Thanksgiving at Disneyland

Mickey & Minnie were great company on Thursday.

Disneyland was a lot more packed than we hoped, but as always, we went in with a strategy and didn't have a long wait in more than two lines. We missed Pirates of the Caribbean because they were re-opening it that day so the lines were insane and fast-passes sold out quickly. The new Star Tours update was really good - we had no idea they changed it! Much better graphics and story.

It was my first time going to Disneyland around the holidays so I especially enjoyed seeing all the holiday decor - the castle was beautiful! It was actually E's mom's idea. [She's not a fan of photos of herself so I didn't include any here]. Then, on Friday we went shopping in Old Pasadena and had fun starting our Christmas shopping (surprisingly it wasn't very busy!).  Sunday I made a thanksgiving dinner to make up for the missed holiday. It wasn't terribly creative, but I considered it a success!

Holiday weekends. So much of everything I love.















1. Captain EO (Michael Jackson circa 1986) and our favorite lunchtime show, Billy Hill & the Hillbillies
2. Spotted: The Mad Hatter and Alice, near the Teacups
3. Enormous Christmas tree, and E double-fisting and dominating his favorite game, Buzz Lightyear
4. The Christmas parade
5. Storybook land
6. Main Street USA at twilight
7. Mr. Toad, and the castle
8. I wore a Tshirt I bought four years ago and still fits! Breakfast at the Anaheim Hilton - YUM
9. E in his element at a used/vintage bookstore and coffee at Intelligentsia
10. Our belated Thanksgiving festivities - I did the entire dinner! so happy it turned out.


I hope you all had wonderful weekends with food, family and fellowship!


p.s.I couldn't resist digging up a picture from my very first trip to Disneyland - a few months before E and I started dating - and comparing it to one we took this week. What a different four years makes...

Disney!

Call me oblivious, but last week when we planned to go to Disneyland, neither E or I had any idea it was MLK day. E always has off on Mondays (no class) and I was just taking the day after a crazy week.

We realized this on Sunday and debated going to D-land at all, since we were really looking forward to a quieter day there (as it would have been on any other Monday in mid-winter). We decided to go anyway.

E is a D-land genius, so despite it being insanely busy with people off of work and school, we were able to keep our line waiting to >20 minutes at every ride.

We left our house at the crack of dawn and got there just as it opened.

First headed to Tomorrowland where we grabbed a FastPass (which is the best invention ever) to Buzz Lightyear and then got in line for Space Mountain.

While there, E noticed that Captain EO had returned, in tribute to Michael Jackson. He's a big MJ fan anyway, and loved Captain EO as a kid, so this was a highlight.

I loved it too!

(I hate carrying around a lot of things at Disney, so all these photos were taken on my new htc hd7)

Buzz Lightyear is always a highlight, although I'm totally embarrassed by our scores (it's been too long!)

The castle

E and I both love Fantasyland and we hit up all our favorite story rides: Pinnochio, Snow White, Peter Pan and Mr. Toad.

Picked up a funnel cake and espresso from the French market in New Orleans square and got in lines for Pirates.

I forgotten the two drops in this boat ride and E and I got splashed sitting in front. I would have been annoyed if it wasn't such a perfectly warm day!

Then we were able to Fastpass Indiana Jones (always insane lines!). I am amazed that people could tolerate 45-60 minutes waits for a 5 minute ride.

Right next door is Tarzan's Treehouse. I've never climbed up, so we did. I allowed myself a brief moment of daydreaming that we had a little one (or two) and how much fun they'd have up there.

One of the best slower rides, IMO, is the jungle cruise. The guides have a really hilarious and corny script. We bust up laughing every time.

The Tiki Room. It's amazing how despite what has changed between E and I in my first D-land visit to now, the Tiki room was exactly the same as it was 3.5 years ago!

We always have a late lunch at the golden horseshoe while watching Billy Hill and the Hillbillies.

Chicken fingers and fries always hit the spot after walking all day!

We left in the early evening to have some time to recover before going to back to work/the books.

Are you a fellow Disney fanatic? What are your favorite rides?