San Francisco to San Diego
(and a lot of places in between)
Cast- Me (Cathy or also known as Mom) 39 obsessive trip planner.
DH- Brian 41. The relaxed optimist in the family.
DS- Brian Jr. 17 also called BJ. Takes after his dad.
Im going to split this trip report into 3 parts so those of you who are only interested in reading the Disneyland portion please skip directly to Part 3. This trip was our gift to our son for his upcoming high school graduation. We are WDW fanatics having been there for 11 vacations but this was our first trip to Disneyland. We decided to see as much as we could from San Francisco to San Diego since we were taking the long plane trip out. Im going to write about all of it to put it in our familys memory book and I thought maybe some folks here might include some of these places on their upcoming trips and be interested in what we did.
Day Six- Tuesday February 22nd
We woke up to some sun for once woohoo! We called to have our continental breakfast delivered at 7:30 and it arrived a few minutes later. What a great breakfast, 3 bowls of fresh fruit, 3 glasses of OJ, cinnamon rolls, mini muffins, and croissants. I still cant get over that this place was only $129 a night and included such a great breakfast. On top of that parking is free which was nice after paying $30 a night in San Francisco and $16 in LA. We left a bit before 9:00 am and headed over to the zoo. We could have walked it was so close but we took the car because we were going to leave immediately afterwards. We bought the zoo best value tickets which included the bus tour and use of the express buses all day. We took the bus tour first so that we could get an overview of the zoo. Then we took the express bus back to the polar bear exhibit which is at the back of the zoo at the top of a very high hill. We walked our way back through the exhibits. The pandas were beautiful. The eagles that were pressing their heads against their top netting and looking at the sky with their wings open made me want to cry. Weve been to Animal Kingdom at WDW so many times that the zoo with its small animal areas made me really sad. Still, its a beautiful place and they had many species that we had never even heard of before. We left around 12:30 pm and took 5N back to Anaheim. The rain had started up again while we were driving. We arrived at 2:00 pm and were able to check in to the Grand Californian at Disneyland. The hotel is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of the Wilderness Lodge at WDW where weve stayed before. We had an early dinner at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. There was a 20% off coupon that came with my package which we took advantage of. We love the HOB in Orlando and the food at this one was just as good. It was a great dinner for only $40 plus tip. Our package also included some ESPN zone cards so we went and picked up those and the guys stayed there and I headed back to the hotel to do some laundry. I had planned on this since we were taking such a long vacation. However I didnt plan on how many people would be in the laundry room trying to dry wet sneakers and jackets from all the rain. It was crazy but I met a lot of nice people and we chatted while we waited. Brian came to see how I was doing just in time to help me carry everything back to the room and put it all away. Housekeeping stopped by to see if wed like turn down service, very nice! We decided instead of just sitting in the room to go back to Downtown Disney and see a movie. We saw Hitch which we all really enjoyed and the movie theater wasnt crowded at all. They had nice rocker seats with stadium seating.
Day Seven- Wednesday February 23rd
We woke up around 7:30 am and headed to DD to grab some breakfast. We decided on Ralph Brennans Jazz Kitchen Express and boy were we glad we did. We ended up having breakfast here every morning. The beignets were to die for. The official opening time of California Adventure was 10:00 am but they let us through the hotel entrance at 9:30 am. This brings you in between Grizzly Creek and Soarin. They told us that Soarin would open early so we went there first. What an incredible ride. Im looking forward to riding it again when it opens in Epcot. Once we finished that the entire park was open so we headed to Paradise Pier and rode California Screamin twice in a row with only a 5 minute wait. We rode the rest of the Paradise Pier rides with little or no wait until we go around to Mullholland Madness there was a 35 minute wait. We decided we could skip that one since we had been on part of the real Mullholland Dr. with Noah and that was scary enough. We did the Bakery and Mission Tortilla factory tours and then had lunch at the Pacific Wharf Café. Brian had the chicken waldorf salad in a bread bowl and I had a spicy corn chowder in a bread bowl, both were excellent. BJ chose to wait and have a hot dog later. We then went over to the Hollywood Backlot section and did the Animation building, the Muppets Vision 3-D, saw a D.U.H. show and rode Tower of Terror twice. I loved the Beasts library in the Animation building. I was Belle, Brian was Hercules, and BJ was Jiminy Cricket. BJ said he likes this TOT better than the one in Florida because he didnt expect that first drop when it happened. We skipped the Bugs Land section of the park figuring wed walk around it later but we never did. Weve seen Its Tough To Be A Bug so many times at WDW that we didnt mind skipping it here and the rest looked like it was for small tikes. We saved Grizzly River for last so that if we got soaked (which we did) we could go change. I thought this was a great river ride, much better than Kali River at Animal Kingdom. I wore a poncho but still managed to get wet. We went