Trip Report Go west they said. The weather is so perfect you'll never want to leave they said.

Greetings to all my Disney-fied, Pixie Dust-fried friends! Yep, it's that time again...moving on to the next adventure. This time we finally went west for our glorious (or not-so-glorious?) return to Disney parks.

The particulars:

Who? Me, Tracey (DH, @Sweetpee's Sugar Daddy), Chandler (DS18, @casutton96), & Brian (DS16)

What? Disneyland Resort family vacation

Where? Disneyland Hotel / Disneyland / California

When? April 26, 2104 - May 3, 2014


I'm not feeling extra wordy at the moment (rare, I know) so let's get started....

 

[Californian Elitist]

I can't stand Jack n' the Box.

 

[RadiatorSpringsRacer]

Glad you had such a great first time at Disneyland!

 

[Violiav]

I can't stand Jack n' the Box.

It's at it's best in San Diego, right next to the watchful eye of corporate.

 

[fractal]

I knew you would like the Soarin' queue!

 

[Californian Elitist]

It's at it's best in San Diego, right next to the watchful eye of corporate.

Their burgers are gross. The only items I'll buy when I hit up Jack n' the Box are shakes and soft drinks. I haven't had a meal from JntB in years, but I've sworn off pretty much all fast food, except In-N-Out and Fatburger. I'm skeptical of what the others put in their products.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

Really, really enjoying this report, Kelly. Putting lots of stuff on my list, especially the tour. That's a must-do.

I felt for you when you mentioned how rough the Matterhorn was - that's how I felt about the Indiana Jones AND Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris. Rough doesn't even begin to describe it - I actually came away with a headache from SM.

Too many comments I want to make - we'll just have to compare notes in September.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yay for churro toes!!
Loved your 1901 experience. So glad you got to go!
I had so many things to say and most of them left me...
I love that balloon picture!
I should have had the steak.
The last few Photopass photos are awe. some.

 

[WishIwasThere]

Sweetpee, even though its been less than a month since we were there, reading your trip report is already making me want to 'go west' again, and soon. Though I fear that it will be a couple years before we get out there again. Typically we do at least a week at WDW and by the end, we are pretty much Disney'd out and can wait a couple years before the next trip, but three days at DLR, we saw everything we wanted to but we weren't Disney'd out.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Awww, I love the pics of us in front of Carsland! Tammy is catching a nap in that second photo lol

That salad from CC was soooooo good! I don't know what it was but I LOVED mine! Favorite part of the meal! I got the exact same thing you got. The service though.... GAH! I don't even think we were at Palo that long on the cruise!!

Five Guys is better!! ahahahaha. Classic! Epic! Love it! Oh and I will definitely write about Brian in my TR! Because after all, his antics were legen..... wait for it...... dary!!

 

[Billy6]

Excellente! Adventures of @sweetpee_1993 and the gang!

I went to Disneyland in 2005 and it's time to go back!

Did you think Pirates at DL was better than WDW? I did. And I still like Space Mountain at WDW much better too.

Enjoyed your passion when you went in Walt's apartment.

 

[LoveDisneyGirl]

Hiya, Adrienne! Okay! So you're thevioletseeker! I sometimes see people liking my posts and I'm like "Do I know that person???" But, because I've mentioned my username here a few times it's plausible that people I might not recognize right away would be following and liking. I'm really bad with names on a good day and my memory is very scattery so if I'm confuddled, it's probly normal. LOL!

Yeah, I'll get to the Santa Anas in a few days of the report. Our home (not where we currently live) is only a few miles from the Gulf coast as the crow flies. Every now and then in the spring and hot summer, in the afternoons when the breezes really pick up we'd get the hot wind. It's miserable. I've felt hot wind before but never with the dirt in it that acted as an abbrasive. It was not fun.

I do hope to get up to northern California someday, too. I'm sure we will. Tracey & I have such a wanderlust. Many of the places you listed he has been already when he was a kid. Tracey's family lived in Antioch for a few years when he was oh I'd say maybe 12? While they were there his parents would pack their 4 kiddos up in the back of their truck (it had a camper shell) and go off camping. They went to Tahoe, Yosemite, all sorts of places. And they always drove to/from Texas when they made the trip. I couldn't imagine doing that drive with 4 kids!

I've heard amazing things about the Walt Disney Family Museum. It's on the list of to-dos. I fully intend to give that place an entire day!

