She's Headed to High School, a June 2024 WL Trip Report: Post Trip DL Update 10/11

[DaisyDuck001]

It's so much fun reading your trip reports! Will you be doing one for your upcoming Disneyland trip?

Is there any way you can add another day or two to your future WDW trips, to have more time for down time and a second Epcot day?

 

[Wood Nymph]

Your return to the Grand Californian will be a lot of fun. We ate dinner at Storytellers Cafe when we were there in April. The hotel is gorgeous, and we would love to stay there someday.

We went to WDW when one of our party had the four parks for $99 per day ticket. It saved her a lot of money and we made it work. I was surprised to see how much more a park hopper ticket cost than a regular ticket.

I enjoyed your trip report. You need to post a quick TR about your DL trip. I have a frame of reference now.

 

[rdkeim]

Thanks for the wrap up! Glad to hear there will be another TR next year. Your writing styles and wonderful photos make your TR's so fun to read. Thank you for sharing!

You are so fortunate to live close to DL. It's not WDW but it's Disney! I hope you find time to do a mini TR but understand if you don't. Again, thanks for taking time out of your busy lives to share your experiences

 

[ambula603]

YESSS to Disneyland - come back and recap! We are staying a few nights at GC next summer and possibly at Pixar or back to DLH for the other part of the week. Cannot wait!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

It's so much fun reading your trip reports! Will you be doing one for your upcoming Disneyland trip?

Is there any way you can add another day or two to your future WDW trips, to have more time for down time and a second Epcot day?

Thanks so much. We enjoy writing them and sharing the trips so we have a complete log of them to look back on.

We are really busy at work but we will post something about our DLR trip. We kinda have to.

Right now a longer WDW trip would be pretty difficult. I had hoped to add a day every year but that won’t happen for next year. Eventually we will have longer trips but for now we will make th lost of 4-5 days.

Your return to the Grand Californian will be a lot of fun. We ate dinner at Storytellers Cafe when we were there in April. The hotel is gorgeous, and we would love to stay there someday.

We are so excited to get to stay there again for the first time in 17 years.

We went to WDW when one of our party had the four parks for $99 per day ticket. It saved her a lot of money and we made it work. I was surprised to see how much more a park hopper ticket cost than a regular ticket.

I enjoyed your trip report. You need to post a quick TR about your DL trip. I have a frame of reference now.

Yeah the discount one day per park tickets are really appealing. We are trying it at DLR to see how it goes.

We will have to post something to share the DL trip. We will write it as we can.

Thanks for the wrap up! Glad to hear there will be another TR next year. Your writing styles and wonderful photos make your TR's so fun to read. Thank you for sharing!

You are so fortunate to live close to DL. It's not WDW but it's Disney! I hope you find time to do a mini TR but understand if you don't. Again, thanks for taking time out of your busy lives to share your experiences

Thanks for joining in. We will share our DLR experiences, but it might take a minute to get it written.

YESSS to Disneyland - come back and recap! We are staying a few nights at GC next summer and possibly at Pixar or back to DLH for the other part of the week. Cannot wait!

Sound like fun! There are some awesome things about DLR, and getting to stay on site there is extra special.

 

[AliceNDinah]

Great wrap up! So fun to follow along and live vicariously through you all. I simply want to thank you for taking us along and I really look forward to the next trip!!!!!!

 

[erinch]

Lots of fun! Thank you!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've tried to read as much of your trip report as possible, mostly because of Allie-her age. We're also bringing our 14 yo DGD to WDW next month, and I was trying to get an idea of what she'd enjoy. A couple girls in her class did Tron and loved it, so of course she has to do Tron. Didn't know that Woody's BBQ might be a popular place to eat. Any other things you remember that a 14 yo girl might especially enjoy?
And I need to know where in Epcot you were able to get that cream cheese pretzel. I heard they're available at DHS but I've never seen them in Epcot.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Great wrap up! So fun to follow along and live vicariously through you all. I simply want to thank you for taking us along and I really look forward to the next trip!!!!!!

You are very welcome! We are glad that you enjoyed the summary too, and are looking forward to the next one.

Lots of fun! Thank you!

You’re welcome, be sure to come back for next year’s trip. Same length of trip, resort, and time of year but I’m sure it will be unique somehow.

I've tried to read as much of your trip report as possible, mostly because of Allie-her age. We're also bringing our 14 yo DGD to WDW next month, and I was trying to get an idea of what she'd enjoy. A couple girls in her class did Tron and loved it, so of course she has to do Tron. Didn't know that Woody's BBQ might be a popular place to eat. Any other things you remember that a 14 yo girl might especially enjoy?

