A disjointed 4 day trip

antlane

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Hi all!

Just got back from a 3 week United States trip and had 4 days at DLR. Our first day into Anaheim was great! We stayed at Paradise Pier and after checking in, returning the rental car to the Alamo desk, and getting settled went out to Downtown Disney to get some dinner and do some shopping. We decided on the Jazz Kitchen for dinner and all 3 of us in my party LOVED it. Huge portion sizes for what (I feel) is a reasonable price. Later that night we went to Trader Sam's for drinks with some friends also in town and then to bed for rope drop.

We took advantage of EMH on the first morning. We were staying concierge level at the hotel so my girlfriend and her friend went to get breakfast while I, someone who doesn't do breakfast or early mornings, slept in until the last minute and then headed to the park. EMH started at 7 AM, but we got to the park about 7:15. DCA was the EMH park that day and we were able to knock out RSR, Mission Breakout, Incredicoaster, and Soarin' before the park opened to the public. This was a huge plus for us and after buying MaxPass for the day we were able to utilize it a lot better since we had ridden all the DCA rides we wanted to prioritise off the bat. Half the day was spent at DCA and then my girlfriend and I headed back to the hotel for a nap, a key thing for us! About 4 PM we headed into Disneyland and were able to do a good amount of rides due to MaxPass. For a Friday, the park was generally dead and it was AMAZING. Easy to get on lots of rides. We finished the first day with World of Color and all of us really enjoyed it. It was all of our first times seeing it.

The next day we did the same process for EMH, but this time for Disneyland. It being May 4th the crowds were a bit bigger than we expected and weren't able to knock out nearly as much as we wanted even with MaxPass. We focused more on snacking and taking in the atmosphere since we went ride heavy on the first park day. I made sure to grab a May the 4th shirt since I was there anyways and then we headed to DCA. We split up our party, with my girlfriend and I seeing Frozen while our friend went to meet characters. After the show we headed back to the hotel and spent some time in the concierge lounge, and then headed back to the park around 7 PM to get ready for Fantasmic!

The last day of this part of the trip was supposed to be a park day, but our friend had shopping to do at DTD and my partner and I were leaving to go spend a few days in Los Angeles and Monterey so we decided to all split up and not do the parks that day.

The LAST last day of the trip was just my partner and I. We drove down at 2 AM from Monterey to make rope drop at 9 AM at Disneyland. Why would we do this? Well, we were flying back home to Australia that day and decided that we wanted to spend the day at Disneyland before. We bought MaxPass right when we got into the park and our goal was to do any rides we may have missed the weekend before and to take in as much of the things that make Disneyland Resort special as possible. We listened to lots of music and ate lots of food and took things slowly. Left the park around 4:30 to return the rental car and check in at the airport.

All in all we had a GREAT time and really saw the value of MaxPass. Thanks for reading!
 
Wow amazing that you drove all the way down from Monterey just for rope drop! And here I am complaining about the drive down when I live 30 minutes away lol
 
Glad you had a fantastic trip!

I'm considering staying at Paradise Pier over the summer. What did you think of the club lounge offerings? Also, does it still open at 6:30 in the mornings?

Also curious about what you thought about the walk? Last time we stayed at GCH we self-parked at the lot right next to Paradise Pier, and it looked like you could just walk through behind that parking lot to enter DtD.
 


I believe the club lounge still opened at 6:30! The offerings were really good for what I like. The couple times we came back and popped in while going back up to the room there were nachos, finger sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and pasta one night. So offerings were great for us! As for the walk it didn't bother anyone in my party. I could see it being a bit long for some, but for us the 10-ish minutes it took to walk was worth it when we factored in EMH and the club lounge.
 
Ha! It was either drive down for rope drop and make the most out of the day or waste the last day of our tickets. Easy choice for us! Although I started to crash about 2 PM.
 
I'm glad you had a great trip! MaxPass really is the best!
 


It sounds like you had a really great, fun filled trip and got to do a bunch of stuff! Thanks for sharing :)
 

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