Originally Posted By fidoprincess Just returned and wanted to make a quick trip report. We were there for a long time so I will just hit the highs and lows and feel free to ask any specific questions. It is almost impossible to make a "little" trip report so warning, this is long-lol! Travelers were me and DH and ds(11) and dd(just turned 7). We took the kids out of school a little early on Thursday and arrived at DL around 9pm. DLH was booked so the first night we stayed at PP and we were upgraded to the beautiful park view on the 14th floor! Nice hotel but they would not give us a rollaway although our room had 2 beds and a sofa sleeper. There just was no room for the rollaway so we probably wouldn't stay there again. We went to DTD to grab a bite to eat at the pizza place and then went to bed. Friday am we moved over to the DLH and we got the DTD view on the 8th floor-nice and this time the sliding door closed properly so the noise from DTD was not an issue although we had the double door room where you have an outer door and then the inner door to the room-more about this later! Went into DL and the decorations and tree were even better than last year. I really missed the garland strung across main street last year. It just makes everything more beautiful. The crowds were nothing, 5 minute waits and we did almost everything that first day. DD decided she wouldn't go on the "big" rides so that was a bit of a pain taking turns and no amount of bribery was going to change her mind. She wouldn't even ride pirates-ack! The waterfall part was too scary so we took turns on everything that had a mountain in it's name although she did ride Indy and then said, "Never again"! I love the holiday themes for small world and haunted mansion! I wanted to do those right away but we were collecting fast passes all along the way and never even needed them. The first day, Friday, we had reservations at BB. The kids did not like anything on the menu, just as I feared. BB just made them food "off the menu" which was nice. DD had macaroni noodles with marinara sauce and ds had the noodles with butter sauce so they were happy. My meal seemed the same as alway, Monte Cristo, but having the salad was too much and none of us were able to get dessert because we were too full but both looked really great! Service was wonderful and we had a water table. I would go back again anytime. DD had just been sick with strep throat and had just finished her medicine the day of the trip so we were really careful and used a ton of purell but she got sick again anyway that night with a cold. The next day, ds got it and then dh got it so we were trudging around sick in the record high temps and it was tough. At one point, I did call the DLH doctor/nurse and they told me that a lot of people had this same sickness going around and also an upset stomach/"runs" thing which dd eventually got too on the last day at DL. The service said they had several people they were seeing at the DLH and could fit us in but FWIW, they charge $240 (you have to recover the cost from your own insurance yourself) and since they said it was most likely the virus going around, there was not much they could do. So, if you are going soon, take extra care to avoid getting sick! I really went above and beyond, took clorox spray and wiped down the room, phone, remote and used purell all day long but we still all got sick. With all of those people crammed together, it is almost impossible and easily half the people we saw waiting in line were sick too. if not more. In an ideal world, we would all stay home but after all that money for the hotel, etc.. everyone who was there was in DL even if they were sick! The only bad thing about going this time of year I guess. We never saw the dream CMs ever but I never told my family so they would not be disappointed if we did not win anything. I could not believe we were in Dl for 5 days and never won anything though-lol. I saw a few dream FP but nothing else. We had plenty of time at DL so we just took it easy and spent a lot of time relaxing. The crowds really filled in after Friday and the waits went from the 5 minutes to over an hour for the most popular rides by the time we lefr on Wed. It was so hot, we spent a ton of time at the DLH pool. The kids just love it and dd was made "Captain of the Slide" by the lifeguards who gave her a sword and eye patch and photo of her with the lifeguard. She LOVED that! We did all the usual dining things, Plaza Inn was great, Goofys twice-dinner once and breakfast once. Dinner was great, tons of characters but breakfast, only 2 characters came and others in our area were very upset. We didn't care though and still enjoyed our food. The highlight for my kids is getting their own food so they were just thrilled doing that! Cafe Orleans was the worst place, terrible service and the food was just okay. We tried it for dinner one night and then just to punish ourselves, went back to try the new breakfast menu. We had ps for breakfast at 9:30 and were not seated until 10 (oops, they accidently took all the walk-ins ahead of us!) and didn't get our food until 10:30! At least the pirate show was on and the kids loved that and even watched it another time. DD got to drive the Mark Twain and loved it. They gave her a capt. hat to wear, ds too, and she got to ring the bell and blow the whistle and they both got certificates so that was another great highlight. They even let ds push the "spiel" buttons-lol-yes it actually said "spiel"! That is well worth knocking on the door so don't be shy, just do it!! The real capt said that only a few people actually knock on the door so as they are getting ready to leave, he goes and gets