back to the room and changed into pants and sweatshirts because it was starting to get chilly. We headed over to Disneyland, which was open until 8:00 pm and were surprised to see how crowded it was. We had gotten spoiled at DCA with little or no crowds. Some things like the Matterhorn were a 45 minute wait but other things like Star Tours we were able to walk on. We decided to just do the things that werent packed so we did Star Tours, then waited 20 minutes for Alice in Wonderland, 10 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean, and 10 minutes for Haunted Mansion. BJ said he felt like he was in WDW but a Twilight Zone version because not everything was in the same place. We left at 7:30 and walked through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel for our 8:00 pm priority seating at Goofys Kitchen. They have you pay before you go into the restaurant and I asked if we just leave the tip on the table and they said no its already included in the price so that was good to know. The total was $98. The food was ok and the deserts were great. We had visits from 4 characters, Goofy, Minnie, Chip, and the White Rabbit. We saw some other characters around like Cinderella and Aladdin but they never made it to the room we were in. After dinner we went to the giant World of Disney store and did our big souvenir shopping. Even late at night this place was crowded. At the Build a Bear store I saw the Disney outfits but the line was too long to wait. The next night the crowd wasnt so bad so I picked up 3 sets of Mickey ears, shirts, and gloves for 3 little girls back home that we had given animals from Build a Bear to last year for their birthdays. It was time to call it a night and we walked back to the hotel amazed again at how close everything is.
Day Eight- Thursday February 24th
This was our early entry morning for Fantasyland so we made sure we were up and at the park gates prior to opening. Well, the crowds were huge. The sun was finally out and so were the people. It took 15 minutes to get through the turnstiles and by the time we got to Fantasyland the line for the Matterhorn was at least 30 minutes. The guys were really looking forward to this since there isnt one in FL so we waited. It was fun but not something wed wait for that long again. I couldnt believe we only got on one ride in our early entry hour. We decided to go over for the rope drop at Adventure land to get Fastpasses for Indiana Jones which we grabbed and then got in line for the Jungle Cruise which was about a 15 minute wait. BJ and I then climbed Tarzans tree house and our legs hurt from it for the rest of the day. It was time for our Indiana Jones ride and it was awesome. I think this is the best ride in all of DL. We picked up a Fastpass for Thunder Mountain Railroad and then headed over to Innoventions. BJ loves Innoventions at Epcot and usually spends a couple of hours there by himself when we are walking around the countries. I told him they had talk to Stich like the talk to Crush at Epcot so we decided to try it. Well, it was one of our favorite things of the vacation. At Epcot its a large group of people that Crush talks to but at DL its just your family that goes into a little beach shack and talks to him. There is a large screen with an animated beach scene and suddenly Stich comes scurrying down a palm tree and starts talking to you and asking you questions. When we said we were from Boston he started talking in a Stich Boston accent. It was so funny. He told us a secret about the Yeti in the Matterhorn but we promised not to tell. If you are at DL please make time for this. Youll be glad you did. After we left Innoventions we walked through Fantasyland but everything was still mobbed so we went and used our FP for Thunder Mountain. It was time for our 1:30 priority seating at the Blue Bayou. This was one of my favorite meals of the week, great food and great atmosphere. Brian had the famous Monte Cristo sandwich, BJ had prime rib, and I had a seafood plate that was the special that day. We also had the calmari appetizer and chowder. The total was $74 plus tip. After lunch we grabbed another FP for Indiana Jones and the time on it wasnt until 7:00 pm. Brian decided to head back to the Grand Californian for a rest but BJ and I decided to stick around and see the Snow White Musical and then rode Small World. We took the monorail to Downtown Disney and stopped at the hotel for me to pick up a sweater because it was getting cold. We had just missed Brian who was going to meet us at DCA. We found Brian in front of the Hyperion Theater at 4:20. The Aladdin show wasnt open on Wednesday so we decided to hop back over to see it today. I had a priority seating pass from our package but the park was so crowded that they told me the priority seats were already gone even though we were 40 minutes early. So we went and got in line for the mezzanine section which were great seats and I think probably the best view of the carpet rides. The genie was a riot and the special effects were awesome. After the show we headed back over to DL to use our FP for Indy. We stopped at Town Hall on the way past and bought tickets for the next mornings Walking in Walts Footsteps tour. After Indy we rode the Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Winnie the Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio and the Storybook Canal Boats, which had the longest wait at 15 minutes. The others were just 5-10 minute waits. The park was supposed to close at 8:00 but because of the crowds they announced that theyd be staying open until 10:00 so for those of us who stayed the lines disappeared. We took the monorail to DD and picked up hotdogs for Brian and ice cream for me and BJ for dinner.
