Trip Report I'm headed back to Disneyland! Solo & San Diego this time too! (February 5-9, 2023 DLR/San Diego TR!)

Alrighty folks, starting another Pre-Trip Report....
This time it's for my return to Disneyland after only 8 years!!!!!!

Originally, I had intended to do this last year in November, but my parents and the situation in California prevented me from doing so, and I ended up going up to Atlanta, GA for a fun 4-day, 3-night adventure from November 14th through the 17th. It was a nice thing to do, the weather was nice, it was okay and all, but there wasn't a lot to do per say. So now it's been there done that for me.

Now this time, I'm going to try again!

This will be my second time in Disneyland, and was going to be my first time doing Viva Navidad at DCA (Three Caballeros Fan here ) and I was so excited too! For that regards I am a current WDW AP and have seen both Panchito and Jose (the former being my top favorite Disney Character, alongside Scrooge McDuck, Judy Hopps, and Chip'n'Dale) in Discovery Island Carnivale and Move It Shake It Mousekedance It!

However, I've since decided to go up to Savannah, GA and down to West Palm Beach and Ft Lauderdale instead during 11/13-11/17. But in the bright side of things, this is going to be my VERY FIRST TIME doing the Lunar New Year's Celebrations at DCA and may be my first time meeting Mushu and Mulan!

The Itinerary is as follows...

Sunday February 5 - Travel/Downtown Disney
Flying from MCO to SAN (with a connection at PHX) on American Airlines, departing 7:08am, eta in SAN at 11:26am.
MTS 992 to Santa Fe Depot before taking Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner up to Anaheim
Check-In and Downtown Disney in the evening

Monday February 6 - 1st Park Day (Disneyland AM/DCA PM)
Likely going to see World of Color and may end up meeting Mushu and Mulan that day
Main Focus for DL is Frontierland, Adventureland, and (1/2 of ) Fantasyland, DCA it'll be Pixar/Paradise Pier, Cars Land, & Paradise Gardens Park

Tuesday February 7 - 2nd Park Day (DCA AM/Disneyland PM - Disneyland After Dark Sweethearts Nite)
Main focus for DCA will be MOST LIKELY Avengers Campus, Grizzly Park Airfield, and Hollywood Blvd, and DL it'll be the remaining 1/2 of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland (and possibly Runaway Railway). This will also be when I do Disneyland After Dark, so I'm excited about this!

Wednesday February 8 - Checkout of DLH, then back to San Diego
I'll check out of the hotel and around 11:30ish catch an ART Bus to the Anaheim Train Station and catch an Amtrak train back to San Diego before heading to the Hampton Inn at the San Diego Airport via Uber to check-in there, and catch the MTS and check out what Downtown San Diego and the pier has to offer.

Thursday February 9 - Travel Home
Early in the morning, I'll catch an airport shuttle from the hotel to San Diego Airport, and then fly out back to MCO (with a connection in DFW) on American Airlines.

I'm hoping the air travel chaos subdues somewhat by then and that American doesn't screw up (fortunately, back in August 2021 I flew them MCO-CLT-BWI, and the flight to BWI from CLT got cancelled, so I did standby on another flight for free, and I made it to BWI, basically making AA a saving grace to me. I rebooked my return travel the next day and the agent on the phone kindly put me on an earlier flight from BWI to CLT and in turn to MCO.)

Hotel: Renaissance Orlando Airport (2/4-2/5), Disneyland Hotel (2/5-2/8), Hampton Inn San Diego Airport (2/8-2/9)
Tickets: 2-Day w/ Park Hopper & Genie+
Dates: February 5-9, 2022

 

[IanDLBZF]

Going to pack tomorrow!!!
Heading over to the Renaissance Orlando Airport on Saturday!

 

[IanDLBZF]

2 Days Left, all packed and ready to go! Heading over to the Renaissance Orlando Airport tomorrow!

 

[MickeyCB]

2 Days Left, all packed and ready to go! Heading over to the Renaissance Orlando Airport tomorrow!

Have a wonderful time!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Have a wonderful time!

