Trip Report Back to Disneyland & Ringin' in 2016!

This is my second trip report that I've done, I wrote my last one for a surprise trip I gave to my husband in November 2015. I had a lot of fun sharing our trip I decided to share another.
Hope you enjoy it!

Backstory:

My husband and I went to Disneyland in July/August 2015 for 9 days and were planning a two week trip to WDW in 2015, we worked out that the cheapest option for passes was getting the Premier Pass that covered both parks. While in Disneyland in the summer we decided that since we had never seen Disneyland decorated for Christmas we would make our pass even "cheaper" and go to Disneyland after Christmas.

We are from northern Wisconsin and normally fly out of Minneapolis, but since it was Christmastime we had family obligations and had to visit my husband's family in Chicago. So we had a round-about way to get to Los Angeles....we flew from Minneapolis to Chicago spent some time with the in-laws, then flew to LA from Chicago, then when we left LA it was back to Minneapolis and then home. Oh and while we were gone our kitchen was getting redone so we had to clean out our whole kitchen (that made Christmas dinner a challenge), but that was fun to come back to.

As for the travelers, it is just my husband and myself. We are two peas in a pod!

On to the report!. Our travel dates were December 29, 2015 to January 2, 2016.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Off we went to Hyperspace Mountain, it was really cool to see the Star Wars projections while riding and the Star Wars soundtrack was cool too. There were a lot of Star Wars Season of the Force posters up too.

Then we moseyed over to the River Belle Terrace and enjoyed a nice healthy breakfast of cinnamon roll French toast. It is one of my favorites to eat and I love the view. It is a relaxing mid-morning break. I'm really sad that River Belle won't be serving breakfast any more.

The beautiful view.

Then we rode the Mark Twain. Hubby got a bench and soon fell asleep, I enjoyed the view.

No canoeing for us this trip. Too cold to be splashed by the people in front of me that don't know how to paddle.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Some more scenes of the Rivers of America from the Mark Twain.

Now it's time to meander around the hub and check out the castle.

And my friends Mickey and Walt.

The tree in Town Square

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A few more Christmas pictures and then we had to check in for our tour. My husband and I have gotten a little addicted to Disney tours. We find they are full of fun info (even some I don't know), we get quick access to some attractions, and a rockin' pin. The Holiday tour was well worth the money, as the park was really busy and we got quick access to the holiday attractions, special seating for the Christmas parade (with a cookie and hot cocoa in a souvenir mug).

We caught a little of the Dapper Dans, hubby is obsessed with them and would love to be a Dapper Dan someday.

I really liked the nutcrackers on the tree (I have a rather large collection of them), and the Mickey and Minnie's in the stockings.

 

[Eric1955]

Loving the trip report @ajrwdwgirl

@Eric1955 - did you have a hand in decorating Santa's retro workshop?

It certainly is my style.

 

[Cesar R M]

So we were on our way to Hyperspace Mountain and we had to go back through the small world area and I just happened to notice some fun decorations....
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I thought the wreaths in the area were really cute.
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Ice Cream!! Unfortunately the stand wasn't open.
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they really put a lot of detail at Disneyland!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It's funny...your pictures are helping point out some of the details I missed in my pictures. I also keep looking to see if I spot us in your pics. We were only in Disneyland for a little bit on the 29th, but we were in the park the full day on the 30th. Can't wait to see more!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It's funny...your pictures are helping point out some of the details I missed in my pictures. I also keep looking to see if I spot us in your pics. We were only in Disneyland for a little bit on the 29th, but we were in the park the full day on the 30th. Can't wait to see more!

I also look for myself too in pictures people post when I was in the parks at the same time too. Wouldn't that be funny if we were in each other's pictures!?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I also look for myself too in pictures people post when I was in the parks at the same time too. Wouldn't that be funny if we were in each other's pictures!?

I know I've had others find themselves in my pics when reading previous TRs. I'm only on the 28th, but I do a lot of pics as I'm walking and I feel like people move back and forth in DL more due to size/structure...so you never know. I know we rode on the Mark Twain the same day you were on the Columbia, but I have a feeling it was different times of day. We shall see

 

[JenniferS]

I really appreciate the IaSW pics. Absolutely stunning!
One question though - is this the "Naughty" or "Nice" list, as I notice both Hubby and I are listed.

 

[Figgy1]

Thank you the Toon Town pics! They brought back so many happy memories from our now gone area!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I really appreciate the IaSW pics. Absolutely stunning!
One question though - is this the "Naughty" or "Nice" list, as I notice both Hubby and I are listed.

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It is the naughty list of course! HAHA Just kidding, it's the nice list for you!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thank you the Toon Town pics! They brought back so many happy memories from our now gone area!

I do miss Toon Town in WDW, it would have been nice if it could have stayed in the expansion. They should have consulted me, I could have figured out a way.

 

[Cesar R M]

I do miss Toon Town in WDW, it would have been nice if it could have stayed in the expansion. They should have consulted me, I could have figured out a way.

never had a chance to see toontown myself
I hope its still there if some day I go to DisneyLand area and DCA.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We started on our tour and our guide, Rachel, led us to the Firehouse and pointed out that the lamp that is always in the window is replaced with a Christmas tree during the Christmas season. My picture doesn't really show it.

After sharing some info about decorating Main Street, and pointing out that all the decorations on Main Street were specially designed this year to showcase the 60th, we were led down busy Main Street (as the 1st Christmas parade was starting soon) to the Candy Palace. At the Candy Palace Rachel talked about different candies. She hit a sore spot with us when she talked about how popular the English Toffee is. That is a sore spot because Disneyland is currently not making any English Toffee which is our favorite. Anyway, they offered us a special holiday treat and that helped lessen the blow of no toffee.

