Tag Archives: California Adventure

Disneyland Bucket List (or One Last Visit Before The Summer Blackout)

Posted on June 24, 2015 | 2 comments

I went to Disneyland on Monday with my friend June. She and I both have annual passes that are blacked out for the summer starting at the end of this week, so we wanted to get in one more Disney adventure before we can’t go back until the end of August.

We got down to the parks around 1pm (we both had workout classes that we went to in the morning), and we started things off right away.

Our first stop was at the Haunted Mansion. The Hatbox Ghost was recently brought back to the Haunted Mansion after disappearing soon after the ride opened in the 60’s. I hadn’t had a chance to see him yet, so I was beyond excited to check him out!

As we were getting close to his spot in the ride, I mentioned to June that it would be so amazing if the ride broke down or stopped right in front of him so we could check him out even longer. And about 3 feet before we got to him the ride did break! But it was just before we would have been able to see him, so our view was of the bride instead of the Hatbox Ghost.

Once the ride got started again we finally saw the Hatbox Ghost, and he was totally worth it! I wish we could have ridden that ride over and over again, but we had more Disneyland things to get done.

Next was a stop to get my favorite treat: Dole Whips!

It was the perfect refreshing treat on such a hot day and we were able to find a bench in the shade to relax on while we ate.

After our snack, it was time for another ride that was recently updated. The Matterhorn!

I don’t love the Matterhorn because of how bumpy it is and how it hurts my hips while riding it, but they just added a new animatronic on the ride and I had to see how it looked. I had seen some videos online so I had an idea of what to expect, but June hadn’t and she got a good scare on the ride. And since I decided not to put my hands up like usual, I was able to brace myself a bit better and only hurt a little after the ride.

After those two upgraded rides in Disneyland, we headed over to California Adventure to see the newly upgraded Soarin’ Over California. They had upgraded the screens and cleaned up the film (which desperately needed it). The upgraded ride looked very nice, but we did have a bit of a scare at the beginning of the ride. When the ride was moving up into the screen area, our seats jerked forward and we all had a little moment of panic. But the ride was smooth sailing after then.

After those 3 rides, we had checked off all the rides that we really wanted to do before we were blacked out for the summer. So we just did some fun rides after that. We checked out The Little Mermaid (mainly for the air conditioning) and then watched the Aladdin show (again for the air conditioning).

Our final ride for the day was Tower Of Terror. We tried to do a silly yawning photo this time and I think it came out pretty cute.

After those rides, we walked through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel for dinner. We got dinner somewhere where I’ve never gone before, Trader Sams!

They don’t have a huge food menu, but I got a really delicious pork sandwich. June got a fun drink (that came with the zombie mug that she got to take home) but I was just drinking water.

After our fun dinner, we did a couple of silly things around the parks like take advantage of the fun photo ops.

And take photos in front of the decorated castle.

And finally a little bit of shopping. We found this ceramic Dole Whip and I knew I had to have it!

And since it was getting close to the fireworks time and there were a couple of spaces right in front of the castle, we decided to suck it up and wait about 2 hours for the new fireworks show.

We got a pretty awesome spot to watch from. Where we were, you were required to stay seated, so that was almost better than having to stand and watch (and hope that you aren’t behind a really tall person). The new show has lots of cool projections on different spots in the park like the castle, the Matterhorn mountain, Main Street, and It’s A Small World.

Sorry for the random Cast Member in my photos. He was there the entire time making sure that nobody stood up or went under the rope. The fireworks were a bit shorter than I expected, but I’m glad that we waited it out. I rarely do that and when I do, I usually am much farther back. So being almost right in front of the castle was a real treat for me!

It was also a great opportunity to take a castle picture at night with nobody behind me in the photo.

After the fireworks, it was time for us to head home (I had to work the next morning). The funny thing was that it took us longer to walk from the fireworks spot, get a tram, and get to my car than it did for us to make the entire drive home!

And as soon as I got home, I found my Dole Whip a place in my living room to live.

Both June and I kept saying on the drive home how perfect this Disneyland day was. We got everything done that we wanted to and we really maximized the air conditioning opportunities and stayed out of the heat and sun for a good chunk of our time there.

I’m sad that I can’t go back until the end of August because of my blackout dates. Especially because the Peter Pan ride is supposed to open in a week! I have to wait it out for my time to go back. But June and I are already planning our return to Disneyland in August and hoping that it will be just as epic as this visit was!

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged annual pass, bar, California Adventure, Disneyland, rides, theme park

A Friend Filled Afternoon/Evening At Disneyland (or Missing Some Ride Pictures)

Posted on April 29, 2015 | 3 comments

I’m really happy that I have Mondays off from my main day job. This way I can go to Disneyland for the afternoon (after my Orangetheory workout).

