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!

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.

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.

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.

Adios Minnesota!

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!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Wow.. that is one place I would really like to get. Those trees just blow my mind!

It really is a pretty place and many of the trails to the main attractions are handicap accessible so that would be good for your hubby. And the trees are amazing, and there's more to come!

Great report, really in awe of the trees. Really want to get up there sometime.

They are pretty awe inspiring with their size and the age, it makes me happy that they are protected (for the most part) in the parks.

I thoroughly enjoyed your June 19th day. You saw so many neat places & things!! I loved reading all about it!!
Those trees are amazing but I'm with you.....I'm not the outdoorsy type in the least bit!!

I'm glad you liked the June 19th day, it really was an amazing day with all the Disney history and Ample Hills ice cream! Yeah, roughing it really isn't my style, I like to go out into nature and do some hikes and enjoy scenery but at the end of the day I want indoor plumbing, electricity, and a real bed. I met up with some college friends this weekend and most of them were talking about camping with their families and their campers (without bathrooms) and tents and I thought it sounded to rough for me. But to each their own I guess.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We’ve been there and more than likely I have pictures of us some place near the stumps too!

The word stump just sounds like something so ugly but the area was pretty.

Oh my gosh! Those TREES!!!!!!

Loving your photos -- never been out to California (except once, for a brief plane layover in San Diego). I'm fascinated by all the experiences you two are having on your vacation. What a great trip!!!

Maybe now with a little more time on your hands you'll be able to go out there someday. In the past few years I've really come to appreciated the beauty of California. There are so many different areas and climates to enjoy, and it has Disneyland!

I love your pics of the sequoia trees. It’s definitely on my bucket list of places to see!

Thanks, I hope you get to see it someday it was amazing.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thursday June 20, 2019

A couple more pictures from by the General Grant tree.

Then we continued on the road deeper into King's Canyon National Park on the King's Canyon Scenic by-way. This road to take us along mountain edges (basically no guard rails on the roads!), down into the valley, and to the end of the road that could only be continued on foot.

At this point in the report I thought I would include a link to the King's Canyon & Sequoia National Park map, sometimes people like to look at maps (me!) and I thought this might give some of you a better view of how the parks are set up and where we traveled through. So take a gander if you'd like.

Sequoia & King's Canyon Map

Pictures from our drive on the scenic by way. It was really gorgeous! Also before going there I had read that we might be lucky to see one waterfall, but since there had been a lot of snow this winter we were able to see quite a few. So that was exciting for us. The river below was also swollen from all the rain and we did see evidence of recent flash flooding.

We like to read the roadside markers so we always stopped when we saw one.

If you look close in the picture you can see some snow on the mt tops. For the most part the snow was gone in the park, except for the mountain tops, but we did see a few piles of snow still. There was one near our cabin. In fact when we were at the store in the Village near our cabin later that night some gentlemen who I think were from somewhere warm, they had an accent on their English that sounded like an African accent. Anyway, they were talking to another couple near us about how they had wanted to see snow, they had never seen snow, and wished that there had been some snow on the ground. Now, personally I was done with snow for the year, in one month this winter we had 40+ inches of it. But as I eavesdropped the couple told these gentlemen that they had seen a pile of snow near the cabins and described where it was to them but that it was old dirty snow. But these guys got so excited about it, it was kind of cute. So I hope they eventually found it and got to touch it, if not maybe they should come to Wisconsin in February.

A look at the glacier carved valley.

A pretty little stream.

Waterfall.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thursday June 20, 2019

More pictures on the King's Canyon scenic by-way. By this point we'd made our way down to the valley floor and now we got a good look at the rushing river. We stopped at one point to admire its beauty and power, it definitely wasn't safe for swimming. We did see a few people fishing from the banks, and in our opinion were a little too close to the water rushing past.

This is where we stopped at one point admire the view. It was at a campsite that wasn't being used. If I was into camping it would have been a prime spot right by the river. It would be a nice view to wake up to in the morning.

This folks was the end of the road. Time to turn around and head back, we weren't hiking into the wilderness for the night.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thursday June 20, 2019

On the way back, shortly after road's end we stopped at Grizzly Falls. This waterfall was booming, a true thundering sound was being made and SO much water! It isn't really visible in the pictures but the mist and spray was coming off pretty heavy. A lot of people were scrambling up the rocks to get drenched in the spray. We stayed where we would only get a light mist, we didn't want to get drenched. Plus scrambling over wet slippery rocks....not thanks we'd like to stay injury free.

Fun fact: There is a Grizzly Falls in Disney California Adventure too.

Heading back up the mountains.

On of the roadside markers.

So pretty!

There was a meadow trail that we wanted to walk but we didn't want to get caught on that winding road after dark and to be honest we were getting hungry. Our halves of the Cuban sandwich wasn't holding us over and it was after 5pm and still had about an hour drive on the road. So we bypassed the meadow and headed back to Grant Grove Village for dinner.

