The Rose Gold Rat Pack Takes on Disneyland! An Aug. 2017 TR (Finished! 02/20)

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DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Hi everyone!!!

Let's get the Who out of the way right away:

Welcome to my Trip Report! I'm Elle!

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I'm in my late 20s. I spend the school year working as a 7th grade ELA teacher and the summer teaching 6-14 year olds theater. In my down time I write. I am an Annual Passholder at Walt Disney World, so I can normally be found over on that side of the boards, but I love Disneyland as well as Disneyland Paris. I love Pirates and Mansion (I can't decide which is my favorite), Indy, the Fun Wheel (...to look at), and love just spending time in a park. I can never pick a favorite princess - it waffles between Merida, Tiana, and Aurora, but my favorite movies are Hercules and Zootopia and I love Daisy. This picture is clearly not from Disneyland, but I haven't actually edited any pictures of just myself for this current trip report yet. Womp. So this one from April will have to do.

There are three players in this Trip Report, but I'll only be introducing two of them right now, since they're the ones who helped me plan this trip!

First and foremost:
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Liz! Liz and I have known each other our entire lives, pretty much. She's in her mid-20s and loves all things Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan. She also loves all things Big Thunder Mountain. Now that her boss is no longer a mouse she spends her time playing with puppies for a living. This was Liz's first time in Disneyland.

And of course:

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Jen! For those of you who may have seen my TRs before, you've seen Jen in most of them. She is also in her late-20s. She loves Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella, and Mansion is definitely her favorite with Star Tours and Space coming in close. She is an Annual Passholder for Disneyland, even though she currently still lives out east with us. She has been my best friend since we were sixteen. She works for a small local business currently.


We started planning this trip a year ago April, and by "plan" I mean we sat at a lounge in Disney and said "Hey, let's go to Disneyland next summer." Everything managed to fall into place and we were off!


The What? A week in Disneyland of course!

Why? Because it was Liz's first time and it was time for our annual Disney trip.

Where? We stayed at Camelot Inn & Suites, in a family suite.

And as for the how, well, that's what the TR is for!

Come on along and enjoy!
 
Chapters:

* August 08, 2017: Let's Go To Disney!
* August 09, 2017: Let the Magic Begin!
* August 10, 2017: We So Fancy!
* August 11, 2017: "The Quest For the Ears!"
* August 12, 2017: Squad Goals
* August 13, 2017: Rose Gold Rat Pack!
* August 14, 2017: So Long!
 
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Chapter One: Let's Go To Disney!

Part One


The last time I went to California, we almost missed our flight. We were doing fine, we picked Jen up at her apartment in Boston, we had more than an hour and we were only 15 minutes away from the airport…..and then there was construction on the Callahan tunnel and we circumnavigated the city - seriously, we saw both South and North stations. We ended up getting to the airport about a half an hour before our flight was to leave, had to get the TSA agent to work with us, and in the end we were the last people onto our flight.


So, cut to two years later, 2017. The Comm Ave bridge replacement project is slowing everything to a halt right near the Callahan tunnel, and they only had a schedule posted online up to the 7th, even though construction wasn’t going to be completed until the 14th.


Needless to say, I started our vacation panicking and certain this was going to end badly.


It didn’t help that on the 7th, the day before we left, I basically was running around the entire state. I had to go to my former school (I’m moving across town to the other middle school), pack up my classroom, go to my parents’ house to drop off my things and meet my father, move money from one bank to another, finally pick up my new phone, go to Target, then head to Liz’s to help her pack. I finished the first two things without much issue, but of course there was an issue at the bank. So that held things up. Then I had to go to pick up my phone before I deposited my money and there were issues there, which held me up so I made it just as bank #2 was closing because they close early on Mondays….it was a thing. Thankfully, Liz was running around the rest of the state after she got out of work basically having the same amount of luck trying to get things accomplished before we went away too, so by the time 6 pm hit, we were so ready for vacation!


We ate dinner around 7 pm, I helped Liz finish packing, and then we went to bed around 10. We had to be up by 3:30 am.


