A special birthday, a diamond anniversary and a west coast adventure UPDATED 9/7 - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I totally feel your frustration with DL planning. I had really hoped we'd get to do Luigi's Tires as I remembered how much you two liked it the last time you visited. But that's not going to happen now.
Pre-trip report – part three: our plans for our Alaskan cruise
Let’s start with that. Eventually, we opted for Alaska’s Whales and Glaciers Photo Safari. There were lots of different excursions to pick from that included whale watching and we went for this one a) on the grounds that if it’s a photo safari, we’ll probably (hopefully!) have more of a chance to get some great photos of these magnificent animals and b) it’s only recommended for those aged 10 and upwards, and it’s only available to those aged five and above.
So what’s it all about? Well, you head out on a bus to the trailhead at the Mendenhall glacier, and on board, you receive tips and techniques to help improve your photography skills on the way. Then you’re led by a photography guide, who stays with you throughout the rest of your tour, on a walk through the Trail of Time at the glacier, given you the opportunity to test out those photography tips. It’s a 75 minute walk over three quarters of a mile, and I am a bit concerned about the standing around, as let’s face it, it won’t take 75 minutes to cover that distance but hopefully I’ll be Ok. I managed a two hour photo safari at Leeds Castle, and so long as I don’t overdo it beforehand (which I don’t intend to) or afterwards, then hopefully my chronic fatigue will be Ok…
After the walk, you re-board the shuttle and take a drive to Auke Bay to board the boat for whale watching. The description of the shore excursion says that these are the only vessels in Juneau to have “large-opening, panel windows, a covered cabin protecting you from the wind and rain, perimeter seating, and open decks, giving you an eye-to-eye view”. We’ll be out on the water for about two and a quarter hours and they manoeuvre around to try and get the best angle for photos, which works for us!
As part of the tour, you get a complimentary DVD with expert photography tutorial and slideshow, and if the worst comes to the worst, and we don’t see any whales, we’ll at least get $100 cash refund. Let’s hope we don’t need that. I was also impressed that rain ponchos, umbrellas, camera towels, monopod walking sticks and binoculars on board the boat are all provided, along with bottled water and a snack pack, including chocolate, assorted nuts, fruit leather (what the heck is that? ) and a granola bar is another nice addition.
There were three times available, and I went for the latest, which runs from 10:30am – 4:00pm, as then we don’t have to have that early a start to what is Mark’s birthday. Having said that, if we’re up, and we want to, and it’s a good day (it rained the last time we were in Juneau ), then we may do the Mount Roberts Tramway beforehand.
Next: what can we expect on board the Wonder
I am just catching up here now.
Your whale tour company is the same one we used. You do have the option of going up top as well, but it is windy!!!!
We had a blast. Now they told us they only see Orcas about 10% of the time and humpback whales basically 100% of the time. We lucked out and saw both!
It was an amazing tour. We also saw the humpbacks bubblenet feeding and from what we were told they had thought they were done doing that for the season so that was a treat too. Our guide who did all the talking was amazing (Sammy) and she was really into it and even she, who does this daily was super excited about everything we saw that day.
You will have a great time for sure.
Yes, I thought you might, having been reading your pre-trip report... I have to say, while I had a few challenges with dining reservations, it was nowhere near as bad as the problems you're currently having.
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I had really hoped we'd get to do Luigi's Tires as I remembered how much you two liked it the last time you visited. But that's not going to happen now.
It's such a shame. I did read something about what will replace it, but I could've sworn it was for Star Wars Land, which doesn't now seem right, given the D23 announcement, as it looks like that's coming to the Disneyland Park, rather than the California Adventure, so goodness knows why they closed it.
I am just catching up here now.
Your whale tour company is the same one we used. You do have the option of going up top as well, but it is windy!!!!
We had a blast. Now they told us they only see Orcas about 10% of the time and humpback whales basically 100% of the time. We lucked out and saw both!
It was an amazing tour. We also saw the humpbacks bubblenet feeding and from what we were told they had thought they were done doing that for the season so that was a treat too. Our guide who did all the talking was amazing (Sammy) and she was really into it and even she, who does this daily was super excited about everything we saw that day.
You will have a great time for sure.
Oh good grief, Mark would be so seriously jealous if he saw those photos, it wouldn't be true. Let's just say I won't be showing him, that's how envious he would be....
Pre-trip report – part eight: our Disneyland dining plans
Finally, at the very tail end of July, my regular prayers to the Disney God of planning were answered. After about a week of giving me tantalising glimpses of September’s park hours, generally consisting of going up to Saturday 5 September, with the rest of the days showing as links you could click on, but with park hours unavailable when you clicked on it, finally the hours started to show up.
