Our California Adventure with two days at Disneyland, the ElCapitan and the Walt Disney FamilyMuseum

[Cindy fan]

Hello all,

This is my first Disneyland post trip report, but you were all so helpful to my planning, I want to give back a little. Plus writing a trip report lets me relive the trip and extend the sunny California and Disneyland magic back in cold and snowy western New York.

The cast:
My husband, a reluctant Disney fan
Myself, a huge fan and Disneyland podcast junkie ( I am a traveling therapist so I listen to podcasts while I drive)
My daughter, a 13 year old, previous Princess fan and current Marvel/Star Wars fan
My son, 11, huge Disney fan with feet issues who doesn't like to walk too much or huge crowds

The plan:
We would be in California from Feb 11-21, trying to maximize our time in California and minimize missed school days.

The planning:
We had been planning a trip to California for over a year to visit our uncle before he retired and potentially moved from San Diego, but had to wait for the school calendar and flights to be released. We had hoped to go over our spring break which for the last seven years had been Maundy Thursday through the Sunday after Easter. Unfortunately, the school district moved and shortened our spring due to NYS scheduling the dreaded common core tests when we always have break. So we went with our backup plan and slightly extended President's week figuring this is our last splurge before our daughter is in high school and it is harder to miss school. We booked immediately when Southwests window opened (literally while on another vacation), because we knew if we didn't we would never afford the flight. We ended up with a great deal that was double from the next day on even during southwest sales. The rest of our planning would take place over the following months.

 

[Cindy fan]

A little more background. As a family we have been to WDW 3 times and Disneyland twice while staying with said Uncle. We probably will not be returning to Disney until after Star Wars land is built as we also love to cruise and have a few other family trip requests before the kids graduate from high school.

In addition, DD13 thinks Mom is a major Disney nerd and is strongly requesting a trip to Universal for Harry Potter next.

 

[Cindy fan]

February 11:
We flew out after a full day of work and school so we would not lose a vacation day. We were very nervous about weather both in Buffalo and during our short connection in Chicago, but no issues. Our flit out of Buffalo was delayed, but we still made our flight in Chicago and were able to get seats together for the long haul to San Diego. By the time we got our rental car in San Diego and made to our uncle's it was 11:30 California time so we were exhausted.

Two words of advice about the San Diego airport and car rentals: The new car rental area is great, a bit of a walk, but much more convenient than the shuttle ride it used to require. Also if you rent a compact, that means minuscule, we had to upgrade because we never would have fit.

Part of the reason we went San Diego to San Francisco was our uncle's busy priest schedule and part was the fact it was much cheaper to rent a car going north.

 

[Cindy fan]

Day 2: Friday, February 12

Although we had such a long day the day before we were still all up on New York time. My husband and I did a grocery run and then we had a leisurely breakfast and hung out with our uncle. He had to go to work so after hemming and hawing over the weather and back to back days in the park we headed to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We have been to the zoo multiple times and since we would be doing mega driving all trip we decided to go the WAP which is only 15 minutes from his house. Crowds were great and we were parked right by the entrance.

I cannot believe we have never gone here before. My brother in law and nephew go all the time when visiting our uncle and have been telling us to go for years. Following their advice we went up to the Tigers and condors first. Both exhibits are excellent but would not be pleasant in the heat of the day. The young tiger was out and about and the older tiger was having a staring contest with the visitors.

We then stopped for an early lunch as we were already hot and tired. The rice bowls were excellent. We then toured most of the rest of the park including the very nice gorilla exhibit, the cute bird show, and the other trails. We especially enjoyed the lemur exhibit where you are in the enclosure with the lemurs although they were back in their trees. We ended up skipping part of the Africa trail as we were all getting tired and hot and my son's feet were hurting. We decided to go on the tram during what was late lunch time. We walked right on to the tram after having the obligatory picture taken.

The tram ride is definitely the highlight of the park. The left side is best for the view, but we were on the right and could still see ok, we just have hands etc in our pictures. We were very fortunate to have several giraffes come up very close. However, it is not like Animal Kingdom where they are all around and may even cross in front of you. If you want that experience you have to pay for a different tram ride. We just did the included one. The ride is quite long and you can potentially see a wide variety of animals. At the end of the ride we actually bought our picture as it came with an giraffe picture we will give my giraffe obsessed mother as a gift. By the time we unloaded from the tram, lunchtime was done and there was a half hour wait.

We walked back by way of the elephants and were very glad we did as it was feeding time and then they have a small amphitheater where you can watch as they cleaned the elephants feet and gave them a general checkup.

We ended up at the WAP for roughly 5 hours and still did not see everything, but we saw most of the highlights.

