SwirlyGirly
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 29, 2008
This report is a bit late, but I found reading the trip reports here very helpful when I was planning our trip, so I decided to come on and give my own. It's long but I broke it up into categories so you can find what you're looking for. I hope I've done it right...
We went in early October; it was our second October trip in a row to DLP. We weren't planning to go, but my husband's partner retreat was scheduled there, so we happily booked the trip.
HOTEL
Last year we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and were happy with it. This year, we were placed in the Magic Circus Hotel. I was not thrilled with this, so at our own cost, we booked 4 of our 5 nights at the New York Hotel. Boy did we miss the Disneyland Hotel. I found the difference astounding. The New York Hotel is just overpriced for what was, to me, a low-level 3 star hotel. It's just not to the standard we are used to. I was, for some strange reason, under the impression that it was a 4 star hotel. The Magic Circus, was even worse, but at least cheaper! I won't review the Magic Circus because it's not the type of hotel I frequent and we were put there w/o a choice. I think for someone who is looking for an affordable option, they might like it as it was clean, close to Disney and with a decent breakfast option.
EMH
We were there for 5 nights, which seems like a long time, but my daughters and I just love parks and we filled those days from EMH to bedtime
My husband was there for a conference, so he spent a lot of time working but he did sneak in some time with us as well.
We are a bit nutty, so we always are the first down for breakfast and the the first in line for EMH.
I love EMH! My youngest's favorite ride is Peter Pan and we managed, thanks to EMH, to ride it 16 times on this trip. I do wish the DLP opened more rides in the mornings, however. Especially when they closed Buzz down for renovations, they replaced it with Star Tours which is in my opinion, no replacement! In fact, while we were there A LOT of rides were closed for refirb and unfortunately a lot of them were for younger kids. In my opinion way too much was closed down from one category (Snow White, Pinocchio, Buzz Lightyear, Casey Jr, the other little one back there, Adventure Isle, Capt Hook's Ship...all closed!) This was especially hard on us since my husband was mostly working and I was with 2 small kids. I knew about Snow White and Buzz, those were advertised ahead of time. The rest were a surprise. And Snow White was scheduled to be closed only the first day of our visit, but it was closed for all days EXCEPT the first day.
FUN IN THE PARKS
We had some wonderfully magical moments. My daughter was chosen to open the studios:
We loved Toy Story and thought the rides were a lot of fun. The lines on Sunday, however, were insane. It was much better during the week. We were blessed with 6 days of glorious weather--so lucky!
We loved the shows and I think we managed to catch all of them. We got a lot of autographs that we'd been chasing for a few years. The kids were very excited to see some characters they'd never met before. We found the character interaction to be superb on this trip. I think a lot had to do with the fact that it was very slow during the week. We had EMH to ourselves one morning for the first hour, literally to ourselves.
FOOD
BBWWS
We did every character meal in the place, including BBWWS. My husband was able to join for BBWWS. I was prepared to survive it, but I ended up having a great time and so did my family. I even thought the food was ok (even the chili and I'm American!) Maybe the predinner drinks and the delicious and affordable bottle of Chablis on ice delivered straight to our section helped. It was a slow night so everyone was upgraded to 1 category and we all got the coffee and treats. I took the advice I found here and ordered the cheapo French tickets. I generally like to have nicer seats if they are offered and I was worried that I would be unhappy with the Category 2 seats, so we arrived early and I went to the ticket desk to upgrade. She told me not to waste my money and I thought that was very honest and helpful of her.
INVENTIONS
Inventions was even better this time than last. I usually don't enjoy buffets for dinner, but I loaded up on oysters, crab and mussels. We had the first seating so the characters paid a lot of attention to my kids. They especially loved it when Chip played a trick on Mom! I was wearing a sleeveless top and I had my arm raised, finishing off the half bottle of wine I ordered and Chip snuck up behind me and tickled my arm pit with his big furry paw. It scared the life out of me and I screamed! My kids are still talking about it.
