Aloha, Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

[dolphingirl47]

We then headed down a corridor to Le Salon Nouveau. There is some enchanted art in this area that changes regularly. We also saw the old French lift, which has now been turned into a booth for two people. I have to admit, this nearly broke my heart. We then proceeded to the main room of Le Salon Nouveau. This is an absolutely gorgeous space and it was surprisingly empty. I suppose the fact that we were there on a Monday evening may have had something to do with it. Pretty soon after we sat down, we were offered some bar snacks, which were really unusual, but very tasty. We then placed our drinks order. Graham went with a craft beer from San Diego and although he did enjoy this, he said that this was not as good as the Big Swell IPA in Hawaii. I had the Diamond Martini made with gin. I had a gin Martini last year and the gin they serve is so smooth that it almost makes you weep. This one did not disappoint either. It came in a beautiful cut crystal glass and had an ice cube in the shape of a diamond. This turned out to be a bit of an omen as the next time I will visit Disneyland will be during the Diamond Anniversary.









































We spent a while just chatting and relaxing. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and some of the group needed to leave. Just before we left, Fantasmic! started. You actually get a pretty good view of Fantasmic! from the windows of Le Salon Nouveau and they opened the windows so that we could hear the soundtrack. It would have been nice to watch this. We headed out towards the lobby and made some purchases. I got my Club 33 Mickey ears and Jennifer got a Club 33 holiday pin for me as a birthday present. After a few last photos, we headed out.





















I got to experience something else for the first time. I had heard that they had built some walkways behind Main Street and we left the park via one of those. This led us through a backstage area and we actually got to see where the Jungle Cruise boats spend the night. Once we got to the exit, it was time to say goodbye once again. I knew that we would not see Jennifer and Alison again this trip, but we made plans to meet up with Sue again before we went home. Sue offered to take us back to our hotel, but by the time we would have walked to the Grand Californian and driven to the hotel, it was quicker for us to walk. So we said goodbye to everybody and headed back to our hotel. Once we got there, we got ready for bed. We had a truly magical day, but we were both completely exhausted.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Love the Christmas Trees. Sounds like a great day is to come

Oooooops I was late posting my reply and there were all updates I missed!! Anyway, it was a totallybrilliant day and I love all the photos. What a great friend.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I'm sorry if I'm jumping in the middle of an update, but what a fun day!!! And I'm sure it's far from over.

The deocorations in the GC lobby are gorgeous, wow!

I think you just posted another update, I need to come back and read that

No problem at all. There was something amazing still to come. I have posted all the bits from that day now.

Love the Christmas Trees. Sounds like a great day is to come

Oooooops I was late posting my reply and there were all updates I missed!! Anyway, it was a totallybrilliant day and I love all the photos. What a great friend.

It was an amazing day and even more magical for being able to share it with wonderful friends. I will never forget this.

Corinna

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the dress.

What a fantastic day! You lucky thing. That was a great experience and Club 33 looks amazing.

 

[Pinkocto]

The day just continued to have tons of fun! And I must say, I love the Club 33 changes. How elegant and gorgeous! What a special day And very sweet of Graham to do what you wanted since it was your birthday

 

[franandaj]

OK, I don't know how I got so far behind, but I'm going to stop after the travel day back to the mainland and read our day together once I've had some sleep. Last days are always bittersweet, but glad you had an uneventful flight back and though the dinner at Naples had delays at least you had a nice meal.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Love the dress.

Thank you.

What a fantastic day! You lucky thing. That was a great experience and Club 33 looks amazing.

It was an absolutely amazing day made even better by the people I was able to share it with.

What a special day

It was truly magical.

and very sweet of Graham to do what you wanted since it was your birthday

He is a keeper. He is very understanding and within reason, he just wants me to be happy.

OK, I don't know how I got so far behind, but I'm going to stop after the travel day back to the mainland and read our day together once I've had some sleep.

I hope you got a good night's sleep. I have slowed down a little. I am crazy busy and can only manage to post one weekly instalment at best at the moment. Still, I have plenty of time until September to get this finished.

Last days are always bittersweet, but glad you had an uneventful flight back and though the dinner at Naples had delays at least you had a nice meal.

The food was nice, but I am still not sure if we will go back.

