Aloha, Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

By then it was nearly time for my breakfast reservation at the Plaza Inn. This is kind of a strange setup. For most of the day this is a counter service restaurant, but they do offer a breakfast buffet. This has the reputation that it has the biggest number of characters of any character meal at Disneyland. It also has the reputation that it features some random and often rarer characters. It most certainly did not disappoint in this respect. They take a photo before you go in and this is included in Photopass+. I was a little disappointed with the photo. The full name is Plaza Inn Breakfast with Minnie and Friends. For all the other character breakfasts that include the photo package as part of Photopass+, you get to have your photo taken with a character before you go in: Lifeguard Mickey at Surf’s Up Breakfast, Chef Goofy or Sous Chef Pluto at Goofy’s Kitchen and Ariel at Ariel’s Grotto. It would be nice if Minnie would meet with people at the entrance of her breakfast, but the photo was just taken against the railing.



Once the photo was taken, I was asked to step to one side on the patio and shortly afterwards I was called inside. I was directed to a till and paid for my breakfast. I was given a special button badge and was advised that I would be seated outside. I asked if it would be possible to sit inside and that I did not mind waiting. The sun was beating down and there did not seem to be much shade outside. I was then directed to a table inside without any wait and the whole of the area was empty apart from two tables. So I really don’t understand what this was in aid of. I was impressed with the breakfast offerings. I started with some fruit. Drinks were self-service and there was an option for soft drinks. So I went with some orange soda. Next I went for some hot food. They had some slightly more unusual choices. I had some Chicken Fried Steak, biscuits with gravy and freshly cooked hash browns. I also went back for a made to order omelette, which was very nice. I did have a near miss when I came back from getting my omelette. I had left my camera very prominently on the table and there was also a nearly full glass of orange soda. However, when I came back, somebody tried to seat a couple at the table even though that had not been cleared and I was not finished. She did not look impressed when I walked past them with my tray and proceeded to sit back down. I did not have room for any of the desserts that they had on offer, but they looked very nice.
People were not exaggerating when they said that this is the character meal with the most characters. Unfortunately most of them just seemed to pass me by. That was somewhat disappointing. Chip and Dale, Peter Pan, Tigger, Baloo, Timon, Mr Smee and Jiminy Cricket were around, but disappeared before they got to my table. Captain Hook came over to say “hi”, but there was nobody around to take a photo. I was fine with this as I had only just seen Captain Hook. Minnie and Pooh came to visit and by then a family was sitting at the table next to mine and they were happy to take some photos. Rafiki headed in my direction and I got rather excited, but then he disappeared without coming to my table. I really wanted a photo with him for my character hunt, especially as I had never seen him out and about before, so I went after him. He did stop and I got my photo. I also got to meet Pinocchio and Eeyore. Eeyore was just about to pass me by as well, but he must have realized that I was looking as glum as he was and he came back. The highlight for me was meeting the Fairy Godmother and this alone was worth the price of the breakfast for me. This was a first for me as well and she was just great. She picked up on my Mickey ears and told me all about her little mousse friends. I did mention to a supervisor who was lurking near the exit that I was a little disappointed that so many characters had just passed me by and also about the table incident, but she just shrugged her shoulders and did not seem unduly concerned.

As I had still plenty of time until my window opened to see Anna and Elsa, I decided to do some more rides. I had heard that Alice in Wonderland had received a fairly extensive make over as well and based on my experience with Big Thunder Mountain, I thought that this was a try. I have to admit that I very rarely do this ride as it is a slow loader and also somewhat temperamental. I think the last time I had done it was in 2004 so my memory of this was somewhat fuzzy. True to form, this had gone earlier and they had only just reopened the line while they conducted some final testing. So there were only about 20 or so people in front of me. This was too good to pass up. I got in line and about 5 minutes later they let the first people board. I ended up waiting about 10 minutes total, which is a major result for this ride. I did really enjoy it, but as I could not remember any details from the old ride, I could not fully appreciate the changes that they have made. I have since seen a side by side video of the old and new version on You Tube and it really is a difference like between day and night. This has definitely gone on my to do list for September and then I will be able to fully appreciate all the changes.



Another ride that I can take or leave as a rule and that I leave more often than take is the Storybook Land Canal Boats. However, this time round it was a must do for me. I had read before the trip that the houses and villages are decorated for Christmas. I wanted to see this for myself. I was reminded very quickly why I don’t usually bother. The line moves extremely slowly and is also very narrow. Add to this restless kids and the fact that the dividers are mainly chains and I had a few bruises to add to my collection by the time I got on the boat. I did really enjoy the ride though. I had forgotten just how cute this is and the miniature Christmas decorations definitely added something to this. Shortly after our visit, this was refurbished and a Frozen scene was added so I definitely have to check this out during my next visit.





