Canadians...Disneyland?

I didn't think Carnation Cafe was bad, I think it's fine. It's priced well and the entrees are fine. But it's not something I would rave about. I think all of the table service restaurants we dined in were okay and I wouldn't have an issue going back to them. However, I would try another place if there's something more appealing.

When we first went to DL, my children were 9 and 14. The second time 11 and 16 and they enjoyed everything. My daughter really loved Mater...and my son also thought it was fun. The ride isn't very long, but it was very silly...so if your children enjoy silly rides then they'll have fun. My son absolutely loves roller coasters and has ridden everything since he was able to ride them. He doesn't mind going with his little sister on cute rides. Radiator Springs is excellent, but the other ones are also fun. If your children are up for it, I think the silliest of them, although people may find it a waste of time is the Luigi's Roadster...it actually quite hilarious. We have my son on video riding it and he ended up being the one in the middle dancing with a partner and that was worth every penny of the whole vacation. He is always a good sport and that's what makes it fun. It wasn't thrilling just hilarious...

My son was 2 when we started going to WDW. A few years later, we brought my daughter at the age of 9mths. They are now 13 and 18 and still LOVE everything Disney. We used to go to WDW twice a year for 2 wks each. A few years ago, we added the DCL to the mix and then Aulani and DL. We've stayed at Disney's Hilton Head and Vero Beach also. To us, it's all Disney. My children still love Disney. But now Disney is much bigger than WDW.

My kids are very good at being silly! Ha, they’re awesome kids and really mature...but are not “too cool” to look silly or laugh at themselves. It sounds like they’ll have tons of fun.
 
I’m in my 60’s so think I’m fairly safe from passport check, although I was in my mid 50’s when I was carded at liquor store :rolleyes2 but one of my daughters is going with me to DL, she’s 28. I hate bringing passport to the parks.
My other daughter was on Space Mtn, it was our last ride on our last day and her purse flew out of the car. She had it on the floor. They retrieved it after park closed, and mailed it to us. Good thing her passport wasn’t in it. They probably would have had to shut ride down to get it. I wonder if a photocopy of her passport would work?

Can anybody confirm that we need to have our passports when exchange our vouchers for tickets? Photocopies okay?
 
@ebharris well yesterday I finished winter/summer clothes swap AND unpacked from Dec trip :D yay! So now to lay out and wash clothes for DL! I’m going to try not to overpack this time! Hope to get it done by Monday. Will start laying clothes out today or tomorrow to wash.
A week tomorrow! Getting excited. Wednesday doing a day trip to Bellingham, WA with the daughters. Gas up, and make a day of it. Olive Garden dinner.
 


We're in BC and frequent DL. I think you've received a lot of great information so I don't have much to add, but can concur:

-If you want to have alcoholic drinks in DCA you will need your passport to show as ID - not in the restaurants but at the various cart kiosk vendors at the Cozy Cone Motel. It can be a bit hit or miss but mostly they want to see your ID and do not accept drivers licences if you live outside of California. No booze at all in Disneyland.

We have used our Alberta drivers licenses as ID for purchasing alcohol for all of our trips and never had a problem in DCA - have never had to bring our passports and we were just there during the Wine and Food Festival.
 
We have used our Alberta drivers licenses as ID for purchasing alcohol for all of our trips and never had a problem in DCA - have never had to bring our passports and we were just there during the Wine and Food Festival.

It is SO hit and miss there, I don't get it! In 2016 I tried to buy a drink from the Cozy Cone and they would not accept our drivers licence as ID, only passport (which were in the hotel safe). Then in December 2017 we had our passports on us, my husband I and I made two alcohol purchases during the day at DCA from the Cozy Cone and a cart kiosk and they didn't even ask for any ID, let alone a passport! So I carried them with us for nothing :headache:
 
Can anybody confirm that we need to have our passports when exchange our vouchers for tickets? Photocopies okay?

We used our Nexus card and they didn't even question it. I did contact them before we went to make sure I didn't need to bring my passport. They said Nexus or Passport are both fine. But it looks like others are able to use other forms of ID.
 


We will be at DLR in 2 days and we are planning on only bringing our Nexus cards for the tickets and drinks.
 
