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!
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Where?
California!!! Woohoo!! San Diego and DisneyLAND!!! Disneyland Hotel was where we stayed :)
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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...:hilarious:

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 :joyfull:
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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 :joyfull:
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 :facepalm:
The San Diego downtown train station is really cool inside (if not a bit dingy as well).
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A light photo for all of you...
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Some more train station photos
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Next up: more train station photos
 

Spash007

Well-Known Member
I used to travel home by train when I was in college, and absolutely loved it. And the scenery going from DC to NYC was nowhere near as beautiful!
 

LeighM

Well-Known Member
Ohhhh a Disneyland trip report :) I'll get there one day! My dream trip would be flying into MCO and having a couple days at WDW and then flying to California for Disneyland. Then go to Japan for the Tokyo parks. I don't fly well so right now it's all a dream. But I will definitely do Disneyland once I conquer my fear (or at least find better anxiety medicine LOL) of the direct 2 hour flight it takes me to get to Orlando :) Looking forward to seeing more of your trip report. One of my good friends goes to both parks often and she loves DL during Halloween.
 

LadyBelle

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
How cool for San Diego! My University’s software privoder is supposed to have their annual conference there next year, but...budget restrictions will be keeping me on the East Coast. :mad:
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
I'm glad you decided to post your trip report, you and your mom seem like such a fun pair! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your California adventure.
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Excited to see how the California parks are! I went to California Adventure for one day back in 2001 (I think???) and I don't remember much

:) thanks for following ! I think DCA has probably changed quite a bit since then :joyfull:

Yay! I’m glad you’re doing this because we are planning a trip there in February/March so this will help with my research!

Oh awesome!! Let me know if you have any questions - not that I know a ton haha
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ooo! I am super interested! All the food pictures are making jealous lol!

Thank you for reading!! I always get so hungry when I write TRs :joyfull:

oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh A NEW ADVENTURE IN CALIFORNIA!!!!!! Lucky you for a work conference! I bet some of those airline miles that sent you to California can be cashed in for a trip to Orlando soon! The train seems pretty cool! One day I'll have to remember that as an option!
Aren't the character pumpkins outside the main gate in Disneyland fantastic!? :geek::geek:

You are correct....I have already used airline miles to book another trip :joyfull:
They are ADORABLE!!!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So excited to read this! We are planning a trip next October because Handsome loves Cars. Excited to see all the changes and Disneyland Hotel. We haven’t decided where we are staying but I am leaning there. Love your yellow top I, I have the orange one.

Cars will not disappoint then!!! We are OBSESSED with Carsland !!! I'll be honest I don't think I took a ton more pictures of the DL hotel....but we did really enjoy our stay there! And thank you...it is actually my Mom's shirt :)

Wow!!
Venturing outside the WDW bubble again!!
Good to see
I will of course follow along with you and and Mom
I love catching up on DLR

Max

It's nice to travel outside the bubble...but it also makes you miss the bubble haha its a weird mix of feelings!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I’ve been away from the forums for a bit and am glad I’m back in time to read your new TR. Super fun that you took the train. Looking forward to seeing all the Halloween decorations at Disneyland!

Thanks for reading :) I really need to catch up on everyone's TRs...I have been so behind in my reading!

I completely forgot that you went on this trip (I followed along on IG, but that seems like so long ago)! Can't wait to read all about it!

It seems like so long ago to me too...funny how fast you get back to reality :confused:
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I used to travel home by train when I was in college, and absolutely loved it. And the scenery going from DC to NYC was nowhere near as beautiful!

Now that I think about it I once rode the train from Buffalo to Syracuse....super far :joyfull: But it was nice - this train was a lot nicer than that one though!

Absolutly following along!

Thanks for following :happy:
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm enjoying this!! It looks like so much fun!!

Thank you...I really need to start reading your TR....I've been so delinquent

Ohhhh a Disneyland trip report :) I'll get there one day! My dream trip would be flying into MCO and having a couple days at WDW and then flying to California for Disneyland. Then go to Japan for the Tokyo parks. I don't fly well so right now it's all a dream. But I will definitely do Disneyland once I conquer my fear (or at least find better anxiety medicine LOL) of the direct 2 hour flight it takes me to get to Orlando :) Looking forward to seeing more of your trip report. One of my good friends goes to both parks often and she loves DL during Halloween.

