A Birthday SoCal & DLR Excursion - now with Kardashians!

[DancinDaisyDuck]

Hey everyone, I am Nikki and I leave on Saturday, July 4th for my trip to California! First, some context. My boyfriend is going on a work trip to Long Beach, CA and I get to tag along. I will be turning 32 on Wednesday July 8th so I decided to take a trip-within-a-trip and go to Disneyland for 2 days! I have never been to the California parks before but I am a WDW veteran with 9 trips under my belt. I can plan a WDW trip in my sleep, but I have had to to a ton of research and thinking for this trip. It has actually reminded me how much fun it was to discover things about Disney World when I was a newbie.

One thing about my writing- I love to write and I do not value brevity as much as others. So if you want to skip around I like to put headings and pictures in every once in a while to break up the text.

So anyway, here's what I have coming up next week:

Saturday, July 4th
Happy Independence day, we're celebrating America's birthday on 3 planes! Initially we were going to fly out on Sunday but the airfare prices from central NY state to LA were unreal. Since Saturday is a cheaper day to fly to begin with, and being that it's a holiday no one wants to fly so it made our tickets much more affordable. We leave Central NY at 11 am Eastern, hop planes to Chicago, then Dallas, and then land at LAX 7:00 pm Pacific. We have a room booked at Embassy Suites by the airport for Saturday night since DBF's work wouldn't cover the cost of a hotel or car before Sunday. Honestly, we will be so wiped out from travel we will just want a place to relax and watch some Women's World Cup final before passing out!

Here's a super cute pic of us-

Sunday, July 5th
We will get our car this day and drive down to Long Beach to check in at the Hilton where we will be staying all week. We will then get back in the car and drive down to San Juan Capistrano. My aunt and uncle live in San Diego, so we will meet up with them there to spend the afternoon visiting as San Juan Capistrano is the halfway point for them. In the late afternoon we will probably head back to Long Beach via the PCH and maybe stop in the beach towns along the way before getting dinner and back to the hotel for bed around 8, maybe 9 if I'm lucky! The last time I traveled to the west coast, I struggled with jet lag so I hope my body will adjust better this time.

Monday, July 6th
DBF heads off to his work project that morning and I am going to have a beach day! I love the beach and while the hotel isn't in a great location for it, there is beach access about a 20 minute walk away, or I can take the bus. Either way, I'm heading out to relax with my book. Long Beach is also home to the Aquarium of the Pacific, and I may check that out in the afternoon as well. When he is finished working, DBF is going to drive me up to Anaheim! I hope to get dinner with him somewhere, either at DTD or at a counter service in the Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian, and spend a little time together there. He won't be joining me in the parks, which is a bummer, but at least we can enjoy some Disney magic in another way. I'll also buy my two day park hopper pass at the gate so I won't have to wait in line the next morning at Guest Relations. I am staying at the Best Western Plus Raffles Inn and Suites for Monday and Tuesday nights, so that DBF won't have to suffer the southern California traffic going between DLR and Long Beach every day. It's not a great hotel from what I can see, but I got a good deal on Hotels.com and all I need it for is sleeping, really. I'm willing to walk the extra 15 minutes if it means a free breakfast!

This is a pic of us at WDW with the kids for our 9-year-old's birthday trip last October

Tuesday, July 7th
My morning will start at California Adventure at park opening. I hope to go back to Carsland and get in line for Radiator Springs Racers, explore Carsland and get some (second) breakfast at Flo's. The banana french toast looks awesome! Maybe will get a Fast Pass for RSR and then go over to Paradise Pier for a little bit. Really looking forward to going on California Screamin' multiple times! I remember the promotions on TV when CA first opened and I've wanted to ride this coaster since! I also want to get a ride on Soarin' and Mickey's Fun Wheel (swinging, of course). I'm not quite sure how to structure this day other than using FP for RSR and maybe Grizzly River Run. I've been keeping an eye on queue length via the MouseWait app and even during large crowd times there doesn't seem to be a big need for FP. I am going by myself, so I can use Single Rider, and I don't mind waiting 30 to 45 minutes for an attraction. I do know I want to see the first Aladdin show at 12:40 and walk around at least each section of the park. In Hollywoodland I am excited for the Monster's Inc. ride and experience this version of Tower of Terror. This is where my novice is showing- I am so used to planning almost every move at WDW I am feeling at a loss for how to maximize my time in this park!