You totally nailed it in a way that's so me: Adventure is out there! It surely is and I intend to live every moment I can to the fullest. Time is too precious not to.

Such a small world! My boyfriend grew up in Brentwood, which is right outside Antioch. We live about an hour and a half northwest of Antioch, but his parents still live out there, so we visit often.

Brian (my BF) and I always talk about when we retire, buying an RV and traveling the country. There's still so much of it we haven't seen! He mostly wants to make it around to all of the NASCAR tracks, lol. But that's all right by me, since that would take us everywhere! So I'm with you with the wanderlust!

Yes, I'm thevioletseeker! I always feel weird about following someone who isn't a celebrity who doesn't know who I am! Loved seeing your instagram pics while you were at DL. Made me look forward to this trip report even more!

 

[mrdrift]

Great report on the California parks. Most of us learn something all the time from these forums, and now I know what kind of plane that is thanks for the info. Keep the report going , looking forward to it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Glad you had such a great first time at Disneyland!

Oh but there's still so much to tell.....

I knew you would like the Soarin' queue!

Yep! That's why I was so upset when Soarin' was on the refurb schedule during our trip. I was soooo glad it got revised. I knew we'd love that queue. We did ask a CM if it was ever okay to just come in and walk along the walls reading everything without riding the ride or getting in the line. He said yes. We never tried it but I won't be surprised if that happens at some point.

Really, really enjoying this report, Kelly. Putting lots of stuff on my list, especially the tour. That's a must-do.

I felt for you when you mentioned how rough the Matterhorn was - that's how I felt about the Indiana Jones AND Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris. Rough doesn't even begin to describe it - I actually came away with a headache from SM.

Too many comments I want to make - we'll just have to compare notes in September.

The tour was really neat. Lots of insight.

Definitely will compare notes in September!

Yay for churro toes!!
Loved your 1901 experience. So glad you got to go!
I had so many things to say and most of them left me...
I love that balloon picture!
I should have had the steak.
The last few Photopass photos are awe. some.

Churro toes! It was a stroke of genius.

I wish we'd spent more time in 1901 but we were on a tight schedule.

The balloon magic shot was awesome. I'm so glad we stopped at that random photographer.

The steak was pretty good. I liked the salad better but I know you and green things don't mix. Chandler and I were talking about the trip today. The whole time we were there I just wanted salads and light stuff. I didn't want anything heavy. Then I got home and went on a mad cake binge. Didn't try any of the yummy treats I planned on trying. Just didn't feel like it.

Those group Photopass shots are legen.....wait for it.....dary! LEGENDARY!!!

Sweetpee, even though its been less than a month since we were there, reading your trip report is already making me want to 'go west' again, and soon. Though I fear that it will be a couple years before we get out there again. Typically we do at least a week at WDW and by the end, we are pretty much Disney'd out and can wait a couple years before the next trip, but three days at DLR, we saw everything we wanted to but we weren't Disney'd out.

We used to do 10 day WDW trip reports. For us, we always got 3-4 days in and it was like we hit our stride. Smooth sailing. DL was a lot harder to get into the groove. It's been a few years since we did a parks trip so the sheer activeness of it was tough. I'm ready to go back. Tracey & I both want to plan ahead better and be in better shape for next time, tho.

Awww, I love the pics of us in front of Carsland! Tammy is catching a nap in that second photo lol

That salad from CC was soooooo good! I don't know what it was but I LOVED mine! Favorite part of the meal! I got the exact same thing you got. The service though.... GAH! I don't even think we were at Palo that long on the cruise!!

Five Guys is better!! ahahahaha. Classic! Epic! Love it! Oh and I will definitely write about Brian in my TR! Because after all, his antics were legen..... wait for it...... dary!!

Aren't the Carsland pics the BEST?! It's so hard to get perfect pictures of a group because someone is always going to be looking in a weird direction or closed their eyes. Clowning around makes it all work.

Now that you mention it, that was about like Palo just not as good. Remy....((yawn))....is much longer. For me it's always a debate whether I want to sit for so long to earn the yummy food. Ha!

We passed the Five Guys a few times today. I wanted to take a picture of the sign sooooo bad but I kept catching that traffic light green so I couldn't stop.

Excellente! Adventures of @sweetpee_1993 and the gang!

I went to Disneyland in 2005 and it's time to go back!

Did you think Pirates at DL was better than WDW? I did. And I still like Space Mountain at WDW much better too.

