Friday, October 14, 2016

Disneyland & Club 33 2016

Arrived at Disneyland around 7 am. Had to get our day started early.

We only had about 5 hours of sleep. Some of us were still tired and some not so much.

Headed off to guest relations to grab our tickets that our friend Tom set aside for us. Jack was barely landing at John Wayne airport and was going to meet us at the park. I asked the Cast Member working at guest relations if she could hold a ticket on will call so that Jack and get it when he arrives. She was unable to do that but was nice enough to get me a free locker, which was located right next to Guest Relations. The lockers are all electronically coded so all I had to do was send him the locker number and code and he could grab his ticket and meet us in the park.

We were in the park around 8 am.


Jensen stopped by the fruit cart to buy an apple. Coincidence? I think not.

First thing we got out of the way was Space Mountain. 10 minute wait.

Next was Buzz Lightyear Asto Blaster: 5 minute wait.

Jason once again beat me at another shooting game. I'm loosing my touch.

After Buzz we were starving so we were on the hunt for breakfast.

We tried going to the River Belle Terrace, but it's wasn't opened yet.

So we ended up at Rancho Del Zocalo Restaurante

Jensen got the Steamboat Breakfast

I got Chilaquiles, it was pretty good.

John and Robyn shared the Biscuits and Gravy

Tammy got Tamales

Soft drinks have unlimited refills here.

By the time we finished breakfast Jack showed up.

Our next stop was the Haunted Mansion. It was about a 10 minute wait. We wanted to get it out of the way before it got crowded later.

The toy monkey is usually hidden somewhere in the maze. It's usually in the attic scene, but hard to seek out.

The dining room smelled like gingerbread. I'm not sure if this is new, or I just don't remember.


We were unable to find the monkey this year in the attic. Maybe it's somewhere else in the Haunted Mansion.
We finished 3 rides and had breakfast and it was only 9:45 am. We headed over to DCA now that Magic Hour was over.

Never noticed these window displays before, but they are awesome and are animated.

In DCA we snatched a fast pass for new Soarin' Around the World

Then we headed over to Midway Mania.


I usually win at Midway Mania and was pretty confident that I would, but Jack beat me out WTF! I think he got in the 190's

On our way back to Soarin' we got fast passes for Radiator Springs Racer. It was the perfect return time of 7-8 pm. RSR is best at night.

Nicole's prego, I mentioned that it's going to suck that she's going to miss next year cause of the baby, but she said she's still gonna go. Will Jason and Nicole make it back for a 5th year straight? We'll see.

It was around 12:30 when we finished Soarin'. It was almost lunch time, so we thought we would head to the Carthay Circle bar for a cocktail until Tom arrived, but as we were about to walk in Tom showed up.

So we headed off for drinks at the only bar in Disneyland...

...located at Club 33.

Complimentary spiced apple cider

and some cold towels, which are heaven sent on a very hot day.

I'm so glad that my brothers, friends, and I have been able to keep this tradition alive for it's 10th year.

I think this display cabinet is new this year.

It's a beautiful display with an amazing selection that I'll probably never get a taste of. The black bottle in the middle of the top shelf is Louis XIII Rare Cask. It's $1,500 for 1 oz. and if you thought that was crazy, the middle bottle on the second shelf sitting on the wooden pedestal is Balvenie 50 yr. It's $2,500 for 1 oz. Supposedly there are only 15 of these bottles in the U.S. I've seen prices for the bottle going for $35,000-$50,000 each.

Also new was warm and seasoned mixed nuts.

I am on a quest to try every cocktail on the menu... within budget of course. Since Club 33 was remodeled their menu wasn't too extensive, but it looks like they are slowly adding more items to it.

So for my first drink I had the classic Mai Tai. Which was new to me. I don't think I've ever seen this on the menu before.

