"Who run the Land...Girls!" A May 2015 girls trip to Disneyland! *It's Disney Day! Part 2*

[kanadar]

Hello Everyone! And welcome to my girl's trip TR!

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I am pretty new to the Trip Reports thread but have contributed to the Dining Threads, and I have a Disney wedding Planning Journal I am currently working on! There's a link to it in my signature if your interested First up...Introductions!

Who:

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My name is Kathy (27)! We have been going to Disney since I was in 1st or 2nd grade. It started out as an every-other-year sort of thing, and quickly snowballed after that! I can't even count how many times we have been to the World, but we haven't been to Disneyland as many times. In fact, the last time we were in DL was about 10 years ago. This trip was different than other because I would be meeting up with one of my best friends!

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This is one of my best friends Katie (28). We have been friends since about 1st grade. She moved away in 6th grade but we have remained friends ever since. She currently lives in Texas. Her and her family are also big Disney fan's. She has been going just as long as I have! She is also the reason we were all in Disneyland for this trip!

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This is my sister Mary (30). She lives in Arizona and decided to meet Katie and I in Disneyland this trip. She has always loved Disney. She did the College Program and even worked at Disney World for about a year before deciding to back to school. She was a late add to the trip, choosing to join about a month before!

What: A girl's running weekend

Where: Disneyland! The first trip in 10 years for Mary and I!

When: May 7-11th

Why: The reason for this girls trip is the Tinker Bell Half Marathon weekend. Katie decided she wanted to run the Pixie Challenge (10k and half marathon) but no one in her family was interested in running with her. So, she texted me and asked if I would! Both of our families enjoy running and have run a few races together before. After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to go for it. This would be the most I had run in a weekend ever.

Next up: Travel day!

 

[kanadar]

Table of Content:

Arrival Day!
Disneyland Hotel Room

 

[kanadar]

Arrival Day!

The idea for this trip started back in August 2014. Katie had signed up to run the Glass Slipper Challenge for the Princess Half Marathon weekend. She had made the decision to also run the Pixie Challenge. Her decision to do this was because of the medal she would be getting when she finished. For those who don't know, when you do runDisney races you have the opportunity to get the Coast-to-Coast medal. This means that you have run a race a Disneyland and Disney World in the same calendar year. Now if you run the 2 women's races (Princess and Tink) you get a special pink Coast-to-Coast medal. Katie had her eyes on it!

The day had finally come for us to head to California! We had been talking about it for months now, and I was super excited to be going. The last time my family and I had been to Disneyland, California Adventure had not been redone yet.

Thursday morning came and I got up around 6:00 to finish packing and making sure I had everything I needed. My flight left at 7:30 but we live about 10-15 minutes from the airport and it's a small airport so I usually only get there about 45 minutes before my flight. Even then sometimes TSA isn't open yet! My DF got up and took me to the airport. I would be flying to Dallas-Fort Worth, then on to Santa Ana!

First stop, DFW! By the time I had gotten there I was hungry. Luckily my layover allowed me enough time to get some food and enjoy it. I texted back and forth with my dad and sister trying to decide what to have...So many choices! I finally decided on Popeyes!

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We finally have one in our town, but we don't venture there too often. So I got 3 chicken tenders, with mashed potatoes. It was really good but I couldn't finish it. While I was eating, I realized I had gone to the wrong gate! Luckily my mistake was not a big deal, as I was only off about 4 gates. But I had to finish up and move to the correct gate.

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Phew! I made it! Now to just wait for them to finally board my flight! While I waited, Katie was texting me waiting for her flight. We coordinated our flights so that we would be arriving and departing around the same time. I'm so glad we did this, it made transportation so much easier!

Sadly, here is where I dropped the TR ball for a bit. I didn't take any pictures of the airport! I know, I know...how could you?! This being one of my first trip reports this happens a few times but I promise it gets much better!