Day Nine- Friday February 25th
Up at 7:00 am and went to the Jazz Kitchen for breakfast as usual. Today we were taking the Walk In Walts Footsteps Tour from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. There is a kiosk outside the gates to the left were you meet right before 9:00 and you pick out your lunch from a menu. Then they take you through a turnstile on the side so that we didnt have to wait line. Our guide Jenna told us that normally they take the tour in the Walt Disney Story on Main St. where you can see his office but unfortunately it was closed for rehab so we went into a private office in Town Hall and she talked all about the Disney Studios early days and what Walt wanted to achieve in building the park. We already knew a lot of this from taking the Keys to the Kingdom tour at WDW but it was still interesting to hear it again and Jenna was a great storyteller. We walked through each of the 5 original lands and got take a private Jungle Cruise for just our group of 8. When we were out of earshot of the dock Jenna took the mike over from our skipper and gave us a lot of background information about the ride and some secrets. We got to see the lobby of Club 33 and take pictures. We ended the tour at the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show at the Golden Horseshoe. Lunch was there, waiting for us on our reserved tables. We had quite a few comments from people around us wanting to know where we got such great looking lunches and the cheesecakes that came with them for dessert. We actually had one guy come over and ask where the cheesecake came from because his wife wanted one. Our guide said they were from Club 33 and not available at the regular food stands so he asked to buy one of ours. I laughed and gave him one and told him not to worry about it because BJ doesnt like cheesecake. It was delicious but so rich that Brian and I actually only ate one between the two of us and the last one went to waste. The tour was $47 per person and included the lunch but if you have AAA there was a discount, which I think was $10. We really enjoyed it and were glad we decided to do it. We left DL and walked through DCA to go back to our hotel, which was just as fast since the Grand Californian has their own entrance. We picked up fast passes for Soarin on our way. Brian and I headed back to the room to pack and take a nap but BJ stayed at DCA to get in some more rides. We met back up at 5:00 pm in front of Soarin and used our fast passes. We thought about going to see the Aladdin show again but the lines were already long and it was still 45 minutes to show time so instead we grabbed some fast passes for Tower of Terror and then walked back to Paradise Pier. BJ really wanted to ride Screamin again but the wait was 70 minutes and we dont usually wait more than 15 minutes for anything. So we had a fast food dinner on the Pier and then rode Soarin again using the singles line which is just as fast as the fast pass. We used our FP for one last ride on TOT and then grabbed a spot at Sunshine Plaza for the Electrical Parade. The crowd was already pretty thick but we just stood behind some folks with small kids who were all sitting down so we had a great view. I hadnt seen this parade in a long time so it was fun to see it again. DCA closed immediately after the parade so we started to go across the plaza with the rest of the crowd to Disneyland but the lines were so long that we decided to have an ice cream break at Downtown Disney. After our break Brian decided to call it a night and headed back to the room. BJ and I really wanted to see Fantasmic so we went back to DL. The crowds were just starting to exit from the first Fantasmic show so we ducked into Star Tours and rode with a 5 minute wait. This is one of BJs all time favorite rides. We headed over to Frontierland and grabbed a spot in the you must sit down section in front of the river. We were over towards the right side but had a good view of everything. We really enjoyed the show, especially when the Columbia sailed past with Peter Pan and Captain Hook. However we both agreed that we like the show at WDW better. Weve always gone when they have a second show and just go in right before it starts and are able to get a good seat. We also like the Lion King and Pocahontas portions of the WDW show that the DL show didnt have. The show ended about 5 minutes before park closing so we raced over to Thunder Mountain and rode it one more time. I love this ride in the dark. A great ride to end our trip to DL.