I had been meaning to go to Disneyland for a couple of weeks now so I decided that this Monday I was going to go no matter what. I put it out on Facebook that I’d be going and a couple of friends said that they would be there and we could meet up.

I got to the parks around 2pm (there was lots of closures plus a bad accident on the freeway so the drive took forever for me) and as soon as I arrived I messaged my friend Justin. He was in the parks with some friends and we were all going to hang out as a group. We all met up and headed over to our first ride, which was going to be Star Tours.

After the ride (where sadly none of us in the group were chosen to be the rebel spy) a couple of Justin’s friends had to leave and our group was down to 3. Next, we rode Buzz Lightyear where I got one of my worst scores ever. But I guess I was lucky because for some reason our photo from that ride didn’t come out.

Next was a stop for a treat. Because it was warm out (and I thought it might make my sunburn hurt a little less), we got Dole Whips!

You can definitely see how bad the sunburn looks by the color difference between my face/chest and my arms (also, you can see the burn line on my chest).

The Dole Whip did revive me a bit and next we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. They will be adding a new animatronic in the ride soon that I’m very excited about so I wanted to make sure to ride the ride one more time before it gets busy with the crowds when the new character is installed.

After that, Justin and his friend had to head out (there was a private Annual Pass party that night and they needed their wristbands and wanted to get dinner). So I hopped on the Disneyland Railroad and texted my friend, June, who was on her way down to the parks.

I love riding on the railroad at Disneyland. First, it’s such a great way to see a lot of the park while relaxing.

And of course, I love the Grand Canyon/Primeval World dioramas between Tomorrowland and Main Street (I tried to get pictures of those, but they were all too blurry).

I had just enough time to do a lap on the railroad before June arrived and we were off to ride some more rides. We did ride Buzz Lightyear were I got a better score and our picture worked.

I look so serious!

Next, we rode Space Mountain. Fortunately, June is like me and likes to take silly pictures. So we decided to try to do the comedy/tragedy faces for Space Mountain.

I’m not sure if we succeeded in doing that, but the photo is pretty funny! After Space Mountain, we knew that we wanted to get some dinner. But before eating, we made a quick stop at the castle to get a picture in front of it now that it is all decorated for the 60th anniversary.

After dinner we headed over to California Adventure. Right near the entrance of the park we saw Goofy in his dapper outfit so we made a quick detour to get a picture with him.

Our first ride was Radiator Springs Racers (I’m unsure if our car won or not).

While in line for Radiator Springs Racers I was telling June how I was only in Cars Land once when they turned on the lights for the evening. I said how I wished that I could see that again because it was really cute.

And perfectly on cue, as we are exiting Radiator Springs Racers, all the lights in Cars Land turned on.

Seriously, we couldn’t have timed it out better.

California Adventure was closing early that night, so we wanted to make sure we got one more ride in for the evening.

I love Tower of Terror, but so many of my friends don’t want to ride it! So I was more than happy to go on. I wish I had taken a picture when we were at the top of the ride about to drop. It was so gorgeous with the sun setting and California Adventure and Disneyland all lit up.

After the ride, we went to look for out picture and sadly our elevator did not have a picture that came out. So that’s 2 of my ride photos that failed.

It was time to head back home after that last ride. I was in the parks for about 6 hours and got quite a bit done and hung out with a lot of people!

I’m going to try to make at least 1 more Monday visit before the craziness of the 60th anniversary starts. And of course, once the anniversary starts I’ll have to go see all the amazing things that they will be doing in the parks, but it will be insanely crowded then as well.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged annual pass, California Adventure, Disney, Disneyland, friends, theme park

Post-Workout Disneyland Afternoon (or Maximizing A Couple Of Hours At The Parks)

Posted on March 25, 2015 | 2 comments

After my morning workout on Monday, I had my entire day free! I was thinking about doing some errands, but since none of them were urgent I decided that those could wait. Instead of running errands, I headed down to Disneyland with my friend Caroline!

We headed down to Anaheim after lunchtime at got to the gate around 3pm. It wasn’t a super crowded day, but since all annual passes were valid that day, we knew that the after-work crowd would get pretty big.

We started our afternoon in California Adventure. We had a couple of rides that we wanted to ride, but that wasn’t in the cards for us. Our first choice ride was Radiator Springs Racers, but it was down that afternoon. And we wanted to ride California Screamin’, but even the single rider line looked to be over an hour!

We did do a lot of walking around (I easily exceeded my steps for the day while there) and I took a picture for my sister-in-law.

There is a mini vineyard at California Adventure next to one of the restaurants there. When I was in Napa, I mentioned to her that they had this, but I don’t know if she believed me. So I got a photo as proof.

Caroline and I eventually rode Toy Story Mania (where Caroline kicked my butt) and then walked over to Disneyland for the rest of our day.

