"Does Asian Food Make You Itch?" Breaking Tradition: Spring Break @ DLR*UPDATE 1/27

[LionKingDramaQueen]

Hola! Shalom! Hallo! Jambo! Salam! Hoi! Bonjour! Namaste! Aloha!

HELLO AND WELCOME!! ​

Thanks for stooping by! But, before we start, I have a disclaimer: this trip report will be bumpy. It will have twists, turns, flips, flops, jerks, drops, dips, and doodahs. So, hang on tight and keep all hands, arms, feet and other objects inside the vehicle at all times. Because, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, you have just crossed over into...​

"Does Asian Food Make You Itch?" Breaking Tradition: Spring Break @ DLR​

I'm Abby; fifteen year old lover of all things Disney! This was my tenth trip to Disney, but only my second trip to DisneyLAND. My favorite attraction is Radiator Springs Racers. Tangled, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Brave are all tied as my favorite movies. I have a soft spot for princesses ...obviously. I plan on applying for the Disney College Program as soon as possible, which is only about 1,425 days away for me! I know, I know...I'm a dreamer. But, I plan on carrying my dream all the way to the end! My other passions are choir (or any kind of music) and theater (especially musicals)! I will be your story teller throughout our journey!!

This is my younger brother, Blake! Blake turned 12 the first day of our trip. He is the athlete of our family. He is a little weary towards Disney, but once we get there...he secretly has a great time. I think he is just tired of going to the same place all the time. The good thing is...my parents love Disney almost as much as me, so we outvote him when choosing our vacation locations. His favorite Disneyland attraction is also Radiator Springs Racers!! Believe me...this is where the similarities end. Wreck-It Ralph is his favorite movie.

This is my beautiful mother. My dad (and me of course) make the basic plans and my mom works out all the details. She makes sure we know when we're going where with who and why. Without her...our trip would not even be a trip.

Last, but not least is my wonderful father. I usually just call him dad, though. He is pretty much the only laid back, go-with-the-flow member of our family. The rest of us are pretty pushy! He is also a dis-er on here and you may see him give his two cents every once in a while. Around here, he goes by TripTime. His favorite attractions are California Screamin' and Mickey's Fun Wheel. He also loves all of the Toy Story's.

As you guys have probably noticed in the introductions...my parents tend to stick behind the camera. So, you will probably see a LOT of Blake and I and not very much of the parental units. Get a good look at them now! It may be the last you get for a while.

We flew in Friday night (March 8) and were at the parks for 3 full days. However, we were in California for seven additional days, just doing some sightseeing including Universal Studios Hollywood, the Queen Mary, Long Beach, La Jolla Beach, San Diego Zoo, Los Angeles, etc. This TR is going to focus on the actual Disney aspect of our trip...but I will include some highlights and pictures from the second leg of our journey as well.

Thanks, everyone, for jumpin' on. You are in for a real treat! Be prepared to laugh, giggle, guffaw, and everything in between!

Without further adieu-let the trip report begin!​

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

Chapter Links


Arrival
Mimi's Café/Night Night!

Disneyland

DISNEY DISNEY DISNEY!
Let's Get This Show On the Road
Adventureland/River Belle Terrace
Toontown
Big Thunder Ranch BBQ/Downtown Disney

Californian Adventure

Carsland
Mickey's Dun-Dun-DUUNNNNNN Wheel
World of Color and FOOD

​

 

[TripTime]

I would put this one on the Disneyland trip board.

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

As I mentioned in the intro... we left on Friday. You know what that means! I had to endure a whole day of school!

After waking up at 5, sitting through six and a half grueling classes, and watching the clock like a hawk...I finally got that beloved call from the office that announced "Miss Abigail will be checking out now. Please send her to the first floor attendance office immediately."

EEP! I was headed to Disney!

I was seriously so excited to get out of school...obviously.

Like..it was all so surreal.

We immediately drove to Blake's school and picked him up, too! He was not near excited as I was...but even he got in the Disney spirit and put a big smile on his face as he walked out of school to the car.