GOLDEN NUGGET
I read a lot of bad reviews on the Golden Nugget, but as I said, my kids wanted to do every character meal in the park. We had the first seating for lunch one day and I wasn't expecting much. My first impression was that the restaurant was beautiful. I loved the look of it. There wasn't a band playing, so that was a bit disappointing. The characters were Mr. Smee, Pluto and Mickey. The food was just fine; I was expecting worse. My kids enjoyed theirs and I thought mine was better than I hoped for. I ordered a glass of Freixenet Brut, which was on special for 8 Euro/glass (see a trend here?). They ran out so they brought me a glass of their top shelf champagne for the cost of the Feixenet
. The character interaction at the Golden Nugget was the best we'd ever had, and I think we've done every character meal in DLP and WDW. The place was mostly empty and a large table of very energetic and somewhat cheeky kids were trying to monopolize the characters, but the characters were kind an playful with them and at the same time took extra strides to pay attention to my kids who are calmer and much more shy. I got a tear in my eye when Mickey took my girls over to the steps for some quiet time together.
CAFE MICKEY
On our last day, for our last lunch, we finished our trip at Cafe Mickey. The interaction was the worst of all our meals except for with Goofy. My daughter drew him a picture and he took it around the room to show it off and she felt very special. The other character barely stopped for a photo. 2 never came to our table at all. It was ok bc we had met all the characters earlier in the trip. Our food was bad. No one enjoyed their meal. The atmosphere was loud and crowded. I don't think I'll be going back.
STEAKHOUSE BRUNCH
Yumm! We had a great meal and I, of course, loved starting lunch off with a glass of champagne. The characters were Minnie, Tigger and Eeyore. Again we had first seating and again we got a ton of attention. My daughter bought a Tigger pullover fleece that morning bc she was chilly and she slipped it on when she saw Tigger. He made a big deal out of it and she was thrilled. Minnie gave my younger daughter a kiss. We enjoyed the food and the atmosphere and I would go back in a heartbeat.
CALIFORNIA GRILLE
Last year we had a wonderful meal at Cali Grille, this year we were disappointed. My potato cake was a sponge filled with oil. The rest of my meal was good but not great and I was in the mood for great. My husband said the same of his meal. The kids' cheeseburgers, however, were really tasty. There was nothing bad about the meal, but nothing super. I'd still give it another try, however, based on previous merits.
WALTS
Great food, great atmosphere! I love that place!
AUBERGE DE CENDRILLON
Last year, this was the highlight of the trip for my girls. This year, they were not as excited. I think they've grown out of princesses a bit. We saw the same princesses as last time and everything was a bit of a repeat. It was still nice, however, especially for an in-the-park meal.
NEW YORK CITY BAR
We ended our nights catching up with my husband at the NYC Bar. It is a nice bar with good offerings and a pleasant atmosphere. It may be the best thing about the hotel!
HIGHLIGHTS
-Parade and shows! We loved them and made a point to see all the shows and the parade. The villains show and the new generation show were awesome. Once we'd seen a show the first time, we made a point to watch from the back the next time to catch the characters coming off stage. We got some super autographs and pics this way.
-Princess Tiana! My girls were sooooooooo excited to meet her even if we did wait in a long, long line to do so.
-Toy Story area--so fun!
-Character interaction
-Crush's Coaster--might be the most fun ride I've even been on except Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey. The day my dd was chosen to open the studios, we were first on!
--Nice cast members. We encountered a lot of great cast members on this trip. My 8-year old loves the ToT, my 5 year old is afraid of most rides. I couldn't let my 8yo go a week in the park w/o riding her favorite ride so we bribed the little one her choice of any toy in the park if she'd ride ToT just once. She said she'd do it. We got to the sorting line and she freaked! Then my 8yo freaked bc she didn't want to miss it so I had 2 begging and crying kids. The lovely cast member offered to let my younger daughter "work with her" while my 8yo and I rode the ride. My dd was too scared to stay in the building w/o me though, so she refused. In any event, it was awesome for the CM to offer, bc that's well above and beyond her job. Again, we were very lucky because the nice people riding with us (locals), talked my 8yo into riding alone with them and they promised to take good care of her. She did it and we met her coming off the elevator.
Another cast member in a shop was also great. My daughter bought a Belle costume and she refused to take it off even at the register. The cashier just picked her up and scanned her right in the dress!
I asked her if we could package her up and have her delivered to the hotel.
-Halloween Decorations--they were great as usual but I was sad they didn't decorate Main Street like they did last year.
-Private Event--The convention we were there for held a private event in the parks one night after closing. Almost all of the Disneyland Park was open and all rides were a walk-on! It was so much fun. They even had tons of characters, and since most people came to the convention w/o their kids, the characters were literally tagging along with us and playing with my kids.
