This trip was built around a few days at Disneyland, focused on Orange County with a little time up in the Hollywood area. Keeping the whole trip to about a week meant it wasn't going to be a cross-country drive this time... Pictures were taken with my Fujifilm Finepix HS50 camera, my iPad, my Google Pixel 6a phone, and Katie's and Cathy's iPhones. Pictures are linked from within the trip report below.
Friday, July 25 - Amsterdam, New York, to Denver, Colorado, to Santa Ana, California
An early morning flight means having some time on the same day when you get to the west coast, so we selected at 6:20 AM flight. Sounds like a great idea until the alarm goes off at 3.. Fortunately it was a smooth travel day. Security in Albany was really busy and pre-check was helpful even with a long line for that. We had plenty of time and boarded on time [Picture]. It wasn't a super bumpy early-morning ride across to Denver, but enough so that the seat belt sign never did go off. There was a good amount of cloud cover much of the way, meaning not too much to see out the window. In Denver, we had time to do a good amount of walking in the terminal and found some breakfast [2 Pictures]. Our second flight boarded right on time, had a short delay after boarding, took the usual lengthy taxi at Denver, for a takeoff up over the Rockies. There was more to see on this flight: a little snow still on the peaks in Colorado, a good view down to Grand Junction, lots of southern Utah with a great view of Cedar Breaks, Las Vegas at a pretty good distance, then approach into SNA over the eastern parts of the LA metro. When we parked at the gate we were asked to stay seated while the crew dealt with an "incident", which was apparently a passenger who was intoxicated or something like that. In the airport we quickly got our bags then had a little bit of confusion about picking up the car with some inconsistent signage and directions from Enterprise [Picture]. Still, we got the car pretty quickly and were on our way. We couldn't check into our rental in Santa Ana until closer to 4, so we went first for some lunch at a Raising Cane's near the airport [2 Pictures][People Picture], then to a nearby park to walk around a bit, then to a grocery store to get some food for the week. By around 3:45, we found our place, got moved in, and settled down to relax a bit after the long travel day. Before calling it an early night (but still very many hours since our alarms went off at 3:15 AM EDT/12:15 AM PDT back home), we got a little more to eat at an El Pollo Loco in Garden Grove.
Saturday, July 26 - Orange County, California, area
Our first full day started with a ride out to Huntington Beach for exercise and to check out the beach [4 Pictures][6 People Pictures]. It was a great morning for the visit. We came back to our place in Santa Ana to clean up for the rest of the day. Next up was a ride to Buena Park for lunch at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaurant at Knott's Berry Farm [2 Pictures]. Lunch was ok but not as good as I remember and way more expensive. Still, it was nice to stop back there and to make a visit to the Peanuts Headquarters gift shop. Our evening was reserved for baseball. We had some extra time before we needed to head over to Angel Stadium and took a "scenic" route to drive some freeways I hadn't been on before back to the house to relax until it was time to head to the game. We made the short drive up to Anaheim, parked, and were ready to go into the stadium shortly after the gates opened [14 Pictures]. We had over an hour to explore the park and get some food before the game [4 People Pictures]. It was my first visit in 25 years, and it still is looking great. In the game, the Mariners beat the Angels in a game featuring 4 home runs [6 Pictures]. We left right after the game as the postgame fireworks were starting [2 Pictures], so it was an easy time getting out of the parking lot and back in for the night. [27 Pictures from the Roads]
Sunday, July 27 - Los Angeles, California, area
Our first stop required an early start, since it was to see the tidal pools at Crystal Cove State Park. They're only exposed near low tide and that low tide occurred around 6 AM. We figured it was good enough to try to get there before 8, which we did. We were in time and had a chance to walk the beach and explore one of the tidal pool areas as the tide worked its way in. It was a great visit and we were glad we got there in time to see as much as we did [32 Pictures][20 People Pictures, 1 Movie]. Then it was back to the house to clean up a bit before making our way north for the rest of the day. We drove up to Griffith Park, parked in the lot by the Greek Theater, and made the 8/10 mile walk up from there to the Griffith Observatory. We enjoyed the views including the Hollywood Sign then checked out the exhibits inside and grabbed a little snack at the Cafe at the End of the Universe. Well worth the visit [10 Pictures][3 People Pictures]. We walked back down then drove to The Grove LA shopping center where we also got some food at the Farmers Market [5 Pictures]. My jambalaya was good. Given the timing and the