Halloween – brit tangled up

Halloween at Disneyland 2018 – Part 2

… continued from Halloween at Disneyland 2018 – Part 1

Park Day 2

Fortunately for our sanity, the parks opened an hour later on our second day. This meant our early hour in California Adventure fell from 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. until 8 a.m., so we got an extra hour or so of sleep. Even with the extra hour of sleep, we ended up taking our time and getting into the park a little later than we would have liked. Our delay? Room service! Mickey waffles are L I F E.

By 8:15 a.m. we made it to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! While in line, decided we wanted to make sure we watched the FastPass return times so we could get passes for the Halloween overlay of this ride – Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark – which runs from 5 p.m. until close.

I mentioned this in the last post, but I really had no idea what I was missing out on by not using Disney’s new(ish) MaxPass offering. Without a doubt, I will be paying the extra money upfront to add a year of MaxPass when I get around to renewing my Annual Pass.

When we got off the ride, we made our way around toward the trolley station near the soon-to-be entrance to Marvel Land so we could find the Avengers manhole cover.

Following Guardians, I was feeling up to rollercoasters, so we made our way over to the Incredicoaster. Since it was still before gates opened to the general public, we got to choose our seat so Ry chose the front, rode with <8 other people, and had basically no wait time at all. We both felt they could have done a little bit more when they did the Incredibles overlay on the track, but had a lot of fun on this ride.. so much fun, in fact, that we walked right back on!

We walked the long way around the Pier after Incredicoaster so I could snag a picture with this Alebrije wing wall for the Día de los Muertos setup in California Adventure.

Right at 9:10 a.m. we made it back over to Radiator Springs Racers because we had the first set of FastPasses available for the day. After our car won the race, we made our way to take a picture with the Sugar Skull car outside of Ramone’s, and then over to the tractor in Mater’s Petting Zoo. At that point, it was time to get our Disneyland Castle pictures taken care of, so we switched parks.

Since I haven’t mentioned it before, Ryan is basically on the feeding schedule of a hobbit. As such, it was time to stop for food again, so we made our way to Red Rose Taverne in Fantasyland to get one of the breakfast platters, which are delicious!

Once we were fed, we played the part of obnoxious Disney tourists so I could get pictures with my bat wing ears from MickeyCityEars by Haunted Mansion. Following the picture extravaganza, we made our way over to the Mint Julep Bar to snag some pumpkin beignets.

Beignets consumed, we decided to go back to the Star Wars Launch Bay so Ry could look into ordering the D-Tech phone case he saw the previous day. As fate would have it, they were having a technical issue and the D-Tech system was down. Bummed by the news, we decided it was time to swing back by the hotel and switch some things out.

Seeing as we were already in Tomorrowland, we hopped on the Monorail once more so that Ryan could see what the Downtown Disney return trip looked like in comparison to the route leading into the park.

At the hotel, we swapped out my usual grey JanSport backpack that is my usual go-to for a dinosaur backpack that has a tail (yes, it is marketed for kids) Ry found on Amazon.

We decided to walk back to the parks for a couple of reasons. First, it was time for us to get caffeinated and Downtown Disney is the only place we can mobile order to. Second, we were planning to head straight to California Adventure, and there is no direct transit route from our hotel.

It was right around 12:30 p.m. when we got back to DCA, and our next FastPass return in that park wasn’t until 1:00 p.m., so we had to decide what we wanted to do. We already knew the best course of action was to head towards Hollywood Land so we could be near our FastPass location. That worked out well, too, because I wanted to stop by the Annual Passholder corner by Mike and Sulley to the Rescue to pick up some pins and take a picture with the Oogie Boogie setup they had back there.

After the AP corner was visited, we decided to visit one of the Chase Visa Character Experience spots because we had a little more time and I hadn’t ever indulged in this card member perk before. If you didn’t already know, I’m ridiculous and definitely have a Chase Premier Rewards Visa (it has Elsa on it!) and I use it for EVERYTHING!

We learned that the characters here rotate regularly. At the time we went, it happened to have just switched over to Stitch.

