Trip Report ABD Dis-Exclusive Southern California Dec 13-18, 2015

[Skip3key]

Hello Everyone! Now that the holidays are over, I am finally ready to sit down and start this trip report! This was the most awesome trip and anyone who is on the fence about it should just pull the trigger and do it. Yes, it is a bit pricey on the surface, but it is so worth it! The things you get to do and see, and the level of service you get cannot even compare! I felt that we got every pennies worth and then some! In fact, one group on our trip has done the ABD Southern California trip 7 times! They said that they just love it, and it is has many elements that are different every time!

We are your hosts for this journey... Angie in the hat and Eva on the other side of Mickey... we have other TR posts, are DVC owners at Animal Kingdom Lodge, had our Disney Fairy Tale wedding in EPCOT in October 2014, and are all around Disney nuts. This was our first ABD trip..but won't be our last! This report is written mostly by Angie... (Eva will put in 2 cents here and there, but although she would like to actually write some of this, if we wait for her to contribute, this won't be completed for years!)



Here's the whole ABD group... there were 34 of us, and it turns out by chance it was all adults. The furthest person came from England, and this wasn't her first ABD Southern California either! (Have I said yet that you should just do it?) Ages were from early 20's into the 70's and no one seemed to have any problems doing all the events - and everyone got along!


These are some of the nicest people I have ever met! Its true that you form tight bonds with people on these ABD trips, and we are face book friends with many of them and actually have plans to meet up now in the real world! We spent time with everyone at some point on the trip, breakfast with one group, dinner with another, talking on the bus or hanging out on the events with others. It was great to have the same group all week... we could really share it all together.


Here are our ABD Tour Guides Dean and Summer Rose!They were simply AMAZING and fantastic and we loved every minute with them. Their tireless efforts to make sure everything flowed seamlessly are what really made this trip really magical. Every speed bump we encountered (of course there will always be speed bumps when you are dealing with the world outside the Disney bubble) they could actually anticipate and find a way around it and we on the trip never were the wiser... can't say enough wonderful things about them!



And the last part of the introduction of this trip (and then I will finally get on with the actual trip report) is that since this was a DIS- Exclusive ABD, it had to have members from the Dis-Unplugged podcast on the trip, and we were fortunate enough to have Craig Williams and his new bride Kylie on the trip with us! I cannot stress enough how great they were- so much fun! I'll get to it later, but they were just great and just kicked up an already amazing trip another notch!



Now on to the trip! The trip began on Sunday Dec 13 and ran until Friday Dec 18, 2016. I will warn that by definition, the trip report will report the trip, and this will contain spoilers if you have not done this trip before and want everything to be a surprise! I will likely skip a few things are super-spoily that are better left to be surprised with and I have not seen in other trip reports, but when I was researching this trip, I wanted to read almost everything and I didn't feel it changed the amazingness of the trip at all! But be warned... there are spoilers going forward...

 

[Skip3key]

Day 1, Sunday December 13, 2015- A trip with lots of firsts!
This is not just our first ABD, its our first time in California! So we were in for a lot of firsts this trip!


First one bit of Pre-trip ABD goodness! About a month or so before the trip we got a surprise box in the mail from ABD with goodies in it!



Starting on the left we got a nylon bag, on the right is a canvas shopping bag and in the middle at the top is a leather portfolio which contained our paper (red and white in the center) ABD luggage tags and at the bottom our sturdy leather luggage tags. In the center are the aqua blue ABD luggage straps (didn't use them as was afraid they would get stolen)- very cool!

We had a limited amount of time off so we were unable to add any extra days to the trip, so we were arriving on the actual first day of the Adventure. (if we did have more time, I probably still would have added them at the end as many on our trip did, and not the beginning.) We ended up taking a severely early flight that had us landing at LAX at 715 am (was direct and cheap!) on Day 1.

