Deep Fried Dinner at DCA, Grand Californian Guest Exclusive View of World of Color, & Mother/Daughter Night Out

Day 13 {Part 2} - Thursday, September 22, 2016

After finishing up our deliciousness at Cafe Orleans, just before making our way out of Disneyland, we enjoyed a ride aboard an historical vehicle!  

{via Disney Parks Blog}

We rode down Main Street in the Disneyland Fire Department's Engine No. 1, the very vehicle in which Walt Disney posed for his final Disneyland photo!  (If you're interested in reading more about that, click through the Disney Parks Blog link above.)

As a lover of Disney history this ride was an extra special part of our time at Disneyland!

An Afternoon at Downtown Disney District's Build-A-Bear

It was Princess' turn to choose and fill a bear of her own.  Being a girl after her dad's own Star Wars loving heart, she chose Boba Fett!  

As we walked to our villa we admired this culinary creation under construction.  This entire scene is made of rice krispy treats covered in fondant!  I'm so amazed at the skill of the talented Cast Members who craft such stunningly sweet art!

We freshened up, grabbed Jason, and headed back out for some more fun in the sun this go around at Disney's California Adventure...

DCA has such an adorable Monsters Inc. ride!  I was glad we were able to enjoy it on multiple occasions, as it's one of those we don't have at WDW.  We've always loved that movie.  In fact, Princess was "Boo" last Halloween!

Just a mouse and her man!

Dinner at Corn Dog Castle

We'd heard great things about DCA's Corn Dog Castle and had anticipated a freshly dipped dog that night! 

Little One and I went to grab a table while Jason and Princess ordered our eats.  Jason knows me so well.  He saw a "Cheddar Cheese Stick" and without even asking ordered me one!  You can see in the photo above, one of these is not like the others!  I enjoyed every bite I took of both the corn dog and cheese stick, but will say I had my fill of fried cheese that day!  Remember what I had earlier for lunch? ;)

Watching World of Color at Disney's Grand Californian

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to watch World of Color from a different perspective!  This was our view from the Grand California's viewing deck.  It's a hotel guest exclusive viewing area that requires a room key to access it.  It's such a fun space to watch from and gives breathtaking views of all the action below!

No, DCA didn't catch fire. ;)  Spoiler free for anyone who hasn't seen World of Color, I'll just say that this photo was shot during one of my favorite parts of this nighttime spectacular! 

I am in love with World of Color and really enjoyed seeing it from this different vantage point!  We also loved playing with our camera to get a great view of different things in DCA Park!

Downtown Disney District Mother/Daughter Date!

If you've been around for a bit you may remember that Princess and I have a tradition of doing some shopping and sweets indulging at Downtown Disney after the parks close.  We were excited to keep this going while at Disneyland!  It was especially simple since their Downtown Disney District was right outside our hotel's door!

World of Disney

I bought this pretty pink throw and love it!

Sweets with my Sweetie!

Cheers to chatting over chocolate ice cream!

WonderGround Gallery

Princess is a talented artist and is always drawn to artsy goodness, which made our visit to this gallery shop a highlight of our evening!  

We closed down the shop and left with postcard prints of our favorites.  If you visit a WonderGround and swoon over the art that's a bit more than you care to spend, I'd highly suggest checking the carousels of postcards as they sell many prints in that form for $5.  They look fantastic framed!  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  The next day of the trip I'll be covering is our final day in the Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure Parks!  Plenty more pixie dust to come!  Can't wait to share the finale of our trip and our time at Mickey's Halloween Party!

Trip Report Tuesday: California Day 12 {Part 1} Disney Park Hopping & Our Favorite Dining Experience at Disneyland

If you're like us, excellent Disney dining days are something you both look forward to and enjoying looking back at!  This was one such day!  Come along with us for a morning of park hopping magic, followed by one of my favorite dining experiences ever!

Day 12 {Part 1} - Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Wednesday California Adventure Park was offering an extra magic hour in the morning so we kicked off this day with some of our favorites there!  First, we made a beeline for a Soarin' fastpass!  (Remember, Disneyland & California Adventure are still on the old school paper fastpass system.)  

Radiator Springs Racers x 2

Radiator Springs Racers is easily one of our favorite rides in this entire park!  I'd heard from my Cars loving Uncle Ken high praise about both this land and attraction, and it lived up to every word!  We rode this as much as possible, squeezing in two rides on this fine morning!

