"It's been 84 years..." (Finally returning to Disneyland after 16 months - end of July 2021)

[Jaina]

Friends, it's been way too long. I know, I know, I've been to WDW twice since we were last at DLR just a few days before it shut down for what we thought might be a few weeks. But it's been SO. LONG. Which is silly, when I think about it. There have been much longer gaps when I didn't get to go to Disney, mostly because of babies/financial reasons (like the gap between early 2006 and summer 2009, or the great divide between 2009 and 2013) but I've been going so much the last couple years, and was expecting to visit a lot MORE in 2020 with my first AP, that it seems like forever. I was so excited when it was supposed to open last July, and had hotel reservations to be there opening day! Then. NO. I've been off an on depressed about it for the last YEAR, but did get excitement from my WDW trips, which would have never happened without all this crazy. So, there's that.

To read about our last visit to Disneyland (March 2020) CLICK HERE.
HERE is my October 2020 trip report (finished) from WDW and
HERE is my March 2021 trip (just started) to WDW and Universal.

I'm out of state, so I've been half watching, half NOT watching as all the Californians get to return, but we finally get a turn! Of course since we did almost nothing last summer, we're a little overscheduled this summer. Ironically, we will be in California June 6-10 at the beach, but still not able to do Disney. That's okay; I'm not ready to try to take 5 kids to a theme park in masks anyway. 1-2 at a time, maybe, but not all 5! The earliest I could fit in a scheduled trip (that made sense) was the last week of July, which is the week before school starts, and also my birthday week! I'm pretty excited, and we're getting all ready. We'll be at Disneyland July 28th, and at California Adventure July 29th. We were going to stay at the Alpine Inn & Suites, but just today we changed it to the Desert Inn & Suites, deciding to prioritize location over a slightly nicer room experience. We probably won't be there much anyway... but who is accompanying me this time?

So excited to return! There will be tears...

Trebuchet #1A0782

 

[noodle73]

Following!!! Love your TRs. So so excited that we can finally get back to DLR.

 

[Jaina]

Following!!! Love your TRs. So so excited that we can finally get back to DLR.

Thanks for the note! Right? So excited!! Do you guys have a plan for when you might get back?

 

[noodle73]

Thanks for the note! Right? So excited!! Do you guys have a plan for when you might get back?

We are booked for mid-September!!! Excited to finally use these tickets I bought in DECEMBER 2019.

 

[Jaina]

Yeah, I have a 3 day ticket that I bought for my 9 year old's birthday weekend. That child is turning 11 next month, so... pretty annoyed about that one, because it was a great deal! (I think all I'll be able to do is exchange its value towards a new ticket.)

 

[disneycat321]

YAY! I was waiting for a trip report from you to pop up! I'm so excited you're going back! And YAY for going your birthday week! I'll be there just about exactly a month before you are, June 27-29. Also, I am so sorry that your year of the AP got ripped out from under you just as it was getting started. Hopefully there's something workable in the membership offerings when they come out with those so you can have a redo!

 

[Jaina]

YAY! I was waiting for a trip report from you to pop up! I'm so excited you're going back! And YAY for going your birthday week! I'll be there just about exactly a month before you are, June 27-29. Also, I am so sorry that your year of the AP got ripped out from under you just as it was getting started. Hopefully there's something workable in the membership offerings when they come out with those so you can have a redo!

I'm so excited you get to go too!! You'll have to update us; I'm so curious to see how things are as the summer progresses and things change and evolve! I'm sure there will be a good option for me, and hopefully everyone else. I just wish we knew WHAT that's going to look like!! The good news is that I have money set aside for whatever that option is after a year of not spending (too much) money on Disney!

 

[Jaina]

So.... I have poor impulse control when it comes to Disney, and after some pushing from my husband, stalked the calendar for this week and booked a one day hopper for Friday (the 18th) starting in California Adventure. SO. EXCITED. (And a little freaked out trying to plan this out and leave my family for 2 1/2 days to make this happen...)

 

[Piglet99645]

We were there in March the day before they closed....... and I'll be there next Monday. Just missed you both times!

Anxiously awaiting your report on Friday so I can brace myself for next week.

 

[Jaina]

Well, I didn't get much "Pre" in for this trip report, since I decided to go that first week they opened to out-of-state guest, and have been trying to catch up on that trip report! It's finally done!

The travel group for this trip:

Me (obviously)

My cousin, J (She's just a year younger than me, and we've been close friends since junior high, where we went to the same small town school. We've both been very busy the last 20 years, and have lived all over the place, and each of us have five kids, but we've stayed in contact pretty well. We've been in even more contact this last year and a half since she found out she would be separating and then getting divorced from her husband of 18 years. :-( It was such a shock, and it all happened pretty fast. I told her we would do a Disney trip soon, and then Covid happened and it neeever reopened. Since she's back in school full-time to be a nurse, and since I have a microschool class, we decided we'd better get it in during the summer. My birthday was the perfect opportunity before school started for us the next week!) She grew up going every so often, and has taken her kids a couple times, but hasn't been to Disneyland in about 6 years, or CA in almost 10 years. So much new stuff!

