Barb D
07-06-2003, 07:52 PM
DISNEY Portion of our Trip
The time spent outside the parks
Dates: June 27 through July 5th
Transportation: Drive from Seattle Washington to Los Angeles, California.
Who: Two 40 something adults
The first couple days were posted as Universal Studios Hollywood. It is the first part of our trip. The remainder is all about Disney.
We decided on Sunday to move over to the hotel we booked for our stay at Disneyland. When I called they said they could accommodate us a day early with no problem and they gave me the same rate. The hotels at Disneyland are not like Florida. You have to be willing to have a commute to get a cheap hotel and by cheap I am talking about $80 a night. We were located directly across the main entrance at a Best Western called Park Place. It was a great location as we walked across the street and down the tram walkway and we were there!! Our room was $114 a night. We could have saved about $20 a night at the hotel next door but it didn’t have a hot tub and with my husbands muscular dystrophy we needed a hot tub for him to use every day plus I’m a pansy. When I swim I need to warm up afterwards
We left the Universal area Hotel in the morning but since we couldn’t check in until after 3pm we decided to take a drive to the Queen Mary. My husband went there with a friend about a month earlier for a train show and he wanted me to see it. They have a self guided tour or a guided tour. We did the self guided one since he had been there previously and knew where to show me around. They have a lot of artifacts from the 1940’s ship sailing. During the war they carried so many sailors that they had to sleep 8 to a room and they only got that bed 12 hours a day as another 8 men had it the other 12 hours. The pictures of all those men on the decks were something else to see. We finished touring the ship about 1ish so we headed over to our Disneyland area hotel and lucky it was ready for us too. It was a big room with a king size bed, a couch, a microwave and refrigerator with a freezer in it. (Came in handy to freeze our water bottles every night for the next day.) The rooms even had blow dryers, coffee makers and an iron and board if needed right in the room.
We walked around Downtown Disney since we only had 5 days on our passes and we planned to be there through July 4th. I love that huge World of Disney store. They had a lot of other stores and restaurants too. One night we ate at a place called Naples. It was Italian food and pizza made in a wood fired stove. We had the Mushroom and sausage pizza and it was really good. My husband also had rigatoni and it was good too. I do recommend this place for the food. We had outdoor seating in a shaded seat and it was wonderful. The prices were average high for a sit down at Disney. The pizza was about $13 and his Rigatoni about that too. They had a super huge pizza that would feed about 6 or 7 people for about $20 not too bad since it was so huge.
Other things in down town Disney included a build a bear. I walked into the store to see what it’s about. They let you pick out a bear or other animal and go to a stuffing machine to get stuffed. The you put a heart in it (They did it very ceremoniously for the kids we watched). Then they sew it shut, you go to a fluff to make sure all the stuffing is off, then you find clothes and they even had a lot of Disney clothes there, then you name it with a story on a computer. It was so cute and someday I will take my granddaughter there. I think most bears were about $50 once you bought all the clothes. That seemed to be the expensive part. The animal shell was anywhere from $10 to $20. But little shoes could cost $10, the clothes started about $7 to $20 and if you add a voice box another few bucks. It adds up. The cutest part was all the kids walking around with the cute little build a bear box and their home made bear in it.
There was an ESPN club but we didn’t venture in it. They also had a couple clubs that had restaurants and dance floors. We saw some pretty dressed up individuals there going to the clubs . I remember something about a blues one with Cajun type food. One thing I noticed they all posted their menus outside so you weren’t in for a surprise when you went in.
We saw many street vendor type people. There was pin carts, musicians who sang and played electric pianos, there was a violinist, and we saw painters (portrait type). We saw a cart with bright flashing pins, rings and other jewelry. It was really cool to see at night.
There was a store that sold Department 56 things, another store with perfume and it smelled so bad walking by it. Down town is a lot like the one at Universal and even the one in Florida especially the side closest to Cirque Solei.
In the California Adventure park is a real working Bread making Company called La Brea. They also had a store in the Downtown section that sold pastries and breads they make. This is a really good place to stop and get a bite to eat. It’s not too over expensive by Disney standards. You can even buy a loaf of sourdough bread shaped like a Mickey Head. Ill talk more about the company in the California adventure section of my report.