We drove the short drive to the airport and got through security and bag check fairly quick! When we got there, it seemed crowded, but everything was moving super fast. Brownie points to Houston-Hobby Airport!

We quickly found our gate and grabbed some seats right as our plane was pulling in.

We knew we were going to be on the plane for a few hours and would probably miss dinner, so my mom and I grabbed some Chinese.

My mom got some fried rice with shrimp and I got Teriyaki chicken with lo mein noodles. I really liked mine, but my mom did not care for the sauce on her rice, so I mixed it all together and ate both.

No one complained.

Pretty soon, we boarded the plane! The flight was pretty bumpy, but nothing unbearable. However, as soon as we got in the air...some kid diagonal from us started throwing up. You can imagine what our plane smelled like the rest of the three and a half hour flight.

We stopped in Vegas for a quick layover and as we were flying in, there were a BUNCH of gorgeous mountains under us.

Blake: "What are those brown, pointy things? Volcanoes?!"

...you know you're from Texas when...

We flew out of Vegas soon, and headed straight to LAX. The flight attendants had switched out in Vegas and these were really funny. They all loved Disney, too, so that was definitely a plus. One of the ladies kept calling us her 'Disney friends'.

We waited outside in LAX for our shuttle to pick us up and take us to Anaheim. It was SUPER windy, though. Seriously...our luggage was rolling away. A shuttle finally showed up. The driver was this guy who talked on the phone most of the trip in Arabic. Now, I love hearing foreign languages for the most part...but this was just incessant.

When he finally got off the phone...I almost Hurray!'ed out loud.

But, somehow-it got worse from there.

He plugged in his iPhone and I started to think, OH! Some fun music!

Silly me for thinking that! He then proceeds to turn on classical music. If you love that, then good for you. But... do not...and neither did anyone else in the shuttle (about 10 people total). He kept turning it up louder and getting all excited about. I guess he got a clue that we were not amused, so he changed it...

...to opera!

I finally came to the conclusion that this guy was just not going to stop. So, I am now an expert on all things classical and operatic.

An hour and a half of forced osmosis does that to you.

Anyways, we finally arrived at our hotel for the week-the Howard Johnson!

Now, I am normally not a big fan of staying off property, but this was SO much cheaper than any of the DLRs and honestly...it was a closer walk than a couple of them. We absolutely loved the resort and recommend to anyone considering.

The walk each morning was probably a good 5-7 minutes, but it was neat. Lots of "DISNEYLAND, THIS WAY" signs and of course...we were in California. So...lots of um...interesting...people to watch.

No offense to any Californians.

This was the inside of our resort.

Straight to the back (behind those curtains) was a balcony. This was one of my favorite things ever! It looked directly into Disneyland. My brother could have thrown a rock over there from our balcony. Not even an exaggeration.

Notice I said my BROTHER could throw it. If I threw it, it would probably not even make it off the balcony.

We were starting to get hungry again, so we decided to scout around for some grub.​

 

[wiigirl]

Joining in!

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

Joining in!

Welcome aboard!!

 

[deedee86]

Joining in cant wait to hear about your trip DLR is on my never ending list of places to travel to.

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

Joining in cant wait to hear about your trip DLR is on my never ending list of places to travel to.

Thanks for joining! I felt the same way for a very long time and I am so glad we finally got to go back!​

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

We walked outside and found a Mimi's Café right across the street! It was raining really hard, though, so we basically sprinted all the way to the restaurant.

Our waiter was great, but a bit awkward haha. As soon as we got there, he told us, "Bon-SWOR!!" I was like...nice French. Never heard it pronounced it that way before...

The food was fantastic, though! I got the Caesar salad, which I demolished. I was fabulous. Nothing to finish off a busy day like a flavorful Caesar salad!

Blake got a hamburger with onion rings. He was a bit disappointed about the size, but he said that it all tasted very good-especially the onion rings!

My dad got the cobb salad which he said was really good!

