That's the 30th time we've heard that song.. A GRAND Xmas Adventure! Nov 13 TR 6/19!

[danimaroo]

I'm here ready to read all about your trip

YAY! So glad you're in for another TR!

I'm totally in!

Marisa Younker

YAY!

Yeah!
Another Dani trip report! ! Im here!

I can always count on you to be around for my TRs, glad you're in for another one!!

I love Disneyland at Christmas time.

Me, too! Which is why I'm so excited for this TR!

Just finished your September 2013 trip and Just found this!

Aww yay! I have one last updated for my September one and then it'll be all about this one! So weird to have that one almost over, but I'm glad you're here!

Another Dani TR? I'm in!!!! Can't wait to hear about Disneyland. I'm determined that same day I will make it out to the west coast to see Disneyland, because if it wasn't for Disneyland, there'd probably be no Disney World. Plus Disneyland and I share a birthday

Awesome, glad to have you along!! Disneyland is pretty amazing, I must admit. VERY different than Disney World, but so fabulous on its own. I think every Disney fan should try to get there at least once!

Another Dani and Matt adventure! Woooo!

I'm still following your September '13 TR, and can't wait to read about this one! Hopefully it will last long enough time get me to OUR trip in September. Bahaha! TRs are the only thing keeping me satiated between Disney trips.

Can't wait to see more! (Yeah, excuse the rambling, I'm slightly insane....minus the slightly ;D)

Haha of coooourse!! I'm glad you've enjoyed my September TR!! And yeah, I'm wondering how long this one will take me! Probably less than the 5 months until our trip.. but who knows, life can get a weebit busy so it might take me longer!

Joining in on the fun. Can't wait to hear about your stay at Grand Cali!!!

YAY! I am super excited to spill all the beans on our trip!!

I'm in!!!

Awesome, so glad to have you here!!

I'm here, because I'm a Dani TR stalker and stuff.

HAHAHA I'm glad you're here though... I like having TR stalkers, it's what keeps me writing!

Yeah for another TR. I have loved reading all your TR and enjoying your awesome photo's. I am looking forward to reading this one. Disneyland during the holidays is amazing and the reason we have gone every year usually the first week in Dec. I am excited to see what it is like staying in the GCH. We love PPH but look forward to staying in the GCH one day.

Aww thank you, I'm super excited to write this TR because it was such a fun trip! We're big fans of the mid-November trip since it's perfect to start off the Christmas season and not too busy, either! I'm really excited to talk about our stay at the GCH!

Whoo hoo, more adventures of Dani and Matt' can't wait

Hahaha, of course, so many lovely adventures on this trip that I can't wait to talk about!

Woot woot!!

Wootwoot indeed! I'm excited to start this one!

So ready to read about Disneyland because I am heading to Disneyland for the first time EVER 4th of July weekend! So excited

AHH that is so exciting! You are going to LOVE it!! We are going next month and I'm really excited to see DLR without Christmas decorations. We love them, but it'll be fun to see it in all its natural state.

Following you over here from your WDW trip report. Excited to hear about your and Matt's adventures!

Awesome, so glad you're here and followed me over!!

Count me in as well!!

YAY! Glad to have you here!

 

[danimaroo]

HERE DANI!!!! I haven't read a D-Land TR in ages, so seriously, what better choice than with my favourite Disney couple!!! Having only been there the one time, I'm sure it'll bring back such fond memories. And the G-Cal, I definitely remember that fondly. Even though I never actually stayed there, I passed though its loveliness every day.

I so agree. Writing 2 simultaneous TR's is HARD!!!

I am so excited to read this and, in all honesty, kind of excited that your note-less. Not because I'm happy you lost them of course (stupid Apple... yeah I'm so happy you have a Galaxy and not iPhone. Time to dump the iPad, lol), but as a person who NEVER takes notes, I can't help but be intrigued.

YAY ROB YOU ARE HERE AND I AM HAPPY! I hope you get back to DLR again. I just love it there! And the GCH as kind of amazing!

And yeah, 2 TRs just isn't possible for me. I have a hard enough time keeping up with one, but 2? Noooo way, haha.

