Our first ever DL adventure
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amyandlee · 11-04-2006, 09:17 AM

This previous July my DW and I decided we wanted to take a trip over a long weekend I have from teaching from Oct. 19th to the 22nd. After a couple of days of debating and research we decided on visiting the original Magic Kingdom. Having visited WDW twice we decided we really wanted to see the original. Seeing a new place, which also has the "home" of my wife's favorite character Princess Aurora, led to the no-brainer decision to go to Disneyland. After do research (mainly on Passporter) we decided to stay at the Paradise Pier Hotel. My DW started graduate school after we made our initial reservations on on Northwest Airlines so we had to change our return flight to accomodate her classes. We decided to start our "magical tour" from LAX on the Disneyland Express. Upon using our Disney Visa card to book our journey (and gain some much craved reward points)we learned another of our favorite things would be in the Anaheim area. Being from Minnesota one of our favorite past times is watching the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League. Wouldn't you know it but the Minnesota Wild were playing, you guessed it, the Anaheim Ducks on Friday Oct. 20. This added to the anticipation of our journey. Upon making our ticket purchase for the hockey game (which was very quick) we decided to make a couple of early reservations. Our first reservation was booking "A Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour," which will be discussed in the Magic Kingdom entry. We also wanted to have a "magical first night dinner" and after consulting the passporter website, our passporter book and other sources, we decided to make a priority seating arrangement at the Napa Rose in the Grand Californian Hotel. With our planning complete all that was left to do was live our lives and wait for our magical tour. Our journey continues on the next thread.

amyandlee · 11-04-2006, 09:29 AM

Our journey from Minnesota to the original Magic Kingdom was flawless. We arrived the the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport where the temperature was a balmy 35 degrees and the skies were cloudy. Our flight on Northwest airlines was smooth and uneventful. If you are looking to save money I would recommend finding another airline than Northwest. They make you pay for snacks. We landed at LAX in the sunny 80 degree weather and after collecting our luggage we waited for our bus, the Disneyland Express. This turned out to be our own personal bus as we were the only travelers on the bus. The bus transportation was a quiet trip and we enjoyed being able to talk to the bus driver during the ride. Being from Minnesota we also enjoyed enjoying the mountains as we drove from LAX to DL. We arrived at the Paradise Pier at about 1:00. Upon arrival and attempting to check in with a great staff at the front desk of the Paradise Pier, we were told our room was not quite ready. Part of this was because of something I forgot to mention in my previous post. I ordered a Disneyland gift basket and the room number was told to those folks in advance and we could not change our room (even though I tried the tip of changing rooms as suggested on this site). The folks checking us in were very friendly and our trainer did a good job of "earning her ears." We got our PIN number to check on the status of our room, checked our luggage with the bellmen service and decided to do my DW favorite passtime, shop!

**Colexis Mom** · 11-04-2006, 09:55 AM

Glad you made it to DL okay! Sorry you couldn't get into your room early [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

