Two days at Disneyland

[livinitup]

My DD (age 8) and her friend (age 9) both have spring break this week, so we decided to do a week in LA with 2 days in Disneyland. This board has been very generous in Disney planning, so I thought I'd return the favor with some updates.

We booked at Howard Johnson for the location, price and good reviews. So far, 10 out of 10. Great location, very easy 8 minute walk to the park entrance. My DH joked that it would take longer to walk if we parked a car in the parking lot. True. The hotel has 2 pools including a cute water play-park that the girls loved. Another medium round pool where we brought-in dinner and ate outside, poolside. Loved it. We did a small upgrade for a room with a fridge and microwave - and overlooking the round pool is a bonus (building #2). The small balcony is nice (looks like all rooms have an outside balcony) There are several buildings and the whole place looks good. We didn't do the bigger upgrade to face the Disney park for fireworks because reviews said it also faces the freeway - true. We're in bed now and plan to miss the fireworks anyway. Overall, clean, fun, comfy, close and family-friendly.

The Marriot Courtyard is across the street, looks big, nice and has a big rooftop water park. Probably also a hit.

Lots of places to eat within walking distance and very short driving distance - mostly chains (of course) but lots of options. We walked around Downtown Disney this afternoon which was not crowded. We shopped for Tshirts for the girls, saw a parrot experience at Rainforest Cafe and visited Lego Land.

Tomorrow, we are going to do the rope-drop at Disneyland and head for Star Wars attractions. We are on east coast time, so waking-up early is easy. We bought milk (and brought cereal and fruit) so we're eating breakfast on the balcony. These girls aren't big breakfast eaters. If they were the options on the street (and nearly in front of the entrance) are Mimi's, McD's, Denny's, buffets, etc.

If anyone has special requests, I'll do my best to find-out tomorrow. We plan an early start, mid-day break, and late night including fireworks. No park hopper. Suggestions welcome, too.

Yeah, Disney, 60th Anniversary.

[alleinesein]

Hopefully you read this before you head into the park

Get to the park at least 30 minutes before opening time; that allows you time to get through security. Some mornings they will let people in early and other mornings they wait until the last possible minute.

Star Wars!! If your little ones want to do the Jedi Training Academy you need to head there first.
A suggested plan of action:
-Either you or your DH takes the kids over to the Launch Bay to register.
-While they are doing that the other parent takes everyone's tickets and gets fast passes for Space Mountain.
-Once both of those things are done head over to Star Tours and then Buzz
-Depending on your FP time for Space Mountain you might be able to ride Space Mountain after you get done with the Star Tours and Buzz. If you can you will be able to snag another FP after you get off the ride.

If Stan is working the door at the Launch Bay he usually has extra FP for Space Mountain. So if a handsome young black CM asks you if you want to ride Space Mountain the answer is YES! Don't miss the character meet and greets at the Launch Bay; the lines move pretty fast. If you have the Disney Chase Visa take advantage of the cardholder meet and greet with Kylo Ren; it is from 4pm-8pm and you get a free 5x7 photo (They give you a voucher to redeem for a m&g photo. Head over to the store to pick it up as early as you can since the line gets stupid long at night)

Find out if Tiki Maynard is working the Tiki Room. He is hysterical and definitely worth a visit to the Enchanted Tiki Room.

For fireworks it would also be a good idea to watch the parade if you want to see all of the projections along Main Street. Try to get a spot by 7:30pm; it would be a good time to have a snack. After the parade they will have you move into the center of Main street for fireworks viewing. If you don't care about seeing the projections there are a few decent viewing areas in other parts of the park- you can watch from the area in front of the Matterhorn or over by the Big Thunder Mountain exit. You will miss a few of the smaller ones but you will have a nice view of all the big stuff.

The Jungle Cruise is still closed for refurbishment but they are running a Skippers School in front of the ride. It is pretty cute.

Things to munch on- anything from the Bengal BBQ. Garlic twists from Maurices (I just discovered these on my last trip and they are my new favorite thing). Dole Whip!! Light side Lemonade at the Galactic Grill (it is a bit pricey but you get a Millennium Falcon glow cube; the dark side lemonade comes with a death star glow cube).

[livinitup]

These are great suggestions !!!

[countthestars]

Have fun today!! I love reading about people's trips

[Redpoppy]

If you want easy takeout, order from Mimi's on your phone before walking back to the hotel and pick it up as you walk by. I did this a couple times, but we were there longer. I loved the HoJo.

[Deleted]

If you are doing Disneyland on Thursday its magic morning so if you are trying to do Jedi training you may not get it we were in line by 9:15 and were like 15th on the waiting list . When we were there on Tuesday.