Katie was waiting for me when I arrived at my gate. We decided to call Uber to pick us up and take us to our resort. Our driver was very nice and friendly. We even stopped at a Walgreens not far from our resort to get some bottled water for the room. From Santa Ana airport, to the Disneyland Hotel our total not including tip was $24.75! And that includes a stop at Walgreens. It was definitely worth it, but we ran into one small issue....*foreshadowing* we run into the same issue later in the trip.

Our driver was following his GPS to get us to the hotel. Well apparently the GPS does NOT know where the entrance to the Disneyland Hotel is. Despite the signs, and Katie letting him know he was turning at the wrong spot, he didn't believe us until he had proof. But we just told him he needed to go back out and go up one more stop light. No biggie....this time!

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Finally we made it to check in! I was so excited to be staying at the Disneyland Hotel! Luckily there wasn't much wait to check in. While we were checking in, the CM told us she had to check on something with our room...dun dun DUUUUNNNN. So I took the time to take some pictures!

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Cute little teacup seats! I never got a chance to sit in the but they were cute!

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This is the childrens movie area. The chairs are so cute! At this point the CM came back and told us that our room wasn't ready but she would see if she could get us another room. Katie had requested which tower she wanted to stay in and luckily, even though we ran into this small snag, we would be staying in the tower she wanted. The Adventure Tower! (I have a picture of it but it's telling me it's too big )

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We were on the second floor so we took the elevator up. I found out later that you can't take the stairs up, only down. So even though we were only on the second floor we always had to take the elevator. Up we went! The doors opened and this was the first thing I saw!

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I LOVED seeing this every time we came back We walked down the hallway, our room was in the corner of the building so we could see the walkway to Downtown Disney. This is where things got a big old school, we had to pull out these babies!

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I sent Mary a picture of her's saying "What?! I can't just put my band up to the door and get in?! What is this?!" This was a constant joke throughout our trip. We all actually really like the bands. I know some people don't but I like them and think they work well for the most part. It's nice not to have to keep track of this little key!

Next up: Pictures of the room and off to packet pick-up!

 

[mare1203]

I'm here! Great report so far. Looking forward to more!

 

[Scottishbrit]

Cant wait to hear more! I did the 5K ( lost boys ) on that friday...in the rain! It was still a blast! I'm going to sign up for the Tinkerbell again when they go on sale in August!

 

[kanadar]

I'm here! Great report so far. Looking forward to more!

Thanks for following along!

Cant wait to hear more! I did the 5K ( lost boys ) on that friday...in the rain! It was still a blast! I'm going to sign up for the Tinkerbell again when they go on sale in August!

thanks for following along! Oh man I didn't think about the 5k being in the rain! I ran the Wine & Dine half marathon in the rain, as well as another 10k a few weeks ago. It might rain but it's still a lot of fun! I enjoyed Tink, it was a good course. The Anaheim parts can get a bit boring but I just kept thinking Disney wasn't far away!

 

[RachelNinja]

Excited to read more! My husband and I are contemplating a Disneyland trip, and I'd love to read all about your experiences to get more info!

 

[kanadar]

Excited to read more! My husband and I are contemplating a Disneyland trip, and I'd love to read all about your experiences to get more info!

Thanks for following along! I would definitely recommend a trip to Disneyland! I wish we hadn't waited so long, and I hope we don't wait another 10 years to go back!

 

[kanadar]

Disneyland Hotel room

When I left off we were heading into our room to drop off our stuff. Of course, being a good diser I had to take pictures! I was so excited to be staying at the Disneyland Hotel!

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I LOVED the long pillows on the bed! They were so cute!

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And of course, the star of the room....

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The fireworks headboard that plays "A Dream is a wish your heart makes" when you turn it on. I LOVED it the entire trip! The girls laughed every time I ran over to turn it on...which was pretty much every time we were in the room

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Such a pretty carpet. And of course I had to find the hidden Mickey in the carpet. Next up the bathroom...

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Here's a close up of those adorable Mickey hand lights! I loved them!

