Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Disney Studio Store

Date of Visit: May 15, 2018

We've been here twice before, but the last time was probably something like 2010 and it was still the Disney Soda Fountain (or something like that). We knew it wasn't the same now that it became a Ghirardelli's and didn't plan to go, but it ended up being a convenient place for a snack when we had to kill time waiting for our hotel room to be ready.

Overall it's still a great place for ice cream, but it's sad there's no longer the giant Sorcerer sundae even though we wouldn't have gotten it this time. Also, the tables were difficult for Mik to really roll up close to, although I don't remember if that was or was not a problem in its old layout.

Destination Info:
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Disney Studio Store
6834 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Disneyland: Mickey's Halloween Party 2015

Date of Visit: October 25, 2015

After being disappointed by Halloween at Magic Kingdom last year, we decided to take advantage of currently having Premier Passes (and use the last of this year's DVC points) and do another Disneyland trip this year specifically to enjoy Halloween time at Disneyland. I was a little worried that the only reason we preferred the Disneyland Halloween party was because it was less crowded and had not been sold out like all parties were this year. However, it turned out to not feel as chaotic as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party last year even though it was more crowded than last Mickey's Halloween Party experience in 2011.

We got in line to enter Disneyland for the party around 2:30pm. The lines weren't very long and they started letting us in early, so we had our wristbands, treat bags, and were actually in line for Buzz Lightyear by 2:50 p.m. To kill time until the pre-party in Mickey's Toontown started at 5pm, we did the full circle tour on the Disneyland Railroad (really missing not having 'it's a small world' to kill time this trip) and Buzz Lightyear again.

At 5pm we went into Mickey's Toontown for the pre-party, which featured three treat trails and some photo ops. Mik enjoyed that two treat trails went through attractions we haven't done in years (Minnie's House, Mickey's House, and Donald's Boat).

The first trail we did was Minnie and Mickey's houses. The entrance for this one queues over the trolley tracks some, but we got in it before it got long enough for that to be an issue. Mik especially enjoyed being able to go through Mickey and Minnie's houses without having to do the character thing, which is why we never do them.

The Donald's Boat trail was the only one with a truly accessible queue as it didn't go over the trolley tracks. It does end where there's no cutout on the curb, but as long as there isn't people parking strollers where they're not supposed to like we experienced it's easy to follow the sidewalk to the cut out.

I'd say that I wish we skipped the trail over by Roger Rabbit's, but then it was the only one in Toontown with my favorite Werther's candy. The accessibility of the queue is absolutely horrible though because it has switchbacks around the trolley tracks where the tracks are crossing each other making it very difficult to avoid getting stuck in the tracks, which we did for a second at one point. I really don't get why they have it set up that way because not only are there a lot of wheelchair and scooter users at these events, but the treat trails are lines that strollers can actually go through so more than half the groups have some sort of wheeled vehicle.

After hitting each trail in Toontown, we decided to head over to Critter Country because Mik had been wanting to try the pulled pork dog and it seemed a good place to start the party at 6pm. We got there right as they were opening the treat stations there and hit one before getting dinner, which was perfect timing as we got our food before the Hungry Bear started to get quite busy.

Once fed, he was ready for hit the treat trails. We started in Critter Country and worked our way back towards Main Street hitting the trail in New Orleans Square and the one along the Rivers of America. The one along the Rivers of America was particularly enjoyable because the water is "spookily" light up and has fog.

Walking down Main Street after dark was fun as they had projections on the buildings and Halloween music playing.

On Main Street we got our Annual Passholder treat, which was a drawstring bag with a Disneyland 60 logo and a brownie pop.

Next we did the treat trail that goes behind the buildings on Main Street towards Tomorrowland. This was our favorite trail because the walls have a lot of attraction posters on them.

In Tomorrowland, we were going to start with the Space Mountain trail, but the line was all the way back up the ramp to the ride entrance. Thus, we decided to do the one near Autopia and check back later. The Autopia one is rather long with you hitting one station and then taking the long ramp up to the Monorail platform before hitting the other stations, but it was also one of the best in that the line moved steadily because of that long gap between the stations.

Next we headed to Fantasyland. The line for the one by the Matterhorn was very long and barely moving, so we skipped it and went to the one that goes through Pixie Hollow, which was another area that was fun to go through without the character aspect.

We then took a break to enjoy the seasonal projections on Sleeping Beauty's Castle and visit the Dwarfs Fountain.

