Presidents' Day Week.... February 2017

Piglet99645

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 27, 2005
Got back a few days ago from 5 days at Disneyland. Luckily it was not my first rodeo, because it was CROWDED. I had debated between this week and our spring break dates in March, and according to touringplans.com, Sunday and Monday of Presidents' day weekend were supposed to be crowded, but Tuesday-Thursday should have been light. Not so. To be fair, the last three days there were less people in the walkways, but the lines were just as long, so I think Disney also accurately accounted for the reduced crowd numbers by reducing the ride capacity.

I usually like to do a day-by-day trip report, but I didn't take a laptop along this time so I'll just hit the highlights.

Disney is always fantastic. I love it. My kids love it. And even my ex-husband loves it. We still take the kids together as often as possible. So any complaining here is just a heads up for anybody planning.

We stayed at the Anabella. I'm not sure I would stay there again. The walk was just a bit too far for me (I prefer to get my steps in the park) and the kids, but it was certainly do-able. Because you can no longer cut through the Grand Cali when entering (you can still exit through the hotel to get back to the Anabella) you have to walk down to the Disneyland Hotel entrance and walk the length of Downtown Disney to get to the parks. Much farther than staying at BWPPI or Desert Inn and Suites or even the Anaheim Plaza, and I complained about that one last time I was there. :) Maybe if we didn't do a mid-day break I wouldn't mind making the walk twice a day, but four times was just a bit much for my tired legs. Also I never got a hot morning shower at the Anabella. They just don't seem to have the water capacity to handle the park-goers who want to shower in the morning. I did get a hot shower on day 5 at Noon when we came back to check out after Magic Morning. All that being said, the breakfast food was fantastic. The pool looked nice. Lots of convenience items in a shop on the property. Restaurant next door (didn't eat there). Also happy hour. We had the biggest room they offer and it was adequate for a family of 4 that requires three beds and a bit of privacy for changing (big bathroom). The lack of a sink outside the bathroom was annoying, though.

We go against a lot of advice due to time constraints and the timing of travel from Alaska. So we go to the parks on travel days. Not ideal, but it is what it is.

Sunday Feb. 19 - Arrived at SNA at 9am, took a cab to the Anabella. They held our bags for us (no charge, just a tip). They did pre-checkin since the room wasn't ready. We headed to the parks. Rainy AND crowded. I've never experienced that before. Fireworks were cancelled that night due to high winds, so Monday was our only chance to see the fireworks. Despite the high crowds they did not add them on Tuesday or Wednesday.

We had full days there on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday we did Magic Morning, then returned to the hotel at noon for showers and a 1pm checkout (special for club members with the room we got). Gave our bags to the bellhop again (they will come to your room to get them). Back to the parks until 4pm, called our cab, he picked us up at the hotel at 5, back to SNA by 5:30 for a 7pm flight.

Despite spending a lot of time on touringplans.com prior to this trip (I always use that or Ridemax), and despite having the Lines app and the Disneyland app on my phone, we had more trouble than usual negotiating the parks this trip due to the crowds. My family is good at maximizing the Fastpass runner, and foregoing one long line to do three short lines elsewhere. (Delayed gratification). But the apps did not have accurate wait times most of the week. Not sure why, as they have always been pretty accurate in the past. I think the apps just couldn't keep up with reality. They would both say 15 minute wait for a ride that had a posted (and actual) 50 minute wait. I also discovered that crisscrossing the park (our usual strategy to get more rides in, even though it's more walking) just wasn't practical with four people when it was that crowded. Not to mention the trail from Frontierland to Fantasyland is closed for the Star Wars construction, so that creates a bigger clog between Frontierland and the Hub.

I also ran into more temporary ride closures than usual. Rides kept going down. We started to wonder if they just "faked" a ride closure now and then to clear out the clog of people. Also I've never been there with so many rides closed for refurb at the same time (Matterhorn, Pirates, Railroad, the Riverboats, the Island, the Canoes, GRR, Mickey's Fun Wheel). So this made all the other rides more crowded, making the crowds feel bigger than they were.

I think AP days also created some crowding, as there were extra events happening and lines forming for those in areas that lines don't usually form, making traffic problems and confusion for guests who didn't know what the line was for.

We got to do every ride on our family's wish list at least once (often more) with the exception of Alice and Peter Pan. We just never quite got there early enough. Even on Magic Morning we were in the parks by 8:15 (MM started at 8) and Pan was already 45 minutes by the time we went directly there. We also missed Goofy's Sky School, but we could have done it and opted to skip (I was the only one who wanted to go).

Some firsts for us:


Jolly Holiday Bakery - Food was good, and two sandwiches and one kids meal was sufficient for the 4 of us for a light lunch.

Star Wars Launch Bay - This was a nice diversion, and if you aren't into Star Wars it's a good chance to sit down in the dark and relax a bit. I ran right into Boba Fett who was pacing around waiting for his meet and greet, and he scared the crap out of me. LInes for meets with Darth Vader and Chewbacca were also forming........ I was tempted, but the kids weren't interested.

Build-a-Bear - I've had a gift card for this place in my purse for seven years, but we don't have one where we live. I told my daughter she could use it in DTD on this trip, and it was way more fun than I expected to pick out the bear, stuff it, get the birth certificate, etc. (Darth Vader bear comes already costumed, so you save money there not having to buy the separate costume, although we did splurge on the Imperial March music insert and a lightsaber).

California Screamin - My daughter and I did it for the first time ever, together. It was also my last time. She LOVED it and went four more times with her dad.

