Disneyland Trip Reports
Topic: Sept 13th through Sept 19th

#	Author	Message
1	cptmemo Sun 11/1/2009 2:33p	This is late coming; my laptop died 2 days before we left on our trip, and just now got fixed last week! We (me-mom, Tom-dad, Jacob 8, and Clara 6) left our house on Saturday 9/12 and made it down to Santa Nella by about 7pm. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and had dinner at Pea Soup Andersen’s—my husband’s favorite! It was nice to have a swim with the kids before going to bed. Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and the kids swam again before packing up and continuing to Disneyland! We got to Anaheim about 2pm and checked in to the Anaheim Marriott Suites for 1 night. We were at Disneyland by 4pm. We asked the kids what they wanted to do first, and they decided on IASW because they’d never gone on it. Clara was in awe and loved it! The rest of us thought it was okay, but what really threw me was the ceiling in there. It was like an office building. Granted you’re supposed to be looking at the dolls and props, but if you happen to look up, it’s tiled like at my work. Why not make it solid black? That’s the weird OCD part of my coming out though. After that we went to Gadgets coaster since it was going to be closing the next day for the remainder of our trip. That evening we went on all the rides the kids wanted—BTMRR, Pirates, Star Tours, Astro Orbiters, Astro Blaster, Autotopia, and King Arthur’s Carousel. We watched the fireworks then headed back to the hotel and were in bed by 11pm. Monday morning we were up and checked out by 9am and checked in to GCH by 11am after a quick trip to Target. We started the day at DCA splitting up boys and girls. Clara and I saw the Jasmine and Snow White before riding ToT and Monster’s Inc. The boys rode on Screamin’—it was Jake’s first time and he was in love, the first of probably 15 rides for him in 5 days. We played at the redwood playground, then went on GRR, MM, Jellyfish, TSMM, Triton’s carousel, dinner at Lucky Fortune (it was ehhh), screamin’X2, then over to DL for a ride on DLRR and then Splash. The downside to our trip was that DCA closed at 6pm every night, and DL at 8pm. Tuesday was an EE day, but we didn’t get there til 930. We started with Mr. Toads, Dumbo, tea cups, Pinocchio, then BTMRR, Splash, Pooh, then headed to DCA. We saw Minnie, Mickey and Pluto. Minnie had a sit on Tom’s lap, but I was too busy taking pictures of the kids with Mickey so I missed capturing it! We went on Soarin’ then headed back to GCH for swimming before dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen. That was fun, we had the earliest sitting. It was great until our son over stuffed himself, and puked all over the table. Sigh. I guess they’re used to that sort of thing, but we felt really bad! They got him some sprite and offered a to-go box for him, but um we didn’t want him to eat anything. LOL. After that he swore he was fine, so we rode the Monorail back to DL and used fast passes for Indy, a first time ride for both kids. Jake spent the whole time with his head down. Clara buried her head in to my arm. It was a first time for Tom too—it was closed every time he tried to ride it our last trip. He really enjoyed it. After that we went on Jungle Cruise, and then it was time to head back to the hotel. Wednesday started at DCA. Tom and I rode on ToT. The kids refused even after getting all the way up there. The cast member offered to keep both kids with her so we could ride together instead of swapping. It was really nice to ride a ride with my husband! LOL. The cutest part was when the ride was over, it was my son wearing her coat and hat to welcome us back  loved it! After that we watched the HSM3 block party—Clara again LOVED it. But refused to participate. Then we went on GRR, back to Screamin’ for Tom and Jake, Sun wheel for Clara and me. We got suckered in to the games, then Tom and I took turns riding Maliboomer, we all rode golden Zephyr, then GRR again, Screamin’ again, TSMM, and GRR a final time for the day. Thursday was a LONG day. We had stocked our fridge with OJ, Coke, rum, whiskey, and vodka. I was sweating rum this morning. It was NOT cool. We waited for over 30 minutes to see Tink and her fairy friend. Turns out Tink is a big Oregon Duck fan, and Tom was wearing his Oregon Beavers hat. So there was a bit of bantering about that. Funny for Tink to strike her annoyed pose at Tom. Once that was done we went on Alice in Wonderland and Snow White then went to see Billy Hill for lunch. This was a lot of fun! We were at the table next to the stage on the right. The guy playing the fiddle, a little older, kept looking at the kids and making faces. And at one point they were all staring at us singing—I missed why because I was getting something out of my bag, but it was hilarious! Glad we went for sure—food was pretty good as well. After that we rode to Tom Sawyers Island, then went on Pirates, the Tiki room, then went over to GRR, then back to the hotel. Went for a nice swim, then back to DCA. The boys did GRR and screamin’, us girls did Flik’s flyers, ladybug boogie, tuck n roll, Heimlich, then met up for TSMM, and the boys did screamin’ again. Friday was our last day. At this point we only needed to do Matterhorn, Peter Pan and HISTA to have done everything we wanted. So we started with Peter Pan, then rode the carousel, did the castle walk thru, and went to Jedi Training. Jake was one of the first kids picked and LOVED it. Once again Clara didn’t even want to get anywhere near the kids. She’s the most outgoing kid, but was super shy around characters. Darth Maul scared the crap outta her! Then we watched HISTA, and rode star tours again. Then we headed back to DCA for GRR, Soarin’, Maliboomer, fun Wheel, screamin’ 3 times, Triton’s carousel, GRR for the last time. Then we went back to swim some more. After that we started back at DCA and road Screamin’ one last time for me, and then the boys rode again while Clara and I did a last time thru TSMM. By the time we made it over to DL it was almost time for fireworks. It was so stinkin’ crowded. We did not have fun. Ended up FINALLY riding Matterhorn, it had been down when we tried to ride it, or had huge lines. Then we split up, Clara and I did IASW and the railroad and ended our trip with a ride on BTMRR. The boys did Indy and Splash. Then we did some shopping and we were done! Saturday morning we were on the rode by 10am, but made the mistake of wanting to drive up 101. Horrible horrible choice. We were in the car from 10am until finally getting to Willows at 1030pm. We did stop at Chuck E Cheese somewhere near San Francisco so they kids could play and get some energy out. We were back in Salem by about 4pm on Sunday afternoon. Overall it was a GREAT trip! Tom thinks it was too close to our last trip, we went in April 08. But I am ready to go back again—Clara and I went to Disney on Ice last weekend and it really made me want to plan another trip! Lol. While I’m glad we stayed at GCH again, I was really frustrated a few times. Once we came back to eat lunch in the room at 245pm and they were just STARTING to clean our room. Not acceptable IMO. Another time they never came for turndown service. You pay a lot to stay there; I don’t think my expectations were too high. Next trip we will be staying somewhere else, just to try it. It is so convientant, but we want to try something new.
2	cptmemo Sun 11/1/2009 2:48p	I forgot to mention it was quite warm for us Oregonians. So we swam almost every day, and got tired out and cranky quickly! So next time we'll either do an April trip, or push it back to October. While it was nice to sit by the pool every afternoon, it was just a bit too warm for 10-12 hours a day outside.
3	Dalia3001 Sun 11/1/2009 8:57p	I enjoyed your trip report a lot! I understand what you said about the housekeeping and turndown service at the GCH. One thing that I've found that really helps is to call and tell them as soon as you are about to leave the room for a few hours. Especially if you are leaving early in the morning and want to come back for a nap. I just call down right as we're about to walk out the door and tell them that we are leaving the room and could they please have housekeeping come through as soon as possible. If we are leaving for the evening, I call back to request turndown service. I have had great results doing this, I think it actually helps the housekeeping staff to know when we will be out of the room so they can fit us into their huge busy schedule. With checkout at 11:00am, they probably get really slammed around then and might appreciate knowing that there are rooms that can be done earlier. I've actually started to do this at most hotels where I am staying, and it has totally alleviated the problem of returning to find a dirty room, which sort of spoils a bit of the hotel magic for me. : )
4	WDWdreamin Mon 11/2/2009 10:16a	Wonderful to read your trip report. I was surprised at how much time you all spent in DCA. I'm glad there are people who enjoy it so much. Sorry to hear about the puking experience, but maybe the day at the hotel resting made the other days better? I haven't sweated rum at DL yet, but I can sympathize, uh. What perfect ages your kids are for a trip. Obviously I don't think you went too frequently, and I understand you wanting to plan the next trip. Keep pushing DH about it!
5	cptmemo Mon 11/2/2009 1:17p	That's a good idea about calling ahead! One day I almost lost it because I was hot, tired, HUNGRY, and we had trooped all the way to our room with food, only to find out it was going to be 20-30 mins for our room to be ready. I threw a temper tantrum. Poor husband to have to deal with me. We spent so much time at DCA because it was usually less crowded and with Jacob LOVING screamin', he wanted to go daily. We tried to make the focus of this trip a true vacation instead of how much can we cram in to our days there. So we swam daily, sometimes for 2-3 hours. And we'd go in to DCA for like 2 hours, then head back to the room to relax ect. And Tom left everyday to get food/groceries. Kept him sane ;-) Since we had splurged for staying at GCH again, we were trying to spend less on food. Luckily there are so many food choices close by! I'd rather spend $50 at red robin for the 4 of us, instead of $45 at Rancho del Zocalo with us sharing drinks. I'm pushing for a WDW trip next fall. My grandparents and aunt and uncle live down on Sanibel Island, so I thought we could do 3-4 days with them, then 5-6 days at WDW. I just need to talk Tom into letting the kids miss close to 2 weeks of school ;-)

