It’s Always Sunny in California!..Eh?...L’il Bit!

[MEK]

Sorry to hear your meal at Flo's was just "eh". It looks really good in the picture. Too bad. But I know what you mean about that canned gravy taste. Yuck!

Love your pictures of World of Color. I just can't wait to see that show but I will remember to pack layers. BRRRRRR!

As always, lovely night time shots!

 

[aboveH20]

Well I am always happy to save people money! Even if it is with fuzzy Disney Math!

I suspect most of my trips involve fuzzy math -- otherwise I couldn't afford Disney.

I can't believe I did it, but I just booked a five night trip on the last day of the "spring" promotion. I'm leaving in 3 weeks. One of my favorite things about Disney is planning and planning and plannng again, but this doesn't give me much time. I haven't been to Disneyland in 12 years so it's like starting from scratch.

I'm so thankful for your trip report -- now I'll have to go back and reread from the start.

Looks like it's not necessary to make dinner reservations ahead, right? That being said, any "not to miss" places I should try?

Maybe you've covered this in your trip report (I promise, I'm going back to rearead) but any thoughts about Fantasmic and World of Color?

On the one hand I have a zillion questions, on the other hand I don't know enough to know what to ask. Darn Disney.

 

[jenseib]

I am FINALLY all caught up again.

Sorry your meal did not turn out as good as you hoped it would be. And service sounds like it sometimes happens to us at Columbia Harbour House. Takes FOREVER to get something out.

World of colour looks really awesome. I really need to get cracking and planning on getting us over there.
Thanks for sharing it all, Jen.

Oh, and I hope that your TA training sends you to DLRP in the future.

Welcome back!!!!!

I haven't been to CHH in a long time. I really need to get back there, but i usually have had good service there...usually!
WoC is so beautiful!!!!
I doubt I'll ever get to DLP. It's not even included with Disney portals. Maybe someday when I win the lottery I can go there on my own!!!

Sorry to hear your meal at Flo's was just "eh". It looks really good in the picture. Too bad. But I know what you mean about that canned gravy taste. Yuck!

Love your pictures of World of Color. I just can't wait to see that show but I will remember to pack layers. BRRRRRR!

As always, lovely night time shots!

I have heard others who got the roast beef really like it, so maybe try that instead?
It's such a great show and should not be missed!!

I suspect most of my trips involve fuzzy math -- otherwise I couldn't afford Disney.

I can't believe I did it, but I just booked a five night trip on the last day of the "spring" promotion. I'm leaving in 3 weeks. One of my favorite things about Disney is planning and planning and plannng again, but this doesn't give me much time. I haven't been to Disneyland in 12 years so it's like starting from scratch.

Woohooo!!!!! I hope to get a little more info up for you in thos 3 weeks, but it will take me a bit before I get this all completed. I am still editing pictures, but once I get those done I do plan to go a little faster!

I'm so thankful for your trip report -- now I'll have to go back and reread from the start.

Looks like it's not necessary to make dinner reservations ahead, right? That being said, any "not to miss" places I should try?

For many places you do not need a reservation, especially lunch time. If you know you want a certain character meal or a few more popular places, I would make one. Blue Bayou and Cafe Orlean, and Steakhouse 55 I would suggest making them for and if you want a Fantasmic and WoC dinner package, you should make those as well.

Maybe you've covered this in your trip report (I promise, I'm going back to rearead) but any thoughts about Fantasmic and World of Color?

I have not seen Fantasmic yet at all. In either WDW or DL. We had planned to see it, but fate stepped in and made other plans for us. So I can't say much about it, since I have only watched the WDW version on Youtube once. WoC is a must see and you have to either have a dinner package or a FP to see it in the viewing area. The machines are located near the GC park entrance.
I just posted one review of WoC and I will see it again and I may have that posted before you go.

On the one hand I have a zillion questions, on the other hand I don't know enough to know what to ask. Darn Disney.

I know what you mean. I had so many questions, but things are so different there, I wasn't sure what was important and what wasn't. I only touched the surface there, but a I really have a good start to a grasp on it all now.

 

[jenseib]

Tuesday, Feb 25, 2014

We had another early morning today! Well to be honest all mornings were early for me. My body just knew the time at home and it had issues sleeping in.
I am sure I got up and probably roamed a bit and then we got our showers for the day.

