Mind what you have learned. Save you it can. - Rebel Challenge TR Jan 2016 - Completed!

[wellesleyprincess]

Thanks for joining in! We'll be back next year for Star Wars too! (We're planning on trying to keep legacy for Disneyland & WDW Star Wars Races) Enjoy your training Are you going to do the half or the challenge?

Hoping to do the challenge since it will likely be my only west coast race for a while. I'm trying to figure out registration though as I work the day it opens. May have to register from my iPhone or wait until I get home. Do you think it will be full by 6 or 7 pm est? (I remember the good ole days when I registered for the 2010 WDW marathon in October 2009 and the 2012 ToT a week or so after it opened)

 

[vettegirl]

Yay found your TR!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Hoping to do the challenge since it will likely be my only west coast race for a while. I'm trying to figure out registration though as I work the day it opens. May have to register from my iPhone or wait until I get home. Do you think it will be full by 6 or 7 pm est? (I remember the good ole days when I registered for the 2010 WDW marathon in October 2009 and the 2012 ToT a week or so after it opened)

The Rebel Challenge sold out in less than hour last year - the DVC/AP registration went in less than 5 minutes. I would try to register on your phone at work. I block out the time on my calendar at work and everyone knows to not bother me during runDisney registrations!

Yay found your TR!

Welcome!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Luxury Above New Orleans Square

A little after 5PM, I woke up from my short nap and started getting ready for dinner. My husband didn’t take long to get ready at all. Right before 6AM, we left our room and headed back towards Disneyland. Apparently, I forgot to take a picture of our outfit this evening so you’ll just have to imagine me in a long black dress and my husband in a shirt & tie (similar to our various wine dinners at Food & Wine Festival)

Unfortunately, it was about the same time as the fireworks were going off for the evening. We loved that Disneyland had the walkways blocked off so people could actually travel down Main Street and not worry about the crowds that were watching the show! We were heading back to New Orleans Square to ring the bell to be let in the Court of Angels to wait for our dining reservation at Club 33. We were about 15 minutes early so we got to enjoy the courtyard for that time. We were slightly appalled that another party showed up for dinner that evening wearing shorts & t-shirts for the teenage sons and father and the mother/daughter in tight jeans. Luckily, it seems they were able to provide the severely underdressed males with a suit jacket they weren’t allowed to take off all evening + pants for the father of the family of 6. When I was blessed with this reservation, it was very clear in the reservation email about the dress code as your conduct reflects on the member.

Court of Angels

At exactly 6:30PM, we were led upstairs to our table where we were given a chance to review the menu. We both decided on enjoying the 5 course dinner menu with mostly different selections from one another. My husband decided against drinking this evening, so I decided to have the 5 course wine pairing for an additional $55.

Table Setting

Le Grand Salon Dinner Menu

Wine Information

After ordering our selections for our respective meals, our server brought out the amuse bouche to both of us. It was a pleasant bite of cauliflower that tasted of the season.

Amuse Bouche - Cauliflower Fritter

For my first course, I went outside of the options I would have normal chosen. I didn’t want to get the exact same as my husband and I was hoping that the crispy oysters here would be as good as the last time I enjoyed crispy oysters at Flying Fish. I’m sorry to say that Flying Fish does better fried oysters but it the lobster rockefeller itself was really nice.

Lobster Rockefeller w/ Crispy Oysters & Lemon Hollandaise

My husband picked the risotto fritters for his first course. He really enjoyed these as I shortly after I took this photo, it was gone!

Risotto Fritters, Sundried Tomato Jam and Cauliflower “Alfredo” Sauce

My second course, I went with the salad that sounded like a good option for the winter. The duck was amazing! I really liked the dressing with a bit of the kale and the persimmon.

Salad of Smoked Duck Breast, Tuscan Kale, Persimmon and Cranberry Orange Conserve

My husband went with the Apple & Chestnut Soup, surprising me with his option! I figured he would have gone with the garden salad. He really enjoyed this as the soup as it had more of an apple warmth than a chestnut flavor to it.

