Nick, Marie, The Diva's & Me!! Carthay Circle Restaurant!!!

[DizNee Luver]

While I was resting in the room, Nick & Marie decided to leave Disneyland and head into DCA. These pics were taken on Nick's iPhone.

The new Disney's California Adventure entry.



Buena Vista Street.



They headed right over to CarsLand!!



They got in line to ride Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.









I was a tad sad that I didn't get to see their expressions the first time they walked down Buena Vista Street and into Radiator Springs......but I'm glad they enjoyed it!! They were going to head back to the hotel when they heard the music at Paradise Bay, so they headed over to catch part of the "Instant Concert, Just Add Water" with Maestro Goofy directing the water fountains (where they hold the World of Color).









I also happened to be watching the show from the room.



I enjoyed the view from our room and got more pictures. One of the things I noticed was the Silly Symphony Swings was TOTALLY taken down for the refurb. I was surprised to see the entire thing dismantled!





This is the siding on the Goofy's Sky School.



The Matterhorn and the tips of the spires of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.



Space Mountain.



Grizzly Peak.



The Tower of Terror.



The hills/mountain area of CarsLand.



Ariel's Grotto Restaurant.



California Screamin'.

[DizNee Luver]

So remember I had mentioned that I received a Annual Passholder Gift at check-in? This is what I got. A beautifully colorful glossy poster from the World of Color. I LOVE it!!! Unfortunately, TSA decided to open one of the my checked bags and it got crinkle/wrinkled badly.







I looked out the window & saw Nick & Marie headed back to the hotel.





A couple more pics of DCA. I spotted the Phineas & Ferb vehicle heading out for their little show.



Nick got back up to the room & took a picture of the view.



I picked up 2013 pins for Nick, Marie & I. Here they are with our hotel room keys.





I was feeling better, so we decided to head to the concierge lounge for "Happy Hour" which is held daily from 5-7pm. Lots of goodies and free beer or wine.

















Pretty nice spread they put out!!!

[Sherry E]

A couple of observations...

1. Not only did your room have the mini-Scope bottle with the other toiletries, but it also had - unless my eyes deceived me - real coffee mugs next to the coffee maker and not paper cups. I could have been hallucinating and thinking that I saw actual mugs - but they sure looked different than the usual paper cups that come with other rooms. I know you said you don't drink coffee (correct?), so you might not have realized there was a difference when you took the coffee maker photo; and

2. I think that this particular concierge spread o' goodies ^^^ looks more appetizing (to me) than other spreads I've seen in other photos. The selection really seems to vary depending on time or day, doesn't it? There have been other times when I've seen PPH concierge food photos and thought, "Well, I guess I could find something to snack on but none of it looks terribly enticing." None of it would have been enough to get me to pay for concierge.

This time, I was looking at your pictures of the food and thinking, "Yep. I'd grab that...and that...and I'd take one of those back to the room...and then I'd grab a couple of those too..." So I guess the problem with relying on concierge food is that you can never be sure if what they put out will be appealing enough to warrant paying extra for concierge!

[DizNee Luver]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

A couple of observations...

1. Not only did your room have the mini-Scope bottle with the other toiletries, but it also had - unless my eyes deceived me - real coffee mugs next to the coffee maker and not paper cups. I could have been hallucinating and thinking that I saw actual mugs - but they sure looked different than the usual paper cups that come with other rooms. I know you said you don't drink coffee (correct?), so you might not have realized there was a difference when you took the coffee maker photo; and

2. I think that this particular concierge spread o' goodies ^^^ looks more appetizing (to me) than other spreads I've seen in other photos. The selection really seems to vary depending on time or day, doesn't it? There have been other times when I've seen PPH concierge food photos and thought, "Well, I guess I could find something to snack on but none of it looks terribly enticing." None of it would have been enough to get me to pay for concierge.

This time, I was looking at your pictures of the food and thinking, "Yep. I'd grab that...and that...and I'd take one of those back to the room...and then I'd grab a couple of those too..." So I guess the problem with relying on concierge food is that you can never be sure if what they put out will be appealing enough to warrant paying extra for concierge!