Day Ten- Saturday February 26th
Our flight the next morning was from LAX at 7:30 am so we left our hotel around 4:30 am. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to return the rental car. When we were at Innoventions on Thursday I had gotten directions from mapquest and written them down. Im glad I did since it was a very easy drive with the directions right in front of me. It would have been tough trying to figure it out on my map in the dark. We dropped the car off at Hertz and they had a shuttle bus waiting that took us right to our terminal. While we were waiting to board we had our second celebrity sighting, Malcom McDowell (Clockwork Orange and other various bad guy roles). He was waiting with his wife and little boy just a few seats away from us. I asked BJ if he wanted me to go ask for his autograph but he said no. After we boarded our plane BJ said Mom, see that guy sitting down in the black sweater? I could only see the back of him but BJ said it was someone from CSI. I saw him later walking down the aisle and did recognize him even though I dont watch that show. I dont know his name but he places Cpt. Brass. BJ was most excited about that sighting because hes a big CSI fan. We got in to Boston about 4:00 and our limo driver was there waiting to wisk us home. It was a great trip but I was very glad to come home. We have a 8 month old Bulldog named Fiona who is my baby and I really missed her. Of course we bought her some Fiona ears at the Shrek store at Universal which she looks just lovely in.
BJs favorite things of the trip were Alcatraz and California Screamin.
Cathys favorite things were Hearst Castle and talking to Stitch.
Brians favorite things were Alcatraz at night and rock slides. (Hes also sarcastic)
For those of you who stuck through this long winded report I hope you enjoyed reading it. Feel free to ask any questions.
Thanks,
Cathy K.
(and a lot of places in between)
Cast- Me (Cathy or also known as Mom) 39 obsessive trip planner.
DH- Brian 41. The relaxed optimist in the family.
DS- Brian Jr. 17 also called BJ. Takes after his dad.
Im going to split this trip report into 3 parts so those of you who are only interested in reading the Disneyland portion please skip directly to Part 3. This trip was our gift to our son for his upcoming high school graduation. We are WDW fanatics having been there for 11 vacations but this was our first trip to Disneyland. We decided to see as much as we could from San Francisco to San Diego since we were taking the long plane trip out. Im going to write about all of it to put it in our familys memory book and I thought maybe some folks here might include some of these places on their upcoming trips and be interested in what we did.
Day Six- Tuesday February 22nd
We woke up to some sun for once woohoo! We called to have our continental breakfast delivered at 7:30 and it arrived a few minutes later. What a great breakfast, 3 bowls of fresh fruit, 3 glasses of OJ, cinnamon rolls, mini muffins, and croissants. I still cant get over that this place was only $129 a night and included such a great breakfast. On top of that parking is free which was nice after paying $30 a night in San Francisco and $16 in LA. We left a bit before 9:00 am and headed over to the zoo. We could have walked it was so close but we took the car because we were going to leave immediately afterwards. We bought the zoo best value tickets which included the bus tour and use of the express buses all day. We took the bus tour first so that we could get an overview of the zoo. Then we took the express bus back to the polar bear exhibit which is at the back of the zoo at the top of a very high hill. We walked our way back through the exhibits. The pandas were beautiful. The eagles that were pressing their heads against their top netting and looking at the sky with their wings open made me want to cry. Weve been to Animal Kingdom at WDW so many times that the zoo with its small animal areas made me really sad. Still, its a beautiful place and they had many species that we had never even heard of before. We left around 12:30 pm and took 5N back to Anaheim. The rain had started up again while we were driving. We arrived at 2:00 pm and were able to check in to the Grand Californian at Disneyland. The hotel is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of the Wilderness Lodge at WDW where weve stayed before. We had an early dinner at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. There was a 20% off coupon that came with my package which we took advantage of. We love the HOB in Orlando and the food at this one was just as good. It was a great dinner for only $40 plus tip. Our package also included some ESPN zone cards so we went and picked up those and the guys stayed there and I headed back to the hotel to do some laundry. I had planned on this since we were taking such a long vacation. However I didnt plan on how many people would be in the laundry room trying to dry wet sneakers and jackets from all the rain. It was crazy but I met a lot of nice people and we chatted while we waited. Brian came to see how I was doing just in time to help me carry everything back to the room and put it all away. Housekeeping stopped by to see if wed like turn down service, very nice! We decided instead of just sitting in the room to go back to Downtown Disney and see a movie. We saw Hitch which we all really enjoyed and the movie theater wasnt crowded at all. They had nice rocker seats with stadium seating.
