rgoble5972
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2001
Dates: December 13-17, 2001
Travel Method: Plane, Super Shuttle
Resort: Grand Californian
Accomodations: Concierge room
Ages: Adult
Experience: Frequent
CAST
Robin/Me - age 38, trip planner
Paula/Sister - age 28
Wes/Brother-in-law (husband of Paula) - age 28
Sunday, December 16, 2001
"I don't care if I get a pimple the size of my head...I'm not washing my face!"
Plan: DCA
This morning we were up at 7:30. Last night we originally planned to make it to Disneyland by 9:00, but since there is no Magic Morning on Sunday, we decided to go to Disneyland early tomorrow morning to video It's a Small World and the Haunted Mansion and start out at California Adventure today instead. We had a message on our phone when we woke up that the hotel was having an activity from 7:00 to 9:00 this morning in the Hearthstone Lounge where you could make fan mail to send to your favorite Disney character. They would supply the materials and make sure that the mail was hand-delivered to the characters. We had breakfast in the lounge and had the concierge CM make arrangements for a shuttle to take us to the airport tomorrow. Ugh, it was going to pick us up at 10:10! We had hoped to have more time than that since our plane doesn't leave until 1:40, but I guess they know how much time it takes to pick everybody up and make it to the airport in plenty of time.
We were ready to go before California Adventure opened so we looked around in the Acorn gift shop for a few minutes before we took the hotel entrance into DCA. We immediately got Fast Passes for Soarin' (return time 11:10-12:10) and then headed to Hollywood to see Muppet Vision 3D. After enjoying the Muppets we decided to give Superstar Limo a try.
Okay, I have to admit that this ride is every bit as cheesy as I had heard. The brochure describes it as "a simple, silly ride" and even that is a bit of an overstatement. The idea is that you are arriving at LAX and are hustled into a limo, signed by an agent and taken on a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles before arriving at your movie premiere. At some point in the ride (we didn't know they did this, so we didn't notice where the picture is taken) they take your picture riding in your limo and, when you arrive at your movie premiere, they show the picture on a big screen. Well our picture was hysterical. Both Wes and I were sitting with these blank expressions on our faces--not a smile in sight. But Paula had this look of total puzzlement on her face like she was desperately trying to figure out why on earth they even made this ride! It was priceless. I swear if they sold those pictures I would have paid any amount of money to have a copy. We came off of the ride doubled over with laughter over the picture. I'm sure that people about to get on the ride were excited that the ride was going to be so much fun that people were still laughing even after they got off! Poor saps!
After we regained our composure, we made our way back to Soarin' Over California. This time we were on the first row so we were the highest up in front of the screen. Next, we got Fast Passes for Grizzly River Rapids (under protest from Paula who had had enough of being wet after our first rainy day) and then headed to the Sun Wheel to ride with Wes in one of the cages that doesn't slide. After that we played some skee-ball and looked through some shops until time for our Fast Pass.
Grizzly River Rapids is quite a bit longer than Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom in WDW. I guess Disney did listen to everyone's complaints about that. It also has two long drops instead of just one. Also, you get to go up close to Grizzly Peak and see some of the details on the bear. I must say that I have terrible luck with these rides. If a seat is going to get wet, that's the seat that I'll be in. Sure enough, we all got pretty wet but I was the only one soaked through to their underwear! Luckily, this ride lets out right by the entrance to the Grand Californian so we just went straight to our room and changed into dry clothes.
Wes wanted his jeans dry for tonight so we decided to put them in the dryer while we grabbed something for lunch. It was now 1:45 and we found the laundry on the second floor and then went to White Water Snacks for something to eat. White Water Snacks is the fast food and self-service snack bar at the Grand Californian. We each got a foot long chili cheese dog with fries, three sodas, a piece of pecan pie and a brownie ($27.99). We noticed that they do have refillable mugs available here so you can get unlimited soft drinks during your stay. The snack shop is located right by the swimming pools and had a good selection of snack foods, cold sandwiches and salads, fruit and vegetable trays, and grill items.
