"I thought the last visit was a once in a lifetime trip??" COMPLETED 5/6/13

[CrAzY4DL]

Great tr so far. I'm super excited to see WoC for the first time next week, woot!

 

[rentayenta]

Joining in.

 

[Linda67]

Great tr so far. I'm super excited to see WoC for the first time next week, woot!

Thanks for reading - WoC is just amazing. I was blown away the first time I saw it and loved it even more second time around
Have fun

Joining in.

Thanks for stopping by and reading along

 

[tayalltheway]

Just found your report and got caught up! Loving hearing about DLR from a tourist perspective again as you can do all the things (like eat at the delicious sit-down restaurants) that we haven't been really able to do since getting here. Sounds like a great trip so far!

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Linda! So sorry for not paying attention at all and not joining until now!

All the food and fun has me sucked in!

Ohhhhhh a Dismeet - can't wait to see that!!!

 

[Stew_Mouse]

Linda, thrilled to read your trip report! I'm headed to DL for the first time in about 20 years and your perspective and experience on how you fell in live with it has me excited. Looking forward to reading the rest!

 

[LizzieinDisney]

Loving your TR. RSR looks awesome, sadly I haven't made it over to DCA since they built it. Isn't WOC amazing? I love that show, second only to Fantasmic. Looking forward to the rest of your TR!

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Linda!

We are back and I am all caught up here. WoC looks amazing. (..and so does your food. )
Can't wait to read more!

 

[Linda67]

Sorry for neglecting this TR for a few days, work has been crazy busy but I will do my best to crack on and get this finished

Saturday April 13th

Today was an early entry day for hotel guests at Disneyland Park so after coffee in the room, I headed off through DTD to bag check

Again not too many people in line as bag check was yet to open, probably only two families’ were waiting

Once through bag check it was still nearly 30 minutes to park opening but they started letting people in around 10 minutes early and then held everyone at the rope in front of the castle.

Once the park had officially opened I headed straight to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan, quickly followed by Mr Toad (love this ride!) next up was Alice and I seem to remember that the Matterhorn was out of action this morning so I headed over to Tommorowland

Next up was Star Tours which I really enjoyed. We always ride this in WDW but I didn’t ride on my last trip to CA.

After Star Tours I headed to Space Mountain which was sadly closed, and remained so for my whole trip

I think it’s still closed even now??

There was still a little time before official park opening so I rode Buzz before heading back out onto Main St where I grabbed a coffee.

Pretty much as soon as I had started to enjoy my drink, I remembered that I hadn’t had breakfast yet.

I was right next to Fantasy Faire and had remembered reading about Maurice’s’ Treats so I headed there to pick up a snack

This was yummy, and a perfect breakfast treat. It was warm and fresh with just the right amount of strawberry filling

Now that the park was fully open I walked over to ride the Haunted Mansion and Pirates

The park was certainly quiet first thing and it was lovely to just explore for a while

Right, slight shopping diversion if you'll allow me

As many of you are probably aware there is often a coupon printed at the bottom of counter service receipts for a 20% discount off merchandise at certain locations, and only in the morning.

I’d had my eye on a Dooney & Bourke bag before I had left for this trip and 20% off was certainly a decent saving, plus my wonderful TA at Dreams Unlimited had sent me a lovely surprise email not long before I left the UK, telling me that she had managed to apply a new Spring discount offer to my booking so the two things combined actually covered the whole purchase (Disney maths I know! )

Long story short, I popped into the Disney Clothiers on Main Street and treated myself to this

Happy with my purchase, I headed back to the Disneyland Hotel to drop everything off and freshen up for my DIS meet

I’d first come into contact with the lovely Brenda (emmysmommy) over on the dinning boards and when I was planning my CA October trip we decided to try and hook up for a spot of lunch as she lives super close to the parks (lucky thing!)