I will! Thanks very much!

 

[MinnieM123]

So excited for you! Hope all your travel connections go smoothly, and I wish you a very happy vacation. Enjoy!

 

[IanDLBZF]

1 day left! Leaving for the Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel in about 1 hour!

 

[cgersic]

Have a magical time and I hope we get to see some of it!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Got back this evening! A full TR is coming soon!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Day 0 - The Adventure Begins (February 4, 2023)
The day began with me getting up having already packed the night before. I got a few snack items from Publix needing some $1 bills as change, had lunch at home, and ran the dishwasher before calling an Uber XL to take me from my house to the Orlando Airport Renaissance Hotel. Bear in mind I've stayed at the Renaissance in Tampa at International Plaza twice and it appears that I like Renaissance more than I do anything in the Hilton brand!

I left around 2:01pm and arrived at the hotel around 2:40pm, checked in on the Marriott Bonvoy app and went to the front desk to pick up my room key and I was on the 8th floor. Here's some photos of the room....

Overall, not too bad for a Renaissance.
I later went down to grab dinner at their restaurant, a grilled chicken sandwich with fries. And I did go down to their shop a few times to pick up water bottles and a cookie for a snack, all before retiring for the night for the busy next day, and I couldn't really sleep.

Up Next.... Day 1!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Day 1 - From the East to The West! (February 5, 2023)

My iPhone and Apple Watch had alarms set for 3:30am, and I got up, brushed my teeth and combed my hair, and then got dressed and packed, getting ready to go down to the lobby to return my room key and catch the first shuttle of the day. Like they say, the early bird catches the worm, and smart people like me know to be at MCO at least 3 hours early because of how chaotic TSA lines can be. I also checked out on the Marriott Bonvoy App as expected.

So I got the shuttle, we made 2 stops (one for Spirit, then Southwest - both on the “A” side, and then came my stop for American - on the “B” side). I got my suitcase back, and then went to the kiosk to print my bag tag and checked my suitcase (thank god my AAdvantage Credit Card allows me a first bag free, you oughta learn to love airline credit cards, even if you don’t travel very often). I hopped into the TSA line for gates 1-59, and the whole thing snaked down past the East Atrium! Took me close to an hour and ten/fifteen minutes give or take....

I made it through and over to airside 3 for Gate 39, and got myself a bagel with cream cheese and coffee for breakfast. Boarding soon began and my group was called around 6:40ish (Group 5). I was on the plane in no time at all. We pushed back at around 7:00am and 14 minutes later, left MCO for PHX. Service was good, FAs came through a few times with drinks. Started off with a cran-apple with a biscotti. Watched Bob’s Burgers, and also some Big Bang Theory and Friends on AA’s IFE Streaming Service. Before landing I got myself a Coke Zero, as I felt a little tired.

We later landed in Phoenix and low and behold, our aircraft would be continuing onto San Diego, and coincidentally, I’d be on the same plane. So basically, I got off the plane, went into the same gate it arrived at, and about 30-minutes later, reboarded for the second leg of the trip. This also meant I ended up playing musical chairs, having sat in 10A (Main Cabin Extra!) now moving to 26F on the same aircraft (mind you, an A321).

Thankfully this leg was only 1 hour long. San Diego was very dreary when I got there. I deplaned and headed straight for baggage claim to grab my suitcase, take the MTS 992 to Santa Fe Depot, and decided to grab lunch once in Downtown San Diego before getting the train up to Anaheim.

Ended up having lunch at Bruegger's Bagels. It was nice, a little different from Subway or Jersey Mike’s. Apparently they’re all over the US, but have none in the Orlando area. After lunch, I walked across the street, suitcase in tow to Santa Fe Depot to get ready to board the train from San Diego to Anaheim.

A few hours later...

