We Moved to Disneyland!! Now What ? Stories from New DLR Locals - Updated 1/15

[tdashgirl]

thanks for dropping in

 

[tayalltheway]

Oh my... I'm so sorry about the medical issues. I can sympathize, I've been in and out with doctors myself lately.

I heard about the fruit being recalled, and had a moment of panic. But ours weren't from that batch. So sorry Tracy went through that.

Glad they figured out what your rash was before any serious treatment took place.

Oh well, that's life... Sorry to hear you've had medical issues as well though. And I'm glad that all of our conditions have slowly been resolving themselves.

I know that you don't like the DIS and I can respect that. I checked out your blog and it is better than most in that the pictures are actually a size that I could see them and actually look at your pictures. However, I tried to find a beginning and everything was out of order. Unfortunately, this Old Fogie can't seem to navigate your blog well enough to figure out where I want to start reading from and got totally frustrated and lost.

I'm sorry the DIS doesn't work for you young whippersnappers, us old folks seem to navigate it quite well. I guess that is another thing that will eventually go by the wayside as well.....

Also unfortunately we are gone this next week and are in Cleveland until Sat the 16th. Maybe on your trip in Oct and if you plan your cards right maybe even PIO as well!

I definitely don't have anything against the DIS. Just getting to the point with everything I've posted here through the years that I'd rather have a central location to keep it all organized.

Sorry you've been having trouble navigating the blog. After reading your comment, I tried to simplify the navigation at the top and made the link to the Trip Reports page more obvious. From there, you can click on the report you want to read and get right to the Table of Contents. Hopefully you'll give it another shot!

Hopefully we can make a meet up work out in October or December. I hope you had a fun time in Cleveland!

Thanks for sharing your news Taylor. Looks like ups and downs in real life. Hope you are both over your mystery sicknesses.

Always happy to share our goings on. Life seems to always have it's ups and downs, doesn't it? Tracy is definitely better, and my rash has almost entirely gone away, so fingers crossed that it doesn't pop up again!

So sorry to hear about your illnesses. I too was worried about the affected fruit when I heard that and was afraid we had eaten some but none of us got sick that I know of although after we came back from Mexico beginning of June we were all sick like that for almost a month and we were fine the entire time we were on vacay and were very careful of what we ate while there so wondered if it might have somehow been the fruit.

As always anxious for your next report.

Blech, I can't imagine being sick for almost a month!! Sounds awful. After years of hearing about food recalls, I couldn't believe it when one of us was actually affected. I'm glad Tracy is feeling better (and I hope your family all is too!).

thanks for dropping in

Of course! Thanks for reading!

 

[DharmaLou]

I'm glad all is ok & that Crooky made the trip to CO with you. I'm glad you guys get to go back to Disney fairly regularly still - that's one way of not having TOO many withdrawals! Love the new Toyota. I have a Prius that's not quite 4 years old with about 100K miles on it. They're awesome cars

 

[tdashgirl]

Sorry, I just can't get into Pizza Port --- not a fan of that place at all Mac and cheese pizza is tempting though

 

[tayalltheway]

Yay! I've missed reading about your adventures in DLR. The cruise report is good but Disneyland has my heart.

Glad to be helping to satisfy your DLR fix once again!

I'm glad all is ok & that Crooky made the trip to CO with you. I'm glad you guys get to go back to Disney fairly regularly still - that's one way of not having TOO many withdrawals! Love the new Toyota. I have a Prius that's not quite 4 years old with about 100K miles on it. They're awesome cars

I like to think Crooky is glad he made the trip with us too, though you never can tell with cats... And yep, we're still making it out regularly, so we've kept our cravings under control pretty well.

Totally with you on Toyotas. We've put about 20,000 miles on the Matrix and still loving it, and the new Corolla is working out quite well (knock on wood).

Sorry, I just can't get into Pizza Port --- not a fan of that place at all Mac and cheese pizza is tempting though

I'm generally with you on Pizza Port. Can't see us ever going back there unless a special like Mac 'n' Cheese returns again. But the A/C sure was nice!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the pumpkin patch pictures. Looking forward to reading about the Halloween Party.

 

[BirdyGirl85]

It's so much more fun to pick out pumpkins at a pumpkin patch then a grocery store. So cute that they had baby pigs!

 

[kelmac284]

Cute update. Loved the piggies and what a cute little patch. Fall is my FAVE time of year and I love all the trees changing and the pumpkin patches etc. Looks like a fun day!

 

[tayalltheway]

Love the pumpkin patch pictures. Looking forward to reading about the Halloween Party.

Thanks! It was a fun little attraction. Hope you enjoy the first Halloween Party update!