Look at this view from our room. It really was fantastic!







Cass pointed out Paradise Pier Resort to me. I had no idea it was so close as well.



They need to pretty up this roof though.







We had to pack up and leave today, so I tried to get a few last minute photos.







We then hauled our bags down to Bell Services to have them transferred over to the Grand Californian.



They could not give us a guaranteed time of delivery, so Cass and I had both packed out backpacks with clothes we would need for the conference later that day.

We seemed to be making good time with all we had to do this morning and we planned to get out tickets and be at Disneyland in plenty of time for the Extra Magic Hours.



We then headed out through Downtown Disney to make our way over to the Grand.



That’s the Rainforest Café right there.



And here is the entrance to the Grand. I had no clue it was right there and had passed it a few times already during the trip.



Good thing Cass knows where she is going!

A quick picture as we walked in.



And then we waited our turn.





Come on!!!! We need to get in the park!!!



Soon it was our turn and we got Linda. Now Linda was wonderful and thorough! She was the last original CM at the GC from the time it first opened. That is good, because she knew what she was talking about. The bad was she talked about a LOT! She knew exactly what we needed, why we were checking in, and gave us a ton of info on the resort. She was super nice and enthusiastic, but both Cass and I were looking at our watches ever so slightly to watch the time ticking away. We also were extending our stay by 1 night and asked if we could keep the same room. So she did some juggling around and said yes, but it was a downgrade. That was fine with us. She also said we had booked a bunk bed room…that I do not remember doing…and we had a laugh. I still swear that I did not do it. I should go look at my confirmation again and double check, but I know I would never do that intentionally. Since we were downgraded, she did say we would receive a small refund for that extra night. Linda talked away, asked us to find the hidden Mickey in the GC logo and other interesting facts about the resort….it really was all interesting info and she was so nice….but we wanted to get over to DL! I think she finally realized it and we were set free with her telling us we would get a text when our room was ready. I think we had spent 30-40 minutes with her, so yeah, we were running late now!

We did some speed walking and made our way through bag check and over towards DL.





Lots of people had the same idea today.



One thing to note is, with CA, only onsite resort guests get early entry, with DL, those staying offsite at a good neighbor hotel can get an early entry into DL once throughout their trip. I think everyone decided this was the day to use it!
It didn’t take us too long to actually get in though, but we had arrived right at 9, so we had some wasted time getting through the line in. We also had new tickets in hand, so they had to have us take our picture once again.

 

[Timon]

Ahhhh memories

Yes, Linda was awesome but very long winded

As much as I loved the Disneyland Hotel, the Grand became my favourite Disney resort....even with our room 6 miles away from the lobby and my bad foot

Great pics, keep 'em coming

 

[CraftyMommy]

I could easily talk to a CM for 30 to 40 minutes. I'm a talker. Jamie has to deal with a lot of people at work since he has several meetings a week coordinating projects with several departments. He hates making small talk with strangers. He stands there quietly when I chat with cashiers in store. So by default I'm always the one that checks us in on vacation while he is happy to sit quietly with the luggage. That would be a difficult thing for me to get away from a talkative CM. It takes me an hour to say goodbye to my mom on the phone, which is why I only call once a week.

 

[jenseib]

Ahhhh memories

Yes, Linda was awesome but very long winded

As much as I loved the Disneyland Hotel, the Grand became my favourite Disney resort....even with our room 6 miles away from the lobby and my bad foot

Great pics, keep 'em coming

She was great, but yeah, we were on a schedule...and we needed to go!!!!
I still like DLH best for theming, but for closeness GC is awesome. I loved both though and I don't think anyone could go wrong staying at either.

I could easily talk to a CM for 30 to 40 minutes. I'm a talker. Jamie has to deal with a lot of people at work since he has several meetings a week coordinating projects with several departments. He hates making small talk with strangers. He stands there quietly when I chat with cashiers in store. So by default I'm always the one that checks us in on vacation while he is happy to sit quietly with the luggage. That would be a difficult thing for me to get away from a talkative CM. It takes me an hour to say goodbye to my mom on the phone, which is why I only call once a week.

