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

 

[LSV]

Love your costumes!

 

[Figment Forever]

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

Thank you Max!

 

[becca_]

Finally joining this! So jealous... I'm convincing Daniel to go with me in a few years How can he say no???

Love your mickey dress (I think its a dress) - you guys look so cute!
Also love your halloween costumes... adorable!

 

[Songbird76]

I love all your outfits! So cute....and the costumes are great. Your sister did a great job!

 

[youngdeb]

Great costumes! I can see how Cars costumes might be a challenge!

 

[KBLovedDisney]

Omg love the costumes!

 

[susan lees]

Following along. We are visiting DLC in 2020 so great tips. Two WDW trips before then though yeah

 

[Doc Disney]

Love your costumes!

Thank you

Finally joining this! So jealous... I'm convincing Daniel to go with me in a few years How can he say no???

Love your mickey dress (I think its a dress) - you guys look so cute!
Also love your halloween costumes... adorable!

He has to say yes! haha
It is a dress (from Forever 21 )
Thank you!!!

 

[Doc Disney]

I love all your outfits! So cute....and the costumes are great. Your sister did a great job!

Thank you! I sadly turned her into a monster after she made these costumes because now she is making so many ears and stuff

Great costumes! I can see how Cars costumes might be a challenge!

True....they do actually sell a very similar shirt to the one my sister made so it can be done Thank you!

 

[Doc Disney]

Omg love the costumes!

Thank you

Following along. We are visiting DLC in 2020 so great tips. Two WDW trips before then though yeah

I hope I am being helpful haha I still felt like I had no clue what I was doing there

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
After our California Adventure (get it? ) we headed over to Disneyland for the actual party. We both said it was weird that we had been around the parks for about 24 hours at this point and it was our first time actually going in to Disneyland!
Enjoy my terrible photo of the train station - its hard to get a photo of it when a. you are short b. there are a ton of people around and c. its much smaller

We planned on getting a PP picture right at the entrance but we legitimately could not figure out how to actually get in line for one so we moved on. The party started at 6 pm (unlike the usual 7 pm at WDW) and I whined about it a bit before determining I actually liked the earlier start
I had read online to go to Toon Town first because it opens an hour before the party starts. So, we got there around 4:50 and we were met with a wall of people. It was INSANE!
I took this weird angle photo to avoid getting all the people in the photo (although at the bottom R. hand corner you can see some)

Anyway, right at 5 pm they started letting people in so we followed. We saw Goofy right when we walked in but thats where it seemed everyone else was going so we headed to Donald's boat. I just assumed Donald would be in there but it was just a candy line
So, we got our candy and I asked a CM if Mickey and Minnie were in their houses and she said no its all candy back here/no characters at all in Toon Town. I said "but we saw Goofy when we walked in" and the CM was like oh really?

I still can't tell if she legitimately did not know or if this was some crowd control tactic. I will say, throughout the trip, we encountered or heard about many other CMs that really didn't know things they probably should have.
So....we wandered around and right into a line to meet...what do you know....a character ?!
We were in the line that could have been either Daisy or Minnie

We waited no more than 10 minuets which was awesome!
Then we hopped in line for either Donald or Mickey.
We spotted Minnie while in this line

What is really cool is that the characters are in costume all the time in the parks (Halloween party or not) but they have an entirely different set of costumes for the party which is adorable!
I was secretly hoping for Mickey and we made it just around the time he was going to be switched out! Hooray!

Next up: more Halloween party

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
Spotted in Toon Town...

We were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves having already accomplished more than we would have at MNSSHP in terms of character meet and greets and we had already done a bunch of trick or treating AND the party did not even start yet!
We decided to push our luck and head to Critter Country just to scope out the line for Winnie the Pooh.
Along they way we stopped at several trick or treating spots. There were way more spots available than WDW so if you saw one that was too crowded you could walk just a little bit further and find a less crowded one. Each station had 2 candy stations, one healthy snack (like apples, grapes, etc) and one non candy treat like popcorn, graham crackers, etc.
We also happened upon the Rivers of America which looked AMAZING!

Anyway, we finally made it to Winnie the Pooh's Meet and Greet about 6:15 fully expecting a huge line and there wasn't one. The CM told the people in front of us the line could be somewhere between 15-30 minutes and they were so horrified by that wait time that they got out of line. My Mom and I just looked at each other like what? We are used to waiting 30-60 minutes (if not 2 hours like Jack and Sally) at MNSSHP!

Another thing that CMs weren't sure of was if PP pictures were included in the Halloween Party ticket or not. About half of them said yes and the others no - It was a odd. We had Max Pass so it didn't matter to us anyway but again it was a bit weird that CM's didn't really know things.
Overall we waited about 15 minutes and 5 of that was break time for the characters
There was no photographer with Eeyore and Tiger (who knows where Piglet was) but the CM's were very kind to take photos for everyone. The CM who helped us was casually making conservation and when we told him we were from Buffalo, NY his eyes almost popped out of his head He said it is VERY unusual to see non-locals/non-west coasters at Mickey's Halloween Party

I asked Eeyore where his costume was and he pointed to his tail

Pooh was adorable as usual
We decided we needed to get some real food in our systems so we headed to Hungry Bear to get some chicken nuggets. It was super dark at this point so no photos but they were good!
Next up was Haunted Mansion so we could see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay

Next up: more Haunted Mansion

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued

I wish I could take all of you there just to see this overlay. Its SO cool! I have major envy that DL gets this every year! Everything is just so clever you can tell they have put a lot of time and thought into it! This, by the way, was the longest line we waited in all night and was about 20 minutes
Some better water pictures...it was even cooler in the dark!

