4 go La La in La La Land - Day 10: LA is a great big freeway

[Pumba75]

Friday 10th August 2018

We started today with one last cup of coffee on the balcony and mixed emotions - sad to be leaving San Diego, and our little balcony in paradise, but excited to be heading up to Anaheim and getting our Disney on. But first we had to turn attention to packing - being this was the first place we had actually unpacked on our trip, it meant we also had 5 days worth of “spreading out” to account for! Of course, my packing was relatively straightforward, having brought less clothes, significantly less pairs of shoes and, with only 1, less bags of toiletries than the females. However, in an outcome I would never have bet on, we were all packed, checked out, and ready to go by 9am - and we hadn’t left anything behind either!

First order of the day was breakfast and, having now found our breakfast stomachs, we decided on Denny’s - a family favourite. There was one less than around 5 minutes away from the hotel so we stopped there.

As with many other places, I am a creature of habit where Denny’s breakfast is concerned so there was never any doubt that I was going to order anything but the Grand Slamwich. Always love the OJ here too.

The other choices were as follows.

E & M - Moons over my Hammy and Build your own slam, which they shared between them.

Melissa - Dulce de Leche pancakes

We all enjoyed the food, and Melissa even went as far as saying that her pancakes were better than Ihop - if you’ve ever read any of her Food Reports you’ll know that this a massive statement! Also something else you will have learnt from her Food Report last year was the rather embarrassing situation that arose at Ihop when she asked if we could buy a mug - of course, the memory of this situation is such that she would never ever risk a similar situation arising again……Nope! Melissa decided that she would like a Denny’s mug, but this year she was going to make me ask! First of all I asked our waiter - he seemed quite happy with the question, and just said that I’d need to ask at the counter when paying - so far, so easy.

I went to the front counter to pay the bill and also asked about the mug, to be met with a strange look from the staff member - she asked me to repeat the question, so I did. Then she explained that she was new, so she’d have to ask the manager. She called him over and told him of my request. He also looked confused - after a bit of discussion he disappeared off and came back with a mug, which he gave to me and said we could just have it. A great bit of service, which gave me a very happy wife!

By the time we’d paid, sorted out the mug situation and made use of the restrooms, it was 10am and we were getting back on the road.

The journey to Anaheim was uneventful and excitement levels peaked when we saw this.

At 11.45am we were pulling up in the car park of Hotel Indigo.

When we’d been planning the trip we’d originally booked the Best Western Anaheim Inn, across the road from the Disneyland entrance. However, we’d read good things about Hotel Indigo, and found a good price for one of the family suites a few weeks earlier. We’d felt that, by this stage in the trip, we might appreciate the extra room, so we’d cancelled the Best Western and booked Hotel Indigo direct- it was only a little bit further away, but still easily within walking distance of the parks.

We decided to go in and see if we could check in early and leave bags before going off exploring. However, the desk staff told us room was ready so we could go up now if we wanted - result!

First impressions of the suite were very good, and it was nice to have the extra room.

The decor was modern, and the bathroom had Aveda products (I’m told that it is important to mention this!).

The only issue we had was that the wifi was a little patchy, an issue that never really resolved itself. We unpacked and chilled out for a bit.

We then headed out to explore Downtown Disney. We had 4 day park tickets, but had planned for our park days to begin tomorrow, which was Melissa’s 40th Birthday.

The walk to Downtown Disney took about 20 minutes (we walked the long way round) - we had to go through bag check and then we were in!

There is quite a lot of building work going on in this area at the moment, some of it for construction of a new hotel which has since been put on hold. We wandered through, looking in the shops, and it was good to be “back” - whilst this was our first visit to California, Disney always feels like Disney.

Pixar Fest was in full swing.

Melissa particularly enjoyed the new Disney Home shop, and was already eyeing up purchases for later in the trip!

We enjoyed watching this guy.

After a slight panic because the packaging had changed, Melissa found her favourite coconut patties!

The World of Disney shop was also being refurbished so was operating with reduced floorspace. Downtown Disney runs as one thoroughfare all the way down to the plaza area between the entrance to the two parks. By the time we reached this point, we were thirsty, so stopped at La Brea Bakery for a drink - the cakes/pastries/sandwiches here looked good, so we decided we’d come back at a later point and sample some of the food!

The other place that we’d wanted to try was Trader Sams at the Disneyland Hotel. This meant walking back up through Downtown Disney. As we walked we considered riding the monorail, however, the set up here is different than in FL and, if getting on in Downtown Disney, you have to use your Park Tickets. Firstly, we hadn’t brought them with us, they were safely back in the hotel, and secondly we didn’t want to activate them today, so decided against it - and thirdly, as it turned out, it wasn’t running anyway at that time (apparently due to the heat), so the entire conversation had been rendered pointless!

We headed towards the Disneyland Hotel.

And then headed to Trader Sams - we decided to sit outside on the terrace, as the inside area was very busy.

We found a spot to sit in the shade on comfy chairs, and started looking at the menu.

E went for the “Schweitzer Falls” and M a “Polynesian Punch”.

Melissa and I both ordered the "Mosquito Mojito" (Strawberry Rum, Organic Agarve Nectar, Falernum, Mint and Fresh Lime Juice, topped with Soda Water).

All the drinks were lovely and refreshing.

