The Cousin's Adventures in Disneyland Oct 23-27, 2013

[tlovesdis]

Cast of characters:

Me (44) HUGE HUGE HUGE lover of all things Disney

Lenette (44) my cousin and also a HUGE lover of all things Disney

Haley (19) my cousins daughter, my little cousin, and she tolerates our Disney obsession, but does love going to Disneyland

Allonna (14) my niece and cousin to Haley and Lenette, HUGE Disney lover, has been to Disneyland 18 times in her young life!

A little background…

My cousin and I try to go to Disneyland at least once a year and we began planning this trip right after we got back last November. We booked the DLH through Disney so we could make payments and it wouldn’t feel like such a big hit to the pocketbook all at once. I wasn’t going to take my niece, since she just started high school and would have to miss three days of school, but she begged to go and her mom and her teachers said it was ok, so she got to go!! We planned our itinerary for months, bought lots of goodies, made reservations and we were so ready to go when Wednesday morning rolled around!!!

Wednesday October 23, 2013

Allonna and I were up at 5am to get ready and load my car. We left our house at 6am and got to my cousins house at 6:45. We loaded everything into her Jeep and we were out the door at 7:10am. Our first stop was Starbucks and we were on the road at 7:30!!

Traffic was a bit of a bear at first, but once we got on the main highway we were good to go. We stopped for gas and a stretch once then made our way to Pasadena. We were going to this amazing burger join there called Slaters 50/50. I had been there once before and since my cousin was such a lover of burgers I knew we just had to sop there! It’s only a tiny bit out of the way. We got there about noon and really enjoyed our lunch!

Burgers from Slaters...





We got back on the road and made one more stop at the Outlets at Orange for a bit of shopping. We arrived at the DLH at about 3:30pm. Our room was ready. We had booked a standard view room and had put in a request for the Adventure Tower and we got it. We were on the second floor. Our view was the back of Tangaroa Terrace and a bit of the pool. Our room was nice and roomy with a daybed. We loved it!!!

The view from our room...



We unpacked and settled in then Lenette, Allonna and I immediately went to the Fantasia Gift Shop! I was on a mission to find three specific Alex and Ani bracelets as well as a black Vera Bradley Tote! I found the tote as well as two bracelets and Allonna found a really cute Mickey sweater. I had been at DL for less than an hour and managed to spend $200+ in record time! But I was happy I found what I was looking for.




We went back to the room to freshen up then headed to DTD for some shopping and dinner! I found my third bracelet at Vault 28 so I was a happy girl! We wandered around for a bit, then went to the Jazz Kitchen for our 7pm reservation. We waited for about 10 minutes and then we were seated. This place has a great atmosphere and at first our service was good. The food here was just ok. Haley had some kind of egg rolls that were decent. The gumbo was yummy, Allonna and I both had that. Lenette ordered a side of these blue cheese potatoes that were just ok. We did all love the chocolate bread pudding. Lenette and I each had one drink as well. Overall we thought it was just ok, but probably would not eat there again in the future.

Chocolate bread pudding...



We shopped a bit more then headed back to the room to get some rest so we would be ready for our first day in the parks!! But first we stopped for a drink at Trader Sam’s then hit the sack.

 

[tlovesdis]

Thursday October 24, 2013

We were up, ready and out the door at 8:30. We had 9am EMH. We got into the park at about 8:45 and hit up Starbucks! YUM!!! Then we made our way over to Space Mountain.

Me in the new Starbucks at DL



I should let you all know that I use at scooter at DLR due to feet issues I have. Because I had the scooter I did not need to get a DAS card. The scooter was enough to get return time passes on the rides that were issuing them.

We made our way to the exit area of Space Mountain and I asked the CM if I could get a return time for the ride. He said I was the first ECV of the day and there was no wait and he sent us on down to through the exit. I am not a huge fan of the Ghost Galaxy overlay, but it was ok.

When we came out, the wait time for Star Tours was only 10 minutes so I parked the ECV and used the regular entrance. We love that ride! I love how you never know which scene you are going to get! We next rode Buzz Lightyear. After that we did a little photoshoot in front of the castle with our photopass + then made our way over to Indy. The wait was about 40 minutes so they gave me a return time to come back in 30 minutes or more. So we went over to Pirates and it was a 5 minute wait so I parked the scooter and we got right on in the regular line. Pirates regular line always seems to move really fast!!

After Pirates we went on HM and then went back to ride Indy with our return pass. We ended up waiting about a total of 35 minutes using the return time pass. We went over to ride Pooh, bit it was down, so we picked up some yummy treats for later in the day!

