Super Deluxe Mega Trip Reportinator! Now featuring 8/12 San Diego/Disneyland report!

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Great update

To answer your earlier question, no, we are not staying anywhere but Anaheim! We will be venturing out on a few days though to Universal, Knotts, LA ( to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 4D at the El Captain ) and also to Simi Valley for the day to visit the Treasures of Walt Disney Archives exhibition!

Total Disney overload.................just the way we like it!!!

 

[kaoden39]

Love your trip report so far. The ship part made me very reminiscent of my youth. My dad worked in the naval shipyards for years. We used to go to them and tour them. One of my favorite tours was aboard the USS Enterprise. What an amazing sight that was. The size was amazing! The anchors and the chains wow! Thank you for that trip down memory lane.

 

[nancy drew]

Love your trip report so far. The ship part made me very reminiscent of my youth. My dad worked in the naval shipyards for years. We used to go to them and tour them. One of my favorite tours was aboard the USS Enterprise. What an amazing sight that was. The size was amazing! The anchors and the chains wow! Thank you for that trip down memory lane.

It really was amazing to think about the people who lived there, protecting our country. And yes, the scale of the ship is amazing. The anchors, and chains, really they are huge! I should have taken a photo of one of the kids near a chain link because they are huge!

******************
So our last day in San Diego was the one I thought would be the favorite: the San Diego Zoo! We took a cab to the zoo, which was ridiculous because we had to wait for trains to cross ($$$$$$$$) but it worked out well in the end, as I will hopefully remember to explain later.

We arrived early and got on one of the tour buses. This turned out to be good and bad. I thought we were on a tour that we could get on and off, but we couldn't. So we were "stuck" on a tour bus for about an hour, driving around, listening to bad puns, etc. On the other hand, we saw a bunch of animals and didn't need to go back, we learned more than we would have by walking, and we got to sit down. In retrospect it was a good thing, but at the time I was annoyed because I thought we would end up fighting crowds of people. Turns out that was a non-issue.

So I did get some great photos from the bus!

The best one was of the baby giraffe. We never would have known this, but this baby giraffe was less than a week old!

Less than a WEEK old, people!!!

We rode the bus around, sitting on the top level, and it ended up being OK because there weren't that many people at the zoo. We walked into the panda exhibit a few times, and caught them sleeping...

So we decided we would come back later to see if they were awake. There was a baby panda that had been born a few days earlier, and was still tiny and quarantined, so there was a "panda cam" with a constant view of the mom and new baby, and a zoo volunteer talking about what was going on. Baby was only the size of a stick of butter, and we did see a tiny peek of baby on the camera, but that was it. It almost makes me want to go back next year to see if baby is still little enough to be adorable and playful, because really, how many opportunities do you have to see a baby panda?

So we walked around a ton, and it was hot and sweaty, and the kids and I were super crabby. I brought a bunch of treats to keep the kids happy, and it did work, but there were some crabby moments. We did find some interesting animals, though.

I'm not sure why, but this tapir really charmed us. I remember taking this photo and thinking I needed to remember this animal. I know s/he was right next to us, and for some reason we were all smitten. But I don't know why.

We went back to the panda exhibit and were delighted to see that at least one was awake!!!

That lasted about 20 seconds, then it was nap time again. You really do have to just keep going back periodically to see if they are awake. Maybe they should have a panda app, like the Disneyland apps that tell you where the characters are and how long the lines are. They could make an app that alerts you when the pandas are awake. Of course by the time the message is sent and the people run to the exhibit, the pandas will be asleep again.

So maybe not such a good idea.

We had to stop and see the Galapagos tortoises that are older than we are. I highly recommend seeing them earlier in the day, as they are all sleeping in the afternoon. This guy was way across the exhibit and I had to zoom in to get a decent photo.

We saw the best bird show ever (almost). This bird was hilarious!!! He sang, talked, wow, this was awesome.

So, after the zoo we stopped at Ralph's to load up on groceries. I had the taxi drop us off here, as we were only about 5 blocks from our hotel.

We bought a ton of food, which really helped us on the Disneyland leg of our trip. I also bought 2 reusable bags to carry everything in, which was also really helpful for the train ride to Anaheim.

We bought some instant mac and cheese bowls, so the kids would have something to eat when we came back to the room late at night and they were "soooooooo hungry" or when we came back at mid-day to swim. They ate all of the bowls, so that was money well spent. We also bought one of those multi packs of crappy cereals. I pointed out to the kids that one box of cereal at the hotel cost the same as 8 boxes in the grocery store. So that was a good deal, too. I mostly bought snacks and food for me, so I wouldn't have to worry about finding something to eat. I know we bought a ton of stuff, but I don't know what we bought. Oh, I bought some of those 4 packs of tiny bottles of wine. That was nice to have at various parts of our trip .

