LA Trip 2015 Day 4 - Disneyland

2015/12/16

*Warning long post ahead lol*

Welcome to our last official day of our trip!

Last but not least it's the long awaited DISNEYLAND♥♥♥

Everyone knows the drill at the happiest place on earth right?!

Play until you drop :D

Only thing about this time is the lack of planning our busy Disney schedule lol... many sad moments as you will see...

First Stop: IHOP

Initially, we planned to wake up early for the opening time of the theme park, but somehow, no idea how, we managed to leave our hotel room at 10. Lol

I know we are majorly late, but to prepare for the eventful day, we have to fill up our stomachs. So, we came to IHOP!

Honestly, I’m not that big of a fan of pancakes, but when on vacation, this is the place to go for breakfast haha.

& by the time we arrived at the park it was… 11am LOL

Second Stop: Disneyland Park

I once heard someone say the most beautiful time to come to Disneyland is during the holidays, and on top of that, it is the 60th anniversary Diamond Celebration this year! So without saying, we have been looking forward to visiting since the day of planning this trip!

Need I say more?

AHHH♥♥

Fail #1 : Seriously in this day and age, why are the fast passes still only obtainable in person and right in front of the specified ride? Come on, LA, raise your game lol.

So of course the first thing we do whilst entering the park is to grab some fast passes, Holiday get-up Mickey was standing in Main Street. We decided to run and grab the passes then come back for pictures, cus it shouldn’t take too long right? Right? Wrong.

Turns out the wait time for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was only 15 minutes, so we went on, rushed back and no doubt, Mickey was long gone. :(

Thus we proceeded towards Sleeping Beauty’s castle and hung out there for an hour taking quality pictures lol, yes call us crazy.

Cand's signature pose

Since it was the 60th anniversary, instead of the usual Christmas decorations for the castle, it was an extra special one! It is seriously IMPOSSIBLE to get a shot without a crowd.

We went on a couple rides and beside the Mad Tea Party was one of the teacups on display for people to take pictures of. Its super cute, but why did they let the "hole" face this way :l

Fail #2 : We snatched a fast pass for Indiana Jones and was ready to go on the ride before it was time for the Parade. Made our way there and guess what? It was temporarily down due to technological difficulties... thus we sat around and waited for the parade to start. Wasted a good 15mins (sigh).

Around 2pm was the daily Christmas Fantasy Parade. The both of us took a break from running around and bought some snacks for the show.

Must haves: Mickey ice cream sandwich, and a Dole whip float!

Then the magic began...

These were just some notable mentions and here comes the stars of the show

The OG squad & of course...

Santa very well loved

SANTA!

You cannot forget about him, it's a Christmas parade after all.

When he came out, all the kids were yelling SANTAAAA lol, cheers were even louder than for the Mickey gang.

Throughout the whole parade, it was one song on repeat, so many times, by the end of it, I memorized and learned the entire song lol... The melody was stuck in my head until many days after, same as well for another quite annoying song. (yes that one ==)

"There's a special magic at Christmas time this year.

Hearts are gay and merry and full of Yuletide cheer.

....

Caroling...bells ringaling, Santa Claus will alway be in a Christmas Fantasy."

hahaha. now it will be stuck in your head too ;D

Then we resume the rides. Off to Toon Town!

Since this part of the park is made for younger kids, we were surrounded by many Disneyfied kids.

Disney micro fashion on point!

When you come to Disney, you must go on ALL the rides, gotta get our moneys worth HAHA!

& this is where it happens...

Fail #3 : The wait time for Gadget's Go Coaster indicates 50 mins, but the line looked like it would only take around 15mins, so we decided to line up... & this is where the nightmare begins.

We were deceived, or just too stupid lol. In the end it did take us that long to finally board the coaster, and guess what, it didn't even last 2 mins...

so pro tip here: take the estimated wait time seriously.

Bummed and tired from waiting at the kiddy coaster, we didn't want to walk all the way back to New Orleans Square from Toon town for our dinner reservation. We decided to take a break and ride on the Disneyland Railroad. Once again...

Fail #4 : Okay, maybe it's just our lack of planning and not super bad luck, we made the wrong choice. I did not think the railroad would take THAT long (almost half an hour), we were probably better off and would save more time to just walk back. But what if we leave now and it comes the second after? (knowing our luck)...

Finally we made it in time and ran to our dinner reservation.

Third Stop: Blue Bayou

Blue Bayou is a very special themed dining restaurant inside Disneyland Park. It is actually located as part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The restaurant boasts an authentic Cajun Creole cuisine with a very romantic atmosphere. As if we were really dining along side the river in New Orleans.