They were making chocolate coated caramel bars in here.

Us with our holiday treat, a marshmallow dipped in caramel, then chocolate, and crushed peppermint. My husband designed our shirts for the trip. We wore Disney holiday shirts every day, sometimes matching ones. Yes we are dorks and proud of it!

We then went over to the Jingle Cruise. It was nice being specially led in through the exit. It made me feel like the VIP I am. We had a really good skipper. I liked that every time we rode we had a slightly different spin on some of the jokes, and that the jokes on DL's Jingle Cruise were different than the MK"s Jingle Cruise.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

.
I thing my favorite part of the Jingle Cruise decorations was in the Africa section. I liked the scene with the lions and the plastic reindeer and one is even missing its head and Santa is in the background. Like he is part of the carnage.

Some of the warriors in this scene had on ugly Christmas sweaters! So funny!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Trader Sam was having an end of the year sale, but we didn't really need anything, even though we would have come out a head. (Sorry!) Then we traveled over to the Haunted Mansion holiday. Neither of us are Nightmare Before Christmas fans. In fact hubby says he can't remember every seeing but thinks he might have, and I had only watched it for the first time around Thanksgiving in preparation to ride this attraction. I wanted to know what it was all about. The movie is okay, but we were impressed with the overlay on the attraction The regular Haunted Mansion is better, but this was fun for something seasonal and different. There was a real gingerbread house of cards in the ballroom scene and the smell of gingerbread was really yummy. Oh I forgot to mention that there were holiday smells being pumped out on certain parts of the Jingle Cruise too which was a nice added effect and different from MK's. Anyway, no pictures of the inside on this trip through Haunted Mansion Holiday. I wanted to experience it fresh (unlike my it's a small world experience, when I was so excited by it I kept snapping pictures). The line was really long for HMH, so it was nice to be on the tour and be led in through the fast pass entrance.

Then we spent a little time in New Orleans Square and got an overview of the decorations there. This was the main entrance to the Court of Angels, it still is a bummer that it is closed off now. There was a big planter in front of the door this time, there hadn't been this summer. They probably got tired of people peeping through the cracks. I still peeped though and saw that there was some nice holiday garland on the stairwell.

 

[betty rose]

Day One: December 29, 2015

After spending days, and days, and days (okay it was only 2 1/2 days) with the in-laws we made it to the airport. On the 28th there was a big ice storm in Chicago that cancelled almost every flight. I was freaking out! It let up and my sister-in-law was able to take us to a hotel by O'Hare since our flight was supposed to leave at 7 am on the 29th. So we woke up early and according to Virgin airlines our flight was still on time. However, when we got to the airport it was delayed 2 hours because the crew had been delayed getting in and needed a mandatory time for rest. It was a little annoying but it was only 2 hours (ended up being 2 1/2) and it could have been worse our flight could have been cancelled. Security did take a long time though, but it worked out.

Here is hubby waiting to check in at the Virgin ticket counter in Chicago.
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We finally landed in Los Angeles, it was cheaper to fly in there than into SNA. Hubby didn't want to drive around LA this time, we didn't want to pay for parking at our hotel either. So I found a car service that worked out about the same price as renting a car. The car service was great, the driver was friendly and still offered us our stop at In-n-Out Burger but we declined since we were two hours late we just wanted to get to Disneyland. So about 35 minutes later (very little traffic) we checked into our hotel: Best Western Stovall's Inn. We have stayed here before. It is a little further to walk (about 5 more minutes) than some hotels on Harbor but it is cheaper and we like how clean this hotel is, the pool area (although we didn't use it this trip), and the staff of the hotel. When we checked in our room wasn't ready but we dilly dallied a while, rearranging some stuff in our luggage that our room was done and we were able to take our stuff there and then head out.

Anyway, let's get to the good stuff. Since we hadn't eaten any lunch yet we walked right on over to Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel. I love this lounge and it was fun to see it decorated for Christmas.

The only spot we could get was at the bar, which was fine by us.
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Our Red Nosed Zebra drink, tasty but small. I could have drank a few more.
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The volcano "snowed".
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Chinese Long beans and wings!
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I'm having fun already reading this report, and your food and drinks look wonderful!

 

[betty rose]

So we were on our way to Hyperspace Mountain and we had to go back through the small world area and I just happened to notice some fun decorations....
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I thought the wreaths in the area were really cute.
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Ice Cream!! Unfortunately the stand wasn't open.
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.
I thing my favorite part of the Jingle Cruise decorations was in the Africa section. I liked the scene with the lions and the plastic reindeer and one is even missing its head and Santa is in the background. Like he is part of the carnage.
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Some of the warriors in this scene had on ugly Christmas sweaters! So funny! View attachment 127455 View attachment 127456 View attachment 127457 View attachment 127458

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I love how many lights Disneyland sprinkled throughout the park. The wreath's are beautiful. I'm a little late to your party, but I'm having a joyful time!

 

[betty rose]

I do miss Toon Town in WDW, it would have been nice if it could have stayed in the expansion. They should have consulted me, I could have figured out a way.

I miss it too. I really liked those little houses. Your pictures are so beautiful. I've never gone to DL, now I need to go, not just want, but I NEED to go!

 

[MinnieM123]

The matching t-shirts, designed by your hubby, put a big smile on my face! No, you're not dorks (as you mentioned ), you're both confident!! Yes, it takes confidence to wear those together! Really, though, you two always know how to have fun, and enjoy the holiday season. All the pictures are great, by the way.