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5-4-fun
03-22-2006, 11:16 PM
Here it is... The good, the bad and the ugly.

I posted a fraction of the 400+ photos that we took on our blog if you want to take a look. Sorry they aren't in order, so there are pictures from the San Diego portion of our trip mixed in as well.

Here is the link:
http://spaces.msn.com/scottsdalecarroll/

Cast: dh 33, me 34, dd 9, ds 8, ds5 (it was his first trip to a disney resort)

Trip Preparation:
Thanks to everyone on the boards for all of your great advice. I used a lot of the tips on this board to make my priority seating reservations and plan our rough itinerary for the trip. I was able to arrange for special surprise treats from "Mickey" to be delivered to our room each day while we were gone. I thought my kids would enjoy pin trading, so I ordered a bulk lot of various Disney pins to get them started (we got lanyards included with our travel package). I also made up a travel book/vacation journal for each child. I found some great websites with disney printables, word finds, and journal pages to print out. These worked great to keep the kids occupied during our flight, record their favorite things in the journal section during our trip and they enjoyed sharing them with their friends and classmates when we returned.


Day One (Tuesday the 14th):

The alarm sounded at 3:30 am (ouch). This is the first time I have ever seen the kids leap out of bed without additional prodding.:) Flew Alaska Air from Spokane directly to LAX, picked up a rental car and arrived at Paradise Pier by around noon. They didn't have a room ready yet, so we checked our bags and headed to California Adventure.

I was shocked at the crowds as we entered the park. I ran first thing to get fast passes for Soarin' and they were already out for the day (ugh, this can't be good). Went to Mulloholland Madness and waited in line for 50 minutes for our first ride. DH hates crowds and was already beginning to grumble about all the people and the line. This was my ds(5) first roller coaster ride so I was a little worried. Standing in the line was completely worth seeing the expression on his face!:D He squealed and laughed and by the time we were done with that ride, he decided that Disneyland was the best place ever. As we were waiting in line he saw people putting their hands in the air while they were riding, so he put his hands up for EVERY ride the rest of our trip.

We went on a few more rides at Paradise Pier, and then stood in line for close to an hour to see Soarin. By this time my dh was really getting tired of the wait times (we were spoiled on our last trip to DL 4 years ago when there were almost no crowds) and said that they should change the name of the park to "Disneyline". His whining started a playful argument that ended up carrying on throughout our trip. I kept threatening that I was going to buy him a "grumpy" sweatshirt and he told me that he would buy me a "pollyanna" shirt. Which I of course replied "I would love that ;) " HEE HEE
So now my dh decides that he is tired of my "plan" and over my objections drags everyone on GRR because the line isn't long. The ride was great, but of course my ds(5) got completely drenched and froze through Block Party Bash. So we ran back to the hotel, got our bags delivered to our room and changed ds really quickly before our priority seating at the Wine Country Trattoria for dinner.

The Trattoria was really busy and it took us about 30 minutes to be seated even with the ps. I ordered the white lasagna and dh got the red lasagna. The food was O.K. It kind of reminded me of meals that we had in our college cafeteria (very institutional tasting--like it came out of a can). The server was nice but couldn't answer any questions about the wine list. Kind of strange given the restaurant's name. I know it is casual family dining, but I guess I was a little disappointed.

After dinner we headed to Disneyland hoping to catch a few rides with shorter lines during the fireworks show. We went on BTMRR (ds5's favorite ride of the trip), Indy twice (everyone loved this ride) and walked through Tarzan's treehouse before the kids were begging to go to bed.

After a very long first day we arrived at the room to find "Mickey's" surprise cookies and milk waiting. The kids were sooo excited-- it was a nice end to a long day.

Speaking of long days, it is getting late so I will post the rest of the report tomorrow for any of you patient enough to endure my rambling.:p

yellowrosedtxn
03-23-2006, 04:08 AM
I love your trip report. I can't wait to read the rest!

5-4-fun
03-23-2006, 08:55 AM
Thanks yellowrose!

Here we go....

Oh, by the way I forgot to mention that we had lunch at Rainforest Cafe Tuesday before we hit CA. The food was O.K., but the kids loved the atmosphere.