When the alarms went off I was less than thrilled, mostly because I had just fallen asleep. We did our final checks that we had everything and waited. Liz’s DBF was picking us up at 4 to drive us to the airport. We had told him multiple times he didn’t need to - the 8th was his birthday, he had tech week and work, and he doesn’t like driving into Boston. But he wouldn’t even argue the point with us. So we put him together a thank you sandwich!

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Jen was meeting us in California. Originally she was going to be in California the weekend before us visiting family, but her schedule got changed due to work. She ended up having to work on Tuesday so she ended up having to leave late Tuesday/early Wednesday, spend the morning/afternoon with family, and was meeting us for the rest of the week Wednesday night. She told us this when it happened before we left so we weren’t at all worried.


We got to the airport with no traffic, except at the airport itself. The terminals were so busy - busier than I’ve ever seen them! - that it took about ten minutes just to get from Terminal A to Terminal C!


We checked our bags and got into the security line. It was moving well until a woman behind us was sick and they had to cut off the line to clean it up before the K9 came out for duty. We stood at the front of the line, unable to go through security, for half an hour.


It wasn’t ideal.


By the time we got through security we had enough time to find our gate and use the restroom before they started calling our flight. We were some of the first people on since we were sitting closer to the back of the plane - actually we were like the second or third row from the back.


I was super comfy in my Disney leggings though!

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And this was our “breakfast” - Terra chips and apple juice. Super healthy.

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We had a non-stop flight from Boston to LA. We did not sleep at all. I spent the time reading and watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I also took a couple of pictures out the window because flying over land is so neat and kind of weird for me. I'm used to flying over water.

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We made it easily to LAX, grabbed our bags, and completely misread our instructions for the bus, so we made our way towards Terminal 1 from Terminal 5. As the inter-airport bus was pulling out our bus was pulling in.


If you know me and Liz, this is the least shocking thing. We were texting our friends back home letting them know we had gotten to California safely and they thought it was hysterical!


Well, at least they did!


Okay actually we did too. Least surprising thing to happen.


We got off at Terminal 1 and waited for the next bus. There was a nice family waiting as well so we chatted with them a bit before the bus showed up. We kind of looked like spokespeople for Disney. I mean here’s Liz:

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I had changed out of my leggings in the bathroom before we left the airport, so I had shorts on by this point, but I still had my two sizes too big WDW sweatshirt, plus our backpacks. I’m sure everybody knew where we were going lol.


The bus came and we were super glad it did - we were getting hungry and were ready to find food once we dropped our bags. We sat near the front of the bus and just kind of watched the highway go by. I was slowly falling asleep as we hit Anaheim, which was not good because even though I told Liz our stop she honestly didn’t really know because she doesn’t know the area.


We walked to our hotel - Camelot Inn and Suites. I had gotten a great deal on a King Family Suite way, way back when we officially decided we were going to go to California like a year ago. I had read some of the negative reviews but I’ve stayed next to Camelot before and I’ve always liked it so I was stubbornly determined to stay there.


It was about 2-ish and we knew that check-in wasn’t until 4 so our plan was to just drop off our bags with the front desk and come back closer to check-in, after we had eaten. When we came in, however, they had a room ready for us - it wasn’t the room they wanted to assign to us, but on a lower floor. We took the room that was open already and paid.


Actually, we had a small issue - remember how I didn’t get to run to the bank until they were closing? The last of my check hadn’t cleared yet, so I couldn’t pay for all of it right up front. They let me just pay for half our stay as long as I came back the next day to pay for the rest, which was great! A+ service, Camelot!


We headed up to the third floor to drop off our stuff. Liz changed quickly while I took pictures.

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They don’t even do the room justice. It was gigantic! We could have easily fit 8 people in that room and it was just us. There was a couch, a kitchenette, a couple comfy chairs, it was great!


Once we had dropped our stuff it was definitely time to head out and find food!
 
Part Two


Liz and I headed across the street to the parks. But where were we going to go for lunch?


DCA?

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Disneyland?

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How about Downtown Disney?

We stopped once we got into Downtown Disney and bought a pretzel. There is no photographic evidence of this because I have never eaten a pretzel faster in my life. We were going on 24 hours since our last real meal at this point with only a bag of chips at breakfast time so we were really needed something to tide us over.


