This was Saturday and the day after Christmas. It. Was. Bonkers. There were so many people at Disneyland. It was busy the other days, but I think the combination of the holiday being over and it being a weekend made the situation even worse. I can handle crowds. This size of crowd though, was craaaazy. Like almost not being able to move around size of crowd. I didn't know Disneyland could get that busy!! Now I feel like no other time I go could ever be as bad as this. That said, Disney still handled the capacity really well, lines were still moving and we were still able to get things done.
By this point in the trip about half of our party was absolutely trashed. I had a full blown cold, mom was almost dead, and Bub got really ill. We did not make an effort to get up and go to Disneyland with the others. I slept until I was ready to wake up because I knew I wouldn't be feeling well the whole day. Bub wasn't able to make it to Disneyland until later in the day.
Mom and I set out with only a few goals for the day. One of them was to get Mickey beignets. It was one of those Disney treats we had heard about and knew they would be worth trying. We left the hotel and tried to see if we could ride the monorail into the park to save our feet. Hahaha, the monorail again wasn't working. (Honestly, the monorail was pretty worthless for us this trip). We hoofed it into Disneyland. The Mickey beignets are at a restaurant in New Orleans Square called the Mint Julep Bar, actually it's kind of just a window you can order drinks and beignets from. So to save our feet we rode the Disneyland train over to New Orleans area of the park, This ended up being a great idea for a few reasons. As we waited for the train to come to the Main Street USA station we caught the Disneyland Marching Band playing, and they did "Let it Go" from Frozen (of course) and it was fun. It was also fun to ride the train, which the train will be non-operational for awhile while they construct Star Wars Land. And then, I called Dad and he also happened to be in line for beignets! As we pulled into New Orleans station I caught the grey-haired man! We waited in line for quite a while. I'm not sure what the hold up was. They had to change the oil or something? Dad got frustrated and decided to go ride the Matterhorn as that was his goal for the day. Mom and I each got a bag of beignets for ourselves. We didn't think they needed to be shared, haha! They were so delicious. I think I would have enjoyed them more if I could have tasted better, but I still enjoyed them. Powdered sugar got everywhere. All over my clothes, all over the table, there were even little piles of white powder all over the floor of the patio of the restaurant. So messy and I bet all the Disney workers just hate it. I ate all of mine while they were fresh. So tasty!!
Then mom and I went to ride Haunted Mansion one more time. Mom just loves the "Christmas Version" and how done up everything is.
After that we met up with Stephen, Meagan, and Gretchen for the Golden Horseshoe Saloon show. This was one thing Diggy really wanted to see. We got lunch while we waited for the show. I got a corn dog, which was probably the most unhealthy thing I ate the whole trip! Dad met up with us after being able to ride the Matterhorn. The show was pretty good, they did this western style production of A Christmas Carol, and got this middle aged dad to be a part of the cast. It was cute because he was totally wearing a BYU shirt so = Mormon, and all his kids were over the moon about dad being in the show. And we were all secretly loving it too.
After that Mom, Dad and I went to check out Main Street USA. We hadn't really checked out the stores yet. It was fun to see all the things they had there for Christmas and for the Diamond Anniversary. I was looking for anything Mary Poppins or Mulan. I didn't see anything Mulan the whole trip,which made me sad. But Mulan's 20th anniversary is in two years, so maybe they are waiting for that. I did find mom a "Small World" fleece blanket, which she ended up getting, and it was one of the only "Small World" things we ever saw the whole trip. I had already gotten pins and ornaments so I was good. After browsing the Emporium, we caught most of the Christmas parade again. It was still good. Then mom and I took our purchases to the newsstand that's near the exit to Disneyland.
Travel Guide Tip: You can "check" your purchases at the Newsstand and pick them up on your way out, free of charge. That way you don't have to carry everything around with you all day long. It worked great.
Then we went to see "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" because I really wanted to. It's another Disneyland classic. I love Abe Lincoln and the show is kind of cool. The anamatronic gives a Lincoln speech and it's very patriotic. Plus it was warm in there. I think a lot of my family fell asleep in this one though.
After Abe, we went down the other side of Main Street USA. All the boys in the family got matching neckties. They are actually very classy and have hidden Mickeys on them. After that we stood in line for Peter Pan again. The line was horrendous by this time of day, but Mom needed to ride it again and it was one of the only things she needed to do. I think we waited 70-80 minutes to ride it. We did see the "Pearl Band" from Mary Poppins (where they sing 'supercali...') play, they were fun. That was the fun part about being at the park at such a popular time. All the extra stuff like this was out and on display which they don't do as much during non peak times. Also, according to the order of my pictures, we did Peter Pan much earlier in the day. Oops.
