Disney Vacation Report

[930addict]

We just wrapped up our vacation in Disneyland, Anaheim. The girls, ages 7 and 8 had an absolute blast as did my wife and I. My 7 year old daughter went on every single ride with me. She was even going to try the California Screamin rollercoaster, “The one with the loop ’t’ loop”, but backed out at the last minute. It’s a good thing too as the coaster got stuck and they ended up closing it indefinitely. My oldest is not much of an adrenaline junky but wife found lots of things to keep her happy as well.

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. It’s totally worth the premium for me. In addition to early park entrance, they really do cater to kids. My girls can’t swim well yet but love the water. Disney has these foam vest that float so kids can play and parents can relax. They even have water slides with really shallow water at the end. It was really nice. Would do it again.

I know there were other pelicans planning a trip here so thought I would drop a few lines of advice.

1) Although summer is a busy season, most wait times for us were 20 minutes or less with exception of a few rides in the afternoon. California adventure is much less crowded than Disneyland. One of the side-benefits of going this time of year is all the college girl eye candy. Their short short shorts made following the crowds a hypnotic experience. It seems the new trend among that age group is to show their “THUT”.

2) They have nightly parades at which time they start controlling foot traffic. Don't frustrate yourself trying to move around the park as it is a fruitless endeavor. Our first night I spent an hour trying to get from one side of the park to another without success due to limited routes and area closures. Just plan on watching the parade and fireworks. They are both worth the time anyways. Resume your normal activities after the crowds disperse, which happens pretty quickly.

3) Speaking of parades and fireworks - Disney knows how to put on a show! But you have to be in the right spot. Start looking for a spot no later than 1.5 hours before the show. For the parade, try to get a spot near It's a Small World where you can see all the way down main street. First, The parade starts there. Secondly, the fireworks come from behind the castle while they project movies onto the castle. If you can find a spot where you look down main street then you'll see Nemo swimming to Mt. Wanna-hocka-lugy(Matterhorn).

If you can't find a spot there, then there is a raised platfrom across item 42 on the Disneyland Map that also gets you a good view of the parade. Then for the fireworks run over to the area by the matterhorn marked by an X on the Disney map (about a two minute walk). That gives you a really good view of the fireworks and Nemo.

4) Plan on spending about $100/day on food (family of 4) and eat off-schedule from everyone else. This avoids the crowds at restaurants and allows you to go on rides when everyone is eating. Also eat full meals and avoid the snacking. The first day we were doing the snacking route and it is much more expensive. The remainder of the time we ate full meals in the restaurants in the park and spent less money. Prices are not too bad maybe $5-10 more than comparable restaurants outside the park. Wife and I were pleasantly surprised.

5) Bring water. Water is like 2.75 in the park for a 1pt Disani. At Disney Hotel it was $3.75 . We ordered pitchers of water from room service. That is less expensive than the bottled stuff. I wish we brought a flat of water from costco with us.

Road incidents:
- Hit a piece of metal on I-5 that put a gash on the rocker of the van.
- Also on I-5 something hit our right front fog light cracking it (LA freeways are very dirty it seems).
- We were nearly involved in a multi car pileup on highway 40 heading to grand canyon. Bad bad accident about 20 cars ahead of us involving multiple rollovers. One second we're all doing 75 then nothing but brake lights. A semi truck/tanker about three cars in front of us actually started to jack-knife. At least one person was life flighted out. One of the cars actually rolled off of the freeway onto a side road striking a truck which swerved and ran into a chevy cobalt head on. One of the worst accidents I've seen.
- Then pass remains of another accident much further down the road, we couldn’t even recognize the car. There was a tractor literally scooping the car remains into a truck.
- Then someone towing their car lost the car trailer in the middle of the freeway (i-40) which was struck by another car.
- Someone lost there spare tire in the middle of the freeway (highway 89 )had to swerve to avoid.
- Someone kicked up a rock and shattered our left quarter window (highway 89).
- Someone lost their bike rack loaded with bikes also in middle of freeway (highway 89) causing me to swerve to avoid.
- Someone lost their spare tire which was also in middle of freeway (highway 89) causing me to swerve to avoid.

Traveling has become a hazardous ordeal. Be careful out there!

[Baz]

Great report, addict - thanks for taking the time to post this and also for being such a great Dad!

The girl watching part reminded me of the movie "Hall Pass"....

[Tobra]

I was there last weekend with a thousand other podiatrists. Getting into the park an hour early is a very nice perk. They probably gave you a bunch of 60th anniversary swag too. Well not a bunch, but probably some nice pins.

I stayed at the Hotel Menage up the street, do NOT recommend it.