Mom got some grilled chicken with cantaloupe which looked really good!!

Oh, and one of the best parts is that all salads come with muffins, so my dad got a cinnamon apple one and I got a double chocolate chip muffin!

Just look at this.

Beautiful, right?

It was heavenly, like...OH MY GOSH WHERE HAS THIS BEEN MY WHOLE LIFE? Disney seriously needs to invest in some of these babies.

As we headed back, we just took in the Anaheim area. The rain had kind of died down a bit, so we actually could walk. My family loves to people watch and we noticed this one interesting lady sitting on a bench. She was an elderly African American woman who, I suppose, was homeless. She had a night gown on and wore some kind of turban. But, the weirdest part was that she just sat there like a rock never looking any one in the eyes. It was honestly pretty scary. And she had something under her clothes...maybe a big box of some kind? I honestly have no idea, but it was this really odd shape.

Anyways, we ended up seeing her every night we walked by this bench. So, it kind of became a joke. If you got lost...head to the hidden-box turban lady. She became a landmark to us, haha.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, we took showers, watched some Fresh Prince, and then konked out. We were so exhausted. And 10:30 there was like 12:30 back in Houston. Correction: We were BEYOND exhausted.​

 

[TripTime]

That muffin looks awesome!

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

We were still on Houston time, so 6am to Cali felt like 8am to us...plus you add in Daylight savings...

So, we were all bright-eyed and bushy tailed by 6:30. Blake and Dad headed across the street to pick us up some muffins from Mimi's while my mom and I finished getting ready.

It was really a great deal. We got four HUGE, delicious muffins (I mean...you saw them!!) for six bucks! Not too bad, huh?

Somehow the muffins disappeared from our table and magically appeared in our stomachs within about 5 minutes. Do not ask me how. I can only saw one thing- Disney magic.

We skipped on out of the hotel, but not before picking up a super sweet-and FREE- pirate's hat at the front desk!

While I picked up my hat, Blake decided to chill.

Dork.

Anyways, we finally got out of the hotel without anymore distractions! I was SO excited!

As we were walking over, we saw these neat little...whatever the heck they ares. They just looked very Disney-ish, though...to me.

After walking another block or two...WE WERE IN DISNEYLAND!!!

Disney trash cans are so perfect.

Just look at how fabulous this bench is!

The front entrance was sadly under construction, so there was a fake train depot up, but it's okay!

I'm walkin' right down the middle of Main Street U.S.A (sung to the trolley show tune)!!

We were off to Tomorrowland! NO STOPS!​

 

[TripTime]

Love how empty Main Street is!

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

We hit Space Mountain and we were literally with in the first ten families to get on the ride. It was great. The queue is mostly outside for this one so that was definitely a twist from the usual all-indoor lines at World. I loved the double seating!! However, I was disappointed in the ride, itself. There were basically no drops. Only twists and turns which made us all pretty dizzy. It just was not as intense and thrilling as WDW which was a let-down for us, but it was still really fun!!



Next was time for one of my new favorites-BUZZ LIGHTYEAR'S ASTRO BLASTERS! I really have no idea why the names at DLR and WDW are different, but whatever. No one's complaining.





I warned you guys-this ride makes me a bit crazy. Also, I have no idea why I look so pale in these pictures. I swear I do not normally look like Snow White. Seriously, guys...my heritage is Middle Eastern.

And, ladies and gentlemen, I got the first Disney top score of my life!!! I know that 186,000 does not sound like much, but...I was ranked eighth of the day! Which still may not seem like much to you but believe me...I count anything above last place as a victory. And this game seemed harder than the one at World. Not sure why...but it did. Now...please do not expect greatness from me for now on, because well, my friends, you will be disappointed.





We were so excited to try the new submarine adventure ride!! I have to say, it is so much better than the Nemo ride at EPCOT. It was so adorable!!



Alice in Wonderland was really cute and very whimsical! I just love all of the color in it...and the accents of course. Alice is just so cool! I would love to be friends with her at World one day.









