The TCD Gang Goes to Disneyland!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We don't need no stinkin' jackets!  

 

We have t-shirts!  

 

And sweatshirts!  

 

And hats!

 

(And possibly other stuff, but that is all the FF gear I have.)

 

That's right!

 

But a "Sons of Snarky" denim jacket with the sleeves cut off would look pretty sweet.

 

Wow!  The Columbia is cool!

 

And what's up with the people there not using FPs?  Do they like standing in line?

 

The Columbia is cool.  The thing that impressed me is that this entire ship is a replica built 60 years ago specifically for Disneyland.  It has been through a few refurbishments, but it's still the same basic attraction that has continuously operated for 60 years.

 

I am not sure what is up with those Disneyland folks and FP's.  The culture there is definitely more laid back than it is at WDW.  We were there on a busy day.  I think on typical days even FP rides don't have wait times that exceed 15-30 minutes.  When the wait time is that short, I can see people just getting in the standby line rather than pulling a FP and having to come back an hour or so later.  The only FP's we ever saw run out on this trip were the ones for the Radiator Springs Racers.  All of the other FP rides always had availability throughout the day.

 

I used to wear my backpack wrong at WDW when I brought it.  It was easier to get at stuff and I knew I wasn't smacking into other people with it.

 

They had canoes in WDW the same time we saw the show.  I remember them letting us have at it at first and then finally showing us the right way to paddle.  I didn't get to ride in the submarine, but I got to do the canoe. LOL

 

I can see the possible value of wearing your backpack backwards, but it's a back pack.  You know?

 

That's awesome that you got to ride the canoes in WDW.  I knew that they once had them, but I don't recall ever seeing them, and I certainly never rode in them.  Frankly, I'm glad they don't have them in WDW anymore.  It would be pretty awful to have to paddle one of those giant things around in the Florida heat and humidity.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We are going canoeing!

 

With some new Haunted Mansion FP's in my pocket, we headed in to Critter Country:

 

 

It still puzzles me why there is a land called Critter Country at Disneyland.  Why isn't this just part of Frontierland?

 

Their Splash Mountain is located in Critter Country:

 

 

I have since looked in to this, and found that this land was, in fact, carved out of Frontierland back in the early '70's.  They created this brand new land to hype the first attraction in Disneyland which was a copy of an attraction that first appeared in Disney World.

 

Do you know what attraction that was?

 

The Country Bear Jamboree.

 

As hard as it might be for you to believe, the Country Bear Jamboree was a big deal in 1971, when Disney World opened.

 

It was an E-ticket attraction, and it packed them in.

 

So much so, that for the Disneyland version, they doubled the size of the attraction, creating two identical theaters with two sets of animatronic bears. 

 

And they plopped the whole thing down in a new land called Bear Country.  Which opened in 1972.

 

And it was a big deal for a while.

 

Until people got tired of seeing robot bears singing inappropriate songs.

 

I didn't know it when we first arrived at Disneyland, but the Disneyland Country Bear Jamboree closed up shop in 2001.  The Pooh ride was built in the space it once occupied. 

 

So, they had to change the name of this once new land from Bear Country to Critter Country.

 

Now you know.

 

Those poor Californians don't have the Country Bears any more.

 

Aren't we the lucky ones?

 

Here we are at the Davy Crockett Explore Canoes:

 

 

What a great attraction- nothing complicated.  One group comes in, gets out of the canoe, and another group jumps in and takes off:

 

 

Tom Sawyer Island is just across the pond:

 

 

And the Columbia and Mark Twain were circling around:

 

 

 

As you can see, we were all ecstatic to get our paddles and jump on in:

 

 

 

The CM's who work here are a fun bunch.  They don't take any of this too seriously,  This guy here ended up being the guy in the back of our canoe:

 

 

As far as I could tell, there are no life vests aboard for guests.  They had life vests on the dock for anyone who wanted one, but they didn't require guests to wear them:

 

 

There's Disneyland's Fort Wilderness:

 

 

Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes selfie:

 

 

And, with very little in the way of instructions, we headed out.  We had a CM up front, and that other guy in the back.  There is no magic here, the guy up front told us.  If we didn't paddle, we'd be here a long time.  So we paddled. 

 

The canoe was much more stable than I expected it to be.  And slower.  I think we had a bunch of slackers in our canoe, and the guy up front called them out on it.  Which was funny.