I thought you'd find my note-less TR interesting since you don't take notes! I think it'll be manageable for a 4-day trip, but I can't even FATHOM writing a TR for an 11-day WDW trip! AHHH no way. And even then, the big help here is going to be my live-tweeting I did during the trip, haha. I don't know how you do it!

Yay! I love your reports and love hearing about Disneyland! Can't wait!!

Awww thanks! I am happy you're here and also stoked to write this TR!

I am here!!

YAY! Glad you've joined!

Here and joining in!! Love reading your Trip Reports because they always make me smile!

Aww thank you so much, I'm happy you've joined and that my TRs make you smile, seriously! That means a lot!

Hi, Dani!

When I made my way to the TR section and saw that Janet/mom2rtk had begun a holiday TR, I noticed that you had as well!

I am in the process of updating/adding to the existing posts on page 1 of the Christmas Superthread (it's a fairly new thread because we hit the page limit in the previous one), and when I get to the Trip Reports/Reviews section to revise it I will add in the link to this new masterpiece you have created! I know that people will love following along with your adventures. In fact, last night I just added links to your TR segments regarding the holiday tour (in 2012) to the Holiday Tour section on page 1 of the Superthread! That tour is one of the things that people ask questions about so often, so I tried to include links to a few different recaps of tour experiences (yours being the "rainy day tour experience"!) that I know will be helpful.

Oh, and by the way... the 4th Annual Theme Week Countdown begins in the Superthread in either late July or early August. I will most likely be giving away 2 Disney gift cards this year (to 2 randomly chosen photo contributors) and 1 gift card to a non-photo contributor. Be sure to pop in and participate for at least a few of the Theme Weeks if you have time!

Aww Sherry, I was hoping you'd see this thread and know that I AM INDEED actually writing a TR! It's a bit later than I'd hoped, but I just couldn't imagine writing both my WDW TR and this one at the same time. I think the quality would have been bad, so I'm glad I held off!

Plus, it sounds like it's good timing with the Christmas Superthread being re-started! And thank you so much for adding my TR to it, you're too kind.

I'm glad you added the Holiday Tour part of my TR! It was definitely different doing it in the rain, that's for sure, haha.

You KNOW I will be joining the Annual Theme Week Countdown!! I lovelovelove posting in it! I have some great photos from this trip that I think will fit in well with some of the weekly themes!

Thank you again for the comment and I'm glad you're here!

I AM SO EXCITED TO READ ABOUT YOUR STAY AT THE GRAND CALIFORNIAN! woooo!!!

I KNOW I CAN'T WAIT TO POST ABOUT IT EEEEEP.

I'm here and ready to go!!! I don't post much, but don't worry, I'm still reading along...

YAY! I'm glad you're here, and it's okay if you don't post! I mean, I'm not opposed to it, but you won't be shunned if you're not commenting, either.

I'm here to read along. I love your trip reports and I'm getting excited for my own DL trip in early June. Like anyone actually needs help getting psyched up for a Disney trip, but yeah. Still going to read along

YAY! I'm excited for your DL trip, too! I mean, seriously, we're heading back next month to Disneyland and I am SO excited! I probably won't write a TR for that one (going to try to focus on making a video and taking photos), but there's just no way to NOT be super excited for a trip to Disneyland or WDW!

I'm in! I can't wait to read it. And bummed we missed each other during the Christmas season. Some day....

Awesome, I'm glad you're here!! When were you there exactly?! We'll be back again (fingers crossed, this is our current plan) in mid-November, so hopefully at some point we can cross paths!

Can't wait to read all about this trip Such a bummer about losing your notes though

Aww, thanks! And yeah, I was seriously bummed out and wasn't sure what to do. But I'm just going to deal with it and do my best to make this a fantastic TR!

I'm in!!! wow it's so yellow here? Bring on those lil gems!

Hahaha, I know, it's kind of weird having the yellow background!! But I'm glad you're in for another TR!

Yup. All aboard!!!!!!

Let the goober holiday stories fly!

Linda

YAY! You are in for some mega goober stories, hahaha.

Jumping in!! I miss DL so so so much, so of course I'm really excited for not only another Dani TR, but another Dani DL TR!!

YAY! I'm glad to have you here! I have to admit, writing about Disneyland is kind of refreshing as my WDW TR comes to an end! I hope you guys get back out to DLR again soon!

Dani!!!! I'm so lazy when it comes to commenting on trip reports, but follow yours religiously. Also, love your and Matt's Instagram posts. Had to de-lurk and tell you how stoked I am for this trip report. My little girl and I are DLR bound for the first time for her birthday this December. Thanks for sharing. You're precious!!

Haha it's SO okay, I promise! I'm not great at it either, but I'm glad you're here and that is SO exciting you're going to DLR in December! I hope this TR helps a bit for some good holiday planning/tips!

Yay joining in! Have not started reading yet but I will start soon. I just got back from DL myself so my withdraws are being taken care of by reading TR's and creating my own! So happy to see you've made another one about my home parks.

Aww yay! TRs always seem to be the best cure for when you're getting back from a trip, I swear! I'm very excited to be writing about DL again!

Here like always, but probably lurking as usual. Can't wait to read about your DL trip!

PS. I'm hoping my family and I run into you in September, you are seriously a DisCeleb to me . Ok that may have come off as a bit creepy, but I swear I'm totally not..........

Haha sounds good, lurk away! And if you see us in September, PLEASE say hi! I always love meeting DISers, seriously! And it's not creepy, though I'm totally not a DIS celeb, hahaha. I'm just a dork who loves writing about our Disney trips!

Joining in

Glad you're here, as always.

So, I was a lurker on your last TR, but just wanted to let you know how fantastic that one was, and how excited I am to get to read another one right after. It's like a little party that never ends!

Aww I don't mind lurkers at all! But thank you so so much for the kind words and I'm glad you're on-board for this one! I get worried I'll lose people who aren't interested in DLR or something! But yes, it's a never-ending TR party around here! Hahaha.

I'm here.

YAY so glad you're here Marissa. Also, I'm glad you're writing a TR for your May trip. I'm excited to hear all about it!

Following along!

Awesome, glad you're along for another TR!!

So excited to follow along! We are headed to DL in December!

YAY! That is so exciting! DLR during the holidays is just BEAUTIFUL. Seriously, I love it so much!

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter 1: I'm like Aunt Sue on SNL... I'm so FREAKIN' excited!
Day One: November 13th, 2013

Matt and I got up this morning at around 7:30 or so. It felt kind of weird not getting up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight for a Disney vacation. Plus, it made it not as terrible packing up the last-minute stuff... though a certain little dog was NOT having any of it and thought maybe we could just bring him along.

Or maybe just break the suitcase so we couldn't go. Either way, Milo was being adorable.

We'd gotten most of our bags out to the car already, so we just had our last-minute stuff to put in there. We snuggled our pups for a bit, then headed out and off to the airport!

twitter: Kbai, going to Disneyland now.

Bruce and Amy were watching our doggies while we were gone, which was super appreciated, as always. Usually when we go to Disney World, we use a town car service because we are gone for so many days, parking fees would add up quickly. But with Disneyland, since we're usually only gone for about 4 days, parking at the airport is very reasonable, so we take our car instead!

So anyway, we got ourselves to the parking lot that we usually go to (can't beat $6.95 per day at Sea-Tac), and lucky for us, a shuttle was waiting to whisk us away to the airport.

Here's Matt yawning... it WAS bright and early after all! And let's remember, Matt is notorious for wanting to leave EXTRA early to ensure we have plenty of time before our flight leaves. Let's all recall last Disneyland trip, where Matt had us at the airport BEFORE the JetBlue counter even opened.

We zipped through checking our bags (have I mentioned how much I love JetBlue and their one free bag policy? Because I do.) and also through security, since the line wasn't very long at all. In fact, Matt was stressing out over it.

twitter: Matt was concerned about not having enough time at the airport. We got through security in 5 minutes... Hahaha.
twitter: Also, our flight leaves in 2 hours.

