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| Pam Baca -- December 2003 – Disneyland (DLH)
This is Pam's third trip report for MousePlanet. The first two: June
2002 -- Disneyland
December
2002 - Disneyland Cast of Characters- Pam: 33, Disneyland
fanatic and veteran, 13th trip to Disneyland
- Jaden: 9, Pam’s nephew and
fellow Disneyland fanatic, 4th trip to Disneyland
Once again my nephew
and I decided we needed some serious Jaden and Nan time at our favorite place
on Earth. It seems like Christmas isn’t complete without our trip to Disneyland.
Nothing about this trip came easily, except the excellent services of Tim Larison.
It is not a stretch to say it felt like a personal triumph when we finally stepped
into the Disneyland Hotel. From day to day, week to week, one obstacle or another
came up, putting the trip in doubt up until the very last minute. The only thing
I can say is the bond Jaden and I share and the memories we take from these adventures
are worth everything we went through to get there. I started planning this
trip well in advance of December. I had the Holiday Resort Magic trip booked by
April. The trip includes one free night at a Disney hotel. Thanks once again to
Tim Larison of MouseEars Vacations. Tim is the “gold standard” when it comes to
travel agents. He is highly recommended to anyone who decides to use MouseEars
Vacations. One thing I remembered well from last year was lugging several
packages around the parks. I remember the confrontations when lockers were getting
scarce. I also remembered guests of Disneyland hotels have the option of sending
their purchases back to their hotel. That sounded really good. I also could think
of no more magical place than a Disneyland hotel to spend our “off park” hours
in. Our choice of hotel was more relevant this year because of the additional
night. (Last year we stayed off property at a very nice, but very budget, hotel.)
I originally thought of the Grand Californian, but the price was a little too
steep. I never had a desire to stay at the Paradise Pier Hotel. That left the
Disneyland Hotel, which suited us fine. Day One
We planned to
leave early on December 12th; however, we started out a little earlier than we
anticipated. A snowstorm moved in from the south and was supposed to start around
3 am. We decided to leave the 11th and stay in Colorado Springs. We made it to
the airport with no problems and were soon boarding our flight. We made it to
our gate in Denver and then flew right into Orange County. Our van was there waiting
for us and we were soon on our way. I’m not sure what has happened to SuperShuttle
since last year, but all our driver did was tailgate folks and punch in data on
his on-board computer. My thought was we had just traveled thousands of miles
safely to end up dying on the way to the hotel! Despite this, we made to the hotel
and checked in smoothly. We were in the Marina tower and our room was the
first room from the elevators. We actually had a small walk-in area where our
room door actually was. It was more than spacious enough for the two of us and
it included a fridge. A room at DLH is full of special surprises that you find
as your stay goes on. Sleeping Beauty castle is on the headboards, a map of the
park is on the TV console, scenes from various attractions are on the bedspread
amid the flowers and Tinkerbelle flits around the room on a wave of stars. In
the bathroom, Mickey’s hands hold the lamps and the Fab Five is on the wallpaper.
The mirrors are huge and glided and feel like they were imported directly from
Fantasyland. It is all very subtle and a delight to discover. It is truly living
in the magic. Best of all, the surprises I arranged had arrived. I called the
hotel 2 weeks before and arranged to have two Santa hats and two chocolate krispies
waiting for us. They were there, along with an autographed picture of Mickey himself,
addressed personally to Jaden. Jaden was beside himself. He couldn’t figure out
how they had gotten into the room. As great as the room was, we wasted no time
cleaning up and heading out to the park. We started our trip off by boarding
the Monorail in Downtown Disney. We debated eating at the Rainforest Café,
but Jaden had eaten on the plane, so he wasn’t terribly hungry yet. We arrived
at the Tomorrowland Station and immediately boarded the train to New Orleans Square,
all the while in disbelief we had actually made it back. Once in New Orleans Square,
we immediately got FastPasses for the Haunted Mansion. Jaden wanted to ride the
new Winnie the Pooh ride. We had intended to pull a FastPass for Pooh, but it
was only a 10 minute wait. We quickly got in line and headed for the Hundred Acre
Woods. I think Pooh is a great little dark ride. No, it doesn’t have a lot of
special effects, but I would rate up there with Alice and Peter Pan. After that
we proceeded to Indiana Jones and pulled another FastPass. We wanted to try out
our “enhanced fastpasses”. Once we had passes for Indy, we headed to Pirates of
the Caribbean. The line for Pirates was about 25 minutes. As we had about that
much time before our window at the Mansion opened, we got in line for Pirates.
Pirates is just a classic. You enjoy the ride no matter how many times you ride
it. We left Pirates and headed for the Mansion to see what Jack Skellington
and Oogie Boogie had in store this year. I know some people don’t like the holiday
layover of HM, but we just love it. We found most of Oogie’s surprises on our
first time around and stopped to purchase the first Scary Teddy of the trip for
Jaden. And no, we couldn’t bear to part with him until the next morning, so we
carted him around the park. My first shot at package delivery and it’s a no go.
We then headed over to Indy. When we arrived at Indy, we found the ride was broken
down with no estimate on down time. The cast member greeting us said they would
honor our fastpass later in the evening, so we moved to the Jungle Cruise. The
ride was as much fun as always, especially in the dark. On the way to Redd Rocket’s
for pizza, we stopped in the Tiki Room. On top of just enjoying the Tiki Room,
we were lucky to have Maynard as one of our cast members. He adds so much to the
show! I’m not sure what was more fun—the Tiki Room or Maynard. The pizza at Redd’s
was as good as I remembered, but the prices were just as steep. For the amount
and quality of food you get, the prices aren’t bad, but if you are looking for
economical pizza, Redd’s is not the place to go. We made our traditional “Ha Ha,
we’re at Disneyland and you’re not” phone call to the gang back home. Jaden then
surprised me by asking if we could ride the Matterhorn. I was anxious to do this
as it was being refurbished last December, but didn’t know if Jaden would be up
to it. He was. We got there, however, the line was too long, so we headed over
to Small World. We took in Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio and Snow White on the
way as all three had virtually no lines. We then headed down to Small World. The
mall was crowded due to the parade and fireworks time. We jumped in the line for
Small World and waited about 30 minutes. The layover for this is really special
and would probably charm even the most jaded Small World rider. After the ride,
we were right on time for the fireworks. We found a clear spot, in a good “snow”
spot thanks to a very helpful cast member and enjoyed Believe in Holiday Magic.
This was my magical moment. Once the fireworks started, Jaden decided to pretend
he was the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and began to “direct” the fireworks. He pointed
on cue, brought the fireworks up with his hands and danced to the music. I missed
most of the fireworks while I was watching my nephew. He enjoyed that show with
a passion and joy that only children possess. I think I snapped an entire roll
of film. I couldn’t stop smiling. I was still smiling when he pulled me out into
the mall so the snow could fall on us while “White Christmas” played. We smiled
at each other and he hugged me tight. He declared I was the best Nan in the world
and I couldn’t help the tears that escaped my eyes. I felt like I was dreaming
of a “White Christmas” and my dream had come true. From the mall, Jaden
drug me to the Matterhorn and, thanks to a happy little accident, we had a very
short wait. I had not been on the Matterhorn in ages and I loved it. The track
was fast and the ride was so smooth. After the Matterhorn, we headed over to the
Premier Shop to collect new pins. We stopped by Star Tours to put our lanyards
together and decided to take the flight to Endor. We then decided to head back
over to Indy to see if it was running again. It was and we had no problem using
our old fastpasses. It is a total sensory experience. It goes without saying once
we had finished with Indy, the only place to go was back to the Mansion and that’s
where we went. The crowds were clearing out after Fantasmic and we managed pretty
well. We were able to get rides on both the Mansion and Pirates one more time.
By that time, the park was closing. We headed out the doors and drug ourselves
through Downtown Disney to our hotel. The Disneyland Hotel, if you walk through
Downtown Disney, is a looong way from the esplanade. The worst part is the staff
tells you it’s a 5 minute walk. No. They also didn’t tell us there was a priority
line for hotel guests at the Monorail. So, we hoofed it and hoofed it quite a
ways. Once home, we rested our tired bodies and feet and went to bed. We had an
early reservation at Goofy’s Kitchen the next morning. Day Two
The
day started with a wake-up call from Mickey Mouse. I loved that. We got ready
and went right downstairs for breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen. Breakfast was good
as always. We met with a few less characters than last year, but the interaction
was still wonderful. After breakfast, we picked up our jackets from the room and
headed back to the Monorail. Once in Tomorrowland, we started the day with Autopia.
I still love that little ride. We then decided to head over to DCA. Disneyland
was already becoming very crowded. We stopped to do a little window shopping and
then headed across the esplanade. We got fast passes for Soarin’ first thing.