amyandlee · 11-04-2006, 10:04 AM

After we got our intial check-in taken care of (even though our room was not ready) we went shopping. After consulting our passporter on the plane we knew a couple of stores we "needed" to hit on our initial shopping visit. We entered Downtown Disney from the Disney's Grand Californian entrance. The Grand Californian lobby is HUGE! It's a beautiful lodge feel and, as we found out later that night, home to spectacular food. We spent time shopping at Marcheline's Confectionary (great candy!!), Illuminations (great candles for the halloween season, we would like to see it in non-halloween season), Something Silver (DW loves jewelry), Build-A-Bear workshop (we bought mickey and minnie outfits for our previously made bears), Vault 26 (an interesting store), Island Charters (great flying stuff which was hard for me to pass up), Anne Geddes (we love the little ones in costumes), and the kiosks (mainly the pin kiosks as we are pin collectors). Of our whirlwind tour the only store we were not impressed with was Build-A-Bear. This was the only store in the complex where we were not greeted, even though we were 2 of maybe ten in the store. This is not the experience we have had in previous BAB stores and were slightly irritated by this but it was not enough to spoil our shopping trip.
After our shopping trip we returned to the PPH at about 3:00 to find our room was available. We had a standard room which overlooked the pool area. For those of you familar with the hotel we were on the 10th floor and were right across from the waterslide. As mentioned earlier I ordered a gift basket for my wife as a surprise. I did not want us to be in the room when it arrived. I was told it would arrive between 4:00 and 5:00. We were just about ready to go to the pool and enjoy the pool area at 3:45 when a knock is heard at the door and it is the gift basket. This basket contained pluck Mikcey and Minnie 50th Anniversary dolls, 2 DL lollipops, a 2-disc 50th Anniversary CD set, a 50th Anniversary photo album, and the thing I really wanted the golden ears. Upon arrival my wife was pleased with the gifts, considering I told her we had to wait on buying the golden ears at Downtown Disney. After she opened the gift we decided to see if we could maybe get into the Napa Rose early. We went to DGC and shopped a little more, finding more pins, and arrived at Napa Rose about 45 minutes before our priority seating. We were able to get right in and we knew we were in a magical restaurant when we looked out the window and saw the Grizzly Mountain of DCA. Upon talking to our very knowledgable, and very funny waiter Mickey (I kid you not, that is his name) we were not sure what we wanted. It was after reading our menu that we decided the name for our trip would be "Let's give all of our money to Mickey" vacation. This started at Napa Rose with a very delicious but expensive 4 course Vintners meal. With the meal DW had a Laird family wine and I enjoyed a Baileyana. As good as the wine was the food was even better! Mickey told us the menu changes seasonally and it's to bad because our food was wonderful! If you can splurge we would highly recommend the Vintner 4 course meal. The first course was the spiny lobster, a course was sea bass, a course was a pork chop and our dessert was a pumpkin spice creme brule with a pumpkin spice milkshake. After enjoying our meal we returned to our room. After reflecting on our magical first day we discovered a small problem with our Disney gift package. Our package did not come with a receipt, which proved to be a problem with getting our ears embroidered, which is why I bought them. I went to guest services for advice on who to talk to about getting a receipt and they sent me to Room Service. After talking to one of the room service team leads he told me he would get back to me about the situation (this ended up being a run around but ended up being a "magical ending"). As I was returning up to our room I had a mini-magical moment. If you stay at the PPH ride the elevator that is in a shaft by itself. It is a glass elevator that looks out onto DCA. The Maliboomer, the Giant Orange Swing ride (I know this isn't it's name), and the other Paradise Pier rides were light up. What a great way to end a night. After writing our first day in our passporter we went to bed with big smiles on our faces and much anticipation for the day to come.

amyandlee · 11-04-2006, 10:29 AM

We awoke at 6:30 and had a quick breakfast at the Surfside Lounge and Coffee Bar. This quick breakfast was the only meal we had at this nice little area. As we entered another sunny day we arrived at the Magic Kingdom early. We have been to the opening of the MK at WDW but there was a special magic this day because we both felt like little kids waiting to get in to play in a giant playground. The entrance gate was covered with giant disney-o-lanterns (pumpkins shaped to look like the big 4 and Pluto). Upon entering we checked in for our 9:00 A Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour. This 3 1/2 hour tour was a great experience. We learned many little things about the park, about Walt, and various "inside" information. We got front row seats and a look at how the animatronics work in the Enchanted Tiki Room (we like this one better than the "under new management" experience at WDW), we saw the lobby of club 33, and many other little things. If you think you are a DL buff I would recommend this tour. The tour ended with a meal on the patio of Walt's apartment area in New Orlean's square. After lunch and the tour we had a couple of hours before the hockey game. We took in the Haunted Mansion (the Nightmare after Christmas overlay is interesting), and while I waited for Splash Mountain (which I love) my DW enjoyed the New Orleans Square experience. She enjoyed listening to the singing Pirates and the jazz band with the phenominal singer Queenie. After strolling back down Main Street USA, which is spectacular, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the game. We enjoyed our walk through Downtown Disney, in front of the DLH to our hotel. It's a little walk but a good wind down for our day. Before we left for the game our golden ear experience to another curve when I did not, after 24 hours, hear from the room service people about the receipt. After consulting with the folks at MadHatter at the MK the manager there recommended me talk to the Hotel Manager, which I did upon our arrival. The manager, John, told me he would work to solve the problem. While I was talking to the manager our room got a call from room service claiming they have no record of the gift basket being delivered, even though I was looking at the basket. Upon hearing this message I called John and he assured me he was dealing with the situation. We left for the game assured our ear problem would be taken care of. The Wild/Ducks game was interesting. My DW had a migraine that did not allow us to stay for the entire game but when we left about half way through we were not impressed by the atomosphere of the Honda Center (I must say we are spoiled by the atmosphere where the Wild play), but we enjoyed talking to the Ducks fans we sat by. After returning to the hotel and putting DW into bed I had some extra energy and proceeded to go visit John about our ears. Upon my arrival at the front desk John looked at me and said "the problem will be fixed, go get your ears and we'll get them embroidered." Talk about a magic moment that I didn't ask for. Shocked, I just turned around and got our ears. Upon my arrival to the desk it was fun watching the front desk people fighting to deliver OUR ears to get embroidered. After watching these two cast members John informed them that they have a runner for this type of thing. John informed me the ears would be done no later than the next night. I returned to my room and was reading up on DCA in the passporter when the phone rang 45 minutes after I delivered our ears to the front desk and, you guessed it, it was John telling us our ears were done! Talk about a magic moment! With my DW having a bad migraine the embroidered ear experience put a magical ending on an interesting day.

