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Old 28 Dec 20, 02:08 PM  
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Stewboy
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Wonder on the West Coast: Day 14 - Dapper Day at Disneyland

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Sunday 3rd November 2019

We woke on board the Disney Wonder for the last time - we had arrived back at San Diego port.

We had decided not to have breakfast in Tritons; on the last morning you are assigned breakfast at the restaurant that you had dinner in the night before, but we know from experience that Cabanas is open for breakfast as usual - despite the fact it’s not advertised.

So after waking at about 6am, I got coffee, we got ready, woke Isabella and then headed to Cabanas for breakfast at about 7:45am. Obviously there were quite a few other guests who knew the ‘secret’ as it was actually quite busy. The selection was a little more limited this morning but we still had an enjoyable last Cabanas buffet breakfast.

As we had to be out of the room by 8:15am we ate quickly before making our way back to the room, packing the final few bits in the carry on cases, and then made our way sadly down to deck 2 to go about debarking the ship.

On the way out of our room we found our stateroom host Teddy, gave him his tip, and told him that the candy that we left in the room was for him - he definitely deserved it as he’d been a great host.

Down in the deck 2 lobby we noticed that some people were beginning to debark. Usually at this time it’s only those guests taking their own luggage who are allowed to debark; the so called ‘Express Walk-Off’.

I asked a crew member and she said that (unofficially) guests with Daisy or Ariel tagged luggage were allowed to debark - that was us!

Before we left, we dropped off our guest survey in the box outside Tritons and by 8:30am we were heading through border control and collecting our cases - it was a surprisingly smooth process with no queues or waiting. Being able to leave the ship when we did, before the official announcement, meant that we beat the usual queues and we were very quickly outside the port.

It was now time to make the short walk into the city to pick up the hire car from Avis. Rather than drag Jo, Isabella, and the cases, I left them in the port car park and headed off.

There was a small incident when I tried to leave the port via the wrong exit (it wasn’t well sign posted) and was confronted by some kind of official with a gun! I very quickly found the correct exit and made my way into the city and the short walk to Avis.






Goodbye Disney Wonder

The walk only took about 15 minutes and once there I was seen almost straight away. I made my way into the parking garage to collect our Toyota Rav and then made the short drive back to the port.

It was a really hot day in San Diego, so Jo and Isabella were glad I wasn’t gone long!

We loaded the car quickly, put the directions into Google maps and then we were saying a second farewell to San Diego - next stop Anaheim!


Streets of San Diego


Hi Rav

The drive was uneventful and took about an hour and a half. It was funny being back here after a week at sea - it felt like we’d never left!

We were only in Anaheim for one day and night, tomorrow we would be going home. To maximise our enjoyment of the day we had booked the ‘Fairfield by Marriott Anaheim Resort’ on South Harbor Boulevard directly opposite the entrance to Disneyland - we didn’t want to waste any time travelling to and from the park.



We arrived at the car park, got a permit from the man at the entrance, parked up and headed inside.

At check in we had some minor issues with the credit card - this happened on our last trip. I waited for the text message from the bank to confirm it was us and then we were ready to go. As it turned out, our room wasn’t actually ready yet, so we decided that we would check in later, left the luggage at bell services and went to Panera Bread next door for some lunch.

Lots of fellow Dibbers have said how much they love this place so we were excited to try it. Jo and I shared a toasted Cuban sandwich and an iced tea, and Isabella had a turkey sandwich and yoghurt.

Now, maybe we chose the wrong things, or maybe this Panera Bread location isn’t of the same quality as others but we were extremely underwhelmed by the whole experience and wondered what all the fuss was about!






Panera Bread

Despite our dissatisfaction we were no longer hungry and it was time to hit the park! Today at Disneyland it was Dapper Day, and we had dressed accordingly. I had my bow tie and hat from my Halloween outfit with me and put them on as we made the short walk to the Disneyland entrance - it was literally 5 minutes away!

Due to Dapper Day we expected Disneyland to be busy today but we hadn’t expected it to be quite so hot, however seeing some of the outfits that others were wearing I think we got off lightly!

It was a wonderful feeling returning to Disneyland, and to make the most of the day we decided to use the Disneyland app to get the Max Pass again as it had definitely been worth the $15 each last time - it means you can make FastPasses via the app rather than having to go back and forth to the FastPass machines.






Back at Disneyland

Once back inside Disneyland Park we made our way down Main Street towards the castle and caught the end of the Disneyland Marching Band finishing their show by playing the Star Wars theme - it’s a shame we missed the rest of the show as they sounded amazing!