We walked through Downtown Disney but Liz had a specific place for our first meal in mind, someplace that we both love and was familiar enough to her because we have it in WDW too but a novelty because it’s just that little bit different.

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We sat at the bar, which was shockingly easy for the time of day.

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Our first drinks? I got a Tiki Rum, my favorite drink at Trader Sam’s:

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It’s reserve rum, cream of coconut and pineapple and orange juices with cinnamon and nutmeg.


Liz got the Lost Safari, which I have no photographic evidence of - I got better once I had food and sleep in my life I promise. A Lost Safari has dark and spiced rums, tropical juices, falernum, and Sam’s gorilla grog.


For food, I got the Kalua-style Pork Flatbread:

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This is pulled pork, barbecue sauce, red onion, cilantro, and mozzarella cheese. I got it without the red onion because they give me heartburn.


Again, I have no pictures (I hadn’t eaten yet!), but Liz got the Angus ⅓ lb Hawaiian Cheeseburger. She really enjoyed it. I liked my flatbread, it definitely hit the spot!


While we were sitting we heard one of the bartenders mention a Pineapple Princess, which was not on the menu but a bartender-specific drink. We asked about it and we were made them:

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I really could not tell you what is in this. I have looked all over, but it’s a boozy dole whip so it’s probably similar to the Spiky Pineapple? I don’t know, but it was good! And oh, look! Liz’s drink made the picture! Clearly I was starting to feel human again.


We paid for our lunch and headed out. Liz realized she needed to call her bank so we stopped and she quickly made a phonecall. Then we were back in business!


We wandered through the stores in Downtown Disney,

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and Liz found this cute little Eeyore that she ended up buying later in the week for one of her nieces.

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We found things we liked but didn’t want to buy yet, then meandered out of Downtown Disney.


We weren’t sure what we wanted to do, but one of our favorite Disney clothing brands had a pop-up shop over at GardenWalk and Liz really wanted to go. So we decided to head over there.

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We had fun shopping around and talking with the people there whom we knew from the internet and there were some great deals. These were the things we ended up buying:

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Liz’s are on top and mine are on the bottom.


We walked back to the hotel to drop our things off and figure out our next plan of attack. We stopped to buy gigantic water bottles at one of the convenience stores on Harbor so that we could have some cold water as we were walking. We kept those bottles - one in each mini fridge in each room of our hotel room - all week, refilling them as needed, so we always had cold water to come back to in the room.


We got back to our room around 5:30 and we talked about grabbing a 1 day pass for the evening but the longer we sat the more we realized just how exhausted we were. After about an hour sitting in the room we decided that it’d be best if we just called it a night, and around 7:30 we decided to just go to our separate rooms to watch some TV and, if we fell asleep, we wouldn’t have an issue. Honestly by the time I heard the fireworks going off around 10 I thought it was the middle of the night.
 


I am impressed you were reasonably coherent and able to do complex tasks, like take pictures, walk, etc., given how long it had been since you ate a real meal! I wouldn't have made it out of the hotel room until I had input at least 500 calories worth of nutrient rich foods in me before stepping out of the hotel. You ladies are total warriors! Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR!

Also, I need to figure out how to do the table of contents like you did...I can't figure it out on the mobile version (which is how I access the boards 98% of the time, as I usually check them while waiting for a bus, waiting on an old dog to finish her meal, etc., and the phone is always handy!). Will have to research it on the desktop version when I get back from my trip!

~Meg
 
Welcome back. Following along from the August thread. Love your report so far. So exciting to have been there.

Thanks! Glad you're here! We crammed a huge amount into our week so I'm excited to share it with everyone :)

I am impressed you were reasonably coherent and able to do complex tasks, like take pictures, walk, etc., given how long it had been since you ate a real meal! I wouldn't have made it out of the hotel room until I had input at least 500 calories worth of nutrient rich foods in me before stepping out of the hotel. You ladies are total warriors! Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR!