Here's a picture from the last time we were at Disney together, in 1999 when both our families happened to be going the same week, before my senior year. Don't mind the fancy scrapbook-shape cutting that was all the rage about then.

Her SIL, K (Loves Disney, and last went shortly before shutdown. She is a fun, chill person, and I was looking forward to getting to know her better.) I don't have a picture of her before our trip, because we've never spent a lot of time together before. Just little bits here and there, since we're both very close with J.

Speaking of birthdays, this isn't the first one I've celebrated at Disneyland! Here are pictures from my only other birthday at Disney (my 21st!) with all my younger siblings, and with one of my good friends. Her family was there too, but none of them would go on any of the bigger rides with her (Incredicoaster, Tot, Splash) so we teamed up for a couple hours so I could ride with her.

Here we go!

 

[Jaina]

We left the Phoenix area around 1 PM to make the 6-ish hour drive. It seemed to go fast with all three of us, and we stopped twice for gas/snacks.

We were checked into our room at the Desert Inn & Suites (Parking is not amazing, since there's very little space on top, and if there's not a spot, the valet has to take it down below for you. So if you stay there, make sure you get -everything- you might need out of your car!) at 8 PM. We were happy with the room. No frills, no cleanliness issues (I'm not overly observant though when I don't spend much time there), and fully adequate for sleeping. The a/c was good, the take and go breakfast was super basic, and the beds were unremarkable. Not overly comfy, but since I got one to myself, I slept fine. The pillows were decent.

We headed over to Downtown Disney as soon as we could, where I was able to get a MaxPass refund on the two tickets I had bought before (they put it on a gift card, and it took a little while) and where we did some shopping. Neither J nor K had ever been in the Grand Californian, so I took them in to see the lobby. I never regret a trip in there! I don't know if I'll ever stay there, but I definitely appreciate visiting! We were hungry, but lines were pretty bad everywhere for food at 9-ish, so we stood in a 15 minute line for some Wetzel's Pretzels, and then headed back to the room to get ready for our next big day! We had fun adding some cute Mickey head glitter K had brought to our nails. You know, late night priorities. ;-)

 

[CandyMouse]

We stayed at Desert Inn last time we were there and will be staying again this November. I can't wait it will be 4 yrs since we were at DL last! I always love your trip reports and looking forward to reading along!

 

[Jaina]

We stayed at Desert Inn last time we were there and will be staying again this November. I can't wait it will be 4 yrs since we were at DL last! I always love your trip reports and looking forward to reading along!

So fun! When are you going in November? My daughter and I are going the first weekend in November, but we got a good rate at the Grand Legacy almost next door for that trip! I had promised all my kiddos individual trips in 2020 instead of a family trip when I had my pass, but we all know how THAT went. Only one got that, and now they're all wanting me to pay up!

 

[Jaina]

Wednesday I was up before my alarm, as usual. My second alarm was set for 6:55 to make sure we didn't miss the 7 AM boarding group try for ROTR. Yay, my phone got it!

This is me, trying to not be a psycho, and to wait patiently as K and J finished getting ready. My eye was not twitching even a little bit. We left the hotel by 7:10 AM (for an 8 AM opening) and walked across the street (glorious!!) to see the security line zig zagged all over the bus loading areas. It started moving within just a couple minutes (7:15?), and we stayed left to take advantage of a few extra lines to absorb people. J is so much fun. She was excited! The ears we wore this day are the ones I made into interchangeable ears from little grad cap ears, and I made plain white bows to make sure we could all match. There were too many shades of green and turquoise to bother with as busy as I've been!

We were through security by 7:21 and not very far back in one of the entry lines for DL. The gates opened right at 7:30, and we were close enough to have our tickets (from a secondhand side starting with a G) scanned before that happened. That's always my goal, haha. We stopped for the iconic pic in front of the train station (that I don't usually take time for) especially because K lost like 50 lbs this year and wanted to do a comparison from her last trip. Woohoo!

We had decided Indiana Jones was a must do, and they wanted to start with that one, so we lined up at Adventureland. I don't remember the last time I rope dropped Adventureland. That 25 minutes is the longest 25 minutes... We did have some excitement when a june bug (I don't know their real name, but we saw several of them this trip in the parks) landed on my head, and they wouldn't let me get it off until they took pictures. Also, J had fun teasing with a CM there because she kept being in the way right when he wanted to walk through. Unfortunately, about 5 min before rope drop, they announced Indy would not be able to open right away. Now what?

