Sunday, October 12, 2014

Disneyland Withdrawals

I haven't been to Disneyland since running the Dumbo Double Dare (when I ran the Disneyland 10K on Saturday and the Disneyland Half on Sunday) over Labor Day Weekend - can you say WITHDRAWALS?! They recently decorated for Fall, so I knew I wanted needed to go and see all the awesome pumpkins and orange color.

Ryan and I had been trying to figure out when we would be able to go, but nothing was really working out. I am off tomorrow (for Columbus Day), so thought it would be a great time for him to take a Mental Health Day (since he has been super busy and a tad bit stressed), but unfortunately they are handing off catalogs tomorrow and wouldn't be able to make it happen. I originally thought he had a long run on the calendar for today (had in my mind it was his 17-miler), but when I looked at his schedule yesterday I saw it was only a 5 mile run and KNEW we had to go to Disney if we wanted to see the Halloween decorations.

We dropped Walt off at a friend's house and headed up towards Anaheim. The parks didn't open until 10am, so it wasn't too early of a morning for us. There was some sort of walk in Disneyland today, which is probably why the parks opened later, that we were unaware of. Whatever was going on led to A LOT of folks near the main gates by the time we showed up. They have a security check-point near the gates, so they can look through all of the bags, strollers, etc to confirm nothing bad is coming into the parks. They REALLY need a "non-bag" line. Ryan and I don't bring anything into the parks with us (other than our annual passes, phones, and some money for food) and it is lame we have to stand in such long lines (yes, I know I sound like a whiner, but we pay a pretty penny for our passes and already stand in plenty of lines ALL DAY LONG, so it would be nice if they had some sort of fast pass for folks that don't need anything checked). Honestly though, I should have taken a photo, it was RE-DONK-ULOUS.

After the incredibly long wait to walk through the security folks (who just waved us in because WE DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING), we decided to hit up Disneyland first. On the way in I asked Ryan if we could grab a picture with the GIANT Mickey Pumpkin. Of course he obliged (Disney isn't totally his thing, and pictures are one of his least favorite parts, but he does it for me :) ).






Disney Magic

Oh yeah, and while we were waiting in line to take our picture at the pumpkin a bird POOPED on me... Thankfully it wasn't a big poo and it sort of blended in with my shirt, but YUCK... I hear it's good luck - HA!

Then it was off to Big Thunder Canyon Railroad. We LOVE this ride. The back row is the way to go. Maybe it is just my imagination, but it feels like you go MUCH faster and get whipped around more. I'd definitely suggest asking for the last row if you can :)





Ryan just had to go see the animals (some folks are surprised that there is a petting zoo inside Disneyland). I never touch them, but Ryan loves to pet whatever animals are around. On the way over we saw Jessie just hanging out, so we grabbed a quick couple pictures with her.






Next we were off to the Tea Cups. Ryan can really get them spinning. I tried to grab a couple pictures, but thought I might lose my phone, so snapped a quick one and then held on tight.


On the way to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters (which Ryan always CREAMS me on, and today was no exception) we took a couple selfies off to the side of the castle. Sometimes the front of the castle can be overwhelming with all the people, so we found a quiet spot to snag a couple pictures.




Maybe I need to focus on the targets and not the camera ;)

Then it was time to head over to California Adventure. We thought we'd ride Tower of Terror, but the line was about 75 minutes, so we decided to pass on grass and keep on trucking. Truckin' on through Cars Land of course!






When I went to the parks with a friend before the Dumbo Double Dare we did the Single Rider lane at Radiator Springs and it was super fast, so Ryan and I decided to do that again. It took us all of maybe 10 minutes to wait (when the stand-by line was around a 70 minute wait). You don't get to ride together (you are just filling in where they need an extra person), but it is worth it!

I think I was the only one having fun :)

We LOVE Screamin', so had to head over. The wait time was 30 minutes, but since we hadn't waited in line very long, we figured we'd do it. When we got up to the front, they asked us how many in our party and we told them two. The attendant said "Row 1 on the left"... YUP, FIRST ROW BABY! Normally people wait extra for the front row, but for some reason no one was waiting and we lucked out and were in the right place at the right time. THE FRONT WAS BOMB! I think even if you have to wait a couple extra trains, it might be worth it!

Wish the glare wasn't horrible... It was a GREAT picture!

By this time it was about 1:15pm and we were getting hungry. Instead of spending boo-koo bucks in the park, we decided we were done for the day and would head home (and just stop somewhere cheap and fast on the way back south). We grabbed a couple pictures with Walt and Mickey as we were leaving.



We may have only been at the parks for 3.5 hours this morning, but it was just enough to get us in the fall spirit (which is still sort of hard when it is in the 90s - #AlwaysSummerInSoCal). And you obviously can't have a bad day when you are spending time at THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

Do you like Disneyland? What is your favorite theme park? 

3 comments:

Jennifer K. said...

I love going over there for a few hours and getting out early. I tried to go after school on Thursday, since we had an early release and I didn't have to stay for the staff meeting, but even at noon it was crazy busy. I was there probably less than two hours.

Unknown said...

Awww, YAY Disneyland! I was there about four years ago around this time of year and loved it so much. :) Love your hair like that!

Cailyn said...

They don't have lines for people without bags?! That is mind boggling to me. After spending a week at Disney World last week after running the Tower of Terror, I can tell you my husband loves nothing more than to be bagless at Disney World to avoid the line. Loved seeing your photos :)

~ Cailyn @livelaughlist