Tag Archives: Disneyland

Still Not Doing All The Things I Love (or I Wonder When I Will Have Another Disney Day)

Posted on February 16, 2022 | Comments Off on Still Not Doing All The Things I Love (or I Wonder When I Will Have Another Disney Day)

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to Disneyland. This is one of the longest breaks from going to the parks that I’ve had since moving to LA. I know that one year of missing Disney was due to the parks being closed, but they reopened almost a year ago and I still haven’t returned. And this is for a few different reasons.

First, I still am anxious about being in crowded places. I know that when they reopened the capacity was reduced quite a bit, but it was still a lot of people. And now, I have seen photos of friends who have gone and the parks are just as crowded as before. I know that I won’t have this fear of getting sick forever, but I don’t see the need to push myself to go to the parks when I’m still uncertain. I’ve waited this long and I can wait a little longer. And right now, even though the numbers are getting better, they are still pretty high and I don’t need to add another risky behavior to my life. I know that going to the gym is still a risk, but I’m trying to be selective with the risks I take.

And they also just announced that vaccinated guests will no longer be required to wear masks at Disneyland, so I think I will want to wait longer before returning. I don’t know if they will be asking for vaccination cards when people are entering if they aren’t wearing masks, but I don’t know if that matters. Once someone is past the front gate, there won’t be regular checkpoints checking vaccination status. So someone who is unvaccinated could easily not wear a mask and I doubt anyone would know. I’ve seen what happened when there was a measles outbreak that was mainly around people who went to Disneyland. I worry that there could be the same thing with COVID-19 with unvaccinated guests not wearing masks. And I also know that being vaccinated doesn’t guarantee you can’t get others sick, so anyone not wearing a mask could be a risk for me. In some ways, I’m glad they announced this because now I’m even more certain about not going to the parks until things are safer. I’m not questioning my choice as much as I did when everyone is masked. Now, it just feels way too unsafe for me.

But even if I wasn’t worried about getting sick and being in crowds, there is another reason why I haven’t returned. I actually had a chance to meet up with my cousin at Disneyland this past weekend and I seriously was considering it. But I also don’t have an annual pass anymore so I would have to buy a 1-day ticket. And for the day I would be able to meet up with them, a 1-day ticket was over $200. When I had an annual pass, it was about $600. I can’t imagine spending 33% of what I spent for an entire year for a single day. Especially when I don’t know how often I would or could go now. I used to have Mondays free from work, and now I work Monday-Saturday. I will eventually start going back and I have a feeling I will buy the new type of annual pass since it’s worth it to me, but I can’t think of spending the money until I feel like I will be able to get the use out of it.

Since everything shut down almost 2 years ago, I have gotten a lot of my old life back. But I am still missing a lot of things, and going to Disneyland is one of them. If I went now, it wouldn’t be the way I remembered having Disney days. In the past, they were days to be carefree and have fun. Now, I don’t think I could have that same carefree feeling and it might be more stressful than other things in my life. One day, I’ll be back to being able to enjoy Disney and escape the regular world, but I’m just not there yet.

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And Another Year Of Disney (or I Need To Get Back To The Parks)

Posted on February 12, 2020 | Comments Off on And Another Year Of Disney (or I Need To Get Back To The Parks)

For quite a while now, I’ve had a Disney pass. This has been something that is a bit of a splurge for me, but it’s a worthwhile splurge. Going to Disneyland isn’t cheap and getting an annual pass makes it much more affordable for me. And pretty much every year that I’ve had my pass, I have added up every time I went during the year to confirm that I got more than my money’s worth.

I have both my annual pass for the parks as well as a parking pass (I don’t think the parking pass is available anymore, but I was grandfathered into being able to add it on). Getting my money’s worth on the pass is easy because I think I only need to go 3 or 4 times. The parking pass ends up usually being the equivalent of having to pay for parking 10 or 11 times, so that’s a bit harder. Sometimes, I just look at the overall cost and not split it up, which means I need to go about 6 times to make it worth it. But being worth it is also a subjective thing.

If I had to pay for parking every time, I might not go as often. So while I might spend more over the year by pre-paying for a parking pass, I go more knowing I don’t have to pay $20 or $25 each time to go. So for me, it’s worth it no matter what.

But as you might have been able to tell by my lack of Disney posts on here, I haven’t been to the parks in a while. I actually haven’t been there since before the summer pass blackout. I haven’t seen the new Star Wars land at all. Obviously I haven’t been on either of the new Star Wars rides either. I think this may be the longest time I’ve gone without going to the parks since I started getting my pass again. And I do miss Disneyland a lot. My schedule just hasn’t necessarily allowed me to go. I’ve been busy with work and other things. Plus, my friends that I normally go with haven’t been able to go and I don’t necessarily want to go by myself. Even though I used to do that all the time, I do really prefer going with a friend.