 

I was pleased when we finally started to make some forward progress, and made it to the plastic chief:

 

 

The CM up front gets quite a workout, as he seemed to be providing most of the energy for our forward propulsion:

 

 

I liked the canoe ride.  It was neat seeing all of the plastic props from canoe level:

 

 

It was about here that the CM up front told us we really needed to paddle.  So, I put the camera away and I did.

 

It was fun.

 

But not something I feel the need to do again.

 

We stopped and got some drinks after the canoe ride.  We had about 5 minutes to kill before we could cash in our Haunted Mansion FP's.

 

Then we headed there.

 

Just as we walked up to the Haunted Mansion, I got a text.

 

Our room at the Grand Californian was ready!  It was about 1:15.  Check-in time isn't until 3 or 4.  So that was a bonus.  Plus, I think they had cookies and tea sandwiches out in the concierge lounge.  Time for us to go!

 

But first, we had to see old Sandy Claws again.  Some more photos of the over the top Christmas decorations:

 

 

 

They had lots and lots of pumpkins:

 

 

 

They had Nightmare Before Christmas stuff everywhere.  In the graveyard:

 

 

And on the balconies:

 

 

The  inside of the Haunted Mansion is not easy to photograph.  It's something you will need to go and see yourself.  After their stretching room, there's a long hallway you have to walk down before getting to the loading area- there are animated portraits on the wall here:

 

 

By the way, do you know why the Disneyland stretching room is an actual elevator and why we had to walk down that long hall?

 

The Disneyland Haunted Mansion ride building sits outside of the train tracks.  We went down in the elevator so we could walk under the tracks to get to the big building that actually houses the ride.  Very clever.

 

There is a giant Nightmare Before Christmas gingerbread house in the ballroom scene.  This is a bad photo of it, but I needed a photo because this gingerbread house is a big deal. They actually make trading pins every year with the image of that year's NBC gingerbread house on it:

 

 

As luck would have it, my doom buggy came to a stop right in front of the animatronic Sandy Claws on the ride.  We sat there for a few minutes.  All around me, guests were taking flash photos of the ride.  Since it wouldn't ruin anyone's ride experience, I did too:

 

 

That Jack robot was in the place where the guy and the dog are supposed to be.  They don't kid around with this overlay.

 

After Haunted Mansion, we all agreed we should head out to go and see our room at the Grand Californian.

 

We headed out through New Orleans Square. 

 

Tiana was out meeting.

 

What a perfect backdrop for a photo with her:

 

 

The decorations here are great:

 

 

We strolled out beneath the garland on Main Street:

 

 

And admired the Christmas tree as we passed by:

 

 

I thought to stop and turn back for a photo of the castle.  This sure ain't Disney World:

 

 

That's the 30th photo for this update.

 

We will make it out of Disneyland and to the hotel in the next update.

 

Make sure you check back so you can see some photos of a Grand Californian Club Level room and the view we had from our balcony.  It wasn't too bad.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

No life jackets?  In California that legislates everything?  I am amazed!!  

 

Good job on the canoe selfie!  You are improving!

 

Looking forward to the next update!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Awesome updates!

 

Very cool that you got to ride the Columbia. I like historical stuff too.

 

That's funny about the people getting called out on the canoe.

 

Can't wait to see your room! 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm excited to see your room.  And the Club Level.

[jengarynew adventures 0]

Excellant updates!  Love the Columbia, what a treasure to see first hand.  Really wish WDW would theme for the holidays similar to WDL.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

No life jackets?  In California that legislates everything?  I am amazed!!  

 

Good job on the canoe selfie!  You are improving!

 

Looking forward to the next update!

 

I was amazed too.  It wouldn't take much for someone to fall out of a canoe.

 

You won't have much longer to wait for the next update.  It should be up later today.

 

Awesome updates!

 

Very cool that you got to ride the Columbia. I like historical stuff too.

 

That's funny about the people getting called out on the canoe.

 

Can't wait to see your room! 

 

Room pics will be in the next update.

 

Today I hope.

 

I'm excited to see your room.  And the Club Level.

 

Don't get too excited.  It was nice and all, but on the same level with a WDW deluxe room.

 

Excellant updates!  Love the Columbia, what a treasure to see first hand.  Really wish WDW would theme for the holidays similar to WDL.

