Our 3rd Annual Holiday Trip to DL in November - November 22nd - 25th, 2013 Post #3416

[mvf-m11c]

It will be awhile until I get to this past weekend trip report since I am way behind on the May trip with my DA. This past weekend trip was really great even though it was a little hot during the trip. At least it wasn’t as hot in Sacramento where it is in the 105 range these last few days ever since I got back home. Will stop right there and get to the next update from the May trip.

Day 2 – May 4, 2013 – Part 19​

On our last update, I was watching the 1st show of Fantasmic! that night where I was at the park solo while my DA was back at the room resting up after a day at the WDS in Burbank. I love watching F! which is one of my favorite nighttime show of all time at DL. Now we are getting to the good part of the show.

Maleficent now made her appearance and looks great like always. It is so neat to see Maleficent full body dragon ever since it debut during the summer of 2009.

Barbeque anyone?

Mickey defeats Maleficent

You can barely see Maleficent in the background where she is defeated

The Mark Twain making its appearance

There is all the different characters from all the different shows and movies. I love seeing the Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse.

Sorcerer Mickey on top of the Lafitte's Tavern

Where did Mickey go?

There is Mickey and love his end talk “Some imagination, huh?”

After F! was over, I started to pack all my stuff from the blanket and my DSLR. I stayed around the RoA to see if DL is going to show Magical fireworks that night. I had a hunch that Magical fireworks wasn’t going to be running that night since it was a little windy that night. It was nice to see F! that night where it wasn’t that windy. It might be a last second change but it is highly likely that Magical wasn’t going to be played that night.

Just when it got to 9:30pm and everyone around the area waited to see Magical fireworks that night but just when it passed by a few minutes, the announcement was made and Magical fireworks was not playing that night. There were some people around me were bummed that Magical wasn’t running that night. I knew that watching the fireworks is not guaranteed since we close to the residential areas where DL can’t have the fireworks fly towards the residential areas.

I decided to head on out of the park since Magical wasn’t running that night. I was also tired from the WDS tour in Burbank and at Little Tokyo. I didn’t get my usual break in the afternoon with everything going on that day and night.

Before I head on out of the park that night, I had to get dessert and on the way is my favorite stand to get a desert. I had to stop at the Tiki Juice Bar to get a Dole Whip Soft Serve. Mostly I get the soft serve when I am at DL but since my aunt BF loves the Dole Whip float, I have been getting them for her. My aunt thinks that by getting one and showing it to her, I am torchering her but she wants to see it every time I am at the DLR. So I have been getting the Dole Whip float for her ever since the January trip. I even got the Dole Whip float during this past weekend trip.

After I got the float, I had to take a picture of it with my DSLR and my iPhone since she told me to get a picture for her. When she responded to me that night and she was so watery when she saw it that night and wants one so badly.

I was enjoying my Dole Whip Float while walking down MS and out of the park that night.

I passed by the Disney Gallery store which had the “Realms of Fantasy Designs from the Happiest Kingdoms of Them All” which showed art work of the castles from the Disney parks from all over the world.

I was almost 10pm that night as I was about to leave DL that night. I left the turnstile and was about to head on back to Best Western Anaheim Inn to call it for the night but I made a last second change just when I was about to leave that night.

But that will be told on the next update. It will be awhile until I get to the update from my past weekend trip with my aunt, cousin Chris, and Chris DM. This was a great trip and can’t wait to share it with you.

 

[franandaj]

You got some great pictures and the Dole Whip float looks tasty!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Fantastic shots and I want that Dole Whip Float too!

 

[mvf-m11c]

You got some great pictures and the Dole Whip float looks tasty!

Thank you Alison.

Fantastic shots and I want that Dole Whip Float too!

Thank you PiO. I always want a float every time I go to DL ever since the January trip.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thank you PiO. I always want a float every time I go to DL ever since the January trip.

And to think....you always used to have just the Dole Whip soft serve only.

 

[mvf-m11c]

And to think....you always used to have just the Dole Whip soft serve only.