Those were real coffee cups....but I don't drink coffee.....so didn't really make that observation until you pointed it out.......lol

I meant to take pics at the breakfast, midday and desserts but forgot to do that. The options were pretty tasty every time we stopped by. I'm still not sure we got our monies worth out of it.....but we did enjoy being able to stop by and grab water, sodas or a snack. The CM's are fabulous and are always super helpful!!

[Trentmom]

Looks like Nick and Marie had some fun at DCA

The show with Goofy looks neat


That spread at Concierge Lounge looks so good. I want some of those choc covered strawberries..mmmmmmmmmm

[DizNee Luver]

Originally Posted by Trentmom

Looks like Nick and Marie had some fun at DCA

The show with Goofy looks neat


That spread at Concierge Lounge looks so good. I want some of those choc covered strawberries..mmmmmmmmmm

It's a great use of that area during the day and watching Goofy conduct (or do anything else) is always entertaining!!

Word of advice........ Beer + Chocolate Covered Strawberries = Not a good combo!!! Now the chips & salsa went quite well with it!!!

[RI Disney Star]

Originally Posted by DizNee Luver

Word of advice........ Beer + Chocolate Covered Strawberries = Not a good combo!!! Now the chips & salsa went quite well with it!!!

I think I need to stay there just for those Chocolate Covered Strawberries! They look too good to eat...YUM

I'm enjoying your report.

Beth

[DizNee Luver]

Originally Posted by RI Disney Star

I think I need to stay there just for those Chocolate Covered Strawberries! They look too good to eat...YUM

I'm enjoying your report.

Beth

The strawberries were good. You can also get them in the parks at the candy places!! (but they are spendy)

[Teki]

Good to notice I'm not the only one who noticed the swings missing. I asked a cm the other day and she looked at me like I was crazy and said its still there it's being refurbished just routine maintenance and I was like really lady? Anyway they've been slowly putting it back up it has the roof and a green stick now

[DizNee Luver]

Originally Posted by Teki

Good to notice I'm not the only one who noticed the swings missing. I asked a cm the other day and she looked at me like I was crazy and said its still there it's being refurbished just routine maintenance and I was like really lady? Anyway they've been slowly putting it back up it has the roof and a green stick now

It was weird to see the WHOLE thing down......lol It's not a ride I do, so it didn't bug me that it was being refurbed.....but I surely wasn't expecting the "circle" to be empty......lol

[DizNee Luver]

It was time to make our way to DTD for our dinner reservation.....so we took a leisurely walk thru the Disneyland Hotel so Nick could see the changes they made and show Marie around. Nick agreed with me that we miss the waterfalls. This is the new pool slides.



The iconic sorcerer's hat......or looking up inside of it that is.



Our dinner was at the Rainforest Cafe. The last couple times we had gone, we had been pretty disappointed in the food quality, but Marie had never been and wanted to try it so I was game to give it a shot again.







Inside the dining area.









The menu.









This is the best drink EVER!!!! The Pink Parrot Lemonade!!





Both Marie & I enjoyed this tasty drink & we got to bring home the glass!!

Nick had a non-alcoholic drink~~the Mocha Freeze.



We were seated downstairs, so I got up to take a couple pics of the fish in the huge fish tank you walk under to get to the seating area.





I had the Pita Quesadillas. It was really good and filling!!



Marie had the Beef Fajitas. She seemed to enjoy her dinner!!





Nick had the Passport to Paradise Pizza (4 cheese pizza with basil). He liked his pizza.



During our time, a photographer came around and took our picture. You can purchase these after your meal if interested. We decided to go with the non-traditional pose.



The picture was 2~ 4x6 prints with paper frame for $9.99

Dinner with tax & tip was $99.10 The meal was better this time and had my favorite alcoholic drink!!!

[DizNee Luver]

After doing some shopping in the Rainforest Cafe store, we headed back towards the DLH. I tried to get the sorcerer's hat at night, but my camera isn't being very nice.





We headed towards Trader Sam's Tiki Bar, some of the Diva's were going to be meeting there for drinks. So we stopped by for a couple minutes to say hello.







We headed back towards the PPH and I love how they have Goofy surfing on the garage at night.





We got back to our room and some *+*+*Pixe Dust*+*+* had been sprinkled!!! There were 3 gift baskets and a cake plus a plate with Mickey rice krispies waiting for us.





