Mom, You Know We're in Hell, Right? A Feb Disneyland/LA TR. Updated 8/7 x 4 The End!

[missangelalexis]

Glad you were happy with your hotel!

I love all the purchases you made! That really stinks that dinner was such a letdown

Phew what a long day for you guys!

 

[sharona]

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[missjackiemcg]

What a long day!! Can't wait for the DIsney fun to begin And to find out which ride you did first!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

YUM, Sprinkles cupcakes! Sorry for your bad food day on the first day! Glad to hear it gets better!

 

[ljcrochet]

Not bad, while not a Disney hotel, the rooms were comfortable and clean. John and Jocelyn were in a connecting room. Oh and did you notice there was only one bed? I swear I booked a room with two queens for Mom and me but it wasn’t really a big deal. I’ve slept in the same bed with her in the past and we were fine doing that again. I wasn’t about to go back up front and complain because I was pretty sure the hotel was fully booked plus I wasn't positive as to what I booked.

I'm so used to DVC I assumed the couch opened into a bed.

When we got back to our room, we dug into the cupcakes. Mom got the vanilla one, Jocelyn got the chocolate one with the heart and for some strange reason I decided to go with Chocolate Peanut butter which is the one with the sp

Cupcakes look yummy. I would have been annoyed with a peanut butter cupcake with chocolate filling. It should be the other way around.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip.

 

[Ladyfish77]

I'm here! Looks like your mom had quesadillas. Sorry your food was not good. Disappointing after a long day!

I wouldn't even recognize Disneyland! I haven't been there in over 30 years, but used to go every summer when I was a kid. It will be fun to see it through your photos!

 

[Texan]

We stayed at HOJO both times we were there; it is a good walk but we really liked the hotel; that and the Mimi's Cafe next door is so good; maybe one of these days we can splurge for a hotel on property; I can dream right?

Been to Rainforest Cafe in WDW and in our hometown of San Antonio; both times the food was way overpriced and not so good. Lesson learned.

Can't wait to see your first ride! We always had to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride just because it is so crazy and unique.

 

[jcc0621]

Oh no, I hope your experience at Rainforest was a one time thing. This is on my sons must do list for our trip and we have it planned for our arrival day as well.

 

[Pluto0809]

I need to get to DL!

Love your pictures of going around DTD, I never really see a lot of photos of it.

Love the Vinylmation. I didn't get the WDW 2017 one because it wasn't out yet when I was there but now it is. Maybe I will have to get it on the shop parks app.

It's been a really long time since I have been to Rainforest Cafe.

The chocolate peanut butter Cupcake is my favorite, I am sorry you didn't like it. The Chocolate Marshmallow one is really good too.

Yes you do! Every true Disney fan should visit there at least once if only to say that you walked where Walt did.

Glad you enjoyed the DTD pictures. I can't remember if I took more the next time we were there but hopefully I did.

Oh, I didn't know there was a WDW version. I'm going to have to get one of those next week so I have one from each coast for 2017.

I think I'm just not a big enough peanut butter fan to like that cupcake I got. I'll have to try the all chocolate one someday.

We have only ever eaten at the Rainforest in Downtown Disney Anaheim. We have never felt the need to go back or try any others. I just figured they must all be similar. Maybe we might like them elsewhere?

We usually stay at Park Vue Inn. It isn't a good neighbor, but we like it. I am looking forward to your review of the hotel. Always good to have others to try. We did 1 night at Camelot last trip, so I can scratch that off my list.

I've eaten at both the Nashville one and the Animal Kingdom one and enjoyed both of those.

We really liked the hotel and will stay there again in a heartbeat. I think the only thing to keep in mind was the pool. It was very small and plain so if swimming is a priority I wouldn't stay there. But we could care less about swimming so it was perfect for us.

Glad you were happy with your hotel!

I love all the purchases you made! That really stinks that dinner was such a letdown

Phew what a long day for you guys!

Thanks, we were very pleased with the Best Western.

I was so looking forward to that pot roast, what a disappointment.

It was such a long day but at least it got us on CA time. Coming home was a lot worse.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Thanks for reading along, update coming right up.

What a long day!! Can't wait for the DIsney fun to begin And to find out which ride you did first!!

It was a long day! Next update is on it's way right now.

YUM, Sprinkles cupcakes! Sorry for your bad food day on the first day! Glad to hear it gets better!

I really need to try the all chocolate one next time but I'm really all about the icing and Sprinkles seems to have a smaller amount than some.

I'm so used to DVC I assumed the couch opened into a bed.

Cupcakes look yummy. I would have been annoyed with a peanut butter cupcake with chocolate filling. It should be the other way around.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip.

