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]

More of the throng of people

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It's midnight, opps its 9pm!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since we were planning on Disneyland only we had a locker at Disneyland. So instead of dragging along all our stuff (not that we had much, a change of clothes and a couple souvenirs) to DCA and trying to rent another locker, we just left the stuff at DL. DL was open until 2 am so we were not afraid of not being able to get back in to get it. We were a little afraid that we would forget it though. Spoiler...we didn't forget to go back.
So we made our way out of Disneyland and over to California Adventure. It was really strange because the Main Street background music was gone and it was pop/rock music. It fit the theme of the night but it was still odd to hear.

Once at DCA there was a sing band performing near the Carthay Circle. It was fun to listen to. There were even people swing dancing. It made me wish I knew how to swing dance. I wish they had taught that in my Wisconsin Phy ED dance units, instead of swing I got square dancing and polka. (I do like polka though.)

Where Disneyland was wall to wall people DCA was really empty. There were a decent number of people at the bands and at World of Color but super light everywhere else. As we walked through Bug's Land the wait for Flick's FLyers was nothing and since I had never done it before I did it. Hubby didn't, he claimed it might spin too much. (Wuss )

A peak into the Cozy Cone. We were going to get a snack at one of the cones but nothing appealed.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We walked back to the Hollywood area, as we had picked up a fastpass for Tower of Terror. That's right the last Disney ride of 2015 for us would be TOT, that makes this girl happy! There was some interesting displays in the windows and the santa at the end of the street reminded me of the Osborne Lights. Maybe the Osborne lights could find a home here?

After Tower we made our way into the blue section of World of Color, it had a decent amount of people, but not as many as I had anticipated. We picked a spot near the back and had a good view, no one was directly standing in our space bubble and we had a railing. We had about 15-20 minutes to wait. It was now in the 40's so it was cold. The NYE fireworks started, and then there was about 5-10 minute delay until World of Color, I assume they had to reset some stuff. I may be in the minority but I like World of Color Celebrate, not as much as the original but it is better than Disneyland Forever Fireworks.

Us waiting for 2016 to begin.

The moment finally came. The fireworks were fantastic. I didn't miss being on Main Street at all, I loved being at DCA for midnight. So Happy NEW YEAR!!

Since we had a spot near the back we got out really quick and since the park was closed we headed back to Disneyland.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

When we walked back into Disneyland the theme music was still on, and it was just so odd. But it still fit the theme of celebration. Hubby decided he wanted popcorn in the tie-fighter bucket so we went into Tomorrowland to get that then found a bench near the castle to enjoy the ambience. Then we went back to our locker to leave. Once at our locker hubby noticed that part of his bucket had broken off. UGH! We retraced our steps and luckily found it on the bench we had been sitting in. So I carried the bucket now, as he couldn't be trusted with his toys. And we went back to our hotel. Luckily the parks didn't open super early tomorrow/today so we were able to sleep in a little which was good for us as we were up WAY past our bedtime.

 

[Figgy1]

That a spectacular way to bring in the New Year!

 

[MinnieM123]

That a spectacular way to bring in the New Year!

I was thinking the exact same thing! @ajrwdwgirl , those were great pictures, and what a way to celebrate New Year's Eve!! (Your awesome food pictures are killing me--I'm sitting here with a cup of plain yogurt, and wishing I could reach into the screen and grab some of those yummy food selections, instead! )

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

That a spectacular way to bring in the New Year!

It was a fun way to bring in the New Year. I've often heard horror stories about the parks in DL and WDW for New Years, but we had a great time. I wish we could ring in 2017 at a Disney park but it just won't work out this year. Oh well, maybe for 2018.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I was thinking the exact same thing! @ajrwdwgirl , those were great pictures, and what a way to celebrate New Year's Eve!! (Your awesome food pictures are killing me--I'm sitting here with a cup of plain yogurt, and wishing I could reach into the screen and grab some of those yummy food selections, instead! )

Thanks. Minnie, yogurt doesn't sound very good. I wish I could give you some of the food in the pictures!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

January 1st, 2016!!!!!!!!!!! Since we had spent a ton of time already in Disneyland, we went to DCA today.

Sorry Disneyland, we are going to your little sister today...DCA!

A fun window on Buena Vista Street.

The DCA tree in the day light, I think I've only posted night pictures.

I don't know why but I seem to take a zillion pictures of the Partner's statue at every Disney park I go to that has one. I guess I'm equally fascinated with the Storytellers statue at DCA.