The World of Disney is a great big store. They have one in Florida too. You go through many sections with all sorts of things to buy. I could easily spend $1000 in there maybe even $10,000 if I had it. It’s a great place to find things you never see other places. Many things are sold in more than one place but the World of Disney seems to have it all in one place. I have to share one thing I did get. It was a huge Cinderella’s Castle with a bunch of Characters. From previous trips I have a monorail (Well two of them now) and a roller coaster and some other rides so this is just another addition to my Disney room.
One thing about California is there is not a lot of room to grow so when they built the California Adventure and Downtown Disney in the parking lot they had to replace it with some huge parking garages. They have I think it was 4 super huge structures. I don’t think they will ever run out of parking spaces now. The people in the garage get onto a tram and it brings everyone in to Downtown Disney. It’s a great people watching spot! It seemed like when one pulled out another tram was waiting to come it. They do a great job with this part of the plan.
The monorail also goes to Downtown Disney. If you haven’t been there in a long time it will surprise you because it’s so far from the Disney hotel at least from what we could remember. I went to Disneyland in 1993 and rode the monorail. We had to go out the walkway near the hotel and get on the monorail. They tore down all that shopping in the old walk way (In fact Rainforest Café seems to have a big portion of that spot) and then they built more of Downtown around the hotel. It looks like the monorail was moved but they assured us the deck is still the same old one from way back then. Its just illusion that makes it look like it moved.
Since this monorail takes you into Disneyland park you have to have a ticket and security inspection to get on it. You get off at Tomorrwland near the Matterhorn and not too far from the huge It’s a small World ride. They will let you go round trip if you get on in the park but only one way from Downtown Disney to the park. Also its good to note here that if you stay at a Disney hotel (They have 3 of them now) you get to enter past the lines when its super busy in Disneyland. It was never busy when we rode it so the lines were one in the same but in December 2001 when we went we often got to by pass the lines since we stayed at Paradise Pier.
Next part coming: Disneyland
The time spent outside the parks
Dates: June 27 through July 5th
Transportation: Drive from Seattle Washington to Los Angeles, California.
Who: Two 40 something adults
The first couple days were posted as Universal Studios Hollywood. It is the first part of our trip. The remainder is all about Disney.
We decided on Sunday to move over to the hotel we booked for our stay at Disneyland. When I called they said they could accommodate us a day early with no problem and they gave me the same rate. The hotels at Disneyland are not like Florida. You have to be willing to have a commute to get a cheap hotel and by cheap I am talking about $80 a night. We were located directly across the main entrance at a Best Western called Park Place. It was a great location as we walked across the street and down the tram walkway and we were there!! Our room was $114 a night. We could have saved about $20 a night at the hotel next door but it didn’t have a hot tub and with my husbands muscular dystrophy we needed a hot tub for him to use every day plus I’m a pansy. When I swim I need to warm up afterwards
We left the Universal area Hotel in the morning but since we couldn’t check in until after 3pm we decided to take a drive to the Queen Mary. My husband went there with a friend about a month earlier for a train show and he wanted me to see it. They have a self guided tour or a guided tour. We did the self guided one since he had been there previously and knew where to show me around. They have a lot of artifacts from the 1940’s ship sailing. During the war they carried so many sailors that they had to sleep 8 to a room and they only got that bed 12 hours a day as another 8 men had it the other 12 hours. The pictures of all those men on the decks were something else to see. We finished touring the ship about 1ish so we headed over to our Disneyland area hotel and lucky it was ready for us too. It was a big room with a king size bed, a couch, a microwave and refrigerator with a freezer in it. (Came in handy to freeze our water bottles every night for the next day.) The rooms even had blow dryers, coffee makers and an iron and board if needed right in the room.
