our Disneyland trip report (May 2014)

[♥ms.pacman♥]

First off wanted to thank everyone for helpful advice. This was our first family trip to Disneyland and were pretty clueless about everything, hence my various threads with various questions. We went to the parks May 4-7, flew in to John Wayne airport and stayed at HoJos, got 4-day park hoppers and it worked out perfectly. We even met my parents there and did the parks with them for a few days, which was really nice.

Day1 (Sunday) - Our flight was super early (Central Time!) so we got to HoJo's around 930 am. Said room wouldn't be ready till 4pm but they said we could check our luggage in and use the pool and the Castaway Cove... so we did that. DS literally saw the top of Castaway Cove from the taxi and was BEGGING to play in it (lol!). Castaway Cove didn't open till 10am, but the pool was open at 9 so we just did the pool first. While they liked both I must say the Castaway Cove is pretty awesome and was perfect for my kids (age 3 & 4). After playing there and relaxing a bit on the lounge chairs we met my parents and went to lunch at Mimi's with them which was just across the street. Then we got the rental stroller from hotel and headed to DL. We didn't really get into DL till about 2pm (and we ended up leaving at 530, so super short day) but we got to do sooo many things. We met up with friends who are local and who had APs and really knew the ropes and gave us advice on what to ride and helped us get FPs. I took DS on Big Thunder Mountain (his first roller coaster!) and Star Tours and DH took DD on Astro Orbiter. We all went on Buzz Lightyear and did a round trip on Disneyland train. We saw Minnie on Main Street and I got a pic of DD hugging Minnie and her hugging her back..it was adorable!!!

Day 2 (Monday) - mostly spent this day at California Adventure. We were there from rope drop (10am) to after closing (9:30pm) nonstop, and the kids did great. The weather was really nice, which helped a ton. Right at rope drop DH ran to get Fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers, then World of Color. Was able to get RSR with return time around 1pm which was great since we had 11:20 reservation at Ariel's Grotto. We went on Golden Zephyr (almost no wait) and then I took DS to Goofy Sky School while DH took Dd to the Mickey Fun Wheel. We then did the lunch at Ariel's which was AMAZING...the food was awesome and DD was beyond excited. Inside we got pics with Ariel (who was so sweet btw!) and then were seated outside with an amazing view of Paradise Pier. We saw Snow White, Tiana, Cinderella, and Aurora. DD was so giddy in meeting them After the lunch dh took DS to Ride RSR while I stayed with DD who fell asleep in the stroller. I was able to just sit at a bench and chill while she slept. After RSR we got to take pics with Mater which Ds was super excited about. Then he fell asleep and we just let the kids sleep while we sat on a bench in the shade and chatted...the weather was really nice to allow this! They each napped about 2 hrs in the stroller which was awesome. I seriously cannot recommend a stroller enough.

In the afternoon we went on the king triton carousel (twice, at DD's insistence ) and then did a couple of Bugs life rides (the Heimleich train, ladybug boogie), and then went to ride the monorail from Tomorrowland . DS had been asking like 1000 times to ride the monorail (he's obsessed with trains)..i thought it just whatever but He thought it was SO cool. Then for dinner we went that zocala Mexican restaurant in Fronteirland. We sat outside and luckily got a table right next to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which my DS was utterly enthralled with..you could see every train that zoomed by (the trains would probably come like 12 feet away from our table) and DS was BESIDE HIMSELF. Then after that we headed back to DCA to get spots for World of Color. Since my mom was with an ECV (and she has a placard) they said we could sit in the handicapped section, which had a good view. Dh and I thought it was downright amazing, but I think it was loud for the kids and plus some scenes (like the pirates, etc) they found scary.

Day 3 (Tuesday) - ok so this day started out a bit disappointing since we had Magic Morning but didn't get to the parks until 9:45 or so, because the service at IHOP was slloow. PSA to everyone: the IHOP across the street for DLR is EXPENSIVE!!! We went there thinking it was cheap like the IHOPs back home, but NO...a basic plate was like 12.99 (vs. like 7.99 back home). DOH! Oh well, live and learn. Despite getting to Fantasyland 15 mins before rope drop it was already insanely crowded. It felt way more crowded than day before but maybe that is just Fantasyland. Peter pan ride wait was already 50 min by 10am. Dumbos (which DD really want to go on) already was over 30 min..so we skipped those..we discovered the kiddos cannot really wait more than 15-20 minutes for rides that are just a couple minutes long. We did carousel (5 min wait) and Casey Jr train (like 15 min wait) which DS (huge train lover) really liked. After that went to ToonTown and They played for a good while in Goofy's playhouse which was perfect and just what my kids needed.. it is really hard for them to stand in line all day, so this was great for just letting them run around. Then later we headed out to Downtown Disney to meet a friend for lunch. DD fell asleep in the stroller but DS stayed awake. We ate at the Mexican place (Tortilla Joe?s) sorta near the House of Blues..the fish tacos were amazing! After that we did a little bit of shopping at World of Disney. Found the non-talking Olaf plush doll, big Frozen golden book and two Disney sticker books for the kids. All other Frozen stuff (Anna/Elsa plush dolls, etc were SOLD OUT). In the afternoon we went to CA adventure and got to take pics with Lightning McQueen..both kids loved that. Dh took DDon the Luigi tire ride, which she really liked. As we were waiting Behind the luigi tire ride, DS and I got to see lightning McQueen and Mater drive by, which was cool.

