Dynamic Duo Tackle Disneyland - COMPLETED - With Final Thoughts About This Page:

[Fortissimo]

I'm excited to read your trip report!

[simbarel]

Sounds like a great trip, Joy, anxious to read the details! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zread.gif[/img]

[DawnDenise]

Oh I cannot wait to read all about your trip Joy!!! What a tease for the upcoming reports!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Grammy Grumpy]

Okay, we are all anxiously waiting for your trip report!

By the way, glad you had a great time and are home safe and sound!

[Joy J]

Departure day arrived and we were off bright and early to begin our grand adventure. Our flight to Los Angeles was a pleasant one and, even though the plane was 45 minutes late taking off, we still arrived right on time. However, it ended up being a very long trip from the airport to the hotel. We made the huge mistake of grabbing the first shuttle van that showed up and not paying attention to which company it was. Big warning here: if travelling from LAX to the DLR hotels, stick with Grayline or SuperShuttle. The van that picked us up ended up circling the airport terminals forever and a day in an effort to fill up the van before eventually heading out for Anaheim and then making multiple stops enroute including a detour to drop off one traveller in a completely different city. It took over three hours from the time we got picked up for us to finally arrive at the Disneyland Hotel.

I guess I should have realized that this was an omen for a not very auspicious beginning to our trip but I was blissfully ignorant and enthusiastically got in line to check in at the DL hotel. All seemed to go smoothly at first and I was thrilled when the CM at the front desk presented us with two special little birthday packages with some great goodies in them, including our birthday buttons which she instructed that we wear every day of our vacation and not just on our respective birthdays as, in her words, "When you wear them, magic happens!" When she finished our paperwork, I asked her if we had gotten a nice room and she said, "Oh yes - it's a lovely room with a pool view in the Sierra Tower." At first I was thrilled as we had only paid for a standard view room but then she added, "And it's a king bed room." Okay, this is where my delight came to a complete halt. I objected, "But we are two adults - a mother and son - which I explained when I made our reservation and requested a room with two queen beds." She helpfully suggested, "Well for now we can send up a rollaway bed and then we can see about possibly transferring you to another room tomorrow since we are at full capacity and there is no place else we can move you to at the moment." Although neither Kirk or I were thrilled at the idea of sleeping on a rollaway bed, she assured us that these "beds" were far more comfortable than the average cot. So off we trekked to our room.

Although the room was indeed in the Sierra tower, it was the last room on its floor and couldn't have been any closer to the Bonita tower without being in the same building. Even though it was quite a long walk, we still didn't get discouraged until we threw open the door to our room and entered it. It was the teensiest hotel room I've ever been in - probably about half the size of a room in one of the value resorts at WDW. There was barely space for the bed and a chest of drawers. The only possible way they could have fit in a rollaway bed was to place it widthwise at the foot of the bed, running towards the bathroom. If this had been done, we would have had to crawl over the rollaway in order to get to the bathroom.

I immediately got on the phone to the front desk and asked if I could possibly speak to the room assigner as we couldn't conceivably stay in this room, not even for one night. I then talked to a very curt, not very friendly room assigner who told me that they weren't about to give a room with two queen beds to two people when that room could be used to sleep four people, especially when the hotel was fully booked. And that was why we had been given a complimentary upgrade to a poolview room. I politely replied that, even if the view had been fabulous (which it wasn't - in order to see the pool, you'd have to open the sliding door and lean out and look to the far right), it wouldn't have mattered to me since as two adults of the opposite sex who weren't a couple, one king bed simply wasn't going to cut it. She then had the nerve to say to me, "Well, those king beds are very big. Couldn't the two of you share one anyways just for tonight and then I'll move you tomorrow?" At this point, I was beginning to run out of patience, and I replied, "NO!" She then said, "Well then, I do have one room I can move you to but it isn't ready yet and probably won't be for a couple of hours. And know this - if you take this room, we will not move you again, whether you like the room or not." Since having two queen beds was my number one priority, I said, "Whatever, just so long as we can have a room with two beds."

To kill some time before our room would be ready, we checked out the two gift shops and explored the grounds and then returned to the lobby to wait. Goofy was in the lobby meeting and greeting folks as they arrived and just generally showing off with all sorts of crazy antics - it was most entertaining. Finally it was time for our room to be ready so I approached the front desk and got our new room assignment. Then off we trekked again, this time to the Bonita tower. Well, our not so friendly room assigner certainly got her revenge. She had placed us in the most far flung room in the entire hotel with a view of nothing but a parking lot. At least we had our two queen beds although the room was not much bigger than the teensy one we had originally been allotted. And still no couch or table and chairs or anything. It was going to be very close quarters for us considering this was to be our home for the next two full weeks. I decided to at least call the front desk to see if anything could possibly be done to give us a slightly more spacious room for the next day.