But even though I might not have gotten my money’s worth on my last annual pass, there is no question to me that the pass was worth it. The few times I did go were awesome and I had a great time. And I don’t feel like I wasted money or anything because I got more than my money’s worth several years in a row. So I guess I’m just balancing things out.

And I’m extra grateful this time for renewing my pass because a day after I did it, the prices went up! There have been a few times that the price increase happened right before my pass was up for renewal or I knew I needed to renew it and didn’t do it before they had a price increase. Since they don’t announce when the prices are going up and it just happens overnight, it’s a matter of luck to get the renewal done before it happens. And this time, I guess I was lucky! I didn’t save a ton of money, but it went up about $50 which is something. And I’m glad I saved that money because I know it will go to use for something else.

Now that I’ve got another year of Disney ahead of me, I just need to figure out when I can get there! I still have no clue when I’ll be able to go, but I’m hoping soon because I need my Disney fix! I’ve been trying to find some more friends that have Disney passes so I can have more people to go to the parks with. I also love having fun adventures with new people in the parks because you discover new things that they know about or love in the parks that might be something I haven’t noticed before. Hopefully, I’ll have another Disney day coming up soon and I can do another park recap post on here!

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Disney Views and Food (or Rides Were A Low-Priority)

Posted on April 9, 2019 | Comments Off on Disney Views and Food (or Rides Were A Low-Priority)

The Food and Wine Festival at Disneyland is happening right now. This has been an annual event that I’ve been able to check out for the past few years. While I don’t drink, I always love seeing the fun and unique food offerings and it makes a really fun day at Disneyland. And with the food pass you can get, it actually makes things not too expensive. So of course I had to check it out again this year.

I went with my friend Dani last week, and it was the perfect spring day. We’ve been having warmer weather, but it wasn’t too hot and we had a gorgeous blue sky with all the flowers in bloom!

The main reason we went to Disney was for the Food and Wine Festival, so we immediately went over to California Adventure to get a food pass and start looking at what each booth had to offer. The food pass allows you to get 8 items and we figured that we would be splitting pretty much everything. There were a few things we each wanted that the other didn’t, but it all balanced out.

There were a few repeat things from the past few years and several new things. We tried our best to vary things up and I think we got a good mix.

My favorite things were the asparagus Caesar (which was a repeat from the past, but they added chicken this year), the pepperoni egg rolls, the corn nuggets with bacon, and the garlic mac and cheese (which was another repeat).

Dani got the ghost pepper mac and cheese (I don’t eat spicy food) and she said it was good and tasted like a spicy version of the garlic mac and cheese we split.

Not everything was a winner for us. The two things we got that we didn’t love were the fried artichoke hearts and the parmesan salt and vinegar wings. The artichoke hearts were a repeat thing but they were just soggy and didn’t have a ton of flavor. The chicken wings were fine, but we couldn’t really taste parmesan or salt and vinegar. They were good wings, but we were expecting something different.

There was also a new thing this year with how you could order food. Instead of having to go to every booth to order what is there, you could order anything at any booth and just bring your receipt to the correct booth to pick up the food. We didn’t try this until we were using our last food pass tabs and we ordered a bunch of different things at one booth. It worked out fine for most things, but we did discover the downfall to doing this.

We ordered the beef tenderloin slider at a booth other than the one that serves it. When we went over to the booth to pick it up, we were told they were sold out and that they wouldn’t have any more for about 30 minutes. We had the option to wait or we could get anything else from any other booth. We didn’t really want to wait 30 minutes for something that we’ve had before, so we decided to go through the options and see what we wanted to get instead.

Since everything we got had been savory, we decided to get something sweet. They had a popsicle duo that had lime and strawberry at a booth. Dani took the lime one and I took the strawberry one. They were good, but nothing special. I probably wouldn’t have picked it normally, but we just wanted something easy and it was a good choice to end the time at the Food and Wine Festival with.

While we were on the California Adventure side, the only ride we did was Toy Story Mania. We didn’t want to do any of the fast rides since we were eating so much food, but we also didn’t want to spend time on rides we could do whenever when the food offerings aren’t always there.

We headed over to the Disneyland side thinking we’d do a few more rides, but when we got there the first thing we noticed was how nice it was with the flowers and trees in bloom. The castle is being worked on so it’s covered by a mural, but that didn’t take away from how pretty it was.

We did Pirates of the Caribbean and then we were going to go over to Fantasyland to do the Storybook Canal Boats. And as we were walking, we saw yet another gorgeous Disney view.