Once we arrived LAX, we arrived in Terminal 6... and it had so much construction going on with detours, that it was quite confusing to find baggage claim and somehow we popped out at the Terminal 5 baggage claim area, but couldn't go back in as we went out a security gate. We almost started to panic, when suddenly appeared as if by magic, a supertall man in a dark suit with an amazing sign in his hand with our name on it... how did he know?? He said he was waiting by the terminal 6 baggage, and thought he might just come check here....wow... pixie dust already! And we didn't leisurely walk though the airport! And our plane had come in early! We were taken via town car to the hotel and were scarcely on the road, when the driver was already on the phone with Dean to notify him of his successful pick up. He actually updated Dean about 4 times during the 25 minute car ride to the Lowe's Hotel.

Dean was right there at the door when we arrived and walked us right through the process of checking in and taking care of our luggage. Looking back now, how I wish I had thought ahead to booking the hotel for an extra night for the night before, because we were so early that our room was of course not ready (its about 8 -830am at this point) and we actually didn't get in our room until about 1:30pm! Dean gave us a little map of the local area and a few ideas about what to go do while we waited and said her would call us as soon as our room was ready.

The Hotel is really a good location for the Hollywood stuff, it's right on the walk of fame, about a 7 minute walk to the Chinese Theater, 5 minute to the El Capitan, and attached to the hotel and accessible from the hotels 3rd floor, was a 3 story large shopping courtyard area that felt like you were protected from the outside world when you were in there. It had shops and restaurants and a Starbucks as well as a Dave and Busters. One side opens right up to Hollywood Blvd- take a right and you find the Hard Rock, the Chinese theater, and Madame Tussauds wax museum and lots of gift shops.



The other side of the courtyard opens up to this:

Pretty sweet eh? Hollywood sign is right there! Thats Highlands Ave and right across the street behind Eva in the picture we found a small liquor store and were able to get normal priced sodas and snacks for the room (not hotel priced).

As we went to walk out to Hollywood Blvd and check out the Chinese theater (what else was there to do at 8:30 am on a Sunday morning)... we came down the stairs to this.... Thats the El Capitan theater across the street and it is blocked by a giant tent that extends something like 4 city blocks for the Hollywood premier of Star Wars, The Force Awakens that was to happen the following night.



It made planning your walking path essential as you might night be able to cross the street for some time! We tried to peek in the tent when we saw the flaps open at places, but really couldn't see much... The entire group kept hoping that Dean and Summer Rose and ABD might be able to pull out some Star Wars magic during our trip, but even they are no match for the power of the force.... but it was still kinda fun to see all the preparations going on for what we all knew was a pending world wide event...

We walked down the street and there were billboards and Start Wars hype everywhere!


After dodging the almost continuous stream of people trying to ask you for money or to buy their CD or to try to pull you into their shops, we made it to the Chinese Theater... first footprints we saw ... Donald Duck!



Also at the Chinese theater were Star Wars fans who had been camped out here for who knows how long (and blocking lots of the footprints) trying to will the Star Wars people to let them into the premier...and it worked... I was told they were allowed into the bleacher section...



Well... we didn't stay here very long.... so many homeless people and one kept following us around and made us uncomfortable... and I really wasn't impressed with the Chinese Theater- so small after seeing the DHS version! The whole area just felt tight and confining with the giant tent in the street, the barricades on the sidewalk, and all people asking for money... we walked a little further up the street and into a gift shop, but then decided to return to the hotel and see about our room or find a place to watch some football (maybe the hotel bar?) since NFL starts early here at 10am!

Well... room not ready, and it seems LA is not a football town.... (good luck to the Rams and Chargers!)...The hotel had a big screen that was divided into a womens basketball and a single NFL game that on the Fox station that day that had no playoff implications... we then went back to the courtyard mall area and found a Mexican restaurant that was open but showing soccer... so we then went out to the Hard Rock Cafe, only to find they don't open until 11! I had no choice but to watch my beloved Red Zone Channel on my phone thanks Directv! We went back to the courtyard and sat on the patio at a The French Crepe Company ..