Enjoyed your passion when you went in Walt's apartment.

Thank you!

Billy, you MUST see the new Carsland!!! It's like nothing else ever! If you sit still and look around it's like the awesome details keep multiplying!!!! Eye candy eeeeeeverywhere!

I did think Pirates was waaaaaay better in California. By a looooong shot. Trivia question! According to what I read and I did confirm with a handful of other sources, did you know there is 1 remaining human skull in the DL Pirates??? It's the skull with the crossbones above the bed where the pirate skeleton lays.

Walt's apartment was amazing. It's small and not much to physically see but it's significance is so cool it's definitely something Disney fans should see with their hearts.

Such a small world! My boyfriend grew up in Brentwood, which is right outside Antioch. We live about an hour and a half northwest of Antioch, but his parents still live out there, so we visit often.

Brian (my BF) and I always talk about when we retire, buying an RV and traveling the country. There's still so much of it we haven't seen! He mostly wants to make it around to all of the NASCAR tracks, lol. But that's all right by me, since that would take us everywhere! So I'm with you with the wanderlust!

Yes, I'm thevioletseeker! I always feel weird about following someone who isn't a celebrity who doesn't know who I am! Loved seeing your instagram pics while you were at DL. Made me look forward to this trip report even more!

Oh cool! Small world, indeed! Tracey's family only lived there a couple years and that's been a reeeeaally long time ago. Tracey remembers a lot of stuff from being there, tho.

I would LOVE to drive the country in an RV! There's so much to see right here in our backyards! I don't like tent camping at all but an RV I could totally do. Is it just me or is RV'ing like having a cool grown up girl playhouse?!

Oh don't feel weird about following me on Instagram. If I was going to be weirded out by it I prob'ly shouldn't post my Instagram name publicly. I like friends, even Instagram and/or WDWMagic ones. I had fun Instagramming the trip. I love when my friends do that while they're traveling because then I feel like I'm sharing the fun. I wish I could take everyone on our adventures. It'd be so much FUN!

Great report on the California parks. Must of us learn something all the time from these forums, and now I know what kind of plane that is thanks for the info. Keep the report going , looking forward to it.

The cowling on the plane has a few differences but Tracey says that could mean it's a different model year. It's really a pretty plane.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Tuesday, April 29, 2014 - Come to sunny California. Get sandblasted.


I woke up at 6:00. Still doing good with this time difference. Brian, on the other hand, is my little night owl. He typically sleeps until noon-ish so today he opted to sleep in. Tracey, Chandler, and I were ready to go at about 7:00. We looked out the window and saw the wind blowing pretty hard. Like this:




We learned real quick when the flags blow in that direction, it's not a good thing. That means to wind is coming from the desert. We reeeeaally would like the wind to blow the other way from the ocean. Ocean air = cool and wonderful. Desert air = hot. And there's dirt. Today is the beginning of the Santa Ana winds. Today's high will be 96F with nothing but pure hot sunshine and gust of those lovely, hot, gritty winds of 29 mph w/gusts up to 37 mph. Come to sunny California. Get sandblasted.

So Tracey & I saw the wind blowing and the palm trees swaying from our window and thought, "Oh, we need sweaters." We took 2 steps out the back door of our building and got hit with a strong, hot blast of wind. Hot. Like have it be warm outside then you hold a giant blow dryer to yourself. Hot wind. We peeled off the sweaters and made Chandler run them back upstairs.

When Chandler returned we started walking towards the Grand Californian hotel.






Such a pretty lobby.






We went to the podium at Storyteller's Cafe to see if there was availability for the character breakfast at 7:45 and were seated right away. We were supposed to meet Tammy here at 8:00. I totally didn't think we'd be seated immediately. I waited until Tammy arrived to get started, tho.

While we waited, Meeko came by and said hello to Chandler.




Dale was here, too.






Then grub happened. I do love me some eggs benedict.




This is the mantle of a fireplace and the chimney surround. I love the light fixtures.




Tammy & Chandler with Kenai? Koda? We thought this was Koda because he's not wearing a totem. BUT, when we called him Koda he was unhappy. We were told it was Kenai. Well, Kenai, where's your totem???






Meeko came back to say hello to Tracey, too.




Brer Fox was making the rounds but we got skipped. Twice. Not a whole lot of characters here at Storyteller's.