It was honestly the weirdest thing, as first of all, the hours were up for the first two days we’re there, Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 September, but nothing for the final two days. An hour or so later, Disney magic brought me park hours for Disneyland for those final two days, but nothing for Disney’s California Adventure. Then, those appeared, but some of the Disneyland park hours disappeared. It was absolutely bizarre!
So what did those hours give me? Well, it certainly seemed as if Touring Plans were spot on with the first couple of days at least, as neither park opens before 10:00am, and Disney’s California Adventure is closed by 8:00pm, with the Disneyland Park following suit just an hour later. However, I’m not so sure it will be quite that quiet for the Thursday and the Friday. I’ll start with the Friday for reasons that will become apparent in a moment…
By then, both parks are opening at 8:00am, and Extra Magic Hour for Disney’s California Adventure sees that park open at 7:00am. Ok, I don’t think Disney are going to open that early for no-one… Although we won’t be around to see it, as we’ll sadly be on a plane by then, Disney’s California Adventure closes at 10:00pm, while the Disneyland Park is open until midnight.
Let’s go back to Thursday, 9 September. Disney’s California Adventure opens at 9:00am, closing at 8:00pm, but how about this for opening hours at the Disneyland Park? 9:00am to 5:00am. And yes, you did read that right! I can only guess that some organisation has the park totally booked out for the evening, as that’s the only reason I can see for it closing that early.
Of course, that means no Paint the Night Parade or Disneyland Forever fireworks, so we’ll need to ensure we see those on one of our other two nights there. Thankfully, that was my plan anyway, which is a relief. On one of those two nights, hopefully we might get to eat at Club 33.
For those who don’t know, Club 33 is essentially a private club, which visitors to Disneyland may have seen the entrance to. It’s located next to the Blue Bayou Restaurant – just look out for the number 33. You do get a sneak peek at it on the Walk in Walt’s Footsteps tour I believe (I’m going by other reports, we haven’t personally done it), but that’s about the only chance you’ve got of getting inside, as it’s not open to the public. It’s for members only.
So how have we got a shot of getting in here? Well, the last time we were in Disneyland, Mari mentioned to me about having friends who were members at Club 33. I happened to mention it in passing to her in an email, because heck, the worst thing that could happen is that it didn’t pan out and we couldn’t get in there. After some to-ing and fro-ing, it transpired the only possible nights we could try for were, surprise, surprise, the first two nights, which fits in with the Disneyland Park being closed on our third and final night at 5:00pm.
Now you can only make reservations 30 days beforehand, but that was 8 August, and it turned out that Mari and Raleigh’s member friends would be away on a cruise from then… until almost the end of August. Understandably, they didn’t want to pay for Internet while they were on board, so they said it would have to wait until they were back in the States to see if they could snag a table or not. Ok, that means a long wait. I told Mari we’d go for it, and that we’d make plans for both nights, in the hope that we got into Club 33 on one of those two nights.
I figured I’d go for exactly the same plans for the first two nights, and if we couldn’t get into Club 33, then maybe I’d just have to play around with things nearer the time. Now that I finally had the times for the Paint the Night Parade and the Disneyland Forever fireworks, I could work our plans out. The parade on both nights will be at 8:00pm, and the fireworks, which last about quarter of an hour follow on at 8:35pm.
That left me some serious decisions to make. Do I go for dinner beforehand or afterwards? We’re not that keen on eating late, but equally, I didn’t want to rush our meal, and I was a bit wary after our last experience at Disney. Those of you who read the trip report from our spring 2015 Walt Disney World trip may remember that we booked a number of evening meals a good amount of time before IllumiNations, with the plan being we’d eat, then head into Epcot for that at 9:00pm. Despite making bookings as early as 6:30pm, the plans didn’t pan out, and we ended up missing it about three nights on the run. I didn’t want the same thing to happen at Disneyland especially as I had no idea whether the parade will carry on after the 60th anniversary celebrations end. This could therefore be our only chance to see it.
In the end, I opted for dinner afterwards, and made a booking for Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel, where we’d had a stellar meal with Mari and Raleigh on our last Disneyland trip, at 9:15pm. I figured that would give us 25 minutes to get over there from the park, which should hopefully be enough. We may even start to move out a couple of minutes before they finish, or perhaps find a viewing spot towards the exit of the park maybe.
So that’s the plan for our first two nights, and hopefully Club 33 will come through for one of those two nights. Think good thoughts for us on that subject please, as it’s something I’d really love to do.
So that leaves the Thursday night, the final of our three nights in Disneyland. Well, this was a no-brainer, given that the Disneyland Park will be closed in the evening. I guess we’ll be spending the evening in Disney’s California Adventure then, seeing World of Color. Given how much we’d enjoyed our dinner at the Carthay Circle on our last Disneyland trip, I figured we’d go back there again.I ended up booking dinner for us and Sharon and Karen, and I only had two choices, 5:10pm or 6:40pm. Given that World of Color was at 8:15pm that night, I figured the later time was cutting it far too close, so I went for the earlier time. It turns out Karen may be heading home that day but Sharon’s confirmed she’ll definitely join us!