Corinna

 

[jedijill]

Catching up now that my folks have left.

Love the dress!

What a fun day! Kayla is a sweetie and a great guide! Love the pics of the Club 33 lounge...very swank!

Jill in CO

 

[franandaj]

I am back and while it took a few days and a deep tissue massage, I finally got a good night's sleep. That was such a fun day and I wish I could have spent the whole thing with you. I had forgotten about needing to leave. We will make it up on your trip in September!

This just reminds me of how difficult the medication situation has been and that it has been going on for so long. It was that day when we were presented with the options that Fran had to choose between medication wise. Which as you know has just recently worked itself out.

In September let's start a little earlier and we spend more time relaxing over drinks!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Catching up now that my folks have left.

I hope you had a great time with your family.

Love the dress!

Thanks.

What a fun day! Kayla is a sweetie and a great guide! Love the pics of the Club 33 lounge...very swank!

Kayla is an absolute star and I hope our path will cross again at some point. The Club 33 lounge is an amazing space. It was such a lovely finish to a wonderful day.

I am back and while it took a few days and a deep tissue massage, I finally got a good night's sleep.

I am glad that the massage helped and you got a good night's sleep.

That was such a fun day and I wish I could have spent the whole thing with you.

It was wonderful and I got rather emotional when I typed this and also when I added the photos. It was a shame that you had to leave for a bit in the middle, but that could not be helped.

We will make it up on your trip in September!

I am so looking forward to this. Nearly in double digits now.

This just reminds me of how difficult the medication situation has been and that it has been going on for so long. It was that day when we were presented with the options that Fran had to choose between medication wise. Which as you know has just recently worked itself out.

I can't believe how long that took. Graham is still asking periodically how Fran is doing, which is kind of unusual for him. He does not bond with people in the same way as I do, but the whole issue that Fran was going through at the time really touched him.

In September let's start a little earlier and we spend more time relaxing over drinks!

Sounds good to me on all counts. In November it was a bit of a special situation as we only came back from 'Oahu the previous day and I think at the time we started planning that day, I was still thinking about flying standby. I was also worried about how I would cope with the time difference. This time round, I will have the opposite problem. For the first week or so, I am wide awake at 3 AM. Fortunately this time round I won't wake anybody up if I am bouncing around at the crack of dawn (or even before).

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 17

I had set my alarm for 8:00 that day. My aim was to be in the park around 9:00 and then to meet Graham at 13:30 where the shuttles go from at Disneyland to do something different in the afternoon. I made some coffee while I got ready and once I had mine, I headed out. It was a beautiful morning. It was still a little chilly, but I we had a beautiful clear sky and it was promising to get quite warm later on. As the parks had been so busy the previous day, I was a little worried about what I would find. However, when I got to California Adventure, it did not actually look that bad. I was inside quite quickly and made a beeline towards Soarin as I had not managed to do this the previous day. It looked promising as the standby line showed a 20 minute wait. This was less than the Fastpass line the previous day. I managed to do this twice in quick succession using the single rider line. With this out of the way, I decided to just wander around the park and take in the decorations.

I backtracked down to Buena Vista Street. As I got there, Chip and Dale just went in and I asked when they would be out again. I was told in about 15 to 20 minutes and the character escort suggested that I may want to see Santa in the meantime. This sounded as good a plan as any. I went inside Elias & Co, where Santa had set up shop. There were a couple of families in front of me and it was heart-warming to watch the kids meeting Santa. Then it was my turn, Santa asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I think I rather surprised him. I hold him that I had decided to try giving rather than receiving this year and pointed to my Give Kids The World t-shirt. Santa seemed to be quite moved by this. I had a couple of photos taken with him and then I said goodbye.














As I was already there I figured I may as well have a look around Elias & Co. They had the Christmas Grumpy t-shirt that I had spotted before we went to Aulani in Graham’s size. I also spotted something that I thought would be something I would like to spend my birthday money on. They had a gorgeous Dooney and Bourke wallet. I love my Disney Dooneys, but I never got around getting a wallet. For the past few years, I have used one of their wristlets as a wallet. This caught my eye and I decided to sleep on this.