In the grocery store, our little bald eagle (DD's souvenir from the zoo) decided to ride off on a motorcycle. Luckily we caught him, and made sure he came home with us instead.

I don't know what we did that night. Maybe more swimming, maybe not. I think we went back to Seaport Village.

The next day we were checking out and heading to Anaheim via Amtrak, which meant and early wake up. So likely we were busy packing and getting ready for phase 2 of our vacation.

I clearly remember telling DD that I couldn't believe we still had more vacation ahead of us. I felt like our trip was over, but we had only done 1/3 of our vacation! DD felt the same way. When we were in San Diego, I really wasn't thinking about Disneyland at all. So it felt like we had a bonus vacation ahead of us, which was awesome. I wish every vacation was like that.

 

[nancy drew]

We woke up early the next day, because it was time to head to Disneyland!!! We were taking the train, which was near our hotel. We walked to the train station with our bags, which was slightly challenging. DS had a heavy backpack and an awkward bag, so he had some trouble on curbs and bumps. But we made it with time to spare, so that was good. I bought our tickets, and we lined up outside.

Now, I'm used to airplane travel, and somehow I expected this to be similar. It wasn't. You know how people complain about airlines these days? You know how people say flight attendants are rude and burned out? Well flight attendants are like Mr. Rogers compared to train employees. They are rude, short, and they do.not.care.

San Diego was the first stop on the line, which was good. It was announced that everyone had to sit upstairs unless they were elderly or handicapped, and they specifically announced that "having young children or lots of bags does not make you elderly or handicapped." Ouch. So I had to haul our luggage upstairs, and luckily someone offered to help me. In my rush to get everything upstairs, we missed out on getting an ocean side seat on the train. They announced that 4 seaters were to be given to families, but a single woman took the ocean side 4 seater. I didn't feel like asking her to move, and she was nice and we talked a little during the ride, and she let DS sit across from her when we went through the army base, but still I wish we had been on that side.

So the crazy thing on Amtrak is that you have exactly 2 minutes to get on or off the train at a station. They do not wait for anything. So I had to get our stuff downstairs at the stop before ours and stand there with the kids, because I was so worried about not getting off the train on time.

We did make it, though, and it was all good. Turns out the same guy that helped me carry our stuff up helped me carry out stuff down. That guy earned some major karma that day.

So we easily caught a cab and headed toward the happiest place on Earth! It was only 12pm, so we had almost a whole day ahead of us!

 

[3inthefamily]

Glad you are doing a report. If I remember correctly we were going around the same time, but we hit Anaheim first and SD second. Smart of you to stay elsewhere and just visit the Hotel Del, because I have to say I was SO excited to stay there...and it was NOT what I imagined. The best part is the beach. The hotel itself is outrageously expensive and not at all up to what they charge. I actually called DVC (we used points) to tell them that the hotel was not up to Disney standards at all.

We missed the Midway...my husband was bummed. We did do the zoo and it was amazing but it sure was hot in CA that week. Ugh. I think we were way too busy in Anaheim/LA and by the time we got to San Diego we were just so tired!

 

[nancy drew]

We have this thing, the kids and I, where we try to spot the Tower of Terror first. We do it at both parks, since that's the tallest thing in the parks (right?). I have no idea who won, but it was really exciting driving up to the hotels. Isn't it always, though???

So we went to the Paradise Pier, and I don't even remember now whether our room was ready. I really need to be more on top of these things.

But really, who cares, because soon enough we were looking at this:

And that's all that matters.

We have a deal where our first ride on every trip is Small World. Now, our first trip to DLR was when they were rehabbing the ride and adding Disney characters. I remember the uproar here on disboards, where you would have thought they were making the whole ride a virtual 3D animated experience. But really, I happen to love the way they weaved Disney characters into the various countries represented in the ride.

Our unofficial second ride is Buzz. It seems like on every trip, at any given time, one kid wants to be on Buzz and the other wants to be on something at the opposite end of the park. I will also say that DL Buzz is FAR better than WDW Buzz. Seriously, I hate WDW Buzz but will endlessly ride DL Buzz. Also, I make the kids either sit together or one of them sits alone because I *must* shoot on DL Buzz. So yeah, I like the ride.