The Marching Band



After the obligatory photo of Isabella and Jo outside the castle we headed off further into the park. Today we wanted to check out those bits of the park that we missed earlier in the trip and revisit some of our favourite attractions. Our first destination was Mickey’s Toontown and our first ride of the day - Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. We had decided to choose a ride each that we wanted to do today and this one was Isabella’s choice.

Before the ride we had a little wander round Mickey’s Toontown and checked out the site - it’s a really fun area with lots of things to do and see.

The ride was a mixed bag - it was fun but it broke down near the end and we had to abandon the car and be escorted out. The cast member gave us a FastPass to use on any other attraction (except Space Mountain, Star Tours, Matterhorn, and Indiana Jones Adventure).






Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin

Back in the park we explored Mickey’s Toontown a little more; we saw Donald Duck and Isabella blew up a building!

There seemed to be a distinct lack of shade and we were getting really hot so decided to leave Mickey’s Toontown and head off to explore another area of the park.
























Mickey's Toontown
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Old 28 Dec 20, 02:08 PM  
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Stewboy
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We were undecided as to what to use our FastPass on: Isabella suggested Splash Mountain but we didn’t want to get wet in our dapper outfits; I fancied Jungle Cruise as we were supposed to do it on our last visit but somehow missed it.

On the way out of Toontown we found a bench with shade and decided to sit down for a minute to make a plan. The Disneyland app showed that Jungle Cruise was a walk on so that made our decision for us - we decided we would use the FastPass for Haunted Mansion now and then just walk on Jungle Cruise after.

Haunted Mansion still featured the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay which we really enjoyed on our first visit, and again today - I look forward to returning to Disneyland one day and seeing the regular Haunted Mansion though.




Haunted Mansion Holiday

Once we were done with Haunted Mansion we made our way over to ride Jungle Cruise. Unfortunately the wait was now 20 minutes so we went for a wander through Tarzan’s Treehouse instead; Jo enjoyed singing along to the Tarzan soundtrack which was playing - she loves that soundtrack!

It was quite a fun walk through, although I must confess I don’t think I’ve ever sat and watched the film! However, along with Hercules, it was one of the films my nephew used to watch on repeat whenever he came to visit my parents (which was a lot) when I was younger so I feel like I’ve seen them both. Many times!














Tarzan

After Tarzan, the Jungle Cruise wait was now an acceptable 10 minutes so we decided to ride. Like most of the rides at Disneyland it was similar to the Magic Kingdom version, but different. Not good different, or bad different - just different.

Jo managed to use the app to get us another FastPass, this time for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in Tomorrowland. We actually preferred the Disneyland version of Tomorrowland to the Magic Kingdom version - it feels less dated.






Jungle Cruise

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is the same as Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at Magic Kingdom, and again it’s the same but different. What was also different was that Jo won on this ride - usually I am triumphant on this one!

After riding a few rides on the trot we decided to browse some of the shops back on Main Street with the intention of also visiting the Main Street Cinema which was unfortunately already full.

Instead we decided to visit Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. On the way we stopped to enjoy the Dapper Dans performing and then headed into the pre-show area which is full of lots of interesting stuff about Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion and other ride developments.


Disneyland Dapper Day Dapper Dans




THE bench









As we were browsing and preparing to go into the actual attraction we were told by a Cast Member that the attraction was closing temporarily and we all had to leave!

We spotted a photographer at the top of Main Street so we queued for a few minutes to get a dapper family photo with the castle in the background.






Disneyland Dapper Day Sears

It was now time for our early dinner reservation at Café Orleans. Despite having ridden Haunted Mansion a couple of times, this was our first visit into the main area of New Orleans Square.

We checked in and had a short wait before being seated inside. Having watched plenty of vlogs we knew exactly what we wanted off of the menu; Jo and I shared the Monte Cristo and Pomme Frites, and Isabella had chicken and rice, with broccoli and grapes.

The food was as delicious (and as big!) as we expected and we really enjoyed the location and the atmosphere.


















Cafe Orleans

After lunch we enjoyed browsing the shops in Orleans Street - Jo saw a Pandora charm that she liked and I bought it for her birthday which was only a few weeks away.

We had done all the things we wanted to do in Disneyland for now, so we made our way towards the exit and headed over to California Adventure.

Jo’s ride of choice for the day was Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout and she had obtained a FastPass for it so we headed straight there. We really enjoyed this ride, and as I said on our previous visit, I much prefer it to the Tower of Terror.












Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout
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Old 28 Dec 20, 02:09 PM  
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Now that the sun was beginning to go down it was actually turning a little cold so we decided to head back to the hotel, check in, and get changed.

On the way out of California Adventure we thought it would be a good opportunity to take a brief detour into Downtown Disney - we’d not visited on our visit earlier in the trip and this would be our last chance.