Disneyland is started to get ready for their 60th anniversary, and things are starting to look really cool! The castle is sparkling now (it’s a little tough to tell in the photo).

I’ll be going to Disneyland quite a few times in the next month or so, so I’ll try to get more pictures of all the work that’s being done for the 60th.

Our first ride in Disneyland was the Monorail. I love riding on the Monorail and especially when I can ride in the front with the driver!

Being up front does give the best view in my opinion of the parks while you are riding around. And there is some construction at California Adventure that I was excited to see from up high.

That area is where Soarin’ Over California is located. They are re-doing that ride and re-theming that section of the park. It won’t be reopened for a while, but I can’t wait to see it when it’s done!

After our ride on the Monorail, we headed over to Space Mountain (another one of my favorites). And as always, I tried to pose for the photo. And Caroline joined me in posing too!

Next was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters where I kicked Caroline’s butt. It helped that the ride stopped near one of the secret super high point value targets.

After that we rode Star Tours and Indiana Jones before realizing that we needed to head home soon. We stopped for some dinner at the Jolly Holiday Bakery which I have to say was really good! I had a sandwich and it was yummy and filling! Then it was time to make the drive back home.

Getting to do a fun afternoon at Disneyland really makes me grateful that I have an annual pass. Caroline and I didn’t feel any pressure to have to ride a ton of rides or to get everything in that we wanted to do. It was a fun and leisurely trip.

And I know that since I splurged and paid for the parking add-on on my pass (which was discontinued after I purchased it so I’m extra happy I splurged!), I can do more afternoons like this. And if I don’t get any food, the only cost for my afternoon is the gas to get there!

I’m already looking forward to my next Disneyland adventure (which may be very very soon!).

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged anniversary, California Adventure, Disneyland, rides, theme park

Disneyland Afternoon and Evening (or Spending Time With My Evil Twin)

Posted on February 26, 2015 | 4 comments

I recently renewed my annual pass for Disneyland. The level of pass that I have is only available for renewals, so I wanted to make sure that I renewed in time. I also made the decision to pay for the parking add-on, so I don’t have to spend $17 to park every time I go. I’m super glad I made that decision because just the other day, Disneyland eliminated the option to do a parking add-on (it’s only available now with the highest level pass which is about double the cost of my pass).

Right after I renewed my pass, I got a text from my Evil Twin Shey asking if I still had an annual pass. I told her I did and she said that she had been invited to an annual pass holder event and wanted to see if I wanted to be one of her guests! It was on this past Monday, which worked out perfectly for me!

When I got to the park, I took a few moments to enjoy the lack of crowds inside.

Good to know that Monday afternoons are pretty empty. I’ll have to go to Disneyland more often then!

Shey and her friends who were joining us weren’t at the park yet, so I decided to do a trip around Disneyland on the railroad.

I love the circle tour around the park. It’s so nice and relaxing and I get to see how crowded different areas of the park are that day. And my favorite thing is between the Tomorrowland and Main Street stations. They have the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas! The Grand Canyon diorama was looking great. But when we got to the Primeval World section it was dark and covered by tarps. I guess that they were doing some work back there, but it was sad that we still were hearing the audio for the dinosaurs without getting to see them.

After getting back to the Main Street station, I realized that the parade was about to start. Since none of my friends were at the park yet, I decided to see if I could find somewhere to sit and watch it. And there was actually a bench right on the parade route with one seat left! So I sat back and watched the entire parade (I can’t remember the last time I did that).

The parade was pretty cute and as soon as the last float went past me, Shey texted me to say that they were all outside the gates of the park ready to get our wristbands for the event that evening! So I headed out to meet them and get checked in for the private event.

Since the private event in Disneyland didn’t start until 8pm, we decided to spent the first part of our time at California Adventure. Most of us wanted to ride on Tower of Terror, so that’s where we headed first. 4 of the 5 of us went on and I think we got a pretty funny photo (we are in the first row).

Next, we headed over to one of my favorite rides, Radiator Springs Racers. Again, only 4 of us rode and I think 2 of the girls in the group had never been on the ride before. We all had a great time, and our car tied in the race.

We also rode The Little Mermaid and Toy Story Mania. I rode alone on Toy Story Mania, so I couldn’t do some of the cool Easter Eggs on the ride (you really need 2 shooters for those), but I did get the second highest score in our vehicle.

Before getting some dinner, we went on California Screamin’. To make the wait shorter, we all went in the single rider line. I sat next to a guy who didn’t seem as enthusiastic about the ride as I was.

For dinner, I got baked potato soup in a bread bowl. It isn’t the healthiest thing I can get at the parks, but it’s definitely far from the worst. Plus, I kept my calories low for the beginning of the day and I know that I usually walk over 5 miles during a day at Disneyland. So the splurge was worth it (plus it was getting cold so soup warmed me up)!