Tammy got a Pimm's Cup

While Jason was in the restroom we took a peak at what souvenir he bought. It was Club 33 pin, which he later ended up giving to me. I buy a pin every year I visit Disneyland. So it was a nice surprise and a great piece to add to my collection.

Tammy also ordered a coffee-Honduras Comucap. The coffee was still brewing when they brought it out. Quite a fancy way to present it.

I have been to Disneyland many times and have always dined at Blue Bayou, but never realized that Club 33 was just above.

For my second drink I got The French 75.

I really want to take this cup and saucer.

I think Parker had a Side Car.

We visited about a week after they changed the menu to the fall selection. It slipped my mind to snap a picture of the food menu, but this is the crab cake. Which is new.

Mushroom salad. New also

I think is brie and tomatoes, but don't hold me to it.

Three cheese board.

I had Lobster Rockefeller

Herb Brioche... This bread is amazing. It's like bread and croissant had a baby and brioche was the outcome. The crust is flaky like a croissant, but the center and warm and soft like bread. I could have eaten the whole basket by myself.

Drink number three for me is the Sazerac.


Tom always gets his usual chili.

I had the fall soup.

Fall salad?


Robyn had Gnocchi.

Mushroom medley.

Tom found out that we can order some off menu items if we gave an early enough notice. So we asked for some rib-eyes and they delivered. Served with risotto and asparagus. It's as good as it looks.

Tammy had the filet mignon and braised short rib. I had a bit of both and it was amazing. I have always loved the Chateaubraind, but this is a very close second.

Drink four is a Vesper

Apple tart.

I think this was a pecan bundt cake. Delicious.

I forgot what this was, but it's chocolate, with chocolate, on chocolate.


Tammy told me to smile without moving my cheeks. I obliged.



So the Mary Poppins table is missing.

Looks like it's "on location" heard they're working on something. Maybe a re-make or a sequel.



The lounge has a lot of Disney magic, you just have to look for it.

Our last round of drinks before we leave Disneyland and head to DCA. I guess I forgot to take a pic of my final drink but it was City Park Sour.

So as of 2016. I've had 12 drinks from the menu and one off menu.

Throws and Maskers
Ramos Gin Fizz (one of my favorites)
Moscow Mule
Lucid Absinthe
Vieux Carre
Sidecar
Hurricane
Mr. Well be loved (off menu)
Mai Tai
French 75
Vesper
Sazerac
City Park Sour





On our way to DCA I did a quick video of the window displays. Sun was setting so reflection was kind of blocking the view.




I haven't really been keeping up with what's going on with the parks other than Star Wars Land, but I guess they're getting rid of Tower of Terror and replacing it with a Guardians of the Galaxy ride. So for it's last few months of operation they were operating the ride in complete darkness.

There was a very long line, but luckily Tom was able to get us 12 open ended fast passes.


Hidden Mickey on one of the needles in the boiler room.

Another hidden Mickey where the lights cross over.

After Tower of Terror, we headed back to Midway Mania. I needed to redeem myself. I've lost every shooting game on this trip.

I finally won at something.

Our last ride for the night was RSR. We cashed in our fast passes from earlier in the day.

We were nearly there and there was a bit of a hold up. I guess while we were in line, there was a dad with his two kids. The older sister was teasing her younger brother telling him that he's going to die on this ride. They got on the ride, but I guess he got so scared that they had to stop the ride and let him off. So we had to wait a bit for them to get off. They stood on the side and the dad was talking to the both of them and you can see the sister was mad cause she also had to get off. I guess it's karma.

Of all the times I have ridden this ride I have only won once.... and this time didn't changed that stats either. I lost again. I think I'm just bad luck.

On our way out we did a little bit of shopping.

World of Disney was our last stop for the night.

Okay maybe McDonald's was our last stop.

The day just seem to fly by. We spent about 5 hours just drinking and eating at Club 33. We're definitely going to catch up on some sleep.

Tomorrow it's lunch and then we head home.

No comments:

Post a Comment