When I came out of the shop, there was still no sign of Chip and Dale. I decided to have a closer look at the Christmas tree. When I got there, there were a couple of Photopass photographers with nothing to do so I took them up on the offer to get some photos. Then I took a slow walk around the Christmas tree taking in some of the clever detail in the decorations.










When I stepped back out into Buena Vista Street, Chip and Dale had arrived. I got in line for some photos with them. When I was done, I took some photos on Buena Vista Street before moving on to the next land.





I headed for Hollywood Land next. I had heard that in the past this area had not really been decorated for Christmas, but the previous year suddenly some decorations appeared. Before I left for this trip, there had been rumours that a Frozen mini land would appear in Hollywood Land closer to Christmas. Those rumours were later confirmed to be true. When they were still only rumours, there was some debate that if this would happen, if this in turn would mean that Hollywood Land would not be decorated for Christmas. Fortunately it did not mean that at all. The decor was quite understated compared to the rest of California Adventure and featured a lot of tinsel, which was very fitting for Tinseltown. Near the Hyperion Theater there is a backdrop of a street and Santa and his reindeer had appeared on that.













When we had passed through the previous day, I had not noticed too much around me. One thing that I had noticed was a Monsters University area. This warranted a closer look. I could not quite remember where I had seen this and probably had covered most of Hollywood Land before I found it. I took some photos. I noticed that there was a Photopass photographer hovering. As she did not seem to be interested in people who were in that area, I figured that she was waiting for a character. So I went and asked her. She was waiting for Sulley, who was due out in another 10 minutes. So I decided to hang around.




There was another Photopass photographer by the street backdrop so I decided to head over there for some photos and then I noticed Mr Incredible a little bit further along with next to no line. So I went to see him. When I got back to Monsters University, Sulley had appeared. I went to meet him and got some photos and then it was time to move on.











l












My next destination was A Bug's Land. The oversized ornaments in this area are probably the most photographed Christmas decorations at California Adventure. I finally wanted to see them for myself. I wandered around for a bit and took some photos before pushing on to Cars Land.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I initially had planned to ride Radiator Springs Racers and got into the single rider line. The end of the line seemed to be quite far back and did not seem to move much. When I had only moved a couple of steps within 5 minutes, I decided that this was probably not going to happen that day. I headed back out and took some photos of the Christmas decorations around Cars Land instead. Those decorations for me were the highlight of all the decorations at California Adventure. They were wonderfully inventive. It is amazing what you can do with hubcaps, tires and road signs.



















I walked through Pacific Wharf to Paradise Pier. Daisy was out in the gazebo at the entrance of Paradise Pier and I decided to stop for a photo. Her line moved slowly, but as the Christmas tree and other decorations were right there, I kept myself amused with taking photos of those until it was my turn. I then got to see Daisy and had some photos taken.



















Once I was done with Daisy, I made my way to Toy Story Midway Mania. The posted waiting time was 25 minutes, which was good enough for me. This is one of the rides where the posted waiting time is often a little exaggerated in my experience. However, on this occasion it was pretty accurate. I enjoyed the ride and then I went to take photos of the Christmas decorations in the area around the Little Mermaid ride and Grizzly Peak.











I had one last scheduled stop that morning. When I was talking to one of the character escorts earlier, she told me that Aviator Minnie would out in front of the plane near Soarin later in the morning. Not only do I work in the airline industry, but I have had a passion for everything that flies since I was about 5 years old. So that was a must do for me. I had a bit of a wait until Minnie came out, but I found myself a nice shady spot and watched the world go by until Minnie came out. I ended up waiting about 15 minutes and was first in line. I got my photos with Minnie and then I started to head towards the exit.



On the way, I stopped at Soarin. The standby line still looked very manageable so I got in the single rider line once more. I waited about 15 minutes until it was my turn. I had done well that day. Once I finished yet ride on Soarin, I headed to the exit and left the park.