LOL. I didn't mind talking to her, but we really needed to get to the park. Had we known she would talk to us so long we would've gone earlier to check in. who knew?

 

[jenseib]

We had a destination in mind! Fantasyland! We had hoped to tackle some of the popular rides in that area.

I have no memory of taking this next picture and I even said to Cass later in the trip that I would like to find BBB and look at it. She told me that I had already taken a picture of the sign in Fantasyland. LOL. I guess when you are walking fast and clicking you tend to forget things.



We checked out Peter Pan and sadly the line was already insanely long….and we never did ride it this trip. We checked many times and it was always just crazy long.

We headed to Pinocchio then. This is not at WDW and on my to do list!



This is when we really noticed how narrow the queue lines are. At WDW, in most lines you can walk side by side or at least have lots of room around you. At DL, they are very narrow and wider people like myself basically just fit without knocking the chains as we walk.
Cass also pointed out how the ride operators are basically right on the ride track here. It was kind of weird to see it. They sat right next to the loading vehicle and did it all.





The ride was very cute, and I know Claire would enjoy it.

We exited the ride and went in search for another classic.



Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.



In that last picture off to the right you can see the ride operator and how close she is to the loading vehicle.



I always enjoyed this ride at WDW and I do remember there was a big fuss when it was closed to make room for Pooh.





It was another fun ride and if memory serves me right, it was pretty close to the one WDW had so many years ago.

Off we went again!



We had the Matterhorn calling our name.

It was running today and the single rider line was open, so we got in! It still was not a very fast moving line.







Cass got on first and then a little while later I did. The thing that annoyed me about how slow this loaded was that the CM was going down the line looking for groups of 2 to fill up the cars rather than take 2 single rider people. He would go fairly far back and to me this took more time than just taking 2 single riders.

I believe I was in the very last seat of our car. I was excited….this is the classic Matterhorn. Everyone wants to ride this right?
As soon as we took off I groaned. It felt like my rear was being dragged across rocks on a thin board. What the heck, this is awful…surely it will get better…right?

We start the ride and it only got worse. They have a small bag pouch in front of you and my knees basically hit the attachment spot for this dumb pouch the whole time. It doesn’t sound super bad, except for the fact that your rear is still dragging and you are bouncing all around hitting these pouch attachments the whole entire ride!!!! And to top that off, my knees also were getting banged into the seat in front of me head on. Oh and my spine felt like it was being crunched every few minutes as well.
I screame on this ride, but not because of fun…because I just wanted off and free from the pain. I was so disappointed in the ride. I really wanted to love it, but nothing about it was fun. I can barely tell you what I even saw on it because it was just awful.
Finally it was over…Thank the LORD!!!! I find Cass waiting for me and she asks me what I thought. Horrible! And she goes on to say it was the worse ride ever and her and the lady in front of her kept saying they just want off of it. Cass and I both had bruises on our knees…and not the kinds that heal in a few days….we had these bruises for over a month!!!!
This ride had been refurbished not too long ago and I guess everyone is complaining about it. Its rougher and it now seats one person per row instead of 2 now. Reports I have read tell me it was smoother back then. Also we did not realize this, but I guess it has 2 tracks…. only 1 was running this morning….and the other side is a bit smoother supposedly.

I was now pretty hungry. I am one who needs to eat something in the morning or I get a little grumpy, so we went in search of something.



I think I tried 3 place before I found something. Most places we just not open yet.





Finally the Jolly Holiday provided me with a few options.



I went with the cinnamon roll. It was much bigger than I needed, but the options were few and I just decided that looked best and dug right in. Cass was just walking around on her own a bit while I was eating my roll.

She met up with me as I finished and we set off once again.

Darn, the Dole whip line is low now, I should’ve went there!

 

[KelleyK75]

Great update and love the pictures! That's horrible about the Matterhorn. Too bad it wasn't a better ride for you.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Wow! I had no idea that the Matterhorn was such a bumpy, bruise inflicting ride. At least you know now that it's not something that you'd want to do again. Been there done that kinda attraction.

 

[Dizzy4DL]

I feel your pain on the Matterhorn. We only do it once a trip, and only because it's a classic.
Ouch!