We split a cheese plate and coffee and also got a strawberry and nutella crepe as well as coffee. It was a chilly day (jeans and light jackets), but better in the sun and we sat there for at least an hour and a half waiting for our room and watched the city wake up around us. At about 1130am, our butts couldn't take the chairs anymore, and we went back into the Lowes to find Dean and make sure we hadn't missed a call. We hadn't. On the 3rd floor near the restaurant we would eat at in the hotel was where the ABD table was set up and we met Summer Rose and saw a few other ABD-ers checking in. Near here were some long and comfy couches and we made ourselves at home here for the next 90 minutes until our room was at long last finally ready about 130.... and just in time for the Cowboys vs Green Bay game that I was waiting for (and in hind sight, probably should have missed.... since I'm a Cowboys fan). To be continued in next post as Im out of picture room!

 

[skunkvette]

Angie and Eva,

Glad to see a trip report on our adventure!

We agree that we had a terrific group of adventurers, so nice to meet you both and share the magic.

Your report is off to a great start, I can't wait to follow through the entire trip.

Just one small correction, 7 ABDs , 4 of them were Backstage Magic trips.

Number 8 is already planned for Northern Italy this summer, DIS exclusive with seats still available!

Frank and Cathy

 

[Skip3key]

Day 1...part 2....hopefully get to some ABD stuff soon?

Well, we finally got in the room, and then Eva went out to get the snacks at the aforementioned liquor store (on a Sunday! We don't have open liquor stores on Sundays in Texas!) while I unpacked us and watched football. Summer Rose had offered us free tickets to go see Madame Troussauds Wax Musem, but we didn't realize how tired we were...I can rarely sleep well the night before a Disney trip, and we had been up since about 4am, and I knew the day was far from over... so we rested the rest of the afternoon with a little dozing until it was time to head back to the 3rd floor for the ABD Welcome dinner around 5:15. Here's the room:



We thought it was quite nice... What I really thought was funny was a page out of the Room Service menu:



Once down at the restaurant in the Hotel, Dean and Summer Rose had a bunch of wacky props for us to take pictures with for each group, and we all started to meet each other as we filed into a private dining area we would use while here:


We had received our ABD lanyards and once we got seated, they started handing out all kinds of goodies! We each got a Day 1 pin, and then anyone who was an ABD veteran got a pin with a number to designate what number adventure this was for them... then they started handing out presents for special events and birthdays and such. One couple was celebrating their 50th Wedding anniversary! Since this was our 1st anniversary trip (ha-ha since we have been together for 24 years, only now its legal), we got a present too... Amazing how they knew!


Super cool! After dinner- which was a good hotel buffet with lots of choices for anyone... they surprised us with a Movie! We all walked across the street to the El Capitan to see The Good Dinosaur! We also got complimentary drinks and popcorn when we got there. It was a supercool old theater- quite small by todays standards, but with a full stage.. and before the movie there was a GIANT organ on the stage being played that went out through an elevator in the floor, and then there was a live singing and dancing show to celebrate Pixar that went on for about 20 minutes and climaxed with giant beach balls being bounced about by all the audience members! Super fun!



The movie was really great and Eva even cried. All us ABDers sat together in reserved VIP seats, and then we all walked back to the hotel together as a misty rain came down. We were actually done by 8:30pm with everything and were exhausted... back to the room and bed for our first real day tomorrow!

Wanted to add our walking stats to each day so people might have an idea what you are in for! Using the AppleWatch, today we walked 9799 steps or 4.5 miles... a light day!

 

[Skip3key]

Angie and Eva,

Glad to see a trip report on our adventure!

We agree that we had a terrific group of adventurers, so nice to meet you both and share the magic.

Your report is off to a great start, I can't wait to follow through the entire trip.

Just one small correction, 7 ABDs , 4 of them were Backstage Magic trips.

Number 8 is already planned for Northern Italy this summer, DIS exclusive with seats still available!

Frank and Cathy

LOL- my mistake! But we are still super impressed ! We were looking at the Italy adventure, but my sister is getting married around that time, and were are thinking of going on the the Podcast Cruise in December too! Miss you guys!

 

[skunkvette]

LOL- my mistake! But we are still super impressed ! We were looking at the Italy adventure, but my sister is getting married around that time, and were are thinking of going on the the Podcast Cruise in December too! Miss you guys!

Cruise is going to be fun - Cathy and I are in for it, it would be great to see you both again.

 

[DLo]

Yeah ! I have been waiting for this report. I commented on your other report. Seriously considering this trip for a big birthday in October. There is a trip the week of my big day. Looking forward to reading more. I am going back and forth on if I will read the spoilers

 

[Vernie822]

Love your report so far. It looks like so much fun to be able to travel with so many likeminded people that become your friends! I enjoy listening to Craig on the DIS and I had heard him say he and Kylie were going. Didn't put two and two together until now that it was the same trip, haha.

Everything about your day sounds AWESOME! Except the whole time I'm thinking "Oh my god I would be so exhausted after waking up early and flying" haha.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Great start for the trip report. I did this December of 2014 with the DIS. It was a great trip. I'd love to do it again someday.

Number 8 is already planned for Northern Italy this summer, DIS exclusive with seats still available!

We're on that ABD as well. We're looking forward to it.

 

[Skip3key]

Day 2....LA, Jim Henson Studios, Tam O'Shanters, Carolwood Society/Walt's Barn and Optional trip to the Farmers Market and Grove- Part 1!

Up at 7 am as the provided breakfast buffet was open for us from 7:30-8:30am down in the hotel restaurant and we were to meet in the lobby at 9am to start our day. First of all, I thought the breakfast was excellent here- tons of choices from fresh fruit, cereal, bagels/toast, and the usual scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, there were also eggs Benedict, a fresh omelet station, pancakes and waffles, and a great salmon/capers station to go with the bagels with sliced tomatoes and sliced cheeses as well. (Sorry for those joining us from our Disney Dining trip report, I completely forgot to do any breakfast pictures!) Something for everyone as well as paper to go cups for coffee, tea, juice, whatever... very nice.

We met in the lobby at 9am and waited for the bus, anxious to start our adventure! We waited... and waited.... and waited some more..... we waited so long the hotel had to ask our large group to wait on the side as we admittedly were blocking up much of the lobby! We ended up waiting about an hour for the bus to finally arrive... evidently with the Star Wars premier occurring that night right outside our hotel, there was an enormous amount of heightened security with car check points using dogs and mirrors and the whole 9 yards to get in the area, and it just caused a huge traffic jam to the area that couldn't be helped. In true Disney fashion, our guides quickly announced that due to the inconvenience, we would all be treated to a complimentary drink later at lunch! (This wouldn't be the last time we got bonus drinks either! Was awesome!)

So our first destination that day was to be The Jim Henson Company. Usually on this tour, the first part of the day is spent touring the El Capitan Theater (where we watched The Good Dinosaur last night) and the Dolby Theater, but again, with the Star Wars premier that night at both those theaters, there was no way that was happening! We left about 10am and took a round about way to get there, but got to see Hollywood High school (from the bus) and the football field they used to film Grease (remember, our trip definitely is not the normal trip and you may or may not do similar things on future trips!), and then arrived at Jim Henson Studios, which looks so strange as this blast from the past studio just wedged in between other buildings on a normal city street!



This is a good spot to say that you don't have to worry about getting great pictures on these trips. Both guides have cameras and any place you think of that would be a great picture, they already know and we spend about 10 minutes there so each group gets their perfect shots taken (if you find a new spot, they are glad to oblige as well!) And at the end, you get a code to download the entire groups pictures! Here we are on the street getting ready to go in and being greeted by our host!