Whew! Did you make it through? I guess I've really outed myself as a Disney mom now!
We went in early October; it was our second October trip in a row to DLP. We weren't planning to go, but my husband's partner retreat was scheduled there, so we happily booked the trip.
HOTEL
Last year we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and were happy with it. This year, we were placed in the Magic Circus Hotel. I was not thrilled with this, so at our own cost, we booked 4 of our 5 nights at the New York Hotel. Boy did we miss the Disneyland Hotel. I found the difference astounding. The New York Hotel is just overpriced for what was, to me, a low-level 3 star hotel. It's just not to the standard we are used to. I was, for some strange reason, under the impression that it was a 4 star hotel. The Magic Circus, was even worse, but at least cheaper! I won't review the Magic Circus because it's not the type of hotel I frequent and we were put there w/o a choice. I think for someone who is looking for an affordable option, they might like it as it was clean, close to Disney and with a decent breakfast option.
EMH
We were there for 5 nights, which seems like a long time, but my daughters and I just love parks and we filled those days from EMH to bedtime
My husband was there for a conference, so he spent a lot of time working but he did sneak in some time with us as well.We are a bit nutty, so we always are the first down for breakfast and the the first in line for EMH.
I love EMH! My youngest's favorite ride is Peter Pan and we managed, thanks to EMH, to ride it 16 times on this trip. I do wish the DLP opened more rides in the mornings, however. Especially when they closed Buzz down for renovations, they replaced it with Star Tours which is in my opinion, no replacement! In fact, while we were there A LOT of rides were closed for refirb and unfortunately a lot of them were for younger kids. In my opinion way too much was closed down from one category (Snow White, Pinocchio, Buzz Lightyear, Casey Jr, the other little one back there, Adventure Isle, Capt Hook's Ship...all closed!) This was especially hard on us since my husband was mostly working and I was with 2 small kids. I knew about Snow White and Buzz, those were advertised ahead of time. The rest were a surprise. And Snow White was scheduled to be closed only the first day of our visit, but it was closed for all days EXCEPT the first day.
FUN IN THE PARKS
We had some wonderfully magical moments. My daughter was chosen to open the studios:
We loved Toy Story and thought the rides were a lot of fun. The lines on Sunday, however, were insane. It was much better during the week. We were blessed with 6 days of glorious weather--so lucky!
We loved the shows and I think we managed to catch all of them. We got a lot of autographs that we'd been chasing for a few years. The kids were very excited to see some characters they'd never met before. We found the character interaction to be superb on this trip. I think a lot had to do with the fact that it was very slow during the week. We had EMH to ourselves one morning for the first hour, literally to ourselves.
FOOD
BBWWS
We did every character meal in the place, including BBWWS. My husband was able to join for BBWWS. I was prepared to survive it, but I ended up having a great time and so did my family. I even thought the food was ok (even the chili and I'm American!) Maybe the predinner drinks and the delicious and affordable bottle of Chablis on ice delivered straight to our section helped. It was a slow night so everyone was upgraded to 1 category and we all got the coffee and treats. I took the advice I found here and ordered the cheapo French tickets. I generally like to have nicer seats if they are offered and I was worried that I would be unhappy with the Category 2 seats, so we arrived early and I went to the ticket desk to upgrade. She told me not to waste my money and I thought that was very honest and helpful of her.
INVENTIONS
Inventions was even better this time than last. I usually don't enjoy buffets for dinner, but I loaded up on oysters, crab and mussels. We had the first seating so the characters paid a lot of attention to my kids. They especially loved it when Chip played a trick on Mom! I was wearing a sleeveless top and I had my arm raised, finishing off the half bottle of wine I ordered and Chip snuck up behind me and tickled my arm pit with his big furry paw. It scared the life out of me and I screamed! My kids are still talking about it.
GOLDEN NUGGET
I read a lot of bad reviews on the Golden Nugget, but as I said, my kids wanted to do every character meal in the park. We had the first seating for lunch one day and I wasn't expecting much. My first impression was that the restaurant was beautiful. I loved the look of it. There wasn't a band playing, so that was a bit disappointing. The characters were Mr. Smee, Pluto and Mickey. The food was just fine; I was expecting worse. My kids enjoyed theirs and I thought mine was better than I hoped for. I ordered a glass of Freixenet Brut, which was on special for 8 Euro/glass (see a trend here?). They ran out so they brought me a glass of their top shelf champagne for the cost of the Feixenet
. The character interaction at the Golden Nugget was the best we'd ever had, and I think we've done every character meal in DLP and WDW. The place was mostly empty and a large table of very energetic and somewhat cheeky kids were trying to monopolize the characters, but the characters were kind an playful with them and at the same time took extra strides to pay attention to my kids who are calmer and much more shy. I got a tear in my eye when Mickey took my girls over to the steps for some quiet time together.