I had the "Mickey's Cooler Pack" ($55 + tax & delivery).





I had ordered the "Mickey's Coffee Club" for Nick & Marie ($76 + tax & delivery).





I also ordered them the "Wedding Toast" ($60 + tax & delivery).





I believe my card was charged $218 and change total for the 3 baskets.

I also ordered them a 6" round "Classic Cake" to celebrate their engagement & upcoming wedding. It was a red velvet cake with cream cheese ice cream. ($39 + tax & delivery). This came out to around $54 and change I believe).









I think since we were staying concierge level, we were given a plate of the Mickey rice krispy treats. We also received this on our first night in December.



I will show you more on the baskets later on when we open them up to pack them to bring home.

If you are interested in arranging in room celebrations, gift baskets, cakes or special room service.....please contact Vacation Planning at (714) 781-4438 or (714) 300-7526, option 2. Gift baskets/room celebrations will be charged to your card 2-3 days prior to arrival. Room service/cakes will be charged the day of delivery.

[DizNee Luver]

We were going to finish our evening by watching the World of Color from our room. The music is simulcast over the tv so you can truly enjoy the show!!

































We were in bed and sound asleep by 9pm. Something about getting up at 4am was catching up with us. So ends Day One.

[Sherry E]

I think the nighttime sorcerer's hat photo is good! It's not a bad photo at all, but I get the feeling you aren't thrilled with it? I like the blue on the left side. I like the look of the gold brim of the hat at night.

I miss the waterfalls at the DLH too! It's just not the same without the koi ponds and the big, lush waterfalls that you could hear as you walked around the grounds of the DLH.

That's a really cute picture of you all at Rainforest Cafe! I didn't know there was a photographer at Rainforest Cafe! When did that start happening? I haven't eaten there in a few years. It's not a bad idea at all because there's so much fun stuff to use as a backdrop, but the lighting is not great in RFC so I would imagine that some of the guests' photos don't turn out well.

I love all of the baskets and the cake! How fun! They are not inexpensive at all, are they? That's a pretty small cake for the price they charge - I hope it was extra, extra-delicious!

Do you find that you miss not being able to see the animated projections on the water when you watch WoC from the PPH window? I tried to watch it from the window, but after a while I got bored because I felt like I was merely looking at colored water and without the projections and film sequences it seemed like it was only half a show.


Here's an interesting thing related to that specific sorcerer's hat angle (looking upwards at the spiral) in the photo - when I took that photo back in late 2010 I had never, ever seen any photo on the DIS like it at that point. In fact, if I HAD seen a photo like it on the DIS I probably would have been less interested in getting that shot as I was deliberately aiming for something unique that I hadn't seen. There may have been photos like it floating around in cyberspace, but I had not seen any.

Well, last year I actually found (accidentally) an e-book being sold on Amazon.com...and it has a sorcerer's hat photo like that on the cover - the same precise vantage point, where you can see the words "Disneyland Hotel" in the photo and everything! The book was put out in early 2011, as I recall. I looked at the name of the person who wrote the e-book (which I won't mention here) and I am fairly positive it is someone who has been on the DIS at some point. The name looked vaguely familiar.

This person also has a second book - and oddly, on the cover of that one it sort of looks like an artist's rendering of the view from the PPH window! The author said that she has spent years doing research...but I suspect that some of her research led her to DISboards for ideas and info to use in her book!

That's what we do here on the DIS - we set trends, break ground and influence great literary masterpieces! When you do your trip reports and post in threads, you never know who is out there following along and what they might find interesting and/or get ideas from!!




I agree with you - I love that surfing Goofy on the PPH garage, and I'll bet it is something that a lot of folks never see because they're not walking around the property at night. Most of the time I don't even see it because I'm not in that location to see it at night - your wonderful photos reminded me of how clever it is.

I'm looking forward to the next installments!

[DizNee Luver]

Originally Posted by Sherry E

I think the nighttime sorcerer's hat photo is good! It's not a bad photo at all, but I get the feeling you aren't thrilled with it? I like the blue on the left side. I like the look of the gold brim of the hat at night.