After getting through, we obviously, as I mentioned in my tweets, had a bunch of time to kill, so we went to go and get some breakfast. I got us our coffee while Matt went and got us breakfast at Wendy's. I got through the line at Starbucks (which was long, mind you) and got myself a black tea lemonade... I was okay with that, since sometimes coffee upsets my stomach... and no one wants an upset stomach before a flight, right?

We met back up and found a table to sit at...

and I believe I got some sort of egg and bacon sandwich. Wendy's airport breakfasts aren't that bad!

We sat for a bit then finally decided to head off to our gate, which I'd remembered was near this super creepy mural with a magician. We decided to take a picture of said creepy mural.

and then I sent it off to my friend Rachel, hahaha. I'm weird, don't ask.

Anyway, we sat down to wait for our flight and I instagrammed a photo of Matt while we waited, saying: Waiting at the airport for our flight. #seatac #disneylandorbust

Our flight left on time and we ended up having a hilarious flight crew. I wish I could remember what exactly they did, but they just had a good sense of humor and made the flight a fast one!

twitter: Just landed at Long Beach! Our @JetBlue flight crew (flight 107) was AWESOME and hilarious.

Our flight landed in Long Beach at around 1 or so, and one thing I love about Long Beach Airport is that they de-board the plane from both the front AND the back. So since we were towards the back, we skidaddled right off the plane and right on outside.

We were really surprised to see a basically brand new airport at Long Beach! It was a pleasant surprise compared to our previous year there, where everything was under construction/was a hot mess.

It was also HOT out. I mean, considerably warm in the upper 80s! But it was dry, which I can deal with no problem. It's that Florida humidity that kills me...

Of course I had to go to the bathroom as soon as we got there, so I ran inside and then got a phone call from our shuttle driver, saying he was there waiting for us. Because Long Beach is such a small airport, luggage comes out pretty quickly, which was nice. I was a much bigger fan of Long Beach this trip! Small airport = getting in and out of there quickly.

We chose to go with Zippy Shuttle again this trip because of how much we liked them last trip. They're reliable and usually friendly, plus it's a private shuttle vs. a shared one. Their rates had gone up a little since our previous trip, but I believe it came to around $110 total round trip (tip included) to/from the airport which is pretty reasonable.

After finding our driver and getting ourselves set in the car, we were off to the Grand Californian!

twitter: On our way to the Grand Californian... Hope our room is readyyyyyy.

Now let me back up here for a sec and explain why this whole trip was a big deal for us in terms of the Grand Californian.

Because we are DVC members, we have the option to stay at the Villas at Grand Californian. Matt's parents are also DVC members and had some leftover points for last year, so they offered us their points if we'd take care of the fees for those points. Pretty sweet, right?!

However, there are VERY few Villas available at the Grand Californian, as in, around 50. We also do not own DVC points at Grand Californian, so we could only make reservations 7 months out (vs. the 11 months that VGC owners can book at).

It is VERY difficult to get into the Grand Californian at 7 months out due to the tiny amount of Villas available for booking.

Of course, I was hoping to get us a room, so I calculated the exact day that I needed to make the reservation, and obsessively started checking the DVC site leading up to our booking date.

The day before our 7 month mark, I checked availability and noticed that all of our nights were available if I booked right then, for November 12th-17th, which was one day extra than what we planned. I was pretty sure we wouldn't be doing all 5 days, but figured if I booked right then, I could always just call and cancel one day of our trip... and we'd be guaranteed the days we wanted!

So I went and booked it, and not even an hour later, the dates we wanted were booked solid... so basically, if I hadn't booked a day early when I did, we wouldn't have gotten in at all. PHEW.

I'm telling you, booking DVC at the Grand Californian is cut-throat, hahaha.

I ended up calling in and canceling the first day of our trip (the 12th), and that made our reservation from the 13th-17th! We were officially staying at the Grand Californian! I couldn't believe it... I mean, it's NOT an inexpensive place to stay, and with all of the Disney trips we'd taken this year using our Premier APs, we definitely couldn't afford to stay at the Grand Californian.

