Trip Report **COMPLETED** Welcome to Radiator Springs!

Hey everyone!
I never wrote a pre-trip report so aside from my instagram friends not sure if anyone even knows I went on another trip

Who?
The usual suspects - my Mom (Mary) and me (Megan)
This is a picture of us from our last trip!

Where?
California!!! Woohoo!! San Diego and DisneyLAND!!! Disneyland Hotel was where we stayed

When?
Total trip length was October 4-14, 2018

Why?
I had a work conference in San Diego and we figured - hey while we are in California why not go to Disneyland as well??? When you are a Disney addict anyway...

October 4-7, 2018 were all San Diego
I won't bore you with San Diego pictures but I figured I would at least include our usual travel date pictures - oh and a picture of us with the Grand Floridian ?? Just kidding its Hotel del Coronado

Anyway...on to the actual TR!

Disneyland Day 1 October 8, 2018
We spent our morning in San Diego having some breakfast, walking around the water and riding some scooters
Then, we packed up our 4 suitcases (come on...is anyone surprised we have 4) and grabbed a taxi to the...train station! Yep, we were taking a train from San Diego to Anaheim! My Mom was very excited and I was just nervous because we had never taken one before and I wasn't sure how it all worked
Our taxi ride was eventful as our luggage almost fell out the window and the guy dropped us off way far away from the station
Then, we walked into the station with all our luggage and I freaked out that our luggage was too big. Thankfully, an Amtrak employee saw the distressed looks on our faces and checked our luggage with no problems! P.S. we were the only ones who checked our bags on the entire train
The San Diego downtown train station is really cool inside (if not a bit dingy as well).

A light photo for all of you...

Some more train station photos

Next up: more train station photos

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
More Pixar Pier

We decided to go on Pixar Pal-A-Round aka the ferris wheel

We were not about to swing

I can't remember which character was on our car but at one point my Mom saw Heimlich and thought he was a pear

Last time we did this attraction it was early in the morning and not crowded so it was long and rather enjoyable. This time it was very crowded so we shared a car with another family and we only went around once My Mom and I deemed this a "one and done" attraction.

Next up: Incredicoaster !

 

[MerMom1981]

STOP IT!
I am SO excited about this TR. I am barely keeping it together right now!

I don't know how I did it, but I convinced Jim to squeeze Disneyland into our family vacation next June! I've never been, so I'm doing my research, but I still feel pretty clueless.
YOU ARE SAVING ME!

Following with zero chill

 

[Megbutnotmegan]

Loving your trip report!! DL is amazing! Good call on the non swinging car. We did the ones that move and I spent the entire ride thinking I was going to die!! Disneyland Hotel might be my favorite hotel ever but that was also the only time I’ve ever stayed club level so I’m not sure it can compare to anything else.

 

[Swissmiss]

Train travel is the best - glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

Following!!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

GAAHHH I miss Cars Land so much! I want to go back so bad.

 

[Figment Forever]

Following along! I usually don't read TR's from DL, but how could I pass up another Megan & mom trip? I have a question for you... Is Radiator Springs Racers like a Test Track? The cars look so similar. You can tell that I pay no attention to attractions outside of WDW. lol

 

[Songbird76]

Day 1 continued
My Mom and I accidentally wore matching clothes...no less than 3 Amtrak employees pointed it out One guy said "I see you have the same tailor"
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Although the train wasn't coming until 12:05 we got shuffled outside at 11:30 to our respective lines. We got some tips from people who travel frequently who suggested we pay the extra for business so we (after having to ask which line) found where we were supposed to be
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Soon enough the train came and we boarded!
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The seats were actually really comfortable and spacious !
In business class you get a snack pack and a drink - we chose wine for our drink
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(not the best chocolate chip cookies in the world for the record)
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My Mom had this idea of the train ride being very relaxing with beautiful views and she was right!
The two hours flew by and riding along the ocean was beautiful!!!!
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Next up: more travel randomness

I'm so excited to read another TR!! You look great...have you lost weight? Your face looks just a bit thinner. Or is it just a California glow? It suits you!

This is probably a stupid question, but was this your first trip to DL? I can't wait to read about your experiences there!

 

[amjt660]

Following along! I usually don't read TR's from DL, but how could I pass up another Megan & mom trip? I have a question for you... Is Radiator Springs Racers like a Test Track? The cars look so similar. You can tell that I pay no attention to attractions outside of WDW. lol

Same ride system is used on test tack, radiator springs racers at DLR and also on journey to the center of the earth at Disney sea in Tokyo
RSR is (in my opinion) the best utilization of the ride system

Max

 

[Doc Disney]

STOP IT!
I am SO excited about this TR. I am barely keeping it together right now!

I don't know how I did it, but I convinced Jim to squeeze Disneyland into our family vacation next June! I've never been, so I'm doing my research, but I still feel pretty clueless.
YOU ARE SAVING ME!

Following with zero chill

Ahhh! I hope I can help!!!! Feel free to ask me anything...I'm not an expert but feel better now that I have been there twice!

Loving your trip report!! DL is amazing! Good call on the non swinging car. We did the ones that move and I spent the entire ride thinking I was going to die!! Disneyland Hotel might be my favorite hotel ever but that was also the only time I’ve ever stayed club level so I’m not sure it can compare to anything else.

We like DL hotel but I would't say its my favorite.... It is very nice though! Every time I look at people on the swinging gondolas they look horrified You are brave to try it!

 

[Doc Disney]

Train travel is the best - glad you enjoyed it.