Apple & Chestnut Soup w/ Duck Confit & Truffle Oil

We both had the same thing for our third course. The lobster was extremely tender and the broth was very light! The rice had a good bite to it as well. We both thought this was a winner!

Poached Lobster “Paella” w/ Saffron Rice and Roasted Tomato Broth

Once the third course was cleared, we were given our palette cleanser prior to our entrees. The sorbet was very light as it should be!

Lemon Sorbet

A perfectly cooked medium rare filet mignon was a great election for my 4th course, but it was enhanced a ton by the pairing of a Silver Oak Cabernet with this. I was delighted with all of it! The bone marrow fritter was a nice bite of warm marrowy burst of flavor.

Petit Angus Filet Mignon w/ Tasson Ham Scalloped Potatoes & Collard Green Pesto & Bone Marrow Fritter

My husband went with the beef short ribs to have something different than me but he also was in love with his selection. He even ate all his celery root puree (his new favorite food!) and the apple slaw.

Zinfandel Braised Angus Beef Short Rib, Celery Root Puree & Apple Slaw

After having had the first four courses that I did, I’m glad I went with the Citrus Tart for my final course. It was rather light especially among the choices they had for dessert. If it wasn’t improper form, I might have been tempted to lick the plate.

Citrus Tart w/ Passion Fruit Meringue & Huckleberry Syrup

As soon as I saw the menu, I knew what my husband would be selecting for dessert. He is obsessed with brownies, especially warm ones. He wasn’t even hungry anymore and still finished it off!

Warm Chocolate Fudge Pecan Brownie, Caramel Sauce & Coconut Sorbet

The one good thing about him being full, I got to enjoy all these treats! The sea salt caramel was definitely the winner of the three.

After Dinner Treats - Sea Salt Caramel, Passion Fruit Gelee, Dark Chocolate Truffle

This meal exceeded our expectations in every way. The serving team was on top of everything throughout the evening. The wine pairings matched the profiles of the food very well and really worked on enhancing the food - something that not all restaurants do well at for every course. I’m so glad we got to experience this at least once in our lifetimes!

As we were leaving the restaurant, I had decided I did want to buy something from the merchandise cabinet. They had a price listed for the Dooney & Bourke Wallet & I decided that was worth it as I haven’t replaced my last designer wallet since 2009. Sadly, they were sold out! Guess that just saved me money to spend on other things later in the trip!

Some Merchandise

Walking Down

We left the park with it being mostly empty as the park was about to close for the evening. Back at the hotel, we set the alarm for 6AM as we wanted to head to the Expo for the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend early.​

 

[franandaj]

We were slightly appalled that another party showed up for dinner that evening wearing shorts & t-shirts for the teenage sons and father and the mother/daughter in tight jeans.

This irks me more than anything. I'm sorry if you are going to a restaurant with a dress code, you really need to heed it!

Luckily, it seems they were able to provide the severely underdressed males with a suit jacket they weren’t allowed to take off all evening + pants for the father of the family of 6.

That is awesome! I had not idea that they did that. Go club!

When I was blessed with this reservation, it was very clear in the reservation email about the dress code as your conduct reflects on the member.

I heard as much.

We both had the same thing for our third course. The lobster was extremely tender and the broth was very light! The rice had a good bite to it as well. We both thought this was a winner!

It seems that they have changed that since the last time I was there and lessened the lobster. There was a whole claw there, I thought they could have put more rice since that whole course was really light, yours looked really really light on lobster!

My husband went with the beef short ribs to have something different than me but he also was in love with his selection. He even ate all his celery root puree (his new favorite food!) and the apple slaw.

I had that one when we were there and it was really good! Since he can eat lots more than me, I see why he ate it all. I liked the slaw too!

After having had the first four courses that I did, I’m glad I went with the Citrus Tart for my final course. It was rather light especially among the choices they had for dessert. If it wasn’t improper form, I might have been tempted to lick the plate.

