huggybuff
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2013
Disneyland with the Family - Sister, BiL, Nephews Brady(6), Jack (4) and Finn(2)
Sunday 6/21
I was picked up at 8am. Fresh and excited faces awaited me.
We stopped for coffee a couple of hours in and encountered one of the longest lines we'd face the whole trip at Starbucks. For lunch we'd planned on In N Out but the boys pleaded for McDonald's. Compromise #1. So far traffic had been mild and the boys well behaved, kept busy with reading (Brady), games (Jack) or babbling (Finn). Then we hit commuter traffic in LA around 3pm. We were all pretty antsy by that point but the boys kept it together pretty well. Somewhere around 4:30 -and after a few wrong turns on Disneyland Dr - we were checked into Hotel Anabella. My room had nice hardwood flooring and a king bed.
We met up again at 5pm after settling into our rooms and decided to walk to Downtown Disney and get dinner. My sister didn't have any reservations made so we ended up going for the restaurant with the shortest wait that we hadn't been to before. That turned out to be Crossroads at House of Blues. Outside. POSSIBLY shaded. Ok, I'm coming off like a delicate flower here, but I'll admit I'm not a fan of sitting in the hot sun.
Naturally we were seated at a table in the full sun. (Over the course of dinner the shade did end up covering us as the sun lowered in the sky.) After a few minutes, with the help of some Diet Coke, I regained my appetite and composure from the walk over from the hotel to DtD.
With the heat you'll think my choice of entrée is pretty silly. From AllEars: Lobster Mac & Cheese - poached lobster meat in a creamy cheese sauce and topped with crunchy panko breadcrumbs.
Hey, I started with a cool House Salad. Dinner was pretty unremarkable, but did the job.
Brady wears his Dad's sunglasses
Jack, with some French's product placement
Finn hamming it up
After dinner we did a bit of shopping, hitting the Marvel and Lego stores. At that point the family called it a night and MY night truly began! First I went to World of Disney to look for pins and other gifts for the BFF for taking care of my kitties while I was away. I found a couple of scarves and a cover up for her Disney Cruise later this year. Then I hit Sephora to look for a shower poof. I'd forgotten to buy a new, dry one to take on the trip. Did they have any of such a basic item? Nope. So I bought a bar of soap instead. Fresh, Hesperides, grapefruit scented soap.
Then I was ready for the first milestone of the trip - buying my AP! The lady at the ticket window had never processed a Premier Pass before so it took us a good half hour to complete the transaction. Eve tried her best, but we needed a lot of extra help from the supervisor to walk her through the process. Turns out that I had to buy a Premium Pass before the system would let me upgrade to a Premier Pass. So it was basically twice the paperwork of a normal purchase. Oh well, I got my AP...
From that point it was on like Donkey Kong! I got my picture taken at the entrance turnstile and I was off and running. That first visual blast of Main Street gave me the feeling of being home again. The buildings were beautifully lit, the streets lined with people waiting for the first showing of Paint the Night. The smell of popcorn in the air and In the Good Old Summertime playing in the Town Square.
The sun had almost completed its descent. I immediately perked up. I made my way down Main Street and through the Adventureland causeway with one mission in mind: Pirates! It turns out that I hit the timing just right. The first Fantasmic! showing was about to start so most of the walkways were on lockdown. I had to go the back way through New Orleans Square and back towards Adventureland to access the Pirates entrance. I walked in and walked on the ride immediately! Same with Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Indy. All walk-ons because of Fantasmic!
By that point it was nearly 10pm and I'd decided to stick around for the second showing of Paint the Night. But I needed a coffee infusion. Stat! I got a nice iced cappuccino from the Main Street vendor on the left side of the Hub. Now I was ready to wait it out for the parade. I found a good seat on the curb just past the Emporium and near the entrance/exit. Tip: If you see the 2nd show of PtN and want to make a quick getaway, sit in the Town Square area. The parade begins from this end, so you're first out the door as it continues up Main Street. I thought the parade was great. Very impressive floats and technology with enough heart to make it rewatchable. I definitely want to see it again. I didn't take pictures since it's all over YouTube, etc.
With that, my day and night caught up to me and it was time to head back to the hotel for some much needed rest. I have to say, I felt a tad bit uneasy walking the streets at 11:30pm. Hopefully it was just my imagination. I made it back to the hotel, set my alarm for the next day and had a fitful night's sleep.
Coming up... The Derby, a bio hazard, Soft Serve in the sun, and Chicken Sausage!
Sunday 6/21
I was picked up at 8am. Fresh and excited faces awaited me.
We stopped for coffee a couple of hours in and encountered one of the longest lines we'd face the whole trip at Starbucks. For lunch we'd planned on In N Out but the boys pleaded for McDonald's. Compromise #1. So far traffic had been mild and the boys well behaved, kept busy with reading (Brady), games (Jack) or babbling (Finn). Then we hit commuter traffic in LA around 3pm. We were all pretty antsy by that point but the boys kept it together pretty well. Somewhere around 4:30 -and after a few wrong turns on Disneyland Dr - we were checked into Hotel Anabella. My room had nice hardwood flooring and a king bed.
