Disney Sisters 1st trip to Disney Land - May 2013

[DznyGrlSD]

Thank @raven24 for kicking my hiney into getting this TR done. I'm going to preface with while I love READING people's trip reports - I don't like WRITING trip reports...I'm just not good at it.
Also thanks to @Disneyfalcon for being the BEST TA ever!!

Photos are linked from Photobucket - so if you're seeing broken images that's why.

Now that we have that out of the way...

Who? 3 Disney sisters and "Mom"

Me (on the left): Heather, Disney-girl, DznyGrlSD, etc etc - Former Disney College Program (2003-2004) cast member and I've been going to Disney World since I was 3. I went to Disney Land once back in 1996 with my high school choir, but we didn't get to see/do much so I don't count that.
Edit - I'm the over-planner - I made spreadsheets for everyone on what we were doing when (dinner reservations, parade times, etc) Here's proof!

Marci (on the far right): Disney-sister #1 - Lives in Orlando and I met Marci at Pleasure Island when I was on the college program and we've been BFF ever since. She is also a former Disney Castmember (Dinoland operations) and has never been to Disney Land.

Debi (in pink): Disney-sister #2 - I met Debi through Marci and the 3 of us have been friends ever since. Debi hails from Pennsylvania and I forgive her for being an Eagles fan. Debi and I both consider Goofy our husband so we tend to "fight" over him when he's near

Mom (in purple): Debi's mom - she's 70 (yes 70!) and kept up with us every day. Wears purple EVERY day...drives Debi crazy!!

When? May 7th - 13th 2013
Room Type: Standard at the Anaheim Fairfiled Inn - Pirate room
Tickets: 5-Day Park Hopper Souvenir Ticket with Magic Morning
Dining: None
Non-Disney activity: LA/Hollywood Experience

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Day 1: Arrival
I know people hate seeing travel photos are are just like "get to the darn Disney photos already" too bad

We used the DL resort express which worked out really well and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to DL

We arrived and our room wasn't ready yet but they let us "store" our luggage and we took off for Downtown Disney (DTD) & eventually ended up at Trader Sam's so we could pay homage to the Adventurer's Club relics that have ended up here.

I honestly don't remember what I ordered but I still have the glass, glow cube and it was STRONG

By the time we were done at Trader Sam's we headed back to our room to get settled...it was going to be a BUSY week

Now we had 4 adults in this room and it was a bit cramped - but the sofa unfolded to a sleeper so sleeping wasn't too bad

Our room faced the highway and had a great view. It wasn't nosiy at all

View from the other side of the hotel:

Surprise for us when we looked down!

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Day 2: Preface - we had a 5-day (yes 5) park hopper. Since none of us had ever been there before we wanted to be able to take our time, and see EVERYthing! The only thing we didn't do/see was Grizzly River Run...we just never had time when we didn't want to be soaking wet for several hours afterwards. But it really did take us 5 days to get through both parks.

My 1st thought after passing under the railroad station...HOLY CRAP THE CASTLE IS TEEEEEEENNNNYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

Is that a castle down there??

1st we did the Disneyland Story & Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. It was great - for a girl who's only ever seen the Hall of Presidents this was really cool.

Walking down Main Street I found 2 of my favorite windows ever:

Obligitory Partners statue photo

We turned left to...

That was the SMALLEST line for dole whips we saw all week. People are dole-whip crazy at DL. Granted, there is only 1 window, unlike the 3 at WDW but still...the line was always long for Dole Whips.

Now correct me if I'm wrong - Tiki room is just like WDWs now that Iago burned up and WDW "fixed" it

1st food - I don't remember what it was, but it wasn't very good

Rode Jungle Cruise - just like WDWs except for the "ruins"

Indy was 101 (down) so we skipped it for now.

I would LOVE to go inside this sometime

PoTC is 10x better at DL than WDW. I love the Bayou-themed beginning

Haunted Mansion at DL just LOOKS so much cooler than WDW. WDW is "creepier" looking that DL but DLs is just so neat!! We've all decided that we're going back for Haunted Mansion Holiday in the next few years.

Made our way back into Critter Country (SO hard not to call it Frontierland) and skipped Splash for now but rode Pooh. I love the landscaping/water elements here

Back to the hub...and onto Fantasyland... To Be Continued...

 

[Californian Elitist]

Yay, a trip report!!! Off to a great start, so far. I hope I'm still walking through Disneyland by the time I'm Debi's mom's age.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Fantasyland - reminded me of how FL at WDW *USED* to be. It's the nostalga that I liked. Now, I brought this up before in another thread but WHY are the dark rides in FL incomplete?? Most of the rides (Alice, Pinocchio, Snow White) are all missing parts of the storyline in the ride...drove me crazy!

Debi had never been on Mr Toad before and Marci & I haven't been on it since before it disappeared from WDW. Love this ride & reminds me I need to watch Wind in the Willows again...

