Trip Report *COMPLETED* A Jolly Holiday with K & J

Hello and welcome to my very first trip report! I’ve been following along to many people’s trip reports over the past few months, and I’ve decided it’s time to come out of the shadows and write my own! I so enjoy reading trip reports on here - it helps me feel like I’m really there, and allows me to live vicariously through others while I’m pining away for my next Disney trip. I hope that I can give some of you the same joy that you have given me!

Let’s get down to the details...

Who: Katie (me)

DF8F58FF-CC07-4B01-9D86-DD3881B34D22.jpeg


And Jason (my husband)

4D8041A9-4F50-42E2-BC11-71F6BE64212F.jpeg


We’re a couple of WDW APs, Georgia Peaches, and #ChildlessMillennials who just celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary.

BEF8A051-8BC1-4BB2-A3AD-A9D3720CCA17.jpeg
FB8AEC56-2BEC-4E70-9563-8B93C47436A4.jpeg
1D28DA1A-5786-47D3-BFA4-FB0CE123D28A.jpeg


This is our second trip to Disneyland - here we are on our first trip back in 2016.

DD9CF7FF-91BD-4CE2-AB40-17D867B7189B.jpeg


When: Flying into San Diego on November 30th (more on that later), driving up to LA on December 1st, and checking into the Disneyland Hotel :) for five nights, 12/1-6.

Where: The Disneyland Hotel!!! We stayed across the street at the Tropicana Inn on our last trip - the hotel itself was fine. Clean rooms, pretty affordable, and a five-minute walk to either park. BUT we are SO SO excited to be staying onsite this time around!

Why: We love the Disney parks during the holiday season! We went to Disneyland the week after Thanksgiving 2016, and we’ve done WDW the last two Christmas seasons. We’d love to do Disneyland every other year, but it is SO. EXPENSIVE. to fly to California from Atlanta. It’s a 7-hour drive for us to get to WDW, and we have annual passes, so WDW is much more cost-effective for us.

I hope that you all enjoy following along!
 

k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Two weeks until we fly to California! I decorated for Christmas today, including putting up the Disney tree! We started doing a Disney tree in 2016, and at the time, used a little 4-foot tree. We quickly outgrew it - we’re both suckers for the cute Disney ornaments - and upgraded to a 6.5-foot tree this year! The new tree still needs a skirt, and we want to get a Disney-themed star for on top. Who else has Disney holiday decor? I’d love to see pictures!
E91E1CC4-0510-4BE9-BD0F-40E154790189.jpeg

90DEA857-6DE7-47FC-8AE2-DD86B084F22B.jpeg


I normally don’t decorate for Christmas until the weekend before Thanksgiving, but I convinced my husband to let me decorate early this year, since Thanksgiving is so late and we’ll be out of town for the first week of December!
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
Two weeks until we fly to California! I decorated for Christmas today, including putting up the Disney tree! We started doing a Disney tree in 2016, and at the time, used a little 4-foot tree. We quickly outgrew it - we’re both suckers for the cute Disney ornaments - and upgraded to a 6.5-foot tree this year! The new tree still needs a skirt, and we want to get a Disney-themed star for on top. Who else has Disney holiday decor? I’d love to see pictures!
View attachment 426210
View attachment 426214

I normally don’t decorate for Christmas until the weekend before Thanksgiving, but I convinced my husband to let me decorate early this year, since Thanksgiving is so late and we’ll be out of town for the first week of December!
We definitely have some Disney ornaments but I am not allowed to decorate until at least December. Lol
 

k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We definitely have some Disney ornaments but I am not allowed to decorate until at least December. Lol
My husband used to be pretty staunchly against decorating/listening to Christmas music before December 1st, but I’ve slowly managed to move the date up earlier and earlier. I celebrate Christmas on Disney’s schedule! :joyfull:
It’s been 14 years since I was at DL for the holidays - can’t wait to live vicariously through you! 👍
Thank you for following along! :happy:
 

k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We made it to the airport with plenty of time, and got through security in about 20 minutes, which isn’t bad at all for the Atlanta airport the weekend after Thanksgiving.