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Hello Walt! Everything was Neat and Ready, just how you would have wanted

After dropping our stuff off we decided to grab a quick bite of food. This is where I dropped the ball as a diser *whomp whomp* I forgot the food pics! We just stopped at Tangaroa Terrace. Katie got the pulled pork and I got a bacon cheeseburger. Then it was off to the Expo!

Next up: Tinkerbell Expo!

 

[kanadar]

Tinkerbell Expo

When I left off last time, Katie and I had just finished eating and were heading over to the expo. Luckily the expo was really close. To get in you first walk down a ramp to pick up your packet and bib.

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Since this was tinker bell weekend they had several of the fairies on the walls. I thought it was super cute! I have run 2 different runDisney races before so I knew what packet pick up and the expo is normally like. For those of you that don't know, here is a picture I took from the Wine and Dine expo back in November to put things in perspective.

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Wall to wall people! So this is what I was prepared for. All of the expos I have been to have been the same. So we walked in and saw this...

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At first I was wondering if something was wrong! I have never seen so few people at the expo....ever. Looking back on it, I realize we were there the day before first of 3 races. So most people who were running the 10k or half probably weren't in town yet. That was ok with us, made things much easier for us!

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There was a little bit of a line to pick up our packets. And by a little bit of a line, I mean there was like 3 people in front of us. We were running the Pixie Challenge which is the 10k Saturday and the half marathon Sunday.

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For those who don't know, you have to sign a waiver before you pick up your packet and bib. They have your bib number on it, and then different lines with a range of numbers. When its your turn you sign and initial next to your name and bib number. You also have to present your drivers license. RunDisney is very thorough, making sure that you are the one who paid for the bib. They had been having a lot of problems with people selling bibs. In fact, for the challenges, once you pick up your bib you have to go over and get your picture taken with your bib. Once you have finished the half marathon you go to an area where they check your picture on the computer to make sure it matches....like I said, very thorough Next, it was time to head over to the expo!

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This was the walkway from packet pick up, to the expo. Of course Disney keeps the theme going every where The expo is where you pick up your race shirts, they have different vendors for you to buy things, as well as their race merchandise.
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Here are just some of the things you can purchase. They have pretty much anything you could imagine. Shirts, jackets, pins, water bottles, tumblers, magnets, and lots of other stuff. One of the more popular shirts people like to buy are I Did It shirts. They of course say I Did It on the front, and on the back they have an image of the course.

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They have these for the 10k, the half marathon, and they also have one for the Pixie Dust Challenge. So we bought what we wanted and walked around for a little while. Neither of us bought anything from the vendors, and decided it was time to head back to the room. We decided not to try to go to the parks since they closed early, and we had dinner reservations at Downtown Disney. So what are 2 girls to do when your staying at the Disneyland Hotel? Why of course head to Trader Sam's for some drinks!

 

[wiscbugs]

Definitely jumping on board!

 

[FoundNemoLostDori]

Oh my goodness! I am so excited that I found your trip report! My Husband and I are thinking about going to DL next year, and I want to run the Tinkerbell 10k if so. I love all your pictures, and can't wait to hear about the crowd levels. Especially since Mother's Day was that weekend as well.....

 

[mare1203]

Super jealous that you got such an uncrowded expo! Usually, you have to wind through the floor tape gauntlet just to get to the expo merchandise. Glad to know the "I Did It!" shirts also had the correct course, since the Wine & Dine I Did It shirts had the course backwards. Thanks Obama!

 

[kanadar]

Definitely jumping on board!

Thanks for following along!

Oh my goodness! I am so excited that I found your trip report! My Husband and I are thinking about going to DL next year, and I want to run the Tinkerbell 10k if so. I love all your pictures, and can't wait to hear about the crowd levels. Especially since Mother's Day was that weekend as well.....

