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)

And Jason (my husband)

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

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

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]

Tuesday December 3rd, Part Five:
After our break, we headed back to Disneyland - I believe it was around 4:00 pm. First on our agenda? Indiana Jones Adventure! If you’re not familiar with this ride, it has the same vehicles and supposedly the same track as Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom, but themed to Indiana Jones. The whole backstory is that a bunch of tourists have gone missing after going to this ancient cursed temple, because they looked into the eyes of the evil Mara, and Indiana Jones has gone in after them. We both think this ride is 1000x better than Dinosaur, and we both love Dinosaur! Also I know they say it’s the same track as Dinosaur, but it feels totally different to me.

After our adventure with Indy, we were off to New Orleans Square to celebrate two holidays at once...

We had a FP for Haunted Mansion Holiday, and we had been anxiously awaiting this moment since our last visit to DL in 2016! Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion is mostly the same as WDW’s, but the “Nightmare Before Christmas” overlay they do for Halloween and Christmas is SPECTACULAR. Neither J nor I are die-hard Nightmare Before Christmas fans - we do watch it once a year, at Halloween- but this overlay is a must-see, even if you’ve never seen the movie. Pics don’t do it justice...

After being blown away by Haunted Mansion Holiday, we had some time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we rode Jungle Cruise. I could have sworn it was Jingle Cruise last time we were in DL in December, and the skippers were wearing their Santa hats, but it was just regular Jungle Cruise. Still fun though, especially in the dark! After Jungle Cruise, we still had another 15 minutes before we could check in for our dinner reservation. We started walking back toward New Orleans Square, and stumbled upon the Jambalaya Jazz Band playing some holiday music aboard one of the rafts they use to transport guests to/from Tom Sawyer Island. There were a bunch of ducks hanging out in the water near where we were standing, and a boy (maybe 8-10 years old? Old enough to know better...) came up and stood next to me, and started spitting...on the ducks. I looked around to see if his parent(s) were nearby...no one looked like they were watching him. Guess I have to be the adult authority in this situation...I told him that he needed to stop, and he finally walked away. After SpitBoy left, we enjoyed relaxing for a few minutes and listening to the music, especially when it started “snoaping” at the end of their performance! I love how much live entertainment there still is in Disneyland - it’s always sad to see cuts to the live performers in WDW.

After the show, it was finally time to check in for our dinner at Cafe Orleans, and we were both starving! This was actually our only table service of the entire trip - Disneyland just has so many great quick services places that we don’t feel the need to book a bunch of sit-down meals, with the exception of this one. We had eaten at Cafe Orleans on our last visit, and we knew we needed to go back! While we were waiting on them to call us up to be seated, we saw them seat several large parties (10+ people) - I was surprised that they could accommodate large groups, as it’s not a particularly large restaurant. We were called up maybe 10 minutes after checking in (still before our reservation time), and seated at a table outside. I love being able to comfortably eat outside in DL...that’s a rare occurrence at WDW! We waited...and waited...and waited...almost ten minutes. Finally, one of the food runners came to get our drink order, because our waiter was tied up. Once we got our drinks, we waited...and waited...and waited...as it turns out, our waiter was handling not one, but two of the aforementioned large parties. Finally, we were able to place our order - we split the famous Monte Cristo, with one order of Pomme Frittes. The sandwich is cut into four pieces, and is plenty for two people to share.

My cute J

Our food arrived pretty quickly after we ordered, and it was just as good as we remembered it being the last time! They serve the Monte Cristo with blackberry jam on the side, which I was too weirded out to try last time, but I gave it a go this time around. Who would have thought that blackberry and ham would go well together? It was delicious!

After we finished with our meal and our table was cleared, we were surprised to see our waiter appear with an order of Mickey beignets. He was very apologetic about the wait, and gave them to us on the house. Neither J nor myself had said a word about having to wait so long - we didn’t have anywhere to be, and once we found out that the waiter was juggling a couple large groups, we weren’t worried about it. I’m sure other people would have made a fuss, but I’ve always found that you catch more flies with honey - or in this case, you catch more beignets!

