Miss Mikki does Vegas and Disneyland

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Miss Mikki does Vegas and Disneyland

Hi everyone, I am just back from an amazing trip to Vegas and Disneyland.
Surprisingly, I think I like Disneyland even more than WDW. I thought the entertainment and shops seemed much more interesting and authentic.

Highlights for me were:
* Dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant
* Taking my two year old niece on Small World
* Exploring a new park - California Adventure
* Radiator springs racers at cars land
* Breakfast with princesses at Ariels Grotto
* Paradise Pier
* being able to walk between parks and to DTD
* New Orleans Square

The fireworks at Disneyland were the best I have ever seen. The show was so well put together. Tinkerbell flies around the castle, the projections are breathtaking, the sound quality awesome and it snows!

Although the parks were very, very busy, there were no queues for most rides? Not sure how that works?

When WDW is busy, you can sometimes see the crowds getting stressy and anxious. I didn't experience any of that in DL. I think because there were a lot of expo people in the DL parks there was such a good atmosphere with people singing along and dancing in the street during the fireworks.

I loved Vegas too. It is like Disney but with Slot machines and casino tables instead of characters. laugh

Has anyone else seen the DL fireworks? What did you think?

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MrHub's picture
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Welcome back! Sounds like you enjoyed your trip enough to want to go back.

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MrHub wrote:
Welcome back! Sounds like you enjoyed your trip enough to want to go back.

I would love to go back - maybe I will go for the expo in two years. I would love to see more of California too, so next time I will probably try to see San Francisco and/or San Diego and the Grand Canyon.

But I also love WDW in Florida and Key West.

I just need more money and more time off work laugh

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Miss Mikki wrote:
Hi everyone, I am just back from an amazing trip to Vegas and Disneyland.
Surprisingly, I think I like Disneyland even more than WDW. I thought the entertainment and shops seemed much more interesting and authentic.

Has anyone else seen the DL fireworks? What did you think?

Welcome back, Miss Mikki! I agree 1000%. I thought WDW was my favorite place on Earth until we went to DL. Disneyland is like Walt Disney is giving you a hug! And California Adventure is kind of like almost all of the best parts of DHS, Epcot, and AK rolled into one. The only things that I found myself missing from "home" were World Showcase, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Festival of the Lion King. And I know it's not a popular opinion, but I like our versions of Pirates and BTMR better. But to me, Fantasyland (especially Alice in Wonderland), Cars Land, and all of the Mary Poppins love more than made up for the missing pieces. biggrin

As for the fireworks, unfortunately we missed all of the new shows by about two months, so all we got was the crappy post-Fantasmic fireworks show. Oh well, guess we have a reason to go back...

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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I totally agree with you Alicemouse. I love World Showcase and I prefer WDW pirates too.

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I love DL and I love Las Vegas too. Sounds like a blast. I'll be seeing those fireworks very soon. Glad you had fun.

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There you go..For me DL didn't do it..Yes we had a great time as we stayed with my wife's sister in LA for 3 weeks..Visited San Deigo..Tijuana ..Vegas..All the tourist stuff, but the Disney bug didn't bite me until three years later when we done WDW..However we are planning a return visit, hopefully in 2017..

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The Colonel wrote:
I love DL and I love Las Vegas too. Sounds like a blast. I'll be seeing those fireworks very soon. Glad you had fun.

Colonel you will love the fireworks. Take a handkerchief - I cried four times because they were so magical stars
I stayed at the Park Vue Inn - I think you mentioned it ages ago in one of your trip reports. It was a good choice. Thank you.

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The Watchmaker wrote:
There you go..For me DL didn't do it..Yes we had a great time as we stayed with my wife's sister in LA for 3 weeks..Visited San Deigo..Tijuana ..Vegas..All the tourist stuff, but the Disney bug didn't bite me until three years later when we done WDW..However we are planning a return visit, hopefully in 2017..

My flight to Vegas from Manchester was much cheaper than the Orlando flights and I was able to use my airmiles to upgrade to Upper Class on the night flight. I have never had any luck with availability to use airmiles on the Orlando route. Keep a look out for a bargain. I paid PS449 to go out Premium economy and return Upper Class!!! (Plus 85,000 airmiles - but what else am I going to spend them on?)

