Trip Report Golden State of Mind: Our August 2017 California Adventure

11 Days
10 Nights
9 Miles walked on our busiest day
8 Months of planning
7 Days with a rental car
6 Hotels
5 Boat rides
4 Flight segments
3 Disney park days
2 East coasters
1 Unforgettable vacation​

Hello and welcome to my trip report! For those who don't know, here is the essential information:

Me (Bee): 28, opera singer/voice teacher
DW (M): 28, writer/academic administrator
We: grew up in Florida, have visited WDW many times, have been together 10+ years, have been married almost 3 years, now live in NJ just outside of NYC

Dates: August 4-14, 2017
Flights: Southwest, EWR-MDW-SMF and LAX-MDW-EWR
Transportation: Rental car, Lyft, local public transportation
Major locations: Sacramento, Napa Valley, San Francisco, Muir Woods, Sequoia National Forest, Los Angeles, Anaheim
Lodging: 6 different hotels varying from 1-3 nights in each

And here is a link to my PTR: Not our typical Disney trip

I will add the usual disclaimer about us having only smartphone cameras. I am working on uploading all my photos to a third party site which is free and allows me to easily embed them here; however, they only allow 150 uploads per day so it will take some time. All my photos are uploaded and ready to post!

The first six days (August 4-9) we toured various parts of northern and southern California. From August 10-13 we visited Disneyland, including both parks and Downtown Disney. On August 14 we flew home to New Jersey. If you'd like to skip ahead to the Disneyland part of this trip, click here. Otherwise, continue reading for the entire trip report!

 

[PacNWTigger]

Sending you guys a bunch of pixie dust to help with the apartment search. I'm loving the trip report so far, and I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Disneyland!

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

Even from the Lyft ride, we could see how close the parks are to the outside world. There is certainly no "bubble" like at WDW!

We made our way from the hotel toward...the direction everyone else was walking!

We scanned our tickets and had our photos taken by CMs. We were inside DISNEYLAND!!!

We slowly walked down Main Street to take it all in.

Shortly after we entered I used the Disneyland app to purchase MaxPass for the day. We scored a FastPass for:

...but we had a bit of time before we needed to be there. So we headed to...

There was a short wait listed for...

I was the Rebel Spy!!!

We went to Hoth, but BB-8 was also there??

Buzz Lightyear Space Ran...I mean, AstroBlasters!...had a five minute wait, so we hopped right on line!

We are no Galactic Heroes!

Up next: MORE DISNEYLAND!!!

 

[coachwnh]

Not a big fan of Buzz in DL. What did you think about the difference?

 

[bee]

Sending you guys a bunch of pixie dust to help with the apartment search. I'm loving the trip report so far, and I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Disneyland!

Thanks!

Not a big fan of Buzz in DL. What did you think about the difference?

Honestly we didn't notice that much of a difference. M says that her gun's aim wasn't very accurate, but I've experienced that in MK too.

 

[DisneyGigi]

How quickly you are at the gates to get in, blew me away. We rode the tram, I swear across a tiny lot and were at the gate. Loving the pictures!

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

The Matterhorn had only a 5 minute wait listed, so we made our way in that direction.

But it was actually down! So instead we rode Alice in Wonderland.

We could see the Teacups from the queue...

...but it wasn't quite time to ride yet!

Alice was pretty silly, but it's one of those classic early Disneyland dark rides so I can certainly appreciate it!

Up next: Will we make it all the way to Frontierland for our BTMR FastPass??

 

[riverside]

Love your pictures!!

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

Of course we would make it! Disneyland is tiny compared to the Magic Kingdom!

This was our first FP, and therefore it was the first play we experienced everyone else's confusion over FP! When you redeem a FP, whether from a MaxPass or from a kiosk, you have to scan your ticket or AP. This was apparently a brand-new concept because (seemingly) everyone in front of us in line couldn't figure it out!

But eventually we got to the front and had a great time on BTMR! We like this version and the WDW version equally. We liked the slightly different scenes in each but we didn't find one to be especially more thrilling than the other.

Outside the ride

By this time, it was HOT! We kept passing by various kiosks with frozen sugary beverages and it was time to stop and buy one!

We enjoyed it outside the Red Rose Tavern.

Up next: More MaxPass! More Fantasyland!

 

[Tuvalu]

I love the Alice in Wonderland ride and wish there was one at WDW.

There. I said it.

 

[75disney]

Just got back from Disneyland and I am in vacation withdraw. Thanks for the great Disneyland pictures to help get me through it!

 

[bee]

I love the Alice in Wonderland ride and wish there was one at WDW.

There. I said it.

I liked it too! I don't want to spoil anything from my report, but I really liked the overall feel of DL's Fantasyland. It's much more focused on the early Disney animated features, whereas WDW's Fantasyland is more princess-focused these days. I like that they're not identical.

Just got back from Disneyland and I am in vacation withdraw. Thanks for the great Disneyland pictures to help get me through it!

You're welcome!

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

Our new FP window had just opened for...

And what's that? Two FPs at once? For overlapping time periods?? YES, you can do it with MaxPass!!

But we had awhile until the SM FP closed so we stayed in Fantasyland for a bit.

Where's this?

Pinocchio, of course!

The line wasn't long by any stretch of the imagination, but it was just long enough for me to take photos of the nice details in the queue.

And from the queue we could see...

Pinocchio was a bit scary, but then so is the movie.

The sun was getting hotter and hotter and our fair-skinned faces needed a little more protection. We stepped into the store Mad Hatter and saw lots of options. I ended up with:

Yes, that's actually me. This may be the closest I get to posting a selfie here.

M didn't find anything here, but she had seen some options she liked in the Star Wars store outside of Star Tours, so she just dealt with the sun the best she could until we had a chance to get back to Tomorrowland.