I then headed over to Mickey’s Toon Town. This is an area that I tend to just skip, but I had read that this is a good spot for Christmas decorations. I wandered around for a while taking photos and then I spotted that Mickey only had a 20 minute wait. So I headed inside. I had a look around his house while I walked through and this is rather cute. We were then directed to a screening room where cartoons were shown, which is essentially a holding pen. I did not have to wait very long until it was my time to see Mickey. Once I was done, I checked on the wait time to see Minnie, but at 40 minutes, I did not fancy it. I may have to go and see her in September. I had another wander around and had one last attempt if I could find Pete for the daughter of a colleague, but I had no luck. One thing caught my eye. For some reason the DVC kiosk in this area had signs for Hawaii on it. This made me smile.

I wanted to head over to New Orleans Square and decided to be lazy. I headed over to the Fantasyland/ Toon Town train station to take the Disneyland Railroad over to the New Orleans Square station. Unfortunately it looked like everybody else had the same idea. When the first train came and went, about half the people waiting were left behind and I was one of them. Still, I did not mind. It was nice and shady on the platform and the trains come through fairly frequently. So even waiting for the second train it probably was still quicker than walking over especially as New Orleans Square tends to be very busy and the train station is exactly where I wanted to be. The next train did come soon afterwards and I got on and relaxed.









My plan had been to see if I could ride Haunted Mansion Holiday, but as soon as I got off the train I realized that this may not be a good idea. The line went right back to the train station. So I decided to push on to Critter Country instead. I was curious about the Christmas decorations in this area and they were rather nice. While I was there, I noticed that there was only a 10 minute wait for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and I decided to do this instead. I think this ride is very cute and very cleverly done. I pondered getting in line to meet the characters from Winnie the Pooh, but I could not really judge how long the line was as you cannot really see it from the entrance. As by then I had about an hour until my return time to see Anna and Elsa and I had to get there first, I decided that this could wait for another day. I slowly ambled back through Frontierland and took some photos on the way. When I passed Big Thunder Mountain, the posted waiting time was 25 minutes. As I know that they tend to overstate the waiting time on that attraction, I decided to give this a go. For once the waiting time was pretty accurate, but I enjoyed the ride and this actually worked out perfectly.















By then my window on my return time ticket was just about to open. I headed over there. This time I was not quite so lucky as the first time round. I had my return time checked and directed to the line. This was quite long and I ended up waiting about as long as I had waited to get my ticket. I did not mind though. Olaf has quickly become one of my favourite characters and I was quite happy to watch him as he can talk. Eventually it was my turn and I went in to see Anna and Elsa. I had a nice chat with them and got some photos and then I moved on.















I was heading towards the exit when I spotted some Photopass photographers around the hub. So I stopped for some photos. I got lucky with some magic shots including the balloon shot that I had never been able to get previously and had always admired on other people’s trip report.

I then pushed on to the Candy Palace. You could actually see through the window how the candy canes were made. I was absolutely captivated by this. I watched for a while and took some photos and then I went inside to claim my prize. Fortunately sugar never goes off. I have no intention of ever eating this, but it is a really nice souvenir. When I went inside, I went up to a till and they checked my wristband. I was then directed to another till where they cut off the wristband, took the payment and gave me my candy cane. Once I had this, I headed to exit, but I took some photos of the Main Street Vehicles all decorated for Christmas on the way.

















I headed back to the hotel where I had arranged to meet Graham. He had already arrived. I quickly dropped off the things that I did not need for the rest of the day and my candy cane, re-organized my bag and then we headed off again. We were going to be brave. After the aborted shopping trip earlier in the week, I still had some shopping to do. I have some colleagues that go crazy for the Bath and Body Works Pocket Bac mini hand sanitizers. So I wanted to get some for them as a Christmas present. I also like to browse certain shops that we don’t have here in the UK. Black Friday would not have been my choice of day to do this, but this just worked best all around. I figured by the time we would get there, the Black Friday crowds would have been and gone. This time we decided to take to the bus network as we could just pay on the bus. The closest bus stop is just outside the entrance to the shuttle park for Disneyland so essentially I ended up back where I had started. Still, not having to carry around stuff that I would not need was worth the detour. We did not have long to wait until our bus came.