I will sometimes get the soft serve instead of the float, it just depends on what I feel like that day. I did get the soft serve and float during this past trip and I will tell you later on what days I got them.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – May 4, 2013 – Part 20​

On our last update, I just watching the first show of Fantasmic! at 9pm and Magical fireworks did not show that night since it was too windy for the fireworks to run. So I decided to head on out of DL. But before I left the park, I first head on over towards the Tiki Juice Bar to get a Dole Whip float that night for my friend. I head on out of the park with my float and I was about to head out for so I thought, now we will see what I have done after DL that night.

Just as I left DL and back at the Esplanade, there was enough time to go towards DCA before it closed at 10pm that night. I just made it into DCA before it closed that night. So I just walked around a little bit around DCA to take some nighttime pictures around DCA.

There were a few people entering while most of the people are leaving the park that night.

Carthay Circle Theater looks great every time at night

I head on over towards Cars Land to see how busy it was that night.

Before I head on over to CL, I walked towards Paradise Pier to see how busy it was around the viewing area for the 2nd show of World of Color at 10:15pm. It was a little busy around the area and I decided not to watch the show since I haven’t see it during the trip.

I mostly see WoC during each of my trip to the Disneyland Resort. But since my DA and I have done the WDS tour in Burbank that day, we did not get FP’s for the show. It was tough of not seeing WoC during the trip, but I was able to see Magical and F! during the trip which is always great to do.

So after leaving around Paradise Pier, I head on over to CL to get some pictures. It was not that busy since the park is already closed that night and most of the rides at CL were not letting guests to go through the queues for the rides.

Sarge’s Surplus Hut

Cozy Cone Motel

Flo’s V8 Café sign

Luigi’s Casa Della Tires closed that night

After looking around CL, it was time to head on out of the park and head on back towards Best Western Anaheim Inn to call it for the night. I was so tired that night that it was time to head on back to the hotel.

The 10:15pm WoC show have started and I walked on out of the park.

I thought about stopping at the stores to see what kind of merchandise was at the Elias & Company store but I decided to wait the next day to see what is new at the stores.

I left DCA and back at the Esplanade and was on my way back to BWAI to call it for the night. It was a little busy after 10pm that night where some people walked on over to DL while I walked back to the hotel.

I head on back towards BWAI to call it for the night. My DA was already resting up and about to go to sleep until I got back to the room. It was around 10:30pm when I got back to BWAI and I called it for the night.

This day was a memorable one. Even though I spent part of the day at the DLR, the highlight of the day was going to the WDS in Burbank for the D23 tour. My DA and I had a great time at the WDS in Burbank and we will do the tour one day. Maybe in a few years, but I do want to go back to the WDS next year with someone else. So I plan on going back to the WDS and do the D23 tour. I could go on and on what was great about the D23 tour at the WDS but I will leave what I said on my previous posts about the tour.

We got to go to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles where we got to do some shopping and have lunch. We have stopped at Little Tokyo a lot in the past where we have stopped after our trip was over. This time, we enjoyed being at Little Tokyo that afternoon.

Later that day, my DA stayed back at the hotel while I went around the parks to do my usual nighttime show. I was able to watch F! which is fun to watch every time and was able to go to DCA later that night just when it was about to close.


Mostly I would do my last day update during the trip report. But since it is like all the last days I have spent at the DLR, I am about to skip the third day of the trip. This time, I will move on towards this past weekend trip to DL with my aunt, cousin Chris and her DM. While I am closing this trip report, I will give you what has happened during that last day of the trip on May 5th on that Sunday.

I went to DL when the park opened at 8am. Mostly I go to DL first thing in the morning to go on a few rides and take a lot of different pictures. I was able to go to DL and DCA that morning. The thing that I wanted to see the most when I was over at DL was to ride the Mark Twain and see how Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was processing since it was down ever since January for its almost year refurbishment. It was neat to see the construction of BTMRR and I can’t wait to ride it when it opens in October.

This concludes the May trip and I will get to the June trip when I have time to do my next update.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great night time shots, Bret. Love the ones down the Boulevard.

