Disneyland Trip Reports
Topic: My first trip report

#	Author	Message
1	TXDISNEYNERD Thu 3/27/2008 12:19p	This trip consisted of me, my DH, my DD17, my DS14, and my 18 month old baby girl. Both my DH and I spent our childhood in California so we grew up on DL, but had not been in quite a while. It had been about 11 years since I visited DW and 15 since I had been to DL. My DH hadn't been in at least 25 years. Both of the older kids were taken by grandparents when they were each 5. This was the baby's first trip. Hopefully, it will not be as long before we get to visit again. I would not have had near as great a trip without all of the information learned on LP. Thanks to everyone for their help. My family was very impressed with all of my DL knowledge. I used vacation planning to make dining reservations and to send a welcome basket to our room upon arrival. Brad was great to work with. In addition to our basket being there when we got in our room, he also had an autographed picture and a "First time visitor" button for our littlest upon check in. We stayed in the DLH in the Dreams tower with a nice view of the pool. We arrived on Sunday evening March 16th. I anticipated very busy Spring Break crowds but since there was light rain, I think it scared many people away. We were able to ride many more things than I thought so I was really happy. Space Mountain was so much more fun than I remembered. Much better than the DW version. I did feel sorry for some poor passed out girl they were wheeling out of DCA. - Just kidding Tig :) Unfortunately, the Spring Break crowds were out in force the remainder of the trip. Monday morning, we had a very nice character breakfast at Storyteller's. My little one loved the character's as long as they were at least 5 feet away. We had both of the bears from Brother Bear, Chip and Dale, and Meeko. They spent lots of time waving and just entertaining my daughter from the other side of the table. Lindsay had a lot of fun playing with Dale on our way out as he copied everything she did. She would take a step forward and he would take a step forward. Then she did a karate kid imitation lifting her leg up and so did Dale. I wished I could have gotten a picture of that. It was so cute. Lunch was at Blue Bayou. The ambiance was nice, but I was not particularly impressed with the food. Tuesday morning the kids and I were able to ride in front of the monorail. DH slept in and met us later. We all had breakfast at Carnation Cafe and got to meet Oscar. He is quite a character and meeting him was one of the highlights of the trip for me. My baby girl was a little fussy that morning, but by afternoon, she had a complete breakdown. We took her back to the hotel by 3:00. She was so tired, but didn't want to sleep and miss anything so we just got cranky butt. I think she cried more in two hours than she did the whole rest of March put together. We sent the big kids back to DL while DH and I took her riding in the car which put her to sleep. We took a nice drive to Laguna Beach, but we ended up missing our Goofy's Kitchen dinner that night, but figured everyone having dinner would appreciate us not taking cranky pants and ruining their good time. That evening, my DD17 and I snuck off and watched the later showing of Fantasmic. The later show is definitely less crowded than the earlier one. I had read before about how there were three lighting structures and that the two side ones were in the air, but the middle one was on the ground until 10 minutes before showtime and then it is raised in the air. We stood behind that and hoped it was true and sure enough, 10 minutes before showtime, the lights lifted in the air and we were left with a perfect center view of the show. After Fantasmic, we took our only trip on Nemo before catching the last monorail. Nemo was okay, but it isn't something I would wait a long time for. Wednesday was the best day for me. It started with me taking Lindsay to morning madness in toon town. She loved it. She waved at everyone and had her mouth opened in awe the whole time. She clapped and danced to the music and had the best time. It was good having my happy baby back. After that she met Minnie Mouse and actually touched her. Lindsay's older siblings taught her to pound fists on this trip so she "pounded" with Minnie. I was so proud that she actually touched a character. Lindsay pretty much "pounded" with anyone in line