Grand California Hotel 6 Night Vacation Day 1

Originally Posted By atigger2

Well its been three days since we came back from The Happiest Place on Earth and now I have 8 inches of snow all around me. I would prefer to be back on a plan back to Disneyland. My family of four, a wife, a son, age 7, a daughter, age 4, checked into the Grand California Hotel (GCH) at 3:00 p.m. on Feb. 20, which just so happened to be my birthday. While my wife and kids sat in the car, (I had told the CM's outside I wanted valet parking for the night but they somehow didn't convey that to my wife and kids so they sat in the car instead of coming inside to the warmth and beauty of an awesome hotel), I made my way to the registration counter where I was met by a cheerful CM. (I am bad with names so she shall remain nameless, with exception of CM). To my surprise, they put us in a room overlooking California Adventure and out our front door was the main lobby area of the whole hotel. 4th floor. They also surprised me with a huge bundle of bright red balloons. The CM simply said, "Mickey Mouse just has a way of knowing." I gathered all my stuff, which included a $150.00 gift card for spending more than three nights in a Disney hotel, and went out to get my family. Oh and also, I was given my complementary birthday button with my name on it. (Way too cool). After checking into our incredibly wonderful room, we refreshed ourselves and went straight to the World of Disney where my children bought autograph books. My son chose the Pirates of the Caribbean one and my daughter chose the Princess one that came with slots for pictures. I don't recommend it because you run out of pages before you run out of characters to autograph your book. We headed to the park for the remaining 4 hours. It was the first of 7 days in the park.
The highlight of that first day was sitting in the cart for Snow White's Scary Adventure and there is a part of the ride that comes outside for a few seconds before going back inside. The Parade of Dreams was going and when we came out, Princess Ariel was riding atop her float and she made instant eye-contact with my family and my daughter, for whom Ariel is her favorite princess. What a moment it was as we smiled and waved at Ariel and she waved back and grabbed her fork that she uses as a brush and got busy brushing her hair. It was a pure Disney moment. We ate my celebratory birthday dinner at the River Belle Terrace, a favorite of my wife. The plan had been to eat at ESPNZone, but we were simply tired from flying in from Seattle. (I had gotten up at 4:00 a.m.). We rode most of the rides in Fantasyland, minus Peter Pan (the line) and Casey Jr. Circus Train and the Storybook Land Canal Boats (closed during the parade). We were even able to get on Pirates of the Carribean. It was good to get back to Disneyland after 4 years away. Its late and I have much more to tell. Good night everyone.

 

Originally Posted By misty2

I can't wait to read the rest. Happy birthday!

 

Originally Posted By dlkozy

>>>"The highlight of that first day was sitting in the cart for Snow White's Scary Adventure and there is a part of the ride that comes outside for a few seconds before going back inside>>>"<<


Are you sure that you don't mean Alice in Wonderland?

I can' wait to read all the rest of your reports! LOVE the detail-thank you!

 

Originally Posted By atigger2

Thanks dlkozy. That is exactly what I meant. So many rides. So much time. It was a great time.