When I got to the other side of the baggage check area, I spotted Graham straightaway. The plan had been to take ART to the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana, do some shopping and then have an early dinner there. I figured that he would get the passes for the ART at the hotel, but he opted to use the self-service kiosk at the shuttle area. At this time of the day, the sun was shining straight at the screen so things were not very clear. I am not sure if the problem was that we could not see properly what we were doing or the kiosk not working how it should or maybe a bit of both. In the end we gave up. I suggested that we head back to the hotel, get tickets there and then head out. Graham felt that it was hot for all that back and forwards. It was most certainly hot. For about 30 seconds I considered sending Graham back by himself and heading back to one of the parks. In the end reason prevailed. It really was incredibly hot. I had done what I had come for that day and the previous day had been pretty intense. The next day would be very busy again. So some downtime sounded tempting. I figured I could always head back to the parks in the evening if I felt that way inclined.

We had a nice relaxing afternoon. I got caught up with things online and then I finished the book I had started on the flight from Hawaii. Graham caught up with some beauty sleep. In the late afternoon Graham mentioned that he needed to get some cash and suggested that we head over to Anaheim Garden Walk and get some dinner while we are at it. I was up for that. The hot day had given way to a lovely balmy evening and the walk was rather pleasant. We had partial success. We found one cash machine, but it was a free-standing one that did not look very secure and was not operated by a bank that we recognised. So we decided to take a little detour on the way back and Graham would get some cash from the machine just outside California Adventure. I had a quick look around the shops. This did not take long. There actually seem to be fewer shops now than there were soon after Anaheim Garden Walk opened. There used to be Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory shop there and I had planned to get some truffles, that unfortunately that has gone. Lush is still there. I love browsing in Lush shops in the USA as the normally still have old favourites of mine that have long since been discontinued in the UK. Unfortunately it appears that they have now been discontinued in the USA as well. So I did not actually spend any money.

Then it was definitely dinner time. By then it was gone 17:00 and neither of us had eaten anything that day. Graham asked me what I fancied and I chose the Cheesecake Factory. This is often quite busy, but we decided to check it out and could always think of a plan B if the wait was too long. In the end it took about 5 minutes until we were seated. Our server came and took our drinks order. Graham went with an ice tea and I had some Coke. We decided to share an appetizer. We went with the avocado eggrolls, which consisted of avocado, sun-dried tomato, red onion and cilantro fried in a crisp wrapper and served with a tamarind-cashew dipping sauce. This was delicious. Graham had a combination plate with Steak Diane and Shrimp Scampi served with mashed potatoes for his main course. I went with an old favourite: Famous Factory Meatloaf served with mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, grilled onions and corn succotash. We both enjoyed our choices. We had every intention to have some cheesecake for dessert, but were too stuffed. Our server encouraged us to get some to go, which we did. I chose the Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake, which was a silky chocolate cheesecake topped with a layer of Belgian chocolate mousse. Graham’s choice was Key Lime Cheesecake.

I think we could have rolled back to our hotel. We took a leisurely stroll back to the hotel. We did stop at Disneyland on the way. Graham still needed some cash and while he sorted this out, I quickly went into California Adventure to get the Grumpy t-shirt for him at Elias & Co. With this taken care of, we walked back to the hotel. We just relaxed for a while. Graham put on the TV and I read for a while. Then we had a reasonably early night as we both had a busy day ahead of us.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Another great day. The pictures from the photopass photographers have turned out really well

 

[jedijill]

I love all your pictures. Dinner sounds delicious too!

Jill in CO

 

[dgbg100106]

Corinna,

Sorry I have been away so long, lots to catch up on.

I hate departure day as well. And the damage to the car, I so glad it was not any worse.

The flight seemed to be just about perfect.



I hate the amount of time you had to wait for a table after you had a reservation, which is just not acceptable. I would have walked away too, so would my DH. The food sounds nice but not sure I would have enjoyed it after all of the drama.

Beautiful dress and a bargain at that!



Love the new Dooney!

The VIP guide sounds amazing, and having friends all over the world is a true gift in itself. We are all connected it seems.

Love the photo of everyone on Cars.

The show sounds like a nice respite from the heat. And great entertainment

That was sweet of Oswald to take the time to meet with you both.



Getting to club 33 is magical in itself. Le Salon Nouveau is beautiful.



That was a busy fun filled day you had, no wonder you were exhausted!



Love all the cars land decorations!

Glad you two enjoyed your dinner and the relaxing evening. Looking forward to the busy day you have ahead.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Another great day. The pictures from the photopass photographers have turned out really well

Thanks, it was a fun day even though it did not go entirely as planned.