So once the park officially opened, the herd of people headed to Radiator Springs and its fast pass machines. Us? We head to Soarin'. We were on the first flight of the day. Which is good and bad all at the same time. Good: no wait. Bad: the scents aren't as pronounced yet.

As we were walking through Bug's Land, it kind of looked like the Grizzly Peak was eating the candy cane.

The Red Trolley Cars are pretty fun to ride.

Just being crazy on the Tower of Terror; the Disney dorks in the matching shirts!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After Tower of Terror, we wandered through the Hollywood Area and then back to Carsland.
Santa again, but in day light.

Aladdin was a great show, so a picture to remember it by.

Once in Carsland, I took some pictures of the Christmas decor in the daylight. Then we went to Flo's for some breakfast, the hotel breakfast had been picked over this morning and the half a banana wasn't cutting it.
Outside of Flo's.

Inside Flo's

We got the breakfast tamale and the brioche french toast with salted caramel sauce. Both were tasty, but I would pick the french toast again. It was rich though. The salsa on the breakfast tamale had a nice spice to it and was fresh tasting.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Brilliant pictures @ajrwdwgirl

 

[Figgy1]

I just realized I'm enjoying winter THNX for the pics

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Love seeing the New Year's fireworks at DCA. Obviously, we only got to see WoC, but it's great how well that area really lends itself to nighttime shows in general.

 

[fractal]

Here are the rest of day one pictures.

I just loved how it's a small world was lit up. There was also a fun projection show every 15 minutes with a holiday theme. I will post some pictures of inside later. But let's just say my husband and I were both in awe of the holiday overlay. Every moment of the ride was simply delightful! I really like small world normally, especially Disneyland's version, and I like to ride multiple times. My husband has learned to appreciate it, but when we got off the holiday version he said he couldn't wait to ride it again. It ended up being our most frequently ridden attraction of the trip!
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We are also huge fans of the Jungle Cruise and we enjoyed the Jingle Cruise in WDW, and thought that Disneyland's version of the Jingle Cruise was a little better. There were different props and jokes in both versions (I'll post some pictures of that ride later too!)
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We liked that Big Thunder Ranch was lit up for Christmas too, we would be eating here soon!
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Anyway, we had been up early that day and we wanted to get some decent sleep so after a chilly ride on Big Thunder Mountain we headed out. I'm also not a huge fan of Disneyland's new fireworks and we so it a lot this summer, so we never felt pressured to stay to watch them.

So we stopped at the World of Disney and did a little shopping. This was a cute little Christmas display. We were disappointed in what Disneyland had left for holiday merchandise, especially shirts. We knew we might not find a lot of shirts because it was after Christmas but I think the largest size we saw was medium. That was disappointing, I mean if all they have at the end of the season is smalls and mediums maybe they should order less of those and order some larger sizes. Anyway...
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This was a display outside.
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Then we walked through the Grand Californian every night as a short cut back to the Best Western and they had a fun gingerbread (real, unlike the fake gingerbread at the Disneyland Hotel) display.

This is the back side
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Front side
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And the Grand Californian tree
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Christmas overlay of IASW is awesome!

 

[JenniferS]

Next in the parade came some dancing snowmen and women. I thought they were cute, hubby thought they were creepy. What do you think?
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I'm with Hubby.

 

[catmom46]

I'm with Hubby.

Well, I thought they were adorable!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Okay, continuing on from New Years Day....
The view from our table at Flo's, it was a little chilly this morning but sitting outside in the sun was great. And I liked this view as I was eating breakfast.

Then we wandered through the Wharf area. I liked how the decorations were themed to the restaurants.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We did Toy Story Mania which is a ride we both love. Then we did Mickey's Fun Wheel but did the stationary ones, hubby has a motion problem with the swinging ones. I like to do the Fun Wheel because I love the views. I like to see the mountains in the background.

We saw the Fiesta Navidad area and would later come back for this.

And then back to Carsland, we had gotten a fast pass for Racers so it was time to use it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A couple more views of Carsland before heading over to the Fiesta Navidad area. We weren't sure what the street party would entail, but it was really cool, hopefully it comes through in my pictures. But I liked the dancers and the characters.

..

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Really making me regret not insisting that the family get on a non-swinging Fun Wheel car. Amazing views!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A little more of Fiesta Navidad. It was a really fun presentation, good music and fun dancing. Not to mention cute characters!