We had an 11:20 reservation at Carnation Café so we made our way over there. I have only eaten here once, years ago, for breakfast so I was really looking forward to eating lunch there. While we waited to check in Chef Oscar was greeting people! He was so nice!!! We were seated right away, ordered and the food came super fast. Between the four of us we had an order of the fried pickles, a plate of fruit, a baked potato soup and two turkey sandwiches. Everything was so good! We loved it. After we were down, Chef Oscar came to our table to see how we liked the food and we got to chatting with him. He started working at DL one year after it opened and has been there 57 years now. He knew Walt!!! My niece is a DL history buff so she asked to take her picture with him! It was truly a very cool and special moment for the 4 of us!!!

Food from Carnation Cafe





Allonna with Chef Oscar



We did some shopping on Main Street, then headed to the ticket booths so Haley and Lenette could upgrade to an AP!!! That took a little bit, but wasn’t too bad.

While they were upgrading, Allonna and I went into DCA and rode Screaming! We met the girls at Ghiradeli and had sundaes! YUMMY!!!! Next we rode Tower, with only about a 15 minute wait, then we went on Soarin, with only about a 20 minute wait. The parks were not very busy, which was really nice!!!



After Soarin we went to the boardwalk area and rode Ariel then Toy Story and the carousel. I hadn’t every been on the carousel in DCA and I sure felt like a little kid again! The young ones played some of the games and we shopped a bit.

We had a 6:30 reservation at Wine Country Trattoria. We checked in at 6:25 and they said it would be 10 minutes. We ordered a glass of wine while we waited and the 10 minute wait turned into 35. At 7pm I finally went up to see what was going on and apparently they had forgotten about us! We got seated right away after that.

We were seated outside, which we loved! Our waitress, Olga, was great throughout our entire meal!!! We ordered salads to share as well as two pasta dishes to share between the 4 of us. I gotta say, the shrimp scampi pasta is amazing! We loved it! We also had a chicken pasta with marinara, which was very good. This ended up being our favorite meal of the whole trip!!! We had drinks and also after the meal we had Godiva Chocolate shooters, which were super yummy!!! We love this place and eat here every time we visit!!!



It was after 8 by the time we were done and the park was closed so we made our way to BV Street for some more shopping, then we headed back to the hotel to chill and get some rest. Overall, we had an amazing first day!!!

 

[luulu1999]

Yaay!! I love trip reports and pics!! Can't wait to read more

 

[DisneytheKid]

Subbing!

 

[tlovesdis]

Friday October 25, 2013

Today was our Halloween Party day! We slept in a little then went to DTD. We had breakfast at Jazz Kitchen Express and it was super yummy! We loved the breakfast burrito and chicory coffee. We went to the WOD Store and spent even more money!!!

We went back to the hotel and got ready to go to the pool and hot tub. It was a little chilly, but the pool was heated and the hot tub felt great! My cousin and I actually went down the big monorail slide, which was so much fun!!! Again, felt like a little kid!!!



After hanging out at the pool we had sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich then relaxed in the room! We got ready for the party and headed out the door about 3:30 or so.

My niece, the little angel!!



We got in the gates before 4, which was nice and headed to our 4:30pm reservation for Café Orleans! My niece LOVES the three cheese Monte Cristo and had been anxiously awaiting it! We split it, of course, because it is so big! We all shared an order of the pomme frittes and Haley and Lenette had crepes. It was a lovely meal!!!





After that we rode a few rides, Pirates, Indy and HM. Then we went to Toontown to start trick or treating. The lines were really long, but went really fast! We did all the treat trails there then did the one near the Matterhorn and made our way over to the New Orleans square area. We did the treat trails there and listened to the Cadaver Dans! They were awesome! We loved it!!!!

Next we went and found a great spot at Jolly Holiday to watch the fireworks. Lenette and I got ice cream from Gibson Girl and the girls got treats at JH. We watched the fireworks and LOVED it!!!! It’s a great fireworks show!!!! After that we went to meet the villains. We stopped and got our picture with the giant pumpkin on Main Street then got in line for the villains. The line was super long, but again went pretty fast. Cruella was wandering around talking to people in the line and the girls got a picture with her. Then we met the Evil Queen, Malificent and Hades! What fun!!! After that we watched the cavalcade then called it a night. We were pretty tired. We got back to the room about midnight and all fell right asleep!!!









Another fun day at Disneyland!!!!

I have to tell a really quick story about my new friend Jake! So at each Villian stop I gave them our photopass + as well as my iphone to take a pic. When we got to Hades at the end, the photographer was Jake. He was super nice and for some reason kept saying he loved me! LOL!!! He was taking pics with my phone and he was taking a lot of them! I finally said, did you get a good one and he said OH YEA I GOT A REALLY GOOD ONE! That night when I was going through my pics I saw this on my camera...

 

[splashtastic!]

Love your trip report so far! Great pics!
Your niece is adorable