Hello! Allie says that World showcase pavilions are cool, and as far as rides her favorites are Guardians in Epcot, Rockin Rollercoaster in HS, and Mine Train or Big Thunder Mountain in MK.
It’s all fun though, especially if she gets to pick the activities.

And I need to know where in Epcot you were able to get that cream cheese pretzel. I heard they're available at DHS but I've never seen them in Epcot.

We got the cream cheese pretzel at the Odyssey pavilion which is between future world and Mexico in the World Showcase, where they have done preview centers and recently had the temporary DVC lounge. We have also gotten them in MK in Tomorrowland.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Are you doing a Halloween party at Disneyland or DCA?

 

[AliceNDinah]

Hi again, can I ask a random question? Have you ever been to WDW around the 4th of July? For context, my birthday is July 8 and I have this dream of being in MK on that day I know the cons of that are probably oodles of people at that time and the weather, right? I took my son in August of 2022 and it was like being on the sun, it was SO HOT. So I vowed never again in August. I'm guessing July is not that different huh? I would appreciate any insight to this - like I say, August of 22 was my last visit and I'm literally chomping at the bit to get back down there! My son is in 7th grade now and it's not that feasible to take him out of school at cooler time of year, grrrrrrrr (lol). As some of the premier trip writers on here, I just thought I would throw this at you, to get your perspective, as I trust and really value your opinions. Thanks a million!!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Are you doing a Halloween party at Disneyland or DCA?

No, we figured would be good with just the park days. There is a DCA Halloween party tonight, but they still did a lot of the stuff last night as well like the projections and music, and the special re-themed version of Guardians Mission Breakout (which uses the Tower of Terror ride mechanism.). It was very cool to see and ride.

Hi again, can I ask a random question? Have you ever been to WDW around the 4th of July? For context, my birthday is July 8 and I have this dream of being in MK on that day I know the cons of that are probably oodles of people at that time and the weather, right? I took my son in August of 2022 and it was like being on the sun, it was SO HOT. So I vowed never again in August. I'm guessing July is not that different huh? I would appreciate any insight to this - like I say, August of 22 was my last visit and I'm literally chomping at the bit to get back down there! My son is in 7th grade now and it's not that feasible to take him out of school at cooler time of year, grrrrrrrr (lol). As some of the premier trip writers on here, I just thought I would throw this at you, to get your perspective, as I trust and really value your opinions. Thanks a million!!

Hello, we have never been in July. We talked about it and having been in June, August, and September we feel a hot day is a hot day, and it will vary lot on the individual day more than between those months. The average high temp in July is only one degree higher than June. We have had cooler days in June than some in August, and some crazy hot days in both months. The key to summer trips for us is realizing that it will be insanely hot and planning to avoid it. You can’t go and do as much as you could in February, but getting to go at all is worth it.

We really like planning mid day ADRs in cool locations and taking advantage of shopping breaks in the air conditioning. Mid day time at the resort is nice too, and the kids always want to swim. Splitting the days at the hottest part lets us at least dry off and change clothes before going back to it. The closer you can stay to a park the easier this is, but it is worth it no matter what.

Good luck, happy planning, and feel free to ask more. Both Allie and Paul have celebrated birthdays at the parks (September and January), and someday maybe Melissa will too in July.

 

[disneyfam]

"True but they don’t have Ohana noodles so there’s that."

Even though it's not on the menu you can order the noodles, the Tambu Lounge bar.

 

[AliceNDinah]

No, we figured would be good with just the park days. There is a DCA Halloween party tonight, but they still did a lot of the stuff last night as well like the projections and music, and the special re-themed version of Guardians Mission Breakout (which uses the Tower of Terror ride mechanism.). It was very cool to see and ride.


Hello, we have never been in July. We talked about it and having been in June, August, and September we feel a hot day is a hot day, and it will vary lot on the individual day more than between those months. The average high temp in July is only one degree higher than June. We have had cooler days in June than some in August, and some crazy hot days in both months. The key to summer trips for us is realizing that it will be insanely hot and planning to avoid it. You can’t go and do as much as you could in February, but getting to go at all is worth it.

We really like planning mid day ADRs in cool locations and taking advantage of shopping breaks in the air conditioning. Mid day time at the resort is nice too, and the kids always want to swim. Splitting the days at the hottest part lets us at least dry off and change clothes before going back to it. The closer you can stay to a park the easier this is, but it is worth it no matter what.