But wait! One can't visit the Mad Hatter without going for a spin at the Mad Tea Party!

Up next: What's going on with our FastPasses?!?

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

After the Teacups we headed toward Tomorrowland to use our Space FP.

But, wait...what's this??

It seemed that both Space Mountain and the Matterhorn were down, so the FPs were converted to any-ride, anytime FPs!!

Free FP to use on any ride? I'm going for the one with a 70 minute standby wait!

After Star Tours we stopped in the store and M found a hat she loved. I believe it's this one:

It was time to use the other floating FP, and this time we decided on Haunted Mansion. On our way...

...we needed a snack!

Mustard, all the way from Englewood, NJ!

Haunted Mansion time!!

We liked this version just as much as the WDW version! Besides the totally different exterior, the differences were minor. The ride did seem to stop a lot more frequently than at WDW because of the loading system, but at least it was nice and cold inside!

 

[bee]

Day 7, cont.

After HM we tried the Matterhorn thing again.

(And we got a FP for Roger Rabbit, it seems!)

One word: OUCH. I guess we're just getting too old for these jerky rides! This was a One-And-Done for us!

Since we were in the neighborhood and there was only a ten minute wait, we walked over to...

A few impressions:
1) It was hot. Good thing the wait (in the sun!) was only ten minutes.
2) Good thing MK's Small World queue isn't in the sun!!
3) Cute, cute cute!
4) I didn't mind seeing the Disney characters throughout the ride. If I hadn't previously heard they were there I don't think I would have noticed most of them. I also liked how bits of their music were woven into the main song ("Bibbity" for Cinderella, "A Whole New World" for Aladdin/Jasmine, etc.). The only ones I didn't like as much were the AAs that didn't "match" the classical IASW dolls, like Pinocchio.

Up next: Lunch time!

 

[DisneyGigi]

Day 7, cont.

After the Teacups we headed toward Tomorrowland to use our Space FP.

But, wait...what's this??

It seemed that both Space Mountain and the Matterhorn were down, so the FPs were converted to any-ride, anytime FPs!!

Free FP to use on any ride? I'm going for the one with a 70 minute standby wait!

After Star Tours we stopped in the store and M found a hat she loved. I believe it's this one:

It was time to use the other floating FP, and this time we decided on Haunted Mansion. On our way...

...we needed a snack!

Mustard, all the way from Englewood, NJ!

Haunted Mansion time!!

We liked this version just as much as the WDW version! Besides the totally different exterior, the differences were minor. The ride did seem to stop a lot more frequently than at WDW because of the loading system, but at least it was nice and cold inside!

Poor Bunny! :-/ Does ours have pets? As many pics as I have taken of the stones, I don't ever remember one. I didn't get to explore outside at the one in Disneyland much either. I did love the building (and ride) I liked the New Orleans "ghost" look better than our brick.

 

[fractal]

Loving your day at Disneyland! Brings back great memories.

 

[Tuvalu]

Pinocchio ~ scary! < shudders >

Matterhorn has gotten rougher over the years, sadly. Last visit was one and done for us too.

And I am going to be that nosy person and ask how much was the Maxpass? Seems like it was worth it!

 

[Songbird76]

Day 5, cont.

As I mentioned previously, construction was being performed on the highway up to the forest. It reduced the two-lane road into a one-lane road for two stretches, which meant we had to stop a couple of times to make way for traffic going the other way.

Now THAT'S what I like to see!!

6000 feet!

We FINALLY made it to the first parking lot, that of the park's museum! We decided to park here and take the free shuttle to the General Sherman Tree (world's largest tree by volume) area, instead of take our chances with the General Sherman parking lot. Our walk to the museum and shuttle stop was stunning.

It was SO quiet up here. There were no other people around and all we could hear were the sounds of the forest and our own footsteps.

Up next: More walking, the shuttle, and "Where is the General Sherman Tree?"

Oh it reminds me so much of the Black Hills!!! So beautiful!

 

[Songbird76]

Wow! That park was amazing!! And for some odd reason, I didn't realize how high the altitude was there. That looked like very exciting fun!! Sometimes, I think we all need a bit of prodding from our significant others to expose us to experiences, we might not have considered. Glad that you enjoyed it--you both can treasure those memories for years to come.



Just had to make a quick comment about this. I think that ALL hotels, etc. should include breakfast. My hubs went to Colorado a few months ago. He was staying at a similar type of hotel that you stayed at, and he was thrilled that they served hot breakfast there!

Huh...I never thought about the elevation. My home town was at 5000 feet, and where I went to college was 7000. Now here I am at below sea level!

 

[bee]

Poor Bunny! :-/ Does ours have pets? As many pics as I have taken of the stones, I don't ever remember one. I didn't get to explore outside at the one in Disneyland much either. I did love the building (and ride) I liked the New Orleans "ghost" look better than our brick.

I think our does...but maybe someone knows for sure? I'm having trouble remembering!

Loving your day at Disneyland! Brings back great memories.

Thanks! We made great memories as well!

Pinocchio ~ scary! < shudders >

Matterhorn has gotten rougher over the years, sadly. Last visit was one and done for us too.

And I am going to be that nosy person and ask how much was the Maxpass? Seems like it was worth it!

MaxPass was $10/person per day, so we paid $60 for the three days. We found it to be ABSOLUTELY worth it.

Oh it reminds me so much of the Black Hills!!! So beautiful!

So beautiful! I'm so glad we got to see it!

Huh...I never thought about the elevation. My home town was at 5000 feet, and where I went to college was 7000. Now here I am at below sea level!

The body can definitely adjust to higher or lower elevations over time. I found it affected me just a little as we were hiking around the trails. I'm usually a fast walker and I run/jog a few days a week but was getting a bit out of breath from just walking.