Disneyland September 2018

Friday, September 28

I can't even describe how fortunate I feel to have visited Disneyland two months in a row! We've never done that before! I was trying to think back over all our years of travel, and I am fairly certain that I've never been to Disneyland twice in the same year, let alone two months in a row!

Our flight was first thing in the morning, and we arrived at LAX around 10:30 am. Once again, we stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which we enjoyed during our last trip, so we took an Uber from the airport to the hotel to drop off our bags before heading right over to Disneyland.

The park was decorated for Halloween, so it was fun to just take in all of the details, especially on Main Street, USA. Even the front gate area is decorated with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, and Goofy made out of pumpkins and the train station has the candy-corn-colored bunting so everything looks super festive. I love the huge Mickey pumpkin near the Emporium – it has a smiley face on one side and a winky face on the other and it is so cute!

We pretty much had a typical day – wandering around the park with no particular plan! That is definitely one difference we notice between Disneyland and WDW – there is a very laid back vibe at Disneyland. Characters roam about, lots of musical groups perform, people enjoy long snack and lunch breaks…the general stress and intensity that are often prevalent at WDW doesn't really align with how we like to experience the parks, but it seems like more common to just kind of take it easy at Disneyland, which is how we like it! Everything always seems so overscheduled at WDW! At Disneyland on this short trip alone, we saw the Dapper Dans ride the Main Street vehicles and perform and then later on also ride the King Arthur Carrousel and perform! The personality of the park is just so wonderful! I think it has to do with the sheer number of locals at Disneyland as compared with WDW – and maybe also the size because WDW is huge and there are seemingly a million things to do and see!

Mickey's Halloween Party was happening that night, so Disneyland was closing early. We took the opportunity to go back to the hotel and get settled, since we'd gotten a text that our room was ready. After we picked up our bags and had a brief rest, we headed over to Disney California Adventure for the rest of the night because we had a fast pass for the Incredicoaster and it is absolutely one of my favorite rides at any Disney park we've visited!

The Coco area of the park was awesome! There was a display where guests could fill out remembrance cards and hang them, and I was moved to tears by the sheer volume of these cards and by the sentiments written upon them. I filled one out with the names of our six dogs who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge and had a good cry.

Cars Land is amazing on a normal day, but the decorations for Halloween left me speechless! No detail too small! I remember seeing photos on Instagram last year and wishing I could see it all in person, so I felt very lucky to be there this year!

We watched the Paint the Night parade before ending the day at Toy Story Midway Mania. Since this is at the very back of the park, and we rode it right at park closing, we were able to walk out of the park with few people around us and soaked up all of the amazing atmosphere!

Saturday, September 29

We slept in and then headed over the Disneyland around 11:00 am. We were able to snag a fast pass for Haunted Mansion Holiday, which is just the best! I am not even really a huge fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, except for the character Zero, who is a ghost dog. I love him so much!!! I don't know why WDW doesn't do this magical overlay because it adds such dimension to the attraction!

My ears of the day - Zero! <3

Later in the afternoon, we went over to DCA for a few hours to ride both the Incredicoaster and Toy Story Midway Mania again, and then we went back to Disneyland for the remainder of the evening. One awesome thing we were able to see for the first time was the swing dancing that takes place in the Royal Theater! There is a big band, so the music is fantastic, and people of all skill levels just get out there and dance! C and I took swing dance lessons about five years ago to prepare for my brother's wedding, but we are pretty rusty, so we just watched. My other brother is getting married next year, so we will have to get it together again – maybe next time we are at Disneyland on a Saturday night, we'll actually get out there on the dance floor! One amusing thing was that as all of this revelry was taking place, a gentleman was sitting on the bench reading a newspaper with a flashlight. I'm assuming his partner wanted to dance and he did not!

Sunday, September 30

After packing up and dropping our bags off at bell services, we walked over to Disneyland and went to Starbucks to grab some coffee and a bite to eat. When the barista asked me for a name for my cup, I told her, "Slinky." She then said that they weren't allowed to write the names of Disney characters on the cups. What?!? One, that doesn't even make any sense to me, and two, if you've any of my other posts about our Disney trips, you know I ALWAYS get character names on our cups! When I pointed out that just the previous day at that exact location, we had "Zero" and "Slinky" written on our cups, she looked super flustered and asked how to spell "Slinky." What I took from this is that she didn't know how to spell it, so she said she wasn't allowed to write it, but in all seriousness, when has the spelling of names ever been a priority at Starbucks?!? If you don't know how to spell something, just ask! But don't make up nonsense!

We hadn't been on Peter Pan's Flight at Disneyland in about three years, and there are no fast passes for the attraction, so we decided to bite the bullet and just wait in line, which took about 30 minutes. It has a very inefficient loading process, but nonetheless, it was as adorable as always!

We were able to score another fast pass for Haunted Mansion Holiday, and we rode a few other attractions before going over to DCA for a third and final ride on the Incredicoaster. We wandered around Cars Land and Pixar Pier, and then ended our trip at the Animation building.

My ears of the day - Carl & Ellie Chairs! <3

We walked back to the hotel, picked up our bags and took an Uber to LAX for our red-eye flight home. It was a quick trip, but super fun and filled with many excellent Disney snacks!

Huge thanks to my mom for watching Ginny while we were away!

Happy Tails to you!