We walked around Downtown Disney since we only had 5 days on our passes and we planned to be there through July 4th. I love that huge World of Disney store. They had a lot of other stores and restaurants too. One night we ate at a place called Naples. It was Italian food and pizza made in a wood fired stove. We had the Mushroom and sausage pizza and it was really good. My husband also had rigatoni and it was good too. I do recommend this place for the food. We had outdoor seating in a shaded seat and it was wonderful. The prices were average high for a sit down at Disney. The pizza was about $13 and his Rigatoni about that too. They had a super huge pizza that would feed about 6 or 7 people for about $20 not too bad since it was so huge.
Other things in down town Disney included a build a bear. I walked into the store to see what it’s about. They let you pick out a bear or other animal and go to a stuffing machine to get stuffed. The you put a heart in it (They did it very ceremoniously for the kids we watched). Then they sew it shut, you go to a fluff to make sure all the stuffing is off, then you find clothes and they even had a lot of Disney clothes there, then you name it with a story on a computer. It was so cute and someday I will take my granddaughter there. I think most bears were about $50 once you bought all the clothes. That seemed to be the expensive part. The animal shell was anywhere from $10 to $20. But little shoes could cost $10, the clothes started about $7 to $20 and if you add a voice box another few bucks. It adds up. The cutest part was all the kids walking around with the cute little build a bear box and their home made bear in it.
There was an ESPN club but we didn’t venture in it. They also had a couple clubs that had restaurants and dance floors. We saw some pretty dressed up individuals there going to the clubs . I remember something about a blues one with Cajun type food. One thing I noticed they all posted their menus outside so you weren’t in for a surprise when you went in.
We saw many street vendor type people. There was pin carts, musicians who sang and played electric pianos, there was a violinist, and we saw painters (portrait type). We saw a cart with bright flashing pins, rings and other jewelry. It was really cool to see at night.
There was a store that sold Department 56 things, another store with perfume and it smelled so bad walking by it. Down town is a lot like the one at Universal and even the one in Florida especially the side closest to Cirque Solei.
In the California Adventure park is a real working Bread making Company called La Brea. They also had a store in the Downtown section that sold pastries and breads they make. This is a really good place to stop and get a bite to eat. It’s not too over expensive by Disney standards. You can even buy a loaf of sourdough bread shaped like a Mickey Head. Ill talk more about the company in the California adventure section of my report.
The World of Disney is a great big store. They have one in Florida too. You go through many sections with all sorts of things to buy. I could easily spend $1000 in there maybe even $10,000 if I had it. It’s a great place to find things you never see other places. Many things are sold in more than one place but the World of Disney seems to have it all in one place. I have to share one thing I did get. It was a huge Cinderella’s Castle with a bunch of Characters. From previous trips I have a monorail (Well two of them now) and a roller coaster and some other rides so this is just another addition to my Disney room.
One thing about California is there is not a lot of room to grow so when they built the California Adventure and Downtown Disney in the parking lot they had to replace it with some huge parking garages. They have I think it was 4 super huge structures. I don’t think they will ever run out of parking spaces now. The people in the garage get onto a tram and it brings everyone in to Downtown Disney. It’s a great people watching spot! It seemed like when one pulled out another tram was waiting to come it. They do a great job with this part of the plan.
The monorail also goes to Downtown Disney. If you haven’t been there in a long time it will surprise you because it’s so far from the Disney hotel at least from what we could remember. I went to Disneyland in 1993 and rode the monorail. We had to go out the walkway near the hotel and get on the monorail. They tore down all that shopping in the old walk way (In fact Rainforest Café seems to have a big portion of that spot) and then they built more of Downtown around the hotel. It looks like the monorail was moved but they assured us the deck is still the same old one from way back then. Its just illusion that makes it look like it moved.
Since this monorail takes you into Disneyland park you have to have a ticket and security inspection to get on it. You get off at Tomorrwland near the Matterhorn and not too far from the huge It’s a small World ride. They will let you go round trip if you get on in the park but only one way from Downtown Disney to the park. Also its good to note here that if you stay at a Disney hotel (They have 3 of them now) you get to enter past the lines when its super busy in Disneyland. It was never busy when we rode it so the lines were one in the same but in December 2001 when we went we often got to by pass the lines since we stayed at Paradise Pier.
Next part coming: Disneyland