After that we headed to Disneyland..walked all the way to Wînnie the Pooh ride only to find out it was just shut down. So we ended up doing the Tarzan treehouse and then the Enchanted Tiki Room, which the kids got a kick out of (they love birds!) Then it was close to 6pm so we sat down on place on Main Street to watch Mickey's Soundsational parade. We did have to wait an hour but the kids did great (sticker books from that Disney store kept them busy). We ended up getting corn dogs for dinner and just eating them there while we waited for the parade. BTWthe corn dogs there were sooo yummy!

Anyway I should say, the parade was by far, the highlight of the whole day, quite possibly the whole Disney visit. I dont think I had ever seen my kids more excited than when they first saw Mickey coming down the street. They were literally shrieking with excitement. And then this all would repeat after seeing each set of characters (Ariel, Lion King, etc). It was really something else. I am so, so glad we waited to get a good place and watch it...the kids just loved it. After the parade, before 8pm we just headed home as my DS had not napped at all and I could tell he was getting super tired. If not for that we could have stayed another hour.

Day 4 (Wednesday) - this time we learned from our mistake yesterday and got to Fantasyland early enough to be there for rope drop... we really wanted to get DD on the Dumbos as she had been asking to ride it, but we knew she couldn't handle an hour wait (it felt so crowded!). DH got in with DD and was only a 10 minute wait, which was good. Then we did carousels again (both kids love them!) and luckily they did not have any wait. We did the Sleeping Beauty castle walk-through with them which they liked but i think DS thought it was a bit scary. We then went to the Royal Theater and got in line for the 11:15 showing of Tangled. We only had to wait like 15 minutes before they let everyone in. What's cool about this is that they let kids sit in the front, near the stage. It was really cute...the play with real actors held the kids attention and they were excited to see Rapunzel close up. And they even cracked jokes that adults would find funny..DH & I were cracking up during it! Afterwards, we got in line for the Belle Meet & Greet, and we got pics taken with Belle. After all that DD napped in the stroller, and we then went to Toon Town and DS went with DH to a boat play area structure..then i think DS sacked out. We ate a pizza lunch there. We then went to do Winnie the Pooh ride and on the way we saw Tigger and got to take pics with him! Winnie the Pooh had no wait at all, which was nice. We then did Jungle Cruise (15 min wait) which both kids liked, and then i think we did Tarzan's Treehouse again (i think my DS had done it like 4 times, i don't know where he gets the energy!!). Then, we came back to do the 4:30 showing of Beauty & the Beast, and again sat on the floor near the stage w/ the kids. It was so cute!! Again, the actors were really entertaining and HILARIOUS. DS totally LOVED it (i think Beauty & Beast is one of his favorites).After that we did a round trip on Disneyland train, one more time..and this time we got to ride in the caboose ..DS was thrilled!! I liked it too bc it was getting kind of cold & windy Then we went over to Main Street area, ate dinner. We then happened to see Mickey on Main Street so got a family pic taken with him. Then DD wanted to do Astro Orbiter again, so DH took her to do that while I took DS back up to the Main Street train station to see the train stuff..he was in paradise By then it was getting dark (8pm), and we told the kids we had to say bye to Disneyland. They were so sad we had to leave... and to be honest, we were too!! It really did feel like a magical trip It was our first ever vacation and it actually felt like a vacation!!

Anyway, kudos to anyone who has read this far (LOL)!! Would be happy to answer any questions!!

Also, i just wanted to add - our stroller was ESSENTIAL for us...i cannot recommend a stroller enough!! Except for Sunday (the day we arrived), we were at parks from rope drop to closing (or near closing), and never came back to the hotel for breaks. The park hours were shorter then (like DCA was 10am-8pm) so we wanted to maximize our time in the parks, plus kids did too (we kept thinking we'd go back to hotel for a break if kids started melting down, but miraculously they never did). I think the stroller was key for us... with that, the kids were able to rest and nap whenever they wanted. Normally the kids don't use strollers at all (and when they do, they never nap in them) but i guess all the excitement and stimulation from Disneyland sacked them out! A couple days DS didn't nap at all, but at least he was able to sit and rest. The Baby Jogger City Mini Double was perfect as you can recline it pretty far. We are planning to go again next year and we are definitely getting a double stroller again!