Also, I need to figure out how to do the table of contents like you did...I can't figure it out on the mobile version (which is how I access the boards 98% of the time, as I usually check them while waiting for a bus, waiting on an old dog to finish her meal, etc., and the phone is always handy!). Will have to research it on the desktop version when I get back from my trip!

~Meg

Welcome! I'm super impressed with myself too to be honest. I'm not really sure how I managed to be so coherent and focused, especially because I didn't write anything down until we decided to go to bed that evening!

If you need help with hyperlinking let me know! I've never done it on mobile before but I can always help via desktop and it may be similar?
 


Joining in! "Rose Gold Rat Pack" sounds like something I either need to join or create myself (especially since I just upgraded my iPhone and got the White & Rose Gold style).

Also, so glad to find a fellow New Englander! I'm going to Disneyland for the first time and flying out of Logan into LAX (I'm another WDW native and usually I'd fly in and out of Manchester, much smaller quieter airport) so while your experience gave me a bit of anxiety on what I might experience, it also gave me a good idea of what I'm in for thus alleviating said anxiety lol

Omg all your drinks from Trader Sam's sound and look so good. I hope they have that Pineapple Princess when I go, it sounds lovely.

That Eeyore is adorable and I want.

AAHHHHH YOU WENT TO THE WHOSITSWHATSITS POP-UP SHOP!! I have quite a bit of their merch, but you cleaned up big time in there. No Tiff sightings tho???

Excited to hear about what else you did and with more sleep! :teeth:
 
Joining in! "Rose Gold Rat Pack" sounds like something I either need to join or create myself (especially since I just upgraded my iPhone and got the White & Rose Gold style).

Also, so glad to find a fellow New Englander! I'm going to Disneyland for the first time and flying out of Logan into LAX (I'm another WDW native and usually I'd fly in and out of Manchester, much smaller quieter airport) so while your experience gave me a bit of anxiety on what I might experience, it also gave me a good idea of what I'm in for thus alleviating said anxiety lol

Omg all your drinks from Trader Sam's sound and look so good. I hope they have that Pineapple Princess when I go, it sounds lovely.

That Eeyore is adorable and I want.

AAHHHHH YOU WENT TO THE WHOSITSWHATSITS POP-UP SHOP!! I have quite a bit of their merch, but you cleaned up big time in there. No Tiff sightings tho???

Excited to hear about what else you did and with more sleep! :teeth:

Tiff was there the first time we went! (Spoiler: we totally went more than once, goodbye money!) We chatted with her but no pics because we were exhausted and trying not to be insane lol.

Welcome fellow New Englander! I like flying out of Worcester to get to Florida (#lazy) so Logan is a different beast. The best plan is to get there a couple hours early - the worst that can happen that way is that you have to sit around at the gate, and really that gives you time to get snacks or rearrange your things.

Oh you definitely want to be part of the rose gold rat pack ;) don't worry, that'll be explained near the end of the TR!
 
I'm here! So excited you got to go to Disneyland this year! I really miss it there. It's so much easier than touring around WDW. I'm ready for a break from WDW!
I'm assuming from your title that you got the rose gold ears? :)
Love the Disney leggings! I got my first pair from Lula Roe. Waiting until it gets cooler to wear them but it will get a lot of use I'm sure.

I love the t-shirts you guys bought! That is so cool they had a pop up shop.
And so lucky you got to eat in Trader Sams. I've still yet to go in there. I was turned away the last time because it was too crowded.
Looking forward to more!
 
I'm here! So excited you got to go to Disneyland this year! I really miss it there. It's so much easier than touring around WDW. I'm ready for a break from WDW!
I'm assuming from your title that you got the rose gold ears? :)
Love the Disney leggings! I got my first pair from Lula Roe. Waiting until it gets cooler to wear them but it will get a lot of use I'm sure.

I love the t-shirts you guys bought! That is so cool they had a pop up shop.
And so lucky you got to eat in Trader Sams. I've still yet to go in there. I was turned away the last time because it was too crowded.
Looking forward to more!

I was so glad to go back to Disneyland, it was a nice breather between WDW trips! I'm hoping to go back sooner rather than later again. I'm looking forward to reading how your August trip to WDW went though!

