Trip Report Disneyland Forever! July 2016

Hello! Welcome to another trip report by me! A little backstory...last year hubby (Brad) and I (Amy) bought Premier Passes that cover both Disneyland and WDW, we bought them in Disneyland. We have been lucky (or crazy) enough to be able to use them a lot. So as the passes were coming in on their expiration date we decided to sneak in one last trip to Disneyland, as a way to make it a complete circle of start to end on our passes. (If you are interested and haven't read them yet I've done a few trip reports this year, they are pretty rockin' if you want to go back and read them!)

We went to Disneyland from July 24-July 29 (actually getting home on the 30th). So we left on Sunday the 24 on an afternoon flight. My husband had to work Sunday morning so we left later which is odd for us because we normally leave super early (first flight of the day) and come back on the last possible flight of the day.

As you can see the airport was pretty empty when we arrived. On our last trip to WDW we upgraded as a present to each other to first class. Apparently hubby has gotten fond of first class because he did it again for us, I'm not complaining as I like the extra room and drinks!

Here's us on the plane!

A little coffee and Bailey's for me and a rum and Coke for hubby!

A couple of pictures out the window as we approach Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, you can also see some of the wildfires in these two pictures.

Finally we have landed!

Once we landed we had to get to Disneyland. For the second time, we hired a Lansky car service. Their service is excellent. We did not plan to go anywhere other than Disneyland so we didn't want to rent a car so this was a good option for us. I don't like that all the car rentals are off site at the airport it just seems to take forever to get going. I like that the driver meets us at baggage claim and is parked close by. Plus it is nice not to have to worry about driving and traffic. We also made a quick stop at a Target to get some water, seltzers, soda and light snacks for the time we were there.

I'm going to add some tags quick to some of the people I have seen following my trip reports before. I know I will forget some people, but everyone is welcome! @figmentfan423 @Gabe1 @Songbird76 @PacNWTigger @fractal @PUSH @JenniferS @BuddyThomas @MinnieM123 @MouseDreaming @MOXOMUMD @donaldtoo @betty rose

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After lunch we found a shady spot in the circle and waited for the next Newsboys, it wasn't a long wait, and this time they were on time..

After the Newsboys it was time for a late afternoon rest.

 

[MinnieM123]

Really enjoyed the Animation Building photos. Brad did a nice job with his picture of Donald! I was jealous seeing that, as it reminded me that we no longer have this drawing class available, at WDW. It was one of my favorite things to do at DHS, and now it's gone . . .

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Really enjoyed the Animation Building photos. Brad did a nice job with his picture of Donald! I was jealous seeing that, as it reminded me that we no longer have this drawing class available, at WDW. It was one of my favorite things to do at DHS, and now it's gone . . .

We never did the animation thing at DHS but since we discovered it on our DL trip over New Years this past winter we love it. As you will find out on our last day this trip we made a special trip back over to DCA to do an animation class.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After you afternoon break we headed back to Disneyland and I really wanted to see the All-American College band. They are really talented and have fun performances. The next performance was to be in front of the castle so we headed there.

But I did stop briefly to take a balloon shot. I always want to buy a balloon but since I can't bring it home inflated I never do. Maybe if we ever drive to DL or WDW again I will get myself a balloon.

The band. We decided to watch from behind them because there was an opening on a bench there. Brad got up off the bench for a moment to take a picture from the front of them.

As they are performing I turned around on my bench and took this picture.

We had dinner at the Plaza Inn, chicken! Since the vegetable was corn I got a extra scoop of potatoes instead. I like corn, but it is a carb and I like mashed potatoes better. There was a little too much gravy though, it made my chicken a little soggy. It was all still scrumptious though.

The view from my table.

After dinner we went wild...at the wildest ride in the wilderness!

Then dessert at the Golden Horseshoe, and the table in the box by the stage was open.

And these were the fast passes we had lined up for the night.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We went to Buzz next (separate cars of course).

Love Disneyland but I hate the gridlock of Tomorrowland it is always so crowded.

We decided to find a spot in Tomorrowland (in front of the Launch Bay/old Innoventions building) to watch Disneyland Forever from. There were some chairs open and it was fun to watch the show from there.

After the fireworks we took our trip through Hyperspace on Space Mountain.

We wandered a bit, and decided to do Jungle Cruise before heading out of the park.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Our last day, our flight was leaving at 11:50pm so we basically had the whole day to play!

Disneyland was where we started. I always get a kick out of the characters walking around Main Street.

No bee swarms on Main Street this morning.

I wish this was my hotel when I came to Disneyland.

Waiting for the rope drop....on a bench!

Do which direction will we go?

To Frontierland of course....it's Friday and Friday in a Disney park means.....Frontierland Friday!

Or because Frontierland is trademarked our shirts have to say Frontier Friday.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Unfortunately, Disneyland's Frontierland doesn't have too much in terms of attractions so after riding Big Thunder about 4 times in a row we had to move on. We did end up at the Shootin' Arcade of course. And went into the Frontierland store to play the orchestrion again.

But for now Big Thunder! With a glimpse into the Star Wars construction area.

 

[MinnieM123]

But I did stop briefly to take a balloon shot. I always want to buy a balloon but since I can't bring it home inflated I never do. Maybe if we ever drive to DL or WDW again I will get myself a balloon.

This is such an uplifting photo. I'm glad there are still some simple pleasures left in the parks, such as the colorful balloons. I think they're so cheerful, and they remind me of years ago when the pace was slower in the parks.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So after riding Big Thunder a few times, we headed to Fantasyland and rode Alice, Storybook Boats (Brad loves this one, seriously), and Mr Toad.