Day 2 (Wednesday)

After a great night sleep (PP has really comfortable beds) all of us were ready to go and a lot less cranky, so we headed to La Brea Bakery for breakfast. Each of us ordered a drink and a food item (cha--ching) $60. I remembered that food is expensive here from our last trip, but it still gave me sticker shock to pay that much for a breakfast. Especially since the food wasn't great. The caramel roll was hard as a rock.

We got through the gate and waited on Main Street for the rope drop. Dh ran for SM fastpasses while the kids and I went on Startours with no line. My two boys are HUGE star wars fans, so they absolutely loved this. Of course my ds5 had his hands up the whole ride LOL. It was O.K. because no one was seated right behind us. In the gift shop the kids had their pictures put into a star wars poster. It was priceless! Not surprisingly the boys spent a good portion of the spending money they earned for the trip at this store! (When we got to San Diego, the boys never wanted to leave the hotel, they just wanted to sit and play Star Wars all day :| ) We went on Startours again when dh joined us, then went on BLAB (I got high score for our family HEE HEE, but dh beat me on the next trip through--darn). On autopia I rode in a car with our ds5 who was thrilled to be driving. His goal was to make it like a roller coaster so he bounced us back and forth the whole ride. By the end both of us were laughing hysterically--so much fun! The kids brought their lanyards and were having fun finding CM's to trade pins with. Dd decided to collect Tink pins and ds8 wanted to get Mickey pins. (Ds5 was too intent on finding the next ride to care about collecting certain pins.)

After we finished our tour of tomorrowland we hit MH bobsleds, since the line wasn't too bad, and then headed to frontierland. Went on BTMRR again (I am not sure why, but we all agreed this ride seemed more fun at night time:confused: ) We had picked up fastpasses for Indy, so we did that next. This time when we got to the front a CM pulled ds5 aside and said he wasn't quite tall enough (he was right at the bottom of the sign, so it could have gone either way). It broke my heart to see his face drop-- he was such a good sport and didn't cry as dh walked him to a bench to wait for the rest of us. I politely told the CM that he went on it twice yesterday, but the CM said that they have some new CM's working who don't measure right. I know that they make these rules for safety and I don't have a problem with that, but I DO have a problem with the inconsistency. Tuesday the CM's let him on with NO PROBLEM and he loved the ride. :mad: When we got off, my dh was so irritated that he didn't want to do the child swap, he just wanted to leave so we headed to HM. This was my first time on HM, it was O.K. --I guess it's just not my thing, but dd thought it was fun.

Since I was planning to keep the kids up for the fireworks, we took DLRR back to the monorail and rode back to the hotel. (My kids loved the monorail, so we ended up taking it a lot. On one trip we just missed one ride and had to wait for the next, so a really nice CM asked if we wanted to ride in the front--the kids loved this!) I took the kids for a swim in the pool while dh ran to Target to get water bottles and snacks (saved us a lot of money, since we spent $30 every time we bought snacks in DL). I wasn't feeling great so while dh took the older kids to the arcade in the hotel, ds5 and I took a couple hour nap.

We were all hungry by this time, so we walked through DTD to see if we could get in anywhere quickly. We decided to try Catal. I love the atmosphere here, and the server was really great to the kids. All of us got burgers except ds8 who is an extremely picky eater. He got the kids chicken strips (which is what he orders everywhere they are offered) and said they were good. The food was great. The big burger had yummy sauteed onions on it with a homemade looking bun and the fries were good too. We all agreed that this was the best meal we had so far and decided to make reservations to come back for dinner Friday night.

After dinner we hit a few more rides while the parade was going on and then scouted out seats for the fireworks. We sat on the little sidewalk right in front of the statue. (Really great seats, we could see the projections on the Matterhorn and the castle.) It was about an hour and a half before showtime so dh ran to get churros and coffee. The kids went crazy over the churros and wanted to eat them for every meal after this.:p Dh was tired of sitting in the cold and wanted to go back to the hotel, but I talked him into waiting. The fireworks were amazing, everyone loved them and dh said he was glad he stayed. Dd (the tink fan) was thrilled to see Tink fly. Exhaused, we rode the monorail back to the hotel. By the time we got back I was really feeling sick, I had a low grade fever and was achy like the flu so dh ran to the front desk and got some Advil for me. Mickey had delivered a plate of beautifully done chocolates. Some were shaped like Mickey and others like mouse ears. We didn't eat much since we just had Churros and they were really rich dark chocolate.