Oh and we ended up not doing Von's grocery delivery, and we just bought milk at the gift shop inside the HoJo's (thank you egoldberg for checking that out!). It ended up working out bc as I said, we spent all day in the parks and basically were never in our hotel room anyway (jsut for showering and sleeping), so we didn't really eat much in our hotel room at all. We did bring a ton of non-perishable stuff from home (applesauce pouches, protein bars, granola bars) and that was good for kids snacks throughout the day. Our room had a mini fridge and microwave, so we just would keep milk in the fridge and heat it up in the mornings for them. Oh and the McDonald's was right on our way to the parks so we had breakfast there a couple times...the kids loved their yogurt and oatmeal!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

oh, and forgot to add..we ended up not getting the PhotoPass Plus, based on recs here after I started a thread. I had been waffling back and forth and now that it's over, I am glad I took the majority advice and we didn't get it, as it turns out my DSLR pics were enough for the most part. Also, when we did meet & greet with some characters they didn't even have a PhotoPass photographer there (for example, when we met Belle outside of the Royal Theater, or MIckey at Main Street there was no photographer, just a CM handling things) but they were happy to use my DSLR to take pics and those came out really well.

out of all the PhotoPass digital pics (maybe like 25), there were maybe just 4 pics that we really liked..though for most of them we had identical/equivalent pics on my DSLR as well, as I would always hand them that too. So we ended up just buying ONE photo via digital download ($15) ..it was a family pic with Lightning McQueen, only bc the ones with my DSLR had DS looking away, or with his eyes closed or something. And we did end up buying the photos from the Ariel Grotto lunch ($35)..it came with 4x6's and i was able to give one to my parents. So i guess we spent about $50 on pics there, but still less than the $70 that it would have been with the PhotoPass Plus.

[twowhat?]

Yay on an awesome trip!!

We were there last week of April/first week of May (weekdays only) and had an awesome time, though in the middle of a really awful heat wave. We ended up losing a lot of hours in the parks because we HAD to go back to the hotel during the hottest part of the day to cool off in the pool, rest, and hydrate (and park hours were already short). Last year we went in Feb and were able to stay in the parks the whole day without a hotel break since it was pleasant and cool all day but this year we just couldn't manage because of the heat. It's funny because I grew up in TX so you'd think I'd be able to handle it...but it just seemed different - VERY dry and VERY windy. My skin is still peeling from the windburn (it's definitely not sunburn - we had plenty of sunscreen and used a ton of it...but it's windburn! I have never had it before. It's something else! And I think the hot dry wind made it that much harder to stay sufficiently hydrated). And YES to the stroller, we wouldn't have survived without it! The BJCMD (both regular and GT versions) seem to rule the roost among the locals in that area - I saw TONS of them in the parks that weren't rentals!

Lots of magical moments!! My favorite was when we saw Minnie but her handler was telling people that Minnie had to leave, so we were kind of bummed since Minnie is the girls' absolute favorite...but then as Minnie was leaving she spotted the girls, grabbed both of their hands, and walked all the way back to her door with them! They were ENCHANTED (and so were we)!!

I love Disneyland!! I'm sad that this will be the last time we can go and choose our time for going (since girls will be starting public school in the fall). The whole family loves it and we have such a nice time! And just like you, Disneyland was the first family vacation we had that actually FELT like a vacation! My hope is that next time we go the girls will be braver and can handle more of the rides cuz I honestly am pretty tired of the "baby" rides

DH wants to do a Disney cruise next. We'll see...I keep reading horror stories online about the Disney cruises and how parents don't keep an eye on their kids on the ships...

eta: I also had my eye out on photopass photogs just out of curiosity and they did seem pretty scarce, so I'm also glad I didn't spring for it...and of the photopass photos that we looked at online, we didn't like a SINGLE one. The only one we bought was one from a character meal that turned out great!

Also curious how you managed with the DSLR. I opted not to bring mine because I just didn't see how I would manage carrying it around all day. in the end I'm glad I didn't bring it because of the Santa Ana winds and all the sand blowing around everywhere but I'd like to one time just to get some nice pics.