Just came back from our first trip to DLR! Paint the Night and the new fireworks were pretty good and we had a lot of fun!
 
Just came back from our first trip to DLR! Paint the Night and the new fireworks were pretty good and we had a lot of fun!

I’m glad you had a good time! Did you try any restaurants that you’d recommend? Also, where did you sit for the parade and fireworks? Thanks!
 
We ate at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, Café Orleans, Jolly Holiday (included with my Walk in Walt’s Footsteps tour), Earl of Sandwich, Little Red Wagon (corndogs) and Blue Bayou (F! Pkg). DH also ate at Panera bread across the park on Harbor after his surf lesson (while I was doing the tour solo). I am dairy-free so more than often I’m very restricted on what I can order. My best experience was at Cafe Orleans followed by Jazz Kitchen. I would go back to Cafe Orleans just for the mint julep (and free refills)!

We go to WDW every year and we had fun comparing both resorts. They each have their strengths and weaknesses and we love both!

We were there for 4 nights, 3 days at the parks with hoppers (AM tickets). We also paid for Maxpass our first two days (third day was reserved for the tour and shows). Maxpass was 110% worth it. I think I even prefer that system to FP+. We did 17 rides on those two days, 8 with FP and the longest we waited was probably 20 minutes. The BEST is RSR and I love that we got to ride it twice, once during the day and once after sundown.

Initially I had booked WCT PTN pkg but cancelled after reading reports that the reserved section was not worth it and because the menu was not appealing to me. We had a great view in the second row (people on the first row were seating on the curb so no obstructed view) just across the Animation building. We arrived maybe 45 minutes before show time and we first sat in the ledge/bench close by. We then moved to our actual spots max 20 minutes before and there was still plenty of available spots. I was afraid that the marquee on the building would be distracting but they dim the ligths just before the parade starts. Exiting DCA after was quick and easy. I was hoping to catch the fireworks at DLR right after but they started just when we were leaving DCA so we watched them from the plaza.

We watched Pixar Play parade from steps at the hub. Our view was not the best but the parade was at 6pm and we had a reservation at Cafe Oeans at 6:40pm so our priority was to exit the area quickly. The parade was okay and I was happy I didn’t invest a huge amount of time waiting for it.

On Thursday we had the best spot to watch the fireworks between the hub and the castle, about 10th row right at the center of the castle. We reserved our spot 90 minutes before and they cancelled them at 9:38pm. :(

We finally watched them from our spot at F! (Blue Bayou section) and we loved that view! The water screens were perfect for the projections. We were third row, center stage for F! and we arrived at the area around 7:45pm. If you have short kids, I would arrive as early as possible to be in the front. We were only two adults so we didn’t care as much.
 
We ate at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, Café Orleans, Jolly Holiday (included with my Walk in Walt’s Footsteps tour), Earl of Sandwich, Little Red Wagon (corndogs) and Blue Bayou (F! Pkg). DH also ate at Panera bread across the park on Harbor after his surf lesson (while I was doing the tour solo). I am dairy-free so more than often I’m very restricted on what I can order. My best experience was at Cafe Orleans followed by Jazz Kitchen. I would go back to Cafe Orleans just for the mint julep (and free refills)!

We go to WDW every year and we had fun comparing both resorts. They each have their strengths and weaknesses and we love both!

We were there for 4 nights, 3 days at the parks with hoppers (AM tickets). We also paid for Maxpass our first two days (third day was reserved for the tour and shows). Maxpass was 110% worth it. I think I even prefer that system to FP+. We did 17 rides on those two days, 8 with FP and the longest we waited was probably 20 minutes. The BEST is RSR and I love that we got to ride it twice, once during the day and once after sundown.

Initially I had booked WCT PTN pkg but cancelled after reading reports that the reserved section was not worth it and because the menu was not appealing to me. We had a great view in the second row (people on the first row were seating on the curb so no obstructed view) just across the Animation building. We arrived maybe 45 minutes before show time and we first sat in the ledge/bench close by. We then moved to our actual spots max 20 minutes before and there was still plenty of available spots. I was afraid that the marquee on the building would be distracting but they dim the ligths just before the parade starts. Exiting DCA after was quick and easy. I was hoping to catch the fireworks at DLR right after but they started just when we were leaving DCA so we watched them from the plaza.