It's so much more fun to pick out pumpkins at a pumpkin patch then a grocery store. So cute that they had baby pigs!

I agree wholeheartedly. It's hard to believe that it's already almost THAT time again this year. Time flies!

Cute update. Loved the piggies and what a cute little patch. Fall is my FAVE time of year and I love all the trees changing and the pumpkin patches etc. Looks like a fun day!

Glad you enjoyed reading about it. I'm totally with you when it comes to fall. It's the best!

 

[Luisa]

Love the costumes!

 

[kelmac284]

Loved the update and loved your costumes. Esp yours. That is so clever about the cats LOL. We were there almost the exact same time as you last year. We arrived on the 24th and did the party that Friday or Saturday whenever it was I can't remember. We have done one at DW and that was our fave. We did 2 in CA. One in 07 and one in 09 and if you have done DW's you will know that it wasn't even close. We were thus looking forward to it being in DL but it was SO crowded. I love it but we barely had time to do anything. We spent all our time getting pics with the special characters and doing a bit of trick or treating. Never did any rides but then we never usually do. I figure you can go on rides any time so we try to take advantage of the special stuff.

Glad you had fun and looking to the rest of the update.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love your cat costume.

Tracy looks great...but I do love cats; so from my perspective, you take the cream.

 

[tayalltheway]

Those of you who have followed me for a while know that I'm rarely content without a million projects going on at once, so in addition to my cruise report and this report, I've also started writing about our first visit to Disneyland now that we're back to being tourists instead of locals. It's called No Longer Californians, but Still Annual Passholders, and you can find it here. Hope you'll enjoy reading along!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Wow! Loved your costumes! Tracy looked so beautiful and happy! I loved your cat costume!!! Whenever I see a Disneyland cat, I think of your TR!

I have never gone to the Halloween party because I never wanted to pay for the additional ticket cost. I'm worried about how crowded it looks & squeezing by people w/my 2 kids. I'm glad you had a great time!

I never knew they served Mac n cheese hot dogs! I'll have to show your pic to DH (not that he would eat it. Although I may someday).

 

[BirdyGirl85]

You were a Disneyland Cat, that's great. I like it, such a clever idea for a costume.

Looking forward to reading your new report!

 

[tayalltheway]

Love the costumes!

Thanks!

Loved the update and loved your costumes. Esp yours. That is so clever about the cats LOL. We were there almost the exact same time as you last year. We arrived on the 24th and did the party that Friday or Saturday whenever it was I can't remember. We have done one at DW and that was our fave. We did 2 in CA. One in 07 and one in 09 and if you have done DW's you will know that it wasn't even close. We were thus looking forward to it being in DL but it was SO crowded. I love it but we barely had time to do anything. We spent all our time getting pics with the special characters and doing a bit of trick or treating. Never did any rides but then we never usually do. I figure you can go on rides any time so we try to take advantage of the special stuff.

Glad you had fun and looking to the rest of the update.

Aw, thanks! That's funny that you went to the party at almost the exact same time as us. We've never been to the party in WDW, and I've heard that Disneyland's pales in comparison, but we still had a lot of fun. I totally agree with you that it's really hard to fit everything in. We would have loved several more hours to really feel like we could do everything we wanted.

Love your cat costume.

Tracy looks great...but I do love cats; so from my perspective, you take the cream.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked my cat costume

Wow! Loved your costumes! Tracy looked so beautiful and happy! I loved your cat costume!!! Whenever I see a Disneyland cat, I think of your TR!

I have never gone to the Halloween party because I never wanted to pay for the additional ticket cost. I'm worried about how crowded it looks & squeezing by people w/my 2 kids. I'm glad you had a great time!

I never knew they served Mac n cheese hot dogs! I'll have to show your pic to DH (not that he would eat it. Although I may someday).

The Disneyland Cats have become such a cult phenomenon and I love it!

We were totally hesitant about paying extra for the party as well (though at least we don't have kids to pay for/worry about). In our experience, it was definitely worth it, though you have to adjust your expectations. It is VERY crowded, and there's absolutely no way to do everything, but I think that if you can figure out a way to stop worrying about what you're going to miss due to time constraints, then it's a way to have a unique experience at Disneyland that you can't get at any other time of the year.

The mac 'n' cheese hot dogs are EXCELLENT. We've had them several times and they never disappoint, so I would highly recommend it!

You were a Disneyland Cat, that's great. I like it, such a clever idea for a costume.

Looking forward to reading your new report!

Glad you liked the costume And I hope you keep enjoying this report as well as the new one!