By the time we got to the boats, the sun was down and I was hoping the little houses would all be lit up. But they didn’t have as many lights as I seemed to remember. It wasn’t bad, just different from what I thought we’d be seeing.

We did a lot of walking around and wandering through different parts of Disneyland. It wasn’t empty, but it wasn’t as crowded as we thought it might be. We had a few other rides we wanted to do, but we weren’t having good luck and it seemed like the few things we thought about doing happened to be down when we were over there.

And even though we had a day full of food, of course there is always still room for Dole Whips. I had the orange/raspberry one which I think is my favorite combination.

After the Dole Whips, we started to head out of the park because the fireworks were starting. We didn’t want to be stuck in the crowds exiting the park when they finished, and we managed to be just at the gates as the crowd started heading that way. We still hung out in Downtown Disney doing some shopping, but we didn’t stay too late since we both had early mornings the next day.

Considering that the main point of this Disney day was to check out the Food and Wine Festival, I would say it was a success! It would have been nice to do a few more rides, but since we can do those any other day we are there I was ok with missing out on a few things we wanted to do. I’d love to go back to try a few more things at the different food booths, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it back before it ends. But if I can’t, then I know I’ll just be back to check it out next year!

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A Family Disney Day (or Rain, Cold, And More Rides Than We Expected)

Posted on February 26, 2019 | Comments Off on A Family Disney Day (or Rain, Cold, And More Rides Than We Expected)

Back at Thanksgiving, my cousin mentioned to me that her daughter was going to be performing with her dance group at Disneyland in February. I wrote down the dates that they would be in town and said that I’d love to meet up with them while they were here. They ended up getting flights that landed at LAX instead of Orange County, so when they flew in I was able to meet up with my cousin and her daughter for dinner that night. And we made plans to meet up at Disneyland the next day.

My cousin told me that the performance was going to be at 2:30, so I took some time off of work so I could make it for that. Between traffic and the parking lot taking time to get through, I was terrified that I would miss the performance. But by some miracle, I was able to get into the park and join my cousin to watch her daughter perform. I made it there only a minute or two before she went on, and I felt so lucky that I didn’t miss it.

While we were waiting for my cousin’s daughter to come out after the performance, it started to rain. I had seen that there was a chance of rain in the forecast, but it was saying just sprinkles and only for a brief time. This rain was a pretty heavy storm and we found an umbrella by the entrance of a ride that we could wait under. We still got a bit wet, but it saved us from being completely soaked.

To avoid the rain, we went over to the Animation Building so we could do the Animation Academy and see Turtle Talk. A lot of people had the same idea as us and it was so crowded inside there. But the space was big enough that we were able to get into both things without too much hassle.

When we were done, we went back outside and the rain was finally done. It was really cold, but we were able to dry off a bit when we were inside so that helped. I can’t imagine how bad it would have been if we were drenched and it was that cold out.

Then it was time for us to go on some rides. We started with Guardians of the Galaxy, which my cousin and her daughter went on earlier as well. Fortunately, they like all the big and crazy rides so they were happy to ride on it again with me.

After that, my cousin and her daughter had a ride time for Toy Story Mania with their MaxPass, but I didn’t have a time. But that worked out perfectly because we noticed there wasn’t a big line at the Lamplight Lounge and I was able to wait for a table for us for dinner while they rode the ride! By the time they came back, our table was just about ready. We were seated outside downstairs and it was a bit cold. They did have heat lamps which helped.

After dinner it was time for what we thought would be our last 2 rides of the night. We went on The Little Mermaid and Radiator Springs Racers.

After those rides, California Adventure was going to be closing soon and we were all getting a bit tired. But I mentioned to my cousin that it might be a good time to do Space Mountain together since we rarely get to be at Disneyland together. We decided to head over to the Disneyland side to ride that and when we were done we noticed that the Jungle Cruise was pretty much a walk-on. I love Jungle Cruise at night so of course we had to do that. And when we were getting off that ride, Indiana Jones opened up after being closed for a while and that was a walk-on as well. Again, we had to take advantage of that and we got another unexpected ride in.

I ended up being at Disneyland for about 8 hours and we did 6 rides (plus 2 show type things and dinner). I wasn’t planning on being there that long or that late, but I was having so much fun. I rarely get to see my cousin outside of Thanksgiving and we always have fun together. And of course, I always love being at Disneyland and getting to have fun there. By the time I got home, it was about 3 hours later than I thought I’d be home and I knew it would affect me the next day, but it was totally worth it.

I would have loved to have gone back to Disneyland the next day to hang out with my cousin and her daughter more and I actually debated doing that. But I knew it wouldn’t be the best thing for me to do and my cousin mentioned that they had dinner plans that night so I wouldn’t have been able to spend too much time with them.