After the long lines at CA our first day, we were relieved that using fast passes it wasn't too bad today. Lots of groups of cheerleaders everywhere (which my dd thought was really cool). ;)

yellowrosedtxn
03-23-2006, 09:27 AM
I really like reading your report. It sounds like you had a good time - so far. Glad that you used the fast pass system, it makes it a LOT better. How people can stand in line for 240 minutes for a 3 minute ride is beyond me. BUT They do it every day!

Can't wait to read more!

lobotomomma
03-23-2006, 09:31 AM
I'm loving your trip report, 5-4 Fun! I leave for DL in a few days and am getting SO excited reading your posts! Thanks for sharing!

ktrm
03-23-2006, 09:32 AM
[QUOTE=5-4-fun]Day One (Tuesday the 14th):

I was shocked at the crowds as we entered the park. I ran first thing to get fast passes for Soarin' and they were already out for the day (ugh, this can't be good). Went to Mulloholland Madness and waited in line for 50 minutes for our first ride. DH hates crowds and was already beginning to grumble about all the people and the line. This was my ds(5) first roller coaster ride so I was a little worried. Standing in the line was completely worth seeing the expression on his face!:D He squealed and laughed and by the time we were done with that ride, he decided that Disneyland was the best place ever. As we were waiting in line he saw people putting their hands in the air while they were riding, so he put his hands up for EVERY ride the rest of our trip.[QUOTE=5-4-fun]

Wow... I arrived at opening at DCA that day and got my fastpasses for Soarin. I had no idea they had sold out by 1:00pm. Did you guys like it after your long wait.

[QUOTE=5-4-fun] ds really quickly before our priority seating at the Wine Country Trattoria for dinner.

The Trattoria was really busy and it took us about 30 minutes to be seated even with the ps. I ordered the white lasagna and dh got the red lasagna. The food was O.K. It kind of reminded me of meals that we had in our college cafeteria (very institutional tasting--like it came out of a can). The server was nice but couldn't answer any questions about the wine list. Kind of strange given the restaurant's name. I know it is casual family dining, but I guess I was a little disappointed.[QUOTE=5-4-fun]

I had reservations for this restaurant and couldn't make it. I'm glad I didn't go. I definitely know what you mean by cafeteria food and I was running into my share of it at Disneyland.

Sounds like the trip was great. Don't worry my husband was grumbling too. I think all and all though my husband appreciated the preparations I made because it helped navigate through the crowds.

Crazy4DL
03-23-2006, 11:20 AM
I am really enjoying reading your trip report. Thanks for sharing. :)

Leap for Joy
03-23-2006, 11:46 AM
He squealed and laughed and by the time we were done with that ride, he decided that Disneyland was the best place ever. As we were waiting in line he saw people putting their hands in the air while they were riding, so he put his hands up for EVERY ride the rest of our trip.

I LOVE this part!! I can just imagine. :)

Gramiangel420
03-23-2006, 12:12 PM
Our family was there March 14-18, I will do a trip report later. :rolleyes:
I love reading yours. :)
Thank you for sharing!
:cool:

5-4-fun
03-23-2006, 12:17 PM
lobotomomma- Thanks, I hope you have a great time for your trip!

ktrm- I think soarin is my fav ride in CA. The rest of the family enjoyed it too! You definately didn't miss out by not making your ps reservations at the Trattoria. It wasn't horrible, just not anything special. I hope that you guys had a great trip, too!


Day 3 (Thursday)-

We woke up early and got ready. I had ordered room service for breakfast the prior afternoon, so we could eat quickly and make it to DL for EE. (This was actually our least expensive breakfast in DL and lots of food-- I would definately recommend this over LaBrea) I was still feeling achy and not so great in the morning, so I just kept downing the pain reliever every few hours and gritted my way through the day. I made it through O.K., but didn't feel up to riding ToT or Sceamin' with dh. We tried to catch the monorail, but they had closed it down for a mechanical problem so we hoofed it on down to the park.

We had waited for EE to visit Fantasyland since I thought we could zip on the rides with shorter lines. Boy was I wrong!!! In the hour we were there, the kids went on the teacups and then we waited 45 min. for Dumbo. I wanted to go on Peter Pans Flight, but the line was soooo long no one else wanted to go with me:crying: (My fav. fantasyland ride).