That looks different than the one I had, but I found it very light too. And I could have licked the plate. The desserts are way too small!

This meal exceeded our expectations in every way. The serving team was on top of everything throughout the evening. The wine pairings matched the profiles of the food very well and really worked on enhancing the food - something that not all restaurants do well at for every course. I’m so glad we got to experience this at least once in our lifetimes!

Do you remember the names of your servers? I've found that some are great and others not so much, they also allow the servers to make the pairings and I've had different pairing for the same dish. quite interesting. Like I've said about the chocolate tastings on my TRs. Different sommelier, different ideas.

 

[momabaarjo]

Why am I now just seeing this...? UGH

 

[wellesleyprincess]

The Rebel Challenge sold out in less than hour last year - the DVC/AP registration went in less than 5 minutes. I would try to register on your phone at work. I block out the time on my calendar at work and everyone knows to not bother me during runDisney registrations!

Yeah, that's what I figured. I figure worst case scenario, I can go through a travel provider but I'd rather use my usual agent, because she knows my food allergies/dietary issues. I think I may do a practice run using Active on my phone for a race that's not a rush, otherwise I'll worry I'll mess it up.

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I appreciate the info and am enjoying your report!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

This irks me more than anything. I'm sorry if you are going to a restaurant with a dress code, you really need to heed it!

You & I have similar thoughts on that! I hated the watering down of dress codes at WDW signatures as well.

That is awesome! I had not idea that they did that. Go club!

I'm guessing it was either you wear this or you don't eat here. I would feel so embarrassed though if a restaurant had to provide me with the proper clothing to wear.

It seems that they have changed that since the last time I was there and lessened the lobster. There was a whole claw there, I thought they could have put more rice since that whole course was really light, yours looked really really light on lobster!

Maybe their lobster choices this day were a bit light or bad so they had to work with what was given? I dunno. I was fine with the amount of rice in there for the amount of lobster we had. I could see having a whole claw would need more rice though!

I had that one when we were there and it was really good! Since he can eat lots more than me, I see why he ate it all. I liked the slaw too!

I was actually going to go with this initially but when he said he was having it - I wanted to get something different than him! It smelled amazing. All of the entrée options felt like they could be a winning dish!

That looks different than the one I had, but I found it very light too. And I could have licked the plate. The desserts are way too small!

My tart was a Meyer Lemon one, did you have a different flavor? I loved that it was so light! I was getting full at that point so it was a nice way to end the evening for me. If it was much larger, I would have pushed through to eat it all

Do you remember the names of your servers? I've found that some are great and others not so much, they also allow the servers to make the pairings and I've had different pairing for the same dish. quite interesting. Like I've said about the chocolate tastings on my TRs. Different sommelier, different ideas.

If I had written this post prior to Saturday/Sunday, I would have remember the name of the servers. My brain kinda died after the half marathon for little things (thank goodness for photos to help me remember what we did!) which led to a very awkward conversation with my husband that he then proceeded to tell Betsy (tankgirl) at lunch after the half. I'm debating if I want to tell that story or not in this trip report as its funny embarrassing.

I love seeing how different people can get different pairings for the same dish. That is one of the reasons why I love the DCL tastings where they always surprise me with how they make their selections. One of these times, we'll get to do a chocolate tasting!

Why am I now just seeing this...? UGH

I'm only 4 pages in, not too bad You can skip most of the training stuff as the races are done with now!

Yeah, that's what I figured. I figure worst case scenario, I can go through a travel provider but I'd rather use my usual agent, because she knows my food allergies/dietary issues. I think I may do a practice run using Active on my phone for a race that's not a rush, otherwise I'll worry I'll mess it up.

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I appreciate the info and am enjoying your report!