We haven't been on the Matterhorn. I have been on it once, and I liked it, but DD is not a roller coaster kid, so we haven't done it yet. That hasn't stopped me from talking about it and photographing it a lot, though. Especially when there are mountain climbers on top.

DD says if we go back, she will ride it. I don't know if I believe that, though, as she won't ride any of the other roller coasters. Also I've heard it is still bumpy as hell, and I think she won't like that at all. But who knows. She also refused to ride Pirates for a really long time, because of the drops. Notice I used the past tense there, was that intentional? Hmmmm.

Somehow we always enter the parks at parade time. We were exiting Alice in Wonderland at this point, which gave us the perfect view of the parade.

Next up, Snow White. We had avoided this one in the past, but at WDW they decided it was time to try it. We had YouTubed it, and decided it was OK, and they loved it. They then decided it was OK to try it at DLR too, and they loved it! Luckily, no one else was in line, so we rode this about 5 times in a row, walking on each time. Later we would see long lines, but because we were there during the parade it was totally empty!

You have to go across to the Peter Pan line and look back at Snow White, or you might miss this:

Also, as you enter the line, touch the apple, if you dare.

And look in the queue for some of the cool details:

A few years ago, Disneyland opened up the Thunder Ranch area with a Toy Story themed barbecue. Well that kind of fell flat, and they rethemed it to just a barbecue. They also have a character meet and greet there, and a petting zoo. The thing is, no one knows about this, so you have almost no lines and awesome character interaction! You can pet horses and goats:

And meet obscure characters:

And even meet Mickey, or color and/or play with Chip and Dale! I feel like Disneyland has the best character interaction of any park.

Then we hit Jungle Cruise. This is another one that we had avoided, because of the possible scariness. We tried it at WDW in December, and the kids loved it, so we tried it at DLR. It was another hit! But why had I never noticed there are real birds up above Jungle Cruise??

We ended up having to go upstairs in the JC line, which gave us some unique sightseeing opportunities. Those real birds? They get tons of attention!!! DD named this one "Cuddles" for obvious reasons:

Again, never would have seen this if we hadn't gone upstairs:

Then we headed to the Tiki Room!

Now, I know we did something that night, but I have no photos. So it remains a mystery. I guess what happens in Disneyland stays in Disneyland.

 

[nancy drew]

Glad you are doing a report. If I remember correctly we were going around the same time, but we hit Anaheim first and SD second. Smart of you to stay elsewhere and just visit the Hotel Del, because I have to say I was SO excited to stay there...and it was NOT what I imagined. The best part is the beach. The hotel itself is outrageously expensive and not at all up to what they charge. I actually called DVC (we used points) to tell them that the hotel was not up to Disney standards at all.

We missed the Midway...my husband was bummed. We did do the zoo and it was amazing but it sure was hot in CA that week. Ugh. I think we were way too busy in Anaheim/LA and by the time we got to San Diego we were just so tired!

How was your trip overall???? I was wondering about you guys!!

When we went to the Del, I was blown away at how crowded it was. I know DL is bigger and has wider walkways, but I felt like the Del was FAR more crowded than anything at DL. I was kind of glad we weren't staying there, because of that. It was a total pain traveling there, but I was glad to retreat to our convention hotel.

And you nailed the reason why we did SD first. I knew we would be tired after DL, and that nothing we did would compare, and that we would just be wishing we were at DL.

I think I forgot to mention that as our room overlooked the hotel pool in SD, we once saw the convention people out at the pool that had been closed off for them. One of my kids said the people looked like ants, and it was such a valid description that from that point on we referred to any convention people as "Ants". It was hilarious, hearing the kids casually mentioning that "That Ant in the elevator said..." or "Are those some Ants over there?" or "There were a ton of Ants in the bathroom near the pool". I don't know, just one of those little things that really cracked me up.

 

[3inthefamily]

Ants! LOL! That's too cute.

The Grand Californian was absolutely gorgeous! We loved it and it was hard to leave. Whenever we drove to LA, I wanted to go back to my Disney bubble in Anaheim! I loved Disneyland! Some of the rides were SO much better than DW. Especially Pirates, Small World and Buzz. We had a great time, loved Cars Land, and loved how close everything was! Amazed at being able to park hop so easily. Its always a huge project at WDW.

Los Angeles disappointed me except for a few moments...especially when we crashed a party at Grauman's for the 25th anniversary of Dirty Dancing! That was ridiculous that my husband scammed them into letting us in saying we lost the tickets that we got online (they had a Facebook promo a while back) and we came all the way from CT, etc...they let us in! Paparazzi, pink carpet, Jennifer Grey...the movie then after party with free drinks and food and gift bag! Granted we had the only 9 year old boy there, but it was SO worth it. That and DL were the highlights.