 

Agreed.

 

I guess WDW doesn't need the holiday overlays to attract crowds. But, I'm not sure Disneyland does either.  They just seem to honor Walt's philosophy of giving the guests more than they expect.  That concept has been lost in Florida.

 

TCD

[Northerngirl--Lori 5]

Great update. I hate to see this trip report come to an end.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great update. I hate to see this trip report come to an end.

 

Don't worry about the end yet.

 

We sill have a bit to go!

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's do another update.

 

This TR seems like it's taking forever.

 

But, I know that the end is near, as our stay in the Grand Californian was on the last night of our trip.  Our flight out on Monday wasn't until late, so we got quite a bit done on Monday morning.

 

For now, though, it's still the early afternoon of Sunday, December 7.  We had checked in at the Grand Californian earlier, and have been spending time in the MK.  

 

We just got notice that our room was ready, so we're heading out to go and see it.

 

We are almost out of Disneyland.

 

But, first, I needed to look at their Fire Station.  Their Fire Station is still a fire station.  It hasn't been taken over by a card game:

 

 

You see that window up there? That's Walt Disney's apartment.  They keep a light lit in the window all year, except at Christmas time, and then it's a Christmas tree:

 

 

There's an old fire wagon parked in the fire house.  A very cool artifact:

 

 

One last look at the Christmas tree before we split:

 

 

I wanted to check on the bench people and see how they were doing, but I got distracted by the fact that the flag was at half staff:

 

 

That made me stop and think.

 

Why?

 

Shame on me.

 

Today was December 7.

 

Pearl Harbor day.

 

We must never forget.

 

I almost did.

 

But, Disney didn't.

 

Way to go, Disney.

 

These guys were hanging out people watching instead of driving the train:

 

 

We walked across the esplanade, and right in to California Adventure.

 

This is the Starbucks we visited last night.  This is how WDW ought to do a Starbucks if they're going to have them in the parks.  Make them big, and give people a place to sit:

 

 

We hung a right when we got to Condor Flats:

 

 

The walkway here is themed like the Pacific Coast Highway- and there's the Grand Californian there off to the side of the road.  We all wondered if one of those rooms might be ours:

 

 

You see that sign saying Food and Lodging ahead?  That was true- the entrance to the Grand Californian from the park was just ahead:

 

 

We headed in, and took one of the main elevators in the lobby up to the 6th floor, and said hello to one of the concierge CM's at the concierge desk.  Then we headed down the hall to our room.

 

We went in.  It was nice.  But, we were all curious about our view.  So, we opened the curtains, then the door, and stepped out on to our balcony, to behold this view:

 

 

I'm not going to lie.

 

I liked our view.

 

It was a smidge better than the view we had from the Park Vue Inn.

 

The pools were right below us:

 

 

I think that's a big hot tub:

 

 

If you look past the big fake bear head, you can see real, genuine mountains there in the background.  The only mountains we have in Florida are the ones at Disney World:

 

 

If you look across the pool deck here, you'll see a wooden arch near a gate- that's where the Grand Californian's quick serve restaurant is located.  It wasn't really convenient for us.  And, then, if you follow that line of trees to the left, the Californian Adventure park entrance from the hotel is behind the last tree in that line:

 

 

Do you see the rocks peeking over the top of the roof here on the right?  That's Radiator Springs Racers:

 

 

I wanted a photo of the girls on the balcony.  And that's what I got.  Should have used a flash:

 

 

Now the room.

 

It had two beds in it, and if you think the one on the right looks like it has been jumped on, you're right:

 

 

I needed to call the bellman to bring our luggage up, but first, there was some food that needed to be eaten down at the Craftsman Club.  That's what they call the concierge lounge here.

 

We passed by this window on the way there. This would be our view if we were on the other side of our hallway- that's the Disneyland Hotel there, and the back of Downtown Disney on the right:

 

 

Here we are in the Craftsman Lounge:

 

 

You see that Monin syrup?

 

You've surely seen that around.

 

Do you know where they make it?

 

The company is from France.

 

But, the manufacturing facility for North America is located in Clearwater, Florida.  Just down the road from me.  I'll bet you didn't know that.

 

There weren't a lot of people in the lounge.  But there were a lot of little sandwiches, and a big platter of chocolate covered strawberries.

 

We went to town on that.

