Anaheim etc questions continue....

Hi everyone,
We are still a few weeks away from our trip to Anaheim and Disneyland and I am still full of questions.

We have decided not to do Universal - simply because of the time allowance we have. I would rather rent a car and drive to the coast and poke around there for a day.

I am still looking for a fun dinner spot or dinner show venue for one night that week. Since my special day is also our first day at the park, we have decided to just have dinner at one of the many restaurants offered.

We can plan a special dinner off park another night to really celebrate - if we find something. I didn't like the reviews for the Pirate and Medievil themed dinners, and so far House of Blues doesn't have anything booked that interests us. I was hoping for an Abba tribute or something along those lines.....

If we decide to go to San Diego one day, I'd like to visit old town. Does anyone have any suggestions?

We plan to go to the Disney warehouse as well, and pick up some inexpensive souveniers. Do they have things other than pens, hats, etc? We have toddlers to buy for so would be looking for clothing and stuffed Mickey's etc.

From my research, we will take a back pack into the park with a variety of snacks and frozen drinks which we'll put in a locker. Also a change of footwear incase our feet get tired. Maybe a jacket too.

At the Peacock Suites, we can also watch the fireworks from the roof patio. That is if they have fireworks on days other than the weekend.

One last note - you can no longer book balcony seating for Fantasia. They are renovating that floor to convert it to a special suite for a prize winner in next years contest.

Diane

Bjorn Again an Abba show will be at the House of Blues Anaheim on July 25, follow the link and press America.

Too bad I won't be there then. I will be in town Sept 15th to Sept 21.

Thanks anyway. I would have LOVED to see the show.

Diane

In downtown San Diego near the waterfront, is the bar from Top Gun. The inside looks very much like the movie. They are a great place for lunch. Good BBQ.

Outside of Disneyland is downtown disney. Almost all the restaurants in Downtown disney have much better food than anything you can get in the park. Take the monorail and enjoy great dinner and a ride on the monorail.

Bill4728 said:

Outside of Disneyland is downtown disney. Almost all the restaurants in Downtown disney have much better food than anything you can get in the park. Take the monorail and enjoy great dinner and a ride on the monorail.

Click to expand...

Sorry to disagree Bill, but I don't find the food at Downtown Disney all that great. It's pricey and so-so quality. Though, my son likes the sandwiches at LaBrea Bakery

The place we enjoy the best for casual food is the Storytellers Cafe in the Grand Californian Hotel.

Another in-park favorite of ours is the Carnation Cafe right on Mainstreet.

Just my two cents

There is a chain of family style Italian restaurants which are definitely worth visiting when you are there.

Buca Di Beppo is just down the street about a mile from D-land at 11757 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove. There are several in CA including San Diego and I'd recommend it hands down over the places in downtown Disney or in the parks. It's a much better value & has good food too! www.bucadibeppo.com Actually I thought it was just a local spot until I found the website and discovered they are actually all over the country. Regardless, I'd go there over the Disney places in a heart beat.

I DO like the Bodeen (sp?) Bakery in the California Adventure park however. They make the authentic San Franciso Sour Dough bread there and offer a bowl of clam chowder in a bowl made from sour dough as a popular item. NOT CHEAP...but less expensive than a side trip to SF! <g>

Where is the Disney Warehouse?

DianeH said:

We plan to go to the Disney warehouse as well, and pick up some inexpensive souveniers. Do they have things other than pens, hats, etc? We have toddlers to buy for so would be looking for clothing and stuffed Mickey's etc.

Click to expand...

Thanks Bill for the suggestion in San Diego.

I'll check out the restaurant you recommended, UW Surfer.

Tracie, the warehouse is actually a Disney Liquidation store and its called 'Disney Character Warehouse Outlet.' Its at the Orangefair Marketplace, left of Micheals.

Diane

Buca Di Beppo is great and there is another in the gas light district in SD.

Sorry to disagree Bill, but I don't find the food at Downtown Disney all that great.

Click to expand...

I agree but I really don't like the food in the park. So almost anything is better.

San Diego is great-but old town for only a few hours....

I love San Diego-but look into it again. Old town is only interesting for a few hours (tops), try Balboa Park-if into museums-or the tourist warfy area with the ferry to Coronado. Maybe start the furthest down south, with the warfy are not too far from downtown (downtown SD isn't very big), take a ferry to Coronado-have lunch, ferry back, poke around La Jolla (north of SD) or Carlsbad (either the outlet mall or cute downtown-but not as coastal of a feeling as La Jolla). Then head back to Anaheim-maybe stopping in Laguna Beach-very beachy "artsy" and pricey. Again-you're in SoCal-with a little research, you might enven consider the Coaster train and going to Del Mar (I'm not sure where the train stops in Del Mar-but it does stop very close to downtown Carlsbad (cute coastal down-but train stop not near the outlet mall). Heck-the more I thinks about...how about a second week for San Diego??? Just kidding---if you make it down there, it should be lots of fun. Of course---take into consideration traffic on I-5.

Thanks Garnet. We will only have a few hours as I would like to take advantage of our one day car rental and hit the outlet mall as well.

I'll google San Diego and have a look see.

Diane

If you hit San Diego, hit the Del Mar Race track. At least if you like horse racing. The season started this week and runs until Sept. On Fridays they have late 1st at 4pm, followed by concerts afterwards.

If you plan to eat at Disneyland Downtown or Disneyland restaurants for dinner, I would suggest you make reservations prior to going down there. Go into their website and look into their restaurants. One night we tried to have dinner at downtown Disney and it ranged from an hour to two hours wait.

Hi Fisch, we're not fans but thanks for the suggestion!

Honeybunney - thanks for reminding me to do that. I've added it to my 'to do before we go' list!

Diane