people to ride up top with him. Tink came and visited us each night and the first night at the DLH set up the Pooh Tree and strung lights all across the slider doors! It was great and each night she left gifts for the kids under the tree wrapped in tinkerbell paper. I loved it because we could see our room from DTD with the lights and the tree. DLH room was much bigger than PP and they were happy to give us the rollaway so along with the sleeper sofa, each kid had their own bed and space! Last time we had a little table that I had planned to use for the tree but this room didn't have it so I asked for one and they brought me a "room service" table with linens and a runner and it worked out perfect and looked so cute! Ask for one if you are doing the tree thing! We put it right in front of the window and it looked so so pretty with the presents under the tree. Other than getting sick, we only had two bad things happen. Sat night at the DLH, our "neighbors" were apparently checking in at 10:30 at night and didn't use the bellman so they went in and out of the double doors from 10:30-1:30am about 1,000 times bringing their stuff up to the room. The slamming of the double doors woke us all up and kept us all up and for the first time in my life, I went out in my pjs and asked them to please be quiet and propped open the outer door so at least only one door was slamming instead of two each time. I knew they had no idea how loud it was and I was almost sorry to have to go in and out at 5 am and wake them up!! Still they were very rude and would not leave the outer door propped open and none of us got a good night sleep. I did call the front desk in the am to ask if they were staying long and DLH was happy to move us but DH said it was more trouble than it was worth since they were all settled now and would not be banging in and out all night again. We didn't have any more trouble but I must admit the temptation to slam the door over and over was really almost overwhelming for me in those early morning hours but I am sure they did realize how horribly noisy it was AFTER the fact. The only other disappointment was doing the Santa pics. I got the kids dressed in red and green just for the picture so we could use it for our cards. We kept going to see Santa and he was not there. Finally we waited about 90 minutes-awful-and the kids looked so happy and cute and believed it was the "real" Santa because the "make-a-wish" children were there and my kids knew the real Santa would come to DL just for those poor kids! The photographer was great and I handed him the photopass card that we had used earlier but when we went to look at the pictures, they said there had been a "technical" problem with all of the Santa photos that day and they were lost-grrr. Don't trust the photopass-make sure to take your own photos too!I asked if we could get a pass to go to the head of the line after I put their outfits back on and we were told no. They would walk us over right then but not later so we just skipped it. DLH was putting up their tree and we got to watch them do it-very big deal process but when it was finished, we did pictures there and with all the props like nutcracker, sled, presents, it was a perfect backdrop for our cards and they turned out great. Plus it was great fun to watch all the decorations going up at the hotel. It was a fun trip to DL! I loved all the shows, even HS musical was cute. We did ee for Build-a-bear and as usual, it was great! From DL, we went up to Hollywood on Wed for 3 nights and it was WILD. The night we arrived at the Renaissance Hotel (very nice!)at Hollywood and Highland complex, Hollywood Blvd in front of the hotel was blocked off and they were doing a live Jimmy Kimmel Show right in the middle of the street with Jay Z as a guest singer. There must have been 1000 police lining the sidewalk but it was too much with the crowds so we just checked out the Chinese Theater and went to dinner. Thanksgiving was great and on Friday, we went to the Lion King! The Pantages is really beautiful and incredibly restored beyond what I had imagined! The kids loved it but dd secretly confessed that she thought Alladin was a bit better because it was so much funnier-lol! We tried to go to the Disney Soda Fountain but the line was all the way up the block. The kids loved the walk of fame esp since they found the stars for Pooh, Donald, Mickey, Snow White and even both Disney brothers. It was fun but we were all still sick and we were happy to come home on Sat night. The traffic was so much better than coming home on Sunday last year and we had all of yesterday to rest up. I was so so glad when we got home that I had done all the decorating before we left. It was so nice to come home and keep the holiday cheer that was all over Disneyland and even Hollywood. Everywhere we went there were beautiful trees and decorations and we really all got into the holiday spirit. Instead of being bummed that the trip is over, the kids are all excited about Christmas coming so that is really nice. Me, well I am not too thrilled with all the shopping left to do on top of being sick, but I would not have missed the holidays at DL for anything!! I hope if you are going soon, you love all the holiday thrills and take time to enjoy the holiday spirit! No one does it better than DL and the best part is that you get to bring it home with you!!
Originally Posted By nk28 great trip report! hehe...you reminded me of my older daughter when she knew a ride got dark in it. see she figured that when a ride got dark it got scary so if she even thought the ride got dark she didn't want to go on it! we all loved the Christmas decorations too, weren't they just beautiful?