Day Seven- Wednesday February 23rd
We woke up around 7:30 am and headed to DD to grab some breakfast. We decided on Ralph Brennans Jazz Kitchen Express and boy were we glad we did. We ended up having breakfast here every morning. The beignets were to die for. The official opening time of California Adventure was 10:00 am but they let us through the hotel entrance at 9:30 am. This brings you in between Grizzly Creek and Soarin. They told us that Soarin would open early so we went there first. What an incredible ride. Im looking forward to riding it again when it opens in Epcot. Once we finished that the entire park was open so we headed to Paradise Pier and rode California Screamin twice in a row with only a 5 minute wait. We rode the rest of the Paradise Pier rides with little or no wait until we go around to Mullholland Madness there was a 35 minute wait. We decided we could skip that one since we had been on part of the real Mullholland Dr. with Noah and that was scary enough. We did the Bakery and Mission Tortilla factory tours and then had lunch at the Pacific Wharf Café. Brian had the chicken waldorf salad in a bread bowl and I had a spicy corn chowder in a bread bowl, both were excellent. BJ chose to wait and have a hot dog later. We then went over to the Hollywood Backlot section and did the Animation building, the Muppets Vision 3-D, saw a D.U.H. show and rode Tower of Terror twice. I loved the Beasts library in the Animation building. I was Belle, Brian was Hercules, and BJ was Jiminy Cricket. BJ said he likes this TOT better than the one in Florida because he didnt expect that first drop when it happened. We skipped the Bugs Land section of the park figuring wed walk around it later but we never did. Weve seen Its Tough To Be A Bug so many times at WDW that we didnt mind skipping it here and the rest looked like it was for small tikes. We saved Grizzly River for last so that if we got soaked (which we did) we could go change. I thought this was a great river ride, much better than Kali River at Animal Kingdom. I wore a poncho but still managed to get wet. We went back to the room and changed into pants and sweatshirts because it was starting to get chilly. We headed over to Disneyland, which was open until 8:00 pm and were surprised to see how crowded it was. We had gotten spoiled at DCA with little or no crowds. Some things like the Matterhorn were a 45 minute wait but other things like Star Tours we were able to walk on. We decided to just do the things that werent packed so we did Star Tours, then waited 20 minutes for Alice in Wonderland, 10 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean, and 10 minutes for Haunted Mansion. BJ said he felt like he was in WDW but a Twilight Zone version because not everything was in the same place. We left at 7:30 and walked through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel for our 8:00 pm priority seating at Goofys Kitchen. They have you pay before you go into the restaurant and I asked if we just leave the tip on the table and they said no its already included in the price so that was good to know. The total was $98. The food was ok and the deserts were great. We had visits from 4 characters, Goofy, Minnie, Chip, and the White Rabbit. We saw some other characters around like Cinderella and Aladdin but they never made it to the room we were in. After dinner we went to the giant World of Disney store and did our big souvenir shopping. Even late at night this place was crowded. At the Build a Bear store I saw the Disney outfits but the line was too long to wait. The next night the crowd wasnt so bad so I picked up 3 sets of Mickey ears, shirts, and gloves for 3 little girls back home that we had given animals from Build a Bear to last year for their birthdays. It was time to call it a night and we walked back to the hotel amazed again at how close everything is.