I soon lined up outside the waiting area to get ready to board the Northbound Pacific Surfliner, train 581 from San Diego to Anaheim. Now bear in mind that at the time, from around October 2022, as a result of coastal erosion in the Oceanside/San Clemente Area, the tracks within that specific area were closed, resulting in a bus bridge between Irvine and Oceanside. Well this weekend happened to be the first weekend that Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains were able to resume full service on the entire Los Angeles to San Diego corridor since the end of September.

I was in Business Class for this trip, just like the trip I took in 2014. Unlike that trip where the seats were these...

Courtesy of seat38a on flickr/amtraktrains.com forums

And now, the seats here are like this....

The seats here were reminiscent of the Acela Express, an Amtrak Train I have yet to take, and super comfy too!

The train was clean too! No trash on the floor or in seatback pockets, unlike what I’ve usually experienced on the Silver Star and Silver Meteor where trash was on the floor, in seatback pockets, etc. After departing San Diego our car attendant brought us over a snack box.

And after departing Old Town, I went up to the car attendant and got me a complimentary beverage - I chose Hard Seltzer. They also had Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Water, Red & White Wine. Later came these beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean, and the beach!

The train ran on-time - and right to THE VERY DOT, even to the point where we got to San Juan Capistrano 4 minutes early. Much better than what I have experienced out here on the east coast with the Silver Star and Silver Meteor.

We arrived in Anaheim on time, and I called an Uber X to the Disneyland Hotel. I had gotten the room ready text and decided to pick up a key card from the front desk. Last time, I was in the Adventure Tower, but this time I was in the Frontier Tower, and on the 6th floor too!!!

Impressive views of the hotel commons, even with DVC Construction!


Later that evening, I got ready to visit Downtown Disney District. Decided to do some shopping for something Oswald/Ortensia and something Mulan/Mushu (for my first full day...) and had dinner at Naples Ristorante e Bar, which was pretty good for what it’s worth.
Downtown Disney District really HAS changed from the last time I was here with my mom in 2014. For instance - The AMC Theater is gone, Rainforest Cafe is gone, ESPN Zone is gone, Earl of Sandwich has moved. Can’t wait to see what the future holds in stone!

I later went back to the hotel room, got showered, and put PJs on, and decided to watch the fireworks for Sweethearts Nite - unfortunately the fireworks audio channel doesn’t broadcast the music for the Sweethearts Nite fireworks like it would supposedly do for Wonderous Journeys.

Up next... Day 2!

 

[MickeyCB]

The views of the ocean from the train are gorgeous!

 

[IanDLBZF]

The views of the ocean from the train are gorgeous!

They sure are! Add to that the tracks on the Metrolink/Coaster line are also smoother than the CSX tracks the Silver Star and Silver Meteor run on.

 

[Bullseye1967]

Just found this. Following along!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Day 2 - The Start of the Disneyland Adventure (February 6, 2023)
I got up around 5:45am that day, and decided to grab breakfast at Coffee House (Bagel w/ Cream Cheese and a Banana along with a coffee), before getting in line for bag check. I was in Downtown Disney by 7:05 and at the gates for Disneyland by 7:15, ready to start early entry to knock down two attractions in Fantasyland - Snow White’s Enchanted Wish and Pinnochio’s Daring Journey.

Snow White’s Enchanted Wish is somewhat different from Snow White’s Scary Adventure mind you, and surprisingly it’s sorta good.

My game plan going forward after Early Entry would be to grab a Lightning Lane for Thunder Mountain, and then to rope drop Splash Mountain, and then do Pooh, followed by Thunder Mountain. Rope Drop happens and all these people start heading towards Galaxy’s Edge, as I head from Fantasyland to Critter Country to ride Splash Mountain in the cold of morning!

The layout for Splash Mountain is somewhat different compared to its East Coast counterpart, and even the logs are different. There are some scenes in this version that are partially different, even different animatronics here too! I ended up drenched here, by the way.