Originally Posted By mickeynewe Awwww Fidoprincess, so sorry to hear that everyone got sick! I was really hoping you were having a fabulous time and I was really looking all over the park for you! lol....never spotted that long blonde hair tho! hehehe I know all about getting sick...you'll have to read my trip report (I'm working on it now) and its not fun! One of these days I'm really going to run into you down there...I am, I am! LOL Anyways, I'm already making reservations for next year AND I'm trying to find a way to go on a few short jaunts since we got our annual passes. Thanks for the great trip report! Glad you all had fun despite not feeling well! Happy shopping! Hugs, Mickeynewe PS>>> Next year try shopping all year long, makes it so much easier at Christmas time! AND, more enjoyable! My nifty little trick I do every year, makes everything so much nicer and stress free!!!
Originally Posted By Steph-n-Kev What a great trip report! You have me even MORE excited about our November trip next year :O) Just wanted to ask re the build a bear ee - can you do that everyday, or are there specific ee days, and what time does it start? It's something that I'm thinking of adding to my "must do" list! Also, we're staying in the DLH - did yr 8th fl room have a view of Downtown Disney? What tower etc were you in?Thanks in advance! :O)
Originally Posted By mickeynewe Oh, by the way, the Disney Dreams thing, my daughter did get one of their special trading pins given to her by one of the cast members. It is a two-pack. On the card it says one for you and one to give. She decided to "give" it to me since I also collect pins, but it is really cool! Also, their magical memories campaign is really cool! We saw Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy riding on Splash Mountain with different families. It was awesome! Too bad it wasn't us, but still a very cool thing to see! It made me smile just to see the other family smiling and laughing! Great moments!!
Originally Posted By fidoprincess Oh that is right Mickeynewe! I forgot all about the characters riding the rides. We saw them riding the tea cups and also the merry-go-round and it was so cute and added to the magic. Glad you got the pins! DD lost her cutie pooh pin and we spent hours looking for a new one but no luck so she had to get two more sets-lol! mickeynewe, I have always done the shopping and even had it all wrapped in the past but this year, it is so so hard because the kids don't know what they want! Spoiled and have everything already I guess-lol. I finally got them both to sit down and write a list and each only had 2 things. 4Disnee told me you got sick even before you left but I hope you still had a good time, can't wait to read your trip report! nk28, it isn't just the dark, it is the downhill motion for her-lol. That is the legacy of making her ride splash when she was only 3 just because she was tall enough! Steph-n-Kev, To do EE for Build-a-bear, just call the hotel's guest services about a month before you go and get put on the list. The store usually opens at 10am year round but you get to go in at 9 with only other hotel guests. My kids are shy so it works out really well for us. This time ds was sick so dd went and we had a great time. There were about 8 kids but we have been the only ones several times in the past. We were out about 9:50 because she took so long and ended up getting Pooh with two outfits and rollerskates-lol. One outfit was a silly Christmas Tree and then she rolled him all the way through DTD back to the DLH. When we got back, ds was feeling better so we did Goofy's Breakfast and then I took him back to BAB to do his. The difference was incredible! It took 45 minutes just to check out it was so so crowded so I highly recommend you do the ee. I think right now it is just Wed and Sat but during the summer, I think it was every day and we went on a Tuesday. We like to do it on the last day followed by Goofys before we hit the road. Our room was on the 8th floor of the Sierra Tower and we could see DTD perfectly. We could see the fireworks too but the concierge elevator was close by and we had to stand to the side to see around it. All the Sierra Tower rooms that face DTD have a view except maybe the 2nd floor because of the trees? Oh, forgot to add that dd fed the koi and that was great fun but thank goodness we knew about it because we called to ask and no one knew-lol. Dh had to walk down and look at the sign to check the time. It is T&Th at 9:30 and really fun, the fish really eat right out of your hand and there never is a crowd since people are usually in the park by then.
Originally Posted By mickeynewe >>> 4Disnee told me you got sick even before you left but I hope you still had a good time, can't wait to read your trip report!<<< LOL..yeah, did she tell you that she called me all excited wanting to know where we were at, were we at the Grapevine yet, etc.? I was like, "um....I'm at Kaiser getting an IV" sniffle, sniffle She was just the medicine I needed tho because I was really not feeling well at the time and she had me laughing within 2 minutes of talking to her. She's the best!
Originally Posted By debtee I'm pleased you had a great trip fidoprincess. I just can't wait for our trip! We also stayed at the Hollywood Renaissance hotel in Hollywood on our last trip it was a nice hotel. We arrived at night time and didn't realise until we woke up the next morning we had a fab view of the Hollywood sign which was great for us Aussie's!