We maaaaay have ended up getting the rose gold ears ;) I love leggings - they're great for work with boots and a blouse for me - so I have a ton but these are my absolute favorite Disney ones. They also go with 90% of my closet!

We always ended up going to Trader Sam's at the weirdest times specifically because we assumed that it would be less crowded. And the pop-up shop was great! I was able to get shirts I've loved forever without having to worry about shipping costs or anything like that.

Can't wait to share more! We had a wonderfully packed week!
 
Chapter Two: Let the Magic Begin!
I go back to work today :worried::worried::worried::worried::worried::worried: . I managed to finish editing my photos yesterday so at least I'll be able to update (hopefully) once a week!

Part One


After falling asleep at somewhere close to 7:30 the night before I was up at 6:35, about a half hour before my alarm was set to go off. I got up, showered, and by the time I was out of the shower Liz was awake. She had apparently not heard me getting into the shower and had gone into the other room to wake me up.


So, clearly we were off to a great start.

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As we were getting ready we got a text from Jen saying that she was on her way to California. Liz showered and we both finished getting ready, then headed out of our hotel room. Our plan for the day was to just let Liz wander. If there was a ride she wanted to do we would but for the most part our plan was to explore.

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We got over to the parks around 8:15. Liz needed to buy her park hopper, which we had meant to do after our break the night before (y’know, the one where we fell asleep instead), so we headed over to one of the service desks. There was nobody at the desk so we were in and out of line super quick. We were through the turnstiles and in Disney by 8:30!

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Our first stop?


The photopass line out front.

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Liz really wanted a picture of the two of us outside Disneyland so I obliged - besides, our pictures came out nicely AND the line was only 2 families deep by that point and moving super quickly so how could I not be okay with it?

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After we took our photos, we headed into the park. Clearly I had to film Liz’s first time seeing the castle:


Since it was her first time she asks some questions about the logistic differences between WDW and Disneyland. You can sort of hear those in the video so I thought I'd just explain!

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We went right up to the castle and took a couple of pictures, but we definitely needed to get some breakfast.

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We headed through Fantasy Fare and omg there was a teeny tiny little Prince Ali who was the cutest thing ever! His mother was talking with a CM and when she looked at us Liz complimented the outfit. She got a high five from mini Ali for her compliment. She was so excited!


We continued over through Frontierland into New Orleans Square but before picking a place to go for breakfast we got distracted - Pirates was a 5 minute wait, but it was really less than 5 minutes so it seemed silly for us to not go on!

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Once we got off, we continued to our actual destination - The Mint Julep Bar!

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Liz’s goal in life from the very moment we decided we were going to Disneyland was to have beignets, and there was no line yet, so we had our super healthy breakfast of mint juleps:

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And shared a six-pack of beignets:

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She loved them! She also loved the mint julep. A woman came over to tell us how nice we looked as we were eating, which was super sweet of her and probably untrue because I was definitely covered in powdered sugar.


We finished eating then took our mint juleps and decided to meander the area a little bit more. We went down to Critter Country and poked around in the gift shop over there. I thought the signs in the candy area were adorable so I took a picture. The CM in there started pointing out her favorites - she said she didn’t realize they were all puns until a little boy had read one out loud a few years ago. They are adorable.

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We looked at the Pooh ride,

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but were still drinking our mint juleps so we meandered out of Critter Country

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and over to Haunted Mansion.

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We decided, since it wasn’t super busy there yet, to ride it after we finish our drinks. Liz’s DBF called to see how we were doing so she Facetimed with him while we were in line.

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The woman behind us looks so thrilled, lol. But we stopped talking to him and got off the phone with him a couple minutes later.


Once we got off we decided to head into another section of the park!
 
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I found it! Woo!!

I've been wanting to go back to Disneyland so badly over the past few months. It's a possibility for next summer, although DH is now obsessing over WDW b/c after October I'll have been twice without him and he's feeling jealous.

But...I NEEEEED to be in California like, yesterday.

I love your outfits for your first park day! I saw that they'd changed the look of the mint juleps from the green nightmare they were before, do they taste different? We weren't huge fans of them before. I think they're a love it or hate it kinda thing. Beignets sound really good right now!! So does a Matterhorn macaroon...i think I'm hungry, lol!!

