Once upon a time, a trip to Disneyland for me would consist of a one-day adventure from park opening until park closing. As I've gotten older, I find myself amazed that my mom was able to get us up early, into the car for a two-hour trip to the Happiest Place on Earth, on rides for 17 hours and then back home after another two-hour car ride. I'm tired just thinking about it. So, when my sister and her husband wanted to include a day at Disneyland as part of their Memorial Day weekend visit to California, I thought perhaps getting a hotel room and making a mini-vacation out of it was the best course of action.

The original intent was to go to Disneyland for one day but with the recent opening of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, I figured that they would want to have the ability to park hop and enjoy this new attraction (they had visited Disney's California Adventure about this time last year). I also guessed that they'd want to do a nearly full day of activities. So I floated the suggestion of booking a room at the Grand Californian Hotel to my mom. She seemed excited about staying there.

This was a last-minute decision and I wasn't too sure about what we could get on such short notice. But I called the hotel reservation number and was able to get a room for Saturday, May 29. Even though the holiday weekend was only a few days away, it appeared that we could have our pick of the Disney hotels and all of the various views at the Grand Californian were also available. I decided on what was described as a Pool View/Theme Park View room, and with 5 adults staying overnight, had the option to request either two queen beds or a queen/bunk bed/trundle bed combo. Having stayed at the hotel before, I thought that the two queens would be alright with my mom being able to sleep on the room's couch.

Genaphur, David and my mom came down to our house Friday evening and we enjoyed a barbecue meal of hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken. Kathy had gotten a spinach salad, bread and dip, watermelon and other sides to go along with dinner. We hadn't seen Genaphur and David in about a year, so it was nice to catch up. They got to tour our new house and we enjoyed each other's company. Because we had to arrange for Kathy's parents to watch our dog, we decided to take two vehicles down to Anaheim to give us flexibility on when we had to leave the resort on Sunday. Originally, the two-car option was also going to let them go down to Disneyland in time for opening while we dropped Musubi off, but it was decided that they'd wait for us to return from Kathy's parents' house before caravanning to the resort together.

There wasn't too much traffic on Saturday morning, even with it being a holiday weekend. We decided to park in the Mickey and Friends structure until later that day when we were to check in to the hotel. Because Kathy and I each have parking included with our premium annual passes, we pulled over at the AM/PM market on Ball Road so that Kathy could join the others in their vehicle and utilize both of our passes.

The view from our Pool View/Theme Park View room at the Grand Californian Hotel.

Every time we go to Disneyland in the morning, Kathy likes to eat at La Brea Bakery. So after the tram ride from the structure to the front-gate area, we all made our way to the eatery for some breakfast. I got my usual eggs and bacon plate and Kathy got her usual croissant and side of bacon. My mom had a sticky bun, and Genaphur and David each got the bacon and eggs sandwich. Genaphur picked up an orange juice and another juice that she wasn't sure of. It turned out to be apple (she was guessing pineapple).

After we were done eating, we went through the new security checkpoint before making our way to the ticket booths. There wasn't too much of a wait to get tickets. As a birthday present for Genaphur, my mom bought two-day park-hopper passes for Genaphur, David and herself. DCA looked like it was starting to let guests in but we decided to head for Disneyland first. Despite the fact that they've moved the bag-check area away from the turnstiles, we still had to wait for about 5 minutes before getting into the park anyway.

Our first attraction was to be Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, so we made our way to Adventureland. There was a bit of a wait, so I suggested that we all get FastPasses and hit up some of the other attractions in the area. We made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean, which had a little bit of a line. I remember reading that the FastPass machine at Pirates isn't hooked up to the central system that we just tapped into to get our Indy passes, so I suggested we try to get some FastPasses here and move on. Sure enough, we were able to hold passes for both Indy and Pirates at the same time. We'd then head over to the Haunted Mansion, one of Genaphur's favorite attractions.

The line to get in to the Haunted Mansion moved pretty fast and we soon found ourselves in the foyer waiting to enter the chamber with no windows and no doors. The attraction seemed a little brighter than normal. Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed them as much had I not read about them elsewhere but there do seem to be quite a few EXIT signs throughout that do somewhat spoil the mood, especially the one that reflects in the glass above the dining room scene so that there's a big, green TIX3 floating above the ghosts. It was also odd to have an EXIT sign above the entry into the area with the hitchhiking ghosts and another on the same wall but on the left of the entry.

After deciding not to become the 1,000+ inhabitants of the mansion, we made our way to Critter Country and rode a honeycomb through the Hundred Acre Wood. It seems sad that this brand new attraction only had a two-minute wait. It is a cute little ride but one that wasn't even attracting a bigger crowd than the costumed characters at the meet-n-greet out in front of it, which is where Genaphur and David headed after our ride came to an end.

Hey, who's shooting whom? Genaphur on the snap attack.

