Disneyland 2024- Day 1: May 12

We Have The Harrowing Realization that the App is Useless

The night before the Disneyland trip began was our typical Calm Before the Storm-
Watching an underrated Disney film, in this case Meet the Robinsons.
And Storm Before the Storm-
Realizing after the limo place was closed that (in the ages between booking the flights and leaving) both the flight number and time had changed. Now we were going to Newark’s Terminal A (instead of Terminal C) for the first time AND take off was significantly closer to the limo arrival at our home than we usually like.
 

However, a scant few hours later at Stupid O’clock in the morning there was no traffic, we got through security with only the usual minor belt buckle related delay and made it to the gate in the newly renovated terminal with plenty of time. There were stop offs at the fancy (and also renovated) bathrooms and Anabelle had time to grab a Starbucks’ sandwich.

We took off slightly early, and were told we would be landing early, because time is linear.
 
For going to California as well… take the early flight to Disney, kids!
 
Given the longer flight across the country, one would assume larger seat space than the Florida jaunts.
One would be excessively wrong.
 
There was not enough room between my chest and the seat in front of me to turn the pages of a comic book. The angle the light was at also meant it was too dark to read my old, weatherworn copy of Dune.
 
There were, however, other things to keep us occupied. A minor one was the claustrophobia on a bathroom trip. This is because there was, amazingly, significantly less space in there than in my seat. Also, my ability to choose the time to go that aligns with out of nowhere, massive turbulence continued.
 
The other distraction had to do with checking if Anabelle had her Dramamine when we were packing up that morning. When younger, she sometimes got airsick but more often got carsick after a flight. As a precaution she took one of the 24-hour pills right before the limo picked us up.
 
As she hadn’t had this issue in a while, most of the Dramamine she’d taken in the past was when she was smaller and used fractional portions of shorter duration pills. Also, we’d forgotten about a weird reaction she had when taking the longer term medication previously because other stuff was going on.
 
This meant, when Anabelle felt a little nauseous at one point of the flight, she suddenly passed out, becoming totally unresponsive. Flashbacks to a febrile seizure when she was two took hold and we summoned the flight attendants. She came to relatively quickly (but which felt like an eternity) and remained extremely pale for much of the trip while watching Bluey to steady herself.
 
The crew was very helpful, bringing her crackers and an oversized water bottle. We alternated between futilely trying to rest and watching her.
 
A second event where she became nauseous again and went out actually helped matters. (Once Rosa and I could breathe, that is.) Anabelle’s recovery after that moment brought her back to normal. She had full color in her face and the watching of an adaptation of one of her (and Grandpa’s) favorites, Horton Hears a Who, was an indication she had fully returned to herself. The plane made its highly abrupt, feeling like a flyswatter slapping a bug, landing at John Wayne airport. Its location is nestled in a very urban Los Angeles area, presumably explaining the painfully short approach.
 

Our flight was so far ahead of schedule (take the early flight to Disney, kids) that the gate was full of plane, meaning we needed to wait a short bit before unloading. The crew took Anabelle’s information, saying they needed to file a medical report. Having seen a crash cart with a quick response team in Newark Airport before we left, we were expecting paperwork, questions and possibly a medical review when we disembarked.
 
There were none of those things, likely because of the inherent minisculeness of John Wayne Airport.
 
Based on reviewing the information ahead of time, I knew that we were landing in Terminal A, our bags would be in Terminal B, and the Yellow Cab stand was outside of Terminal C. I also saw something about a shuttle between terminals.
 
New York Airport Bias is similar to New York Museum bias.
 
When we exited our Terminal A gate, I could have thrown Anabelle’s oversized water bottle into Terminal B.
In the time it took to cross the negligible distance to their location, our bags were already in the carrousel.
 
Then, preparing to find the shuttle, I asked a nearby airport worker how to reach the Terminal C Yellow Cab Stand…
 
He pointed out the door behind him.
Apparently, we would not be needing the shuttle.
 
The reason pre-booking a ride ahead of time was not allowed became quite obvious when we stepped out. There were FAR more cabs in line than potential passengers.
 

As he loaded our bags into the trunk, we all realized a major difference from arriving in our “home” Disney Park airport…
It was nice!
There was not a wall of solid humidity that slapped us in the face as soon as we exited the airport doors.
 

Our driver was competent, and we had a short, uneventful ride as we failed to get any good pictures of the Street Signs that we were guessing heralded our arrival to Disney property.

He said he had been to New Jersey recently and complained (as everyone else does) about the obscene number of toll charges.
 
When I told him I had pre-booked the cab ride back, he told me if I sent him our confirmation number, he would claim it and take us back. Like many things in Freakin’ California, it was far less simple than it sounded.
 

The Pixar Place hotel was jammed full of Pixar art inside and out (see what I did there) ranging from concept to finished product and was completely awesome.
YAAAY!
 

