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yenko427
01-14-2007, 08:31 AM
We get into LAX on 1/31 at around noon. I am figuring by the time we get shuttled to the hotel and somewhat settled it will probably be around 2:30, assuming our room (DLH) is ready. What are the odds of me getting a fridge there?

If we are heading into the parks (keep in mind DL closes at 8 pm and DCA at 6 pm) where would you head to start the trip off? Keep in mind we have a 5 year old and I would rather not have him waiting in long lines right out of the gun. We were going to go to the Block Party but just saw Darkbeer's posting that they are only doing it on Fri-Sun now. Thanks for the advice......

MammaSilva
01-14-2007, 08:35 AM
All the rooms at the DLH have fridges, none have microwaves....if you want a coffee maker you have to call housekeeping and request it but they do have them and will bring them along with coffee kits...

yenko427
01-14-2007, 09:18 AM
Thanks Mamma. When I booked our trip through WDTC (recently), CM Toni indicated they had made a change and that you had to request one. I was under the assumption that all the rooms had them.

Bytebear
01-14-2007, 09:27 AM
We went to Disneyland on Saturday. We arrived around 3 PM. We wanted to ride Rockin' California Screamin'. We headed to DCA and the line was long, so we got fastpasses. Then to kill time, we got an ice cream cone and people watched. We hit the sun wheel (30 minute wait). We wanted to go see the Submarine lagoon, and had no intention of going to Disneyland so we went to DTD and caught the monorail and did a pseudo-round trip. We went back in to DCA and headed over Screamin'. Then we went over to Monster's Inc., and then Tower of Terror, but the wait was 50 minutes, so we skipped it and headed back to Screamin'. We rode that and then decided to grab a bite to eat. Headed to Disneyland at at the Del Zol. and then wanted to go on Big Thunder, but it was broken down. We people watched some more, getting a kick out of watching the CMs turn away excited people from the ride. When it re-opened about 30 minutes later, we were on the first train. Then we hit Pirates, and Jungle Cruise (no line at all on either of them). We then took the train over to Fantasyland and rode Small World. We would have done Matterhorn but it had just broken down, so we decided to see what the wait for Space Mountain was. It was 50 minutes, so we decided to head home. The fireworks were just about to start, but we heard the warning of high winds, so we decided to go home around 9:30.

I tell you this because we had no real plans, came to the park late, and didn't make any attempt to do anything in particular, and still did a lot of stuff. I suspect the same will be for you. It's a good day to get a lay of the land, enjoy the atmosphere and not rush it. When we ate, we were behind a fairly large family of 8, and they all had their printouts, and the dad was saying "Ok, kids, we have 7 minutes to get to Jungle Cruise". I hope they didn't have plans for Big Thunder, or their whole schedule could have been thrown off.

MammaSilva
01-14-2007, 09:28 AM
We were in two different rooms in December and both had fridges...they are in the cabinet the tv is in..they're just the small 'soda' sized ones but they were perfect for our needs.

mommy-san
01-14-2007, 09:29 AM
For what it's worth- our first trip ever (last year), on our first day we ran willy-nilly trying to take it all in. If i had to do it all over again i would do one of the tours that gets you onto some rides and priority seating at the parades. Our oldest daughter HATED the idea that everywhere we went we had to hurry to get there- just to wait in line some more. I'm sure she had whiplash from trying to look at everything at highspeed as we zoomed past it- headed to someplace else.
This time when we go we are going land-by-land through the park. First day Fantasyland (my choice), second day Adventureland (hubbies choice) and then moving on from there. We have also kinda picked out our meal spots in each land so if we happen to be by there at an appropriate time, we don't have to decide on the spot.

We just learned the last few times how much time is wasted walking accross the hub to the other side of the park.

LibertyCall
01-14-2007, 10:05 AM
We usually do everything on a whim (three young kids pointing and "Oooh! Oooh! Oooh!-ing at everything), over five days, and still manage to fit it all in.

With a five year old, I would head straight to Buzz. My six year old was almost five last time and he couldn't get enough!

LibertyCall
01-14-2007, 10:07 AM
And a great break for the kids after having had to wait in a few long lines, is a trip over to Tom Sawyer's island where they can run around (OK, "no running", but you get my drift) for a bit and check things our without having to wait in line.

yenko427
01-14-2007, 10:17 AM
Are Tuesday evenings usually busy? If so, we can lean towards exploring versus riding..........Pick up our ears, check out the Potato Head bar, etc.

Bytebear
01-14-2007, 10:19 AM
The equivilant to Tom Sawyer Island is the Brother Bear play area in California Adventure. I actually prefer it to Tom Sawyer.

TinaMouse
01-14-2007, 10:22 AM
We get into LAX on 1/31 at around noon. I am figuring by the time we get shuttled to the hotel and somewhat settled it will probably be around 2:30, assuming our room (DLH) is ready. What are the odds of me getting a fridge there?

If we are heading into the parks (keep in mind DL closes at 8 pm and DCA at 6 pm) where would you head to start the trip off? Keep in mind we have a 5 year old and I would rather not have him waiting in long lines right out of the gun. We were going to go to the Block Party but just saw Darkbeer's posting that they are only doing it on Fri-Sun now. Thanks for the advice......