We met up again at 5pm after settling into our rooms and decided to walk to Downtown Disney and get dinner. My sister didn't have any reservations made so we ended up going for the restaurant with the shortest wait that we hadn't been to before. That turned out to be Crossroads at House of Blues. Outside. POSSIBLY shaded. Ok, I'm coming off like a delicate flower here, but I'll admit I'm not a fan of sitting in the hot sun.
Naturally we were seated at a table in the full sun. (Over the course of dinner the shade did end up covering us as the sun lowered in the sky.) After a few minutes, with the help of some Diet Coke, I regained my appetite and composure from the walk over from the hotel to DtD.With the heat you'll think my choice of entrée is pretty silly. From AllEars: Lobster Mac & Cheese - poached lobster meat in a creamy cheese sauce and topped with crunchy panko breadcrumbs.
Hey, I started with a cool House Salad. Dinner was pretty unremarkable, but did the job.
Brady wears his Dad's sunglasses
Jack, with some French's product placement
Finn hamming it up
After dinner we did a bit of shopping, hitting the Marvel and Lego stores. At that point the family called it a night and MY night truly began! First I went to World of Disney to look for pins and other gifts for the BFF for taking care of my kitties while I was away. I found a couple of scarves and a cover up for her Disney Cruise later this year. Then I hit Sephora to look for a shower poof. I'd forgotten to buy a new, dry one to take on the trip. Did they have any of such a basic item? Nope. So I bought a bar of soap instead. Fresh, Hesperides, grapefruit scented soap.
Then I was ready for the first milestone of the trip - buying my AP! The lady at the ticket window had never processed a Premier Pass before so it took us a good half hour to complete the transaction. Eve tried her best, but we needed a lot of extra help from the supervisor to walk her through the process. Turns out that I had to buy a Premium Pass before the system would let me upgrade to a Premier Pass. So it was basically twice the paperwork of a normal purchase. Oh well, I got my AP...
From that point it was on like Donkey Kong! I got my picture taken at the entrance turnstile and I was off and running. That first visual blast of Main Street gave me the feeling of being home again. The buildings were beautifully lit, the streets lined with people waiting for the first showing of Paint the Night. The smell of popcorn in the air and In the Good Old Summertime playing in the Town Square.
The sun had almost completed its descent. I immediately perked up. I made my way down Main Street and through the Adventureland causeway with one mission in mind: Pirates! It turns out that I hit the timing just right. The first Fantasmic! showing was about to start so most of the walkways were on lockdown. I had to go the back way through New Orleans Square and back towards Adventureland to access the Pirates entrance. I walked in and walked on the ride immediately! Same with Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Indy. All walk-ons because of Fantasmic!
By that point it was nearly 10pm and I'd decided to stick around for the second showing of Paint the Night. But I needed a coffee infusion. Stat! I got a nice iced cappuccino from the Main Street vendor on the left side of the Hub. Now I was ready to wait it out for the parade. I found a good seat on the curb just past the Emporium and near the entrance/exit. Tip: If you see the 2nd show of PtN and want to make a quick getaway, sit in the Town Square area. The parade begins from this end, so you're first out the door as it continues up Main Street. I thought the parade was great. Very impressive floats and technology with enough heart to make it rewatchable. I definitely want to see it again. I didn't take pictures since it's all over YouTube, etc.
With that, my day and night caught up to me and it was time to head back to the hotel for some much needed rest. I have to say, I felt a tad bit uneasy walking the streets at 11:30pm. Hopefully it was just my imagination. I made it back to the hotel, set my alarm for the next day and had a fitful night's sleep.
Coming up... The Derby, a bio hazard, Soft Serve in the sun, and Chicken Sausage!
Last edited:
Sarah!!!
His animal on the Chinese calendar is the Ox and he lives up to it sometimes. Instead of making a break for the hotel, we decided to eat instead. We decided on Village Haus in Fantasyland and headed up the Big Thunder trail. We still had about a half an hour wait until it opened so we decided to go on Pinocchio and then take a walk through Sleeping Beauty Castle. A lot of people aren't aware that there's attraction inside the castle. It's a nice walk-through series of dioramas that tell the story from the film. We didn't linger long enough to really take it in. I think the kids were too young for that with Brady being the only reader. We still had about 15 minutes to kill before the restaurant opened so we ended up sitting in the outdoor seating at Village Haus and took a load off. As we waited we saw Captain Hook walk by again. Still no takers.
. I am also absurdly disappointed there was no attempted Captain Hook face punching 
.
I'd been wanting to check out the Humphrey's gift shop (previously the Fly 'N Buy when it was Condor Flats). I was looking for a tee shirt with the new Grizzly Peak badge logo on it. None to be found because I don't think they've produced any yet. Get on it Disney! Nothing else piqued my interest so I wandered into the crowd. Carthay Circle stared down at me from Buena Vista Street. It didn't need to twist my arm - that's where I was headed. My fingers were crossed that there would be a seat open in the lounge area. Sure enough, immediately to my right upon walking in, there was a nice table with two stuffed chairs just waiting for me. The Lounge has some good classic-inspired cocktails on its menu that I can appreciate, even if I'm more of a fruity mixed drink type of girl at heart. So I went with The Derby: Bulleit Bourbon, fresh grapefruit juice and honey, served up.
