D3/D4/D5 - The Mighty 'Nucks - Update 06/23

fallonkendra

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 2, 2015
Edited to add: I've decided to keep all of my Disneyland trip reports here for ease. If you want to skip straight to the table of contents for each trip, just click here :)

Hi! :wave:I'm Fallon, and I am heading back to Anaheim for the 3rd time in less than 2 years - but for the first time ever the reason is actually Disneyland! Here's a super recent picture of myself:






That terrifying looking thing is Hunter the Lynx, the new mascot for the Edmonton Oilers (that's NHL hockey for those who don't know). I mention this, because it is very important to the story, so remember that!

Also coming on this trip is my other half, my boyfriend of 3.5 years, Luke.





So now that you've seen our faces, let's get back to the story of this trip, shall we? To do that, I need to start at the beginning...I apologize now, this will be wordy but I promise it’ll be worth it!


I was born and raised in the Maritimes (sorry, forgot to mention we're both Canadian, in case you didn't figure it out by the Oilers jersey I was wearing in that picture up above). I grew up loving hockey, like most Canadians, and cheered for the Toronto Maple Leafs (I know, I know, let the boos begin). When I moved to Edmonton, Alberta over 6 years ago, I fell even more in love with watching the game, since I was now living in a city with an NHL team (albeit, not a very good one haha :rotfl:). If anyone asks me now, I state the Leafs are my Eastern Conference Team, and the Oilers are my Western Conference Team. Luke on the other hand, grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba before moving to Edmonton a little over a decade ago. For those who don't know, Winnipeg had an NHL team from 1979 until 1996, when the team was relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. Then, in 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers were relocated to Winnipeg to become the new-era Jets. So, for 15 years, Luke had no hometown team to even cheer for.


Fast-forward to April 2015 and the Jets make the playoffs - for the first time in 19 years! (Yes, the Phoenix Coyotes and Atlanta Thrashers both made the playoffs in those years, but that doesn't count). Needless to say, Luke was pretty excited about it! Now, when they announce game times for NHL playoffs, it's a pretty quick turnaround (as in, less than a week between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs) - so there isn't a ton of time to plan. We started looking at tickets for the games in Winnipeg, and they were insanely priced - like $500/ticket/person through secondary sites. Luke jokingly said it would be cheaper to just go see them play in Anaheim (the Jets were matched against the Ducks for the first round), so I immediately went and talked to a co-worker who also works as a travel agent on the side. That was on a Monday afternoon…Thursday morning we boarded a plane and flew to the Santa Ana airport in California for our first time ever! We went to game one of round one of the playoffs that same night, and game two on Saturday night. On Friday and Sunday, we went to Disneyland since it was close by – and fell in love with the parks!




On that trip, we only had a few days to plan anything, but I did manage to secure a World of Color dining package at Wine Country Trattoria… and that was it for our planning haha.




We ended up really enjoying ourselves so much though, that as soon as we got back to Alberta, we started planning a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida (where we spent 7 nights in January 2016, trip report here, dining report here - also linked in my signature).



Before we even left Florida we had come up with a plan – we would go back to visit Disneyland at some point in 2017, and then back to Orlando in 2018.

Fast forward a month to February 2016, and we are, surprise, surprise, at a hockey game (this time between the Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets). They were hosting an in-game contest where you had to write photo captions…and Luke ended up winning by a landslide. The prize they gave him – a trip to California to watch the Oilers play the Ducks. Yep, we were headed back to Anaheim! So, less than 2 weeks later, we boarded a plane and flew to LAX on a Friday morning. That night we attended the hockey game (just in case you were curious, Ryan Kesler of the Ducks is probably my least favourite player in the NHL). The next day was a free day, so most people went shopping/went to the beach/nursed a headache after a few too many drinks the night before – but not us! We were actually responsible and only had a few drinks Friday night so we could be prepared for a marathon Disney day!