Even the bathrooms are themed perfectly!





Yeah, I got some pretty weird looks as I took pictures of the stalls.

​

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

Disneyland has so many great photo ops!



I could not get over the size of the castle!!



I'm wishing for the one I love....



To find me...today.





Adventureland time!!





Next was another one of my favorites- JUNGLE CRUISE!





Disneyland skippers are so energetic! One thing I noticed is the boat names. At World, all the boats are alliterations. Irrawaddy Irma, NIle Nellie, Sankuru Sadie, etc. However, at DLR, they were just named after girls: princess, woman, etc.





I like how the ride is different here! There are a few extra scenes and some were replaced. It is good to see some variety. We were sat RIGHT by the motor, though, and we literally could not hear the skipper at ALL.

I love these hats so much!!!


Indiana Jones was next! I did not remember this ride at all and I will admit that I was nervous. My parents told me it was similar to Dinosaur and I HATE Dinosaur!

"DO NOT PULL THE ROPE." I pulled it.


It ended up being a really fun ride and it had that musky Disney water smell going for it...so thumbs up from me!!!!

Tarzan's Treehouse!!



We headed to the best smelling ride in all of Disney. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN!! This version was SO much better than Disney World's.



All the adventuring we had been doing made us hungry, so we headed on over to River Belle Terrace for some grub! The food was okay, but it was honestly pretty pricey.



We ordered two Mississippi Turkey Breasts and a kid's pasta.





Overall, we were not to thrilled with this restaurant, but it was only the first day. We had plenty of meals for Disney to redeem itself!!

And then, because we are the ever-hungry family that we are. We went and got beignets!! And not just any beignets-MICKEY SHAPED BEIGNETS!



I could seriously eat these all day. MMMMMMMMMM!!!

We trekked on over to the railroad next just to compare it. I like how it has the little cave with the grand canyon now and in prehistoric times. I also like the sideways seating!



This one oriental guy kept standing up to take pictures and the cast member kept telling him to sit down and he just looked at the guy and kept taking standing. Maybe there was a language barrier, but I mean...come on. Then that same guy hopped off the train before it even stopped. We were like...um okay? Why don't we all juts throw safety out the window?! Or off the train...

Next up was Haunted Mansion!! It was almost identical to World except a few of the rooms seemed flip flopped like the coffin as you are going up into the attic is normally on the left, but it was on the right and so on.

In our doom buggy!



We headed over to critter country to conquer a few attractions over there.



Winnie the Pooh!



​

 

[LizzieinDisney]

Joining in the fun! DL is my home park Your posts are making me nostalgic! But seriously, aren't the Alice in Wonderland bathrooms the cutest? I think they are my favorite bathrooms ever

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

I REALLY liked Davy Crockett's Adventure Canoes. It was hard work but really fun. It was so funny to listen to all the wimps complaining around us (my family included). Our instructor, Sarafeh, was really funny, too! She was making fun of our laziness the whole time. At one point, a lady started talking on her phone, so Sarafeh told everyone to "DROP YOUR PADDLES! STOP ROWING! EMERGENCY!" Then with a polite voice, "We do not want to interrupt this lovely lady's phone call!" The lady started laughing and said, "I'll have to call you back." But Sarafeh was just looking at her and was alike, "No! Go ahead. We'll wait!" It was SO funny!





Our duck posse!!

About halfway around the lake, Sarafeh got real quiet and mysterious and said, "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is the most dangerous portion of our trip! We are approaching the second half where...listen up...we will be in FULL PUBLIC VIEW!!!! So, put a smile on your face and at least make it LOOK like you are having fun! My job is on the line here, folks. And if you guys aren't convincing enough...well, we all just might get to go for an impromptu swim!" She was absolutely great and you could tell she loved her job!

MORE CASTLE!!



We made our way back through Fantasyland to hit some of the smaller scale rides. I was SO happy to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures because I really thought my 2012 World trip was my last time ever. It is good to know that the ride lives on in Cali.