After we had gotten off Indy earlier, I had made a FP for after dinner. We left Cafe Orleans with about 15 minutes to spare, and walked up to find the ride down. Our FP had not yet turned into a multiple experience FP, and it had been over and hour since I made the Indy FP, so I looked to see what else we could find. A FP for Big Thunder in 10 minutes? Score! Like I said earlier, Big Thunder is my favorite, and it’s one of those rides that’s even better at night! After Big Thunder, I convinced J that we should walk back to Adventureland to see if Indy was back open, and sure enough, it was! Our FP had been converted to Multiple Experience while we were on Big Thunder, so we were still able to use it. Indy was the perfect way to cap off the night, so we headed back to the room to change into our PJs just in time for...

We enjoyed watching Believe...In Holiday Magic from our bed, and it was the perfect way to end the night yet again. Our second day in the parks was wonderful - great weather, great food, and we were able to ride everything we wanted to ride. We were exhausted, and ready for another day!

Next up: The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down...wait, are we in Florida?

 

[ELeigh]

I am late but glad I found your TR, I just booked a Disneyland trip for March and trying to figure out so many things

Why in the world is she flying into San Diego

We are also flying into San Diego. I could not find a decent flight from our airport to SNA and we have done LAX before and it was not fun.

many of the restaurants in Disneyland’s Downtown Disney do not accept Disney gift cards

This is very good to know, I could have sworn I used a Disney GC at the sit down Ralph Brennan’s so I need to look into this before we go.
Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip

 

[k8einwdw]

I am late but glad I found your TR, I just booked a Disneyland trip for March and trying to figure out so many things
We are also flying into San Diego. I could not find a decent flight from our airport to SNA and we have done LAX before and it was not fun.

This is very good to know, I could have sworn I used a Disney GC at the sit down Ralph Brennan’s so I need to look into this before we go.
Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip

I hope you have a fantastic trip! We enjoyed our time in San Diego, and we’re glad we decided to spend a day and night there before driving up to DLR, rather than paying a bunch more money to fly into SNA or LAX. I was pretty bummed about the gift card situation. It’s definitely a different world from WDW.

 

[Darstarr]

After SpitBoy left,

Next up: The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down...wait, are we in Florida?

Rain in southern Cal? That’s like a Unicorn!!!

And “spitboy”? I almost wet myself

 

[k8einwdw]

Wednesday December 4th, Part One:
DCA had EMH starting at 7:00, and we wanted to get into the park earlier than we had on Monday. J woke up around 5:30, and was ready for the day by 6:00. I was up around 5:45. Once 6:00 rolled around, J went down to the coffee shop at the hotel to grab a coffee for both of us, and a muffin for me. When he got back to the room, he let me know it was already raining outside. I obsessively check the weather forecast anytime we have a trip coming up, and for a while, it showed rain for all of our park days. Eventually, the rain was diminished to just the 4th. We kept hoping it would disappear altogether, but no such luck.

ANYWAY, we threw on our rain jackets and left the room around 6:30. We made it through security in record time - there were maybe six people in line. Yet again, they didn’t start scanning people in until the Extra Magic Hour had already begun...so unless you’re first in line, it’s more like an Extra Magic Fifty Minutes, or an Extra Magic Forty-Five Minutes. Thankfully, there weren’t too many people ahead of us in line, so we made it in just a couple minutes after 7:00. It was still raining, so our choices were fairly limited. We decided to start our day at our new favorite- Guardians of the Galaxy!

We rode three times in a row with no wait- our songs were “We Got the Funk,” two times in a row, and “Burning Love.” The ride was just as fun as it had been on Monday, and we got some awesome ride photos! I love when everyone has fun with the photo. I’m the one on the left in the mint green rain jacket.

While we were in line for Guardians, I had made a FP for another indoor option, so we made a dash through the rain to the other side of the park.