[930addict]

Originally Posted by Baz

Great report, addict - thanks for taking the time to post this and also for being such a great Dad!

Thanks! We surprised the girls. They thought we were driving home as we had already spent a week up in SF Bay Area. We video'd their reaction as we drove onto the resort property. I told them that they've been working so hard and doing so well in school I wanted to treat them to a little fun. My oldest kept thanking me then would say she can't thank me enough! I told her to just keep working hard and doing well in school.

Originally Posted by Baz

The girl watching part reminded me of the movie "Hall Pass"....

I've never scene that. That is hilarious! I'm much more discreet, though. Plus we're all wearing sunglasses so that makes a difference. Can't help it if it's right there in front of you!

[bell]

930addict.......congratulations, you did it right and enjoyed the effort.
Same goes here in Florida, if you do it right, it's awesome, If you don't plan or spend the bucks to stay on property you'll have a miserable time.....
Cheers

[bell]

My friend dani works on production of the new paint the night parade. ......looks awesome

[930addict]

Originally Posted by bell

My friend dani works on production of the new paint the night parade. ......looks awesome

It is awesome! Tell him job well done!

[bell]

I will tell her......lol
She is very proud of it, they spent a ton of time preparing it. We need it in Florida

[cantdrv55]

Great report addict. We were there too and on Saturday the park was so crowded that we went back to hotel until the it cleared out a bit. We stayed at the GC so park access was easy. The only bad part was that there were so many rude foot docs...

[billybek]

I had to look up "thut".

[GH85Carrera]

It is nice to see a positive review of Disney. My wife and I went to Disney world in FL for a week. We had a blast. It ain't cheap but what fun vacation is? We did the prepaid meal plans and that works out great.

As far as the girl watching, I was in Louisville last week at the Louisville Slugger plant. We were lucky and got there at the perfect time. After our tour the place filled up past capacity and the line was out the door. We were waiting for our bus driver to come back and get us at the prearranged time so I was sitting on a bench watching the folks mosey past as they were in line to buy tickets. I had no where to look but foreword. Some good viewing but a few times I HAD to get out my cell phone to divert my gaze.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by billybek

I had to look up "thut".

Me too. Doesn't that just mean that Daisy Dukes are back in style?

[Noah930]

Thanks for the timely report. I'm hoping similarly to surprise our kids in a week with a trip to Disney with the aid and graciousness of Hugh. They've been bugging us to go for a couple years, and we have a pair of birthdays coming up in the next two weeks, so it'll work out great. Thanks again, Hugh!

[bmcuscgr94]

Originally Posted by 930addict

We just wrapped up our vacation in Disneyland, Anaheim

1) Although summer is a busy season, most wait times for us were 20 minutes or less with exception of a few rides in the afternoon. California adventure is much less crowded than Disneyland. One of the side-benefits of going this time of year is all the college girl eye candy. Their short short shorts made following the crowds a hypnotic experience. It seems the new trend among that age group is to show their “THUT”.

When the kids were younger we used to go with friends. We dads played the game of taking photos/video of "people who Walt would have kicked out of the park if he were alive today". It's amazing/frightening what people will wear in public

[bleucamaro]

Great report. Also had to google "thut". I prefer the term, "peek-a-cheek"

[MBAtarga]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Some good viewing but a few times I HAD to get out my cell phone to divert my gaze.

That's when you are supposed to snap a few pics and post on a thread here!

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

That's when you are supposed to snap a few pics and post on a thread here!

Some of them must have just come from Wal Mart, they were for sure wal-martians. I would be sent to ban island for gross photos.

Google walmartians if you want to be amazed.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by billybek

I had to look up "thut".

According to Urban Dictionary, "thut" is more about the condition of the area rather that the area itself. I must say, I do prefer there to be a delineation between the thigh and rear. Not necessarily a crease, just a noticeable difference. As with most things, there is a range of what is and is not acceptable. For more information. See the legs and butt thread.

A thut is an unfortunate condition where a the back of a woman's thigh and her butt have become a single entity. There is no sudden incline from the back of the thigh to the farthest part of the butt and it becomes more of a slope. It's caused by a lack of glute muscles.

[930addict]

Originally Posted by masraum

According to Urban Dictionary, "thut" is more about the condition of the area rather that the area itself. I must say, I do prefer there to be a delineation between the thigh and rear. Not necessarily a crease, just a noticeable difference. As with most things, there is a range of what is and is not acceptable. For more information. See the legs and butt thread.

Maybe I should have looked it up too. My intent was to describe the location, not not the condition.

[Gogar]

Great write up, and another +1 for "Thut",

Unfortunately I have to inform you that those "college girls" are about 13-14 years old. Ain't no college girls at Disneyland.