We all piled into a small theater (more like a large home theater) to watch some videos about the studios and they were really interesting and informative. Turns out the Henson studios are still a real working studio and still do much recording here! At this point the group split into 2 groups, a common theme for much of the trip as it was easier to split up to see certain things as a smaller group. Aptly, we chose to split into the Light Side and the Dark Side (or as Dean kept messing with and saying "light meat or dark meat"!) We went with the dark side, and it seemed that most people stayed with their chosen sides almost always throughout the trip! We went into a board room type area with much Henson authentic memorabilia and a fantastic mural on the wall !


We then went and hung out with kermit and an actual real Emmy ... it was sweet and saw lots more memorabilia stuff


Probably the best part of the Studios was the puppet demonstration where one of us got to volunteer and go up and learn how to do some puppetry...was freaking hilarious and made me very jealous I didn't volunteer! May have to take this trip again to just get to do it! So much harder then it looks!



We hung around Jim Henson until about 11:30am (there was a very small gift shop type area with a few limited articles you could get to remember this part if you liked!) Believe it or not after the breakfast I described, we were already really hungry! Good thing our next stop was Tam O'Shanters! Walts favorite restaurant to eat at! We were here from about Noon until 130-ish or so.




I always like to get whatever a restaurant has as its "specialty" when we eat somewhere new... and Tam O'Shanter did not disappoint! For my Disney Dining friends, we started with the house salad and it was very good! It was served with 2 different breads, a dark rye and a sourdough and they were delicious! We also were served Walt's Favorite drink as our bonus to make up for the delay this morning... it was called "Table 31" (Walts table) and was Templeton Rye, Jasmine liquor, apple bitters and lemon juice and was delicious!



They are known for their prime rib, so that is what we both got! (You did have a choice of other menu items, a salad, I think a chicken and fish maybe?) We were told they were "large portions", and while they were OK sized, they were definitely "California large" and not "Texas large!" We ate almost all of it it was delicious!
The roll was Ok, the potatoes were ok, I didn't eat the creamed spinach as its not my thing, but the prime rib was juicy and delicious! (Eva says the creamed spinach was yummy). I'm sure any other fellow ABDers who were on this trip can chime in with what they had!




And here we are at the famed Walt's Table 31!


I have reached my picture max, so the day will have to be continued in the next post!

 

[ImagineersApprentice]

I'm so happy you're doing a trip report! I can't believe it's already been a month. I can't decide if I want to do another Backstage Magic ABD or try something else next time!

 

[Skip3key]

ABD Day 2, part 2:

When we last left off, we had finished eating a yummy lunch at Tam O'Shanters and now were on to our next location, the Carolwood Society and Walt's barn! Now is a really good time to say that this day on the trip was unexpectedly cold and super windy for Southern California ... if the trip had been to the North, I would have dressed differently, but this was California! It supposed to be at least sort-a warm! Now I must given the disclaimer that we do live in Texas, so we are not acclimated to cold weather at all either, and the folks on the trip that were from Philly didn't seem to be nearly as bothered with the cold as we were, but it was downright not fun and made it hard to be outside to enjoy this event (I want to say it was in the high 40's this day, but by Friday it was in the low 70's).

So the Carolwood Society has some great Disney train and monorail memorabilia and has the actual barn that belonged to Walt Disney and was donated to the society. The volunteers who work here are just great and super knowledgable about all things to do with Walt and trains and eager to share their knowledge! Was a great experience.


They also have Walt's "Retlaw 1" that was part of the passenger train at Disneyland and here we are going in... people must have been smaller back then, because the doorways and seats were super small and its no wonder they had to change to new trains to accommodate getting on and off faster and easier. (But it was warm when we sat inside)!


Another tidbit of info, Summer Rose and Dean were super about always having a box of snacks and a cooler of bottled water on hand almost always... I promise you will not go hungry on this adventure! They broke the box out just before we left here. We left here at about 330 pm and were back in the hotel by 4pm.