amyandlee · 11-04-2006, 11:15 AM

We awoke on Saturday with my DW's migraine thankfully gone. We had large appetite's and decided to attempt to go to the Lilo & Stitch's character breakfast at the PCH grill. The buffet brunch was great and the characters were very entertaining. After a filling breakfast we went to the GCH for a mocha and found, much to our delight, that we could enter DCA 1/2 hour early through GCH and we rode Soarin' without waiting in line because there was no line. This cut time we had scheduled waiting for that ride. We waited for the rest of DCA to open and were the first ones into Muppet Vision 3D (which we enjoyed), had no waiting for Monsters, Inc. (which we thought was interesting, but fast), I had no wait time for Tower of Terror (which was a shock but the ride wsa great!). After tourng the animation building and taking some fun pictures we decided to use our priority seating for Aladdin's spectacular. The priority seating allowed us early entry. This show was spectacular! We tried to compare it to Beauty and the Beast at WDW but they do not compare! If you haven't seen this stage show you must see it! After leaving the show we went to the Golden Scream show (fun for kids). I experienced the Grizzly River Rapids ride, which was great! After riding the giant Sun Wheel and back to Soarin (we got a FastPass), we had dinner at the Wine Vineyard. From here we watched the Block Party Bash roll by. This was another great restaurant. Another fun thing we did was take advantage of the professional picture taking opportunities around DCA. The system at the time worked much te same way it does at WDW and we were told it will be in full operation at DL by Thanksgiving time. We bought a couple of pictures. After dinner we returned to the Magic Kingdom to watch the fireworks show. This show was worth the wait for the seats we had in front of the castle. If you have the time and patience to sit in the roped off area in front of the castle the cast members will keep you entertained. It is amazing the number of people who waited for so long between the final parade of the night and the fireworks. The magical fireworks were a great thing to experience after the tour the day before. After the fireworks we decided to visit tomorrowland where we rode the AsroBlaster and Star Tours. I wanted to ride Space Mountain but the wait time was 55 minutes. As we were leaving the line a woman asked me if I would like to use her FastPass, which I gladly accepted! After having a problem with the car I experienced Space Mountain for the first time in 15 years, and it was more fun than I remembered. We left the Magic Kingdom at closing hand in hand with giant smiles on our faces and looking forward to our last full day at DL.