Best Parts

Splash
- Lost track of how many times we did it, with standby, FP, and ultimately Single Rider over and over. It's my kids' favorite, and now they are both old enough to go single rider. First trip through the ride broke down after the big drop while we were approaching the exit. We had to get off the hard way, and got a free FP for our trouble. We used it for our first Hyperspace Mountain (which was awesome, I think we did it 5-6 times always using FP), which was 110 minute wait almost the entire week.

Plaza Inn Breakfast - This is a tradition for us, and always fun. This was the first time that all the characters didn't get to our table, which was weird, but they weren't characters we missed (like Hook). I was disappointed that there was no Piglet, and was told that Piglet is "rare" at that breakfast, although I've seen him before.

Radiator Springs Racers - having never successfully gotten Fastpasses, we finally decided on Day 4 to just stand in the single rider line. It was long but only took about a half hour, so definitely worth it as the standby wait was up to 120 minutes at one point. A guy in line gave my daughter a pink ballerina Minnie trading pin, saying that he had obtained it earlier in the day and was waiting to see a little girl in line to give it to. Very nice. I enjoy talking to people in line.

Toon Town - even though my kids are 16 and 11 we love Toon Town. My 16 year old son declared the play area next to Roger Rabbit as "The best part of Disneyland. So many buttons!!"

Electric Light Parade - my daughter's first time seeing it. One of my favorite things, and one of the few parades I think are worth missing rides for.

Money-Saving tips from this trip

1. I said "no" to all drinks for me and the kids other than water. Not only is water better for you, but it cut down every meal by $3-12 depending on how many people wanted soft drinks or juice. Water was of course free at all restaurants, and occasionally I had to buy a bottle of water if we lost ours and couldn't refill it. But this saved probably $100 in 5 days.

2. I started taking photos of everything that I saw that I wanted, and waited until day 4 to make a purchase. I had a $100 bill in my purse that I was not willing to break until I was sure I had found the perfect thing that I really REALLY wanted. I ended up getting a fleecy lined grey hooded jacket, both because I was cold and because I knew I would wear it a lot at home.

3. I packed some food in the suitcase. Bread (In a shoebox so it wouldn't get squashed), peanut butter, jelly, bagels, cream cheese, a box of cereal. Paper cups and bowls. My kids aren't big eaters, so feeding them 3 meals in the park would have been a waste. They were happy with these familiar items in the room at breakfast, or on a break, or before bed. We generally ate one meal in the parks, plus snacks like pretzels or dole whip or ice cream. Plus then there was plenty of room in the suitcase coming home.

4. I gave both kids their allowance "on credit" for the trip, and every time they wanted something I asked if that was what they REALLY wanted to spend their allowance on. Usually they said no. No fighting because I never had to say no. :) (Although my daughter has told me I've taken all the fun out of shopping with this approach, which I also do at home).

Favorite Foods

Plaza Inn
character breakfast

Pizza Port The food at this place in Tomorrowland is pretty good, and beats the hamburgers at Galactic Grill. A shared order of spaghetti with meatballs was more food than my daughter and I could eat. We ate there twice.

Lucky Fortune (CA) potstickers (one order was almost a meal for my daughter)

Mexican Grill (CA) - I've eaten here before and been "meh," but this time I got the steak tacos and they were AMAZING and enough for a full meal for me and a snack for one more person.

Pacific Wharf Cafe (CA) - Potato soup in a breadbowl. One order was enough for two to share.

Taco salad at Rancho del Zocalo in DL was very good. It also had the shortest line of the three lines in that restaurant.



Changes from prior trips

Can't walk through Grand Californian if entering off Disneyland Drive

Soarin' no longer has a single rider option

Trail from Frontierland to Fantasyland is closed for Star Wars construction.

With the railroad down, I realized how much I usually use the RR to get from one side of the park to another.

All in all, a fun five days. Already anxious to go back, and I've only been home 5 days!
 
Sounds like you had a great trip! The no hot water would have had me heading to the front desk - that is a must have, IMO. Thanks for the tips on favorite foods - we're heading there in April and that's useful info to have. We also share meals at theme parks as usually the quantity is way more than 1 person can eat. Plus it leaves room for desserts!!! The shoe box idea is a good one. We usually bring snacks if we're checking a bag but we've stuck to things that can't be crushed. Now I can expand our options. I totally agree with your shopping strategy - I use a similar approach with my 14yo. When we go shopping now she asks "what's my budget?" and then it's amazing what a bargain hunter she can be instead of her previous method of not even looking at price tags!!!
 
Weird, they were calling for single riders for Soarin' when I was there on the 13th.

Sounds as if you had an amazing trip and I have to admit, I admire your strength to saying no to anything but water in terms of beverages!
 
Weird, they were calling for single riders for Soarin' when I was there on the 13th.

Sounds as if you had an amazing trip and I have to admit, I admire your strength to saying no to anything but water in terms of beverages!

That is weird. The map no longer reflects a single rider option ... and I didn't see a sign anywhere. It's amazing how fast Disney can change things.

I snuck in a Coke a couple of times for myself. ;) mom needs her caffeine.
 


This is the first reference I've seen to Boba Fett being at the Launch Bay. Now I am even more excited about my upcoming trip.
 
This is the first reference I've seen to Boba Fett being at the Launch Bay. Now I am even more excited about my upcoming trip.

Rereading my own trip report. :) Wondering if you ever got to see Boba Fett, and did you love The Mandalorian? :)
 

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