 

[PacNWTigger]

Omigoodness!! Brad had a drink that wasn't rum and coke?!?!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Omigoodness!! Brad had a drink that wasn't rum and coke?!?!

I know! It's a shocker!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Just a couple more of Fantasyland and then we headed over to New Orleans Square to explore the train there.

Exploring the trains was cooler than I thought it would be. It was fun to sit up by the engine and the engineer explained how things worked and some stories of working on the railroad with us.

In the caboose...It was about the same width (actually a little wider) as the cells in the prison on Alcatraz that we visited a few years ago. I don't know why the caboose reminded me of Alcatraz....maybe it was the green paint. I think the Disneyland caboose would be more fun to be trapped in though.

In the cell at Alcatraz.

Back to the train station....

Then to the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade to continue with a little Frontier Friday Fun!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We wandered back to Main Street and rode the fire engine. Since we were the only ones riding we got to ring the bell, as much as we wanted. That was fun, we probably annoyed the driver though!

We then explored the train on Main Street.

I explored Town Square as Brad sat by the trolley stop so we could ride it down to the castle.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Well the trolley showed up and we had been waiting at the stop (I guess you could say we and a couple others were in line with us) and the trolley stopped and all of a sudden all these people showed up and were swarming it to get on. I literally got shoved so someone could get past me to hop on. I commented to Brad that even though we had been waiting I guess we will wait for another trolley. The cast member must have heard me and let us stand in the very back. It was pretty cool, and a little bumpy back there. In the end we had a good ride. I just don't know where those people swarmed from!

Us on the back of the trolley

The plan was to eat lunch at the Plaza (again) but we were 40 minutes early. So we grabbed a cheddar garlic bagel twist at Maurice's Treats and shared it (yum!).

Then we walked through the castle and through the Sleeping Beauty Walk Through to kill some time before lunch.

And the Plaza was about to open so we decided to head there, then we remember our Star Tours fast pass was starting so we did that and grabbed a Space Mountain FP before lunch.

I wasn't feeling the chicken for lunch (blasphemy I know) so I decided to try the pot roast. OMG! Why doesn't anyone ever talk about this. The pot roast was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I think it is better than the chicken!

After lunch we ran into Brad's friends....aka the Dapper Dan's.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After seeing the Dan's perform we headed over to DCA. Since we had no hotel room any more we couldn't do an afternoon nap. So we thought we'd relax at the Animation Academy.

We learned how to draw Pluto this time. Mine actually kind of turned out this time.

Then we just relaxed for a bit and people watched before heading by to Disneyland.

We were going to go on the Matterhorn but it was down, so we met up with Captain Hood and Peter Pan before seeing Mickey and the Magical Map.

 

[MinnieM123]

Hey, excellent drawing of Pluto!!

You two are so funny with your matching t-shirts. I really like the picture of the two of you up in the front of the train, by the way. That's a really cute photo.

Glad that Brad saw his "pals" again (Dapper Dans)!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Hey, excellent drawing of Pluto!!

You two are so funny with your matching t-shirts. I really like the picture of the two of you up in the front of the train, by the way. That's a really cute photo.

Glad that Brad saw his "pals" again (Dapper Dans)!!

Thanks I think that picture might make it on the Christmas card.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A few Mickey and the Magical Map pictures. This show is cute and well done. Love it!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After Mickey and the Magical Map we wandered back to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder again. We also hung out on the Mark Twain and heard another band. I think I mentioned this before but it was pretty cool that Disney put these bands and seating on the boat.

Then we headed to Main Street, and went into the Candy Palace. We watched the candy maker and drooled over the candy (fudge?) that was cooling.

We also played this fun little game thing for a quarter and made Pinnochio dance. And listened to the orchestrion.

Then we watched the Flag retreat. I've watched it many times now at Disneyland (and it is always moving) but I have never watched it in the Magic Kingdom. Maybe in November.

Then we looked at the exhibit in the hall by Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. There was a train engineer there who chatted with us. He asked us if we were going to watch the Lincoln show, and I said no and that I wasn't a fan of the show. He seemed a little peeved that I didn't like Mr. Lincoln. Sorry but I find that show boring, I like the Hall of Presidents but Lincoln...snooze (I actually have fallen asleep in that one and I don't sleep during shows.)

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

By now it was getting close to dinner. Brad really wanted to eat at the Galactic Grill in Tomorrowland because he wanted his meal in the Han Solo carbonite bucket. So that is where we ate dinner. We both got the burger with the bacon mayonnaise. I was surprised that Brad ate the mayo because he hates it, but I suppose he ate it because it had bacon in it. I, on the other hand got an extra side of mayo.

And a close up... It was tasty but I might have gone overboard with the mayo.

Then we shared the Darth by Chocolate. We'd had this before and it is great chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate....

And it was time to leave, time to meet our driver from Lansky's (excellent service). It was mildly heavy traffic on the way back the LAX so I was glad we didn't have to drive, and at the airport it was gridlock for awhile. Just crazy!

We had a great time in Disneyland, I mean why wouldn't we. Disney = fun! We had been Annual Passholders for a year for both park, our first time being APer's and we loved it and totally got our money's worth, well Disney certainly got our money's worth! We/I was really going to miss it. But as we left Disneyland we had just a short trip to WDW planned in 2017 and were planning to go to D23 in 2017 but it didn't seem to pay to renew. So this was the last of the AP....

But things have changed and this weekend we will be APer's again. Another Premier pass for us! But this will probably be the last for awhile...... I'm even considering doing a DL solo trip this year instead of WDW over Easter. I'm a little scared for that so if anyone is in DL over Easter it might be fun to meet at the Plaza for chicken or pot roast!

Anyway, thanks for reading and following along. I enjoyed all of your comments! Disney dreams everyone!!!!