 

[tksbaskets]

Hi Bret,
I too enjoyed your night photos at DCA What a great trip. The WDS tour looked outstanding.

I'm looking forward to your June trip report. I appreciate your taking the time to share your adventures with the DIS boards.

TK

 

[franandaj]

Bret your nightime Carsland shots are outstanding you git great details of the neon. Its so beautiful!

TK, not to hijack;Bret's TR, but do you have a trip coming up?

 

[tksbaskets]

Bret your nightime Carsland shots are outstanding you git great details of the neon. Its so beautiful!

TK, not to hijack;Bret's TR, but do you have a trip coming up?

Hi Franandaj, Thanks for thinking of me. We DO have a trip coming up but not until December 15th. We've never seen Cars Land and are super excited to celebrate our sons' graduation from college! They graduate on the 14th. We may be AP holders this time so we'd get another trip in during the calendar year after. We still need to decide.

 

[franandaj]

Hi Franandaj, Thanks for thinking of me. We DO have a trip coming up but not until December 15th. We've never seen Cars Land and are super excited to celebrate our sons' graduation from college! They graduate on the 14th. We may be AP holders this time so we'd get another trip in during the calendar year after. We still need to decide.

Are they twins? And graduating from college already? I read your NYE TR and I guess they were just in their second or third year of college, I don't remember well, but I guess time marches forward. Since you're not constantly reporting on them, I don't follow whats going on! Congratulations on that, and how nice that they still want to travel with you (well unless you and the hubster want some alone trips), but I think it's great that you still enjoy family time.

I enjoy my parents, but my sister's family moved away from everyone and we don't get any time with them. My parents go and visit, but it's been hard for us to get there with all the medical issues we have had going on. Bret has a wonderful family connection too and it's lovely to read about such a great family. I am envious but enjoy reading about everyone's family connections and hope that sometime, my family will be as close!

 

[tksbaskets]

Are they twins? And graduating from college already? I read your NYE TR and I guess they were just in their second or third year of college, I don't remember well, but I guess time marches forward. Since you're not constantly reporting on them, I don't follow whats going on! Congratulations on that, and how nice that they still want to travel with you (well unless you and the hubster want some alone trips), but I think it's great that you still enjoy family time.

I enjoy my parents, but my sister's family moved away from everyone and we don't get any time with them. My parents go and visit, but it's been hard for us to get there with all the medical issues we have had going on. Bret has a wonderful family connection too and it's lovely to read about such a great family. I am envious but enjoy reading about everyone's family connections and hope that sometime, my family will be as close!

Yes they are twins! My hubby and I are so blessed that they still like to vacation with their folks. With 'real' jobs in the future I'm sure it will be more difficult to go together.

My siblings are spread throughout the USA too. It is difficult to get together. I too enjoy reading about people enjoying family time at Disney. I have fun reading your trip reports too. Are you going to the Expo? DH and I hope to one day.

Thanks for reading my trip report.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Great night time shots, Bret. Love the ones down the Boulevard.

Thank you PiO. BVS at night is so fun to walk at night just like MS at DL. Walking down MS and BVS at both parks is so amazing at night.

Hi Bret,
I too enjoyed your night photos at DCA What a great trip. The WDS tour looked outstanding.

I'm looking forward to your June trip report. I appreciate your taking the time to share your adventures with the DIS boards.

TK

Thank you TK. The May trip was fun and it was all about the WDS tour in Burbank. I will do the tour one day but when. The tour was well worth the price and it would be something that I will do again. I want to do it again next year but my aunt told me that she will do it again later on. I wanted to do the last part of the trip report in May but it is like the other trip reports on the last day where I just roam around the parks taking pictures and going on one or two before we leave.

This June trip was making me excited but it was more excited for my aunt, cousin Chris and DM. I'm always glad that you are following along my trip reports these last few years ever since I started writing up my trip reports in 2009. I do give Sherry E a lot of the credit for getting me to do these trip reports ever since I read her trip reports. I must have done over 15 trip reports from the DLR and WDW since my first one on the DIS boards. They are a lot of work and it is fun to do and to tell my story of my trips.