Good luck, happy planning, and feel free to ask more. Both Allie and Paul have celebrated birthdays at the parks (September and January), and someday maybe Melissa will too in July.

Oh thanks for the response! We stayed at the Beach Club Villas last time and just loved the proximity to Epcot and HS, so that was what I was angling for next time around: Stormalong Bay is a big selling point. I understand that it's down for refurbishment from January to June, that's why I was asking about July in WDW. I guess we'll see what happens.....thank you again for the quick response, I hear everything you said Melissa, when in July is your birthday? I love having a summer birthday and to celebrate at Magic Kingdom would be the cherry on top!!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Really enjoyed reading this. Thank you!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

"True but they don’t have Ohana noodles so there’s that."

Even though it's not on the menu you can order the noodles, the Tambu Lounge bar.

We've never done it but it is a solid option for sometime.

Oh thanks for the response! We stayed at the Beach Club Villas last time and just loved the proximity to Epcot and HS, so that was what I was angling for next time around: Stormalong Bay is a big selling point. I understand that it's down for refurbishment from January to June, that's why I was asking about July in WDW. I guess we'll see what happens.....thank you again for the quick response, I hear everything you said Melissa, when in July is your birthday? I love having a summer birthday and to celebrate at Magic Kingdom would be the cherry on top!!

Melissa's birthday is July 20. We enjoyed Stormalong Bay when we stayed at BC, but it wasn't the huge hit for us that it is for some. I think we had higher expectations for it, but that's ok. Aulani has our favorite resort pool by far, but it is a little far from the parks...

Really enjoyed reading this. Thank you!

Thanks for commenting! We hope you come back for next year. We have a post-trip update coming up to share with everyone as well, so we hope you enjoy it too.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Hey you know at the end of Pixar movies after all of the credits you sometimes get a little extra?

Yeah like if you stay in the theater after everyone heads out you get rewarded with some more content...

Not like a whole extra movie but just a little more. I think we should do one of those right now.

That would be good timing, since we just got back home from Disney. it was just a long weekend, and it was here in California, but due to popular demand we will share some extra Disney fun. We went to celebrate Allie's 15th birthday.

We had so much fun and we appreciate you all following along so much we decided to give you all some more Disney fun. We’re going to do this part a little different. We weren’t anticipating writing up a full report so we don’t have notes and we didn’t take our normal picture that we would use in a report but we should still have a ton to talk about and I know Paul took a few pictures.

Yeah, I did take a couple of pictures... So let's share our weekend. We were able to secure a point rental reservation at the Grand Californian back in November for Allie's birthday weekend. When it came around, we decided to take advantage of a three day park ticket deal with one park per day. We took Friday off from work, took Allie out after a couple of classes at school, and headed to little Disney. It is under an hour from the house, so we got there by lunch time. Our room wasn't ready but we dropped bags with Bell Services and went straight to Disneyland.
A key goal was to have Corn Dogs on Main Street, so that was our first stop.

It has been so long since we have been to Disneyland and the ticketing isn’t the same as Disneyworld and I got too excited at the turnstiles and well long story short I scanned Marshalls ticket for me but then my ticket never ended up with an entry scan. We didn’t realize this until we were at the corn dog cart and were trying to make a lightning lane selection and I didn’t show as having entered the park. I left everyone to exit the park so I could re enter and scan my ticket.
Because we hadn’t had lunch yet and I was left to my own devices I stopped at a popcorn cart and picked up a Stitch popcorn bucket and popcorn on the way out so I could snack on my way back up Main Street.

It is crazy how DL uses visual scanning of barcodes on phones far more than the Magic Band style tap to pay feature on a phone. They allow you to scan multiple people from a single phone, and even Lightning Lanes work like this with optical phone screen scanners.
Anyway, the bar codes got mixed up and we had to get it sorted out so that our three days of tickets would have the right person's picture with the right ticket. After all was said and done we wound up with a Stitch Popcorn bucket so that was cool. We enjoyed our corn dogs and then headed towards the little castle.

There are lots of comparisons to be made between WDW and DLR, and one absolute fact is the CA castle is small. We walked through it and even did the Sleeping Beauty walk through, which is unique to DL. Then we did another nearby DL classic, Snow White's Something Adventure, which is a super light weight version of 7DMT, with a simple track ride instead of a roller coaster.
Same 7 mine workers though.

It used to terrify Allie but now shes big. The craziest thing is everything felt really familiar and comfortable even though we’d been gone for so long. I would get these memories around the park from when Allie was small, or when we were dating, or even before. Disneyland has been a staple in our lives for a really long time. Allie really wanted to ride the Storybook Boat ride. A super unique Disneyland thing.

