Trip Report A Walk in Walt's Footsteps: Max's California Adventure

Hello to All - As the title suggests the Max family has returned from a fun adventure in the Golden State.

For those who have not read the PTR I have copied a link below:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...-going-to-do-i-am-going-to-disneyland.929704/

If you do not want to read the pre trip report I understand - there are so many PTR, TR ,Live reports on the go it is a lot of work to keep up with everything.

We will start with the players:

Me - Max - turned 51 a few days before we left (and yes I wore my Bday button proudly - more to come on that one though). Trip number 25 to a Disney Resort ( WDW, DLR, DLP and TDL)

My DW - T - age is just a number - She really likes Disney, really loves DCA and is over the moon on going back to San Diego (Trip number 23 to a Disney Resort (WDW, DLR and DLP)

My older DD - S - 22 - just finished her undergrad in Music Therapy, working at a summer camp and starting her mandatory intenrship to become certified in September. Trip number 20 (WDW,DLR,DLP)

My younger DD - C - 20 (not yet legal to drink in your country) - almost halfway through Biomedical Engineering - just finished a school term in August (co-op program) - starting to work in September - same trip count as her sister.

Next up: Day 1 travel day and first day in park all in one!!

 

[myhappyplace]

This will be a fun read! You have a lovely family Max!

I would love to go to Disneyland someday! It is on my bucket list

 

[blreinsel]

Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[Figaro Family]

Glad you started your report, can't wait to find out more!

 

[LisaBelle]

I'm here! So excited for your new report. Looking forward to learning more about DLR and reading about your adventures!

 

[dddisney]

Looking forward to your report.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Count me in! Can't wait to read all about it!!!

 

[Tuvalu]

< Begins snarky comment prep >

Ok, I'm in!

 

[mcstensrud]

Awesome Max!
Will be following along also

 

[75disney]

I'm in. You have a very nice family. Love the intro pics.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I'm in!

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Looking forward to following you adventures.

 

[amjt660]

This will be a fun read! You have a lovely family Max!
I would love to go to Disneyland someday! It is on my bucket list

Thank you - I hope to make it fun for all! Every true Disney fan should go to Walt's park at least once.

Can't wait to read all about it!

Extra extra , read all about - Max and the family go wild in California!!!
Thanks for joining the team!

Glad you started your report, can't wait to find out more!

More to come really soon
Thanks for joining in

I'm here! So excited for your new report. Looking forward to learning more about DLR and reading about your adventures!

Thank you
I will do my best to add on to the detail from @bee and @ajrwdwgirl great TRs!

Looking forward to your report.

Thank you for joining the adventure

Count me in! Can't wait to read all about it!!!

Matty from AB is in the house!!!
Thank you and you are duly counted in

< Begins snarky comment prep >

Ok, I'm in!

Crank up the snark - o - meter
Tuvalu is ready!!!

Awesome Max!
Will be following along also

Thank you - will do my best to stay awesome!!!

I'm in. You have a very nice family. Love the intro pics.

Thank you - they take after their mother of course - more pics to come

I'm in!

I expected nothing less!!!
Thanks for following

Max

 

[susan lees]

Looking forward to following your report

 

[DisneyGigi]

So excited to read about your trip!

 

[amjt660]

Day 1 Travel Day:
Before I get started just a short disclaimer.
My picture taking was very inconsistent.
I did not take a lot of typical pics of the resort , rides, parades , FW ,etc.
So lets just go with it and see what happens.

IF you are looking for amazing pics in general I suggest @fractal and @Sheriff Woody
IF you are looking for great Disneyland pics check out @bee and @ajrwdwgirl and their DLR reports

So on with the story

Woke up at 3:30, left house at 4:30 and arrived at airport around 6 for a 8:30am flight from YYZ (Toronto Pearson) to SAN( San Diego Lindbergh)

Does anyone else do this?

I find after a great vacation I usually always forget where I parked.

Took off at 8:45 but landed at 10:25 and got bags by 11:15.
Rental car at 11:45 (Nissan Rouge - I know - not a Toyota - trust me I checked)

Note: We drove to the airport in my RAV4 instead of the minivan because I wanted to make sure everything would fit in the Rogue
It all fit - I am so "a" retentive at times - but I only wanted to play Tetris once at home in the comfort of my own driveway with the luggage.

One stop in Oceanside for subway lunch and then arrived at Grand Californian at 2:30pm
Room was ready
At first I was disappointed that we were put in the far wing away from the park entrances but I realized later why - they were dong reno work on the other wing

We had a good view of DCA from the balcony

Goofys Sky School was being refurbed so we did not get to see it operating during our stay.

Refurbed rooms are nice

T and S did the unpack and settle
C and I hit up Ralphs for the essentials

Heading out to the park at 4:20

 

[myhappyplace]

I always either take a picture, or make a note in my phone where I parked!

 

[amjt660]

Day 1 cont'd
So we went through the lobby and out to Downtown Disney
The location of this hotel is perfect and the view from the room is amazing to sit and have a glass of wine and eat lunch.
It is for these two reason we pay the premium to stay here. ( but hey, you can't take it with you right?)

