DizMe
Here we gooooo...
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Messages
- 9,353
As many of you know, I go to Disneyland with my sister every December. We always try to find something new we've never done before. I'll detail our trip below and include pictures. This is our 13th year and would have been 15 had Covid not come into play.
First, we're 2 old women of 68 (me) and 70 (sis). We always stay at GCH for our Christmas trip.
My sis drives to my house from Crescent City and we drive down to Sacramento and fly down. Got a great deal on LGB this year (using SW points at a very cheap rate). We generally use ride share to get to/from the resort.
Checked into the hotel, which was super easy and no line when we arrived, which was around 10 am Dec 12. We requested our favorite spot, which is 3rd floor near the main elevators. We got a fantastic room that overlooked the Brisa Courtyard (the monorail goes through it). We'd booked a premium room so this was a "downgrade," but we didn't consider it that! We loved just turning the corner to get to the elevator, seeing the beautiful open lobby right outside our door, and having quick and easy access to the rarely-used 3rd floor balcony lobby. That's a wonderful place to relax and enjoy snacks. We like to bring a bottle of port and sit there when the carolers are singing and enjoy the gorgeous tree. We could barely hear the elevators even though our room was directly behind them.
I have an Inspire pass and we got a hopper for my sister. This year I added LL to her pass. I'd never tried LL and figured it might be nice if it was really busy at the parks and then I could purchase it for the day as needed. It came in pretty handy on a couple of our busier days. I haven't done the math so I'm not sure whether it was worthwhile to get the 4-day hopper with LL since we only used it 2 days. I don't know if you can get a regular hopper and add LL to it as needed when you're there or if it's an "all or nothing" pass. Anyway, it was pretty awesome on the days we used it.
However, our main goal isn't rides. We don't run around making ride schedules and planning our day around when we've managed to book rides. Instead, we usually plan around what meals we've booked, LOL! We love going to certain restaurants and I've usually secured several reservations long before we leave. We also love to have a theme which we use for pictures. This year we used the "Sisters, Sisters" theme from the old movie "White Christmas" for one of our days. Another day was "Snow Queens" and the rest was just general Christmasy stuff. We got pictures with Santa in the Grand, the big Christmas tree on Main St in DL, in front of the Castle, etc.
We wore our Snow Queen outfits to the Fantasmic! Riverbelle Terrace dining package. Some of you probably remember I was worried about the fact that we had giant capes to go with that ensemble and whether or not they'd let us wear them. All we got were compliments and many of the CMs wished they had one because it was COLD that night! It was very gratifying to get stopped by so many people. Some even asked if they could get a picture with us! We had a lot of glitter and sparkle, which doesn't show up too well in the pictures but was very noticeable in person, and I'm a big fan of being sparkly. I am known as the tiara girl-- I even have one on in my driver's license picture
The RBT F! dinner show was amazing!! Thanks to all who discussed and recommended it!! We had a 7 pm reservation. Everything went smooth as silk and we enjoyed a great meal (far too much food for me but it was delicious!).
Here are some pics (I'm the one with long hair):
First, we're 2 old women of 68 (me) and 70 (sis). We always stay at GCH for our Christmas trip.
My sis drives to my house from Crescent City and we drive down to Sacramento and fly down. Got a great deal on LGB this year (using SW points at a very cheap rate). We generally use ride share to get to/from the resort.
Checked into the hotel, which was super easy and no line when we arrived, which was around 10 am Dec 12. We requested our favorite spot, which is 3rd floor near the main elevators. We got a fantastic room that overlooked the Brisa Courtyard (the monorail goes through it). We'd booked a premium room so this was a "downgrade," but we didn't consider it that! We loved just turning the corner to get to the elevator, seeing the beautiful open lobby right outside our door, and having quick and easy access to the rarely-used 3rd floor balcony lobby. That's a wonderful place to relax and enjoy snacks. We like to bring a bottle of port and sit there when the carolers are singing and enjoy the gorgeous tree. We could barely hear the elevators even though our room was directly behind them.
I have an Inspire pass and we got a hopper for my sister. This year I added LL to her pass. I'd never tried LL and figured it might be nice if it was really busy at the parks and then I could purchase it for the day as needed. It came in pretty handy on a couple of our busier days. I haven't done the math so I'm not sure whether it was worthwhile to get the 4-day hopper with LL since we only used it 2 days. I don't know if you can get a regular hopper and add LL to it as needed when you're there or if it's an "all or nothing" pass. Anyway, it was pretty awesome on the days we used it.
However, our main goal isn't rides. We don't run around making ride schedules and planning our day around when we've managed to book rides. Instead, we usually plan around what meals we've booked, LOL! We love going to certain restaurants and I've usually secured several reservations long before we leave. We also love to have a theme which we use for pictures. This year we used the "Sisters, Sisters" theme from the old movie "White Christmas" for one of our days. Another day was "Snow Queens" and the rest was just general Christmasy stuff. We got pictures with Santa in the Grand, the big Christmas tree on Main St in DL, in front of the Castle, etc.
We wore our Snow Queen outfits to the Fantasmic! Riverbelle Terrace dining package. Some of you probably remember I was worried about the fact that we had giant capes to go with that ensemble and whether or not they'd let us wear them. All we got were compliments and many of the CMs wished they had one because it was COLD that night! It was very gratifying to get stopped by so many people. Some even asked if they could get a picture with us! We had a lot of glitter and sparkle, which doesn't show up too well in the pictures but was very noticeable in person, and I'm a big fan of being sparkly. I am known as the tiara girl-- I even have one on in my driver's license picture
The RBT F! dinner show was amazing!! Thanks to all who discussed and recommended it!! We had a 7 pm reservation. Everything went smooth as silk and we enjoyed a great meal (far too much food for me but it was delicious!).
Here are some pics (I'm the one with long hair):
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I'm so jealous !!!! 