My favorite spot in the airport - the “rainforest” between concourses A & B.

0CE2AA7E-2301-4B27-922E-AD5C1B9EAFB4.jpeg


Chick-Fil-A breakfast- the airport is the only place around here where you can still get our beloved spicy chicken biscuit.

C2337CF2-345F-416B-AB55-15B7AFBF3073.jpeg
 

k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ahhhh it felt pretty good to change this from a Pre-Trip thread to a Trip Report thread! Tomorrow we’ll be getting up bright and early to drive up the coast! We’ll be making a couple fun stops before checking in at the Disneyland Hotel! So excited!!
 

k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I woke up this morning with a sore throat...thanks, guy behind me on the flight. We stocked up on DayQuil and NyQuil and cough drops, and I’ve been chugging water all morning. Hoping to beat the cold down before it gets worse.

On the bright side...
FAE92CA9-9B91-49B9-B17A-D38D99A546E6.jpeg

C7A04B9B-5082-4546-8835-59A20AB8B932.jpeg


We’re heeeeere!!! We can see Galaxy’s Edge, the Matterhorn, and the tip of Big Thunder from our room!
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Our hotel has a gingerbread house in the lobby - it almost feels like Disney!

View attachment 429699

A few photos from our day in San Diego - we had lunch in the Gaslamp Quarter district, visited the Hotel Del Coronado (the inspiration for the Grand Floridian), spent some time in Balboa Park, and had dinner in Old Town.
View attachment 429700
View attachment 429701
View attachment 429703
View attachment 429709
View attachment 429710
View attachment 429711
View attachment 429712
View attachment 429713
View attachment 429714
Beautiful pictures of Balboa park


Max
 

k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Some pictures of our day...we checked out of our hotel in San Diego a little after 7:00 am, drove to La Jolla Cove to see the seals...

0F2BF273-4717-4004-BB11-D4C6CF9BF007.jpeg

F08726DC-513F-4CCE-AEB9-0599D9B80768.jpeg


and started our drive up the coast. We stopped in Oceanside for breakfast at a cute waterfront restaurant, and got off I-5 to take the Pacific Coast Hwy to make part of the drive more scenic. We got to the Disneyland Hotel around 11:00 and arrived just in time for a loooooong wait for check in. BUT, our room was ready! We got the the room, unpacked, and headed out to do the Warner Bros Studio Tour!

For @Darstarr and my other fellow Friends lovers...

333A3176-B3E5-438A-B62A-2268DAD8A0C5.jpeg

1CF8EE0B-EBEC-424D-A8A5-5AED0D8900D3.jpeg

A2EA6F35-D90D-42C9-A2E5-65DFC40DEECB.jpeg

30332F36-053B-4CF7-9F04-4A148DB67949.jpeg


Sitting on the iconic Central Perk couch was a huge bucket list moment for me! After the tour, we jetted over to Griffith Park in an attempt to see the iconic carousel that inspired Walt to open Disneyland. As we arrived, we found it closing for the night...at 5:00 pm.:confused: We headed back to the hotel, dropped off our things, and walked over to Downtown Disney for dinner. At this point my phone was at 2% battery, so I left it charging in the room. For dinner, we ended up at Jazz Kitchen Express. I had the fried chicken po’boy, and my husband had the popcorn shrimp po’boy. After dinner, we walked around Downtown Disney for a bit, popping into some of the shops as we went along. The area was VERY crowded, which I’d imagine is probably typical for a Sunday night. We’re hoping things will be a little calmer during the week. Right now, we’re getting some well-needed rest at the hotel room before bed. The fireworks should be starting in about half an hour, and we’re hoping we can see some of the show from our room! The updates for the rest of the trip will probably come in a brief summary at the end of the day, since we’ll be in the parks starting tomorrow. I plan to do a more detailed report after returning home. We’ll be starting with DCA tomorrow - we can’t wait to see Cars Land again, and ride Guardians of the Galaxy and the IncrediCoaster for the first time! Thank you all for following along so far!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom