Originally Posted By RedRider I just wanted to share with everyone my son's first trip and my first Disney Christmas experience. We arrived on monday in the pouring rain and cold. We checked in to the Grand Californian at 2:00 (early) where we were informed that we had a complimentary upgrade from a inside room to a pool view (our view also included a view of the ferris wheel). that was our first surprise, that is until we walked around the corner into the lobby and saw the tree. If you haven't seen that tree you should, it is awesome! It looks as big as the one on main street, but more countryfied (yes I'm pretty sure that is a word)and is surrounded by HUGE presents that are perfect picture spots (if your son is willing to cooperate). I have seen this lobby before, which is part of the reason I really wanted to stay there, along with the close proximity to the parks, but I still can't get over how cool that lobby was. Our tickets weren't valid until tuesday so after picking up our jaws and bundling up our little man we braved the rain to do some shopping at DTD. We looked around for a while and decided to eat at the take out area of the Jazz Kitchen. I regret that decision. The food had good flavor except for the fries which were stale and the rice we had was so old you couldn't chew it . We didn't eat there again. My son, who is 18months old, loved the lego store and the fish tank at the Rainforest Cafe. When we got back to the hotel we found the lobby was PACKED because of Disneyland's early closing, but we still found a spot and hung out there for about two hours. In that two hours there was a trubador singing to the kids in the fireplace area, Santa, carolers, and a piano player playing carols while guests sang all at different intervals. That isn't including the tv set up with little rocking chairs for the kids to watch old mickey cartoons, which my son loved. (I just have to say that I haven't seen some of these cartoons since I was five and it was REALLY fun for me as well). O and did I mention that the carolers were all decked out in 1800's costume, because they looked really great! Unfortunately it was far too cold for my son to swim in their awesome pools, but they were warm and completely empty so it would have been perfect for a cold-blooded soul to enjoy. Our room was awesome and the play pen was perfect for my son to sleep in. Tuesday morning we had our first magic morning which was our second surprise. We didn't know resort hotel guests get more than one, yay!. We got there a half-hour late and still did most of fantasy land before 8:00. I planned on doing mostly outside rides and a lot of walking around because I didn't think my son would go for most of the rides, but that morning I got my third and best surprise of the trip. We were told to start with outside rides and work him up to the dark rides, but you know how the line for Peter Pan is and it was short but getting longer by the second. We decided to chance it, and little man LOVED it! You couldn't tell at first, but when it was time to get off he said, "No momma, guy." (this means he didn't want to get off). That was the moment I knew my love for DLR had been passed on, and from there on out he went on everything that his height would allow except for haunted mansion (there was no need to push my luck). I didn't think he would appreciate getting splashed on POTC so I covered his face with his hat, and even that was perfectly fine by him. The only thing he didn't like was the Muppets show, and I think that was just because he wouldn't wear the glasses and it was blurry. He also wasn't too happy about Midway Mania for the same reason, but he liked the gun so the blurriness didn't matter too much to him. That day we ate at White water snacks for lunch which is awesome, (thanks again chickapin for introducing me!) We were excited to see the fireworks show that night because it was a 5:45 that night and my son could actually see it, but alas it wasn't meant to be.... he HATED it, and we watched sadly as we headed for the exit. We then headed toward DLH where we were talked into doing Goofy's kitchen with our in-laws. My son's bed time is at 7:30 mountain time, which makes it 6:30 disney time (mind you that is without running excitedly around the park and riding rides all day). By the time we sat down he was begging for his blanket and a nap, but since we had already paid for the dinner in advance we just had to suck it up and eat like the wind as I didn't want to pay for dinner twice, and don't even get me started on his reaction to the characters. I just have to say here that even without a very tired kid I was really disappointed in their pick of characters. They had Goofy (of course), the mad hatter, Snow White, and Pluto. I really thought there should have been more. Maybe we didn't see them, I know we hurried, but I just wanted there to be more. We then went back to our hotel where we crashed. The rest of the trip was really fun. with my son's favorite ride being finding nemo (where he asked repeatedly where Bruce, his favorite character, was until we saw him). He also like turtle talk, but again asked for Bruce the whole time (I bet you can't guess what his favorite show is), and the rest of animation studios. I think he also got that from me as animation studios is my favorite part of DCA. He also really liked Small world (especially the fish part). I might add that I loved the holiday version of the ride myself and didn't expect it to see done so well for christmas. I did NOT, however, like the holiday HM for the following reasons: first, haunted mansion is in my top five rides of both parks so I have high expectations for any changes. Second, I don't think that wood cutouts (albiet cool ones see my small world review above) mesh well with the existing ride. There is a lot of real things made to look haunted and that is what makes it the ride I love. And last, which is totally a personal thing and not anything against the actual ride, it just wasn't the same one I remember from my childhood. With that said, let me just say that the exterior was pretty cool and very HM-like. I also liked the gingerbread house, it was themed with the ride nicely. The stained glass in the elevator was also really cool. I also like the nightmare before Christmas and was excited to see the changes, so I don't know why I disliked it so. Anyway, my son also really liked toon town and the train. He even liked seeing the characters he knew and we were able to get a few pictures. He also liked A Bug's Land, but we didn't take him on It's tuff to be a bug because of the fiasco on the Muppets. Now for me... I didn't get to see a lot of things because of my son. I knew this going in, but I am soooo bummed about missing out on the fireworks, F!, and especially WOC since I have never seen that one. I really like the shows and miss seeing them. I have since come to terms with it and will just have something else to look forward to the next time. I did get to see the playhouse disny show for the first time, but I'm not sure that counts (even with the pirates gold and bubbles).I really liked star tours! I only rode it once so I didn't get to see all of the options, but I loved it! We got the one where Darth Vador shakes the whole ship and we crashed into another ship in the end which seemed so real, again LOVED it (even though I get motion sickness on those rides). We even found a Darth Vader mickey had in the Star Trader for my son which he wouldn't wear. The construction in DCA was a real downer, but I'm excited to see the finished product so I wasn't too upset about that. I did find a slinky dog in the gift shop across from Soarin and that was pretty cool. I also must say that the decorations were AWESOME! I really enjoyed seeing them in places you wouldn't expect, it made the rides way fun! We got there just as the park opened on wednesday and we were the only ones in the Tiki Room, and we had our own boat on the Jungle Cruise, which was way neat to experience. They even got Jose to say hello to the beautiful lady instead of ladies. O, and just one more topic.... The Little Mermaid ride. I think they did such a good job on this ride, it was so great I'm very impressed with it (even the ice cream hair and Ursulas hairlip). I just have to say though, I had heard a lot about the size of King Triton's nipples and they didn't look that big to me... So there you have it... thanks for reading
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin Yes, thank you so much for sharing! It sounds like you both had a great time, even without all the shows. The hotel sounds amazing, and I'm glad your son was okay with Peter Pan and POTC, etc.. I really enjoyed Star Tours and The Little Mermaid ride in August, myself. I hope you get to see WoC soon.
Originally Posted By chickapin So glad to hear you had fun!! I am going in March with my 2 1/2 year old grandson and am looking forward to that. Maybe we'll get a trip together again someday miss you!
Originally Posted By MomluvsDisney Sounds like it was still great fun for all of you! My daughter was 2 and 1/2 when I took her and she loved everything (that is where I discovered she was a little thrill seeker) and the HM was the first ride that first day she asked to ride over and over again (5 times that day).