The Stitch character experience was precious and different from others in that you weren’t rushed at all. Ryan and I spent a considerable amount of time interacting with Stitch, including getting my spikes investigated and shaking our tails together.

Not long after, 1:00 p.m. rolled around, so we made our way to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this ride was VERY impacted and we ended up waiting 45 minutes from the FastPass side to get on the ride. It was obvious there was either a technical issue or a staffing issue, and it was funny to us that the longest wait of our whole trip was a FastPass return.

Before we left for our trip, Ryan and I visited my Grandma and her husband Steve. Grandma raved about the Silly Symphony Swings she loved so much on the trip she made with my mom and I in April, and we assured her he wouldn’t miss them. After our FastPass adventure, we figured it would be a good time to make good on our word. Following that ride, we spent some time wandering Pixar Pier so that I could get a better look at everything that had been added since the renovation.

The plan for the rest of the afternoon involved a long-standing reservation we had at Lamplight Lounge. I could not have been more excited when 2:40 p.m. rolled around and we got seated in a half-booth table inside of the lower portion of the restaurant. Two hours, two burgers, and four drinks later, Ry and I left rather satisfied with our experience.

When we left Lamplight Lounge, we made our way back to the hotel to once again trade out items we had brought & bought in the park. After swapping some items, we made our way back to California Adventure for our Monsters After Dark FastPass return. I know there have been mixed reviews of Guardians: Monsters After Dark , but Ryan and I really enjoyed it.

From there, we wandered back to Disneyland so we could try once again to get Ryan the Darth Vader phone case he really wanted. Unfortunately, the system was still down and there was no hope that it would be up and operational again before the end of the day, which was especially sad because it was our last day inside the parks.

As we prepared for the last of our FastPasses for the evening, we made our way to the park entrance to get a picture with the Railroad Station and the ever-lovely Mickey landscaping at the front of the park. Yes, that picture looks like it’s still daylight, and yes, I said evening. This particular park day was just before the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Parties were set to launch, so both parks closed at 8 p.m. that day.

The first of our “final” FastPasses was for Indiana Jones – Ryan’s favorite of the trip. Our wait time here was particularly short, which was nice. After that, we made our way over to Haunted Mansion Holiday with our FastPasses ready for one final ride in a doom buggy before making our way to the hotel.

Heading Home

The next morning, we took our time getting up and getting ready. The first thing on that agenda was sleeping in just a little, meaning we made it until about 8:30 a.m.

After we got ready and packed, I called down to bell services to get our luggage held downstairs until we were actually ready to leave. From there, we made our way into Downtown Disney for one last look into some shops and to stop by Starbucks.

That morning I also decided that I was going to go into Disneyland and get Ryan that phone case he really wanted but we weren’t able to get the day before – after all, I did have an annual pass. He walked me almost all the way to the park gates before heading to Starbucks to wait for me. While I was in the Star Wars Launch Bay, not only did I get him the D-Tech phone case he had been wanting, I also got him the replica Darth Vader light saber he had been eyeing both of the days before. Buying these items was the easy part, getting them back through the park was an adventure.

For those wondering, I was wearing flip-flops, using my Haunted Mansion Dooney that I love so much, and carrying a rather large and awkwardly shaped light saber box. The number of men in their 40’s standing by strollers who either yelled “Congratulations!” at me or exclaimed their jealousy over the fact that I “got the good one” made me laugh on my awkward walk.

To say Ryan was excited when he saw what I had bought in the park would be an understatement. While I was in the park, he surprised me, too, and bought me a mug I had been eyeing the whole trip.

Reflection

All in all, we had such a great trip. Though I’m sad about letting my pass lapse, I know I made the most of the year I had it active. My next goal is to make it a year before I go back, so that I can prioritize other things during this period of my life.

However, just because I’m not planning on going again for about a year doesn’t mean I’m not already planning that next trip!

