Hotel: Great service, decent remodel since the last time we went to it...which was just last year, lol. Last year service wasn't very good so the experience this time was an overall improvement. The hotel we went to (and the one we almost always stay at) is known as the Grand Californian, and it is of the Disney property, one of their three current hotels.
Rides: We rode all of our favorites at least twice. With the amount of days we had available, it was fairly easy to get on most of them at least a few times. Having early entry access helps, since that means there's going to be far less guests during the early hour than for the remainder of the day. There were quite a few breakdowns for certain rides, though, but we made the best of it. I think the ride we rode the most this year was the Haunted Mansion Holiday. Love that ride, especially around this time of the year with it's Nightmare Before Christmas-themed overhaul.
Dining: We dined at multiple restaurants, and the quality of our meals throughout the trip zig-zagged heavily. On the first day we just had a very early dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the California Adventure Park, which was pretty good. On the second night we ate at one of the hotel's own restaurants which we usually like. My parents had a few issues with their meals, but I thoroughly enjoyed mine. On night 3, we ate at a restaurant in California Adventure, and.......to say the experience, food included, was awful, would probably be an understatement.....this is one part of the trip I've really been wanting to talk about, lol.....
For now though, I'll say that it it did get better from there. On our fourth night, we ate at the Blue Bayou in the Disneyland park (a restaurant that's part of the Pirates of the Caribbean show building; you can actually watch riders pass on the boat vehicles pass by as you eat, and likewise, riders can see the restaurant early on in the ride) and it was actually really great. Definitely our best nice dinner within the parks. Finally, on our last day, we only stayed until the afternoon and thus only stayed to have lunch, eating at a restaurant in Downtown Disney. In terms of service and treatment from the staff, it was our best experience at a restaurant during this trip. I didn't have a very healthy meal that time, but that didn't lessen anything about it. I regret not visiting this particular restaurant sooner, honestly. It was the first time we ever went there.
Shopping: My folks bought a few Christmas gifts for relatives, but we didn't actually buy anything for each other as Christmas gifts during the trip. I got a little merchandise towards the end of it, that's pretty much all I did shopping-wise, although I did get a surprise early Christmas gift from them very on our first day.
Shows: We didn't watch many special shows in the parks this time. We watched a live-action play of Frozen, which was honestly really good, a preview of Pixar's Coco, and lastly we tried to see The World of Color....which backfired spectacularly. But more on that later....
Believe me, I've got more to say about this trip than the subjects I brought up here, so I am gonna make another shorter one sometime from now discussing some other things about it. Like the weather in the area while we there....it certainly made the experience different and a little more interesting, lol.
