworks, tinkerbell ... music etc !! I loved every second of it !

Think it will stay or go away with the 50th ?

Oh - & I looked at some pictures online yesterday and saw some of the small world building having special effects too - was that for this fireworks show or another one ? I couldnt tell ... but if we had known that was being lit up too we would have made our way back there to watch them the 2nd night.

I hope they do another show as good as that one ...
Next time I may just have to grab my king size blanket & stake out a spot early in the morning to watch the whole thing ( kidding - heehee :p )

Malcon10t
03-08-2006, 09:55 AM
[B]How long beforehand do you have to go and sit ?

We watched them Friday & Sat & both nights got in too late to really get any good spots (about 20 minutes before)Generally, we find a seat during the last parade (about 2 hours before fireworks.) I try and sit in the street in front of the castle about midway across the street. When we go with all the small ones, we may aim for closer to the front edge of the standing area so they can see better.

nvmom
03-08-2006, 01:19 PM
Sat: Mar. 4 Day #4

This is our DCA day. This also the day dh and I are very tired and a bit crabby & snappy w/each other. We have decided that our next trip will be a 5 day trip and we will do 2 park days, 1 day of rest, 2 park days. Live & learn.

-So, late start into DCA about 10:45 a.m. Lines into DL looked horrible to us, but we expected that, so we planned ahead for this to be our DCA time.

-11:15ish we go straigh to TOT for our niece and it's only a 20 min wait. Great! She gets in line and gets to ride w/a very nice family from San Francisco. Later, we realize we could've stayed in the que w/her and then exited out right before the actual ride. Wish dh or I would've done that just to see the que. While she rides dd #1 & I wonder for autographs and get Cruella, Mr. Incredible & a pic w/Goofy in his Hawaiian shirt.

-About 11:45 we get in line for the 12:30 Aladdin show. About 12:00 they announce the show may be canceled due to technical difficulties. At 12:10 they announce the show is for sure canceled. Never mind Aladdin.

-We're hungry, us girls want corndogs. Along the way, we stop at the hotdog stand for dh to get a dog before finding corn dogs. It takes about a half hour to get the hotdog. Holy cow. Sooo, we divide, and dd#1 & I treck over to the corn dog castle. We meet back at Sunshine Plaza, eat & enjoy listening to the Wave Riders.

-Now son and dd#2 want Playhouse Disney so we get in line. Dh, dd#1 & niece head over to Soarin. They wait and ride in the standbye line and get all of us fastpasses for later.

-Meet up after PDL (and a quick look at Engine Ears Toys) and head for Bugs Land. Half of us go to Buglife 3D movie (not me, I hate bugs.) I take younger dd & son on Heimlich Choo-Choo and then we all go on the Lady Bugs. Ok, I swear that last year you could actually spin the lady bugs (and they went faster than the Tea Cups.) This year we get the announcement "do not try and spin the Lady Bugs, they'll spin you." Um, sorry, they didn't spin us. Bummer.

-Over to Paradise Pierre. Niece wants Screamin'. Thank heavens for single rider. Amazing. From the time the CM handed her a single rider pass to the time she got off was maybe 15 min. Standbye line was 55 minutes, I think. Impressive. Son went on the carasoul and then the 3 girls did Jumpin Jellyfish. My niece thought she wanted the Mailboomer until she got close to it! Funny... the only ride she wasn't willing to try.

-Arrive at the Red Party Zone for BPB. Should've been there a little earlier. Could've had a better spot, but we were fine. Loved the Green Army Men! Dh & I thought they were very funny in their little pre-show. This parade wasn't exactly what I expected (don't ask me what I thought it was going to be.) I liked it... I like pretty much any parade... but I wasn't wowed like Parade of Dreams. Very energetic, great music, loved Mr Potato Head... Our son loved the trampoline stuff. Still just a different concept to me. I hope next time go we can catch the Elec Parade again.

-Sprint over to try and catch the 6:00 p.m. Aladdin show this time. We get in. Mezzanine level- which we wanted- but pretty far to the side. Hey, you can't have everything. Fabulous show... I could watch it again and again. So could dh. We talked about what other uses that theatre could have? On the way out our son buys a Buzz Light Year gun at Engine Ear Toys. He waited all day for it. :)

-Ok we've really hit the brick wall at this point. Tired, crabby, etc. Back to the hotel. We order from Pizza Hut. Great delivery time and plenty of food for $23.

-We muster up what energy we have and head to DTD. Niece & son make a Build a Bear and everyone picks out clothes. Girls did BAB last year... they just need clothes. We buy beignet... I've been telling dh how fabulous they are, and they were. I thought you could buy them somewhere in DL- but we never found them? Stopped into a candy store and the girls made those disgusting powder candy sticks and dh & I got a choc covered strawberry (yum!) On the way out niece buys an OC shirt. To bed! We've had it.

*Each of our 3 kids had $25 for souvinear (sp?) money. In the end our son did his BAB & got the Buzz gun (yes more than $25.) Each girl ended up choosing gold ears and a Build a Bear outfit.