All times are Pacific Time (US)

Note: Information on the discussion boards is sometimes based on rumors or incorrect information and should not be assumed true. Messages do not necessarily reflect the opinion of LaughingPlace.com or its editors.

< Previous Topic

Next Topic >

You must be a registered user to post messages.
Click here to register.
After registration you will automatically be brought back to this topic

Laughing Place Podcast
The LPP discuss the return of Captain EO, Alice in Wonderland, the new ESPN Wide World of Sports and ESPN the Weekend, their recent Disney Cruise, Listener Mail and the Rocket Rod Round. Sponsored by MouseEarVacations.com and HoJoAnaheim.com.

What's on
The Latest
Video: World of Color paper animation
THR: Chris Evans Offered Role of Captain America
Catch Special Primetime Handy Manny Episode on Disney Channel 3/20
The Worlds of Fairies and Humans Converge for the First Time in an All-New Magical Adventure
Radio Disney and Nintendo Team Up to Offer Oceans of Fun at Georgia Aquarium
Disneyland Resort Expansion Continues with New Parking Lot Opening
EW: Captain America Possible Starring Roles
Mediaweek: Flash Forward Return to ABC Respectable
Fess Parker who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV, dies at 85
StarWars: Star Wars Weekends 2010 guest list

Click here for The Latest