Disneyland - March 2008 - Post 1 ~ Bec's Travel

I wrote this trip report over a year ago, after my fiance and I went on our first over seas trip together, we spent 10 days visiting family in Connecticut, followed by 10 days at Disneyland. I'll post this in multiple blogs, as it's quite long, with many pictures!

Saturday 1st of March. – We’ve Arrived!!
After 11 freezing cold days in New York.

Full of head colds, conjunctivitis and partial blindness, we finally touch down in L.A. We grab our bags and head out to the big green sign to catch our Disneyland bus! It was one of those things that I always wanted to get a photo of, but of course, when I actually see it I’m too excited to get the camera out and I quickly scramble on the bus.

My boyfriend Chris decides that he wants to sit in the window seat, even though I’m clearly more excited then he is, but I let him, simply for the fact that I’m clearly more excited then him, and maybe letting him sit by the seat will get him a little excited too.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful, except at one stage while listening to the radio I hear someone calling from McKay Australia! I know, nothing really special, but I thought it was funny that I fly half way around the World, and hear an Australian calling the radio station that I happen to be listening to…

Finally we start seeing signs that I’ve seen pictures of! First we pull into the onsite hotels and I declare to Chris “We’re on Disney property!” he doesn’t seem too fussed, because he can’t see the park, but as previously stated – I’m excited!

We’re one of the last to get off the bus, but I don’t care, because we’re at the Parkvue Inn and right out the front of the entrance to Disneyland!

Quick description of the Parkvue Inn: We had 1 king sized bed, two bedside tables, a large side table with the TV on it, a fridge and microwave and the sink was in the bathroom. A great size for us, I didn’t feel cluttered the whole time we were there. The rooms were clean and well stocked

The front of Parkvue Inn, with Space Mountain in the distance.

The outside breakfast area - there's an indoor area too.

Space Mountain - zoomed.

The Matterhorn - zoomed.

Unzoomed view towards the park from the hotel.

They provide a welcome basket on arrival, which included 2 water bottles, some fruit and a bottle of wine. We were going to head out and find a grocery store that afternoon, but the bottles of water and fruit were great, so we decided that we’d head over to DTD instead.
The Parkvue Inn is literally across from the entrance to DLR. So it wasn’t long before the music was all around us. I started pointing and giggling about everything! Everything deserved a point and a giggle.
We headed into DTD and our first stop was at the UVA bar. We had a few drinks – gotta love that most soft drinks have free re-fills at Disneyland! So we sat at the UVA bar and soaked in the atmosphere. I must have taken so many photos of nothing, because everything looked so photogenic.

We then decided that we were hungry and we should find somewhere to eat. We had a quick look around before deciding on Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen. This would have been one of our favourite meals of the trip. I had the Roast Chicken Rosemary and the bubble gum soda. When my meal came out my first thought – and Chris’ – was “There’s no way that I’m going to finish all of that!” but hey, what do you know?!? I ate all of it! It was so yummy, and I was so hungry!

After dinner we strolled DTD. It was lovely! The buskers were great!

We also noticed what we believed to be art students or something similar. They would be in the middle of doing something and then just freeze. They would stay frozen for at least 10 minutes before moving again. There were probably at least 50 of them all doing different things. 1 group of three asked me to take their photo, now not knowing that these three were part of that group at the time I happily took their photo. Then of course, they didn’t move after I had taken it. So, I slung her camera around her wrist and ran away…

Now as mentioned at the very beginning. I had a cold, and also due to conjunctivitis, I wasn’t allowed to wear any contacts. So I was getting tired, and everything was slightly fuzzy. So we strolled back through the esplanade and headed back to our hotel. We flicked on the Disney channel – of course – and snuggled up into bed. Yay! Our first day at Disneyland would be here soon!
Next - First day in the parks!!! Yay!