 

And then headed back to the room.

 

Here's the beds again:

 

 

And the TV with DVC player. There's a fridge in the cabinet below:

 

 

The bathroom was what you would expect in this kind of hotel.  Nice:

 

 

Did you know rich folks need fancy covers on their TP?  Well, they do:

 

 

I wasn't sure if I got enough pictures of the view.  So here's another:

 

 

The bellman brought up our luggage, and we got our stuff situated.

 

We turned on the TV to see if they have Stacy out her in Cali.

 

They don't.

 

They do have a few company channels on the TV, but no Stacy, or anyone like her.  Just some boring promotional videos with boring unseen narrators.

 

Then we had to go.

 

I don't recall if I mentioned that we had picked up Radiator Springs Racers FP's as we passed through California Adventure on our way to Disneyland that morning. 

 

Well, we did.

 

And it was time to cash those in.

 

More good FP management.

 

So here we are back in Carsland:

 

 

I didn't get a picture of these decorations yet, so here you go:

 

 

And this was a gift shop I hadn't photographed either.  So here you go:

 

 

We took pictures here yesterday, but I don't think I got the whole scene, so here you go:

 

 

We headed up the FP line.  As were about to proceed to the normal boarding area, a CM asked if we were a party of three and if we minded sitting in the back row.  There's a special needs boarding area before you get to the FP boarding area, and they had a back row open on one of the cars they were loading there.  So, we headed right in and got seated there:

 

 

Next up, our third Radiator Springs Racers ride.  We had lost our first two races.  Would the third time be a charm?

 

TCD

[michele j 9]

Love the faces on your daughters before riding the canoe... I'd have the same face but the difference is I wouldn't go on it.

 

I think I had some sort of water accident in another life. I don't like being on the water.

 

Looking forward to the next update. 

[lklasing 16]

Caught up again!  Still absolutely loving this TR, especially now that you're at the Grand Californian.  That view!  So very cool.  I know I'm always saying the same thing, but one day...  We've just got to go there.

 

Too many things to comment on, but I was glad to hear why the HM out there has a "real" stretching room.  I knew it was an elevator but had no idea why.  :)

 

Continuing to look forward to more!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Very cool update!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

What ?!?  No pood forn pics in the Lounge?

 

I was initially surprised that the hotel room wasn't nicer, especially with the cost of staying there.  But then I remembered the age of the hotel, and it makes sense.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

And the TV with DVC player. There's a fridge in the cabinet below:

 

 

 

 

Was that a Freudian slip or a deliberate choice?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Love that view! So now you have me wondering if you could see fireworks from the balcony.

 

No Mickey towel arrangement? 

 

I also love the Cars Christmas decorations. Very clever. 

 

You're making me miss the days of regular FP. 

 

I was initially surprised that the hotel room wasn't nicer, especially with the cost of staying there.  But then I remembered the age of the hotel, and it makes sense.

 

I've stayed in a couple deluxe resorts at the World, and they don't look much different. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Love the faces on your daughters before riding the canoe... I'd have the same face but the difference is I wouldn't go on it.

 

I think I had some sort of water accident in another life. I don't like being on the water.

 

Looking forward to the next update. 

 

They were just kidding with those faces.  They wanted to paddle the canoe as much as I did. 

 

OK, not really.

 

I had to make a deal with them- I wanted to go to Tom Sawyer island.  I told them if they would do the canoe, then we could skip Tom Sawyer Island. 

 

Caught up again!  Still absolutely loving this TR, especially now that you're at the Grand Californian.  That view!  So very cool.  I know I'm always saying the same thing, but one day...  We've just got to go there.

 

Too many things to comment on, but I was glad to hear why the HM out there has a "real" stretching room.  I knew it was an elevator but had no idea why.   :)

 

Continuing to look forward to more!

 

One of your girls needs to do the college program, and then going to Disneyland will be a no brainer.  If you go during a non-blockout time, they could get your family in to the parks for free, and also snag you a discount on a Disney hotel room.

 

I am really glad that we finally made it out there.

 

Very cool update!

 

Thanks.

 

What ?!?  No pood forn pics in the Lounge?

 

I was initially surprised that the hotel room wasn't nicer, especially with the cost of staying there.  But then I remembered the age of the hotel, and it makes sense.

 

I am bad with taking food photos.  The lounge always had people in it, and there are also a couple of CM's always hovering around offering assistance.  It's not easy to load up a plate with food and take photos at the same time, and the twins kept on reminding me to act like I belonged in the concierge lounge.  Beau Bridges wasn't talking photos of the chocolate covered strawberries, so I figured I shouldn't either.

 

What do you mean about the age of the hotel making sense that it wasn't nicer?  In the scheme of things, the Grand Californian is one of Disney's newest hotels.  It opened in 2001, which is the same year the Animal Kingdom Lodge opened in Disney World.  I would say the quality of the rooms in each of those hotels is very similar.

 

Was that a Freudian slip or a deliberate choice?

 

That was a typo.  LOL.

 

Love that view! So now you have me wondering if you could see fireworks from the balcony.

 

No Mickey towel arrangement? 

 

I also love the Cars Christmas decorations. Very clever. 

 

You're making me miss the days of regular FP. 

 

 

I've stayed in a couple deluxe resorts at the World, and they don't look much different. 

 

I don't think we were pointed the right way to see fireworks from our balcony.  Maybe we could have seen them off to the left, but we weren't in the room when the Disneyland fireworks went off that night.

 

You're right, there was no Mickey towel arrangement.  But, that isn't even something I noticed.

 

This trip did make me miss the old days of paper FP's. 

 

I agree with you about the Grand Californian being comparable to WDW deluxe resorts.  We have stayed in all the WDW deluxe resorts, and this room was right on the level of what you get in a deluxe room at WDW.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It's still Sunday, December 7.  We are riding the Radiator Springs Racers for the third time on this trip.  The course is still impressive:

 

 

It was 3:58 pm, but the sun was already very low in the sky, and causing some very interesting lighting effects on the big fake mountains:

 

 

We enjoyed the ride as much as we did on our first two rides, and as a bonus, this time we finally won the race at the end! 

 

We were now 1-2 on the RSR's!

 

I thought about hanging around in Carsland for the decoration lighting ceremony, but it probably wasn't going to be officially dusk for another hour, so we headed on out.  There are several little buildings here that house gift shops or snack/drink stands which we never went in:

 

 

 

There was one big thing that we had yet to do in California Adventure.  The big bear head reminded us of that:

 

 

We had yet to ride the Grizzly River Rapids. 

 

Based no past experiences we have had with Kali River Rapids in WDW, and similar rides at Busch Gardens and Universal Studios, none of us were particularly thrilled with the idea of riding Grizzly River Rapids.  Maybe on a hot summer day.  But not on a cool day in December.

 

We put off Grizzly River Rapids until today, because we knew we would have a hotel room right next door to go to in case we got drenched.

 

So, it was time.

 

We had picked up FP's for the ride when we headed to RSR's earlier.  Nobody else was getting FP's and the return time was only 30 minutes away.  There was only a 5 minute wait posted when we came back to ride:

 

 

There are a bunch of lockers behind the entrance here.  They are free for the first two hours:

 

 

We stowed all of our stuff in the lockers.  All of it.  Phones and cameras too.  So, there are no photos of us on the ride.

 

The ride was a walk on.  We used our FP's, but they were a total waste.

 

The ride was fun.  It was a lot longer than Kali River Rapids, but other than being longer, it was about the same. Luckily, we only got splashed a lot.  No huge waves came over anyone's head like we have had happen on Kali.

 

When we got to the end, there was no one waiting to get in our raft.  We asked the CM if we could stay in and go again, but he said no.  We had to get out, exit, and then reenter.  Dumb.  But that's what we did.

 

So we rode it twice.

 

It's your basic raft ride.

 

And nobody seems to want to ride it.

 

Which is kind of odd since that Bear Head is the symbol for the park.

 

After our rides on Grizzly River Rapids, we were wet enough that we decided to head back to our room to change.

 

Plus it was now time for the "Grand Hours" at the concierge lounge, where we would allegedly get some scrumptious appetizers and complimentary beer and wine.

 

They had a guitar player just sitting off to the side outside of Grizzly River Rapids.  The guy was good, but I've never seen a random guitar player anywhere in any of the WDW theme parks.  Odd:

 

 

We headed to the room, changed into dry clothes, and then went to the Concierge Lounge.  If you're keeping track, this was now our third visit.  We had been there for breakfast, then tea time, and now for Grand Hours.