I think we totally took advantage of the time we had there. We ended up doing so much more than we thought we’d do and we had the best time. The last time I was at Disneyland with my cousin was when her daughter was a baby, but I’m hoping that we can do this again much sooner than how long it had been before.

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2 Restaurants and 2 Rides (or A Very Low-Key Disney Afternoon)

Posted on January 25, 2019 | Comments Off on 2 Restaurants and 2 Rides (or A Very Low-Key Disney Afternoon)

I haven’t been able to have a full Disney day in a while, but I’ve been doing a bunch of random Disney afternoons after work lately. It does only give us a few hours at the parks, but usually we only have a few rides we really want to go on so it’s not a big deal. One of the biggest advantages of having an annual pass is that I can go for an hour or two and be ok with it. I never feel rushed to have to get things done because I know I can go back another time.

I was able to do one of those Disney afternoons this week with my friend Dani. We didn’t really have an agenda of rides we wanted to go on, we just wanted to have a few hours of Disney fun. We didn’t realize before arriving there that the parks were closing relatively early that day, so we only had about 4 hours from the time we arrived until they closed. But since we didn’t have a plan of things to do, that was fine with us. We both just enjoy being at Disneyland and it was such a nice evening that it just made everything feel magical.

We were both a bit wishy-washy about what we wanted to do first, but we knew we wanted to get some food. We thought about a few different places we would like to go to, and we decided we should check out the Lamplight Lounge. Normally, there is a big line to eat there, but the parks were unusually empty so we decided to take a chance. There was a small line when we got there, and we figured it would be fine to wait it out. Only a few minutes later a woman got our information to have us put on the list and told us that our table would be ready in about 10 minutes. We went out to wander in one of the stores and before we could take more than a few steps away I got a text that our table was ready!

We were seated at the bar which had a really nice view of Pixar Pier and the sun setting.

This restaurant is known for their lobster nachos and I had never had them before (the nachos were also offered when this restaurant had a different name for the past few years but I never made it there). So we knew that we were going to be getting those and they didn’t disappoint us!

We also got dinner to go with the nachos. I got the ratatouille and even though I was already a bit full from the nachos I couldn’t stop eating it because it was so good!

Dani had the spinach salad which was also good, and there were so many things that were on the menu that we wanted to try. I know we lucked out by the lack of line there, but I think we are going to try to plan a day when we can make a reservation there so we can try more of the entrees and get the nachos again!

After eating and doing some shopping, we did our first ride of the day: Radiator Springs Racers. I feel like I haven’t been on it for a while, and my favorite time to ride it is at nighttime. It was just as fun as always even if the car we were in didn’t win.

Then we headed over to the Disneyland side where we rode the train for the loop around the park. I really just love the train and it’s a nice relaxing ride. I wish that there were more lights around so we could see all the scenery, but it’s still nice having the little bits we could see. Plus, I love the diorama between Tomorrowland and Main Street.

Once we did our loop on the train, there was about 30 minutes before the park closed. And we had one more stop that we wanted to make: Dole Whips!

We went to the Tropical Hideaway again for their Dole Whip options. Dani got an orange/raspberry swirl on top of pineapple juice and I got a pineapple/orange swirl. It was a bit cold outside, but Dole Whips are so good that it was worth getting extra cold eating them!

By the time we were done with our desserts, the parks were technically closed. But the stores are open after closing so we did a lap through the stores to see if there was anything we liked. Then we went to World Of Disney in Downtown Disney to see what they had there. I’m pretty picky when it comes to Disney attire. I like cute and fun Disney shirts, but I don’t like them to be super obviously Disney. The shirt I was wearing that day was one I found online that said “Gaston’s Tavern” (from Beauty and the Beast). But Disney is getting better at creating fun shirts and I found one that I had to get for a future Disney day.

I love that it’s a Disney themed shirt but not everyone will know that it’s a Disney shirt unless they are familiar with the Haunted Mansion. I will totally be wearing it soon when I’m back in the parks!

My pass is due to be renewed in a few weeks, and even though the prices were raised I will be renewing it again. I get so much joy out of going to the parks and I know I couldn’t do these short and relaxing Disney afternoons if I had to pay every time I went to the park. I know that I probably shouldn’t spend the money on my pass, but with the payment plan option I think I will be able to figure out a way to afford it without it being too bad. And I think that if I couldn’t go to the parks as often as I go, I would end up spending the money somewhere else (or by getting one day tickets to the parks), so it’s worth the splurge.

