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View Full Version : Our Annual Birthday Trip, May 5-7



disneyochem
05-08-2006, 10:51 AM
Hi Everyone (and this is the same report posted on another board, so my apologies for the duplication!),

We just got back for our annual birthday trip. Both of my daughters have their birthdays in late April/early May; my birthday is in April too. So what better excuse than to have a trip to DL to celebrate all our birthdays! My hubby's b-day is in October (and another excuse to go to DL!).

We picked up the girls (DD9 and DD7) at their school and headed down I-5 to Anaheim at 3 p.m. Traffic was great--no slow downs in Sac or Stockton. The half-way point (our front door to DLR) is Harris Ranch. Ate at Red Robin on the way down after three hours on the road. Arrived in Anaheim at 10 p.m. and went directly to our hotel. We stayed Thursday night (May 4) at the Crown Plaza Inn--I had used HotWire for a hotel. Only cost $52/night plus a $9 resort fee. We were only there until 7 a.m. the next morning, but this is a place I would stay again. Room was nice and had a lot of extra touches.

Left the hotel at 7:45 a.m. and drove to BWPPI to check in. Now, this is the first time we have stayed at BWPPI. We usually stay on-site or at the CCI. A friend of mine talked me into trying the BWPPI. She said that the location would more than make up for the room. I will not be staying at this hotel again. Yes, the location was great but the room was very dark and dingy. The carpet outside the bathroom looked like it had been flooded a couple of times (damp, bowled up) and there was mold growing in the bathtub. The staff at BWPPI were great--everyone we interacted with was cordial and pleasant. But it did not make up for the room or the simply horrible continental breakfast! We don't spend a lot of time in the hotel room while at the resort but my girls love to spend time in the swimming pool. BWPPI does not have a good pool for swimming. We just missed having the Disney feeling you get when you stay on-site (yes, I know, you pay for it but I like it!)

Anyway, we checked in at 8 a.m. Our room was not ready but we were able to leave our car in the parking lot. They gave us breakfast vouchers to use as well. We went upstairs at Captain Kidd's to check it out and promptly walked out! Crossed the street to DL and stood in line. Crowds weren't too bad. (As a side note, I was expecting worse crowds all weekend but never materialized!). Park opened up at 8:30 a.m. We strolled down Main Street stopping by to make lunch reservations at the Carnation Café. We were at the rope drop and at 9 a.m., headed straight to Tomorrowland. My DH did not go with us on our October trip so it had been a while since he had been on Space Mountain. We decided that Space Mountain was our first ride. At that time in the morning, it was a walk-on—took longer to walk to the ride than to wait in line! We rode it twice (and picked up a FastPass for later). Then we did Buzz, AstroOrbitors, Autotopia (picked up FastPass), Matterhorn and Star Tours. On our way to Adventure Land, stopped by to ride some rides in Fanstasy Land. Went on Pinocchio, Snow White, Casey Train, Teacups, Alice in Wonderland, and the Carousel. All before 11 a.m. Stopped for a quick bathroom break and snack before heading on. We split a couple slices of watermelon, bag of grapes and fresh veggies.

We wandered over to the other side of the park to go on BMTRR but were side-tracked by Billy and the Hillbillies Show. We were able to get good seats for the 11:15 (11:30 !?!?) show. Was a little different than last time but still very entertaining! We heard a couple of jokes that my girls kept saying over and over during the rest of the trip—in fact on the way to school this morning, they told the joke again! “Why does Tigger bounce around on his tail in the Hundred Acre Wood? Because he doesn’t want to step on Pooh!” Yes, my kids are at the stage where this is very funny!

Anyway, after the show (and surviving my kids begging for French fries) we headed over to the Haunted Mansion (BMTRR had about a 20 minute wait). Rode Haunted Mansion twice (loved the new effects!), picked up a FastPass for Splash Mountain, rode Winnie-the-Pooh, took a picture in front of Pirates (really missed not having that ride!), climbed Tarzan’s Treehouse, hopped on the Jungle Cruise and Indian Jones! After that, it was close to our lunch reservation at Carnation Café.

At the Café, we were seated right at 1 p.m. DD 9 had the peanut butter palette, DD 7 had Mac n’ Cheese (pasta is her comfort food!), DH had a pot pie and I had ½ smoked turkey sandwich and cup of loaded potato soup. All yummy and the service was wonderful as always. I love eating at the Carnation Café. One of my favorite things to do is people watch on Main Street. Life doesn’t get much better for me!

After lunch, we headed over to BMTRR. Glad we waited—wait at that time was only 10 minutes but it was pretty much a walk-on. Rode it twice. Then decided to head back to the hotel, get our room and change for the night. Our room was ready at BWPPI—Rm 308 with a scenic view of Captain Kidd’s! Tried to get the kids to rest a bit but they were too excited. So we changed into pants and carried our sweatshirts/jackets. We got back to DL in time to see the very end of the 3:15 p.m. parade. Saw it from the Main Street Train Station. Hopped on the train and rode it 1 ¼ lap! The train is DH’s favorite ride so we have to ride it a least one full-lap every trip. In fact, the trips he isn’t with us, we do a ceremonial train ride for Daddy!