This time around, I talked to a totally charming and helpful CM who listened to what I had to say and then stated, "Give me a second while I check with my room assigner." Well, a different room assigner must have been on duty by this time as the CM came back on the line within a very short space of time and said, "Since you're going to be with us for such an extended period of time, we'll be moving you to more spacious quarters tomorrow and to make up for all the inconvenience you've suffered, we're giving you a room with a view of the fireworks." I thanked her profusely for being so understanding and helpful.

We still had a bit of time left before our dinner ressie, so I looked through some of the stuff our check-in CM had given us. I was most impressed with the detailed itinerary that the Disney Vacation Planners had made up for us. It was most helpful to have a printed-out itinerary with all our meal reservations, special events, etc. at our fingertips.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Hook's Pointe, then walked to Disneyland to get our annual passes processed. It's a totally different procedure than that used at WDW. You have to get your photo taken as that is what is used at DL for identification purposes instead of biometric scanners. With our new annual passes clutched in our hot little hands, we took a quick ride on the Disneyland Railroad just to give ourselves a taste of what was in store for us tomorrow, before heading back to the hotel to hit the sack early since tomorrow was my birthday and we had a very full day planned, starting extra early in the morning.

Joy

[chezp]

Wow, I'm glad you were finally able to get your room sorted out - what a saga that turned out to be! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] And what a nightmare journey to Disneyland as well - I hope things get better from here on in. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[DrDolphin]

Glad to hear you were able to get a better room.... hope that all works out for you!

[loobyoxlip]

Yikes, what a beginning. Hope your room you finally end up with a keeper [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[DawnDenise]

Yikes!! What a saga with the room!! Hope that your room turns out to be wonderful!! Looking forward to more!

[Meggera]

Oh my goodness! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] What a nightmare CM!!! You just don't expect that to happen at Disney. I'm so glad you got a nicer CM who was willing to accommodate you with a smile. I am looking forward to more!

Laura

[PrincessSharon]

What a horrible way to start your trip, Joy! But at least you finally got a CM who made things right again [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] I hope the rest of the trip goes well. Can't wait to read more!

[snoozy]

Just getting caught up. Sorry about the mess at the DLH. I've been there. Sounds like things are looking up though. Can't wait to hear more.

[Bargainhunter506]

OK - so how is it that you have such awesome photos without people? The characters seem to be hamming it up for you. How do you get them to do this?

What kind of a camera do you use?
We will leave in 3 days and I would love to know how you capture these magical photos? I am so impressed.

Kudos and hats off! Thanks for sharing.

[gwugirl03]

Joy, I can't wait to read more!! I am so glad you were able to get a better room. I would have been extremely upset about the king bed as well.

[Joy J]

The alarm went off at 6 a.m. and we bounded out of bed to get ready to start our action-packed day. Our first stop was breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe at the Grand Californian which proved to be only a short, pleasant walk away. I was most impressed with our quick look at the Grand Californian Hotel. It reminded me quite a bit of the Wilderness Lodge at WDW. When we got to the Cafe, the first sight to greet us was Koda, clawing at the glass door in a seeming effort to get out which proved to be quite amusing. The breakfast buffet was excellent with a multitude of tasty offerings. And the character interaction was fabulous. Being used to the character meals at WDW, I was astounded by the number of characters we got to see. All told, we had great encounters with Kenai, Koda, Chip, Dale, Terk, Brer Bear, Meeko and a friendly forest ranger who was full of great stories. At one point during the meal, I was presented with a birthday cupcake and was serenaded with a Happy Birthday song by several CMs and an enthusiastic Chip and Dale. We had such a wonderful time here that we decided to do another breakfast here later on in our trip.

Then it was off to Disneyland for our first tour - Welcome to Disneyland. Our tour guide, Candy, was friendly and perky, in typical Disney fashion. From our meeting place just outside the guided tours building beside City Hall, we headed first to California Adventure. What fun it was to explore a totally deserted theme park since it was not yet open to the general public. As we strolled through the gates leading to the studios area, who should come walking down the street towards us but Mickey and Minnie who took the time to pose for a couple of photos before continuing on their way. We then got the rare opportunity to play in the Animation building with absolutely no one else around. The DCA version of WDW's animation attraction is superb with plenty of different activities to try out. And the settings are completely enchanting.

As Candy walked us through the various areas in DCA, she gave us brief descriptions of the various attractions. Along the way we stopped to watch It's Tough to be a Bug and to take the Boudin Bakery tour, as well as picking up Fastpasses for Grizzly River Run that we could use later in the day. Candy gave us a lovely little tip about Fastpasses and Disneyland. No matter what the time window on the Fastpass says, you can use a Fastpass anytime that day once your window opens right up until closing time. This proved to be an invaluable tool in making maximum use of our park time.