It actually did open into a bed but it wasn't the most comfortable so I choose to sleep in the same bed as my Mom.

Yep, I really wanted a lot more chocolate and less peanut butter.

More coming up right now!

I'm here! Looks like your mom had quesadillas. Sorry your food was not good. Disappointing after a long day!

I wouldn't even recognize Disneyland! I haven't been there in over 30 years, but used to go every summer when I was a kid. It will be fun to see it through your photos!

Yeah I think they were chicken quesadillas. It was definitely a crappy meal, the zoo food was much better!

Well the first day we went to California Adventure so you probably won't recognize anything there.

We stayed at HOJO both times we were there; it is a good walk but we really liked the hotel; that and the Mimi's Cafe next door is so good; maybe one of these days we can splurge for a hotel on property; I can dream right?

Been to Rainforest Cafe in WDW and in our hometown of San Antonio; both times the food was way overpriced and not so good. Lesson learned.

Can't wait to see your first ride! We always had to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride just because it is so crazy and unique.

I honestly think we were closer to the parks than the onsite hotels. Other than the DCA entrance at the Grand Californian, the onsite guests had to walk all the way through DTD to get to the park entrances.

I've enjoyed the locations in Nashville and Animal Kingdom but you are right, it is pricy. It think my pot roast meal was $22 or $23.

Well, we headed to DCA first based on the park hours but Mr. Toads was definitely on the high priority list for DL.

Oh no, I hope your experience at Rainforest was a one time thing. This is on my sons must do list for our trip and we have it planned for our arrival day as well.

For your sake I hope it's better than our experience. I definitely do not recommend getting the pot roast though.

 

[Pluto0809]

That’s Really the First Attraction You Want to Ride?

We got to sleep in a tiny bit on Thursday February 2, 2017 because California Adventure didn’t open until 10 am. I choose California Adventure for this day based on the hours for Thursday and Friday. Disneyland was open from 9 am to 12 am on Friday so I scheduled us there on that day to maximize our time in the parks. I figured that we could get almost everything in at DCA on Thursday when the hours were 10 am to 8 pm.

First though we headed next door to a small restaurant called Captain Kidd’s. The upstairs was reserved for guests from the hotel and the buffet there was included in our room price. They had hot dishes as well as pastries, fruit and cereal. There was a drink area that had juices, milk and coffee. Here’s my plate from the first day, pancakes, eggs and potatoes with a banana and apple juice on the side.



The main items rotated each day, there was always eggs (both the round ones I had and also regular scrambled ones) but some mornings it was waffles or French toast rather than pancakes. There was also a meat option that rotated between ham, bacon and sausage.

So was the food the best I’ve ever had? Nope, not even close. But was it hot, fresh and edible? Yep, you bet! I know the breakfast here gets a lot of bad reviews but we all enjoyed it for what it was. Not gourmet by any means but good enough to fill our bellies each day. I didn’t take pictures of any of the other plates, Mom and Jocelyn followed me to the hot stuff but John had cereal most mornings.

After eating, we walked across the street and headed to the entrance for DCA. This next picture is the long sidewalk that we walked each morning after going under the Disneyland Resort sign I posted previously.



And that was the last picture I took before entering the park. We had to go through security before entering the plaza with the park entrances and DTD and that took a few minutes.

Once we entered the park, I grabbed everyone’s tickets and directed the others to the lockers as they wanted to stow their bags and sweatshirts for the day. We looked quickly at a map and determined a meeting place, then I took off and headed towards the FP machines for the Radiator Springs Racers.

I got right about here:



And hit a wall of people because they hadn’t dropped the rope yet for the day. I texted my Mom and told them to hold back and wait till a few minutes after 10 am before heading my way. I didn’t want them to get caught up in the crazy rush when they dropped the rope.

Once they dropped the rope I basically followed the rest of the crowd. I knew that the FP machines were near the entrance to A Bug’s Land but I didn’t know the exact location. Eventually I found myself in a line and luckily it was the correct line. The pavilion with the FP machines was right next to the It’s Tough to be Bug’s movie theater.

I was still in line when I saw the rest of my group coming up the walkway. They saw me and stopped near where I was waiting. Mom kept motioning to me and trying to ask me something but I couldn’t hear her and wasn’t about to get out of line to see what she wanted. It didn’t take very long to get to the machines where it took me a minute to figure out which way to insert the tickets. After that time I was a pro. Our FPs were for 11:35 – 12:35 pm so that kind of tells you how quickly the FP were going right at 10 am.

I circled around to where they were sitting and finally figured out what my Mom wanted. We had worn our sweatshirts but it was already getting warm so she wanted to know if I wanted to put mine in the locker. She was trying to get it off of me so John could run it back while I was in line. I ended up giving it to him at that point and he ran it back to the locker.

