Sharing the Disney Magic with Family & Friends-DL Diamond Anniversary-DCA F&W Fest Kiosks & The End!

[jedijill]

I had such a fun day with you and Jenny and her family! It was so cool seeing the holiday overlay on IASW and HM.

@afwdwfan The area was redone for the Feliz Navidad celebration so the Mexican theme made sense.

Jill in CO

 

[rentayenta]

I had such a fun day with you and Jenny and her family! It was so cool seeing the holiday overlay on IASW and HM.

@afwdwfan The area was redone for the Feliz Navidad celebration so the Mexican theme made sense.

Jill in CO

So much fun! I had NO idea about the bag either. We get 10% with our APs so the extra 10% was awesome. Thank you to and Alison for helping to pull off such a fabulous surpise.

Love the pics Alison. I hadn't seen that one of Michael and I.

 

[afwdwfan]

@afwdwfan The area was redone for the Feliz Navidad celebration so the Mexican theme made sense.

Ok, that makes sense then. I just couldn't quite make the connection between Christmas and Mexican food.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice meet with Jill, Jenny and her family.

Your photos on the dark rides are getting better and better with the Sigma Lens.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What an awesome DisMeet! Like always, I really wished I lived closer so that I could join in some of the fun.
You're such a generous friend. That discount would have been significant for the purse.

Everything looks amazing, as always.

 

[dvc at last !]

Your pics and reports are always amazing !

 

[Pinkocto]

What a fun day!!! I know I was just at DL but I want to go back and with all that fabulous company too!!!

 

[franandaj]

What a nice day at the parks!

I love it when friends come to town so we can go to the parks.

Which purse did you pick up for Jenny?

It was this one

Looks like it was a successful day in the park! Boardwalk Pasta seems to be a nice option, even if it wasn't exactly what you wanted. Still a nice step up from a normal counter service with the real plates and silverware!

You're the second one who has mentioned about the real plates and silverware at counter services in Disneyland. I never really realized it, but there are quite a few restaurants in DL that serve on real plates and silverware.

The Haunted Mansion overlay looks awesome! You are getting better with your dark lens

Thank you!

You chose a great place to meet up! I like how the Gingerbread house looks like it is themed similar to the GCH.

I'm glad you all had a chance to get together and head to the parks. It looks like it was a fun day!

I really liked the gingerbread house theming. We had a great day together.

Hmmm... that seems kind of like an odd seasonal menu change.

Yeah, they had the whole "Feliz Navidad" Celebration going on, but I see that Jill explained that already.

I'm glad that you were able to help them out! 20% can make a huge difference on the price of a Disney purse.

It really did make a big difference in the price.

I had such a fun day with you and Jenny and her family! It was so cool seeing the holiday overlay on IASW and HM.

I'm glad we all were able to make it that day it was so much fun!

So much fun! I had NO idea about the bag either. We get 10% with our APs so the extra 10% was awesome. Thank you to and Alison for helping to pull off such a fabulous surpise.

You're welcome and I'm glad that you liked it!

Love the pics Alison. I hadn't seen that one of Michael and I.

I really like the one of you and Michael, so cute!

Very nice meet with Jill, Jenny and her family.

Your photos on the dark rides are getting better and better with the Sigma Lens.

Thank you very much!

What an awesome DisMeet! Like always, I really wished I lived closer so that I could join in some of the fun.
You're such a generous friend. That discount would have been significant for the purse.

Everything looks amazing, as always.

I wish you were closer too! Hopefully the next time you come over Jenny will also be a local so we can have another big DISmeet!

Your pics and reports are always amazing !

Thank you very much!

What a fun day!!! I know I was just at DL but I want to go back and with all that fabulous company too!!!

We all talked that day about having a girls weekend, but we haven't talked further about it. That would be great to have a whole weekend of fun!

 

[Steppesister]

No problem. I think I must have worded something awkwardly as well. Both you and Liesa came to the same conclusion so I edited the original post and put up these pics I had taken on my phone from Turkey day.

Nah, I did know your mom was there too, just picked up that you got some extra special time you seemed to be having with your dad. A couple years ago just me and my dad went to the drag races in Bowling Green and it was one of the best time I can ever remember with him. It's great that you have them in your life still and are still making great memories with both! As they age, I crave more and more time with my folks.

How delightful you got to meet with Jenny and Jill! What a great time you all had! There are some fun photos of scenes I've never seen, esp at Christmas. Neat!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice score for Jenny!

 

[franandaj]

Nah, I did know your mom was there too, just picked up that you got some extra special time you seemed to be having with your dad. A couple years ago just me and my dad went to the drag races in Bowling Green and it was one of the best time I can ever remember with him. It's great that you have them in your life still and are still making great memories with both! As they age, I crave more and more time with my folks.

Yeah, we have a whole week with them on a cruise to Alaska this summer.

How delightful you got to meet with Jenny and Jill! What a great time you all had! There are some fun photos of scenes I've never seen, esp at Christmas. Neat!!!

We did have a blast, it was great fun!

Nice score for Jenny!

She really liked it!