Thanks for joining! I really enjoyed these runs, especially the 10k but I'll get to that soon

Super jealous that you got such an uncrowded expo! Usually, you have to wind through the floor tape gauntlet just to get to the expo merchandise. Glad to know the "I Did It!" shirts also had the correct course, since the Wine & Dine I Did It shirts had the course backwards. Thanks Obama!

An empty expo was amazing! I thought something was wrong at first when we went to pick up our packets! Luckily there was a little line for our packet otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do! I'm sure that's something that will NEVER happen again

 

[kanadar]

Arrival Night: Part 1

After making the sad decision to skip a park since they closed early, we were trying to decide what to do with our time. Of course we should go to Trader Sam's! So we walked down to try to find a table.

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I had never been here before since we normally go to World, and because the last times I've been to Land I was in my teens. So I was really excited to get a drink here. We were really hoping to get a table inside because the weather this trip was somewhat chilly! It wasn't too cold but it was definitely not the warm weather I was hoping for. Sadly there were no seats available inside, but we did find a couple couches outside that another group of girls was kind enough to share with us. This was great too because they had the heaters on!

We sat down and started trying to decide what we wanted to drink. There were so many options that sounded good!

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I knew I wanted one of the specialty drinks but I wasn't sure which one. So after some thought I decided on the Hippopotomai-tai.

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Katie didn't want one of the specialty drinks so she just had a glass of Prosecco. ​

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Our 2 drinks together. We sat and talked a bit with the girls next to us. They were doing to 5k the next morning, their first runDisney race. They seemed pretty excited but one was a bit nervous. While we were talking one of the girls noticed one of the Disneyland Cats.

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I had kinda heard about these before but didn't think about it until they started talking about it. There are feral cats that are all over Disneyland. I believe they even have their own instagram!

A little bit later the girls had to leave and another group joined us at our couches. They were here for a conference and we got to talking. Not long before our trip Katie got engaged, so we started talking about that. The woman asked us about where we were getting married and when I said I was getting married at Disney World, one of the people who was with her works for DFTW so she knew who my planner was. Small World! We really enjoyed talking to them, but it was time for us to head out for our dinner reservations. We were headed to....

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Tortilla Joes! It's a mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney. We checked in and only had to wait a few minutes before our table was ready.

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A kinda blurry picture of our table. We sat down and looked over the menu a bit trying to decide what we wanted.

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(continued in next post)

 

[kanadar]

Arrival Night: Part 2

As we were perusing the menu, we were brought some chip and salsa.

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These were very good and I'm not usually a big salsa fan. Since we had already had a drink we decided to continue with our drinks! And since we were at a Mexican restaurant I of course had to order a margarita!

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I thought the glass was really cool, and of course the margarita was delicious! Katie decided on a glass of pinot noir which I don't have a picture of but you can see it in the back of my margarita picture.

It took us a while to decide what we wanted. Neither of us could decide for sure. We were both between a few different things. We both enjoy leisurely dinners so we were ok with taking our time to decide. We finally placed our order and talked a bit about wedding planning and life in general. Then our food arrived.

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Sorry for the blurry picture! I didn't realize it was blurry until I had already started eating. Oh well. Anyway, I decided on the combination platter. I chose the Crispy taco with shredded chicken and the enchilada with shredded beef. This came with 2 sides so I got the refried beans and mexican red rice.

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Katie chose the steak fajitas. Her sides were the mexican red rice and black beans. We also ordered another round of drinks...we're on vacation its ok!

Everything was really good. I only wish I had gotten the shredded beef in both of my choices instead of the chicken in the taco. I liked the beef a little bit better. We decided to skip dessert...at least for now, and headed out to walk around Downtown Disney.

We hit a few different stores. We looked in the Disney Vault and a jewelry store. Then we made our way to this store

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World Of Disney! Not the best picture, I was trying to take the picture really quick. But you all get the idea! We walked around here for a while having all kinds of fun...we were feeling good at this point Katie was in search of a Pluto stuffed animal for her future ring bearer. They had gotten him a small one on their last trip and she wanted to find a little bit bigger one.

