TimandLesley Take On Disneyland - We're BACK BABY! Update 10/9

I logon to the Did for the first time since 2009 because we are planning a DL\California trip for next summer and here you are. I previously read your TRs and I am loving all the tips you are giving!
 
Hi Lesley,

I almost never come on disboards anymore, but so happy I found your trip report. Planning on getting to DL in the next year. Love your all your pics!
 
So sorry for the delay. Life has been crazy between my new day job, and then I was ready to post and hurricane Matthew hit and I had to help all of my clients traveling. But I'm back and will post more! Thanks for hanging in there : )

Excited to see the update tonight! Love all the pictures and can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip. I sure hope Paint the Night moves to WDW, I would love to see it on our trip next summer!
Thanks! I hope it does too that parade is amazing!

Our next trip to WDW is June 2017 and I really hope PtN will come to Disney (by then). My young boys love all the Pixar stuff, so I'm sure they will love it, but I'm glad we all saw MSEP this past June.

I loved Blue Bayou when I was at DLR in 2002. Sorry the package really wasn't worth it.

I really, really want to see Carsland. Just nit sure a trip to DLR is on our radar. Because we live in GA and can drive to WDW, it's just so much easier for us to get to.

Looking forward to more!
I hope it does too. Blue Bayou is great it gets mixed reviews but both times I've been I have really enjoyed it. Carsland is SO GREAT! Try and get out there you won't regret it!

You have had a action packed second day so far and we are only at lunch. I look forward to the rest of day 2. I am loving all the pictures. They make me want ready to hop in the car and headed to Disneyland.
Yes, every day of this trip was action packed, such fun!

Really enjoying your updates. So weird seeing you with the fastpasses. I forgot you could have two at same time. So cool.
I hope Paint the Night Parade comes to WDW one day. Looks amazing.

Was someone famous on TOT? I noticed one of their tour guides in the top left of your photo.

Great pics!!! Cant wait for more
Thanks for reading along and posting, really appreciate it. Yes, loved having the paper fast passes again this trip. The tour guide was right next to us at TOT but I couldn't figure out who the guy he was with was. I don't think he was famous

I logon to the Did for the first time since 2009 because we are planning a DL\California trip for next summer and here you are. I previously read your TRs and I am loving all the tips you are giving!
Woo hoo! You found us again! Glad you are enjoying!

Hi Lesley,

I almost never come on disboards anymore, but so happy I found your trip report. Planning on getting to DL in the next year. Love your all your pics!
Hi there, so glad you found us again. I would love to help you, glad you are enjoying the report. Much more pics to come : )
 


Hello again, thanks for sticking with us. I had no intention of taking this long to complete this report but life has been crazy busy (in a good way : ) Alright, I left off at Carthay Circle. I made a reservation here because we had the World of Color package. It is SO lovely in there and I was glad we did the package. Here are some pics of our incredible meal:
We started off with the cheddar biscuits with apricot butter. Sounds gross but OH MY GOSH so yummy!!! This wasn't a part of the package, we splurged for these:
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Luke and Tim had heard how wonderful the Firecracker Duck Wings were, so we ordered those too. YUM YUM YUM!!!
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Here are some photo's of our entrees. I had the steak, it was really yummy:
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Tim and Luke had the burger. They both said it was just "o.k." I guess it was a little dry:

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Lauren ordered the pasta and loved it!

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This was the desert, it was just "o.k."

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Overall we had a great meal and I wouldn't trade the experience of eating here for the world.
The picture of Walt all over the restaurant is just great.
My kids being goofy as always : )

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After lunch I had promised Lauren we would take a drawing class. We miss this SO much at WDW and are so sad it is gone. We stepped inside the Animation Academy not knowing what all was inside. It was SO COOL in there!

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They have a lot of meet n' greets in there (it's where you find Anna and Elsa) and a lot of interactive animation things. Lauren was in Heaven : )

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Scroll to next post (I'm limited to 10 pics per post, sorry!)
 
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Here are some more pics from inside the Animation Academy. Definitely take the time to go in here and explore when you go to Disneyland/California Adventure.
This is the line for Anna and Elsa, seemed to be moving very fast!
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They had a lot of interactive things you could do, from animating a cartoon you draw to interactive computer games that involve animation:
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After all of this we found the drawing class, it's bigger than the one that used to be at Hollywood Studios:
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This is how Luke felt about being in the class:
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I was so excited because it was a character we've never had before the Cheshire Cat. I thought ours didn't turn out too bad:
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After this we were ready to head back to the hotel to relax for a bit. First we all were craving something sweet because desert at lunch just wasn't any good.
So Lauren stopped to enjoy her first Mickey bar of the trip:
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Scroll to next post for more...................
 
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So I left you at we were getting ice cream and heading back to the hotel. We stopped at Claribelle's and had some yummy sundaes. One Mickey and one Oswald : )
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They were just as good as they looked .

