Monday, June 16, 2014

A Day at Disneyland

(Really it turned into just a Morning at Disneyland, but I'll get to that shortly...)

Ryan and I have annual passes for Disneyland. We have the SoCal Passes, which are discounted because there are blackout dates (but since we are local we can make it work). We hadn't been to the parks in a while, so since our passes will be blacked out for the summer we knew we needed one last trip before then. We looked at the calendar and realized that Sunday was the only day that would work... so off we went!

If you follow me on Instagram {CarleeMcDot} you probably saw a few of our fun photos, but I thought I would do a quick recap of a day at Disneyland through pictures.

We left the house by 6:30am so we could drop Walt the Wiener Dog off at some friends' house (that way he could play with their pup and not be trapped inside our house all day). We ended up getting up to Disneyland around 7:45am, parked in the parking structure, jumped on the tram, and away we went.

Tram Selfie!

Disneyland would be our first park, so after using the restrooms we made our way to Main Street. Minnie was out for pictures and autographs (and her line was the shortest) so we made our way over to say hi.

Ryan had to crouch because he isn't "mini"

We were planning on riding Space Mountain first, but unfortunately it was down for restoration so we quickly changed our game plan. Off to the 'wildest ride in the wilderness', which had been closed for a while, so we were excited to test it out. (Nothing seemed that different other than the dynamite in one of the caves, but it was a smooth ride, so maybe the updates were more "track and car" things.)

Mid-ride selfie!

Ryan loves to see the animals at the petting zoo area, so we thought we would hit that up next, but we were too early (it didn't open until 10am) so we kept trucking and saw that King Arthur's Carousel didn't have a wait, so of course rode the ponies.

OBVIOUSLY I got the maize and blue one!

As we were going around and around, Ryan saw the Sword in the Stone and told me he could DEFINITELY get it out, so obviously he had to try it once we got off the carousel.

"You can do anything with enough coffee"

Although the tea cups make us both super dizzy, we had to take them for a spin. Thankfully Ryan was able to keep his coffee down :)

You spin me right round baby, right round.

I don't know how Ryan got the picture to look like we were sitting
perfectly still, seeing as we were spinning at least 15mph :)

Next up was the Matterhorn. There said it would be a 10 minute wait, but once we walked in line they were looking for a group of two, so they grabbed us and got us right on. SCORE!

Ha, don't ask... Apparently Ryan said his elbows kept
hitting the sides so he rode like this the whole way!

Ryan normally kicks my butt on the Buzz Lightyear laser tag game, so I had to let him do it again. We got stuck in the first room for a bit, which was great for Ryan because he just kept shooting and racking up points. I thought in the past the scores showed on the picture that you can email to yourself, but I guess not... I think I had about 80,000 and Ryan was over 250,000... Maybe next time...

Obviously you can tell who is the serious player here...

Once we emailed our Buzz photo we walked by Star Tours and saw there was only a 5 minute wait so thought WHY NOT?! We walked right on but unfortunately our "ship" was broken so we had to transfer to another one... The funny thing was, I was the "rebel spy" on the ship! They showed a picture of me on the screen and Princess Leia said they had to be sure to keep me safe :)

REBEL SPY! SAVE ME!

Coffee tends to go "right through" Ryan, so we made a quick pit stop and while he was in the potty I saw Cruella de Vil so got in line to take my picture with her. I don't think I've ever gotten a photo with her, so since we were done with everything we wanted to do in Disneyland (and it was only 10am) I figured another character shot was okay. She was pretty "cruel", making fun of the kids and even asked me about my tank top (which says "Forget the glass slipper, this princess wears running shoes").

"Do you run from the ball like Cinderella?"

Maybe I shouldn't have smiled...

We went to ride the Tower of Terror in California Adventure, but it was down... Bummeruski, so we walked through Cars Land (grabbed a couple pictures and then some free Ghiradelli chocolate and Boudin sour dough bread).

Radiator Springs!

Of course we hit up one of our favorite rides - SCREAMIN'! We were in the back row, which we swear goes fastest and gets whipped around more than any other row on the train. We decided to be SCREAMIN' on SCREAMIN' for our photo :) Ryan definitely won for best face though! He said it was because you could see the fear in his eyes...


On our way over to Screamin' we stopped for a quick picture in front of the Ferris wheel. I may or may not have been having phone troubles (LIKE ALWAYS) and made the photographer wait a good 3 to 5 minutes so I could get my crap together... What a sweet girl!


Then it was time for our other favorite ride in the California Adventure park... the Silly Symphony Swings! Sometimes you just can't beat flying through the air!

Shakas for the swings

Ready to FLY!

Kickin' the sky!

LOVE IT!

Shadow shot

After the swings we saw Maestro Goofy coming out and we thought we would stop and see what he was doing. He lead a fun little show with the water. We'd never seen it before so it was fun to watch. We did stand back though, didn't want to get in the "splash zone" in case the wind shifted.




At this point it was only 11am and we had done everything we wanted (well, that was open and available for us to do) so we started heading out of the park. We OBVIOUSLY had to get a shot with Walt and Mickey on Carthay Circle.

Other than Ryan, Walt is my main man!

Although Ryan thought we were done, I had a slightly different plan. You see, for Christmas my parents got me a Disneyland gift card and as soon as I got it I knew what I wanted to do with it... DOLE WHIPS! O.M.Geeeeeee. They are DELISH!! So back over to Disneyland for our sweet treat! (Don't worry, I shared my gift card with Ryan and let him get a Dole Whip as well... shoot, I even let him use it for his morning coffee - BEST WIFE AWARD!)

This is my Tiki Face?

I have been waiting for this since CHRISTMAS!

Couldn't wait for my spoon...

Earlier in the day we had seen the Innovations area and I realized we had never checked it out. There were signs about meeting the Avengers (Captain America and Thor) so while we were eating our pineapple soft serve we walked over. It turned out to be NOT what we expected, but at least we got a Matterhorn Selfie...


And by 12 noon we had accomplished all that we set out to do and more! The temperatures were rising (it was around 80* when we got back to the car) and the crowds were starting to come, so we decided to hit the road. I think the longest line we waited in was about 10 minutes. Ryan kept saying "This is my kind of Disneyland" (he very much dislikes the crowds). We stopped and listened to the Dapper Dans (and their "bicycle built for FOUR" song) and then made it back to the tram.

Ryan wants a hat like the ones they were wearing :)

Now THAT is what I call a Sunday FUNday! 

Ry and I love Disney (okay, maybe I love Disney and Ryan loves me so he tries to love Disney like I do). I mean, it really is the Happiest Place on Earth... Where else can you act like a kid all day long?! {Okay, if you know Ryan and I, you know we act like kids just about anywhere we go, but you get what I am trying to say...}

Do you love Disney? What theme park in your favorite? 

8 comments:

Danielle said...

SOOOO jealous you are able to just pop over to Disneyland for the day! I was totally jealous when Jason got to go for the day last week, I can't wait to get back out there in August!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your day!! Great photos!

Mer @ Scoot a Doot said...

SO MUCH FUN!!! I am really looking forward to returning to Disneyland in August - it's been too long. I haven't really gotten the chance to do much of CA Adventure so that's my plan for the trip. :)

The Silent Assassin said...

Looks like you guys did an excellent job beating the lines. I love love disney... c'mon who's not a kid at heart. The best amusement park would have to be Universal in Orlando. Had the best time there... We are going to disney the week after july 4th. so should be a blast! Hope you didn't mind me pimping you on IG =)

Juliana said...

love the recap! This is what I have always told my boyfriend (we live in Pasadena and also have passes and try and pop over as often as we can) that if you go at opening, there are no lines! He didnt believe me until we did it a month ago and now hes obsessed haha. glad you had such a great time!

Christina said...

We love Disneyland too and use our passes all the time! Our daughter is finally 40 inches so we are headed there next week to enjoy a whole set of rides we haven't gone on in over 5 years!

Heather said...

You and Ryan are so adorable! Looks like you guys had a great time. I'm so jealous that you live so close to Disneyland! I've only been there once, but had so much fun. I'm with Ryan on the crowds – not a fan – unfortunately, they must be dealt with on most theme park visits. Glad you were able to hit most of the things you wanted (bummer that some of the rides were closed), and were able to beat the crowds :)

Rick Stiles said...

Fun blog post!
I wanted to make 2 comments:
1. Disneyland used to include the scores in the Buzz Lightyears pictures, but they don't anymore.
2. The King Arthur Carrousel horse you rode is named M.W. I found this write-up at http://findingmickey.squarespace.com/king-arthurs-carrousel-horses/mw/: M.W.: Found in the outer row, M.W. is one of Disneyland's wonderfully detailed carousel horses. M.W. is probably named for the ornate trappings which seem to create the letters M & W. The yellow, mustard, navy and sky blue color scheme is one of the more detailed paint jobs on the King Arthur Carrousel.