That was a staple when she was little, and we all enjoyed riding something different. Then we checked out the addition of Galaxy's Edge to Disneyland.

It is so strange, they fit it in with the same layout at HS in the area behind Big Thunder and Splash Mountain. It has the same layout, but a different North South orientation. It is rotated almost 180 degrees. Kinda crazy, but it is the same Batuu. We enjoyed some Blue milk and Smuggler's Run, where the kids got to be pilots which was fun.

It is a fun ride, I don’t understand why it’s not more popular.

It kinda lives in the shadow of Rise, but that's the same both places. Then we headed for a ride which is vastly better in DL, since it is the original "double drop and ride it all the way back to the top" Pirates of the Carribean.

This felt so good to be back! Disneyworld’s version has nothing on this one. I love it so much.

It is the version we grew up with, and just fits like a glove. Besides, why not ride the boats all the way to the top? We also enjoyed seeing Blue Bayou, the restaurant overlooking the ride. I was not quick enough to get an ADR for this, but quick thinking Melissa kept checking for openings and while we were waiting in line for Pirates she snagged a lunch ADR for Sunday, giving us all something to look forward to. We had a nice alternative ADR for Friday night though, which was Carnation Cafe on the middle of Main Street, another unique DL location.

We had an early dinner there and enjoyed it. Allie and I had Cheeseburgers and Melissa had a Short Rib whie Marshall had Mac and Cheese. Some things are the same wherever we go.

Dinner was perfect. Our table was in an interesting spot though right by where the line ends up for the women’s restroom so that was fun.

I suppose it is better to eat and watch people wait for the restrooom than to wait for the restroom and watch people eat. Anyway, after dinner we took a park break and headed to the hotel to see our room. That is one awesome thing at DLR, it is a short walk to the Grand Californian from either park, and Downtown Disney is right there too. No long bus rides here. We had our room number text and went right to it. It was our first time getting to stay there since our wedding night 17 years ago. We had a DVC studio, but the room was plenty big enough for the four of us on a short trip. We weren't sure what to do about sleeping arrangements, since the kids did not want to share a bed, but we were able to use cushions from the sofabed to make a little bed for Marshall between the Queen and the sofa, so he had his own space. Allie got te sofa bed just like at WDW, and we had the Queen, just not our own bedroom.
It was a nice setup, and saved quite a bit over a one bedroom.

We have gotten very spoiled with the big hotel rooms but yes for a short trip this was just fine. It was very exciting to not have to drive home after a Disneyland day too.

Staying allowed us to go back to the park that night, and we found it to be crazy busy. Disneyland gets a lot of local traffic, and it was completely packed on this Friday night. On the way in we did stop by the art store though, and they were having a Noah exhibit with lots of cool pieces, but we also noticed another piece that caught our eye.

Yesssss! A John Nadeau called Forbidden. It’s Maleficent’s castle and it’s magnificent. I really fell in love with it but we decided to wait and think about it.

It looked pretty cool. We tried to ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, but it went down, so we grabbed a Fastpass for Autopia. For comparison with WDW, this is like tomorrowland Speedway, but a true DIsney original. The track is longer and has more variety than at WDW.

This was our first time riding it at night in a long time, and the Fireworks started as we rode. We wound up stuck in a traffic jam though, and the ride took over 20 minutes. We finallly finished our tour and had a long wait to get out of the car.

I made Allie drive for practice.

It was fun even when we were stopped and waiting for traffic to clear.

After that we were done for the night, so we hopped on the Disneyland Monorail to head out of the park. Unlike at WDW here the monorail doesn't cover a whole lot of ground, but it does give guests the option of going from tomorrowland to the other end of Downtown Disney, near the DIsneyland hotel where you can get off or stay on. On the way it goes through the Grand Californian, which is a fun. Imagine if the monorail loop swung through WL...

Wow that would be something. Yeah our Disneyland Monorails are like a quarter the size too, you can’t stand up while you’re riding either and all the strollers have to be folded.

We hopped off at the stop and walked through Downtown Disney back to the hotel. It was a short walk and we were back to the room before 10:30.

It was a very full day, we did way more things than I had anticipated for Friday.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We still had a lot more to do, and another whole park, so we got a fairly early start on Saturday. We took advantage of a quick room service breakfast they offered in the room, where you could pick items and choose a time for them to be delivered to the room the next day.

We got three orders of kids Mickey waffles to be delivered at 7:30 AM. I got up and ready befoire breakfast and everyone else got ready soon after. We made it out of the room shortly after 8, which was when California Adventure opened.

The kids meals only come with two waffles a piece though I don’t know why I assumed they would have 3, but alas each kid ate two waffles but both Paul and I only got one a piece so stay tuned because hangry mom is coming soon.

I too thought they would have three waffles, oh well. We went straight in to the park through the dedicated entrance from the Grand Californian to California Adventure. This gate is just for hotel guests, but it is super convenient. We went straight for Cars Land, which I will say is my favorite of any Disney land.

We were around for its development and grand opening, and it is amazingly immersive. The fact I love Cars really helps too.

Marshall was pretty excited too. We headed to Radiator Springs Racers and the line was 120 minutes. If you’ve followed us at all you know we don’t normally wait in lines that long.

It is a paid Individual Lightning Lane experience, but since it was available with no wait we went ahead and paid the $21 a person to hop right on. This was definitely an excessive expense, but we were buying time. It saved us a lot of time in the morning which let us fit in other nice rides ahead of the crowd. The ride was great as always, and despite being the same ride mechanism as Test Track, it is a better ride.

The theming is exceptional, and the racing aspect is fun. Sometimes you win and sometimes it is the other guy, but everyone has fun.

It was money well spent I think. It’s a fun ride and I agree it beats Test Track. It’s like a perfected version of Test Track though.

Yep, exactly. We then checked out more of Cars Land, including Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters, which is a fun trackless ride with dancing cars.

It is the second iteration of a ride in this space, since it is where they tried a recreation of hovercraft cars here initially but this is far better.

Much much better, the cars are so cute. It’s also the first time we saw a trackless ride vehicle. They’re pretty neat.

Allison was really excited to ride Incredicoaster so we headed that way. The posted wait I think was about 20 minutes but while we were in line one of the track loading sides went down so it took a little longer than we had anticipated. Not a big deal though. We all rode it though which was crazy. The kids are getting so big.

This is a real rollercoaster. It used to be California Screaming back in our day, but the re-theme didn't take anything away from it at all. It uses a mag launch start much like Rockin Roller Coaster, but covers a lot more ground and has a full loop. We were lucky enough to be seated in the front two rows when we got on it, which was a treat for the kids first time on it. They both loved it, which was pretty cool.

It’s one of my very favorite rides it’s just a perfect rollercoaster. Next the kids decided for some reason to ride the scariest ride in the whole park.

This is funny, but I think they would agree. They wanted to try the ferris wheel, but it is not just any ferris wheel, it has roller coaster style track loops that some of the cabins rotate around on to add a level of excitement. Usually Melissa won't ride it, but she joined in and we all did it together. She recorded the kids reaction, and unfortunately they used some colorful language to express their fear as the ride began swinging. It put Marshall right on the edge of tears, but he made it through.

Their reactions were priceless. Watching them experience it for the first time distracted me from my usual terror at riding it. I’ve only ridden the swinging side a handful of times. We used to take Allie on the non swinging side when she was little. I don’t like that either but it’s way less terrifying. It’s a unique way to make a Ferris wheel way more exciting.

It is a very unique experience, and a lot of fun. We also did the Silly Symphony swings and then made our way towards Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout. This re-theme of Tower of Terror fits the park much better now that the Marvel Land is surrounding it. They did a great job of re-purposing an existing ride mechanism to fit the story.

As we got ready to board though Marshall decided he had to go potty, so I took him and we exited the ride instead of riding it. The nice CM felt sorry for us though and gave us paper line passes for the Fastpass line not only for that ride, but for the alternate version that they do at night where Monsters are on the loose in the building. This meant we could come back and all four of us could ride it again later in the night, and see the alternate version of the ride. Allie and Melissa rode the "normal" version and enjoyed it, although Allie really isn't a fan of the drops.

Oh my gosh the dang swings, we didn’t have a full recap of those. My butt didn’t fit, or it did but barely, and then when I stood up the swing did not come off my butt… not my most beautiful moment. They are also terrifying. Will probably never be doing them again. I have no idea why I followed you guys up those stairs.

This re-theme of Tower of Terror fits the park much better now that the Marvel Land is surrounding it. They did a great job of re-purposing an existing ride mechanism to fit the story. As we got ready to board though Marshall decided he had to go potty, so I took him and we exited the ride instead of riding it. The nice CM felt sorry for us though and gave us paper line passes for the Fastpass line not only for that ride, but for the alternate version that they do at night where Monsters are on the loose in the building. This meant we could come back and all four of us could ride it again later in the night, and see the alternate version of the ride. Allie and Melissa rode the "normal" version and enjoyed it, although Allie really isn't a fan of the drops.

