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
The Cathay Circle Lounge looked so inviting -- I like the atmosphere in there. :inlove:

I'd love to ride Autotopia !! :D

The nighttime electrical parade photos were great! :happy:

The lounge and the restaurant are very relaxing and it makes me feel I'm somewhere classy even though I'm in a theme park. Autopia is a lot better than the Speedway in the MK, it is more scenic.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
That pizza looks delicious! And so proud of Brad for venturing out by getting a Banana Daiquiri instead of a rum and coke! :happy: (that should get old to me but if he drinks something other than a rum and coke it surprises me)

The banana daiquiri was really good too, I was able to take a sip (and I snuck a second!). Rum and cokes would get old for me too, but he will venture to some fruity drinks occasionally.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

Another Disneyland day

I really didn't take too many pictures of the Candy Cane but here are a couple from near the shuttle stop at the front of the hotel. By the way, the breakfast there was pretty good, no hot items but the pastries (including donuts and ham & cheese croissants) were all from a local bakery and really yummy. We ended up putting the croissants in the toaster and that made them even more yummy. There was even two types of cheese chunks and hard boiled eggs and fruit for breakfast. We usually stay at the Best Western's on Harbor and they have hot breakfasts but the quality really isn't great, it is functional so we think in the end the Candy Cane wins the breakfast category.

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The brown building in the background is the backside of the Cadillac range and racers from Carsland in DCA.
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Disneyland!
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And some shots while waiting to get in.
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And when we entered Mickey was waiting for us (and maybe other people too).
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

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And off to Fantasyland we go with our first stop being the Alice in Wonderland ride then more fun in the land.
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The photographer loved our Jungle Cruise shirts and told us to point to them, which I thought was awkward which may be why I pointed with my whole hand and that makes it more weird.
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Storybook boats.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

I found myself on my own for a little while and the plan was to meet up at Big Thunder so I took a slow walk over from the castle area to Frontierland and practiced some photography skills on the way. It was a nice little walk.

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The Halloween tree had lights on it already but never was lit up at night while we were there.
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The Davy Crocket roastie toastie in Frontierland.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

In Frontierland we met up at the shootin' arcade before we rode Thunder. Then headed to the Jungle Cruise, Pirates might have been in there too somewhere.
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I only included a couple Jungle Cruise pictures, but I took quite a few. That means our skipper must not have been very entertaining, I usually end up with more pictures if the skipper is bad.
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Yep found a Pirates picture, I'm pretty sure we rode it before Jungle.
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After Jungle Cruise we needed a little snack. Brad wanted Bengal BBQ and I wanted an orange whip from Tropical Hideaway. What to do? Get both of course. Brad went to Bengal and I went to the Hideaway and we met in the seating area of the Hideaway and shared our treats. I ended up deciding that we needed to try the mango & orange whip. This was an excellent decision, the two together was fantastic!


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Pork Belly on the left and chicken on the right....both were very tasty.
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And then a train ride.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

After our train ride we wound up here.....on Main Street
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And saw these guys.....
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Then we went to the Haunted Mansion and these jars were for sale. It was just a decorative jar, no candle and some ridiculous price. I'm sure some people bought them, the design is cool but too much $$$ for me.
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It was time for lunch at Cafe Orleans and we carbed out with the pommes frittes and the monte cristos. We shared them and it was plenty filling and tasty.
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View from the table.
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And a close up of the fries.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Mango and orange whip? OMG!!! :hungry: :hungry: :hungry: And the luncheon at Cafe Orleans looks yummy.

By the way, I like your crossbody bag -- smart idea to take a fabric bag in the heat. Probably more comfortable. :)

I know....Orange and mango! YUMMY!

Thanks the crossbody bag is a Vera Bradley. I love the that style of purse and that it is fabric. I guess I never thought of the heat aspect, I just like that I can put them in the washing machine to get them clean. The fabric strap feels better on my neck area too than the leather straps of other brands.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

I guess when we went back for our nap I finally took a picture of the inside of our Candy Cane room. Then when we did go back to Disneyland we decided to stop into the Disneyana shop and look at the art work for a bit. I always see stuff I like. But I can't buy all of it as it is usually out of budget and I only have so much wall space!