anywhere that would pound her back and she waved at everyone else that wasn't close enough to pound during the whole trip. After riding a few rides, we headed to DCA and got fastpasses for Soarin' and then we did the Visa meet and greet. We had Mickey and Goofy. Once again, Lindsay decided she loved Mickey as long as he was 5 ft away. She was very happy to see him though. It was great at the meet and greet because it wasn't crowded and you actually have some time to yourself with the characters. Unfortunately, the photographers camera messed up so we only had a few pictures that my DD17 had taken as my camera battery was dead. Then it was back to DL, my DH and kids headed off to Pirates Lair (which they loved) while I walked Lindsay around in the stroller and she took a nap. I really got to just spend time enjoying the park during the nap. I got me a churro for the first time ever and I am in love! Then I walked around and went and watched Alice and the Mad Hatter playing musical chairs in Coke Corner and went by the wishing well. Finally, I headed to the start of the parade of dreams and got a good spot. I woke Lindsay up at the start of the parade, and she LOVED it. She waved at everybody in the floats and was just so happy, it choked me up. After the parade, we met back up with everyone and went to the Billy Hill show which is great. Elvis Billy is hillarious. Lindsay danced and clapped during the whole show. It was then back to DCA for Soarin'. That was such an awesome ride. We then rode the TOT. I thought it was fun but do think the DW version is much better. Then, we caught the Aladin Show at DCA. I think that was the best attraction at either park. WOW!!!! I was a little afraid of how an 18 month old would sit through a 45 minute show especially in light of her breakdown the day before, but she loved it. Her favorite part was when the elephant comes down the isle. I have seen many musicals and this was one ranks right up there IMHO. Thursday morning we got up for early entry and hit Peter Pan, Alice, Haunted Mansion, and then one last ride on POTC before we had to head for home. It was sad to leave, but hopefully, it will not be as long between visits this time. Just a few other thoughts... Baby swap was really nice. The best was for Space Mountain because instead of doing the fast pass line, you got to got in the exit and got right on the ride. Dole whips are really tasty, but Churros are the best treat. I really miss the Bear show and was not impressed with the Pooh ride although Lindsay seemed to like it. I never saw the dream team although I did see some people with dream ears and dream fastpasses. DCA was fun, but no DL. It just felt a little cold to me. Hopefully, with the refurbishment, it will be more Disney. I miss Lincoln. POTC is still the best ride and I love the new touches from the movies.
2	TXDISNEYNERD Thu 3/27/2008 12:21p	Sorry I did not realize how long that was until I had posted it. I guess I should have broken it up into two reports.
3	davewasbaloo Thu 3/27/2008 12:53p	What a great report. Thank you for sharing! What did your older 2 think of the resort? I hope you will stick around LP even though your trip is over.
4	Tinkerbell819 Thu 3/27/2008 1:06p	Great trip report! (It went by too fast, though, I can tell!) I hope you get to go again REAL SOON!
5	TXDISNEYNERD Thu 3/27/2008 1:25p	The older two really loved the DLH. I think a lot of that has to do with the pool and monorail. I'll be sticking around. I love it here on LP!
6	mater4 Thu 3/27/2008 1:27p	TX your trip report was perfect. Sorry you had to skip Goofy's Kitchen. I have to agree that it would have been no fun if you had taken a grumpy Lindsay. Glad you had fun and hope you don't have to wait too long for the next trip. :)
7	Tiggirl Thu 3/27/2008 1:29p	<<I did feel sorry for some poor passed out girl they were wheeling out of DCA. - Just kidding Tig :)>> Sheesh! Way to give me a heart attack. :o) Sounds like you guys had a really great time! Hopefully it will not be so long until your next trip! ~Beth
8	TXDISNEYNERD Thu 3/27/2008 1:37p	Sorry to give you a heart attack, but I just couldn't resist. Can I blame MM for giving me the idea?
9	gottaluvdavillains Thu 3/27/2008 1:40p	Ohhh Passing the buck!! How Jetty of you!! :)
10	TXDISNEYNERD Thu 3/27/2008 1:41p	You know with that buck, you can get a beer on express jet. <g>

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