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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MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Oh my goodness! I'm so glad I found your report! You're getting me all prepped for my first DL trip this June!
Also excited to hear you'll be visiting some National Parks! We're doing Grand Canyon, Mojave, Sequoia & Kings Canyon!

What are your June dates? We'll be at DL June 17th & 18th

I need to find those beignets!
Also, ALL the macarons
 
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Oh my goodness! I'm so glad I found your report! You're getting me all prepped for my first DL trip this June!
Also excited to hear you'll be visiting some National Parks! We're doing Grand Canyon, Mojave, Sequoia & Kings Canyon!

What are your June dates? We'll be at DL June 17th & 18th

I need to find those beignets!
Also, ALL the macarons

Hi! I'm glad my report is of some help, I just got back yesterday so I will be updating my report again soon. Our Disneyland June dates are 24-29, so we will be missing you. Shucks! Have fun!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Hi there! This weekend I plan to start updating with pictures from my Easter Solo trip, but I wanted to share some news. I decided to try for Galaxy's Edge reservations today for our June trip. We had planned to spend the first few days in LA, then Sequoia, then Palm Springs, and finally to Disneyland. This would have brought us to Disneyland after the reservation system had ended. On a whim I logged on and tried for reservations for one of our first L.A. days and I got some!

Our time period is from 8 am to noon, so we will just go down for that day until noon and then head back up to LA. I didn't tell Brad about my new plan until it was all booked. Needless to say Brad is ecstatic! I'm actually pretty pumped about it too. The reservation system went fairly smooth, it took about 30 minutes to get to the log in screen.
 

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Hi there! This weekend I plan to start updating with pictures from my Easter Solo trip, but I wanted to share some news. I decided to try for Galaxy's Edge reservations today for our June trip. We had planned to spend the first few days in LA, then Sequoia, then Palm Springs, and finally to Disneyland. This would have brought us to Disneyland after the reservation system had ended. On a whim I logged on and tried for reservations for one of our first L.A. days and I got some!

Our time period is from 8 am to noon, so we will just go down for that day until noon and then head back up to LA. I didn't tell Brad about my new plan until it was all booked. Needless to say Brad is ecstatic! I'm actually pretty pumped about it too. The reservation system went fairly smooth, it took about 30 minutes to get to the log in screen.
Yay! Your hubby finally gets to see the other side of that door!
I was able to book the 8am window on my date as well. Still expecting it to be wall-to-wall humans though
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Hi folks! I've been very lax about updating my trip report but I think I'm ready to update with the solo part of my year in the land.

Amy's Solo In Disneyland!
Dates: April 18-23
Hotel: Best Western Park Place Inn
Why solo? Solo trips are fun! Also Brad can't go because it was over Easter and with him being a pastor the congregation kind of expects him to be around for important church holidays.

Also this trip for me was in danger of being canceled or shortened...why? Snow and extreme subzero temperatures from mid-January to mid-March. As you might know I'm a teacher and I live in Northwestern Wisconsin and from mid-January to mid-March we had about 40+ inches of snow and had many sub-zero with extreme windchill (polar vortex) days. This led to our school being called off or delayed, this school year we had 10 inclement weather days off and 3 two-hour delays. Our district builds in some time for make up but not for that many days off. So our school had to start adding in minutes to the day, made 2 in-service days student contact days, and then took away our Easter Monday off, and finally added only one more day to the end of the year. Well, I was banking on Easter Monday off and took my only other personal day I had for Tuesday.

So when I got the news that Easter Monday was not a day off any more, I was planning to either cancel my trip or change my flight to Monday and now use Monday as my personal day. I was contemplating my options that day during student passing time when my principal walked over to me and told me not to worry about losing Easter Monday and not to change any plans that he and our superintendent had already talked it over and they would cover a sub for me!!! Two other teachers (actually the teacher in the room next to me and his wife) had the same dilemma I had with the day and we were all allowed to take an additional day!! So wonderful! I was so happy that my bosses were so understanding of the situation and had planned to help us out before we even asked about it.

Okay so anyway the trip was a go as planned and now it was the day to leave!

Thursday April 18, 2019

I had a full day of work (well kind of, I have a student teacher so she was at that point teaching half my class load). And just to give you an idea of the aftermath of record snow, this was the view out back of our school. The tiny creek (located at the far edge of the tree line) had flooded.

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Okay, school's over for the day and Brad drove me to the airport. My flight wasn't until around 8pm but because Brad had Maundy Thursday church service we had to leave for the airport directly after school, meaning I had a lot of time in the airport. That's okay, I would rather be there early anyway. After 10 minutes through security I relaxed at a restaurant in the airport called Black Sheep pizza (it is a local chain in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area). I had a Surly Furious beer and meatball pizza. Yum! After dinner I walked a couple of the concourses of the airport for about 40 minutes before settling in at my gate.
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The flight was fine, I watched movies and we landed early at SNA and I finally got to see the John Wayne statue. My dad is a big John Wayne fan so I am very familiar with the actor.
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After getting my luggage I ordered my Uber and about 20 minutes later I had checked into my hotel, dropped my bags off and was ready to spend about 1 1/2 hours in Disneyland!

As I walked into the park I noticed there was a special early preview of Aladdin that night just for AP holders with a gift. I didn't want to watch the preview but I wanted the gift (it was a draw string backpack). So I went inside got the backpack took a brief look at the displays and headed out.
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All smiles! I wish I could go to Disneyland every night after work!
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My first attraction was Big Thunder Mountain and it was a walk-on. Actually the second Fantasmic was just ending and the Mark Twain was spinning it's fireworks and it got really smoky in the Big Thunder area.