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Another After Work Disney Adventure (or Holiday Time And Random Fun)

Posted on December 21, 2018 | Comments Off on Another After Work Disney Adventure (or Holiday Time And Random Fun)

I haven’t been going to Disneyland as often as I used to. I still am getting my money’s worth on my pass and I still love to go, but I just haven’t been there as much as I would like to. I used to go by myself all the time, but now I just don’t feel like doing that. I miss having my friends with me if I’m there alone, but maybe I’ll work on doing that from time to time in the future.

But since my pass is about to be blacked out for the holidays, I wanted to make it one more time before the end of the year. And my friend Dani was able to join me after work earlier this week so we decided to do another afternoon and evening in the parks. Fortunately, the weather did not predict rain like the last time we were there, so we knew we’d be able to do a few more rides. But we also mainly wanted to go to the parks to see the decorations and have some fun so we weren’t too focused on getting a lot of rides done.

The drive down to Disneyland was a bit longer than normal due to traffic, but we got there with plenty of time left in the day to have some fun. We knew that in California Adventure they were doing the Festival of Holidays, so we decided to see the offerings and decide if we wanted to do one of the food passes. As soon as we got into California Adventure, I was just so happy to see all the holiday decorations and how festive the park looked!

We weren’t too excited by the food options at the different stands, so we just got 2 things on their own instead of getting the food pass. We got a turkey tamale and bagel chip nachos (the nachos were much better) but I didn’t get a photo of them. We needed to get some real food for dinner so we went to the sourdough place to get bread bowls (I had broccoli cheddar soup and again forgot to take a photo).

After food, it was time for a few rides in California Adventure. I had to go on the Incredicoaster since I couldn’t go on it the last time I was there. While it is the same ride as before, they added some theming and a new soundtrack. And I really liked how the updated version looked especially with it all lit up at night!

And we also rode the Guardians ride since that one is really one of my favorites. I still have one version of the ride to do and this time it was another repeat song. But one day I’ll get that last song!

We were in the California Adventure side for a few hours and even though we didn’t ride that many rides, we just enjoyed walking around the park. We both thought it would be much more crowded, and while there were a lot of people, it wasn’t that bad. There were areas where things got a busy, but in general it nice to not feel packed between everyone. And since we weren’t squished, we could take time to appreciate how pretty things looked.

Then we headed over to the Disneyland side. And just like California Adventure it was decorated so nicely for the holidays.

We knew we wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion to see it decorated for the holidays, but we had to make a quick stop first. We knew that there was going to be a new quick service restaurant opening near the Tiki Room, but we didn’t know if it would be open when we were there. But it turns out that they were starting to do a soft opening that day so we had to check it out!

It’s called the Tropical Hideaway and they have some really amazing offerings. They had 3 different types of bao buns and some other savory options. But what Dani and I were most excited for were the Dole Whip flavors!

They have the regular pineapple one as well as orange and raspberry. You can do one flavor or swirl 2 of them and there may be new flavors coming in the future. I hate pineapple yet I love Dole Whips, but I was so excited to try new flavors! I got an orange and raspberry swirl and Dani got the pineapple and raspberry swirl.

It was so good! I loved the orange and it tasted like a creamsicle! And the combination of orange and raspberry was perfect! Dani also got some of the bao buns and I tried a little bit of one and they were really good too. I know this is totally going to be one of our new favorite snack places to get something savory and something sweet. I can’t wait to go back another time so we can try more of the savory foods!

After riding the Haunted Mansion, we were feeling ready to head home. We were in the parks for over 5 hours and we did a ton of walking! But it helped me get my Disney fix in now so I don’t miss it too much while my pass isn’t good.

But one of the best parts of our Disney outing was actually something that happened toward the beginning. We both love to look through the different stores to see what new merchandise is for sale. Disney has really been stepping up their game in getting fun and cute new things. I rarely buy things since I can’t afford them (especially now), but I love to look and dream of things I’d love to get.

In one of the first stores we went into, Dani grabbed me because she saw something amazing: Disney is selling really cute and soft leggings! In the store they had a castle pattern, Disney cat pattern, and Disney dog pattern. I feel in love with the dog leggings and was debating if I should just get them and figure out money later. They were so awesome and I was so sad when I had to be responsible and decide that I just couldn’t spend the money. But that’s when Dani said that she wanted to buy them for me for Hanukkah!

I was totally not expecting her to say that and I told her she didn’t have to, but she wanted to and I am so grateful that she did! As soon as I got home after being in the parks, I changed and put them on. They are so comfortable and the perfect lounging leggings!

I don’t know if I’d wear them out and about, but I really just wanted them for being in my house or for sleeping in. And these are seriously just so perfect! I still can’t believe that Dani got them for me and I have thanked her over and over for her generosity!

All in all, this was a really successful Disney adventure. We got to do a few rides, we got to each some food, we checked out a new restaurant, and we got new Disney swag! I couldn’t ask for anything more!