At some point we were trying to find bathrooms and ended up finding this little Coco area for photos instead

Really not sure what look we were supposed to be going for but we both look mad

Next up: more Halloween party

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued
We figured we should wander towards Main Street to find a spot for the parade and fireworks. We happened upon the Princess Meet and Greet area and considered getting in line but it was all princesses we have already met so we decided to move on.

Assuming there was going to be a lot of people waiting for the parade we had planned on sitting for awhile. Only, no one was really waiting and it was less than an hour to the parade. We took full advantage of this by meeting some more characters!

The amount of characters out was nuts. I'm talking EVERYWHERE on Main St. Some of them had formal lines and others you could just walk right up to and meet. Plus they were super interactive! The ones on the streets (mostly villains like Queen of Hearts but then Chip and Dale as well) were super interactive ! It was so much fun to just watch them!
We ran into Gaston and we went for a stroll while he told me he's so glad I finally found him

For some reason the flash on my phone was not really working and Gaston made some comment about the camera having a hard time capturing him because he is so good looking or something

There were still not a ton of people waiting for the parade so we hopped in one more line and met Hades!

Then we sat for the parade and enjoyed people watching!

Next up: parade time

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued

Maleficent entertained us while we waited!
Soon enough it was parade time!
I am destined to not get a good picture of the Headless Horseman (who is new this year to Disneyland). This is my best one and it is from far away!

Oh, you can maybe see in the background that anything goes in Disneyland - including standing on walls! People climbed all over EVERYTHING at DL without getting yelled at

Next up: more parade

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued

There was quite a bit of steam in this parade that made it a bit harder to get good photos.
Example...

Next up: more parade

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 2 continued

The parade was good, although much shorter than Disney World's Version!
After this we turned around and watched the fireworks (very similar to Hallowishes) and headed on out after a fantastic night! This is where I really enjoyed the earlier start time because it was still early in the night (like 10 or so) but we had done everything we wanted to and did not feel bad leaving (jet lag....we were always so tired).

I really made a conscious effort not to constantly compare DL to WDW but this night all I could think about about was how much more we enjoyed Mickey's Halloween Party than MNSSHP! I mean the amount of characters alone was incredible but the special water effects and candy lines were great too. Plus, the Toon Town thing was pretty awesome and in general it felt less crowded. If you are in DL around Halloween time and you can get a ticket definitely check it out. Huge win in the DL column for us

Next up: Day 3 - Disneyland!

 

[CaliKris]

I am really enjoying your trip report! Growing up in California, it is fun to see the parks through your eyes. I am so happy you enjoyed the DL Halloween party! We have seen that wall of people at Toon Town and have never been brave enough to go in during the party. It looks like you had a chance to meet so many characters there, though, and in Halloween costumes. We will have to check it out next time. It is funny what we aren't willing to wait for at our local park but would probably do at WDW. LOL! Pooh and friends are really tucked away in a corner of the park (Critter Country). The ride and characters definitely do not get the love that they do in WDW. And the Haunted Mansion overlay at the holidays is just the best! I am surprised you had such a short line for it. Now...I just have to make it to WDW during the MNSSHP. Definitely on my bucket list!

They have done a great job decorating Cars Land for Halloween. Did you get a chance to ride Guardians? I really want to read what you thought of it.

 

[Doc Disney]

I am really enjoying your trip report! Growing up in California, it is fun to see the parks through your eyes. I am so happy you enjoyed the DL Halloween party! We have seen that wall of people at Toon Town and have never been brave enough to go in during the party. It looks like you had a chance to meet so many characters there, though, and in Halloween costumes. We will have to check it out next time. It is funny what we aren't willing to wait for at our local park but would probably do at WDW. LOL! Pooh and friends are really tucked away in a corner of the park (Critter Country). The ride and characters definitely do not get the love that they do in WDW. And the Haunted Mansion overlay at the holidays is just the best! I am surprised you had such a short line for it. Now...I just have to make it to WDW during the MNSSHP. Definitely on my bucket list!

They have done a great job decorating Cars Land for Halloween. Did you get a chance to ride Guardians? I really want to read what you thought of it.

The wall of people was scary but it was definitely worth it since overall we barely waited for anything in there I would be curious to see what you think of MNSSHP I feel like its a bit different. We did ride Guardians! It was great!!!

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 3 October 10, 2018
P.S. Day 2 was by far the most picture heavy so don’t worry the rest of the days won’t be quite as long.
We woke up around 7 am, got ready and headed to Disneyland. This one stone says Jeff and Mary and my Mom pretended it was hers and my Dad's

We got there just around the time they started letting people in and we headed to Tomorrowland to Rope Drop Space Mountain (which is Ghost Galaxy at Halloween time).

It was….horrifying. I don’t know why I found it so scary but it was! There were monsters projected on the ceiling and stuff…and the music was scary! Overall I still like the roller coaster part better at WDW though.

Then, not surprisingly, we went on Astro Blasters. Everyone says that this version is better because the guns are mobile but I still prefer the Disney World one better - probably because I know the targets better. Uh -oh that's two comparisons sorry!

We were hungry for breakfast by this point so we headed to Red Rose Tavern (formally known as Pinnochio Village Haus).

Apparently they are not fully committed to the name since it's still just a banner covering the old name I had read this was a temporary change due to the live action Beauty and the Beast film but that came out awhile ago so who knows...
A light for you:

Next up: more breakfast