Our First Halloween Time Trip

[Abbey1]

We had such a great trip last week in large part thanks to what an amazing resource these boards are, so I thought I would repay the favor by writing a quick trip report of our experience. We took our 4-year-old son on his first trip to Disneyland this past February, and we had such a great time that we were anxious to get back.

We first flew to San Diego and had a fun few days exploring the San Diego Zoo (amazing and hot!), Balboa Park and Seaport Village.. all the touristy places.



We arrived at our hotel in Anaheim on Sunday night a little earlier than expected, and I was able to book a last minute ADR for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen- my son's favorite meal from our last trip.

We ended up waiting about 20 minutes to be seated. I think we were one of the last reservations of the night. This ended up working in our favor however, because at the end of our meal, Goofy came to visit our table (he normally just sticks the photo area up front). All of the other characters ended up coming around for a second time too and spent some extra time with my son, which was special for him.




The best part of our night though, was the fact that Donald was there! Normally Goofy's Kitchen has a set group of characters: Goofy (of course), Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Pluto. Donald is my son's and husband's favorite so we were so excited to see him!

Overall, the food was really good. We had eaten here for breakfast before, and I enjoyed our dinner more. My son stuck to the kid essentials- mac and cheese, mac and cheese pizza, chicken nuggets and lots of sweets. My husband and I enjoyed our dinner quite a bit and thought there was a great variety. I totally spaced taking pictures of our food other than my son's plate and our dessert plate... oops.


We really like this character meal, but I think we'll try the Minnie & Friends breakfast next time. We really like the character selection and food here, but it can definitely get a little chaotic and noisy. We've also had quite a wait to be seated both times we've eaten here, which can be frustrating, especially when it's breakfast and you are anxious to get to the parks. And even though it's silly, I think the lighting for pictures isn't so great here. I'm hoping we can get better pictures with the characters at the Plaza Inn.

 

[Abbey1]

Monday was our California Adventure day. The park opened at 10, and our intention was to get to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Express right around 9 so we would make rope drop. We stayed onsite for our last trip, and I grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take to drive the the parking garage, park and take the tram into Downtown Disney. We ended up arriving around 9:45 for our breakfast of Beignets and chicory coffee. So yummy- the beignets are one of my favorite foods at DL.

After breakfast, we headed into the park. I grabbed our RSR fast passes for a return time of 3:50-4:50. It was almost 11 when we made our way over to ride Soarin' which had a 35 minute wait. We were a bit annoyed at the group in front of us, which started out as 3 people- a woman and two children, and by the time their entire group had joined them (in groups of 2-3), they had 13 people! I always struggle with things like this, because I don't know at which point I should, if ever, say something. I'm understanding about a partner or child joining the line a bit later if they had to run to the bathroom or something, but this was ridiculous! Anyway, we opted to keep our mouths shut, more for our own benefit and trying to keep things positive.

We rode Ariel's Undersea Adventure next, then headed to A Bug's Land. My son really loved this area back in February, but this trip, he wasn't really feeling it. I am guessing by our next trip, he might want to skip it altogether. We rode Flik's Fliers, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, and the bumper car ride, all in about a half hour to 45 minutes. We rode the Monsters Inc ride and were headed to lunch when we saw Mr. Incredible and Frozone with a super short line (only 2 families ahead of us).



We really wanted to eat at the Cove Bar, but our son was getting hungry and we were told the wait was 45 minutes, so we headed to Pacific Wharf. My son and I went to Pacific Wharf Cafe to grab our lunch, while my husband went to Cocina Cucamonga. I had the chicken and apple salad, my son had mac and cheese (and a mickey bat cookie), and my husband had the citrus chicken. My husband also ordered a sangria for me and beer for him. Both were nice and refreshing. All our food was great, and I was happy we found a spot between the water and Pacific Wharf Cafe to eat that was completely shaded and away from the crowd. It was a nice break from the noise and heat.

 

[Abbey1]

After lunch, we made our way to the 2:20 showing of Aladdin. We love this show and you can count us among the people disappointed to see it being replaced with Frozen. I would be happier if they had chosen something else. I just feel like Frozen is really targeted to a specific demographic, and although my son and I like the movie, it doesn't have universal appeal the way that Aladdin does. It will probably be a "one and done" attraction for us now. Anyway, we were so happy to be able to see it one last time before it closes.

Once the show was over, it was just about time to return to RSR to use our fastpass. This was our first ride, as my son was just 1/4" too short our last visit, and we all LOVED it! Seriously, such a fun ride! We decided to go on the Ariel ride again to escape the heat. We found an open bench nearby and my son and I waited while my husband grabbed us drinks and popcorn for the parade. When he found us, I was so happy to see that he bought us a Vampire Mickey popcorn bucket! I was coveting this souvenir big time and read that they were sold out in the park the week prior, so I wasn't sure if they were back in stock yet.




I thought the Pixar Play Parade would be like Mickey's Soundsational Parade in terms of crowds, so I was very surprised to see that no one ended up standing in front of our bench, or anywhere close to us at all really. It was so nice! Watching the parade from our bench, while having popcorn and a beer was pretty much the perfect way to relax and cool off. We did end up getting sprayed with water quite a few times, but nothing that wouldn't dry off within 5 minutes.

