Final Disney Days

So this post is prepared one week after it actually happened - but I wanted to give a reader's digest summary.

We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the President's day weekend at Disneyland. Each morning we got up at 6 am so we could be in line at Disney for 7:20 am. Lining up at the gates 40 minutes before official opening pays off with no lines for the first few rides.  Disney processes you through the gates about 20 minutes before opening time. Then you walk to the end of Main Street and you are held up with a rope and a few staff members until the official opening hour.   Saturday we lined up for Space Mountain, Sunday we lined up for the Matterhorn bobsleds and Monday we lined up for Peter Pan's Flight first thing in the morning.  Each time we were rewarded with no wait in line.  After Peter Pan we raced to Indiana Jones and rode it three times in a row!  The third time we didn't even have to get out of our jeep!  There was nobody in line so staff just asked us if we wanted to stay seated and go again!

Saturday for lunch we ate at Blue Bayou - the the dining ride right inside the Pirates of the Caribbean. P enjoyed the beef ribs, R thought the chicken was okay ( not a good enough review for a $33 entree!). I did not enjoy my monte cristoe sandwich - deep fried way too much and sprinkled with icing sugar. Oh and we were nowhere near the boats and the water - we were situated in the back corner near the kitchen ( they told us to wait another hour if we wanted a better table).  I would not recommend this restaurant for the price we paid for lunch. 

I would highly recommend Wine Country Trattoria for lunch ( in Disney's California Adventure).  We paid $30 a plate each for a 3 course menu. That price included a prime standing room section for the evening show of World of Color. Soup and salad were both excellent, main course of gnocchi and a fabulous dessert plate with 4 desserts each!

Each day we left Disney in the middle of the afternoon to head back to the hotel for some R & R. After supper outside the park -two days at the Cheesecake Factory (awesome and affordable  at about $60 for the 3 of us), we headed back to the parks for the evening. One night we watched the fireworks, the other we watched the world of Color. Both really were top notch outdoor shows. 

This 6 night excursion was a welcome reprieve from the cold of winter as we got to enjoy 25 C temps in our shorts and t-shirts every day!

 

Universal Studios

We booked a Gray Line bus tour to Universal Studios (US) on Valentine's day. We were lucky enough to get the front seat of the top deck of a double decker bus. Great views on the drive!  And the bonus of the front row seat was P didn't feel nauseous!

The drive to Universal was about 1 hour and the return back at 6 pm was 2 hours. It was the Friday night of President's Day weekend and we had to go through LA to get to Anaheim. 

So US is set on a steep hillside and has stunning views of the California landscape when moving on four escalators from the upper and lower lots!  The lower lot held Transformers - amazing!, Revenge of the Mummies and Jurassic Park - all first rate throng worthy rides. We road them before the crowds gathered. US had electronic signs erected throughout the park telling you the wait times of all the big rides - Disney could learn from that!

I really enjoyed the studio tour where you saw and experienced sets from movie and tv shows (including Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives). During the one hour ride where we had 6 quiet zones where filming was happening at the time. 

We took a pass on the Simpson's ride knowing it made both P and I sick in Florida.  The Waterwold show was amazing with fire and stunt action!

For supper, we left the park and walked right outside the gate to Citywalk. We enjoyed dinner on a patio on this pedestrian walkway that was teaming with activity. It felt like New York City's time square less the cars!

We got a caramel covered apple cut up to share on the bus ride home. I sure wouldn't want to endure long weekend traffic in LA on a regular basis!  Thank heavens I wasn't driving !The bonus was we got to be the first stop on the hotel drop offs once back in Anaheim.  We returned to the hotel a little after 8 pm and called it a night!

This picture is part of the pyrotechnic display of Waterworld !

The Citywalk street!

California Adventure

JG and P and I headed down to California for the February long weekend. J isn't much of a Disney fan so he stayed home. We flew in Wednesday evening to LAX. So wonderful to leave -20 C behind and arrive to see palm trees 3 hours later!

We checked in to the Candy Cane Inn. It is reasonably priced, includes breakfast and is walking distance to Disneyland, though it has a dedicated shuttle bus if you want to use it!

Thursday morning we headed to Disney's California Adventure (DCA). We followed the touring plan from the "Unofficial Guide to Disneyland".  We grabbed fast passes to "Radiator Springs" in Cars land - the newest, busiest exhibit in DCA, then followed the day's plan.  I think our favourite ride was "Soarin'Over California". JG had just been talking about what it would feel like to fly and that is what you do in this ride - fly over the beautiful sights in California!

We returned to our hotel room in the late afternoon for some R & R. We decided to take a cab to the food for less grocery store .  There we grabbed some hot chicken and a veggie plate for supper. We also picked up some berries, yogurt and treat drinks to keep in our hotel room fridge!  Probably a healthier and definitely cheaper meal (even when factoring in he taxi) than going to a restaurant. 

We decided to go to Disneyland (DL) after supper to visit Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion before calling it a night!