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
Thursday March 21

On our way to Big Thunder we noticed that the Mark Twain was coming into the dock so we decided to hold of on Big Thunder and go on the Twain first. Brad really wanted to ride the Mark Twain on the 3rd deck so he could get some views into Galaxy's Edge. Well the 3rd deck was closed, probably because of the rain and it might have been too slippery. But we still got some views of GE and in general along the river. Also Tianna was on the Twain and did some meet and greets, so that was a cool experience.

So here are some scenes from and of the Mark Twain.....
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Oh bother!

Well-Known Member
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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I love that they made an effort with the scrim and the back is something different.... even though this is how I saw the castle on my first and very likely only visit to Disneyland 😞
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday March 21

After our time in Frontierland we headed over to Main Street to get a spot for the Soundsational parade. Of any day time Disney parade I've seen this is by far my favorite. The music is great and I love how bright and detailed the floats are. The performers always seem really into their performances as well. It is just fun.

We didn't wait too long, about 30 minutes and we got a great spot on Main Street. The banners in honor of Mickey and Minnie are super cute too.
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While we waited the Disneyland band came by, I love this band too!
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Balloons anyone?
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Time for the parade!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday March 21

Some more Soundsational pictures. You'll probably notice some menacing dark clouds in the background, we were a little concerned about rain but it stayed away.

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After the parade we headed out of Disneyland and walked back to the Best Western to settle into our room and give our phones a charge. We love that we can walk back to our hotel room in about 10 minutes here at DL. At the end of the night that is HUGE plus over WDW, where the ten minute walk would be to the bus stop, then the bus ride, then the walk to the room. (Don't worry, I still love WDW.)

Coming up: We get our Sip and Savor pass to enjoy California Adventure's Food and Wine Festival.....
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Wow, what a fun parade! You got some excellent photos--particularly of the chimney sweeps.

I like the t-shirt you wore -- really cute.

Those Easter "eggs" look divine!! :hungry:

Glad to hear that you liked your hotel, and that it was convenient. (I also imagine that compared to on-site hotels, it was probably a lot more reasonable.)
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wow, what a fun parade! You got some excellent photos--particularly of the chimney sweeps.

I like the t-shirt you wore -- really cute.

Those Easter "eggs" look divine!! :hungry:

Glad to hear that you liked your hotel, and that it was convenient. (I also imagine that compared to on-site hotels, it was probably a lot more reasonable.)

Thanks! I got the shirt the last time we were at Disneyland and it must have been popular as I didn't see it anywhere this time. The Best Western is a lot more reasonable, it was a little less $200 (with taxes) a night compared to the $400-800 a night range for an on-site hotel. Plus staying at the BW helps me build points for free stays another time! :happy:
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday March 21

And since I'm moving on to some food I should probably tag @Cesar R M , he seems to appreciate some good food.;):)

We headed back over to the parks and decided to get our eat on at DCA for Food and Wine. We stopped and picked up our Sip and Savor pass and we both bought an AP Food and Wine shirt.
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There were two AP shirts, we got just a regular Mickey Food and Wine (I think it is like the one on the Sip and Savor pass I'm holding.).
There was this design too, but since we had no plans to buy this soda we passed on this one. It was a cute design though.
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Time to eat!
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Like at all Disney festivals there aren't many tables but we found a spot near two of the booths we wanted to try so I held the spot while Brad got our first round. This was the view behind me. A little vineyard.
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We decided to share food so we could try more dishes. First round was a puff pastry ham and cheese pinwheel with pistachios. We really liked this so we were off to a great start! This was from a booth called Nuts About Cheese! I thought this was a great booth, I love cheese and nuts. Some people might even say I am nuts!
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The next booth was the Citrus Grove. We shared the orange chicken and rice and the Citrus-brined Pork Roast with tangy Barbecue Sauce and Lemon Pepper Slaw. Both sounded so good and looked good. The portion sizes were big, especially the pork roast. Both were pretty bad. When the best part of a the orange chicken are the little mandarin orange slices that are garnishing it that isn't a good thing. Actually right before B came back with the dishes a lady next to me was chatting with someone on her phone and I overheard her talking about some dishes she had tried and the she was very vehement about how bad the orange chicken was so when B appeared a moment later with it I was really hoping she was wrong. She wasn't. I wasn't biased about it from that lady either because I didn't tell Brad about what the lady said until later and he hated it too and he normally loves orange chicken.

So here is what the dishes looked like.
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After "dishes" we went on Soarin', looked at some merch and decided to try another booth.
Some of the merch, @JenniferS I got one of the trash can salt & pepper shakers.
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JenniferS

Time To Be Movin’ Along
Premium Member
Thursday March 21

And since I'm moving on to some food I should probably tag @Cesar R M , he seems to appreciate some good food.;):)

We headed back over to the parks and decided to get our eat on at DCA for Food and Wine. We stopped and picked up our Sip and Savor pass and we both bought an AP Food and Wine shirt. View attachment 362366

There were two AP shirts, we got just a regular Mickey Food and Wine (I think it is like the one on the Sip and Savor pass I'm holding.).
There was this design too, but since we had no plans to buy this soda we passed on this one. It was a cute design though.
View attachment 362365

Time to eat!
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Like at all Disney festivals there aren't many tables but we found a spot near two of the booths we wanted to try so I held the spot while Brad got our first round. This was the view behind me. A little vineyard.
View attachment 362361

We decided to share food so we could try more dishes. First round was a puff pastry ham and cheese pinwheel with pistachios. We really liked this so we were off to a great start! This was from a booth called Nuts About Cheese! I thought this was a great booth, I love cheese and nuts. Some people might even say I am nuts!
View attachment 362368