We decided Splash Mountain would probaby have longish lines, because it was going to be quite hot. It wasn't worth trying to work our way to any other rope drop point, so we decided to do Splash Mountain first. I haven't tried to rope drop IJ or actually rope dropped Splash Mountain since the early to mid 90's! We walked with purpose aaaaalllll the way to Splash Mountain, and were on the ride at
8:06 AM. And we got sat in the front. J was drenched, I was really wet, and K got a good splashing. The little family behind us barely got wet. That's usually the way it goes!

With IJ STILL closed, Big Thunder also not open yet (what's up Disney?) and me not used to rope dropping on that side of the park, we weren't sure what to do next! But I decided to save walking, we'd do the Haunted Mansion next, and then see if either of those two big rides were open. We didn't really want to walk all the way over to Galaxy's Edge to do MF when they probably wouldn't call our boarding group for a few hours. We walked on the HM at 8:22.

 

[abbeyroad6282]

Great TR so far. It must've been so much fun to do a Girls' Trip. I don't have any Disney friends! I am always looking to stay close to DLR and super cheap. Grand Legacy used to be a go-to but haven't had great rates for my trip times, lately. Glad you got a great rate for Nov. I am planning to head down either the first or second weekend in November and then maybe late September or early October. Anyway, can't wait to read more of your report!❤

 

[Jaina]

Great TR so far. It must've been so much fun to do a Girls' Trip. I don't have any Disney friends! I am always looking to stay close to DLR and super cheap. Grand Legacy used to be a go-to but haven't had great rates for my trip times, lately. Glad you got a great rate for Nov. I am planning to head down either the first or second weekend in November and then maybe late September or early October. Anyway, can't wait to read more of your report!❤

Thanks! Where do you come down from? Northern California? I have never stayed there, so I'm interested to check it out. We usually do super budget trips (so we can go more often, haha) so I don't often get to stay that close. It's addicting though... I just booked Desert Inn & Suites again for a hopefully-spring-break trip with my two littlest kids (they'll be 5.5 and 8). Can't beat that commute with little feet! I'm excited about trying the Grand Legacy though. I actually got 3 nights for less than $400, which I'm pretty excited about. That was one reservation I can't bear NOT to use. So someone and I will be there the first weekend of November! I think it will be my 11-year-old who was supposed to get to go for her 10th birthday in 2020.

 

[Jaina]

We kind of wandered aimlessly in the general direction of Tomorrowland, because we were considering Space Mountain, but in the Hub I noticed that Alice was at 15 minutes. Really? So I led/dragged them over to that one. Neither of them had been on any Fantasyland rides in several years. We did Alice (9 minute wait, boarded at 8:58) and then Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (13 minute wait, boarded at 9:19). That one is one I rarely enjoy, but can't seem to stay away from. Kind of like the tiny baby corns at salad bars. It just amuses me! It was kind of humid, and I had already broken my neck fan out like 5 times at 9:15 AM!

I saw that ROTR had started boarding, and that our group would be coming up in the next hour probably. We were going to head over and do MF, but I wanted to ride the lineless Carrousel first. Yay Carrousel (9:30 AM) We saw that Big Thunder had finally opened, so we were hoping to jump on that on our way to Galaxy's Edge. We were taking the pass-through by Zocalo's and saw Cinderella chatting with two kids in that little courtyard. I think that might have been our only character picture, and in general we didn't see many characters this trip. But we didn't hang out in the Hub or Main/Buena Vista St. much. So, Big Thunder. The line stretched over by the Golden Horseshoe, and the line outside already said 45 minutes. Thanks, but no thanks! We continued on to the Star Wars experience!

This was fun, because J had never even seen that land, so she was enjoying taking it all in, even though she's not a huge Star Wars fan. We explored a little, and then our boarding group was called and we got in line about 9:53. That was one of my shortest waits for ROTR to date! We almost just walked through the whole line, and our experience started at 10:03. J loved it! (K had been before, but also loved it) I love going on it with people who have never seen it before, it's my favorite! J got some of the special popcorn (banana and chocolate) to try, and then we decided to just jump in the single rider line for MF so we could check it out, but not wait in a long line, since we just had that day to do everything we wanted. Being an engineer is fine, but it's nothing like being the pilot. I haven't actually ever been a gunner! Afterwards we (K and I) picked up the Ronto Roasters that we had ordered and sat down for a mid-morning breakfast/snack. Those are another thing I don't LOVE but they're so interesting I still like to get them. They're a touch spicy for me.

Imgur is having trouble uploading my images at the moment, so I guess I'm done with this installment!

 

[Tasscrapper]

Cute nails are always good on a Disney trip! How fun to be able to go with friends!

 

[Jaina]

Cute nails are always good on a Disney trip! How fun to be able to go with friends!

Basically the only time I get crafty OR do my nails is when I'm going to Disney.

 

[Tasscrapper]

I always tell myself I'll get a pedicure for trips or my birthday but usually talk myself out of it because of the cost. When gel polish became a thing I actually invested in an L.E.D. lamp and polishes so I can do my own fingers which I'm hoping to do before my September trip. I'm hoping for cut toes to though.