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View Full Version : Quickie Trip Report: January 30 - February 1



Wendi
02-04-2006, 10:08 AM
The Players: Wendi (me), 35, F. Max (my son), 4, M. Rob (my brother), 28, M.

We flew SWA from Sacramento to LAX, rented a car w/Enterprise and were on our way...

MONDAY 1/30/06:
We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel around 9:30 or 10:00 Monday morning. They had a room for us right away, the CM was very nice, I wish I could remember her name. We stashed our stuff away and headed for Disneyland via the Monorail. We sat in the nosecone with James the driver... he said he was used to going backwards at this point, but he was a little disappointed that the monorail would be down for so long once it shuts down completely.

We rode lots of rides... I won't bore you with all the details... my son's favorites are Jungle Cruise and BLAB, so we went on these two rides many times.

We had a PS for lunch at the Blue Bayou at 11:30, and actually didn't get a waterfront table because there was a large party just ahead of us... I wish we'd checked in a little earlier, but it was still very nice. I had the crabcakes as usual, Max had his mini corndogs, and Rob had the Chicken Florentine Pasta dish (and a mint julep, of course). We all liked our meals very much, the crabcakes have changed a little from last time, and I liked them even more.

Grabbed a snack mid-day at Bengal Barbecue... I'm really sad that this place is going to go, what a shame. I had the asparagus (peeled the bacon off) and the breadsticks... I didn't like the breadsticks much... there was nothing special about them, just soft bread - couldn't even tell there was parmesan cheese on them at all, blah.

Around 6pm it was downright cold and I'd left my jacket in the room, so we headed back to get another layer on. My son at that point turned grouchy and didn't want to go back to DL, so we explored the DLH grounds and played with the remote control Jungle Cruise boats, checked out the fountains, koi ponds and waterfalls. We decided to have dinner at Hook's Pointe. We walked in and were seated immediately. I had the salad w/apples, candied walnuts and blue cheese (can't remember the name of it) and the lobster spring rolls. Max had chicken strips and didn't touch his plate (until later in the hotel room). Rob had a bowl of really good clam chowder and the scallops w/risotto. Afterwards we headed to DTD in search of sour cherry balls in WoD... I couldn't find them anywhere!!! All of the stores seemed to be out, but had plenty of the assorted ones. I had seen them at the Autopia shop earlier and should've gotten them right away. I ended up getting some the next day, whew!

TUESDAY 1/31/06:

Today was early entry. We took the monorail in, and of course had to do BLAB first. Then Rob & Max went on the Astro Orbiters. We headed into Fantasyland and hit Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White, Teacups, and Storybook Land Canal Boats, Max didn't want to do more than that, so we walked over to the River Belle Terrace for breakfast. Max's Mickey Pancake was a little dry and crispy... I think it had been setting out a little too long! He ate it anyway though... no biggie.

We had lunch at Rancho del Zocalo... what a disappointment. I'm sad that they've changed the entire menu yet again. I really liked their shrimp plate! Max and I shared the cheese enchilada platter... I seriously could not saw through the bottom of two of the enchiladas with the serrated knife - they were so hard! The sauce was just OK, definitely not a restaurant I'll look forward to anymore, but the portions are still huge. The platter had FOUR enchiladas, beans, rice, and the lettuce/s cream/salsa/guac... would be a good deal if the food was better.

Tonight was a proud night for Max. He piloted the Mark Twain Riverboat!!! He truly thought he steered the boat the entire trip. He was very careful not to hit the shores of the Rivers of America and we all were very excited that he did such a great job of "driving" such a large vessel. He got to ring the bell, pull the horn (he needed our help for these tasks) and work the spotlight. He got a certificate at the end too. It was a really great experience for us all. I enjoyed seeing the captains quarters on the way up to the pilot house, very cool!