Day Eight- Thursday February 24th
This was our early entry morning for Fantasyland so we made sure we were up and at the park gates prior to opening. Well, the crowds were huge. The sun was finally out and so were the people. It took 15 minutes to get through the turnstiles and by the time we got to Fantasyland the line for the Matterhorn was at least 30 minutes. The guys were really looking forward to this since there isnt one in FL so we waited. It was fun but not something wed wait for that long again. I couldnt believe we only got on one ride in our early entry hour. We decided to go over for the rope drop at Adventure land to get Fastpasses for Indiana Jones which we grabbed and then got in line for the Jungle Cruise which was about a 15 minute wait. BJ and I then climbed Tarzans tree house and our legs hurt from it for the rest of the day. It was time for our Indiana Jones ride and it was awesome. I think this is the best ride in all of DL. We picked up a Fastpass for Thunder Mountain Railroad and then headed over to Innoventions. BJ loves Innoventions at Epcot and usually spends a couple of hours there by himself when we are walking around the countries. I told him they had talk to Stich like the talk to Crush at Epcot so we decided to try it. Well, it was one of our favorite things of the vacation. At Epcot its a large group of people that Crush talks to but at DL its just your family that goes into a little beach shack and talks to him. There is a large screen with an animated beach scene and suddenly Stich comes scurrying down a palm tree and starts talking to you and asking you questions. When we said we were from Boston he started talking in a Stich Boston accent. It was so funny. He told us a secret about the Yeti in the Matterhorn but we promised not to tell. If you are at DL please make time for this. Youll be glad you did. After we left Innoventions we walked through Fantasyland but everything was still mobbed so we went and used our FP for Thunder Mountain. It was time for our 1:30 priority seating at the Blue Bayou. This was one of my favorite meals of the week, great food and great atmosphere. Brian had the famous Monte Cristo sandwich, BJ had prime rib, and I had a seafood plate that was the special that day. We also had the calmari appetizer and chowder. The total was $74 plus tip. After lunch we grabbed another FP for Indiana Jones and the time on it wasnt until 7:00 pm. Brian decided to head back to the Grand Californian for a rest but BJ and I decided to stick around and see the Snow White Musical and then rode Small World. We took the monorail to Downtown Disney and stopped at the hotel for me to pick up a sweater because it was getting cold. We had just missed Brian who was going to meet us at DCA. We found Brian in front of the Hyperion Theater at 4:20. The Aladdin show wasnt open on Wednesday so we decided to hop back over to see it today. I had a priority seating pass from our package but the park was so crowded that they told me the priority seats were already gone even though we were 40 minutes early. So we went and got in line for the mezzanine section which were great seats and I think probably the best view of the carpet rides. The genie was a riot and the special effects were awesome. After the show we headed back over to DL to use our FP for Indy. We stopped at Town Hall on the way past and bought tickets for the next mornings Walking in Walts Footsteps tour. After Indy we rode the Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Winnie the Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio and the Storybook Canal Boats, which had the longest wait at 15 minutes. The others were just 5-10 minute waits. The park was supposed to close at 8:00 but because of the crowds they announced that theyd be staying open until 10:00 so for those of us who stayed the lines disappeared. We took the monorail to DD and picked up hotdogs for Brian and ice cream for me and BJ for dinner.
