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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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
All of these Disneyland reports are making me super jealous!! Loved seeing the Christmas decorations and how they compare to WDW. Thanks for sharing your trip with us and I can't wait to read about your next one!
 

djpoore94

Well-Known Member
I am so glad I found your TR! DH & I are planning our first trip to DL next year (well, I was there for one day when I was a teenager, but really don't remember much so I'm not counting it). We were thinking about the week after Labor Day, but all of your pictures make me think we should go while the Christmas decorations are up just in case we don't make it back. Do they put up the decorations around the beginning of November like at WDW?
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
I am so glad I found your TR! DH & I are planning our first trip to DL next year (well, I was there for one day when I was a teenager, but really don't remember much so I'm not counting it). We were thinking about the week after Labor Day, but all of your pictures make me think we should go while the Christmas decorations are up just in case we don't make it back. Do they put up the decorations around the beginning of November like at WDW?

I'm glad you are enjoying the trip report. Disneyland is great anytime of year. They do decorate for Halloween too, while I haven't seen it in person it looks cute in pictures. Christmas is my favorite holiday though so I do vote for that! 🙂 I think the Christmas decorations go up near the beginning of November, I think their Christmas activities started around the 9th of November in 2018.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Update for March....World of Color will be back for our trip! We usually do the Carthay dining package for this show but this time we decided to do the World of Color dessert party. The desserts, so I've heard, are just ho-hum but both of us are looking forward to having a reserved table and chairs meaning we won't have to show ups early to get a decent spot. Even with a dining package we liked to show up early to get a good spot.
 

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Update for March....World of Color will be back for our trip! We usually do the Carthay dining package for this show but this time we decided to do the World of Color dessert party. The desserts, so I've heard, are just ho-hum but both of us are looking forward to having a reserved table and chairs meaning we won't have to show ups early to get a decent spot. Even with a dining package we liked to show up early to get a good spot.

So worth not having to sit for hours for a spot!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Another March trip update....Since DCA will have their Food and Wine Festival while we are there we decided to do a mixology class. It is a Trader Sam's cocktail mixology class. We bought our tickets for the Saturday we are there. It should be fun. It is at DCA not the actual Trader Sam's bar though. 🍹🍹
 

djpoore94

Well-Known Member
Awesome, thank you! DH & I have both been so busy with work, by the time we get home we just make dinner and veg out until bedtime so we haven't even done much planning for Hawaii this year, and definitely haven't talked about DL. I have started reading the DL Unofficial Guide though :D
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Awesome, thank you! DH & I have both been so busy with work, by the time we get home we just make dinner and veg out until bedtime so we haven't even done much planning for Hawaii this year, and definitely haven't talked about DL. I have started reading the DL Unofficial Guide though :D

Oooo, Hawaii sounds fun. I went before Aulani was open, although our plan flew over it while it was being built so I guess I have "seen" it. DL doesn't require a ton of planning which is kind of nice, but it is fun to read about it. 🙂
 

djpoore94

Well-Known Member
I'm super excited about Hawaii, we've never been. It's kind of weird to think that we don't have to do much planning. Pretty much picking where we want to stay, and prioritizing attractions and dining that we don't want to miss. It was a good excuse to get a new Unofficial Guide though!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Alright folks, are you ready for the March edition of my Disneyland report?!?! I figured I'd better get going on this because in 12 days I'll be back in the Land.

March dates: 21-25 (kind of started on the 20th, we stayed in Minneapolis the night before we flew out)
Accommodation: Best Western Anaheim Inn

Thursday March 21
We had an early flight today, departure was at about 5:30 am. So we were at the airport early, around 3:30 am. Our plan was once we were on the plane to sleep and we both got about an hour or so of sleep on the plane. We also had our own row!

Excited to be on our way!
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Goodbye Minnesota!
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We had a layover in Phoenix, it was only supposed to be an hour but it got extended. Only by one hour, so that wasn't too hard to bear, Brad actually was more peeved about it than I was. But we ended up sharing a yummy breakfast burrito with chorizo at some restaurant near our gate. So tasty! (Sorry no pictures of it.)
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For the flight to Orange county we had our own row again! Soon we were soarin' over California, I took this shot about 15-20 minutes before we landed.
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Finally we get to Disneyland! We checked in at the BW Anaheim Inn but our room wasn't ready so we just stored our bags and headed to the park. It was raining, it was a really light rain though so we didn't put our ponchos on yet (and ended up not putting them on).