We got moving to get over to the early hour over at DL park. On our way out of the Grand Californian:




Aaaand we arrived in DL at around 9:20 or so.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Walking in was pretty neat. I spotted this guy and he looked familiar.




Storybook Land! We like this. It wasn't open yet, tho.




Something to know about Disneyland parks if you don't know already: if you stay in an onsite hotel you get to go to all the early hour openings. They open a park an hour early every day. It alternates between the parks. At DCA the only people who can go in early are onsite hotel guests. At DL you have your onsite hotel guests AND anyone with a 3+ day ticket that comes with 1 early entry entitlement. During early hour at DL pretty much all that's open is Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. It's more people in the park early in a much more limited space. PLUS, attractions are temperamental. They go down. All those things together made early hour at DL park pretty much useless. This is the day I learned that. All the lines are just as long as the rest of the day if not a little longer. Everything was pretty much 30+ minutes except the Sleeping Beauty castle walk-thru. So we went over there to check that out. This is just outside the entrance:




And this was at the end. I thought I'd use this as my big report closer but I found another one to use instead.




Basically you walk up some winding stairs and follow a path that shows you the story of Sleeping Beauty in books and vigniettes. It's really cute. I loved it.


It was getting close to time for the park opening and Tammy really wanted to ride BTMRR. It just came out of a year or year and a half long overhaul. We wanted to ride it again, too. We passed by the Partners statue in the hub on our way to the Frontierland rope.




Photo bombed!




So we waited anxiously at the rope along with a growing crowd. At 10:00 the park opened and a stampede of folks thundered over to BTMRR...and it was down. There were some other guests there being rather irate with the poor CMs. I felt bad for them. We got something to drink and found a bench around the side next to BTMRR while we regrouped and tried to figure out what to do next. Brian had joined us so we sent him off to Space Mountain to fetch Fastpasses as penance for skipping breakfast with the family. While sitting there we noticed some trains rolling out from a back area towards the load. See the train coming out?




While Brian was gone it occured to me: what if he pulled Fastpasses during our lunch reservation??? Hopefully not. When he returned, guess what? They were for 11:35-12:35. Lunch reservation was 11:30. Oh well. Nothing to do now but go with it.

We decided from all the moving about we were seeing in the back at BTMRR that we should go mill around by the entrance. Sho nuff! It opened at 10:30! We got on with maybe a 5 minute wait! WooHOO!

In the line:




I think I took this walking thru the line, too.




Was this from the line? I dunno.




Hey! It's a mountain goat all ready for a BBQ! Right, @TiggerLuv18 ???




And this! This is the crazy freakin' awesome 3rd lift scene with the sparking fuses and huge explosion! My pics aren't the best. I highly recommend you go search YouTube for a video of California's BTMRR post-refurb. This will blow your mind.

Sparking fuse on the left, explosions starting ahead.




Explosion!




I didn't capture the blast of smoke that comes with all the lighting explosions. It's really the neatest effects ever. If they can't give us falling rocks, this is a fine alternative. I think it's better than the falling rocks ever were!

Wanna dance??? Corn Whiskey, anyone?




I love love love BTMRR at DL! Fantastic ride! Beautiful in every way!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Just across from BTMRR:




We walked over to Blue Bayou to see if there was any chance of pushing our lunch reservation to 12:00. No dice. Okay. We'll roll with this somehow.

Over by Blue Bayou is LeBat enRouge. I saw the shop sign in @fractal 's pics and loved it! Get it? Baton Rouge??? How fitting in New Orleans Square!




90% of the facades in this area are under tarps so I didn't take too many pictures. Everything is being reworked for the expansion and upgrades to Club 33. We cut around the back on our way towards the Haunted Mansion. We crossed paths with these lovely fellas. The fella on the far left with the purple vest has his arm stretched out towards me because he threw me some beads! Imagine THAT! Beads! And I didn't have to show him 'the girls'!!!




I do love the mansion at DL! We used to tour a lot of the historic old plantation homes along River Road in Louisiana so I can totally vouch for the great detail work here.




Pet cemetary?




The only thing that could really plus this area is if they could get moss to thrive in the trees. BTW, I used to see various tourists in New Orleans so captivated by the moss hanging from the trees. Many would pull bunches of it and put it in bags to bring home. Here's a tip: don't do that. It's full of red bugs and other little biting critters. Leave it and the bugs alone.








I really like this shot.




This is a really fantastic, authentic detail! I was truly impressed by this. Anyone wanna guess what it is?