After riding the train, we got off at New Orleans Station and walked over to Splash Mountain. Now, this is a ride I do not go on. I absolutely hate this ride. I am not a fan of “drop” rides and this is a dosie! I went on this ride on my honeymoon (yes, we honeymooned at DLR!) but never again! My girls try to shame me into going but no! While the rest of my family goes on this ride, I have my own little tradition. I go into the Pooh candy store and get a marshmallow, caramel and fudge stick! Yummy! I eat it before they get back and they never know! My DH does but not the kids! It is something that I may share with them when they are older and can handle the truth! LOL!

Now I’m not sure what else we did before dinner but the crowds were so light that we were able to go on a number of rides. We did Indiana Jones, HM, BMTRR, and then went back to Tomorrow Land. Rode Autotopia, Buzz, Star Tours, Matterhorn and some of the non-crowded Fantasy Land (saving and using Fast Passes). At 6:30 p.m. decided to eat dinner at Red Rocket Pizza Port. Now my girls love pasta—so what I always do at RRPP is buy an adult size plain pasta to split, a side of marinara sauce, a side salad to share and a slice of pizza. My DH decided that he had to have a Main Street corn dog so he went over to get the corn dog and met us for dinner. Ate and then hightailed it to the other side of Main Street before the 7 p.m. parade. Just made it! Then my DD9 decided she wanted to watch the parade so we stayed. Had a pretty good viewing place—right outside of the Plaza Garden, behind a fence and patch of grass. After then parade, we went over to Rivers of America to check in for our preferred seating for Fantasmic. After check-in, we went and rode HM (no wait!).

We waited about 20 minutes to get in for our preferred seating. You get seated based upon the order of check-in. I had checked in about 1.25 hours early but there were still 6 groups ahead of us! Must be readers of this discussion board! Even though we were not the first to check in, we had pretty good seats. They seat you, take your drink order (coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea, coke, diet coke, sprite, water) and then let you get your dessert. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet: rice krispy Mickeys, biscotti, macaroons, shortbread with raspberry filling and chocolate-covered strawberries! Very good but my kids didn’t eat nearly enough to justify the cost. Next time I do something like this, I’ll go with a girlfriend! Our view of Fantastmic was great! We could feel the heat from the flames. After the show, we stayed and watched the fireworks. Was nice but you don’t get to see the projections on the castle. We were able to see Tinkerbell which was nice since Tink is my DD9’s all time favorite. After fireworks, we swam upstream to BMTRR and used our FastPasses. I love that ride at night. I think it is one of the best nighttime rides at DL.

We then headed to Fantasy Land and rode Alice, TeaCups, and Matterhorn. At Tomorrowland, we rode (and used Fast Passes when needed) Autotopia, Star Tours, Space Mountain and Buzz. By this time it was 11:15 a.m. and I was done. My kids wanted to stay until the park closed but I was tired. So after much grumbling, we headed back to the hotel. And, the kids were asleep within 5 minutes of brushing their teeth!

Day Two Coming Up!

disneyochem
05-08-2006, 10:52 AM
Oops! It was 11 p.m. not 11 a.m.! Sorry.

gimp_boy76
05-08-2006, 11:31 AM
Great report! I hope the crowd conditions stay about the same this week for our trip, it sounds like you were able to do so much!

disneyochem
05-08-2006, 12:02 PM
Day Two, May 6

After our late night at DL, I decided to let the girls sleep in. They slept until 8:30 a.m. We got up and ate breakfast food that I had brought from home. We decided to hit DCA first thing in the morning. Very short lines. We were able to get into DCA by 9:40 a.m. I was constantly surprise at the low crowds this past weekend (and maybe it was more crowded than I realized!) compared to our trip last October. Once in DCA, we headed over and got in line for Soaring Over California. We requested a front row seat and my DD9 took off her shoes for the ride! The smells were very pungent this time. Got a FastPass for later the day and then headed over to the new Monsters Inc ride. Once there, again, very short line. By the time we walked through the ride, it was to get on the taxi. Cute ride. I wanted to go on the ride again (especially in view of the short lines!) but I was out-voted. DH and DD9 headed over to ride TOT while DD7 and I headed over to the animation studio. DD7 absolutely loves this area. Right now she is in a “Belle” phase so she tried about four times to get Belle as her person but all four times Cinderella came up! Since I like to eat nice people for lunch, I was the Evil Queen from Snow White! Then we spent the next 30 minutes in Ursula’s Grotto dubbing our voices into different scenes. We laughed and laughed. DD7 loved to speak baby talk and see her voice come out of Jafar’s picture!

