I’ve arrived at the California home of Mickey Mouse, while coincidentally my son is headed to the Orlando property. The ESPN Zone that I frequented on my last trip to this area is being remodeled to accommodate a Fox Sports restaurant, as a result of Disney’s latest media buy-out. The Disney ticket office did adjust my ticket purchase, but not to my satisfaction. With hundreds of people in line behind me, it was difficult to push my distaste any further. I settled for the upgrade when I should have stood firm on the bait-and-switch scheme. (See Post #756). It turned out to be $80 more with one fewer day, but the Marriott SpringHill Suites ended up saving me the excess by reducing my room rate (that I had originally booked on points but on the wrong night). In all, I made a grand total of $330 in errors booking this weekend. I checked-in early, made a quick pass through the Park to collect my tickets, and had a couple martinis at Ralph Brennan’s in Indiana. The bartender’s father was from Indiana but we were unable to establish specifics. The Pacers were on the TV against the Lakers in their Hickory uniforms to commemorate the movie classic Hoosiers. She did not know what a “Hoosier” was, so her Hoosier Daddy did not do a good job of educating her on Indiana culture. Believe it or not, there is such a thing!

My wife and I went back there for Bananas Foster later, reminiscing about our Thanksgiving in The Big Easy when we  dined at the original Brennan’s where the flaming dessert was originally created. Our hotel is about a half-mile walk from the entrance to Disneyland and not as close as we would have liked.  Unfortunately, we only got a half day’s value out of our overpriced pass, so we had to work fast. I flew into John Wayne Airport early that morning, grabbed a Disney shuttle, and stood in line to get my ticket problem resolved. I left our dogs alone at 4:45 a.m, drove to the airport in a light rain, and had my first Diet Coke of the day at PDX. Christmas music was dominant in the Park upon arrival, and I was predictably surrounded by screaming children. How dare they intrude on our weekend?

My wife finally arrived from two days of business meetings and it was time to explore the Park, a mere stroll compared to its Disney World sister in Orlando where my son’s family is celebrating a 10th anniversary. I used the app to download my first Fast Pass to scoot through Guardians of the Galaxy that was once the Tower of Terror. We also enjoyed Soaring that gave us a bird’s eye view of the world. The California Adventure section of the Park was easily doable in a short time, as we were soon exhausted and back in our hotel room “with visions of sugar plums.”

Day 2 we explored the massive Disneyland section exclusively from mid-morning to midnight, using the monorail to get easily in and out of the Park. Dinner was at Steakhouse 55 (formerly Granville’s that was founded in 1955) in the famous Disneyland Hotel, while corn dogs and chicken tenders served for a lower-budget lunch. Our dinner waiter told us that Chris Pratt (of Guardians fame) was hosting the candlelight processional. As one of my wife’s favorites, naturally we watched him do the festivities narration after our 24-layer chocolate cake dessert. My favorite rides included The Haunted Mansion (where Christmas and Halloween collide), The Matterhorn, Star Wars Tour, and Pirates of the Caribbean. We managed to skip anything resembling spinning teacups that might lead to Dizzy-land. The night ended with It’s A Small World – holiday style. After another good night’s sleep, we’ll spend some more shopping time in Downtown Disney before we leave town, but it’s been a comparably affordable weekend for me using miles and points instead of cash.