It used to have weird seats where you sometimes had someone sitting between your legs.....

 

[dizneeat]

I completely forgot that there is no Pinocchio in WDW. We have one in DLRP and it seems I get to the point where I mix up the parks, sorry.
Mr. Toad is such a cute ride, isn't it? We loved it when we were there.
I just wanted to say that there are two sides to the Matterhorn and that one side is A LOT less bumpy than the other one, but that was also pre refurb. We liked to ride it then, but it was always pretty bumpy and the sitting "on top of each other" in the "slide back" roads was not really fun.

Glad you found some food and I hope you get on less "hurtful" rides soon.

 

[JKSWonder]

I vaguely remember the Matterhorn. I don't remember loving it.

I'm hoping you did The Haunted Mansion. I was always curious about how it looks or is different from the WDW version.

 

[petals]

great pictures.. I need to try a dole whip still.. I want the float and got all confuzzled in WDW and ended up only getting vanilla ice cream

 

[lovegrumpy]

Matterhorn was much beter before they we did it. I well only go on one side now so There are times I seat it out why the rest of my family rides it. Last time we went ds#2 went on it alot because of the single rider line.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

How did I miss this one? I am subbing now to come back and read. Can't tonight. Might need to wait a bit as it's time to start prepping for our concert and school and then it will be June with report cards and end of year things soon! I look forward to reading your TR and seeing how you liked DL!!!

 

[Beth D]

Great updates! You showed me so many things I missed my one day I was there. Although we did 2 parks in less than 12 hours, so pretty much a fly by…

I have to say though that DL's POTC is SOOO much better than MK's! I love the extended area and the actual lift hill that you get wet on!

Thanks for the heads up, but we are aware of Allegiant's rental policy. This will be the 4th time we've flown with them. They were still more than $150 cheaper than any other car i've been able to find out of Sanford. We are packing light, and no carry on's for us - only totes small enough to qualify as purses.

If you decide to come up to CP, PM me before you make too many plans...

 

[natebenma]

Finally had a minute or two to check back in on your report and it is getting me really excited!!!

So I just read through your morning in Carsland and lunch at the GC.

Thanks for the tips about the bag check at CA and the pictures with your ticket.

Getting to Carsland/RSR looks INSANE! What is wrong with people??? I know about the wide-right, but I hadn't thought about single rider. Since Ben is now 13, Nate will be 16, I think this will be a great option for us. Plus, will mean I get to take guilt-free pictures on the ride. Mark always gives me the stink-eye when I take pictures on rides.

The other stuff in Cars looks fun too. I can see why you were giggling a lot.

I look forward to trying some of the "death-trap" rides.

Good to know about the restaurants in DL. We haven't made any reservations, and I'm not sure we will, so I'm glad to hear many of them are not a problem for walk-ups in DL.

I'll check back in when I can.

 

[natebenma]

Caught up now!!!



And very excited!



I haven't read about or seen the zoetrope before, so I appreciate you pointing that out.

ToT sounds like a blast!

I SO want to see Aladdin! My family doesn't usually like to go to shows, but I really need to go. No Abu? Weird. I wonder why.

Your picture of the male duck is awesome! I love the colors.

Wonder if we will make it to Toontown. We never did at WDW.

Fun to hear there is something to look at in the castle.

Do you think you went to Flo's V-8 on an off-night or should we avoid it?

Carsland at Night looks incredible. Neon is cool!

Sorry you had such a rough ride on Matterhorn. I have been really looking forward to this ride (hope I am not wrong). There was a rumor that it may be down for refurb during our July trip, but right now it is not listed. The only things of concern right now are Space Mtn, which is scheduled to open a week before we get there and Nemo's Sub ride which I think is closed until September.

Can't wait for World of Color.

 

[Woth2982]

I love the "classic" rides at DL. I was hoping with the FL expansion they MAY add in a few of the oldies but goodies back into the MK. Maybe they will add one when the DHS expansions happens (wishful thinking I know, but Roger Rabbit could totally go in DHS).

Glad to hear that the CM you got knew exactly what you and Cass were talking about for once! I hear ya on the tight schedule. Seems we always get the best CMs to chat with when we are in a rush to get somewhere else! Why can't they show up when we have nothing but time to kill?