Apart from that, I decided that I’d better book somewhere for us to eat when we arrived in Los Angeles on the Tuesday. Our flight lands at John Wayne Airport at 2:00pm, so hopefully given that it’s only a short drive from Disneyland, we’ll be there in time to get dinner at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, as the last lunch booking you can get there is 3:30pm. I much prefer the look (and cost!) of the lunch menu versus the dinner one, so I don’t want to miss out. I went for this, after seeing that 100% of readers of the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland had given this place the thumbs-up, which sounded like a pretty big rave review to me.
The next day, I wanted a lunch booked so that we had a break during the day. I normally go for an early lunch, before midday, so that we can get a couple of hours’ touring in, and not need a huge breakfast first thing in the morning. I was going to go with the Blue Bayou, which is located inside Pirates of the Caribbean, but to be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to do it, as we just didn’t have the greatest meal there last time, the menu didn’t inspire me, and the prices seemed pretty appalling (even for Disney) for what they were offering. Ok, so where else then?
I had a look at the Disneyland website, and the Unofficial Guide, and eventually plumped for Café Orleans in the Disneyland Park, which we’ve never eaten in before. The menu looks fine, and the prices are a lot more reasonable than the Blue Bayou, and it seems to get reasonably good reviews, so why not give it a shot? I’ve booked it for 11:40am, so we’ll have a couple of hours to explore the California Adventure, which has Extra Magic Hours starting at 9:00am – yep, I know, how late, right?
On the Thursday, as we’ve got an early World of Color dining package booked, I figured maybe a big breakfast would be a good plan, and I knew exactly the place I wanted to go. We’ve tried a few breakfasts at Disneyland – Goofy’s Kitchen (Disneyland Hotel), Storytellers’ Café (Grand Californian Hotel), the PCH Grill (Paradise Pier Hotel) and the Plaza Inn (Disneyland), all of which are character meals, and while we certainly saw lots of characters (an insane amount actually at some of them ) the food was nothing spectacular at any of them. However, the breakfast menu at Steakhouse 55 really wowed me – especially the mention of French toast. Ok, I’m sold!
On the Friday, we’ve got no dining bookings, as I’m hoping that we’ll be able to get into the Carthay Circle lounge. We had a lovely lunch there last time, and really liked the selection of tapas items, and I’d like to give it another go, but we’ll have to see whether it’s meant to be or not…
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Such suspense waiting for the hours, and imagine how crushing it would be if you'd had a trip booked for months and the only nights you were there to watch the fireworks were the nights that are blocked out for private parties!
Oooooh, I hope you can get into Club 33!!! What an experience that could be! I've yet to try Blue Bayou because I can't get past the price tag!
And I have tried Ralph Brennan's for Sunday brunch and would do it again. I had the Bananas foster french toast... so good! My friend had the jambalaya and said it was delicious. We only made the mistake of eating outside. Weather was beautiful, yes, but we couldn't hear the music playing indoors. So that was a bummer to eat at the Jazz Kitchen but not hear any jazz music. Duh. But I think that's a Sunday-only thing anyway.
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Sounds like you are getting a handle on all of the ins and outs of planning for a DL trip. As we haven't gotten any further than booking our hotel and flights, I'm thinking I'd better get going on learning how to do it myself, considering that there seems to be quite a steep learning curve involved.
Am looking forward to your list of must-do's!
While I certainly hope you get to eat at Club 33, I must say that I will also be the tiniest bit !
I'm imagining you with a big magnetic board, moving around all the puzzle pieces, trying to get a plan in place for DL!
Such suspense waiting for the hours, and imagine how crushing it would be if you'd had a trip booked for months and the only nights you were there to watch the fireworks were the nights that are blocked out for private parties!
That would have just been soul destroyed, wouldn't it?
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I had really hoped we'd get to do Luigi's Tires as I remembered how much you two liked it the last time you visited. But that's not going to happen now. 
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but hopefully I’ll be Ok. I managed a two hour photo safari at Leeds Castle, and so long as I don’t overdo it beforehand (which I don’t intend to) or afterwards, then hopefully my chronic fatigue will be Ok… 
) and a granola bar is another nice addition. 
Having said that, if we’re up, and we want to, and it’s a good day (it rained the last time we were in Juneau 
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I have to say, while I had a few challenges with dining reservations, it was nowhere near as bad as the problems you're currently having. 
Let's just say I won't be showing him, that's how envious he would be....
I can only guess that some organisation has the park totally booked out for the evening, as that’s the only reason I can see for it closing that early. 
Think good thoughts for us on that subject please, as it’s something I’d really love to do. 
Dreams, Wishes, Hopes... these are the parts of childhood we should never lose.
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