- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
Welcome to my latest Trip report, peeps! 
Disneyland Resort February 28th - March 7th, 2015
Cast
Cass- 42-year old Disney FREAK, writer of this trip report as well as main photographer and videographer who planned it all!
Rob- 44-year old Disney/Star Wars freak, food-loving, amazing hubby who wisely lets his wife plan all vacations.
Kira – 8-year old sweet, wonderful, sassy princess who was clueless about the entire trip until 5am on the day we left!
Foreword
It’s been a tough couple years for me. I have struggled with a chronic auto-immune disease for the past 18 years but it has gotten progressively worse in the past two years or so and some new stuff has popped up that I was not prepared to deal with. I will spare you the ugly details and just say that after what I just went through, (and put my family through) it was time for a break for all three of us! With my health the way it is, I just didn’t have it in me to go to Walt Disney World, which is our usual vacation destination. It’s just too big and too hot for me to handle right now, so I decided that Disneyland was the way to go for this trip!
Hubby and I honeymooned in Southern California in 1998 (our first trip to DL) and then we went back for a quick 2-day visit in 2004. Honestly, I didn’t care for it. My Disney home is WDW. That is where my parents took me and my four siblings for our family vacations, with my first trip in 1975 when I was just three years old. That was Disney to me.
I took hubby to WDW for his first trip in 1999 and he fell in love with it. We went back in 2000, 2002 and 2003. Then in 2004, he started a new job and their head office is located in San Diego. We live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada so he had to fly down to sign a contract and decided to drag me with him. Okay, there was no dragging involved.
We took a side trip to Disneyland for 2 days. We stayed at a hotel that overlooked orange groves that was located where the Toy Story Parking Lot now stands. We spent one day at Disneyland Park and one day at the nearly new Disney’s California Adventure. While we loved Soarin’ and Tower of Terror, the new park was a bit of a disaster. The food that we had in both parks was gross and expensive, (CDN $ exchange rate was a killer!) the CM’s were rude and basically, we found no “magic” anywhere. We had no interest in going back and all of future trips were spent at WDW and on Disney cruises.
Fast forward to almost exactly one year ago when I was lucky enough to attend a conference at Disneyland with my friend, Jen. She had never been to DL and I hadn’t been in 10 years so we decided to plan a couple extra days before and one extra day after the conference ended. We stayed at The Disneyland Hotel for 2 nights and then 5 nights at Disney’s Grand Californian and we had the best time ever! Having never met in person before, we were both a little worried about spending an entire week together in the same room. We worried for nothing because we got along famously! Not only did we get along but it ended up being a ridiculously fun week and every night I went to bed with a stomach ache from laughing so hard all day long with her. I don’t know if it was because of Jen or because we stayed on-site at two amazing Disney hotels or because of the new additions to DCA (probably a combination of all three!) but I totally fell in love with Disneyland!
What I hated about it before (so small and close together) was actually what I now loved about it. I loved the intimacy, loved that I could park hop in just a few minutes, loved that Downtown Disney was right there and LOVED LOVED LOVED that my room was only a short walk away from wherever I was! It probably helped that I sprained my ankle within an hour of checking in at the hotel and had to hobble in pain for the entire trip but hey, it made me appreciate the close proximity of it all that much more!
In 2004 hubby and I were on a very tight budget so last year I made sure I splurged a little and ate at Steakhouse 55, The Blue Bayou, Storyteller’s Café and during our TA Conference, we ate at Wine Country Trattoria and Goofy’s Kitchen as well. We also ate at a few counter service places and almost every single thing I ate was delicious!!! The four things that really stood out were the potatoes at both Steakhouse 55 and Blue Bayou, the chicken sandwich at Storyteller’s, my corn dog at Corn Dog Castle at DCA and the freaking amazing chicken nachos at White Water Snacks! Oh. My. Gawrsh!!!
The best nachos I have ever tasted in my life! And I also tried (and fell in love with) guacamole for the first time ever! I jokingly told Jen that I would make a trip back JUST for those nachos!!!
All kidding aside, the whole week I kept thinking how I couldn’t wait to get Rob and Kira down here and how much they would love it too!
