JoAnn's Disneyland Pre-trip Report

Had lunch in Radiator Springs. Now I am sitting on bench in Paradise Pier looking out for stoopid shoes.

Haven't seen too many stoopid shoes but have seen some questionable outfits. As in "did you look in the mirror before you left for the park?"

Waiting for the shuttle to head to the parks. The bus came. I thought I could buy a round trip ticket on the bus but they only do one way rates. I was spoiled this weekend with a free pass for the races. Now I have to wait for the next one.

I should still make rope drop.

Made it to the park by 8:30. DL opened at 9:00. No opening ceremony just a countdown and a couple of characters walking around.

Back at the hotel to get the shuttle to the airport. I hada great time. I will come back.

At the airport.

I finally saw a pair of stoopid shoes when I was leaving the park this afternoon.

Sitting in Charlotte airport waiting for the last leg of my flight.

Got home around 12:30 and back out the door to bring my car in to have the brakes checked. I don't know what I was thinking when I made the appointment. I just want to take a nap. The red eye flight last night was not my friend. Lol

Working on my trip report. I am having issues uploading photos to Photobucket. I'm trying a different site.

This is a test to make sure I got the right link.

Day 1

After a few hours of sleep (I tried to get more but who can sleep the night before a Disney trip?), it was time to get to the airport. My flight was at 5:08am. I arrived at the airport around 3:30 and was checked in and through security by 4:00.

I had a short connection in O'Hare so I was a little nervous about making my connecting flight as I was seated in the back of the plane. I asked the gate agent what gate we would be landing in (H5) and what gate my flight to John Wayne airport would be taking off in (H18). I was feeling better the gates weren't too far apart. My luck changed for the better before take- off when the flight attendant asked me and the three people sitting behind me to move up to balance the weight of the plane " first class baby!

We were soon in Chicago and 20 minutes early to boot.

We were sitting in the plane to John Wayne airport waiting for take-off when the pilot announced the coffee maker was leaking and we had to wait for maintenance to fix it. 45 minutes after our scheduled departure time we pushed away from the gate. The flight was uneventful. About 2 hours before we landed, the lady sitting next to me decided to put her make up on. She had so much stuff it pretty much covered the whole tray. All I kept thinking was it would be so hard not to laugh if we hit a pocket of turbulence while she was applying.

We made up time in the air and only landed about 10 minutes late. I got my luggage and went to get the shuttle to the hotel. I couldn't have timed it any better. The shuttle was there with one seat available.

I was the first one dropped off and waited about 20 minutes for my cousins to arrive. We checked in, dropped our stuff off and we were off to the Disneyland Hotel for the Expo.

We got our race stuff and explored the booths at the Expo for a while before heading over to Downtown Disney for lunch at ESPN Club. After lunch, I wanted to go to Disneyland for a little bit for dinner. I found the monorail station and was on my way. The monorail drops you right off in Tomorrowland so you have to have a park ticket in order to ride. Since this was my time using my pass I had to have my picture taken (no finger print scans in DL).

I noticed people sitting in the front car as it was pulling in.

When we started to board the monorail, I asked a CM how we get to sit up front. He opened the door and let me in. It was so cool riding up front.

I was soon in Tomorrowland. There were two things I wanted to accomplish on this trip into the park " see the castle and Walt's apartment (or at least the building).

They didn't have park maps at this entrance (none that I saw anyway) so I walked around until I found Fantasyland and knew Sleeping Beauty's castle would be close by. I walked through the castle to see it from the front and proceeded to Main Street to see the firehouse. On the way back to Fantasyland, I noticed an entrance into the castle. The pathway in the castle shows the story of Sleeping Beauty. These pictures are on my phone so I'll post those separately.

After walking through the castle, I rode the Storybook Canal boats (really cute ride) and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

I was starting to get cold (I left my jacket in my cousin's rental car) and tired. I took the monorail back to DTD and walked over to the Disneyland hotel where I was meeting my cousins for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I had about an hour before dinner so I decide to get a drink. I went to Trader Sam's but the place was packed. I went to the Steakhouse 55 lounge and had an Irish coffee.

They arrived for dinner and we got checked. We were seated after having pictures taken with Goofy.

Dinner was good. The characters were Goofy, Minnie, Pluto, Chip and Dale. Here is my first plate. I have pictures of the buffet which I will post separately.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed.

The firehouse and Sleeping Beauty's castle

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The buffet at Goofy's Kitchen.

Day 2

I was up at 3:15 to get ready for the 5K. We left our room to catch the shuttle over to DL a little after 4:00. The Neverland 5K was different from the Cinderella Royal 5K I did last year during Princess Half Marathon Weekend. For Cinderella we were assigned a starting corral. There were no pre-assigned corrals. Corrals were based on when you got to the park. We got there earlier enough to be in B.

The race started at 5:00. We started at 5:12. Any time we saw Peter Pan's shadow, we were to crow.

We reached the finish line in a little over an hour. My cousin hurt her knee while running the Princess Half (she was 10 1/2 miles in when it gave out on her), so we were walking a little slower. Not bad timing considering.

My pictures from the race are still on my phone. I will post those separately.

After the race we went back to the hotel for breakfast and got ready to spend the day in Disneyland.

After taking several castle pictures each, we explored Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We had lunch at Redd Rockets Pizza Port.

After lunch, we went to Mickey's Toontown. I was really excited to see this land. I didn't get to see it at WDW went I went in 2010. I didn't know until after the trip that it was closing for new Fantasyland.

Goofy's Garden

Minnie's House

Mickey's House

T 's knee was really hurting by this point. She, V and N went back to the hotel to rest. While in Fantasyland, I rode Alice in Wonderland and Snow White's Scary Adventure (for old time's sake). While waiting in line for Alice, a VIP tour guide walked up with 4 people. Two of them were very tall men who I am guessing are NBA players.

I headed to Frontierland and rode the Mark Twain River Boat. While waiting to board, a little boy said to his mom "there's a princess". I thought he was talking about a little girl dressed up as a princess. Then I looked up and there was Tiana.

A couple of pictures from the Rivers of America.

I then walked over to Adventureland to see what the wait time was for Indiana Jones. I absolutely love Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones is one of my favorite movies. It was about a 45 minute wait to I grab a fast pass and moved on.

I walked up Main Street to see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I caught the end of Mickey's Soundsational Parade.

I love anything to do with American History so I really liked Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. The animatronics are amazing. It was like he was there. They played the song and video "Two Brothers" that they play at the end of The American Adventure.

It was now time for my fast pass for Indiana Jones. This was my favorite DL ride. It has passed Expedition Everest as my favorite Disney ride overall.

After the ride, I went back to Frontierland to meet up with my cousins for the Pasta in the Park Party.

The party was fun. The food was ok. I cut into my chicken to find it pink inside. The juices from the chicken ran over my plate, so I ended up throwing my whole plate of food away. The next time I do a runDisney event and they offer it, I'm going to pass. Not worth the price in my opinion. It was much better at Princess last year.

We walked by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which was closed) on our way to the party. V read on FB later on that some guy stole merchandise from one of gift shops and jumped the fence to the ride and was running on the track. Not sure if they ever caught him. We did see some Anaheim police officers walking around the area.
We had to head back to the hotel. T's son J was on his way. I was exhausted by this point.

One final note of the day - Duck!

Race pictures

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More race pictures

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And some more

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