The Disneyland Resort consists of 2 theme parks (Disneyland and California Adventure) and a shopping district (Downtown Disney).
Disneyland opened on 17th July 1955 in a grand celebration that was televised on TV. Walt Disney himself was there to see his dream come true. Disneyland boasts being the original park and the only park that Walt himself has visited...he would even stay here overnight and had an apartment above the fire station.
California Adventure opened in 2001 and was based on California, it has since gone through an overhaul and the opening land is now based on Hollywood at the time Walt would have moved there.
Unlike Walt Disney World which has an assortment of hotels, Disneyland only consists of 3. This makes the choice of what Disney hotel to stay at relatively easier as less options, but it can still be a hard choice. However, you do not need to stay at a Disney Hotel as there are plenty of options near by (although Allie is of the firm belief that her money is Disney's money LOL).
On this trip, we stayed at 2 of the 3 hotels. The first part of our California trip was at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel. Allie had previously stayed here in 2009 and was looking forward to going back. This hotel has a beachside feel. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a Park view which was especially nice for Dave's first trip and extra magical seeing lights from World of Colour while laying in bed. It has one table service restaurant (Paradise Grill) and is probably about a 10 minute walk to the parks through Downtown Disney.
For the last part of our vacation, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. Allie had always wanted to stay here and was happy to share the experience with Dave. Allie loved this hotel with the framed picture of Walt at Disneyland decorating the wall and the wooden headboard that lit up with fireworks above the castle engraving at the push of a button. This hotel has 2 table service restaurants (Goofy's Kitchen and Steakhouse 55) and is roughly a 10 minute walk to Disneyland (although it is located closer than Paradise Pier Hotel) through Downtown Disney.
Restaurants at Disneyland, similar to Walt Disney World, consist of both table service and quick service. However, the table services at Disney are not as cutthroat to get and can only be booked up to 60 days in advance.
Flying to California from Florida was not an enjoyable experience for Allie who is not the best when it comes to flying and then having to wait for the Disneyland Express transportation to get to the parks as well as the long drive from LAX to the hotel (usually 1 hour depending on traffic). Once we checked into our hotel, Dave decided to treat Allie to dinner at the PCH Grill complete with cocktails. This is a buffet style dinner and Dave and Allie both enjoyed it immensely. You may also dine here for breakfast when it becomes a character meal (we did this later on our 2018 trip).
Flying to California from Florida was not an enjoyable experience for Allie who is not the best when it comes to flying and then having to wait for the Disneyland Express transportation to get to the parks as well as the long drive from LAX to the hotel (usually 1 hour depending on traffic). Once we checked into our hotel, Dave decided to treat Allie to dinner at the PCH Grill complete with cocktails. This is a buffet style dinner and Dave and Allie both enjoyed it immensely. You may also dine here for breakfast when it becomes a character meal (we did this later on our 2018 trip).
On one of the days we decided to have an early dinner at Naples Ristorante, located at Downtown Disney. Allie had a 10k the next day and it was suggested to her that it'd be best to carbo-load prior. Allie had spaghetti and meatballs and Dave had a gluten-free pasta.
Goofy's Kitchen is located at Disneyland Hotel and is available to dine at for Breakfast or Dinner. It is a character meal where they are all dressed up in Chef costumes. These costumes however differ from Chef Mickey's at WDW and also different characters appear here. This is a buffet table-service restaurant that we attended for Breakfast after Allie's 10k run that morning. Allie as per usual chose the most healthiest breakfast options (sarcasm!!). We didn't get photos of Dave's main breakfast meal as he was straight into it but Allie did manage to snap a pic of him with his chocolate sorbet.
We decided to go all out on our last night at Disney and splurge on dinner at Steakhouse 55. This is an upscale restaurant located at the Disneyland Hotel and features photos of Walt Disney (Allie was one happy camper). We both got steaks, however Allie got the special that came with pomme frites.We both agree they were the best steaks we'd ever had and was worth the money. We were both full after our meals but Allie really wanted to try a dessert so she had to get that. It was almost too pretty to eat...almost.
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