Forever Young: A Disneyland Trip 50 Years in the Making COMPLETED 1/16/16 - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Okay, I just found your TR and I have to say WOW and WOW!!!! Your apartment is remarkable. As I am reading this TR I can feel your excitement. Looking forward to next update!!!!!
Glad you found it! Wow was my reaction every single day.
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Originally Posted by stardust190
Sounds like a lovely start to your trip. Your dinner looks delish. It's making me hungry.
I could go for dinner at Tortilla Jo's right now myself.
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Originally Posted by Disneybine
Your meal sounds lovely, Cam Hihi, looking at the Lego Beauty & the Beast display, my first thought was "Belle is looking a little chubby"
Well it sounds like your first day went smoothly! I'm noting the restaurants that you really enjoyed so that when I start planning for my trip, I'll know which are the good ones! We love Mexican food so your first choice was great! I love browsing the Disney hotel lobbies. The monorail pool slide is so neat!
Our first day may have been long but it was enjoyable all along the way.
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Originally Posted by mpwife153
What a great arrival day!
We thought so!
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Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great dinner!!
We couldn't have asked for a better first night dinner.
Tuesday, October 6 – My first glimpse of Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure
As we turned around from the Disneyland Hotel and headed back into DTD, we decided to visit a few of the shops we’d like the looks of on our initial pass-by. Our first store was the Lego Store where I quickly took a photo of Genie with Aladdin and Jasmine, and then we slowly and studiously walked through the entire store. No purchases were made as Luke didn’t want to worry with getting anything home, and he shops quite frequently online.
Next was Wonder Ground Gallery. We fell in love with three prints. We first saw each of these on canvas, and they were well out of our budget. But then we found all three in print form, and at $125 each they were much more affordable. We still didn’t purchase them as like the Lego kits, getting them home without damage probably wouldn’t have been easy. Now if I find them at WDW next May, I probably will buy them as we’ll have our own car to bring them safely back in.
First the canvases:
Chewie makes an appearance here, too.
We were also fascinated by this train made from paper and selling for the low, low price of $2,2000.
D Street had the coolest Star Wars toy displays situated on shelves well out of guests’ reach. Luke assured me that these were all original toys.
Of course, this one is not yet a classic, but I bet that BB8 will be eventually.
We also wandered into Vault 28, but nothing really jumped out at us as something we wanted. I also checked out the Sanuk shop as a shoe in a recent e-mail had appealed to me. Unfortunately, it was no available in the store. Shoes are something I like to see and try on before purchasing.
Before returning to the World of Disney, we walked all the way to the other end of Downtown Disney District.
We even went through an exceptionally short, like absolutely not wait, bag check, which by the way is for either DL or DCA. You decide which you are going to once your through security. There I was right in front of Disneyland after 50 years of wishing. I truly do not have words to describe how I felt at that moment. It’s kind of like time stopped, and I was a kid again, standing right in the middle of the plaza that separates the two parks. Of course, I didn’t miss the opportunity to take nighttime photos of the fall decorations, though I did have to blink a few tears away.
Don't let the similarity to DHS fool you. California Adventure, in my opinion, is superior.
Disneyland all dolled up for fall and Halloween.
This next one is a little blurry. I may have been having a bit of trouble remaining stationary due to an overflow of excitement. This was Disneyland after all.
We really are here!
Then DCA from a slightly different angle.
60th Anniversary Banners
Tower of Terror lit up at night
We had had good timing with our little adventure as when we came back through the exit into DTD, the line for bag check stretched almost to the World of Disney while we’d had no wait at all. We quickly figured out that issue, tonight was EMH until 1:00 AM. Finally, we returned to World of Disney to fork over some money. As soon as we entered, coming in to the men’s department. Luke mentioned that since 1955 was on a lot of shirts for the 60th anniversary celebration, he wanted to see if he could find one with just 55 on it because of his 55th birthday. We got so lucky, finding a long-sleeve thermal t-shirt with a large 55 on the chest. We returned to a ladies’ section where I’d seen a jacket and sweatshirt that I liked, but another lady, her friend, and a CM had blocked the space earlier. The lady was trying on different items to check for size, which I totally understood as I wanted to do that for myself as well, but didn’t have time to wait since dinner was coming up. I ended up with a medium size for the gray Sherpa lined jacket as I wanted room to wear another shirt or two under it, especially for cold weather walking. The cream crewneck sweatshirt with 1955 on front fit just find in a small. I also located the Boo lounge pants and a Minnie witch antenna topper that I had seen on the Disney Parks Blog. When we picked up the antenna topper, we noticed a sign announcing that two antenna toppers were on sale for $8. That sent us on a search for the Jack antenna topper we’d seen earlier. What a search it was because neither of us remembered where we’d seen it. In checking out coffee mugs, though we found the typical antenna topper display and there Jack was. Luke also discovered a Star Wars antenna topper set that had to be purchased as well.
Our purchases:
Check out actually went quickly even though it was quite busy at this time. The Cast Member at check out even gave us First Timer buttons as I hadn’t thought to get these yet. Don’t know how I missed that at check since I was not the least be overwhelmed with excitement at having finally arrived at DLR.
With purchases in hand, we walked back to the Grand Californian, stopping at the gift shop to get 2-liters for the fridge. Astonishingly, there were NO 2-liters, just 16 oz. bottles. I guess since this place survives on locals, they expect them to bring groceries with them. But what about us long-distance flight travelers???? We ending up buying a 16 oz. bottle of Coke Zero and then at checkout I saw a Grand Californian pin with Chip and Dale that we also purchased. Time now for our room as it had been a long day, starting at 3:45 AM CDT. It was now nearing 9:30 PDT/11:30 CDT.
I unpacked while catching glimpses of World of Color from our bedroom window. Luke set up all the electronics and got most stuff charging. By 10:00 PD we were ready for some sleep. I did have enough energy for a brief update here on PassPorter, and then lights were out and so were we.
Great first day! Your dinner looked so good. So happy to see the pics of DL Hotel lobby. We stayed there on our last trip and I remember being so fascinated by that picture of DL in the lobby with the lights that lit. I sure hope those macaroons are still there in 3 weeks. Amazing how it's one bag check for both parks isn't it?! Great first day purchases too.
This is so lovely, I am just feeling your excitement by reading your report! I know EXACTLY how you felt at this point.
California Adventure is so amazing, and definitely beats DHS every time - as Laurie said, even without Carsland!
You bought the same jacket as I did! I got it in pink, and it is so warm and snuggly - I am going to wear it to travel to Florida in just 15 days! It's funny, during our trip last year I bought it in California, where I didn't wear it as the weather was too warm. Then at the end of the week we flew to Florida, it was cooler there in the evenings and on our first evening I wore it to Trail's End for dinner. A couple of CMs in the nearby Trading Post saw the jacket and thought it was fake merchandise because it said Disneyland and not Walt Disney World!
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Silvercat
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Love the 60th Anniversary display at the Disneyland Hotel!
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is remarkable. As I am reading this TR I can feel your excitement.
Luke also discovered a Star Wars antenna topper set that had to be purchased as well. 
Amazing how it's one bag check for both parks isn't it?! Great first day purchases too. 
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