My home away from home.
In late April my sister randomly texted me asking if Tim and I would be able to make a last-minute trip to Disneyland on May 15, 16, 21, or 22. We were good to go on the 21st, but why those particular dates? In honor of Fantasmic!‘s 20th anniversary (I was 6 when it premiered… o,0), Disneyland held four special performances for Annual Passholders. AND I HAVE ONE, SO I COULD GO! <– it’s my first one, it’s rather exciting. Plus the 21st was mine and Tim’s 6-month anniversary, so I was all excited about that and the fact that we could get buttons. Except for some reason I was under the impression that it was 7 months, so that’s what we wrote on our buttons. My bad.
We left on Sunday afternoon and arrived at the park a little after 6 and met up with my sister, her boyfriend Ryan, my cousin Brian, and his girlfriend Jolene at Small World. What I forgot to take pictures of were all the goths roaming around the park (it was goth day!). It was kind of weird. Anyway, after Small World we headed to California Adventure since they have booze and pretzels filled with cream cheese! No wonder why the Karl Strauss beer station is Ryan’s favorite attraction at California Adventure. 
Karl Strauss is one of San Diego’s local brewing companies.
Those should say 6 months… oops.
For breakfast, we ate at Tangaroa Terrace at the Disneyland Hotel. The prices weren’t too shabby and we got to order our food on touchscreen menus — so Jetsons!
It’s Rex!!!
Tim’s french toast was really tasty. I got some sort of breakfast wrap that was loaded with eggs.
Rex explores the artifacts sitting outside of Indiana Jones.
Cars Land has yet to open, but when you stand up by the benches at the Blue Sky Cellar you can get a really good view of it. Like most, I’m not the biggest Cars fan, but I’m really excited to explore this new area when it finally opens. It looks sick. And all the concept art and scale models of Radiator Springs looks SO AMAZING.
My sister discovered the “miniature” effect on our camera. Pretty neat.
Cars Land concept art from the Blue Sky Cellar.
Model for Luigi’s Flying Tires.
Imagineer’s desk I would assume.
It’s a Small World via miniature effect.
My sister and I waited in line to take a picture with Merida from Brave. We were the only adults there that weren’t accompanied by a child. Haha! The picture didn’t turn out well though, sooo I shall not be posting it here. At the end of the meet & greet you get to shoot a bow and arrow! I think I drew back to far, because the arrow bounced on the side and came back. The cast member said, “You’re trying to kill us all!” o,0
The bears from Brave!
I found Natalie Portman!
Tim and I took a long break before we headed back to the park. Since the Fantasmic! performance was a special event, the park closed at 1 am and New Orleans Square, Adventureland, and Frontierland were all open. There were also special food items on the menu at different restaurants, including a bacon/macaroni & cheese hot dog. Who comes up with this stuff? I was feeling a bit too sickly to eat the special foods, but I was able to enjoy popcorn shrimp and a dessert skewer the next day (though the food is special towards the performance, they start serving them at 4, so those who can’t go can still get a taste).
These fancy lanterns were scattered around the Rivers of America.
Berry Brownie Skewer! OMG, I wish I had milk to help me tame this beast.
I didn’t get to try this, but according to my sister it wasn’t that tasty. Too bad. It’s the most epic cupcake I’ve ever seen!
Maleficent is without a doubt the best Disney villain. She’s a fairy that turns into a dragon. ‘Nuff said.
The grand finale!
At the end of the night, some Disney characters lined up by the train station to say hello to guests. As Tim and I walked hung out around the hub in front of the castle and Main Street, the speakers boomed the Fantasmic! theme over and over and over. It was fun the first three times, but then I thought, “They must be doing this to drive us crazy and get us out of the park.”
I have soooo many more pictures to share! So keep a look out tomorrow for Darth Vader, little padawans, a techno looking rabbit hole, and much more.
And despite the fact that we were there for 4 days, we still didn’t do everything we wanted to do. BUT, we also got annual passes, so we have a whole year to go back as many times as we can!!!
