We Moved to Disneyland!! Now What…? Stories from New DLR Locals - Updated 1/15

Happy (belated) birthday! Glad to hear you got to spend it in the parks and have the fried chicken :)

So cool about the Randall/HM Wallpaper thing. I'll have to watch out for that next time I ride it.

Great Lion King drawing :thumbsup2

Pretty photos of the Mark Twain.

I think there was more I meant to comment on but I can't remember now :rotfl:
 
I know what you mean about grad nites. We were there last year in May and you definitely could tell which nights were and which weren't. I thought they were talking about limiting them to one park only. You are right, they should give them their own space, like start grad nite at 9 p.m. and stay open most of the night. The kids would love that...and so would we!

Love Tracy's new hair. Very cute!

Love your drawing of the Lion King characters. You are one very talented dude! You can sing and dance and play the piano and draw too! Oh, and write. :goodvibes

As usual I am reading all your posts with great interest and getting some wonderful ideas and tips for our visit STARTING TOMORROW!

We didn't drive down to Anaheim on Thursday. Just decided that with the drive that would probably include a few traffic jams, the busy parks because of Halloween and it just being a couple more days until we were right across the street, we just hung around here and enjoyed the sunshine and the pool.

Yesterday we went to Griffith Park and visited the Autry National Center right next to the LA zoo. Very worth the visit, lots of cool Old West stuff like a real chuckwagon, stage coach, steam engine, lots of costumes and clothing from the era, lots of history. We loved it.
 
I love the R2D2 bucket! I was tempted to get it on our trip in July, but I had already bought 2 Dumbo popcorn buckets for the kids, and it's impossible to get away with buying just 1 of anything with my kids! It didn't have fries in it when I saw it. I think it was a snack pack with yogurt and carrot sticks or something and I think it was much more than $12 (certainly way more than I was planning to spend and not nearly enough food in it to justify buying it!)
 
Hi from Australia! :flower3:

I've really enjoyed your report, both the Disney and non-Disney parts.

As a tourist who can only visit every few years it's been really interesting to "see" Disney from a local's point of view. When you've only got 2 weeks or so out of a 6-8 week trip to spend at Disneyland (or WDW), you tend to go commando-style most days just in the hopes of not missing anything.

I think it's great that you and Tracey can pop in for a few hours here and there and just enjoy a few things at a time in more detail. Not to mention all that yummy food. :rotfl2:

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report. :)
 

Awesome character meet pictures with Pooh and friends.

That is one dramatic hair cut for Tracy. I think I agree with her.....another 1/2 inch or inch longer would be where I would have lopped it to. Glad it grew out quick. And congrats to her for breaking 200K on TSMM.

How amazing is that Rice Krispie treat? I have to admit that I prefer the marshmallow treats instead. Marshmallow dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in mini M&Ms topped with white chocolate drizzle. That's my fave.

Thanks! We were glad to get to meet the Pooh characters because they're some of my favorites.

Tracy's hair cut was, indeed, dramatic. Now, however, it's grown out so much that it looks so short in these pictures from just a few months ago.

We LOVED the Rice Krispie treat, but I have to agree that we may prefer the Marshmallow Wands slightly. Everything is delicious, though, so why choose?

Happy (belated) birthday! Glad to hear you got to spend it in the parks and have the fried chicken :)

So cool about the Randall/HM Wallpaper thing. I'll have to watch out for that next time I ride it.

Great Lion King drawing :thumbsup2

Pretty photos of the Mark Twain.

I think there was more I meant to comment on but I can't remember now :rotfl:

Thanks! I had a really fun birthday, and it was great to top it off with fried chicken :thumbsup2

Definitely keep an eye out for Randall. It happens really quickly, but it's really cool to see.

Glad you liked the Lion King drawing and the photos from the Mark Twain :)

If you think of anything else you meant to comment on, feel free to add another comment below! ;)

I know what you mean about grad nites. We were there last year in May and you definitely could tell which nights were and which weren't. I thought they were talking about limiting them to one park only. You are right, they should give them their own space, like start grad nite at 9 p.m. and stay open most of the night. The kids would love that...and so would we!