We ate at the restaurant in the Village our other choice was pre-made sandwiches or other frozen grocery items at the little store/grocery area. I didn't really know what to expect from the only restaurant in the Village I hadn't read anything about it being good or bad but we wanted hot food. The food ended up being really good and we had nice service too. It had a nice view out the window which I didn't take a picture of I guess. The only down side, for Brad was they didn't have a full bar. So while I was able to relax with a tasty beer he couldn't have his rum and Coke.

Brad got a steak with cheese mashed potatoes (which were creamier than it looks in the picture).

And I opted for the personal pepperoni pizza. The crust was good a little greasy but not overally so. And it had a ton of cheese. I like lots of cheese!

After dinner we walked around the Village for awhile and checked out the other cabin area, market, and gift shop. Then we went back to our cabin for the night and sat outside for a bit , played Skip-bo (card game), and read. We survived without TV!

B and I had a minor disagreement though, the cabin was a little stuffy so we opened the windows (no AC). At bed time the cabin had a nice temperature and B wanted to keep the windows open. I wanted to close them as it was supposed to get chilly that night. The windows were a hassle to open and close as you had to open the screen to close the glass area of the window. He wanted to close most of them and then if I got cold during the night we (meaning me) could close the rest of them. I knew I would get cold, I knew it was a hassle to close them, so I pointed out that if it got stuffy we could open them back up. I also knew it was supposed to get in the low 40's that night, I thought we should even turn on the heat but I knew with the window disagreement he wouldn't agree to that. In the end we closed the windows and by morning the room was super cold! And Brad admitted I had been right and we should have even turned on the heat. He is rarely cold so for him to admit that he had gotten cold during the night was a huge deal. The bathroom had it's own heat control and in the middle of the night I had turned that on so at least that was nice and warm for us. By the way, there was no disagreement about the windows the next night and B even turned on the heat in the main room before I even said anything!

 

[dizfan917]

or those guys could come to see snow in Wisconsin in October, or November, or December, or January, or March, or April or even May occasionally... sigh.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

or those guys could come to see snow in Wisconsin in October, or November, or December, or January, or March, or April or even May occasionally... sigh.

Unfortunately this could all be true.

 

[Darstarr]

Skip Bo!!!

 

[Rista1313]

❤Skip Bo!!!

Agreed!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

❤Skip Bo!!!

Agreed!

Smart ladies!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Friday June 21, 2019 First day of summer and Brad's Birthday!

Today was the day that we were going to explore Sequoia National Park, what we had seen so far was the King's Canyon National Park and had driven through Sequoia National Forest area. But today was Brad's birthday and the only request he had was getting a BIG plate of bacon. Luckily the restaurant in our village not only had good food last night but also served breakfast. I had breakfast bars in the room but a day of exploring needs more than breakfast bars. So we went to the restaurant for breakfast and they not only had bacon on the menu but they had a buffet, and that meant Brad could get a plate of bacon! The breakfast buffet was good and had some healthy options and some not healthy stuff. It had biscuits and gravy and the biscuits were light, fluffy, and butter. I was impressed.

Brad's plate of bacon. Actually this is his second plate. His first plate had more, I guess he only took a picture of this one.

After breakfast there was a short drive behind our cabin area that lead to Panoramic Point. We had been told the view was very pretty but there might also be some active bears. Both of us wanted to see bears and were also afraid to see bears on the trails so it was an exciting and scary prospect. Alas, we so no bears but also no people which was pleasant. The width of the road up there was barely wider than our car but had a few pullouts for passing cars so it was a little scary but since we didn't come across anyone else it was fine. Oh what wildlife we did see was lots of bees at the point. So while we could have spent a lot of time admiring the view we didn't because of the bees.
It was pretty though.

On the trail to the point.

A little blurry but we did spy a lizard enjoying himself on a rock.

After the Point we drove back through the Village and checked out the gift shop and I picked up a coffee for the drive. Then we got on the General's Hwy that led into Sequoia National Park. On the drive there was a neat rock formations and some with flowers.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Friday June 21, 2019 Brad's Birthday and Sequoia Day!

A short while later we passed the marker for the official start of Sequoia National Park. Since there was only one road that joined the two parks we had already paid our entrance so there was just a nice sign. Soon we started to see Sequoias alongside the road. There was a nice pullout on the road at an area that had quite a few so we stopped for some pictures. Another family was already there taking some pictures and we overheard one of the kids say something funny. The kid was in front of one of the Sequoias and the mom was taking his picture and the kid asked "Where are all the Sequoias?" We thought it was fun because he was standing next to a whole bunch, so that became a running joke for us. But the kid probably had never seen one before so it was an good honest question it just struck us as funny at the time.

I think the van gives a nice context to how tall these trees are.

After this stop we didn't stop again until the next village area of Lodgepole. There we picked up stuff for lunch, a meat and cheese tray and a two serving bag of Doritos. We had two bags of chips in our room so I don't know why we didn't bring one of those.

So far between this drive and the time we had at King's Canyon the day before I was loving this park. Unlike Yosemite there weren't large crowds of people and we could actually find places to park at the things I wanted to see. Don't get me wrong Yosemite is pretty but we encounter huge crowds of people, that is probably because we were there over a weekend. I learned my lesson from that and planned this trip so we would be there on week days and I think it made a huge difference.

Coming up: the General Sherman Sequoia, Giant Trees trail, and meadow time

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Friday June 21, 2019 Exploring Sequoia National Park

We finally got to our first real destination of the day and found a lot of parking available at the main General Sherman lot, there is also a second lot only for handicap parking down by the base of the tree which is nice for accessibility. Our plan was to leave the car in the parking lot for the day and take the free Sequoia shuttle to the other places we wanted to go.

We started the walk down to the tree. It was a nice trail and all downhill. We were glad that we planned to take the shuttle from the lower/handicap parking area to our next destination because we didn't want to walk back up. Even fit people were looking a little out of breath coming back up!

About halfway down, we decided to take a rest on the bench. Not that we really needed a rest but we like benches so it seemed like a good point to stop and enjoy the scenery. There were a lot of carvings on the bench, better to carve on a bench then on one of the trees I guess.
.

Enjoying the view.

This brick area was to so how large the base of the General Sherman tree is.

Us and a portion of an old Sequoia.

Some information for you about the General Sherman tree thanks to Wikipedia: General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, in the U.S. state of California. By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth.
Height: 275′ 0″
Weight: 4.188783 million lbs
Volume of trunk: 1,487 m3 (52,500 cu ft)
Date seeded: 700BC – 300BC
Did you know: The General Sherman tree is found in Sequoia National Park and is believed to be the world's largest tree by volume.

The whole tree.

Another look at the bricks symbolizing the base.

Another look at the General Sherman

 

[fizzieee]

All of your photos have been GORGEOUS so far. Thanks for sharing!!! I'm excited to see more!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

All of your photos have been GORGEOUS so far. Thanks for sharing!!! I'm excited to see more!

Thanks more will be coming soon.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Friday June 21, 2019

After our time at the General Sherman tree we caught the shuttle to the Giant Forest. The shuttle was a bus, same type as at WDW so I guess we didn't get away from "Disney" buses this year!

Once at the Giant Trees area we started walking the trail and as we came to a meadow area we noticed that the area had some benches and it was around lunch time so we found one that had a little shade and ate our lunch.

This was the view from our bench as we had our meats, cheeses, and Doritos.

There were a lot of big rocks as well as big trees on the trail which were fascinating to me too.

 

[Rista1313]

Wow.. just wow!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Friday June 21, 2019

A couple more pictures as we finished the Big Trees Trail.

This rock formation on the trail reminded us of BB8 from Star Wars.

By the Giant Forest Museum this tree was identified as "just and average tree"! We thought that was funny, just average. Looked ginormous to us!

After the Big Trees trail we caught another shuttle to the next area we were going to next, Crescent Meadow. It was a smaller shuttle this time, no Disney bus, because it was a narrow winding road. The shuttle also stopped at another major attraction, Morro Rock. This rock was supposed to provided a great view. It was also 400 stairs up and the viewing area was on (possibly slipper in my mind) granite rock that was supposedly also narrow. It looked like a death trap area to me and neither of us wanted to climb up all those steep stairs. When the shuttle stopped I got a view of the rock and step, and yep not for me. And I don't regret it.

The next stop was Crescent Meadow and the driver had been talking to some people and said it was a great place to get a glimpse of wildlife like bears. OH MY! There was one main trail that looped around the main meadow and another trail that branched off to another area. The big decision was to decide whether to go right or left at the start of the trail loop. We decided to go right....we chose wisely.

Soon we came to the fork that led to Tharp's Log, a downed Sequoia that a guy who grazed cattle built a home in. I wanted to go to the log. I think B was getting tired of treking. I won out and we took the fork to the log. Again, we chose wisely....

I guess it didn't turn out too well in the picture but the ground was all pretty pink flowers. And shortly after this we encountered a hiker coming our way and he had news. There was a bear in the meadow up ahead! A BEAR!!! Part of that news frightened us and excited us. We proceeded with caution and figured it would probably be gone when we got there.

Sure enough a few minutes later we came up to the clearing in the meadow and out in the middle of the field was a bear having a snack. We were plenty far away to be safe. I had a few problems getting some decent shots with my camera. Part of that was excitement, utilizing the zoom on my camera, and my blood sugar had dropped leaving me a little shaky (which I noticed the drop but I put it down to excitement over the bear at first, but some candy fixed me up quick but left my pictures a little more blurry than they might have been otherwise).