I do know I'll likely take a break, either go back to my room at BW Raffles or go to the lobby of one of the DLR hotels and relax there for a bit and maybe grab a snack and a drink. Then, in the late afternoon go to Dineyland for the rest of the day. I initially wasn't going to hop, but Tuesday is the only opportunity for me to see the nighttime parade and fireworks. Once I read about Paint the Night and Disneyland Forever, I couldn't miss them! I want to see the 5:45 show of Mickey and the Magical Map and maybe squeeze in a ride or two in Fantasyland before scoping out a spot to view the parade. I know people have been going bananas over getting their spots like 3 hours in advance. I am not that bananas. But, being that I am barely 5 feet tall, the closer I can get to the action, the better. Another plus is that being on the smaller size and going solo helps me squeeze into spots for 1 person that I wouldn't be able to do with my family in tow.

I have a feeling I will want to leave the park after the fireworks, but if Main St. USA is anything like WDW after Wishes, I am going to bide my time and get a couple more rides in before heading out and back to the hotel to sleep. You might be saying to yourself "dang, she has NO idea how tired she's going to be" and I would have to agree with you. However, my preferred touring style at WDW is "go commando or go home" so even with the jet lag, I think with my adrenaline kicking in from excitement and my extreme WDW experience I think I will be just fine. If worse comes to worse, I take another break and then keep movin'!

Wednesday, July 8th
Happy birthday to me! I'm going to Disneyland! I will be up again to check out of the hotel and get to the gate at opening. Will likely go with the masses to Peter Pan and ride that first (unless the line isn't bad Tuesday night, but I doubt it!). Depending on how long that takes I could get another Fantasyland attraction done before my breakfast at 9:10 at The Plaza Inn. I booked a birthday character meal at 32 years old and it's going to be awesome, lol! I've never been to a Disney Park on my birthday and you bet I will be wearing that birthday button with pride. After breakfast I have all day to do what I want, when I want. Going solo is my preferred way to tour. Not that my family drags me down when I go with them, but I like making my own way and calling the shots, so to speak. Again, not too sure how to structure my time though. At least in the Disneyland part there are more anchor attractions that have longer queue times, offer Fast Passes, and single rider lines that I have some sense of what I need to plan on. Like Fast Pass Space Mountain, get in line for Star Tours, Fast Pass Big Thunder and do Single Rider for Splash Mountain, etc. I know realistically I won't get to every single thing, and there are actually things I don't have on my list like Big Thunder Ranch. I would like to experience the unique-to-Disneyland attractions first, or at least the attractions that aren't twin to what's in Florida, and then see what else I can fit in. So on the priority list are: Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Star Tours, (maybe) Finding Nemo Subs, Mr. Toad, Snow White, small world, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise and maybe Rodger Rabbit and walk around Toontown if there is time. Ambitious, I know, but if I decide to stay longer Tuesday night I can get some of this done then.

I have until about 6:30 pm to stay in the park, and then I will need to get my bag from the locker and walk over to the Disneyland Hotel to freshen up in the bathroom and meet my DBF for my birthday dinner at Steakhouse 55. Once we are done eating we'll drive back to Long Beach.

Thursday & Friday July 9th and 10th
Spending the rest of the week back in Long Beach, DBF working during the day and I am free to roam about on my own. I will probably hit the beach again, and I am looking into an evening boat cruise to Catalina Island for the two of us to do Thursday night. Friday after DBF is done we will drive up to Santa Monica Pier and spend a couple hours there to get dinner and enjoy the pier before heading to the airport for our red eye back to the east coast. We leave 11:30 pm Pacific and land back in CNY via Chicago on Saturday the 11th around 10 am eastern.

So that's it! Thanks for reading along and I am really looking forward to writing my report! If anyone is super familiar with Long Beach, please feel welcome to reply with food/restaurant recommendations and any suggestions on things to do and see in the area. I'd love to get some ideas!

 

[kaoden39]

Hi!

I hope you have a great trip and I can hardly wait to hear all about it!

 

[MarbleBob]

Looking forward to reading about your trip when you get back...

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

Alright I am back and ready to share my trip with you all! I was in DLR from Monday night July 6th to Wednesday night July 8th. I was solo for most of it but was so lucky to meet up with a couple friends while I was there and my DBF made an appearance when he dropped me off and picked me up

Instead of a play-by-play, I will just give a quick run down of everything I did and add my random thoughts and evaluations of the magic, and a food review or two!