When we arrived at Soarin’, there was a 5-minute wait posted, so we ditched our FP and walked right on. We got the front row, on the left side of the theater, but the two seats closest to the middle. While everyone was putting their stuff away to get ready to ride, the couple next to us offered to let us sit down first (in their seats, further from the center). I politely declined - I wasn’t born yesterday sister, enjoy your skewed Eiffel Tower! After we got off, we decided to ride again, this time with our FastPasses. This time, we were in the middle section, but the second row.

After Soarin’, we decided to check out the shops in the Grizzly Peak area. I was on the hunt for a cute Disney baseball cap, since it was going to be rainy all day, and I didn’t want my Minnie ears to get wet. The issue was, I had something particular in mind. I am pretty picky when it comes to clothing/accessories, so I wanted it to at least somewhat match my rain jacket, which is mint green with a pink Minnie head and my monogram embroidered on the chest. So, I wasn’t just looking for a baseball cap, I was looking for a pink baseball cap. No luck in the Grizzly Peak shops, so we headed to Pixar Pier. I had made a FP for Toy Story Mania, so we headed there first.

We ended up being able to ride twice. We scanned in with our FP, and I looked on the app to see what else I could make a FP for, and found one for Toy Story Mania starting in five minutes! J beat me, both times. After TSM, we resumed our hat hunt in the shops around Pixar Pier. Again, no luck. At this point, the rain really picked up. It was practically coming down sideways, so we needed to seek shelter, fast. We decided to escape from the rain Unda Da Sea...

We rode twice, since it was a walk-on. In fact, there were a lot of walk-ons this day. I remarked to J at one point that it may have been even more empty than when we did an After Hours Party at MK back in May. After Little Mermaid, we had done just about all of the 100% indoor attractions in the park, so we decided to head toward the front of the park.

Up next: more escaping from the rain

 

[k8einwdw]

Wednesday December 4th, Part Two:
After our journey unda da sea, we started making our way to the front of the park. We decided to browse through the big shops on Buena Vista Street, thinking we’d have more luck finding a hat there. No luck with the baseball cap, but I was able to find something even better! When Disney had released the holiday spirit jersey designs for this year, I fell in love with the buffalo plaid design. I have a pair of Minnie ears that match it, so I HAD to have it. Unfortunately, everyone else also had to have it, and it had been sold out of all sizes but XS, online and in stores, since right after the release. Every time we saw a display of spirit jerseys, we stopped to look for it, but had not had any luck..until now. I saw one lone buffalo plaid spirit jersey hanging on a rack by itself, nowhere near the other spirit jerseys, and lo and behold, it was my size! I’m guessing it was a return, or maybe they found one laying around in the back? Either way, I was not letting that thing out of my sight, so I snatched it up and made a mad dash to the checkout to pay for my treasure.

After finding my spirit jersey, we headed over to PhilharMagic. We hadn’t seen it on our last couple trips to WDW, and it was an enjoyable way to escape the rain.

After returning our Opry glasses, we dashed over to the Animation Academy building, which houses a few things, including Turtle Talk with Crush, the Sorcerers Workshop exhibit, and of course, the Animation Academy! We made it just in time for the next class to start, so we ran in and grabbed our seats. The room that they hold the classes in is ADORABLE!

We learned how to draw Donald Duck. I didn’t think to get a pic of J’s artwork, but here is mine. Not my best work, but not too shabby.

I wish I would have thought to grab a picture of the inside of the Animation Academy building on our way out, because it really is cool. There are huge screens on all the walls that show different pictures from some of Disney’s animated movies. It reminded me a little bit of the lobby at Art of Animation. After our class, it was almost 11:00. We debated doing GOTG again (I had made a FP), but we were both pretty done. While I’m normally a throw-a-rain-jacket-on-and-keep-going type of girl when it comes to rain at Disney, the rain had not let up all morning, and we were both soaked through, and COLD. It was at a point that we were no longer having fun, so we decided to head back to the hotel for lunch and a break. Our first thought for lunch was Earl of Sandwich, but alas, they don’t take Disney Gift Cards (we asked), so we went to Tangaroa Terrace, the quick service at our hotel. None of the food looked particularly great to either of us, so we decided to head to the room to make a decision about lunch. We debated about getting Uber Eats to deliver something, but we didn’t know how long that would take, or if we would have to pay an additional fee at the front desk. J offered to drive to In n Out, since there was one less than two miles away, and he hadn’t been able to get his fix yet on this trip. So, J drove to get us lunch, while I changed into some nice, dry clothes.