Our destination was the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana. We have been there on a number of occasions before and have always liked it. The bus journey only took about 20 minutes and on the way I got treated to a view of Crystal Cathedral. My assumption that the crowds would have dispersed by the time we got there had been right. There were plenty of people around, but not more than I would expect on any other Friday mid-afternoon. We had a wander around and I checked out the shops that I had come for. I did not buy much. I spotted an Olaf Beanie Baby at Hallmark and could not resist him. I used to collect Beanie Babies for years, but cannot remember when I bought the last one. However, the combination of Beanie Baby and Olaf was too good to pass up. I also managed to get a selection of Pocket Bac mini hand sanitizers for my colleagues and got some for myself, too.

Once I had finished my shopping and browsing, we headed for dinner. Our destination that night was Olive Garden. We both had the Bellini Peach-Raspberry Iced Tea, which was somewhat unusual, but very tasty and refreshing. We both opted for soup. I had Pasta e Fagioli and Graham had Chicken & Gnocchi. I was good with the bread sticks and only had one, but we both made the mistake to have a second soup when this was offered. I love the Pasta e Fagioli soup and could quite happily make a meal out of this. Graham had the Steak Toscano, which is a 12 oz. choice center cut New York strip brushed with herbs and olive oil and served with garlic-parmesan mashed potatoes. He said that this was the best steak he had that trip. I went with my old go to dish; Tour of Italy, which consists of Chicken Parmigiana, Lasagna Classico and Fettuccine Alfredo. I had most of the Chicken Parmigiana, but only picked on the other two dishes. We took our time over dinner and at one stage we decided to get an alcoholic drink. Graham had an Italian beer and I had the Italian Margarita, which was very nice.

After dinner, we made our way back to Disneyland. On the way to the bus, we walked through Macy's and some Michael Kors coats caught my eyes. They were all under $100. Unfortunately the more substantial coats did not come in my size. The ones that I did like and that came in my size where a windbreaker style and seemed a bit flimsy for our climate. So I decided against it. I have recently bitterly regretted this. With spring more feeling like fall this year, I would have got so much use out of this.
Again we did not have to wait long for the bus back. When we got to Anaheim, Graham said that we could either get off near Anaheim Garden Walk or stay on the bus back to where we got on, but apparently it takes a very scenic route. I figured that it was not such a bad idea to walk off some of the food and opted for the first option. We had a leisurely walk back to the hotel. Once we got there, we got ready for bed as this had been a pretty full day again.

Another great day. The candy cane tradition is a good one, not surprisingly they sell out so quickly.

What a shame the characters passed you by at breakfast, I would have been disappointed too

I never knew about the Candy cane tradition. Wow that is so cool. How do you find out which dates are for each park?

I'm so glad you got your candy cane! What a fun treat!

Jill in CO

Mrs Doubtfire said:

The candy cane tradition is a good one, not surprisingly they sell out so quickly.

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This is a bit of living and breathing Disney history.

Mrs Doubtfire said:

What a shame the characters passed you by at breakfast, I would have been disappointed too

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This has happened quite a few times over the years, both at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland. It always makes me wonder what they think why adult only groups go to character meals. It is definitely not for the gourmet food.

jenseib said:

I never knew about the Candy cane tradition.

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I found out about this more or less by accident a little over a year ago.

jenseib said:

How do you find out which dates are for each park?

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The dates were posted here on the Holiday Super Thread on the Disneyland board and I think they were originally reported on the Disney Parks Blog.

jedijill said:

I'm so glad you got your candy cane! What a fun treat!

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I was so happy to get one. I don't even like mint, but it is just such a beautiful tradition and I wanted a small part of this.

Corinna

Congrats on scoring the candy cane as well as M&G with E&A. What an amazing day!

PrincessInOz said:

Congrats on scoring the candy cane as well as M&G with E&A. What an amazing day!

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It truly was. I could not believe how everything fell in place.

Corinna

Your breakfast meal sounds like the food was good, but I was also a little disappointed that the characters did not seem to see you there. I know you got to see some but I wanted them all to come see you !

Toon Town was really cute, love all the decorations, and the train sounded like the best idea, even if you had to wait.

Love the Candycane, but no way I could eat all that sugar either.

Congratulations on getting the candy cane! Jenny went last year and was so excited to get one. I had no idea they were so hard to get.