Thank you for following along as well as the other DISers (PiO, Sherry, Franandaj, kmedina, funatdisney, etc.) that have followed my trip reports these last few years.

Bret your nightime Carsland shots are outstanding you git great details of the neon. Its so beautiful!

TK, not to hijack;Bret's TR, but do you have a trip coming up?

Thank you Alison. The neon lighting on the buildings at Radiator Springs is so amazing. There needs to be more area around the DLR that has neon lighting which is so fun to see at night.

All my family members are very great and we have enjoyed a lot of Disney trips together these last few years with my DA who goes with me to the Disney parks a lot, my aunt who has went to three Disney trips in less than a year, cousin Chris and DM enjoyed the trip last weekend and my uncles and aunt during the WDW trip in October/November.


TK - I know that you will have an amazing time when you and your family go to the DLR during the Holiday season and see Cars Land and Buena Vista Street with it's decorations.

Congratulations on your sons from graduation from College. That is so great that they want to go with you and your DH on the trips.


The first update for the June trip will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Now it is the day on Thursday night where my aunt, cousin Chris, DM and I are going to the Disneyland Resort for a quick trip. This trip was almost like a last second trip in a couple of months ago. After my grandmother and aunt mother passed away in June, she wanted to have some time off to get her mind off my grandmother. So she asked me if I wanted to go with her to the DLR in just a couple of months. I was excited to go with her since we have just been at the DLR since January this year with her DBF and DD3. My aunt wanted to bring DD3 with us during the trip but her DBF didn’t want her daughter to go without her. Later on when DD3 learned that my aunt and I went to the DLR last weekend she was not that happy. But my aunt told her that we will go back one day. My aunt was looking forward to going back to the DLR since the January trip and wanted to get away from Sacramento with everything has been going on in her life.

My aunt has been with me during the two of the last four Disney trips that I went to which was the Walt Disney World trip in October/November last year and the January 2013 trip. She hasn’t been to a Disney park since the 80s and already she is doing her third Disney trip in less than a year. I am excited that she likes going to the Disney parks and maybe she might do more trips in the future with Chris, DM and me.

Also during this trip my cousin Chris and her mom (DM) are accompanying us during the trip. Chris and DM haven’t been to the DLR since 2009 and they are really looking forward to going back especially Chris. She came up with a big list of what rides, shows and restaurants to do during the trip. My aunt thought it was a big list and we couldn’t do everything that she wanted to do on the list even though it was during the summertime which can be very busy in late June. I used Ridemax for the rides during the trip, used my knowledge of the DLR and the boards to help plan our trip. I didn’t want to get to the details on my trip report thread of what rides, shows and restaurants since I want to make this a very interesting trip report since the January trip.

Chris just finished her Junior year in high school and is about to be a Senior next year in high school. She is a big fan of Disney and collects a lot of Disney merchandise. She and my aunt have been excited for the Disneyland trip ever since May. DM is a fan of Disneyland and she has been looking forward to getting away from Sacramento just like my aunt.

Chris older sister is also an Annual Passholder at DL but she wasn’t able to go during the trip with us since she was busy that weekend. She was jealous of all of us since we were going in late June. But I later found out that she is going next week on July 15th and 16th. So she is able to go during the summertime with her boy friend.

For me it was nice to get away from work. I have been so busy with work lately that I have been working like crazy these last few months ever since I took the job. Even though I had a Disneyland trip in early May, I was very tired all the way till the end of June. It was so exciting to go to the DLR with my aunt, Chris and DM. My aunt, Chris and DM do a lot together and it was going to be fun to be able to do something with them.

Now let’s get to the actual trip report of telling you about the four of us during the June trip.


