Trip Report Disneyland and D23 Expo 2017 Completed

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

We checked in and then waited in line to meet Minnie.

Once we got seated there were some characters coming into our section so we waited to get some food until we had met them.

Some of the food! The menu seemed limited when we looked at it online but we were pleased with the variety of options. And we left plenty full!

Minnie, again, she and Chip came around to the tables a lot!

Max was there. We had never met Max before so that was fun.

Captain Hook was there too. All the characters played around with us and were fun to interact with, which is not always the case for us. Sometimes, the characters just see us as two adults and do a quick picture and leave. We don't need a ton of interaction but it is always a plus. I have done 3 character meals now at Disneyland Resort (Surf's Up, Goofy's Kitchen, and Plaza) and this might be my favorite of the three. Although, I had fun and decent food at all of them.

Figgy1 · Sep 17, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
We checked in and then waited in line to meet Minnie.
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Once we got seated there were some characters coming into our section so we waited to get some food until we had met them.

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Some of the food! The menu seemed limited when we looked at it online but we were pleased with the variety of options. And we left plenty full!
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Minnie, again, she and Chip came around to the tables a lot!
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Max was there. We had never met Max before so that was fun.
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Captain Hook was there too. All the characters played around with us and were fun to interact with, which is not always the case for us. Sometimes, the characters just see us as two adults and do a quick picture and leave. We don't need a ton of interaction but it is always a plus. I have done 3 character meals now at Disneyland Resort (Surf's Up, Goofy's Kitchen, and Plaza) and this might be my favorite of the three. Although, I had fun and decent food at all of them.
View attachment 230572

That looks like a fun line up but your shirt outshines them all :inlove:

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

The only real disappointment of the breakfast was the Mickey waffles. I waited until the end to get some, and this was at the end of the service (when they were getting stuff ready to close and transition into lunch/dinner) so there wasn't an opportunity to get more.

Anyway the waffles were under done. The edges were fine but the rest was still mostly batter. Oh well, I still had enough to eat.

We had a couple more characters come around. Tigger was by far the friendliest and gave great hugs!

After breakfast we wandered to Adventureland to grab a fast pass for Indy. I waited and took some pictures while hubs grabbed the fast passes.

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

figmentfan423 said:
That looks like a fun line up but your shirt outshines them all

Figment rocks! I did get quite a few compliments on it today from park goers and cast members. Especially from cast members. I have worn figment stuff to Disneyland before and the cm's there always gush over Figment. So if you want cm attention at Disneyland wear Figment stuff!

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

We decided to wander around and check out some of the little things at Disneyland, some of the shops have little games to play for about 25cents to 50 cents

A Woody marionette thing, where a song plays and you can make him dance.

In the same shop we visited the Orchestrion and for a quarter it played a song and we watched the instruments inside it play.

Then we headed out to hear the Disneyland band and it was the march along down Main Street with the characters which then meet up with the Dapper Dans. So of course we marched along with them.

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

After the little march and one song with the Dapper Dans Brad wanted to shop from something in the Disney art store (blanking on the name). He didn't want me with so I found a shady spot to hang out. All the nearby shady benches were taken, so I ended up sitting on the steps by the Sherman Brother's door on Main Street. It was a fantastic hangout, it was a little hidden, shady and provided great views. I probably could have stayed there for a long time just enjoying people watching and enjoying the atmosphere.

This was my view.

As you can see I entertained myself with some pictures. Here you can see my spot had its own awning.

Then hubby found me. There really wasn't any space for him to sit so he wanted to keep moving. But we back tracked a little and took the trolley up Main Street to go use some of our collected fast passes.

I think the lagoon is so pretty and I don't mind the ride but it is so tiny inside and the wait is so long we usually don't do it. And we didn't this time either.

It was a busy and hot day. So we took a break in Fantasyland for water and Mickey bars!

And back through the hub

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

Time to watch the Dapper Dans again, this time they performed with the piano player at Coke Corner.

I thought about buying this shirt but didn't. It might be too true to wear!

Time for Indy

Then we decided to collect the free Fantasmic cards that were being given out at certain stores around New Orleans Square, Critter Country, Frontierland and Adventureland. Supposedly we were supposed to be given a trivia question in order to get the cards (that when put together made a map for Tom Sawyer Island) but only the cm in Critter Country had us do it. To be fair that was the only store that was empty when we arrived the others were really busy with other customers.

We saw the Mark Twain being tested. We both wished we could have helped test.

Hubs thought he would try out the hats as we listened to the Frontierland orchestrion again.

Then it was tiki time!

Hub fell asleep and I enjoyed the show. Well mostly enjoyed the show near the end a lady near by decided to play on our phone (full brightness) and talk to her companion. If she was bored the exit was literally right next to her. :devilish:

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

Then we sat near the castle and watched a bit of the Soundsational parade from afar. Then we went to see the Tangled show. It was really cute and the girls (in their early 20') were VERY into the show! But that was fine, it made us chuckle to see them so into it.

While we waited for the show to start I went to the nearby Maurice's Treats cart to get us a snack. I was going to get our normal cheddar bagel twist and a grey stuff pastry but it looked so good I didn't know if I wanted to share. Big mistake the grey stuff pastry looked good but it was pretty dry and didn't have any good flavor. The dipping sauce was okay but neither of us ate more than half of the pastry, it was money wasted.

