Greg Lembrich
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2018
Greetings fellow DISers. This is my second ever trip report, and it will chronicle the adventures that my daughter and I had on our recent Spring Break 2019 trip to Disneyland, California Adventure, Knott's Berry Farm, and Six Flags Magic Mountain. I hope you will come along for the ride(s).
The story of this trip begins last year in April 2018 when my daughter Caroline and I took a 4 day trip to Walt Disney World during her school's Spring Break. Our goal was to ride all 46 rides operating in the four parks, and we were successful in doing that and so much more. In fact, everything about that trip went exactly according to plan and was "practically perfect in every way". Here is a link to my TR from that trip: "Let's Ride Every Ride in WDW" - The Trip Where Everything Went Right.
After returning from that trip, we immediately began planning to go to California to visit Disneyland and DCA for Spring Break 2019. This was especially exciting because my daughter had never been to the West Coast before, and she was looking forward to trying all of the rides at DL and DCA that don't exist at WDW, as well as seeing the California editions of some of her Florida favorites. One of our goals for the trip would, of course, be to ride every ride in both Disneyland and California Adventure. We also both love roller coasters, so we decided to add in day trips to Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Much of my pre-trip planning is memorialized in my PTR: Daddy/Daughter Spring Break Trip to Ride Every Ride at DLR (and more).
I am an obsessive planner, especially when it comes to vacations, and I truly go into hyper mode when it comes to Disney. DLR presented some challenges that were different from my prior WDW trips, including mastering MaxPass, as well as the lack of FP+, more limited ADR options, etc. But while I found that these differences frustrated me in the planning process, most of them made it much easier while we were actually on the trip. Overall, I found DLR pretty simple to navigate and manage, and (even though not everything went exactly as planned) we had an awesome time. I welcome you to come along as I recount our journey, with lots of recaps, reviews, tips, and photos along the way.
Here are the basics for our trip:
Who? Greg/Dad (41) and Caroline/Daughter (8), from New Jersey
When? April 13-20, 2019. We departed from Newark early morning on Saturday April 13, and flew back from LAX the following Saturday (the day before Easter).
Where? We stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn on South Harbor for our whole trip. It was recommended by fellow NJ DISer @missangelalexis, and we loved the very close proximity to the DLR entrance, which allowed us to easily walk back and forth between the hotel and the parks, including for our daily afternoon pool and nap breaks.
How? We flew on United from Newark to LAX, where we took an Uber to the Anaheim Desert Inn. We also used Uber on our Knott's Berry Farm day since that was close to Anaheim. I rented a car for the day we went to Magic Mountain.
What? We spent 5 full days at DLR, parkhopping and MaxPassing each day. Our goal was to ride all 48 operating rides at DL and DCA, including multiple rides on our favorites, as well as to see all of the major shows. We also spent one day at Knott's Berry Farm and another at Six Flags Magic Mountain, mostly focusing on roller coasters and other thrill rides at those parks. We toured hard, but also took liberal afternoon breaks at the hotel nearly every day to swim, rest, and recharge before heading back out for the evening.
The story of this trip begins last year in April 2018 when my daughter Caroline and I took a 4 day trip to Walt Disney World during her school's Spring Break. Our goal was to ride all 46 rides operating in the four parks, and we were successful in doing that and so much more. In fact, everything about that trip went exactly according to plan and was "practically perfect in every way". Here is a link to my TR from that trip: "Let's Ride Every Ride in WDW" - The Trip Where Everything Went Right.
After returning from that trip, we immediately began planning to go to California to visit Disneyland and DCA for Spring Break 2019. This was especially exciting because my daughter had never been to the West Coast before, and she was looking forward to trying all of the rides at DL and DCA that don't exist at WDW, as well as seeing the California editions of some of her Florida favorites. One of our goals for the trip would, of course, be to ride every ride in both Disneyland and California Adventure. We also both love roller coasters, so we decided to add in day trips to Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Much of my pre-trip planning is memorialized in my PTR: Daddy/Daughter Spring Break Trip to Ride Every Ride at DLR (and more).
I am an obsessive planner, especially when it comes to vacations, and I truly go into hyper mode when it comes to Disney. DLR presented some challenges that were different from my prior WDW trips, including mastering MaxPass, as well as the lack of FP+, more limited ADR options, etc. But while I found that these differences frustrated me in the planning process, most of them made it much easier while we were actually on the trip. Overall, I found DLR pretty simple to navigate and manage, and (even though not everything went exactly as planned) we had an awesome time. I welcome you to come along as I recount our journey, with lots of recaps, reviews, tips, and photos along the way.
Here are the basics for our trip:
Who? Greg/Dad (41) and Caroline/Daughter (8), from New Jersey
When? April 13-20, 2019. We departed from Newark early morning on Saturday April 13, and flew back from LAX the following Saturday (the day before Easter).
Where? We stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn on South Harbor for our whole trip. It was recommended by fellow NJ DISer @missangelalexis, and we loved the very close proximity to the DLR entrance, which allowed us to easily walk back and forth between the hotel and the parks, including for our daily afternoon pool and nap breaks.
How? We flew on United from Newark to LAX, where we took an Uber to the Anaheim Desert Inn. We also used Uber on our Knott's Berry Farm day since that was close to Anaheim. I rented a car for the day we went to Magic Mountain.
What? We spent 5 full days at DLR, parkhopping and MaxPassing each day. Our goal was to ride all 48 operating rides at DL and DCA, including multiple rides on our favorites, as well as to see all of the major shows. We also spent one day at Knott's Berry Farm and another at Six Flags Magic Mountain, mostly focusing on roller coasters and other thrill rides at those parks. We toured hard, but also took liberal afternoon breaks at the hotel nearly every day to swim, rest, and recharge before heading back out for the evening.
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