Our total HM wait was about 10 minutes. I can't believe they crammed Brian, Tammy, AND me into 1 Doom Buggy, tho. I felt so bad for poor Tammy smushed in. OH! OHOHOH!!!! I spotted the spider!!!! New friends told us about this so I had to look for it and I was so excited I saw it the first time I looked for it! So, if you know anything about how the effects work with the ghosts and all, it's done with reflections and glass. The ballroom scenes are so massive that the huge plates of glass had to be lowered into position during construction. It's not something you can replace. It's the same with the WDW HM. Those massive glass plates were installed before the building was closed up. Waaaay back in the day a little boy had either a sling shot or a BB gun or something and shot at one of the ghosts in the ballroom scene at the DL HM. It put a hole and a crack in the glass. They couldn't just replace the plate so they disguised it with a spider and web. It's on like the 2nd to last panel pretty much at eye level. If you Google "Disneyland Haunted Mansion spider" lots of pics come up. Here's a blurb about it with a picture. Cool stuff, huh?!

 

[Tom]

That's a boot-scraper, isn't it?

 

[Californian Elitist]

Hey, I want beads!

I'd like to know exactly what that black metal object is on the porch.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

It was about 11:15 so we figured we'd go check-in at Blue Bayou for lunch. What about the SM Fastpasses??? Well, we can get more. We're here all week. I made this reservation for this specific time and Blue Bayou is one of the few reservations you really should make ahead of time if you really want it. Our reservation was for opening at 11:30. Everything I'd read said we should check-in early and ask to sit on the water. So that's what we did!

It's very dark in here. Fantastic atmosphere. It really does feel like you're sitting on a dim patio overlooking a little bayou. The "bayou" is actually PotC! But, because the ride was closed for refurb, we just had the lovely ambiance and scenery sans the boats full of flash camera laden tourists floating past. So hard to get pics in here. Walking in:




I tried. I really did.




Tracey propped the camera on a railing and snapped this:




Oh...well...I didn't miss Tracey's loveliness!




And Brian doing Brian things.




I had some sort of carbonated lemonade non-alcoholic beverage with the glowing ice cube. I couldn't not go to Blue Bayou and order the infamous Monte Cristo.




Both Chandler and Tammy ordered the steak. Chandler ordered his medium rare while Tammy ordered hers well done. When the food came Tammy & I were fussing with taking pics of our food. It's so darned dark in here! She was positioning the little lamp on the table to try to light things. In the meantime, Chandler took out his iPhone and turned on the flashlight to get a good look at both steaks to make sure Tammy got her well done version. He was worried about her cutting into it and having a bad moment. Awwww.... BUT! Genius! The light helped with the photographing! So Chandler held the light for Tammy to get her picture. Mine was a bit washed out so I didn't use it. So, for future reference, if eating in a dark restaurant and you want to photograph your food, use the flashlight in your phone!

Blue Bayou is a restaurant I initially did not intend to book. The menu is kinda pricy even for lunch. (My sandwich was the cheapest entree at $27 ) Having lived in the New Orleans metro area for so many years and understanding that we cook traditional dishes well like jambalaya, gumbo, etc. I just didn't see us eating a Californian version and being wow'd enough to make the pricetag worthwhile. During the planning for the trip I asked Brian what he was excited to do that would be new to us. His response was, "Eat at the restaurant that's in PotC. You did say there was a restaurant in there, right?" Well, yeeeahhhh....so I booked it. The star of the show is the location and atmosphere for sure. The food is pretty good, too. The guys' entrees came with a cup of gumbo. I asked them if it was good and they nodded. I asked if it was as good as my chicken & sausage gumbo and it was a resounding "NO!" They answered correct! Would I do it again? Prob'ly not. Would I recommend it? It's something to do at least once.

We got out of lunch faster than we anticipated and had time to hoof it over to Space Mountain riiiight before the Fastpass deadline. We scrambled over as fast as we could, got all the way over, aaaaaand.... it was down.

And, geez, is it getting hot out.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

That's a boot-scraper, isn't it?

Hey, I want beads!

I'd like to know exactly what that black metal object is on the porch.

Spoiler

Tom is right! It's a boot scraper! In period homes you see these by the doors. You arrived usually by horse or horse-drawn carriage. You surely didn't want men tracking in whatever morsels they happened to step in so you needed a boot scraper by the door.