Tonight was our dinner at Yamabuki. I made an 8:30 PS, but they apparently had us down for 8:00... they seated us within 10 minutes, so it was fine. They were very crowded, I was surprised because last time we ate there the place was pretty empty. Max had the Chicken Teriyaki - he absolutely loves this dinner! I had the Yamabuki Zen (my absolute favorite!!!) but Max ate almost my entire piece of Salmon Teriyaki after eating all of his chicken! I got two bites... Rob had the Tonkatsu Zen, plus a side order of some tofu dish... can't remember what it was. We all had ice cream at the end. Max had vanilla, Rob had green tea, and I had Plum Wine - which was sooooooo good!!! I've never had it before, it was delicious, a little peachy tasting.

WEDNESDAY 2/1/06:
Breakfast today was at Storyteller's Cafe. Max and I had the buffet, Rob had Mickey Waffles. Max had a really nice interaction with Dale, it was really very cute! He didn't much care for the other characters though, oh well. Our waiter was great. He asked Max how old he was, Max told him, "four" and he told me that he was in a "gray area" for the buffet, and that since Max didn't eat much he wouldn't charge him for the buffet!!! Wow, that was super!

Max and I had lunch at the River Belle Terrace while Rob rode Indy again. Their clam chowder is very good, and Max enjoyed his second meal of mini corndogs.

We spent a while in DCA, I finally saw Seasons of the Vine (something I'd never done before... checked off my list!) We had no waits in Bug's Land for any rides. We did Ladybug Boogie twice, Max really likes that ride. He was trying to be a grump before we got on it, but couldn't stop himself from smiling and laughing once we got going.

Rob had a Corndog from the Corndog Castle, Max fell asleep, and I had a Salad and Onion Rings at Taste Pilot's Grill. We just sat around for a while letting Max nap, then carried him into Soarin' for our final ride of the night with our fastpasses. He slept through the short wait and I woke him up when we were in the loading queue. This is another of his favorite rides.

We walked out through the GCH passageway, sadly on our way home... we were very early for our flight, so had to hang out at the airport for quite a while.

Sidenote: The employee who handled our rental at Enterprise asked if we wanted to prepay for gas at $2.35/gallon, we thought that was a good deal, and said yes. Um... he didn't tell us that we were paying for an entire tank of gas!!! We used less than a quarter of a tank!!! I'm really quite pissed about that, I feel it was very misleading, and I don't understand how they could pocket money for gas we didn't use... they should've told us upfront that we could prepay for an entire tank of gas, or that we could prepay $30 or whatever amount. It was quite a shock when we turned the car in to say the least.

Oh yeah... the pictures: http://photos.yahoo.com/sfquake@sbcglobal.net
The album is named Disneyland Jan/Feb 2006.

Mermaid
02-04-2006, 11:54 AM
Sounds like a fun trip!! Good to know about Rancho Zocolo. Is Seasons of the Vine a movie or the wine tasting? My sis really wanted to do the wine taasting in Dce but we were with our underage sis so didn't do it.

Wendi
02-04-2006, 01:28 PM
Sounds like a fun trip!! Good to know about Rancho Zocolo. Is Seasons of the Vine a movie or the wine tasting? My sis really wanted to do the wine taasting in Dce but we were with our underage sis so didn't do it.


Seasons of the Vine is a live talk and movie. The wine tasting is separate, just outside of the show building. I wanted to do the tasting too, I've been meaning to do it the last two times, but my brother didn't want to and I didn't want him to have to wait for me, so I'll have to do it next time. The port and bleu cheese tasting sounded really good!

Mermaid
02-04-2006, 08:28 PM
oooohhh that does sound good. So is seasons of the vine interesting, or pretty boring? I like the Tortilla factory okay, but hated Golden Dreams.

Wendi
02-04-2006, 09:40 PM
oooohhh that does sound good. So is seasons of the vine interesting, or pretty boring? I like the Tortilla factory okay, but hated Golden Dreams.

Well, a little bit boring TBH, but at least it's short! hehehe

And you should do it if you've never done it before... so you can check it off!!! ;)