Don't feel bad hijacking! Race sign ups are super stressful especially when you want to do a race and rather let someone be informed on what they are getting into rather than letting them go into it blindly! When we initially decided to do the 2014 Tower of Terror - it was like 2 weeks after registration opened and we were fine! Some races just don't last as long. If you were doing only the half marathon, I wouldn't be worried about not being able to get it until the evening though.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

Don't feel bad hijacking! Race sign ups are super stressful especially when you want to do a race and rather let someone be informed on what they are getting into rather than letting them go into it blindly! When we initially decided to do the 2014 Tower of Terror - it was like 2 weeks after registration opened and we were fine! Some races just don't last as long. If you were doing only the half marathon, I wouldn't be worried about not being able to get it until the evening though.

I appreciate that, because I've been trying to find out. My back up plan is to either use a travel provider or just do the half. But since I'm going all the way to California, I really want to do the challenge. (Also, my 10k times put me in Age Group award contention so... there's that too) I appreciate the advice, but I won't know until later if I can block out the time. I may also see if a family member can do the registration for me if I'm not able to.

On topic, I'm so jealous of your Club 33 experience. Talk about on my bucket list!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I appreciate that, because I've been trying to find out. My back up plan is to either use a travel provider or just do the half. But since I'm going all the way to California, I really want to do the challenge. (Also, my 10k times put me in Age Group award contention so... there's that too) I appreciate the advice, but I won't know until later if I can block out the time. I may also see if a family member can do the registration for me if I'm not able to.

On topic, I'm so jealous of your Club 33 experience. Talk about on my bucket list!

Oh Age Award Contention is awesome! You are a speedster! I totally get wanting to get the most out of your trip to California! Doing this trip is why we stopped having anniversary trips last year and this year. Disneyland steals the vacation money for this time of year!

Club 33 was totally a bucket list item for us as well I'm so happy to have done it once!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Goodbye Money

For those not in the RunDisney realm reading this trip report, this next segment may seem crazy to all of you.

I woke up at 5:30AM this morning. I did some work email until 6:00AM when it was time to log onto New Balance’s Run Disney Website and try to get a spot in the queue for the 2016 Run Disney Shoes. I was able to get #1002 - Group 1 for myself and #1067 - Group 1 for my husband. I kept us separate so we could at least try on various sizes of the shoes that interested us. Once that was accomplished, I forced my husband to wake up by being really annoying. We needed to head to the Disneyland Hotel to wait for the Official Race Merchandise to open! He had to take a shower though so I sweated him to hurry up (Betsy was also yelling at him to shake a leg in text messages to me) Finally, he was ready for us to head over there! (In reality, it was before 6:30AM)

At the Disneyland Hotel, we headed upstairs to the main ballroom to get a wristband and take our individual squares to wait for the next three hours until the race merchandise shop opened! Betsy was 3 squares ahead of us. (Not) shockingly, they were already on Row 3 when we arrived and the person at the end of Row 1 had arrived around 5AM! Insane.

How did we pass the time for the next 3 hours?​

1. Watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope that was being projected
2. Eating a sprinkle star cookie
3. Talking to my husband/Betsy/random strangers
4. Playing games on my cell phone
5. Reading Rooms by Lauren Oliver (which I feel is the weakest of the books I’ve read from her as it really dragged at some points)

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Sprinkle Cookie

Around 9:30AM, they started letting the first row stand up to be led downstairs and it wasn’t long until my row was there. My husband and I split up to look around. I picked up the Rebel Challenge & Half Marathon Medal Pins, the 10K pin, 3 Sweaty Bands, Rebel Challenge Running Pants for Women and a Water Bottle. My husband picked out two shirts and a jacket. While we were checking out, we received the text message that New Balance was ready for our group to look at the Run Disney shoes! We headed to the back of the Expo where New Balance was set up to look at the shoes. I decided to get the Ariel themed shoes even though I know I would never been able to run in them as they are a narrow neutral shoe. They were too cute to pass up! My husband was able to get the Mickey shoes in his size which is great for him! Its often hard to get shoes in exactly his size not online!