Pooh was next, and I know, having ridden both WDW and DLR versions before, the scenes here are somewhat different and even differently arranged, including a “Pooh, wake up!” sequence from Piglet himself.

Next up was Thunder Mountain with a G+ Lighting Lane. I’ll go out and say the BTMRR is much better here than in WDW, especially with the finale! Pirates of the Caribbean is much better at DLR vs WDW, but albeit an extended version. Jungle Cruise is partially the same here too, and same can be said for Enchanted Tiki Room (albeit an extended version), but the route of the Riverboat is somewhat the same, albeit different scenery than what it is in Florida.

I did notice Rabbit was out in Critter Country per the DL App, but CMs said he was in the Hundred Acre Woods. Oh well, at least he meets in FL every now and then. Grabbed Lunch at the Hungry Bear Cafe, a nice quaint place to eat. Turns out, you have to be on Wi-Fi to use mobile order at Disneyland too!

Managed to pick-up a LL for Goofy’s Sky School before hopping over to DCA, and then hopped right over with ease. My first move was going to be to head over to the gazebo and attempt to meet Ortensia and/or Oswald, I did that only to find they were going to swap out Ortensia. I decided to do Sky School first, then see the procession. That is exactly what happened before I decided to get in line, trying to meet Mulan and Mushu....

So I waited, and as luck might have it, they were about to swap out while I was in line, and to make things even better.... Here comes Oswald The Lucky Rabbit!
I ended up meeting him first.

(Oh yeah, he kissed me at the end!)

Then I decided to hop back in line, in anticipation of meeting Ortensia. I was giggling a bit after the fact that Oswald kissed me, thinking Ortensia could end up doing the same too....


I ended up meeting her, and she kissed my Oswald Numio and her autograph. Ortensia is SOOOOOO CUTE for that matter!

I then made my way to Cars Land to knock down my ILL for RSR, and then did Luigi’s Rockin’ Roadsters. It feels different from the Flying Tires for that matter, but I do miss that though.

I then got myself a Macaroon, along with some Raspberry Oak Milk Tea. Not bad, not bad at all.

Next up was the Golden Zephyr, followed by the Pixar Pal-A-Round, before watching the Melody of China, and followed by Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree.

I saw the Lunar New Year’s Processional at least several times that day too, it’s pretty cool FWIW.

Later I went back to my room to rest up and change jackets before my dinner reservation and WOC1. For those of you wondering, I had dinner at Wine Country Trattoria for the World of Color Package....

The food here was surprisingly good, and had Chicken Parm as an entree. The salad and desert were very good as well.

Tonight’s World of Color consisted of TWO shows, the first was Hurry Home.....

And immediately after was World of Color 1!

Both were phenomenal and I was in awe. Went back to the Disneyland Hotel after the show and got ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a LONG, LONG day for me.

 

[IanDLBZF]

Day 3 - A Little Bit of Avengers Campus in my life, a little bit of Sweethearts by my side....

Got up early once again to start my day at Disneyland Hotel’s Coffee house for a bagel with cream cheese and a banana for breakfast, along with a cup of Joe before heading for bag check and in turn Disney California Adventure!

Now this would be my very first time in Avengers Campus, and boy was I excited....

First on the Agenda was Mission Breakout! It’s very different from Tower of Terror for one thing, and I’ll admit Cosmic Rewind is SO MUCH BETTER! We had “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by the way. Next up was Monsters Inc: Mike and Sulley to The Rescue, followed by WEB Slingers with a LL (and my vehicle made second place that morning!)

I then decided to grab a Lightning Lane for Soarin and took the Red Car Trolley to Buena Vista Street. I also decided to try hunting down Mulan and Mushu, come to find out the former of the two was meeting today. I also decided to do Toy Story Mania here as well. And with that I managed to do everything I needed to do in DCA with some exceptions (Incredicoaster, Silly Symphony Swings, etc). Plus I had the garlic parmesan noodles for a quick snack/lunch, all before hopping over to Disneyland Park.