We hadn’t received our itinerary for the trip until about 3 days before we left, so again we didn’t have many days to plan. We had managed to snag a breakfast reservation for the Plaza Inn, which we ended up cancelling Friday night when they announced they had set up a meet-and-greet with a few Oilers players for the next morning. It ended up being the right decision, as I was able to meet Connor McDavid and Jordan Eberle (along with Taylor Hall, Matt Hendricks, coach Todd Mclellan and others).



We finally arrived at Disney around 9:45am, purchased single day park hopper tickets and had a crazy 14 hour day between the two parks. We had also managed to get a reservation at Blue Bayou, but that was our only sit-down meal of the day. We left at midnight when the park closed, and flew back to Canada the next morning.





After we got back, we decided to head back to Florida in 2017 now, so we booked a 9 night stay there in January (that pre-trip report can be found here!). Everything was falling into place for that trip, and then I received an email a few weeks back from WestJet (our preferred Canadian airline) about a seat sale. I always price a few things out just to see how good the sale is, and this one had some really fantastic prices. I decided to price out a flight to California, and then I shared it with Luke. After talking about it for a few days we went ahead and booked it! So, we are leaving Canada on Luke’s birthday and flying into LAX (direct flight for the win!) and staying for 5 nights! Not only is this our first Disney-centric trip to Anaheim, it’s also our longest stay yet:cool1:! And did I mention that Luke’s birthday is in January, so that means all 6 American Disney parks will be attended in the same calendar month!


All of the details will be in following posts :thumbsup2


I think the name of this report is pretty self-explanatory if you’re familiar with the Might Ducks movie franchise haha. D3 – our third Disney trip, Canucks is a common term for a Canadian. Voila, D3 – The Mighty ‘Nucks (Luke is so clever!)
 
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Table of Contents - January 2017 Trip
*If a dining review is included in a report, I will write the restaurant name in brackets here for easy reference*
Table of Contents - November 2017 Trip
Table of Contents - June 2018 Trip
 
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D3. I love it.

I didn't know you were a Leafs fan. My condolences (although they're not in last place yet, I think). At least the Oilers are doing better. I love that picture of you and the mascot!

Also, if we're talking about least favorite hockey players ... Sidney Crosby. I hate him. HATE. HIM.
But a decent chunk of that has to do with the 2010 Olympic championship game ... so I understand that as a Canadian, you may not feel the same way.

I'm excited to read along with your planning for the trip! I love Disneyland ...
 


Having not been to Disneyland except once, waaaaaaaaay back in 1995, I'm looking forward to hearing your plans!
 
I'm here I'm here! So excited to read your plans!!!

Yay! Welcome! I need to get caught up on your DL and WDW reports!

Having not been to Disneyland except once, waaaaaaaaay back in 1995, I'm looking forward to hearing your plans!

I knew I could count on you to be here to follow along :) I'm so excited to actually be able to plan a Disneyland trip properly for the first time!
 
D3. I love it.

That was all Luke haha. He's in charge of creating the titles for all my trip reports, although I do have him almost convinced to join the disboards and help me write some of this...

I didn't know you were a Leafs fan. My condolences (although they're not in last place yet, I think).

At least us Leafs fans have something to cheer for this year, with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner and William Nylander... I still don't think they are going to be great this year, but I think Mike Babcock is an amazing coach and will push the young kids to be at their best, so it shouldn't be as bad as last year...

At least the Oilers are doing better. I love that picture of you and the mascot!

The Oilers just opened a brand new arena in downtown Edmonton for this season, so I think they are really motivated to play well since the owner of the team and the city spent a combined half a billion dollars to give the players one of the best arenas in the world. The mascot is new this year as well, we've had cheerleaders the past few years but they got rid of them :-)crazy2: to barely-dressed girls doing crappy dance routines in the aisles during intermission). Also why they are doing better this year - Connor McDavid.

Also, if we're talking about least favorite hockey players ... Sidney Crosby. I hate him. HATE. HIM.
But a decent chunk of that has to do with the 2010 Olympic championship game ... so I understand that as a Canadian, you may not feel the same way.