It was time to head back to utilize our FastPasses, so we made our way to Pirates, where we rode down -- and up -- some waterfalls while Yo-Hoing our way through the Caribbean. We checked out Pieces of Eight and Le Bat En Rouge gift shops afterward. Kathy called her folks to check on the dog, who was having the time of her life with "Grandma" and "Grandpa."

Up next was Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Even with FastPass, we wound up waiting in about half of the queue. I love how the whole waiting area is decorated, so I didn't mind not whizzing through. It is still neat to see the reaction from guests when the bamboo pole is shaken and the roof starts to come down. Sure enough, somebody looked into the eyes of Mara after we were told not to and we had to escape from the temple and the angry idol. We made it back to the loading area safely, though some lady in the car in front of us missed her step exiting and went face first into the jeep. She collected herself and left but it looked like a pretty nasty stumble.

Genaphur decided that she wanted to check into the Hollywood Tower Hotel for a drop through the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, so we park hopped across the esplanade. I had a printout for free FastPasses from playing the Tower of Terror game on Disneyland.com so we went to redeem them at the Information booth near the Sun Icon. The good thing was that we were "awarded" instant FastPasses for the Tower of Terror, which meant that we could go right away to the attraction and not have to wait in the Standby line. I guess also good was that we were given FastPasses for later in the day to Grizzly River Run, which we hadn't planned on using because Genaphur got too wet the last time she rode. The bad thing was that we weren't able to get another FastPass for Tower until after 5:30 that evening (it was around noon then) and couldn't get another FastPass to another attraction until after our window to Tower closed at 2:55. It wasn't as great of a deal as Disney made it out to be.

Regardless, we got into the library of the Hollywood Tower Hotel pretty quickly. Because we went to the right where the FastPass line loaded, I thought that we'd stay on the lower level of the loading zone but instead we were redirected to the upstairs load area. We did get placed in the leftmost elevator, which was the only shaft that Kathy and I hadn't ridden yet. It is still a great ride and seemed a little different from our previous visit. The on-ride picture was so good of all of us that I bought one for Kathy and myself, and one for Genaphur and David.

Kathy was pretty hungry by this point so we made our way over to the Pacific Wharf area so that she could get a salad. While everyone was ordering something to eat, I ran over to California Screamin' to get FastPasses. I thought I was in the clear because I was calculating it from the time that our Grizzly River Run passes opened but I didn't realize that we weren't eligible for more passes until our Tower of Terror window had closed.

I made my way back to where the Wharf. David was saving a table, Kathy and my mom were buying food at the Pacific Wharf Cafe and Genaphur was getting food from Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill. I enjoyed my roast beef sandwich while Kathy had a shrimp salad, my mom had clam chowder, and David and Genaphur split some nachos. After eating, we were eligible to get new FastPasses, so we made our way back to California Screamin'.

It was time also to check in to the hotel, so we suggested that David and Genaphur hit up some attractions while Kathy, my mom and I made our way to the hotel to get our room. We were going to meet back up in front of the Sun Icon in an hour.

It wasn't too busy at the Front Desk of the Grand Californian Hotel so we didn't have to wait too long before getting our room. The cast member confirmed our information and then seemed surprised that we were trying to fit five adults into a room with only two queen beds. He asked if we requested that and I informed him that when we called for reservations, we were offered the choice of a room with two queen beds or the single queen with bunks. He agreed that we made the better choice between the two but asked if we would be more comfortable in a room with two queens and a pull-out sleeper. It may have meant a different view but we said that would be better. It was more along the line of what I thought we would be given. He disappeared into the back for a number of minutes before coming back and saying that nothing was available. He did order two sleeping bags for the person sleeping on the floor. There you go, mom!

Mirror, mirror on the wall ... Mom is staying at the Grand Californian Hotel for the first time.

We went to check out the room. It wasn't a bad location but when the reservationist said pool view/theme park view, she should have said pool view. If we went out onto our balcony and looked to the right, we could see the backside of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail but nothing else of the theme park. There also wasn't a couch, like I had expected, which is why we needed the sleeping bags. There wasn't that much room for the couch anyway. I guess that is something that only comes with rooms with a king-sized bed, which is what Kathy and I usually reserve when staying at GCH. My mom was excited about staying there anyway so that helped to make up for my disappointment. I really wanted it to be a "Wow!" situation for her and was a little let down at what we wound up with. So I was glad that she was excited.

After making our way back to the Sun Court, we met up with Genaphur and David. It was only going to be the two of them and myself riding California Screamin' since my mom doesn't do coasters and Kathy wasn't feeling that great. I had left our parking passes for the hotel in the room, so while the three of us went off, my mom and Kathy headed back up to get them. The ride was fun, like always. Watching the launch from the railing nearby, it doesn't seem that the coaster is going that fast but it sure feels fast when you are on it. I seem to suffer from vertigo lately and got a touch of it on the ride but not bad enough to affect me afterwards. I made a funny face at the camera and our picture came out well enough that Genaphur bought two postcards with the ride-capture image -- one for her and one for me. I'm sure Kathy will put it with the Tower of Terror picture in our scrapbook.

