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 June 27, 2019

Our destination today was DCA
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Our first attraction was to be Guardians.
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B went on it once with me and then I went on two more times without a wait.
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We met up in Carthay Circle and headed to Soarin' Over California and did that twice before heading to Radiator Springs for a couple loops on that too. The park was pretty dead and we didn't mind at all.
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On the way we checked on the grape vines, maybe there will be some grapes next time.
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We also did Luigi's
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After Pixar Pier it was close to our lunch reservation and we were thinking of checking in early, but......
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday June 27, 2019

As we were walking to the restaurant we noticed people setting up for the Newsboys show. I wanted to see the show and I got a front and center spot, and I'm glad we saw the show because Disney cut the show. Which is too bad, it was fantastic.
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After the show it was a short wait to be seated at the Carthay Circle restaurant
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And one of the beautiful signature biscuits opened up for you so you can see the ooey gooey deliciousness of the biscuit.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday June 27, 2019
The ceiling is patterned after some of the background from Snow White, and some of the tables have the Evil Queen inlay on then (ours did not this time)
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I got the summer pasta

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B got the pork chop
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On our way out of the restaurant we were admiring these flowers and a cast member came by and told us that they were fresh every day. There were pretty. We were both a little surprised because they looked so perfect we thought they'd be fake.
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For dessert we headed over to Oga's Cantina but first we took the Omnibus down Main Street.
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And back on Batuu. We were becoming frequent guests there.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday June 27 2019

I got a different beer and Brad got the Yub Num, mostly for the glass but he liked the beverage too.
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One of the signs put up around the park for SWGE status, it was always open
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After the cantina we headed back for our nap but decided to watch the start part of the Soundsational parade since that was about to begin. That is our favorite part of the parade.
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And a couple more Carthay Pictures I forgot on the last post.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday June 27, 2019

After our afternoon nap we headed back to DCA for the night. We were a little hungry so we went to Flo's for dinner to have some chicken.
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We took a spin with Mater.
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Oh and this was our dinner view from Flo's.
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Then we caught a showing of the Lion King show. It was good but not as good as Festival of the Lion King at Ak.
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The walls were finally down at Emotional Whirlwind but it wasn't operating when we walked by, I guess it had been earlier. Looks cool though.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Thursday June 27, 2019

B and I used a fast pass for World of Color and we were able to get my new favorite spot, the rail right behind the Dessert party. It gives a nice wide view of the show.
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Tonight was also the first night that DCA had Soarin' open for passholders after park close, so on the way out of the park we hopped on that. I was seated next to a guy and his girlfriend that had a fancy hand gesture dance that they did with the show. It was odd and a little distracting but at least they didn't block my view.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday June 28, 2019

It was my birthday today, so of course it was a Disneyland day!

After we got into the park Mickey and Minnie were just starting to greet guests. They went gaga over my Mickey shoes again. I had wanted a picture with Mickey today so this was a fun birthday bonus to get both mice at the start of the day.
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The Pearly Band
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Matterhorn Madness!
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After almost an hour in the park Peter Pan was a 20 minute wait! Crazy!

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We watched the Dapper Dans and they sang Happy Birthday to a few of us.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday June 28, 2019

I wanted to hear the Disneyland Band play again so we went there then we went to the monorail to get a "short cut" over to Trader Sam's at the Disneyland hotel. It wasn't open yet, but we only had to wait about 15 minutes. I got a Zombie, Brad got a mai tai. Then for lunch we got the fried long beans, wings, and Kalua pork poutine. It was all good, especially the beans!
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For dessert we finally went to Salt and Straw. It was good but no Ample Hills good.
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After Salt and Straw we went back for our nap and later went to SWGE again. We saw a friend!
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And saw this, one of the cm's set it up and it was cute.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Friday June 28 2019

We checked out the gallery by the Disneyana Store, there was a new Haunted Mansion exhibit that was really interesting.

And here is the "exact" bench Walt Disney sat on, hmmm, wonder if I've seen that somewhere before.
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We saw Mickey and the Magical Map, I just love that show.
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And a visit with Buzz!
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And we closed out the night with fireworks on Main Street. It had been a great birthday! (Just a shot of Main Street)
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Coming up: Our last day of play!
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Your photos of the Newsboys show looked very entertaining. Glad you got to see it, as you mentioned it was cut soon afterwards. I'm suprised they'd cut a show like that -- would think it would have a lot of guest interest. Hmmph.

I hope they bring it back when the Red Trolley Cars come back after their refurbishment at the end of 2020. The trolley was part of the show but I still liked the show with out it.
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday June 29, 2019

Today was our last day, we would be taking the red eye out of LAX later. But today I had snagged a 7:10am Plaza Inn breakfast. That meant that we could enter during magic morning (which we didn't have) eat our breakfast and then at 8am we would already be in the park when it opened for us.

So this meant....first in the park again!
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A sampling of the offerings
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday June 29, 2019

More characters at the Plaza Inn. The characters came around to our table multiple times they had some fun interactions with us and were very playful. Winnie the Pooh, was very playful, especially with Brad. Neither one of us care for Pooh much but the playfulness of this character left us feeling a little more warm towards him.
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Even though I'm not a big Pooh fan I have always liked Eeyore, maybe because he is always so down I want to give him a little boost.
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I liked the design on the bottom of the Fairy Godmother's dress/robe.
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday June 29, 2019

The pictures aren't really in order but it gives an idea of what we did. A little bit of everything, and of course another trip to Batuu and Oga's. We got our favorite drinks as our last drinks of the trip, so that was the Skyhopper for Brad and the red ale for me.

Storybook lighthouse.
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From the Mark Twain
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Indy area. The snake on top almost has a hidden Mickey in its shape.
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And of course the Dapper Dans!
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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Original Poster
Saturday June 29, 2019
Before the Dapper Dans we had a fast pass for Space Mt and we were hungry so we had a slice of pizza and some breadsticks from Alien Pizza Planet or whatever it is called now...the food was meh.... I've had better and I've had worse. But it did the job of stopping our hangryness.
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After the Dapper Dans we grabbed a spot in front of the train station for Soundsational. We also got to see the Disneyland Band from that spot.
Some interesting decorative things on Main Street.
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After the parade we went to the Tiki room, I'm doing my Adventure pose.
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DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
Saturday June 29, 2019

We had one last attraction, Buzz, and Brad was super happy with his score. Then it was time to head to the airport, boo!

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But we are off for our final trip to the land for Disneyland and D23 Expo. That's why I rushed today and yesterday to finish up this leg of the report.

See ya real soon!
Have a great trip Amy! Can’t wait to read all about D23.
 

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