D3/D4/D5 - The Mighty 'Nucks - Update 06/23

[fallonkendra]

D5 - The Honeymoon Edition​

After our 14 night Disney Wedding/Marathon Weekend/30th Birthday trip in January of this year, we were supposed to go on a hiatus from Disney trips for the next few years (I know, yeah right...). Around Valentine's Day, WestJet released a seat sale - we always check out prices "just to see", and of course they were offering a deal we just couldn't pass up. So, we decided on some dates and booked flights from Edmonton to Orange County for $510 for both of us return (a steal of a deal for us Canadians!). I also have the WestJet Mastercard, so I had some WestJet dollars to put towards the cost of our flight, bringing the total we needed to pay down to $310.​

As much as we'd love to one day stay at the Disneyland Hotel or the Grand Californian (zero interest in Paradise Pier), this trip needed to be budget friendly. So, we will once again be staying offsite, this time at the Clarion. I've read mixed reviews, but at $87CAD/night we just need a place to sleep at night.​

The Canadian discount on park tickets was still valid, so we each purchased 5 day park hoppers (sadly, no Annual Pass for me this time, meaning no AP discounts ).

A few days after we booked everything, we started talking, and decided to extend an invitation to my Mom to make up for her less-than-stellar trip to WDW for our wedding. I offered to buy her park tickets as a late Christmas present (we had final payments for our wedding due in December, so we didn't buy Christmas presents for anyone). She booked her own flight and hotel room and will be traveling with us for her first trip to California! Her best friend from high school also took advantage of the seat sale, and will be joining us as well!

I'm sure it will be awhile before I get to the actual trip report of this one, but feel free to follow along on my Instagram!

Who: Luke, Fallon, Faith & Rhonda
When: June 9-15th, 2018
Hotel: Clarion
Park Tickets: 5-day Hoppers
Arrival Airport: SNA
Dining Reservations Made: Storyteller's Cafe Brunch, Rainforest Cafe Breakfast, Cafe Orleans lunch, Carnation Cafe supper, Plaza Inn breakfast and La Brea Bakery breakfast​

 

[pepperandchips]

Hope you are having a blast on your trip! Looking forward to reading about it!

 

[fallonkendra]

January 30, 2017 - Part One​

For our last full day in California, we again decided to skip rope-drop and start our day in DCA a little later. We immediately headed over and joined the stand-by queue for California Screamin’, where we stood and waited. And waited. And waited some more. The sign had said 20 minutes, but after standing there for almost thirty they announced that the ride was broken. Sigh. As we walked around the pier, we could actually see one of the trains stuck on the track - so I'm glad we weren't on it!

We thought about stopping for Toy Story Midway Mania, but the queue was over an hour, and this was shortly before they introduced Fastpass for it. So, we skipped that with plans to come back later - it didn’t happen. Luke was pretty sad we didn’t get on TSMM on either one of our Disney trips in January, but we made up for it on the two trips that followed

We decided to go check out the special character meet and greets for the Chinese New Year. We entered the queue which didn’t move for over 15 minutes. Finally, Chip and Dale came out looking adorable.

They met with guests for about 25 minutes, then when there were only 4 families in front of us, a cast member let us know that Chip and Dale were leaving, but Mulan and Mushu would be right out. This was exciting! Rare characters!

They came out, and in their 25 minute set they met three of the families in front of us. Three. And then they left. I understand wanting to spend time with each person, but the parents of one family in particular were ridiculous. Seriously, your children do not need to spend 15 minutes getting pictures from every angle/pose/showing Mulan every toy you have with you/etc. You could see the cast members trying to hurry them along, but nope. I know that Luke and I are two adults without children, but we would have taken about 90 seconds - say hello, give a hug, smile for a few pictures, done. Needless to say, Luke was fuming. We had spent over an hour in the line by this point, and we were being told it would be 20-30 minutes before the next character would be out (Minnie Mouse). We were not the only people in line a little upset by this point, and we were not the only ones who decided to leave the line. In a lot of ways, I prefer Disneyland but I have to give WDW the edge in character meets on this day (this comes up again later on this day).