Next we did the trail at the Fantasyland Theatre. At this point, Mik was getting tired and worried about getting out of the park before the parade. Thus, we decided to head out via Tomorrowland checking to see if the lines had gotten shorter at the ones we had skipped earlier.

The Matterhorn one was even longer than before, so we again skipped it. The Space Mountain one we would've done even if it was long because we knew it had the Werther's, but it was actually much shorter than it had been earlier.

On the way out of the park we stopped to take some pictures of the decorations on Main Street and hit one last trail in the square on Main Street.

Overall we really enjoyed Mickey's Halloween Party. Mik particularly enjoyed the experiences of the different treat trails, especially when they went through areas we don't typically go. While it was crowded, the trails definitely got shorter other than the Matterhorn one as it got closer to parade time. Also, even when the lines went past the Trail Entrance signs it always was easy to find the end, which is the main problem that made us hate the Magic Kingdom party last year.

Mik said it just seemed better laid out and organized. Plus, the giant Mickey Pumpkin on Main Street is just totally a necessity. Also, since I had visited Disneyland Paris last week the daytime decoration game seemed much weaker here and I really did need to see the nighttime lights on Main Street to be impressed with Halloween at Disneyland again.

We also really liked that it seemed much easier to collect the snack/healthy options this time including some stations being just apples and carrots. Of course, we still also got a lot of candy, but Mik is happy to have some snacks for the plane trip home tomorrow.

Destination Info:
Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney California Adventure: Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

 

Date of Visit: October 22, 2015



I don't think we've been on this ride in at least five years (or at least not since we started this blog in 2011). I always ask Mik if he wants to go on it since it seems the only things we ever do in California Adventure is Toy Story Mania and the Pop Cone in Cars Land. Toy Story Mania was down that morning and he was still not really interested in going on Monsters, Inc until I double checked that we in fact never had done a review.

When you get to the front of the line they direct you to the wheelchair loading/unloading area which is just to the left of the regular boarding area. We then had to wait a few minutes for the wheelchair accessible taxi to come around.

They have you roll in backwards and then turn to face forward and roll back against the row divider. A block is then put in front of the back wheels for safety. I think there is then a lap bar that comes down. I don't really remember, but it looks like there is one in the picture.

After the ride, Mik reconfirmed that the reason he doesn't like the ride has nothing to do with the accessibility. In fact, he said it's one of the best "wave" vehicles. He just doesn't really like the ride as it is not as good as the classic dark rides or the newer ones like The Little Mermaid. It also makes him really wish they'd renovate some classics to have wave vehicles.

Probably won't get him to go on it again anytime soon, but at least it was useful to kill some time when Toy Story Mania was down and he was trying to stay in the parks until places were open for lunch.

Destination Info:
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
Disney California Adventure
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: Paint the Night Parade

 Date of Visit: October 21, 2015

We kept putting off see the Paint the Night parade the last two trips because we knew we still had another trip. This being our last Disneyland trip until probably the next D23 Expo, I insisted that we make sure to watch the parade this time. I know Mik usually doesn't like parades, but I remember him really enjoying when the  Electrical Parade was at California Adventure. Thus, I wouldn't let him talk me into seeing it by myself.

We knew we'd be in the parks at night the day we're doing the Halloween Party, but we wanted to enjoy the Halloween stuff instead, so we picked one of the few nights there wasn't a party during our stay. It also meant getting to see the parade at 7pm, which is much more appealing than the 8:45pm or later times to us.

We headed over to Disneyland from our hotel (Paradise Pier this time) around 5pm thinking we could leisurely get some dinner and/or snacks before staking out a spot. That wasn't exactly the case as already much of the front row spots were claimed. Of course, I knew people had been staking out spots really early for this parade, which is why we skipped it the last two trips, but the park was much less crowded than those trips and I didn't think getting a spot on Main Street would be as much of a problem this time.

Mik's main reason he was resistant to even see the parade was having to get a spot hours early. Thus, I agreed that we would still get the Pumpkin Twist he wanted before finding a spot. After that was successfully acquired barely before they closed, we did manage to get a good front spot right next to the reserved area on the square facing The Mad Hatter.

There is also a wheelchair seating area on the corner right where the parade route ends, but the area was still being used as a character greeting area and didn't get set up until about 30 minutes before the parade. We have used that spot for parades before and it is a good view if you get in the front, but it ended up being even more crowded than where we were and it would've been harder to end up with a front row spot there than what we did.

Overall we both really enjoyed the parade. Despite being reluctant to see it, Mik really did love it at least visually. The only thing he didn't like was that the spot we picked ended up being right under a speaker, so the sound bothered him more than usual. He still agreed it was a great spot otherwise, especially considering our options were limited. He especially liked that it ended up seeming easier to get out of the park after the parade than normal, although that did require us to roll off the curb rather than backtracking to a ramp.

