Celebrating Disneyland Style Day 2

Can you believe it?? I finally wrote a recap of day 2, and it only took me a little over 2 weeks to do it!!
On day 2 we decided we were going to do the parks in the opposite order so we hit California Adventure a little after opening and headed straight back to Radiator Springs Racer!! It was closed the day before, and the fast pass return time was already up to 5:00pm so we were hoping the stand-by line wouldn’t be too bad.

It said 75 minutes, which for newer rides isn’t all that bad so we decided to brave the line. This was by far the longest line of the whole trip, but the kids did rather well. “The Boy” did want to be held a lot, but at least he wasn’t whiney about it.

We all rode it and there was a mixed reaction among us. My mom and I have ridden it before and both really like it, but this was the first time for the kids. #1 & #2 both loved it and wanted to ride it again, while #3 hated every minute of it and will never go on it again. The boy seemed to enjoy most of it, until the dips when we were race. Since he is a bit of a little guy those negative G’s were a bit much for him, but he didn’t complain! 

After the ride we stuck around Cars Land for a bit and rode the other rides they have to offer and enjoyed Radiator Springs in all it’s Christmas glory! They have a lot of trees there and they are all so unique. Here are a few of my favorites.


Up next the kids wanted to hit Bug’s Land so that is what we did. Amazingly “The Boy” insists that “the caterpillar” is his favorite ride, although I’m not sure I agree with him. We hit a few of the rides there and then it was on to my absolute favorite ride, Toy Story Mania!!


I am so bummed that TSM does not have fast passes at California Adventure, but thankfully the wait was only about 30 minutes, because this is a must do ride for me!

I had “The Boy” next to me and he had such a blast it made it that much better for me. Every time we moved to the next game he would do a fist pump and declare that he won that round! He was rather disappointed when we got to the end and he found out that I actually had the high score for the whole car!!

By now it was about 2 o’clock so we decided we better get some lunch. I’ll be honest here, I am not as impressed with the food choices at the Disneyland Resort as I am at Disney World, but I do like what I have tried at the Pacific Warf area of California Adventure. I was really hoping to try some of the clam chowder at Pacific Warf Cafe, but the line was really long the whole time we were there so that didn’t happen. Instead we ate at Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, which is really good.

After lunch we headed over to the Animation Academy, as this is one of “Artsy Girl’s” favorite things at Hollywood Studios. Here we all tried our hands at drawing Agent P. I don’t think we did too bad. Can you guess who’s is who’s? I’ll give you a hint none of them are “The Boy’s” since he only scribbled all over his paper. ;)

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After playing around in Beast’s library, and getting our voices stolen by Ursula we decided it would be a good time to go to Disneyland and ride a few of the rides, like It’s a Small World, that we didn’t do on the first day. The girls also wanted to take another spin in the teacups. We spent most of the evening in Fantasyland riding my ‘classic’ favorites like Snow White and Pinocchio. When coming out of Pinocchio we spotted this guy! I <3 him!!



We were in line for Peter Pan when the boy decided he had to go to the bathroom. My mom took the girls and Peter Pan, while “The Boy” and I went to use the restroom an then rode on Dumbo . . . again. The Christmas Parade was going on at this time so the line was really short! We ended up waiting just about 10 minutes to get on the ride, and those of you out there with Dumbo lovers know how rare that is! 

After we rode everything there was in Fantasyland we decided we wanted to head back to California Adventure to end our evening with a hot cocoa from the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop. Unfortunately, our timing was not as good as the day before and we got caught in the end of the parade mess. That always scares me, but alas we did make it out of the park safely and did not lose a single kid, so I call it a success.

We made our way over to Ghirardelli’s and was greeted by a CM handing out samples of peppermint bark. I had actually tried it before at the Ghirardelli Shop in Monetary last year and was surprised by how much I liked it since I am not a huge peppermint fan.

The 3 girls all got small hot cocoas, while I found myself intrigued by the salted caramel hot cocoa, and got a medium. We sat outside the shop for a bit enjoying the best hot cocoa we have had in a long time and then decided to make a loop around Paradise Pier while World Of Color was going on, before heading back to the car and home for the night.

I have to say it was a very nice ending to a wonderful trip. How can you not be happy when you get to see something like this on your way out of the park??

Celebrating Disneyland Style Day 1

I love Christmas and I love Disney so you combine the two and you have one happy Summer!

Chyenne’s birthday was on Tuesday so we decided to drive out Monday evening so that we could wake up, eat and hit the parks first thing, and we did just that.

The kids decided they wanted to go to Disneyland first so that is what we did. Our first stop was City Hall to get Chyenne a Happy Birthday button. Apparently that was the same plan many others had since the line was pretty long, and took awhile. Eventually we did get the button and were ready to let the fun begin!

My mom and the kids decided that they would get in line to see Mickey as I waited in line at City Hall and I was done just in time to join them for this picture! I just adore the characters all dressed up for winter ! !

After a few pics we were ready to hit the rides! First up was Winnie the Pooh, one of my personal favorites. Once we got off the ride we noticed the line for Tigger and Pooh was really short so we thought we better get in it and get a few more winter character pics!

Up next we visited The Haunted Mansion Nightmare Before Christmas style! I absolutely love the Haunted Mansion this time of year. Jack Skellington and Zero take over in such a magical way that includes a haunted gingerbread house that you can smell as you pass by, ghoulish presents galore and snow a plenty! 

