"I Think I Might Be a Disneyland Person!" - Feb. 2016 ~ Updated 2/19/21: TR Complete!!!

All those princess interactions were priceless - love how she showed off her dress/button to all of the princesses. And props for being ready with the camera to get good Izzy/Princess shots despite all the moving around she love to do. Some priceless memories for sure!
 
Wow! Those princesses all looked really good! Sometimes I'm like "really Disney? That girl looks nothing like the cartoon!"

Man! This lunch looked fun. Now I kinda wanna book it....
Haha, they were a pretty good-looking bunch! Yeah, it was really fun. I think the casual atmosphere of being out on the deck over the water made it extra fun too (not everyone is outside, most seating is in, I think). It was one of the best princess meals we've had, I'd say.

That is a GREAT mix of princesses! Izzy looks like she is having a ball. Now I'm bummed we didn't do this in June although DD is a little more princess obsessed now than she was on the trip so it might not have been as exciting for her. Definitely next time when she is Izzy's age!!
It really was a nice combination of princesses. We all had a great time. Yes, head back there next time! :thumbsup2

I love your princess photos! All the princesses are looking their best in my opinion, and Izzy is adorable as usual. And your desserts looked pretty great, too!
Thanks! The princesses really were a cute bunch! And Izzy was in a pretty great mood too, so that helped. Can't go wrong with a variety of desserts, either. ::yes::

I'm not sure why I'm not getting alerts on this trip report, but all caught up now.

I can't get over how empty Storyteller's Café was! Was your reservation early?

That is so strange that you wait on stairs to meet Ariel. Talk about an accident waiting to happen!

You got some really great interactions with the princesses. That's awesome that you could get such good photos.

The more Disneyland trip reports I read, the more I want to go!
Huh, you're not the only one that has mentioned alerts (or lack thereof). Not sure why. I think this being in the Disneyland forum vs. WDW might have lost some people - depends how/why everyone gets alerts, I guess? :confused3

All those princess interactions were priceless - love how she showed off her dress/button to all of the princesses. And props for being ready with the camera to get good Izzy/Princess shots despite all the moving around she love to do. Some priceless memories for sure!
Haha, she was so proud of her Ariel & Flounder dress. I'm glad the princesses were suitably impressed. :laughing: It helped that Dug and I both had our phones out and were snapping away (I love that I can take pictures while doing video now too! :thumbsup2)

Awwww, what wonderful interactions with the princesses! They all seemed so sweet :cutie:
They really were a great group of princesses! We had a blast!
 
I love the photos from the princess breakfast (especially that one photopass one with Ariel!). Looks like Izzy had a great time, and sounds like you guys had some fantastic princesses!

The series of "Izzy dislikes the paparazzi" photos cracked me up. Yup, we have tons of photos of my nephews just like that! Kudos to the photopass photographer for being able to bring her out of her mood a bit, the knocking on the door pic is super cute.

I definitely do not understand the stair thing...i don't even have kids (just nephews plus a pack of dogs), but even I, the childless one, would never have planned such a weird and potentially dangerous staging! Glad you guys survived it. When I think back to how hyper my little sisters & my nephews were at that age, I think there is no way they would have made it through without tumbling down the stairs at least once!

About the alerts...I signed up to get notified about posts on this thread both via the pop up alert on the Disboards site & via email. So far, the only alert on this thread that I've had in, I think, a week+ was the alert for your last reply! I am still getting email alerts & website alerts, no problem, for the other trip reports I am following. Disboards is being really weird!

~Meg
 


Love reading the updates! Disneyland sounds like so much fun!

Adding that I couldn't see the pics on my work computer because they block certain sites, but I can see them on my phone and home computer.
 
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I love the photos from the princess breakfast (especially that one photopass one with Ariel!). Looks like Izzy had a great time, and sounds like you guys had some fantastic princesses!
Thanks, I love that pic. It was a really fun lunch - glad we did it! :thumbsup2

The series of "Izzy dislikes the paparazzi" photos cracked me up. Yup, we have tons of photos of my nephews just like that! Kudos to the photopass photographer for being able to bring her out of her mood a bit, the knocking on the door pic is super cute.
One of the more persistent Photopass photographers for sure! These days, the hardest part is getting her to hold still and not make goofy faces in pictures. There's no such thing as "stand and smile at the camera" for this kid - if you get a good one, it's just luck and/or taking 30 pictures in 10 seconds. :rotfl:

I definitely do not understand the stair thing...i don't even have kids (just nephews plus a pack of dogs), but even I, the childless one, would never have planned such a weird and potentially dangerous staging! Glad you guys survived it. When I think back to how hyper my little sisters & my nephews were at that age, I think there is no way they would have made it through without tumbling down the stairs at least once!
It was so weird that I keep wondering if it was just an oddball thing on the day we visited - like a new CM didn't know where to line people up? But I have no idea - almost makes me think I should go back and check. :scratchin ("I HAVE to go to Disneyland - it's research!!" :rotfl2:)

About the alerts...I signed up to get notified about posts on this thread both via the pop up alert on the Disboards site & via email. So far, the only alert on this thread that I've had in, I think, a week+ was the alert for your last reply! I am still getting email alerts & website alerts, no problem, for the other trip reports I am following. Disboards is being really weird!
Huh, weird. I just have all my followed reports in subscriptions and keep that as my landing page. I only get notifications for posts on my own reports, likes I've received, and if someone quoted me. I think I'd be overwhelmed otherwise, since I follow lots of reports. :laughing:

Love reading the updates! Disneyland sounds like so much fun!
It really is a blast! I love that it was familiar, but different. Can't wait to go back sometime.

Adding that I couldn't see the pics on my work computer because they block certain sites, but I can see them on my phone and home computer.
Oh, good. I actually saw your comment earlier that you couldn't see them and was hoping it wasn't a widespread issue. Glad you can see them on phone and home computer, at least. I was hoping smugmug might be less likely to get blocked, since it's not as commonplace as flickr, etc. Oh, well. Thanks for letting me know! :goodvibes
 
Squirrel!

After our lovely princess lunch, we made our way over to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. A few photos:











We found a tunnel to run through:



You might be able to see a kid just hanging out in there. Izzy saw that and decided it was a good idea:



My "super tall" :laughing: self had to be careful not to bump my head :headache: :



Whew, survived :thumbsup2 :



And why were we smiling? Because we spotted this dog :hyper: :



I was apparently so busy paparazzi-ing him that I didn’t notice my kid ran away (back into the log):



But, don’t worry, I did manage to get this blurry picture, so it was all worthwhile :rotfl2: :



Dug took his spot and we were some of the first to meet him. I let Izzy interact with him before joining her:









He’s so cute, but I REALLY wish his collar talked for him, like in the movie. How cute would it be if you walked up and he said, “I have just met you and I love you!” :love:

Here’s the video:


After that, I attempted to get a new photo I could use for my avatar here:





Those were the best two, but most looked like this:





In the interest of having a usable photo (and because Izzy kept running off), I got one with just me and Dug and ended up using that:



I think it was coming up on our Radiator Springs Racers Fast Pass time now, so we headed towards Cars Land:







Turned out that RSR was down :sad1:, so our FP would be good the rest of the day. Yay! :woohoo:

So, instead, Izzy and I went to the Disney Junior Live show while Dug went to go use the Soarin’ Rider Swap.

Seated on the floor, awaiting the fun:





I honestly don’t remember much of this, but I’d imagine it’s just like the WDW version. :confused3

Dug was making his way over to Soarin’:





After he finished his journey over California, Dug headed over to the Grand Californian to relax and charge his cell phone in the lobby before we joined him at the Napa Rose Lounge (our plan for dinner – wanted to try the food, but not manage Izzy through a fancy dinner at the Napa Rose restaurant :scared:):





He liked the lighting once he stepped inside the lobby:



He relaxed for a bit while Izzy and I went back to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to burn off a little toddler energy on the playground there.

Up next: Can I squeeze in a spin on RSR before our dinner buzzer goes off? :scratchin
 


The Trail was one of those things we had never done before and I thought we'd have plenty of time to do, but we never made it into there in the whole 5 days we were in the parks! Just another reason to plan a trip back I guess. lol Izzy looks like she really enjoyed it!! And Dug is just adorable, as always.
 
I love the princesses that were at your lunch, but a queue situated on a staircase? Yikes. That's just asking for trouble when you have kids.

The Dug meet and greet pictures turned out so great! Glad you managed to get a new avatar picture.

When I first read that you were going to Napa Rose for dinner, I was extremely impressed with your bravery at taking Izzy into such a fancy restaurant. Then I re-read the Lounge part and had to giggle. I'm curious to hear how your dinner went; it seems like all your meals so far have been pretty successful.
 