We went back to the hotel and swam in the pool, sorry I left the camera in the room and then went to World of Color that night.

When we came back to the park we had a fast pass for Soarin', so we went in the entrance through the Grand Californian.

We were so excited to experience this new attraction, it didn't disappoint:
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After that we headed to CARSLAND, the kids and I went on the Mater ride, I thought this was super cute, we smashed into a vehicle built for two:
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Me and my boy:
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I just love love CARSLAND I can't say enough about it. We took so many pictures there, here is one : )
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We waited for the lights to come on. It was so great seeing Luke in all his glory. My teenage son turned kid again geeking out when the lights and the song came out, great memories!

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We grabbed dinner from a Cozy Cone. The Chicken Verde cones are SO YUMMY!!!! I highly recommend them!
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Then it was time to use our World of Color pass from lunch that afternoon:
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We got to our spot and all eyes were on the wheel as the sun went down:
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The show is FANTASTIC! Between the Paint the Night Parade and World of Color, Disneyland/California Adventure wins in the entertainment arena over Walt Disney World any day of the week, worth the trip out there alone : )
The package got us "decent" seats, they were good, not great. We had a super tall guy stand right in front of us WITH his sorcerer Mickey ears, wish he would have taken those off : ( but overall we still enjoyed the show and would do it all over again! Scoll to next post for some of my pics
 


Here are some of the pics I took of World of Color, these pics simply do not do it justice : )
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Time to LET IT GO!

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SMALL WORLD!!

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LOOK IT's WALT!!!!

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What an absolutely amazing day, ending on a high note with this spectacular show. If you are considering a trip out to Disneyland and California Adventure I say DO IT!!!!!! You won't regret it!!!

COMING UP NEXT:

Breakfast in the Concierge Lounge
Dole Whip Run for the ones I love
TOONTOWN!
And much much more!

Thanks for reading along and posting, means a lot!
 

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Welcome back! Looks like a fantastic day at CDA! I so want to be at Cars land when the lights come on. Is there a schedule for it, or just "at dusk."?
 
Wow...world of color looks fantastic! This is a permanent show right? Would love to catch it when we go next summer.

Animation Academy looks neat too. Loving your report.
 
Welcome back! Looks like a fantastic day at CDA! I so want to be at Cars land when the lights come on. Is there a schedule for it, or just "at dusk."?

It really was such a great day. It is just "at dusk" but as you can see from the pics it actually happens before the sun goes down. When you are there ask a cast member for an approximate time, the lady we asked was right within 5 minutes ; )

Wow...world of color looks fantastic! This is a permanent show right? Would love to catch it when we go next summer.

Animation Academy looks neat too. Loving your report.

Thanks for reading along and posting. Yes, it is permanent for now anyway, it's such an amazing show!!!
 
The meal seemed like it wasn't spectacular but the atmosphere made up for it? Plus the reserved spots for WoC?

WoC looks really awesome. Goal: DLR within the next 5 years. That's probably the most feasible for us. Since we are in GA, WDW is just so much easier to get to.
 
World of Color is the best Disney show of all time! I can't wait to get my kids out there to see it someday.
 
Hi Lesley! :wave:Not sure if you remember me from past TRs or not but I was so excited to find your DL TR!! it has been quite a while.
I have become more of a lurker and less of a poster these days. :surfweb:
First of all your kids....so grown up! So handsome and so pretty.
It's happened with mine too...bittersweet! My DS is 22 and DD is a senior in HS!
You and Tim both look fantastic!:thumbsup2

Your TR is perfect timing for me as we are beginning to plan a trip for early next June. I feel behind in my planning.
It will be her senior trip and we are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. Hoping to do several things while out west.
We have never been so it will certainly be an exciting adventure.

Thanks for sharing your TR! Looks like an amazing, fun trip...can't wait to read more!:woohoo:
Have a magical day!
TTFN,
Darlene
 
Hi Lesley. So glad I popped back in. Animation Academy looks like a blast. Trent would love it in there.
Your cats came out good. Cars Land looks so cool. Love to see it in person at night one year.

WOC looks amazing. Wish WDW had something comparable to that.

Hope to see you back soon
 
Just caught up- can't wait to read more, especially the part w/ your VIP tour! Your family looks so happy! :dogdance:
 
Awesome report!!! I am obsessed with DL reports because my boyfriend and I are thinking of doing a southern Cali honeymoon after we get married next year and DL would be a MUST DO. Never been there so I love seeing others reports about it!

And I had a major holy cow moment when I stumbled across your TR b/c I remember reading old reports of yours from when your kids were itty bitty and and I didn't even HAVE a kid at the time...and now yours are so grown and my kiddo is going to be 8 this summer! Time sure flies!

Can't wait to read more! :)
 

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