We enjoyed our lunch in the room, and watched some “Friends” before I decided to take a nap. I still think Shake Shack is better, but it’s nice to get something we can’t enjoy back home.

Up next: More rain?

 

[k8einwdw]

Rain in southern Cal? That’s like a Unicorn!!!

And “spitboy”? I almost wet myself

A cold, wet, miserable unicorn I know a rainy day at Disney is better than a sunny day at work, but there’s not as much to do in the rain in the California parks!

 

[k8einwdw]

Wednesday December 4th, Part Three:

After our lunch and nap, we started getting a little stir crazy being cooped up in the room. We considered hopping over to DL since that park has more indoor attractions, but ultimately we decided to go back to DCA, since we’d be spending the majority of the next day at DL The radar showed the rain stopping around 4 pm, so we changed back into our park clothes and put on dry shoes to head out the door right around that time. We exited through the lobby and got about 10 steps toward the park, and...it started raining again. We decided to hide out under an awning on some benches by the pool until it passed. We only had to wait about ten minutes, and then we were on our way again.

We made it through security and into the park, and we both agreed that we were in need of a caffeine fix. We still had two tabs left on our Sip and Savor Pass, so we decided to grab two of the Churro Toffee Cold Brew coffees from the Holiday Duets booth. These would have been $6.50 each had we paid out of pocket. We had gotten $42 worth of food from the festival on Monday, so that brought our grand total that we would have paid at the Festival of the Holidays to...$55 plus tax. The Sip and Savor Pass was $55, so we essentially broke even. It would have been cool to save a bunch of money with the pass, but at least we didn’t lose money! The coffees were good, it was a basic cold brew coffee with whipped cream and pieces of churro toffee on top.

While we were drinking our coffees, it started...you guessed it...raining. I texted my mom this picture. Thankfully we were at one of the tables under an umbrella, so we weren’t stuck out in it.

The rain stopped after a few minutes, and we were on our way to enjoy Radiator Springs Racers. I had grabbed a FP while we were still in the room. We stopped along the way to take some pics of the Cars Land nighttime/holiday atmosphere.

The only time I’ve ever seen this sign without a ton of people in front of it!

We loved these parody signs. I can’t figure out what the “Snowy” one is supposed to be though...

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it’s bobsled time!

I love all the neon in Cars Land. We had originally planned on being there that evening when they turned it on, but the rain put a damper on those plans.

While we were on Radiator Springs Racers, I bet you’ll never guess what happened....go ahead, guess. It. Started. Raining...Again.

Next up: Will it ever stop raining?

 

[k8einwdw]

Wednesday December 4th, Part Four:
After our race through Radiator Springs, we headed back into Pixar Pier. I had made a FP for IncrediCoaster, since we really wanted to ride it again, and it had temporarily stopped raining. When we got back there, the ride was down. We milled around that area for a little bit hoping that it would reopen quickly, but gave up after a few minutes, and headed to Mickey’s Dangling Steel Cages of Terror...er...Pixar Pal-Around. Now, I mentioned earlier that I’m afraid of heights, but I figured this was something we could do near IncrediCoaster that would keep us dry if it started raining again, that we hadn’t already done multiple times that day. We hopped in line for the non-swinging gondolas, and...it started raining. Again. At this point, we were like:



But we stayed in line, because we weren’t ready to leave the park. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait out in the rain for too terribly long before we boarded our gondola. Now, I can ride any coaster at Disney, Tower of Terror, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. with no problem, because 1) you’re secured in, and 2) the high part is over quickly. The reason this ride terrifies me is because you’re stuck up at the top for what feels like an eternity while they load people on the bottom of the wheel. I was fine when we rode it on Monday, but when we got up to the top this time, the rain and winds picked up, and it felt like the whole ride was swaying. I ended up having to close my eyes the rest of the ride. Needless to say, it’ll be a while before I’m ready to try the Skyliner at WDW.