Finally caught up with the posts lol....i made it...

Must i say your Princess is adorable & the look on her face in some of the pics are priceless :cutie:
I also love the fact how you capture everything in your pics....( i love the food pics :rolleyes1) it looks amazing
 
Your lunch with the princesses looks great!

Aw, Dug looks like such a cute meet. You're right, that would be so cute if he talked.

I'm glad that at least RSR was down early enough in the day that you still (hopefully) could ride it later!
 
We had to look up who he was and it turned out to be Kenai from Brother Bear (which we were not familiar with, but why not meet him anyway? ::yes::)
I'm impressed you know his name...

Dug actually went a little too far, as the RSR FP machines are near A Bug’s Land instead of being inside Cars Land, but he did managed to find them and get us 3:15pm. :cool1:
That was my first thought when I saw the pictures... Hey Dug, I think you went a little too far!

And, when you’re not really sure you’re on the right track, but then spot a must-do ride with almost no wait…well, you’ve just got to go in solo, despite wanting to take the whole family, right? ::yes:: Okay, I don’t know what you’d do, but that’s what I did:
It depends on the ride. I really thought you were going to luck out and find no wait at ToT when you went to get the FP. I guess not.

I enjoyed ToT, especially because of the completely different view when you peek out from a high window. I LOVED seeing mountains! So different than in Florida! Otherwise, the WDW ride itself is better (moves in vs. just up/down), but I got a kick out of the novel/different things at Disneyland after getting so used to the way WDW is. I’m really interested to try the new Guardians of the Galaxy version, though. Again, something different could be fun (it was the regular version during our trip).
I agree with your assessment. It was fun, but didn't even really compare to the WDW version. I think changing it to Guardians, yet keeping WDW intact was definitely the right decision. I hope I can get back there to try the new version sometime!

Cute! After our rides, Izzy was on a mission to sit in all the chairs and drink from all the fountains:
Whatever keeps her entertained.

Good work, Photopass person! :cheer2:
That's some dedication! Great job trying to make some magic by that CM!

Here’s my gripe, though: the line to meet Ariel was ON A STAIRCASE. Let me repeat, the place that you need to make your toddlers stand in a slow-moving line while hungry is ON A STAIRCASE. :eek: I mean, really? Couldn’t they have come up with a better idea? :confused3 Or maybe this was just a weird day? I don’t know about anyone else, but I found it a stressful wait, trying to keep my kid from passing the wait by dancing around, since she might tumble down. :scared:
Ok, I think this was a CM screw up. When we ate there, they had us wait upstairs and called each party down one at a time. Basically timed it so that the group visiting Ariel was walking away as the next group got down the stairs. Probably someone took longer with Ariel or the CM's upstairs were not allowing ample time between parties.

I suspect Izzy helped me with my chocolate:

What would ever give you that idea?

In the interest of having a usable photo (and because Izzy kept running off), I got one with just me and Dug and ended up using that:
It turned out well!
 
The Trail was one of those things we had never done before and I thought we'd have plenty of time to do, but we never made it into there in the whole 5 days we were in the parks! Just another reason to plan a trip back I guess. lol Izzy looks like she really enjoyed it!! And Dug is just adorable, as always.
Yes, you need to go back and spend some time there! Lots of stuff to play on!

YAY Dug!!

Cute!! I can only imagine how challenging it is to get these kind of photos with a busy toddler!
Gotta love Dug! But, yeah, Izzy isn't known for holding still and smiling. :rotfl:

What a fun part of the park!
I hope you were able to squeeze in RSR before dinner!
You'll find out soon...:rolleyes1

I love the princesses that were at your lunch, but a queue situated on a staircase? Yikes. That's just asking for trouble when you have kids.
I know! I've been wondering this whole time if we just caught it on an odd day, though, and Andy's comment below seems to indicate this is not the norm. Whew! Cause it really wasn't cool. :sad2:

The Dug meet and greet pictures turned out so great! Glad you managed to get a new avatar picture.
Thanks! I'm glad it worked out, after striking out on meeting Dug at WDW prior to this trip.

When I first read that you were going to Napa Rose for dinner, I was extremely impressed with your bravery at taking Izzy into such a fancy restaurant. Then I re-read the Lounge part and had to giggle. I'm curious to hear how your dinner went; it seems like all your meals so far have been pretty successful.
:lmao::lmao::lmao: Like I'd set myself up for that disaster! :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: That was exactly why we went to the lounge and not the restaurant. Though, I did get the vibe from the waiter that maybe we weren't even refined enough for the lounge. Or maybe he was just not very friendly in general. :confused3

Finally caught up with the posts lol....i made it...