We had some time to kill, so we headed to Grizzly River Run. Last year we didn’t
get that wet. Things were different this year. We were both soaked! As the temperature
was just not that warm and I had to blow dry my hair again, a trip back to the
hotel was in order, with both of us wet and grumpy. We took a shortcut through
the Grand Californian and made it back to DLH. We dried off, changed clothes,
regrouped and set our jackets out to dry. We grabbed the warmest sweatshirts we
had and headed back over to DCA. We just couldn’t miss those Soarin’ fastpasses.
I have been dreaming about Soarin ever since we left last year. It was everything
I remembered. We went to get another fastpass for it and we discovered that Jaden’s
park hopper pass had gotten wet on GRR and was not being read by the fastpass
machine. The cast member gave us another fastpass so we would have two. She also
gave us a fastpass card, but indicated it did not have multiple pass capabilities.
She recommended we go to Guest Services. Guest Services told us we had to go to
the Disney Travel Company office and get another park hopper. They also gave us
another fastpass card. This was the first of our happy accidents. We headed over
to the travel company, which was at the end of Downtown Disney, and had the card
replaced with no problem. We now, tee-hee, had two working passes plus two fastpass
cards. We stopped at the Rainforest Café to have lunch, as we were now
both starved. On the way back, Jaden made sure he stopped and bought me two pins—a
Haunted Mansion Holiday pin I had wanted very badly and a Matterhorn pin. I was
just touched so much by his gesture. We then headed back to DCA. We took another
ride on Soarin, pulled two more fastpasses each for Soarin and then decided to
head over to Flik’s Fun Fair. We rode Flik’s Flyers, in the Chinese food box and
Jaden humored his Nan by riding Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train. We found the 4 leaf
clover and then headed over to see Aladdin. Aladdin is a must see show. The effects
and the dancing are spectacular. After Aladdin, we decided to head over to Disneyland.
We gave our fastpasses away to a very nice family on the way. Once in DL, we found
a mob scene. Every nook and cranny was jammed. We found no fastpasses anywhere
and huge lines everywhere. Go figure—the one time we have 4 passes and there are
no fastpasses to be had. We finally decided to wait for the parade. We were hungry,
so we tried to find dinner before the parade. We did burgers and pizza at the
VillageHaus and took our food to our parade spot. Waiting was not fun as the temperature
was dropping and we were without our warm clothes. We didn’t feel the cold much
after the parade started. Yes, it’s the same parade and no, there was nothing
new added, but it is still wonderful to watch. After this, we headed to the Monorail
and headed back to the hotel. At the hotel, we bundled up in warm clothes, grabbed
our jackets and a blanket and headed back. We then had our second happy accident.
While in line for the train to New Orleans Square, Jaden picked up a discarded
Autopia driver’s license. On the back read, “Congratulations! You are an Autopia
winner!” We decided to redeem the card the next day and proceeded to the Rivers
of America for the 10:30 Fantasmic show. We huddled in our blanket and then watched
a terrific show. We missed the Mark Twain at the end, but the rest of the show
was really great. We then headed to the Mansion for another ride. The wait listed
was 45 minutes, but we made it in about 20. We managed to make it on to Pirates
one more time and then we headed over to Indy for one last ride. By that time,
we were at park closing and we walked back to our hotel. Day Three
We
slept in and took our time getting to the park. We cheered when we heard Saddam
Hussein had been captured and Jaden caught a few minutes of his Rams on TV. We
had a 1:40 priority reservation at the Blue Bayou. We once again headed over on
the Monorail and took the train to New Orleans Square. Before boarding, we redeemed
the Autopia card we had found the night before. The Autopia car you get is pretty
cool. Once in New Orleans Square, we immediately got fastpasses for Haunted Mansion
and Indy. Then we wandered over to Pooh and found the line was very short. After
Pooh, we did a little shopping for the gang back home and I got to send the packages
back to the hotel. Yeah! We hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we munched on churros
while we waited for our reservation. We also wandered around New Orleans Square
a little and shopped a little more. By now, Jaden had bought every version they
had of Scary Teddy. We then headed over to the Mansion. After the Mansion, we
noticed the skies getting dark and a few drizzles starting. We thought it would
be a perfect time to begin waiting for lunch, so we presented ourselves at the
Blue Bayou about 15 minutes ahead of our reservation. I figured we could check-in,
wait for our water table and stay dry at the same time. Nope. Too logical for
the cast members we talked to. They insisted we wait, in the rain, until exactly
1:40 and then check in and then wait 30-40 minutes for our water table. Bad show.
