In the four and a half years I’ve been in Florida, I’ve only really ever gone on one true “vacation”. I’ve gone home to Tennessee plenty of times, but going home usually involves doctor appointments, doing freelance work for my former employer and trying to see as many of my friends as possible. While I may not be clocking into work during that time, it hardly feels like “time off”. That’s okay though, I live in the vacation capital of the world. I’m on a mini vacation every week from Thursday to Friday!
Taking a full ten days off work and flying to the other side of the country, however, feels like a real vacation.
My mom flew to Orlando to join Jay and me, and the three of us flew to Los Angeles together for a seven day, six night stay. All my friends think I’m crazy because literally the only thing I wanted to do was theme parks.
“What are you doing in California?”
“Disneyland.”
“What else are you doing?”
“Universal Studios.”
“What else?”
“More Disneyland.”
“You’re weird.”
Day One: Thursday
Our flight to California was leaving at 7:02 a.m., which left us with a 3:15 a.m. wake up call. I am strongly of the opinion 3:15 occurs once a day and it is not in the morning. We left Jay’s car at the parking spot, which seemed like a great idea but I should have researched more thoroughly. Just because their website says they’re at the airport does not mean it is actually physically located at the airport. It all worked out fine, but was much more stressful than necessary.
We landed in California just after 9 a.m. local time, thank you time change. We picked up our rental car and drove out to Glendale to an In and Out since Mom had never been, before driving past the Imagineering Campus and the Disney Studios. We also took a long drive through Griffith Park to the Observatory, which we promptly decided to skip once we realized the hike from the car was going to be more than a mile down a windy road with no sidewalk. I got nice enough pictures from the car.
LA traffic is not something to take lightly, and it was late afternoon by the time we made it to the Anaheim Fairfield hotel we were staying at for the first leg of the trip. We dumped our stuff in the room and bolted for the park. We got dinner at Bengal Barbecue and managed to knock out the Matterhorn, it’s a small world, the Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye in addition to the fireworks. I might have cried as they played Walt’s opening address from the Disneyland dedication ceremony.
Day Two: Friday
We found ourselves opening California Adventure Friday morning after dropping off our rental car. Our goal was to get Fastpasses for the first World of Color, and then get the second showing of Fantasmic. We then hurried over to Disneyland to find them still on the first showing of Fantasmic instead. We had to kill time until it switched to the later showing so we could do them both in the same night. This was our highest step count day as we must have switched parks about eight times. For those unfamiliar with Disneyland, the two parks are in much closer proximity with the entrances about a hundred yards apart as opposed to Disney World where you’re looking at several miles apart. We walked over fourteen miles that day to make up for it.
I had my first experience with Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout this day, and I have a new favorite ride. Sorry Tower of Terror fans, but they can come for the Florida Tower anytime as far as I’m concerned.
For breakfast we got Mickey Mouse beignets, but wound up with Bengal Barbecue chasers since it wasn’t filling enough. We had lunch at the Stage Door Café, which we actually took inside the Golden Horseshoe Revue and watched the show. I insisted on everyone getting the magical Disneyland corndogs which my mother was less than thrilled with. Dinner actually wound up being McDonald’s because we simply ran out of time for food between the evening shows.
We met up with my friend Jessie and her fiancé Ben, on their way to their Fantasmic dining package reservation. Jessie and I met at Disneyland in 2012 when we were both in line to meet Mickey Mouse by ourselves, and we’ve been friends ever since. She was actually the first person to ride my Jungle Cruise boat when she came to Walt Disney World in 2013. I occasionally geek out over the fact that we’re friends when I see her casually talking to major players in animation on Twitter. Jessie is the sole reason I was able to meet the creators of Avatar: the Last Airbender two years ago, because we ran into friends of hers who knew them!
The fabulous Jessie Velociraptor!
Day Three: Saturday
The Haunted Mansion was our priority for this day because it was closing for refurbishment on Monday, and Sunday we had our Universal Studios plans. So we found ourselves riding it over and over which is never something I will complain about before making our way to Critter Country to ride Winnie the Pooh. Afterwards I insisted on meeting Pooh and his friends since Eyeore was out. He is one of my favorite characters and rarely out at Walt Disney World these days. I probably shouldn’t have told Eyeore he was my favorite in front of Tigger. Tigger didn’t like that, but I got some of the best character interaction I’ve ever had.
We headed over to California Adventure for lunch at Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta after a spin on Mickey’s Fun Wheel of Death. (Most terrifying Disney ride ever!)
We went over to the World Famous Jungle Cruise at last and asked the two Skippers out front if there was anyone they recommended. Justin proudly said, “Me!” and the other Skip with him told him to put us on a boat. Justin was wonderful but all my photos with him are super blurry because apparently Mom and my camera don’t get along.
Day Four: Sunday
We caught a Lyft around 9 a.m. to Universal Studios Hollywood. This was the one day I let Duffy stay in the hotel room. Mom started squeaking on the highway when she saw the Hollywood Sign.
