Cast of Characters:

Jane (aka ChipDale)
Ron (my husband)

Trip Dates:

Wednesday, September 18 – Monday, September 30

Resort:

Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel

Day Eight, Wednesday, September 25

[img]graemlins/sleepin.gif[/img] Up at 6:15am. For some reason, it’s easier getting up on the west coast. Made coffee, showered, woke Ron, and we’re out the door by 7:30am to have breakfast downstairs at the Storyteller’s Café. We saw Chip & Dale when we arrived (they don’t make the rounds at the tables in this restaurant – they stay in the lobby area with Pluto). Diana was our server this morning and brought us fresh coffee and our juices. We both ordered the American Breakfast (2 eggs, meat, potatoes and toast). I had bacon with my over-easy eggs and Ron had ham with his scrambled eggs. Everything was really yummy – I think we were especially hungry from skipping dinner last night. We were finished with breakfast and at the turnstiles into Disneyland right after 8:30am. Ron got another coffee and we waited on Main Street until Walt’s opening announcement and rope drop at 9:00am. Today we headed straight for Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland, then It’s a Small World. I said in my yesterday’s report that the refurb looked beautiful. To explain a little more, they have repainted the outdoor façade to look exactly as it did when Walt Disney opened the ride in 1966. It’s all white and gold now. The inside looks terrific too – the sound is superb and the costumes are all fresh and bright. After we rode, we stopped in the little toyshop at the exit and bought a bunch of toys for our nieces and nephew and had them shipped home.

We headed over New Orleans Square after this, enjoying the peacefulness in the early morning of the Big Thunder Trail. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean, then hopped on the Mark Twain for another relaxing ride on the river. After our cruise, we wandered down to Main Street and enjoyed the band concert on Town Square. I love the Disneyland Band, especially since Alice and the Mad Hatter usually accompany them and provide such awesome entertainment! [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img] We stopped in at the China shop on Main Street after the concert and I found a couple of new Haunted Mansion items for my sister (a light-up house and a snowglobe), so we purchased them and had them shipped home too. By this time, it was after 11:00am, so we made our way over to the Golden Horseshoe to catch the 11:45am Variety Show. For those of you who haven’t been, the Golden Horseshoe Variety Show is hilarious! Dana Daniels plays a janitor who has to do the magic act, the juggling act and the parrot act because the regular players didn’t show up. He’s always very funny and entertaining. Even though I’ve seen the show numerous times it never fails to give me at least one really good belly laugh! [img]graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] After the show, we headed over to DCA to ride Soarin’ Over California. [img]graemlins/smokin.gif[/img] There was no line at all so we didn’t even need the FastPasses that we picked up! After Soarin’, we stopped in at the beer truck for a Tecate [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img] , then saw Muppet Vision 3-D and headed back to the hotel for a nap. I ironed our clothes for this evening and tomorrow while Ron did a little work, then we took a nice 2-hour nap. Got up, showered and got ready for our reservation at Granville’s Steakhouse at the Disneyland Hotel. We checked in a little early and requested a booth. Alex was our server and was wonderful. We started with a bottle of champagne (today is our actual anniversary). We enjoyed the champagne and ordered some appetizers. I had the shrimp cocktail with the Bloody Mary cocktail sauce (yum!) and Ron had the corn chowder. For our salad course, I had the Granville’s Salad (with candied pecans and raspberry vinaigrette – double yum yum!) [img]graemlins/tasty.gif[/img] and Ron had the Tomato and Mozarella salad. For our main course, we both had the New York Strip and baked potato. This is my all-time favorite restaurant at the Disneyland Resort and we took our time and enjoyed every bit of it. When we were finished, Alex brought us out a slice of cheesecake with fresh raspberries for our anniversary! (We’re not real big on desserts, but it was very good!). We enjoyed the cheesecake with a cup of coffee before rolling out of there! We finished in time to catch the 9:00pm Fantasy Waters Show. We watched the show, then stopped at the Lost Bar for a nightcap before walking back to our hotel. Watched a little TV (saw the last hour of West Wing) then fell asleep. It had been a perfect anniversary and another magical day at Disneyland! [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]