We are home now...just to bookend my arrival post (the only time I used my iPad the entire trip, how nice it felt to disconnect from life and re-connect with the family), we arrived home at 1:30 am last night *yawn*. Our plane out of SNA had mechanical problems, we flew to Vegas and, in a nice move on SW's part, they held the last plane to Denver until we (and two other families on our first flight) arrived.
We had a fantastic trip! Every one of my neurotic anxieties about crowds and weather turned out to be pretty much nothing. Yes, it was hot but, honestly, being 5200 feet closer to the sun here in CO must have improved my ability to deal, lol. Crowds seemed manageable to us, from a wait time perspective. Walking through the lands was exhausting at times. We tried to take nap break most days; on Monday, we returned to the room to take a nap around 4 pm and all 5 of us slept until 5 am the next morning, right through dinner. Guess we were a little tired.
We loved RSR so much. Rode it 5 times. My DH, oldest DS and I enjoyed California Screamin'. The castle looked great. Aladdin is the best show at any US Disney park. My two youngers were tall enough for Indiana Jones this trip and loved it. A couple times we stumbled on casual meet and greets including Pluto sitting on a bench by himself at DLH, so awesome. We were wearing Haunted Mansion shirts one day and the CMs there piled into our photos and then "stole" the phone and took a bunch of selfies of themselves...so sweet and a fun memory of our favorite ride! We did the Blue Bayou Fantasmic dining package. Food was, surprisingly great, and waterside table was enchanting. The Fantasmic seating was a bust though. The spot reserved for BB was way too small for the number of diners to all have a good view. We showed up 5 minutes before our FP time opened and we were at least 150 people back. My kids did not see well over the tall people in front and were too tired to stand. It wasn't anything like the positive experiences I have read here. As a result, my DH made me cancel our WOC dining package and just chance a regular FP. We showed up 30 minutes early for our FP time and none of us saw anything other than the lights higher up. Lol, oh well. Both shows, from what I saw, looked wonderful (Fantasmic was so much better than WDW's, for sure) but seeing them seems to be such an impossible challenge that I doubt we will try again.
We walked into see Olaf with no wait half an hour before park closing! Definitely do it then, a disboarder gave that advice and it worked like as charm! No one was waiting for Marshmallow at that time either.
We split between Hojo's and DL Hotel. Loved them both. We have stayed at Hojo's before and found it even better than the earlier trip. We stayed in a premium Disney view room and it was lovely, Paradise Pier was visible, along with DL icons. Most comfortable hotel beds EVER. Boys love watching monorail coast by. Only two things...water park noise was intense, even on the top floor of building 1, and I wish there were chairs on the balcony to enjoy the view. We would return in a heart beat.
So much about DL Hotel we loved, the decor, the grounds, the pool, Trader Sam's...but I had a terrible experience checking in. Long story but I don't want this to seem overly negative because it was a blip in an otherwise wonderful experience so pm if you want the full story, but the front desk CM was very dismissive that we used orbitz ("orbitz people don't get to make room requests" that is a quote and very untrue, of course) and her supervisor ("we don't have a manager on duty at 7 am so no you can't talk to him") was nearly as bad. You know it is bad when, as they went back to confer, another CM whom I won't out publicly whispered to me "You have got to report this! I am going to say something too." and a wonderful lady at Bell Services team handed us a bunch of guest recovery FPs, as we had missed MM by that point. So, it totally turned out ok, our room was in Fantasy Tower in the end and the FPs helped us, but, if the trip is important to you (as I have mentioned it was my DS's birthday celebration), be aware there is a bias against hotel discounters by some employees of DLH.
In addition to BB, we ate at Minnie's and Goofy's Kitchen (was not expecting this but we much preferred Minnie's!) and toured the various lounges, Cove Bar, Trader Sam's, etc. Got a Kitchen Sink from PCH Grill (a total let down, just go to girardhelli's instead, especially anyone who has had a kitchen sink at WDW). The corn dog castle was worth the calories! I could go for one right now! Boys liked Earl of Sandwich best, LOL, since it was near to DLH and they kept texting coupons, we hit it a few times.
I didn't take the Photopass photographers advice to look at my photos daily. Gulp, crossing my fingers, we shall see how many are actually there when I log in later today!
Let me know if you have any questions, I will try to answer! I didn't scratch the surface.