big plans for the next day, the rest of our tour of that area was a driving tour only. We drove up through the heart of Hollywood [4 Pictures], passing by many of the big landmarks along Hollywood Boulevard (not a fast ride by any means). We left via Historic US 66 (Santa Monica Boulevard) through West Hollywood and into Beverly Hills. We stopped there also for some XC training [6 Pictures][3 People Pictures]. Our last stop was intended to be Santa Monica Pier, which we already decided would also just be a drive-by. We didn't anticipate the amount of traffic there would be in that area, so it took a little longer than we hoped to get through there, and we never really got much of a look at the pier. After that, it was time to start heading back. We stopped at a Target to grab some food to have back at the rental for dinner, then it was an easy ride back down. A little dinner in, a little laundry, and generally getting ready for the next couple of very busy Disney days. [26 Pictures from the Roads]
Monday, July 28 - Disneyland
A very full day at Disneyland! We arrived, parked, and took the tram [Picture] early enough to enter the park [Picture][People Picture] for 8:00 rope drop at the top of Main Street. We decided it was not worthwhile to try to run to Rise of the Resistance and instead went right to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad [Picture][4 People Pictures] then over to Galaxy's Edge [3 Pictures] to use a Lightning Lane for Smuggler's Run then some Photo Pass pictures in front by the Millennium Falcon [7 Pictures]. On our way back out of that area, we noticed that Tiana's (former Splash Mountain) was open even though the app wasn't reporting it as so. That gave us the chance to hit it with no line [Picture]. After some beignets [Picture] we visited the Haunted Mansion and also hit the Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise and walked through the Adventureland Treehouse [Picture]. Lunch was cheesy garlic pretzel bread and a turkey leg in Fantasyland [3 Pictures]. We took a full tour on the railroad before our lightning lane times on Autopia [3 Pictures][2 People Pictures]. Our afternoon included the new Walt Disney show (then some Photo Pass pictures near there [3 Pictures]), the Celebrate Happy Cavalcade [2 Pictures], the Matterhorn, a second ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear's Star Command [4 Pictures], the Enchanted Tiki Room, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride [Picture], a walk through Sleepy Beauty's Castle [Picture][People Picture], and a ride on Pinocchio. Our dinner came from Fantasyland as well at the Red Rose Taverne [Picture]. Our evening was dedicated to the night shows. First, we took a walk back over to Galaxy's Edge where we saw Rey [Picture] and also got some Photo Pass pictures taken there [6 Pictures]. We set up in a nice spot along the Rivers of America for the Fantasmic! show, rushed back over to Galaxy's Edge to see some of the fireworks there [5 Pictures] and then got a great spot for the excellent Star Wars show called Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga [2 Pictures]. And finally on the way out, we saw the Paint the Night parade [2 People Pictures]. A full day, from rope drop to 11:30 PM. Lesson: don't plan two days kind of like this in a row, since we didn't have a ton of time for sleep before doing it all again for California Adventure on Tuesday.
Tuesday, July 29 - Disney's California Adventure
Another long day for the first-ever day in this park for all of us. It was still a parking lot when I was last at Disneyland in 2000. We tried but didn't quite make it to the entrance [Picture] for rope drop and the dash to Cars Land [3 Pictures][3 People Pictures] for the Radiator Springs Racers. But being it was a priority and that it is not on the standard lightning lane availability, we broke down and paid our extra fee for single pass lightning lane access. If a ride can be worth that, it was! [5 Pictures][3 People Pictures] Moving along, lightning lane had us criss-crossing the park.. We got to Soarin' and had some breakfast snacks at the Smokejumpers Grill next door. The Golden Zephyr [6 Pictures] was one of the morning rides. We rode the Spiderman WEB SLINGERS [Picture][People Picture] and saw the brief Spiderman outdoor show. We got tacos for lunch [Picture], then took the Boudin bakery tour, watched Mickey's PhilharMagic [Picture], and attended a Turtle Talk with Crush session, and rode Toy Story Midway Mania! [Picture]. After some ice cream [3 Pictures] and the Better Together parade [2 Pictures], we walked [Picture] to and rode the Little Mermaid, and later came back over to Monsters, Inc. Along the way, we spent a little more time in Cars Land, including some Photo Pass pictures [5 Pictures] and the odd "character greeting" with Lightning McQueen at the Cozy Cone [Picture]. We had a 7:00 dinner reservation, giving time to go over to Goofy's Sky School. Dinner was from Wine Country Trattoria and was very good. After dinner, we checked out Radiator Springs with its neon all lit up [2 Pictures], then grabbed a spot for the World of Color Happiness! nighttime show.