Allie didn’t like it at all. I actually enjoyed it though. I love the music and the movement of the ride just feels more playful than Tower of Terror. It leaves you floating weightless for longer periods and it’s just fun. I’m also so glad Marshall didn’t have an accident on the ride.

We made it to the restroom and back just as the girls got off the ride. Instead of hopping back in line, we decided to wait to try the modified version that evening. Next we checked out Off The Page, the DCA art store.

We looked at all the art but didn’t find anything that needed to go home with us. We love this store so much. After Off the Page we hopped across the street to the other store and then shopped our way out of the park. I don’t remember buying anything though.

Allie was looking for Rapunzel ears but they were not to be found. We headed out of the park towards Downtown Disney and continued shopping in the World of Disney Store. It really is cool to be able to walk through there on the way back to the hotel from a park.

Marshall got tired of walking so Paul took him outside to sit down and Allie wanted to go check out another shop on her own. This left me by myself in World of Disney. The kids had been so good about not asking for anything but they each had things they had seen that they wanted so I picked up Maleficent ears for Allie and a Spider Bot for Marshall along with a sweatshirt for me. I left the store with this huge bag and when I caught up with everyone no one asked me what was in the bag.

I figured there might be presents in there so I kept quiet. We headed back to the room, which is super convenient because the hotel is right at Downtown Disney. We made it back to the room before Melissa revealed the contents of the bag.

It was just so funny to me that the kids weren’t all over me to see what was in the bag, it was so out of character. Both were so excited though when I unpacked the bag.

We took a break at the room for a while and playing with the spider bot was perfect for Marshall. It's "self destruct" mode was pretty funny. After a break in the room, we decided to go down and check out the pool. We had never swam here before, so we figured it was time. It turned out to be an odd experience. The pool area was super crowded, and despite having three pools there were no open seats. They had a pool host who attempted to find people seats and made sure the chairs were being used, but compared to a WDW pool it was quite odd. We wound up getting a chair to set our things at and and got in the pool. It was a little cool for us, but Marshall tried the slide a few times and liked it.

It felt very high end but it was so busy it was kind of unpleasant. It also wasn’t hot enough to really enjoy a swim. Marshall did have fun on the slide though. We didn’t stay long, maybe 45 minutes. We went back up to the room and got ready to go to dinner.

It was a not a great swimming experience, but that's ok. We had time to get ready for dinner which was conveniently right there in the hotel. We had reservations at Storytellers, which is a buffet restaurant where we had our rehersal dinner and many anniversaries. It is always great food, although on the expensive side.

There are always super tasty options though. I was kinda disappointed that they weren’t serving our favorite Chicken Corn Chowder. I need to investigate and see if we just missed it or if they don’t serve it at all anymore. The bread pudding is fantastic though, I ate way too much of that.

Melissa makes an excellent version of that Corn Chowder, and it has become a Christmas staple at our house. It might be the only surviving version now.

Dang, it is delicious though, my version has been tweaked so many times that I think it’s better than the Disney version but that’s just my opinion.

After dinner we headed right back into California Adventure.

The direct entrance is great, and this time we turned left and went towards Soarin and the Grizzly Peak airfield area. We had Lightning Lane to ride the Incredicoaster again so we got to do it after dark. This time we got the very back, which was different. We all enjoyed it.

It was fun to ride it in the very opposite end of the train.

Then we went towards Cars Land and rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. It is the same ride mechanism as Alien Swirling Saucers at HS, but is themed really cute. We had fun.

After that we headed over to ride Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout, the Monsters after Dark edition. It’s pretty neat, they shut the ride down for an hour to switch it over and it is so well done. I’m glad we rode it earlier in the day so we knew what it was supposed to feel and look like.

It was Marshall and my first time on it for the day, but we were impressed at the ability to run a modified version of the ride on the same day. In this version they are chasing a monster through the tower after a power surge. It was neat to get to see it this way with out having to do a Halloween party night.

You had gone through the pre show the first time though and got to see the changes to that. It was pretty fun though. Allie didn’t want to ride and ended up taking the chicken exit out and waited for us to get off the ride.

Yeah, Tower of Terror freaks her out and I doubted she was going to ride this twice in one day. After that we made our way back to the hotel and called it a night. On the way we stopped by the snack bar area but didn't find anything we needed.

