sherryberry

I LOVE the light fixtures, all around the resort:

Let's get to the room now. This is a one-bedroom villa. Kenneth and I certainly don't need all of this space, but we are enjoying having a washing machine in the room, as well as a full size fridge (we ordered groceries to fill it up some).

This is when you first come in (the foyer):

Kitchen:

Dining area:

Living room:

TV stand in living room...

....which opens up into a bed (in case you were wondering if an adult can sleep on this - I'm about 5'7" and I fit on this just fine):

Here's the walkway that takes you right into California Adventure:

Part of the pool area:

Sixth floor terrace, overlooking Paradise Pier:

Views from the terrace:

Walkway, heading to downtown Disney (which will also take you to Disneyland):

It spits you out right here, between Anna and Elsa's boutique and Sephora:

Downtown Disney:

Heading back into the Grand Californian:

There's a fitness center right by the villas:

As well as a community hall:

We decided to skip the parks yesterday. We don't leave the resort Friday until 8:00 pm so we decided to do parks that day, after we check out. I've been walking around taking pictures, so I'll go ahead and share those before I start doing park pictures.

Here's the front of the resort where we were dropped off:

Here's the door, going into the resort:

Lobby:

A little nook, in the lobby:

Inside that nook:

Gift shop:

Monorail line, passing through the Grand Californian (you don't see it in the building, like you do in the Contemporary):

Monorail:

We finally made it to Disneyland! This is the first time for both Kenneth and me. After a lot of planning and a lot of waiting, it was finally time to leave. We flew out of Atlanta on Saturday around noon and landed in LA around 2:30. Mistake #1: no motion sickness medicine. We had a lot of turbulence and I struggled not to puke the whole last hour of the flight. When we landed, I started sipping on a Sprite and started to feel better. We used Super Shuttle to get to the Grand Californian, and I was sick again by the time we got here. Our room was ready and I went straight for the bed. We're in a one bedroom villa (we booked this with our DVC points) and I didn't see any of it until I woke up from a long nap.

We've been in the parks since Sunday, so I'm pretty far behind on this trip report. We have two more days in the park. I'll try to throw pictures in here when I can and will probably do the bulk of it when I get home. So far, though, my first impressions: I love how close everything is here. We can walk to downtown Disney and both parks from this resort. Some of the rides out here are better than DisneyWorld's (in my opinion) :). Pirates has two drops and goes on forever! I love it! And I absolutely love the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay at the Haunted Mansion! And the dynamite effects on Big Thunder Mountain are really cute. The wait times aren't horrible even though the park seems super crowded at times.

Safe travels to Cali! If you happen to head out there mid-October, Kenneth and I would love to meet y'all!

I just downloaded it and I've been a little obsessed with it tonight!

I'm caught up on this trip report, but I'm behind on some others. I haven't been on here much lately. This month has been absolute hell, due to illnesses and injuries. Reading this helps me get away from all of that!

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Not that WTF? as it is pretty common; but here's an underage driver.

All told, I will say that a vast majority of golf cart interactions we have had have been respectful and positive. At least 3 have pulled over for us to pass and I haven't seen anyone going the wrong way on a loop.

That said, we have counted between 8 and 9 bodies on a 4-person golf cart twice now.

And, for a kudos to the fort- my wife saw one get pulled over for a kid standing on the back and an underage driver. They made the kid sit and mother drive (though, that then left a kid to hold the baby).

Ugh. This is just like in my subdivision. Kids driving a whole load of kids, with music blaring. We once saw a little girl driving by herself, and she had her leg stretched out to reach the pedal and her butt in the air to see over the steering wheel. And our local police are coming through here all of the time, but this is always going on.

I'm curious what you had at McDonald's? I'm sure they had some unique items on their menu.

What a pretty room! Y'all are too adorable in the selfies!

Went back and got caught up! This is going to be an awesome trip report!

I'm in! I just gotta go back and read!

Thanks for the pictures! Looks like you all had a great time! The weather this weekend really was great camping weather.

Thanks y'all! Full, it is! I just wish they had the little waste sinks at the tent sites. Seems like they could be of good use at those sites.

FUll hook-ups do have a small waste sink along with the sewer hook-up.

The waste sink is my biggest concern. I don't mind driving to find an empty site, to deal with the porta potty. I just don't want to have to tote dishwater to the comfort station several times a day.

Thanks! That's what I was thinking. I'll probably go ahead and book the full hookup, then. :)

We've only stayed at the Fort three times and camp in a tent. The first two times we were in a full hook-up site (1700) and the third time we booked a partial (1500). Our main reason for booking a full hook-up before was so our dogs could come to the Fort to visit occasionally (they stay at Best Friends when we go to Disney). The time we stayed in the 1500 loop, we were trying to save some money.

We don't typically do very much cooking at our site (usually just whatever we can "cook" with hot water - oatmeal, noodles, instant coffee). I'm wanting to book a site in February and hope to do more cooking at our site, since we won't have park tickets. Since I'll be doing some actual cooking, I'll have stuff that will need to be washed (dishes, utensils, cookware). I will probably get some sort of a camping sink to bring with us or come up with something to serve the same purpose. When we stayed in 1500, I don't recall seeing anywhere to dump waste water. I remember electrical connections and a water supply, but it seemed like the full hookup sites had a sink where you could dump waste water.

So, my question is: what do people at the tent sites do with waste water? If I plan on cooking a lot and having dishes to wash, would I just be better off staying at a full hookup site? The good thing about that is we can request being in a pet-friendly site and bring the dogs over as much as we want. And, we won't have to drive over to an empty site to dump our porta potty. But, it will also cost us a good bit more. I don't want to book a partial if I don't have anywhere to dump waste water. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Finally caught up! Thanks for all of the pictures of Grand Californian - we'll be staying there in October. Do you recommend riding Radiator Springs Racers first thing and then grabbing the fastpass (for later in the day) when you come off of the ride? Loving all of the food pictures, too!

Here is my site....thanks again Yvonne!

Looks like a great site! And cute puppy!

Been breezy today - nice, actually. I always loved to be at the lake when there's a breeze blowing over the water. Y'all have a great time and post pictures! I'm hoping to camp out there later this year. I was going to get out there today to check out some of the campgrounds, but didn't get a chance.

We did it once a long time ago, from Lawrenceville. I don't remember the exact route we went. I do remember we stopped one time in North Carolina and slept in the truck (we left right after work, so didn't make it too far) and then stayed in a hotel in Erie, PA before getting to the Falls. We didn't really have much of a plan, though - we were just going on a road trip and trying to do as much as we could in a fairly short time (I think we only took a week to week and a half off from work). We did Niagara and then drove up to Toronto and then headed over to New York City. I wanted to stop in D.C. on the way home, but we ran out of time. Still haven't visited D.C. That's on my list!

I'm in! I've been waiting for this one!

Excited to hear the rest, but a little scared of what it might entail!

Great start on the trip report! You have a great looking family! Sorry things started out not-so-great.