I decided to snag a LL for Matterhorn before doing both Peter Pan’s Flight and Mr Toad’s Wild Ride. Fantasyland at this time of day, just like when my mom and I did this in March 2014 was jam packed with families. Peter Pan’s Flight is the OG of them and I’ll admit is a tad bit better than the WDW one. Then did the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage for the first time as well, and I’ll say it’s very different from The Seas with Nemo & Friends at Epcot.

I also had a LL for Space Mountain and then decided to grab one for Buzz Lightyear too, all before finishing off with Alice in Wonderland before walking back to DLH (mind you during my trip, the monorail was down midday likely due to construction). Mind your DLR’s It’s a Small World, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters are FAR SUPERIOR to their Florida counterparts. This allowed me sometime to rest up, gather up everything I needed for Sweethearts Nite, I had both a Rescuers pin and a Stitch pin that I brought from DCA earlier that day, plus I had packed my Chip n’ Dale plushies for that night too.

I then grabbed my polar fleece jacket, and high-tailed it for the monorail station in Downtown Disney District, and went into Tomorrowland to grab my event credentials, including my wristband and lanyard. I decided to grab dinner from the Golden Horseshoe, before heading towards the spot where Bernard and Bianca were slated to meet.

At this point, I also ended up seeing, and actually liking Wondrous Journeys from this vantage point. This night was going to mostly be a character hunt!

About an hour later...
Out came Bernard and Bianca, and I was the first one in line to meet them!!!! They’re really childhood favorites of mine growing up as a kid! Sorry I didn’t get the whole meet and greet on video though! Bernard was making the ‘popping’ noise quite a lot during this meet too (listen carefully, you’ll hear it), and this ended in me being kissed by BOTH Bianca and Bernard!

Next up was Chip, Dale, n’ Clarice!!!! Now I’ve met Chip n Dale on the east coast a number of times, but have never met Clarice! This was so cool!

I then proceeded to Main Street USA to watch the fireworks...


MAN what a SHOW!

I originally decided to do Stitch and Angel, and rather than waste my time waiting an HOUR in that line, I decided to grab a churro first. Not too bad, and I even saw the Royal Ball which was mobbed, and the face character version of Jafar.

I then decided “why don’t I meet Esmeralda and Phoebus?” Bear in mind, I haven’t seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame in YEARS! So I used trusty ol’ everycharacter.com for some interaction tips.

They sure were fun to meet of course!

Later I decided to endure the 1 hour line to meet Stitch and Angel and ended up on their last hour of meets! Totally worth it, plus Angel’s so CUTE.

I ended Sweethearts Nite by knocking down Storybook Land Canal Boats, but originally had my mind set on Matterhorn.

And with that, all sore and tired, I walked back to Disneyland Hotel, in earnest ready for a shower and bed.

My thoughts on Disneyland After Dark: Sweethearts Nite...
Was it worth it? YES!
Is it better than MNSSHP or MVMCP? Well for one thing you do have MORE RARE characters out, e.g. Bernard and Bianca, so probably.
Would I do Disneyland After Dark again??? That all depends!

 

[cgersic]

Love seeing the rare characters!! I can't wait to go to Disneyland!!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Day 4 - South to San Diego!
I decided to sleep in a bit this day, as I had no park plans. I also ordered room service for breakfast, not bad at all (this is something WDW can and should bring back to ALL their deluxe resorts!)

WHAT A NICE VIEW!

I also used the morning to pack, and check out, before grabbing my Uber to the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) - their Amtrak Station to catch my southbound train to Irvine, in turn my bus bridge to Oceanside, and the continuing train from Oceanside to San Diego.

This trip wasn’t too bad, the bus bridge was no big deal. The train was amazing, clean and on-time just like when I went northbound from San Diego to Anaheim. Grabbed me a hot dog on the Oceanside to San Diego leg in addition to the business class snack pack and drink.

