Just back from DL and the GC with a 5 month old

[Tikiman]

Well just back from my first time back to Disneyland since 2000 (just before DCA opened). We stayed at the Grand Californian because we had stayed at the Disneyland Hotel before and wanted to try it. It was nice but reminded us of the Wilderness Lodge in WDW and we did not feel it was better than the DLH other than being a little closer to the parks and the price was quite a bit more. We took our son Kai (5 months old the day after we got there) and he loved every minute of it including the fireworks. Nothing upset him and he was laughing and looking at everything. We got onto a special preview of Space Mtn on Thursday night (June 30th) and it was fun and they did a great job of cleaning it up and making it smoother. The affects at the beginning and the end were awesome but it was not as different as I thought it would be. It is improved though.

We thought DCA was great and much quieter than Disneyland. There were quite a few rides I loved at DCA. Tower of Terror was a big disappointment compared to the one in WDW. Buzz Lightyear was better at Disneyland than the one at the Magic Kingdom in WDW. I noticed that you hardly ever see characters at Disneyland but when you are at WDW you see them everywhere. Even the character breakfast only has 3 characters and only one came near our table. We will return to Disneyland soon since we live in California but now I remember why we visit WDW more than DL. I do recommend taking young kids if they travel well because even though our son may not remember the trip when he gets older I think it was a great experience for him and he seemed to love every minute of it.

Aloha

Steve

 

[peachgirl]

I agree with you on many of your impressions.

WDW TOT is definitely much better. We stayed at the GC as well. We really love the GC and have stayed there on both our DL trips. This is the first time we had a character breakfast at Storytellers and we also thought there was very little character interaction. The only character that came into our section was Chip. The service was excellent, but we thought the breakfast buffet was pretty bad. For a $100+ breakfast for 4, we expected much better.

If I had one major complaint about DL/DCA, it would be the food choices. They seem to be very limited.

Then again, we don't go for the food so other than discovering that the character breakfasts aren't worth the cost, it wasn't that big of a problem.

 

[Tikiman]

The dinner at Storytellers had a much better buffet selection and was worth the cost but next time I would order off the menu for breakfast. We enjoyed our breakfast at Rainforest Café much more. The character breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen was much better and the DLH had much more going on at the resort.

I agree that WDW has much better food but I have heard that some of the places in DCA have good food. We only ate at the Pizza Place in DCA and it had some good pasta.

 

[peachgirl]

In all fairness, we didn't try any of the sit down restaurants at DCA, they may be very good for all I know.

I will say they serve the most gigantic corn dogs I've ever seen in my life!!!....and I ate every bite!

 

[KMH1]

We thought ToT was better at DCA than MGM.

You definitely have to "search" more for the characters at DLR. We ended up with almost 40 autographs on our five day trip in May (We did go to all five character meals though). I'm surprised you only saw 3 characters at breakfast. We saw at least five, usually more, at every meal.

I commented that the GC reminded me of WL and I was told that its design was based on WL, so that's no accident.

When are you taking Kai to WDW? Alyssa's first trip to WDW was at six months, and she was 13 months on our DL trip. She'll be 18 months when we go back to WDW in October.

Amy

 

[Tikiman]

Aloha Amy,

Kai won’t be in WDW until next summer. This summer we are taking him to Maui. When we were in Disneyland We did not see a single character walking around and we only saw Flick and the girl aunt that was with him (forgot the name).

So why do you like TOT at DCA better? The theme while waiting in line was even boring compared to MGM and once you were on the ride it was the same ride but shorter and you never detach and go down the hall like you do at MGM. I thought that was one of the best parts of TOT and a friend of ours who works for Disney said they call it the cheap version of TOT out at DCA. I would still recommend going on it and I am sure when I go back I will go on it again (fast pass only). I did love SOC and Screamin was great!!!

 

[KMH1]

LOL...well, Kevin and I completely missed the "theming" at the beginning of ToT, because Alyssa was napping, so we took that time to take turns riding. It was later in the day, and there was no wait at all, so we both zoomed through. I hadn't been on ToT for a couple years (pregnancy, etc.), so the drop sequences seemed "fresh" to me and I enjoyed the part where the doors opened and you could see your reflection. It's not my favorite attraction, so maybe I was subconsciously glad it was shorter.

Hmmm...I wonder where all the characters were for your trip?!! We saw the Incredibles, JoJo, Cruella, Vacation Mickey and Goofy, Belle, Sorceror Mickey, Woody, Cinderella, and Aurora at DCA. And at DL, we saw the Fab 5 wearing their 50th outfits, Max, Dale, Foulfellow and Gideon, Alice, Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Tweedle Dee and Dum, Woody, Jessie, Peter Pan, Wendy, and Captain Hook. Those were all non-character-meal sitings.