Shoe Choices

We headed to packet pickup and looked at the medals that would soon be ours! We’ll get the Kessel Run in April. At packet pick up, we each picked up our 5K Bibs & Rebel Challenge Bibs and had our photos taken as part of the Rebel Challenge.

In this area we also got to pick up our pre-order items. My husband had pre-ordered a jacket and I had pre-ordered the Dooney & Bourke Letter Carrier. They had two separate lines - but when I went through the Dooney line I was told that wasn’t the pre-order line and to get in the Jacket line. I totally just joined where my husband was in line. Eventually we got to the front of the line and my husband went to get his jacket. I was told I was in the wrong line again for the Dooney. I was totally getting annoyed and calming walked to the table and tried to get someone. My husband was able to get his jacket and try it on before I was helped. He eventually got annoyed with waiting for someone to pay attention to the supposed ‘purse’ area for pre-orders and got the manager of the area who admitted they lost the list for the purses and I needed to provide more information to get it, which I did and it still took a while. In all, it took about 30 minutes to get the purse. I was super annoyed as I could have just bought it quicker than deal with that mess.

We picked up our race shirts back in the main expo hall and started just looking around the expo. Nothing called out to me as needing to have it from Raw Threads or Sweaty Bands. My husband decided to pick up some compression sleeves for his legs for the runs, we tasted the various Clif items (although we knew what items from them we like - we were just getting hungry at this point) and eventually called it a day as we had spent enough money this morning between the official race store, the shoes and the compression sleeves. We headed back to the hotel room to drop off all our items before heading to lunch and finally the parks!

All the goodies!

Close Up​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Winning!

After we dropped off the items in our room, we immediately headed back out to get real food. My husband wanted a sit down meal instead of a quick service in a park so we agreed to head to Tortilla Jo’s. We were able to walk in with no issues and were quickly sat in a booth towards the front of the restaurant. They quickly brought us out chips & salsa and took our drink orders. I was good and only had 1 Mojito since I did have the 5K the next day to run & was following my self imposed 1 drink limit! We couldn’t get enough of the chips and salsa and totally loaded up!

Cherry Limeade Mojito, Chips & Salsa

My husband ordered the Refried Beans & Cheese Burritos. The waitress asked if my husband was vegetarian as they wanted to let him know this wasn’t a safe dish for him as the beans were cooked in pork fat! He isn’t a vegetarian (although since coming back from Disneyland - he is trying to cut back on meat) so it wasn’t a bother to him. He was pleasantly surprised by how much he enjoyed this burrito! Super filling and very well seasoned!

Refried Beans & Cheese Burritos - Salsa Roja w/ Mexican Red Rice, Pico de Gallo, Sour Cream

I went with the quesadilla with chicken. I was also really surprised with how much I enjoyed this dish! I usually am not the biggest fan of corn tortillas but I must have been getting badly made ones! This was great and the cheese was nice and light and the chicken was super flavorful! I couldn’t even finish half as it was so filling!

Quesadilla Tradicional - Chicken w/ Fresh Corn Masa, Shredded Lettuce, Cotija Cheese, Crema Fresco, Salsa Quemada

We loved that we got out of here for less than $50 and headed over to California Adventure to enjoy the park! When we walked in, we were pleasantly surprised that Radiator Springs still had Fastpasses available from 5:00PM to 6:00PM so we grabbed them for later that day and headed towards Paradise Pier!

As we just finished lunch, we wanted to do a calmer ride before going on California Screamin’ and Toy Story Mania fit that description well!

Mr. Potato Head

On the ride, my husband and I were able to get all the special events set off for the Dinosaur Balloon level! My husband was on fire though and kicked my booty in the game. He was also happy to get something above a cat for a prize! He also got best in vehicle which is awesome as usually when we play - one of the two of us hits that!

Toy Story Mania Scores

Best in Vehicle!

As we felt there was enough time for our stomachs to settle, we went for a ride on California Screamin’ as there was only a 5 minute wait! We love this coaster! We then headed over to Under the Sea, even though its exactly the same as its Florida counterpart!