After the parade, we decided to head over to Cars Land to walk around for a bit and wait for the lights to come on. I would have never known about this if it wasn't for these boards, and it was so fun to see. We decided to grab dinner at Flo's V8 Cafe. It was our first time eating here and we all really liked it. I had the veggie tater bake, my husband had the citrus turkey salad, and our son had the mac and cheese (yes, again!). We also got the chocolate shake to share. All of our food was good, better than I was expecting. We will definitely be back.



We ran over to Paradise Pier after dinner for our last rides of the night. We rode TSMM with a 25 minute wait and then rode the carousel. We had planned on skipping WoC and heading to our hotel a little early to get some rest and beat the crowds. As we were walking from Paradise Pier around 7:30 though, we noticed a few great spots open along the fence, right behind the fast pass areas. We decided to stay and see the show, which was under construction during our February trip. We were pretty close to Ariel's Undersea adventure, just a little closer to the Paradise Pier side. We feel like we really lucked out with our spot, we had a great view. There was a pretty good distance between us and the fast pass areas, so we could see everything other than the really low stuff. We enjoyed the show, more than I had anticipated. My son especially liked the Star Wars section. I loved the focus on Walt and his dream. Overall, I'm really glad we stayed to watch it, but it isn't a must-see for us the way that the nighttime entertainment at Disneyland Park is.

 

[DisneyAndreaM]

Great report so far! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the rest

 

[Abbey1]

Our last day was our party day! We didn't buy park tickets for this day, so we decided to spend the morning at Downtown Disney souvenir shopping and grabbing an early lunch. We ate at Earl of Sandwich and we all agreed that we'll be back. The sandwiches were all really good, the outdoor seating is nice, and really inexpensive. I ordered the chipotle chicken avocado (without bacon), my husband had the egg and cheddar, and my son ordered the grilled cheese. We plan on staying at the Disneyland Hotel for our next trip (we had such a great stay there in February), and this location is perfect for grabbing a quick bite before heading into the park.

After our meal, we ran over to World of Disney, where we spent a ridiculous amount of time (and money ). Shopping is far from my husband's favorite activity, but he was very patient as my son and I needed to look at just about every souvenir in the place. My son's favorite purchase was this BB-8 light up lanyard. Come to think of it, all but one of his souvenirs were Star Wars related! I got this Chip mug which I fell in love with. I have used it for my morning coffee every day since we've been back. It totally brightens my day!

 

[luulu1999]

O M G I LOVE the chip mug!!!!

 

[Abbey1]

After my son's nap, we headed to the park. We arrived a little later than we had planned, as we had to run into the the World of Disney store first to buy my husband a Star Wars shirt (we didn't realize he had forgotten to pack his until we were getting ready for the party). We entered the park around 3:40, right as the Soundsational Parade was finishing up, and we made our way through the very thick crowds over to the Tiki Room. My son absolutely loves the Tiki Room and we all enjoy the break from the crowds and heat. We of course bought a Dole Whip to share and had a great time watching the birds singing words and the flowers crooning.




We then made our way to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean, which had a posted wait time of 15 minutes, but was more like 25. After PotC, we headed to Cafe Orleans for our 4:40 reservation and arrived just in time. We were seated within 15 minutes of checking in. We sat outside and it was the perfect spot to people watch. It was so fun to see some of the awesome costumes- I loved it! We shared the pommes frites (one of my favorite Disneyland foods). My husband ordered the salmon sandwich, I got the Monte Cristo without ham, and my son, of course, ordered mac and cheese. I had every intention of ordering the pumpkin beignets, but when the time came, we were just way to full from all that deliciousness to eat another bite.

After dinner, we headed to Critter Country to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride. At that point, the party was just starting and we trick or treated for about 5 minutes (there weren't any lines at all). Then we went to meet Tigger, Eeyore and Pooh. We noticed the crowds beginning to thin out quite a bit once the party began, which was nice because it felt super crowded for those first few hours.

We rode the Haunted Mansion with about a 30-35 minute wait (this was definitely the longest line of the night for us). We had never seen the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay and we thought it was awesome. I was really happy that they kept the Hatbox Ghost during the NBC overlay- He was really cool. We made our way to Tomorrowland, and rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and Star Tours. My son was just a wee bit excited to be tall enough to finally ride Star Tours. This picture pretty much sums up how he felt about the whole experience:



We decided we'd better go search for a spot to watch Paint the Night around 8:15. We walked down Main Street a bit until we found a great spot right behind a group sitting on the curb. We sat down too, until about 5 minutes before the parade arrived, when a CM told everyone behind the first row to stand for the parade. I thought that PTN was seriously amazing. It was such a spectacle and totally gave me all the feels. My son got so excited as every float came by and it was magical. After the parade, we moved into the street and had a wonderful view of the fireworks (Zero, ball and all).


After fireworks, we made our way to the Buzz ride again for two more rides (a walk-on both times). We rode the Astro Orbiters and then decided to do some last minute trick or treating for the last 15 minutes of the party to satisfy my son's need for candy collecting! In that time, we almost filled our bags! It was definitely true for us that the CM's were handing out handfuls of candy at the end of the party and there were no lines at all. I'm so glad we listened to everyone's advice on the HalloweenTime forum and didn't wait in any trick or treat lines. On our way out, they were handing out Dove chocolates.


This was our first Halloween Party, and although there were more crowds than I was expecting, we had a blast and can't wait to go again!

 

[luulu1999]

I have always wanted to do a halloween party unfortunately we live to far from DL and the kids only get a Fri and Mon(Columbus day) for "fall break" so if we ever get to go it would have to be a super quick trip to WDW but I am still thinking we may have to the year after next