Hopefully Kai won't be afraid of the characters when you go back WDW next summer...my fingers are crossed that Alyssa still loves them in October!

Have a wonderful Hawaiian vacation! We just made our Ohana PS this morning, so we'll at least get to visit the Poly in October (we're staying at POP to save money with the free food offer).

Take care Steve!
Amy

 

[kmsandrbs]

... We stayed at the Grand Californian ... We took our son Kai (5 months old the day after we got there) and he loved every minute of it including the fireworks. Nothing upset him and he was laughing and looking at everything. ... I do recommend taking young kids if they travel well because even though our son may not remember the trip when he gets older I think it was a great experience for him and he seemed to love every minute of it.

Aloha

Steve

Well, Steve, we will be taking our 5 month old daughter, Kaia, (and our two other kids) to the GC and Disneyland next week. Interesting conicidences

Anything particular you would recommend with the 5 month old?

The Stephens Family

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the review, Tikiman! Sounds like a great time was had by all.

 

[Tikiman]

Kmsandrbs,

Well it is hard to give advise since I am sure all kids are different but I am glad we are exposing Kai to different environments because he does not seem to be surprised by anything. We did go from one park to the next often and most of the time he hung out in the stroller and slept much of the time. We stopped and got food and drinks when ever he needed food so it forced us to take time to relax so it was not so stressful. He seemed to be fine with staying up late since he slept during the day. He was great on the rides like Buzz and Pirates but I think he mostly enjoyed being able to look at everything going down main street and the area back near TOT. We did not have to go back to the room but it was close by if we did. When it came to rides there was just the two of us so most of the time we just did the single rider line and found it to be faster than fast pass or the baby swap (which is just in the fast pass line). We did grab a few fast passes. We found a few quiet spots that we could stop when Tara had to nurse Kai like behind the store in New Orleans Square where the stairs go up behind Club 33 and some of the outside seating at the food places in DCA.

Like I said it all depends on how your 5 month old is. I was a little worried but it worked out great and I think it made us slow down and relax a little more than we are use to which made you see more things.

Have a great trip.

camcolt,

Yeah we did have a great time and it was good to see everything that was still under construction last time. I am looking forward to taking Kai to WDW now.

Aloha

Steve

 

[KMH1]

kmsandrbs,

I sent you a private message, so I didn't "hijack" Steve's thread.

 

[Tikiman]

Hey Amy if it is about Kmsandrbs' question you can post it here.

Aloha

Steve

 

[KMH1]

Thanks Steve!

Here's a link to a thread I posted after traveling to WDW with our six month old. Many of the tips are applicable to Disneyland too.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=669995

Check out the Disney for Families board for more tips too, Kmsandrbs.

Amy

 

[kmsandrbs]

Thanks for your suggestions.

We are going at the worst possible time for crowds (the weekend of the 17th) ... but we know that. Although we are starting off with hoppers, we plan on getting deluxe passes at the end of the trip and coming back when it is not quite such a madhouse. So we really do plan on taking it very easy.

With two other little ones (4 and 6) who won't be able to sleep well in the stroller, we will likely be going back to the hotel (luckily, staying at GCH) for rest, play, and crowd avoidance.

We have a couple of PSs so far, for latest seatings (late breakfasts and late lunches = early lunches and early dinners).

 

[phyllis1966]

I noticed that you hardly ever see characters at Disneyland but when you are at WDW you see them everywhere. Even the character breakfast only has 3 characters and only one came near our table.

Hey, Steve, we were there around the same time, from 6/27 - 7/1! It was our first time in California, and we loved your home state!

As you did, we noticed that we saw fewer characters walking around than in WDW. At the breakfast in the Storyteller's Cafe, though, we saw Chip & Dale, Coda, Kenai (never got to us, even after an hour), Turk and Meeko (also never got to us, and DD(6) was disappointed that we had to leave). Is that where you only saw 3 characters? I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually preferred it to Goofy's Kitchen, where only 3 characters stopped by in the hour that we were there (the variety of buffet offerings was much better, though).

 

[yeartolate]

Is the decreased character interaction at meals new? We went in May and had no problem - especially at Lilo and Stitch Breakfast! (lots and lots of interaction).

We have never had a problem with character interaction at Goofy's either (except once when we were seated alone outside - but I let the waitress know and they gave us a mini-parade )

I hope your diffficulties were flukes!

 

[Tikiman]

Phyllis1966,

Yes we were at Storytellers and I agree that when we had tried Goofy’s Kitchen before there were a lot of characters. Every time we peaked into Storyteller’s it was the same thing, only a few characters walking around and we thought it was funny that when Chip left Dale came back. We figured the guy or girl was changing costumes in the back.

We have always noticed less characters at the Park here in CA. When we are in WDW you see characters all over the place.