I love happy endings!!



We also hopped on Pinocchio!!



SMALL WORLD TIME!!



When we were in line, Mickey just popped out of nowhere! I guess it's the whole Disney magic thing...





DLR definitely wins the vote for It's a Small World! I really love how they incorporate the characters into the attraction. Plus, I really loved the wild west scene which is not at World!

We wanted to go reminisce so we headed back there and basically just chilled for an hour!









Blake and Dad explored the S.S. Miss Daisy while my mom and I sat behind a waterfall.

BACKSIDE OF WATER PART 2!





Blake and I used to love Toontown Online, so this brought back SO many memories!



...if only they had a land dedicated to VMK...

​

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

Joining in the fun! DL is my home park Your posts are making me nostalgic! But seriously, aren't the Alice in Wonderland bathrooms the cutest? I think they are my favorite bathrooms ever

Thank for joining!!

Yes! I love them so much! AT World, I have never really noticed bathroom details to that extent! DLR takes the cake on details, I must say. ​

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

It was time to head over to our dinner reservation at Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue!

Now, I have a confession. I am a Texan through and through except for one little flaw.

I. Can. Not. Stand. Barbecue.

I know-shocking. So, I must say that I was less than thrilled about this restaurant choice. HOWEVER...I was SO impressed!!

We had a very short wait and before we knew it, our table was ready to go!



The entertainment was really cute. Kind of a hoop-de-doo feel, but not quite so elaborate. The trio of entertainers sung Deep in the Heart of Texas at one point and they barely even knew the song haha. It was really funny because we were singing really loud the whole time, even when the singers dropped off because they forgot lyrics. No one else in the restaurant knew the song at all, either, so they would just chime in really loud on the clapping and "DEEP IN THE HEEEAAARRRRTTTT of TEXAS!!!!"s.

They brought us a bucket with sausage, chicken, and ribs. The ribs were my favorite, but it was all really good!!



We also got corn, cornbread, ranch beans, and cole slaw!











Blake was LOVING the corn on the cob...obviously.

We asked our server to take a picture and this other waiter was walking by and heard, so he jumped in and photobombed at the last minute. Then, as he walked away, he was all, "I'm Josh, by the way, Have a mighty fine night!" It was all so funny!





After our meal, we decided to head over to Downtown Disney, so we hit a couple rides along the way.





Another photobomb! We were having bad luck tonight!

Eleven years ago, when we went to DLR for the first time, the Matterhorn was closed for maintenance. We were DETERMINED to ride it this time. The wait said 55 minutes, but it moved really quick. We were four families from the front when it BROKE DOWN!!!! We were SO frustrated!

We decided not to push our luck on any more rides and headed straight to the monorail. I really like the design of the DLR monorails! Very modern and sleek.





I was very disappointed in the lack of 'por favor mantengase alejado de los puerats'!!

We arrived shortly at DTD and headed straight for World of Disney. We were really tired, honestly, even though it was not very late. We had gotten up pretty early, after all.

My dad bought me a fabulous Mickey ears necklace that some of you are probably familiar with! We also got a coffee mug and some other small gifts for family members.

Beautifully Disney had JUST opened! I am hoping to check out their products more next trip (which just so happens to be in FIVE days!!!).



We had planned on staying longer and checking out some other stores, but we all decided to just go back to the room. We saw hidden-box turban lady along the way!!!

Once we got to our room, we showered and were already in bed by the time Wishes started! So, we got to watch it right on our balcony! And we could even hear all the music loop! It was seriously one of the most magical moments of my life.








​

 

[LizzieinDisney]

What a great trip! We have never eaten at Big Thunder Ranch, but I would love to try it one day. The photo-bombing CM is great!

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

What a great trip! We have never eaten at Big Thunder Ranch, but I would love to try it one day. The photo-bombing CM is great!

I was VERY impressed with the restaurant! It is outside which is always a plus for me and the weather was absolutely PERFECT! ​