But since they seated us in about 15 minutes, all was forgiven. I had the salad
and crab cakes again and Jaden had the chicken nuggets. We splurged on the chocolate
coffin dessert with the white chocolate Zero on top. After lunch, we discovered
serious rain coming down. We still had our fastpasses at Indy, so we grabbed some
ponchos. The rain stopped once we exited Indy. We stopped long enough to get a
score for the Broncos and Browns and then headed to Star Tours. After Star Tours,
we headed over to the Matterhorn. We called home and found the Broncos in overtime.
This is where our third happy accident occurred. Jaden and I had seen a small
bag in the queue and had kind of stepped over it. A few turns later, a woman in
the next aisle handed us the bag, with two pins in it. They had seen our full
lanyards. One pin was a Christmas pin and the other was a birthday pin Jaden traded
in for another Scary Teddy pin. We took another ride on the Matterhorn and then
cheered when the cell phone rang--the Broncos won in overtime! We then headed
over to Small World and pulled a fastpass for 9:30 that evening. As this was our
night to see the Electric Parade, a late fastpass would work out great. We decided,
at this point, to head over to California Adventure for the Electric Parade. On
the way, we stopped long enough to enjoy the Storybook Canal Boats. Good thing
we had those ponchos to sit on! Before heading to DCA, we stopped and had a pretzel
and cokes. We also did a little shopping on the way and had those purchases sent
to the hotel as well. Once we arrived at California Adventure, we had about an
hour to kill before waiting for the parade. Since we had yet to venture over there,
we decided to go to Paradise Pier. I will admit it is just a carnival, but it
is the nicest, best themed carnival I’ve ever seen. We had fun playing the games
and going through various shops. The one thing I did notice, and did not appreciate,
was the sales pressure to come on in, try your luck. I guess that is keeping in
the carnival theme. It’s just not something one is used to at a Disney park. We
hopped on King Triton’s Carousel. Jaden rode a seahorse and I rode a dolphin.
We headed down the boardwalk and we decided to ride Jumpin’ Jellyfish. OK-maybe
Jaden and I are the biggest wimps in the world, but we really liked that ride.
We also went on the Golden Zephyr. If Mr. Matt Ouimet is going to keep it open,
then I will go to the trouble to ride it. The ride, however, was cold on that
damp night and it is a bit unnerving with no door on the side. After exiting
Paradise Pier, we headed to Sunshine Plaza to stake out a parade spot. We found
a good viewing area across from the Hollywood Pictures Backlot. We grabbed a couple
of hot chocolates and waited. The Electrical Parade is one of my absolute favorites.
Even though the night was cold and wet, the parade was terrific. After it ended,
we headed over to DL to use our Small World fastpass. On the way in, we were stopped
by the fireworks crowd and had no choice but to enjoy Believe one more time. We
then headed back to Small World. After that, we decided to head back to the hotel.
It was cold and just miserable. We decided to take the monorail back, but the
cast member estimated a 20-25 minute wait, so we walked again. We ordered pizza
and enjoyed NFL Primetime. One more full day to go. Day Four
This
was our serious commando day. We got over to the park about 10:00 am and wanted
to have breakfast at the RiverBelle Terrace. We heard about the famous Mickey
Mouse pancakes. Sadly, the RiverBelle Terrace was closed. The only way to ease
our disappointment was to have breakfast at the Plaza Inn with Winnie the Pooh
and friends. We were very aware the park closed at 8:00 pm, so we felt we didn’t
have a lot of time. We got fastpasses for the Mansion, Splash, Pirates and Indy
and we managed to squeeze in another ride on Pooh. We then headed over to Toontown
to have our picture taken with Mickey himself. The wait for his house was relatively
short and the line moved quickly. While in Toontown, we pulled a fastpass for
Roger Rabbit and then headed back over to New Orleans Square. In short succession,
we rode the Mansion, Splash, Pirates and Indy one after the other. A quick kudos
to Jaden and Splash Mountain. Last year, Jaden had not wanted to ride Splash Mountain,
so I rode alone. He took a lot of teasing all year long. This year he got his
courage up and rode down that hill into the briar patch with me. I was so proud
of him. We cheered at the end. We were going to buy our picture as proof of him
riding, but when we saw the picture, Jaden had vanished. Apparently he curled
up in what must have been the fetal position as he rode down the drop. Picture
or not, he was there and his Nan was very proud! After this marathon of riding,
we headed back over Toontown to catch our ride on Roger Rabbit. After that ride,
we headed back to the Matterhorn and then over to the Astro Orbiter. I don’t know
why I don’t like the Orbiter, but I don’t. Jaden, however, was quick to point
out that if he rode Splash, then I should ride the Orbiter. We decided once we
rode the Orbiter that we were hungry. Remembering the delicious sandwiches we
had last year, we headed to the Blue Ribbon Bakery. The streets were filling for
the parade, so the bakery had quite a line. We managed to get our sandwiches and
a table and we enjoyed a simple, but really good dinner. After that, we picked
one more ride to take. We decided to head over to the Mansion. After a pretty
short wait, we were shocked when we got out of the stretching room. All the lights
were on. I had never seen the Mansion with the lights on and no music, spiel,
etc. Apparently the ride was broken down and everyone was waiting in the Portrait
Corridor. Many people went out the emergency exit, but we decided to wait it out.