We watched Pixar Play parade from steps at the hub. Our view was not the best but the parade was at 6pm and we had a reservation at Cafe Oeans at 6:40pm so our priority was to exit the area quickly. The parade was okay and I was happy I didn’t invest a huge amount of time waiting for it.

On Thursday we had the best spot to watch the fireworks between the hub and the castle, about 10th row right at the center of the castle. We reserved our spot 90 minutes before and they cancelled them at 9:38pm. :(

We finally watched them from our spot at F! (Blue Bayou section) and we loved that view! The water screens were perfect for the projections. We were third row, center stage for F! and we arrived at the area around 7:45pm. If you have short kids, I would arrive as early as possible to be in the front. We were only two adults so we didn’t care as much.

This was really helpful, thank you.

Can I ask if you used a data plan or the wifi with max pass?

Reading this made me even more excited :)
 
This was really helpful, thank you.

Can I ask if you used a data plan or the wifi with max pass?

Reading this made me even more excited :)

We didn't need a data plan because DH has a cell phone from work with a North American plan and I only used the WiFi on my cell phone. I would say that we used WiFi 75% of the time. I found it was bad only at the edges of the parks. The best area for it (for me) was close to Cafe Orleans.
 
We used our Nexus card and they didn't even question it. I did contact them before we went to make sure I didn't need to bring my passport. They said Nexus or Passport are both fine. But it looks like others are able to use other forms of ID.

We used Nexus too (and confirmed the night before that nexus was ok vs passport). Smaller and easier to carry around for the day.
 
I confirm that the Nexus card was all I needed to activate our Canadian tickets at DLR last week.
 
We were just there April 9th to April 14th with our 4 year old twins. We availed the Canadian discounted tickets for 3 days. We’re glad we did not get the hopper because you will most of the time walking in the parks and would want to save time as much as you can for the rides. We thought it’s tiring and a waste of precious time to move to another park especially with little kids. We did 2 days at DLR and 1 day at DCA and a day break in between to relax at the hotel which is Hilton Anaheim. Here’s the summary...

April 10 - DLR
- We tried to avail our magic morning but getting there really early was a bit challenging. From Hilton, we have to walk a block away to toy story parking for a free shuttle to the parks which is better than walking around half an hour to the park from our hotel. We were happy with Hilton but I would consider choosing hotels right across the parks next time.
- The Park was crowded so security check consumes a lot of time as well as the line-up on the park entrance. Getting there really early is beneficial.
- After doing some rides. We had a character brunch at Minnie and friends at 1030am which is close to lunch as we already had free early breakfast in the hotel. We’re glad we did this as our kids really enjoyed it and it was worth it. Here a video that I put together...

- We avail the max pass as the standby line is really long. We focused on rides that has short wait times and rides that have fast pass.
- We went back to the hotel around 130p to have nap and to freshen up.
- We went back to the park around 4pm.
- We had our dinner at plaza inn. We love their fried chicken and their salad.
- When we were about to leave the park for the day around 830p, they announced there will be a preview of the new Pixar Fest fireworks at 9pm and we decided to take a peek of the fireworks. We were at the end of Main St just near the exit of the park. Guess what? We’re glad we stayed and watch because Main st is the best view of the fireworks. We also saw the fantasmic show on our last day with the fireworks and the view is not as good as the main st. Here’s the video proof...

Day 2 - dca to be continued...
 
Awhile ago somebody super helpful showed me on a map where our hotel (Country Inn and Suites by Radisson) is in relation to the M and F entrance, as well as the Harbor entrance... but I can't find it in any of my threads.

I'm wondering when we go next month where we should enter - based on the security lines on Harbor I'm wondering M and F? We will be walking or dropped off by Uber - I think Uber can't drop at M and F?

Thanks!
 
Last Sunday I updated my trip report (link in my signature) to add our first day at DLR/DCA. I will try to finish it (last two days) after we come back from our camping trip this weekend (it's a Holiday weekend for us in QC with St-Jean Baptiste on June 24).
 

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