 

[PrincessInOz]

The Halloween Party at DLR seems really nice. Thanks for sharing your viewpoint of it. Shame about Chip, Dale and Donald. Looking forward to more.

 

[kelmac284]

Nice update. Your trip mirrors ours quite a bit. I guess we were lucky in that when we did our frist trip at DW back in 05 we didn't have massive crowds like they seem to have here. And of course since it was so close to halloween I am sure that didn't help. I wonder if the earlier ones like in Sept on a Tues are better?? Although because so many locals go maybe not. I was a bit bummed though because that entire trip was SO crowded that it made me not really happy about coming then and usually I LOVE Halloween at the parks. I am also bummed in that you used to get so much MORE before they had the parties. The characters used to dress up during the day and they had the halloween firework show for everyone.

The longest line we waited in was for Jack and Sally and we didn't even bother with Mickey which bummed me out cuz they were so cute but like you it was super long.

We are hoping to go next Nov around Vets day and at least will get to see the mansion and hopefully IASWH will be up by then as well.

I have to admit that the years they did it at DCA there wasn't that many crowds at all but then it was mostly just trick or treating and some characters. There was no fireworks and just a small character cavalcade. The parade in DW is worth it alone with the headless horsemen and such.

We too saw the dapper dans (halloween version having a brain fart LOL) But we saw them in the HM. They just happened to come out on the upper balcony and started singing. I am so glad I got to see it!

Sounds like you had a great time nonetheless!

 

[tdashgirl]

I am also bummed in that you used to get so much MORE before they had the parties. The characters used to dress up during the day and they had the halloween firework show for everyone.

I have to admit that the years they did it at DCA there wasn't that many crowds at all but then it was mostly just trick or treating and some characters. There was no fireworks and just a small character cavalcade.

ITA with the above! Before the parties you used to get a lot in DL with your regular park ticket. The DCA parties were not as crowded, and yes not as much offerings, but the prices were much much much lower. Even counting for inflation, I remember them being very reasonable for what you got (lower crowds, trick or tricking, dance parties and character meets).

 

[tayalltheway]

The Halloween Party at DLR seems really nice. Thanks for sharing your viewpoint of it. Shame about Chip, Dale and Donald. Looking forward to more.

It was nice! I'd heard such a mixed bag of reviews that we didn't know if it would be fun or not, but we really enjoyed ourselves.

Nice update. Your trip mirrors ours quite a bit. I guess we were lucky in that when we did our frist trip at DW back in 05 we didn't have massive crowds like they seem to have here. And of course since it was so close to halloween I am sure that didn't help. I wonder if the earlier ones like in Sept on a Tues are better?? Although because so many locals go maybe not. I was a bit bummed though because that entire trip was SO crowded that it made me not really happy about coming then and usually I LOVE Halloween at the parks. I am also bummed in that you used to get so much MORE before they had the parties. The characters used to dress up during the day and they had the halloween firework show for everyone.

The longest line we waited in was for Jack and Sally and we didn't even bother with Mickey which bummed me out cuz they were so cute but like you it was super long.

We are hoping to go next Nov around Vets day and at least will get to see the mansion and hopefully IASWH will be up by then as well.

I have to admit that the years they did it at DCA there wasn't that many crowds at all but then it was mostly just trick or treating and some characters. There was no fireworks and just a small character cavalcade. The parade in DW is worth it alone with the headless horsemen and such.

We too saw the dapper dans (halloween version having a brain fart LOL) But we saw them in the HM. They just happened to come out on the upper balcony and started singing. I am so glad I got to see it!

Sounds like you had a great time nonetheless!

I think the parties pretty much all sell out these days, regardless of how close it is to Halloween, unfortunately... I do agree with you that I sort of wish Halloween would just be like Christmas at Disneyland—where there isn't a hard-ticketed event and everyone can just enjoy all the offerings. And I'm sure the DCA party would have been nice crowd-wise, though it does sound like there wasn't as much to do.

Glad you got to see the Cadaver Dans. We made it out to see their Limited Time Magic performance at the Mansion as well, and I agree that it was quite fun!

Hope you get to make it out for Halloween Time/the beginning of Christmas next year. I just love Disneyland during all the holidays!

ITA with the above! Before the parties you used to get a lot in DL with your regular park ticket. The DCA parties were not as crowded, and yes not as much offerings, but the prices were much much much lower. Even counting for inflation, I remember them being very reasonable for what you got (lower crowds, trick or tricking, dance parties and character meets).

Interesting. Since I can't compare it to the DCA parties, I guess I just don't know what to think. I will say, though, that I LOVE the feel of Disneyland decorated for Halloween and everything, and I don't know if it would be possible to get that same feeling at DCA...