So, when I decided that we were all in need of some serious fun, Disneyland was a quick and easy choice! Sadly, when I booked it, I didn’t know much about the big 60th Diamond Celebration as nothing had been announced and I certainly did not know they were going to close so many attractions in order to prep for the big 60th. Once everything was announced at the very end of January and I found out just exactly what was going to be closed during our visit, it took the wind out of my sails. I was really bummed about missing World of Color with my family, Soarin’ (as it was Kira’s fave ride in WDW in 2013) and Peter Pan because Jen and I had skipped it last year due to insanely long lines and I don’t think I got to ride it in 1998 or 2004.
The sadness didn’t last long because instead of letting it bother me, I focused on all of the stuff we WILL be doing and just being able to get away with my family is so rare and precious and nothing is going to take away from that!
A Different Perspective
During that conference, we got to see an abbreviated version of Walk in Walt’s’ Footsteps Tour. Now, like I mentioned earlier, my “home park” is Walt Disney World. That is where I have childhood memories of my parents, who have long since passed. WDW is where the Magic lives for me, then and now. That is where I have taken my daughter to, starting at 10 months old and now I have fond memories there as a child and a mother.
During that tour, as I stood in Walt’s apartment, imagining him looking out that window, down onto the crowds of families that enjoyed and marveled at what he created, I understood in that fleeting moment just exactly why Disneyland fans are so fiercely proud of Walt’s park. The man who created, not only Disneyland but the entire concept of the Theme Park, walked this park, his park.
Once this trip was booked, I went online and bought some Disneyland books. Other than some basics, I didn’t really know a whole lot about the history of Disneyland. I’m a walking, talking encyclopedia when it comes to Walt Disney World and my desk is filled with WDW history and guide books but only a single Disneyland book occupied my shelf, Birnbaum’s 1998 Official guidebook. So, I decided that it was time to do some learning!
In between reading these books, I would peruse the interwebs, often finding myself on YouTube, where I found some amazing footage of the construction and early history of the park. The more I read, the more fascinated I became! Because of my WDW knowledge, I recognized a lot of the Imagineers who helped build Disneyland and ended up re-reading one of my books, Designing Disney, by John Hench after finding out just what an integral part he played in the creation and design of Disneyland.
Obviously, I learned a lot. I think I enjoyed the trip on a different level this time. I stopped to look at the details, I shared stories with my hubby about how they designed this or built that. I told him about The Domingues Tree, how they invented Doritos as we walked past Rancho Del Zocolo, shared a funny story about Disney trying to change the corn dog recipe as well as other tidbits and facts that I had remembered. Sometimes I just kept the secrets or stories to myself, smiling as I walked by Marty Sklar's window or popped into The Opera House to see Walt's bench.
I will say that it was not easy to stop and smell the roses sometimes, especially with an 8-year old who just wants to go from one fun thing to the next but I definitely tried
Okay, I think that is enough of a background for you! Let's get this show on the road!
On the YouTube clips, make sure to click on the gear icon at the bottom and change the settings to the highest HD possible
Chapter Links
Saturday, February 28th, 2015
Surprise!
Getting to LAX
Making our way to the Happiest Place on Earth
Food, finally and our Room
Pool Time
Dinner and a zoo
Sunday, March 1st, 2015
Early morning tour of the hotel grounds
Tour continued...
Breakfast at Steakhouse 55
A suite life!
A Goofy Dinner
Monday, March 2nd, 2015
Park time!
Finishing off DCA
Chickens, pirates and tears, oh my!
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015
Disneyland Early Entry
Where's the toast???
A Whole Lot of Space Travel
Absolutely Fantasmic!
Wednesday, March 4th, 2015
It's a Frozen kind of morning
Snowfest, Sing-A-Long and Sassiness!
Carsland fun!
The Grump
Thursday, March 5th, 2015
Magical Morning!
Bibbidi Bobbidi Beautiful!
Royalty galore!
Under the Sea...twice!
Let's FastPass that!
Big Thunder, baby!
RFC, RSR and MJJ
Friday, March 6th, 2015
Breakfast with Critters
Annnnd that's me, done!
Illegal refills and half of da sannwich
The last of our park time
Saturday, March 7th, 2015
But I don't wanna go home!!!