The whositsandwhatsits stuff you got is SO CUTE. I saw on instagram that they were doing a pop up, I love that you got to go!!

(and off topic but...October is getting so close!! :dogdance::dogdance: I've been watching so many MNSSHP videos it's ridiculous!)
 
Yay for first day at Disneyland! I agree with everyone who stopped you about your outfits, they are SO CUTE. The tops, the skirts, THE EARS, I'm obsessed. I need to up my style game when I'm a first timer to Disneyland myself.

I was making almost all of the same observations as you and Liz walked along Main Street to the castle. I totally expected to see a Tony's and a Main Street Theater as you walked in, but there's like nothing there. I'm so going to be thrown for a loop, but I'll be crying because this is Walt's Main Street and it's SO SO CUTE.

Love the classic looking at the Castle pic and Liz's backpack is adorable. I need it.

YAS to Mint Juleps and Mickey Beignets! Definitely at the top of my list in terms of snacks at Disneyland, no matter how messy beignets might be.

Facetiming the boyfriend while waiting to get on Mansion is my life goals tbh

Looking forward to hear what other section of the park it was that you headed over to. :mickeyjum
 
Im Here :wave:, Loving the TR so far.
Its good to hear positive feedback about Camelot Inn & Suites.... the rooms do look spacious. do you have a photo of the kitchentte?
I love DL more so then WDW as its walts first park.

The sweets look amazing. ::yes::
 
I found it! Woo!!

I've been wanting to go back to Disneyland so badly over the past few months. It's a possibility for next summer, although DH is now obsessing over WDW b/c after October I'll have been twice without him and he's feeling jealous.

But...I NEEEEED to be in California like, yesterday.

I love your outfits for your first park day! I saw that they'd changed the look of the mint juleps from the green nightmare they were before, do they taste different? We weren't huge fans of them before. I think they're a love it or hate it kinda thing. Beignets sound really good right now!! So does a Matterhorn macaroon...i think I'm hungry, lol!!

The whositsandwhatsits stuff you got is SO CUTE. I saw on instagram that they were doing a pop up, I love that you got to go!!

(and off topic but...October is getting so close!! :dogdance::dogdance: I've been watching so many MNSSHP videos it's ridiculous!)

Yay! I'm glad you found me!!!!

I have a summer trip back to WDW planned with Liz and Jen and a few other friends, but all I want is another trip to DL, even a small one, promised to me soon. Especially with Paint the Night coming to DCA because it's my favorite and I really missed it this trip and Liz's never gotten to see it!

Thanks! The mint juleps are a little less sugary. They tasted much more like minty water this time around, which I found to be more refreshing, but I didn't get my own mint julep last time, I just had some of Jen's at Blue Bayou, so I'm not the best judge.

I was THRILLED I got to go to whositswhatsits! AND they restocked the day before we got there so we had been worried things wouldn't be in stock but they thankfully were!

(OMG I remembered that the castle show for MNSSHP is the Sanderson sisters yesterday and got SO EXCITED! I can't wait!!!)

Yay for first day at Disneyland! I agree with everyone who stopped you about your outfits, they are SO CUTE. The tops, the skirts, THE EARS, I'm obsessed. I need to up my style game when I'm a first timer to Disneyland myself.

I was making almost all of the same observations as you and Liz walked along Main Street to the castle. I totally expected to see a Tony's and a Main Street Theater as you walked in, but there's like nothing there. I'm so going to be thrown for a loop, but I'll be crying because this is Walt's Main Street and it's SO SO CUTE.

Love the classic looking at the Castle pic and Liz's backpack is adorable. I need it.

YAS to Mint Juleps and Mickey Beignets! Definitely at the top of my list in terms of snacks at Disneyland, no matter how messy beignets might be.

Facetiming the boyfriend while waiting to get on Mansion is my life goals tbh

Looking forward to hear what other section of the park it was that you headed over to. :mickeyjum

Hi! Thanks for the compliments!! We had so much fun styling ourselves for Disney! But we also both love a good theme - we're planning theme days for our next Disney vacation because it helps us know exactly what we need to pack, and we try not to overpack that way.