We met back up with Kathy and my mom after the ride and headed out to the Mickey and Friends parking structure to move our cars. Originally, I was planning on parking with valet while they pulled into the self-park lot but I wound up parking self-park myself. Since it was just a one-night stay, it wasn't too bad carting our stuff across the street. We got everything up to the room and rested for a little bit before heading back out.

It was late enough to eat dinner so we decided to go to White Water Snacks. We got there just in time since they close the place at 7 p.m. even though DCA doesn't close until 9 p.m. and Disneyland doesn't close until midnight. It is pretty disappointing that they don't keep it open later for guests of the hotel. Kathy and I decided to split a French Dip. I was going to zip over to Tower of Terror to get more FastPasses but since Genaphur wasn't eating a big meal, she said she'd go. Unfortunately, by the time she got over there, FastPasses for the day were gone and she had trouble getting back into White Water Snacks since they locked the front door. She and David decided that they'd go wait in line to ride Tower while the rest of us decided to go shopping.

Kathy wanted to hit up World of Disney, so we headed there after a quick stop at Acorn's Gifts. After finding some scrapbook stuff, she decided she wanted to check out some stores in DCA. We'd get some ice cream at Bur-r-r-bank Ice Cream and enjoyed it at the patio seating for Taste Pilots Grill, since much of the seating around the performance corridor was taken with people queuing up for Disney's Electrical Parade.

After we finished up our snack, we headed back to the room to get our jackets since the temperature began to drop. My mom wanted to see the fireworks - Believe, There's Magic in the Stars, which was actually being shown for the last time that weekend. We got through security and into line for Disneyland when we noticed the first wave of people exiting DCA after the Electrical Parade passed them by.

My mom's leg had started bothering her a bit, especially being on it all day when she's not used to it. We sat her down on a bench while grabbing a spot on Main Street in front of the cinema. She'd come join us just before the fireworks launched. We don't always make it to Disneyland in the evening and don't always stop to watch the fireworks when we are there so we enjoyed the show. My mom was glad to have seen them but felt she had overdone it for the day. Since there were so many people around because of the fireworks and Fantasmic!, we sat my mom down again while we looked around in the shops, waiting for the crowds to die down.

We finally were able to make it back to our hotel room. Kathy felt a little hungry since she didn't eat too much earlier so we headed off to Croc's Bits 'n' Bites at the Disneyland Hotel for a hamburger. It was a little late in the evening but this stand had always been open late for us in the past. Unfortunately, though there seemed to be activity in the kitchen and food warming in the racks, the person counting out the drawer at the window told us they were closed but said that we could order from the Lost Bar since they share the same kitchen and menu. There were quite a few people interested in eating at Croc's and they all wound up at the Lost Bar ordering food, which took quite a while to be made and delivered to the bar 25 feet away. We'd eventually make our way back down Downtown Disney to get soft drinks at Napolini. Kathy decided that next time we're at the hotel and want a late-night snack that we'll go there because the pizza they were serving by the slice looked really good. Too bad that the hotels can't seem to have any late-night snack places of their own open. After eating and getting ready for bed, everyone hit the sheets and got a good night's sleep for the next day.

Matthew and Kathy taking a picture of themselves from aboard the Mark Twain.

The next morning, I wasn't surprised that my mom woke up earlier than the rest of us but she did surprise us by sitting in a chair staring at us when we were sleeping. Creepy! Just kidding!

After getting ready for our day and packing, we decided we'd take our stuff to our car before starting our day in the parks. So we lugged our bags to the elevator, through the lobby and across the street to the GCH self parking. There wasn't much of a line at the front desk of the GCH when we walked past, so I decided that I'd check out and have the valet parking charge removed from our bill, since we wound up not using that service. Kathy came with me while mom, Genaphur and David walked over to the monorail to enter Disneyland that way. After closing our account, Kathy and I walked to the front entrance to meet up with everyone else at the River Belle Terrace for breakfast. On our way there, we noticed that there was no line for Jamba Juice so we decided to get some and use a gift card that we had.

We were surprised to see Genaphur and my mom waiting for us at the entrance to the River Belle Terrace since we assumed they'd order when they got there. I felt a little bad about stopping off at Jamba Juice but they assured us that they had just gotten there themselves. It was nice to eat breakfast at River Belle Terrace again and sit out on the patio watching all of the action around us. It used to be our tradition to eat every breakfast there until Kathy and I discovered that La Brea Bakery's food is much, much better. I enjoyed my usual Steamboat, which consists of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon.