After lunch, we picked up the jeans for Wes, then Paula and I waited in the lobby while he ran upstairs to change. Then we headed to Downtown Disney by 3:00. We started at World of Disney, went back to Tin Pan Alley, stopped in at Hoypoloi (glass art and collectibles), went to the Lego store (where we saw a great Darth Vader and R2D2 built out of Legos), stopped in the Marceline Candy Store, and were back in our room by 5:30. Paula and I took the video camera out to the 5th floor observation deck to take some pictures of California Adventure while Wes rested. Then, Paula and I went to the lounge to get some snacks. Tonight they had some tasty shrimp and cream cheese tartlets as well as the usual cheese and cracker assortment.
Paula and Wes were headed back to Disneyland and I begged off to give them (and me) some time alone. I knew that this would be the last chance I would have to take some video of the hotel and I wanted to do some more shopping. After they left I took the video camera downstairs and took some pictures of the lobby, the wedding pavilion, and the Paradise Pier area at DCA. I took some film of the front of the hotel and talked with one of the security guards for about 20 minutes about DCA and all of the changes at the Disneyland Resort.
I went back to the lobby and saw that Santa Claus was back so I sat a while to listen to the piano player and watch Santa talk to the kids. I must say that their Santa was great. When I first got there he had a boy and a girl sitting on his lap and the little girl could not keep her hands out of his beard. She stroked it and played with it while Santa talked to them. They were talking with Santa and you could tell he was truly interested in what they were saying. After those kids left Santa spotted a boy who looked to be about 10 years old. The boy's mother had tried to make him go over and talk to Santa earlier while Santa had the kids on his lap but you could tell the boy thought he was too old for such silliness. Santa motioned for the boy to come over to him and the boy reluctantly went. You could tell that Santa was asking about some of the pins the boy had on his lanyard and they were soon deep in conversation. When the boy left he actually skipped over to his mother and began to tell her all about Santa!
Now there were no more children waiting in line to see Santa so he got up and went around the lobby and found kids to visit with. He would get down in the floor with the children and talk directly to them. By the time Santa made it back to his chair there was a mother bringing her four-year old boy to see him and the little boy wanted nothing to do with Santa! Santa left the boy in his mother's arms and began to talk to him. The boy had a football on his shirt and Santa asked the boy if he liked to play football. When the boy said "yes," Santa asked if he liked to catch the ball or throw the ball the best. The little boy replied that he liked catching the ball so Santa asked if he ran with the ball when he caught it. When the little boy agreed that he did, indeed, run with the ball Santa asked if the boy could show him how well he ran.
The little boy hopped down and began to run around the hotel lobby. Santa praised the little boy's running ability and said, "Come give me a high-five for running." The little boy, forgetting his fear, went right over to Santa and gave him a high-five. That was all it took. Soon the little boy was on Santa's lap talking like they were old friends. I later told Paula, leave it to Disney to get the real Santa Claus on their payroll!
About this time a storyteller showed up by the fireplace. He was wearing a backpack with camping gear hanging off of it. I moved closer to the fire so I could listen to him. He gave some information about the hotel--how the huge lights in the lobby were designed to look like pine cones complete with needles on the shades. And he talked a bit about California Adventure--how California Screamin' is the world's only magnetic roller coaster. He then told a couple of stories about bears to the children sitting by the fireplace.
After he left, I got up and walked out to Downtown Disney. I watched some of the street performers for a while and then walked towards the Disneyland Hotel. I looked through some pin carts and then took some video of the Disneyland Hotel's Christmas tree and lights. I walked through the lobby and looked through their gift shops then headed back to Downtown Disney stopping to look through a jewelry store and get a big pretzel before going back to the room.
I made it back to the room at 8:30. I went to the lounge to pick up a diet coke and I noticed that they had the lounge ready for the nightly bedtime stories. They had cleared out the middle of the room and had put down two blankets and a bunch of fluffy pillows for the kids to lay on. The also had milk and cookies ready. I got my coke and a couple of cookies and went back to the room. I called home, updated my notes and then heard the fireworks at Disneyland begin. I went out to the balcony and was pleased to note that I could see them over the roof of the hotel. I sat out on the balcony and watched the fireworks and then watched the monorail run through the courtyard for a while before going back inside.
Paula and Wes came in at 10:00 (they rode Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion, shopped, and watched the fireworks and snow). We caught up on each others' activities and got ready for bed because we knew we were going to have to get up at 5:00 the next morning so we could be packed before we went to early entry at 7:30. Paula exclaimed that she was so tired that she was going straight to bed. "I don't care if I get a pimple the size of my head...I'm not washing my face!" she said. We were in bed by 11:45.
