If your budget allows it, consider doing a dinner at Napa Rose or a dining package at Carthay Circle. Both restaurants are headed by the same executive chef...same guy who's executive chef at Club 33.
Were there certain aspects of DLP that your DH did not care for?
What does he like to do in his spare time?
What does his ideal vacation look like?
If he's not a big Disney fan, then I would say do
not do something like the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour.
So let's say, for example, that your DH really enjoys dining in a relaxed environment, drinking coffee outside in a lovely setting, stuff like that... then make sure that you make time each day to do something like that. Here are some options that come to mind in both parks:
- About 30 min before sunset (check the time on a weather app on your phone, for example), grab a snack in Carsland and sit at one of the outside tables in front of Flo's V-8 Cafe. Watch all of the other park guests walk by and take in the scenery while you wait for the neon lights to turn on at dusk. We did this last week and it was really nice. Carsland is one of my favorite spots in DCA.
- Get a snack or treat at the bakery on Main Street and eat it outside at one of the tables near Coke Corner. Usually there is a ragtime piano player there.
- Do the above, but go around 3-3:30 pm-ish (ask at Coke Corner for the exact time) and watch Alice & the Mad Hatter play musical chairs while you unwind.
- Have a mint julep and eat some beignets outside at the French Market in the evening when the jazz band is playing.
- Grab a Starbucks on Buena Vista Street and sit on one of the benches on Buena Vista Street and watch the world go by. If you're lucky, one of the Buena Vista Street residents will come up and say hello (Officer Blue, Molly Messenger, and there's also Fifi the Photographer). They're very entertaining.
- If the Rivers of America is open by the time you're at DL and if they've taken down all of the scrims at the Hungry Bear, sit at the Hungry Bear closest to the water's edge and listen to the sounds of the river front.
If this will be your DH's first visit to DL in Anaheim, get him a "First Visit" button at City Hall or the DCA Chamber of Commerce.
If the monorail is running when you're there, you can ask to ride in the front of the monorail car with the driver. That's pretty cool.
Something that's chock full of American culture and represents Walt Disney's love of the US - go to the Flag Retreat Ceremony at Town Square. Last week, they had it at 5:15 pm. One of the security guards is retired from the Marines and he works at DL now for many years. Often, the DL band and the Dapper Dans are there to play/sing patriotic songs while "Gunny" and other security guards take down the American flag, fold it up, and carry it away. Gunny usually asks any active or ex-military service men & women to come forward and he thanks them and honors them for their service. It's very moving.