I worked earlier that Thursday so I was able to drive that night. My boss knew about my trip to Disneyland so I was able to work that morning to the afternoon so I could be all rested up to drive that night. That day, I got a few hours of rest but I didn’t rest a lot since I was watching the 2013 NBA Draft that night and I watch the NBA Draft every year. I got enough rest that night that I was able to drive all the way at night but my aunt wanted to drive part of the night so I wouldn’t have to drive all night and be tired on Friday when we were at the parks. My aunt did a lot of activities that day from filling up the car, getting snacks for the drive and she wasn’t packed during the trip. Chris had summer school and DM was working that day. So this was the best time to go to Anaheim. We couldn’t leave Thursday afternoon since they were busy so leaving at night was the best option.

We were planning on driving to Anaheim very late at night from midnight and get to Anaheim around 7am. Chris and DM wanted to get the fullest of the park ticket for Friday so the best way to get to Anaheim is leaving around midnight and get to SoCal around 7am before the parks opens at 8am.

My aunt came to my house around 11pm that Thursday night to pick me up. We were driving her Lincoln MKS car during the trip. She wanted to drive her car instead of taking my Acura TSX since she feels more comfortable driving her car during the trip. We packed all my bags in the car and we head on over towards DM and Chris house which isn’t too far away from my house.

We got to DM and Chris house and we packed all of their bags in the car. To the surprise of all of us, the whole trunk of my aunt Lincoln MKS was all full that we didn’t have too much room to put everything in the trunk. So we had to move some bags in the backseat. I knew that this was going to be troublesome since we are most likely going to bring back souvenirs during the trip. Also I notice that we brought snacks and drinks so we should have some room to bring stuff back from the trip.

Day 1 – June 28, 2013 – Part 1​

So it was around midnight when we left Sacramento and drove all night to Anaheim. My aunt started driving when we left that night. Chris and DM were sleeping during the whole time. We drove on Highway 5 to SoCal since my aunt doesn’t like to drive on Highway 99. I mostly drive on 99 all the time when I go to the DLR but since we aren’t stopping at my grandmother’s house in Livingston there was no point of driving over in that direction. My aunt drove the first three hours of the trip and I drove the last 4 hours of the trip until we got to Anaheim around 6:15am.

I was a little surprised that we got to Anaheim around 6:15am that morning even though we stopped three times during the trip. But the traffic going down on Highway 5 was not that bad including the traffic in SoCal.

When we were in Anaheim, we head on over towards Best Western Park Place Inn where we are staying during the trip. For the DISers that have read my past trip reports that I have stayed at BWPPI which is my favorite hotel since it is the closest non-Disney hotel. My aunt wanted to stay at BWPPI since it was a short walking distance to the DLR.

Just when we pulled in BWPPI, my aunt and I head on in the lobby to check-in. It was highly likely that we would not get into our room since it was 6am in the morning and it was during the summertime where the hotel is busy. At the check-in counter, the front desk person told us that there was one room that was cancelled at the last second so we were able to get a room that morning. I was completely shocked that we got in a room that early on Friday. It was nice to get a room but the bad part about is that it was almost towards the back at the end of the hotel. But my aunt wanted to get the room to store all our bags and I went along with it as well. Our room was 238 on the 2nd floor at the back part of BWPPI.

We got to our room at 238 and put all our bags in the room. It was very nice to get in the room at that time so when we came back later that day from DL that we had to move all of our bags. Chris and DM were happy that we put all our bags in the room that morning. The room we had was a two queen room with a sofa bed just like the time when we stayed during the January trip. My aunt had her own bed while Chris and DM had the other queen while I got the sofa bed. I had no problem with the sofa bed since I have slept on a lot of sofa beds at other hotels.

It was around 6:45am and we head on out of the room and off to do our first activity. But before we head on over to the parks since it wasn’t opened yet, we went to IHOP restaurant right next the hotel. I haven’t eaten at IHOP right across the DLR before plus my aunt needs to have a breakfast before we enter the park.

We ate at IHOP that morning and it was nice to have a full breakfast that morning. After eating at IHOP, it was around 8:10am that morning and we needed to head on over to the Esplanade to do some things before we enter the parks that morning.