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A Stormy Night At Disneyland (or Trying To Have A Few Hours Of Fun)

Posted on October 16, 2018 | Comments Off on A Stormy Night At Disneyland (or Trying To Have A Few Hours Of Fun)

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!

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A Disney Auction (or An Amazing Collection)

Posted on August 10, 2018 | Comments Off on A Disney Auction (or An Amazing Collection)

I’m a huge Disney fan, but I know that I’m not the biggest fan out there. Sometimes someone else’s fandom totally shocks me but I’m always impressed by what they collect or know. I also love hearing about how some people own pieces of Disney parks that they won at an auction. I’ve heard of the auctions before, but for some reason I never really looked into them that much.

But when the auction that was happening this year was announced, somehow I couldn’t avoid hearing about it! And when I saw that there was an exhibit of many of the items for sale that was free to go to, I knew I had to go. I was just going to go to check out all the things since I knew everything would be out of my price range. I asked around to my Disney friends to see if anyone wanted to go with me, and my friend Justin was able to meet me at the exhibit this week so we could check it out together.

This auction is a collection of memorabilia that is owned by one man who has collected these items over the past 25 years. It’s incredible to see the things that he had and when Justin and I walked in we were instantly overwhelmed and beyond excited. So we tried to look that things in order as you walk around the room because we didn’t want to miss anything.

While there were a few things that are estimated to go for about $100 that I might watch the auction for, the things that got me the most excited were the crazy things that will probably go for more than what my car cost. If I had the room and money, I would be wanting to get a lot of things. But for now, I just had to admire them all and be jealous of who got to buy them.

I have no clue what I would do with this neon “D” from the Disneyland Hotel, but seriously it would be amazing to own it! I’ve heard of celebrities buying other Disneyland letters and putting them in their yards, so I’m guessing that’s what will happen with this one too.

Or this serpent from the old submarine ride. The new submarine ride does have a small tribute to the serpents from the old ride, but for some reason in my head the serpents were not nearly as giant as this was! I was shocked to see how long it was and could only imagine the fun ways to put this in someone’s house or yard.

They have one of the Jose animatronics from the Tiki Room that still works and has the soundtrack with it so you can make it work just like it does when it’s in the show! I didn’t think it worked when we saw it and Justin asked one of the employees there if it did. I thought it was a joke but she was able to start it and it moved just like it was in the park! They also had other animatronics from the Tiki Room up for auction.

I’ve been looking at miniature replicas of the stretching room portraits from the Haunted Mansion for a while and I have a feeling I’ll buy them eventually. But those are cheap (and tiny) compared to these actual ones from the ride! It was just so fun to get to look at them up close and not while I was rushing to get onto the ride.

One of the things that made me laugh so hard was seeing the different Disney trash cans that were up for auction. I noticed them first and then the signs that were on them saying they were not to be used for trash. I wish these weren’t going to go for so much, but I have a feeling that a lot of people would love to own a Disney trash can!

And there were ride vehicles up for auction too! I have no clue what I would do with any of them, but I would love to have one! There were so many more ride vehicles for sale than I got pictures of, like a Doom Buggy and Space Mountain car. But I think the People Mover car was one of my favorites. There are so few left out there so I’m sure this will be one of the most expensive items.

And because the auction company knew that this exhibit would draw a ton of fans who weren’t necessarily looking to purchase something, they catered to the fans by having a few fun photo spots. I know we missed some, but I loved getting to be in the ride car for Mr. Toad and in the old Skyway car.

We ended up doing about 2 laps around the room because we wanted to make sure there was nothing we missed and we wanted to take some more photos. And of course, there was a gift shop. They had some fun things related to the auction like shirts, but there were also other memorabilia for sale that were just for sale at a set price and not going to be up for auction. Some of the things were more reasonably priced and I debated about getting an animation cell that I would have loved to have, but I knew that I didn’t need it so I walked away.

I did end up buying the auction catalog that has all the items that will be up for auction so I could enjoy that. It would be incredible to own some of this Disney history, but to have a book with photos and descriptions of the items is still pretty awesome too. Many things for sale were posters or blueprints for rides so it’s fun to have that information to look at over and over.

If I had unlimited money and the space to put things, I know I’d be getting at least a few of the items up in the auction. I do have it as a goal in my head that one day I’ll be able to buy something in one of the future auctions. But for now, I have to just be happy that I was able to experience the exhibit and see all the amazing Disney history that someone has collected. And that was still pretty incredible to see.