Travel Method: Plane, Super Shuttle
Resort: Grand Californian
Accomodations: Concierge room
Ages: Adult
Experience: Frequent
CAST
Robin/Me - age 38, trip planner
Paula/Sister - age 28
Wes/Brother-in-law (husband of Paula) - age 28
Sunday, December 16, 2001
"I don't care if I get a pimple the size of my head...I'm not washing my face!"
Plan: DCA
This morning we were up at 7:30. Last night we originally planned to make it to Disneyland by 9:00, but since there is no Magic Morning on Sunday, we decided to go to Disneyland early tomorrow morning to video It's a Small World and the Haunted Mansion and start out at California Adventure today instead. We had a message on our phone when we woke up that the hotel was having an activity from 7:00 to 9:00 this morning in the Hearthstone Lounge where you could make fan mail to send to your favorite Disney character. They would supply the materials and make sure that the mail was hand-delivered to the characters. We had breakfast in the lounge and had the concierge CM make arrangements for a shuttle to take us to the airport tomorrow. Ugh, it was going to pick us up at 10:10! We had hoped to have more time than that since our plane doesn't leave until 1:40, but I guess they know how much time it takes to pick everybody up and make it to the airport in plenty of time.
We were ready to go before California Adventure opened so we looked around in the Acorn gift shop for a few minutes before we took the hotel entrance into DCA. We immediately got Fast Passes for Soarin' (return time 11:10-12:10) and then headed to Hollywood to see Muppet Vision 3D. After enjoying the Muppets we decided to give Superstar Limo a try.
Okay, I have to admit that this ride is every bit as cheesy as I had heard. The brochure describes it as "a simple, silly ride" and even that is a bit of an overstatement. The idea is that you are arriving at LAX and are hustled into a limo, signed by an agent and taken on a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles before arriving at your movie premiere. At some point in the ride (we didn't know they did this, so we didn't notice where the picture is taken) they take your picture riding in your limo and, when you arrive at your movie premiere, they show the picture on a big screen. Well our picture was hysterical. Both Wes and I were sitting with these blank expressions on our faces--not a smile in sight. But Paula had this look of total puzzlement on her face like she was desperately trying to figure out why on earth they even made this ride! It was priceless. I swear if they sold those pictures I would have paid any amount of money to have a copy. We came off of the ride doubled over with laughter over the picture. I'm sure that people about to get on the ride were excited that the ride was going to be so much fun that people were still laughing even after they got off! Poor saps!
After we regained our composure, we made our way back to Soarin' Over California. This time we were on the first row so we were the highest up in front of the screen. Next, we got Fast Passes for Grizzly River Rapids (under protest from Paula who had had enough of being wet after our first rainy day) and then headed to the Sun Wheel to ride with Wes in one of the cages that doesn't slide. After that we played some skee-ball and looked through some shops until time for our Fast Pass.
Grizzly River Rapids is quite a bit longer than Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom in WDW. I guess Disney did listen to everyone's complaints about that. It also has two long drops instead of just one. Also, you get to go up close to Grizzly Peak and see some of the details on the bear. I must say that I have terrible luck with these rides. If a seat is going to get wet, that's the seat that I'll be in. Sure enough, we all got pretty wet but I was the only one soaked through to their underwear! Luckily, this ride lets out right by the entrance to the Grand Californian so we just went straight to our room and changed into dry clothes.
Wes wanted his jeans dry for tonight so we decided to put them in the dryer while we grabbed something for lunch. It was now 1:45 and we found the laundry on the second floor and then went to White Water Snacks for something to eat. White Water Snacks is the fast food and self-service snack bar at the Grand Californian. We each got a foot long chili cheese dog with fries, three sodas, a piece of pecan pie and a brownie ($27.99). We noticed that they do have refillable mugs available here so you can get unlimited soft drinks during your stay. The snack shop is located right by the swimming pools and had a good selection of snack foods, cold sandwiches and salads, fruit and vegetable trays, and grill items.
After lunch, we picked up the jeans for Wes, then Paula and I waited in the lobby while he ran upstairs to change. Then we headed to Downtown Disney by 3:00. We started at World of Disney, went back to Tin Pan Alley, stopped in at Hoypoloi (glass art and collectibles), went to the Lego store (where we saw a great Darth Vader and R2D2 built out of Legos), stopped in the Marceline Candy Store, and were back in our room by 5:30. Paula and I took the video camera out to the 5th floor observation deck to take some pictures of California Adventure while Wes rested. Then, Paula and I went to the lounge to get some snacks. Tonight they had some tasty shrimp and cream cheese tartlets as well as the usual cheese and cracker assortment.