Well we had a wonderful time and I really enjoyed her company so when I knew that I would be visiting again, I dropped her a PM and we arranged to meet

It actually turned out that it was Brenda’s birthday on the 13th so that made it extra special and I was so pleased that she took the time to spend part of her very special day with little ‘ol me

What was also super exciting was that Brenda’s beautiful daughter Emmy would be joining us

We had arranged to meet at the Fire House at 12 and after hugs were exchanged, Brenda’s friend Don who was also visiting the parks that day took our photo

Photo courtesy of Brenda (emmysmommy)

Brenda has already done a fab little write up about our meet within her current WDW TR so I’ll put a link to that here in case you are interested – and you should be because the rest of her WDW trip report is awesome!

http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=48106871&postcount=306

It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with these wonderful people. I’m so grateful they took the time to meet with me

We had a lovely lunch at Zocalo Del Ranchero, exchanged gifts and rode Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Star Tours (thanks Don for being our FP runner!) plus Snow White as well as exploring Tarzan’s Tree House and Toontown.

It was such a lovely afternoon and I can’t wait to catch up with them again in WDW this December

All too soon it was time so say goodbye (for now) so we headed out of the park and parted ways in DTD

Back at the hotel, I rested for a while, took a shower and munched on the delicious Mickey Cookie that Brenda treated me to from the Jolly Holiday Bakery


Note: I ate it without taking a photo EEK so I literally went back to the bakery to get a snap especially for my TR or Brenda would never forgive me

My plans for this evening were to head back to the park to hop on rides with short lines or single rider and to (hopefully to see the fireworks)

Before I left DLH I decided to get a bite to eat at Trader Sam’s (nothing to do with the drinks of course )

Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum*- Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you! If you have one of these starting right away you may be ordering two!
-- Reserve Rum, Cream of Coconut, and Pineapple and Orange Juices dusted with Cinnamon and Nutmeg

Oh my word this was good. I had always avoided ordering it in the past as I thought it might be a little too rich with the cream of coconut but it was actually a really refreshing drink

I also ordered some of the Ahi Tuna Poke from the bar menu and it was absolutely delicious

Once I had eaten I stopped in DTD to watch some of the Swing Dancing; I had stumbled across this by accident in December and loved it, so I made a point to spend some time enjoying the music and looking on in awe at how good some of these guys are!

I rode the monorail to get back to the park and managed to get a ride upfront! – such fun

Back in the park I checked to see if Space was up and running (you know the answer to that ) but the Matterhorn was back so I used SR again and just walked on

Next I rode the Teacups. I never ride these at WDW but they just looked so pretty all lit up at night so I couldn’t resist.

The Matterhorn was back up and running so I squeezed in another ride before I headed back to the hub. It was only about 15 minutes before the fireworks were due to start and actually got a pretty decent spot

Sadly they were cancelled, as they were in October due to the wind conditions

I did get to see the special Halloween fireworks last year but I really wanted to see the regular show

Tomorrow was my last chance to see them so I had everything crossed that they would take place as I had heard so many great things about them

Most people seemed to leave the park once they knew that the fireworks were cancelled so I headed round to Indiana Jones to squeeze in one last ride. The wait was posted as 50 minutes and the CM at the entrance said that the SR passes hadn’t been sent back up from the boarding area so he handed me a FP instead

I even managed to fit in a visit to the Tiki Room and a dole whip before it was kicking out time

After exciting the park, I indulged in a little more shopping in DTD where the Swing Dancers were still strutting their stuff

It had been a really lovely day and I collapsed into bed at the hotel and fell quickly asleep - after playing ‘a dream is a wish your heart makes’ on the headboard about 20 times!

Next Up – Cultivating The Magic Tour & Fantasmic!

 

[Linda67]

Just found your report and got caught up! Loving hearing about DLR from a tourist perspective again as you can do all the things (like eat at the delicious sit-down restaurants) that we haven't been really able to do since getting here. Sounds like a great trip so far!

Thanks for reading along. It must be so different to live close to the park and be able to visit whenever you want (work permitting!) .... I would love to be able to do that

Hi Linda! So sorry for not paying attention at all and not joining until now!

All the food and fun has me sucked in!

Ohhhhhh a Dismeet - can't wait to see that!!!

Brenda !!! - hello there
It's been a lovely sunny day and Monday is a public holiday so I hope to get this TR finished so that I can catch up with yours!
You did such a great job of documenting our little meet I have added a link to your TR .... hope that's OK?
Say 'hi' to Em for me

Linda, thrilled to read your trip report! I'm headed to DL for the first time in about 20 years and your perspective and experience on how you fell in live with it has me excited. Looking forward to reading the rest!