[livinitup]

We made it into the Jedi Training Academy! Thanks alleinesein. You made that happen. I got a little mixed-up on where to find it - but only lost about 10 minutes in getting the Hyperspace Mountain FP and getting on line for Jedi training. SO WORTH THE WAIT.

And yes @jayhawkali we went on a non-extra early Magic morning day. So, thanks for that. It's the main reason we picked Wednesday.

So much fun to do the Jedi Training! Funny side note, half the kids were in Star Wars related Tshirts. Go figure !

[livinitup]

Highlights:

We started in Tomorrowland and hit Fast Passes (FP) for Hyperspace Mountain. Loved it - great Star Wars music and special effects.

Once we had the reservation for the Jedi Academy and did Hyperspace Mountain, we rolled through the park and alternated stops for snacks/food and FP rides. We got lucky with short lines in between FPs like the Haunted House and Pirates of the Caribbean.

We didn't have a reservation for lunch and didn't need one. We bought ice cream sundaes for the girls and walked them over to the French Market Restaurant where DH and I split a salad and French Dip sandwich. It was seat-yourself cafeteria style, so easy. That said, it would have been nice to have a 12:30 reservation at one of the nicer restaurants (Blue Bayou was booked solid for the day), but it was a little Impossible to know ahead. Folks said you didn't "need" reservations like WDW - and they were right.

We left the park and relaxed at our hotel around 4 pm. A real life saver - all 4 of us needed it. We ate dinner at Panera on the way back around 6:30 pm. We got lucky with some rides, a good seat for the parade and a last FP at Hyperspace Mountain to end the night. No fireworks, due to winds, oh well.

Great Disney day. Lots of fun memories. I hope the girls enjoy the pool in the morning.

[livinitup]

Apr 27, 2016 2:52:52 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Hopefully you read this before you head into the park

Get to the park at least 30 minutes before opening time; that allows you time to get through security. Some mornings they will let people in early and other mornings they wait until the last possible minute.

Star Wars!! If your little ones want to do the Jedi Training Academy you need to head there first.
A suggested plan of action:
-Either you or your DH takes the kids over to the Launch Bay to register.
-While they are doing that the other parent takes everyone's tickets and gets fast passes for Space Mountain.
-Once both of those things are done head over to Star Tours and then Buzz
-Depending on your FP time for Space Mountain you might be able to ride Space Mountain after you get done with the Star Tours and Buzz. If you can you will be able to snag another FP after you get off the ride.

If Stan is working the door at the Launch Bay he usually has extra FP for Space Mountain. So if a handsome young black CM asks you if you want to ride Space Mountain the answer is YES! Don't miss the character meet and greets at the Launch Bay; the lines move pretty fast. If you have the Disney Chase Visa take advantage of the cardholder meet and greet with Kylo Ren; it is from 4pm-8pm and you get a free 5x7 photo (They give you a voucher to redeem for a m&g photo. Head over to the store to pick it up as early as you can since the line gets stupid long at night)

Find out if Tiki Maynard is working the Tiki Room. He is hysterical and definitely worth a visit to the Enchanted Tiki Room.

For fireworks it would also be a good idea to watch the parade if you want to see all of the projections along Main Street. Try to get a spot by 7:30pm; it would be a good time to have a snack. After the parade they will have you move into the center of Main street for fireworks viewing. If you don't care about seeing the projections there are a few decent viewing areas in other parts of the park- you can watch from the area in front of the Matterhorn or over by the Big Thunder Mountain exit. You will miss a few of the smaller ones but you will have a nice view of all the big stuff.

The Jungle Cruise is still closed for refurbishment but they are running a Skippers School in front of the ride. It is pretty cute.

Things to munch on- anything from the Bengal BBQ. Garlic twists from Maurices (I just discovered these on my last trip and they are my new favorite thing). Dole Whip!! Light side Lemonade at the Galactic Grill (it is a bit pricey but you get a Millennium Falcon glow cube; the dark side lemonade comes with a death star glow cube).

. I really can't "like" this enough !! Thank you for sharing. Especially the Jedi Training - I loved it so much.

[livinitup]

Apr 27, 2016 11:11:25 GMT -5 Redpoppy said:

If you want easy takeout, order from Mimi's on your phone before walking back to the hotel and pick it up as you walk by. I did this a couple times, but we were there longer. I loved the HoJo.

I really wanted to do this because the suggestion was SO GOOD. and the menu looked great. If we had one more day, it would have happened. Thanks !