**DyanKJ130** · 11-04-2006, 12:04 PM

WOW!! You've been busy this morning! Sounds like you've had a couple of fun days despite a few minor 'distractions.' Can't wait to read more!

snoozy · 11-04-2006, 12:56 PM

Sounds like a great trip so far, more please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

amyandlee · 11-04-2006, 01:12 PM

Sunday was our last full day of fun at Disneyland. After the late night the night before we woke up a little later than the previous mornings and enjoyed a sweet breakfast from the Main Street bakery. If you are hungry I highly recommend the giant cinnamon roll, they are terrific. We spent the morning roaming through adventureland, with a fun journey through the Indiana Jone Ride (I loved it, DW enjoyed it, which is not bad for a person who is not big on rides), we rode a nice relaxing ride on the Mark Twain, and hopped on the train to fantasy land. Oh, a piece of trivia we learned on our tour: the morse code message being played at the station at New Orleans Square is the opening day message. I'm not up on my dots and dashes so I'll have to take our tourguides word on it. After taking time in fantasy land to enjoy "It's a Small World" and Pinnochio's Great Adventure we stopped for lunch at the Golden Horseshoe. To wind down the afternoon we returned to DCA to take in California Screamin. This was due to the fact that the day before I got a fast pass but when I returned it was not operating. For those of you who enjoy rollercoasters I highly recommend California Screamin! Having ridden all the rides and having seen all of the shows and daytime attractions we headed back to the hotel for some lounging time in the hot tub. Although there is no disney decoration in the pool area it is a pleasant area and a good place to relax and talk to fellow visitors. Being avid pin collectors we were excited that we were at the hotel that held the pin trading as well as the limited edition Malificen pin, which we bought. The process for buy the pin was unusual because we had to get a wristband to stand in line to buy the pin. I got the 10th remainin pin and it was sold to me from a lady who was from a Minnesota town not far from where my parents grew up, which was another fun Disney moment. After relaxing we decided to try another restaurant, Naples Ristorante & Pizzeria. DW ordered the penne and I ordered the ravioloi formaggio, both wonderful. We ended with the Vanillay brownie. This is a nice restaurant. We ate on the patio and although it was a little noisy it was still a nice relaxing meal. After the meal we returned to the Magic Kingdom to finish our trip in grand style: by watching Fantasmic! We came prepared with snacks and a deck of cards and waited for 2 hours in front of the Rivers of America for the show. I would recommend arriving early for this show, as crowds explode, especially if there is an evening parade. We loved the show, both agreeing there were parts of the show that are better for the stage area at WDW (like the end pyrotechniques) but it's hard to beat the boats at DL, especially the use of the Mark Twain and the Columbia. All in all we capped a magical trip with a magical show. As we prepared for our early departure (we left the hotel at 5:00, we went to bed again with smiles on our faces from a magical day. My last post will be some overall impressions of our trip.

amyandlee · 11-04-2006, 01:25 PM

Now that you have read our trip report from a magical trip to DL, we wanted to give you some thoughts on our trip:
1. Although we spent a lot of money (hence the name "Give all of our money to Mickey") you can do a lot of things at DL with a lot less money being spent.
2. Fastpasses are wonderful, even in "low" attendance time.
3. Use the photopass people. They are fun to talk to and they do a good job. Even if you don't want to buy any it's fun to see what the pictures look like
4. Avid fans and DL novices will enjoy the tour!
5. Maybe it was the time of year but the original Magic Kingdom seemed a lot more laid back and not as frantic as WDW's.
6. Although the castle was supposed to be home to one Sleeping Beauty, DW's most beloved character, we only saw her in parades. It would be nice for the "mistress" of the castle to be more visible.
7. I know this a common thread but take time to relax and enjoy the scenerey and talk about what your experiencing at DL. We did this a lot over dinner and waiting for the fireworks and Fantasmic. That also made filling in our passporter easier.
8. Visit DCA. It's worth it. We enjoyed the fun mix of rides and attractions.
9. Take the time and enjoy the transportation (the railroad and main street transportation). It's relaxing and fun to think that Walt himself rode these vehicles.
10. Thank the cast members. We talked with a couple about the long hours they go through and thanked each of them for what they did.
11. HAVE FUN! We certainly did and are planning a return trip sometime in the future.

Thanks for reading my posts and I hope it helps people plan their fun vacation to the original happies place on Earth.

**Colexis Mom** · 11-04-2006, 05:00 PM

Thanks for sharing your trip with us [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thanx.gif[/img] I'm glad you had a great time [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]