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
Tuesday June 25, 2019

After our nap we headed back to the park. We had a dinner reservation for the Hungry Bear Fantasmic dining package at 5:30 pm so when we got to the park we did a few castle shots and then Brad suggested walking through Fantasyland. The Hungry Bear is on the far side of the park in Critter Country and it is not convenient to walk through Fantasyland to get to it. I quickly figured out what he was up to, so I agreed and asked him if he wanted to cut through SWGE on the way to the Hungry Bear. We could go out the entrance that would take us past the Hungry Bear. He looked a little sheepish and said yes.

Today was only the 2nd day SWGE was open to the public without reservations. We had been watching the app yesterday and saw that boarding groups had been in use but so far today (and as far as I know every day since) boarding groups didn't need to be used. So we did something that we thought wouldn't be possible for years, we walked into SWGE and used it as a short cut to get to the other side of the park!
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The Hungry Bear had changed their Fantasmic menu since I ate there in April. Which was fine by me, this was really good, except the carrots. They were hard, I don't like hard carrots.
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After dinner B wanted to build his droid so we walked back into SWGE and right into the droid depot with no wait at the payment counter for his droid. He built a BB droid which he calls BBPB, BB and PB because people call him Pastor Brad.
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Some pictures inside the droid depot.
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Picking out parts, this took forever because he couldn't make up his mind on the colors he wanted. I ended up taking a ton of pictures in the Depot because I was bored.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 25

The droid will be build in this post. Once he finally decided on his color scheme, Cubs colors, he started the building.
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And here it is BB-PB
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He's getting activated.
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The box was a lot bigger than the BB droid and it seemed like a hassle to carry around. After droid building we headed out of the land and when we got to the hub Brad was already tired of carrying his toy around. He thought about getting a locker but our hotel is less than a ten minute walk from the turnstiles. So he decided to take it back to the room.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 25, 2019

As B took the droid back to the hotel room I kept his backpack with me so he could get back through security quicker. About that time the Soundsational parade was coming through. So I found a bench on the far side of the hub and watched from afar. It was relaxing watching the parade and the ducks nearby.
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B made it back to the park not too long after the parade ended and I had moved to the castle area to get a front row spot for the All American College Band. They always put on a good show, I was bummed that they wouldn't be around when we came back in August. I guess they need to go back to their colleges.
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After the band we headed over to Tomorrowland to take the train around the park.
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The Tomorrowland train station has a good view into Autopia.
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All aboard! I just now noticed that the monorail train is in this shot too.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 25, 2019

We wanted to see what SWGE looked like in the lighting of the time near sunset. So here are some near sunset views.
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Soon it was time to get our spots for Fantasmic. It was a very enjoyable show. Before the show we went to the candy shop by Pooh/Splash Mountain and got the fantastic chocolate peanut butter sandwich for our show dessert.
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We watched the fireworks after. It is now the Disneyland Forever show from the 60th anniversary, which in my opinion is just okay. I really liked the Mickey Mix Magic show they had in March and April. From what I've read on the internets I might be in the minority of this opinion but that's okay. I like what I like!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday June 25

In the Cantina we shared a table with a nice family from Burbank. They were fun to chat with.
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My drink was the :

Gamorrean Ale

(ABV 5.8%) Red Ale, New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins

Brad got the:
Dagobah Slug Slinger
Herradura Reposado Tequila, Bols Blue Curaçao, Citrus Juices, Ginger, Herbs, and Bitters

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After the Cantina we headed to Smuggler's Run and used the single rider line to get onto the ride quickly. We waited about 5 minutes.
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Then Brad met an old friend.
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DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
Tuesday June 25, 2019

As B took the droid back to the hotel room I kept his backpack with me so he could get back through security quicker. About that time the Soundsational parade was coming through. So I found a bench on the far side of the hub and watched from afar. It was relaxing watching the parade and the ducks nearby.


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A west coast Disney Duck!!! 😍
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday June 26, 2019

Disneyland day today. This is the day we were really able to judge crowd levels, and from this day until Saturday the crowds were extremely light! We were shocked, we had heard of low crowds and we were delighted with the low crowds. While we were planning this trip we were convinced the crowds with SWGE would be unbearable, and now we barely needed to make fast passes (we still did though).

We arrived about 10 minutes before opening but found a turnstile with no people in front of it. "First" in the park.
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It was a great morning of all Fantasyland fun, Big Thunder, Jungle Cruise, Indy, and more Thunder Mt.
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And of course the Dapper Dans!
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And the Disneyland Band!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday June 26, 2019

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After the Disneyland band played it was around 11 am and we decided to grab an early lunch at Black Tap. We figured if we went early it wouldn't be too crazy busy yet and it wasn't. The food overall was good, we didn't go for one of the Crazy Shakes but we did share a chocolate peanut butter shake. It was plenty, we actually couldn't finish it all.
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I got the pizza burger that had mozzarella sticks on it. It was a good burger and I enjoyed it. I wish the marinara sauce would have had a little more seasoning to it, the sauce was a little bland.
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Brad got the BBQ burger, he enjoyed the burger.
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We shared wings too, I think these were the Carolina ones, they reminded us of the wings we have at one of our favorite hockey bars which are called gold rush wings so I keep thinking that is the name of these. These were really good.
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And just a couple shots of Downtown Disney
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday June 26, 2019

After Black Tap we waddled over to Disneyland again and hopped on the train to New Orleans Square and headed back to Batuu. We went on Smuggler's Run again and then headed back to the hotel for our afternoon nap.
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Looking back on these pictures it is amazing to see how fee people were around especially when we were expecting masses.
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On the ride
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On the way out of the park we stopped for a picture with Mickey.
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He noticed my Mickey shoes and tried to steal them multiple time. He tugged at my feet and untied my shoes trying to get them.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
I can't believe you were the first one in the park! I don't think even @Tuvalu can claim that level Shirley status! :joyfull:

Gotta say, I always look forward to the t-shirt collection between you and Brad, on the various vacation trips you take. You guys always find the best shirts! :happy:

Thanks! We have some fun tee shirts coming up. It is not the first time I've been first in the park.
 

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