Then we headed over to Disneyland where there was only about an hour before the private event started. Our first ride was Space Mountain. I decided to tell all the girls about my mom’s rule how you have to ride with your hands up the entire time. They all decided to try it and I think we all had a great time on the coaster.

After that, the park was starting to clear out. Only guests who had reserved spaces for the party could stay, and it was shocking how few people remained in the park! Our next stop was Star Tours, where we basically walked right on.

Followed by Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. I don’t know if I’ve ever walked on a ride as quickly. Shey and I rode together, and this was her first time on this ride. So I tried to help guide her to find the good targets, and I’m super impressed by her score! I never did that well on my first few times on the ride.

After Buzz Lightyear, I wanted to get an evil photo with my Evil Twin. So we found some pretty awesome evil hats for a quick photo.

One of the features of this private party were some awesome photo ops with characters that aren’t always out. We decided to check out the villains photo-op but the line was pretty insane. We guessed it would take us about an hour to get through the line, and since we wanted to maximize our time, we didn’t wait. Instead, we went on some more walk-on rides.

I love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and I haven’t had a chance lately to ride it at night. So of course, that was next. The ride instead is already amazing, but what made it magical was what happened at the top of the mountain. The fireworks for Fantasmic were going off as we were on the ride! It was a super cheesy and magical moment that I loved!

We followed that up by riding Pirates Of The Caribbean where we got stuck for 5-10 minutes in the very beginning of the ride. It was right next to the Blue Bayou restaurant which is usually pretty busy. And it was closed during this event so it was completely empty and quiet. That was a little creepy. We finally got moving again and by the time we got off the ride, I realized that I only had time for another ride or two before I wanted to head home.

I really wanted to ride the Storybook Canal Boats at night to see all the buildings lit up. Plus, they recently added a “Frozen” section and I wanted to see how it was done. As soon as we got into the main part of the ride, I gasped. It looked amazing and beautiful!

The archways were all lit up with fairy lights and I really enjoyed the new “Frozen” castles.

I was planning on leaving then, but as we walked by Dumbo we realized that nobody was in line! I’ve never seen Dumbo without a crazy line, so of course we went on Dumbo!

I got my elephant all the way to the top and just spent the ride up in the air checking out all the amazing lights and sights of Fantasyland.

And as we were leaving the park, we noticed a dance party going on with a princess DJ and a guy walking around with a glass slipper. So we got a final group picture with the glass slipper.

By then, I had been at Disneyland for about 10 hours. It’s not the longest I’ve been there, but it was almost midnight so it was the latest I’ve been there. Plus I still had a drive home and had to work the next morning. But even though I left before the rest of my group, I felt like I had a super wonderful and full day at Disneyland!

I’m so grateful that my Evil Twin invited me to this event. It’s a rarity to see the parks so empty and I got to ride pretty much all of my favorite rides! This was the perfect way to start another year of having an annual pass!

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged annual pass, California Adventure, Disneyland, event, rides, theme park

Vacation At Disneyland (Celebrating My Mom’s Badassness)

Posted on April 30, 2014 | 2 comments

Once my mom was done with her treatments for cancer, I knew that I wanted to celebrate with her somehow. I knew my parents would be headed down my direction (they wanted to see my grandparents first) so I tried to think of ways to celebrate in LA. But then I decided that we should celebrate at Disneyland instead (why not be at the Happiest Place On Earth to celebrate?).

I thought that we’d do just one day (and go to both parks), but my mom decided that we would do 2 days at the parks and they would get a hotel room there. And to save me from driving back and forth, I could stay at their hotel room with them for a night.

I was super excited to go! I recently got a new backpack at The Container Store that seemed perfect for Disneyland and I couldn’t wait to try it out.

We all met up at the hotel on Sunday morning. My mom decided that she wanted to stay at the Grand Californian, which is the hotel connected to California Adventure. I had never actually been inside the hotel, and I was super impressed by how amazing it was as soon as I walked inside.

My parents got there shortly after I did, and after a quick stop to put all our things down in our hotel room, we were off to California Adventure. I had gotten my parents 2 day 1 park tickets, which meant that we couldn’t do both parks in one day. But we wanted to spend time in each park so Sunday was devoted completely to California Adventure.

We met up with my mom’s friend Roberta and her family once we got inside the park, but we only really spent the day with Roberta (her son, daughter-in-law, and young granddaughter didn’t want to ride the rides so they walked around on their own).