We got back to the room and all settled in for the night. We were really excited to get back to Disneyland the next day.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

On Sunday morning, I took advantage of the opportunity to go out early and get some resort pictures. I just had to do it.

I did not get up early.

After everyone got up, Marshall and I took a trip down to Craftsman Grill (the resort QS spot) and picked up breakfast. We had breakfast burritos and the kids got Mickey Waffles.

After breakfast in the room we headed out into the park for the day. Our first stop was the art shop.

The security line was really long to get into Downtown Disney. Disneyland doesn’t have the fancy walk through scanners yet at least at these entrances, they still do manual bag checks and metal detectors so at peak times there can be quite the line.

They opened up an extra entrance though to help get people through quicker so that helped some.

It is kinda crazy having security checks at the hotel, but Downtown Disney is inside security here (which makes a lot of sense) and it leads to lines to leave the hotel at peak times, but at least they do what they can to reduce the wait at peak times. It was worth the wait though, because we were indeed headed to the art store.

For years we have walked in that store and dreamed of being able to afford art. It was so fun to walk in on a mission to make a purchase.

Melissa had decided that if the "Forbidden" castle print was still there we would get it, and there it was. We asked if they would hold a purchase for us, and they said it depended on what it was, but when they saw that it was a framed piece they were more than happy to hold it for us. They checked to see if they had any more in the back, but it was the last one so we actually got to buy it off of the wall of the store.

The CM pulled it off the wall and rang it up.

We even got a DVC discount which was pretty great. She said she would package it all up and hold it for us until the end of the day. While I was checking out we all overheard a guest walking through the store and well… you wanna tell everyone what she said.

Lol yeah, she was exclaiming that she just wished they had some good art there. Now keep in mind that there was a wide variety of artwork there as always, and they were having a Noah signing that day so there was even more art than normal. Appearently none of it was up to her standards though. The CM who was ringing us up has to stifle a laugh as she heard the comment as well. We all exchanged looks and rolled our eyes.

While we bought the art Marshall wanted to rest his feet and sat outside on a bench. I decided to go rent him a stroller for the day, but that is outside the park so I ran out to get one. Then we all met back up at the bench and shopped our way down Main Street.

It was so funny when we came out of the art store Marshall was just hanging out on the bench with his bubble wand living the dream.

Our next discovery was a watch for my Mom, Grandma Nancy. She collects Disney watches, and this was one she definitely didn't have.

It’s a super cute watch and she really likes it.

We kept going down Main Street and made our way over to Toon Town. We haven’t been to Toon Town in a long time and they’ve made lots of changes and added Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. It used to be so quiet there and a nice place to get out of the crowd. That is for sure not the case anymore.

We wound up waiting about 40 minutes for Rodger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, which used to be popular when it opened but had been a walk on for many years.

Now with the increased visitation to the park and the crowds in Toontown the wait for this one was almost as long as Runaway Railway.

It seemed like a really long time to wait but we were there and neither kid remembered it at all so we chose to wait for that instead of Railway which is the same as the WDW version. After we took our spins on the spinny cabs Allie wanted a pickle for a snack. We stopped at Good Boy Grocers and grabbed a pickle and some drinks.

I didn't see the snack I was looking for there, so as we made our way out of toontown I stopped at the Pretzel cart. We bought a cream cheese pretzel and a regular Mickey one and they both were excellent.

They are the same cream cheese pretzels they have at WDW! I didn’t even know Disneyland had them. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite snacks.

After the snack stop we headed to another unique DL ride, the Finding Nemo Submarines. This ride actually re-opened after an extended closure the weekend of our wedding, now 17 years ago. Both kids were interested in getting to ride it, and it was fun.

It wasn’t as cramped as I remember it being which was nice. It was fun and Marshall really seemed to enjoy it. After we resurfaced we had a Lightning Lane for Space Mountain. While both rides share the same name and have the same theme they are different rides on each coast.

We had to ride it for research purposes, and we all agreed that we liked the DL version better. We did have a delay before we could ride it though, and they shut down the ride and turned on the lights then reset everything. They stopped the line for a minute but we didn't have to back out of the queue so we soon were on our way.

It is far superior to the WDW version in my opinion. After space mountain we were meandering through Tomorrowland trying to figure out what we were going to do next and I saw a sign for a DVC lounge. We had no idea there was a lounge here. I’m sure somewhere it was announced but we missed the memo.