Thanks for reading along. As I said in the intro, I really thought I would go to Disneyland once and that would be that, but it's such a special place that I couldn't wait to visit again ..... I hope you have a wonderful trip

Loving your TR. RSR looks awesome, sadly I haven't made it over to DCA since they built it. Isn't WOC amazing? I love that show, second only to Fantasmic. Looking forward to the rest of your TR!

WoC is just breathtaking and Fantasmic is incredible as well. Two fab nightime shows

Hi Linda!

We are back and I am all caught up here. WoC looks amazing. (..and so does your food. )
Can't wait to read more!

Welcome home Karin
I really need to catch up on everyone's TRs
Will you be giving us a DLRP update?

 

[Linda67]

Hey everyone, hope you are all having lovely weekends

Right, my last full day in Disneyland went something like this .....

There was early entry at DCA this morning but I decided to skip it and instead have a slightly more relaxing morning with breakfast at the Carnation Cafe

Id made a reservation for 7:30am, the park wasnt officially opening until 8:00am but AP holders had entry from 7:00am so I wasnt entirely sure how this would work out

When I arrived at the turnstile I told the CM I had a breakfast reservation and he simply scanned my ticket and then handed me a Breakfast With Minnie & Friends button

I was still a little early for my reservation so I took the opportunity to take some photos of a pretty much empty Main Street before heading to check in to the restaurant which was literally just about to open its doors

One other gentleman was checking in and we struck up a conversation. Turns out this was his regular Sunday morning routine. He would pick up a newspaper, take a table on the patio and enjoy his breakfast

What a wonderful way to start your day, I think I need to move to California

I followed his example and asked to be seated outside so that I could people watch

My server was wonderful and really looked after me and breakfast was delicious

I ordered a latte and the yoghurt parfait

What an absolute treat to sit in the beautiful location watching the stream of excited new guests arriving on Main St.

Its moments like these that really make the trip for me. I was just so contented sitting there and treasured every moment of it.... I am a lucky lady

After my lovely breakfast I shopped for a little while before checking in for my 9:00am Cultivating The Magic Tour

On my last trip I did the Walt In Walts Footsteps Tour which was really enjoyable.

When on trips to WDW with DH, weve done a couple of the tours and Ive also done a couple of the Disneyland Paris Tours. As you can probably tell, I love the tours!

Seriously, Ive just always found them to be a great way to add a little extra to your trip and when you are traveling solo they are also a good way of getting away from your own company for a while - I was boring myself

Our tour guide was Nicole and she was excellent. The CMs really do a fantastic job on these tours and she was a delight

I think the max number on this particular tour is 15, and it turned out it was just me and one large group of ladies who were all AP holders who met regularly at the parks. Well as soon as they spotted me standing alone they decided to adopt me for the day!

Seriously they were such a lovely group of people and made the tour even more enjoyable. It was a lot of fun chatting with them

The idea behind the tour is to show you how the plants and landscaping of the park all help to tell the story and add to the theme and the environment

You really dont have to have any particular interest or knowledge of plants to enjoy this tour; its just another way of getting great examples of how every little detail has been considered when creating the spaces that the guest sees.

Although this is mainly a walking tour, you do get to experience three rides and first up was Jungle Cruise

Nicole led us to the exit and spoke to the CM who ensured that our group would get the next empty boat.

Nicole took to the microphone, so instead of the usual spiel, she spoke to us about the planting and Walts vision for this ride and the challenges that the imagineers faced in recreating his vision

We continued our journey through the park whist stopping to take in the many beautifully landscaped areas

This is the official Disney Rose, isnt it pretty?

Next up we headed to the Haunted Mansion where Nicole explained that rather than having dead plants surrounding the Mansion (that would never do) a very dark and black color pallet was used

She also took us through a little gate at the side of the Mansion to show us another pet cemetery that I didnt know was there

We then walked onto the ride itself and as I was solo, Nicole jumped into a Doom Buggy with me. Now this turned out to be awesome as she seemed to be a bit of a HM expert and pointed out a ton of stuff I had never noticed and told me some great stories

The only other attraction we rode during the tour was the Storybook Canal Boats. They have this in Paris but its always closed when I visit off season

These guys had taken over the Cinderella Castle area

The tour ended at the hub where we were met by another CM who was carrying a sweet little basket containing a gift of a tour pin and a packet of seeds ..... they were Forget Me Knots

All in all this was a great and relatively inexpensive tour (discounts for APs and DVD members) and I would highly recommend it

I said my goodbyes and thanked the ladies for making me so very welcome before heading off to the Market Place Cafe for a coffee and this super cute cookie

Im pretty sure that this was the last day that the cafe was open before it was closing for its Starbucks makeover, it was certainly closed when I came back the following day

I hung on to my receipt and took full advantage of my free refills for the rest of the day

I sat at a little table outside and right on que, the Dapper Dans came out to perform

What a perfect morning

Coming Up Next ..... All aboard the Lilly Belle

 

[dizneeat]

Sounds like the perfect morning, Linda.