Haha, I think I am one of the few Canadians who can not stand Crosby either! I think I remember you saying you were a Rangers fan, so I can see you not being a fan of the Penguins.

Also - I didn't find Crosby did anything in the 2010 Olympics besides score that big OT gold-medal winner. Jonathan Toews on the other hand is such a difference maker, he's my favourite player in the NHL and I just love him! I guess I have a thing for boys from Winnipeg...

I'm excited to read along with your planning for the trip! I love Disneyland ...

I'm just so excited to plan a California trip properly! I love Disneyland so much!
 


I'm here! Great title, great intro, and I'd also love to see the photo captions Luke did to win the contest, that sounds super cool!
 
Any trip report that combines Disney and Hockey is for me! I am from Boston but a huge Wings fan (to great disapproval from my brother) and I love to travel to see them play and the times I have been able to add Disney into my hockey trips is even better! I did Ducks/DL twice and Lightning/WDW once. Such great trips...although they lost in a shootout to Tampa. I was actually looking at going to Edmonton (and Calagary) over my February break, but not sure if finances will allow that, but I'd love to see the new arena. I went to TO for World Cup in September (SO MUCH FUN!!) so that might be my only hockey trip this season, as I want a Disney trip in the next year as well.

Completely agree with you about Jonathan Toews. He is a fantastic player. I do disagree with you about Crosby. I think he is great.

It is so cool that you won a trip to see the Oilers play in Anaheim! That is amazing and I would also love to see the photos and captions!

Can't wait to hear about your plans!
 
I'm here! Great title, great intro, and I'd also love to see the photo captions Luke did to win the contest, that sounds super cool!

I feel so honored that you're here! You're like a trip report celebrity haha!

I think I took a picture of Luke's photo caption when they showed it on the jumbotron during the game, I'll try to find it and post it :)

Any trip report that combines Disney and Hockey is for me! I am from Boston but a huge Wings fan (to great disapproval from my brother) and I love to travel to see them play and the times I have been able to add Disney into my hockey trips is even better! I did Ducks/DL twice and Lightning/WDW once. Such great trips...although they lost in a shootout to Tampa. I was actually looking at going to Edmonton (and Calagary) over my February break, but not sure if finances will allow that, but I'd love to see the new arena. I went to TO for World Cup in September (SO MUCH FUN!!) so that might be my only hockey trip this season, as I want a Disney trip in the next year as well.

Completely agree with you about Jonathan Toews. He is a fantastic player. I do disagree with you about Crosby. I think he is great.

It is so cool that you won a trip to see the Oilers play in Anaheim! That is amazing and I would also love to see the photos and captions!

Can't wait to hear about your plans!

I'm just glad you're not a Bruins fan :) (as a Leafs fan, the 2013 playoffs hurt...).

If you're able to, you should really try to come to Edmonton for that game! Our new arena is so nice! I can't wait for the entire district to be completed - there's still a lot of construction going on all around it - Edmonton used to have a secondary airport just north of downtown, so there were very strict regulations in place on the height a building was allowed to be. They shut that airport down a few years ago - it's a massive chunk of land right in the city, so they are turning it into a new neighbourhood. Now that it's gone, the height restrictions are no longer in place, so all around the new arena there are new high-rises coming up. It's going to look really great in a few years!

I would have loved to go watch some of the team North America games at the World Cup - I loved the idea of that team! Which games did you go to?

I'm always game to follow a fellow Canuck doing a trip report

Thanks for following along! I've been terrible at updating all of my TR's/PTR's on here!
 
I feel so honored that you're here! You're like a trip report celebrity haha!

I think I took a picture of Luke's photo caption when they showed it on the jumbotron during the game, I'll try to find it and post it :)

Aww thanks, you're too kind, writing about Disney makes me happy so I guess it translates into my TRs!
I hope you had a great trip to DL and WDW, although the half was cancelled...do you still get a medal though? Hope to hear more about it!
 
Aww thanks, you're too kind, writing about Disney makes me happy so I guess it translates into my TRs!
I hope you had a great trip to DL and WDW, although the half was cancelled...do you still get a medal though? Hope to hear more about it!

