Trip Report From East to West … Two Besties Tackle Disneyland (LIVE 2/20-2/26)

It’s been a long 22 months. It’s been the best of times, and the worst of times. And it was during one of those “worst of times” that the promise of this trip began.

I remember the moment exactly. Me, bawling in a supermarket parking lot, just completely and totally overwhelmed by lockdown after lockdown after lockdown, and my Bestie @NYwdwfan promising that we will make this trip happen.

And here we are. Exactly 5 weeks out, God willing.

So much has happened since my last live trip report … not all COVID-related. Some gains - a brand new hip, and a puppy that is the light of our lives. Some losses - our 2020 WDW trip, and 50 lbs.

Here are the 5 W’s:

Who?
Me - JenniferS - Canadian, huge Blue Jays fan. After almost 2 years of spending every second together, I’ll be travelling without my usual ride or die Mike … aka Hubby.
I have been to WDW more than a dozen times, starting in 1991.

I will let Bestie introduce herself.
Ideally this will be a tandem trip report, with regular input and photos from her as well.

What?
A first time visit (for both of us!) to the OG park. We will cry the first time we walk down MSUSA. Guaranteed!

We have 5 day ParkHopper passes, and plan on utilizing both Genie+ and ILL,

Where?
Disney’s Grand Californian Resort and Spa. I’m a Moderate girl, whereas Bestie has often stayed Deluxe at WDW.

When?
We arrive at LAX within 20 minutes of each other on Sunday, February 20th.
Park Days: 21st - starting at DL
22nd - starting at DCA
23rd - starting at DL
24th - starting at DCA
25th - starting at DL
26th - morning departures from LAX

Why?
Why not? Our original plan was to stay off-site, but an email discount code for GC was just too attractive to pass up.

If you’ve read any of my previous reports, you know I post live. Mike has always been a good sport about it. Hopefully Bestie will be equally accommodating.

We will eat well (oh boy, will we eat well), hit most of the rides (together and separately, because someone doesn’t like big drops or going boing boing), and will savour every second of our time together. It has incredibly been 3 years since we have seen one another in person.

I’ll share our dining plans in a separate post.

Me, ‘cause it’s been a long time!
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Mikey. Says he’s not sorry to have been excluded:
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And Daisy, the best thing to come out of all this COVID carp:
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JenniferS

When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Original Poster
After lunch, we visited PhilharMagic. It totally felt like a repurposed theatre. In fact, it felt like it used to be the Muppets 3D theatre. (Sheryl is looking it up right now, but isn’t telling me until I hit post. 😂) The two balconies were still intact. I’ll betcha you could pull back the curtain and Waldorf and Statler would still be bolted to their chairs.

As to the movie, it was so sharp and crystal clear. The colours seem less saturated than before. For sure, the screen is much, much smaller.

Coco was integrated seamlessly.

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After PhilharMagic, it was time to use our Lightning Lane passes for the Monster’s Inc ride. Standby was 85 minutes. It’s 10 minutes wait cute … NOT an hour and a freakin’ half cute!

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JenniferS

When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Original Poster
After that we bought a few prezzies, visited the Animation Academy and headed back to the hotel to warm up and have some coffee. It’s quite breezy today and we were both fuh-reezing. I’ll be wearing my winter coat when we go back out tonight. Sorry, not sorry.

And now it’s nap time.

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ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
I'm glad you like Guardians so much @JenniferS . I was a huge TOT fan and was a little upset at the Guardians change, but I really love it. I have difficult time on TOT at Hollywood Studios now because it just isn't as fun. Actually the Lightning Lane is the best lane to use in order to see the Figment. He is in one of the boxes hanging from the ceiling in the first inside room, to the left I believe.

Also the theater at DCA for Philharmagic was used for Muppet Vision, it was also used for a Frozen sing a long too after Muppets but before Philharmagic.
 

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