Destination Info:
Disneyland
Paint the Night Parade
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort/Convention Center: ADA King w/ Roll-In Shower

Date of Visit: August 10-17, 2015

The ADA King room with roll-in shower was mostly as we've come to expect a Hyatt Place room to be like. You have the king bed and then the fold out sofa bed in the sitting room like area. The one thing, though, is only has one television. Not really a big deal, but even a standard room at most Hyatt Places we've stayed at have the bed and the sofa area a little more separate and a TV in each area. Of course, the specialty room upgrade did sort of spoil us last time.

One major issue with the room was the bathroom. Sure, it has the accessible features one would expect, but it's very poorly laid out with the toilet behind the door. This means you have to roll the chair into the shower and then close the door to be able to put the chair next to the toilet and transfer. If I remember correctly, the specialty room we had last time actually had a pocket door for the bathroom, so really annoys us that this hotel does have some well designed accessible bathrooms and then also one of the worst we've ever encountered.

About the only part of the bathroom Mik actually liked was the sink area as it was very easy to roll up to and use.

  
The shower was to some extent one of the best we've encountered while also being one of the worst. The good thing was it was well designed in that the water stayed in the shower and drained well. It was bad in that it did not have anywhere to set the soap. Putting the shampoo and conditioner on the ground isn't a big deal, but a soap bar turns into a mushy mess at best or gets stuck to ground at worst. Also, it does not have a seat. Now that doesn't mean they don't have them, as when we stayed in the room with a tub they had left a tub seat. We didn't ask because Mik preferred to just be on the ground anyways.

The toilet and the door situation was what really made the bathroom an issue. That and the fact the toilet seats pop off very easily, but we had the same problem last time, although this time it happened way more often.

Overall the room was comfortable and the front desk staff are friendly and helpful. I definitely will not be choosing a roll-in shower at this particular Hyatt Place again, though, as the awkward layout got annoying. Also, next time I will be complaining if we get such poor cleaning service again (room wasn't cleaned when we returned after 4:30 p.m. and items weren't restocked multiple days even when they did get around to cleaning it).

Read our more detailed review of Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort/Convention Center here.

Destination Info:
Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort/Convention Center

2035 S. Harbor Blvd.

Anaheim, CA 92802

D23 Expo 2015: Disney Interactive Presentation

Date of Visit: August 16, 2015

The Disney Interactive presentation was the one Mik was most looking forward to because he knew they were going to talk about Star Wars: Battlefront. He was also interested in Kingdom Hearts 3 and Star Wars coming to Disney Infinity with the 3.0 Edition of the game. Plus, there was a giveaway at the end, which ended up being a Mickey figure and a D23 Expo exclusive King Mickey power disc for Disney Infinity 3.0.

Getting to the presentation ended up being a disaster. We kept asking to go to the Sorcerer queue and they sent us downstairs, which we hadn't had to do any of the other Hall 23 presentations. Downstairs they tried to convince us it was free for all and not only was there no Sorcerer line, but there never had been such a thing for the Hall 23 presentations. Thus, we headed back up the elevator to find someone who knew what was actually going on. Good thing we were very early, though, and even wasting 15 minutes with the runaround, we were second in line and got front row for the presentation that mattered most to Mik.

If only, that was the end of the disaster for this presentation. At the end of the presentation, they had the stars from the new Star Wars movie giveaway signed Disney Infinity figures of them. They came down the aisle where Mik was on the end to give them to some kids a few rows back and the cameraman followed them without paying attention to his cord and it got caught on Mik's chair (and was basically in his lap) and he got really freaked because it did start to tip back. Thankfully, that was the last presentation because he may have been hesitant to do another one after that experience.

Overall, though, he really loved the presentation and seeing the game concept art and footage on the big screens. However, it was kind of odd they only used the side screens and not the middle screen for a lot of the footage and it was a little hard for him to turn sideways enough to view those screens.

Kingdom Hearts 3

Big Hero 6 to be in Kingdom Hearts 3

Disney Interactive Mobile Games

Disney Magic Kingdoms Mobile Game

Playmation

Star Wars Battlepod Arcade Game

 

Star Wars Battlefront

PlayStation Announces Darth Vader PS4 Bundles 

Disney Infinity 3.0

Destination:
D23 Expo
Anaheim Convention Center
800 West Katella Ave
Anaheim, CA