I took a few notes of your breakfast and tour. Something to keep in mind for our 2015 visit.
I just LOVE the cookie you had. Was it as yummy as it looked?

The tour looks like a lot of fun. We always do some tours too, but this was a new one for me.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[emmysmommy]

Awwww Linda! It was such an awesome day to spend time with you! I certainly don't mind the link!

Your Disney math makes perfect sense and that bag is fabulous. I would love to see it make a return engagement to California!

They voluntarily closed Space Mtn due to an occupational violation issue that has since been resolved. That was bad luck that it just happened to be the time that you were here.

Glad you enjoyed the cookie. But your breakfast at Carnation Cafe on the patio sounds lovely. Now that they remodeled the bakery into an extension of the cafe, it just doesn't feel the same to eat inside. It is great to eat on the patio when the parade is going by!

Your charm is infectious, those ladies with the tour were sucked into your charm vortex!! The tour sounds interesting indeed! Love the button with your name on it.

I'm anxiously awaiting December.

Have a lovely long weekend!

 

[Luisa]

That tour sounds fascinating, I'd never considered it before but I may look into it now! If anyone is interested the Disneyland rose is called L'il Romeo (or it is in Australia).

 

[LizzieinDisney]

That tour sounds way cool. I love all the different options Disney has for exploring the parks!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

What a great morning! Love the idea of that tour. The HM is my favorite so I would have loved hearing the extra stories!

And I love the man that spends his Sunday mornings at the Cafe! What a great way to start the day for sure!

 

[WDWaddictt]

I am joining along... I would love to get all the tips I can if I ever make it to Disneyland.

Thanks!!

 

[Linda67]

Sunday 14th Part Two

During the tour, I mentioned to one of ladies that I was looking forward to riding the full circuit of the Disneyland Railway after lunch and she mentioned the Lilly Belle Passenger Car and asked if I had ever ridden in it?

I hadn’t, and I seem to remember that Brenda (emmysmommy) had mentioned it to me as well when we met last October

So after my little coffee and snack break, I headed up to Main Street Station and asked one of the CMs if the carriage was in use today and if they had room for one more (where have I heard that before )

Well it was and they did !!

I was asked to be back at the station for 1:15pm at the latest and that I would be riding on the 1:30pm departure

This just gave me time to find a quiet spot to call DH and tell him all about me day so far

Back at the station, my name was crossed off the list and I was handed my special ticket

I think there was probably around 10 of us in the group and once on board, a kind gentleman offered to take my picture

Can you tell I am happy

You stay in the carriage for a full circuit of the track, whilst a CM tells you all about the history of the carriage as well as pointing out other details about the railway along the route

It felt very special to be sitting in this beautiful passenger car and it really reminded me of the visit to Walt’s apartment on the Walk In Walt’s Footsteps Tour last year

The colors are very similar, in fact the carpet is a replica of the one in the apartment

After we arrived back at Main Street Station, I explored and took a few photos before deciding I really needed to grab some lunch

I jumped into the horse drawn carriage for the short journey up Main Street

Isn’t it cool that the horses have CM name badges?

Thanks Danny!

I headed over to Hungry Bear, mainly because I really liked the look of the seating area and indeed it was a lovely place to sit and look out at the water

I chose the vegetarian version of Big Al’s Salad

Big Al's Salad - romaine and iceberg lettuce with watermelon, candied pecans, dried cherries, pickled red onions, and honey-lime vinaigrette.

I believe that this is usually served with smoked chicken but can also be served as a vegetarian dish at a lower cost

It was a great little salad, not overly filling and very fresh

Whilst I was enjoying my lunch, I spotted the canoes floating by.

I don’t think that these were running on my last trip and I thought it looked like a lot of fun, so after I had finished eating, I headed down to take a closer look

OK, so how cool is this!!! .... proper canoes with proper people power!!!