It was now time to tackle the Magic Kingdom. Once again, Candy took us through every single area giving us information about all the attractions along with some interesting bits of trivia. We also rode the Jungle Cruise and grabbed a Fastpass for Splash Mountain. Partway through our journey, we took a brief break at Marceline Confectionery, where each of us received some absolutely delicious chocolate goodies to sample. At the end of the tour, we were given envelopes which contained Fastpasses for Tower of Terror, Soarin, and Autopia as well as VIP passes for the Aladdin musical. All in all I thought this tour was a terrific value at only $25/person. (One fact that is of considerable note is that none of the DLR tours have any minimum age disqualifications). Since I hadn't been to DL since 1968 and this was Kirk's first trip there, this tour was particularly wonderful as it gave us a great overview of the parks and really helped us to get our bearings.

Still babbling excitedly to each other about all the wonders we had yet to explore, we zipped over to the Blue Bayou for our lunch PS. What a fabulous restaurant! The setting is breathtaking (but do be sure to specify that you want a table overlooking the Pirates of the Caribbean ride or you could find yourself seated somewhere in the back forty with a view of absolutely nothing of interest). We both ordered the Monte Cristo sandwich, which was delicious but terribly filling. One sandwich would have been more than enough for the two of us, especially given the fact that it was preceded by a hearty bowl of gumbo. I also got my first taste of a mint julep (which I got hopelessly addicted to during our vacation). Another thing to note here is that most of the DLR table service restaurants charge a $4-$5 fee if you want to split an entree. Currently, the Blue Bayou presents all their patrons with lovely souvenir menus, which are laminated and beautifully illustrated with photos and logos from the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I also really liked the chocolate mint doubloons that come with your bill here. And, along with quite a few other restaurants at DLR, the Blue Bayou gives all Annual Passholders a special edition Disney Dining pin if the bill comes to more than $30.

Now stuffed to the gills, we returned to our hotel to get our new room assignment and to finally unpack. I had been going a little crazy about this as, being a natural nester, I can't truly enjoy myself until I've unpacked all the suitcases and put everything away. Our new (and final) room was Room 2115 in the Marina Tower. It was on the third floor, almost directly across from the elevator and literally only steps away from the lobby area. We couldn't have been given a more convenient location, both in terms of proximity to the main facilities and pool and also exceptionally quick access to Downtown Disney. Once inside our new room, I was thrilled by its spaciousness. Not only did we get our two queen beds but we had a sofa, a desk, a night table and a table and chairs. This was going to be very comfortable for our two week stay. But unfortunately we still had one little glitch to get past. The room felt fairly warm and, upon checking the thermostat, I noticed that the air conditioner was turned off. I set it to the cooling setting and adjusted the temperature gauge to a nice cool 68 degrees to start. As we continued our unpacking, the room seemed to grow hotter instead of cooler. I stood on the bed and put my hand in front of the vent and discovered that hot air was pouring into the room. I immediately turned off the thermostat thingy and called down to the front desk who assured me that maintenance would be up shortly. This was at 3 p.m. and one hour later, still no one had turned up to fix our air conditioner. The room was getting hotter and hotter so I called down again and was told the same thing. To make a long story short, over two hours went by and still no one came. We had to leave at that time in order to make our seating for the Aladdin musical so we went in person to the front desk and got a sympathetic CM who told us to go ahead and leave and that he would ensure that maintenance rectified our air conditioning problem ASAP. He also told me that he would take $50 off our bill for the inconvenience since he felt that we'd been made to wait an unacceptedly long period of time given how very very hot it was that day.

All of our little glitches were immediately forgotten, however, once the Aladdin musical began. What an incredible production! I had thought that Festival of the Lion King at WDW couldn't possibly be surpassed. Well, surprise, surprise - in my opinion, Aladdin is even better. The acting was wonderful but the real stars of the show are the incredible sets and the amazing special effects. We had front row seats for all the magic and we were truly mesmerized by this fantastic show.

After the show, we just had time to use our Grizzly River Run and Soarin fastpasses before zipping back over to the Magic Kingdom to check in for our Fantasmic balcony viewing. There's something very magical about sitting on the balcony of what was originally designed to be the Disney family's apartment while munching on sumptious desserts, sipping on cold drinks (in my case my new fave - mint juleps),
and being waited on by a handsome young CM sporting a tux. We had a wonderful view of Fantasmic and I do think that this show is far superior to the WDW version. Nothing can quite compare with the battle between Hook and Pan on the Sailing Ship Columbia or the Mark Twain bathed in lights, carrying a host of all the favorite Disney characters. After Fantasmic was over, we stayed in our seats and watched the Fireworks. Although from this spot you can't see the special effects on the castle or Tink's flight, it still gave us a good taste of what was to come and reduced me to tears when it got to the part where you hear Walt Disney giving his opening day speech.

We still had some time left before park closing so we used our fastpasses for Splash Mountain (which is a much bumpier and rougher ride here than at WDW), then rode Haunted Mansion (I loved the new section with the whole bride sequence), Pirates of the Caribbean (which is infinitely better than the WDW version) and Autopia before catching the last monorail back to our hotel, where we were relieved to discover that our air conditioning was now operational and our room was delightfully cool.

Next up: "Will we ever make it to Universal?"

Joy