One of our first rides was the tires in Cars Land. My mom loves this ride because it’s so similar to the flying saucers that were in Disneyland when she was a kid. My dad had only been to California Adventure once (and it was when the park opened so there weren’t a ton of rides there) so this was all new stuff to him. My mom rode with Roberta and I rode with my dad. Somehow, the tire that my dad and I got was a total bust. We couldn’t make it move at all. My mom and Roberta on the other hand we flying around really fast.

Next was on to one of my favorite rides, Radiator Springs Racers. My mom and I both love this ride so much, and in all the times I’ve ridden it, my car has always won the race (I’m sure I jinxed myself now). Before the trip, I was a little worried about how my mom’s wig would do on the rides (because like me, she likes to ride with her hands up). She wore it on Radiator Springs Racers, and as you can see from our ride photo, her wig stayed on without a problem!

And I was super happy that my dad decided to ride with his hands up too! Even though my face is covered up by the photo number, I still think this is a pretty amazing photo. Roberta also took this really great photo of me with my parents while we were waiting in line.

We also rode Soarin’ Over California (the music from that ride is the ring tone for my phone) and Toy Story Mania (where for the first time ever I had the highest points in the car).

Next was another roller coaster, California Screamin’. Neither Roberta nor my dad do upside down roller coasters, so they waited on a bench for my mom and I to ride. We ended up riding twice, the first time in the front row (which is my favorite) and the second time in the second row. Again, I was worried about my mom’s wig on this ride, and so was she. So while we got ready to leave my dad and Roberta with all of our stuff, my mom decided to leave her wig with my dad as well.

It was actually pretty funny when she took it off because my mom said that some lady walking by her gave her a double take when the wig came off. My mom is getting her hair back, and if you didn’t know what she looked like before or with her wig, you’d think that this was just the style that she wanted to cut her hair in.

Both rides on California Screamin’ were awesome, and my mom and I agree that it is one of the best roller coasters out there.

Next we met back up with the rest of Roberta’s family and went to dinner. And after dinner, my mom wanted to rest before World of Color, so we headed back to the hotel.

On the way, we passed all of the bear sculptures that are near the hotel, and since my mom loves everything to do with bears, I took her picture with them all.

I also found the coolest hat for my mom, but she didn’t think that she’d wear it at all.

After resting for about an hour, my mom decided that she didn’t want to stay up for World of Color (the show was at 9:45pm). But my dad and I both wanted to see it so we headed back into the park. But since we had some time to kill before the show, we decided to ride Radiator Springs Racers again. In the dark, the mountains are all lit up and are really pretty.

Then it was time to get into our section for World of Color. I’ve seen the show a couple of times, but my dad had no idea what the show would be like. He was pretty impressed by it, but we got pretty wet while watching it (I guess we were in the splash zone).

After World of Color, we headed back to our hotel to get some sleep before we had our next big day at Disneyland. But while I was in my pjs and getting ready to brush my teeth, the fire alarm went off in our hotel and we were evacuated. The evacuation waiting area was actually right next to our room so we didn’t have to walk too far in our pjs (and I was glad that I brought pj pants instead of a nightgown). We waited outside for about 30 minutes before we could go back into our room. I have no idea if there was a fire, but we never saw the fire department while we were outside the hotel.

Finally, when we got back inside around 11:30pm, I was ready for bed and for our next adventure the next day!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged California Adventure, cancer, Disneyland, rides, roller coaster, theme park

A Disneyland Tease (or A Mini High School Reunion Steps Away From The Happiest Place On Earth)

Posted on April 24, 2014 | 1 comment

On Easter Sunday, I had absolutely no plans. I was going to do some cleaning in my house and get ready for my work week, but it was a pretty unscheduled day.

I had an errand that I had to do in Anaheim and was planning on putting that off for another day until I saw that a friend from high school was at Disneyland that day.

My friends Ali (who co-hosts The Super Fantastic Nerd Hour podcast) and Nhu-An (both of whom I went to high school with and are now engaged) were at Wonder Con in Anaheim and decided to take their day off to do a Disneyland adventure. I totally wanted to join them, but my pass was blacked out for the day. And I didn’t want to spend a lot of extra money on a blackout day ticket. I really wanted to go into the parks, but I knew that spending that money wasn’t the right choice.

I had messaged them both to see if they would be spending any time outside of the parks on Sunday so I could meet up with them and say hello. Even though it seems like I keep in touch with a ton of people from high school, I had not seen Ali nor Nhu-An since we graduated high school in 2001.

When they messaged me back, they said that they planned to spend the entire day at the parks. So I suggested that maybe we meet up for a drink or something in Downtown Disney toward the end of their day. We agreed to meet up around 9:15pm between the parks so we could have a quick catchup.

I did my errand in Anaheim and then hung out with a friend until it was time to go over to Disneyland. You can actually park for free at Downtown Disney for 3 hours, so at least I didn’t have to pay the $16 to park at the parks. I walked over to where we were supposed to meet when I got another message.

