Disneyland – 9/29/2015 to 10/2/2015 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

September 29 to October 2, 2015

Lexie and I left around 1:00 PM to head to Disneyland, about a 350 mile trip. Michael wanted to stay home to work and take care of Lexie’s new puppy. We decided to take Highway 101 down to Paso Robles and then take the road over to Interstate 5. When we got to Paso Robles, we stopped at the Denny’s Restaurant for a late lunch.

Lexi's lunch at the Denny's in Paso Robles. — Lexi’s lunch at the Denny’s in Paso Robles.

My lunch at the Denny's in Paso Robles, California. — My lunch at the Denny’s in Paso Robles, California.

The drive was pretty uneventful, except for lots of traffic when we got into the Los Angeles area (surprise surprise). We got to our hotel, The Hotel Fullerton, at around 9:00 PM. It was a lovely hotel. I had gotten a “special” from them which included two nights in the hotel, breakfast each morning, a free shuttle to Disneyland Parks and two park hopper tickets. The total for the package was $602.00 for two people. Once we checked in, we were able to get put on the schedule for tomorrow’s shuttle to Disneyland. I was disappointed, however, that they don’t offer a lot of shuttles and once they are full, you’re pretty much on your own. We were told we were on the 9:00 AM going to the park, and on the 5:00 PM coming back to the hotel. (We needed to go back to the hotel to get our car to go to the Halloween party as the shuttle from our hotel stopped before the party was over.) We got into our spacious room, watched the Disneyland fireworks from our balcony, and then crashed so we would be well rested for a long day.

Our very nice room at the Fullerton Hotel. — Our very nice room at The Hotel Fullerton.

Fun lighted mirror at The Fullerton Hotel. — Fun lighted mirror at The Hotel Fullerton.

Our room at The Fullerton Hotel. — Our room at The Hotel Fullerton.

We got up early the next morning and went down to have the hot breakfast. It was a wonderful breakfast which included an omelet section (you pick what you want in it and the chef makes it), eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, pastries, juices, coffee, tea, fresh fruit, yogurt. Really nice selection.

Breakfast at The Fullerton Hotel. — Breakfast at The Hotel Fullerton.

We got to the shuttle in plenty of time but were told by the shuttle driver that we weren’t scheduled for the 5:00 PM shuttle to come back. We thought we’d use Uber to get back as we were told a taxi would cost around $25.00.

We got to the park (a short distance from the hotel) and were so surprised and pleased at how few people were there. We were able to get on so many rides without much of a wait at all. The very first ride was the Matterhorn, and then we were able to get on the tea cups, Dumbo, It’s a Small World, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion. So fun. We also got to try the pumpkin beignets in New Orleans Square, which were quite good. We saw the parade and a lot of the characters. We both had a blast.

Disney traveled, saw, and then tried to recreate it here.

Characters everywhere... — Characters everywhere…

We left the park around 5:00 PM and tried Uber but the application didn’t work on my telephone so we just got a taxi to get us back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel we turned around, got the car, got a little something to eat, and then headed back to the park. We had also gotten tickets to the “Mickey’s Halloween Party” ($69.00 per person). It included parking ($17.00). When we got our parking spot, we laughed because it was one of the furthest from the tram area that you could possibly get. (By this point we were pretty tired anyway and were dreading having to walk back to the car after the party.)

What a fun thing “Mickey’s Halloween Party” was. Once you enter the park, they put a wristband on you and give you a trick or treat bag and a map of what is going on, what characters are located where, and other fun things to do. They had lots of places where you can trick or treat. Lexie and I both had over half a bag filled with treats before she made me stop. Too fun. Lexie was getting mad at me because I wanted to trick or treat and she wanted to go play. There were so many people in costumes that were quite extravagant. Really neat and a fun thing to do once. It was more crowded during the party but lots of fun. We saw the electrical parade and then the fireworks display. Awesome. The party was due to wrap up at 11:00 PM, but Lexie and I were tired and left around 10:30 PM. Exhausted.

The next morning (Thursday), we got up, had our wonderful breakfast, and talked to the manager about us not being scheduled on the shuttle yesterday like we were supposed to be. He was supposed to credit my card back the cost for the taxi (it took a bit but he was good to his word) and was really nice and understanding about us not being put down as requested.

We drove and parked and went into California Adventure. Seemed like lots more people out and about today but still lots of fun. We were able to ride the Tower of Terror twice in a very short time period.

Couldn't lift them. — Couldn’t lift them.

Hollywood tower of terror, we rode it twice.

Can't lift them either. — Can’t lift them either.

We were also able to go on several other rides, saw several characters, explored lots of shops (Lexie still loves to shop and wanted to get things for her friends), ate lunch in the park, and then went over to Disneyland. When we got over to Disneyland, we wanted to go back to Pirates of the Caribbean but the line was really long so we just left and went outside the park to the lost and found. Lexie had lost her sunglasses on the Indiana Jones Ride yesterday. They weren’t able to find them but we tried.

By this time we were tired (around 5:00 PM) and knew we had a long drive ahead of us so we decided to leave. The traffic was horrible and it took us over three hours to go fifty miles. The drive was to Solvang, a little more than 150 miles. I would have liked to have seen the last thirty miles or so but it will have to wait for some other trip and make sure it’s during the day. We got into the Worldmark in Solvang at around 10:00 P M. It’s an older Worldmark but the room was nice.

Lex said I had cooties and slept on the couch.

Patio at the Worldmark Solvang. We didn't barbecue. — Patio at the Worldmark Solvang. We didn’t barbecue.-

We slept in and left our lovely room around 11:00 AM. We headed to the village of Solvang to have breakfast. We ended up at a little place that served aebleskiver with raspberry jam and powdered sugar. Yummy.

Our breakfast, a traditional Danish breakfast called Ebelskiver. Really wonderful, especially the jam.

Solvang is such a cute little town. We walked around for awhile, shopped, and even did a free wine tasting at a little place.

This is where we ate our wonderful breakfast.

Solvang, California. Can't wait to see a windmill in Europe. — Solvang, California. Can’t wait to see a windmill in Europe.

Reminded us of our Norwegian daughter, Helga. We had her almost a year as an exchange student.

Lexi, thinking she's a cowgirl. — Lexi, thinking she’s a cowgirl.

There was free wine tasting so we were on it.

Really good wine place. We ended up buying a couple of bottles.

An old car we saw outside our restaurant at breakfast.

We had a great time and weren’t looking forward to going back to reality. Hated to leave but we had another long drive down Highway 101 back home (about 175 miles or so).