DLR Trip July 23-26 (its a long one!)

[WonderlandGirl]

Just got back from Cali and figured I would try posting my trip report from the DLR part of the trip.

July 23- Pulled up to the DLH entry and entered the lobby- my fiance (his fist time to disneyland) is in awe at how all the detail is put into disney magic. He loves all the statues and paintings. We Checked into the DLH around 10:45am and to our surprise our room was ready! We got a great room on the 7th floor of the Sierra Tower overlooking DTD and Disneyland. (at this point my fiance was talking non-stop like an excited 5 year old, I am surprised he wasnt jumping up and down!) After we got cooled down in the room from the crazy heat and humidity, I took him on a tour of the hotel grounds, past the water falls the wedding garden around the pool etc. We then headed into DTD to explore the shops. After about 45 min of shopping we headed off to visit some family that lived nearby.
That evening my fiance thought he was going crazy when we got back to the room because of the glowing wallpaper. My mother and I just played along as if we couldnt see it glowing...it was hilarious.

July 24- 6am wakeup call from Goofy. We were at the front gates by 7:10am and walked almost right through. After stopping to get some pictures by the floral Mickey we walked throught the tunnel onto main street. My fiance was floored on how beautiful it was. We snapped a few pictures and headed into fantasyland. We took him on Peter Pan first...he loved it esp. the part when you are flying through all the stars. We then hit Mr. Toads, Snow White, Tea cups Alice and then the matterhorn. My fiance then ran into the mad hatter with me...he saw the mickey and minne wedding ears and we mutally agreed we had to buy them since we had just gotten engaged earlier that month (we are going to wear them at our rehearsal dinner!) After that we conquered Tomorrowland Riding space once and collecting a FP for later and did the same with Buzz and Autotopia. Off to Adventureland we went. We FP Indy then went on to ride Pirates (love the new effects) and the HM (my parents were teasing my fiance saying he better watch out I may be like the creepy bride in the attic....geez) We then FP splash and rode WTP. When we got off Pooh and tigger, Eyore and Rabbit were out so of course we snapped some photos. By this time it was around 9:45 and we were starved so we went to the River Bell and ate breakfast...mmmm cinnamon rolls. We then went and rode BTMRR and FP it for later. By this point it was getting HOT so we decided to go to the Tiki room...my dad slept through the show (he hates it....luckily the fiance loved it) then rode indy with our FP. Finally the heat and humidity got to us so we hopped the monorail (ridiculous wait even for hotel guests with it only going one way) and took an afternoon swim. We ate dinner at DTD then headed back to the park to reride some rides and use the FP. About 35 min to fireworks we were able to get a decent spot in the hub area only to find out that the lower fireworks were blocked by a big tree....but my fiance loved every second of it and so did my dad (neither have seen the show) After that we rode a few more rides and then headed back to the hotel.

July 25- Since we got every big ride done we decided to sleep in this day and got out of the room (after my fiance went and got Bengiets and coffee for us all, he is so sweet) around 10 and headed over to CA Adventure. We FP Soaring and were able to practiacally walk on the other major rides with a short 10 min wait for Monsters. Cute ride, Roz told me that if the young man next to me (my fiance) didnt behave to come back and see her and that he better bring her a churro....that had me cracking up. Then we went over to the animation building and watched Turtle talk..so cute and strolled through the other exhibits. Found out Im still the most like Tinkerbell and my fiance is like Timon. We then headed over to DL and went to toontown to get our picture with Mickey it was the longest line we stood in our whole trip! It was 45 min long! We then rode some more smaller rides and some of the e-tickets that were my fiance's favorites then my dad met up with us with my Grandmother (who lives in anaheim and hasnt been to DLR in 20 years) She wanted to ride the Jungle Cruise so we got right on since she is in a wheel chair. We then went over to have dinner at the Blue Bayou (thank goodness I made reservations the week before and double checked them the day before) they were turning people away and having some serious issues with reservations. They really need to figure out a better way to do things. for example once they are full for the day they should put up a sign so people dont wait in line forever to find that out. Also they need a seperate line for check in. We showed up 25 min before our reservation to request a waterside table, but the line took 30 min to get through because they couldnt find peoples reservations only to find them 10 minutes later, the poor CM was working alone and was totally confused and looked to be on the verge of tears. We got checked in and sat on one of the benches and started talking to a group of 8 that had been there over an hour waiting for their waterside table. They finally got up to ask what was taking so long only to find out the girl never typed them in so they forgot they were there...they ended up getting a bad table...I felt so bad for them. We got a table in the second row from the water, so it wasnt too bad. The food was great, much better than it used to be in my opinion. The service was much better too (once you got seated) After dinner we got a prime spot in front of the castle for fireworks (a proposal happened right in front of us about 15 min before show time...it was so sweet!) My Grandma loved the fireworks...looking at her face as the show went on I swear she went from 83 years old to age 8...it was so sweet. We then went over to catch the final showing of fantasmic for the evening and got a great spot in the hadicap viewing area. Grandma loved it and so did my fiance. (He still cant get pink elephants on Parade out of his head...lol) We then rode BTMRR right before 11 and headed out to walk down main street and said our farwells to the magic kingdom. After we got back to our room my fiance said the sweetest thing, he said he loved Disneyland and cant wait to come back next year but what he really cant wait to do is take our kids in the future for their very first visits because it really is a magical place!

July 26- We checked out of the hotel at 11 and headed for our shopping spree at the World of Disney. We got a ton of great things. We then hopped into the car and waved goodbye as we took off for San Diego to visit more family before we headed back to Oregon.

[Bob38dizfan]

Excellent trip report WonderlandGirl. It sounds like your fiancé is hooked, you'll probably be back every year from now on.

[Pinocchio85]

Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.

[WonderlandGirl]

Oh ya he is hooked! He wants to go to Disneyworld next...lol

[smitty-78]

Great trip report WonderlandGirl.
I am glad to hear you 2 had a good time .

[Jennifer]

Thanks for sharing your trip...looks like you had a great time!