Fall Trip to CA: DL Tours

Since our trip was a little on the lengthy side, I've broken it up into a series of posts; links to the additional posts can be found at the bottom of this one!

You may recall that we recently took three tours at WDW and loved them and we were really looking forward to the three tours we had scheduled for Disneyland.  Even though they were nowhere near as entertaining or enlightening, we still enjoyed ourselves!  I don't have a ton of photos from any of these tours because the unique spots on the tour did not allow photography.

Here's a brief recap of what each tour had to offer…

Disney California Story

We met at DCA and our first stop was at Carthay Circle – named for the theater where the first Disney animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered in 1937.  It is a beautiful restaurant and I wish I could have taken pictures!  We also got to see the 1901 Lounge (1901 is the year Walt was born), which is accessible only to Club 33 members, which we are not, so that was neat.

We also rode Soarin', Toy Story Midway Mania, and Radiator Springs Racers!  Each of these attractions – particularly Radiator Springs Racers – typically has a lengthy wait, so we were lucky to be able to get on all three in a very short period of time.  As usual, I proved no match for C in terms of points on TSMM, but check out my accuracy rate (let me have this…it is the only thing video-game-related where I can be the winner)!

We also went to the Animation Building and took part in an animation class to learn how to draw Mickey Mouse.  I think it is pretty clear that neither of us should quit our day job.  If I ever want to work for Disney, it will obviously not be as an animator, but the class was a lot of fun!  We will definitely be going back for other characters in the future!

Finally, we had lunch over at the Fiddler, Fifer, and Practical Café, which are the three names of the Three Little Pigs (and it is the Starbucks location for DCA).  Lunch was great and it was nice to chat with other people on the tour, who were visiting from all over the U.S. and Canada.

Welcome to Disneyland Resort

We checked in at Disneyland and immediately walked over to DCA.  This was the shortest and least expensive of the tours, and its purpose was to provide an overview of both parks.  We didn't really learn anything particularly new to us, but the two guides on this tour were awesome and it made for a fun morning.

At DCA, we rode The Little Mermaid:  Ariel's Undersea Adventure and walked throughout the park before heading back to DL.  We walked through the park and rode Pirates of the Caribbean – which, I must say, is SO superior to the WDW version – before getting three fast passes (Star Tours, Indiana Jones Adventure, and World of Color) and a preferred seating reservation for Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular.  I've already written about our disappointment in the revamped World of Color show, but the other three experiences were fantastic.

Overall, this was probably the best of the three tours in terms of what we received for what we paid.

Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps

The reason I picked the tour is because sometimes guests get to see the inside of Walt and Lillian's apartment above the Disneyland Fire Station.  The fact that we did not get to do this probably soured my opinion about this tour because I had high expectations and the tour failed to live up to them.  It was all right, but based on our experience, I would probably not recommend this tour to anyone, based on the cost and what we got out of it.

We met at DL, walked around the park, and rode Alice in Wonderland and Haunted Mansion (which I've already written about – so fabulous!).  We also had lunch at Jolly Holiday Bakery Café, which was delicious, and then after lunch, we did get to do something pretty cool:  we got to go into the Disneyland Dream Suite (similar to the Cinderella Castle Suite at WDW)!  It is located above Pirates of the Caribbean and it is beyond gorgeous.  Of course no photos were allowed, or I would have taken and posted a thousand of them!  We could have spent a week in there!

Despite a few wonderful experiences, I would say that overall, we were not particularly impressed with any of the DL tours we took.  Still fun, though...can't really complain when we get to spend time at Disneyland!

That's it for this post!  Check out my other posts about our adventures on this trip...
~ Northern California
~ Los Angeles
~ Disneyland Hotel
~ Disneyland
~ Disney California Adventure
~ Mickey's Halloween Party

Happy Tails to you!