Tangled!

After the show we picked up a fast pass for the Matterhorn, it would start at 8pm so we would just have time to ride it before we needed to head to the airport, right?

Then we headed back to Main Street to check out the little games in the Candy Palace. And saw them making our favorite snack to bring home from Disneyland....English toffee

And now the games...
A Pinocchio one like the Woody one in Frontierland

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

More of the little game/activities
Fortune Teller Esmerelda

Electricity machine

Time to test our strength

He made it to the halfway strength point.

I was a butterfingers, not a surprise there...

Watched a couple movies for a penny

And got "electrocuted"!

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

I know at some point we did Big Thunder and Haunted again but no pictures, and we did some other attractions but really today was leisurely and trying to just enjoy the park.
Then the All American College band was performing in front of the train station so we went to watch some of that. I guess I decided to dance like a dork. I'm pretty sure I was doing my Baby Groot impression.

I saw the train being tested, and was sad we couldn't ride.

At some point Brad and I separated. The Dapper Dans were performing again and he wanted to watch them, but I wanted to continue to watch the band. When we met up again we went to the Red Rose Taverne for dinner and got the burger and poutine. Both were super good, but Brad's tummy was a little upset (probably too much bacon at breakfast) so I got to eat most of it.

Then the All American College band was performing in the theater used for the Tangled/Beauty and the Beast shows so we watched them again.

Then we stopped for a castle picture on our way for our last ride at the Matterhorn. When we got there the Matterhorn had just shut down for technical difficulties and the cm's out front said it would be at least 45 minutes. So no Matterhorn for us.

Our flight home was out of LAX so we had to start heading to the hotel to pick up our bags and get an Uber. One last picture on our way out.

The Uber arrived about 2 minutes after I ordered it and the driver was friendly and we got to the airport fairly fast. But getting to our terminal was a different story, we spent about 40 minutes getting to our terminal drop off point. There was so much construction and traffic it was terrible. The driver almost got hit a couple times, and it wasn't his fault either. But once we got dropped off check in was easy and we had just a couple minute wait for security.

The plane ride home was comfortable and seemed to go fast. I had gotten a decent price on first class through our regional carrier Sun Country so we had plenty of space to sleep. When we landed though there was a security threat at Terminal Two in Minneapolis and that terminal had to be evacuated so the threat could be dealt with. So we had to stay on the plane. Luckily it we only had to stay on for an hour, so we were thankful for the extra first class room. But soon we were off, gathered our luggage, made our usual stop at McDonald's on the way home, and were at home. Hubby had to go into work right away but I slept an hour before driving to my sister's house to pick up the dog.

It was a great Disneyland trip and the D23 Expo was more fun than we had imagined it would be. We are definitely planning to head back to the Expo in 2019! If any of you decide to go, let me know and lets have a big meet up when the time comes!

Thanks for reading and see ya real soon!

riverside · Sep 17, 2017

I really enjoyed your report!! Thanks for writing it!!

amjt660 · Sep 17, 2017

Great report (pics, commentary and opinions)
Loved the fact you went to D23 and gave us a look inside.
The character breakfast had a lot of different characters - great that you met Max - Goofys son - not me (yet)

Thank you for sharing

Max

Tuvalu · Sep 17, 2017

Another great report, Amy!

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

riverside said:
I really enjoyed your report!! Thanks for writing it!!

Thanks for reading!

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

amjt660 said:
Great report (pics, commentary and opinions)
Loved the fact you went to D23 and gave us a look inside.
The character breakfast had a lot of different characters - great that you met Max - Goofys son - not me (yet)

Thank you for sharing

Max

Thanks Max! I'm enjoying your trip report right now! The character breakfast was fun and it would have been more fun we had met you (the human Max) instead of Max Goof.

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 17, 2017

Tuvalu said:
Another great report, Amy!

Thanks! I see you are slowly updating yours and that you have another trip planned. Too bad it isn't the same time as me.

I have a quickie planned for mid-November.

krisri18 · Sep 18, 2017

Always fun to hear about Disneyland! Thank you for sharing!

MinnieM123 · Sep 18, 2017

Loved your D23 report!!! :inlove:

From start to finish, this one was jam packed with information, pictures, etc. Many of us never get out to Disneyland, let alone a D23 convention.

And, the best t-shirt of the trip was Figment! :joyfull:

Oh, I was surprised by the number of different characters, and all the visits they made to your table at your breakfast. At least for the entertainment aspect, you definitely got your money's worth. :happy:

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 18, 2017

krisri18 said:
Always fun to hear about Disneyland! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for reading!

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 18, 2017

MinnieM123 said:
Loved your D23 report!!! From start to finish, this one was jam packed with information, pictures, etc. Many of us never get out to Disneyland, let alone a D23 convention.

And, the best t-shirt of the trip was Figment!

Oh, I was surprised by the number of different characters, and all the visits they made to your table at your breakfast. At least for the entertainment aspect, you definitely got your money's worth.

Thanks @MinnieM123 ! The variety of characters at the Plaza did indeed make it worth the money.

Trip Report Disneyland and D23 Expo 2017 Completed

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