 

As advertised, there were all kinds of scrumptious appetizers and some vegetables and stuff too.  We were in California, after all.

 

And the CM's in there were circulating around the room offering to bring guests beer and wine.  Since it was "free" I figured I ought to have a beer or three.  I asked the CM if they had any local craft beers, and she offered me one of these:

 

 

That beer hit the spot.

 

I had another one after that.

 

And I would have had another, but the girls were ready to go.

 

While we were enjoying the lounge, we had a great conversation with our server.  Once she found out that the twins were CM's from Disney World, we had all kinds of interesting things to talk about.  She had been to WDW a couple of times, and told us about her experiences.  She had worked here at the Grand Floridian for quite a while, and told us some great stories about some of the celebrities who had stayed there.  She really liked Johnny Depp.  She really did not like Justin Bieber and Brittany Spears.

 

Just as we were about to go, there was a commotion at the door, and this group of carolers came in:

 

 

They were a great group.

 

They sang a couple of songs, and then took requests.

 

Some knucklehead asked them to sing "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," and I thought they would pass on that, but they sang it, and even added in a little rap number to make it funnier.

 

That was a magical moment, and got us all in the Christmas spirit.

 

It was near 7 before we made it out of the Grand Hours.

 

Then it was back in to the park.  The girls had some shopping to do, and now was the time to do it.  We also wanted to bring back gifts for Mrs. TCD and big sister, so we spent some time doing that.

 

On the way back to one of the shops, we stopped by this part of California Adventure:

 

 

That looked like fun, but also perhaps exhausting.

 

We just looked.

 

Then we hauled our loot back to the room.

 

It was after 8 by then.

 

We still had those World of Color FP's.

 

But it was now "Sweet Endings" time in the concierge lounge.  This promised desserts and "complimentary cordials."  I was pretty sure that cordials was a fancy name for drinks, so we went.

 

There were plenty of desserts, and a list of cordials that the servers would bring.  There was Kahlua on there, and Drambuie, and Bailey's.  You know, sissy stuff.  But it was alcohol.  And it was "free," so I had a couple of Bailey's on the rocks.  Very nice for a sissy drink.

 

As 9 approached, our new server friend suggested that we go find a place out on the balcony for the fireworks. 

 

I knew there was a fireworks viewing deck somewhere, but it was right off the lounge.  For us concierge guests only, you know.

 

So we went out there.

 

They piped in the music.

 

I only have one bad photo, and it doesn't represent the nice view we had:

 

 

That was fun.

 

And unexpected.

 

It was about 9:20 by the time the Disneyland fireworks were done.

 

And World of Color was set to go at 9:45.

 

It was too late for us to use those FP's now.

 

Our new friend the server told us how to get to the World of Color viewing deck.

 

It was just around the corner from our room on the 6th floor.

 

This was the view from there:

 

 

I did a bad job taking photos, but we really enjoyed watching the show from here:

 

 

 

 

Although I liked not being in a mob of people, I still think it would be better to see that show from close up, but without a bunch of other people's heads in front of you.

 

After World of Color, we popped back to our room.

 

It was a bit past 10:30, and the parks were open until midnight.

 

We could hit up some more rides.

 

But, we had that nice room.

 

And we voted to stay in and go for an early start tomorrow.

 

We planned to do two rope drops in one day.

 

And then later we'd have to head to the airport.

 

So, we called it a night.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Those are some nice perks! And I love the view of the Ferris wheel and park from the balcony. 

 

2 RDs in 1 day... I can't wait! 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

 

What do you mean about the age of the hotel making sense that it wasn't nicer?  In the scheme of things, the Grand Californian is one of Disney's newest hotels.  It opened in 2001, which is the same year the Animal Kingdom Lodge opened in Disney World.  I would say the quality of the rooms in each of those hotels is very similar.

 

 

Sorry.  I thought the hotel was a lot older than that.  Should have done my homework.  The bathroom (wall tiles and floor) looked dated to me, along with the furniture.  Reminded me of the pre-renovation POR.

 

I really liked your view of WOC and DCA in general.  Great pictures!

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Bailey's on the rocks is a nice after dinner drink, it is what I have usually too, not sissy at all.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

It sounds like there are hopefully at least two more posts in this TR.  I hope so.  I am going to be sad to see this one end.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Those are some nice perks! And I love the view of the Ferris wheel and park from the balcony. 