[smiles33]

So glad you had an amazing trip! I think Photopass+ will make more sense when your kids are older and can do the rides with ride photos (Space, Splash, Radiator Springs Racers, Screamin', etc.) or you do a lot of character meals. We did 3 character meals on our last trip plus DD1 was tall enough for the rides with ride photos so it was totally worth it for us. I didn't see the photographers in a lot of places, but I made a beeline for almost every one that I did see and we ended up with a huge number of photos for less than 20 hours in the park (2.5 days).

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Yay on an awesome trip!!

Also curious how you managed with the DSLR. I opted not to bring mine because I just didn't see how I would manage carrying it around all day. in the end I'm glad I didn't bring it because of the Santa Ana winds and all the sand blowing around everywhere but I'd like to one time just to get some nice pics.

Oh yeah, I got the Black Rapid camera strap for my DSLR and just wore it all day (though sometimes DH would keep my camera in his backpack). I bought it right before the trip, based on recommendations on the disboards and i think a few people here recommended it. Price ($60) totall made me cringe (it's just a strap!!) but it was SO worth it. I think i took over 1,200 photos on it This strap made a huge difference..it doesn't pull on the neck like the regular camera strap does. I seriously could not stand wearing regular Nikon camera strap for more than 20 minutes..i could feel it totally weighing my neck down. I didn't want to be carrying it in a bag though and having to take it in and out. So i sprung for the strap, and I could pretty much wear it all day.i guess because it's worn cross-body and a lot of the weight is supported by the hip.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rapid-Wo.../dp/B003OXOV1O

So glad you had an amazing trip! I think Photopass+ will make more sense when your kids are older and can do the rides with ride photos (Space, Splash, Radiator Springs Racers, Screamin', etc.) or you do a lot of character meals. We did 3 character meals on our last trip plus DD1 was tall enough for the rides with ride photos so it was totally worth it for us. I didn't see the photographers in a lot of places, but I made a beeline for almost every one that I did see and we ended up with a huge number of photos for less than 20 hours in the park (2.5 days).

Oh yeah, this was our thinking too. DD is not tall enough to ride any of the PhotoPass rides (boo!), so we knew we wouldn't get any family pics of us on them.We only did one character meal (Ariel's) and of all the PHotopass rides, DS only did RSR, with DH only as I had to stay with DD. DS is tall enough to ride all but Screamin' but he is too scared to ride Splash Mountain or Space Mountain (he's only 4, so still sort of freaked out by the dark rides). I really wish they had it for Big Thunder Mountain..would have loved to get pics of me and DS on that ride!

[egoldber]

Sounds like you had a great trip!!!!! Glad some of my thoughts helped.

FWIW, we have never found PhotoPass to be that important to us. I just don't need that many photos of my trip. Whatever I have snapped myself on my phone is usually enough. And the character meals often include the photo with the price of the meal, which makes me even less likely to purchase PP+. And I can't imagine wanting a photo of my contorted face when I am on Space Mountain LOL!!!!

[ckso]

Oh yeah, I got the Black Rapid camera strap for my DSLR and just wore it all day (though sometimes DH would keep my camera in his backpack). I bought it right before the trip, based on recommendations on the disboards and i think a few people here recommended it. Price ($60) totall made me cringe (it's just a strap!!) but it was SO worth it. I think i took over 1,200 photos on it This strap made a huge difference..it doesn't pull on the neck like the regular camera strap does. I seriously could not stand wearing regular Nikon camera strap for more than 20 minutes..i could feel it totally weighing my neck down. I didn't want to be carrying it in a bag though and having to take it in and out. So i sprung for the strap, and I could pretty much wear it all day.i guess because it's worn cross-body and a lot of the weight is supported by the hip.!

I'm tempted to get this strap too but I'm worried about it getting banged around (ie in crowds or it hitting against something while waiting in line, etc). How do you protect the camera while you're wearing it around? Do you just have the lens cap on and that's it?

[twowhat?]

I'm tempted to get this strap too but I'm worried about it getting banged around (ie in crowds or it hitting against something while waiting in line, etc). How do you protect the camera while you're wearing it around? Do you just have the lens cap on and that's it?

You took my next questions RIGHT outta my mouth! That strap sounds really awesome! I'd also like to know if the lens cap alone is enough protection or if the camera is in some sort of other protective case?

[HonoluluMom]

Sounds like you folks had a great time! We are going after school lets out . Did you try to do the meet and greet with Elsa/Anna? Do you know what the wait time was like? Thanks!

[ckso]

Sounds like you folks had a great time! We are going after school lets out . Did you try to do the meet and greet with Elsa/Anna? Do you know what the wait time was like? Thanks!

My friend's daughter is a Elsa fanatic and goes to Disneyland pretty regularly. She told me it's around 2 hours and waited up to 3 hours once.