Disneyland & LA Recap

This past weekend, which also happened to be Martin Luther King weekend, my aunt, mom, and I went to LA for the first RunDisney Disneyland Half Marathon weekend in seven years. I’ll talk more about the race(s) in a different post, but in the meantime let’s recap my time at Disneyland and the exploring of LA we did. Disclaimer: my aunt had never been to LA before (she’s been other places in Cali, but not LA) so we had to add exploring to the itinerary despite my preferring to stay in Anaheim for more Disneyland. Anyway, let’s get to it.

Despite being a Walt Disney World (WDW) Annual Passholder, I absolutely LOVE going to Disneyland. I actually do not like when people ask me which I like better, given that they’re two completely different types of parks. WDW, obviously, has four parks, two waterparks, and roughly 26 resorts on property whereas, Disneyland (DLR) has two parks and three resorts on property. Clearly, this is a big difference. You couldn’t even compare the parks themselves, because, again, they are so different. For context: Disneyland (the park) fits in the Magic Kingdom parking lot with 500 cars around it. Shocking, isn’t it? They actually say that the reason Walt decided to buy so much land for WDW in Orlando and create the monorail bringing guest from the parking lot to the park, was to avoid the mistake he did at DLR, where you could be in the park and still see the 405 highways. This meant people could be mid-ride and decide to hightail out of the park to avoid having to deal with the LA traffic.

While we were in California, we did two days at Disneyland and then two days in LA. My races occurred very early in the morning, so we were able to still get a lot of touristy things done after each race. Let’s go through the itinerary I created and then I’ll tell you what we did to maximize our time in the parks.

Thursday, January 11th: MIA > LAX flight, RunDisney Expo, Disneyland, Downtown Disney District

• Our flight landed around 12:30 PST; Once we got our luggage and car rental, we started the hour-long drive to Anaheim.
• We checked in at our resort, which was the Sonesta Anaheim, and headed out to Downtown Disney. Once there, I had to go to the Expo to pick up my race stuff and search the vendor exhibitions (because why not). My mom ended up buying the infrared iron from Soliel while we were there.

• Once we finished with the Expo, we headed over to Disneyland. Since my mom and aunt had never been, we started with the monorail in and then rode Matterhorn. Once we were done with the Matterhorn, we made our way up to dinner at the Carnation Cafe (best. burger. EVER). After dinner we walked around, took pictures, and then ended the night when the park closed.

Friday, January 12th: Breakfast at the Grand Californian Hotel: Storyteller’s Cafe, Disneyland California Adventure, Disneyland

• Friday started with an early breakfast reservation at the Grand Californian Hotel, at Storyteller’s Cafe. This breakfast was absolut4ely incredible, and we were able to see Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale, and Pluto while we ate.

• From breakfast, we headed over to Disneyland California Adventure (DCA) where we started our day walking around Radiator Springs and Avengers Campus until our Lightening Lanes were ready. At DCA, we rode: Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!, Radiator Springs Racers, and Incredicoaster.

• Once we finished walking around and riding the best rides, we park hopped over to Disneyland to experience it during the day. We started by walking in on Main Street U.S.A. and taking pictures in front of the Castle. From there, we did Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion Holiday, Pirates of the Carribean, and headed over to Toon Town for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. We of course had to take pictures while in Toon Town since we don’t have that at WDW anymore.

Saturday, January 13th: RunDisney 10K, Rodeo Drive, lunch at The Beverly Hills Hotel at the Polo Lounge (outdoor patio seating), West Hollywood (Robertson Blvd, Melrose Ave), and the Grove LA.

• Saturday started with a 2:30 AM wake up call for the first race of my RunDisney weekend, the 10K. It was roughly 45 degrees out and I had to wear like five layers of clothes plus a Milar blanket, fleece pullover and sweatpants (which I later tossed while walking). The course was more park than WDW usually has, which I really appreciated. It was such a fun, light, run.

• After the race, I headed back to the room to shower and change. We had lunch reservations at 2 PM at the Polo Lounge, but we wanted to get Rodeo Drive out of the way before. Once we finished window shopping and taking pictures at the Beverly Hills sign, we drove over to the Beverly Hills Hotel for lunch. This was an incredible lunch, and the weather was perfect for outdoor seating. Once lunch was over, we went to Melrose Ave and walked down Robertson Blvd. My mom found her way into the Louis Vuitton pop-up that was going on showcasing Pharell WIlliam’s first collection as Creative Director and she bought the cutest LV card wallet. I can’t wait to steal it. Once we finished there, we walked over to SUR from Vanderpump Rules and kept wondering until we decided to head to the last stop of the night: The Grove LA.

• I’ve heard so many great things about the Grove LA and it definitely did not disappoint. I went shopping while my mom and aunt went to have a drink. I bought a bunch of SKIMs stuff that I’d never be able to find in Miami and am too impatient to order from the website. Once we were done shopping and they were done drinking, we left back to the hotel since I had another 2 AM wake up call.

Sunday, January 14th: RunDisney Half Marathon, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Blvd

• Sunday started with the 2:30 AM wakeup call I mentioned, five more layers of clothes, fleece pullover and sweatpants (that, again, I tossed while walking). I was able to get into the front of my corral and did the best half marathon (timewise) I’ve had in roughly four-ish years. I was so happy, but the best part was that my aunt and mom actually came to watch me finish! I’ve been doing these races for ten years and this was the first time they’d ever gone to see me.

• After the race, we walked to Downtown Disney once more and went on a minor shopping spree. Then it was time to go back to the room to shower and change for our last exploring day in LA, which consisted of going to the Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, and Hollywood Blvd. We even got a beautiful view of the Hollywood sign. Lunch was at Dave & Busters, where they were able to drink, and I was able to watch the Rams v. Lions game. After this, we walked some more, did some shopping, and drove back to the hotel. We all had to pack, which ended up being a complete shit show because we went overboard with the shopping, but at the end was worth it.

Monday, January 15th: LAX > MIA flight

I was sad to see the weekend end, but relieved to be going back to my own bed. I was exhausted and the weekend was catching up with me. However, I would not change it for the world. I had so much fun and can’t wait to go back. I should have mentioned that the weather was incredible the entire time we were there. Highs of low 60’s and lows of mid to low 40’s. I wish it would have followed me home.