After Big Thunder I walked through the Snow White grotto to Fantasyland. Once in Fantasyland I was able to ride: the teacups, Dumbo, carousel, Pinocchio, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and ended with Peter Pan. That totaled 7 attractions in that small amount of time that night at Disneyland!
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It was a full moon that night, and I tried to get a picture of it with the weather vane at Peter Pan. It didn't turn out the exact way I wanted with my iphone camera but it turned out kind of cool.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday April 18, 2019

The Peter Pan queue at the end of the night wasn't too long and it only took maybe 12-15 minutes to go through. When I got off Pan the park was closed (midnight) so I took some pictures of a low crowd park and made my way out. It may only have been midnight here but my body was on central time so it thought it was 2 am and I had woken up early (pre-trip excitement) at 4 am. So I should have been super tired but I wasn't I was ready to go but alas nothing to go to now. I did unpack when I went back to my room and by then I was ready to crash.
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And that is a wrap on Day 1.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday April 19, 2019 Christian Good Friday, but also a good Friday at Disneyland! :)

Good Morning Disneyland! I had a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed over to get in the entry line. I got to the Disneyland gates about the same time Brad and I did in March but the lines now were a lot shorter. I guess Spring Break crowds had ended but I thought there would be plenty of Easter weekend crowds and really it wasn't too bad throughout the whole trip. Our March crowds were a lot heavier. No complaints from me about lighter crowds.


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Ready for the day!
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And I'm in!
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There was still about 15 minutes until official opening so I caught up with Chip.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday April 19, 2019

Rope drop: First attraction.....Alice in Wonderland. After Alice was the teacups, Matterhorn, & Mr. Toad. I tried Casey Jr but it wasn't running, so I went to small world and that wasn't running either. So I looped around to Tomorrowland and rode the subs. The subs were as cramped as I remembered them, and smelled. The smell reminded me of some of my middle school students when they come to my class after Phy. Ed. :depressed: The ride is cute but it will be awhile until I go on again.

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subs for @Darstarr
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After the subs I used a fast pass for Space Mountain, took a spin on Buzz, before going through the hub to Frontierland.
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I can't express I was to still have the trees still in their pink bloom as they had been in March. So lovely!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday April 19, 2019

Passing through the hub...
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Time for the wildest ride in the wilderness!
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Then some Pirate life.

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Then it was time for a snack break. I grabbed some butterscotch beignets at the Mint Julep bar and decided I didn't want to sit in the French Market area to eat them so I found a bench over by the petrified tree & the Mark Twain/Columbia dock and relaxed for awhile.
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As I was relaxing they brought the Columbia out of its dock.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday April 19, 2019

A few more pictures from the bench in Frontierland.
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Then I wandered over to use my Indiana Jones fast pass. I was the only one entering the fast pass at that moment and when I entered the temple no one was behind me or in front of me for awhile so I took some time to take some pictures of the queue.
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Then I wandered into the hub/Main Street area again I was hoping to catch a Dapper Dan performance. I did, kind of, I got at Dapper Dan drive by.
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MinnieM123

Premium Member
LOVE all the pictures! Sometimes, going solo gives your more time to notice details that you might miss, when strolling through the parks (and sometimes distracted) in the company of others. What an incredible TR so far -- you've done a lot in a short time. :happy:

I particularly like the various statue pictures, and also the weathervane at night with the full moon was awesome.

(In addition, I'd like to mention that the the John Wayne statue at the airport was very impressive.)
 

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
LOVE all the pictures! Sometimes, going solo gives your more time to notice details that you might miss, when strolling through the parks (and sometimes distracted) in the company of others. What an incredible TR so far -- you've done a lot in a short time. :happy:

I particularly like the various statue pictures, and also the weathervane at night with the full moon was awesome.

(In addition, I'd like to mention that the the John Wayne statue at the airport was very impressive.)

I agree... I would love to go solo... haven't to watch after hubby usually means I miss a lot of details!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
LOVE all the pictures! Sometimes, going solo gives your more time to notice details that you might miss, when strolling through the parks (and sometimes distracted) in the company of others. What an incredible TR so far -- you've done a lot in a short time. :happy:

I particularly like the various statue pictures, and also the weathervane at night with the full moon was awesome.

(In addition, I'd like to mention that the the John Wayne statue at the airport was very impressive.)

Thanks so much for the kind words about my pictures and report. Being able to slow down and enjoy some of the details is something I really do enjoy about my solo trips.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday April 19, 2019

After the Dapper Dan drive by I noticed that the Disneyland Band (love them!) were going to be performing in Frontierland in a few minutes so I headed over there to see them.

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They played one song around the flagpole and then marched over to a spot in front of the Golden Horseshoe. I was super pleased that they played the theme from Zorro. I highly enjoy the Disney tv show Zorro with Guy Williams. I really hope it is on the new Disney+ service. I've looked into buying the series on DVD but the cheapest I can find it for is around $300.

Anyway I followed the band like a stalker to the Golden Horseshoe.
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After the band I took another ride on Big Thunder Mt and then had lunch at Rancho del Zocalo. I hadn't eaten at Rancho since my first trip to Disneyland in 2007, it isn't that the food is bad but Brad never wants to eat there. But I figured the band playing the theme from Zorro and the sign for Rancho was a sign I should eat there.
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A view from Rancho.
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And how was the food....great! I got the red chile cheese enchilada and carne asada platter. The carne asada was good but the cheese enchilada was good. I normally don't like red sauce on my enchiladas, I'm a suiza or salsa verde girl, but this sauce had a great spice to it. It left my lips a little tingly. I should have asked for no beans as I don't usually care for them but I had a taste and they were okay for beans.
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