Must i say your Princess is adorable & the look on her face in some of the pics are priceless :cutie:
I also love the fact how you capture everything in your pics....( i love the food pics :rolleyes1) it looks amazing
Yay! And thanks - I take tons of pics, mostly just to help my memory since I am so far behind on my trip reports. :rotfl:

What?! :hyper::hyper::hyper:


:rotfl:

Awww, the pictures with Dug are SO cute! I especially love the one of Izzy really cuddling into Dug :goodvibes
Thanks! Always so nice to meet him!

Your lunch with the princesses looks great!
It really was! One of my favorite princess meals for sure!

Aw, Dug looks like such a cute meet. You're right, that would be so cute if he talked.
I really wish he did - it doesn't seem like it would be that hard. Oh, well.

I'm glad that at least RSR was down early enough in the day that you still (hopefully) could ride it later!
Yes, though the reports I've read of it being down often seemed to be true. :rolleyes1

I'm impressed you know his name...
Haha, thank goodness for websites devoted to Disney characters. :thumbsup2

That was my first thought when I saw the pictures... Hey Dug, I think you went a little too far!
You know your way around. ::yes::

It depends on the ride. I really thought you were going to luck out and find no wait at ToT when you went to get the FP. I guess not.
Ha, that would have been cool too. But I was super excited about Monsters, Inc, as it was a new-to-me ride. There's extra magic in trying an attraction for the first time and I just couldn't resist...

I agree with your assessment. It was fun, but didn't even really compare to the WDW version. I think changing it to Guardians, yet keeping WDW intact was definitely the right decision. I hope I can get back there to try the new version sometime!
I think it was a good call too. Of course, I'll have to ride it sometime to make sure. :scratchin

Whatever keeps her entertained.
Indeed! ::yes::

That's some dedication! Great job trying to make some magic by that CM!
He really went out of his way!

Ok, I think this was a CM screw up. When we ate there, they had us wait upstairs and called each party down one at a time. Basically timed it so that the group visiting Ariel was walking away as the next group got down the stairs. Probably someone took longer with Ariel or the CM's upstairs were not allowing ample time between parties.
Thank you for this! I have been wondering ever since if this was the norm or if something was just off that day. Sounds like we hit a weird situation, then. I just remember standing on those stairs for what felt like forever (of course, with a dancing toddler holding your hand, time seems to go much slower on a stairway).

What would ever give you that idea?
Just a guess. :laughing:

It turned out well!
Thanks!
 
Racing to Dinner

Izzy and I had just finished the Disney Junior show and headed towards the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to play for a bit before dinner, while Dug relaxed in the Grand Californian lobby. Here’s some pics of the Redwood Creek Trail:













These slides were Izzy’s favorite part. She was obsessed with them:



I think this was a zipline type thing that she was too small for (had a height minimum, I think - yep, just checked and it's 42" minimum):



So, back to the slides (love the monkey riding down on a kid’s back! :laughing:):





Not entirely sure where this was, but apparently we passed a fountain on our way to dinner or sometime:



While we were heading towards the Grand Californian, I think Dug put our names on the waiting list for the Napa Rose Lounge…and it turned out to be a ONE HOUR wait! :earseek: Ugh, should have put us on there sooner, I guess. :sad2: So, more waiting:



Given the hour wait we’d been quoted, I decided that was enough time for me to make a run over to Radiator Springs Racers to use our Fast Pass and grab a Rider Swap for Dug. So, he and Izzy stayed there in the lobby and I headed back out. :car: Not sure if I took this on my way out or back, but random photo:



As I headed into Carsland, a Photopass photographer was available, so I stopped for some quick pics in front of a lit-up Carsland:



He wanted me to do some poses, which is not really my talent, but I tried :laughing::



Ka-Chow:



I was a little worried as I entered the FP return queue and caught a glimpse of a return time that said 45 minutes, but I think that was actually for Single Rider. I got a Rider Swap quickly:



And the FP line moved along pretty swiftly. I was near the loading area by about 6:30pm (with an anticipated dinner time of about 7pm). Looking back at the standby crowd:



And then right after that I found that our “one hour” wait actually meant 33 minutes:



But, I was right by the loading area, remember? Well, that would be nice if the ride didn’t keep breaking down. :headache: It broke and was re-started twice while I stood there. During one of those periods, much of the line in front of me had a seat:



And, finally, maybe 6:45pm or so, I was there:



And here we gooooo…:





As you can see, I LOVED this ride! :love: Not really surprised, as I love Test Track and love Cars theming, so why wouldn’t I love it? I only wish Izzy had been tall enough to ride – part of why I’m dying to go back! For those that haven’t been there, I’d say it’s like Test Track, but with much better scenery and a story featuring Disney characters. Very fun! :thumbsup2

Anyway, I had to hustle back and meet Dug and Izzy for dinner. (I think I texted Dug, “That was fun, now time to drink!” :rotfl2:) They were already seated at the Napa Rose Lounge when I arrived. Here’s the menu:



Our server brought a bread basket:



And butter for Izzy :laughing::



Looks like Dug found a nearby place to charge a phone:



Enjoying our bread and butter:



And a nice drink to enjoy:



I just looked it up and it’s The Napa Passion – X Fusion, Parrot Bay Rum, Pineapple Juice, and Strawberry.

Here’s Dug’s selection:



His was the Moscow Mule – Ketel One Vodka, Bundaberg Ginger Beer, Simple Syrup, fresh Lime Juice.

And the food items we chose – I think this first one was on the Napa Rose Restaurant's “Sides” menu, which you can order from in the lounge – the Truffled “Mac & Cheese” Orecchiette Pasta:



I think the intent was for Izzy to eat some of this, but I think she barely touched it. :rolleyes:

Dug loves scallops, so he had to get that appetizer:



We got the Signature Pizzetta with prosciutto to share:



Dug also got their signature “Smiling Tiger Salad”:



Our food was tasty, despite the waiter not being particularly friendly. Everything was very good, both food and drinks. :thumbsup2

Up next: What’s this $15 hot chocolate like? :scratchin
 
Oh my gosh! As soon as you left to ride RRS I knew something would go wrong! Lol
Glad it worked out in the end!

Ok so test track vs RRS...caden was SO looking forward to test track. It was all he talked about. We rode it first day, first ride of the trip. He was absolutely terrified when it went out in the open air and went fast. "I am NOT riding that EVER again!!!" he said the moment it ended.

Is RRS going to terrify him too? Or do you think the brighter, less scary lead up story will make it more of a fun race and less of a scary thrill ride? I read somewhere that the race section is actually a lower speed than TT (45mph vs 60 maybe?)
 
Oh my gosh! As soon as you left to ride RRS I knew something would go wrong! Lol
Glad it worked out in the end!

Ok so test track vs RRS...caden was SO looking forward to test track. It was all he talked about. We rode it first day, first ride of the trip. He was absolutely terrified when it went out in the open air and went fast. "I am NOT riding that EVER again!!!" he said the moment it ended.

Is RRS going to terrify him too? Or do you think the brighter, less scary lead up story will make it more of a fun race and less of a scary thrill ride? I read somewhere that the race section is actually a lower speed than TT (45mph vs 60 maybe?)
Good question. First off, I don't know if it would help to explain to him that whenever you drive on the freeway, it's the same speed as Test Track (or that might backfire and terrify him of every drive, I don't know :rotfl:) My memory of it is much brighter and more interesting. When you go fast, you're racing another car vs. on an empty loop. I think he'd enjoy it more, but maybe watch some videos and such beforehand? And I don't know for sure, but it did seem like it probably didn't top out at such a high speed and had a different feel to it that was more similar to street driving, if that makes sense. I hope he loves it, as I remember him being a big Cars fan. Of course, I have a tiny thrill rider here, so it's hard to know for sure how a different personality will react (Izzy is working really hard to grow another inch so she can do the 44" rides in October...) Good luck w/Caden!
 
Whew, that must have been a stressful wait for RSR. Every time it broke down, I'm sure you were thinking, "I'm never getting back to dinner." :rotfl2:
Glad to see it all worked out in the end and that you were able to finally ride. I don't think I've encountered a DISer who hasn't loved that attraction; I'm happy to see you felt the same.

Man, all your dishes from Napa Rose (Lounge) looked delicious! Between the attractions, the proximity to everything, and the food you are really selling me on a DL trip. I need Alex to get stationed somewhere out west next. :rotfl::rotfl:
 

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