Oh man the flight situation. Our flight to MCO is usually around 2 hours/2 hours and 15 minutes too. A 4.5 hour flight with another one after it was brutal :hungover: But totally worth it!!!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
How cool for San Diego! My University’s software privoder is supposed to have their annual conference there next year, but...budget restrictions will be keeping me on the East Coast. :mad:

Boooooooo thats awful! It was continuing education for me so through work we get an allotted amount every year and we can spend it at any approved conference so I am lucky in that sense. I spent way over that allowed amount though...:facepalm: most of it came from my pocket haha

I'm glad you decided to post your trip report, you and your mom seem like such a fun pair! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your California adventure.

Thank you!!! I am lucky that my Mom and I travel well together....I'm not sure who else I could spend that much time with while traveling. My friends and I always limit our trips to like 5 days max haha
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 October 9, 2018
So...the parks in California open pretty early every day. The park with EMH opens at 7 am and the other one 8 am. At least I feel like that's pretty early. We tended to choose the park without EMH so that we could at least not get up at like 6 am every day :) The one really nice thing, though, is not having to plan out bus time! Instead we only had a 10-15 minute walk to the parks which was great!
Anyway, this day we decided upon DCA since a. it opened later and b. we really could not wait to get to Cars Land (hence the title of the TR)!
We got up about 6:45 am and we were at DCA just before 7:30.
It was a bit gloomy outside as it was every morning we were in California.
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They actually let us in just as we got there - to a rope drop! My park ticket had already scanned so I tried to use Max Pass (we pre-bought this when I bought my tickets months ago) but it wasn't working. I thought maybe I read the instructions wrong and maybe we had to wait for the park to officially open so I did not worry too much about it.
Anyway, the park opened and we headed right to Radiator Springs Racers!
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We waited no more than 10 minutes ! Woohoo!
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As usual it was a fantastic ride!
After getting off my MaxPass still wasn't working so I asked a CM who directed me to Guest Services right down the street (literally...since Radiator Springs is like a street :joyfull: ). He noticed that for some reason our actual park tickets were not linked in the app so that was the issue. He couldn't figure out what other tickets were in there until it occurred to me a few minutes later that they were our Halloween party tickets. Problem solved thankfully with no other issues the rest of the trip! I immediately picked up a FP for RSR but with the delay the time wasn't until 11:20. Not a big deal...we were planning on being there all morning anyway. For anyone who is curious this then pops up on your app as your FP. You can also use your hard ticket if you don't want to use your phone.
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We did not need to go the the FP machines to get a FP since you can do it on the app with MaxPass. But, if you were to - say you don't have Max Pass, they give you paper FP reminders only. Meaning, now everyone has to use their ticket or app to use a FP - no more paper scanning.
Anyway, we were hungry so we mobile ordered some breakfast at Flo's V8 Cafe.
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It's adorable inside!

Next up: more breakfast
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
For breakfast my Mom got a waffles kids meal (shocker) and I got the Brioche French Toast
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The French Toast comes with bananas and caramel sauce on it. I have no clue what possessed me to order this even- I am not a breakfast person in general - but also not a huge sweets person (although we ate a lot of treats for breakfast this trip). It was tasty but a few bites were more than enough for me! My Mom said the waffles were good but the turkey bacon that came with it was awful. We decided it was a very California like thing to have Turkey bacon :joyfull: Overall breakfast was fine but my Mom wants everyone to know waffles are better in WDW :joyfull:
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After breakfast we headed to Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween. That is literally what it's called during Halloween time :happy:. I thought it was so cool how they incorporate Halloween into so many things at DCA (well and DL too)! The ride was the probably the same but they added in some decorations and Halloween music.
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This was our first time on this attraction and it was adorable! It is similar to Mater's ride/Alien Swirling Saucers but with no visible track.
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Some Cars Land decorations...
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Next up: more...Cars Land
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
At some point we got a PP picture. I was super excited that Max Pass came with PP downloads so we could have some photos of both of us. Only...it was a lot harder than in WDW to actually find PP CM's so in the end we didn't get a ton :hilarious:. This day we got way more than any other day :)
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Next up was Mater's Graveyard JamBOOree :joyfull:
My nephew loves Cars and he especially loves the Cars short that is on Netflix that is all about Mater so he loved this photo (which is from the short).
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We absolute love this ride as well!
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Next up: something new
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 continued
We finally dragged ourselves out of Cars Land (never fear- we would be back) to head over to Pixar Pier
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I personally am happy they kept Mickey on the fun wheel :)
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My Mom - of all people - suggested we go on the Golden Zephyr which is like a crazier version (because you fly over water and the sides are open) of Astro Orbitor which she hates :joyfull:
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We survived our ride and wandered a bit around Pixar Pier
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:hilarious::hilarious::hilarious:

Next up: more Pixar Pier
 

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