When they cancelled the half, runDisney offered the chance to move your race registration to another event, so we are now going back to DL again in November for the Avengers race weekend... The medal itself is going to be mailed out to us - we could have went to the Expo to pick it up, but we knew the Expo was going to be a madhouse after the cancellation.
 
Sorry everyone, I haven't done much with this PTR - it'll just become my trip report once we're back :)

Here's where we are at with planning:

Accommodations: Booked using Hotwire, so paid under $100CAD/night for 5 nights to stay at the Ramada just up the road.

Flights: Booked during a seat sale :) We fly direct from Edmonton to LA next Thursday, and then on a direct flight home on the 31st.

Tickets: We still need to buy these. There is a Canadian discount on tickets right now, to save 25% off regular price (due to the terrible exchange rates right now). We'll be using that to pick up 4-day park hoppers for Luke. For myself, I'll be purchasing a Premier Passport - which is crazy. It's over $1400, but allows entry to all California AND Florida Disney Parks for 365 days. We're going next week to California (obviously), and then back again in November. Early next January we are going back to Florida for our annual Marathon Weekend trip. We did the math, and it actually makes sense for one of us to buy this annual pass (once we factor in the cost of Photopass, plus the discounts it offers on merchandise and food).

Other News: Luke is no longer my boyfriend, he is now my fiancé! He proposed at Animal Kingdom last week during our WDW trip :)
 
Can't wait to read about your Disneyland trip. We are doing DL in early June! We're celebrating my 30th a few months early since R is a teacher and won't be able to travel for my actual 30th. So we are doing Aulani, Kauai, and Disneyland of course!

Other News: Luke is no longer my boyfriend, he is now my fiancé! He proposed at Animal Kingdom last week during our WDW trip :)

I am so excited for you! Can't wait to read about the proposal. What a great way to start your Disney year! I read over on (Ariane? Maybe?) another trip report that you were finalizing your guest list... are you getting married at Disney?

So like I said... looking forward to reading about your trip! And no worries on not doing more with the PTR, you've been busy!!!
 
One of my life goals is to some day get a Premier Passport, so I'm officially jealous. It's mad expensive, but it definitely sounds like it makes sense for you.

Less than a week until Disneyland!
 
Can't wait to read about your Disneyland trip. We are doing DL in early June! We're celebrating my 30th a few months early since R is a teacher and won't be able to travel for my actual 30th. So we are doing Aulani, Kauai, and Disneyland of course!

How exciting! Will this be your first Disneyland trip? I love it so much, and it really is a lot different from WDW.

I'll actually be turning 30 on our January trip to Florida next year! I went to put in our request to rent points, and I was going to put dates of January 2-11th (my birthday is the 13th). Luke saw it, and told me I had to turn 30 there, so our request is now for January 2-13th!



I am so excited for you! Can't wait to read about the proposal. What a great way to start your Disney year! I read over on (Ariane? Maybe?) another trip report that you were finalizing your guest list... are you getting married at Disney?

So like I said... looking forward to reading about your trip! And no worries on not doing more with the PTR, you've been busy!!!

Thanks so much! We actually are planning a Disney wedding! I'll start the planning report pretty soon :) If you're planning on being around Florida next January, maybe we'll run into each other!

One of my life goals is to some day get a Premier Passport, so I'm officially jealous. It's mad expensive, but it definitely sounds like it makes sense for you.

Less than a week until Disneyland!

It is so expensive, but we've realized it makes sense for us this year. We're already spending an insane amount of money with all of our trips and a Disney wedding, why not go all out! Plus, it'll be nice to be able to be able to buy a Tables in Wonderland card on our trip next January!

Our Disneyland trip is getting so close! I really should start packing tomorrow...
 
So, we've been back for awhile, but the past few weeks have not been great ones. As a result, I've had very little interest in writing any of my trip reports, but I'm ready to go now!