With all the Star Wars premier stuff going on in the area, it was going to be impossible to "evening to do LA on your own" as everything close by was either difficult to get to due to all the closures and security or likely super busy, so ABD offered an optional excursion down to the famous "Original Farmers Market and The Grove", and we eagerly accepted and left the hotel about 5:30pm.

Once we got off the bus, Dean and Summer Rose led us to their favorite bar there called "Planet Dailies" and tah-dah! Another complimentary drink from ABD for the "inconvenience"! This time it was a warm cider beverage with bourbon and pumpkin bitters and star anise (also had a non-alcoholic version available). It was really different, but after a few drinks, it really grew on us and by the end of the glass, we really liked it! (Eva maybe too much!)


What the Farmers Market and The Grove actually are, is 2 distinct areas which are adjacent to each other- you walk in and go left into the Farmers Market, and right into the Grove. The Grove is really an outdoor Mall and not too different from an outdoor Mall we have here... big name stores and retail shopping... not too interesting, but we were able to acquire a much needed winter scarf for our poor cold ears...



The Other side was the "Farmers Market" which was not like any Farmers Market I have been to... its more like an "Eating Market" as it full of these small, almost pop-up feeling "restaurants" (counter service) ... which feels like a big food court with it all outside with seating dispersed throughout the complex area that all the restaurants and snack stands share for the most part. There are also specialty shops like a hot sauce shop, a toffee shop, a spice shop, and an ABD favorite "Bob's Doughnuts"... and that was our first stop! And it was a delicious doughnut for sure!


This is a picture just looking down from one end- shops/food places

One of our favorite spots, and where we actually ended up eating, was a nice (heated) French Import shop called "Monsier Marcels French Gourmet Shop"... we managed to pick up a few christmas gifts here. This was one of the few places that had its own seating (outside), but they had heaters all around the seating which made it bearable- and the food was really good! Heres Eva sitting in our own private restaurant (no one else around for body heat!)



Heres the food we had :

A lovely Burrata with very cold heirloom tomatoes and black salt and balsamic...delicious!

A simply delightful and warm and flavorful Cream of Mushroom soup (good, but could not compare with the Mushroom soup we had at Artist Point the month before- thats in a league of its own!)

And of course we had bread and wine. We shared all and enjoyed it immensely. I believe we were back to the hotel by around 10pm that evening.




edited to add the wine and bread picture!

Apple Watch Stats for Day 2: 9541 steps or 4.3 miles!

 

[Skip3key]

There is just a little more to the evening that I wanted to share- when we got back to the hotel, we were more then a little curious about the Star Wars stuff going on, but by this time I think everyone was in the theaters watching the movies or had left... but there were a few interesting characters on the street...

First up were these cool "Stormtrooper" cars at the hotel that were shuttling the famous folk around I guess...


Down on the street we saw Capt Jack on his cell phone behind the barricades and metal detectors...


A nice looking Asian couple getting interviewed...not sure who or why, and lots of riff raft kept trying to get into their camera shots... at least I watched from a far...


And a very colorful that we watched try to get through the metal detectors for about 15 minutes but had to keep finding something else that was setting it off... he finally got in...


After about 30 minutes of nothing really to see, we grabbed some starbucks to warm up with (tea and Hot cocoa- we are too old to get caffeine this late and hope to sleep!) and headed back to the room... out by about 11pm....

 

[DisneyKevin]

Please make sure we don't give away any surprises, as everyone likes to be surprised!

 

[Skip3key]

Day 3 (Already??) Tuesday December 15, 2015- Disney Studios, Disney Imagineering, and finally.....Disneyland!! Part 1

Early day! We had to have our luggage ready to be collected by the bellhops by 7:15am, then breakfast and out on the bus by 8:30am... and we knew today was going to be a long one... so if you do this trip, remember that and make sure to get some sleep the night before!! You have to go the distance!