The next booth was the Citrus Grove. We shared the orange chicken and rice and the Citrus-brined Pork Roast with tangy Barbecue Sauce and Lemon Pepper Slaw. Both sounded so good and looked good. The portion sizes were big, especially the pork roast. Both were pretty bad. When the best part of a the orange chicken are the little mandarin orange slices that are garnishing it that isn't a good thing. Actually right before B came back with the dishes a lady next to me was chatting with someone on her phone and I overheard her talking about some dishes she had tried and the she was very vehement about how bad the orange chicken was so when B appeared a moment later with it I was really hoping she was wrong. She wasn't. I wasn't biased about it from that lady either because I didn't tell Brad about what the lady said until later and he hated it too and he normally loves orange chicken.

So here is what the dishes looked like.
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After "dishes" we went on Soarin', looked at some merch and decided to try another booth.
Some of the merch, @JenniferS I got one of the trash can salt & pepper shakers.
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Oh man, those would look so good on my shelf.
Love, love, love.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday March 21

We were ready to try some more dishes. Both of us really enjoyed 1 of the 3 dishes we got here, and I will get it again when I go in a few days. The other two dishes, while these weren't bad, they weren't stellar either. I'm glad we tried them but I won't be getting them again.

Booth: Golden Dreams
These are the two dishes that were just okay. Of the two I liked the relleno bites better, as did Brad. It just needed a little salt.
Dish on the right: Deconstructed Teriyaki Chicken Musubi with Pineapple Relish
Dish on the left: Anaheim Chile Relleno Bites with Salsa Verde
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The dish we really liked was the dessert! Chocolate-Peanut-Caramel Parfait, so good. I may have eaten more than my fair share.
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Next up was Cluck-a-Doodle-Moo. We were both excited for this booth, it had some returning festival favorites from last year and I had read good things about it.
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We got the
Harris® Ranch Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider
with Chimichurri Sauce
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and the Salt and Vinegar Parmesan Chicken Wings
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Both look good right? We'll start with the wings. While not terrible, they were cold and under seasoned. We couldn't detect much vinegar or salt. At least the skin on them wasn't flabby, that would have totally killed it. We did think about trying these again but never did. I had read raves and raves about these last year so maybe it was a bad night. So it might be a possibility that I might try these again.

Now the slider. I will say we both like Chimichurri, I make it at home in the summer and we like beef and pickled onions are fine too. So I went to take a bite and immediately gagged. The meat was cold the chimi was terrible, just a strong raw garlic taste. Ewwwww. Brad thought I was being dramatic and so he took a bite. He hated it too! This man loves meat! We couldn't finish it. We really should have complained and got our tabs back but we didn't want the hassle.

It was so disappointing that even though we really wanted to try the Garlic Kissed as there were some things on their menu we wanted to try, we just couldn't bring ourselves to try anything else. We decided to write it off as a bad kitchen day and hoped the next time would be better.

So we continued the loop around Pixar Pier. And decided to listen to the band at Paradise Gardens. They were good.
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Then we said hi to Bing Bong before riding the Incredicoaster. That was fun but really cold!
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We were getting pretty tired we had been up since 2:30 am central time, so there wasn't any World of Color for us tonight. So we headed back to our hotel. A friend of ours had been in Chicago and brought us back Garrett popcorn and gave it to us the day before we left for California. We had brought the popcorn with us, so we decided to call it a night and go eat some good popcorn in our room!
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On the way to the hotel we passed this promo for D23 Expo! I was pretty jazzed to see this, both of us are really looking forward to this again.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Hi Amy
Great to have you and Brad back for another update on DLR
The scrim is a good one - when do then expect it to be done?

Following along as always

Max

Hey Max!

Believe me after the winter we had this year I was so ready to get back to DLR! The castle work is rumored to be done in "Spring", I did hear April. So maybe at the end of the month. I peeked through the fencing along the front and it looked like all the ground concrete was torn up too and that would be some work there too. So I'm hoping when I'm there over Easter the scrim will be down but if not that's okay. We kept thinking about how a scrim like that would work for Cinderella Castle at MK, that would have to be some huge scrim!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday March 22

It's a Disneyland day today!!!!! While Brad waited in line I wandered to take pictures in the esplanade and through the gates. Don't worry, by the time I came back to him he had made friends with the people behind us in line. They were at Disneyland for the first time but were WDW vets and had even been to Disneyland in Japan. They were fun to talk to and the time passed quickly! Thanks NYC family!

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And we are in!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday March 22

As people raced down Main Street to the rope drop we decided to hang out in Town Square. We were hoping that Mickey would come out for pictures before we headed to Fantasyland. He did not, but that was fine, we enjoyed some time on a bench and the atmosphere.

So here are some scenes from Town Square and from the hub area. I think I took way too many pictures of the pink trees in the hub, but they are so gorgeous I couldn't help myself.
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Always need to give a thank you to Walt!
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No Mickey, but we saw that Dale was up to some trouble!
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And the hub...
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I love how Mickey is walking through the castle on the scrim, such a fun detail!
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Coming up: attractions and dream come true for Brad.....
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
oooo reading this TR, and I got excited about the Garrett's popcorn... I'm pathetic! LOL Less than a month and I'll be in IL to get my own bag!

It is so good! A student had some cheese popcorn at school the other day and it looked good but in my head I was like “it’s no Garret’s!” She offered me some but I just can’t eat any other cheese popcorn it just isn’t worth the calories.
 

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