Here is where I made a big mistake. PAY ATTENTION if you are preparing for a trip. **Make sure that you read the fine print on all of your park info.** I had mistakenly thought that MMM at TT was on EE mornings from what I had read, but I didn't read the fine print on the ticket. We showed up at TT and the CM at the gate said that they had changed the days for MMM and it was no longer offered on Thursdays. I would have gone Wed. had I realized this, but oh well we can still catch in tomorrow so I wasn't too upset. Here is where I made mistake #2 **do not always trust the info given by the CM's** The CM told us to come back to TT at 9 am on Friday for EE to TT and that MMM would start around 9:20. (See Fri. report for cont. of this part of the story)

Walking back from TT there was no line for IASW, so we hopped on. (I know I will probably get heat for saying this, but this ride makes me want to poke my eyes out!-- Once a trip is more than enough for me.) Actually the grounds around IASW are my favorite part of this ride. Walking over to MH Bobsleds the kids found a nice CM to trade pins with. By now dd has traded almost all of the original pins that we got from the grab bag and ended up with quite a few really beautiful Tink pins, so she was thrilled!

We had ps reservations for Storytellers Cafe, so we headed to the hotel for lunch. We waited for our seats through the tail end of the character breakfast and the kids got to see chip, dale and a bear (one of the ones from the Splash Mountain ride, but I don't remember his name.) Our server was very nice and the kids ordered the "make your own pizza" which was fun for them. Dh and I both had salad since we weren't overly hungry. Overall it was a nice meal.

After lunch we headed to DCA to catch the Aladdin musical which I absolutely loved, but ds5 was having a little tummy trouble which required frequent restroom visits *ugh* Guess what???- there are NO restrooms in the theatre, so we had to take him out and around the corner. :(
We had great seats in the middle of the third row (orchestra) I didn't mind the tradeoff of only seeing the flying carpet from the bottom, because we could see the performers expressions well. The genie was soo funny--he really made the show. (I talked to a woman on Friday that said she had seen the show twice and the thinner genie that worked the Thursday shows was much better than the one she saw the next day, so I am glad we caught this on Thursday.)

After the show ds8 really wanted to try ToT, so dh and ds went while the other kids and I found some shade. I was feeling pretty lousy, so the rest time was fine with me. My ds LOVED ToT (he felt special that he was the only kid in our family brave enough to ride:) ) Later in the day he was really excited when he was able to trade for a really nice ToT pin, which ended up being his fav. pin. We went to turtle talk which was really fun. We kept trying to hit Monsters, but we never saw the line shorter than 60 min. which none of us were willing to do. After wandering around in animation a little more we headed for DTD.

Our Gonzaga Bulldogs are in the playoffs and dh wasn't about to miss it, so while he took the boys to ESPN zone to get a seat, dd and I went to Libby Lu for our mother/daughter makeovers. It was only $25 for both of us (which I thought was pretty reasonable) and it was fun girlie time. My dd also bought herself a cute little stuffed pooch who she of course named Tink. :) By the time dd and I got to ESPN zone the boys were already eating, so we ordered. I got the tortilla soup, which was pretty good (although not the best I've had). Dh was a little disappointed because they were showing other games and the station only flipped over for parts of the Zags, but at least we saw the last few minutes of the game. My ds8 is a big sports fan, so he had a blast here and of course all of the kids loved the arcade area!

After the game we went back to DL to see if we could hit a few rides during the parade and fireworks. We hit BTMRR again (definately better at night) and went on the riverboats. Our guide had us laughing so hard my cheeks hurt, it was really fun! Wanted to go on Space mountain again, but the lines were too long so we went on BLAB and Star Tours again.

Tonight when we arrived back at the hotel there were Mickey shaped rice krispy treats dipped in chocolate waiting for us. They were delicious, buttery and soft. Our favorite "surprise" treat of the trip. YUM

5-4-fun
03-23-2006, 12:28 PM
Our family was there March 14-18, I will do a trip report later. :rolleyes:
I love reading yours. :)
Thank you for sharing!
:cool:

How cool that we were there the same days and we are both from Washington:) We are from Spokane Valley, how about you? I hope that you had a great trip! I am excited to read your report. Typing it up definately takes longer than I thought. Trying to remember all of the little details takes a while, but I think when I am done I am gonna print a copy of the report to put in our scrapbook. That way we will remember the trip a little better.

