Category Archives: Disneyland

Disneyland First Visit First Impressions

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It may have been only two-and-a-half days, but our first visit to Disneyland exceeded our expectations – it was wonderful!  Our Good Neighbor hotel was fantastic and allowed us quick and easy access to the parks and Downtown Disney.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we did not see a single cloud the entire time we were there.  So with a great place to sleep and sunny skies, we got busy making the most of our limited time.

Disneyland First Visit First Impressions

Our first stop was Disney California Adventure.  So many things felt super familiar, it was odd to not know exactly how to navigate the park without a map.  Much of DCA felt like Disney’s Hollywood Studios and construction walls certainly made us feel right at home.

We were captivated by Pixar Pier and the areas around it.  There’s so much to take in and the theming was completely immersive – which we loved!  Raymond made the observation that the way the attractions were laid out reminded him of Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.  We visited Tivoli in 2015 knowing it was inspirational to Walt Disney before Disneyland was built and we noticed many similarities – mainly the way attractions, restaurants, shops, and kiosks were crowded together in an exciting way with something interesting to see or do from the ground to the sky.

We used both paper FastPasses (on Friday) and MaxPasses on Saturday and Sunday and both were certainly handy.  The paper FastPasses made us feel sentimental since those have been long gone from Walt Disney World.  MaxPass was worth every penny!  We used several (4+) a day and with all the PhotoPass photos included, we were very satisfied with how it worked.  We did miss having Magic Bands though.  We’re so used to the convenience of being able to enter the parks and purchase everything with them – doing without felt like an inconvenience.

Disneyland was a delight!  I could not believe how many attractions we could experience in just a couple of hours.  I’ll write separate posts on the attractions themselves, but I’m going to try to describe here how charmed we were by this park’s overall atmosphere.  We expected it to be as magical, interesting, delightful, and exciting as we find Magic Kingdom.  What we didn’t expect was for it to be more.  More of everything that makes us love Disney parks.  Disneyland feels like Disney World’s more mature, wiser and more beautiful sibling.

Yes, as you may have heard (or noticed yourself), Sleeping Beauty Castle is quite a shock.  Like your eyes are playing tricks on you – Where is it?!  It should be the centerpiece at the end of Main Street, visible just after entering the park.  That it doesn’t appear where and when it should certainly takes some getting used to.  Sleeping Beauty Castle’s relatively tiny stature does not detract from its beauty.  Once you get close enough to take in the details, it seems as perfect as can be.

One-stop security is awesome!  As you approach the central plaza in which the entrances to Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and Downtown Disney are located, there’s a single security stop for bag-checks and metal detector screening.  After that, park-hopping takes mere moments and, compared to Walt Disney World, seems absolutely effortless.  We loved this aspect…except after 5:00 pm.  Word of caution – if you leave the parks and return in the evening, two things happen.  Security lines are extra long due to decreased screening capacity and the sun is brutal!  We were there in September and the setting sun was blinding which made waiting in that looooong security line seem more horrible.  The necessity of arriving before the after-work crowd was one of our biggest take-aways.

Thanks for reading…I have much more to tell you, so please stop by again soon!

Just Back Trip Review – Highs and Lows of our Disney Land and Sea Adventure

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Good Gracious! Raymond and I are still exhausted! But very pleased with the heaps of happy memories we amassed on our Disney Land and Sea vacation. We thought of the 9-day trip in terms of phases. Phase 1: Vancouver, Phase 2: Disney Cruise on the Wonder, Phase 3: Disneyland. Today my goal is to put together my initial thoughts on the trip overall. (There will be detailed posts for every phase later.)

Just Back Trip Review – Highs and Lows of our Disney Land and Sea Adventure

Vancouver was great! The weather? Not so much. That didn’t keep us from enjoying an entertaining, educational, and delicious food tour on Saturday. Sunday was our anniversary, so we spent the day at a leisurely pace. Originally, we’d planned on either biking around Stanley Park or visiting Granville Island’s marketplace. The rain made both of those sound unenjoyable, so we strolled around in the rain, stopping to eat at Cardero’s on the harbor. We’d eaten here once before with Megan and Joseph prior to our Alaskan cruise in 2011, so we enjoyed happy memories along with a light lunch. Dinner that night was a fancy one at Notch8 in the Fairmont Vancouver just a few blocks from our hotel. Fantastic meal!

We crossed the street late Monday morning and stepped aboard the Disney Wonder. Since repositioning cruises tend to sometimes offer (relatively) bargain prices, Raymond had booked concierge stateroom 8044 for our anniversary celebration and the experience did not disappoint. I’ll fill you in on all the concierge details later but getting on the ship first to enjoy a special lunch in Tiana’s Place was fantastic and kicked off the cruise in a special way.