While we were walking through the bus loading area, the steam engine that was used in the movie Lone Ranger was right close to the bus loading area and by the security check-in area. It was nice to see the steam engine during the movie. I did see on Micechat website that was in Hollywood Land at DCA for the red carpet and now it was located outside at the bus loading area.

We passed through the security check-point area since we had bags that morning which I always carry my bag with my DSLR and video camera along with other lens and supplies for the equipment. Everyone brought their purses and bags just like me.

When we got in the Esplanade, we head on over towards the Wheelchair and ECV rental area right close to DL where my aunt needs an ECV. During the January trip, she used an ECV since she couldn’t stand and walk a lot when we were in the parks. I did mention to her that if she didn’t want to get an ECV, she could get a Guest Assistant Card so it can make it easy for her when we go on rides. But she wanted to get the ECV so it can be easier for her to be in the park for a long time without the walking. But there were times when she was walking around the park without the ECV when we were on the rides.

While Chris and I waited while my aunt and DM went to get the ECV, I talked to Chris about all the different rides and shows that we will be doing during the trip. This was going to be fun since I haven’t done a lot of thrill rides in a long time with another party member. Sometimes I go on rides without my DA (who goes with me on a lot of Disney trips) who can’t go on intense rides like California Screamin or Space Mountain.

Disneyland line to get in the park was not that long that morning

When my aunt got the ECV, we head on over to our first park that morning. We decided on Disney California Adventure first since we have reservation at Ariel’s Grotto for dinner that night and seeing World of Color. So we head on over to DCA first thing in the morning before we head on over to DL. The other reason is that Chris and DM would take advantage of the Magic Morning at DL on Saturday.

Over at the DCA turnstiles, they weren’t that long and it was going to be fast to walk in DCA. I did warn Chris and DM that the DLR is taking pictures of the guests for the tickets since the tickets belongs to the actual person for the trip. My aunt knew about this since the January trip and I didn’t have to get my AP scan since my picture is in the database.

When we got through the turnstile, I got a picture of Chris and DM as this was their first time walking through the new entrance to DCA. They told me about where are the CALFORNIA letters that used to be at the front entrance of DCA. The CALIFORNIA letters are now located at Cal Expo in Sacramento. When I first heard of the letters that were moved to Cal Expo in Sacramento, I was so happy that they are close to home. The California State Fair starts next week July 12th to 18th and I will be able to see the letters and get some pictures. So stay tune when I go to the Stage Fair and get some pictures of them.

Chris and DM

When we entered Buena Vista Street, we first head on over towards the Chamber of Commerce building since Chris wanted to get a I’m Celebrate button. While we were walking on in, we saw that 5 & Dime car was in the area.

While my aunt, Chris and DM were in the Guest Relations, I waited on the outside and got some pictures of the outside of the Chamber of Commerce.

The tile art work

After Chris and DM got an “I’m Celebrating” button, we all started to walk down on BVS. They were so amazed at the new land at DCA. The park was quite crowded that morning which was around after 8:30am.

When we got closer to the Carthay Circle Theater where we were planning on walking past the theater and over to the Radiator Springs Racers FP queue. The FP queue for RSR was already towards the theater and they didn’t want to wait in the queue for a FP for RSR. I looked at my Mousewait App to see what the wait time was for RSR and it was already at 60 minutes that morning. So we didn’t get a FP or wanted to wait in the standby queue for RSR. So we decided on riding it later during the trip.

So we skipped RSR FP queue and head on over towards Condor Flats to go on our first ride.

While we were walking down in Condor Flats, we were right by Soarin Over California and the wait time was only 5 minutes so Chris and I went on the ride. My aunt didn’t want to ride it since she gets motion sickness. When she rode on Soarin at WDW back in October/November she closed her eyes while we rode the ride. So she didn’t ride it as well as DM. When Chris and I rode Soarin, they took our ticket and AP to head on over to GRR to get FP for WoC. I know that we had dinner at AG and get WoC tickets for the show. But I always like to be cautious if we get there late for the show and don’t get a good spot to watch WoC, we could go to the fire hydrant spot to see the show.