Leap for Joy:
I loved this part too! Moments like that one with my ds5 are definately what make Disney a magical place for me! :D I think I actually enjoy it more as a parent than I did when I was younger. (Of course I didn't go for the first time until I was 16, so I kind of missed the prime childhood years.)

Crazy4DL:
Thanks!! It is kind of fun to remember as I write. More to come.... ;)

ktrm
03-23-2006, 01:49 PM
Day 2 (Wednesday)

After a great night sleep (PP has really comfortable beds) all of us were ready to go and a lot less cranky, so we headed to La Brea Bakery for breakfast. Each of us ordered a drink and a food item (cha--ching) $60. I remembered that food is expensive here from our last trip, but it still gave me sticker shock to pay that much for a breakfast. Especially since the food wasn't great. The caramel roll was hard as a rock.

We had problems with breakfast costs as well. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Anaheim resort in which kids eat free, but the meals took so long that we tried to get the breakfast buffet. Good food...but ouch $45 bucks for breakfast for four and my kids barely ate any of it. Next time I'm packing breakfast items.


In the gift shop the kids had their pictures put into a star wars poster. It was priceless! Not surprisingly the boys spent a good portion of the spending money they earned for the trip at this store! (When we got to San Diego, the boys never wanted to leave the hotel, they just wanted to sit and play Star Wars all day :| ) We went on Startours again when dh joined us, then went on BLAB (I got high score for our family HEE HEE, but dh beat me on the next trip through--darn).

I have to try the pictures in the stars wars poster thing next time. My two kids love star tours as well and would have been tickled pink with that souvenior. What is BLAB?



Since I was planning to keep the kids up for the fireworks, we took DLRR back to the monorail and rode back to the hotel. (My kids loved the monorail, so we ended up taking it a lot. On one trip we just missed one ride and had to wait for the next, so a really nice CM asked if we wanted to ride in the front--the kids loved this!) I took the kids for a swim in the pool while dh ran to Target to get water bottles and snacks (saved us a lot of money, since we spent $30 every time we bought snacks in DL). I wasn't feeling great so while dh took the older kids to the arcade in the hotel, ds5 and I took a couple hour nap.

WOW where is Target? That would have saved me some definite money in snacks.



We were all hungry by this time, so we walked through DTD to see if we could get in anywhere quickly. We decided to try Catal. I love the atmosphere here, and the server was really great to the kids. All of us got burgers except ds8 who is an extremely picky eater. He got the kids chicken strips (which is what he orders everywhere they are offered) and said they were good. The food was great. The big burger had yummy sauteed onions on it with a homemade looking bun and the fries were good too. We all agreed that this was the best meal we had so far and decided to make reservations to come back for dinner Friday night.

We almost ate here but decided not to at the last minute. Oh well next time. Sounds like you had a great meal.



By the time we got back I was really feeling sick, I had a low grade fever and was achy like the flu so dh ran to the front desk and got some Advil for me. Mickey had delivered a plate of beautifully done chocolates. Some were shaped like Mickey and others like mouse ears. We didn't eat much since we just had Churros and they were really rich dark chocolate.

Sorry to hear that you didn't feel too well. My neighbor and her family went the same week that you and I did. Her eight year old son got sick and upchucked on ART. EEEEKKKK!

5-4-fun
03-23-2006, 02:08 PM
Day 4 (Friday)-

We dressed in layers this morning, because the forecast was rain. Today was the only day that Fantasmic was on the schedule during our trip, so I was really hoping that it wouldn't be cancelled. (None of us have seen it.)

We had 8:10 ps reservations at Goofy's Kitchen. We walked over to DLH a few minutes early so we could check out the grounds. I had never walked through the hotel before and was very impressed. I don't think that DLH looks very nice from the outside, but the pool area was beautiful and the inside was very nice. We liked PP a lot and would stay again, but I think that I would like to try DLH and GC some time as well. When we arrived at Goofy's the CM couldn't find our ps in the computer and I hadn't thought to bring the itinerary that DLTC had printed out because we hadn't had any problems with any other ps, but after a few minutes they went ahead and seated us. The kids were in heaven at the buffet! I have never seen them soo excited about breakfast. They loved choosing whatever they wanted. Ds8 had pepperoni pizza, peanut butter pizza and a pizza sugar cookie with ice cream and sprinkles. (Ugh-- my stomach feels sick just typing this.) We took pics with goofy, max, cinderella, chip and dale. Goofy "accidentally" dropped a big tub of plastic dishes on the floor which turned into a jam session with goofy, max and all the kids banging away on the dishes like drums. The kids loved this breakfast, the selection of food was huge. We almost caught Cinderella slipping out of character. She asked where we were from and we said Spokane, so she started to say "Oh, my family is from there...." then she realized what she was doing and quickly changed the subject back to her "princess life" LOL:~D I don't think the kids caught the slip, so dh and I just acted like we didn't hear it.