Tuesday, we docked in Astoria, Oregon. We had no idea what to expect from this little town of 10,000. The early weather predictions showed a huge chance of rain, so we were overjoyed when the day turned out to be sunny! We had a 3-hour bicycle tour planned from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. This turned out to be a perfect way to enjoy this port of call. Astoria is charming, the ride along the waterfront was flat, and the folks we met were as friendly as could be. I can’t decide what was my favorite part of the day but seeing sea lions for the first time was amazing.

Wednesday and Thursday were at-sea days. Raymond and I spent a lot of time in the fitness center trying to mitigate the accumulation of cruise food and beverage calories. We took a spin class both days and found Nicholas from South Africa to be an excellent (and challenging!) instructor. As a bonus, we also had some excellent whale-watching opportunities in the fitness center since it’s at the top of the ship and has huge windows.  We dined at Palo (adults-only restaurant) for both dinner and brunch, enjoyed two different beverage-tasting seminars, saw a movie, drank lots of coffee in Cove Café, and had a wonderful time!

Friday, we arrived in San Diego. We managed to get off the ship, Uber to the car rental place, pick up our ride, drive to Anaheim, drop our bags at the hotel, and enter Disney’s California Adventure before lunch!  Thus, Phase 3 began earlier than expected and with the most perfect weather imaginable. Once at Disneyland, we made the most of every minute!

I have so much to share with you!  Were mistakes made?  Yes, two major ones that resulted in (relatively minor) unhappiness.  We found so much to love about every aspect of this vacation and would do it all over again (with a couple of important modifications).  I’ll cover everything in detail, so please stop back by over the next couple of weeks.

Now?  I’m still catching up on sleep!  But I’ll be back soon and hope you will be too!

Disney Planning – Disney Cruise West Coast Land & Sea Adventure

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We love Disney Cruise Line and we love Disney theme parks – There’s nothing better to us that a vacation that combines them both!  What better way to celebrate wedding anniversary #29 than by sailing on the Disney Wonder before heading to Disneyland for the very first time.

Disney Planning – Disney Cruise West Coast Land & Sea Adventure

This vacation was a bit unexpected.  I was in the early stages of thinking about what we might want to do for what has become an annual anniversary getaway.  I’d been imagining Hawaii or maybe someplace else tropical that would not put us too much at risk of yet another hurricane season vacation disaster.  Unbeknownst to me, Raymond was busily shopping the Disney Cruise Line website.Disney Cruise Line / Ship

I remember bringing up the aforementioned potential tropical destination while he was typing away on his computer.  He suddenly got excited about the prices for a repositioning cruise from Vancouver to San Diego on the Wonder…so excited, in fact, that before I knew it, he exclaimed, “These prices are awesome!  This sounds fun!  I’m booking it!” (Okay, if you’ve ever met Raymond, you know he’d never speak with all those exclamations…It’s called artistic license.  I can’t help myself.)  And boom!  Part one of our vacation was in the bag.  We’ll sail from Vancouver for a four-night cruise with a stop in Astoria, Oregon before arriving in San Diego.

Now it was my turn to plan.

I didn’t waste any time.  Researching our options for getting to Anaheim from San Diego and places to stay at Disneyland, I decided on a rental car and a Good Neighbor hotel.  Three-day Park Hopper tickets will hopefully allow enough time for a decent first visit.  Our hotel is within walking distance of park entrances.

I took to Twitter for dining suggestions and booked reservations for breakfast at the Plaza Inn, lunch at Blue Bayou, and dinners at Napa Rose, Carthay Circle, and Steakhouse 55.  I realize there are incredible quick service choices and I know we’ll want to give some of those a try too.

So, it seems like we’re all set.  The biggest challenge so far is packing for both cool and warm weather in one vacation.  My suitcase is nearly packed and I’m proud to say I didn’t go overboard.  (Give me a shout if you’d be interested in what I packed an/or wore for this trip.)

Having never been to Disneyland, we would welcome your suggestions for what you consider the most important things for us to see and do!  Rides?  Attractions?  Snacks?  Shows?  What do we need on our must-do list?  I feel like a complete Disney rookie this time!  If you’ve got tips, I want to hear them.  We’re leaving in just a few days, so please leave your thoughts in the comments or over on Twitter or Facebook.  Thanks in advance for your help.  Can’t wait to tell you all about it when we get home!