Once he got back I realized that it was going to be fruitless to try to get to the Radiator Springs Racers for a trip through the regular line. People were just streaming by the hundreds into Carsland and I knew the line would be long at that point. Plus both Jocelyn and I needed a restroom. We consulted the map and realized the closest one was around the corner in Paradise Pier. I abandoned my original plan and decided to do Paradise Pier first and then come back to Carsland so that’s exactly what we did. Pictures as we walked that way hunting for the restrooms.







It took us a few minutes to find the restrooms, Disneyland does a really good job of disguising them, and then we started around Paradise Pier. We first passed the Little Mermaid ride and I pointed it out and said it was the same ride as WDW. Jocelyn immediately said, let’s go! I was surprised but then she said she wanted to ride everything. OK then, Little Mermaid it is for our very first west coast ride. There was zero line and just to prove it was exactly the same, I took lots of pictures.



Jocelyn was sure having fun. No idea what John was thinking at that moment.















Yep, exactly the same as WDW. The only difference is the plainer building at DL with no castle. We decided to check out California Screamin’ next so we started across the bridge in that direction and ran into a PP photographer. I had purchased the package which was about $80, a lot cheaper than WDW. Unfortunately we discovered there were markedly fewer photographers out and about so we didn’t get as many as we do at WDW. I’m not sure if we were just missing them or maybe it was the rain we ran into the next few days. Anyway, back to this moment. I love how these turned out, especially the ones of John and Jocelyn.











We also got our first Magic Shot.



Since there are no Magic Bands at DL, I had to pull up the DL app where there was a barcode for the photographer to scan. This proved to be a bit problematic with the bright sun. I had to increase the brightness on my phone before we could get it to work.

Moving on, I took a few photos of my own. In this one you can see the Little Mermaid ride in the tan building to the right. Straight ahead is the Golden Zephyr with the Paradise Pier Hotel in the background. And you can see a bit of California Screamin’ and Mickey’s Fun Wheel to the left.



I love this next picture with the reflection of the Fun Wheel on the water.



I had planned on getting a FP for California Screamin’ but I couldn’t get another one yet and the wait time was only 10 minutes. I think we waited a little longer than that but it wasn’t bad. I was pleasantly surprised with the coaster. I had heard it was pretty rough so I was expecting the worse but it wasn’t bad at all. It did turn my stomach a little but it wasn’t horrible (why does every coaster have to have those small bumps at the end? I was perfectly fine until we hit those). And we got a pretty awesome ride photo.



For the ride photos, I had to enter the number on the photo screen into the App. Rather than scrambling to enter the number before it disappeared off of the screen I just took a picture of the number and added it later that night back in our room.

Continuing around Paradise Pier, we passed Toy Story Mania but the wait was 45 minutes. That would not work with our Racers FP so we moved on. There was a small area next with some games and stores.






We ended up getting in line for the Fun Wheel. I was not looking forward to this one at all because my family wanted to ride the swinging cars, but I wasn’t going to be the chicken. The swinging cars are hard to describe so if you want to see them, look it up on You Tube, there’s lots of videos out there.

I took some pictures as we waited.



I was really hoping we would get a Pluto car.



Right after I took that picture though, the ride broke down and they made everyone leave the line. Whew, dodged that bullet for now!

We continued around the lake and saw where they had the Chinese New Year stuff. Unfortunately we never made it back there to check out the different booths.





Instead we got in line for Goofy’s Sky School.



This was kind of similar to Primeval Whirl at Animal Kingdom but the cars don’t spin. I’m glad we only waited 5 minutes for this one because I really didn’t enjoy it. It was really rough and jerky. I don’t think I will add that one to the must do list in the future.

It was almost time for our Racers FP so we left Paradise Pier and headed in the direction of Carsland.

Up Next: Exploring Carsland

 

[rteetz]

I am really hoping I can get to DL in 2018. Its been so long since I have used legacy FP that I barely remember how to do it. Reading DL TR's lately like yours is helping me though.

California Screamin' looks like a ton of fun!

I'd be one of those people who wants to go on the moving cars on the fun wheel too. No movement is a little boring

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

We like Primeval Whirl much better than Goofy's Fly School. When we were there, we were amazed that it always had such a long line, but it was summer. We don't usually ever have to get a fp for Screamin'. I like that ride, so it is good that the wait is never that long. If it does get longer, we use single rider line.

 

[xlsm]

We ended up riding Little Mermaid two or three times in a row one day because it was so hot, LOL!! When we were there last June, two of our days were freezing in the morning and the other three days were some of the hottest days of the year. It was crazy.