Now this was probably the most awesome and coolest part of the trip ... I will say stuff about the studios, but very little about Imagineering... it was just too amazing for me to spoil for anyone. We couldn't take pictures in many places between the studios and Imagineering anyway (secret stuff you know)... but OMG it was great. Well worth the trip to just see these places.

First Stop is Disney Studios in Burbank... today is actually the anniversary of Walts death, and it felt very ominous to stand at the studios and see the hospital next door where he died... made us all really take in the gravity of where we were and kinda felt like sacred ground.

First stop.. The corner of Dopey and Mickey! Meet us at Pluto's corner!
.

The coolest thing happened next- and we had all already put away our cameras as we were going inside the building and were told we couldn't take pictures inside... as we were standing outside here... and listening to Dean tell some history, who should pop out of the door but Conan O'Brien! He was with his wife and child, and was super nice and shook our hands and smiled and actually hugged Kylie who was immediately flabbergasted! (You can see his back in the picture behind Kylie...we think he was going to watch the advance screening of the new Star Wars movie that cast members were lined up to go in to see). Disney Magic!




Sad to say that was our first and last star sighting in California.... but it was a good one! We toured the studios and saw a mini-utilidor, and then went to the Disney Archives and saw the Multi-plane camera which was amazing to actually see in person, and it was huge! In the archives were all sorts of pictures and books and really neat to see... and we got to hold a Disney Oscar!




Back outside to the park with all the Disney Legends hand prints and the Legends statue as well as Walt and Mickey...



Next we were given about an hour and 15 minutes to to go eat lunch and shop at the gift shop there on site. We were given coupons for lunch to eat at the Studios Commissary which had lots of different foods to choose from as well as a large salad bar, got 1 entree, 1 side, 1 drink, 1 dessert. The gift shop had a few employee geared items that were not available else where, but otherwise had normal Disney park stuff and was not unique (in other words, wait for the Imagineering gift shop...it was AWESOME and had sales going on!) We left here by about noon and were at Imagineering by 12:30pm.

Again, I am not going to spoil Imagineering- just to say, it is a must see for any Disney Fanatic, and to experience it with a group of 33 other fanatics, was just great! Everyone got into the magic and everyone we met was so nice and helpful and knowledgeable (and Dean and Summer Rose know just everyone everywhere we went!)

We were supposed to be at the Grand Californian to check in by 3:15pm, but the LA traffic was BEYOND!! We didn't arrive at the Grand Californian Hotel until 5:30pm... and apparently Dean and Summer Rose had arranged for us to have dinner at the amazing Steakhouse 55 as a surprise at 5:15! But again, Dean and Summer Rose were on it, the hotel staff met us at the bus and handed us our room cards (I miss magic bands already) and although there was no time to wait for guest services to get our luggage, at least we could run up to the room and drop off our day bag and run back down to the lobby by 6pm to scurry over to the restaurant.

Here are quick pictures I took of the room (the view overlooked the pool and could kinda see California Adventure some off the balcony)... it was nice, and the Hotel was beautiful... but I don't think it compares to my beloved Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge- its a close 3rd to them.



Now off to dinner and a full evening! Continued in next post!

 

[OKW Lover]

sat on the patio at a The French Crepe Company ..

This looks amazing!!! Hope it was as good as it looks. Only thing missing (from our perspective) is a glass of wine!

 

[CJ Gren]

I start this tour on Sunday and your review has me even more excited!

 

[Skip3key]

This looks amazing!!! Hope it was as good as it looks. Only thing missing (from our perspective) is a glass of wine!

Heres the wine from that night! Just didn't include this picture in the post! LOL!!

 

[OKW Lover]

View attachment 146462
Heres the wine from that night! Just didn't include this picture in the post! LOL!!

Much better!!!

 

[Mom2m&k]

Love reading your report! I grew up right next to Disney Studios in Burbank. My high school was right across the street next to the hospital. I always loved at Christmas that they put a Santa hat on Dopey holding up the building!