Paula and Wes were headed back to Disneyland and I begged off to give them (and me) some time alone. I knew that this would be the last chance I would have to take some video of the hotel and I wanted to do some more shopping. After they left I took the video camera downstairs and took some pictures of the lobby, the wedding pavilion, and the Paradise Pier area at DCA. I took some film of the front of the hotel and talked with one of the security guards for about 20 minutes about DCA and all of the changes at the Disneyland Resort.
I went back to the lobby and saw that Santa Claus was back so I sat a while to listen to the piano player and watch Santa talk to the kids. I must say that their Santa was great. When I first got there he had a boy and a girl sitting on his lap and the little girl could not keep her hands out of his beard. She stroked it and played with it while Santa talked to them. They were talking with Santa and you could tell he was truly interested in what they were saying. After those kids left Santa spotted a boy who looked to be about 10 years old. The boy's mother had tried to make him go over and talk to Santa earlier while Santa had the kids on his lap but you could tell the boy thought he was too old for such silliness. Santa motioned for the boy to come over to him and the boy reluctantly went. You could tell that Santa was asking about some of the pins the boy had on his lanyard and they were soon deep in conversation. When the boy left he actually skipped over to his mother and began to tell her all about Santa!
Now there were no more children waiting in line to see Santa so he got up and went around the lobby and found kids to visit with. He would get down in the floor with the children and talk directly to them. By the time Santa made it back to his chair there was a mother bringing her four-year old boy to see him and the little boy wanted nothing to do with Santa! Santa left the boy in his mother's arms and began to talk to him. The boy had a football on his shirt and Santa asked the boy if he liked to play football. When the boy said "yes," Santa asked if he liked to catch the ball or throw the ball the best. The little boy replied that he liked catching the ball so Santa asked if he ran with the ball when he caught it. When the little boy agreed that he did, indeed, run with the ball Santa asked if the boy could show him how well he ran.
The little boy hopped down and began to run around the hotel lobby. Santa praised the little boy's running ability and said, "Come give me a high-five for running." The little boy, forgetting his fear, went right over to Santa and gave him a high-five. That was all it took. Soon the little boy was on Santa's lap talking like they were old friends. I later told Paula, leave it to Disney to get the real Santa Claus on their payroll!
About this time a storyteller showed up by the fireplace. He was wearing a backpack with camping gear hanging off of it. I moved closer to the fire so I could listen to him. He gave some information about the hotel--how the huge lights in the lobby were designed to look like pine cones complete with needles on the shades. And he talked a bit about California Adventure--how California Screamin' is the world's only magnetic roller coaster. He then told a couple of stories about bears to the children sitting by the fireplace.
After he left, I got up and walked out to Downtown Disney. I watched some of the street performers for a while and then walked towards the Disneyland Hotel. I looked through some pin carts and then took some video of the Disneyland Hotel's Christmas tree and lights. I walked through the lobby and looked through their gift shops then headed back to Downtown Disney stopping to look through a jewelry store and get a big pretzel before going back to the room.
I made it back to the room at 8:30. I went to the lounge to pick up a diet coke and I noticed that they had the lounge ready for the nightly bedtime stories. They had cleared out the middle of the room and had put down two blankets and a bunch of fluffy pillows for the kids to lay on. The also had milk and cookies ready. I got my coke and a couple of cookies and went back to the room. I called home, updated my notes and then heard the fireworks at Disneyland begin. I went out to the balcony and was pleased to note that I could see them over the roof of the hotel. I sat out on the balcony and watched the fireworks and then watched the monorail run through the courtyard for a while before going back inside.
Paula and Wes came in at 10:00 (they rode Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion, shopped, and watched the fireworks and snow). We caught up on each others' activities and got ready for bed because we knew we were going to have to get up at 5:00 the next morning so we could be packed before we went to early entry at 7:30. Paula exclaimed that she was so tired that she was going straight to bed. "I don't care if I get a pimple the size of my head...I'm not washing my face!" she said. We were in bed by 11:45.