I do have a personal blog which contains all of my trip reports as well, so Luke actually wrote most of the report for our first day over there, I'm just going to copy and paste it over. He has a slightly different writing style than I do haha, which I'm sure you'll notice.

Alright, let's get into it!

Thursday, January 26, 2017 - Luke's Birthday and Day One (Part One)

Guest author (Handsome) Luke An... we don't put full names on the Internet. So Luke Hasselhoff

Note: anything Italicized and red is written by me, Fallon.

January 26th 2017 was but a wonderous day. Long known as the celebration of the birth of Canada's greatest superstar - Wayne Gretzky. As well as star of Ellen's Energy Adventure Eileen Degeneres, Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem, one of the Legion of Doom guys... Animal I think. Plus Eddie Van Halen. And me. The Eddie Van Halen of being me.

Anyhoo... this year Fallon decided she wanted to celebrate my birthday at Disneyland. So I'm all sure - why not?!?! I mean - Disneyland for my birthday. Heck yeah.

That morning we awoke at the ungodly early hour of like 8AM. *shudder* And trudged our way to Edmonton International Airport. Direct to LAX was in our future. Or so we thought. Because you know, that's actually what happened.

*Once we got through customs at the YEG airport, we went for our old faithful at the US Terminal - Quiznos. Traditional on Rosemary Parmesan bread for me, and Mesquite Chicken on the same bread for Luke. Sorry, I only took a picture of mine. Also note - none of the disgusting things like onions are on mine - meat, lettuce and cheese only :)

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We had tons of time before our flight left, so I grabbed a few magazines - wedding and hockey! It kept me entertained on the flight.
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I had pre-ordered and pre-paid for food on the flight - once again our old faithful of WestJet flights - the ham and swiss croissant. I've ate a lot of these in my day.

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We get to LAX and in my pursuit of a Pepsi (you're not truly celebrating America until you've had a soda made with high-fructose corn syrup) - we veered too far away from our SuperShuttle pickup point. Whoops. BTW the bathroom trip that accompanied OperationCorn Pepsi Pursuit was glorious. I heard harps and ****. Literally.

Anyhoo, we get picked up in the shuttle by a guy who pretended it didn't bother him that we weren't at our proper pickup point because we pre-tipped and after picking up some other weary travellers were on our way to the Anaheim Ramada Maingate North. We get there and it's definitely in the top 4 of Orange County Ramada hotels. I tell you what. They let us check in early by a couple minutes. I could tell the clerk was all about throwing caution to the wind and playing by his own rules.


The room was nothing fancy, but it was fine - especially for the price we paid on Hotwire!

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It's time to get Fallon's super-duper ultra-platinum pass that so few ask for the folks at the gate are all but guaranteed to drop a "Let me get my manager" when you ask about it.

So after choosing the worst line 2-3 times, we get to the counter and Fallon asks about this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious annual pass and the cast member is all "Uh... lemme get my manager."

Medium story short - we get it. Fallon's major credit card is super stoked about this endeavour.


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This thing was so expensive. I sometime just take it out of my wallet and stare at it, I can't believe I have one haha.

 

It's time to get Fallon's super-duper ultra-platinum pass that so few ask for the folks at the gate are all but guaranteed to drop a "Let me get my manager" when you ask about it.

So after choosing the worst line 2-3 times, we get to the counter and Fallon asks about this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious annual pass and the cast member is all "Uh... lemme get my manager."

Medium story short - we get it. Fallon's major credit card is super stoked about this endeavour.


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This thing was so expensive. I sometime just take it out of my wallet and stare at it, I can't believe I have one haha.

Oh wow and I thought my Disneyworld AP was expensive :rotfl: I'd stare at it too sometimes!
 
Oh wow and I thought my Disneyworld AP was expensive :rotfl: I'd stare at it too sometimes!

Haha, it was almost $1500USD - which was over $2000 Canadian! :eek::eek::eek::eek: But, it'll pay for itself - I wrote down all the discounts I got with it in California, plus the cost I would have paid for tickets plus photopass, and I'll try and do the same for our trip in November and January...
 

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