So, I did virtually everything in both parks, save a handful of attractions. Being just one person makes it so much easier to get stuff done. I utilized single rider lines on many rides and got to both parks at opening. Here's the master list of everything I did:

Day 1 - Radiator Springs Racers twice (back to back, once standby and once single rider), California Screamin', Toy Story Midway Mania, Mickey's Fun Wheel (non-swinging, thank you!), Golden Zephyr, Soarin' twice (once single rider, once w/fastpass), Lunch at Flo's, Mike & Sully to the Rescue, Aladdin show, Tower of Terror, beer break, shopping. Hop to Disneyland! Matterhorn, Tiki Room, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, dinner at Rancho Zocalo, Jungle Cruise, Paint the Night Parade, Disneyland Forever fireworks.

Day 2 - Space Mountain, Star Tours, Mr. Toad, Princess meet at Fantasy Faire (Jasmine, Belle, Snow White), Breakfast at Plaza Inn w/Minnie and Friends, Alice in Wonderland, it's a small world, Toontown, Gadget's Go Coaster, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Autopia, Disneyland Rail Road, Pirates of the Caribbean, lunch at Hungry Bear, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Mr. Toad, Pinnochio's Daring Journey, Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder Mountain, Monorail, Storybookland Canal Boats, Matterhorn, shopping, birthday dinner at Steakhouse 55.

Whew! I know there's still a lot to do, and I skipped a couple attractions on purpose. Either because they have identical twins at WDW or I didn't want to get soaked like on Grizzly River Run. Have to leave something for next time, right?

The attraction highlights for me were everything in Carsland (INCREDIBLE!), Aladdin musical, Paradise Pier rides, Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Alice in Wonderland, and small world. The attractions in Disneyland are so well taken care of, I only got "stuck" once on Haunted Mansion. We stopped 3 times but I don't think it was for mechanical issues but more likely accommodating slow/special needs loading and unloading. Other than that everything was so smooth, which I have not come to expect in WDW.

The outstanding thing that will stay with me for a very long time is the Disneyland Forever fireworks. Disney has truly outdone themselves with this spectacle. It's emotional, visually stunning, and I loved the tribute to Walt.

Wait times weren't terrible, with the exception of Peter Pan. I was not about waiting more than 25 to 30 minutes for it, and the line was insane both days - over an hour at times. The crowd level in CA was pretty low on Tuesday but by the afternoon I hopped over to Disneyland around 3:30 and woa, it was packed! Using Fast Pass (YAY old FP system, by the way!!!!) and single rider lines helped, but I didn't wait longer than maybe 35 minutes for anything, which to me is totally fine. Most of my actual wait times were lower than what the posted wait was. I used the MouseWait app to get a sense of wait times and crowds and it was pretty accurate for crowd sourced info.

Something I found weird was the entrances to some of the queues were difficult to find. Pinnocchio's is a random stone archway that's not labeled. I walked around New Orleans Square for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out where the start to Pirates was, I could see the line but was so confused! Finding the single rider lines was tricky as well, they weren't labeled and I just started asking at the FP entrance if the attraction had single rider because I didn't know. I did miss getting to see the queues in full by doing single rider as well, especially when you have to go through the exit to get to it. But all told this was a minor observance.

The characters in Disneyland are free range! This was also a completely new experience. In WDW they are so contained and controlled but Wednesday morning I took a stroll with Peter Pan through Fantasyland, he was just out there wandering and crept up behind me, lol. No character handler, no Photopass person, just a character having fun interacting. I saw many roaming characters and it was just so delightful to see that. Free the characters, Disney World!

Food. My favorite topic. I ate mostly at counter service and did two sit-down meals. Monday night DBF and I had tacos from the express version of the Mexican restaurant in DTD, I can't remember what it was called but it was basically a Moe's or Chipotle kind of thing. Not bad and the price was super cheap! Tuesday I was going to stop for a quick breakfast somewhere but I was on a roll and pretty much ran on nothing but coffee and adrenaline until 11:30 when I stopped for lunch at Flo's. I had the turkey dip sandwich which was served with pasta salad and a pickle. It was very good- hot carved turkey on a roll with extra gravy for dipping. I had dinner Tuesday night at Rancho Zocalo and liked it better than the Mexican we had the previous night. I got chicken tacos that came with a big side of rice and refried beans. Can we pause for a second and give it up to Disneyland counter service for providing REAL plates and cutlery!?! Well done! Wednesday morning was my birthday so I wanted to pull out all the stops. I started with breakfast with Minnie and Friends at the Plaza Inn. For the food, all you really get is comparable to a breakfast that you could get included with your stay at an Embassy Suites. Although, I did get a special birthday cupcake and the characters here can't be beat. First of all, there were SO MANY! Are you ready for this list? Buckle up. We had: Minnie, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Chip, Dale, Rafiki, Fairy Godmother, Captain Hook, and Max! I was most excited for Max, who is pretty rare in WDW. So even though the food was a bit lack luster for $32, the characters made up for it, and the fact you don't have to leave the park for a character breakfast. Lunch on Wednesday was at Hungry Bear, I had a basic cheeseburger and fries which hit the spot. For snacks I had a Mickey Bar while waiting for the parade, and a churro- my first churro ever at a Disney park! I couldn't get to the Dole Whips this time