Betsy was done with the Expo around this time and inside California Adventure. I texted her to let her know we were heading to Redwood Creek if she wanted to join us in being silly.​

 

[kastoney]

Wow, I almost have no words for your Club 33 experience (rarity I know), but I think I can muster a few words. First, I had no idea you could even eat here. I don't know too much about it, but always thought it was some sort of "club" you actually had to belong to. But more importantly, second. All of your food looks and sounds divine. I've never even heard of a bone marrow fritter but now I suddenly want one. And that lobster looks like utter perfection.

Ok, yes you are totally crazy for waiting 3 hours to look at shoes. But that said I had no idea they even had special run disney shoes. Since you are my official DIS "running" Yoda, is this always the case or was it special for this one? Also, do all the disney races sell pre-order merch? Trying to get my hubby ahead as much as possible for the April WDW races. We're both utterly clueless.

Your tortilla Jo's food looks great. Is that in DTD or whatever they call the area between the two parks?

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Wow, I almost have no words for your Club 33 experience (rarity I know), but I think I can muster a few words. First, I had no idea you could even eat here. I don't know too much about it, but always thought it was some sort of "club" you actually had to belong to. But more importantly, second. All of your food looks and sounds divine. I've never even heard of a bone marrow fritter but now I suddenly want one. And that lobster looks like utter perfection.

It is a club that people have to belong to - there are different membership levels as well since they have the bar at California Adventure as well. I was lucky enough to have a member willing to get me a reservation there & I'm forever thankful for it! I never had a bone marrow fritter before and I was so happy with how great it tasted. I've only had bone marrow well from a bone before at Steakhouse 55 & the Omasake Menu at California Grill (which I'm not sure they are even doing anymore) but thats just 'normal' bone marrow and not special like that!

All the food was great! It totally would be something you would enjoy based on what I've seen from you

Ok, yes you are totally crazy for waiting 3 hours to look at shoes. But that said I had no idea they even had special run disney shoes. Since you are my official DIS "running" Yoda, is this always the case or was it special for this one? Also, do all the disney races sell pre-order merch? Trying to get my hubby ahead as much as possible for the April WDW races. We're both utterly clueless.

The 3 hour wait was for the RunDisney merchandise, separate from the run Disney shoes. They always have some special official merchandise for all the races - wine glasses, sweaty bands, shirts, jackets, water bottles, pins, I Did It shoes, and other fun stuff.

New Balance makes RunDisney shoes every year - this year for 2016 they have Minnie, Mickey, Ariel and Dumbo shoes! Last year they had classic black & white Minnie & Mickey, Tinkerbell and something else. All Disney Races have some pre-order merchandise that you can order from the 'buy additional merchandise' from the Active account you registered for the race under. Most of that stuff may have sold out though at this time as I was going to order Shaun a jacket after how much he liked his Star Wars - Light Side one, he was sad it wasn't available for purchase then!

If you aren't aware of this stuff, you won't know what you are missing at least. There will still be some merchandise there just maybe not all the options in all the sizes. The wine glasses were the first things to get sold out at this race.

Your tortilla Jo's food looks great. Is that in DTD or whatever they call the area between the two parks?

It is in Downtown Disney! I think we ended up at almost every Downtown Disney restaurant this trip!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Let’s Explore!

My husband and I walked into the Grizzly Park area and headed straight to Redwood Creak Challenge Trail to earn a Wilderness Explorer Badge! This area of the park was closed last year so we didn’t get a chance to see it! Its totally geared towards children but that wasn’t going to stop us!

I grabbed the map to scratch off our badges as we earned them and started down the trails. We first looked at a really old petrified tree with a thousand years of rings!

For our first badge, we had to find Kevin’s footprints which wasn’t hard at all!

At this point, Betsy joined my husband and I and we went around the area. We earned one badge by going down a slide meant for children. We had to solve some riddles and match what trait went to what animal, rock climb a wall! (I did that why my husband and Betsy climbed the rope bridges that I was avoiding since I’m prone to ankle injuries, although I guess that could have also really hurt me as well) We had to cheat and claimed we did one badge as we were too old and too tall to go on the tire ziplines. Doug came out and no one wanted to say hi to him so I did!