It was SO damn hot there!! I wasn't expecting it to be so warm. San Diego was not as hot...and we did love La Jolla. We had a great brunch there, went to see the seals, etc. Quick trip to Old Town...not too interesting when you're exhausted. I wanted a full day at the Hotel Del... so we rented a boogie board, they give free chairs..but a $7 ice cream cone? Yikes.

 

[nancy drew]

I've heard LA can be disappointing. But wow, crashing a party??? That's awesome! Now I really wish you had a TR here!

And I agree that those rides are better at DLR. I could happily skip Buzz at WDW, but DL Buzz is an all time favorite. Pirates is so awesome at DLR, and I prefer DLR's Haunted Mansion by far. And yeah, Small World is so much better at DLR too!! It will be interesting, because we will be riding WDW Pirates and HM in December for the first time in ages, and I want to hear what the kids think. They have probably heard me say that the DLR versions are better, but I want to know what they think.

 

[3inthefamily]

I've heard LA can be disappointing. But wow, crashing a party??? That's awesome! Now I really wish you had a TR here!

And I agree that those rides are better at DLR. I could happily skip Buzz at WDW, but DL Buzz is an all time favorite. Pirates is so awesome at DLR, and I prefer DLR's Haunted Mansion by far. And yeah, Small World is so much better at DLR too!! It will be interesting, because we will be riding WDW Pirates and HM in December for the first time in ages, and I want to hear what the kids think. They have probably heard me say that the DLR versions are better, but I want to know what they think.

I may have to do a report....I need to figure out the photo thing. I've never done it.

We are going to WDW for ONE DAY next month. I know its a tease...but we will be in FL for Thanksgiving at my parents place. WDW is about 3 hours north of them and my cousin is doing the college program and can get us in for free. How can I pass that up. We are going there the day of the "soft" opening for the new Fantasyland. I am so excited! We are staying at Port Orleans for the night. After that...its another year to wait until we go back for next Halloween. That is by far my favorite experience there...the Halloween Party. Are you doing the Christmas Party? Ive never done that...but my favorite holiday thing there is the Osborne Lights at DHS

 

[nancy drew]

We haven't done the Christmas party, because it sounds like every year it is scaled back and priced higher than the year before. The kids are begging to go at Halloween time, but they don't have any school vacations around then and I won't take them out of school.

We will be in WDW in January, actually, and I have yet to decide where we will stay. Last year we were at the Boardwalk and LOVED it, and might just stay there again. But part of me wants to try out all of the hotels, at least all of the deluxe ones. What can I say, I'm a sucker for convenience. If money were no object we would stay at the Contemporary, so we could walk to MK and monorail to Epcot (with a monorail change). We might still do that, I'm still trying to decide if the dining plan is worthwhile for us. We tend to bring food, but this WDW trip is at the end of a longer trip. On the one hand, we are driving there so we could bring a ton of food/drink. On the other hand, it is a really short trip (3 nights) so we won't be hanging out at the hotel, so we won't be needing extra food. Sigh. First world problems.

 

[nancy drew]

The next morning we had a Plan! The Plan! was to tackle Carsland. I had a feeling DD wouldn't like Radiator Springs Racers, but she insisted she wanted to try it, and this was our only hope. So we woke up bright and early and got to the parks before they opened. We were staying on site, so we had early entry, but we were still a few minutes late. I had read that the line in the GCH would take longer than the main gate, because there are more turnstiles at the main gate, so we did not take our usual shortcut through DCA. Instead, we went to the main gate and entered the park. I was sure we would have at least an hour's wait, because we were about 15 minutes post EE time.

We followed the herd to Carsland, and it was *amazing*. Wow, the detail is incredible. You truly feel like you are walking into an animated movie, which is a surreal feeling.

There were "characters" out and about, even at this hour.

That was all good, but we had other things to do. The theming in Carsland was amazing, did I already say that???

Radiator Springs, of course:

I loved this, in the line for RSR:

Sneak peek of the ride:

*snort*

DS and I loved RSR. We truly did. DD, not so much. She didn't like the banked turns and dips. She said she loved the ride, and proudly told everyone how awesome it was, but refused to ride it ever again and still insists she won't ride it on future trips.

On the other hand, she loved the other Carsland rides. So we did those.

At this point, we were hungry. So we headed to Flo's, naturally.

Cars waffles, people. Theming genius.

More theming inside Flo's, this was the large mirror on the upper wall of the dining area:

You could see RSR in the "rear view mirror". Genius.

