Disney World to Disneyland: Our First Christmas Back--COMPLETE 1/13/09 About This Page:

[Two4Disney]

Destination: Disneyland Resort

Dates: December 27-30, 2008

Adventurers: Rich & Kathy, aka Two4disney, veteran Disneyland and WDW travelers and Trip Reporters, last seen in September in the Bountiful Birthday Baseball Beach Bash.

Resort: Disneyland Hotel

Celebration: Holiday Magic at Christmas

As a recap – Kathy grew up about 8 miles from Disneyland and after Rich and Kathy went to WDW for the first time together in 1999, we decided to move to Florida. Our dream came true in 2003. But right before moving back west we lived behind the back entrance to Walt Disney World, close enough to hear the train whistles on Main Street, the boat whistles on Bay Lake, and the fireworks every night.

We made our first trip back to Disneyland this past May after living near WDW. We bought Annual Passes for both of us and we stayed at Paradise Pier. In September, we made a return trip and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. We were progressing to the Grand Californian and had reservations to stay there in early December. However, Kathy began consulting at Rich’s company and due to scheduling conflicts; we had to cancel that trip.

At first, as was discussed in the trip planning section on Passporter, we were going to stay offsite near the beach and pop into Disneyland a couple of times. But knowing this would be a busy time of year and realizing we’d rather spend the bulk of our time soaking up the holiday atmosphere and go to the beach for a day outing, rather than the other way around, we checked availability for the Disneyland Resort hotels. It was rather last minute so we were delighted to discover there was availability at the Disneyland Hotel - and we even got an AP rate. We enjoyed our stay there before and we’ll just have to put off our stay at the Grand Californian until next year.

Because we’re expecting huge crowds, our focus is on seeing the decorations and riding three specific rides (2 themed for the holiday): Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, and Toy Story. We’ll check out the decorations for Minnie & Mickey in Toontown and the Blue Sky Cellar in DCA (previewing the upcoming changes to DCA.)

This Christmas season we're really missing the wonders of Walt Disney World. We had become accustomed to enjoying Christmas at WDW every year so we’re thrilled to be able to soak up some of this special Disney atmosphere at Disneyland and we can’t wait. This will be our first Christmas at Disneyland since moving back from Disney World. And we love taking a trip to Disneyland during the week after Christmas Day and before New Year's as we used to do when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is our first year driving in from Las Vegas and we’re just hoping the weather will be clear between here and there this time of year, and we’ll be keeping a watch on the weather reports.

We made two PS's: one at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen and the other at Tortilla Joe’s. We also have plans to meet an ex-coworker of Kathy’s from San Francisco who also grew up in Orange County.

Happy Holidays!

Rich & Kathy

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Can't wait to hear all about Christmas week at DLR!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Rich and Kathy!! Have a great time!!

[TNTWheels]

This is cool get to hear others going over there and hear about what going on before I get the for the Christmas stuff. I'm excited that my cousin decided to go to DL from San Fransico and ask me to join her and her family it will be fun. I'll have my photopass so we all can get a picture together yepe

[chezp]

Great plans - I can't wait to hear about Disneyland at Christmas.

[DawnDenise]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip! Great start!

[mcc0313]

Can't wait to hear more...

[Two4Disney]

Thanks everyone!

So sitting here in Las Vegas with snow (you know - the "it only snows here once every 10 years" snow) coming down yesterday, we got to talking about our PS for Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen and how it's located in this lovely courtyard. And then we decided, hey, do we really want to be dining outside - suppose it's cold? So..... we decided to change our PS to "Napa Rose." Woo hoo!

We had been waiting to eat at Napa Rose during a stay at the GC, but since we may put off our GC stay until next Christmas because we may be going back to WDW in May, we decided to go ahead and splurge on this trip!

Here's hoping we can get over the mountain passes.

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats on Napa Rose!!

[chezp]

You'll love the Napa Rose.

[mcc0313]

Sounds like a great change...hope that traveling is not too bad for you.

[Two4Disney]

Any recommendations for Napa Rose? Do they change their menu seasonally?

Thanks so much!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Two4Disney

Any recommendations for Napa Rose? Do they change their menu seasonally?

Thanks so much!

The menu does change seasonally. When we were there in October, I had the grilled black grouper with parsnip puree and lobster butter, but asked them to leave out the cabernet braised beef cheeks. Mark had the sautéed veal loin with chanterelles, tiny green beans and Yukon gold potatoes. Mine was beautiful and Mark made similar comments about his.

[TNTWheels]

You know people don't think the desert would get cold. They just think of a dry plane land. People here that visit San Diego can't believe this was a desert and swamp land. So most people would go WOW snow in Las Vegas. Well they got to remember we that lives northern part of the earth is not getting a much sun as we did in the summer. So I'm not surprise. I hope you be ok getting over those mountains and don't drive at night if you can. Now Napa Rose dose sound good. When my cousin's kids go off to bed I'm going to see if I can dine there on the 26.

[Two4Disney]

Originally Posted by chezp

The menu does change seasonally. When we were there in October, I had the grilled black grouper with parsnip puree and lobster butter, but asked them to leave out the cabernet braised beef cheeks. Mark had the sautéed veal loin with chanterelles, tiny green beans and Yukon gold potatoes. Mine was beautiful and Mark made similar comments about his.

Wow - you were so fortunate to get Grouper - something we haven't seen since we left Florida. I know that's seasonal so we may not see that on the menu but I'm sure it's all good.

Thanks!