Mistake #2 continued... (see yesterdays post about the CM's info) We decided to buzz out of the breakfast quickly so we could catch MMM at 9:20 We arrived at TT just after 9:00 and were surprised to find it buzzing with people and no CM at the gate to take our MMM ticket. After looking around we realized that since DL had opened at 8:00 we missed the MMM by an hour and the time the CM had given us yesterday was wrong. :(
I was very disappointed since we have never been to MMM and we left Goofy's kitchen early to get there. Lesson learned---always verify, never trust someone else's information!!!

We hadn't seen TT yet so we waited in line to meet mickey, rode the GGC a few times (there was almost no line), and poked around all the fun little nooks and crannies of TT. The kids went on RR a few times because there wasn't much of a line while dh stood outside and people watched. While we were waiting Goofy and Pluto came out and started playing charades with the kids that were standing around. Our kids got off the ride just in time to see Goofy and Pluto face off in a big dance contest. Everyone was laughing and it was a lot of fun to see the characters interact like this.

After TT we went to Tomorrowland, hit a few rides and watched HISTA. Ds5 got freaked out when the cat turned into a giant lion head and kept his eyes closed with his feet curled up on the chair the rest of the show. It's funny how he is brave on the rides, but gets scared easily in the shows.

Next dh left to take the kids on SM while I waited in line for the Aladdin and Jasmine show at adventureland. (We loved this show during our last trip and I really wanted to see it again.) After waiting 45 min and getting us great seats, I had to walk out because the show filled up and my family hadn't arrived from SM yet. Everyone showed up 5 min. after I walked out. Kind of disappointing, but I was starting to feel achy and sick again so I didn't mind missing the SM ride. Dh felt really bad, he forgot how long the ride lasted once you were on it. I really wanted to see the show so he took the boys to go on BTMRR (had fastpasses) while dd and I waited in line again for the next show of Aladdin (I am so glad they have a waiting area with benches). I told him if they weren't back dd and I would just watch it alone. About 20 minutes before the show it started pouring down rain and the CM's working there came out and said the show was cancelled, but we could get pictures with the characters if we wanted to stay in line. I was disappointed after all of the waiting, but I know there is nothing they can do since it is an outdoor theatre. We were first in line for pics. and dh and boys got back so we stayed. The characters were really nice.

I was proud of myself for planning ahead and buying cheap ponchos at the dollar store, but when the downpour began I looked in our bag and realized that we left the ponchos at the hotel, ugh:rolleyes: I think that not feeling well has really impacted my ability to organize things like I normally would. That was really dumb and the rain was coming down in buckets!!! This is really not my day, but hey, like they say, a bad day at DL is better than a good day anywhere else, right? So dh took the boys to the shooting gallery in Frontierland while dd and I hid out in one of the shops. The rain didn't seem to be letting up and we were all drenched, so we made our way back to the hotel to get dried off. The cold, wet morning wiped us all out, so we all crashed in our room for about an hour in case we ended up staying up late to see Fantasmic.

By the time we woke up and changed the rain had let up a little, so we decided to go explore the shops in DTD before our dinner reservations at Catal. The boys spent most of the remainder of their spending $$ at the Lego store (Star Wars legos of course) and dd picked up some more accessories for Tink (the stuffed pooch). This dog now has t-shirts, a hot pink collar, play toys and a carry bag. :D A crazy lot of money to spend on a stuffed animal in my opinion, but dd was thrilled so I kept my opinion to myself.;) I think that even with all the accessories she still spent less than build a bear, so it wasn't that bad.