It's such a weird experience to walk down Main Street and not know exactly where everything is! I'm always a little thrown off after going to WDW so much exactly where everything is in Disneyland. What's especially weird is expecting all the same little side areas that we have out east that you can use as short cuts and realizing they're not there!

I got the backpacks on AliExpress and even though they take a while to get here (because China) but they are cute and hold way more than they look like they do! Also Mint Juleps and Beignets is a weirdly awesome breakfast ("weirdly" because I'm not a huge sweet breakfast person).

We were able to keep connection with Liz's DBF through the stretching room but once we went into the ride itself we lost him. He really enjoyed going on with us!

Im Here :wave:, Loving the TR so far.
Its good to hear positive feedback about Camelot Inn & Suites.... the rooms do look spacious. do you have a photo of the kitchentte?
I love DL more so then WDW as its walts first park.

The sweets look amazing. ::yes::

Hi!! I don't think I have any photos of the kitchenette but I'll go through and if I do I'll post them up! I really, really enjoyed Camelot, and it may become our go-to hotel for that reason, unless we can get GCH with a lot of saving up someday.

I really love Disneyland. WDW is my home park (because 2.5 hours on a plane is easier than 6) but I will always go back to Disneyland in a heartbeat!
 
Part Two

We left New Orleans Square and headed towards Fantasyland. On our way though, we stopped to get some fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain because priorities.

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For reference, though we went right after MaxPass was available we didn’t use it. We decided it wasn’t convenient for us. We don’t use fastpasses a lot in Disneyland or DCA to begin with, since we tend to go on rides first thing in the morning or later in the evening when people are enjoying the nighttime shows so for the 4-5 times we pulled fastpasses it wouldn’t be worth it to us.


Anyway, tangent aside, we continued into Fantasyland. Liz got super excited when she found the Red Rose Taverne was still there - she was worried that it would be closed before we went. However, it wasn’t even 11 yet so it wasn’t serving food yet. She was sad, but there were rides to go on!

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I let Liz take the lead into Fantasyland and let her find something she wanted to ride. Her ride of choice was Mr. Toad’s since we don’t have it in Florida.

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The wait was only twenty minutes, but it let me take some pictures!


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You know that point where you’re turning into hell after you’re hit by the lorry on Mr. Toad’s? In the pitch black? Yeah. We stopped dead. Liz looked at me after a moment (or I assume she did - I couldn’t see her) and asked “is this supposed to happen?” When I told her no, I added “we’re e-stopped from going to hell” and we just started laughing. The people in front of us definitely heard us too, because they were laughing and glancing at us when we got off. It was almost the title for this chapter!


It was time for our fastpass so we headed back to Thunder and had a great time on the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! But after that it was getting hot so we decided to head over to Red Rose Taverne since it was finally open.

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There wasn’t a long line so we easily got our Gaston’s Famous Brew and then found a teeny tiny table for two and sat to drink.

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We weren’t huge fans of it, but we were huge fans of the theming in there! I loved finding all the characters hidden around.

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I know I had a picture of Cogsworth but apparently I deleted it :/


We walked around Fantasyland a little more.

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Part Three

Then we headed into Toon Town.

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We were going to go ride Roger Rabbit but it was down, so we just looked around and played with whatever we could.

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Then we wandered some more.

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We headed into Tomorrowland but it was starting to get crowded. There was a few minutes before the next show of Path of the Jedi so we decided we should definitely go sit on a bench and wait for the next show.

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When we got inside, Liz stopped in the middle - which, as any Muppets 3D fan knows, is decidedly unPatriotic. When I told her that, this was her response:

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After we finished with Path of the Jedi we headed over to Launch Bay to poke around.

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Then headed back out of Tomorrowland since it was getting close to lunchtime.


We did manage to catch the Disneyland band playing a Star Wars medley. I took a video of the whole thing (well, what we saw) for my dad since I knew he’d appreciate it as a former member of a marching band and a music teacher.


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We headed into Adventureland!

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And as we were walking through we decided to pull some Indy fastpasses, then we headed to NOS for lunch.
 

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