We were very tired that night so we had a quick dinner and went to bed.

 

[Cindy fan]

[GALLERY=][/GALLERY]

 

[Cindy fan]

Saturday, February 13: the beach

Saturday was our relaxing day with the beach (Oceanside) and events at our uncles church. The surf was high so we did not swim. We were resting up for the rest of our crazy week.

 

[Cindy fan]

Sunday: February 14

First day at Disneyland pictures with report to follow:

 

[Cindy fan]

Sunday, February 14

We woke up very early to drive up to Anaheim. We had significant fog along the coast. We were fortunate to encounter little traffic and to easily valet park at the Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites. We were through security and at the gates around 7:20. We were let into the park early and held by Carthay Circle. DCA had early entry both days we were there so it didn't matter which day we started there. We picked DCA first because we were anxious to se Carsland as it was being built when we were there last.

The fog and cool lasted for maybe an hour, but the rest of our time at Disneyland was hot.

I lined up to the left and was through the fast pass line quickly. It would have been faster except for a recurrent issue with my daughters ticket, which had been separated wrong. By the second morning we lost a lot of time as they had to issue her a new ticket. I then joined up with my family who had held up just outside the RSR cue. We had about a 30 minute wait for RSR. It definitely lived up to expectations.

We went to Soarin next but although the app said 5 minutes, it was actually an hour. After that we went to Paradise Pier, planning to ride Screaming, but while the app said it was open, it was closed. We rode Goofy, Swings, and the Ferris wheel while my husband went for Soarin fp. We again found that the app was wrong as the Soarin fp was already out later than we thought. At this point, my husband while waiting for us, downloaded the Disneyland app onto his phone. We quickly discovered the android app was much more accurate than the iPhone app and relied on his for the rest of the trip.

Next we used our RSR FP and then, because we were tired, we did Zootopia. We rode Soarin with our FP and got another set. Then we watched the Newsboy show, which we really enjoyed. We were going to go on Monsters inc, but it was a 30 min wait.

While my family ate lunch, I made the biggest mistake of my trip. I decided to go to Disneyland for HSM FP. The lines were awful and walking through Tomorrowland was challenging at best. It took over a half hour and I was exhausted by the time I got back.

While waiting for our Soarin time we did Little Mermaid and the trolley. It was great riding the original Soarin again. We were able to get the top row center which is definitely the best.

At this point it was midafternoon and we left to check into our hotel.

 

[Cindy fan]

Sunday part 2

We stopped at cold stone for some good ice cream on our way to the Desert Inn. We could not check in early, but we did not have to wait long. Our room was on the top floor and was a parlour suite. The parlour area was smaller than I thought from pictures, but it worked. Air conditioning did not reach the outer room. The room was clean and the beds were fine.

We enjoyed a nice swim in the nice shaded indoor pool area. It was clean and plenty big for us. We then headed back to the park and it took about 30 minutes with security and lines. We were caught at a crosswalk by the Soundsational parade and ended up with a great view.

We continued to Tomorrowland where we did launch bay and path of the Jedi. We enjoyed both but we were disappointed as all lines for rides and characters were really long. We made our way over to Main Street and found front row seats for the parade. We took turns getting dinner and riding HSM with our FP. One word of advice, we sat in front of the ice cream parlour which was a big mistake as everyone was stepping over our heads. By 6:30 all front row seats were gone.

The parade was great, but unfortunately fireworks were cancelled. We headed back to the hotel exhausted.

 

[Cindy fan]

Monday, February 15

On Monday, we started at Disneyland. We lined up for Tomorrowland with my husband moving ahead to get HSM FP. We were surprised to see a good portion of the group that looked like they were lined up for Fantasyland, veer around astroorbitor and get ahead of the Tomorrowland clump. We ended up with fair FP times and rode HSM with a 30 minute wait.

Then my husband and daughter rode Matterhorn while my son and I rode Alice in Wonderland and the carousel. We all rode the tea cups and then my son and I rode the Canalboats while my husband and daughter used our HSM FP. My original plan had been to go for RSR FP at that time, but after the 1/2 hour FP trip the prior day, we decided to take our chances on single rider. Then my daughter and I rode HSM while while my husband and son tried to find bb8 sippers. My husband eventually got them just before lunchtime from Pizza Port. We then rode IASW and headed to DCA for our Carthay Circle WOC lunch.

 

[Cindy fan]

Monday, part 2

Our lunch was amazing, but different options than I had read previously, I will try to post the menu later this week. The kids loved their burgers and were allowed to order off the adult and child menus. My husband liked his fish and I really enjoyed my Turkey scaloppine. My husband liked his gluten free bread and crime brûlée for dessert.