After we got off the wheel of death, IncrediCoaster was back open, but it was pouring down rain. We’ve done Big Thunder in the rain before, and came off looking like this:

So that was an easy no. We were both pretty hungry at this point, so we decided to head for the only indoor quick service in DCA, Smokejumpers Grill. I snapped a photo of this guy on our walk over - I love how the sweater lights up! We were trying to figure out what it’s made of...and how in the world they get it on there.

For dinner, J got the signature Mac n cheese, which had green chiles and pork belly. It was delish! I contemplated getting the chicken tenders (can’t go wrong with those), but ended up getting the buffalo chicken sandwich, which was just okay. Both of our meals were around $12. Smokejumpers Grill was CROWDED, I guess everyone was trying to get out of the rain.

After dinner, it was still raining, so we decided to call it a wash (ha, get it?) and head back to the hotel. I had gotten us FPs for World if Color, but we don’t love that show enough to wait in the rain for an hour to watch it. We walked through the shops on Buena Vista Street again, and grabbed a couple Churro Toffees from Trolley Treats. We took some photos of/in front of the tree on our way out. The DCA tree is really cute! I took some pictures of it during the day as well, I’ll have more of my “big” camera photos in my next few posts.

We ended up getting back to our room before 8:00, which is a super early turn-in for us, but it was just too rainy to enjoy the park. We normally power through the rain at WDW, but Disneyland is really not built for the rain. Most of the queues are outdoors, many of the attractions are outdoors, and a lot of the restaurants have only outdoor seating. We did enjoy our day despite the rain, and it was nice to have plenty time to relax in the room before we had to go to bed. We enjoyed our delicious churro toffee:

And surprisingly, we were able to watch the fireworks from our room again. I thought for sure that they would cancel them, but it must have stopped raining in time. Despite the long break in the afternoon and the early turn-in, we still got a lot of steps in.

Next up: Our final day in Disneyland

 

[MinnieM123]

After we got off the wheel of death, IncrediCoaster was back open, but it was pouring down rain. We’ve done Big Thunder in the rain before, and came off looking like this:

I got such a chuckle over this photo. (Not that I'd want anyone to walk about drenched from the rain like that, but thanks for sharing the picture. Think I just needed some levity this afternoon.)

 

[youngdeb]

Our last trip to DL had so. much. rain. We arrived in a monsoon and had rain almost every one of our 5 days there. We skipped DCA a lot because of it. We had bad luck with it starting right when we would sit down on a ride. Dumbo in the rain is no fun, neither is the Matterhorn. It made for super short lines though and we did way more during those days than the days when the sun was shining. It's amazing the difference.

 

[k8einwdw]

I got such a chuckle over this photo. (Not that I'd want anyone to walk about drenched from the rain like that, but thanks for sharing the picture. Think I just needed some levity this afternoon.)

Haha, I thought it was too funny to not share!

Our last trip to DL had so. much. rain. We arrived in a monsoon and had rain almost every one of our 5 days there. We skipped DCA a lot because of it. We had bad luck with it starting right when we would sit down on a ride. Dumbo in the rain is no fun, neither is the Matterhorn. It made for super short lines though and we did way more during those days than the days when the sun was shining. It's amazing the difference.

For sure, one of the big differences between DL and WDW. DL doesn’t *need* to be rain-friendly since it doesn’t rain all that often, but it stinks when it does because you can’t do a lot of stuff.