Halloween at Disneyland 2018 – Part 1

Unfortunately for me, my Annual Pass expired on September 30th, and I chose to let it lapse. This decision was made after considering a number of factors, including the fact that there is no longer a renewal incentive (waiving the down payment) and that the absolute soonest I would be able to make another Disney trip wouldn’t be until February and it doesn’t make sense to pay for 5 months I won’t be going. I am proud of myself, though – I managed to go on 10 different Disneyland trips during the time I had a current annual pass.

Disney Halloween Shenanigans

Fortunately for me, Disney starts Halloween festivities the first part of September. Also in my favor was some flexibility of schedule for both Ryan and myself. On top of that, Disney was offering AP discounts on hotel rooms for the time frame we were looking to go. After much discussion, Ryan and I decided to book an upper floor, pool view room at the Disneyland Hotel.

For this particular trip, we also decided it was time to finally try the MaxPass feature (after watching Traci use it on her trip with Tyler to Disneyland at the end of June). The only part of this offering by Disney that I had no experience with was the FastPass via app function, as I was grandfathered in on Annual Passholders getting PhotoPass pictures for free when I originally started my Annual Pass around 2011.

Also while preparing for this trip, Ryan realized that I hadn’t seen any of the Star Wars movies all the way through. We ended up taking the better part of a week prior to the trip (following our trip to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks) and watched them all.

Arrival Day

Ryan and I left mid-morning to head down to Anaheim. With traffic, we finally made it down to Disneyland a little over 5 hours later. All in all, the drive was easy, but to be honest, I can’t stand it.

Once we had gotten ourselves checked in, made it up to our room, and had our bags delivered by the bellman service the resort offers, Ryan and I made our way down to Trader Sam’s. Going into that adventure, we already knew that our plan was to split an Uh Oa… about halfway through that drink, Ry realized I wasn’t kidding about the alcohol content of that particular beverage and the need to split it!

After we finished the fishbowl of tiki-themed goodness, I took Ryan for a walk through Downtown Disney. Since this was the first trip to Disneyland for Ry that would be remembered, we took our time going into most of the shops and taking it all in.

As we reached the end of the walk, we put our name in at Naples and continued the walk so Ryan could see the gates of each park. Shortly after, we got our table, ate dinner, and wandered back to our hotel room.

First Day in the Parks

Since we were staying at a Disneyland Resort Hotel, we got early entry to a park each morning. It turned out that park was scheduled to be California Adventure on both mornings, which was okay because all the rides I like to do “first thing” in the morning are in that park.

For the first day, we donned matching Storm Trooper t-shirts we found at Kohls. As Ryan and I wandered from park gates toward Cars Land, we stopped to take pictures with the Headless Horseman and the “Welcome to Cars Land” sign.

Our first ride out the gate was Radiator Springs Racers. Ry had never been on it before and he loved it! That brought me a lot of joy because Cars Land is my favorite area in California Adventure (for those of you who might be wondering, New Orleans Square is my favorite area in Disneyland).

From Cars Land, we made the long loop around to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! With all the Pixar Fest fun of the summer gone, Bugs Land also ceased to exist. This means that the only way to the tower that houses Tivan’s Collection is by going to Buena Vista Street and then going all the way through Hollywood Land.

After we experienced Mission Breakout! we headed back towards the park gates. On our way, we stopped to get pictures with the Pixar themed walls.

After our picture shenanigans were done, we made our way to Disneyland. Our first order of business with the MaxPass feature was to select a FastPass for Space Mountain at 8:30 a.m.

Once we finished Ghost Galaxy (the current overlay for Space Mountain), we wandered across the way to Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters. With Zurg defeated, we made our way back to Main Street to figure out breakfast.

On our quest, we took a moment to stop and get a picture with the Mickey pumpkin that resides at the start of Main Street USA. Once finished there, we wandered down to Jolly Holiday for some semblance of breakfast.

Once we had fed ourselves, we made our way towards Pirates of the Caribbean! Along with changing out the Red Woman (something I still have mixed feelings about), they also added a pirate holding a treasure chest that appears human or skeletal depending on the angle it’s viewed from in one of the corridors between rooms.