Love Tracy's new hair. Very cute!

Love your drawing of the Lion King characters. You are one very talented dude! You can sing and dance and play the piano and draw too! Oh, and write. :goodvibes

As usual I am reading all your posts with great interest and getting some wonderful ideas and tips for our visit STARTING TOMORROW!

We didn't drive down to Anaheim on Thursday. Just decided that with the drive that would probably include a few traffic jams, the busy parks because of Halloween and it just being a couple more days until we were right across the street, we just hung around here and enjoyed the sunshine and the pool.

Yesterday we went to Griffith Park and visited the Autry National Center right next to the LA zoo. Very worth the visit, lots of cool Old West stuff like a real chuckwagon, stage coach, steam engine, lots of costumes and clothing from the era, lots of history. We loved it.

Ugh, Grad Nites... The thing is that (from what I understand) they used to just have DCA all to themselves at night and that was the extent of it. Annoying for the cast members, I'm sure, but at least it keeps them separated from the rest of the guests. Maybe they'll go back to that someday...

Glad you like Tracy's haircut. And you flatter me a little too much with my multitude of interests :lmao: I mostly just like to dabble in things, and I'm lucky that everything right-brained comes pretty easily to me.

I can't believe at this time tomorrow, your Disneyland experience will be well underway! Probably for the best that you avoided Halloween because I'm sure it was pretty crazy... Plus, a pool day is always great anyway. :thumbsup2

That's great that you got to go to Griffith Park. Did you check out the carousel where Walt came up with the idea for Disneyland? Visiting Griffith Park is definitely on our bucket list for that Disney connection alone, and I'm sure we'd really enjoy everything else there is to do there as well.

Hope you have a blast tomorrow and all week!! I think we'll probably be back at the parks at least briefly one of the days before we leave for CO, but don't know when just yet. If you happen to see us, please come up and say hi! :banana:

I love the R2D2 bucket! I was tempted to get it on our trip in July, but I had already bought 2 Dumbo popcorn buckets for the kids, and it's impossible to get away with buying just 1 of anything with my kids! It didn't have fries in it when I saw it. I think it was a snack pack with yogurt and carrot sticks or something and I think it was much more than $12 (certainly way more than I was planning to spend and not nearly enough food in it to justify buying it!)

We love the R2 bucket as well! I understand not wanting to get yet another popcorn bucket though, since we had the exact same dilemma. When you have to get 2 of everything, I'm sure that shelling out the cash for 2 Dumbos was quite enough for one trip! Plus it sounds like you didn't miss out on much not getting that snack pack anyway! :rotfl:

Hi from Australia! :flower3:

I've really enjoyed your report, both the Disney and non-Disney parts.

As a tourist who can only visit every few years it's been really interesting to "see" Disney from a local's point of view. When you've only got 2 weeks or so out of a 6-8 week trip to spend at Disneyland (or WDW), you tend to go commando-style most days just in the hopes of not missing anything.

I think it's great that you and Tracey can pop in for a few hours here and there and just enjoy a few things at a time in more detail. Not to mention all that yummy food. :rotfl2:

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report. :)

Hi! :wave2: I always love having more Australian readers, and I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying!

I definitely understand the commando-style touring when you're just here for a short amount of time because that's how we always were before we moved here. Now we definitely love being able to take things a little slower, though.

Hopefully you'll keep enjoying reading about all our shenanigans! :)
 
By now, it was getting late, so we headed out of the park. Tracy had been wanting to look at the new Haunted Mansion music box ever since she had seen a picture of the whole Haunted Mansion merchandise line, but they were sold out of almost everything at the cart outside the attraction. We went to World of Disney to check if they had any of the items, but their Mansion selection was pretty slim. Giving up for now, we headed home.

I had the same basic thing when we went to WDW in September. I love the bat stanchions at the Haunted Mansion and wanted the new bottle stopper. They didn't have them anywhere we could find in MK - we eventually had a CM at the Christmas Shoppe in MK suggest Mouse Gears, where we found 2! But I got my very own bat stanchion and I'm very happy. I hope Tracy got to look at the music box eventually.
 
That's a cute bathing suit that Tracy got. Hope she's enjoying wearing it still.