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Friday June 21, 2019

Now we do have bears in Wisconsin, but I rarely see one. I think the last time I saw one was about 5 years ago when we went up to have a picnic by a lake. Anyway, seeing the bear was exciting.
This picture probably represents how far away we were, so we were a safe distance away.

As we were watching the bear we noticed there were people on a fallen Sequoia log that was actually really close to the bear, NOT a safe distance away. But we figured if they had come out of the woods and that was a trail, then they had no choice. Then we noticed that the people on the log were waving their arms! What?! What were they trying to do, incite the bear? The bear wasn't coming towards them or even paying attention to anything else but its snack, so there was no reason to try to gain the attention of the bear. We thought it was a little crazy. Shortly after that the bear looked at them and started, and ran a little bit. Luckily it was away from the people and not toward us. But man that bear could move! It did stop again and started snacking again. Anyway, remember the people waving they will come up again.

After watching the bear for a bit we moved on towards the log house.

This was Tharp's Log. It was impressive to see how he built his home in the tree. I wouldn't want to live in it (no indoor plumbing! Ha!).

A peek inside the home. Going in further was blocked off to preserve the remains of the home.

This was the meadow by the tree where he had grazed his cattle. I wouldn't want to live in the home, but I wouldn't mind the view.

The trail continued on from the tree but that part seemed very rustic so we went back the way we came. The bear must have finished his/her snack because it wasn't in the meadow anymore. Although when we had arrived at the tree there was a handful of people there and everyone was all a twitter over the bear sighting.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Friday June 21, 2019

Once we got back to the main trail around Crescent Meadow we got back on the loop that led around the meadow. We saw a bunch of people gathered in an area and we thought maybe it was another bear! Turns out it was golden bellied marmots and there were baby marmots! It was fun watching them scamper around the log.

As we were watching the marmots this guy comes up to Brad and asks, "So did you see the bear on the trail earlier?" And Brad tells him yes and said how cool it was to see the bear. The guys says, "Good I was hoping you would notice the bear. We were waving at you two on the trail to make sure you noticed it." This guy was the one on the log that had been waving at the bear, but not at the bear at US! He explained that he had seen Brad's Goofy shirt (yes through the trees and across the meadow) and wanted to make sure we saw the bear. Later Brad and I thought it had been nice of him to try to make sure we saw the bear but we thought it was a little crazy too.

The guy was nice and we chatted for a bit about the bear and about the marmots in front of us. He asked us if we were going down to the Mineral King area at all. We had thought about it because of the Disney connection, but we had read that the marmots in that area like to chew on brake lines of cars. We didn't want to have car damage or die so we had crossed it off the list. We told him no and he explained to us about how damaging the marmots are there and just wanted us to be prepared just in case. Again, nice of him. He said that some people use tarps or chicken wire to protect their cars when they park them in that area. Oh darn, we left our chicken wire at home....

After we were done with the marmots and talking to the guy we continued on the trail. I spotted this cool looking plant growing at the base of a Sequoia. I think it is called a snow plant. I thought it was pretty and had an alien type of look to it. And the cone in the picture is a Sequoia cone and I didn't place it there it either naturally fell there or someone else placed it there. But notice how small the cone is and think of how giant the tree becomes.

Further up the trail I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye...would it be a bear again? Nope just a deer. I do see plenty of deer at home but this fellow was handsome and it was neat to watch him for awhile.

B and I continued on the trail and we were getting close to the midway point around the meadow and the trail led into the trees. Soon the trail became super muddy in front of us and it looked like the mud stretched a long ways ahead. There wasn't really anyway to get around all the mud except for going really off the trail. Neither of us wanted to walk through mud, not only would it get our shoes really dirty but we could get stuck or slip and fall. None of that was a good prospect and it might not be safe to walk off the trail. So we turned around and just went back the way we came. It was at this point we realized how lucky we had been to make the choice to go right at the start of our journey here, had we gone left we would have encountered the mud first and would have turned around and then we probably would have missed seeing the bear.

So we turned around and made our way back the way we came and headed back to the shuttle. When the shuttle came it was the same driver that had dropped us off. He remembered us and asked us how our walk had been. We said we had seen the bear and he was excited for us and said that he was pretty sure we would see one. We chatted a little more with him until we left the shuttle stop. There was a group of people that got on the shuttle with us and when I mentioned that we had seen the bear one woman in the group turned and looked at me with a death stare! I was like "what?", but I figured she was just jealous that we had seen the bear and she hadn't. Ha!

As we took the shuttle back to the Giant Forest area to then get the shuttle back to the General Sherman to our car we passed by the tunnel tree. It looked cool and we figured we would drive through the tunnel tree tomorrow on our way out of the park.