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Sounds like you had a fantastic trip! Loving all the DL love lately! muchlove

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Miss Mikki wrote:
The Colonel wrote:
I love DL and I love Las Vegas too. Sounds like a blast. I'll be seeing those fireworks very soon. Glad you had fun.

Colonel you will love the fireworks. Take a handkerchief - I cried four times because they were so magical stars
I stayed at the Park Vue Inn - I think you mentioned it ages ago in one of your trip reports. It was a good choice. Thank you.

Yes I booked Park Vue Inn just based on the location and the look of the website. Shortly therafter Disney Tourist Blog made it their #1 off-site hotel. I'll be there in three weeks. Did you get a Jacuzzi suite? Is it as close to the esplanade as it looks?

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The Colonel wrote:
Miss Mikki wrote:
The Colonel wrote:
I love DL and I love Las Vegas too. Sounds like a blast. I'll be seeing those fireworks very soon. Glad you had fun.

Colonel you will love the fireworks. Take a handkerchief - I cried four times because they were so magical stars
I stayed at the Park Vue Inn - I think you mentioned it ages ago in one of your trip reports. It was a good choice. Thank you.

Yes I booked Park Vue Inn just based on the location and the look of the website. Shortly therafter Disney Tourist Blog made it their #1 off-site hotel. I'll be there in three weeks. Did you get a Jacuzzi suite? Is it as close to the esplanade as it looks?

The Park Vue Inn is a typical motel layout. However, as they can charge a lot more with it being so close to Disney, they do give you lots of extras. The room was really clean with lots of pillows, toiletries, mirrors etc. I also had a fridge, microwave and coffee maker. Staff at reception were very professional and helpful. There is a small pool, gym, laundry and shop onsite as well as a Cold Store and 24 hour IHOP. Complimentary breakfast on an outside terrace is included.

I had upgraded to the deluxe jacuzzi room which I found to be a little bit weird as the hot tub is in the bedroom with mirrors all round it, rather than in the bathroom. Having said that, I did use it every day. Also I peeped into one of the standard rooms as I was walking past and they are much smaller.

The Park Vue Inn could not be nearer to Disney. You literally cross the main road and you are in Disney. Then it is a short walk up a tree lined path to get to the park entrance. I was in the furthest room from the reception (232) so it felt like it took me longer to walk from my room to reception than it did to walk from reception to the Park entrance.

There were some colourful characters at the pedestrian crossing. I hope this doesn't sound judgemental, I am simply observing. There were some evangelical Christians with banners and microphones trying to convert the hoard of mouse-ear wearing Disney fans to God. A very large man asking for a couple of dollars so he could eat that day and a Vietnam veteran with flashing lights and American flags on his wheelchair. They all obviously wanted to be noticed so I am sure they would not mind me writing about them.

If I went back I would definately stay there again as I felt safe walking to and from the parks on my own (the rest of my party were in Paradise Pier). It also had a nice homely feel.

I think you will have a great time Colonel.

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Miss Mikki wrote:
The Watchmaker wrote:
There you go..For me DL didn't do it..Yes we had a great time as we stayed with my wife's sister in LA for 3 weeks..Visited San Deigo..Tijuana ..Vegas..All the tourist stuff, but the Disney bug didn't bite me until three years later when we done WDW..However we are planning a return visit, hopefully in 2017..

My flight to Vegas from Manchester was much cheaper than the Orlando flights and I was able to use my airmiles to upgrade to Upper Class on the night flight. I have never had any luck with availability to use airmiles on the Orlando route. Keep a look out for a bargain. I paid PS449 to go out Premium economy and return Upper Class!!! (Plus 85,000 airmiles - but what else am I going to spend them on?)

Yep..Its also cheaper for us to fly from Manchester to LAX than it is to MCO..

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I will still be hopping onto this board to read all your trip reports on a regular basis, but I might not be posting as much for a little while as I have no Disney trip planned. I really want to come to the big meet up in 2016, but at the moment we can't get our finances to cover it. So I have no ticker sad I have a way of working these things out though. Keep those trip reports coming - so I can live vicariously through your experiences while I work things out x

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