Disneyland Trip Reports
Topic: 10/24/09 - Thanks for all the help!

#	Author	Message
1	Dalia3001 Mon 10/26/2009 10:25p	Thank you to all of you who advised us and quelled my panic! My husband and I had a fantastic trip to the DLR this past weekend, and we wouldn't have been able to do it without all of your wonderful suggestions and guidance. We have never done a one day trip before, but I was so excited by all the Halloween stuff (me and everybody else I guess) that my wonderful husband and I decided to fly down for a crazy trip. I had to work on Saturday, so we took a quick Southwest flight from San Jose to the John Wayne Airport after work. We got to the airport pretty early, and got to see some of the new addition to Terminal A and have a bit of a snack before boarding. I liked the quick flight to John Wayne, it was our first time flying to the DLR and it sure was quicker and less tiring than the usual drive. For $45 each way, it was a good deal too. We rented a car and drove to the Motel 6 at 100 Disney Drive. It took about fifteen minutes, and we were quite happy with our clean, newly remodeled room, even thought the beds were not great. We stopped at 7/11 for water and breakfast stuff arrived in our room at around 9pm. We were too tired to go to the Garden Walk Mall, which would have only been a short walk from the hotel so we ordered pizza from Marris, www.MarrisPizza.com, and it was delicious. We went to bed, and I only got about two hours of sleep, I guess I was excited. Then we were up at 6:00, downed a few cups of the new Starbucks instant coffee made with the microwave, and walked over to the park. There was an ART shuttle available, but we didn't want to wait for it, so we just headed over. We got a locker ($10.00 for all day was worth it) dropped up warm clothes for the evening and lined up. The Halloween decorations at the front of the line were fantastic, and we couldn't wait to get inside. Once in, I meant to run straight to Space Mtn for a FP, but we saw Minnie and were second in line to take a photo with her in her Halloween costume! I just couldn't resist. Then we headed to Space Mtn, and ended up getting a FP at more like 8:10 than 8:05, with a return time of 8:55. My husband really wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear, so we walked right in, and the ride broke down right in front of the Jack in the Box that gives you a diamond and a triangle! We were there for long enough for my husband to score of 2,266,900. He kept his top score all day, we kept checking back to see if we were still there. He was so psyched to be the Number 1 Space Ranger!! That started out our trip on a great note. We still had a good 20 minutes before we could get another FP, so we walked right on to Star Tours. I really enjoy that ride, and seriously hope it's not a mess piloted by Jar Jar Binks (sp?) when they get through with it. Then we collected another Space Mtn. FP, headed over to the castle to do the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough. There was water in the moat, so I guess it had been refilled. We checked out the Halloween Tree, and the Day of the Dead decorations. We rode BTMRR and Indiana Jones, then got a pumpkin muffin (yum, except the raisins) and coffees and picked up some gifts at the Disney Gallery for Christmas presents. We went to the Halloween Round up before getting FP’s for HMH. The pumpkin carvers and decorations were a lot of fun. On our way back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mtn using our first FP, we saw Mickey and friends getting ready to do a little show in front of the castle with the band. We saw Alice and the Mad Hatter on the way from the Castle to Space Mtn too. It was time for Ghost Galaxy! We sat in the back and we loved it. We grabbed another FP before we got on, at this point, around 11:15am the return time was between 5:00pm and 6:00pm. We decided to visit the villians at their meet and greet, and saw the “Old Hag,” Cruella, and Jafar. The old hag was fantastic; she tried to buy my husband from me. Cruella was a lot of fun too, but we didn’t get a good photo with Jafar although we had fun meeting him. We went back to Main Street for our 12:45 Carnation Café PS reservations. We took a moment to sit on the porch and people watch, and bought some more gifts, some for ourselves! Lunch was great; I had the loaded baked potato soup for the first time, and my husband had a steak sandwich.Then we stopped by our locker to drop off our purchases, and hopped over to DCA. I wasn’t totally impressed with Candy Corn Acres, but I guess it was cute. We were really excited to see the water in the lagoon. We got FP’s for California Screamin’, and then rode Toy Story Mania. We both have the Toy Story iPhone App game, and we heard that you could get some wallpapers for your phone if you looked for it while in line for the ride. My husband got his just fine on his 3G phone, but my phone kept saying I wasn’t at the ride! We rode Screamin’ in the front car, but decided that we had to head back to the hotel for a nap. We just don’t have the stamina for a whole day in the parks, I guess. We got back to the room at 3:00pm, slept until 4:45, then went back to Disneyland at 5:00. There weren’t long lines to get in, and there were no signs of the park being closed to new entries, so we felt pretty optimistic that it wasn’t quite as crowded as previous weeks. We rode HMH, with our FPs from the morning. The line was 95 minutes for standby, and was pretty crowded even in the FP return line. We loved the ride though; it had been a few years since we had ridden it and we enjoyed it a lot. It was getting dark, time for our second ride on Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. We used our second FP and sat in the front car. We liked it even more the second time. Then we spent some time sitting at the new planters by the water ball, watching the cool lighting effects on Space Mtn. We rode Space Mtn a third time with our third FP, and sat in the front again. It was great again! I wouldn’t want Space Mtn to be that way all the time, but I really enjoyed the overlay on this trip. It was now about 7:30, so we decided to get some dinner at the Plaza Inn before staking out a spot for the fireworks. We shared the fried chicken dinner. It was both of our first time eating dinner there, and we enjoyed ourselves. Then we went to stake out our fireworks spots at around 8:15. We sat on the ground between the partners statue and the right side of the hub, in the circular part of the road. I think our spots were ideal, and we LOVED the show. I know that I’m “supposed” to like the “Remember” show better, but we both thought this was our favorite fireworks show ever. At this point though, we were exhausted. We just couldn’t manage to get over to Fantasmic for the 10:30 show. Instead we walked over to Pixie Hollow to check out the nighttime fountain show, and it was a quiet, beautiful, private and romantic end to our trip. We dragged ourselves back to the room and fell asleep immediately. The next morning we got up at 6:00, and made it back to the airport in good time for our 9:20 flight. The flight was uneventful, and we both made it into work for the afternoon. We really had so much fun. Thank you to all of you for your advice and input! Now we know how to make a quick trip happen, which gives us a bunch of additional options to work some more time at the DLR into our busy schedules! Maybe I can talk my husband into AP’s for next year.
2	Dalia3001 Mon 10/26/2009 10:25p	Here is a link to photos from our trip on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/2...7209085/
3	WestWind Mon 10/26/2009 11:01p	That was a quick (and busy) trip. Let me guess, Space Mountain is one of your favorites? ... and how was the Starbucks instant coffee? ... a locker for warm evening clothes - great idea (we are going soon but have not been there in winter yet) ... the Number 1 Space Ranger - all day! ... how much did the 'old hag' offer for your husband? - just wondering Great photo of you and Minnie! ... and with Cruella. and thanks for sharing your photos.
4	amazedncal2 Tue 10/27/2009 8:06a	I think all the planning you did was absolutely worth it :) Taking that afternoon break was a great idea. Ending the night at Pixie Hollow must have been perfect. It's so quiet and "magical" in there at night compared to the rest of the park :) I'm glad you both had a fun time and now to plan for the next trip, right?
5	WDWdreamin Tue 10/27/2009 8:51a	Your trip sounds perfectly executed. I like to plan and have efficient (SM loaded) trips too. Sounds so great! I loved the fireworks too.
6	Dalia3001 Tue 10/27/2009 10:24a	WestWind: Yes, Space Mountain is my favorite, and we were really excited to try out Ghost Galaxy. The Starbucks instant coffee was OK. We usually bring an electric kettle, ground beans, and a cone filter to brew individual cups like we do at home, so coffee was a big issue for us this trip as we only wanted to bring carry-on luggage. As I said, it was OK. I actually liked it more than a regular cup of Starbucks coffee (I don't like the way that stuff tastes very much), and more than most cups you would get at a 7/11 or something. I was able to drink it black, which I can't often do with any coffee other than our individually brewed cups. The "old hag" offered me five bucks. The Photopass lady had to translate; I couldn't quite tell what she was saying. Amazed: We really did need the break. I was worried that the walk to the Motel 6 might make it more trouble than it was worth, as we had heard that the walk would take half an hour. It only took us fifteen minutes, so it was really worth it for us. Just the two of us can get around much quicker than when we are a larger group, I guess. And yes, it's time to start planning again, as soon as I catch up on sleep, ha ha.
7	KCCHIEF Mon 11/2/2009 3:06p	The pictures are great.

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