Trip Report 2018-2019 A Year in the Land (Disneyland)...a multi-trip report

Hello and welcome to my trip report for my year as an annual passholder to Disneyland. Me (Amy) and my husband (Brad) have been passholders of both Disneyland and Walt Disney World but this year we decided to be exclusive to just the Land. It was a little painful to give up going to WDW this year, we consider it our home park but we also enjoy Disneyland too. I think I have a little more fondness to it than Brad, but anyway.... So why are we passholders for DL exclusively this year instead of WDW or both parks. Well financially it didn't necessarily make sense. Brad is a big Star Wars fan and I'm a big Disney nerd so with Galaxy's Edge opening in the Land earlier than WDW that was a draw. And the D23 Expo is in Anaheim again this year so it checked boxes for both of us.

So I'm going to begin this report a little in the past, 2018, that's right so long ago! :) We traveled to Disneyland over Thanksgiving 2018 and bought our annual passes so that is where we will start the trip report.

Upcoming trips:
A. late March 2019
B. possibly (most likely) a solo trip for me over Easter 2019 (Why solo?...well Brad is a pastor and the congregation kind of expects him to be there over Easter. I'm a teacher and have a nice little break over Easter and the hubs is too busy over Holy week and Easter so he won't really notice I'm gone.)
C. Late June 2019 to celebrate our anniversary and birthdays all in June and in the same week. This trip will include Los Angeles, Sequoia National Park, Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park & Palm Springs as well as Disneyland (and perhaps if rumors are true our first entrance into Galaxy's Edge)
D. our last trip late August for Disneyland and D23 Expo

By the way...if any of you are in Disneyland when our paths cross it would be cool to have any meet ups or say hi. I've met a few awesome WDWMagic members in Walt Disney World and it has been so cool. Don't be afraid to say hi if you see us walking around too!:):cool:

So let's start the first leg of the trip report: November 20-25 2018

Tuesday November 20
Brad and I both had a full day at work. My day should have been full of students but since it is Deer Hunting week (or at least the big gun hunting week) in Wisconsin and Thanksgiving week, our district gives the kids the week off and teachers report for two days of inservice. So it wasn't a hectic day for me. However there was a little kerfuffle in the plan for today. It involved our beloved and spoiled minature schnauzer Kapono.
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My boss said that we could leave at 3pm instead of 3:30pm so hubby picked me up on the way to drop off Kapono at the kennel. Kapono has only spent 2 days ever in this kennel (good experience) usually she stays with my sister but she was unable to care for her this time. So it was the first time Kapono was going to be spending an extended time in a kennel. So we arrived at the kennel and no one is there, even though it is check-in time and the main building for the kennel is unlocked. So we go inside and wait thinking that maybe the owner is just busy at the house and will be out soon. After 5 minutes no one came even though dogs were barking in her house and in the kennel. So hubs gives her a call. And in the mean time I'm concerned that she left the kennel unlocked! Anyway, the lady was surprised we were calling and had lost track of time and was an hour away from the kennel. But more importantly she was surprised that we were there because she hadn't written down our reservation!!!! Hubs had the email confirmation though. Luckily she had one run left. She said it was luckily for us, but really it was lucky for her!!!! I don't know what we would have done if that run wouldn't have been available though. Although hubs said one of our church members would have pitched in for us. So I took Kapono out into the fenced in yard area and when I let her in she happily ran into the open caged run. I was glad she seemed happy to be there but a little concerned now at the professionalism of the kennel owner. Fast forward to the end of our trip when we picked her up...Kapono had been a good girl there and was safe (and clean). So it all worked out and this over-protective dog mom was happy, and the kennel owner apologized a few times.


So anyway, after we dropped Kapono off we drove up to Minneapolis to the airport for our flight. We ended up being pretty early for our flight but we'd rather wait safely at the airport than be stressed out in traffic. Check in and security took less than 15 minutes so we had a decent meal and drinks at the Minnesota Wild (our favorite hockey team) teamed restaurant). We hadn't planned on eating here but I guess it was fate since we were wearing our Disney Minnesota Wild themed shirts.

