Well, we made it home safely late last night. We got out of Disneyland just in time as the crowds really picked up by Friday afternoon and Saturday was just horrible. We only went on two rides and then went back to our hotel to wait for the shuttle back to the airport.
We really enjoyed our visit to DLR, but feel it will be a few years before we return again. I'm not trying to be negative, but this trip reinforced my feelings that WDW is a total vacation destination, whereas DLR is more of a weekend getaway (but with pricing that equals our costs to visit WDW for a week or more).
The Candy Cane Inn was fine. They offered a continental breakfast daily that consisted of cold cereal, oatmeal, muffins, pastries, bagels, toast, apples/oranges/bananas, coffee, and juice. It's served from 7-9am and the line gets much longer around closing time. I used the tray under the ice bucket to go and gather enough breakfast for the family as they usually woke up after I did (and they never tipped me or anything! LOL). The pool is pretty small but never had that many people in it (probably because the weather was chilly most of our stay). The rooms themselves are adequate but could do with some new carpeting. The one thing that was really weird was the lack of washcloths...for whatever reason, they would never leave any new ones and I'd have to keep asking for them.
The location is very convenient as it was only about a ten minute walk to the parks or you could use their shuttle which left on the 1/2 hour and returned on the 1/4 hour. There is a mini-market next door and a 7-11 on the other side of it...so it was easy to pick up drinks or snacks. They also had a few things they sold in the lobby. Across the street is a little strip mall that had Chinese, Mexican, pizza, ice cream, and a Subway. So there are lots of other options besides just eating in the parks.
We finally made it on the Finding Nemo Submarine ride and it was really cute. They have combined the same ride at WDW with the use of the submarines. This was one of the longest lines we had to wait in but it moved fairly quick.
Our family agreed that Pirates of the Caribbean (more theming), Space Mountain (much darker and a very smooth ride), and Buzz Lightyear (the "guns" are not secured to the ride, so you can actually hold them in your hands to aim them) are better @ DLR. We felt Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad were pretty much the same at both locations. Splash Mountain is better @ WDW. But, of course, Indiana Jones and California Screamin' are only available @ DLR/DCA and are both awesome!
Overall wonderful time, but we left looking forward to visiting WDW in August.
Let me know if you have any questions!