We were searching everywhere in the stuffed animals for this pluto and came across some cray-cray Minnie's!

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Leopard print Minnie? Rainbow bright Minnie? Hippie Minnie? Not what we expected to see from Minnie. We got a pretty good laugh out of these The drinks we had before this may have helped entertain us even more. We did eventually find the Pluto, Katie couldn't decide if she wanted to buy it now or not so we carried it around for a bit. Thats when we found our next form of entertainment...Minnie Ears!

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The classic Minnie ears​

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The glitter Minnie Ears. You can even see Pluto that I carried around the store while Katie decided whether she wanted to buy it or not

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The GIANT pink Minnie ears. If you can tell by our faces we thought these were HILARIOUS and looked ridiculous on us. We had decided we should buy some but we couldn't decide which one! And our last ear's for the day and probably my favorite picture

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The bride Minnie ears! Because of course we are both going to be brides. We had our fun and couldn't decide which ones we wanted so we decided to wait. So we headed our to our next store.

(continued in next post)

 

[kanadar]

Arrival Night: Part 3

So after having our fun in the World of Disney store we decided to start our way back to the resort. As we were walking back I decided I wanted to pop into one more store.

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Listening to the DisUnplugged podcasts I knew they loved this gallery so I wanted to check it out. There was some really cool artwork there. I found some that I really liked. Heres a few I took pictures of.

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How cute are Donald and Daisy!?! I loved this one ​

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This is another one I LOVED. The artist who did this one did several others, and what makes these even cooler is there are hidden pictures and messages within the picture. For example, if you look just under the star to the left you can see Mickey Mouse. There are lots of other pictures as well.

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We found this card and thought it was really cool since we are both getting married. I really really liked it. I debated buying it but decided not to.

We looked around a little bit longer then decided to head back to the hotel. We got side-tracked yet again on our way back!

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The Blackhawks game was on the screen so Katie stopped to watch for a minute. After watching I was like why don't we just go in and watch the end of the game. So we did! We went to find seats at the bar but there weren't 2 together. We waited a few minutes and it looked like there were 2 people getting ready to leave. Once they got up we took their seats! It was perfect! We looked at the menu for a few minutes and decided to get a few drinks. I think Katie got another glass of wine. I chose this drink.

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I can't remember what this was called but it was really good. As we were looking at the bar menu we saw a little something else that caught our eyes. So we decided to order it!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae- A Nestle Toll House cookie topped with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, caramel sauce, and whipped cream. This was sooo good! Definitely hit the spot! I'm glad we passed on dessert at dinner and chose this. We sat and enjoyed this while watching the Blackhawks win!

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Katie intensely watching the hawks. Funny enough the bartender in the back of the picture came and joked with us for a little while. I believe he was from the Chicago area so he's also a blackhawks fan, but living in Anaheim he has to kinda hide it.

Once the game was over, we headed back to the room for real this time! No more getting side tracked....there wasn't anything else to stop by between ESPN Zone and the Disneyland Hotel. We already decided to let ourselves sleep in the next morning since our next few would be very early! With that, our arrival day was finished! So we turned on our good night kiss and went to sleep

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[FoundNemoLostDori]

Trader Sam's looks like so much fun, and I absolutely love the minnie wedding ears photo!!

 

[mare1203]

I love the DLand Rooms. The little touches of Disney nostalgia and Walt are perfect. Looks like you had a productive and silly night.

 

[kanadar]

Trader Sam's looks like so much fun, and I absolutely love the minnie wedding ears photo!!

Trader Sam's was so much fun! I would definitely recommend going if your at Disneyland. I haven't experienced the one at World yet, but we will be in the World in 5 days so if we get a chance to go I can report back

I love the DLand Rooms. The little touches of Disney nostalgia and Walt are perfect. Looks like you had a productive and silly night.

I loved those rooms too, they were so cute! And of course I just LOVED that headboard! It was a very silly night, lots of laughter as we walked around WOD.