We went through security as we exited the hotel into DTD
This was new for us - the security used to be just before the ticket booth after the tram drop off - not sure where the tram riders have to go through security - maybe a local can chime in.
Everyone get scanned everytime - not even pretending to be random!!!

We headed to DL on this day and went straight to Adventureland to pick up a FP for Indy

Note: We did not use Maxpass (I know - it seems insulting not to use it after they named it after me!!!)
Maxpass is telephone app based and it allows you to pick your FP from anywhere once you have entered the park at least once.
It is not FP+ - where you book 3 in advance - so consider it to be the old FP system without the walking

So Max, why did you not use it?? it sounds incredibly convient

Well, I am a Canadian with a phone plan that would bankrupt me if I used roaming
Not an issue in WDW because the wifi is pretty good.

DLR wifi sucks!!

According to CMs that I discussed it with they are struggling to get it to work because the have so many competing signals in the area
Think about it - WDW is literally its own little world - DLR is in the middle of Anaheim

OK - moving on - with Indy FP in hand we rode JC with only a 5 min wait.
Skipper name was Sherman if you enjoyed the ride
If not his name was Irrelevant with 2 R's.

Best joke was when he had to scare the hippos but decided not to use his gun.
Instead he said

"I am going to use what scared away my last two girlfriends - I LOVE YOU!!!"

After JC we went to Pirates (very short walk from ride to ride)
First of many family selfies!!

15 min wait
One of the 3 pirates singing was not there - did not take my own pic so I borrowed one from the Google
it was the one on the left who was on coffee break (or was it a covfefe break?)

Disneyland Pirates is much better than WDW
More drops, more scenes and a better start
The WDW queue is cool though.

Next up was nourishment
Some pics along the way of BTMM and the underdevelopment SW.

We decided pre trip to check out the rethemed Pinocchio counter service
Village Haus is now

I have never been in this one before so I cannot tell you how much they changed, what they kept , etc
But the theming worked for us

I decided on the Beast burger
T got the Chicken sandwich and the girls went for the salad
More pics as we were waiting to order

Next up : Dinner and night time rides

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We take a picture as well. But we also try to park in the same section each time. 3P....3 for three of us (me, hubs, and the dog) and P is the first letter of our last name. So fairly easy to remember.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Day 1 cont'd
So we went through the lobby and out to Downtown Disney
The location of this hotel is perfect and the view from the room is amazing to sit and have a glass of wine and eat lunch.
It is for these two reason we pay the premium to stay here. ( but hey, you can't take it with you right?)

We went through security as we exited the hotel into DTD
This was new for us - the security used to be just before the ticket booth after the tram drop off - not sure where the tram riders have to go through security - maybe a local can chime in.
Everyone get scanned everytime - not even pretending to be random!!!

We headed to DL on this day and went straight to Adventureland to pick up a FP for Indy

Note: We did not use Maxpass (I know - it seems insulting not to use it after they named it after me!!!)
Maxpass is telephone app based and it allows you to pick your FP from anywhere once you have entered the park at least once.
It is not FP+ - where you book 3 in advance - so consider it to be the old FP system without the walking

So Max, why did you not use it?? it sounds incredibly convient

Well, I am a Canadian with a phone plan that would bankrupt me if I used roaming
Not an issue in WDW because the wifi is pretty good.

DLR wifi sucks!!

According to CMs that I discussed it with they are struggling to get it to work because the have so many competing signals in the area
Think about it - WDW is literally its own little world - DLR is in the middle of Anaheim

OK - moving on - with Indy FP in hand we rode JC with only a 5 min wait.
Skipper name was Sherman if you enjoyed the ride
If not his name was Irrelevant with 2 R's.

Best joke was when he had to scare the hippos but decided not to use his gun.
Instead he said

"I am going to use what scared away my last two girlfriends - I LOVE YOU!!!"

After JC we went to Pirates (very short walk from ride to ride)
First of many family selfies!!
View attachment 230802
15 min wait
One of the 3 pirates singing was not there - did not take my own pic so I borrowed one from the Google
it was the one on the left who was on coffee break (or was it a covfefe break?)

View attachment 230815
Disneyland Pirates is much better than WDW
More drops, more scenes and a better start
The WDW queue is cool though.

Next up was nourishment
Some pics along the way of BTMM and the underdevelopment SW.
View attachment 230803 View attachment 230804

We decided pre trip to check out the rethemed Pinocchio counter service
Village Haus is now
View attachment 230805


View attachment 230806

I have never been in this one before so I cannot tell you how much they changed, what they kept , etc
But the theming worked for us
View attachment 230807
I decided on the Beast burger
T got the Chicken sandwich and the girls went for the salad
More pics as we were waiting to order
View attachment 230808 View attachment 230810

Next up : Dinner and night time rides

Totally agree with you on PotC in Disneyland! I loved it. I had always wanted to ride it but, with that aside. The drops were amazing and it is longer isn't it? It felt longer to me, anyway. We text each other the parking, because we always forget too.