It’s been a long time since I had been to Disneyland. I usually go as soon as my pass is good again at the end of the summer, but I just didn’t make it there this time. And somehow September went by without be going too! I still love Disneyland and my pass is totally worth it, but since I go with friends so often now I don’t really want to go alone. And my friends and I just haven’t been able to coordinate schedules lately to have one of our fun days there.
I don’t usually go after work to the parks since it’s driving in rush hour traffic, but sometimes it’s worth it and I do that. And last week, my friend Dani asked me if I wanted to go with her on a shopping adventure to IKEA which happens to be on the way to Disneyland. So we did a shopping trip first and then made our way down to Anaheim for a couple of hours before the parks closed.
We got there around 6:30 and the Disneyland side was going to be closing at 7 for one of their Halloween parties. We weren’t going to buy tickets for that because we didn’t need to go for a special ticketed event and we were hoping we could do maybe one ride on the Disneyland side before they closed. We might have been able to do that, but we decided to not stress ourselves out too much and we went just to the California Adventure side.
Since it was a Friday after work and the Disneyland side was for the party only, it was pretty crowded when we got there. All the ride had multi-hour waits and we were a bit surprised by that. But since Dani and I both have passes we also knew that if we just looked at the Halloween decorations and had some dinner, it would still be worth it.
When we arrived, there were clouds in the sky but the forecast said it wasn’t going to rain until after midnight. But the clouds helped to make everything look nice and spooky!
And while we were admiring the decorations near the entrance, it started to rain. It started as a drizzle but quickly became a decent rainstorm. We checked the weather on our phones and saw that a storm cell was passing over us. We waited it out until it slowed a bit and then we decided to go get some dinner while we waited for the rain to stop. Some of the rides we wanted to go on can’t run when it’s raining so we knew we’d have to wait it out if we wanted to ride them.
After dinner, the rain had stopped but the lightning was still happening. We had to make a change to our plans for what we wanted to ride and we decided to just be casual and easy about things. We went to the Turtle Talk with Crush show which is a really cute show. The jokes were funny and it was nice to just have some silly fun. We then walked over to Cars Land to see all the Halloween lights and decorations.
Every minute or so, the lightning was making the sky glow and it looked so perfectly Halloween themed! I was trying to get a photo of it and Dani had the brilliant idea for me to take a video so I could take a screen shot when I happened to catch a lightning bolt. And her idea worked! I got this amazing photo of 2 bolts in the sky!
It’s so rare to have lightning in Southern California and everyone seemed to be watching it. The rain still hadn’t returned while we were watching the storm, but we had a feeling it would be back soon. So we headed over to the one ride that we were going to do: Toy Story Mania.
When we got in line, the rain was slowly starting up again. But while we were riding, it turned into a real downpour. We knew that we were going to be soaked and there was no avoiding it. I wasn’t properly prepared for the rain (I was wearing jeans and sweatshirt and didn’t have an umbrella) but I wasn’t going to buy a poncho that I wouldn’t use again. So we just went for it and walked back toward the entrance of the park to head back to the car.
While it was packed when we arrived, the rain made so many people leave. It was nice and empty and if we were better prepared for the rain and it wasn’t as late we probably would have stayed later. But it was fun being in an empty park again and I loved seeing the reflections of the lights on the buildings in the puddles on the ground.
We had to park in the overflow parking near the hotels so we knew we’d be walking through Downtown Disney to get back there. But there is an entrance into the Grand Californian Hotel from the park as well as one from Downtown Disney. So we went through that for a bit of a shortcut as well as a break from the rain. By the time we were walking through the hotel, our clothes were dripping wet and I felt like a drowned rat.
Walking from Downtown Disney to the car ended up being a bit fun. We were both drenched and we knew it couldn’t get that much worse so we tried to enjoy it. We were laughing about how we were able to wring the sleeves and hoods of our sweatshirts and it was like a waterfall coming off us. We were also grateful that we didn’t have to worry about doing a ton of stuff in the park to make our evening worth it. We did some window shopping, had dinner, went to a little show, and did a ride. Considering we were only there a few hours, we got a lot done.
I was grateful to be back in the car to be out of the rain, but I was still soaked. As soon as I got home I hung up the clothes I wore to try to dry them before putting them in the laundry. I didn’t think about it when I did it, but when I woke up the next morning there were puddles on my floor from all the water that dripped off.
Even though we had a short time in the park and we didn’t do a ton of stuff, I still was so happy to be back at Disneyland. I had missed the magical feeling of the parks and I was so glad to get it for a few hours. But I’m hoping that it won’t be that long again before I’m back!
You Might Also Like
Enjoying The Lack Of Rain At Disneyland (or Buzz Lightyear and Electrical Parade)
Guardians and Ladies Who Lunch (or A Fun Summer Day At Disneyland)
Disneyland Adjacent (or Downtown Disney)
Post-Workout Disneyland Afternoon (or Maximizing A Couple Of Hours At The Parks)
Epic Disney Evening (or 8 Rides In 3 Hours)
Recovering At Disneyland (or A Never-Done List)
