When we decided details for our trip we wanted to put a day between our park days at Disney. With my foot and Zach’s back we just needed a rest day! I’m very thankful we did it, not only for the rest it allowed but for the awesome experience it allowed us to have that afternoon!
I spent a good chunk of time on the phone with Disney in my planning and I was SHOCKED at how easy it was to get reservations. Anywhere I wanted. At anytime I wanted. I don’t believe they have a dining plan so that probably helps make reservations more available?
We wanted to get a chance to explore their Downtown Disney and to check out the two Disney property resorts. I got us a reservation for a fancy breakfast inside Disneyland Hotel for that morning!
I don’t think I’ve ever had a “fancy breakfast”? It was def a yolo moment for us as we typically try to keep things cheap! Steakhouse 55 is one of the top rated Disneyland restaurants and we couldn’t make a dinner work in our plans so breakfast had to do! It did not disappoint!
It was a beautiful restaurant and was practically empty! It has a very “old time hollywood” feel and we really loved it.
While we waited on our food we walked around a bit to get a feel for the resort. It was hilarious that we BOTH took pics of the wallpaper in our bathrooms to show each other haha!
I’ve never read any books about Disney (aside from planning related ones) but I do think I’d really enjoy them. I loved taking my time and looking at all the old photos and reading about each one!
First time ever having steak and eggs!
The hotel had an entrance leading to Downtown Disney. Again…everything in walking distance! Maybe that’s why all those California natives are so healthy and thin?! 😉
Their version of Chef Mickey’s is Goofy’s Kitchen
The other resort property, Grand Californian Hotel. We walked through it a bit and it’s very similar in the vibe to Wilderness Lodge where we stayed for my 30th!
hidden mickey 🙂
Downtown Disney (hard to remind myself to say that now that I’m so trained to say “Disney Springs”) was def a LOT smaller than what we are used to. Very similar shops but a much less Disney feel.
The ESPN Zone was really cool…all the stone details of athletes move!
Rainforest Cafe…minus the volcano but they did have a cast member out front showing off animals which was neat!
Loved seeing Beauty and the Beast out of Legos!
I’m SUPER picky when it comes to Disney clothing. Like overly picky. So much of it is ugly or even cheap looking (when it’s far from cheap!). Disney has been upping their game in the clothing department but also upping the cost. Sure, there are now some cute adult clothing items that I’d love to own but no way am I shelling out $50 for a top!!!
We spent MOST of our time in World of Disney. We wanted to find something for each of our kids which is getting trickier and tricker the more children we have. My love language is gift giving and I know I put TOO much thought into it. I really wanted to get them each something that was FROM DisneyLAND. Not something they could get from a store or at Disney World but JUST from Disneyland. Well that ended up being an impossible task haha. We settled on a really cool block train for Tess, another princess doll that has a princess on both ends (we got Aurora since we were at her castle), and Zach ordered a really cool BB8 hat for Kye from Amazon and got it delivered before we’d be home. Haha. Not technically from Disney at all which you know bugged me but he was right. It was cooler than any hat they had and cheaper!
We also took some time in the store reading (and possibly taking a couple pics of…) a hidden mickey book. We wanted to find a few of them at DCA!
An entire Frozen store that we happily avoided 😉
That morning was Britt’s muffins with mom at school. I was SO SAD to miss it. I got texts from Casey (who Britt chose to go in my place) and I shed some tears about not being there for it. I know in the long run it’s OK that I missed it. I know Britt knows how special she is to me and how much she’s loved but still I feel like it’s MY job and MY responsibility to be at all their school functions!!! It broke my heart! I’m SO glad she had fun though and Casey was super honored that Britt specifically asked for her to be there 🙂
We had a big afternoon planned so we did our shopping and then headed back to our room to change, freshen up and hit the road!
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