We headed back to IaSW - holy cow how great is the theming of this ride? Again, another reason we HAVE to go back to DL for Christmastime. IaSW is 100x better than the WDW one - I wish WDW would incorperate the Disney characters into the ride like DL did

Hidden Mickey:

Toontown & Roger Rabbit were next - we didn't spend much time in Toontown because we had reservations at Goofy's Kitchen for Dinner/Marci's Birthday

We took the Monorail to DTD then walked to Goofy's

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Goofy's Kitchen - now I'm 34 years old and a SUCKER for character meals. I'm not patient enough to wait in line in the parks to get a photo with characters. The food was good (buffet food), and the service was great. Character interaction even though we were 4 adults was great! I would recommend this to anyone going to DL

Where do I get tables like this for MY house??

We got photo-bombed by Pluto. Our server was taking our photo and Pluto jumped in the background - best photobomb ever!!

We headed to DCA after dinner to check it out for the 1st time. Yay for park-hopers!

 

[Californian Elitist]

Good question in regards to the Fantasyland dark rides. As a Fantasyland CM, I was told it made them unique. I'm sure that's not a real answer haha.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Good question in regards to the Fantasyland dark rides. As a Fantasyland CM, I was told it made them unique. I'm sure that's not a real answer haha.

regardless...DRIVES ME CRAZY!! Especially Alice & Pinocchio - it was like story story and then BOOM ending...wth??

 

[DznyGrlSD]

I don't have any (good) photos of DCA - although the 1st lesson of the trip was learned: GET FASTPASSES FOR WoC!!!! We caught WoC from next to Little Mermaid and were blown away - we decided right then to get to DCA at rope-drop to get FP for WoC for the next night to get better seats.

 

[Californian Elitist]

regardless...DRIVES ME CRAZY!! Especially Alice & Pinocchio - it was like story story and then BOOM ending...wth??

Come on, Pinocchio's not that bad lol. Alice is weird because it ends with the mad tea party. I think Snow White is the worst out of all of them. Just a mural on the wall.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Come on, Pinocchio's not that bad lol. Alice is weird because it ends with the mad tea party. I think Snow White is the worst out of all of them. Just a mural on the wall.

yeah that's what I meant - LOL Alice is just weird & Snow White ends...BOOM!

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Day 3 - DCA and WoC - also Big Thunder Ranch BBQ for dinner.

Rope Drop - Rope Drop - Rope Drop!!!! We were there at Rope Drop for ONE reason only - to get FP for WoC...Mission accomplished. We were FB Blue (I think) which is the 1st group for WoC

After getting FP for WoC we road Soarin - same as WDW but still great!

We headed over to Hollywood Pictures backlot and saw what Mad T Party looks like during the day (SO out of place during the day!) and rode Monsters Inc (so much better than MILF at WDW) and Muppet Vision.

Rope Drop Selfie

Just looks ODD and out of place during the day...

Then we went to see Aladdin - OMG it was great!! I think we ended up seeing it 2 or 3x while we were there...it was frickin awesome!! I can't wait to see how they translate this to broadway. The Genie was hilarous!!

Cars Land...up next!

 

[Californian Elitist]

HAHAHA, the last photo of Aladdin... Everyone's face is lit up, except his.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Cars Land - WOW WOW WOW...very few things at Disney make my jaw drop anymore but WOW!!!!!! Photos do NOT do it justice no matter how good a photographer you are. You HAVE to see this in person to appreciate it. I'm actually glad they aren't going to put this in WDW - it leaves something unique to DL

We ate lunch at Flo's and I had the Pot Roast - it was YUMMY!!!

Saw these guys go by while we were eating lunch

Made our was over to RSR - I have NEVER...N.E.V.E.R. waited in line for so long without a fast pass (none were available) before. Loved the design of the queue...so much to see that the wait really wasn't THAT bad. It was WELL worth the wait!!! I think standby was 60 minutes?

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Headed over to see the Little Mermaid and some of Paradise Pier before we had to go to DL for dinner. Now, I haven't seen TLM at WDW yet, but people say it's the exact same ride.

Caught the end of Goofy's Show (everything but water?)

Caught these guys:

Back to DL for dinner...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm love love LOVE-ing this!!!

 

[DznyGrlSD]

People have said it before - but the lack of character "wranglers" like at WDW was different. Not bad, just different. They could walk around and not get mobbed like they would at WDW

Dinner at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ reminds me a LOT of Hoop Dee Doo - except no show, really. Yes there are people walking around and whatnot but it's NOTHING like Hoop Dee Doo. Thank goodness the weather was nice because it's outside. The food was great!!!

BACK to DCA for our WoC FP

 

[sweetpee_1993]

What is that dessert?!?!?! ^^^^

 

[DznyGrlSD]

What is that dessert?!?!?! ^^^^

From AllEars
S'mores Bake
Warm Chocolate Brownie topped with Roasted Marshmallows, Graham Crackers, and Hot Fudge. $9.99

 

[Californian Elitist]

There's usually a show at Thunder Ranch. Strange that there wasn't when you went.