The CMs that work the canoes are hysterical and we had an awesome canoe full of people who were all laughing a enjoying themselves

It’s actually really hard work!

About half way round I realized I need to work on my arms more at the gym

After our safe arrival back on dry land, I headed over to visit the goats - a must to for me

Oddly, visiting the Goats made me really miss my dog

Then I headed to the Fantasy Faire area of the park as I hadn’t really looked around yet

Obviously the area is totally geared up to meeting the princesses which I wasn’t looking to do (I’ve learned from bitter experience that I never look good in photos when standing next to a stunning and regal Princess ) but it was still nice to look around at all the details

I also stayed to watch the next show at the Royal Theatre, which was the telling of the story of Beauty & The Beast

I think that the alternate between this show and Tangled

Anyone reading from the UK will know all about British Pantomimes; usually these run over the holidays and tell traditional stories and fairytales in a very tongue in cheek style with lots of booing the bad guys and sing-a-long songs.

The shows at the Royal Theatre are very similar to our pantomimes and I really enjoyed it. The kids were loving it and the actors and characters really did a great job

Right time for a first time sweet treat before leaving the park

I’d never eaten a beignet in my life and in fact I wasn’t entirely sure what they were!

But hey, they were Mickey shaped so they had to be good right?

Oh my word - delicious and messy goodness!

I was really careful when I was eating them but it still looked like there had been an explosion in a powered sugar factory by the time I had finished (whatever you do don’t sneeze)

High on sugar, I headed back to tomorrowland and hopped onto the monorail back to the hotel - I could not be trusted walking through DTD with a credit card after that much sugar

Coming Up Next - Yet another visit to Trader Sam’s & Fantasmic!

 

[Linda67]

Sounds like the perfect morning, Linda.

I took a few notes of your breakfast and tour. Something to keep in mind for our 2015 visit.
I just LOVE the cookie you had. Was it as yummy as it looked?

The tour looks like a lot of fun. We always do some tours too, but this was a new one for me.
Thanks for sharing!

Hey Karin
Ooh are you heading to DL in 2015 then? - tell me more!
The cookie was delicious by the way. I often find that this sort of treat is a little disappointing but buy them because they are cute - not the case here, it was a really fresh and tasty shortbread

Awwww Linda! It was such an awesome day to spend time with you! I certainly don't mind the link!

Your Disney math makes perfect sense and that bag is fabulous. I would love to see it make a return engagement to California!

They voluntarily closed Space Mtn due to an occupational violation issue that has since been resolved. That was bad luck that it just happened to be the time that you were here.

Glad you enjoyed the cookie. But your breakfast at Carnation Cafe on the patio sounds lovely. Now that they remodeled the bakery into an extension of the cafe, it just doesn't feel the same to eat inside. It is great to eat on the patio when the parade is going by!

Your charm is infectious, those ladies with the tour were sucked into your charm vortex!! The tour sounds interesting indeed! Love the button with your name on it.

I'm anxiously awaiting December.

Have a lovely long weekend!

Aww, Brenda you are too kind
I just loved having my breakfast at the Carnation Cafe, in fact stay tuned as there may be a re-visit

That tour sounds fascinating, I'd never considered it before but I may look into it now! If anyone is interested the Disneyland rose is called L'il Romeo (or it is in Australia).

The tour was great, I really enjoyed it
Thanks for the info on the rose, I thought they were so pretty

That tour sounds way cool. I love all the different options Disney has for exploring the parks!

You really do see the parks in a different light when you take a tour and the CMs I have had as tour guides are so passionate about what they do, it really makes it special

What a great morning! Love the idea of that tour. The HM is my favorite so I would have loved hearing the extra stories!

And I love the man that spends his Sunday mornings at the Cafe! What a great way to start the day for sure!

I know right?
I spent my Sunday morning walking the dog and grabbing a coffee at Starbucks!

I am joining along... I would love to get all the tips I can if I ever make it to Disneyland.

Thanks!!

Thanks for reading - I hope you get to visit one day; it really is a very special place

 

[Velvetia]

Really enjoying your trip report - thanks so much for sharing. The Lily Belle looks wonderful! And I am definitely going to try a Mickey beignet on our next trip to Disneyland. I'm guessing it's like a doughnut?

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip...