Lollipop's Mom
<font color=teal>Special trip with your little one
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2004
Just a quick little report highlighting a couple of things people tend to ask about on the DL forum.
My daughter and I were in CA this past weekend and were able to get to DL/DCA for a couple of days. Her 9th birthday landed on May 2nd, so it was perfect timing!
We stayed at the Desert Inn & Suites. I was freaking out over all of the horrible reviews, but got a great rate of $49/nt (book directly through the DI&S website for the best rates), and figured we would give it a try. I was extremely impressed. Very clean and very friendly. The lady at the front desk was bubbly and efficient. She may have been the manager, I am not sure, but she was very nice. She said Happy Birthday to my DD every time she saw us. We took the Amtrak down from Burbank to Anaheim, and the cab fare from Amtrak to the hotel was $9.10 before tip. Not bad at all! Very easy trip to do, and we did have some luggage with us. Don't hesitate to try the Amtrak, even with small kids....you will be fine!
We got into the hotel quite early, around 1030am. We paid for our room and left our bags with them and headed over to the park for about 11am. It wasn't as crowded as I had thought it might be, but still busy. We were able to get on a few rides without too much trouble or long waits. We simply avoided the stuff that had the lonnnnng lines (fantasyland was a zoo!). Buzz was not busy at all, and no one was even needing fast passes. The wait time said 20 mins, but it was more like 10 mins. Loved this ride! Very cute and we loved being able to email our photos at the end of it. We ate at the restaurant in Fantasyland that is near the Pinnochio ride (village haus???). Good food and lunch for 2 was about $14. We did a couple more rides and headed back to the hotel. Our room was #325 and it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the back. I wish we had something closer. It felt like a long walk. If you stay here, make an early request for a room at the front half of the motel....you will be regretting it if you don't! The room was very clean. Basic and no frills, but clean. Had a decent sized fridge and a microwave and coffee maker (the coffee is kinda on the cheap side, so you might want to bring something a little tastier for coffee if you stay here).
I would stay here again in a heartbeat. The pool was clean and warm. We did not end up using the breakfast because our room was so far away, and we slept in a bit. Anyway we headed back to Disney arouned 530pm after a nap and went to DCA. We did quite a few rides with no wait. We got fastpasses for Soarin' that were good for 6:55-7:55, and then just for the heck of it tried to get fastpasses for Screamin'. It worked! We had double fast passes. The Screamin' ones were good for 7:25-8:25. We did the rides and grabbed hot chocolates and big cookies and found a great spot for the Electrical Parade. We have never seen this and I LOVED it so much! It was much better than I anticipated. I am not much of a parade person, but found it very enjoyable. We then scooted over to DL to find a spot for Fantasmic. We hopped the train to the area near Fantasmic and there was hardly anyone there for the 2nd show. The 9pm show had ended and it was now about 9:30, and only a handful of people were waiting. We decided to sit in the roped off area right beside the dessert buffet on the stairs. It was perfect. We were about 6 inches higher than the people on the ground and dead center to the show. The area was FULL by 1030 with people pushing and fighting for a spot, and we sat peacefully, ate churros and watched the show. We fell into bed and woke up the next day around 930am.
May 2nd was Meg's 9th bday, so she opened a couple of small presents I brought along and we were off to DL around 11am. We went for Mickey Pancakes (Yummy but $$$) and then on a few rides. It started to get very crowded because they announced they were going to preview the 50th parade and the fireworks as well. I think every AP holder found out and crammed into the park that afternoon. We went to the 'Happiest Birthday on Earth' at 1pm. Meg (and I) felt it was very very corny and childish for a kid her age. I would not suggest taking a kid much older than 6 or 7 to this. I have the best photos of Meg decorating her cake and looking at me with this classic expression like 'You OWE me.....this is the worst thing I have ever had to sit through in my life! Could this be any more cheesy?'. We did the cakes and drank our punch, took a couple photos with Mickey & Minnie and left. They have a photographer do photos and they are $17 for one sheet. We opted out of that one! It gave us a good laugh anyway! Meg is a very mature newly 9 yr old, and anyone that knows her would understand why this party was quite corny to her. We decided to go over to DCA for a while, as it was impossible to move in DL. It was pretty much empty over there. We had our fave dinner, Taste Pilots Grill, then went into DTD for a while to pick up a couple of things. Meg wanted to go to Club Libby Lu again for a makeover, so she did that with some of the birthday money her father had given her.
We went back to DL for the 6pm parade but it was sooooo crowded that we skipped it. We saw bits and pieces of it, but went on some rides instead. We hung around DL and managed to get on a couple of rides, but it was so busy you would have thought it was a major holiday. We decided to watch the fireworks from outside the park and skip the crowds. I do not like crowds and being shoulder to shoulder with people, and neither does Meg. We went out and watched the fireworks as we walked slowly back to the hotel. They were very spectacular. The next morning we hit the Amtrak back to Burbank and headed home! Was a fun couple of days, but I am glad it wasn't our 'only' trip to the park. We would have missed out on a lot of stuff due to the big crowds on Monday. They were managable until word got out about the previews, then within 2 hours I think the park was operating near capacity. I hate to think what it will be like on the 5th!!!!
My daughter and I were in CA this past weekend and were able to get to DL/DCA for a couple of days. Her 9th birthday landed on May 2nd, so it was perfect timing!
We stayed at the Desert Inn & Suites. I was freaking out over all of the horrible reviews, but got a great rate of $49/nt (book directly through the DI&S website for the best rates), and figured we would give it a try. I was extremely impressed. Very clean and very friendly. The lady at the front desk was bubbly and efficient. She may have been the manager, I am not sure, but she was very nice. She said Happy Birthday to my DD every time she saw us. We took the Amtrak down from Burbank to Anaheim, and the cab fare from Amtrak to the hotel was $9.10 before tip. Not bad at all! Very easy trip to do, and we did have some luggage with us. Don't hesitate to try the Amtrak, even with small kids....you will be fine!
We got into the hotel quite early, around 1030am. We paid for our room and left our bags with them and headed over to the park for about 11am. It wasn't as crowded as I had thought it might be, but still busy. We were able to get on a few rides without too much trouble or long waits. We simply avoided the stuff that had the lonnnnng lines (fantasyland was a zoo!). Buzz was not busy at all, and no one was even needing fast passes. The wait time said 20 mins, but it was more like 10 mins. Loved this ride! Very cute and we loved being able to email our photos at the end of it. We ate at the restaurant in Fantasyland that is near the Pinnochio ride (village haus???). Good food and lunch for 2 was about $14. We did a couple more rides and headed back to the hotel. Our room was #325 and it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the back. I wish we had something closer. It felt like a long walk. If you stay here, make an early request for a room at the front half of the motel....you will be regretting it if you don't! The room was very clean. Basic and no frills, but clean. Had a decent sized fridge and a microwave and coffee maker (the coffee is kinda on the cheap side, so you might want to bring something a little tastier for coffee if you stay here).
I would stay here again in a heartbeat. The pool was clean and warm. We did not end up using the breakfast because our room was so far away, and we slept in a bit. Anyway we headed back to Disney arouned 530pm after a nap and went to DCA. We did quite a few rides with no wait. We got fastpasses for Soarin' that were good for 6:55-7:55, and then just for the heck of it tried to get fastpasses for Screamin'. It worked! We had double fast passes. The Screamin' ones were good for 7:25-8:25. We did the rides and grabbed hot chocolates and big cookies and found a great spot for the Electrical Parade. We have never seen this and I LOVED it so much! It was much better than I anticipated. I am not much of a parade person, but found it very enjoyable. We then scooted over to DL to find a spot for Fantasmic. We hopped the train to the area near Fantasmic and there was hardly anyone there for the 2nd show. The 9pm show had ended and it was now about 9:30, and only a handful of people were waiting. We decided to sit in the roped off area right beside the dessert buffet on the stairs. It was perfect. We were about 6 inches higher than the people on the ground and dead center to the show. The area was FULL by 1030 with people pushing and fighting for a spot, and we sat peacefully, ate churros and watched the show. We fell into bed and woke up the next day around 930am.
May 2nd was Meg's 9th bday, so she opened a couple of small presents I brought along and we were off to DL around 11am. We went for Mickey Pancakes (Yummy but $$$) and then on a few rides. It started to get very crowded because they announced they were going to preview the 50th parade and the fireworks as well. I think every AP holder found out and crammed into the park that afternoon. We went to the 'Happiest Birthday on Earth' at 1pm. Meg (and I) felt it was very very corny and childish for a kid her age. I would not suggest taking a kid much older than 6 or 7 to this. I have the best photos of Meg decorating her cake and looking at me with this classic expression like 'You OWE me.....this is the worst thing I have ever had to sit through in my life! Could this be any more cheesy?'. We did the cakes and drank our punch, took a couple photos with Mickey & Minnie and left. They have a photographer do photos and they are $17 for one sheet. We opted out of that one! It gave us a good laugh anyway! Meg is a very mature newly 9 yr old, and anyone that knows her would understand why this party was quite corny to her. We decided to go over to DCA for a while, as it was impossible to move in DL. It was pretty much empty over there. We had our fave dinner, Taste Pilots Grill, then went into DTD for a while to pick up a couple of things. Meg wanted to go to Club Libby Lu again for a makeover, so she did that with some of the birthday money her father had given her.
We went back to DL for the 6pm parade but it was sooooo crowded that we skipped it. We saw bits and pieces of it, but went on some rides instead. We hung around DL and managed to get on a couple of rides, but it was so busy you would have thought it was a major holiday. We decided to watch the fireworks from outside the park and skip the crowds. I do not like crowds and being shoulder to shoulder with people, and neither does Meg. We went out and watched the fireworks as we walked slowly back to the hotel. They were very spectacular. The next morning we hit the Amtrak back to Burbank and headed home! Was a fun couple of days, but I am glad it wasn't our 'only' trip to the park. We would have missed out on a lot of stuff due to the big crowds on Monday. They were managable until word got out about the previews, then within 2 hours I think the park was operating near capacity. I hate to think what it will be like on the 5th!!!!