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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

A few more pictures of art in Disneyana, because of the Haunted Mansion's 50th anniversary a lot of the art was based on that which was fun.
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And then we had a quick look at the Haunted Mansion history display but the Disneyland band was going to be starting soon so we rushed out for that.
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Yay for the band!
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Then just a look around Town Square
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Roastie Toastie!
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Then we decided to have a treat in the hub.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

I do have to backtrack for a moment. While we were having nap time at the Candy Cane I woke up about 15 minutes before our alarm so I was on my phone and I noticed that we somehow had 2 fastpasses for the Matterhorn, so weird. Then I decided to check the D23 Expo app because I saw a post that the panel reservations were finally linked to the app. I wanted to make sure our reservations had been linked properly. And just a quick reminder D23 Expo reservation rules for panels were 2 per day and they couldn't overlap times or be on the same stage. So I checked Friday's reservations and everything looked fine and I took screen shots so I had that and our paper print out as back up. Then I checked Saturday's and all was in order. Then came Sunday....and guess what I didn't have only 2 panels, somehow I had reservations for 4 panels for the day! WHAT?! Not a bad thing at all, 2 of the extra panels that we had reservations for were ones that came up with errors when we tried to book. So I guess Brad and Amy had some options for Sunday! So with an extra fast pass for Matterhorn and bonus panel reservations it was like we were just being given stuff, cool. Maybe we should've bought a lottery ticket!
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Me being a dork with our treats.
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Then we headed over to the Tiki room. We only had a few minutes to wait until the next show and it was a pretty full house. Brad stayed awake for the whole show this time, and as always it was a great show. The lady next to Brad wouldn't know though because she played games on her phone the whole time, she did dim the brightness on her phone though.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

After the Tiki room we headed to DCA for awhile. I got the red card at Soarin'. I asked Brad to take a picture of me with it, and he just looked at me strange so I just took the picture below. He still doesn't get what an honor it is to get the red card @Tuvalu !
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Then we headed over to Carsland to meet up with some friends. We watched the sunset lighting then met our friends for a bit at Flo's. I really don't know where we ate that night, no pictures and I didn't write it down. I know it wasn't Flo's. Oh well.
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After some time with our friends we rode Racers and then headed back to Disneyland, Brad wanted to go on Smuggler's Run. We entered SWGE as the fireworks were going on and that was an interesting vantage point. We watched for a bit by the First Order shop and then by the Falcon. It was a little strange without the music.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday August 21, 2019

A few more pictures of the fireworks.

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When the fireworks were done we hightailed it over to the single rider line of Smuggler's before it got too swamped with the people that had been watching the fireworks. The single rider line didn't even take us 10 minutes. I ended up on the ride with a family of 4 (who didn't want to socialize) and a teenage boy. The boy was very nice and he was very talkative and nervous about riding. He hadn't ridden before and wanted me to tell him all about it and basically was my little shadow in the waiting area. He was sweet though and I had him sit at the checker board (or whatever they call the star wars game) and I took a picture with his phone. We both ended up as engineers and he had a blast! On the way out he excitedly talked about the ride and wished he had time to go on it again. It was fun being with someone that was so excited to go on the ride (besides Brad).

Somehow Brad got off the attraction before me, even though I was given my credentials before him. So we headed over to the Resistance area of the land and he took a picture of the fast pass redemption box at the entrance of what will be the Rise attraction.

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And I took a few pictures of what we could see of the queue area.
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And a bad photo in front of the entrance of the Rise queue
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We headed out of the park then. B and I split up for a bit to do some shopping. We were to meet up in front of the Disneyanna shop, which I was not allowed to go into. So I guess I know I'm getting something from that store for Christmas! As I as was shopping on Main Street I could hear the Main Street Electrical parade starting and I did look out one of the shop windows for a bit as the first float passed by and when I exited the chain of shops I was able to see the Pete's Dragon float.
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When the parade ended a few minutes later I found a bench in front of the Disneyana shop and waited for Brad. He hadn't finished his shopping as he had been detained by the parade and there was a line for checking out in the shop. That was fine, I didn't mind waiting and taking in some of the atmosphere. When he was done we headed back to the Candy Cane for the night. We would have one more parks day before Expo!
 

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
Wednesday August 21, 2019

After our train ride we wound up here.....on Main Street
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And saw these guys.....
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Then we went to the Haunted Mansion and these jars were for sale. It was just a decorative jar, no candle and some ridiculous price. I'm sure some people bought them, the design is cool but too much $$$ for me.
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It was time for lunch at Cafe Orleans and we carbed out with the pommes frittes and the monte cristos. We shared them and it was plenty filling and tasty.
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View from the table.
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And a close up of the fries.
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That Dan's 'tache is fantastic. I always stare in awe.

In the other hand.. I really need to try these fries and the montecristo.
 

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