Unlimited Fastpasses, Two Disney Hotels, and a Chef’s Table – It’s all Good Until Somebody Barfs

I just got back from the Happiest Place on Earth! And oh how I love it there. Disneyland is my home away from home. We spent so much time there when we lived in California and I have so many wonderful memories of it. I don’t get there near as often as I like anymore. So when some training was offered for travel agents, I knew I was there!

Who – Me of course! And Pam, Missy and Dani were coming for training too! There was a whole gaggle of Kingdom Konsultants! Well, is four a gaggle? Maybe not, but it was still fun! Here we all are from left to right Tammy, Missy, Pam and Dani:

When – August 22nd -August 27th

Where – 4 nights at the Grand Californian and one at the Disneyland Hotel

What – Some agent training and some fun!

Catch phrase of the trip – “It’s all good until somebody barfs.” Don’t worry, nobody actually barfed. More on that later…

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Disneyfalcon,
Not only are your photos amazing, but it is interesting to me to hear your perspective as a travel agent. When I was a child, my mom was an agent (long before the internet). It was a time when hotels and airlines treated travel agents like royalty with many upgrades, free stays, and discounts. Needless to say, my family traveled quite a bit and I can remember my mom taking her business card and some other paper work with her to guest relations at the front of the parks, and Disney would give her complimentary admission to the park along with awesome discounts on admission for family members. (It could have been sweeter or not as, but at the age of ten or so, I didn't pay much attention.) Anyway, I can remember staying at Paradise Pier before it was owned by Disney. It was once called the Pan Pacific, and either before or after that it was called the Emerald of Anaheim. We would go to Anaheim much more often then Orlando because back in the day Western Airlines would always let her and/or us fly free standby. We'd fly from MSP and change planes at SLC with our destination being John Wayne.

Not sure why I am writing all of this. Ha. I guess maybe in an age of all of us trying to save a couple of bucks by booking on Hotwire, Orbitz, etc, having someone who is passionate about Disney who is willing to help plan cruises and vacations is wonderful. Someday when my family decides to finally take a Disney cruise, we'll give you a call.

Sorry for the derail....on with the report.

Derail away! I am very interested in what used to be like for travel agents. Things have definitely changed in a lot of ways. I have a lot of opinions about that, but I should probably keep my mouth shut.

The Pan Pacific! Someone was just telling me the other day about staying there when it was called that!

It's easy to book your own trips these days, so I think that's got to be what sets us apart. We love Disney and we know it inside and out. It's fun to plan trips for other people! We can live vicariously through them when we're between trips!

EEeeeekkk! So much fun! I love love love all the pics!

Paradise Pier looks so cool to me! I love the beach ball pillows and, in the suite, the flip-flop fabric on the pillows and throw. Then, of course, the Disneyland Hotel rooms totally make my heart skip a beat. I want to stay THERE! Well, I want to stay in all the DL hotels but I've got to get there first.

Um, yeah, definitely all fun 'til somebody barfs when you're in a submarine... I concur!

Can't wait to see more!

Thank you, Kelly! Dh just said last night he likes the beach ball pillows!

You do need to stay there at some point.

That guy got the understatement of the year award.

Love all the pics of the rooms - even have Aulani! and that view of DCA is awesome!

Thanks, Fractal! We stayed in one of the rooms with a DCA view at Paradise Pier on another trip and it was amazing.

 

[JCAEdge21]

I did take some after we got off. Here’s the line behind us:

Dani in Cars Land:

Wow.. Call me, maybe?

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Wow.. Call me, maybe?

I'm not touching that one.

 

[ShookieJones]

Tammy - Keep it coming you're doing a great job.
I showed my wife some of these pics and the idea of visiting DL\DCA next year is getting closer.
She scowled quite a bit less when I said..."So we should definitley go huh?"

 

[DawnBerg]

Love, Love, Loving the updates!!! Keeping my Disney-itis in check by reading your TR. 10 days til we leave for the World and chomping at the bit (maybe chomped THRU it by now lol) Keep the updates coming!!! The pics are amazing!!!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Tammy - Keep it coming you're doing a great job.
I showed my wife some of these pics and the idea of visiting DL\DCA next year is getting closer.
She scowled quite a bit less when I said..."So we should definitley go huh?"

