Doubletree Disneyland

Last week was my daughter's long awaited trip to her Fine Arts Competition held in the Anaheim area, with the awards ceremony held at Disneyland. The school's buses left the school yard promptly at 7:00, four white buses loaded with screaming kids, instruments, and suitcases. Myself and husband after dropping off the dogs at the vet, played catch up on I-15 looking for the white buses hoping to catch up. We passed one white bus and thought it must be one of them, but when we didn't meet up with the other three, it must have been another group. We finally met up at Barstow where the kids were let off for a break. This was my 12 year old's first trip semi-away from her parents, although we were tagging along and she was going to share a room with her friends with us in a room on the upper levels. I was a little nervous on how she was going to handle it. She can barely stay over someone's house for a sleep over when she calls and says she's homesick. We decided to make the trip to Disneyland, because they were planning to return back to Las Vegas at 2:30 in the morning Sunday, which I'm like I'm not getting up in the middle of the night to pick you up. Better go and she can leave with us on Sunday at a reasonable time.

We played cat and mouse with the buses on the freeway, myself not quite sure of the freeway routes. I usually stay more toward the valley side of LA. I was amazed how fast the buses made the trip. We left Las Vegas at 7:30 and we were rolling in to the hotel at 12:00. I've only known one way to get to Disneyland and that is off the Santa Ana freeway, south. Take a note, the quickest route to Disneyland from Las Vegas: I-15 south to 60 West to 57 South. Nice and easy. The school booked rooms at the Doubletree next to the Block at Orange, which is an outdoor shopping mall. The kids were let off there for lunch and shopping (which proved not a good idea since most of the kids spent their Disneyland money on stuff there). Thankfully I was there to give her more money after she spent over half her $100.00 on stuff from Claire's.

The Doubletree was a pleasant surprise. I always had liken the Doubletree to the hotel level of the La Quinta's. Don't get me wrong, nothings wrong with those hotels, but this Doubletree, I was like, what am I at a Westin or something? The rooms were large and nicely appointed. But what was a true gem was that the restaurant on site was really good. Being that the aunt had a bum leg, we were not able to find parking at the nearby Block at Orange where there were a pleathora of restaurants, we had to eat at the hotel restaurant, which was surprisingly delicious. That night the competition, back to the hotel where the kids were served a dinner buffet and then the next day Disneyland and the award ceremony at the Park.

That night after being at the Park all day, we decided to come back to the hotel and eat at the restaurant again. Unfortunately, as I told the waiter, the chef from the previous night must not be working because the food was awful. Our pasta sauce was watery and Andy's steak didn't have the onions and mushrooms as the menu said. When the waiter asked if we would like something else, the aunt said she would take the club, because how can they mess up a club sandwich? Well they can if they bring you out a cheeseburger! The waiter got so flustered, he called the manager who was so professional and did the right thing and not charge us for a single thing. Aricela was the restaurant manager's name, and I cannot stop complimenting her enough. Finally in this world where no one cares if you got what you expected, she was fantastic. Give that girl a raise!

So if you plan a trip to Disneyland, stay at the Doubletree (100 The City Drive) next to the Block at Orange. It's a nice hotel and just a short drive to the park. And oh yeah, my daughter's orchestra group took first place in everything. What more could a mother ask for! Woo Hoo!