Just back and thank-you!

[Canadamom]

We are just back from our trip to Disneyland (stayed at the Candy Cane Inn)at the peak of tourist season. Due to all of the postings on this board, we were able to do tons of research and planning and had a wonderful, stress-free time despite the huge crowds. Don't think we waited in line more than 25 minutes (once) and were able to do everything in both parks and a few extras. So thanks to everyone for sharing questions and that wealth of info that is out there...it was a lifesaver for our trip!

 

[disneegrl4eva]

gonna write a trip report and share that wealth of info????

 

[Judy from Boise]

I second the notion!

 

[Canadamom]

Not sure I'll get to the trip report part too soon...still catching up on loads of laundry!!! The wealth of info is not mine...it is what I got from reading the postings of everyone else that was willing to share...however, some of the things I learned from these boards were:
1. Candy Cane Inn...fantastic! (ask for the AAA price if you are a member) The included continental breakfast saved us time and money.
2. Ridemax...we travelled at the height of tourist time (hubby is a teacher... no choice but high season)...this was an excellent program for the time of
our trip and saved us lots of time in lines. Longest we waited was 25
minutes (once) and we managed to see everything.
3. Club Libby Lu (at Downtown Disney) is an absolutely wonderful thing to do
with your daughter. Stand in line well before opening (in our case 8:15 for
9:00 opening and we were 4th in line!) to get a good appointment time,
but you have a girl that feels like a princess all day. We did this on our
last day (as advised by another DIS member) and the hairstyle lasted 4+
days, including school today which was an added bonus.
4. Look for the little things...ask about your kids steering the Mark Twain
boat (a wonderful thing for them to do!), have them do the Junior Chef
cookie baking, look for "Push" the talking trash can, etc. Some of these
things seem to happen in the "quieter" corners of Disneyland.
5. I learned a lot about the fastpass system both at Disneyland and DCA
which really minimized our wait times.
6. Food: We made reservations at the Blue Bayou and I tried the highly
recommended Monte Cristo sandwich...this was our best meal in the park
by far! The mint Julep's were wonderful. The Dole Whips in adventureland were also a real treat!
7. Mimi's restaurant...a wonderful off-site restaurant by the HoJo hotel
has decent prices, large portions, great food and good service...ate there
several times.
8. Reasonable souvenirs can be purchased at WalMart or Character
Warehouse if on a tighter budget.
9. We got an 8-day park hopper from getaway today for $20 more than
some of the cheaper 5 day passes I could find online which allowed us to
take our time and be able to do the parks in the mornings and take an
afternoon swim break.
10. Go early in the morning...get in line early...you can accomplish lots in the
first two hours. It was more stress-free for us to have a plan (this is probably more of a personal thing) than to not. On Dec. 28th, we had probably seen 9 attractions in our first two hours, after which the park was shoulder to shoulder people.
11. We loved Billy Hill and the Hillbilly's...would not maybe have seen this show if it didn't come highly recommended on these boards.
12. This is a small packing tip...but made our mornings easier. Took an over the door shoe holder (with clear pockets) for all the hygiene/ hair/ etc. stuff for the family. Made it easier for everyone to find stuff and get on our way in the mornings.
There...it's probably as long as a trip report...but that's my top 12 list of things I learned as I remember them! Can't wait to do it again!!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Great List!!

I'm glad you all had such a good time.

mj

 

[wejustcantwait]

What is Club Libby Lu? Tell me all about it please! Also, Please tell me more about Jr. Cheifs. Or any other fun things I don't know about, which isn't much! Thanks

 

[Canadamom]

wejustcantwait: Libby Lu is a "girl's salon" operated independent of Disney (I think), yet located in Downtown Disney. They have a website you can access to see their packages. I paid $30 and for that my daughter (age 10) had her hair done (complete with sparkles, tons of spray to hold it, and an extension pony tail which matched her hair), had her nails done (choice of color with sparkles dusted over, eye shadow and lip gloss...she never normally wears make-up, nor do I really encourage it at her age which made it all the more fun for the day), got a Libby Lu "backpack" with her choice of 5 items (one being a wall mirror with feathers around it and a little shelf which included 2 lip gloss, some body glitter and nail polish...still had 4 more items to choose!) and she made up her own perfume "potion". Her hair was done in about 20 minutes and looked fantastic. She received a lot of comments on it throughout the park, the flights home (had to explain the extension to the security official at the airport who looked twice at her passport due to the difference in hair!), and today at school and you could tell she felt extra-special.
"Junior Chef" is located past the bakery on Main Street, towards the "hub", and just around the corner. It is sponsered by "Nestle" and if you stop and ask, they will tell you when to come back for their next "session". We went back 15 minutes early to ensure we got in. The kids get bakers hats to wear and take home, get to make chocolate chip cookies, have a photo opportunity with the rest of the young bakers and the main chefs, receive 2 warm chocolate chip cookies to enjoy, and a little container of chocolate chips which they use as shakers to sing a little song while the cookies miraculously bake in 2 minutes. My kids are 8 and 10 and enjoyed it. Past that age they may find it a bit "young". There's no additional cost and it's a nice break in the day. Took about 20 - 25 minutes if I remember correctly.
To have your kids steer the Mark Twain boat, you have to ask the cast member who is available in the area you line up to wait to get on the arriving boat. They will check for you and let you know if there is anyone already chosen to do this. If not, they'll probably allow your family in the captain's "quarters". You do have to go through the right procedure and ask, though. One family was quite upset to not get to steer as they didn't ask, but just raced ahead of everyone to be standing by the captain's door first and they weren't allowed to do it that time, but had to wait through that ride for the next one.

 

[ron808]

What is Ridemax?

(Never heard of it before)

 

[wejustcantwait]

Thank you so much for the info my kids will love all the extra tidbits! THANKS!!!

 

[Canadamom]

ron808, Ridemax is a program you subscribe to online ($14.95 for a 3 month membership). They have a website you can check out (not sure I can explain it well, other than it worked). The people who developed the program have done studies on crowd patterns, wait times, ride load times, different days of the week and times of the year, etc. and somehow come up with mathematical calculations that set up a plan for your visit to minimize waiting and walking times. You enter in the day that you will be there as well as the attractions you'd like to cover on that particular day and it comes up with a scheduled plan for you. It's lots of fun to just play around with and did help us a lot during a very busy time of year. We found it to be quite accurate. I think if you are visiting Disneyland during a slow time where you can almost walk on any ride, then it might not be necessary, but in our case we found it very useful.

 

[DisneylandGuy22]

Thanks for your trip report, Sounds like you had a real relaxing vacation . I leave in like 6 days for a 2 week vacation. I will write a detailed trip report every day if I can and post pictures