They were at dinner and running late. But they could still meet me when they were done. So I hung out between the two parks for a while. It’s actually not bad there. I was able to see the fireworks (even though I couldn’t hear the soundtrack that went along with it).

While I waited, I did some work on my phone and played a couple of rounds of Words With Friends. And then Ali and Nhu-An came out and we had a mini reunion outside the gates of the parks.

It was actually pretty fun. We chatted about some random stuff from high school and Ali and I discussed podcasting. I’m trying to hook him up with a fun guest (and if it happens I’ll totally share it on here) for his podcast and he is having some technical issues that the hosts of the podcast that I work for can probably help him with.

We only hung out for about an hour before they were both ready to head back to their hotel (they had just had a full day at both Disney parks). Before we said goodbye, we got a quick picture together to prove that we had a (almost) 13 year mini reunion.

While I haven’t really stayed in touch with a lot of people from high school in real life, I love that since we all stay in touch virtually it’s not awkward at all when we get together even when it has been a long time since we saw each other face to face. I also like how all the high school cliques that used to exist are pretty much gone now and everyone I stay in touch with over Facebook is very supportive of each other. I sometimes wonder if high school had been like this if I would have still felt like such an outsider.

Either way, this was a great way to spend a Sunday that was completely open for me! And in less than a week, I’ll be spending 2 days at Disneyland with my parents!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged California Adventure, Disney, Disneyland, high school, podcast, theme park

Happy Birthday Justin (or The Most Epic Disneyland Adventure Where We Conquered The Park)

Posted on February 26, 2014 | 1 comment

Yesterday was my friend Justin’s birthday. For his birthday, he wanted to go to Disneyland and he put out an invite on Facebook. One of the joys of being out of work is being able to go to Disneyland on a weekday, so I told him I’d meet him at the park.

We actually both got there at pretty much the same time, so we met at the trams that took us from the parking lot to the theme park. After a snafu with my annual pass (which ended up taking an hour at the ticket booths at the end of the day to fix), I ended up getting a free ticket for the day so I was able to go into the parks before dealing with the issues with my pass.

Since both Justin and I are annual passholders, we didn’t feel like we had to rush around the park and do a ton of rides. We started in California Adventure at Toy Story Mania, where Justin ended up beating me, but not by a ton. Next, we rode Radiator Springs Racers. This is really one of my favorite rides in the park. We did the single rider line, so we didn’t end up riding together. But that’s ok. While my car was waiting to go, I took a quick photo.

The ride was great as always. Then Justin and I decided to head over to Disneyland and do some of the rides over there. While walking through Main Street, we noticed Cruella de Vil just standing there with no line to take photos. So we took the opportunity and got some photos with her (I took one for Justin and he took one for me).

Then, right next to her we saw Pluto with almost no line! We figured we had to do another photo.

I was trying to give Pluto a kiss in the photo but now looking at it it just looks awkward.

Next, we were going to ride Star Tours, but on the way we saw Peter Pan and Captain Hook coming out from a backstage area. We figured we should see if we could get pictures with them too. They said we could, but only if we walked with them. So I ended up getting a picture with them toward the end of Tomorrowland.

Finally, we went into Star Tours where finally Justin and I got a picture together (wearing the awesome 3D glasses for that ride).

For the last ride of the day, Justin and I went on Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Earlier in the day, Justin mentioned that his dream was to max out the counter on the ride. In order to do that, you have to get over 1,000,000 points. Justin was super motivated to beat me in this ride, and check out what he did.

I don’t know why his score is above my head and my score is above his, but he got over 1,000,000 points! And not only that, he had the 33rd highest score for all of Disneyland! And this was done on his 33rd birthday!

After that awesomeness, there was no way that the day could be topped. We declared that we conquered the park and headed out.

Justin was going to go straight back to his car and I still had to go to the ticket booths to deal with my annual pass issue (thank goodness it’s all fixed now), so we took one last quick picture together to remember this epic day.

I don’t know how future Disneyland adventures are going to top this, but I’ve got almost an entire year left on my annual pass to try.

Happy Birthday Justin! I hope the rest of your day almost lived up to the awesomeness of Disneyland! And thanks for letting me be part of your celebration!

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged annual pass, birthday, California Adventure, Disneyland, rides, theme park

Getting In My Disneyland Fix (or One Last Bit Of Christmas Time In The New Year)

Posted on January 8, 2014 | 2 comments

This past Sunday, I made a trip down to Disneyland with my friend Lupe and her son Diego. Lupe and I have been trying to get together for a Disneyland trip for a long time, and finally our days off matched (and our annual passes weren’t blacked out)!

We got to the parks just before 10am. It wasn’t too crowded, which surprised me since it was a Sunday and the last day of the Christmas decorations at Disneyland. Some of the seasonal rides (like Haunted Mansion Holiday) had huge lines, but most of the other rides had pretty reasonable wait times. I use a pass at Disneyland that allows me to wait off to the side while waiting for my ride (standing for a long period of time without moving really aggravates my hip). But our wait times for most rides were about 30 minutes (after waiting our time, we are led onto the ride, but it’s not instant access).

A lot of our day was just looking around at how gorgeous the day was. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.

But of course, we went on a bunch of rides. We did Haunted Mansion Holiday and got stuck on it for a minute at the graveyard scene. But that did allow me to take this pretty cool picture (and for those of you who hate people who take pictures in the dark rides, this was done without a flash).

We also rode the train around the park, only to get stuck at the train station in Tomorrowland (there was some issue with the trains and they couldn’t keep running).

I wanted to ride the submarines, but they are closed down for a long refurbishment. They haven’t drained the lagoon yet, but the waterfall stopped running and you could see a little bit inside the show building (I dream of getting stuck on that ride inside the show building so I could look around and see behind the scenes!).

We rode the monorail around as well. Lupe and Diego had no idea that you could ride in the nosecone with the driver, so we did that. They used to give you a co-pilot’s license as a little souvenir, but now they give you a boarding pass (I actually think the boarding pass is better).

We also went on Star Tours, Space Mountain, and Pirates of The Caribbean before heading over to California Adventure to ride my one of my favorite rides, Radiator Springs Racers. Our car won the race in case you cared.

This was the first time I had been in Cars Land during Christmas time. They have so many cute Christmas trees decorated in Cars themes in that area. I had to get a picture with one.

At this point, I was starting to be in a lot of pain and I forgot to bring my painkillers with me. So we decided to head back home.

It was a great trip with a great friend. I’m glad I made it to the parks before all the decorations were gone. And of course, I love getting to go on the rides.

My pass expires pretty soon. I know I’ll be renewing it, it’s just an issue of when. My original plan was to wait until the spring when my parents are here (we are going to spend a day in the parks). But with my (f)unemployment probably starting in about a month, I might want my pass to be good then so I can go on those free days. I haven’t had the chance to recycle enough ink to pay for a new pass, so I’ll have to see how to budget it. I know that Disneyland does monthly payment plans, but I don’t know if I want another monthly bill.

Either way, I know I’ll be back in the parks soon. I’m hoping to fit in one more quick visit before my pass expires!

2 Comments

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged annual pass, budget, California Adventure, Disneyland, rides, theme park

More Disneyland (or The Post With The Ride Photos)

Posted on October 7, 2013 | 1 comment

Yesterday I went to Disneyland (yes, again). I met up with Jennifer, who I went to high school with. We actually hadn’t seen each other since our high school graduation (12 years ago!), so it was pretty awesome to get to see her again.

Besides Jennifer, her friends Hope and Jen were also there. Yes, in our group of 4 there were 3 Jens.

I met the group in California Adventure and we started our day on the Tower of Terror. I love this ride, but I don’t have many friends who do. So I usually either go on this alone or skip it so my friends don’t have to wait. But the 4 of us all went on and of course we took a silly picture on the ride.

If you can’t find us, we are in the last row pretending to be asleep.

Our next stop was at Toy Story Mania. This is a 3D shooting game, and I’m pretty decent at it. Jennifer beat me, but I had better accuracy so I say that we were both winners.

Next was California Screamin, the big upside down roller coaster in the Paradise Pier section of the park. We got to sit in the very last rows which is my favorite (you go a lot faster there than you do when you sit in the front). Since I’m at Disneyland a lot, I know where most of the cameras are on the rides. So even though it’s not all of us doing a silly pose, it’s still a cute photo.

Then Jennifer and Hope wanted to go on Grizzly River Run which is a water ride. I hate having wet clothes while I’m walking around the park, so Jen and I sat off to the side and had some strawberry lemonades while we waited for the others to ride the ride. They came back pretty soaked so I think I made the right choice for me.

We then headed over to Soarin Over California, which is one of my favorites (one of the songs from the ride is actually the ringtone on my phone). Finally, we did Tower of Terror one more time, but when we went to see our photo, there wasn’t one there.

Then it was time to head across the plaza to Disneyland. We had some lunch and then went on Space Mountain (I love the Halloween overlay!). Again, we had to take a fun picture.

As we were leaving Space Mountain and heading toward the exit (Jennifer, Jen, and Hope had to drive back up to Northern CA so they could all go to work/school today), I saw someone who I had to take a picture of. I’m not making fun of her size or shape, but I have to say that when I first saw this person, I thought she was walking around Disneyland without pants.