We met up with DH and DD9 in Sunshine Plaza a little after 11. Got a churro and chocolate cookie to share while I had my double shot latte! Next we went to Bug’s Land and the girls rode all the rides (some multiple times!). After that we headed over to Paradise Pier and rode the Zephyr, Jumping Jellyfish, Mulholland Madness and the Orange Stinger. My little one decided she was finally old enough to try California Screamin’ so we headed over there. Once again, this is a ride that I will not go on so I headed over to the Cove Bar to wait.

While at the Cove Bar, I think I had a Dark Beer sighting! While sipping my Silver Patron margarita (gotta keep Mom happy!), I noticed a man enter the Cove Bar with camera equipment. Of course, being such a lurker on these boards, I was too shy to say anything (and it may not have been him!). It looked like Dark Beer and he had a dark beer to drink!

Anyway, the line was so short for Screamin’ that my family rode it three times in a row. By that time, we were all hungry so we headed over to the Wine Country Trattoria for lunch. We were able to get a table outside. DD7 had the pasta (did I tell you she likes pasta?), DD9 had the peanut butter sandwich, a side salad to split, DH and I split the meatball sandwich and the Tuscan salad. All very yummy. I also had a glass of an old vine Zin (not sure of the vineyard, but it was good).

After lunch, then we headed back to Paradise Pier. Went on Mulholland again, hit Redwood play center and Grizzly Bear Run. All had very short lines. We got a little wet so we decided to go back to the hotel and swim. At the hotel, DH is great—he took the kids to the pool while I was able to go to DTD and get some shopping in. We let the kids swim until 7. Our plan was then to head into DL for the night but the kids didn’t want to go(!). So we just walked over to Tony Roma’s for dinner and were back in our hotel room by 9:15 a.m. Kids were asleep by 10 p.m. so guess we made the right choice!

Day Three Next.

disneyochem
05-08-2006, 12:31 PM
Day Three, Sunday May 7

Well, it is always bittersweet on the last day of a trip to Disneyland. We don’t live close enough to go more than twice a year. Our next trip is planned for November so it will be a looonnngggg time until our next trip!

We got up pretty early to pack up. Woke the kids at 6:30 a.m. and pack up the car. Checked out of the BWPPI. We were able to leave our car in the parking lot until 3 p.m. Decided once again to forgo the beastly continental breakfast at the hotel and munched on snacky food. We had ressies at Carnation Café for breakfast at ten so the girls didn’t need much. Got in line at about 7:40 a.m. and were the second group of people in line. This day was to be a short day since we had to drive back home (6 hour trip). Once inside the park, we hopped on the antique fire truck for a ride to the hub. My girls ran the bell the entire trip up Main Street. If you were there, you may have heard us coming! Once off the truck, we hurried over to Peter Pan. PP is my favorite ride of the entire park. The line was very short and we were able to ride it back to back! Yea! Now our trip was complete! We spent the next 30 minutes or so riding all the rides in Fantasy Land (even the boats). Next up was Matterhorn. I left the family in line while I rushed over to Space Mountain for a Fast Pass. When I got back, they were just getting off the bobsled. We got back in line and were in another sled within ten minutes. Next up was Space Mountain. I had noticed that the wait time was only ten minutes. We got in line and rode it. Once off, we wanted to go on Buzz but I think the ride had broken down. There was a HUGE line of people. We got a Fast Pass and hopped over to go to Endor. After Star Tours, it was time for breakfast. At the Carnation Café, DD7 had the Mickey waffles, DD9 had Mickey Egg Scramble, DH had waffles as well and I had Oscar’s Special. Once again, as always, very good. Yesterday was also the dining pin option. Got my pin! Usually I don’t worry or pay attention to the AP pin benefits since I live too far away but was lucky to get one yesterday.

After breakfast, we headed over to Adventure Land and rode Indiana Jones (15 minute wait), then BMTRR, the Coloumbia, and HM. Decided not to go to Splash so headed back to Tomorrow Land to use our Fast Passes and leave. Rode Buzz and then went on Space Mountain as our last ride of this trip! Ended our visit with our traditional food to eat in the car on the way home—DD7, pink cotton candy; DD9, tub of popcorn; DH, peanut brittle; and me, rice krispy Mickey treat!

Left the park at about 1:15 p.m., gassed up and was on the road by 1:45. Traffic wasn’t too bad and was great after we got up and over the Grapevine. Stopped at Harris Ranch for dinner and was home by 8:45 p.m.

So, on the day afterwards, we are already thinking ahead for our next trip in November (and telling DL jokes!). Thanks for reading these long reports. I enjoy everyone’s reports and certainly live vicariously through them!

hlbtimes2
05-08-2006, 12:52 PM
It was not your imagination, the crowds were way lighter then they were in Oct. We were there Oct. 13-17, and it was horrible. Then we went in March (10-12). The crowds were lighter in March. Then this past weekend I was there with 2 friends. We were delighted to find the lack of crowds. We got so much done in such a small amount of time.

I'm working on a trip report. I'm about 1/2 done.