Quote:
Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Anaheim & Resorts. It was serviceable -- just a generic level, normal clean hotel. Our hotel budget wasn't quite as high as yours though. Only about a ten minute walk to the park though, which was great since we didn't rent a vehicle.
The crowds in Disneyland had a huge range. During the week it wasn't too bad if you planned it right. At the park they have these things called 'Fast Pass' now. Basically a little booth for each ride where you scan your park ticket and it spits out a ticket for the ride with a time about an hour or two later, say between 3:00 - 3:30PM. You can return to the ride at that time and get in to the Fast Pass line which basically bypasses the whole line-up. Splash Mountain was always a 60+ minute line-up, but with the Fast Pass you cut that down to less than 10. If you get good at it you can plan your day around your Fast Passes.
All this went out the window on our last day on the Saturday though. Just a complete clustercuss of people. I think we got on maybe 2 of the bigger rides and 3 of the smaller ones before we gave up. The bad thing is that the fireworks/Fantasia show are only on Saturday night.
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I have done some research on this fast pass concept, and the partner has used it in Disney World a few times over the past few years when she visited her folks down in Florida. So she is familiar with it which will be an asset.
I also found a Disneyland guide at Costco for 10 bucks and impulse bought it. It has a lot of great information, and a lot of stuff that is common sense. Overall I think it will be worth the money just to help figure out which rides are worth going on for us. It has hotel recommendations and what not but those recommendations are based totally on Disneyland, not on other activities in the area, features the hotel offers etc.. So I find it hard to go off of their ratings, especially when it conflicts with a lot of things TripAdvisor and ppl in this thread have already said.
That sucks about the fireworks, I guess I was just assuming it would be a nightly thing.. so we will definitely miss that.