Originally Posted By atinkfan fidoprincess, I've been waiting for your trip report! Sounds like it was so fun and magical. You made me laugh about your daughter and the dark rides. When we went in Sept. my DS (age 7) was finally big enough to ride Indy. When we got off the ride, the look on his face was priceless!!! His eyes were HUGE and his mouth wide open. He said "that is the scariest ride I have ever been on!!" and was even a little mad at us about it! He got over it and did ride again though. Thanks for sharing your trip.....makes me want to see DL during the holidays even more!!!! (sadly, I've never done that!)
Originally Posted By mamamonkey fidoprincess I am so glad you and the family had fun. I thought of you while we were at the DLH. You gave a really great report because you seem to add the details that are answering the questions in my mind as I read like the doctor's charge. When are you going again.? You have some neat ideas which I will be thinking of on our next trip next yr sometime. michele
Originally Posted By CindyH Thanks for the TR! Sorry you all got sick, that's such a bummer. Where did you have your Thanksgiving meal?
Originally Posted By fidoprincess CindyH, We left DL on Wednesday and went up to LA. We actually had Thanksgiving Dinner in Ventura with 100 of my husband's closest relatives! Last year though we did have Thankgiving at DL and had a wonderful lunch at BB and then a light dinner at Carnation. Every restaurant had turkey dinners and it was so fun! Debtree, We had the view of the sign too and the kids loved looking at it and it was great to see the planetarium and all the other landmarks up on the hills too! We loved the Renaissance, it was great to be right in the middle of everything and simply step outside to see the Chinese Theater and the walk of fame. It was handy having the adjoining mall as well and we grabbed food there a couple of times, lots of places to eat. I would recommend this hotel to anyone but always look for codes and deals! I think the usual rate was pricey but try AOL in the promo and it brings it down quite a bit. I was told anyone can use that code too! Thanks too for your comments, mamamonkey! Sadly, I don't know when we will go back again. After going once or twice a year for the last 11 years, we bought our APs last November when we were there over Thanksgiving. We went again in Jan, March and June ending up with this last trip in November. Dh and ds are "done" for a while and want to travel other places so for the first time in years, I have no plans to go back (sniff sniff sob sob)! OMG, what am I going to do?!!! I NEED my DL! I am a DL addict.
Originally Posted By 4Disnee Hey Fidoprincess, Great trip report. I have been behind on reading the reports and I am so sorry that everyone got sick. That is a real stink that you dont have your APs. I dont know if we will renew them again in Nov ourselves. Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip and I will talk with you soon!
Originally Posted By fidoprincess Oh 4Disnee, I am having DL withdrawal-lol. It is heartbreaking not to have an AP and even worse to not have a trip in planning stages! DD wants to go again and even though I told DH not to use the Disney Visa since we are not going anytime soon, I just got the bill and we already have 60+ dollars. He said he forgot-lol. Hmm, if he keeps forgetting and building up those points, I would absolutely HAVE to take a trip to spend them, right? I think a trip with just DD and me would be so nice, don't you!? And if there are just the two of us, we should certainly fly down too-lol. Hey, where is your trip report? Remember, better late than never-lol!
Originally Posted By dlkozy We also were told that are pictures were "lost". So, I took my complaint to City Hall and they issued my a free picture coupon. 6o plus people lost their pictures that day. It seems to me that they need to get a more reliable system than the digital cameras they are using now. I understand that "loosing" pictures is a very common thing at DL.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess dlkozy, Sorry your Santa pictures were lost too. We must have been there on the same day or else it is a regular occurance? It is the first time in years and years that any photo of ours was lost. We usually buy at least 2 each trip for of the kids. If I had ever imagined that would happen, I would have been more careful taking my own. I only had side shots or ones where they were looking at the photographer not me. They did offer to take us over to the front of the line but at first, at City Hall, they did not know about what had happened. They called the photo shop while we waited and got the whole story so we must have been the first to complain. The photoshop people had sent me over to City Hall to ask for a "front of the line" pass but the CM at city hall said there was no such thing and was honestly a little snotty with us. When she finally said we could go right then and there with the photoshop cm who would take us to the front of the line, she seemed overwhelmed and would not even let us run back to the DLH to change the kids outfits, maybe what 30 minutes? She never did offer us a free photo. I imagine they had to come up with some kind of solution because I was sure after such a long wait to see Santa, we were not the only people that were going to complain. I was the most disappointed as you can imagine after remembering to pack special outfits for the photos to use for our Christmas Cards. Honestly, I don't think the kids really cared at all-lol. They were perfectly happy with the cards but to me, all I could see what they had tshirts on! Still people have already called and told me how cute they were so I am satisfied. All the cards got sent, the gifts are wrapped and we are just enjoying the wait-lol. We even went to the movies today, talk about relaxing!
