Trip Report Loco goes west! A DLR trip 4 years in the making!

Now that the clothes are washed, the lawn mowed, and I’ve made my return to work(booooo!) it’s time for me to start another TR before I forget more details that I didn’t take note of!

Who: Myself and Mrs. Loco, A. I call her A because I’m too lazy to type her entire name.
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Where: Uhhhhh, Disneyland, with a few stops throughout Orange County.

When : September 14-19.

Why : Because we wanted to. It was also a celebration of both of our September birthdays.

Enough with the details though, you’re here to see pictures and to read my thoughts on Walt’s Disneyland right? Let’s get started!

Day one, travel day.

We originally had this trip planned for September of 2018. Unfortunately A’s father was nearing the end of his battle with cancer, and we decided we didn’t want to be out of town at that time. Our next trip to CA was planned for June of 2020, but we all know why we didn’t get to go on that trip. Needless to say, we were nervous some large life-altering event would happen before we were able to go on our trip. Thankfully this didn’t happen. Third time really is the charm I guess!
Sweating Flowers In The Dirt GIF by Paul McCartney


Our flight out of Dallas was at 10:30 am. We live a few hours from love field. I decided to stay at a hotel not far from the airport the night before, rather than getting up early and trying to fight through morning rush hour traffic to get to the airport. This turned out to be a wise idea. Even from our hotel it took 45 minutes with traffic to get to our parking spot!

Travel day selfie!
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Thankfully things weren’t nearly as hectic inside the airport and we made it through security and to our gate with plenty of time for some Whataburger breakfast!

Our steed for the trip out.
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Southwest sent us a dozen drink coupons about a month before our trip. It was a fun flight!
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Living Music Video GIF by Dierks Bentley


The flight itself was smooth and in three hours we were in sunny Southern California. Long Beach to be exact! This was a great little airport! Much closer to Anaheim than LAX, and much more affordable than John Wayne!
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Baggage claim was located outside(literally) the terminal. Our flight’s bags began unloading almost immediately, which is a nice change from Orlando or love field!
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The Uber pickup area is steps away from baggage claim, and soon we were on our way to Anaheim. This day was added on after our initial booking, so I ended up having a different hotel called the Cortona Inn and Suites. Unfortunately they were having some sort of plumbing issue and weren’t able to get us our room. Instead they comped us a night at the much nicer Hyatt next door!
Fuck Yeah Yes GIF


Up next : a super early dinner, and a short walk around downtown.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day three continued

Sandwiched between seeing Buzz and Jessie was a ride on the swinging gondolas of doom.
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The next attraction felt very familiar.
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Caught A waving!
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After our Splash Mountain experience the night before, Grizzly River was a hard pass from both of us.
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We had a much dryer destination in mind.
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Animation Academy. One of A’s favorite things. I also participated.
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Tuvalu

Premium Member
1. Swinging gondolas of doom death
We only ride in a stationary cabin. However, one time Em and I were joined by a man who pushed his way into what we expected to be our private space. It was more than awkward to say the least and had we known in advance, just might have chosen a swinging gondola of death instead.

2. Nice to see that A waved!

3. Good call on skipping Grizzly River Run
That was a one and done for us! Thankfully we were staying at the Grand Californian and immediately ran (not kidding, it was cool weather) to its private entrance and then to our room for WARM, DRY, CLOTHING!!
 
I hope to someday stay at the Grand Californian just so I can ride Grizzly River as much as I want then quickly go get changed. I always skip it because I am that one person that can’t get off a water ride (anywhere) without getting soaked.
 
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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Swinging gondolas of doom death
Death?!
Thats Tough GIF by ION

I hope to someday stay at the Grand Californian just so I can ride Grizzly River as much as I want then quickly go get changed. I always skip it because I am that one person that can’t get off a water ride (anywhere) without getting soaked.
You are not alone my friend. I was able to snag a DVC room at Grand Californian once but had to cancel the trip. ☹️
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day three continued.

We drew Sally in our class. Here is the instructor’s version.
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Here’s A’s. Pretty close!
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Mine. Not so much.
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Back into cars land for more fun. We visited Mater’s petting zoo.
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Then took a spin!
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We finally were able to get these PP photos. The line had been really long each time we’d walked by this spot before. I guess this guy was trained by Callan though. It’s a lovely picture of the shade umbrella.
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This one’s a little better.
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Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Theme Park Comandos at it's finest. Stay/Eat off prop. Comfy clothing, sensible footware. RD, hit, what? 78 attractions in 2 days.

Boom! Disneyland? Been there, done that.

Respect.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day three continued.

We started toward the front of the park to check out some of the shops. There was a PPP just setting up near this waterfall.
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Oh my, a bear!
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The fountain near the front of the park was surprisingly peaceful this time of day.
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Doing some scouting for @Darstarr who requested we keep an eye out for these mugs. My one mistake was not purchasing this immediately. I really didn’t want to carry a breakable mug around the parks all night. I would return later to find the entire shelf empty. My apologies my friend.
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I grabbed us some waters from Starbucks while A stalked a mouse.
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He stopped for pictures with us!
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Mickey’s main lady would do the same.
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Another photopass photographer with nothing to do was nearby at the headless horseman statue.
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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day three continued.

We started our way back to Hollywood.
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Ewwww PDA!
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Another old favorite was up next. The small screen doesn’t do the show any favors here. They should bring back the Muppets(I’m always pro-Muppets)!
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Next it was time for some monsters after dark!
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The drop sequence was pretty bonkers. They really cranked it up to 11!
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I don’t know if I liked it more than the normal version, but it was a fun change!

The section at the back of Hollywood land felt like the old streets of America section at DHS.
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The photographer made the mistake of asking for some sass.
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Sassy GIF by reactionseditor


We left DCA and had “dinner” in Downtown Disney. This totally counts as dinner, right?
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Notice we have not had our usual midday break? That’s going to turn into a problem later. On to Disneyland we went. It was so nice to see an actual train at the train station(it’s been nearly four years since the WDW railroad last ran)!
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Time for more pictures. “Look creepy” they said. Not a problem for me. A failed the assignment though.
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I like this one.
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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day three continued .

Next up was a wild ride in Frontierland. This is as close to a photo as I’ve got.
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Back to the hub for more pictures.
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Then through the castle to fantasyland.
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Riding the caboose.
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We would not get to ride the Matterhorn this trip. It was closed for refurbishment.
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Time for another LL.
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Hi!
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There was a CM here that showed me the “trick” to these statues. I already knew it, but it was kind of him to share a little look at how the magic is made!
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So is it a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?
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Also what does this little thing do? Why are there Piranha Plants from super Mario?
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