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Having A Fantasmic Day (or A Relaxing Time At Disneyland)

Posted on June 20, 2018 | 3 comments

My annual pass for Disneyland is about to be blocked out for the summer. There is a slim chance I might do a quick trip after work next week to check out the new Pixar Pier offerings (those should be opening this weekend). But even if I go for that it will be a very quick outing and I will be doing only limited things. I wanted to get in one more Disney day before the summer and this past Monday was my best chance to do that.

I went with my friend Dani and we didn’t have a ton of things on our agenda which was nice. But we did have one big thing we wanted to get done. We wanted to see Fantasmic! The show reopened last year, but I hadn’t seen it since then. The last time I saw it was quite a while ago. And now you need a Fastpass for the viewing areas and they are usually gone by the time we get to the park. But there are some dining options that include Fastpasses so Dani and I set that up and went to the parks to enjoy some time before the show.

Since we didn’t have a big plan for what we wanted to do, we were pretty lazy with our day. We first went to the California Adventure side where the only ride we ended up doing was Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. I finally got to hear a new song on the ride so there is only 1 song left that I haven’t heard yet. Dani and I didn’t plan a pose for the ride photo, but I think this ended up being perfect! I’m acting crazy and Dani is confused by me but enjoying it all.

After ride we got some food and wandered around the various stores. I have an ears headband that you can change the bow on and I wanted to get the bow that is themed for the movie “Up”. I got that and Dani got a new bow as well. And I just like to see what else they are selling because Disney really is getting some fun merchandise!

After that, we headed to the Disneyland side where we went on Pirates of the Caribbean. They recently changed the ride a bit and we wanted to see the new scenes. The big news has been about the auction scene which used to be an auction for brides. But it changed to be an auction for household goods and the redheaded character (which previously was supposed to be the hot bride for sale) is now a pirate.

There were also a few other fun changes in the ride that we enjoyed and got a kick out of seeing. After Pirates we walked over to Finding Nemo where we went to the alternative viewing area. This is a room where you can watch the ride on a screen instead of going down into the submarines. I personally prefer the viewing room because there is nice air conditioning and it’s not crowded. We also had an amazing cast member who starting the video for us that showed us a bunch of fun Disney secrets in the room. If you do the alternative viewing room for this ride, check out what’s inside the lockers!

Our last ride of the day was the Haunted Mansion. Dani hadn’t been on it without it being the holiday overlay for a long time so she really wanted to go on it. And it’s one of the classic rides I love so I was happy to go on it too. Then we headed over to the Hungry Bear restaurant for our food and Fantasmic Fastpasses.

The meal at Hungry Bear is a picnic dinner. We both got the BBQ chicken which was a nice piece of chicken along with a kale salad and a mixed grains salad. We had a pretty big lunch earlier so I only really ate the chicken, but it was good. I also tried the grains salad which was tasty but I was too full. This picnic also came with soda and I decided to splurge and have a soda. I never drink them and it was a bit too sugary for me, but it was a nice treat.

When we were done eating, we spent a bit of time just hanging out and relaxing at the seating area of the restaurant. There is a nice view of the Rivers of America and it was nice and peaceful. It had been a hot day and the park was pretty crowded so it was nice to have a bit of an escape.

Our Fastpasses said to be lined up between 8-9 for Fantasmic, but since the show was the main event for us that day we ended up getting into the line area closer to 7:30. We only had a few people ahead of us in line but there were also the people who had Fastpasses from eating at Blue Bayou that had priority over us. But it worked out really well for us because we were still able to sit right at the fence for the show!

It was pretty close to be center and I was happy there was nobody blocking my view (the fence was there, but it was easy to look through it). The only downside to being that close to the action was the mist from the show got us pretty wet. But considering how amazing the view looked it was worth it!

There are so many times that we view things through our phones or cameras looking for the perfect picture, so I really tried not to do that. I took very few photos during the show so I could enjoy what was happening in front of me. But I did get the pirate ship as it went right in front of us!

The show was great and I really loved it! This was the best view that I ever had for it and if I go with people again to watch it I will totally do the picnic Fastpass deal from the Hungry Bear.

After the show, there was an announcement that we could stay where we were to watch the new Pixar fireworks show. I knew that they did some projections in that area for the show, but I didn’t realize they used the mist screens again to show clips of various Pixar movies during the fireworks!

I’m sure the view is amazing when you are in front of the castle and the projections there are incredible, but I loved watching the fireworks from where we were so we didn’t have to stress about rushing quickly to another section of the park so we could see both evening shows.

After the fireworks, we started our journey toward the exit of the park. We usually don’t stay this long and the downside is everyone seemed to be leaving the park at the same time as us. It was a little crazy, but we didn’t want to hang out there much later since it was already getting late for us and we both had to work in the morning.

