Bklyn Chick's DL Trip Day 1: 10/14/07
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me - early 30's and a self-proclaimed Disney freak
Mom - late 50's, making her first trip to DL and Southern California
We left JFK on a 9:20am JetBlue flight to Long Beach. Flight was fine, no real issues, and we actually arrived at Long Beach a few minutes ahead of schedule. Long Beach is a cute little airport - you actually exit the plane outside and walk to the terminal, and the baggage claim carousels are outside under a canopy. Took a while for the bags to come, and my suitcase was one of the last ones out. Oh well, as long as it was there.... Walked over to the parking lot to find SuperShuttle and met the driver halfway there. He had left a message to see if we arrived but I didn’t hear my phone ring. Turned out we were his only pickup (another group had a 2 hour delayed flight). Ride to Anaheim took about 30 minutes or so, very pleasant. Mom was surprised to see how close other homes and businesses are to DL - she’s used to the long and winding roads of the WDW complex. Before long, we were pulling up to the Grand Californian Hotel. On my last solo trip in 2003, I stayed at Paradise Pier but went over to GCH for dinner and absolutely fell in love. I decided to take the plunge on this trip and stay there. Sure, it was expensive but thanks to Wendy at MJ, we got a great Disney Visa package with 4th night free that helped save some $$.
We checked in at GCH and were told our room wasn’t ready yet. Between the long flight with no meals and the time change, we were ready for lunch. We ate at White Water Snacks - Mom had a chicken sandwich, I had the beef nachos. The food was fresh and delicious and the portions were big, especially the nachos! It’s actually more like a mini-food court than a snack bar. They have breakfast and lunch, various snacks and desserts, prepared cold sandwiches, and a huge supply of hot and cold beverages. The hot breakfast and lunch foods are prepared when you order them, and a CM brings the food to your table (even if you are taking out, they package it and bring it out to you).
After lunch, we walked over to DL to pick up our Fantasmic Reserved Seating tix from Guest Services outside the park. Mom was amazed by how the hotel lead right out to DD, and then right to the parks which are just across the esplanade from one another. I tried to explain how close everything is but until she saw it she couldn’t really appreciate it. Funnily enough, I come 3,000 miles cross country only to be helped by a CM from New York - and when I asked where in New York, it turned out she was from Brooklyn too! Small world, pardon the pun.
Our room still wasn’t ready when we got back, so we found a cozy spot by the fireplace in the GCH lobby (if you’ve never seen the hotel, you have to take a walk just to see how beautiful the lobby is). We waited about 90 minutes for our room to be ready (about 4:10pm). This dashed our hopes of being able to hit the pool that afternoon, but it was OK. Tip: if you give the front desk your cell phone number, they’ll call you when the room is ready so you don’t have to keep calling and checking.
We were on the 4th floor in room 4401. This turned out to be a great location. We were near the elevators by Napa Rose, which means we were steps from both restaurants, White Water Snacks, the pool and the private entrance to DCA. Our room wasn’t too far from the elevator either, which was good when we were running back and forth to the theme parks. The room was very nice, with the Arts and Crafts furniture and the subtle Disney theming. We had two queen beds that faced the entertainment center, which also had an empty fridge (no minibar). The double sink area is outside the bathroom which helped when getting ready in the morning. We had a balcony that overlooked a small courtyard area and the monorail (once again, I am glad I didn’t pay extra for a view, this one was quite pleasant).
We unpacked, called the folks back home and took a quick rest before heading out. I wanted to see Block Party Bash at DCA and it was only running Sundays and Fridays, so we decided to see it then. We stood at the end of the walkway from Condor Flats. We both enjoyed the “parade”, it was lots of fun and high energy. You only get to see one group per show stop, so if you want particular characters, plan accordingly! At Sunshine Plaza: A Bug’s Life is on the left (near Hollywood Blvd) Monsters Inc is center (near main entrance walkway) and Toy Story is on the right (near Condor Flats walkway).
After Block Party Bash moved on, we went to DD for dinner at Naples. There was a line outside and we waited almost 25 minutes for a table. We wanted to eat inside but they offered us an outdoor table near a heat lamp, which we took because we weren’t sure how much longer we would have to wait. A very pleasant hostess named Shannon talked with us while we were waiting. She told us that thanks to HalloweenTime, October is not really off-season anymore, especially on the weekends. Mom and I shared a personal size pizza (which was big) and a salad. Food was very tasty.
After dinner we headed to DL to check in for Fantasmic. The check-in area is in front of the loading area for TSI (look for the churro cart). We were able to get seats in the center section, second row, seats 16-17B (my seat had a stroller area in front of it instead of another seat). This section was between the B and C light towers. We were told by the CM that since the balcony seating had ended, they had expanded riverside seating to accommodated more people. After checking us in, the CM told us to come back at 8:30pm to be seated for the 9:00pm show.
With over an hour to spare, I suggested we walk to Fantasyland and ride Alice, since it was going down for refurb the next day. Waited about 20 minutes to ride, then took a slow walk back to New Orleans Square and waited about 10 minutes to be seated.
I have to say, I was very impressed by the riverside seating. I was expecting a huge letdown after balcony seating, and I think they’ve worked hard to improve the riverside seating now that the balcony is gone. I thought we would be handed a small box of snacks as we were seated and that would be it. Instead, the CMs were very attentive, checking multiple times to see if we wanted beverages (and we could have as much as we wanted - coffee, tea, hot chocolate, soda, water). The snack box is HUGE! Mom and I ended up splitting one and saving the other for later. In each box you will find: two chocolate covered strawberries, two Mickey rice krispie treats, two chocolate dipped macaroons, two pistachio biscotti, and two big iced cookies. The CMs also lead the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to those in our area who were celebrating. The view of the show was fantastic, and being closer than in the balcony, I saw much more detail. As usual, I sang along with the music, and as usual, I nearly cried when the Mark Twain came out with all the characters.
We were told we could stay in our seats after the show to watch the fireworks, but I had never seen them and wanted my first time to be the full experience from Main Street. It wasn’t too bad getting out of the park during the fireworks, the CMs were very organized and the sidewalks on Main Street were fairly empty. We caught glimpses of the fireworks on our way out. By the time we got back to GCH, it was about 10pm (1am New York time) so we immediately went to bed.