This place is very popular so I highly recommend people who are interested to make reservations at least one month in advance, if possible, three months during high season. The only available times they had left for us was either 4:45 or 8:10, obviously not the most ideal dining times, but, on the bright side, at least there was times available.

The food was on the pricey side, as all the other places inside the park, but remember, we are paying for the dining experience!

I ordered a seafood jambalaya, but I could not take any spicy in my food, and I completely forgot this was Cajun cuisine, so although it was tasty, I had a hard time finishing the dish..

On the other hand, the gumbo was delicious.

Fourth Stop: Disneyland Park Cont.

After our early dinner, we went for a little stroll around the area and...

Fail #5 : we remembered we had another fast pass ticket!! Quickly we double checked the time and of course, it has expired. Super disappointed. ;(

So, we returned to the Indiana Jones ride. And yes that's why you get these passes, took about 5 mins to just walk in, cut in the line, and board the jeep!

Surprisingly, Splash Mountain was deserted and the wait time indicates a mere 15 mins, we ran inside, and they let the both of us occupy one boat. Only the two of us.

It was crazy, this was the first time I didn't have to wait a million years for this ride, maybe it was because it was a bit chilly and the sun had gone down?

Next up was the Haunted Mansion Christmas version. The whole mansion was decorated in a Nightmare before Christmas theme! I loved it more than the usual decor, so festive! But it felt like Halloween more than Christmas haha.

Someone (Cand) kept worrying about how scary this ride may be.. there were little kids up to our waists that were lining up, on top of that, this is Disneyland, it can't be anything too scary right?

Throughout the entire ride, I was singing along to the songs from the movie lol, (like all other rides in Disneyland). "This is Halloween, this is Halloween. Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! In this town we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song."

Around 9 o'clock, it was time for Fantasmic and the fireworks. We bought a churro and was ready to watch the show. Like always, the shows at Disney were amazing.

During the fireworks show, when the song Let It Go came on, they started blowing styrofoam into the air? to imitate snow, since it was too warm for LA to ever snow. Hmm Pretty interesting LOL.

can you see the "snow"?

Right after the show ended, we looked around trying to decide which ride to go next. Then right behind us we noticed, it was Pirates of the Caribbean! Since everyone was watching the show, there was no line up at all in sight. We looked at each other and stormed to the entrance, and many who followed along. In less than a few minutes, the line started forming, and reverted to it's usual length lol.

On the way to our next destination, we passed by the castle in all its night time glory. Once again, beautiful as always. Of course, this calls for another photo sesh :D

Cand's signature pose night ver.

Then off to... "it's a small world"

The line was super long during the daytime so we came back when the sun went down and hopefully less people. The Christmas lights were all on and wow, it's just as pretty as the castle.

We could not stop taking pictures, and throughout the whole waiting/ride time, was the song singing nonstop in my head (plus Cand's brainwash throughout the entire day).

Our last stop but not the least was my long awaited favourite ride Space Mountain!!

From past experience at Disneyworld Florida, Space Mountain has the least people waiting before closing time. But, that was not the case here. Another thing, I thought the cast members would prohibit people entering a ride around 15 mins or so before closing time, but that was not the case either. So here it is, hopefully the last fail of the day... QQ

Fail #6 : Due to the above reasons, we decided to line up for Space Mountain first, because, it wouldn't take long, then run back to Star Tours and ask if we could just go in even if our fast passes were expired, and then go on to our last ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters since the wait time was literally 5 mins. & one last time, of course it didnt' go that way.

The line up for Space Mountain was ridiculously long, and it only got longer and longer as we reach closer to closing time. By the time we got inside, it was already around 12:30 midnight. The last people behind us might not get on the ride until after 1 o'clock. I felt kind of sorry for the cast members working late night, considering they probably wouldn't get to leave until after 2am.

Happy and sad at the same time, it was 12:45, long after the park closing time, it was time to leave Disneyland and call it a day. The streets were cleaned up and the stores were closed. We took one last look at the beautiful surroundings and elaborate Christmas decorations.

click me :)

I would definitely come again during this time of the year, hopefully I will have a chance to see the normal holiday decorations around the park.

Did you think that was the end?

HAHA of course not!

Since it closes at 2am, we visited downtown Disney again to shop for some souvenirs :DD

Our feet were literally giving out, but that doesn't stop us! We were pretty much the only people in the store so we didn't want to take too long to decide. Satisfied, we were ready for a good nights sleep.

Okay I will not drag this off any longer than it already is.

Despite the many fails and bad planning, it was a great trip, a wonderful way to end the year of 2015.

& no doubt, I will do this again, very soon.