From there we hit the preschooler friendly rides as we made our way over to Toontown to check out the homes of the big guy and gal themselves, and of course took some more pics.

We had a great time at Disneyland and a little before 5 we had done most of what we wanted to do so we decided to head on over to California Adventure. We actually timed it pretty well and caught the Main Street Tree Lighting Ceremony as we made our way down Main Street USA. One of my favorite things about Disneyland growing up was how magical it looks all lit up, and watching the lights coming on down Main Street all at once never gets old!! 

One of the things I love most about Disneyland Resort is how easy it is to park hop. For those of you who have never been, you can literally walk out of the turnstiles of one park, across an open area and into the turnstiles of the other!  It’s so convenient that we often go back and forth as we please!

Once in California Adventure we made our way to Carsland, which is always amazing at night, but is even more amazing at Christmas time!! Unfortunately I don’t have any pics to share since we managed to kill the batteries in 2 cell phones and our camera before we made it there!!! But we did spy Santa flying by Hyperion Theater, home of the Aladdin Musical. After riding Monsters Inc. we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel to recharge so we can do it all again the next day!!

Stay tuned for day 2 and, of course, a lot more pictures!

World of Color- Winter Dreams

I know I usually do Foodie Friday on Fridays, but since I am road trippin’ to Las Vegas today, and I got a chance to attend the World of Color – Winter Dreams Media event at Disney’s California Adventure last night so I am going to post about that instead. Okay?

This is the meet up that almost didn’t happen. I have driven to Disneyland from my mom’s house a few dozen times and I knew it was about an hour and a half drive; 2 hours at the most. Well this is me 3 hours later . . .



Yeah, not a happy Summer, and don’t worry we weren’t going anywhere when this was taken.
We were allowed to start checking in at 3, and had to be checked in by 6:30. We ended up pulling into the Mickey & Friends parking lot at about 6:10. We made a mad dash to the pick up location and were greeted with these signs.

     

Phewww. We made it just in time because right after we got checked in they were starting to give the “no show” spots away.

After we received our wristbands and tickets we were advised that we should go directly to the Grizzly River Run FastPass location as they started lining up between 6:30- 7, so into the park we headed. As we made our way back we noticed that the line was already backed up to SOARIN’. We also noticed that SOARIN’ only had a 15 minute wait so we decided to go on a ride real quick, instead of hopping in line. Here we are in line for SOARIN’ celebrating our success



After the ride the line was moving so we decided we better get in it. The line was really long, but as we made our way to Paradise Pier I got really excited to see they were handing out these beauties to everyone.



Success!! We scored ourselves 4 pair of Glow with the Show ears!! And they will be going back with us in a couple of weeks when we hit Disneyland for a birthday celebration!!

The viewing area was quite full by the time we made our way in, but a very kind cast member told us that there will be more room on the right hand side, so we made our way over there and lucked into a rail side spot on the second tier, just in front of the media risers. Score!!

After a brief introduction by Steven Davison, a Disney Imagineer, and a guest appearance by Josh Gad, the voice behind the movie Frozen’s Olaf, it was time for the show!!

Winter dreams opens with a virtual choir and videos of the members singing were played in snowflakes on the water screen. Many of our Disney favorites make appearances in winter themed scenes as well. These include Bambi and his woodland friends, Santa Mater, our favorite toys preforming the nutcracker (watch for Rex in a tutu) and my personal favorite . . .



The show is hosted by Olaf, the snowman from Frozen, and I have to say he is a ball of fun!! Or should I say 3 balls of fun?? He even sings about his desire to experience summer for the first time.



One of my favorite parts of the show is the sing-a-long, in which Olaf tells you to follow his bouncing butt . . .



The sing-a-long has a little something for everyone, featuring Jingle Bells, I Have a Little Dreidel, and Feliz Navidad.

All in all I have to say we all loved the show and the Glow with the Show ears were a huge hit as well. I am always amazed at the way Disney can get grown adults giggling like children, and that is exactly what I heard all around me as our ears flickered and changed colors with the show!! It truly adds an extra level of magic to the experience, for sure!!



If you are heading to the Disneyland Resort this holiday season I highly recommend you take the time to watch World of Color- Winter Dreams!! You won’t regret it!

What’s Up Wednesday November 12 Edition

This week is busy busy busy for all of us here at the Pixie household. We are trying to get the girls ahead in their school work to account for our “travel days” as we head to Las Vegas for the Rock n Roll half marathon! To make things even a little more interesting Thursday my mom, the 2 older girls, and I will be the guest of Disney Parks at a World of Color- Winter Dreams meet up! ! ! !

Can you tell I am really excited about that? We were lucky enough to get into the meet up to attend the preview the night before the show goes live to park guests on Friday, November 15th. Secretly I am hoping “glow with the show” ears will be involved. ;) 

Since today is Wednesday you would think I am all ready to go right?? Yeah well about that . . . I always feel like I have plenty of time, until I don’t, and now I don’t. Today will be filled with lots of packing. I am packing for 5 after all and school work for the girls so that Thursday and Friday can go as smoothly as possible. Taking kids on a racecation is always a little tricky, but also rewarding! (hint: look for my post on DisBroads Tuesday)

So there you have it. Even shorter and sweeter then last week, but next week will be a busy week on the blog filled with recaps, so be on the look out for them!