My Disneyland Videos
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
.
Disneyland Resort February 28th - March 7th, 2015
Cast
Cass- 42-year old Disney FREAK, writer of this trip report as well as main photographer and videographer who planned it all!
Rob- 44-year old Disney/Star Wars freak, food-loving, amazing hubby who wisely lets his wife plan all vacations.
Kira – 8-year old sweet, wonderful, sassy princess who was clueless about the entire trip until 5am on the day we left!
Foreword
It’s been a tough couple years for me. I have struggled with a chronic auto-immune disease for the past 18 years but it has gotten progressively worse in the past two years or so and some new stuff has popped up that I was not prepared to deal with. I will spare you the ugly details and just say that after what I just went through, (and put my family through) it was time for a break for all three of us! With my health the way it is, I just didn’t have it in me to go to Walt Disney World, which is our usual vacation destination. It’s just too big and too hot for me to handle right now, so I decided that Disneyland was the way to go for this trip!
Hubby and I honeymooned in Southern California in 1998 (our first trip to DL) and then we went back for a quick 2-day visit in 2004. Honestly, I didn’t care for it. My Disney home is WDW. That is where my parents took me and my four siblings for our family vacations, with my first trip in 1975 when I was just three years old. That was Disney to me.
I took hubby to WDW for his first trip in 1999 and he fell in love with it. We went back in 2000, 2002 and 2003. Then in 2004, he started a new job and their head office is located in San Diego. We live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada so he had to fly down to sign a contract and decided to drag me with him. Okay, there was no dragging involved.
We took a side trip to Disneyland for 2 days. We stayed at a hotel that overlooked orange groves that was located where the Toy Story Parking Lot now stands. We spent one day at Disneyland Park and one day at the nearly new Disney’s California Adventure. While we loved Soarin’ and Tower of Terror, the new park was a bit of a disaster. The food that we had in both parks was gross and expensive, (CDN $ exchange rate was a killer!) the CM’s were rude and basically, we found no “magic” anywhere. We had no interest in going back and all of future trips were spent at WDW and on Disney cruises.
Fast forward to almost exactly one year ago when I was lucky enough to attend a conference at Disneyland with my friend, Jen. She had never been to DL and I hadn’t been in 10 years so we decided to plan a couple extra days before and one extra day after the conference ended. We stayed at The Disneyland Hotel for 2 nights and then 5 nights at Disney’s Grand Californian and we had the best time ever! Having never met in person before, we were both a little worried about spending an entire week together in the same room. We worried for nothing because we got along famously! Not only did we get along but it ended up being a ridiculously fun week and every night I went to bed with a stomach ache from laughing so hard all day long with her. I don’t know if it was because of Jen or because we stayed on-site at two amazing Disney hotels or because of the new additions to DCA (probably a combination of all three!) but I totally fell in love with Disneyland!
What I hated about it before (so small and close together) was actually what I now loved about it. I loved the intimacy, loved that I could park hop in just a few minutes, loved that Downtown Disney was right there and LOVED LOVED LOVED that my room was only a short walk away from wherever I was! It probably helped that I sprained my ankle within an hour of checking in at the hotel and had to hobble in pain for the entire trip but hey, it made me appreciate the close proximity of it all that much more!
In 2004 hubby and I were on a very tight budget so last year I made sure I splurged a little and ate at Steakhouse 55, The Blue Bayou, Storyteller’s Café and during our TA Conference, we ate at Wine Country Trattoria and Goofy’s Kitchen as well. We also ate at a few counter service places and almost every single thing I ate was delicious!!! The four things that really stood out were the potatoes at both Steakhouse 55 and Blue Bayou, the chicken sandwich at Storyteller’s, my corn dog at Corn Dog Castle at DCA and the freaking amazing chicken nachos at White Water Snacks! Oh. My. Gawrsh!!!
The best nachos I have ever tasted in my life! And I also tried (and fell in love with) guacamole for the first time ever! I jokingly told Jen that I would make a trip back JUST for those nachos!!!
All kidding aside, the whole week I kept thinking how I couldn’t wait to get Rob and Kira down here and how much they would love it too!