The 'rudeness' of people at any Disney park amazes me. Funny how it never seems to last longer than the gate in real life. It's like there must be a rudeness check-in/check-out box at the ticketing checking machine or something.

Now that you've been on the ride, you must watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Keep in mind that the movie was made in the '80s when you eventually see it. I liked the movie.
 
I had the same basic thing when we went to WDW in September. I love the bat stanchions at the Haunted Mansion and wanted the new bottle stopper. They didn't have them anywhere we could find in MK - we eventually had a CM at the Christmas Shoppe in MK suggest Mouse Gears, where we found 2! But I got my very own bat stanchion and I'm very happy. I hope Tracy got to look at the music box eventually.

I had actually seen on Twitter that they had the merchandise at Mouse Gear in WDW, but here it was all only at the cart outside the Mansion for a long time. Now they've gotten plenty of it in stock, so it's also at World of Disney. Glad to hear you got the wine stopper! I love that too. The entire Haunted Mansion line is just awesome. :thumbsup2

That's a cute bathing suit that Tracy got. Hope she's enjoying wearing it still.

The 'rudeness' of people at any Disney park amazes me. Funny how it never seems to last longer than the gate in real life. It's like there must be a rudeness check-in/check-out box at the ticketing checking machine or something.

Now that you've been on the ride, you must watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Keep in mind that the movie was made in the '80s when you eventually see it. I liked the movie.

Tracy is still enjoying her bathing suit! It was a good purchase.

I love how nice people are at Disney. It definitely restores one's faith in humanity (if only until you exit the gates).

I do need to try watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I know the basic concept, and I think it sounds cool!
 
I love Peter the Cat. He looks really cuddly. And your picture of Francisco has him with scary eyes.

I don't think I've ever been to Disneyland during Grad Nite period. So, I have no concept of how the park is at all. Seems like it is a period to avoid.
 
I can't believe I've finally caught up and now have to wait for the the next bit! :lmao: Tell Tracy I love the new haircut! I can't wait to see it grown out a little to the point she actually wanted it at.

I am definitely going to try one of the red velvet Mickey cake heads when we go in January. Tigger Tails and pretzel rods are normally my go to treats but you have inspired me to branch out again. The one time I tried a rice crispy treat in DCA it was not very good at all, almost seemed stale.

A funny story . . . I have always thought the Taylor the Latte Boy song was funny and really enjoyed your version of it when I first started reading your trip report. It had been a couple weeks since I had watched it and my 13 year old dd asked what I was doing (reading some of this thread). I explained and said oh I can show you a clip on youtube who they are. So, I showed her the Latte song and she was really liking it till she got to the curse word (I had totally forgotten it was in there) and she just burst into tears because she had liked the song so much and then it had thrown a naughty word at her out of the blue! She is a very straight laced young lady and thought you must be quite a mean person to call a girl the B word. I then had to show her some of your posts of Disneyland and how much you guys loved Pancho and all the other animals to convince her that really, you and Tracy are really a cool couple. :cheer2: During me trying to convince her you guys really are good guys her 18 year old sister was on the couch saying, "Play it again!". :rotfl: And just to be clear, she liked Tracy's ad just fine and thinks she's pretty. Lol.
 
Wow ... finally caught up again! :confused3 I don't know how I got so behind!

Love Tracy's new hair style ... good thing about hair is that it grows back! ;)

I completely understand how High School Musical can be your guilty pleasure ... I too belong to that club! But at least I have 2 DDs that also loved the movies so I can hide behind their desire to watch them again and again! :cheer2:

I enjoyed listening to your podcast - you did a great job! :thumbsup2

Note to PIO ... glad to hear you won't spill my secret about the coffee! :coffee: :rotfl2: I have been known to enjoy the odd cappuccino, and was completely addicted to those Starbuck's frappaccino mocha type confections with loads of whipped cream etc (but that's not real coffee!). ;)
 
I love Peter the Cat. He looks really cuddly. And your picture of Francisco has him with scary eyes.

I don't think I've ever been to Disneyland during Grad Nite period. So, I have no concept of how the park is at all. Seems like it is a period to avoid.