**I want to make a note here that the entire trip, Ryan and I waited no more than 20 minutes for anything EXCEPT one pass through Guardians of the Galaxy that happened to be a FastPass we had while they seemed to be experiencing staffing shortages**

Thunder Mountain was the next stop of the morning. As this is one of my favorite rides of all time, I was very excited to see how Ryan would react to it. Ryan ended up agreeing that it was great, but would probably be better at night. Although he’s right about that, we didn’t end up getting to do Thunder at night this trip.

At 10:10 that morning, we showed up for our Haunted Mansion Holiday FastPasses.

After seeing what holiday surprises Jack had in store, Ry and I switched parks for a second time that day. From the park gates, we made our way back to The Little Mermaid.

By this part of the morning, it was time to feed Ryan again, so we stopped at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta. Here we tried the chicken sun-dried tomato pesto and the anti-vampire pizza, and I have nothing but good things to say about both of them!

While we ate our pizza and pasta under the pergola outside, I worked on our next FastPass selection on my phone. Have I mentioned yet that the MaxPass feature is worth it? Well, it is!

We decided that after eating would be a good time to head to Toy Story Midway Mania, so we walked around the pier toward that ride. After we finished playing the Midway Mania games, it was around 12:30 p.m. so Ryan and I decided to head back to the hotel. On our way out of the park, we stopped at a couple of carts and stores to collect souvenirs.

From our room, we made our way downstairs, eager to go down the Monorail slide the Disneyland Hotel’s pool offered. I hadn’t been on a water slide or anything of that nature in awhile, and I have to say, I enjoyed it quite a bit! Ryan was much more graceful about the exit off of the slide than I was, though..

With the pool enjoyed, we wandered back to our room to get ready to head back into the park. Now that we had a better idea of time, we made another FastPass selection in Disneyland for that afternoon at 3:15 p.m.

Ryan had never been on the monorail before, so we decided that would be our way back into the park for the next part of the adventure. Once we made it into the park we made our way through Tomorrowland, around Fantasyland as to dodge the afternoon parade route, past Frontierland and the Rivers of America, and jogged up by Pirates so we could get to Indiana Jones, which was the ride Ry went into the trip looking forward to the most.

After braving the jeep ride, we grabbed a couple skewers from Bengal Barbecue. Now that the Ryan had been fed a snack, we wandered back across the walkway to the Jungle Cruise! Having survived the jungles of the world, we decided it was time to present ourselves to Lord Vader at the Star Wars Launch Bay (our shirts said “Those were the droids we were looking for”).

We had been waiting for this event all day. Our Darth Vader character meet & greet was probably the best character interaction I’ve ever had in the parks.

Following our visit with Darth Vader, we explored the Star Wars Launch Bay. Having never seen the movies all the way through prior to this trip, I had never seen a reason to go in before. Boy, was I missing out on a lot of things by not exploring the world of Star Wars!

After that, we had to swing by the hotel once more because sometimes I get a little too excited about the “next” ride or attraction at Disney and get a little short sighted and forget things I legitimately need in the park.

As we left the hotel we mobile ordered the Starbucks Reserve store in Downtown Disney because it was high time for caffeination. While Ryan took care of that, I got us FastPasses for Soarin’ at 5:30 p.m.

Following our flight around the world, we made our way to Cars Land to hunt for food. Ryan ended up getting pretzel bites from the Cozy Cone before we moved on to Hollywood Land to get hot dogs.

One of the hot items released for Halloween were the poison apple glow cubes, this year having purple as a special release color. While green and red can be found in various refreshment areas around the park and sold separately, the purple cube was a feature of the Poison Apple-tini served exclusively at the Carthay Circle Lounge. On this trip, Ryan and I determined we would be getting 4 – one for each of us, as well as one for each of our moms.

With our glow cube mission accomplished, we walked back into Cars Land to ride Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree and Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween. At this point, I was content because Ry had seen Cars Land at night, we had done the vast majority of the rides on the “must-do” list, and it was close enough to park close that we could call it a full day.

to be continued…