So, when I decided that we were all in need of some serious fun, Disneyland was a quick and easy choice! Sadly, when I booked it, I didn’t know much about the big 60th Diamond Celebration as nothing had been announced and I certainly did not know they were going to close so many attractions in order to prep for the big 60th. Once everything was announced at the very end of January and I found out just exactly what was going to be closed during our visit, it took the wind out of my sails. I was really bummed about missing World of Color with my family, Soarin’ (as it was Kira’s fave ride in WDW in 2013) and Peter Pan because Jen and I had skipped it last year due to insanely long lines and I don’t think I got to ride it in 1998 or 2004.
The sadness didn’t last long because instead of letting it bother me, I focused on all of the stuff we WILL be doing and just being able to get away with my family is so rare and precious and nothing is going to take away from that!
A Different Perspective
During that conference, we got to see an abbreviated version of Walk in Walt’s’ Footsteps Tour. Now, like I mentioned earlier, my “home park” is Walt Disney World. That is where I have childhood memories of my parents, who have long since passed. WDW is where the Magic lives for me, then and now. That is where I have taken my daughter to, starting at 10 months old and now I have fond memories there as a child and a mother.
During that tour, as I stood in Walt’s apartment, imagining him looking out that window, down onto the crowds of families that enjoyed and marveled at what he created, I understood in that fleeting moment just exactly why Disneyland fans are so fiercely proud of Walt’s park. The man who created, not only Disneyland but the entire concept of the Theme Park, walked this park, his park.
Once this trip was booked, I went online and bought some Disneyland books. Other than some basics, I didn’t really know a whole lot about the history of Disneyland. I’m a walking, talking encyclopedia when it comes to Walt Disney World and my desk is filled with WDW history and guide books but only a single Disneyland book occupied my shelf, Birnbaum’s 1998 Official guidebook. So, I decided that it was time to do some learning!
In between reading these books, I would peruse the interwebs, often finding myself on YouTube, where I found some amazing footage of the construction and early history of the park. The more I read, the more fascinated I became! Because of my WDW knowledge, I recognized a lot of the Imagineers who helped build Disneyland and ended up re-reading one of my books, Designing Disney, by John Hench after finding out just what an integral part he played in the creation and design of Disneyland.
Obviously, I learned a lot. I think I enjoyed the trip on a different level this time. I stopped to look at the details, I shared stories with my hubby about how they designed this or built that. I told him about The Domingues Tree, how they invented Doritos as we walked past Rancho Del Zocolo, shared a funny story about Disney trying to change the corn dog recipe as well as other tidbits and facts that I had remembered. Sometimes I just kept the secrets or stories to myself, smiling as I walked by Marty Sklar's window or popped into The Opera House to see Walt's bench.
I will say that it was not easy to stop and smell the roses sometimes, especially with an 8-year old who just wants to go from one fun thing to the next but I definitely tried
Okay, I think that is enough of a background for you! Let's get this show on the road!
On the YouTube clips, make sure to click on the gear icon at the bottom and change the settings to the highest HD possible
Chapter Links
Saturday, February 28th, 2015
Surprise!
Getting to LAX
Making our way to the Happiest Place on Earth
Food, finally and our Room
Pool Time
Dinner and a zoo
Sunday, March 1st, 2015
Early morning tour of the hotel grounds
Tour continued...
Breakfast at Steakhouse 55
A suite life!
A Goofy Dinner
Monday, March 2nd, 2015
Park time!
Finishing off DCA
Chickens, pirates and tears, oh my!
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015
Disneyland Early Entry
Where's the toast???
A Whole Lot of Space Travel
Absolutely Fantasmic!
Wednesday, March 4th, 2015
It's a Frozen kind of morning
Snowfest, Sing-A-Long and Sassiness!
Carsland fun!
The Grump
Thursday, March 5th, 2015
Magical Morning!
Bibbidi Bobbidi Beautiful!
Royalty galore!
Under the Sea...twice!
Let's FastPass that!
Big Thunder, baby!
RFC, RSR and MJJ
Friday, March 6th, 2015
Breakfast with Critters
Annnnd that's me, done!
Illegal refills and half of da sannwich
The last of our park time
Saturday, March 7th, 2015
But I don't wanna go home!!!
My Disneyland Videos
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
.
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