 

[franandaj]

To kick off the new year, we decided to have ourselves a nice meal. Since we like to avoid crowds, we chose the 2nd of January so that all the New Year’s revelers would be long gone. It turns out that my point and shoot camera was low on battery so I had to shoot the first part of the meal on my phone. I had a portable charger in my purse, so as soon as I realized the battery was dead, I began to charge the camera so at least the last half of the meal it was able to take pictures.

The menu.







I went to the restroom and asked Fran to order my drink for me. Normally here I order the Diamond Martini, but I’m sure she recited my normal drink that I get anywhere else, Belvedere Gibson Up.



Our Amuse Bouche was Smoked cobia with fingerling potatoes



Again I went with the Prime Beef Tartare, Poached Quail Egg and Autumn Mustard.



We are nothing if not creatures of habit as Fran ordered the Cornbread Crusted Chanterelle Mushrooms with Salsify Puree and Chimichurri



One of the other reasons that we came on a Saturday night was also that we heard they occasionally have specials on weekends. I decided to try the “special” which was a carpaccio of yellow tail, albacore, and sea urchin with caviar. The urchin was kind of nasty, but the rest was pretty good.



Fran went with the soup, which was an Apple and Chestnut Soup with Duck Confit and Truffle Oil.



Fran had the Poached Lobster Paella with Saffron Rice and Roasted Tomato Broth, as usual it was good.



I had the Iron Seared Fish, French Bean Root Vegetable Ragout in a Light Broth Accented with Garlic. This was really good, but filling.



Before the main course we were served a palate cleanser.



I had the Colorado Rack of Lamb with Spring Garlic, Mushrooms and Syrah Sauce, and it was fantastic!



Fran had the Zinfandel Braised Angus Beef Short Rib, Celery Root Puree and Apple Slaw, she enjoyed this.



I had the cheese course, but this time Fran didn’t luck out as I was able to pretty much polish this off.



I had the All American Apple Pie with Fiscalini White Cheddar Ice Cream and it was quite delightful.



Fran had the Pumpkin Beignets stuffed with Pumpkin Cheese Cake and Pumpkin Parfait obviously she likes these since she’s ordered them a third time.



Another great night out!

Later that week we went back out to the park with a specific goal in mind. On January 11, the train was scheduled to close down for a year or longer. We decided on January 8th that we would head out so that I could get one last ride on the train and take pictures with my dark lens. Not to give away upcoming posts in my December TR, but lets just say that a problem with the new dark lens comes up and I’m deprived of it’s use for a period of time. This Friday the 8th of January was my first opportunity back out at DL for picture taking.

It was probably around 11AM that we arrived out at the park that day, and my first stop was the train in Tomorrowland.





We started off our journey in the Grand Canyon.

















And then we step back further in time….






[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]































And then we were magically transported back to Main Street USA.





And New Orleans Square…







We traveled through Splash Mountain…



And then we traveled through Frontierland….This whole part will be gone in the refurb.













And then we were approaching Toon Town Station





And then passing by It’s a Small World….







And we reapproach Tomorrowland Station…






And that concludes my ride around the park until probably 2018.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Such a nice final ride around the park! Nice to take all the photos to look back until all the construction is over in a few years!

 

[dhorner233]

What a fancy meal! I liked your entrees and deserts the best!

Glad you got to ride the train one last time. I'm so sorry they are changing this iconic Disney attraction. I guess the poor old Native American is waving goodbye You got some great shots in the diorama section. I love the old school, low tech features at Disneyland.

 

[afwdwfan]

Looks like you had another very nice dinner at Disneyland! Not a bad way to kick off the new year, and I have to believe that waiting until the second was probably a good idea.

I'm glad you had a chance to get one last photo session on the train before it went down for refurb. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it and what views will be offered going forward, but it really is sad that the frontier scenes will be missing from it. I know that the old steam engines traveling through the frontier was something that was near and dear to Walt.

 

[jedijill]

Your dinner looked mighty tasty! I love the DL train and the diorama due to its connection to the 1965 World's Fair and the Mustang exhibit!

I'm going to text you about meeting up on 3/11.

Jill in CO

 

[mvf-m11c]

Dinner looks great.

That was good that you were able to ride the Disneyland Railroad one more time when it goes down till the sometime in mid 2017. It is a shame that Disney is doing this but I can understand why. It is going to be disappointing to not see the trains run but it will be good to walk on over towards the other side of the New Orleans Square Station and see the steam engines up close. Your shots during the Grand Canyon and Primeval World are nice.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Dinner looked very nice again and your photos of the Grand Canyon are stunning. Nice that you got to ride the Disneyland Railroad one last time.

Corinna

 

[rentayenta]

Thanks for the RR trip around Disneyland. Still one of the best!

Your meal looks heavenly. I think the lamb there is so good; some of the best I have had. I am a terrible carnivore though.

Thank you for posting a pic of my purse. I love love love it! The color is just perfect.

Jealous you and @jedijill get to meet up in March. I will just miss her on her way back. We arrive 3/26 and she'll be there 3/25.