Soarin' Around the World

If you caught last week's trip report, you know that the new version of this ride was something we were greatly anticipating and that lead to feeling greatly disappointed when we boarded it the night before and were evacuated from the ride due to technical difficulties.  This bright and beautiful morning we were able to not only board the ride, but actually experience it completely!  

Those of you who know me well, know that Disney gets me all sorts of emotional.  (In the best way possible, that is.)  I had been both ecstatic about experiencing the updated ride, and honestly, very nervous too.  Soarin' Over California will forever be one of my favorites and the soundtrack was nothing short of a masterpiece!  I hoped they hadn't screwed it up this go around!  Friends, they didn't!  Happy tears ran down my face nearly the entire ride (okay, probably the entire ride)!  I loved it!  I don't know that I'd say I prefer it to the original, but it definitely holds its own and maintains it's status as one of my favorite attractions!  Phew and hooray!

Morning Snacks
Popcone, & Schmoozies, & Watermelon! Oh my!

 How cute is this cone themed concession area in Cars Land?!

A yummy mango "schmoozie" for me, please & thank you!

This girl hasn't met a fruit she doesn't like and watermelon tops the list of her faves.  A fresh fruit treat was just what she needed to put a bit more bounce in her step!

The feel of this portion of the park reminded me a lot of Hollywood Studios.

Tower of Terror

You may remember that we made a point to get shots of the exterior on our first day at the park, with a tip from my girl Chrissy that the signage was coming down that week in prep for its transition to a Guardians of the Galaxy ride.  This morning it was gone, which was sad, but made us all the more glad we'd made it out to Cali in time to experience their version of the attraction before it was no more!

Little One's PhotoPass Fun...

Goofy's Sky School

This is one goofy coaster!

Now it was time to walk over to Disneyland for our lunch, which would be eaten inside the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction! ....

Lunch at Blue Bayou

Dining at Blue Bayou was one of the things we'd had on our Disney bucket list for years before this trip!  As a family of POTC fans we'd imagined how awesome it'd be to dine in a restaurant located right inside this original Disneyland attraction!  It didn't disappoint one lit'l bit!

While we awaited our requested waterside table, Little One and I popped in to the Pieces of Eight shop next door and picked up her souvenir wishlist item of a Disney Babies version of the dog from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride! So soft, snuggly, and absolutely adorable!

The atmosphere was amazing and the food was fantastic!

The ambiance of the restaurant was perfection, but it is a bit challenging shooting food pics in there.  Trust me, they looked even better in person, and tasted even better yet!

My chocolate cake eating partner (& we let the key holding Pirates dog in on the fun too ;))!

You may not be able to make it out too well, but the pirates ride is running just behind my loves there.  That's where the boats go passing by.  We were seated waterside which was fantastic!

Pirates of the Caribbean 

After dining inside the attraction we simply had to board a boat and enjoy the ride immediately after lunch!

Their Pirates ride is very different and quite a bit longer than ours at Disney World!  Theirs has several extra scenes and truly has a classic feel to it.  It was really neat to experience all the differences between the one we know and love and this Disneyland original!  It's pretty amazing!  

Haunted Mansion Holiday

I can't say enough good things about Haunted Mansion Holiday!  At one point I told Jason that it alone was worth our trip to Disneyland!  It's just so neat to see a classic attraction completely transformed, top to bottom, decor, music, and overall theming for the holidays (Halloween/Christmas)!

Little One posing pretty with her Haunted Mansion Top Hat in front of the attraction.

Even the "stretching room" changes over to Nightmare Before Christmas theming!

Sally premiered this year as the newest addition to the holiday attraction!

Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk Through

Disneyland's castle may be small (smaller than I'd even imagined), but it does house something pretty cool inside!  You can walk through and see the story of Sleeping Beauty unfold!  If you visit Disneyland, it's definitely worth the walk through!  

The final page of the book does change color, as you'd expect - pink, no blue, no pink! ;)

One final photopass pic of the morning, with the man & the mouse, and the original castle in all its pretty pinkness!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Next trip report I'll take you along with Little One & I for an afternoon mommy/daughter Downtown Disney District Date.  Then, something I'm really excited to share, World of Color!  You won't want to miss it!