We browsed a couple of shops and Isabella ended up buying a necklace from World of Disney, and we bought a couple of other things (which I’ve made no note of!).

After that short detour we made our way out of Disneyland and across the road to our hotel to check in.

We collected our luggage and headed up to our fifth floor room. The room was basic but nice - exactly what we needed for our one night stay. The hotel itself is fairly lacking in amenities - it doesn’t have the mini-buffet like the Homewood Suites we’d stayed in on our first week, but it was perfect for what we needed and so convenient.


Hotel room

We all got changed - or rather, we all added some layers as it had got pretty cold now the sun was down. Dapper Day had been fun, we’d seen some really cool outfits around the park, and we were glad we’d dressed up a little.

The day wasn’t over yet and we still had more rides to do and we were planning on watching World of Colour or the fireworks at the end of the night - we hadn’t decided yet.




California Adventure/Pixar Pier at night

It gets dark (and cold) quickly in California, and although it was only 6:30pm it felt late. We made the short walk back to California Adventure and were back in the park and on our way to our next attraction - Incredicoaster - by 6:45pm. I think we were unanimous in declaring this our favourite ride at any Disney park we’ve been too - definitely believe the hype!

It was time for our final churro of the trip (I’m not sure we had enough to be honest!) - a cinnamon churro from Senor Buzz Churros which Isabella ate most of!


Incredicoaster


Churro!

Our next ride was the Pixar Pal-A-Round - the large ferris wheel with the Mickey Mouse face that dominates Pixar Pier and the surrounding area. The queue took ages - loading is really slow. Isabella said she wanted to do the swinging gondolas, but having seen them up close I decided that was a definite no-no.






Not having fun!

After about half an hour we were finally on the ride. As each gondola sits 8 people we had a woman with her young relative ride with us.

It may look innocuous from the outside but let me tell you it is far from it - even in the fixed gondola it’s pretty terrifying! It only lasts 10 minutes but seems a lot longer. I can honestly say it’s one ride I will never do again - the nice views over the park just aren’t worth it!

We were done with California Adventure for now, so we headed back over to Disneyland Park. We made our way over to Galaxy’s Edge for a rather disappointing nighttime wander: I really am surprised at just how wrong Disney got this area. There was nothing going on at night, no atmosphere, nothing to see, and after sharing a Ronto Wrap, turns out even the food offerings are a disappointment.



Back to California Adventure we went, in time for our final ride of the holiday - Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. We really liked this area of the park, and this ride in particular. This is a popular ride, and fun to do at night, and even at 9pm the standby line was 50 minutes - fortunately we had a FastPass!






Radiator Springs Racers

There was only one thing remaining for this evening and we let Isabella decide on whether that would be the Disneyland fireworks or World of Colour. She decided she wanted to see World of Colour so we wandered back over to Paradise Gardens Park to find a space - we had got a FastPass for this so we were guaranteed a space.

As we were a little peckish we got a corn dog and headed into the viewing area. World of Colour started at 10pm - the time was currently 9:45pm so we had 15 minutes to wait and eat our corn dogs.


Dinner

World of Colour was amazing - unfortunately my photos don’t do it justice - and we were so glad we waited and decided to watch this instead of the fireworks. The viewing area wasn’t great for kids and Isabella couldn’t see much to begin with, eventually we picked her up so that she could see.










World of Colour

It lasted about half an hour and we all decided it was a wonderful end to the day, and essentially the holiday.

We headed for the exit feeling thoroughly content and exhausted after our day at Disneyland. We were soon back in the hotel and after quick showers all round went straight to bed.

Tomorrow: time to head home

TFR
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Old 28 Dec 20, 02:58 PM  
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What a great last day. You all definitely looked very dapper at the parks.

Shame about your Panera Bread - we’ve enjoyed it in Orlando but to me it’s just a nice sandwich shop. Cafe Orleans looks delicious.

I’m not sure Id fancy the Ferris wheel - definitely not the moving carriages they look terrifying!
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Old 28 Dec 20, 08:26 PM  
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A brilliant end to a fab holiday
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Old 25 Jul 22, 09:03 PM  
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Stewboy
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Originally Posted by mrsdjh View Post
What a great last day. You all definitely looked very dapper at the parks.

Shame about your Panera Bread - we’ve enjoyed it in Orlando but to me it’s just a nice sandwich shop. Cafe Orleans looks delicious.

I’m not sure Id fancy the Ferris wheel - definitely not the moving carriages they look terrifying!
Thanks for reading and for your comments. Dapper day was a lot of fun!

Originally Posted by Cutiepie View Post
A brilliant end to a fab holiday
Thanks for reading
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