Too bad about the CM at breakfast shrugging your complain off. They should stop by each and every table, that's part of the meal. I would have been disappointed too.

Loved seeing all the Toon Town decorations.

I look forward to seeing Alice in Wonderland's renovation, I really enjoy that ride.

Good idea to go shopping after the crowds, Black Friday has started evolving in the recent years. They've started doing the sales on Thanksgiving day and staggering when things go on sale. In my area at least.

dolphingirl47 said:

This has happened quite a few times over the years, both at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland. It always makes me wonder what they think why adult only groups go to character meals. It is definitely not for the gourmet food.

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This has happened to us at Disneyland Paris, but never at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World. We love the Plaza Inn, because the characters are always keep coming back to our table to check that we are okay!

You definitely got some pixie dust that morning with the Candy Cane and a great time for Anna & Elsa. I heard about the Candy Canes for the first time on Jenny's TR a couple years ago, she got two (with having kids and all) and they ate one, and she saved the other.

That's sad that characters didn't come to your table at the character breakfast. I can't believe that they don't realize that it's not only kids that enjoy the character meets. Good job on the other PP pictures!

Black Friday is becoming less and less of a thing with online sales, they are now having huge deals before Thanksgiving to beat the Black Friday deals, and Fran has become a willing participant in all of that rather than getting out of bed early on the morning after Thanksgiving to brave crowds. I'm glad the mall had thinned out by the time you got there. The tour of Italy is my "go to" whenever we eat there as well. I love the choices and it gives me a little of each of the things that I totally love!

Although with our surprise trip to Seattle we were out with the crowds looking for boots and other cold weather clothes as it unexpectedly snowed in Seattle on Thanksgiving night! We didn't expect to wake up to a blanket of white stuff on the ground and had no shoes whatsoever to walk across my sister's backyard to get into her house the next day!

dgbg100106 said:

Your breakfast meal sounds like the food was good, but I was also a little disappointed that the characters did not seem to see you there. I know you got to see some but I wanted them all to come see you !

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It was a bit of a shame that not all characters stopped to see me, but I still did OK it terms of rare characters.

dgbg100106 said:

Toon Town was really cute, love all the decorations, and the train sounded like the best idea, even if you had to wait.

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I loved all the decorations. I never really got Toon Town, but I think I may have to do a return visit in September. I loved Mickey's house and really want to check out Minnie's house. In the last couple of years, they also have done a pre-party at Toon Town for an hour before the official starting time of Mickey's Halloween Party. If they do this again this year, I will definitely check that out.

dgbg100106 said:

Love the Candycane, but no way I could eat all that sugar either.

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I know some people have smashed theirs to pieces and used it to bake cookies.

Pinkocto said:

Jenny went last year and was so excited to get one. I had no idea they were so hard to get.

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This may have the first time I read about those. As they are fully made by hand, the are limited as to how many they can produce. I think they are a bit easier to get at California Adventure, but I wanted to have a plan B just in case I could not get one on the first day. I also think it is very nice that I got mine at Disneyland as this is where the tradition started.

Pinkocto said:

Too bad about the CM at breakfast shrugging your complain off. They should stop by each and every table, that's part of the meal. I would have been disappointed too.

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I agree and I was quite shocked that the cast members don't seemed to be interested. Normally they are very good with this kind of thing at Disneyland.

Pinkocto said:

I look forward to seeing Alice in Wonderland's renovation, I really enjoy that ride.

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I definitely have to do this again in September now that I can fully appreciate just how much has changed.

Pinkocto said:

Good idea to go shopping after the crowds, Black Friday has started evolving in the recent years. They've started doing the sales on Thanksgiving day and staggering when things go on sale. In my area at least.

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That appears to be the case in California as well. We were treated to plenty of ads about the sales and most of them either started late afternoon on Thanksgiving or at midnight on Friday. I think it is a bit of a shame that what should be a family occasion is broken up that way.

franandaj said:

You definitely got some pixie dust that morning with the Candy Cane and a great time for Anna & Elsa.

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I still can't believe how lucky I was.

franandaj said:

I heard about the Candy Canes for the first time on Jenny's TR a couple years ago, she got two (with having kids and all) and they ate one, and she saved the other.

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I think I may have found out about this on Jenny's trip report. I read so many trip reports about the holiday time at Disneyland that year in preparation of my own trip that things have gone a bit fuzzy.

franandaj said:

That's sad that characters didn't come to your table at the character breakfast. I can't believe that they don't realize that it's not only kids that enjoy the character meets. Good job on the other PP pictures!