So to be staying there for this trip was just beyond exciting, especially since we were curious to see what it'd be like staying on-property in Disneyland.

ANYWAY! Our shuttle pulled up and we officially had arrived!

One thing that stood out to me right away from the outside was how much it reminded me of the Wilderness Lodge.

The entry way, not as much, but how exciting is it to see that sign?! "Disneyland... The Happiest Place on Earth"

We walked inside and I was just so freakin' excited! As in, I am pretty sure I turned into Kristen Wiig's Aunt Sue on SNL. This was me:

We had to wait to check in for a few minutes, but the CM we chatted with was very nice. I took a quick (and not so good) photo of the lobby while we waited and tweeted:

twitter: Holy poop the Grand Californian is gorgeous.

We finally got up to the counter to check in and the CM was very nice. She informed us that our room was not ready yet, but they would send us a text when it was.

I was slightly bummed out about this, but then figured it wouldn't matter THAT much since we would just drop our stuff off anyway before running off to the park.

But when she told us our room number and it began with a 1, I knew we were on the ground floor. Again, slight bummer since I was hoping to be on a higher floor with a view of California Adventure, but I wasn't about to complain since we were staying at the freakin' Grand Californian... and let's be honest, we wouldn't be in our room THAT much.

We dropped off our bags with Bell Services, then headed off towards Disneyland! The Grand Californian's quickest path to Disneyland actually has you exiting the resort right into Downtown Disney, and very close to World of Disney.

We had to take care of ticket stuff before we could go into the park, so we headed for the ticketing booths, which had a huge line. I noticed Guest Relations was over near the gates and saw no one in that line, so we got out of the long line and walked right up to a CM to fix everything.

When we went to Disney World in September, we had to get completely different Premier Annual Passports because they needed to be upgraded to the cards with an RFID chip in them (since Disney World had completely gotten rid of the card readers and only had RFID readers now).

When we made this switch, the CM at Disney World told us we'd have to re-activate our APs in Disneyland because they were completely new cards with different numbers. Fun times! Fortunately, this was a super easy thing for the Guest Relations CMs to do in Disneyland, and we were on our way within 5 minutes.

We got through the gate pretty quickly, and as we walked through the tunnel, I noticed this fabulous Jingle Cruise poster! I was really excited to go on it during our trip.

We came out of the tunnel and saw beautiful Main Street, along with the Christmas tree that I adore so much.

twitter: I am so happy right now:

I even spotted Minnie in front of the Firehouse, meeting in her adorable Christmas outfit.

Soon enough, we were strolling down Main Street, waving hello to the tiniest but prettiest pink castle I know... even though you can't really see it in the photo below, haha.

It was kind of funny this trip how we didn't feel that crazy sense of feeling like things were in the wrong place. Being in Disneyland again felt normal to me, and I was happy to be walking down Main Street and not have things feel off.

Now as you can imagine, Matt and I were pretty hungry! We had decided to hold off on eating anything so we could make sure we enjoyed a fabulous lunch in Disneyland... and we had one thing in mind.

twitter: Time for some food... Take a guess what our first Disney food is.

Continued in next post​

 

[Terkina]

What a great start of your trip even if you did get ground floor at the Grand Californian

 

[JDUB]

Awesome start!!! You guys and others have convinced me to switch our stay at AoA to renting DVC points in Dec. Trying a couple options for family of five is difficult but we might try your new home resort OKW!!! Also trying BC since I feel in love with the boardwalk area in feb.

 

[white306]

I'm in! What a great start!

I'm going to try to not be such a lurker for this TR. I found your September TR a couple days ago and spent all my time catching up with that. (I'm sure work appreciated that ha ha)

The boyfriend and I went on our first trip to The World in January and I never imagined I would love it as much as I did. I figured it would be a one and done thing. Now I'm trying to convince him to go back this September. I wanted to go in October for his birthday on Halloween, but after viewing the crowd levels I think September will be better. (We are not crowd people which makes it kind of hard for Disney World)

Anyways...back to this TR I've read a few blogs on Disneyland and the holidays and I am really hoping we can get out there to experience it next year so I'm excited to follow your journey!