Do you have Annual Passes? If not, you have to weigh whether you want to pay a full-day price for a few hours. Play it by ear and if you don't have enough time by the time you reach the parks, you could always hit DD/World of Disney/DLR resorts. I don't know how many days you have in total, but just a thought....

SarahJanet
01-14-2007, 10:25 AM
Well, if you're doing what I'm doing, which is similar - I get in at 11 at LAX so I figure I'll be at Disneyland by 2. I'm going for four subsequent days after that first day, and the difference between a four day park hopper and a five is only $10. The park is open till midnight that day - ten hours is definitely worth $10 to me!

Once you get up to the multi-day park hoppers and buy in advance, adding an extra day isn't very much more.

yenko427
01-14-2007, 10:33 AM
We have three full days in the park planned, Wed/Thur and Fri. We have four day hoppers so we would go in on Tues. late afternoon. I am just wondering what to expect in the evenings in regard to lines. I don't want to start my son out with waiting in 30+ minute lines, right after we get there......

3894
01-14-2007, 10:45 AM
If we are heading into the parks (keep in mind DL closes at 8 pm and DCA at 6 pm) where would you head to start the trip off? Keep in mind we have a 5 year old and I would rather not have him waiting in long lines right out of the gun.

I'd hop on the train at DL and take it all the way around, getting off at the Main Street Station to walk down Main Street to Adventureland. Tiki Room, Tree House, Pirates, maybe Haunted Mansion, depending on your 5 year-old, Splash. I don't know the refurb schedule so some may be down. Eat dinner early to avoid the crowds.

Bytebear
01-14-2007, 10:55 AM
Go to the booth near the hub just before the entrance to Adventureland. They have all the times posted for each ride. Use that to decide your plan of attack.

rentayenta
01-14-2007, 11:07 AM
We have three full days in the park planned, Wed/Thur and Fri. We have four day hoppers so we would go in on Tues. late afternoon. I am just wondering what to expect in the evenings in regard to lines. I don't want to start my son out with waiting in 30+ minute lines, right after we get there......

Though it's a crime, I might hit DCA first. ;) With only a half day the first day, he might like Bug's Land which is usually empty. You can get a lot done in DCA in 3 hours.

If it were me, I wouldn't waste a Hopper day for only a few hours. I would do DTD and Build-A-Bear. Can you add another day to your trip?

yenko427
01-14-2007, 11:16 AM
No, can't add another day to the trip. We knew going in that the hopper would be used for about 5 hours or so. I like the train idea, that would really get him excited to see the whole park.

LOZZYPOP
01-14-2007, 04:05 PM
This is my first post (although I have been a reader for some time) apart from my sticky introducing myself in the Lounge.

After planning our trip in my head for almost a year I have now booked our holiday for May. After bouncing dates and days of departure with my travel agent I have booked a five-night trip Saturday 12 May - Thursday 17 May. I had planned on four full days in the park but the five day pass was the same price as the four day pass so that is what we ended up with. Using it on the Thursday won't work since our flight leaves at 9:30 in the morning. Trouble is that we don't arrive until 5:00 pm on Saturday.

I realise the parks are open later on Saturdays so we will get some value out of the ticket - I plan to try and catch the fireworks at the very least.

So my questions are:

- do the crowds increase or diminish after 6pm? There will be no Fantasmic show of course so will it be more crowded for the fireworks as a result?

-I am staying at the Paradise Pier. Would it be better to enter the park via the Monorail or walk through Downtown Disney and go through security at the gate? Would there still be significant lineups at the entry gate at that time of day?

It will be my five year old's first trip so I prefer us to do Disneyland before DCA and I won't want to tax her after a long day's travel, not to mention she will be up past her bedtime if we want to catch the fireworks.

I also like the idea of taking the train.

mommy-san
01-14-2007, 04:57 PM
my experience is that the crowds get really nuts around 6:00 in preparation for the parade. The line-ups in the esplanade get crazy. But, I am a firm believer that a crazy day at disneyland is better than a normal anywhere else! Oh, and I've seen the lines at the monorail early morning. Quicker to walk through DTD- plus the anticipation of walking through the tunnels is a great way to start the day.

disneyhound
01-14-2007, 05:38 PM
No, can't add another day to the trip. We knew going in that the hopper would be used for about 5 hours or so. I like the train idea, that would really get him excited to see the whole park.

We have a similar schedule, we knew we would have only about 6 hours in the parks for one of our days, but since the price upgrade from a 4 to a 5-day park hopper was only $10.00, it was a "no-brainer"!

partyoffive
01-14-2007, 09:13 PM
We typically spend five days in the park so we feel no rush at all. We don't even get up that early in the morning. We have always had plenty of time to do everything and a lot of things mutiple times. We ususally start our trip on a Sunday since it's the lightest of the weekend days and do a lot of shows and things like the Tiki room and fast pass rides on the busy Sunday. Last year we lined up for the parade about an hour early, right next to a food vender, and on a bench surprisingly. We sat there and had a snack and the kids watched the ducks then we had PERFECT viewing for the parade. We usually start our trip with getting a fast pass and then the Tiki room because you can get right in and our kids love it there! Then we let them pick and go from there! If anything has a long line we save it for later.