I didn't take any pictures of the BW Anaheim Inn but it is a great location, about a minute walk further than the other Best Western (Park Place Inn). Our room was really clean, service was great, breakfast was fine (standard motel breakfast), and they accommodated my request that I put on the reservation when I made it online. No complaints about this place what-so-ever.

Anyway by 11:20 am I took the picture of the Disneyland sign and we were ready to have fun!
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I got my ears on!
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With the time change we were past our lunch time and with the rain we decided to wander through shops on our way to find a place for lunch. So we wandered through the Candy Palace. The Disneyland Easter Eggs were for sale and they were peanut butter today! The eggs are made in house and are pretty good, there are different flavors and only a limited amount are made on the days they make them. We bought 2 peanut butter ones. I didn't get a picture of them so the credit for these Easter egg pictures go to Disney Food Blog.

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While Brad was paying for our eggs I took a picture of these cute treats in the case.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday March 21

B and I decided to head to the Jolly Holiday for lunch, I really wanted to try the special cheese sandwich with bacon. When we got over there the line was super long and since it was raining all the tables under cover were taken and many of the tables (even with umbrellas) were wet. Well, I guess we will try someplace else.....

It was almost noon and the Plaza Inn would be opening for lunch soon so we decided to head over there. The line hadn't built up too much yet so looking at the line we were confident that it wouldn't be a long wait and that we would get a table. Plus if you remember from my November part of the report when we ate here then we were rushing our meal to get to our tour, so we both agreed it would be nice to have a leisurely lunch here.

Waiting for the Plaza to open with a view of scrim castle. But look at those gorgeous pink trees!!!:inlove:
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Some interesting light fixtures while waiting to get into the restaurants. I thought of @Doc Disney and her love of light fixtures.
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LUNCH!!!! I got all white meat and Brad got all dark. It really hit the spot and we enjoyed our meal. We also ended up at the same table inside that we sat at in November. The beans were a little disappointing, they were rubbery, usually the Plaza's bean are tastier. And I'm always disappointed in the biscuit, it looks good but it is usually dry and a little cold. But we were there for the chicken (and mashed potatoes for me) and they were good.
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My smile is kind of saying...."Brad take the picture already, I want to eat!"
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When we entered the park we made a fast pass for Buzz using our Max pass option on our phones. And while we were eating we had made another max pass for small world so after lunch we were ready to start with attractions! I actually scored great on Buzz, almost 200,000! That is great for me so I was super pumped. Notice we are in separate cars, we have to be for the sake of our marriage. We have gotten into fights about Buzz because of the spinning and accusing each other of positioning the car to benefit one person's aim. Silly but we hardly ever fight, but Buzz is our bone of contention, so separate vehicles for us here at Disneyland and at the MK.
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My hero!
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Off to small world!
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Oops, a little out of order.....but me with my friends! Haha!
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When we got off small world the rain had stopped (YAY!) and sunshine was out! Here is a picture of the backside of the castle scrim. Obviously we would like to see the castle but the scrim didn't really bother us. We both liked that Disney tried to make it still a pleasant sight to look at. And really isn't the Maleficient and Prince Phillip part of the scrim really awesome! And the fairies up at the top?! Really cool!
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We had a fast pass for Big Thunder Mt, so we took the Big Thunder trail around to Frontierland. B wanted to check out the Galaxy's Edge entrance. I think it is well themed and there won't be many more times we will ever see it empty! Also, the door was unlocked, I made Brad try it but we weren't willing to get banned from the park to try going any further.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Yay! Another part of your trip reports! Following along!

Thanks! Glad you are following.

Omg... I LOVE Reese's... so I probably would have died and gone to heaven eating that egg... Excited to see the rest of your trip!

We still have one at home that we haven't eaten yet. They are good, but honestly they look better than they taste. I would rather eat a Reese's. But it is a unique treat to have. I don't have a picture of it but Disneyland has a chocolate covered peanut butter sandwich (basically a peanut butter filled graham cracker sandwich coated in chocolate) and it is SOOOO good. We usually buy a couple to bring home too. Actually we usually end up with a lot of Disneyland treats in our suitcase but not so much when we go to WDW. Hmmmm.....
 

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