 

[DawnFeiss]

So glad I don't have to go through withdrawal. Thank you

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

YIPPEE..the TR has begun!!!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I thought you'd find my note-less TR interesting since you don't take notes! I think it'll be manageable for a 4-day trip, but I can't even FATHOM writing a TR for an 11-day WDW trip! AHHH no way. And even then, the big help here is going to be my live-tweeting I did during the trip, haha. I don't know how you do it!

Easy... I just make stuff up (kidding).


I have to say it. You just know the one time you decide to go later to the airport is the one time the lines will be insane. Guaranteed.

Ummmm, that's a creepy mural.

Yup... I'll take 80+ and dry over 70 and humid EVERY TIME!

Hey look on the bright side... ground floor means you get to the parks quicker.

I think you are so right. My one and only time there everything was so familiar yet so completely confusing. Um, why are the HM and Pirates so close together???? I think if I went again, it would all feel totally normal now.

 

[PryncessChrysty]

How cute your poochie was when you were trying to leave. Poor little guy.

I LOVE how the timing worked out when you booked your reservation! I'm so impressed that you were able to get all of your days even at the 7 month mark. I'm also impressed with the way you worked around the dates. I may be guilty of making extended WDW resort reservations a time or two when trying to book coveted ADR's early in our trips. lol

I also love how you're incorporating your Tweets & Instagram posts into the TR. I remember seeing your trip live on IG, so it's fun to read the actual story now.

I have a good guess at what your lunch might have been! Can't wait to find out!

 

[Tracy161]

Count me in!!! My very first DL TR I can't possibly miss out on another Dani and Matt adventure!!!

 

[smile4stamps]

Joining in and subscribing! I will be MIA for 3 weeks soon though so hopefully will be able to catch up next month!

I think you were either going for a Disney Classic with the Hot Dog or something a little more filling with Blue Bayou....

 

[deedee2177]

Great update and start to the trip. I leave for WDW in 2 days and cannot wait!!!! Your TRs have help to make the wait more bearable!!!

 

[Malroy]

So, we basically cannot get out of Alaska without flying through SeaTac - and almost always on this same flight that leaves around 130am and gets in at 545am. And so we have RITUAL WENDYS BREAKFAST in seatac everytime we are going anywhere. When they changed to their new menu I was soooo disappointed at first, but then realized it's not too bad. And, funny story, when we were flying to visit my fiance's family over christmas, there was a woman in the food court area playing a grand piano - AT 6AM. So we got live piano music while we were enjoying our wendys breakfast!

I cannot WAIT to see your room pics and such - I was trying to remember back to your instagram pictures but couldn't remember and then decided to see your TR postings!!

 

[khertz]

I'm sure travel days to DL are SO much easier compared to travel days to WDW!

WOW, th booking for VGC sounds insane. Pretty awesome that you were able to get in just in the nick of time. I can't imagine how excited you had to be to pull up there and know you were spending your trip there!!

Looking forward to more...

 

[chipdale1986]

Joining in from Germany

A great trip report from WDW, now a brilliant trip report from DLR.

You´re simply the queen of trip reports


Thanks so much for taking the time to write such great reports

 

[Miss Potts]

I'm here! I'm here! Looking forward to reading this TR! I NEED to go to DL.

 

[Nermel9]

I'm here!!

Wow, the Grand Californian is beautiful...it really does look like the WL but all those wooden beams make it very California, if that makes sense! I hope you have pics of the room!

Main Street in Disneyland looks SO beautiful! It looks just like MK but different...greener, maybe. I just need to go there. I was SO close to skipping WDW this year to do DLR instead. Maybe next year. I couldn't pass up Food and Wine this year!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[mollybuck]

I've been like a stage 5 lurker on the trip report boards, but I finally made an account and I love your reports. I am so pumped for all the DLR goodness about to happen. Like Grand Californian?! I am already dying. Looking forward to the TR!

 

[mollybuck]

Double post - Whoops!