 

2 RDs in 1 day... I can't wait! 

 

Yes, it was all very nice.

 

But, you don't want to know what the rack rate is on the room we had.

 

Yes, two rope drops.  One day.  The first rope drop will be covered in the next update.

 

Sorry.  I thought the hotel was a lot older than that.  Should have done my homework.  The bathroom (wall tiles and floor) looked dated to me, along with the furniture.  Reminded me of the pre-renovation POR.

 

I really liked your view of WOC and DCA in general.  Great pictures!

 

No worries, I didn't know anything about the Disneyland resort a month ago.  The hotel is designed in the "craftsman" style- which makes it look kind of retro.  I can see how you would think the bathroom looked dated. But, it was very nice and new in person.  I also liked the classic look of the furnishings.

 

Bailey's on the rocks is a nice after dinner drink, it is what I have usually too, not sissy at all.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

Really?

 

I think it's a sissy drink.

 

But, since you're a Jersey guy, I'll take your word for it.

 

It sounds like there are hopefully at least two more posts in this TR.  I hope so.  I am going to be sad to see this one end.

 

Two more?

 

Try maybe 7-8.

 

Monday started with EMH at California Adventure, and we dragged ourselves out of Disneyland at around 7 pm to begin our trek back to the hotel then to the airport.

 

We will be going strong on this report for another week.

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

 

We will be going strong on this report for another week.

 

 

:banana:  :partythree:  :banana:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The final day of our trip arrived on Monday, December 8.  We had a late flight out of LAX, which gave us one more pretty full day to hit the parks.  There were still a couple of "must do's" that we hadn't done.

 

When we agreed to stay in the night before, the deal was that we would hit the concierge lounge for rope drop this morning, then head out for EMH at California Adventure at 8 am.  Disneyland would then open at 9.  On paper, it seemed easy enough that we would be able to hit both parks at opening.

 

One small complication was that we needed to check out of our room by no later than 11. The options were for us to go ahead and check out before we headed out at 8 am, or to see if we could get a late check-out, or for us to go ahead and go, and then I would return before 11 to call bell services and get our stuff out of the room.  I've always heard that you need to wait until check-out morning to ask for late check out, so I planned to check on that option when we were done with breakfast.

 

I had been getting up at 6 am on the other days of our trip, so I did today too.  I made some coffee, and sat out on the balcony to watch the sun rise over the mountains.

 

It turns out that I was a bit early for the sunrise, but the sky was definitely getting lighter, and it was really neat to sit out there in the pre-dawn and watch things slowly come to life.  There were CM's below cleaning the pools, but otherwise there were no people in sight.

 

I got a quick shower, and then got one of the twins up so she could start getting ready.

 

I made a second cup of coffee, and sat and looked at this:

 

 

I liked the view better in the morning than I had in the afternoon the day before.

 

I took a few photos of things in the room.  Like the cover of the room service menu:

 

 

I had looked this up the night before, and made a mental note that I needed to take a photo for my TR- this page shows the beer prices.  Those Hanger 24 Orange Wheat Beers I had the night before go for $7.50 a pop:

 

 

Do you remember Key to The World Cards?  (KTTW)?  That's what we used to call the room keys they issued at WDW resorts.  Now, they issue MagicBands.  Except at the Fort, where you get MagicBands and blank KTTW cards.

 

Well, out here in Disneyland, they call them Key to the Magic cards.  And, when you are staying on Club Level, your card is gold.  See?:

 

 

It's fun to flash the gold card at an EMH.  CM's act impressed.

 

The concierge lounge opens at 6:30.

 

We agreed that it wouldn't be classy to be standing outside waiting for it to open.

 

So, I hung on the balcony for a bit more while the girls got their stuff packed and ready to go.

 

At 6:27, we started to see some actual sunrise action:

 

 

Here's how it looked at 6:30:

 

 

And at 6:39:

 

 

I wouldn't have minded sitting there a bit longer, but we figured that 6:40 was a respectable time to show up for breakfast, so we went.

 

There was an interesting assortment of people in the concierge lounge.  Off to one side, there was an Asian couple who appeared to be wearing nothing but their complimentary Grand Californian Club Level robes.  We had a couple of them hanging up in the closet back in our room.  I didn't know that it was appropriate Club Level Lounge attire.  Whoever that couple was, they were important.  All of the CM's were falling over themselves going to that table and checking on them.

