Cars didn't drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time. TRIP REPORT

DLfan4

Cant wait for another trip to DLR
Joined
Oct 23, 2013
"Cars didn't drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time.". - Sally McQueen.

We just got back from our amazing road trip out west. I have enjoyed reading other Diser's trip reports, and will now share my recent trip and some pictures.

The road trip starts in Manitoba Canada and travels across various states to get to Anahiem for a few days, Northern California for a few days, Seattle for a few days before heading back to Manitoba.

It will be me, DH and DD14 and DD14 on the roadtrip.
We will visit many cousins and friends on this trip.



Here is a link to the PTR.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/c...ove-on-it-to-have-a-great-time-a-ptr.3708521/
 
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We started the road trip on December 25th and arrived home January 5th.

Page Index
Drive from Manitoba to Southern California: { link to be inserted}
Disneyland and Southern California { link to be inserted}
Drive from Southern California up the coast to Northern California { link to be inserted }
San Francisco and Northern California: { link to be inserted }
Drive from Northern California to Seattle: { link to be inserted }
Seattle and area: {link to be inserted}
Drive from Seattle back home to Manitoba:{ link to be inserted }
 
Day 1 - Drive from Manitoba to Rock Springs Wyoming


We get up early and eat some fruit and some Mickey Mouse shaped Waffles to get us into the Disney mode. Leave home at 5 am.
We drive through North Dakota and South Dakota, both with hardly any snow.

We had a lot of different Granola-type bars to eat ( Cliff Bars, Banana Bread bars, and some nutbars). The only food we bought this day was some take out burgers.
We enter Wyoming about 3:00. Some fog as we get into higher elevations.

On way to Buffalo Wyoming:
day 1 - On  way to buffalo Wyoming .jpg

day 1 - wyoming .jpg

Near Gillette Wyoming:
day 1 -  On way to Gillett wy709.jpg

Had a great day driving. Good weather, good roads. Lots of beautiful landscape to see.
Decided to stop in Rock Springs Wyoming for the night. Stayed at the Comfort Inn. Hotel was great. The elevation of Rock Springs is 6388.

My Favorite part of Day 1 - Starting our roadtrip!!
My Favorite food of Day 1 - The mickey waffles we ate home in the morning.

My tips and lessons learned -
- Since we were driving on December 25th, we were not sure which gas stations would be open. So, prior to our trip I called a few gas stations on our route and made a spreadsheet of which were open 24 hours on Christmas day.
 
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Day 2 - Rock Spring Wyoming to Santa Ana California
Got up and ate at the Free breakfast at the Comfort Inn in Rock Springs. Woke up to snow. left the hotel at 6 am. Travel through the mountain pass was beautiful. (You need winter tires to travel this pass).


At Rock Springs Wyoming mountain pass:Day 2- rock springs1.jpg


Entered Utah about 7:30 am. We had snow all day until about St. George Utah. Lots of beautiful scenery along the way.

Near Kimball Junction Utah:
Day 2 - kimball junction .jpg
Just Before Salt Lake City Utah:
day2-just before salt lake.jpg

Just South of Salt Lake City Utah:
day 2 - south of salt lake utah.jpg


Just before St. George Utah
day 2 - just north of st. george utah.jpg





Stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at The Habit Burger in St. George Utah to have a meal with my Cousin "J" and his family. It was a very nice visit, so glad we were able to see them. The Habit Burger was similar to a Five Guys. Everyone got a burger/cheeseburger and fries, except I got an order of tempura green beans with my burger. The burgers were very good, but the greens beans were awesome. We ate on the patio outside, which was great for us from Manitoba.



We headed back on the road and went through Arizona and then into Nevada.

Arizona:
day 2 - arizona1.jpg


Nevada
day 2 - nevada .jpg



Just past Las Vegas, as we enter California, the I15 hwy was jam packed. There was bumper to bumper traffic, in both directions, for the next 4 hours !! It was slow moving, but it was ok, as we knew we would be in Disney in the morning!!