I think we may have ridden Thunder Mountain again as well. It's hard to remember. And it was so hard to manuver in the park, we didn't really care how much we got done this day. It was sooo crowded.
Dinner was reserved at the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. Bub, Michael and Jacqueline made it to the park for dinner and got to enjoy it with us. The restaurant is closing forever with the addition of Star Wars Land, so we were some of the last ones to eat there. It is outdoor dining, so it was a bit cold to eat dinner, but I got hot chocolate which helped my throat. The meal was family style dining with all you can eat chicken, ribs, sausage, corn, cornbread, beans, etc. It was pretty good, again, I was sick, so who really knows. The interesting thing is that we saw Pocahontas from afar while eating dinner. I've never seen Pocahontas in the park, I feel like she would be really rare to see. There was also this cowboy guy saranading us as we ate. I feel like he may have sung one of those Bing Crosby cowboy songs that we know.
Then we moseyed over to the front of the castle to try to get an entire family picture. It was very bonkers, so many people. Dad literally blocked people from walking in front of other people's photos while a Disney Cast Member was taking them. It was dark, so the pictures weren't as good as if they were in daytime, but I think we got one or two good ones. I don't have them yet, so mine will have to do, they are blurry.
At this point, I had really done all I needed to at Disneyland. I was sick and tired. Mom was beat. So we started heading back to the hotel, also to maybe try the fireworks one more last time. We waited for fireworks again, but again, too windy.
Fortuitously, I remembered about the windows on Main Street USA. In our research of the Diamond Celebration we had come across the moving windows. They have recreated different scenes from a handful of Disney movies. Kind of like how stores do these big fancy windows for Christmas. The scenes also move and change. They were my favorite part of the whole day!! I loved them! There were about eight? And they were so detailed and pretty. Also, the moving mechanisms of some of them were astounding. The ones I saw were: Toy Story, Princess and the Frog, Aladdin, Frozen, Cinderella, and Peter Pan. Cinderella and Peter Pan were the best ones. In Peter Pan the Darling children are learning how to fly in the nursery, and then when the window changes the house opens up to the rooftops of London and the children are flying away with Nana waving good bye. Just the mechanics of how all these pieces fit together and unfolded were so so cool! All the windows moved but Peter Pan was the most intricate though. Cinderella was magical. One side was Cinderella in her rag dress and the Fairy Godmother. Then you see the spell and her dress changes into the beautiful ball gown. It's hard to explain because it's a combination of lights and projections, misdirection and then they replace one doll with another. But it's so well done, you really thing the dress is magically there. And then the whole scene flips over and Cinderella and the prince are dancing at the ball while Jacque and Gus watch nearby. Just so magical! and So Disney!! At first we didn't know the windows moved, but then we saw one do it and started freaking out. And then realized they all moved and it blew our minds. Mom and I spent probably half an hour looking at the windows. It was the cherry on top of our wonderful Disney experience. I have a video of the Cinderella window and I hope to upload it sometime.
Princess and the Frog, the other view was the frogs in the swamp, didn't get a picture
Buzz and Jessie danced around the room in Toy Story
Learning to Fly
"Good Bye, Nana!"
Let it Go!
I think they need to have sandwiches!
The Cave of Wonders
Cinderella was the best window!
The trip home doesn't deserve it's own post. We packed and said our good byes to the Arizonans. No kisses for the baby from Auntie Moo, sadly. We got picked up by the shuttle service to go to LAX. I got mad because I saw that our hotel had a gift shop just as big as the Grand Californian hotel and may have had what I went out for the night before. Poop. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. Dad had to check his suitcase. LAX is ghetto and not an entertaining airport. Flying to Seattle was fine, but landing was so painful on my ears as I was so congested. I didn't have any gum so I tried to yawn and massage my neck, but it was bad anyway. Flying sick stinks. Flying back to Pasco was not as bad. I did get sad though, somewhere along the way, my Disney luggage tag fell off my suitcase, so I don't have that anymore. It was a special 60th anniversary edition!! After a bit of negotiation, the van started up and we drove home. There was a few hours of frustration as Stephen thought he lost his digital camera on the trip home, but Dad found it in the van later. Yay! Saved! We were all so tired, worn, and I spread my cold to Mom and Meagan. But we have some amazing memories to keep forever.