My aunt and DM went to get FP’s for WoC while Chris and I went on Soarin. I always enjoy riding Soarin and have been hearing that it will be updated one day just makes me excited. I t is so fun riding Soarin that I will have to ride it more than I usually do when I go to the DLR since the show might be different in the future.

When we got off Soarin, Chris really enjoyed riding it. She also told me that when we were riding Soarin that I dozed off a little. I told her that I was a little tired from the driving that night but I was able to do the activities that day with everyone. Mostly It is a classic ride as being one of the original attractions at DCA. When we met up my aunt and DM, we started to walk on the backside and heading on over to Paradise Pier. It wasn’t that busy around that area including Grizzly River Run. Chris wanted to go on that ride and I haven’t been on GRR ever since DCA opened in 2001. I knew that GRR will be busy during the summertime and we were planning on riding it during the trip.

When we got to GRR, the ride was not open that morning since it was not running. So we planned on going back to that ride later on. Since it was going to be around in the low 90s later that day, the ride wait time will be in the 60 minute range. So we need to get FP’s for that ride later that morning.

We were now in PP, we were planning on going towards Toy Story Midway Mania but the wait time was already at 40 minutes on my Mousewait App. We were right by the Little Mermaid ride so we decided to go on that ride. Chris and DM wanted to go on the ride and that’s what we did as a group together.

My aunt and DM rode together while Chris and I rode together. I also used my DSLR to take pictures during the ride. I used the 18-105mm lens instead of the 35mm lens which I used for the dark rides but I wanted to try and see how the pictures turn out.

Here are pictures from the LM ride during the June trip.

Scuttle at the beginning of the ride

Ariel and Flounder

Sebastian

Ariel dancing

That’s it for this post and I will have more from the Little Mermaid ride during our quick trip to the DLR.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great! Another quick trip. Looking forward to more wonderful pictures and your report.

Seems like it takes only 6 or 7 hours down the 5 from Sac to LA? WOW! That's not bad.

 

[tksbaskets]

Your trip is off to a great start. So nice that a room was available to you so early in the morning so you could drop off your bags. I just love the windows at the Chamber of Commerce at DCA.

WOW it's going to be hot that day for Anaheim. I had to laugh a little about your being sleepy during the ride on Soarin'. I admit to nodding off a bit at the Hall of Presidents at WDW....the little nap was refreshing though!

I'm glad the California letters will be on display at the state fair.

I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip especially your thoughts on the AG WOC package. Thanks for sharing!

 

[MarbleBob]

We got to go to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles where we got to do some shopping and have lunch. We have stopped at Little Tokyo a lot in the past where we have stopped after our trip was over. This time, we enjoyed being at Little Tokyo that afternoon.

mvf-m11c,

First off, this thread is awesome. Lots of fun reading, and your photos are awesome. At nearly 200 pages, it might take a while to get through the whole thread

Anyway, you mentioned that you've stopped at Little Tokyo a lot in the past. We are going to have one free day during our Disneyland trip this coming October. My 13 year old daughter is interested in all things Japanese, and we are considering taking her there for a couple hours that day (maybe visit in the morning, eat lunch, and then head down to Newport Beach for the afternoon/evening.)

We originally had planned to visit Japantown in San Francisco next week (and then Disneyland the week after), but I broke my foot and we had to cancel the trip. We'll still be able to just do the Anaheim part of the trip in October.

Anyway, DD was devastated about missing Japantown and I'm hoping this might be a nice alternative. I'm wondering if you have any tips/tricks on visiting Little Tokyo. Any favorite restaurants? (All 5 in my family like sushi, but are open to traditional Japanese food too.) Any special sites/gardens worth seeing? Parking, etc.

Any input would be greatly appreciated

 

[mvf-m11c]

Great! Another quick trip. Looking forward to more wonderful pictures and your report.

Seems like it takes only 6 or 7 hours down the 5 from Sac to LA? WOW! That's not bad.

Thank you PiO. This was a quick trip with little time to plan. We did get all the sit down restaurants that we wanted and I will get to those later on during the updates.