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That is what always gets me. Surely they must know that adults without kids add a significant amount of revenue. If there are no kids in the equation, then chances are that the people are there because they love everything Disney and that does include the characters.

franandaj said:

The tour of Italy is my "go to" whenever we eat there as well. I love the choices and it gives me a little of each of the things that I totally love!

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I love this dish. I kind of like that they offered three versions representing different parts of Italy, but I decided to go with tried and tested.

franandaj said:

Although with our surprise trip to Seattle we were out with the crowds looking for boots and other cold weather clothes as it unexpectedly snowed in Seattle on Thanksgiving night! We didn't expect to wake up to a blanket of white stuff on the ground and had no shoes whatsoever to walk across my sister's backyard to get into her house the next day!

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I remember that story.

Corinna

Orbitron said:

This has happened to us at Disneyland Paris, but never at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World. We love the Plaza Inn, because the characters are always keep coming back to our table to check that we are okay!

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For some reason this did not multi-quote. How strange. I never had issues at Disneyland Paris. We have always done the character buffet at the Lucky Nugget Saloon and also did the Sunday brunch at the Steakhouse in Disney Village. At both locations we had great luck with the characters. Unfortunately I gather neither location does offer character meals anymore. I really need to go back to Disneyland Paris as I have not been since April 2010.

Maybe I should give breakfast at the Plaza Inn another chance.

Corinna

dolphingirl47 said:

I really need to go back to Disneyland Paris as I have not been since April 2010.

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From everything I read they are really starting to get their act together with refurbishing a lot of things. It is still moving slowly, but I think compared to 2010 it should be in much better shape now! The one thing that got me on my recent visits is how much the French have no embraced their love of Disney. I used to miss the fun atmosphere I had experienced in the US parks and during my recent visits, it felt far more "Disney" to me. CMs who enjoyed playing their role (the ToT bellhops at WDS were fantastic and a Phantom Manor CM really scared me once, it was very funny).

We stayed at the then freshly refurbed Sequoia Lodge in the "club level" as it was not that much more expensive during off season in January. The bonus was that we had a private room for breakfast where two characters came around every morning. Kind of a mini character breakfast. I am not sure whether they still have the characters there, but the less chaotic breakfast was very nice!

Flossbolna said:

From everything I read they are really starting to get their act together with refurbishing a lot of things. It is still moving slowly, but I think compared to 2010 it should be in much better shape now! The one thing that got me on my recent visits is how much the French have no embraced their love of Disney. I used to miss the fun atmosphere I had experienced in the US parks and during my recent visits, it felt far more "Disney" to me. CMs who enjoyed playing their role (the ToT bellhops at WDS were fantastic and a Phantom Manor CM really scared me once, it was very funny).

We stayed at the then freshly refurbed Sequoia Lodge in the "club level" as it was not that much more expensive during off season in January. The bonus was that we had a private room for breakfast where two characters came around every morning. Kind of a mini character breakfast. I am not sure whether they still have the characters there, but the less chaotic breakfast was very nice!

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That sounds good. I have 10 days of leave in November during the run up for my birthday and no plans so far. So maybe I will have to take a little trip to Disneyland Paris then.

I have to say, I have never had any experience with the cast members being less than magical or un-Disney-like myself.

Corinna

Slightly off topic as this is about my upcoming trip rather than my last one. I finally jumped today and made my reservations for my Halloween trip. It is just as well that I did it now as for the first part, there was no availability at Paradise Pier using DVC points. So I am going to have 3 nights at the Disneyland Hotel. I then stay with friends for a couple of nights and then I have 4 nights at Paradise Pier Hotel. I am kind of excited to get to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. This means that by the end of the trip, I will have stayed at all three hotels at Disneyland. This has changed my meal plans somewhat. I was going to have my traditional first morning Surf's Up Breakfast, but now that I am staying at the Disneyland hotel, I wonder if I should go with Goofy's Kitchen instead and do the Surf's Up Breakfast once I am at Paradise Pier.

I also added three nights at the All Star Music. I was hoping to get three nights at Saratoga Springs, but the last night was not available. As Graham is in Florida some time on the weekend anyway, it made more sense to just stay put at the same hotel.

Corinna

Congratulations about booking your hotels! I love when things fall into place. Too bad about PP not being available for the first part, but it's always fun to see a new place. The pictures of the DL Hotel look absolutely gorgeous!

That does make sense about All Star Music, and fun that Graham will be there at the end