Trip Report Back to Disneyland & Ringin' in 2016!

This is my second trip report that I've done, I wrote my last one for a surprise trip I gave to my husband in November 2015. I had a lot of fun sharing our trip I decided to share another.
Hope you enjoy it!

Backstory:

My husband and I went to Disneyland in July/August 2015 for 9 days and were planning a two week trip to WDW in 2015, we worked out that the cheapest option for passes was getting the Premier Pass that covered both parks. While in Disneyland in the summer we decided that since we had never seen Disneyland decorated for Christmas we would make our pass even "cheaper" and go to Disneyland after Christmas.

We are from northern Wisconsin and normally fly out of Minneapolis, but since it was Christmastime we had family obligations and had to visit my husband's family in Chicago. So we had a round-about way to get to Los Angeles....we flew from Minneapolis to Chicago spent some time with the in-laws, then flew to LA from Chicago, then when we left LA it was back to Minneapolis and then home. Oh and while we were gone our kitchen was getting redone so we had to clean out our whole kitchen (that made Christmas dinner a challenge), but that was fun to come back to.

As for the travelers, it is just my husband and myself. We are two peas in a pod!

On to the report!. Our travel dates were December 29, 2015 to January 2, 2016.

 

[MinnieM123]

All the festival photos were so colorful and upbeat! One of my favs in that group was the one showing the female dancers swirling around their vivid red, long skirts. Those pictures were so pretty.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

All the festival photos were so colorful and upbeat! One of my favs in that group was the one showing the female dancers swirling around their vivid red, long skirts. Those pictures were so pretty.

Thanks it was really fun to watch the dancers.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

One more picture of a dancer, I think it was a samba dancer.

Just a couple pictures from Paradise Pier, this is the area where people stand for the World of Color.

I loved seeing the citrus trees with fruit on them at both DCA and DL. This was by bugs land.

Then we headed to the Carthay Circle for lunch but we were a bit early, so I got to watch a the newsboys show. It is a cute little entertaining show.

A cute little Christmas tree inside one of the stores.

I thought the plastic bells were neat, it reminded me of one my mom had up in our living room at Christmas.

This tree was in the Carthay Circle waiting area. When we went back into the Carthay the next day it was down already. I would venture a guess that it was the first Christmas decoration removed from all of Disneyland, because everything else seemed to still be up.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Time to check in for lunch at the Carthay. We decided to do the World of Color dinner package. We picked to get fast passes for the Winter Dreams show, as we had never seen it before. It was a tough call because I knew the winter one would have lots of Frozen in it, and I like the Celebrate version of WOC (not as much as the original). But since we had seen that version of WOC a couple times this summer we picked the winter one. It was cute and a nice big end to the Disney holiday stuff we'd been experiencing.

Carthay Circle lobby

A cute display of Disneyland memorabilia.

A fun light.

Hubby at our table, and me at our table. I think we were in the Hollywood room this time.

My salad, it was very tasty. I wish I had someone at home to make me stuff like this.

Hubby's soup, with goose. We'd never had goose before, it tasted kind of like duck.

And really the reason why we ate here (kind of ) the cheddar jalapeno biscuits.

We both got the cheeseburger, not very exciting but we were both jonesing for a good burger. And that is exactly what we got, an excellent burger.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It was time for dessert, normally I opt for anything chocolate based but a minty dessert sounded good. So I got a peppermint dessert and hubby got a chocolate roll up thing. Honestly we liked the minty one the best.

The minty dessert.

We left the Carthay and 5 and Dime was playing so we watched them for awhile.

Then I took a couple shots around the area, mostly focusing on the tree.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

In the Off the Page store there was an artist sketching, it was cool to watch. Especially since I have not artistic talent for drawing.

We watched the Aladdin show. I'm kind of sad it is going, as it is a great show. I wish it was going to be replaces with something besides Frozen, like Tangled. I must admit though we both fell asleep for a little while during the show.

After Aladdin we went over to Disneyland for a little bit. I hadn't ridden the teacups yet, so I did that while hubby checked out the wait times for Star Tours and Space Mt, and to see if maybe there were fast passes available. (There weren't, and the lines were long.)

Another bunch of citrus trees.

I worked my way to the town square area on Main Street to meet up with hubby. I stopped to take some pictures of the "magic" windows on the Emporium. Unfortunately, I couldn't get really good pictures without reflections. These are the best of the bunch.

Popcorn? Nope, still full from lunch.

coming up....some world of color and the end of our trip.

 

[gsrjedi]

I wish I had some jalapeno cheddar biscuits right now

 

[Figgy1]

I've realized I need to do a few things thnx to your wonderful TR
1 Save for a trip to DLC
2 Get somebody to make me yummy salads at home and
3 the most important one find a way to move some place that has live plants outside in winter.

 

[MinnieM123]

Never had jalapeno cheddar biscuits. That, alone, would be enough incentive for me to plan a trip to Disneyland!!

And, as usual, all your photos are wonderful!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I wish I had some jalapeno cheddar biscuits right now

Me too....

I've realized I need to do a few things thnx to your wonderful TR
1 Save for a trip to DLC
2 Get somebody to make me yummy salads at home and
3 the most important one find a way to move some place that has live plants outside in winter.

I agree with all of those. I'm glad my report is making a difference in the world.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Never had jalapeno cheddar biscuits. That, alone, would be enough incentive for me to plan a trip to Disneyland!!

