DisneyDotty
Oops, no more!
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2005
Well, **sniff sniff**, just returned from a heavenly trip to DLR. I'll try to give the many highlights and maybe one lowlight of our time there!
Day One--Arrived about noonish Saturday, December 17, after a (thankfully) uneventful 4 hour flight. We weren't sure what to expect, having been to WDW many times and being sure that DL was a smaller and older version of our most favorite place on earth. The drive up to Disneyland Hotel was okay--no magical archway like WDW. But once we left the SuperShuttle, all was magical.
At check-in, the CM told us the hotel had given us a complimentary upgrade (hooray!) However, we could choose from a room at the furthest tower (ready) or wait for one in the Sierra tower (not ready.) After having read these boards, I opted for the Sierra tower. So we checked our bags and decided to head to Disneyland for a bit. Stopped at Tortilla Jo's--yummy guacamole and mojito. Kids liked their burritos. Had an okay shrimp taco.
Rode the monorail to Disneyland. Again, we were all a bit apprehensive--would we love this park as much as we love WDW? Although I was disappointed by my first view pulling into the park--what looked like a dilapidated 20,000 Leagues was actually work in progress on a Nemo ride--Pixie dust hit me the minute I stepped off the monorail. Disneyland felt like home, and it didn't hurt that many CM's welcomed us home, even though we'd never been there before.
We took a spin on Autopia, our first DL ride, and were very impressed with the free car the kids won. This was no cheapo piece of plastic. Great start to our DL experience!
We wandered a bit--walked around New Orleans square (packed) and down Main Street. By then we were curious to see our room, so headed back to Disneyland Hotel. CM apologized that our room wasn't quite ready (it was close to 4:00 p.m.) but offered us a free drink at the coffee shop while we waited--nice touch.
After our coffees, returned and got our room key. Just had time to admire the room with the Neverland pool view on 4th floor and drop off our stuff before heading back to Disneyland for a 6:00 tour. Not sure what the upgrade was, but the room was lovely--very roomy--as big as if not bigger than rooms at the Contemporary in WDW.
We arrived early and caught part of the Christmas parade. I decided to check in at tour desk, and CM told me I needed to get my tickets from Guest Services. Went to Guest Services--they were closed. Another CM sent me across the plaza. CM there said no, I needed to go to Booth 5. By then it was getting awfully close to 6 p.m., so I called my DH and told him I was on my way and for him to tell first CM that he sent me to the wrong place. Oh well--after some running around by me and some apologies from CM's, we got our tickets and were on the tour. What an excellent introduction to Disneyland! There were about 15 of us in all, and we had an enthusiastic tour guide who obviously loved her job. The tour included the movie of Walt in the Opera House (not to be missed), lots of trivia and walking, a ride on Buzz, Pirates, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder. Then we ended up with excellent seats watching the Dreams Come True fireworks with a snack. Although we were all zombies, having been up for close to 18-20 hours, we were so happy we did the tour. At the end we all received a commemorative pin and a picture of the group.
We were exhausted and so looking forward to hitting the comfy beds. Unfortunately, upon our return to our room we heard water gushing, and DD11 walked into our very-flooded bathroom.
Weird cause the toilet wasn't running when we left our room. I immediately called housekeeping, who said they'd send someone up. Ten minutes later, still flooding, no housekeeping--DH called again. Maintenance and housekeeping appeared shortly thereafter. Offered to send us to a different room--but by then my DS7 had fallen asleep on the bed, and the other room was in another tower. We said we'd wait for them to fix it. They had to replace the tank in the toilet and bring in the shop-vac (which didn't work.) After about 45 minutes, all was well. The maintenance man said he'd tell the front desk to compensate us for the problem. We said fine--we were just glad to be able to go to sleep!
Day One ended with us tired, dazed, and feeling like we were in a dream!
More to come...
Day One--Arrived about noonish Saturday, December 17, after a (thankfully) uneventful 4 hour flight. We weren't sure what to expect, having been to WDW many times and being sure that DL was a smaller and older version of our most favorite place on earth. The drive up to Disneyland Hotel was okay--no magical archway like WDW. But once we left the SuperShuttle, all was magical.
At check-in, the CM told us the hotel had given us a complimentary upgrade (hooray!) However, we could choose from a room at the furthest tower (ready) or wait for one in the Sierra tower (not ready.) After having read these boards, I opted for the Sierra tower. So we checked our bags and decided to head to Disneyland for a bit. Stopped at Tortilla Jo's--yummy guacamole and mojito. Kids liked their burritos. Had an okay shrimp taco.
Rode the monorail to Disneyland. Again, we were all a bit apprehensive--would we love this park as much as we love WDW? Although I was disappointed by my first view pulling into the park--what looked like a dilapidated 20,000 Leagues was actually work in progress on a Nemo ride--Pixie dust hit me the minute I stepped off the monorail. Disneyland felt like home, and it didn't hurt that many CM's welcomed us home, even though we'd never been there before.
We took a spin on Autopia, our first DL ride, and were very impressed with the free car the kids won. This was no cheapo piece of plastic. Great start to our DL experience!
We wandered a bit--walked around New Orleans square (packed) and down Main Street. By then we were curious to see our room, so headed back to Disneyland Hotel. CM apologized that our room wasn't quite ready (it was close to 4:00 p.m.) but offered us a free drink at the coffee shop while we waited--nice touch.
After our coffees, returned and got our room key. Just had time to admire the room with the Neverland pool view on 4th floor and drop off our stuff before heading back to Disneyland for a 6:00 tour. Not sure what the upgrade was, but the room was lovely--very roomy--as big as if not bigger than rooms at the Contemporary in WDW.
We arrived early and caught part of the Christmas parade. I decided to check in at tour desk, and CM told me I needed to get my tickets from Guest Services. Went to Guest Services--they were closed. Another CM sent me across the plaza. CM there said no, I needed to go to Booth 5. By then it was getting awfully close to 6 p.m., so I called my DH and told him I was on my way and for him to tell first CM that he sent me to the wrong place. Oh well--after some running around by me and some apologies from CM's, we got our tickets and were on the tour. What an excellent introduction to Disneyland! There were about 15 of us in all, and we had an enthusiastic tour guide who obviously loved her job. The tour included the movie of Walt in the Opera House (not to be missed), lots of trivia and walking, a ride on Buzz, Pirates, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder. Then we ended up with excellent seats watching the Dreams Come True fireworks with a snack. Although we were all zombies, having been up for close to 18-20 hours, we were so happy we did the tour. At the end we all received a commemorative pin and a picture of the group.
We were exhausted and so looking forward to hitting the comfy beds. Unfortunately, upon our return to our room we heard water gushing, and DD11 walked into our very-flooded bathroom.
Weird cause the toilet wasn't running when we left our room. I immediately called housekeeping, who said they'd send someone up. Ten minutes later, still flooding, no housekeeping--DH called again. Maintenance and housekeeping appeared shortly thereafter. Offered to send us to a different room--but by then my DS7 had fallen asleep on the bed, and the other room was in another tower. We said we'd wait for them to fix it. They had to replace the tank in the toilet and bring in the shop-vac (which didn't work.) After about 45 minutes, all was well. The maintenance man said he'd tell the front desk to compensate us for the problem. We said fine--we were just glad to be able to go to sleep!Day One ended with us tired, dazed, and feeling like we were in a dream!
More to come...