If I don’t make it back to the parks before my pass isn’t good for the summer, this was a pretty great last day for a while. While we didn’t do a ton of rides, we both had a great day. Sometimes it’s nice being able to take advantage of just relaxing and being lazy at Disneyland. We had fun people watching and just enjoying a day out in a place that makes us and so many other people so happy.

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A Dapper Day Attempt (or Trying To Make The Best Of An Afternoon)

Posted on April 25, 2018 | Comments Off on A Dapper Day Attempt (or Trying To Make The Best Of An Afternoon)

Disney has lots of unofficial days in the park. I almost never go to these because they are on weekends and I rarely go to Disneyland on a weekend. I have gone to Pin-Up Day once but I haven’t gone back to it since. But of all the unofficial days, Dapper Day is the biggest one for sure. I had never been to the park during Dapper Day and never really had a plan to, but when my Disney friend Michelle asked me if I wanted to go I decided to check it out.

Dapper Day is a day when lots of people go to the park dressed up like they would have dressed when Disneyland opened in 1955. I don’t have a lot of outfits that would fit that idea, but I tried to pull something together that looked a bit more vintage than my usual outfits.

Michelle has a ton of vintage outfits so she had a super cute dress on but I didn’t end up getting a photo of us together. But there is a good reason for that.

We had a bit of a later start getting to Disneyland. I had my brunch in the morning and I headed straight to Michelle’s place and got there around 12:45pm. We were in the car quickly and there wasn’t a ton of traffic getting to Disneyland. We were at the exit for Disneyland in about 45 minutes and saw a line of cars trying to exit. We knew the day would be crowded so seeing a line of cars didn’t surprise us too much. We figured it would move quickly and we would be parking soon.

Then we noticed that we just weren’t moving. 30 minutes passed. An hour passed. And we still weren’t off the freeway. The flyover from the freeway exit to the parking lot was closed so we thought maybe it had to do with cars trying to get through the traffic light. But that didn’t explain it enough. We finally started to get closer to the parking lot entrance, and we noticed some cop cars and an ambulance going by. I still don’t know why they were there, but we were not allowed to go into the parking lot and were being redirected to park at the convention center.

Even once we were on Disney property trying to drive over to the convention center, the traffic was still unbearable. It had been about 3 hours after we got to the freeway exit and it didn’t seem like anything was getting better. And after being in the car for so long, both of us desperately needed to find a bathroom. We were terrified it would take another 2 hours to park, so when we saw the street to the Grand Californian Hotel, we turned and begged them to let us park the car so we could run into the lobby to use the bathroom. Fortunately, they let us do that and then we got back into the car to try to figure out how to get to a parking lot.

Because of how the exit from the hotel went, we couldn’t continue going toward the convention center. And it was so weird because the endless traffic jam that we were caught in was gone and there were no cars on that side of the street. We drove back toward the entrance that we came in and discovered the parking lot was open again! We had to drive a little bit of a loop, but we managed to finally park the car in the parking lot that we attempted to get to about 4.5 hours earlier.

I know that Disney did their best for the crowds that they were dealing with and they may have been a medical emergency that was causing more issues, but we were both feeling a little bit fed up once we were out of the car. Instead of heading straight into the park to see everyone in their Dapper Day outfits, we went to the Mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney to decompress and try to get into a better mood. Fortunately, margaritas and chips helped us and we were in a slightly better mood when we finally headed over to Disneyland.

By the time we were in the park, it was getting close to 6pm and we were already exhausted. But we wanted to try for at least a few rides and we were thinking about trying to stay for the fireworks. Our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean because it was the last day before the ride went down for a refurbishment. They are changing the bride auction scene and are turning the redhead from that scene into a pirate. So we had to say our goodbye to the redhead.

The ride was as good as it always was and while I love the ride as it is I’m excited to see the changes when it reopens.

After Pirates, we went on the Haunted Mansion since it was located in the same area of the park. We were checking out some of the fun outfits that people were wearing for Dapper Day, but I think both Michelle and I were just kind of feeling done with the day. The long wait in the car while trying to park kind of wore us down and we never recovered from it. So after the Haunted Mansion, we were back on the tram to take us to the parking lot.

We did figure out that technically we were at the park a little bit longer than we spent in the car trying to park, but it’s sad that it was only maybe a 20 minute difference. When we were stuck in the car, we had talked about just giving up and going home, but we were stuck where we couldn’t turn around. I’m glad we didn’t go home and we did manage to get on a few rides, but it was not the best first time going to Dapper Day. If I go again in the future, I’ll make sure I try to get there around the time the park opens so hopefully there won’t be the same parking issue. But to be honest, I’m just happy to go on my random Mondays and don’t know if going on the unofficial days is really my thing.

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