California Adventure was my favorite of the two parks by far. California Screamin' was our favorite ride, but unfortunately we only did it once! When I was there, it was when they'd taken away the option for multiday photopass, so if you wanted it you had to buy it day by day. I think it was $39 each day, so we only bought it for our first Disneyland day and our first CA day.

Our first morning at CA, the park was empty outside of the FP area for Cars (I also did the rush in and stop in front of Carthay Circle with a few hundred of my closest friends thing!), and my kids rode Goofy's Sky School once with me and twice by themselves...they loved it, and I did like it more than Primeval Whirl. I think it's slightly less rough??

We did the stationary side of Mickey's Fun Wheel, and it was cool to see the view, but it was annoying that it constantly stopped and started to fill cars. I wanted to ride it once around at least without stopping, but nope. That was disappointing, but I really did love the view!!

Can't wait to see how you liked Radiator Springs!!

 

[disnic75]

Hi! I am another WDW vet heading to DL for the first time. It has to be weird not having magic bands and hoofing it old school for fastpasses, right? Thank you for doing this report! I always enjoy your reports 70 days!!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Wow, that looks like a cool park...like Boardwalk resort come to life! Yeah, I would not have liked the Goofy ride, either. I HATE Primeval Whirl!!! The only time I ever rode it, though, there were FOUR of us squeezed in. One of my friends that rode is large, and I kid you not...my bottom was not even on the seat. I was wedged, mid air, between her and the side of the ride vehicle. Then add in all the twists, spins, and jerks...HATE!!! And that is the only ride at WDW that I say that about.

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad the breakfast was at least edible; definitely saves you a little money!

Glad you found the FP machine line easily, I know you were worried about that!

Love the PP pics on the pier!

I enjoyed California Screamin more than I thought I would as well!

Sounds like a good morning so far, can't wait to hear more!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

We ended up riding Little Mermaid two or three times in a row one day because it was so hot, LOL!! When we were there last June, two of our days were freezing in the morning and the other three days were some of the hottest days of the year. It was crazy.

California Adventure was my favorite of the two parks by far. California Screamin' was our favorite ride, but unfortunately we only did it once! When I was there, it was when they'd taken away the option for multiday photopass, so if you wanted it you had to buy it day by day. I think it was $39 each day, so we only bought it for our first Disneyland day and our first CA day.

Our first morning at CA, the park was empty outside of the FP area for Cars (I also did the rush in and stop in front of Carthay Circle with a few hundred of my closest friends thing!), and my kids rode Goofy's Sky School once with me and twice by themselves...they loved it, and I did like it more than Primeval Whirl. I think it's slightly less rough??

We did the stationary side of Mickey's Fun Wheel, and it was cool to see the view, but it was annoying that it constantly stopped and started to fill cars. I wanted to ride it once around at least without stopping, but nope. That was disappointing, but I really did love the view!!

Can't wait to see how you liked Radiator Springs!!

We rode Little Mermaid back to back because of that same reason. It was hot! The ride is air conditioned and we had time before our fast passes and there is usually never a wait.

We went to DL after the introduction of the $39 daily rate. I was really worried about that, but 2 weeks before we went, they introduced the weekly pass for $79. I was very happy to see that. Otherwise, we were planning on doing 2 of our park days tracking down photopass photographers.

We rode the swinging side and that was one of my biggest ride mistakes of my life. The next year, my son rode the stationary side with my youngest daughter. That is when he realized he is afraid of heights. He hated that. So, we no longer ride it. I think it would be better if they at least did one full circle without stopping.

 

[missjackiemcg]

You're killing me with anticipation on this Wheel of Fun ride!!

I love that your first ride at DL was an exact same as WDW attraction

Interesting that your good neighbor hotel ends up putting you closer to the parks! and I must admit, a free breakfast (whether it's the best you have ever eaten or not!) is always an excellent deal!

With the odd way to get your pics from PP and ride photos and the good ole paper FPs, it sounds like DL is really like going back in time Can't wait for more!

 

[Cindy84]

You did dodge a bullet! My hubby convinced me to do the swinging car and we both regretted it. It took him most of the day to recover. The two churros he ate right before didn't help him either. I love your pictures, they make me feel like I'm there again.

 

[disneyfan314]

We did the swinging car because our daughters begged to do that one. My husband did not do to great on it and at one point we had to pull out our ziplock bag of sunscreen to give to him as a possible barf bag. Fortunately he didn't need it, but it took a while for his stomach to recover. I didn't get sick but I am not a fan of dropping so I was a little freaked out when the car slides down.

We all loved California Screamin. In fact this was the first "big" roller coaster my youngest daughter ever rode. I can't wait to see what you thought of Cars Land. That was one of our favorites of our DL trip.