Disneyland Spring 2009

Travel dates: 2/14/09-2/21/2009 but only 17th,18th, and 19th in the Park
Travel method: Drive from Utah
Hotels: Crowne Plaza and Disneyland Hotel
Accommodations: Standard at Crowne Plaza, Mickey Themed Suite at Disneyland Hotel
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: My family has gone every that last few years, my parents and sister (9 years) have been once a few years back
Cast of characters: Me (29), Wife (26), DD5, DD3, Dad (50), Mom (49) Sis (9)

TRIP INTRODUCTION
So I won a trip to Disneyland on a local radio station again, (I won one last year and went last May getting the Grand California). All I had to be was the 10th caller. I was so excited when I won. We try to go every year and it is just so much better when part of it is free. The prize gave us 4 3-day park hopper tickets and a two night stay at one of the Disneyland Resort Hotels. This time we got the Disneyland Hotel. Which we were excited about because we had already stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel and the Grand California. Since we drive we needed to get a hotel for the night before we entered the park and then another hotel for the last night we were in the park, and because I am to cheap to pay the actual room price for the resort hotels I used Priceline to bid. I got the Crowne Plaza (3.5 star hotel) for $48. It is a great hotel with a free shuttle to the park. See my Disneyland blog on information on how to do Priceline http://disneylandtips.blogspot.com/. My wife and I love to get such a good deal on a hotel, plus for this trip I found a website www.betterbidding.com that people go to and report what hotels that they have gotten in a specific area and for what price. My wife and I are getting really excited on using it to go to vegas and get a great deal on a 5 star hotel on the strip.
On this trip we were accompanied by my parents and my little sister, she is only 9 years old so her and my daughter act more like cousins then aunt and nieces. They drove also but stopped in St. George for several days to visit my grandparents. We started driving on V-Day in the afternoon. I know not a very romantic way to spend Valentines driving with 2 fussy kids for 10 hours but ooh well. We drove to Victorville were we spent the night at a Courtyard Marriot that we had got on Priceline for $45. It was brand new (only 2 months old) so it was a nice hotel. We had thought we might get to my wife's grandparents in Rosemead to late so we got a hotel. We woke up the next morning at went and visited the grandparents for the day and spent Sunday night at their house.

Monday (Feb 16th) we left the grandparents and headed to Anaheim. After a quick stop at target we checked-in at the Crowne Plaza at about 4:00 p.m. With my parents checking into the same hotel about 10 minutes later. We got rooms close together even though the staff did some seem to happy trying to accommodate us. After everyone getting settled we took the shuttle to Downtown Disney so we could start enjoying some of the magic before actually entering the park the next day. We went to the World of Disney to get autograph books and a pen. My girls picked a tink one for the first time instead of the Princesses but I think that might have to do with Sis getting a tink one too. We then headed over to Tortilla Joe's. We ate there last time and liked it so we thought we would go again. The food was great, prices decent, and portions large. Of course the 3 girls were a little sad because the balloon man never did make it to our table. We also had a very friendly waiter named Jose. After we finished up the great meal the parents and sis went and looked in a few stores while we went to the Disneyland Hotel to do a pre-check in and see if we could get our park tickets (they hold them there from the contest). The cast member was not the most helpful but not terrible. I asked if I could get a view room and she said that because there were no fireworks during our stay it would not matter, and we were not able to get our park tickets early, last year at the Grand California they gave them to us the night before. But all this was okay and I am grateful she was not all that helpful as you will see our real


So after doing that we met back with the parents and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Downtown Disney a little longer and then headed back on the free shuttle back to the hotel to get a good night sleep so we could get up early to start the real fun.
Check in soon for DAY 1 were we get a most wonderful upgrade, were the rain from Winnie the Pooh fills the park, and were we enjoy a wonderful and wet day in the park.

DAY 1
So we woke up before 6:30 so we could get ready. We had to check out of the Crowne Plaza, Check-in to the Disneyland Hotel, and get to the park for Early Entry all by 8:00. When we got to the Disneyland Hotel there was no long line for check-in so that was good. A cast member by the name of Debbie helped us. I had already done all the pre-check in stuff but I asked her how much it would cost to upgrade to one of those “Themed” suites. She said she would check if one was available. She went somewhere else to get our park tickets and then when she came back she said that she was able to get us that upgrade for free. So not only did we not pay for a standard room because it was part of the prize we also got the upgrade free and better yet it was ready at 7:00 in the morning and we did not have to wait till 3:00 to check in. So we went up to our room on the 6th floor of the dream tour and we opened up to our Mickey Room (if you want to see the pictures of it go to my blogspot blog linked above). The first room had 2 queen beds and a sofa sleeper. At first this room does not look themed as it is for the adults. But it was. The comforters had little Disney characters on it that you could barely see, and the wall paper and shrubs that were shaped like the Fab 5. The 2nd room had 2 twin beds with Mickey Mouse comforters, a Mickey Clock, Mickey Phone, Mickey TV, and in the bathroom Mickey hands came out of the wall to hold the lights and to hang your towel. It was all really fun plus we had a good view of downtown Disney, Paradise Pier, and the Matterhorn. So after getting our luggage in the room we left to get to the park.