I'm glad we tried it too

Following!!!

Thanks for following !

 

[Doc Disney]

GAAHHH I miss Cars Land so much! I want to go back so bad.

Girl..same. I was just there and I already miss it!

Following along! I usually don't read TR's from DL, but how could I pass up another Megan & mom trip? I have a question for you... Is Radiator Springs Racers like a Test Track? The cars look so similar. You can tell that I pay no attention to attractions outside of WDW. lol

I was hesitant to even write a TR but then I took a million pictures so...haha
And yes as Max said it is the same but far better than Test Track

 

[Doc Disney]

I'm so excited to read another TR!! You look great...have you lost weight? Your face looks just a bit thinner. Or is it just a California glow? It suits you!

This is probably a stupid question, but was this your first trip to DL? I can't wait to read about your experiences there!

Yes I did lose weight thank you for noticing
This is actually my second trip Not a stupid question at all!!! We were there in 2015

 

[youngdeb]

I'm a Disney newbie for the most part. My first Disney trip was in 2017 to Disneyland (we are west coasters!) and we visited WDW in February of this year - I feel cheated that my parents didn't ever take us as kids! Radiator Springs was by far our favourite part of our Disneyland trip and I don't think Test Track even compares. I am living vicariously through you right now in anticipation of our next trip to DL in February!

 

[Songbird76]

Yes I did lose weight thank you for noticing
This is actually my second trip Not a stupid question at all!!! We were there in 2015

Ah, ok....I had just joined the forum then and I wasn't reading trip reports yet. I'd like to go to DL sometime. I have only been there once and I was less than a year old, so I remember nothing. I'm guessing it's changed a bit in 40 years anyway...I'll be interested to read your thoughts.

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
Sorry that there is a lot of words sometimes but I feel like I am trying to throw tips in for people!
So...with Max Pass you only have to wait 90 minutes between getting your first FP and a second (unless the return window is less than 90 minutes) so we were able to grab a FP for the Incredicoaster!
With regular FP you have to wait 2 hours

We have yet to see Incredibles 2 so I think part of me was lost in the story but they did a great job with the updates in general - it was really cool! Sadly we never made it back on so it was an inadvertent one and done
Failed ride selfie

After Incredicoaster I picked up a FP for Goofy's Sky School

There was a little girl in line with us who was like a hair short for the ride so she couldn't go on. Instead of being nice about it the CM measured her and then essentially yelled for at her for being too short (like its her fault?) until she started crying. It was so sad! Its not like anyone was asking the CM to let her on anyway so no reason to belabor the point
Anyway our ride was fun and long enough to bridge us to our FP time for RSR! Woohoo!
On our way to Cars Land I made my Mom take about 100 photos of me ...
I will only make you look at one

And...back to Cars Land

Next up: you guessed it...Cars Land

 

[Doc Disney]

I'm a Disney newbie for the most part. My first Disney trip was in 2017 to Disneyland (we are west coasters!) and we visited WDW in February of this year - I feel cheated that my parents didn't ever take us as kids! Radiator Springs was by far our favourite part of our Disneyland trip and I don't think Test Track even compares. I am living vicariously through you right now in anticipation of our next trip to DL in February!

Oh my goodness ! Thats nice to be on the West Coast for DL (but I'll be honest I will always be a WDW girl despite my obsession with Cars Land) I 100% agree Radiator Springs Racers >>>>>>> Test Track (and I am a test track fan). At least your next trip is coming up fairly soon that's exciting !!!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued

Ride number 2!

After our ride we decided to head out of the park for lunch
But first...we took a bunch of photos...

This particular photo pass CM was by far the best one we had all trip!

Like honestly...my hair though...I straightened it but California did not bode well for my hair

Next up: lunch!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
We wandered over to Naples for lunch. It is very similar to Via Napoli which - as most of you know - is a big go to for us in WDW

We were able to sit outside a lot in California which was nice. I feel like in WDW it is either too hot, raining or there are too many birds for my Mom
You get bread service

And we shared a pepperoni pizza

We both enjoyed our meal but in my opinion Via Napoli is better
After lunch we headed back to the Disneyland Hotel. My Mom wanted a treat so we headed to the Coffee House (very original name Disneyland...) so she could get a cookie.

I got a hot tea for the sole purpose of getting the ...Halloween Disney mug!! woohoo!!

Also right outside of the Coffee House we saw this...

One of the best parts of Disneyland is how the characters are all over all the time. Its not uncommon to run across characters just doing their own thing
After our treat we got relaxed by the pool a bit (of which I have no pictures...sorry).

Next up: Halloween Party

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
After our break we got ready for the Halloween party! On a side note DL Halloween parties sell out fast. I bought our tickets in June and the party later in the week sold out that same week they went on sale
We wanted to go with a Halloween costume theme that fit Disneyland so we (shockingly?) went with a Cars theme My sister Jill made our shirts, ears and backpacks (which you can't see in pictures but they are racing stripes!)

Before we headed to DL for the actual party we headed to DCA to get some photos in Cars Land

A CM told us that they don't see a lot of Cars costumes and we got a ton of compliments on them
The CMs at the DJ Car had us dance around the car with them

We really wanted to see Mater so we killed a bit of time people watching before hopping back in line to see him
They also had Cruz and Lightening McQueen out (apparently...we never saw him) but despite our best intentions we did not made it back later in the evening to see them.

Mater is so cute! Someone must control phrases he says or something because he literally said "hey Cruz...guess who is behind you....heres a hint...its me."

Next up: Disneyland (finally!)