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The seats we were in used to be 1st class but now the company is going more the Spirit route and these seats were $45 more to the base ticket price. So for that we thought it was a deal to have slightly bigger seats and more foot space for the flight.
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Adios Minnesota!
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We flew into LAX and took an Uber to Anaheim. The traffic was a little heavy in the arrival/departure area so it took our Uber driver a little while about 10-15 minutes to get to us, but it didn't seem too bad. We made it to Anaheim in about 40 minutes (our driver was a speed demon) but that was okay with us. We checked into our hotel the Best Western Park Place Inn, literally across the street from the entrance as seen below. We went to the ticket booth and purchased/cashed in 4 day park hoppers for our annual passes with Max pass and gleefully entered Disneyland with about 40 minutes until park close!

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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday November 23, 2018

After Autopia we decided to head out of the park but did a little "shopping" at the Disneyana store. I ended up buying a couple sketches, a Santa Pluto and Santa Goofy kind of like the sketches below but not framed up (mine fits in a 11 x 14 frame that I bought at Michael's). There was a lot of cool art that would have been nice to buy if I had unlimited funds and wall space.

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I was really tempted by this sketch since I love the toy soldiers. However it wasn't in the budget. The more characters in the picture the more expensive the sketch. So I could either get the get the Pluto and Goofy which would finish out my wall space at home with the Mickey and Minnie sketches I already had or get this one. So I decided I could live with the picture of these guys and regretably put it down. But it was destined to be mine....Brad returned another day and secretly bought it for me and had it shipped home. I thought he was in the bathroom but he was really buying me this for Christmas. 😍
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After shopping we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Up next: Saturday morning at DCA.
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
Friday November 23, 2018

After Autopia we decided to head out of the park but did a little "shopping" at the Disneyana store. I ended up buying a couple sketches, a Santa Pluto and Santa Goofy kind of like the sketches below but not framed up (mine fits in a 11 x 14 frame that I bought at Michael's). There was a lot of cool art that would have been nice to buy if I had unlimited funds and wall space.

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I was really tempted by this sketch since I love the toy soldiers. However it wasn't in the budget. The more characters in the picture the more expensive the sketch. So I could either get the get the Pluto and Goofy which would finish out my wall space at home with the Mickey and Minnie sketches I already had or get this one. So I decided I could live with the picture of these guys and regretably put it down. But it was destined to be mine....Brad returned another day and secretly bought it for me and had it shipped home. I thought he was in the bathroom but he was really buying me this for Christmas. 😍
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After shopping we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Up next: Saturday morning at DCA.
It's the lack of wall space that gets me every time. I'd need a house of hallways and no windows to accommodate all the art I find that I love!
Brad's a keeper! What a sweet guy to go back for the toy soldiers sketch !
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday November 24, 2018

Guardians was a great first ride and then we headed over to Monster's Inc. I think it is a cute ride but Brad isn't that thrilled about it. Since we walked right on and were the only ones there he was okay with riding it.

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While looking around where I was standing the library I spotted Peter Pan in the Collectors stuff.
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And Tinkerbell. I wondered if this was a rolled up Disneyland map or a map of Neverland.
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Good bye Bug's Land! :( I wish they would bring the four leaf clovers (that helped provide some shade) to Toy Storyland in WDW.
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Monster's...We have a 2319!
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Roz was festive for the season.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday November 24, 2018

A look at a few more Carsland decorations.
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Inside the Cozy Cone there was a gingerbread display, since people aren't allowed inside the Cozy Cone office it was hard to get a great picture of it. This was the best I could get. It looked really cute.
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Then we headed to Pixar Pier and had a twirl on the Incredicoaster and look wall pictures like the cool kids.
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Then we decided to share a snack or two. We got a Mexican dish. I think this was pork, the meat was good but the stuff underneath had a weird texture.
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Then we got the black forest yule log. This really hit the spot, I regretted sharing.
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We both wanted one of the mugs that was for sale. We found one booth selling it with pomegranate lemonade, which we really didn't want but it didn't cost less to just get the mug. But we did ask for the lemonade in a separate cup so we wouldn't have a sticky mug to deal with later. We found a place to sit and relax and actually ended up enjoying the lemonade a lot.
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Then it was time to watch the Toy Solider band again.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday November 24, 2018

Some more of the Toy Soldier band at DCA.