Sure enough, after about 10 minutes the ride started up again. The best part was
the breakdown had eliminated both the fastpass line and the stand-by line when
we exited and we were able to walk right on for another ride. After that, we headed
back for one more ride on Indy, which had a relatively short line. We then headed
over to the monorail station and finally rode it back to the hotel. That was when
we found out about the hotel priority line. Back at the hotel, we packed our bags
and then wandered over to the Fantasy Waters show. We headed back to the room,
a little sad that we would be leaving the next day. Day Five
We
had things to do today! We were being picked up for our flight at 2:40 pm for
our 5:00 pm flight. Our plan was to stay in the park until about 2:00 pm. Our
first stops, even before breakfast, were the rides we had not yet done. Peter
Pan and Alice were first on the list. We also took a ride in the Tea Cups. Jaden
wanted another ride on the Matterhorn before the line got too long, so we did
that, as well. We headed over to the Village Haus for breakfast upon finding out
the RiverBelle Terrace was closed again. We also headed to Adventureland for one
more ride on Indy. After pulling a fastpass, we headed over to the Mansion again,
as the line was very short. After exiting Indy, we went to purchase the huge snake
from Aladdin that Jaden had his eye on for the past two days. We decided to head
to DCA for the final showing of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire—Play It! On the
way, we had some time to kill, so we made a few purchases, took some pictures
and stopped by the firehouse to decorate some Christmas cookies. We were going
to miss Disneyland and our final time there had much laughter and tears. We
headed over to DCA for the 1 pm showing of Millionaire. We were seated in the
general audience. Once again, I managed to make it to number 2 on the board at
the end of the game. We then left DCA and headed back to the hotel to collect
our bags from bell services. I had some rearranging to do to get the big snake
on the plane. We finally scaled down our belongings to two checked bags, two carry-on
shopping bags, a backpack and a briefcase. Our shuttle was early, but it made
two stops and was slowed by traffic. We checked in, got through security and settled
in at our gate. We grabbed some McDonald’s before our flight and then headed back
to Colorado. Once in Denver, we had a quick gate and terminal transfer, but we
made it with a few minutes to spare. We arrived in Colorado Springs to much ice
and snow and headed home. Final thoughts
The one thing that struck
me was that every guidebook I’ve ever read, even shows on the Travel Channel indicate
the week after Thanksgiving to the week before Christmas are good, non-crowded
days to go. I don’t think so. As a number of cast members told me, the month of
December is always crowded. The Saturday we visited was unreal in terms of number
of people there. If you go during December, expect crowds—lots of them. Lines
are long, fastpasses are scarce and patience is thin. I also need to give
credit to the many cast members we spoke with. All of them were absolutely wonderful.
Last year, several cast members were, well, grumpy and sometimes rude. This year
everyone went out of their way to try to engage us personally and seemed to really
care if we were having a good time or not. The employees seem very energized and
concerned with caring for their guests. Once again, I would urge everyone
to use MouseEars Vacations. Tim Larison is the absolutely best and I look forward
to working with him again. This trip has become a tradition for Jaden and
I. It is one of the things we look forward to each year. The trip has become so
legendary that the family wants to join us next year. Hmm, we’ll have think about
that. We really need to catch up on our time together each time this trip rolls
around. My nephew is really more like my son. He is also my best friend and we
love spending time together. Disneyland is best experienced through the eyes of
someone you love. Seeing Disneyland through my nephew’s eyes is the true magic
for me. Finally, this trip report is dedicated to Jaden’s Uncle Robert in
the hope that one day Tinkerbell sprinkles a little pixie dust on him. Pam
BacaPam.Baca@ssa.gov
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