We stopped for the night at the Holiday Inn in Santa Ana California. We went and got some quick takeout food and then went to sleep. Good day of good roads and good weather. We were excited to be in California.

My Favorite part of day 2 - Having dinner with my cousins.
My Favorite Food of Day 2 - The Habit Burger was great, especially the tempura green beans.
My tips and lessons learned -
- The I15 drive from Las Vegas into California can be very slow. Make sure to allow yourself extra time when driving this route.
 
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Beautiful snow! (Being from AZ, I love snow... :) )
 


Were you able to try The Habit Burger truck in DTD? They are super popular!

No. We actually never entered DTD on this trip. We entered the parks from the Harbour Side.

I can see why they are popular. We enjoyed The Habit Burger in St. George Utah.
 
Props to you for making the drive from Rock Springs to Disneyland in a day. That’s a long trip and impressed that you didn’t make a side trip in Vegas. Looking forward to the rest of the report. (Made the Anaheim Seattle drive on 12/24 and 12/25) after a quick jaunt to the land.
 
Props to you for making the drive from Rock Springs to Disneyland in a day. That’s a long trip and impressed that you didn’t make a side trip in Vegas. Looking forward to the rest of the report. (Made the Anaheim Seattle drive on 12/24 and 12/25) after a quick jaunt to the land.

There was so much to see along the way, that the drive really didn't feel that long.
 
Southern California

Our Hotel while in Southern California:
We have 3 nights and 3 days in southern California. We checked hotels for months. We finally decided on the Holiday Inn in Santa Ana. The prices were ALOT better than anything in Anaheim, there was a nice pool, there was Free parking ( and with lots of parking spots available) and it was a very quick drive to Disneyland. Google maps said 15 minutes, but it was actually less than that.
The hotel did NOT have a free breakfast, but that is ok for us .
We were very happy with the Holiday Inn in Santa Ana. We would highly recommend it.

The Southern California To-Do list:
When planning our trip, I originally planned for 2 days at Disney. We had alot of other things we all wanted too do in Southern California. Then we saw the Canadian Resident Ticket promotion, which was $ 69 a day, with a minimum of 3 days. The price of Canadian Deal for 3 days was about the same price as buying a regular 2 day ticket. So it was a no brainer and we bought the 3-day Canadian Resident deal. We also decided on getting the park-hopper option.

Some of the other ideas we had for Southern California: Go to a beach and visit the Ocean, Visit Hollywood and see the Walk of Fame etc, Shop at the Line Store in Hollywood, Window shop on Rhodeo drive., visit and have lunch in Korea Town in LA., Ride rollercoasters at Magic Mountain.

So we had 2 full days in Southern California (Dec 27, Dec 28) and then about a half day on Dec 29, as we had planned a 5 hour drive up to northern California to visit my cousin "S" and his family.

What did we decide to do? How many days at Disney did we do? Did we do everything on our list? Did we think of anything not on our original list to do?
Stay tuned to find out.
 
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Day 3 - Disney California Adventure
We finally get to see Carsland!! When we were on our last trip in January 2012, they were still building the Carsland area. So we have been waiting to see this land since then.

We getup early and since our hotel does not have a free breakfast we head down the street to McDonalds for Coffee and breakfast. We then put Disneyland into the GPS and start driving the Santa Ana Freeway. I get onto google maps on the phone and look for the route to the parking lot..... and before i even get the parking lot on the map we see the Monorail! We were already at Disneyland ! A very short drive from Santa Ana to Disneyland.

So we see a sign for Disneyland parking (on Katella) and drive in, only to find out that its the Cast Member entrance. The CM tells us we have to go around the block to the Guest parking entrance. As we are driving west on Katella we see a sign for the GardenWalk underground parkade. so we go in there. It was great. The lot was basically empty so we could park anywhere. Then we walked up via the GardenWalk ( which is a sort of open air mall) and then walked west on Disney Way and then North on Harbour. it was really a short walk.