And, as usual, all your photos are wonderful!

The biscuits are amazing. They aren't like normal baking powder biscuits, they are fried and the cheese is gooey. It comes with an apricot butter, which I thought would be gross but the flavor combination is great. A little heat, sweet, and saltiness.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After some time at Disneyland we headed back to DCA and went to the Paradise Pier area. We played some of the carnival games, I won a stuffed horse (the one from Toy Story) and hubby won a Timmothy Mouse (stuffed toy) from Dumbo. It was fun. Then we just walked around, hubby didn't want to wait in line for anything. We did hang out in the Paradise Gardens area and listened to the mariachi music, shared some food: corn dog, chorizo pizza, and some elote. I had never had elote before but it was good, it was corn on the cob with mayonaise, parmesan, and a spice of some sort. It kind of sounds gross but it was good.

Chorizo pizza

elote (sorry it was a little dark, and I forgot about taking a picture until I had eaten a few bites)

Then we went into the Carthay viewing area for WOC. I like the viewing area but hate it too. We were the first ones into the area so we had our pick of spots and at any spot I would be a light or pole in the view.

World of Color Winter Dreams, it was fun to see as we had never seen it and it was themed well for the holidays. My pictures didn't turn out very well, but this is the best of the bunch.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

On our way out for the night we saw this cool window by the Off the Page shop.

Then hubby wanted to stop at the World of Disney, and I stopped at the Kayla's Cakes stand to get some macarons. We discovered these little cookies in Paris this past summer and the ones at Kayla's cakes were just as good as the Paris ones. (I wish I had some now.) They are a little pricey but it is worth it.

Our last day is coming up....

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Alright, since it is almost Valentine's Day I should finish up my Christmas/New Years trip report!
Our last day was January 2nd, since our flight wasn't until 11:55pm we had the whole day still! YAY! So we stored our luggage, at the Best Western. But since I didn't want to leave our iPad in the luggage room we took that with since we were getting a locker for coats and what-not anyway. The 2nd was still busy, but markedly less busy than other days. I guess people are traveling home.
Area by the lockers.

Morning to Walt and Mickey

We did the Matterhorn right away, here are some pictures from the line which moved fairly quickly.

Then to its a small world for one last spin on the holiday version.

Next to the storybook boats, hubby didn't like these our first couple visits and now after we took the Cultivating the Magic tour in the summer he loves it. Go figure...

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Soon it was time to start heading to DCA we were going to take the California Story tour. So, we then headed back to the hub and decided to ride the trolley down to the train station. We were the only ones on the trolley headed that way, our own private tour down Main Street.

So off to DCA to check in for the tour. Here are some pictures I took of Buena Vista Street while we were waiting.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

My husband and I really enjoy taking tours of Disney parks. We tend to know a lot of the information, but there is always something new (often a lot of things) that we learn. It is nice to seem some behind the scenes things, and go places we might never see. Like we've been in Walt's apartment, the old Club 33 lounge, and on this tour we saw the 1901 Lounge. The lounge was cool however no pictures were allowed. This particular tour took us around the park and we did a couple attractions and heard a lot of the backstory of the park and the areas. It was really enjoyable, and I would recommend it.

The only thing about tours is sometimes you get some really annoying people. On this particular tour there was one lady that was super annoying. I could list all the things annoying but the highlights were standing in front of pictures our guide was trying to describe to all of us in the lounge, stopping halfway down the row in the annimation academy (so we all had to climb over her), being late for the tour, being late from the comfort break, not wanting to go into Bug's Land because she was afraid of bugs, and it goes on and on. Anyway, by the end of the tour everyone was rolling their eyes whenever she said anything. I give our guide credit he was extremely patient. Lunch was included on the tour and I just knew that hubby and I would be stuck at her table. Turns out this lady and her husband were given there own table! It was funny, in the end I just had to laugh at her and feel sorry for her husband (he never said a word to anyone). Lunch actually was really disappointing, it was cold sandwiches from the Starbucks. I think that is the only thing they could improve on the tour.

In the Grizzly Peak area.

To Paradise Pier

And through the Wharf and to Carsland.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Front seat of the car at racers.

Animation Academy, we had never done this at DCA and we ended up learning how to draw Steamboat Willie.

Back to Buena Vista street and the end of the tour.

AFter lunch we used an anytime fast pass for Toy Story, it is normally part of the tour but it was down while we were at Paradise Pier. Then we headed back to Disneyland and took another tour on the Jingle Cruise.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Then for a tour of the Haunted Mansion holiday.
In the library...

And to the Doom buggies...

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A few more from Haunted Mansion holiday.

Then hubby wanted to go to Launch Bay again and get pictures with Darth Vader and Chewbacca. He took some pictures of Star Wars things.

Chewy was a hugger.

Then just some random pictures of Tomorrowland.

And the tree from the Train Station before a 3/4 tour to tomorrowland.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The train was our last ride of the trip. the first two shots are a couple cool shots from the train station.

Then as we were going past small world one second it was lit and then it wasn't...

The lights went off because of the Paint the Night Parade was starting. Here's a shot of Mack backstage as we passed through.

Then we had dinner at Red Rockets, it wasn't too bad. We shared the pizza, the basil/tomato pasta, and a Darth by Chocolate. Hubby finally got the BB8 sipper he'd been eyeing up the whole trip.

I wanted to get one last glimpse of its a small world lit up at night, good thing we did as we got to see the whole little projection show too.

.