No matter how much or little you weigh, you should never wear pants (especially yoga pants) that are almost the exact same color as your skin. I think if she was wearing bright colored yoga pants or even black ones (which is what I happened to be wearing yesterday), it would be a cute outfit. But with the nude colored pants, everyone was looking at her to see if she was naked in the park.

Our last stop before heading back to the parking lot was one of the stores on Main Street. The others had some things that they wanted to buy and I wanted to see if there was anything I wanted (you never know). I had seen this scarf when I was in the park last week and it was on sale yesterday so I got it. The pattern is very subtle so it won’t scream Disney if I wear it out and about.

And then I saw something that I had been searching for since I was at Disneyland with my mom and aunt in the beginning of the year!

It is a plush Minnie Mouse hooded scarf! I saw someone walking in the park when I was with my mom and aunt wearing this and I’ve been looking for it in the stores ever since. I even looked last week and didn’t see it there! But yesterday, there it was. And of course I had to get it since I’ve been wanting this for over half a year and didn’t know if I would find it again. I’m now looking forward to wearing this to the park when I go around Christmas time!

Finally, it was time for all of us to head home (30 minutes away for me, 7 hours for the others). It was really great getting to see Jennifer again. I haven’t really seen too many people from high school since graduating and while I stay in touch with a lot of people on Facebook, it’s so different hanging out in person.

I’m hoping that the next time that Jennifer, Jen, and Hope are at Disneyland that I can meet up with them there! I had such an amazing time!

1 Comment

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged California Adventure, Disneyland, high school, rides, theme park

Yup, Back At Disneyland (or This Time It Was A Pretty Happy Place)

Posted on April 12, 2013 | Comments Off

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I love Disneyland. And you may recall that they last time I was there, it wasn’t too fun. I got stuck on rides, unable to go on rides, and it just kind of stunk.

Well, this is supposed to be my last week of unemployment (unless my start date gets moved for the 4th time), so I wanted to get in one more Disney trip before I was very limited to when I could go. Once I’m working, unless I have a random weekday off, I’m pretty much only able to go after my shift ends at 1pm on Fridays.

So I was fully prepared to make yesterday another solo trip to Disneyland. But then I noticed that my friend Piper was there with her mom. So I sent a quick message on Facebook and I was off to the park.

I met Piper and her mom in California Adventure and we rode The Little Mermaid ride (I finally made it on there!) and Soarin’ Over California.

Then we headed over to the Disneyland park and we did a lot of other rides. We started by going to the Tiki Room so we could get a Dole Whip (one of my favorite treats).

I really like the Tiki Room. It’s a nice place to sit and watch a cute show, plus it had some of the first audio-animatronics in the park (and they still look good).

We then made it on The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Indiana Jones. Although on Indiana Jones, we got in our Jeep, it made a jerky motion when trying to leave the load station, and the ride broke down. Fortunately, since we were still in the load area, we were let off of the Jeep. So we waited while the house lights came on.

And after maybe 20 minutes, the ride started back up again.

After that ride, we headed over to Tomorrowland where we rode the new Star Tours ride. It’s not new new, but new to me. This ride was something that I was terrified of as a kid. I remember my dad and brother would go on it, and my mom would take me on the People Mover. But thankfully I’m over that fear now, because it was an amazing ride (with some amazing looking 3-D glasses).

Next was Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Another favorite ride of mine. I rode by myself, and got one of the highest scores I’ve ever gotten (somewhere in the 400,000 range). But when I looked at my picture after the ride, the scores were not right at all.

As you can see, the gun that I wasn’t using at all scored 252,600 points and it shows me with only 10,000. Oh well. And the reason I have a silly face in that picture was because I was testing exactly where the camera is on it. I now think I have it figured out.

After all those rides, we made a quick stop for some dinner, and then we conquered the Fantasyland rides. We did Peter Pan, Snow White, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, and Alice in Wonderland. Then it was back to Tomorrowland to ride Autopia (I joked that I had a British car).

Then it was off to catch the Disneyland Railroad though the Grand Canyon diorama and the dinosaurs to Main Street.

Seriously, in 8 hours, we did 15 rides, had a snack, and had dinner. I’d say that was pretty successful!

And I did buy one thing there. I stopped at the Disney store at Downtown Disney and saw this shirt.

It’s a cute color and it has one of my favorite princesses on it. Plus, I was so excited to see that I didn’t have to buy the biggest size! I got the next to biggest size, but to me that’s a big improvement! Maybe all the hard work I’m putting in is finally paying off!

I’m so glad that Disneyland is back on my good side now! And thanks Piper and Piper’s mom for letting me hang out with you all day!

Comments Off on Yup, Back At Disneyland (or This Time It Was A Pretty Happy Place)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged annual pass, California Adventure, Disneyland, rides, theme park

Tag Archives: California Adventure

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