Now comes my opinions, impressions, tips, etc for what we did, how we did it, and what I would do differently next time, Cue Travel Guide Moo:
Overall, the trip was a blast. Mom was so generous to take everyone with her to Disneyland. Going at Christmas time was magical and so fun to see everything decorated and festive. The holiday events were cool. It was also great to be there for the 60th Diamond Anniversary and see all the special stuff going on for that as well. The castle was decked out so great.
Would I go again at Christmas? Probably not anytime soon, but sure, I would. I may stay away from the actual day of Christmas and go earlier in the month. Although, as I've said previously, as it was peak season, the park was out in full force, all the rides were operational, more characters were out, more shows and little things like the Pearl Band, which I feel are not always out. Also, I feel like a tiny bit of Christmas was toned down because they were also doing the 60th anniversary at the same time. I told mom she'd have to go back!
The parks were busy. But we were there for five days. So we had plenty of time to do everything. We also got a lot done in the first couple of days, and I think the parks were busier the closer it got to Christmas. The day after was the worst. I've heard the week between Christmas and New Years is the worst, and I believe it. Myself, I can handle crowds up to a certain point. I feel like there are people who would not like Disneyland at all when it is like this. Even on the last day, we got a little fed up with how bad the crowds were, and we learned to stay away from Tomorrowland at night. We also stayed at the resort hotel and got to enjoy the "magic hour" perks every day if we wanted to. I do know that if you get one of the "park hopper" passes, I think you usually get at least one day to get the early magic hour as well, without having to stay at the resort hotel.
Five days was definitely a lot. There is a lot of walking and standing involved in going to Disneyland. I think if I were to plan another trip, 4 days would be good, maybe taking a day off in the middle to go to the beach or something.
It was really nice to stay at the Disneyland Resort Hotel. But I don't think I would stay there again unless I had so much money and wanted to stay at the Grand Californian (even then there is part of it that is above DD, and would be so annoyingly loud). The hotels across the street the other direction from Disneyland are a little closer in my opinion and probably a lot cheaper.
I was surprised at how much Jacqueline got to do. I feel like she got to ride a lot of things for only being 8 months old. I used to think people who went to Disneyland with really small kids were weird, but now I know they can do a lot more.
Travel Guide Tip: If you have a baby you can use the Stroller Pass, one adult rides, then switches the one with the baby so they can ride. It worked well for us, as usually the returning rider can take 2-3 people with them when they go. So it's kind of like a free fast pass. It was kind of annoying though because there is no continuity with how each ride distributes the Stroller Pass. You just have to ask the Cast Member at each ride. Sometimes you just get a slip of paper, sometimes they give you a lanyard to wear and then you get something else to get back in line...each ride is different.
Disneyland is my favorite versus California Adventures. I feel like there isn't as much to do in CA. But CA has definitely gotten so much better than it used to be. My coworker went with her family around Halloween and she liked CA better, I have no idea what she is talking about!
Here are my favorites:
Parade-Paint the Night
Show-World of Color
Coaster-"Hyperspace Mountain"
Christmas theme ride-"It's a Small World-Christmas"
CA ride-Radiator Springs
Detail-the picture windows in the Emporium Store on Main Street
Treat-toss up between the beignets or the dole whip
And if you read all my Disneyland posts, congrats! Mostly this was for me to remember this once-in-a-lifetime magical trip!! We are planning a more low-key trip to the Oregon Coast this year, haha. But I'd totally go back to Disneyland in a heartbeat.
Meagan
PS, I was able to find a replacement Peter and Wendy pin for my mom on Amazon. I am amazing!
PPS. I just remembered that I didn't review the "Jingle Cruise", or Jungle Cruise as it's usually known. I don't remember what night I rode it, I just know I did it at night. This was the second year they decorated the ride for Christmas. The idea was that the airplane carrying all the supplies for the holiday crashed and the supplies got all over and the animals had a good time getting into everything. So the monkeys were in the baking supplies, the elephants were decorated in tinsel and wreaths, and the natives were having an ugly sweater contest. The jokes were also changed to be more festive. I loved the Jingle Cruise! It was great to see it done up differently and have new jokes. It was pretty cute and fun. I think I would have enjoyed it more during the day but I only got to ride this one once. But it is a great edition of the classic ride!
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