My sister and I decided that we needed to steal my mother away for a girls only trip to Disneyland. We had a fantastic time all the way around. How could we not without our children and husbands in tow? Here are the highlights of our first day. 
Hotel
We checked in Sunday afternoon at the Ramada Inn Maingate on Harbor Blvd. for the third year in a row. The rooms seemed to be in much better shape than I previously remembered. The staff was very pleasant and efficient, with check-in and -out being very fast. We even received a call from the main desk a few minutes after check-in to see if the accommodations were fine and if we needed anything. The only complaint was that our upstairs neighbors decided to return to their room at a very late (early?) hour. The continental breakfast was basic yet sufficient enough to get us to DL and around a while before snacking. And the benefit of it being a 10 minute walk to the main gates is a big bonus. Ill be staying there again next year, thats for sure!
Downtown Disney
After a bit if a rest we headed out for DTD. Our main goal was to shop at the World of Disney, have dinner, then spend a bit of time showing Mom the sights. I was a bit disappointed in the merchandise selection at WoD, but that could be because I had just been to WDW during Spring Break and got very spoiled by the huge selection of items there. I badly wanted a Disney cookbook that I didnt purchase at WDW, but there was none to be found at WoD, or DL itself. Actually, there was no kitchen goodies at all, except for small appliances. They carried many of the 50th items, which was nice to purchase there without having to deal with them at the park.
Dinner at Storyetllers Café
We then made our way to the Storytellers Café for dinner. The Grand Californian Hotel is georgous. Its a small-scale Wilderness Lodge done in Arts & Crafts style. And it has the most stunning stained-glass sliding entry doors to the hotel from the drive. Being there made me want to be back at the WL!
We were seated quickly and the dinner food was wonderful. We all got the corn chowder and a salad (they were all good), then I decided to splurge and get a commemorative plate with dessert (you get your dessert free for the price of the plate - $25.00). I choose the seasonal berry cobbler, which I was told would be apple since they had no berries. Only it turned out to be fresh peaches. Humm . It was huge, but nothing to write home about. I would skip dessert if I ever ate there again. My only complaint was the waiter. We seemed to be forgotten quite often it took forever to receive attention from him. He was more interested in some of his other tables than ours, so our small dinner ended up to be over 2 hours long. WAY too long for soup, salad and dessert. We didnt complain since we were out to enjoy ourselves and had no timeline to conquer. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldve mentioned the lack of service much earlier.
After dinner we ventured out to see the sights of DTD, then headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime, which didnt quite happen because my DS & I decided to view the fireworks from the hotel.
In a few days I'll post about our time in DL.
Hotel
We checked in Sunday afternoon at the Ramada Inn Maingate on Harbor Blvd. for the third year in a row. The rooms seemed to be in much better shape than I previously remembered. The staff was very pleasant and efficient, with check-in and -out being very fast. We even received a call from the main desk a few minutes after check-in to see if the accommodations were fine and if we needed anything. The only complaint was that our upstairs neighbors decided to return to their room at a very late (early?) hour. The continental breakfast was basic yet sufficient enough to get us to DL and around a while before snacking. And the benefit of it being a 10 minute walk to the main gates is a big bonus. Ill be staying there again next year, thats for sure!
Downtown Disney
After a bit if a rest we headed out for DTD. Our main goal was to shop at the World of Disney, have dinner, then spend a bit of time showing Mom the sights. I was a bit disappointed in the merchandise selection at WoD, but that could be because I had just been to WDW during Spring Break and got very spoiled by the huge selection of items there. I badly wanted a Disney cookbook that I didnt purchase at WDW, but there was none to be found at WoD, or DL itself. Actually, there was no kitchen goodies at all, except for small appliances. They carried many of the 50th items, which was nice to purchase there without having to deal with them at the park.
Dinner at Storyetllers Café
We then made our way to the Storytellers Café for dinner. The Grand Californian Hotel is georgous. Its a small-scale Wilderness Lodge done in Arts & Crafts style. And it has the most stunning stained-glass sliding entry doors to the hotel from the drive. Being there made me want to be back at the WL!
We were seated quickly and the dinner food was wonderful. We all got the corn chowder and a salad (they were all good), then I decided to splurge and get a commemorative plate with dessert (you get your dessert free for the price of the plate - $25.00). I choose the seasonal berry cobbler, which I was told would be apple since they had no berries. Only it turned out to be fresh peaches. Humm . It was huge, but nothing to write home about. I would skip dessert if I ever ate there again. My only complaint was the waiter. We seemed to be forgotten quite often it took forever to receive attention from him. He was more interested in some of his other tables than ours, so our small dinner ended up to be over 2 hours long. WAY too long for soup, salad and dessert. We didnt complain since we were out to enjoy ourselves and had no timeline to conquer. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldve mentioned the lack of service much earlier.
After dinner we ventured out to see the sights of DTD, then headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime, which didnt quite happen because my DS & I decided to view the fireworks from the hotel.
In a few days I'll post about our time in DL.