We had one more badge to earn by finding out our spirit animal.

Apparently, I’m a skunk.

My husband found this to be hilarious as sometimes he’s mean and teases me with a Smelly Meli nickname if I happen to be um, gassy. I rather go with the curious and adventurous side of things!

With our badges all completed, we went to earn our Senior Wilderness Explorer badge from a cast member!

We parted ways with Betsy since a friend she had picked up items at the Expo for had arrived and they had plans together and my husband & I walked towards Hollywood Studios! (No, not that Hollywood Studios)

There was almost no wait to visit Mike & Sulley so we got into that line!

We walked through Radiator Springs to get a snack but the ice cream cone was down!

We ended up at Clarabella’s for ice cream. I went with a custom ice cream bar where my husband had a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream. We both were very happy with our choices!

Milk Chocolate Covered Vanilla Ice Cream Bar w/ Mickey Confetti

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream

As we enjoyed our ice cream, we headed back to the hotel to relax until it was time for our Radiator Spring Racers fastpass and our dinner reservation!​

 

[kastoney]

Thanks for the club 22 deets. Sounds like you all were very lucky indeed. And if you ever find yourself in Vegas, Wolfgang Puck's Cut restaurant has the best bone marrow ever. They take it out and then make a flan with and put it back inside the bone. It is divine and takes marrow to a whole new level.

Love the wilderness explorer area. My daughter loves getting the badges at AK so I know she would love this. Can't wait to get back to DL one of these days

 

[franandaj]

It seems to me that Californians are more likely to get up and wait for crazy amounts of time to get into events than folks in other parts of the country. 5AM sounds about right for crazy people to get in line. Glad you didn't wait quite that long.

You ate treats from some of my favorite places that day. When I was avoiding wheat products we ate at Tortilla Jo's and I remember their corn tortillas were really tasty. I got the beef fajitas. I also love those ice cream treats from Clarabelle's. You also got in a good amount of rides for such a late start in the parks. Sounds like the lines weren't too bad that day.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Thanks for the club 22 deets. Sounds like you all were very lucky indeed. And if you ever find yourself in Vegas, Wolfgang Puck's Cut restaurant has the best bone marrow ever. They take it out and then make a flan with and put it back inside the bone. It is divine and takes marrow to a whole new level.

Love the wilderness explorer area. My daughter loves getting the badges at AK so I know she would love this. Can't wait to get back to DL one of these days

We will get to Vegas on day! We were supposed to go in 2015 for our anniversary but Disneyland & Rebel Challenge kinda stole that vacation bucket. With Hawaii this year, its out for 2016 as well. Maybe 2017 or 2018 for our 10 year. Too many places to travel! That bone marrow flan sounds awesome! Such a creative way of preparing it!

Casey would probably love that area as well! She's small enough she could actually really enjoy the tire swing and all the rope courses!

It seems to me that Californians are more likely to get up and wait for crazy amounts of time to get into events than folks in other parts of the country. 5AM sounds about right for crazy people to get in line. Glad you didn't wait quite that long.

You ate treats from some of my favorite places that day. When I was avoiding wheat products we ate at Tortilla Jo's and I remember their corn tortillas were really tasty. I got the beef fajitas. I also love those ice cream treats from Clarabelle's. You also got in a good amount of rides for such a late start in the parks. Sounds like the lines weren't too bad that day.