Mine was so good, I could have had another but decided to stop at one! The food coming out looked really good - we considered ordering some as, having not eaten since breakfast, we were getting a bit peckish now. However, we’d planned on going to The Cheesecake Factory later, so we figured eating now would be a bad idea.

Drinks finished, we explored part of the hotel.

The police cars looked like toys!

We then walked back through Downtown Disney and out the Eastern entrance, to head back to the hotel along the route that would become very familiar to us! From here, it took approx 10 minutes to get back to Hotel Indigo.

At about 6pm we headed out to eat - The Cheesecake Factory was just a few minutes walk down the road from the hotel, and was part of the Gardenwalk complex which had a number of other restaurants including Bubba Gump, Johnny Rockets and House of Blues.

It wasn’t too busy at this stage, and we were seated pretty quickly. We’d seemed to time it right as it continued to get busier all the time we were there.

The bread arrived quickly. So good.

We decided to adopt the same approach as we had on our previous trip to Cheesecake Factory at Mall of Millenia back in 2016 - knowing what the portion sizes are like we just went for some starters to share so we had room for cheesecake! We ordered some Roadside Sliders, Pulled Pork Sliders and Loaded Baked Tater Tots. Really good.

We were then ready for Cheesecake. We ordered the following:

Melissa - 30th Anniversary Cheesecake

E - Oreo Cheesecake

M - Choc Hazelnut Crunch Cheesecake

Me - Cherry Ghirardelli Chocolate Cheesecake

I was the only one that could finish, so we boxed up the leftovers and headed back to the hotel. We got a relatively early night as tomorrow was the birthday girl’s big day, and we were having an all-out park day!


This made Melissa smile. The girls must have added this a long while ago as they have called her Mum for quite some time now!

Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow: Melissa’s 40th Birthday in California Adventure

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Oh I do love a Denny's breakfast! And great that they so kindly gifted you a mug (I'm jealous, I would love one of these!)... although I am now intrigued as to what happened in IHOP when the same request was made!

So great to see you arriving in Anaheim, this was certainly the highlight of our West coast trip and I can't wait to see you hit the parks for Melissa's special day!

[i love jack]

I need to go and read the ihop story as I thought they did sell them! I’m sure I saw that a couple of years ago. But loving the free Denny’s mug
The new hotel looks lovely.
Cheesecake Factory looks good, I’ve never eaten proper food there just cheesecake
Sounds like an amazing birthday day coming up

[Pumba75]

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

Oh I do love a Denny's breakfast! And great that they so kindly gifted you a mug (I'm jealous, I would love one of these!)... although I am now intrigued as to what happened in IHOP when the same request was made!

So great to see you arriving in Anaheim, this was certainly the highlight of our West coast trip and I can't wait to see you hit the parks for Melissa's special day!

See more...

Ditto. I may have glossed over it before! Same reaction. They looked really odd/blank at me when I asked! Haha.

Agree. Proof reading this for G, felt all the excitement build again. My birthday was THE BEST!

Originally Posted by i love jack

I need to go and read the ihop story as I thought they did sell them! I’m sure I saw that a couple of years ago. But loving the free Denny’s mug
The new hotel looks lovely.
Cheesecake Factory looks good, I’ve never eaten proper food there just cheesecake
Sounds like an amazing birthday day coming up

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They reacted in a similar way. Weird tourist asking to buy a mug!

The hotel was really lovely. So glad we changed.

The Cheesecake was delicious. Need to order a main meal one day!

It certainly was!

M x

[Goldia]

I want a Denny's mug now! Who knew all you had to do was ask? For a travel day it was still fun. The new hotel looks lovely, great to have a suite with a separate sitting area so you had a bit more space.

Those cheesecake portions look huge and absolutely yummy!

[Pumba75]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I want a Denny's mug now! Who knew all you had to do was ask? For a travel day it was still fun. The new hotel looks lovely, great to have a suite with a separate sitting area so you had a bit more space.

Those cheesecake portions look huge and absolutely yummy!

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Yes even for a travel day we managed to fit lots in. The hotel was lovely and pleased we changed.

They were delicious!

M x

[juliab]

Love how you got a Denny's mug, so good of them.

Hotel looks lovely, I was looking at that one the other night.

Wow those cocktails and then that food!

Looking forward to reading about Disney x

[Pumba75]

Originally Posted by juliab

Love how you got a Denny's mug, so good of them.

Hotel looks lovely, I was looking at that one the other night.

Wow those cocktails and then that food!

Looking forward to reading about Disney x

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Yep, was another great hotel. Ah, to be sat there drinking those cocktails again!

Thanks for reading

[slow.jo]

Oh Denny’s…I could totally go for a Moons Over My Hammy right now #notweightwatchersfriendly

Hotel Indigo looks lovely *adds to 2019 planner as an option for us*

How exciting to finally be at DISNEYLAND! Can’t wait to read the rest.

Jo xx

[Pumba75]

Originally Posted by slow.jo

Oh Denny’s…I could totally go for a Moons Over My Hammy right now #notweightwatchersfriendly

Hotel Indigo looks lovely *adds to 2019 planner as an option for us*

How exciting to finally be at DISNEYLAND! Can’t wait to read the rest.

Jo xx

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The girls would definitely agree with you on the Moons Over My Hammy!

It's a great hotel.

Thanks for reading.