We arrived early at Catal and got seated right away. Our server (Mitch was his name, I think) was phenomenal. I mean the BEST server I have ever had at any restaurant. He joked around with the kids, had some great wine suggestions for us and was very knowledgeable about all of the food selections. He had that sense of timing to know when we needed something. They brought out rustic bread with dipping oil and balsamic--which dh and I love. Actually my ds5 loves this too:D Dh and I had the prime rib with cheesy scalloped potatoes. Mmmmm excellent. Both of our experiences with Catal were extremely positive and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a refuge of good food in a jungle of cafeteria like eateries!! The funny thing is the kids said it was their favorite place to eat too and they loved Mitch (thought he was really nice and funny)!

After dinner I wanted to go back to the hotel and go to bed, because I really felt horrible--but I didn't want to miss Fantasmic. Dh and the boys wanted to hit a few rides so dd and I decided to stake out good seats for Fantasmic early. We got a great spot front and center and the time seemed to go quickly since we met some wonderful people waiting next to us from B.C. and talked the whole time. Then a girl a little older than dd sat next to us on the other side and the two of them chatted up a storm the rest of the night. About an hour or so before the show they announced that the 9:00 showing of Fantasmic would be cancelled due to inclement weather. Strange, since the skies had been pretty clear for a while. One of the CM's said they cancelled it because the radar showed that a storm would pass over at 9:00. Fortunately, no storm passed over and we were able to see the 10:30 showing of Fantasmic. We all loved it, of course, except that ds5 was a little scared of the dragon.

Finishing the day with a great dinner and getting to see Fantasmic really turned a disappointing morning into an overall good day. Back at the hotel we had tuxedo strawberries waiting for us. Sad, this was the last day of our park hoppers but I felt like we had a great time. As we were getting ready for bed our ds5 said he was sad to leave the roller coasters and he wished that he could be at Disneyland every day. (Don't we all!):)

ktrm
03-23-2006, 02:24 PM
You know we hit Toontown Madness on Wednesday. I sent the kids over there while I got fast passes for Splash Mountain. I was amazed how deserted the park was. No line for Splash Mountain, Indy, or Haunted Mansion. It was a thrill having Disneyland to myself. I walked over to Toontown Madness and it was MOBBED!!!! Everyone I guess was trying to get their freebie bonus from AAA. We rode Roger Rabbit and left to go to the rest of the park which was still very quiet. It sounds like your experience with EE was the same. Only a few rides at EE are open and again everyone is trying to get their "bonus". Next time I am going to go first thing in morning to Toontown on a non Toontown Morning Madness day. I bet it will be a lot less crowded. I am also going to hit Fantasyland first thing in the morning on a non EE day. Toontown Madness is probably a lot better when it is not a busy week like when we went. I have heard other people say they had the whole thing to themselves. I think on busy weeks and weekends I am going to avoid it as well as EE. I wouldn't worry yourself about missing it at all.

JDBlair
03-23-2006, 03:47 PM
Great report. It's so fun to read reports from people that were there the same time we were. We were there March 13 - 17th and saw the same show of Fantasmic!! Thank you for the report and the pictures are great!! Hope you're feeling better!!

lobotomomma
03-23-2006, 03:50 PM
Ditto to all that JDBlair said-except being at DL at that time. I go in 2 days! Whoo Hoo! JDBlair also had an awesome trip report. Thanks you guys for sharing your experiences at DL with everybody!!!

JDBlair
03-23-2006, 03:53 PM
Ditto to all that JDBlair said-except being at DL at that time. I go in 2 days! Whoo Hoo! JDBlair also had an awesome trip report. Thanks you guys for sharing your experiences at DL with everybody!!!
I wish I was going back in 2 days. It's been torture going back to work and trying to catch up from missing a week. I just keep pulling up the DL pictures my father E-mailed me from the trip and imagine myself back there! :crying:

lobotomomma
03-23-2006, 04:08 PM
I have a feeling in a little over a week I'll be feeling your pain, JDBlair...

5-4-fun
03-23-2006, 04:13 PM
ktrm- Hi! BLAB is Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters. As for where target is, I am not sure? My husband got directions from the CM's at the hotel and I never asked him. He is in Oakland right now at the sweet sixteen, or I would ask him now. It sure was nicer not paying $3 per water bottle though.

I am glad that you think it wasn't a big deal to miss MMM. When you put so much time and thought into planning the "perfect" trip, you just want everything to go perfectly. Such is life.

I almost never get sick, but of course the week we are at DL, there I am wandering around in an achy fog. The day we left DL and headed for San Diego I started feeling better, so at least I felt good for half of the trip.

