After 20 years: Disneyland

I had not been to Disneyland in over 20 years. There were always so many other things to do in California. I had been thinking about going for a while though and it finally came together. Dave and Cindy Hale, Penny Karr and I, went on a 3 day park hopper trip. Penny hadn't been to Disneyland in more than 40 years. California Adventure hadn't been built last time we were there. The Hales had been more recently, but still not ridden on everything and had never done the park hopper thing.

I did some homework before we went and we had a plan. Hopefully it would save us some time waiting in line. Lots of people gave us advice.

It was fun to see the park decorated for Halloween. Disneyland closed at 6pm a couple of nights we were there for their Halloween party. It was another 80$ on top of the tickets we bought, so we didn't go.

We went mid week to minimize crowds, but there were still a lot of people in Disneyland. California Adventure wasn't too crowded. One of the Disneyland Workers (cast members) told us there really wasn't an uncrowded time at Disneyland anymore. He said Christmas Day is  often the busiest day. Crazy.

 

An attempt at a selfie with all four of us.

You can't see them very well, but there were "gems" all over the castle to celebrate the 60th anniversary.

Mr. Toad's Wild ride was our first ride.

Star Tours

Jungle cruise

The Haunted mansion was especially decorated for Halloween.

Peter Pan's Flight. We probably waited the longest for this ride.

Rode the paddle wheeler for the first time. It was a nice break and you could see some things you couldn't see from anywhere else.

There were people in costume all over the park. I am not sure if this girl is in a costume or not.

The parades were high energy and fun. But you need to plan early to get a spot for a parade or you are out of luck. Penny and I got separated from Dave and Cindy for the night parade, and were stuck in a loop of people with no where to go.

The princesses had their princess moves down to the T.

Tigger tails! I ate one because I read they were supposed to be good. I didn't care for them. I wished I had gotten one of the candy apples instead.

We had a nice dinner in the Blue Bayou restaurant the first night. Pricey, but a bucket list activity for an adult trip to Disneyland. And it was really nice ambiance. Reservations in advance required!

Photos are out of order....

We loved the Radiator Springs Racers. We rode them 3 times all together.

The ferris wheel in California Adventure was nice. Pretty views.

The World of Color show was awesome in California adventure.

We saw a lot of the characters, but didn't want to wait in lines to have photos taken.

Buzz light year ride.

Blue Bayou from Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Hales at Thunder Mountain Railroad. One of my favorites.

End of the night, after parade and fireworks. They make it beautiful, for sure.

Beginning of first day, fresh and ready to go.

 Tiki Room

Winnie the Pooh Ride.

 Flo's Café in Radiator Springs.

 Space Mountain. I am not a roller coaster girl, but I rode them all except Splash Mountain. I had ridden that one before.

 Dave's lemonade had a glowing cube in it.

 After the Grizzly Water run. We rode it twice in a row. It was fun and we were wet in spite of our ponchos.

 Mater's tractor ride.

 The most frustrating line we waited in was for ice cream cones in Cone town.

 Mr. Lincoln was fun, a classic and hardly anyone there.

 They did an amazing job making radiator springs look real.

And the Grizzly ride is a pretty area too.

Minnie's house in toon town.

 We finally tried Dole Whips. they were good.

 Toy Story Mania was more fun than you think it will be.

 Radiator Springs Racers again.

 Scenery on the Radiator Springs ride.

 The Train around Disneyland was another break for us.

 Photo of the photo they took on California Screaming. My eyes were shut most of the time.

 Blurry, but hilarious photo of us on tower of terror. My hair is straight up and I am hanging on to the only handle with both hands. Cindy is trying to hold on to Penny.

 The Capitol in the Lincoln area.

 Inside Radiator Springs Racers, right before the race begins.

 The Golden Zephyr was pleasant.

 It's a small world was longer than I remembered and blessedly cool.

 Indiana Jones Ride. We did it twice!

I had never been to Disneyland for more than a day before. We figured we paid 276 for our park hopper tickets and were in the parks for 36 hours. We spent  7.60 an hour. We felt like we got a pretty good value for our money.