I love all your pictures. Dinner sounds delicious too!

Thanks. Dinner was great and it was a bonus that it was not as crazy busy as The Cheesecake Factory can often be.

Sorry I have been away so long, lots to catch up on.

No worries. I know this feeling only too well.

And the damage to the car, I so glad it was not any worse.

Me, too. It did shake me up a little though.

I hate the amount of time you had to wait for a table after you had a reservation, which is just not acceptable.

I was not impressed. I know it was the beginning of Thanksgiving week, but this was still no excuse. Combine this with the horrible service we had at Steakhouse 55 at the beginning of the trip and I have lost confidence in dining at Disneyland a little.

Beautiful dress and a bargain at that!

Thanks, I could not believe the price when I saw it.

Love the new Dooney!

Thanks. This was a great Dooney trip. I brought home 7 from this trip. The next trip is stacking up even better as three are already waiting in California for me and a 4th will be added as soon as it is released.

The VIP guide sounds amazing, and having friends all over the world is a true gift in itself.

It was an amazing day and I know I am very lucky to have a really diverse group of friends.

Love the photo of everyone on Cars.

I love that one, too.

The show sounds like a nice respite from the heat. And great entertainment

It is one of the best Disney shows I have seen and if I do not consider Fantasmic! and World of Color, it is the best one. I can't believe that it took me so long to see it.

That was sweet of Oswald to take the time to meet with you both.

Oswald is a real sweetie and I am glad that Graham got to meet him. I am looking forward to meet Oswald again in September.

Getting to club 33 is magical in itself. Le Salon Nouveau is beautiful.

Le Salon Nouveau just blew my mind. I have very fond memories of having brunch at Club 33 with friends in 2013, but I much preferred just relaxing over a drink.

That was a busy fun filled day you had, no wonder you were exhausted!

It sure was, but I would not have missed a second of this.

Love all the cars land decorations!

The Carsland decorations made me giggle. Only Disney could think up something like this.

Looking forward to the busy day you have ahead.

I am just in the process of sorting out the photos for this. All going well, this will be posted over the weekend.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Thinks have been a little crazy round here. I am currently on day 6 of working 8 days in a row and I am starting to long for the weekend when I will be off. On Monday I finally entered double digits for my next trip. This is suddenly starting to feel more real.

Corinna

 

[petals]

Catching up big time. Luvin your pics from all your Hawaiin excursions. It looks fab there. I'm looking at them wondering if I can convince Momma we need to visit Hawaii sometime

Luvin Stitch in his Lei and Sun hat and your Aulani Dooey is gorgeous

Luvin the surfin stitch frame on the photopass as well.

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm sure this is getting old, but what a fantastic day! I'm loving seeing all these pictures of DL, I'm looking forward to going back. All the Carsland ornaments are too cute!

For some reason I can't see some of the pictures in the first post, after Sully. I'll check back and see if the computer.

How cute is Aviator Minnie!

Sometimes it's just best to have a relaxing evening.

I love the DCL Dooney you're using, I don't think I've seen that one.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Catching up big time.

Welcome back.

Luvin your pics from all your Hawaiin excursions.

Thanks.

I'm looking at them wondering if I can convince Momma we need to visit Hawaii sometime

You should try. Hawaii is truly magical. When we did the cruise on the Wonder in 2012, I did not really rate Oahu, but I have totally fallen in love with that island.

I'm sure this is getting old, but what a fantastic day!

This will never get old and it was a fantastic day.

I'm loving seeing all these pictures of DL, I'm looking forward to going back.

I can't wait to go back either. Disneyland is truly my happy place.

For some reason I can't see some of the pictures in the first post, after Sully.

I wonder what went on there. The DIS must have scrambled the link. I hope that I managed to fix it now.

How cute is Aviator Minnie!

She is precious.

I love the DCL Dooney you're using, I don't think I've seen that one.

The DCL Waves pattern was initially released on the Fantasy in July last year and then to the rest of the ships a couple of month later. Alison was kind enough to pick this up for me as I have not cruised since the pattern was released. I love the pouchettes as they are really comfortable to wear and are the perfect size for the parks. I have a whole collection now.

Corinna