Going on Highway 5 is faster than 99 since the speed limit is 70 while going on 99 can change from 70 to 65 in certain parts of the highway. We were driving fast that night and there wasn't too many people on the road that night. When I go back with my DA, we will be going down on our usual route on 99 instead of 5 since we need to stop at my grandmothers house in Livingston.

Your trip is off to a great start. So nice that a room was available to you so early in the morning so you could drop off your bags. I just love the windows at the Chamber of Commerce at DCA.

WOW it's going to be hot that day for Anaheim. I had to laugh a little about your being sleepy during the ride on Soarin'. I admit to nodding off a bit at the Hall of Presidents at WDW....the little nap was refreshing though!

I'm glad the California letters will be on display at the state fair.

I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip especially your thoughts on the AG WOC package. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you PiO. We were lucky that BWPPI had a room available so we are able to drop all of our bags in the room instead of leaving it in the car that morning. The tiles art work is so neat at the Guests Relations building at DCA.

During our trip, the weather was manageable in Anaheim where in Sacramento was in the mid 100s in the afternoon. We came to Anaheim at a fine time when it started to get hot that weekend. I knew that you were going to laugh that I dozed off while riding Soarin that morning. Since I got a little sleep on Thursday and drove most of the night, I could have asked my aunt to let me sleep a little but it was fine and after riding CS I was awake for the rest of the morning and afternoon until our break in the afternoon. There were times when I nodded off at certain shows at the DLR and WDW.

I heard that the letters will be ready when the State Fair starts on July 12th. I might have to go on the first day to see the letters. I have missed the letters and glad that it will be part of Cal Expo in Sacramento.

Thank you for following along TK.

 

[mvf-m11c]

mvf-m11c,

First off, this thread is awesome. Lots of fun reading, and your photos are awesome. At nearly 200 pages, it might take a while to get through the whole thread

Anyway, you mentioned that you've stopped at Little Tokyo a lot in the past. We are going to have one free day during our Disneyland trip this coming October. My 13 year old daughter is interested in all things Japanese, and we are considering taking her there for a couple hours that day (maybe visit in the morning, eat lunch, and then head down to Newport Beach for the afternoon/evening.)

We originally had planned to visit Japantown in San Francisco next week (and then Disneyland the week after), but I broke my foot and we had to cancel the trip. We'll still be able to just do the Anaheim part of the trip in October.

Anyway, DD was devastated about missing Japantown and I'm hoping this might be a nice alternative. I'm wondering if you have any tips/tricks on visiting Little Tokyo. Any favorite restaurants? (All 5 in my family like sushi, but are open to traditional Japanese food too.) Any special sites/gardens worth seeing? Parking, etc.

Any input would be greatly appreciated

Hi MarbleBob,

Thank you and glad that you are enjoying my trip report thread.

My DA and I have stopped at Little Tokyo in Los Angeles when we head on back to Sacramento from our DL trip. You will love Little Tokyo since there is a lot to do there where they have a lot of Japanese stores, restaurants and entertainment. We stop in Little Tokyo do get some Japanese food where we can't get in Sacramento. I like to stop there to look at the Anime merchandise and I might buy something.

I'm sorry to hear that you broke your foot and canceled the trip. I know that you will have a fun time in Japantown in SF as well as Chinatown.

DD will love going in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles since there is more to see than in Japantown in SF. For the tips you can go to this website Little Tokyo website to tell you everything about it. The places that you want to go when you are in Little Tokyo is the Japanese Village Plaza where it is one of the major shopping areas in Little Tokyo and the Little Tokyo Galleria. There are a lot of different restaurants to choose from at Little Tokyo. During our May trip, we ate a place called Suehiro Cafe which had great Udon noodles. The restaurant that I have heard in Little Tokyo that has good sushi is called "Sushi-Gen". There is street parking but it will be tough to find one and you can't stay there too long since you can park there for 2 hours. So if you are going to be there for awhile, I would look for a parking garage. There are a lot of parking garages around Little Tokyo.

Hope this help you when you go in October.


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