5-4-fun
03-23-2006, 04:23 PM
Saturday (the final day)-

Even though our park hoppers were expired, we decided to end the week on a high note by having breakfast at Lilo and Stitch's in our hotel. So we packed up our stuff, loaded up the Trailblazer and headed down for one last bit of Disney magic-- and it definitely was.

We saw Lilo, Stitch, Minnie, Daisy and Pluto. There wasn't as large of a food selection as at Goofy's, but it was still such a huge buffet that it didn't matter. Lots of choices! I know it sounds strange but I absolutely loved the pineapple coconut scones with the pineapple preserves. YUM (I had several;) )

Lilo taught the kids a dance and played a game of island hoppers (kind of like musical chairs) then Daisy did another dance with the kids and they used some hawaiian looking shakers. The atmosphere was very laid back and fun.
It was definitely worth doing the character breakfasts on a week the park was busy. Every character we saw in the parks had long lines to get a picture, it was nice to eat and have the characters come to us.

Well, that is it. Then we headed off to complete our week in San Diego. (LOTS of really good food there and back to normal prices---yeah!)

Thanks for taking the time to read about our adventures. I hope that you found a little Disney magic in there somewhere.

Leap for Joy
03-23-2006, 04:31 PM
Thanks for the trip report! It was awesome!!!

DisneyMa
03-23-2006, 05:58 PM
Dear 5-4-fun,

I LOVE your trip report. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

I have a question about the treats you and your family enjoyed upon returning to your hotel room. Is that something you set up with the hotel room service every day? or Guest Services? We have stayed at the GC and DH several times and have never heard of this. Would love to learn more about it.


Thanks again
Disneyma

ktrm
03-23-2006, 06:01 PM
It sounded like Paradise Pier was great. Did the walk bother you at all to the monorail or to the park entrance? It sounded as if they really pulled out the red carpet for you and your family. I may have to save up for the full Disneyland experience next time like you had. I definitely want to try the Goofy's breakfast.

P.S. I was at the same showing of Fantasmic that you and JDblair were at. How funny!!! Thank goodness it went off. I was really worried after the 9:00pm showing was cancelled. I have to admit during the showing I was wishing I had the reserved seating the JDblair had. Chocolate strawberries would have been great. Oh well you can't do everything in one sitting otherwise there would be nothing to look forward to next time.

Oh by the way I also bought the 99 cent ponchos and put them on my family at the first sign of rain on Friday. Now I know what they mean by "breathable" material when they sell waterproof clothing. It was like an instant green house effect. We all got sooooo hot and sweaty. They got dumped into the nearest Disneyland garbage can. Next time REI ponchos.

Malcon10t
03-23-2006, 06:14 PM
WOW where is Target? That would have saved me some definite money in snacks.Target is down Harbor (south of Disneyland) in Garden Grove. My kids have walked it from the Hilton. Its maybe 2 and a half miles from Disneyland on the east side. Across the street is an Outback restaurant and I think a Red Robin.

5-4-fun
03-23-2006, 08:38 PM
Dear 5-4-fun,

I LOVE your trip report. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

I have a question about the treats you and your family enjoyed upon returning to your hotel room. Is that something you set up with the hotel room service every day? or Guest Services? We have stayed at the GC and DH several times and have never heard of this. Would love to learn more about it.


Thanks again
Disneyma

Hi Disneyma,
The treats are something that I read about on the boards a while ago and thought it would be fun. We booked through WDTC, so I just called them and asked them if they could arrange for snacks to be sent to our room each day. The WDTC agent gave me a list of choices and I selected what I wanted. I believe that WDTC made the arrangements for me through our hotel's room service. I even got to choose a time to have them delivered. Then a few days before our trip the purchases were charged to my Visa. This was really one of the daily highlights for my kids and a lot cheaper than the gift baskets that they offer to deliver to the rooms.


ktrm- This was our first onsite stay and we really enjoyed it. The trip to the park wasn't bad. About a 5 min. walk to the monorail to get to DL and about the same walk through the GC to get to CA. (The walk always seemed longer when we tired at the end of the day, than when we were excited to get to the parks each morning:p )
I was so glad to finally see Fantasmic. I was surprised how many people didn't budge from their spots when the 9:00 was cancelled. The priority seating and fancy treats definitely would have been fun, what a way to end a trip! We had to settle for the cheap seats and churros, but it was still a lot of fun!