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[SarahJ]

We returned Tuesday night from our week at DLR and had a wonderful time. I probably won't do a TR because I didn't take any notes at all and frankly all the days kind of blur together. But here are some thoughts I wanted to share.

- Go after Labor Day and avoid Saturdays! The parks were empty during the weekdays and most rides were walkons. The weather was awesome in the 80's and sunny the entire time. Saturday the park was so crowded we only did a few rides and this was the only day we had to use FastPass.

- Disneyland Hotel was beautiful and so full of that special Disney Magic. We had Conceierge and the staff was so helpful. We never had to buy bottled water or milk for the kids. We ate most of our breakfasts there and used them for afternoon and evening snacks. Our room was on the 10th floor of the Sierra Tower overlooking the pool and it was perfect.

- DLH concierge was moved to the Presidential Suite while we were there because they were renovating the regular concierge room. The staff said the new concierge room should be beautiful.

- Parade of Dreams was great. A perfect spot to watch is right in front of Small World since the parade either starts or ends there. We had front row seats here twice and only waited 10-30 minutes both times.

- Fireworks were beautiful. We watched from near the train station which was good but if you want the full effects you should watch from the Hub in front of the castle.

- We had 7 days in the parks which was great for us and allowed us to take our time considering we had a 14 month old and a 4 year old. We were able to take breaks at the hotel and swim pretty much every day. But I could see where you could easily do both parks in 3-4 days.

- Goofy's Kitchen Breakfast was so much fun and a great way to start our first full day in the parks. Character interaction here was wonderful and the food wasn't bad either.

- Lunch at Ariel's Grotto was really fun. Good service, good food but too much of it. DH and I didn't feel so great after our huge lunch here. Interaction with the princesses was great for our 4 year old but the baby was scared! Go Figure!

- Dinner at Storyteller's was great. Service was wonderful, good food, beautifull setting.

- Breakfast at Plaza Inn was one of our worst meals. Character interaction was good, but the food was only so-so and the place was really noisy and hectic. Youngest DD was also not happy the morning we did this so I think it was a bit much for us.

- Dinner at Blue Bayou was disappointing. The food was nothing to write home about, we were seated in the back near the entrance and it was a bit noisy. Again, youngest DD was not happy during this meal which made it a difficult evening. Dessert was delicious and service was pretty good. By the way, make PS's if you want to eat here. They were turning away walk-ups at 6:00 pm the night we were there.

- Lunch at Jazz Kitchen was okay. The food was great but service was terrible. The restaurant was not busy and our server was incredibly slow and we could barely hear her when she spoke.

- Dinner at Hooke's Point was great. Good service and delicious food! Sadly we couldn't finish our food because the servings were huge!

- Aladdin Show was probably the highlight of our entire trip. It was amazing and a not to be missed show.

- Pirates was so much better than at WDW! And the additions of Jack Sparrow were really fun.

If anyone has any questions let me know!

[lauren-roxy]

Welcome back Sarah!!!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time, thanks for the reviews!!!!

[Meggera]

Welcome back! It is so good to hear your reviews. I am taking notes for our upcoming trip.

[snoozy]

I happy to hear you had a good time.

[DebiDebiDebi]

Thanks for the review! Glad your trip was a happy one.

[chezp]

Welcome back Sarah! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us - I couldn't agree more about how crowded the parks are on Saturday, as that was also our experience on our April trip. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] The Disneyland Hotel is beautiful and it was fascinating to hear that they were renovating the concierge suite while you were there. It looked great to us on our trip, so I can't wait to hear what they do with it. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[loobyoxlip]

Sounds like a plentiful trip, Sarah. I agree w/Aladdin. It's by far the best show at either WDW or DL. And it's fun every time b/c the Genie changes up his little snippets all the time. And I also agree about the huge portions at Ariel's Grotto. My mom and I both got the sun dried tomato pasta and when the plates came we were cracking up. We could have easily shared 1 plate and STILL had leftovers. But it was awfully [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Joy J]

Welcome back Sarah! It was very interesting to read your take on DL. We too really enjoyed our stay at the Disneyland Hotel, although we weren't staying on the concierge level.

Joy