We are home now...just to bookend my arrival post (the only time I used my iPad the entire trip, how nice it felt to disconnect from life and re-connect with the family), we arrived home at 1:30 am last night *yawn*. Our plane out of SNA had mechanical problems, we flew to Vegas and, in a nice move on SW's part, they held the last plane to Denver until we (and two other families on our first flight) arrived.
We had a fantastic trip! Every one of my neurotic anxieties about crowds and weather turned out to be pretty much nothing. Yes, it was hot but, honestly, being 5200 feet closer to the sun here in CO must have improved my ability to deal, lol. Crowds seemed manageable to us, from a wait time perspective. Walking through the lands was exhausting at times. We tried to take nap break most days; on Monday, we returned to the room to take a nap around 4 pm and all 5 of us slept until 5 am the next morning, right through dinner. Guess we were a little tired.
We loved RSR so much. Rode it 5 times. My DH, oldest DS and I enjoyed California Screamin'. The castle looked great. Aladdin is the best show at any US Disney park. My two youngers were tall enough for Indiana Jones this trip and loved it. A couple times we stumbled on casual meet and greets including Pluto sitting on a bench by himself at DLH, so awesome. We were wearing Haunted Mansion shirts one day and the CMs there piled into our photos and then "stole" the phone and took a bunch of selfies of themselves...so sweet and a fun memory of our favorite ride! We did the Blue Bayou Fantasmic dining package. Food was, surprisingly great, and waterside table was enchanting. The Fantasmic seating was a bust though. The spot reserved for BB was way too small for the number of diners to all have a good view. We showed up 5 minutes before our FP time opened and we were at least 150 people back. My kids did not see well over the tall people in front and were too tired to stand. It wasn't anything like the positive experiences I have read here. As a result, my DH made me cancel our WOC dining package and just chance a regular FP. We showed up 30 minutes early for our FP time and none of us saw anything other than the lights higher up. Lol, oh well. Both shows, from what I saw, looked wonderful (Fantasmic was so much better than WDW's, for sure) but seeing them seems to be such an impossible challenge that I doubt we will try again.
We walked into see Olaf with no wait half an hour before park closing! Definitely do it then, a disboarder gave that advice and it worked like as charm! No one was waiting for Marshmallow at that time either.
We split between Hojo's and DL Hotel. Loved them both. We have stayed at Hojo's before and found it even better than the earlier trip. We stayed in a premium Disney view room and it was lovely, Paradise Pier was visible, along with DL icons. Most comfortable hotel beds EVER. Boys love watching monorail coast by. Only two things...water park noise was intense, even on the top floor of building 1, and I wish there were chairs on the balcony to enjoy the view. We would return in a heart beat.
So much about DL Hotel we loved, the decor, the grounds, the pool, Trader Sam's...but I had a terrible experience checking in. Long story but I don't want this to seem overly negative because it was a blip in an otherwise wonderful experience so pm if you want the full story, but the front desk CM was very dismissive that we used orbitz ("orbitz people don't get to make room requests" that is a quote and very untrue, of course) and her supervisor ("we don't have a manager on duty at 7 am so no you can't talk to him") was nearly as bad. You know it is bad when, as they went back to confer, another CM whom I won't out publicly whispered to me "You have got to report this! I am going to say something too." and a wonderful lady at Bell Services team handed us a bunch of guest recovery FPs, as we had missed MM by that point. So, it totally turned out ok, our room was in Fantasy Tower in the end and the FPs helped us, but, if the trip is important to you (as I have mentioned it was my DS's birthday celebration), be aware there is a bias against hotel discounters by some employees of DLH.
In addition to BB, we ate at Minnie's and Goofy's Kitchen (was not expecting this but we much preferred Minnie's!) and toured the various lounges, Cove Bar, Trader Sam's, etc. Got a Kitchen Sink from PCH Grill (a total let down, just go to girardhelli's instead, especially anyone who has had a kitchen sink at WDW). The corn dog castle was worth the calories! I could go for one right now! Boys liked Earl of Sandwich best, LOL, since it was near to DLH and they kept texting coupons, we hit it a few times.
I didn't take the Photopass photographers advice to look at my photos daily. Gulp, crossing my fingers, we shall see how many are actually there when I log in later today!
Let me know if you have any questions, I will try to answer! I didn't scratch the surface.