Wednesday, July 30 - Orange County, California
This was our scheduled "off day" that ended up being more off than planned due to a medical issue that we needed to deal with. In the middle of that we got our obligatory In-N-Out Burgers. The day took us to one provider in Santa Ana then another in Laguna Hills [3 Pictures]. All turned out well. After a little rest back at the rental in Santa Ana we drove to Huntington Beach for a chilly and breezy but very nice sunset [18 Pictures][7 People Pictures], and got some Teriyaki Madness takeout on the way back. [4 Pictures from the Roads]
Thursday, July 31 - Disneyland
Our final day in the area and our final day at Disneyland. We decided it wasn't necessary to get there for rope drop, and made our way into the park before 9:30. We got off to a pretty slow start on what we could see and do. We started on the underwhelming Submarine Voyage. Next, Rise of the Resistance, noticing a 45-minute wait. After about a half hour came an announcement that the ride would be shut down, likely for an hour or more, so we left. We got a snack back over in Fantasyland and waited for our midday lightning lanes to come up. After the snack, we took the Railroad one station over to Tomorrowland for our lightning lane reservations on Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain [2 Pictures]. We had to leave the park for the early afternoon and attempted to do so by the Monorail, but right after we boarded came the announcement that service was suspended and that there was no estimate on for how long [Picture]. So, back down and we walked out to the tram to parking, and made our way up to Fullerton for the appointment. While out, we also grabbed a snack at Raising Cane's then moved as quickly as we could to get back in before the expiration of our Matterhorn lightning lane window. From the parking garage, we walked to the Downtown Disney Monorail station and took that right back to Tomorrowland, near the Matterhorn. We made it with about 3 minutes to spare [Picture]. We waited in a too-long line for Peter Pan, then went back for another attempt at Rise of the Resistance. The line was about 45 minutes again, and this time we made it on. Good show! We got the last ride on the Mark Twain on the Rivers of America before going back to Tomorrowland for a Pizza Planet meal and a lightning lane on Autopia. By then it was time for our lightning lane for an after-dark ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad [Picture][People Picture] (3rd of the trip, but first at night) and a second time on Pirates of the Caribbean. The next goal was the main fireworks show so we grabbed some ice cream and set up on Main Street for that. The only nighttime show we hadn't seen yet then was the Disneyland retrospective projected onto It's A Small World, so we did that. That ended in time for our last lightning lane, giving our second ride for the trip on Indiana Jones. Great as always, expect the fairly lengthy stop near the end of the ride where our car was stopped right on one of the devices that tosses the car around. It was start and stop from there on to the end of the ride. That's it - we made our way out after 11.
Friday, August 1 - Santa Ana, California, to Amsterdam, New York, via Denver, Colorado, and Albany, New York
Our flight wasn't until late morning so we didn't need to rush too much as we packed up [6 Pictures]. We got on our way before 9, filled up the rental car, returned it, and got quickly through check in and security. The first flight to Denver was mostly on time. Views out the window were very nice - first takeoff out over the Pacific in southern Orange County and back, over the Inland Empire and Palm Springs, along I-40 over western Arizona, great views of the Grand Canyon, then southern Utah, before the clouds came in and we had not much to look at. Our delay came from a route that took us out over the high plains to avoid some thunderstorms, then a loop to come into Denver from the north [2 Pictures]. When we arrived, we learned our 3-hour layover was going to be longer as our second flight was already significantly delayed. The delay grew and grew and eventually it was over 3 hours, meaning we took off around the time we were supposed to land. The ascent and first part of the ride over the Front Range and high plains was bumpy as we had to pass through some storms. Once into eastern Nebraska it was smooth and clear. Good views as we went right over Chicago and Detroit. We finally arrived after 2:30 AM in Albany. I don't remember ever having such a late arrival that people were starting to arrive and line up to check into early morning flights. We got home by about 3:30.
Copyright notice: All images copyright © James D. Teresco unless otherwise specified. Unauthorized use prohibited.