We were asked to complete a survey immediately upon entering the park in exchange for an Express Pass for the Universal Studio Tour, and I happily obliged. We started with the Lower Lot first, thinking we’d save our Express Pass for later in the day when the lines got longer.
Silly Chelsea. The lines never got longer.
We continued on until I got distracted by a Toothless photo opp, which was possibly my favorite thing of the whole day. We headed down what seem to be the world’s steepest escalators, and I suddenly found myself being okay with any plan that didn’t involve using them more than once. We did Jurassic Park the Ride, twice, followed by Revenge of the Mummy, twice. I took the escalators half way up and then opted for the stairs the rest of the way. For a girl who used to run four flights of stairs every day she worked at Islands of Adventure it was a lot more difficult than expected.
We stepped out to City Walk for lunch at Buca di Beppo, a family style Italian place I thought our resident Italian would appreciate. I was right, Jay did, and the food was delicious! They saw my birthday button and I got a song and a candle, but no dessert- very odd, but I’m not complaining since only two people actually did the singing.
We had to get a hand stamp, (actually more like a bicep stamp) that showed up under blacklight in order to be able to reenter. I got a kick out of the fact that it said KONG.
We headed back inside to the Studio Tour; since it was a ten minute wait I decided my Express Pass was now a souvenir. At 45 minutes, it was the longest ride we did for the entire trip. I groaned as they handed us the 3D glasses, but found myself getting excited anyway when Peter Jackson came on screen to introduce the Kong portion. I knew Skull Island: Reign of Kong was based on this scene.
I should have known better.
It’s not based on it. It is the exact same scene except with a Universal Tram instead of an Eighth Wonder Expedition Truck. Skull Island was literally built around reusing that animation, and it breaks my heart a little. I can’t wait to see if Fast and Furious is an exact copy too.
However, the tram tour then took us down Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives and I forgot all about how upset I was. Laugh all you want, but Desperate Housewives is one of my favorite shows because Mom and I used to watch it together. It’s been a few years, and the houses aren’t all the exact same colors anymore but it’s them all right! I couldn’t believe how close together everything was-the yards on the show look huge! Sadly I had the big lens on and didn’t have time to change for the smaller one, so all the photos are awkwardly zoomed in.
We finished out the day at Hogsmeade with a ride on Forbbiden Journey before we caught a Lyft over to Hollywood & Highland. Mom wanted to see the Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater. We were there about fifteen minutes and I had to switch to Uber because Lyft was saying it would be close to $150 and take eight hours. Go home, Lyft, you’re drunk.
Day Five: Monday
We checked out of the Fairfield bright and early Monday morning to switch to the Disneyland Hotel. I never expected our room to be ready at 8 a.m., and we had already left our stuff with the bellstand. They wouldn’t deliver to the room unless we were in there (what’s the point in having it delivered then?) so I decided we’d come back for it that night. We headed over to Disneyland to check in for our “Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps Tour”, a three and a half hour tour following Walt’s life and ending in a visit to his Main Street Apartment. There were a lot of tears, and our tour guide liked Duffy!
After the tour ended we met up with Skipper Lauren from my college program over at California Adventure. We hit as many rides as we could and caught the last showing of Mickey and the Magical Map before heading to World of Color, now with a Fastpass instead of the dining package as originally planned. We got much better spots than we had on our previous viewing and then made a mad dash for the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout Extra Magic Hour. We only got one ride in, but it was worth it since Lauren got a new song experience.
Mom, Pluto, me and Lauren.
To end the night we headed to Trader Sam’s, as all Skippers must when they get together on the west coast. I had to stop Mom from ordering a draft beer simply because it was the cheapest thing on the menu, and I discovered my new favorite drink: the Piranha Pool. Now I’m just upset we don’t have that drink here. Jay got both the Shipwreck on the Rocks cup and the Disneyland 60th Diamond Cup, because apparently that’s still a thing.
Piranha Pool!
Day Six: Tuesday – My Birthday!
We started at Disneyland for Extra Magic Hour a little later than I would have liked, but jumped straight in line for Peter Pan. It was about a forty minute wait, but I was determined to get it crossed off the list. We made it over to California Adventure for Frozen at the Hyperion Theater, which was amazing, and had lunch at Flo’s V8 Café before returning to Disneyland for Storytelling at the Royal Theater. We watched the story of Tangled, and Jay and I laughed so hard we scared my Mom at the “Backside of Water” joke.
Jay bought me one of the Mickey Balloon popcorn buckets, and we took it to Mickey and Minnie to have them autograph it. I plan on taking it around our parks and filling it up in the future.
We headed out of the park around eight via the monorail so we could take a quick (and by quick I mean maybe ten minute) dip in the pool and head to our dinner reservation in Downtown Disney by 9 p.m. (Side note: we asked if we could ride in the front car of the monorail and were told no, because it was too hot. I still find this fascinating. It was the same reason Oswald wasn’t out.) Catal is not somewhere I ever would have picked normally, but I’m so glad we went there. The food was fantastic, the service was prompt and polite and the restaurant was quiet. After days and days surrounded by people, it was a little piece of paradise.
Day Seven: Wednesday
Mom stayed in the room to pack us up for the plane while Jay and I headed to California Adventure for our final Extra Magic Hour. We headed straight for Guardians and managed to get on four times before park open, when the wait swelled to over an hour. We didn’t care. We thought we’d gotten our last song when the cast member let us ride a second time without waiting. I now realize there’s still one we missed, but oh well. Mom met up with us for our Grizzly River Run Fastpass before we headed to Disneyland for a day of repeating our favorite attractions, and catching the Beauty and the Beast version of the Storytelling at the Royal Theater show. Jay and Mom wanted to leave earlier than I did because they were worried about the traffic getting to the airport, and I relented. The stress of being late would spoil the day and, as Jay said, we needed to rip the bandaid off leaving the park for the last time. Winnie the Pooh was a walk-on so we did it twice more and headed towards Main Street. Well, tried to rather. We hadn’t accounted for the parade, and Mom whispered to me maybe Mickey would be out so we could say good-bye. Mickey was busy leading the parade, and we got trapped in the gift shops. I stalled as long as I could as the parade finally wrapped, taking pictures down the original Main Street, U.S.A. I gave up and headed for the gate, only to find Mickey Mouse walking out to meet with guests to the side of the entrance. I raced to get in line, trying not to cry. Mickey was concerned and I told him we had to go home, then promptly burst into tears. Mom was already crying behind me. We said our good-byes and made the long, tear-filled walk to the hotel.
Disneyland was seven full days of magic, even on the day we went to Universal instead. I have hardly any complaints about this trip and am excited to start writing the comparisons. I went ten whole days without checking my email, barely got on social media, and it was just plain lovely. Now I’ve got nearly 3,000 photos to sort through and so many wonderful memories.
Now for the good, the bad and the ugly!
- Legacy Fastpass, the original style with the paper tickets and the machines at each ride, is so much better than Fastpass+. We got seven to twelve Fastpasses a day easily! I fear with the Fastpass Max app, the days of Legacy Fastpass’s are numbered. I decided against investing in it, and still did fine. I saved $180 over the course of the six days in getting the Fastpasses myself, got fun paper souvenirs and my camera is just as good as a Photopass photographer’s. Their photographers aren’t as plentiful as they are at Walt Disney World either.
- The Disneyland Hotel, while beautiful and themed, is not worth the money. The Extra Magic Hour was nice, but it was only an hour. Package pick up was virtually useless since you still have to take it to a centralized point in the park instead of wherever you bought it. The Fairfield was almost the same amount of time walking and we paid for four days what we paid for two at the Disneyland Hotel. The only real downside was crossing the street at an extremely busy intersection.
- The Fantasmic Dining Package is a waste of money. Get a Fastpass for the second showing and just get there early. We were in line while the first show was still watching the 9:30 fireworks and got absolutely perfect seats on Friday night. Saturday nights our seats were roughly the same, just a little more centered but not by much. Two years ago, my dining experience at Blue Bayou was absolutely wonderful but this was a miserable, overpriced meal and I will not be going back. The Sorcerer Mickey dessert is adorable, but nothing could be worth that amount of money again. I wound up canceling our World of Color dining package because I was afraid of a repeat.
- I interacted with both Disneyland’s and California Adventure’s Guest Relations, and they give Plaid a bad name. Even the most helpful of them was extremely short, and the worst of them was the rudest, most condescending Cast Member I’ve ever encountered in my life. Not a single person represented the level of service I’ve come to expect from Walt Disney World’s Guest Relations, and am horrified to find them in Walt’s park. I was talked down to, accused of lying, lied to, and watched one Cast Member change his story when I proved him wrong. There have been many times in my life I’ve had to explain to a guest that what they were told by someone else was incorrect, but the words, “Well, that Cast Member gave you wrong information,” have never left my lips, and never will. Every Guest Relations person I encountered that was not a tour guide needs to go back to Traditions and learn what being a Cast Member is all about.
The last time I went to Disneyland I was simply blown away by how much better everything was there, how things were better maintained and how they could get away with pop culture references in their shows. This time I was grateful that I live in the Magic, that when I left I wasn’t going back to Knoxville but back to my own Castle. When you walk into Disneyland for the first time, you don’t know where the bathrooms are and it is the greatest feeling in the entire world because there’s so much new to discover. I am wholeheartedly convinced that Walt sent Mickey to say good-bye when we were walking out, to tell me it was okay. I may have been leaving his park, but I wasn’t leaving the Magic at all, and Mickey and Disney would be waiting for me at Home.
For four and a half years, I’ve insisted that Florida is not Home, that Knoxville, Tennessee will always be Home. Knoxville will always be Home, but Walt Disney World is too.
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