More photos:

Then we hit Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. This was the favorite Carsland ride for my kids. The theming in the queue was awesome! If you've seen any of the Mater's Tall Tales, you will recognize these items:

We love this ride:

 

[nancy drew]

So after Carsland, we headed to the Little Mermaid! This was a favorite last summer, and it didn't disappoint again. The line has never been too long, so we can usually walk on. This means we end up riding it over and over again. Good thing I like this one!

We must have headed to Toy Story Mania after that...

And then back past Carsland, where we ran into this guy:

Then it was off to Bugs Land! We usually go at night, when it is empty, but it was still early so we decided to give it a try. The lines weren't that long, so we hit all the rides.

I love this perspective:

Fun ride!

We had never been on Soarin. Sounds crazy, but it is true! But we made up for it on this trip. We probably went on there 5 times a day.

The kids really liked the pre-boarding area, with the Patrick Warburton video. I thought he was funny, but he was acting like Putty from Seinfeld. The kids haven't seen that, but I guess it is a character that translates well.

Across from Soarin' there is a little show with Minnie Mouse. DD had decided that Minnie is her favorite character, so we watched the show and then waited for an autograph and photo.

We then went to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (is that what it is called?). What a fun area to explore!

We found our spirit animals. DS was a moose, which he thought was hilarious because the moose spirit trips and falls.

We hit Soarin' again and headed back to the hotel for a swim and rest.

 

[3inthefamily]

The next morning we had a Plan! The Plan! was to tackle Carsland. I had a feeling DD wouldn't like Radiator Springs Racers, but she insisted she wanted to try it, and this was our only hope. So we woke up bright and early and got to the parks before they opened. We were staying on site, so we had early entry, but we were still a few minutes late. I had read that the line in the GCH would take longer than the main gate, because there are more turnstiles at the main gate, so we did not take our usual shortcut through DCA. Instead, we went to the main gate and entered the park. I was sure we would have at least an hour's wait, because we were about 15 minutes post EE time.

We followed the herd to Carsland, and it was *amazing*. Wow, the detail is incredible. You truly feel like you are walking into an animated movie, which is a surreal feeling.

We did do the GCH line since we were staying there and it wrapped all the way back to the White Water Snacks behind the pool. Crazy line and some pretty snappy mama's with strollers jockeying for position. Ugh!

You really do feel like you are in Radiator Springs, right? Amazing. We loved RSR, Mater was cute...Luigis was kind of meh. Glad we did it but not enough to go again. We ate at Flo's as well, but for dinner another night. It was fantastic...and pretty easy to do GF with all that meat! I didn't nitpick with ingredients but I had turkey and mashed potatoes and was fine. Also that weird tea with the foam on top. It was pretty good!

 

[arthur06]

Lots of great photos, Thanks for sharing

 

[nancy drew]

So, I had written a huge post with the next installment, and then something happened and it was gone. So I decided to punish the Disboards Gods by not posting here for a while. But the joke's on me, because now I don't remember much of anything from our trip. Ha ha, you win.

Let's see if the photos jog my memory at all...

I guess that night we hit the Mad Tea Party. I know I have better/other photos of this, so we must have done it more than once.

I really did enjoy the Mad Tea Party. It's like bringing your kids out to a club, and it is all good!!!

Also we enjoyed the nearby indoor attractions, such as the Animation Academy (why do I blank on names when I post these things??) and Turtle Talk with Crush. Crush seems to like DS, because he always talks to him.

But really, how awesome is DCA at night?

Especially Carsland? And I have more night time Carsland photos somewhere else.

And what's this??? A rare photo of all 3 of us??

As my son would say, "This is really rare. Like, really rare, mom." And pixelated. It is really pixelated, because this pic was taken with my phone. But hey, there we are!

 

[nancy drew]

I'm really annoyed right now, because I can't figure out the new Photobucket. I have uploaded photos, but they seem to just find random spots. This is not the best night to deal with it, so updates will have to wait!

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Ookay. Saw Dland in your sig and I have to sub to your TR too. Can't look now though. I can tell you have a great camera too!

 

[nancy drew]

Ookay. Saw Dland in your sig and I have to sub to your TR too. Can't look now though. I can tell you have a great camera too!

Well, you're in good company because as you may see here, I'm in a sort of standoff with the new Photobucket. We aren't speaking, and we seem to be equally stubborn. The "new" format is horrible!!! We went to WDW in January, and are going again in 2 weeks (just overnight) and I can't bear to start a trip report because of the hassle of dealing with Photobucket!!! Is there another option???