I had planned for us to stay at DCA for the rest of the day, but the rest of my family just wanted to go swim at the hotel. We ended up over 25,000 steps both days and it was very hot in the afternoons.

When we returned to DCA, we went to Carsland to ride Mater's and to watch the lights come on at sunset and had snacks from the Cozy cones. They no longer have Churro bites. The kids had decided they were not going to do single rider so they watched zootopia again while we rode single rider. The line for single rider was 30 minutes, so the kids had to wait for us, but they did fine. We then walked through Bugsland to Animation academy after the kids decided they did not want to ride Monsters. We did Turtle Talk, which my too cool 13 year old laughed at hysterically and declared was even bett than when she was little. Then we drew Minnie.

At this point we were getting tired and wanted good spots for WOC so we headed to Paradise Pier. We found our area and took turns waiting or riding rides. Our biggest frustration of the trip was hearing the fireworks while waiting for WOC.

WOC was everything we imagined and more it is a great show and well worth the money and time. The view was great except for the light pole.

 

[Cindy fan]

Disneyland takeaways

We were glad we did park hoppers, but we switched too much. Going back and forth between areas allowed us to ride more rides in the short term, but tired us out more as we are not used to the heat. In the end we probably rode less, because we pushed too hard. My son had an especially hard time and by the time of the evening shows, he did not move we took turns riding rides and brought food back to him. He was a trooper though because of his love of Disney. We did approximately 2/3 of what we wanted/ thought we could do. We also ended up with very haphazard meals. I had planned those too, but the places we wanted to eat were not always nearby when we were hungry and we did not want to do extra walking.

 

[Cindy fan]

In the end, as much as we still love Disney, this may be our last trip. The crowds and the upcoming price increase are just too much for us.

 

[Cindy fan]

I will be back later in the week to post Disney day 2 pictures and to write about Hollywood, Santa Barbara, Big Sur, and San Francisco.

 

[Cindy fan]

 

[Cindy fan]

 

[Cindy fan]

Tuesday, Feb 16
Here are some pictures from our day in Hollywood. I will write about it later.

 

[Cindy fan]

We had a leisurely morning on Tuesday before we checked out of the hotel to head up to Hollywood. We planned to go after rush hour and it worked out well. We left the hotel around 10 and ate sandwiches in our car before going into the 12:00 wb studio tour.

My husband and I really enjoyed the tour. We first watched a short intro movie and then divided up by language spoken. Our English speaking group had only 8 people including us. My favorite part was seeing them filming a little of Gilmore girls on an outside lot. My husbands favorite was going into the Big Bank recording stands. In general, we found this tour very interesting and keep seeing sets in our favorite tv shows now. My children knew very few of the shows or movies and did not enjoy it as much. My daughter did enjoy the Harry Potter exhibit and my son liked the hand drawn looney tunes animation samples.

After the tour finished we drove past Disney studios, but you can really only see the gates. Then we drove to our hotel. Hollywood Celebrity Hotel is a very cute boutique hotel located behind the Hollywood and highland shopping complex. It is a 3 minute walk to all the action. The rooms were quaint, well appointed and clean. Parking however is a bit of a challenge. When you arrive, don't try to park out front, pull into the driveway behind the street the hotel is located on. The spots are on an angle and very close together with one lane down the middle. Thank goodness we had a small car. We decided not to go to the observatory because we did not want to move the car.

We walked to Hollywood. The stars in the sidewalk are nothing much to see. The handprints are neat. We were not too bothered by the people standing around. It was a little chaotic due to them setting up barriers and tents already for the Oscars. We tried to do a theater tour, but Dolby was closed press car, El Capitan had no one available to do tours that day, and we had missed the last tour at Graumans although the website said there was another tour. We had a very good and reasonably priced dinner at California pizza kitchen with a great view of the Hollywood sign. We decided to go to El Capitan to see Snow White as my kids had never seen it. It was a nice evening out. The organist is great, they gave everyone buttons, had a drawing, had Snow White there, and an introduction was given by animator, Mark Henn. We then enjoyed the movie before heading back to our hotel.

 

[Cindy fan]

Wednesday, February 17

After maneuvering our car out of the parking lot and dealing with crazy Hollywood traffic, we drove to the Reagan Museum. We really enjoyed the museum. It is very weird seeing history from our lifetime. Air Force one and the replica Oval Office were great.

We then drove to Santa Barbara to spend time with my aunt and uncle. Despite the rain we enjoyed the Santa Barbara mission and the views from the Town Hall, which is a beautiful building.

We spent the rest of the day chatting and enjoying a wonderful dinner with lots of great citrus from their yard.

 

[Cindy fan]

Pictures from the Reagan Library and Santa Barbara