CAFE MICKEY
On our last day, for our last lunch, we finished our trip at Cafe Mickey. The interaction was the worst of all our meals except for with Goofy. My daughter drew him a picture and he took it around the room to show it off and she felt very special. The other character barely stopped for a photo. 2 never came to our table at all. It was ok bc we had met all the characters earlier in the trip. Our food was bad. No one enjoyed their meal. The atmosphere was loud and crowded. I don't think I'll be going back.
STEAKHOUSE BRUNCH
Yumm! We had a great meal and I, of course, loved starting lunch off with a glass of champagne. The characters were Minnie, Tigger and Eeyore. Again we had first seating and again we got a ton of attention. My daughter bought a Tigger pullover fleece that morning bc she was chilly and she slipped it on when she saw Tigger. He made a big deal out of it and she was thrilled. Minnie gave my younger daughter a kiss. We enjoyed the food and the atmosphere and I would go back in a heartbeat.
CALIFORNIA GRILLE
Last year we had a wonderful meal at Cali Grille, this year we were disappointed. My potato cake was a sponge filled with oil. The rest of my meal was good but not great and I was in the mood for great. My husband said the same of his meal. The kids' cheeseburgers, however, were really tasty. There was nothing bad about the meal, but nothing super. I'd still give it another try, however, based on previous merits.
WALTS
Great food, great atmosphere! I love that place!
AUBERGE DE CENDRILLON
Last year, this was the highlight of the trip for my girls. This year, they were not as excited. I think they've grown out of princesses a bit. We saw the same princesses as last time and everything was a bit of a repeat. It was still nice, however, especially for an in-the-park meal.
NEW YORK CITY BAR
We ended our nights catching up with my husband at the NYC Bar. It is a nice bar with good offerings and a pleasant atmosphere. It may be the best thing about the hotel!
HIGHLIGHTS
-Parade and shows! We loved them and made a point to see all the shows and the parade. The villains show and the new generation show were awesome. Once we'd seen a show the first time, we made a point to watch from the back the next time to catch the characters coming off stage. We got some super autographs and pics this way.
-Princess Tiana! My girls were sooooooooo excited to meet her even if we did wait in a long, long line to do so.
-Toy Story area--so fun!
-Character interaction
-Crush's Coaster--might be the most fun ride I've even been on except Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey. The day my dd was chosen to open the studios, we were first on!
--Nice cast members. We encountered a lot of great cast members on this trip. My 8-year old loves the ToT, my 5 year old is afraid of most rides. I couldn't let my 8yo go a week in the park w/o riding her favorite ride so we bribed the little one her choice of any toy in the park if she'd ride ToT just once. She said she'd do it. We got to the sorting line and she freaked! Then my 8yo freaked bc she didn't want to miss it so I had 2 begging and crying kids. The lovely cast member offered to let my younger daughter "work with her" while my 8yo and I rode the ride. My dd was too scared to stay in the building w/o me though, so she refused. In any event, it was awesome for the CM to offer, bc that's well above and beyond her job. Again, we were very lucky because the nice people riding with us (locals), talked my 8yo into riding alone with them and they promised to take good care of her. She did it and we met her coming off the elevator.
Another cast member in a shop was also great. My daughter bought a Belle costume and she refused to take it off even at the register. The cashier just picked her up and scanned her right in the dress!
I asked her if we could package her up and have her delivered to the hotel. -Halloween Decorations--they were great as usual but I was sad they didn't decorate Main Street like they did last year.
-Private Event--The convention we were there for held a private event in the parks one night after closing. Almost all of the Disneyland Park was open and all rides were a walk-on! It was so much fun. They even had tons of characters, and since most people came to the convention w/o their kids, the characters were literally tagging along with us and playing with my kids.
Whew! Did you make it through? I guess I've really outed myself as a Disney mom now!
.
And getting to open the Studios 
I am convinced I must try the Disneyland Hotel at least once and probably won't want to stay anywhere else!