Day Nine- Friday February 25th
Up at 7:00 am and went to the Jazz Kitchen for breakfast as usual. Today we were taking the Walk In Walts Footsteps Tour from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. There is a kiosk outside the gates to the left were you meet right before 9:00 and you pick out your lunch from a menu. Then they take you through a turnstile on the side so that we didnt have to wait line. Our guide Jenna told us that normally they take the tour in the Walt Disney Story on Main St. where you can see his office but unfortunately it was closed for rehab so we went into a private office in Town Hall and she talked all about the Disney Studios early days and what Walt wanted to achieve in building the park. We already knew a lot of this from taking the Keys to the Kingdom tour at WDW but it was still interesting to hear it again and Jenna was a great storyteller. We walked through each of the 5 original lands and got take a private Jungle Cruise for just our group of 8. When we were out of earshot of the dock Jenna took the mike over from our skipper and gave us a lot of background information about the ride and some secrets. We got to see the lobby of Club 33 and take pictures. We ended the tour at the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show at the Golden Horseshoe. Lunch was there, waiting for us on our reserved tables. We had quite a few comments from people around us wanting to know where we got such great looking lunches and the cheesecakes that came with them for dessert. We actually had one guy come over and ask where the cheesecake came from because his wife wanted one. Our guide said they were from Club 33 and not available at the regular food stands so he asked to buy one of ours. I laughed and gave him one and told him not to worry about it because BJ doesnt like cheesecake. It was delicious but so rich that Brian and I actually only ate one between the two of us and the last one went to waste. The tour was $47 per person and included the lunch but if you have AAA there was a discount, which I think was $10. We really enjoyed it and were glad we decided to do it. We left DL and walked through DCA to go back to our hotel, which was just as fast since the Grand Californian has their own entrance. We picked up fast passes for Soarin on our way. Brian and I headed back to the room to pack and take a nap but BJ stayed at DCA to get in some more rides. We met back up at 5:00 pm in front of Soarin and used our fast passes. We thought about going to see the Aladdin show again but the lines were already long and it was still 45 minutes to show time so instead we grabbed some fast passes for Tower of Terror and then walked back to Paradise Pier. BJ really wanted to ride Screamin again but the wait was 70 minutes and we dont usually wait more than 15 minutes for anything. So we had a fast food dinner on the Pier and then rode Soarin again using the singles line which is just as fast as the fast pass. We used our FP for one last ride on TOT and then grabbed a spot at Sunshine Plaza for the Electrical Parade. The crowd was already pretty thick but we just stood behind some folks with small kids who were all sitting down so we had a great view. I hadnt seen this parade in a long time so it was fun to see it again. DCA closed immediately after the parade so we started to go across the plaza with the rest of the crowd to Disneyland but the lines were so long that we decided to have an ice cream break at Downtown Disney. After our break Brian decided to call it a night and headed back to the room. BJ and I really wanted to see Fantasmic so we went back to DL. The crowds were just starting to exit from the first Fantasmic show so we ducked into Star Tours and rode with a 5 minute wait. This is one of BJs all time favorite rides. We headed over to Frontierland and grabbed a spot in the you must sit down section in front of the river. We were over towards the right side but had a good view of everything. We really enjoyed the show, especially when the Columbia sailed past with Peter Pan and Captain Hook. However we both agreed that we like the show at WDW better. Weve always gone when they have a second show and just go in right before it starts and are able to get a good seat. We also like the Lion King and Pocahontas portions of the WDW show that the DL show didnt have. The show ended about 5 minutes before park closing so we raced over to Thunder Mountain and rode it one more time. I love this ride in the dark. A great ride to end our trip to DL.
Day Ten- Saturday February 26th
Our flight the next morning was from LAX at 7:30 am so we left our hotel around 4:30 am. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to return the rental car. When we were at Innoventions on Thursday I had gotten directions from mapquest and written them down. Im glad I did since it was a very easy drive with the directions right in front of me. It would have been tough trying to figure it out on my map in the dark. We dropped the car off at Hertz and they had a shuttle bus waiting that took us right to our terminal. While we were waiting to board we had our second celebrity sighting, Malcom McDowell (Clockwork Orange and other various bad guy roles). He was waiting with his wife and little boy just a few seats away from us. I asked BJ if he wanted me to go ask for his autograph but he said no. After we boarded our plane BJ said Mom, see that guy sitting down in the black sweater? I could only see the back of him but BJ said it was someone from CSI. I saw him later walking down the aisle and did recognize him even though I dont watch that show. I dont know his name but he places Cpt. Brass. BJ was most excited about that sighting because hes a big CSI fan. We got in to Boston about 4:00 and our limo driver was there waiting to wisk us home. It was a great trip but I was very glad to come home. We have a 8 month old Bulldog named Fiona who is my baby and I really missed her. Of course we bought her some Fiona ears at the Shrek store at Universal which she looks just lovely in.
BJs favorite things of the trip were Alcatraz and California Screamin.
Cathys favorite things were Hearst Castle and talking to Stitch.
Brians favorite things were Alcatraz at night and rock slides. (Hes also sarcastic)
For those of you who stuck through this long winded report I hope you enjoyed reading it. Feel free to ask any questions.
Thanks,
Cathy K.
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