I miss the waterfalls at the DLH too! It's just not the same without the koi ponds and the big, lush waterfalls that you could hear as you walked around the grounds of the DLH.

That's a really cute picture of you all at Rainforest Cafe! I didn't know there was a photographer at Rainforest Cafe! When did that start happening? I haven't eaten there in a few years. It's not a bad idea at all because there's so much fun stuff to use as a backdrop, but the lighting is not great in RFC so I would imagine that some of the guests' photos don't turn out well.

I love all of the baskets and the cake! How fun! They are not inexpensive at all, are they? That's a pretty small cake for the price they charge - I hope it was extra, extra-delicious!

Do you find that you miss not being able to see the animated projections on the water when you watch WoC from the PPH window? I tried to watch it from the window, but after a while I got bored because I felt like I was merely looking at colored water and without the projections and film sequences it seemed like it was only half a show.


Here's an interesting thing related to that specific sorcerer's hat angle (looking upwards at the spiral) in the photo - when I took that photo back in late 2010 I had never, ever seen any photo on the DIS like it at that point. In fact, if I HAD seen a photo like it on the DIS I probably would have been less interested in getting that shot as I was deliberately aiming for something unique that I hadn't seen. There may have been photos like it floating around in cyberspace, but I had not seen any.

Well, last year I actually found (accidentally) an e-book being sold on Amazon.com...and it has a sorcerer's hat photo like that on the cover - the same precise vantage point, where you can see the words "Disneyland Hotel" in the photo and everything! The book was put out in early 2011, as I recall. I looked at the name of the person who wrote the e-book (which I won't mention here) and I am fairly positive it is someone who has been on the DIS at some point. The name looked vaguely familiar.

This person also has a second book - and oddly, on the cover of that one it sort of looks like an artist's rendering of the view from the PPH window! The author said that she has spent years doing research...but I suspect that some of her research led her to DISboards for ideas and info to use in her book!

That's what we do here on the DIS - we set trends, break ground and influence great literary masterpieces! When you do your trip reports and post in threads, you never know who is out there following along and what they might find interesting and/or get ideas from!!




I agree with you - I love that surfing Goofy on the PPH garage, and I'll bet it is something that a lot of folks never see because they're not walking around the property at night. Most of the time I don't even see it because I'm not in that location to see it at night - your wonderful photos reminded me of how clever it is.

I'm looking forward to the next installments!

I think my issue with the camera & that picture was I couldn't get the lit part to focus unless I zoomed in on it. My camera is getting worse each trip I take.....Mike thinks the sensor is dirty.....which the cost to clean it would not be worth it. So I see a new camera in my near future.

Our first trip to the Rainforest Cafe was in 2008 and we had a pic done then. We saw the photographer in 2010 but he never made it to our table. So it was kinda fun to get one done again this trip!!!

The baskets & cake weren't cheap but once in a while you have to say "what the heck" and go for it. The cake was tasty unfortunately, we didn't try it until the next day and it would have been even better cold. (that's the way I love my Red Velvet cakes). We did make room in the fridge for it & then never got back to it. By the time we hit the room, we were always full.....even when we planned on going back and having another slice. Most expensive cake I've ever thrown away.......

So in December, we had a really good angle and did see a lot of the projections.....in fact our last night, they were crystal clear!! We were close to the end on the right side (when you get off elevator) This time, we were almost on the end of the opposite side (to the left). We couldn't see the projections at all. (we did see the show from the ground this trip) I still enjoy watching the water shoot up, all the colors and the music. I've seen it enough to pretty much know the projections, so I'm able to visualize it in my mind when I'm watching. I'm sorry we didn't get the kids down to watch it from the ground in December.

I'm thinking I did that same sort of shot when Mike & I stayed a couple nights at the DLH in 2009. Usually if I get to the hotel, I'll take the shot unless there are people loitering under it. I imagine anyone that follows trip reports gets picture ideas from others. I'm sure I have had some inspiration from seeing others photos. I still think, everyone gets their own take on it.

I bet you're right.....there are probably guests of the PPH that didn't realize it was even there. We make the trek on the backside of the hotel into DTD or the DLH quite often, so we noticed it.....but there are people that NEVER notice those sorts of details.