It was a nice break, and overall pretty similar to the one in Epcot. We had to get on a list for a seat inside, but by the time we got upstairs a couch was available and the CM led us to it. We filled our drink cups and enjoyed cookies and chips. It was a nice break and we sat and talked about how we are happy with our DVC decision, and our choice to spend more time at WDW than at DL. DL is neat and different, but still too close to home for us to be a true vacation.

Very true, the lounge just left us longing for Florida.

After that Allie wanted Green milk, so we crossed the park headed for Galaxy's Edge.

It really is fascinating to us how they tied it in to the classic park, and how it has the exact same floorplan as at DHS, but is oriented differently, being rotated but it all fits though.

She pretty much demanded green milk and left us no choice but to get over there and get her some. The expansion was definitely amazing to see. I feel like they did such a great job with it. I miss all of the stuff that used to be there but they really did an amazing job tying it all in.

We walked through the third exit that connects over by the former Splash Mountain, since we were on another snack quest since Allie wanted beignets to match her ears.

I remembered right where to go for beignets, there’s a little walk up window thing back by the New Orleans Square train station. They are cute Mickey shaped ones.

They were quite tasty, and another good snack, or hors d'oeuvres for our upcoming late lunch ADR. On Friday Melissa had been able to score a Blue Bayou reservation for Sunday afternoon, and this was on Allie's wishlist but I was too late to score a reservation when they first opened up.

Somehow the stars aligned and we were able to get in for a late lunch. It worked out absolutely perfect though.

Before lunch though we rode Pirates with a Lightning Lane, it was super fun to float by the restaurant before getting to eat there.

This is another thing WDW's version does not have, although the restaurant is a lot like the one in the Mexico pavilion by the boat ride there.

After riding Pirates we checked into the restaurant.

You have to double check in to this restaurant, once on your phone and once at the host stand. They are very strict about people waiting in the lobby and you have to have reservations confirmed to enter.

Yes, it was like there were multiple checkpoints and a secret handshake to gain access. I thought maybe we were going throuhg the access process for club 33 upstairs, not just Blue Bayou. We made it in though, and were fortunate enough to get a table right by the water.

It was pretty neat to eat here, we’ve only done it once before and that was before we were married I think.

The menu was still the lunch menu, so we had the opportunity to try their famous Monte Cristo sandwich. I decided to give it a shot.

I ordered the ribeye as did Allie and Marshall ordered the kids pasta with marinara sauce.

Paul and I shared a bit but the ribeye was so tasty. Allie loved it too.

The kids had fun waving to the pirate boats floating by.

It was all excellent, and the atmosphere made it a very nice meal. The Monte Cristo came with a sauce for the chips that was just exceptional and super tasty. I really liked the sandwich and would recommend it hightly. The steak was really good too.

We left the restaurant stuffed.

We had pretty much done everything that we wanted so it was time to head out of the park so we could get home and get ready for the week. On the way out I stopped at Jolly Holiday for a couple of Matterhorn Macaroons, I’m happy they still have these, they are really yummy.

Having had a successful and fun trip, we made our way down Main Street and headed out of the park.

We did stop and pick up the art on the way out. It was a very large box to carry out of the park. We’ve always had our art shipped home so carrying it out was a different experience.

We made our way to the hotel and went to the valet desk to pick up our bags and load them into our car. I went and got the car from the self parking lot across the street, and soon our bags were there waiting for us. We got everything loaded and headed for the freeway, all in under an hour from when we were in the park.

The drive home was uneventful and we got home nice and early so that we weren’t exhausted going into the week. It was a great little close to home vacation.

It was crazy to go from in the park to our driveway in under two hours. That doesn't happen with cross country WDW trips, but we were glad to take advantage of it to close out a busy but fun weekend.

It was so fun to relive some memories and make new ones with the kids. Thank you all for following along for this bonus episode. Stay tuned because we’ve already booked another trip! Here’s a hint, no Jeep this time. You’ll have to get the rest of the details in the Pre-Trip Report coming soon.

It will be fun, and the trip is only 236 days away!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I'd been waiting for this writeup, and of course it was fun to read!

It looks like at the Carnation Cafe, Marshall had a side of mashed potatoes shaped like the Matterhorn?

The earlier version of the Luigi's ride had vehicles that were steered by leaning in a direction; do the current vehicles also use that approach?

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't catch whether you guys went anywhere for lunch on Saturday?

You'd said a while back that you planned to repeat the Tom Sawyer Island hide and seek game on this trip. Did that end up fitting in?

No Jeep on the next trip; I guess that's because you need a larger vehicle to fit in all the luggage more easily?

It must have been so special to stay again at the hotel you guys are named after!