We got in line at turnstile 13 (one of the fast 2 turnstiles) about 10 minutes before the park opened. It was raining pretty good so I guess that is why there were only a handful of people in line. When the gates opened I went straight to get our 2 free strollers with my Disney Visa Card while everyone else made their way up to fantasy land as fast as they could, stopping for no one. I caught up with them at the Castle and we went straight to Dumbo as it is DD3 favorite ride. We were the first one on it. After that we had a short wait for Peter Pan, Wild Toad, and Pinocchio. After that we ran over to get behind the 2nd rope over by Adventure Land. At 9:00 the rope dropped and we walked quickly to Critter Country, I had wanted to get FP for Indy but it was down. We then went on Winnie and the Splash (it was still raining) so there were no lines, DD5 loved it and we ended going on this ride many times. We then did Haunted and Pirates with little wait. By this time we realized that DD3 needed some new shoes because her had gotten soaked as they were open toed. So everyone else went on pirates again while we took her to get some shoes on socks on Main Street. We then got back before they had gotten back off the ride. We then got FP’s for Indy and went on the Jungle Cruise, by this time the weather had started getting better so it was a nice boat ride. We then went on Big Thunder. After that we had about 1 hour to use our FP and about 1 ½ hours till we had our preferred seating at the Blue Bayou. So we rode the Mark twain and then decided to go see if Alice as open, it wasn’t and neither were the tea cups because of the rain. So we to Toontown, were we got pictures with Pluto, Goofy, and Minnie. It was now almost 1 so we headed over to the Blue Bayou were we all enjoyed our dinners, I especially like the chocolate doublins. I got the Monte Cristo and decided if I got it again I would have to split again. After that my notes are missing and my brain not what is used to be, but we rode Indy, Small World, Matterhorn, Snow White, Alice, Story Book, Teacups, Splash again, Buzz, Star Tours, Nemo, and Space Mtn. All before closing at 9:00. So basically did the whole park in that one day. It was really slow so there was no line waiting. After all this we rode the Monorail to downtown and went to our hotel and got dinner at Crocs and Bites.
I just wanted to take a moment to comment on the additions to Small World. I was a little worried at first but in the end it was not that bad. Most of the characters fit in quite well except for I really did not like Stitch, and Woody and Jesse looked like they were made really cheap. I did really like trying to pick out the songs that were by each of these characters. We rode this ride a total of 5 times during our 3 day trip and by the end I think I could hear all but 2 or 3 of the other songs.

Tune into the next episode were we go to DCA, my daughter gets her balloon popped by the Queen, we eat “under the sea”, and Roz makes a pass at my dad.

DAY 2
So we woke up from staying at the Disneyland hotel and went over to Disneyland to get into the park so we get be on time for our Minnie and Friends breakfast at the Plaza Inn. We decided the night before I would not go but my Wife, DD5, DD3, and my Sister would go. While they were eating I went over and rode Buzz many times in a row. I got my highest score ever 622,000 and was number 2 and the top ten list for most of the morning and afternoon. After awhile my dad joined me while my mom went and joined the kids. After riding buzz about 7 times we made our way over to the Plaza to see if the girls were done eating. They got done about an hour after eating . They had a great time and got Pinocchio’s signature for the first time.
After we rejoined we made our way over to DCA. But on the way we saw Alice, Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts all right by city all playing together. So my DD5 went and saw them. It was really fun and they spent a long time with her. DD5 got a balloon from the breakfast and the Queen kept acting like she was going to pop it, eventually it popped (without the queen doing anything). My daughter was a little sad and came and sat down in her stroller. But the Queen came over and used her finger to signal to follow her. Well DD5 was not going to have anything like that. Who would want to follow the queen of hearts with the look she has on her face, but we told her it was okay. So the Queen took her over to were they start the tours and they gave her a little paper for a free Mickey in a Glass House balloon. It was so Disney. We had gotten a cheap free balloon and because it broke and no fault to them they replace it with a much better balloon. My daughter was very happy that she got to do this.
After all this fun stuff we went over to DCA. The line seemed really long so we decided to skip this line and go through the hotel guest entrance over in the Grand California . There was no line for that so we got in fast and then went and rode Toy Story. It was already quite long but it was a fun ride. We could already tell now that the sun was out that there were lot more people. After riding Toy Story we saw that most lines were starting to get really long so we went over to Bugs Land and did all the rides there and then watched It’s tough to be a bug. I always like this show because of all the 4D affects. After this we went and had lunch at Ariel’s Grotto. We have eaten here once before and I have to say that we liked the way they do the food much better now. After this we watched High School Musical, Tower of Terror, Soarin, and Grizzle River Run. We also rode Monster’s INC. Which is an okay ride but my favorite part of the ride is getting Roz at the very end to speak. I think a lot of people do not know that she is interactive. She did not interact with me but she did with my mom. She asked if the man sitting next to her was her husband. She said yes and then Roz said “You better keep on high on him, he has been blowing me kisses all day” at that point my dad actually blew a kiss to her and she said “Call me we’ll do lunch”. It was quite funny. After doing this we left DCA with a quick stop to Imagine Ears to fill a box full of parts for our girls Mr. Potato Head. First time doing it and I thought it was quite fun.
DCA was now closed so we headed over to Disneyland were we still had about 2 hours left, so we rode Buzz then headed over to New Orleans. We went on Pirates and Haunted but then Fantasmic started so we watched it, not from a very good view point, but still I enjoyed it. We then headed over to Splash and rode it again, by then the day was over and it was back to the hotel.
Tune in for Day 3 were the park is so busy they keep the park opened an hour extra and announce they are doing 2 Fantasmic shows that night.