We were there July19-21 -trip report

[kristie73]

So we left at 6am on Monday morning and drove up from San Diego. It took us about an hour and a half. We checked into the Disneyland hotel, but our room wasn't ready. So we took the monorail to Tomorrowland. We did Nemo first. It was about a 15-20 minute wait. I'm glad we did the ride, but I think it's lame. Then I got the boys (ages 3 and 7) on the Matterhorn. The line was about 20 minutes. My boys did not like this ride. It was too dark and fast for their 2nd ride I guess. But I liked it. We got a fast pass for Autopia. We walked to Main Street. Looked at the fire engine. We saw Donald and Pluto, but the lines were too long for pictures. We got First Visit buttons at one of the stores rather than City Hall. We took the train to New Orleans square. Then we on Winnie the Pooh. We also did pictures with Pooh and Tigger. We did Pirates of Carribean and the Pirate Ship. We didn't get to the Haunted Mansion. We ate lunch at Hungry Bear restaurant. We got a Fast Pass for Thunder Mountain Railroad and we did Autopia and headed back on the Monorail to Downtown Disney. Finally our room was ready. I was really disappointed with the view considering I thought I had reservations for a pool view. Anyway I'm over it now. It was a renovated standard room on the 3rd floor facing trees and downtown disney. We napped in the room. Then headed to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. That was a hit! Then back in the park, we did the Tiki Room. They really liked those birds. We got on the Jungle Cruise. We used our Fast Pass for Thunder Mountain Railroad. We got almost through and the ride shut down. I'm not sure what happened. So we went to the fireworks area and found a spot. It was to the right of the castle near Pixie Hollow. It was an okay spot. Some trees blocked the castle. Then we did Star Tours. My 3 year old made it on (I don't think he's quite 40 inches though). Back to the hotel. Whew!

The 2nd day was Magic Morning. We walked through the front at 6:45 and waited at the check point. Once in the parks, we did Peter Pan first. That was smart, because that line got long fast. We did all those rides in Fantasyland. My youngest really didn't like Mr. Toad's ride. They liked Dumbo, the Circus train, teacups, and Peter Pan the best. Alice in Wonderland was closed. We did It's a Small World and Mickey's Toon Town. We saw Goofy and Pluto. Minnie and Mickey were too long. I don't think my kids like the Roger Rabbit ride and Gadget coaster. We got fast passes again for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We waited 45-50 minutes for Indiana Jones. My 7 year old was scared on this. His head was down the entire ride. Then they did the treehouse with my husband. We ate at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. But got my boys corn dogs because they didn't have quesadilla. Then we tried BTMR again with our fast passes. Got all the way to the front and they wouldnt let my 3 year old ride. He cried! We rented a stroller for my 7 year old. Then we finally headed to California Adenture. We did Monsters Inc. That was a long wait for this ride 20 minutes. We watched the Muppets and Playhouse Disney. My kids loved this and it was a nice afternoon break. We missed Turtle Talk with Crush? We did the Rolly Polly Bumper cars. This is too long of a wait, 30 minutes? And the cars go slow. Lame ride. We did the catepillar too. My youngest fell asleep in the stroller. So my 7 year old went into the Brother Bear Redwood Play area. While sitting on the benches waiting with my sleeping son, I missed someone stealing our just rented Disneyland stroller, so when my tired 7 year old came out of the play area he was really disappointed his stroller was gone. We watched the Pixar Parade. That was cool. Then we did Goofy's Kitchen. I was disappointed this time. I think there should be more than just 6 characters - Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Minnie, and Aurora. Everyone was dead tired, so we just went back to the room.

The 3rd day we checked out, loaded bags in the car, then went in via the Monorail and then took the train to Main Street. The boys loved the dinosaurs. We shopped, took more pictures. We went in the castle and did the teacups again for some reason. Then we went to California Adventure. We tried to get to Toy Story Mania quickly, but we saw a short line for Mickey Mouse so stopped for him. Then stood for an hour for Toy Story Mania. This was too long for the kids. We really were tired. We took pictures with Lightning McQueen and Mater. We shopped too. We finally went back to the hotel and did the pool. We ate lunch at the pool. It was blah. The pool is nice. I wish the bathroom, changing area was bigger.

We had a great time. A few hiccups and misses. But you just can't do it all. We all got tired and cranky a few times. We left around 4pm and got back into San Diego around 6pm. A little traffic, but not nightmarish. Anyway we did Sea World the next day. It was lot of walking, but glad we all experienced it. Many memories.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions. You helped me plan well.

 

[Sherry E]

Seems like it was a good trip overall! I'm not a big Nemo Sub fan either (love the movie but not the ride). I love Rainforest Cafe too!

I don't know if I missed it but which hotel did you stay in? Was it the Disneyland Hotel?

The Goofy's thing - well, I adore Goofy's Kitchen and they have actually added characters in the last couple of years. It used to be only 5, but now there could be up to 8 characters at any given time. You just happened to get there on a day when there were 6. But as I explained in another thread, the situation with the lack of characters is not at all exclusive to Goofy's. This is what you will find at all of the character meals except for Minnie & Friends, sadly. They are all expensive, and all of the rest of them have about 5 characters, but Goofy's has the most food and the biggest variety of food. Goofy's actually has the most characters after Minnie & Friends. Surf's Up, Ariel's and the Critter Breakfast all have 5 or less.

It's too bad - I am not sure why Disney has put so many characters at one place but kind of ignored the other character meals in that way. Fortunately, for me - and I know that not everyone feels this way - I love the food at GK and I would eat there even without characters, but it just so happens that I have always had really good character interaction and the number of characters does not bother me. I just don't know why DLR focuses so much on Minnie & Friends in terms of characters and ignores the other places.

 

[kristie73]

Here's a link to my other pre trip report post.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2517705

 

[kristie73]

Oh sorry, it is the Disneyland Hotel. I really liked the hotel. It was our first time. And the rennovated rooms are very nice. I just was slightly disappointed in my non-view room. We could kind of see the fireworks though.

And oops your right it was 6 characters at Goofy's Kitchen, I guess I think of Chip and Dale as one. And you really don't see Pluto in the restaurant either; just before you go in. So 5 characters at your table. We went when my son turned 4 a few years ago during Veteran's Day weekend and we saw a few more characters. The food was fantastic. My kids didn't eat near the cost, but who does? It's not the point.

We had a great time. When I'm ready to plan again, I may not do the summer months. I think it was crowded especially in California Adventure.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Sounds like it was mostly a good trip. You packed a lot in a short stretch of time with such young kids.

I agree with you about Nemo. It's not one of my favorite rides, and my boys rarely ask to do it. No one in our family is willing to wait more than 15 minutes for it.

We have stayed at the Disneyland Hotel only once. We also got a renovated room but with a better view than you described. I think it's kind of luck though because when I booked, I was told that I would get either a DtD view or a pool view but I could not be guaranteed one or the other. We got DtD and wanted that, so we were happy.

The Toy Story line is a tough one. There's just almost no way to get on that ride with less than a 40 minute wait. We waited an hour on Sunday evening. Sure you can wait at rope drop, but you're still waiting somewhere for 40 minutes, just not in the ride queue. Plus, sometimes the ride breaks down. We waited at rope drop on Monday morning so we could ride TSMM as our last ride before going home that morning. We made it all the way into the queue just before the 3D glasses when the ride broke down and they sent everyone away. It wasn't back up before we left, and even if it had been we no longer had time to wait in a 40 minute + line.

I figure 6 characters is a typical Goofy's visit these days. I think during our first visit several years ago we saw 7 or 8, but 5 or 6 seems to be the norm now. It's kind of a bummer since the price has only gone up since, but it is what it is.

About the stroller, I know this probably wouldn't help a whole lot in your particular instance, but I believe you could go back to stroller rental and get another one with your receipt if you explained what happened. Of course, the problem is that stroller rental is all the way out in the esplanade and you were at Redwood Creek. Just for future reference though should this happen again in the middle of the day. That really stunk!