We entered DLR on the Harbour side. This was new for us. There was a long line for security/bagcheck, but it really went fast. Then we headed towards DCA.


CARSLAND
We entered DCA at 8:20. We went straight to the RSR standby line. We didn't get maxpass yet, as we wanted to wait to see if we really needed it. The line for RSR was already long, and we realized we should get maxpass. So we bought it and then ordered our Incredicoaster Maxpass while waiting for RSR. We took some neat pictures while in the RSR queue. We really liked RSR and thought it was a great ride.



day 3 - RSR car.jpg



Day 3 - RSR.jpg
Day 3- RSR.jpg


We then went to the next Carsland ride which was Luigis. There was a wait so we took alot of neat pictures.... Then they announced the ride was down but should be back up soon. We decided to wait a few minutes... but then decided we should go onto something else.

Day 3 - luigi 2.jpg day 3 - luigi flower.jpg day 3 - luigi sign.jpg Day 3 - Luigi.jpg


day 3- carland luigis car.jpg
 
Day 3 - Disney California Adventure continued.
After we left Luigis We then went to the Cozy Cone. We have been wanting to try a cozy cone. DD1 wanted the Mac n Cheese Cone. DD2 wanted the Churro Cone. DH wanted an icecream cone. I didn't want anything. But when DH ordered his cone, the CM made a mistake and put the holiday sprinkles on it. So he told DH he would make him the correct one, but we could also have the one he made by mistake... So i got a Cone ! The snacks were good.


day 3 - cozy cone 3.jpg
day 3 - cozy cone cone.jpg
day 3 - cozy cone1.jpg

We then walked around Carsland.

day 3 - carsland daytime 2.jpg day 3 - Carsland daytime.jpg
 
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Day 3 - Disney California Adventure continued
After the Cozy Cone we went on Maters. There was a short wait. This is a cute ride with a very cute queue. We took lots of fun pictures.



day 3 - mater 1.jpg
day 3 - mater 2.jpg
day 3 - mater 3.jpg
day 3 - mater 4.jpg
day 3 - mater 5.jpg


We decided to leave Carsland. We still had time before our Incredicoaster maxpass. We saw Ghiradelli and went to get our free chocolate samples. And then we went through the Boudin Bakery Tour and got our free sample of Sourdough.
day 3 - wine country view from boudin.jpg

We then headed to the Incredicoaster. Maxpass was awesome. We didnt have to wait more than a couple minutes. As soon as we entered the incredicoaster we ordered our next maxpass for Toy Story.


day 3 - incredicoaster.jpg

We all loved Incredicoaster... ( ok maybe I was a bit scared ...lol ... but everyone else loved it )


We decided to go and walk around the Pixar Pier Area and then found a seat in Paradise Gardens and sat for a bit until our Toystory maxpass time. We then went to the Toystory and had a little bit of a wait, but still not very long. We love maxpass.

As soon as we entered Toy Story we ordered our next MaxPass for Grizzly River Run. We were not sure if we wanted to go, because we didnt want to walk around all wet. But i had brought some plastic ponchos (dollerstore) and thought they should keep us dry.

While waiting for GRR we decided to go to Hollywood land and go to the Animation Academy. DD1 and DD2 are very good artists and the Animation Academy was one of their must do's. When we got there they just started a session. So we decided to leave and try again later. We sat on a bench on Hollywood land while deciding what to do. The kids wanted a snack, so I remembered that the Fairfax Fruit cart was close by. So we went there to get some snacks. The girls got a Vitamin water and a large pickle to share. And i also got a tray of Mango slices for all of us to share. The Mango slices come with a packet of Tijan seasoning. I really wanted to try this since i heard Mary-Jo talk about it on one of the podcasts.
It was really good!
 
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Love your report so far! I've driven through Wyoming/Utah before and those are great pix. Can't wait to read more!
 