After breakfast, we all hopped aboard the Mark Twain for a trip around the Rivers of America. Our visit a few weeks earlier was the first time that my mom sat on the bow of the ship and she was excited to have the opportunity to do so again. Genaphur and I snapped photos around the route with our respective cameras, even having a cast member take a group shot of the whole family. I'm not quite sure why a group of Frontierland cast members stood in the Indian Village and waved to us as though they were Audio Animatronic figures. Odd.

Some new characters added to the Indian Village on the banks of the Rivers of America?

We headed over to Fantasyland so that Genaphur and David could ride the Matterhorn, stopping off in front of the castle for a few pictures beforehand. Kathy doesn't ride coasters as much anymore and I had felt tossed around a bit from the day before, so we headed down Main Street to look around while they made their way through the mountain's icy caverns. We weren't gone long so we were surprised to find them waiting for us when we got back. It seems they were in the right place at the right time and skipped a portion of the line when they needed a group of two to ride.

It was getting pretty warm already so I grabbed a Coke before we headed toward Mickey's Toontown for a ride on Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. Kathy and I decided we'd ride if we didn't spin our cab and my mom took a seat under a mister while we all rode. The line formed outside the attraction but the Stand-by sign said it was only a five-minute wait. Sure enough, you haul all the way through the queue to get to the loading area. Fast Pass has really killed a fun part of Disney's rides. I'm not sure why we had to wait out in the hot sun too when there was so much available queue in the air-conditioned building.

After Roger and some shopping in the Five and Dime, we hopped aboard the Disneyland Railroad and took it to the New Orleans Station. Genaphur and David wanted to ride Indy again so we headed over to the Fast Pass distribution (ruins a fun part of the ride but we'd be crazy not to use it). I didn't feel like being tossed around again and neither did my mom or Kathy. Genaphur also wanted to do Tower of Terror again, so Kathy and I volunteered to get them Fast Passes for that while they did rides around Disneyland. We agreed to meet back up a couple of hours later, with my mom hanging out with Genaphur and David.

Kathy and I were planning on leaving the resort around 2 or 3 to pick up Musubi. Genaphur and David planned on leaving by 5. So when Fast Pass for TOT wasn't available until after 6, we weren't sure what to do. We got them anyway and figured that maybe they'd stay a little later to take advantage of them.

We decided to split an ice cream again from Bur-r-r-bank Ice Cream. I grabbed a table in the shade while Kathy went to order. As we were enjoying our cold and refreshing treat, a late middle-aged woman sat down at one of the chairs of our table. We didn't think too much of it until her grandkids showed up and we were suddenly "sharing" our table with them. We talked with her a bit, she was pretty nice, and we didn't mind sharing our table with them. But I think her daughter thought we took over their table by the time she arrived with food. She didn't say anything but gave us the evil eye a few times. Hey, sorry! We were there first.

Kathy loves tortillas from the Mission Tortilla factory, so we headed over to sample some. Maseca! Too bad it was corn tortillas today as we both prefer flour. But they were warm and fresh and still tasted pretty good. After sitting and people watching for a little while, we decided we'd head back to Disneyland to wait for the rest of the gang. Good thing we did because they were already at our meeting place a half hour early. I won't even tell you what a surprise my sister being early was.

Originally, I thought when we'd meet back up that we'd all be ready for lunch but nobody was really hungry. We gave Genaphur and David our Fast Passes for Tower of Terror and explained that the return time wasn't until late. They asked how long Stand By was and we told them about an hour. They decided that they'd go wait for that before returning to use their Indy Fast Passes. Kathy and I decided we'd head home. Mom decided to hitch a ride with us. But before we left, I convinced my mom to upgrade her two-day pass into an annual pass. She was able to apply her $99 to a deluxe pass. If she goes to Disneyland just two more times this year, she'll have gotten her money's worth.

We'd drop my mom off at our house before going back out to pick up Musubi. When we made it back, my mom said that Genaphur had called and said they were on their way home. Apparently, they rode Tower of Terror but decided not to stay for their Fast Pass return. I guess they didn't even make it back to Disneyland to ride Indy. We went out to enjoy dinner at California Pizza Kitchen before kicking up our feet and relaxing at our house later that evening. The next day, Genaphur and David headed back up to my mom's place to drop her off and stay the day before heading home themselves Tuesday.

It was a fun Memorial Day weekend and nice spending time with Genaphur, David and my mom. Mom said that we'll have to get together again as a family soon. The next time will probably be in October as Genaphur and David celebrate their 5-year anniversary by renewing their wedding vows in Las Vegas. But that's a whole 'nother trip report!

- Story and Photos Matthew Walker
Posted June 18, 2004

E-mail Matt at matt@startedbyamouse.com, discuss this article in the StartedByAMouse.com Disney Discussion Forums or use the Talkback feature below.

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