9 Days at Disneyland!!!! Part 1

[nmbullrdr]

Most people ask, why spend 9 days at Disneyland? And the answer, we wanted to do it all!

The family, Dad, Mom, Son, and Daughter went from Sept 3 through Sept 11.

We drove from Albuquerque, NM leaving on Sept 1 and staying that night in Needles, CA. First, there was a heat wave. Needles was 117 degrees!!! We stayed at the Motel 6 in Needles. Very small rooms, but clean. The in-laws stayed at the Best Western Colorado River Inn. Bigger rooms, but the carpet was filthy, turned the kids feet black within five minutes. Indoor pool OK, rude staff. Basically, Needles is a stop over in the Mojave Desert or a weekend getaway for people heading to the river. Ate at the Wagon Wheel across the street from the BW, bad choice, I would recommend skipping Needles entirely and staying in Kingman or another bigger city with decent motels and dining.

Left Needles and headed out to Escondido to see family on the 2nd. Still very hot. Had some really good pizza at an italian place in downtown Escondido. Would like to return when we have more time to explore.

Left for Disneyland on Sep 3rd, YEAH! It was still very hot, over 100!! The drive from Escondido to Anaheim is not that bad. Course we left late and ran into some traffic.

We checked into Howard Johnson's and the staff was quite pleasant. Got a great deal on a room, saved us over $1500 if staying at the Disneyland Hotel. This is one reason we stayed so long, a great deal at Hojo's. We stayed in building one, fourth floor, room 415. Large room, 2 queen beds, table, balcony, small fridge, ample closet and drawer space. The pool is nice and the hot tub is even nicer after a long day at Disneyland. We timed the walk to about 6 minutes heading to disneyland and 10 heading back (yes, I am old and out of shape).
We had housekeeping come in about every other day, just new towels everyday since we were staying there that long. Did laundry in the basement toward the end of our stay. Nice Neptune washers and commercial dryers. Saw housekeeping washing comforters, always like to know that they are washed (wife's pet peeve). Little store on site was useful for snacks, milk, cereal, etc. In room internet (FREE) was the bomb! Had to pay $14 a day in Vegas for the same feature. All in all, if I can't stay at the Disneyland Hotel (cause I can't afford it everytime we go), I would definitely stay at Hojo's.

Since Sept 3rd was a blackout date for an annual pass, we purchased park hoppers with the intention to use them for the 3rd and use the early entry and then upgrade to an annual pass. This plan worked out like a charm, upgrading was easy, and the 10% off for dining and purchases was very welcomed. Disneyland had an annual pass holder appreciation day while we visited and all purchases was 10% off everywhere, can't beat that! We brought one stroller from home, our daughter is only four, and received a free stroller using our Disney visa each day. The extra stroller was a nice touch and my son liked it also. Also received dining and purchase discounts with Disney Visa, glad we got it! And did the meet n greet at DCA with 2 free 5 X 7 photos.

We tried to do everything in Disneyland. We rode up front in the monorail and rode in the Lily Belle on the back of the train. Came in on the 3rd to ride Haunted Mansion before it closed also Casey Jr Circus Train and Storybook Land.

Since it was so hot, the kids wanted those water spray bottles with the fans. Very high priced at $17.50 a piece, but well worth it, heat stroke being the other alternative.

Disneyland was a lot more crowded than I anticipated the days following Labor Day on Monday. Fastpasses were only needed on Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and Indy. It still amazes me people would rather stand in line than get a fast pass. We just collected them in the morning and used them in the afternoon or evening. If the rides were just moderately slow, we still used fastpasses to get to the front of the line without any wait at all.

There was a lot of first on this trip, being from out of state, it is hard to get back to Disneyland that often. Our last trip was in 2003, hence, another reason to stay 9 days, it was 4 years since we last visited and needed to make up for it!

One first was the Davey Crockett Canoes, even though you have to paddle, it was really fun. First time also on the Mark Twain (it was in dry dock all the other times we were there). The same for the Tiki Room. First time to go on Splash Mountain also. Last time the kids were 3 years old and 7 months and the time before that we had colds and didn't want to get wet. Went over to Tom Saywer Island with Capt Jack Sparrow. He was hilarious and looked and acted just like Johnny Depp from the movie, kids love him! My son and I also went on Indy, his first time, the snake still scared him though! Autopia and Buzz was also a first for all of us.

Did Grizzly River Rapids, Soaring, Monster Inc, and the Aladdin show over at DCA all first!

The Jedi Training is awesome and the Princess Fantasy Faire is worth the time (hint, stand in line to see the princesses and after exiting, get back into line and by the time you get to the front, a whole new set of princess will be waiting). This was the only way we could get Sleeping Beauty, we always missed her and she wasn't at Ariel's Grotto for lunch. Our daughter brought her Belle dress and had the makeup, tiara, and face painting done, was about $52, but she totally loved it. Son had a face painting of a dragon on his face, loved it too!

End of Part 1

[disneydrmr]

Wow! You sure got a lot of stuff done in your first day at DL! What's the Princess Fantasy Faire?

[Melanie]

Thanks for reporting! Nine days sounds just about right to do it all.

[MegaDisney]

Sounds like a great start!

Thanks so much for taking the time to post your report!

[tinkwest]

Glad you were happy with your hotel choice. That makes so much impact on a vacation - especially when you are staying nine days!!!

It's fun to hear about kids & parents alike experiencing attractions for the first time.

Thanks for the report.

[ChipnDaleGal]

I am totally jealous that you had nine days at Disneyland!! Sounds wonderful to me. I am glad that you are off to such a good start with the first portion of your trip. Thanks for sharing.