At another table was a mom and her kids.  The mom looked like the wife of a rock star.  Kind of rough.  She was nagging her kids the whole time about eating fruit and not pastries.   Really loud and annoying.  I didn't understand why they were up so early.

 

We ate breakfast quick.  Then headed back to the room to get things squared away.  Here's how things looked from our balcony at 7:10 am:

 

 

While the girls finished getting ready, I headed down to the concierge desk to see about getting our boarding passes printed and to ask about late check-out. 

 

I took a few photos on the way.  These chandeliers hung over the lobby:

 

 

And there's the lobby down there:

 

 

The concierge was able to get us checked in to our flight and printed our boarding passes.  I asked him about late check out, and he said it wouldn't be possible today.  I then asked him if we would be able to use the concierge lounge after 11 am.  He said no.  We could use the pool and other facilities, but not the lounge.  I regretted that I asked that question.  The last time we stayed in a club level room at WDW, the concierge specifically told us that our gold card would work the elevator to the club level right up until midnight that night, and that we were welcome to use the lounge until then as well.  I am not sure if that is still the case at WDW, but it's apparently not the case in California. 

 

So, with no late check-out, the plan was that we would head out to California Adventure for EMH, then move on to Disneyland, and at some point before 11, I would come back here to get us checked out of the room.  We could have done it then, but I didn't want to wait around for the bellman, and who knew if we might want to come back to the room sometime before 11?

 

At 7:45, we headed out.

 

At 7:49 we were here at the California Adventure entrance. It was kind of crowded, but they had CM's at every station, and the lines were moving:

 

 

By 7:51, we were in the park.  They were holding guests in the area right inside the park entrance:

 

 

The World of Color FP machine was operating, and there were CM's there telling guests that they were welcome to claim them:

 

 

A little before 8, the mob in front of us started to move:

 

 

It was an interesting group.  No one stampeded like we do at WDW.  Everyone just casually walked forward in a calm and polite manner.

 

I was surprised that the CM leading us in to the park took us the long way in- toward Paradise Pier.  I figured they would take us toward Radiator Springs Racers.   We walked past the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail:

 

 

Look at how much space there is between everyone. This would never happen at WDW:

 

 

When we got to the Little Mermaid ride, they stopped us:

 

 

There's the Little Mermaid ride over to the right.  If we wanted to go to Paradise Pier, we could have headed that way.  But nobody wanted to do that:

 

 

Nope.  We all turned to the left and headed to Cars Land:

 

 

Because everyone was walking so casually, we easily made our way to the front of the pack.  No elbowing required:

 

 

As we walked up, Lightning McQueen and Mater pulled in front of us and led the way to Carsland:

 

 

We were very near the walkway that leads to Radiator Springs Racers.  This was going to be easy, I thought.

 

But, then I heard some of the people around us gasp.

 

Coming straight at us from the other direction was this huge mob of people:

 

 

Who are they?

 

Those are people who came in the main entrance. It could be people from the Disneyland Hotel, and it was also people who had Magic Morning entitlements on their tickets.  I don't know all the details, but Disneyland gives buyers of multi-day passes a certain number of Magic Morning entitlements.  Those guests get to come in early just like resort guests do.  It looked like there was a lot of them today.

 

At exactly 8 am, the CM's told us we could go.  Those other people got to go to.  They timed this just right so the two groups met at the walkway and turned in to it at the same time:

 

 

All of us merged and funneled in to the path leading back to Radiator Springs Racers. This was more like the stampedes we know and love at WDW:

 

 

We reached the standby line at 8:04 am. There couldn't have been more than 20 people who beat us there. We did pretty good:

 

 

This was our first time using the standby line.  Man, they did a good job theming it:

 

 

We zipped right through and were near the loading area in no time.  There were a ton of folks behind us:

 

 

Did I mention how well the queue is themed?:

 

 

We loaded right on and took off.

 

This time, I didn't take any photos- just enjoyed the ride.

 

And guess what?

 

We won our race!

 

We were now 2-2 on RSR.

 

Here we are back at the ride entrance- we were on and off in 20 minutes:

 

 

Disneyland would be opening at 9.

 

The plan was to head there next.

 

First, I wanted to see if we could get a RSR FP for later.

 

TCD