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Next we had reservations for the Lamplight Lounge. I had read pretty good things about this place so we were eager to try it. We were impressed by the decorations. Lots of cool stuff to look at.
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I got some sort of beer that had a Pixar themed name, sorry I can't remember the name. It was good. Brad got a rum and Coke.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday November 24, 2018

At the Lamplight lounge. The hallway to the bathroom was interesting and the door signs were cute too.

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And a look at the downstairs eating area where we were sitting.
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The brown chairs at the small tables looked like leather and had characters imprinted on them. I wish I could get these for my house!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday November 24, 2018

More pictures of inside Lamplight Lounge and a look at the food we got.

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Cheers!
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Crispy Piggy Wings: Pork Drumettes with Chili-Ginger Glaze, Toasted Sesame Seeds, Cilantro, and Slaw
We were really looking forward to these because we really like the piggy wings at Epcot's Food and Wine. These were slightly reminiscent of those and we enjoyed these ones too. However, they were really spicy! Holy Moly! Neither of us mind spicy foods but we both agreed that these needed to be toned down a little. Because they were so spicy when we discussed what we might order again both of us were on the fence about it. We probably would give it a second shot, maybe someone was a little heavy handed with the spice that day.
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Potato Skins

crispy Yukon Gold Potatoes with Brown Butter-Caper Yogurt, Smoked Paprika Aïoli, and Manchego Cheese

These were good and filling. Unlike the piggy wings though these needed a bit more something, perhaps garlic or onion. The dips with it were just okay. Since these were a little bland they were the perfect way to tone down the heat in our mouths from the piggy wings.
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We started with those two appetizers with the plan to order two other ones by after these two we were full.
We had planned for the second round to order the Deviled Eggs and Toast creamy Egg Salad, Toasted Almond Romesco Sauce, Dill, Manchego Crisp, and Toast for me and the Tuna Poke Yellowfin Tuna "Rice Bowl" with Magic Watermelon, Avocado, Edamame, Shio Peppers, and Spiced Mango Nectar for Brad. Perhaps in March we will try for a walk up.

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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday November 24, 2018

After Lamplight Lounge we noticed that there was another showing of Viva Navidad soon, we knew we probably wouldn't get a great spot since we were arriving near the starting time but we figured we could enjoy it anyway.
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The little show with Elena was just finishing up in that area too and we got a wave from the princess as she passed by.
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We ended up in an area behind some people right near the main float turns around. There was a large marked off space for that float to turn to maneuver into its spot and I looked at the prime real estate longingly but I was looking forward to the show starting. Well, once the main float got into place the ropes came down and we were allowed to stand there! Yay! Front and center spots!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday November 24, 2018

After Viva Navidad we used another fastpass for Incredicoaster and bumped into Mr. Incredible.
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Then we decided to walk the Redwood Challenge trail, we hoped to catch the meet and greet with Chip and Dale in their holiday gear but we missed them. We had never been into this area before and we were very impressed with the theme and look forward to exploring this area again.

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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
The lamplight lounge looks like a lot of fun

Is it in the location that used to be Ariel’s restaurant?

Max
The redwood challenge area used to have a bother bear theme
You were able to determine your totem
Not sure if that portion of the area still exists

Max

Yes the Lamplight is where Ariel’s used to be. And I don’t know about the totem thing, I’ll try to look around in March and see if it is there.
 

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