My birthday dinner at Steakhouse 55 was wonderful. We had an excellent experience here from the food to the ambiance to the service. The only complaint was that DBF's prime rib was a tad undercooked (he wanted medium rare and got more like rare) and my filet was a tad overcooked (I wanted medium and got more like medium-well) but the flavors of both cuts of meat were very tasty. We got the fingerling potato casserole as a side, it was so rich, buttery and cheesey but there was no way we could finish it. For dessert they brought me a special Mickey head chocolate mousse with a candle and we ordered the 24 layer cake as well. We had to take the cake back to our hotel for breakfast the next day, lol. I would definitely recommend this restaurant for a special occasion meal, it was wonderful!

part 2 coming up!

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

Some other random thoughts, mainly debunking Disneyland Myths. You hear so much poo-poo-ing of Disneyland from the hardcore WDW people (some of whom have never been to DLR at all) that I wanted to see for myself what all the dislike was about. Things like "oh it's too small, there's not enough to do" and "I can see buildings outside the park, it's not as magical as WDW" and "the Cast Members aren't nice" and more.

Here's what I have to say about that - I respectfully disagree on all counts. From my brief experience, I have to say that I LOVED how "small" (relative term) it was. Park hopping is a breeze and there's no bus to rely on! Just walk on over and in less than 5 minutes BOOM! You're in Carsland. Loved that. My feet also loved how much less walking they did. At the end of Tuesday I wasn't in agony on my bloody stumps. Now, there is a tradeoff - when it was crowded at 87% capacity (MouseWait estimate) the intimacy of Disneyland gets to be a bit overwhelming. I experienced the same crazy crush of crowds after the fireworks that happens after Wishes, and people were camped out about 2 hours before Paint the Night parade. As for there not being "enough" to do, I skipped a bunch of stuff either because of time or on purpose. I met up with a friend who lives a stone's throw away from DLR, and even she hasn't done every possible attraction there.

I felt completely immersed in the atmosphere in each park. The only time I could see outside the park was on California Screamin, Tower of Terror, and Mickey's Fun Wheel. You know, the TALL ONES. In WDW guess what- you can see the outside world from tall rides, too! So those arguments don't hold much weight with me. The only thing I saw in the park from the outside world was a random Kim Kardashian sighting at Winnie the Pooh, and here's the picture to prove it!

I encountered nothing but smiles and "Happy Birthdays" from the Cast Members everywhere. In fact, I think I got more recognition from CMs this trip, than our 9-year-old did in WDW on her birthday trip. Never once did I see a CM out of place or providing poor service to any guest. I had read on other boards that some don't like that you can see CM's entering through the same park entrance as day guests, or that they ride the bus to work. I can understand some of that, I guess, but you know what - it is good to remind ourselves that the CM's are people too, and this is their job. I think that if we remember that, we will treat them better and they will provide a better experience for us as guests overall. So what if you see a server listening to their iPod walking into work- it's not like half costumed Goofy is hanging out drinking a 40 on the corner of Katella and Harbor.

So pretty much, I am a HUGE Disneyland fan. I can't wait to go back. We hope to take our kids in April to celebrate the younger one's 9th birthday as he is a big Cars fan and it can't come soon enough! Thanks for reading!

 

[kaoden39]

Thank you! I enjoyed your trip report! I always enjoy seeing the parks through the eyes of someone who hasn't gone before.

 

[Angrose]

Great trip report, I really enjoyed reading it! Sounds like the birthday girl had a fantastic time! Thanks for sharing

 

[Missjaynek]

I have a trip planned for my birthday next year by myself and am keen to hear more about the character breakfast you did. Did you do this by yourself too? If so, did you feel uncomfortable? I am looking forward to going on my own and just doing exactly what I want, when I want but have never done a character breakfast so not sure what to expect if I am there as an adult by myself & no kids - though what a great start to a birthday!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I enjoyed your report and your take on everything - sounds like a really great couple of days and despite crowds you got a ton done.

One thing you mentioned that I am a little worried about is how long people line up for parades, etc

Thanks for writing!