Wine Tasting and other Disneyland Adventures

A couple of months ago (before the summer crowds descended) I took another trip down to Southern California to go to Disneyland. I didn't go down with anyone but ended up getting to see lots of family while I was down there.

After a quick flight down I arrived and headed to my hotel.  I found a great rate and was able to stay at the Disneyland Hotel for the first time in forever. (You're welcome for getting the Frozen song that is now stuck in your head)

The Disneyland Hotel has so many fun Disney touches everywhere including these fun tea cup shaped chairs in the lobby. 

I ended up staying on the 4th or 5th floor with a view of the pool so I can't complain about that! I had every intention of going in the pool at some point but it just didn't end up happening. I guess this just means I will have to stay there again at some point.

The beds were very comfy (as expected) and had super cute classic Disney pillows. "A dream is a wish your heart makes...when you're fast asleep"

Anyone who has been to Disneyland knows that Fastpasses are a great way to skip some of the longer lines but still get to ride the ride. The one ride that I love enough to stand in a long line for (since it didn't have a Fastpass) was Midway Mania but as of about a week before my trip they opened up the Fastpass option for this ride.  I was so excited!  The other ride that got a Fastpass option was the Matterhorn but I didn't open until the week after I was there.

As many times as I have been to Disneyland (and I have been many many times) there are always things I have never done and new things to do. The Napa Rose in the Grand California has started doing a wine and food paring experience on Saturday afternoons.  It is a little pricey but as a special treat it was well worth it.

As I was on my own for this trip this was a nice way to spend a bit of the afternoon meeting some nice people, drinking wine and eating delicious food.  All the food and wines were delicious and the wine tasting portions were fairly generous for a tasting portion.

After my food and wine experience I headed back into California Adventure to use the Fastpasses I had grabbed earlier for Toy Story and ride a couple of other things before I got hungry.  I headed back into the Grand Californian for what I thought was going to be a small dinner at the Hearthside Lounge.

I sat down at the bar, ordered a drink and started snacking on some pub mix. I decided that a nice cheese plate sounded good for dinner so I ordered that.  When it came it was huge! I ate maybe 3/4 of the plate before giving up since I still had one more Fastpass to use in the parks.

After using my Fastpass for Sourin' Around the World I went back to my room to enjoy the beautiful headboard and a nice comfy bed.

The next day I got up, put on some Disney accessories and headed into the park. In a total coincidence a bunch of my family that lives in Washington happened to be in Disneyland part of the time I was there. I had an aunt, an uncle, 2 cousins, a cousin in law and 3 mini cousins (what we call my cousin's kids instead of first cousins once removed) there at the same time I was.  

They took a little longer to get up and going in the morning (understandable with 3 little kids) so I was on my own for a while until they got there. I am not a big breakfast person so when the Little Red Wagon opened at 10 AM I had a corn dog for brunch.

I didn't take many pictures of the whole group but here are 2 of the little ones meeting Pooh.  I know there are tons of pictures out there just not on my camera.

My last morning there I decided to take the monorail into Tomorrowland instead of walking through the front entrance.  Adding to the things I had never done in Disneyland before was getting to ride in the front of the monorail.  After we arrived in Tomrrowland they even let people take their picture up there. Super fun!

Later in the day I met up with my sister-in-law and manged to only take pictures of our food...

In my final first of this trip we had lunch at the Cove Bar and I had the famous lobster nachos.  They are delicious and worth all the hype.  The sliders we ordered were kind of meh and the roll up thing were pretty good but it was all about the nachos (and the drink of course).








I was sad to leave the Happiest Place on Earth and head home but as usual after being gone more than a day or so I was really missing my husband so I was happy to get home.