Yay! I'm glad I could help convince her. Or get her to scowl less at the idea!

Love, Love, Loving the updates!!! Keeping my Disney-itis in check by reading your TR. 10 days til we leave for the World and chomping at the bit (maybe chomped THRU it by now lol) Keep the updates coming!!! The pics are amazing!!!

Thanks, Dawnberg! 10 days will go quick!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Friday August 24 – Full Day of Training then Chef’s Table at Napa Rose

This morning training was starting crazy early! They wanted us to meet for breakfast at 6:30 so everyone could take advantage of Extra Magic Hours at Cars Land which began at 7. Of course that wasn’t a problem for us West Coasters who were awake about 5:10. I caught up on emails and we were off to breakfast.

I had heard that the Disney California Adventure entrance was not the way to go for Extra Magic Hours, just because there are so many people there and not very many entrances. I asked Tommy’s opinion and he said he preferred the Grand California entrance so we decided to try it.
When we turned the corner and saw the ginormous line I thought we’d made a huge mistake. But what do you know, they were prepared and once 7 hit, that line moved fast! We were in the park a few minutes after 7.

Soarin over California - in California! As it was meant to be seen.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

The skies were overcast most mornings. I decided Carthay Circle is beautiful when the skies are sunny and blue (which is more the norm), but when they’re overcast? It’s not as pretty! It kind of blends right in!

We passed a bug's land.

I was snapping pictures as we walked and tried to keep up with the other konsultants. I love this little tractor!

Photo op!

Another version of the pic on page 1:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We went right to Cars Land and the single rider line for Radiator Springs Racers where the standby line was already up to 30 minutes. We literally walked right on to the ride from the single rider’s line.

Here’s a rare sight! An empty queue:

I took some pictures on the ride this time!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Missy and I ended up in the car next to Pam and Dani. When we pulled up next to them right before the racing segment started, I started yelling at them, “You’re going down!!” a few times including hand motions.

I realized my error when the man sitting between us thought I was yelling at him in an overly aggressive weird kind of way.

Ah. C’est la Vie right? OR - It’s all good until somebody barfs.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We knew we wanted to ride Luigis and Maters before the lines got long so we did those next.

Here’s what Luigi’s queue looks like:

Here’s what Kingdom Konsultants look like in Luigi’s queue:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

On Luigi’s your tire hovers above the ground while you float around bumping into other tires. I thought it was really fun. Missy’s ready!

Dani and Missy floating:

Dani:

Pam right after I surprised her:

Next we were off to Maters with some scenery along the way!

Hey! It’s Mater himself!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Dani took pictures of Pam and I as we rode. Here I go!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

After that, we wandered around a little bit.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We were debating riding Radiator Springs one more time when we realized it was like 7:59. We looked down the street and what did we see? Mater leading a ginormous crowd down the street!

It’s hard to see in the picture, but look for Mater, then a couple of CM’s and then a massive crowd:

We knew this was our best chance, so we stayed ahead of them and went back to the ride. The standby was only 20 minutes so we decided to ride together.

The crowd was led in behind us in a very organized fashion and the line instantly jumped to 60 minutes behind us. See - no line:

Line!!

We were on after about a 10 minute wait:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Some of the inside scenes, which are amazing:

Then out again!

The end:

Look at these happy faces!

All that in only one hour in the park!

 

[fractal]

Great pictures! I can't believe how empty Carsland is - more incentive to stay at a Disney hotel.

That's the thing with mornings on the California Coast - the marine layer that doesn't burn off until later. But that's really the only complaint I have about the weather there!

 

[Californian Elitist]

Great update!!! Cars Land is spectacular and the greatest gift ever given to DCA!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Wow the details in Cars Land is amazing! I love all the rockwork on RSR. You would never guess you're right smack in the middle of a theme park with how great they did on that.

The hotels are so pretty. I really like the Disneyland Hotel