 

[k8einwdw]

Today is J’s birthday! I could not imagine doing Disney, or life, with anyone else!

For his birthday, I booked us the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour for our April WDW trip! J is a HUGE Haunted Mansion fan, and this particular ride takes you behind the scenes of HM, so he is super excited!

 

[MegRuss626]

Today is J’s birthday! I could not imagine doing Disney, or life, with anyone else!

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For his birthday, I booked us the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour for our April WDW trip! J is a HUGE Haunted Mansion fan, and this particular ride takes you behind the scenes of HM, so he is super excited!

We'll be in WDW in April too!!

 

[MickeyCB]

Happy Birthday J!

 

[MinnieM123]

Happy belated birthday to J! I think he did a nice job on his drawing at the Animation Experience, by the way.

 

[k8einwdw]

We'll be in WDW in April too!!

Woohoo! We’ll be there 4/24-29!

Happy Birthday J!

Thank you!

Happy belated birthday to J! I think he did a nice job on his drawing at the Animation Experience, by the way.

Thank you! I thought so too!

 

[MegRuss626]

Woohoo! We’ll be there 4/24-29!

We’ll be there 4/21 through 4/25!

 

[k8einwdw]

Thursday December 5th, Part One:
We were up bright an early again for 7am Extra Magic Hours at Disneyland. We left the room around 6:30, and got through bag check by 6:45. There was a pretty long line for bag check, so we figured that meant there would be a pretty long line to get into the park. We decided to try to beat the system by getting in line for the monorail, rather than entering though the main DL entrance. If you’re not familiar with Disneyland’s monorail system, it does not go to any of the hotels, but rather from a station in Tomorrowland to a station in Downtown Disney. You can enter the park via the monorail, and be dropped off in Tomorrowland.

Just before 7:00, a CM came through and told us that the monorail was currently delayed, and they didn’t know how long it would be. They suggested that we enter the park through the main entrance, but I figured we would be better off staying put, as the line to get in through the main entrance was sure to be at least 20 minutes long at that point. Around 7:05, the monorail pulled up, and a few minutes later, they started scanning everyone in. We were scanned in and started walking up to the platform...just in time to see the monorail pulling out. Seriously??? There were only 20 people MAX on there! We weren’t the only ones that thought that was a little silly. Thankfully, the next one came within a few minutes, and we were on our way. We made it into the park between 7:15 and 7:20, and made a beeline for Fantasyland to hit some of the rides that don’t have FP.

Happy to be enjoying beautiful weather, sad that it’s our last day

We started our day with a classic dark ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey

After that, we were merrily on our way to nowhere in particular with Mr. Toad.

After our wild ride, we decided that we wanted to do the Storybookland Canal Boats. We love the cute little models they have of some of the movies’ settings. Unfortunately the boats were down, so we settled for the next best thing - the Casey Jr. Circus Train. This is a cute little ride, emphasis on the little. We ended up in one of the caged-in cars that are meant to look like animal cages, and it was CRAMPED. We could not get out of there fast enough! After our cozy train ride, we were ready for breakfast, so we hit up Red Rose Taverne. J got the Beast’s a Breakfast Burger, which was $11. I got the Mickey-shaped Pancake, which was $9.50 and so cute!

I managed to eat the ears of the pancake and the sausage, and I was stuffed, so J finished off my plate. At this point it was a little after 8:00, so we decided to leave Fantasyland and hit up New Orleans Square. We started out on Pirates, which was a walk-on. Thankfully no fighting children this time. After Pirates, it was time for Haunted Mansion Holiday! I had made a FP as soon as we had entered the park, but it was a walk-on, so we went through the Standby line. I still can’t get over this overlay!

After we got off, we hopped right back on with our FP. More Haunted Mansion Holiday photos in the next post...

 

[k8einwdw]

Thursday December 5th, Part Two:
Haunted Mansion Holiday Appreciation Post

J’s favorite, Hatbox Ghost

I seriously don’t know if we’d ever ride Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion without this overlay, it is so incredible!