I then noticed that Uber had discounted Uber Black fares in San Diego, so I took advantage of that from Santa Fe Depot to the Hampton Inn at San Diego Airport, checked in and got to my room to unpack and settle in.

The view from my room....

I decided on having dinner in the Gaslamp Quarter, definitely some TACOS! I found a great place called La Puerta on 4th Ave in Gaslamp. So with that, I called an Uber to the Washington Street Trolley Station, and switched over to the Green Line to Gaslamp Quarter, before having to endure a short walk to La Puerta. The Gaslamp Quarter mind you has LOTS of hotels and restaurants, even a few shops.

La Puerta was surprisingly very good, and turns out they’re one of the best Mexican Restaurants in San Diego, according to USA Today of course.

After dinner, I paid a visit, but didn’t buy anything from this store in Gaslamp Quarter before catching the Green Line to Santa Fe Depot, and in turn the 992 towards The Embarcadero to grab some hot chocolate and a pastry, and to see the waterfront area, which is so cool by the way!

I called an Uber back to my hotel, got showered and ready for bed.

Overall, I really wish I had a bit more time in San Diego (probably 3-days there, plus 4 at Disneyland if I ever do this trip again).

 

[IanDLBZF]

Day 5 - Return to the Sunshine State
I was up probably around 4:00 am-ish give or take, and got my teeth brushed and dressed, and also finished packing my suitcase. I was out of my room around 4:30am or so to catch the first airport shuttle of the day to San Diego Airport.

We made it soon enough, and I checked my bag in and went through security. Unlike MCO or LAX, TSA at SAN felt much quicker and easier.

Got me a yogurt parfait for breakfast and soon enough, I boarded my first flight of the day which was from San Diego to Dallas-Fort Worth. Very turbulent as FAs couldn’t begin in-flight service for the main cabin until sometime after. Things eventually smoothed and we arrived into DFW around 12:14pm, enough time for me to grab the SkyLink to the station closest to gate A17. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Grabbed myself some McDonald’s for lunch, and low and behold, my flight to MCO from DFW was delayed until 2:00pm because the aircraft was late coming from BNA (Nashville). Had a bunch of cheerleaders on this plane too, they were of no concern whatsoever. Arrived into MCO around 5:00pm, and went to baggage claim B and got my suitcase back as my dad was waiting curbside to pick me up. Him and I got dinner at LaVina on Narcoossee Road in Orlando before taking the 528 and 417 back home to Lake Mary! And that was the end of my first Disneyland Trip in 8 years, and my first ever visit to San Diego!

I'll have a full summary coming soon!

 

[littleroo]

Thanks for sharing! Those rare characters are so cool!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Overall?

Surprisingly, Disneyland was pretty good. Crowds were there, nothing too bad. CMs were nice and everything. Disneyland Hotel was lovely, and what surprised me is that mousekeeping came daily here, unlike the East Coast at the time. Sweethearts Nite was fun, despite the snag with the 1 hour long wait time for Stitch and Angel. Wondrous Journeys and World of Color One were amazing, but Hurry Home was enjoyable too! It was nice to meet Oswald and Ortensia as well. The only snag I had too was with Mobile Ordering, but I learned that you needed to be on Wi-Fi in order for it to work!

San Diego was beautiful, wish I had more time here (3 days here + 4 days Disneyland). Gaslamp Quarter was delightful, full of many restaurants. La Puerta was amazing! Probably the best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten. Their trolley/light rail system makes Baltimore’s system seem rather complex, and I find the 992 an easy catch. A PRONTO Card is a MUST HAVE for anyone going to San Diego!

As for Amtrak, the Pacific Surfliner is MUCH better than the Silver Star and Silver Meteor, heck even the Auto Train. I find Business Class to be worth every dollar here, and I was ON-TIME in both directions too! The bus bridge I found to be nothing special. The tracks were smoother here vs back in Florida on the CSX tracks.

I’ll definitely go back to Disneyland, perhaps in November (maybe 2024) for Viva Navidad!