We thought Peter looked really soft as well! And Francisco does too, when his eyes don't look demonic...

DEFINITELY avoid Grad Nites whenever possible. It's hard to even explain what it is about them that is so awful, but it really changes the overall feel of the parks.

I can't believe I've finally caught up and now have to wait for the the next bit! :lmao: Tell Tracy I love the new haircut! I can't wait to see it grown out a little to the point she actually wanted it at.

I am definitely going to try one of the red velvet Mickey cake heads when we go in January. Tigger Tails and pretzel rods are normally my go to treats but you have inspired me to branch out again. The one time I tried a rice crispy treat in DCA it was not very good at all, almost seemed stale.

A funny story . . . I have always thought the Taylor the Latte Boy song was funny and really enjoyed your version of it when I first started reading your trip report. It had been a couple weeks since I had watched it and my 13 year old dd asked what I was doing (reading some of this thread). I explained and said oh I can show you a clip on youtube who they are. So, I showed her the Latte song and she was really liking it till she got to the curse word (I had totally forgotten it was in there) and she just burst into tears because she had liked the song so much and then it had thrown a naughty word at her out of the blue! She is a very straight laced young lady and thought you must be quite a mean person to call a girl the B word. I then had to show her some of your posts of Disneyland and how much you guys loved Pancho and all the other animals to convince her that really, you and Tracy are really a cool couple. :cheer2: During me trying to convince her you guys really are good guys her 18 year old sister was on the couch saying, "Play it again!". :rotfl: And just to be clear, she liked Tracy's ad just fine and thinks she's pretty. Lol.

Way to go catching up!! Sorry that you have to wait now for each installment. Luckily, I've been trying to speed them along so that someday I can catch up to the present day...

Definitely give one of the cake pops a try. They're one of our favorite snacks for sure, though every sweet treat is just so delicious so it's impossible to pick an actual favorite.

That's funny about your daughter being so scandalized by the Latte Boy song. She REALLY wouldn't have liked witnessing the first rehearsal that I tried to do off-music when I thought I had learned the lyrics. I got a little carried away and accidentally changed that line to "f*** you b****, I'm not your toy." I don't know if your DD would have come back from that one...

Anyway, now that you're caught up, I hope you keep enjoying reading along! :thumbsup2

Wow ... finally caught up again! :confused3 I don't know how I got so behind!

Love Tracy's new hair style ... good thing about hair is that it grows back! ;)

I completely understand how High School Musical can be your guilty pleasure ... I too belong to that club! But at least I have 2 DDs that also loved the movies so I can hide behind their desire to watch them again and again! :cheer2:

I enjoyed listening to your podcast - you did a great job! :thumbsup2

Note to PIO ... glad to hear you won't spill my secret about the coffee! :coffee: :rotfl2: I have been known to enjoy the odd cappuccino, and was completely addicted to those Starbuck's frappaccino mocha type confections with loads of whipped cream etc (but that's not real coffee!). ;)

It's been easier to get behind now that I've been posting updates almost every day! Glad to hear that you got all caught up though.

And glad you liked Tracy's haircut. It's already past shoulder-length again now that it's months later!

We can't blame our love for High School Musical on any age-appropriate children, so we just have to fess up to liking it ourselves. Oh well!

Thanks for listening to the podcast! Happy to hear you enjoyed it :)
 
Denver is kinda low on my bucket list; but it is on my bucket list. I'd love to head to Colorado during the ski season and I've always thought it would be fun to check out Denver....it is the natural hub to fly in to.

I think I might stick with the SW corner around Durango for now.

And I'm not really a fan of the Westin chain. Nice hotels and everything; and 4 - 5 star hotels are always an indulgence....but for some reason, the Westin just seems to lack a little "soul" to me. That said, I'd still pick them as a place to stay if the location and price was right.
 
Yay for work paying for pretty much your entire trip back to CO :thumbsup2 I'm not a huge fan of Denver either, though I do love other parts of Colorado. Also, yay for Melting Pot! We love Melting Pot but it's so expensive for what it is. My DH has a pretty good recipe for green goddess and their other stuff if you ever want to try it at home, just PM me!
 




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