So fun! I am anxiously waiting to see if your ponchos kept you dry. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't! Maxpass is amazing, isn't it?
 
So fun! I am anxiously waiting to see if your ponchos kept you dry. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't! Maxpass is amazing, isn't it?

Thank you for following Jaina / Sara. I agree maxpass is the way to go. Yes Dollar Store ponchos worked!!
 
Day 3 - Disney California Adventure continued

It was time for our GRR maxpass, so we headed to Grizzly Peaks to go on Grizzly River Run. This is the first ride on GRR for all of us. It was down when we were in DCA in 2012. I had brought some doller store rain ponchos, they helped keep us dry for the most part. our sleeves got a bit wet. We shook off the ponchos and i put them back in the backpack (we plan to use them again).
Day 3- GRR .jpg

We wanted to ride Ariel's but the line was crazy long!! (We found this funny, because when we were there back in January 2012 this ride was "walk-on". We even were able to stay on the ride and ride a second time as there was absolutley no one waiting for the ride).

Besides Maxpass ability, The other great thing about the Disneyland App is that you can check current wait-times for attractions.
We looked at the disney app to see what had a short line, and Monsters Inc was fairly short. DD1 and DD2 didnt remember Monsters Inc from our last trip, so they chose to ride that next. We headed back to Hollywood and rode Monsters. We took some neat pics while waiting.

Day 3 - Monsters.jpg


As we excited Monsters, we went to check on Anamation Academy, it was a short wait until the next session. So we decided to do this, as this was one of the "must do" items for the girls. We drew "Steamboat Mickey". It was fun, and the drawing is a nice souvenier.

The girls then asked to go on Goofys Sky School. This was one of their favorites from our previous trip. The line was long. It started to get dark by the time we got on the ride. We rode Goofys and then decided to leave, as all the lines would continue to be long waits for the remainder of the day. And we were all hungry. It was shortly after 6:00 pm.
On the way out we headed back into Carsland to see Carsland at night, and took a few pictures. Then we stopped to take a picture with the partners statue on Buena Vista street.

day 3 -carsland night 3.jpg

day 3 -carsland night.jpg

We then headed back to our car at Gardenwalk. The Gardenwalk parkade was busy, but not packed with cars. I think we paid maybe $16 or $18 for parking, but it was definatly less than $20.

DH wanted steak from Outback Steakhouse, so we looked on google maps, and found one in Garden Grove. We got seated right away. We got a Blooming Onion to share. DH got Steak dinner, DD2 got Bourbon Bacon Salmon meal, DD1 got Chicken & Shrimp Creamy Alfredo pasta and I got crab stuffed Tilapia meal. The food was all really great.

We got back to the hotel after 8:00. The girls wanted to go to the hotel pool and hottub. This is a big deal for us from Manitoba to be swimming outside on December 27th!! We had the pool area all to ourselves. This hotels pool and hottub are in a cute courtyard. it was dark with little lights, and the pool had a glow. The water was warm.
We then went back to the room. We had to get a good nights sleep as we were going to DISNEYLAND park in the morning. Soo excited.

Favorite part of Day 3 - Finally visiting Carsland and riding RSR; The Incredicoaster

Favorite food of Day 3 - The Giant Pickle and Mango slices for me and the kids. DH liked his steak

My Tips and lessons learned:
- GET MAXPASS AS SOON AS YOU GET IN THE PARK. - i wish we would have gotten maxpass as soon as we entered and gotten RSR maxpass right away.

- Go to only E-Ticket rides in the morning. - instead of waiting in line for Luigi and Maters in the morning, we really should have done E-ticket rides instead. We could have waited for Luigis and Maters later in the day.

- If a ride goes down, leave, do not "wait and see". - As soon as they said Luigis was down we should have gotten out of line instead of waiting as long as we did.


- Bring dollarstore ponchos if you plan on GRR. Kept us dry for the most part.

- Park in Gardenwalk - Getting in and out was easy, no wait, lots of spots to choose from.
 
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