 

[kristie73]

About the stroller, I know this probably wouldn't help a whole lot in your particular instance, but I believe you could go back to stroller rental and get another one with your receipt if you explained what happened. Of course, the problem is that stroller rental is all the way out in the esplanade and you were at Redwood Creek. Just for future reference though should this happen again in the middle of the day. That really stunk!

Yeah, I knew we could go back and get another stroller, but it was out of the way and we just sat and watched the Pixar parade, then we would have had to turn it in anyway to head to Goofy's Kitchen. It really did stink. I felt bad for my tired 7 year old.

 

[Sherry E]

Sounds like it was mostly a good trip. You packed a lot in a short stretch of time with such young kids.

I agree with you about Nemo. It's not one of my favorite rides, and my boys rarely ask to do it. No one in our family is willing to wait more than 15 minutes for it.

We have stayed at the Disneyland Hotel only once. We also got a renovated room but with a better view than you described. I think it's kind of luck though because when I booked, I was told that I would get either a DtD view or a pool view but I could not be guaranteed one or the other. We got DtD and wanted that, so we were happy.

The Toy Story line is a tough one. There's just almost no way to get on that ride with less than a 40 minute wait. We waited an hour on Sunday evening. Sure you can wait at rope drop, but you're still waiting somewhere for 40 minutes, just not in the ride queue. Plus, sometimes the ride breaks down. We waited at rope drop on Monday morning so we could ride TSMM as our last ride before going home that morning. We made it all the way into the queue just before the 3D glasses when the ride broke down and they sent everyone away. It wasn't back up before we left, and even if it had been we no longer had time to wait in a 40 minute + line.

I figure 6 characters is a typical Goofy's visit these days. I think during our first visit several years ago we saw 7 or 8, but 5 or 6 seems to be the norm now. It's kind of a bummer since the price has only gone up since, but it is what it is.

About the stroller, I know this probably wouldn't help a whole lot in your particular instance, but I believe you could go back to stroller rental and get another one with your receipt if you explained what happened. Of course, the problem is that stroller rental is all the way out in the esplanade and you were at Redwood Creek. Just for future reference though should this happen again in the middle of the day. That really stunk!

It's been the opposite for us at Goofy's. We always see about 7-8 characters now (sometimes there may be one hiding on the other side of the restaurant). We used to always see 5, but we noticed they have added some in the last couple of years. I think how many you see just depends on when you go. It's just luck, I suppose. Back in the early, early '90s, there were more characters onsite at GK because that was the only character meal. Now they have to kind of spread out the characters among 5 different places, and Minnie & Friends always wins out in the number of characters. As I stated in my post above, all the character meals suffer from a lack of characters except for M&F, for some unknown reason. If anything, sometimes you might only see 4 or 5 at the Critter Breakfast, Surf's Up or Ariel's. At least at Goofy's you have a shot at possibly seeing 7 or 8 (though not at every meal).

 

[silence]

It's been the opposite for us at Goofy's. We always see about 7-8 characters now (sometimes there may be one hiding on the other side of the restaurant). We used to always see 5, but we noticed they have added some in the last couple of years. I think how many you see just depends on when you go. It's just luck, I suppose. Back in the early, early '90s, there were more characters onsite at GK because that was the only character meal. Now they have to kind of spread out the characters among 5 different places, and Minnie & Friends always wins out in the number of characters. As I stated in my post above, all the character meals suffer from a lack of characters except for M&F, for some unknown reason. If anything, sometimes you might only see 4 or 5 at the Critter Breakfast, Surf's Up or Ariel's. At least at Goofy's you have a shot at possibly seeing 7 or 8 (though not at every meal).

Our last visit to Goofy's last summer was "blah" and the 2 prior were horrible. Last year we had decided to give them another shot to wow us as they had on our first visits, but it just didn't happen. Very few characters, feeling rushed. We will only go to Minnie's now as we have always had a wonderful time here.