Well, 3 hours before it pretty crazy as well! As I was still on East Coast time (although I don't think I ever transitioned to Pacific Coast Time this trip with the early morning calls all week) it wasn't too bad! At least I was able to have the time go by quickly. People get there early for other RunDisney races as well - especially Princess for the Dooney & Bourke Purses & I imagine the Star Wars - Dark Side will have it too. We won't be there for the first day at Dark Side (don't want to waste precious vacation time if I can)

Glad to know I was able to visit some of your favorite places! I wasn't hungry enough for fajitas but some other table got them and they definitely looked tasty! Glad to know they are good. The lines at California Adventure weren't bad at all. I'm guessing because it was Thursday and locals were still working. There is such a difference between how Wednesday/Thursday were and how Friday/Saturday/Monday were! The lines in the app never seemed to bad either outside of the usual suspects!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Disappointment

Back at the room, we relaxed. I may have napped. I think I napped at least once a day this trip!

It was soon time for us to head back into California Adventure for our fast passes and then head to dinner at Carthay Circle as it was our favorite meal from last year’s trip.

There was a small back up at the fastpass entrance but we were soon in line! We ended up talking to a couple behind us as they noticed my Star Wars Dooney from this year’s race. They were also Floridians running these races!

We lost the race but we still had great fun!

Afterwards, we still had some time to kill until our dining reservation so we wandered through all the shops in the front of the park. I restrained from buying more stuff since we had done so much shopping this morning!

I totally didn’t realize that the Pixar Parade was going to affect our ability to get to our dining reservation on time. We were forced to watch some of it in this area that I hoped would let us eventually cross the road because of the way the ropes were set up!

My instinct was right and there was break before Toy Story came so they let us run across the street to get to where we need to be. We checked into Carthay Circle and were soon brought upstairs. We weren’t placed in the main room this time but rather a side room that had was seated with 2 large groups, 2 two-tops and then us. There was also a large booth table that wasn’t filled yet. We were slightly shocked to find out that they had one server for all those tables, especially with the large parties in there!

Menu

It took a while to get our order in along with getting our drinks. I went with just water while my husband had a diet coke. Eventually, my appetizer showed up. I really did enjoy this dish. There was a ton of thai flavors throughout and it was super moist.

Ginger-Lemongrass Chicken Satay - Thai Chili, Persian Cucumbers, Cashew-Mint Yogurt

For my entree, I went with the Crisp Duck Confit. I love duck (if you've read my other reports you know this)! I actually decided against getting the firecracker duck wings so I could get this!

Crisp Duck Confit - Chestnut Gnocchi, Parsnips, Apples, Wilted Spinach

My husband did not have anywhere near the amount of luck I did. Typically, when you see meat listed in a pasta dish you except there to be at least a normal serving size of the meat in there (4 ounces at least!) He got 3 slivers of chicken in this. It was a ton of vegetables he wasn’t in the mood for in it! This was a complete bust for him.

Trofie Pasta w/ Smoked Chicken - Roasted Roots, Idazabal Cheese, Truffle Butter

My husband was so fed up with this place, he refused for us to get dessert here. Our server was so overworked she ended up pretty much ignoring all the tables outside of the two big ones and when the third large table got sat in her section, we knew it would only get worse and it did. Our water glasses pretty much never got filled along with my husband never getting a refill on his Diet Coke. Not good for people running and trying to ensure they get enough liquids! Once we did get the waitress’s attention - we just handed her the credit card rather than wait to get the bill and it still took 15 minutes to get a receipt to sign. We will probably give this place another try next year as I did enjoy my food but hopefully we get better service or it is off the list!

We revisited Clarabelle’s to get more ice cream for dessert for him! He totally ate the whole thing! Only my husband would eat this much ice cream before running at 5:30AM the next morning.

Kitchen Sink - Cookie & Cream Sundae

I picked up some candy next-door to the ice cream store and enjoyed myself a nice caramel, milk chocolate marshmallow! I still have the pecan brittle waiting to be eaten and I had the fudge slowly over the past few days since being home.

Once back in the room, I set out my outfit for the next morning’s 5K and taped up my ankle with KT tape!

We got to bed by 9PM as we knew we would be up early for the race.​

 

[kastoney]

Yikes, what a horrible service experience especially on the heels of it being so good before.. At least your meal was good though, too bad your hubby can't say the same.