We were both tired and cranky by this point - we had been in the park for almost two hours and had done nothing but stand in lines - for nothing. We decided we needed to go on a ride to get this day back on track , and since we were right there we grabbed a Fastpass for Goofy’s Sky School.

We didn’t have too long of a wait before we were in the window for the fastpass, but we bought a churro and found a spot to sit down and regroup. Once our FP window opened, we rode Goofy’s Sky School - which is just a crazy Mouse style coaster.

We checked the app and noticed there were still Fastpasses available for Radiator Springs for that evening, so we ran over and grabbed one of those.

Also while on the app, a character meet caught our attention- Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps! They were in Hollywood Land by Stage 17, so off we went! There was barely any line when we got over there, and before long we were meeting Zootopia’s finest!

 

[fallonkendra]

January 30, 2017 - Part Two​

After pictures with Nick and Judy, we realized Olaf was about to start meeting people just around the corner, so we joined that line. There were only two groups in front of us - a young couple and a mother with her son (who I’d guess was 3-4). Olaf came out, and the young couple had their picture taken, gave him a warm hug and moved along. Then, the mother and her son moved up to meet Olaf - and cue another meet-and-greet reminiscent of that morning. The little boy had zero interest in actually meeting Olaf and taking a picture with him. It was cute at first, but after over 10 minutes of him trying to pull down the backdrop behind Olaf, throwing his teddy bear at Olaf, running in circles around Olaf screaming all while the mother smiled at her sweet little offspring - it was a bit much. Even the Photopass photographer was getting annoyed, he would audilbly sigh, then repeat “ok, let’s smile for a picture so the other people in line can give Olaf a hug”. Huge shoutout to that photographer, he was very polite and kept his cool while still giving the mother very obvious hints that she should reign in her child. I don’t mind waiting my turn, but this was painful to watch. Yes, I understand I am at a theme park created for children, but come on.

We finally got to go up and give Olaf a warm hug and get a few pictures.

After meeting Olaf, we were getting close to our lunch reservation, so we headed out of DCA and over to Disneyland. We stopped for a few Photopass pictures

After really enjoying our meal here a few days prior, we checked the app and were able to get another reservation at Cafe Orleans no problem!​

Both times we ate here, we heard them turning away anyone who didn’t have a reservation (or letting them know it would be at least a 45 minute wait until they could seat them) – so make a reservation if you’re interested in eating here!​

This time we were at a small table inside the restaurant – there are not very many tables inside, it’s really tiny in there!​

Here’s the menu, even though we knew exactly what we were going to order:​

We both went for an order of their Pommes Frites - Traditional French Fried Potatoes tossed with Parmesan, Garlic, and Parsley served with Cajun Spice Remoulade.

These are so good. I love shoestring-style fries, and the gar-parm coating is delicious! I once again just shoved the cajun remoulade off to the side, I don't feel that it really adds anything to them - they have more than enough flavour on their own!

Of course, we also both had to had a mint julep!

I had already drank some of mine by the time I remembered to take a picture... these things are amazing (and bottomless!). I think my glass ended up being refilled like four times (and we didn't spend that much time there).

The recipe for the mint juleps did change a few weeks after this meal, but I still think they are delicious (just maybe not as good as this one)

Since we weren't ordering full meals, we tried to eat as quickly as possible, and we also let our waitress know so she wouldn't need to keep coming over to check on us.

Since I had the Premier Annual Passport, we saved 15% off our bill. Our bill was under $20 for 2 mint juleps and 2 orders of fries, and it was exactly what we wanted and it tasted amazing.

Cafe Orleans has solidified itself as one of our must-do's on our Disneyland trips

We decided to head over to Fantasyland, and got into line for something we’d never done before - Storybook Canal Boats. As soon as you enter a queue line you can tell which rides are from the 50’s - the queue lines are very narrow and tend to zig-zag in a small space.

This ride was ok, definitely worth going on at least once to see all the little models based on Disney films.

​