We had seen reports of character meetings at the newly refurbished hotel, but nothing about schedules or locations. A true “lull us into a false sense of security” moment about finding interactions we wanted came by having Big Bong right in the lobby as we entered!
YAAAY!
 

Bing Bong was enormous, and borderline terrifying, but still a fun and an exciting way to start our new adventures. We had a wonderful time posing, hugging him, and goofing around. In fact, we had enough fun that two items went completely over our heads.
A) There were no indications near him, or the piano with the pictures of Joe from Soul around it, indicating the times these characters could be found in the hotel.
B) There were some odd noises as we played with Big Bong that didn’t fully register at the time.
 
Our first in person, west coast version of an Awesome Happy Disney person was Paige at the check in desk. We were already checked in online (several days before, which I still find weird) and had gotten a text about our room location being ready before we got out of the cab. However, Disney fun begins at the desk (when there isn’t an enormous figment of someone’s imagination in the lobby, anyway) and to the desk we went. Paige wrote our names on First Timer buttons, and gave Rosa a special Mother’s Day button, flower, Bing Bong concept art, and snack. Mentioning she was gluten free led to additional helpful talks with the vegan Paige about the best places to get allergy applicable meals. (Some places we booked were on the “not very allergy friendly” list, alas, but that issue would be addressed later. New coast, and the foreshadowing is here already!)
 
We had indications of differences from our Home Parks, which led to me keeping the paper back ups of our Park Tickets along with all of us having the website, the App and a screen shot of the tickets on our phones. These were entirely separate from our room key cards, which had minimal use in the parks, outside of the secret entrance.
 
Aside from many important locations, both within and outside of our building, Paige’s most important lesson concerned the Magic Elevators. The hotel had four elevators. However, instead of single up and down buttons, a floor selection panel was outside the elevators. When a floor was selected, the screen for these proto Sirius Cybernetics Corporation People Movers would state which of the four cars would be travelling to that selection. Once the doors opened, we stepped in, hit no buttons, (as only open and close were available) and were whisked to our room’s third floor.
 

The room was as jam packed with fun Pixar art as the rest of the place, filling us with more Disney excitement. It was well kept, spacious and with large comfortable Queen beds. It did display the low regard the second California park gets from the Relaxed and Groovy crowd. We had two choices when booking, “Park View” where we would see Disneyland out our window, and Standard View. Given the major likelihood of our style meaning we would be comatose during the only times we were in the room, we opted not to pay extra for the Park View. After getting excited over our first "on the television screen" Disney greeting, we crossed the room to take in the expected view of a parking structure, or possibly local Anaheim streets. Instead, we looked directly out at Pixar Pier in California Adventure, home of many, large, brightly colored, and brightly lit up at night attractions.
YAY!!!
 

An even bigger YAAAY! was because, unlike most, non-Disney, hotels which only have the night table between the beds, there were little shelves on the other sides WITH CHARGING ACCESS. It is the happiest place on earth!

At some point as we settled in, one of us realized that the Mother’s Day snack Rosa was given that she expected us to eat was a Rice Krispie treat, which are gluten free. The little blast of sugar energy we all got from sampling it probably helped a great deal once we went back downstairs.

 
Eager to get to the Parks, but far more eager to not become Raving Lunatics due to hunger, we decided to follow our standard Disney procedure of eating in the hotel “cafeteria” restaurant before traveling. The two Cast Members at the desk of the place with “famous” donuts asked if we had a reservation, stating that without one, there would be an hour wait.
Why were that many people in the hotel in the middle of the day? Freakin’ California.
 
Battling CrazyHungryLand we braved travelling to a park…and got our first taste of how tightly packed everything truly was. We crossed the street, went through the secret entrance gate our room keys opened, passed around the hoity toity Grand Californian Resort, and following a total walk length that wasn’t much longer than some of our distances from the room to the bus stop in Disney World All Star Resorts, found the entrance to California Adventure.
 
This was a momentous occasion. Because of my past family trips, Rosa’s short Florida trip before we met, my (non-officially-counting) day trips to Disneyland, and our First Anniversary Disney World trip, this was the first time, not only all three of us, but any two of us entered a Disney Park together for the first time at the same time.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
 
Given that it was our secret entrance, and it was the middle of the day, we breezed into the park with no wait. At least that’s what we thought. No matter if we got there for rope drop, or what time of the day we Hopped from one park to another, we breezed in with no wait. Entry lines was one area where Relaxed and Groovy was a benefit.
 

After deciding my Lone Ranger shirt was “EPCOT only” at the start of Shirt Grid planning and it becoming the initial cut from this trip’s grid, the first thing we heard as we entered was “The William Tell Overture” coming from the east coast amusement park themed section next to Pixar Pier.

 
Though stating she didn’t think she wanted any new Minnie ears on this trip, the first thing Anabelle saw was a set of Three Caballeros ears which would have been an instant purchase if they didn’t have leather ears which she is not a fan of. She prefers the cloth “pillow” ones, with fuzziness being a bonus.
 
I always try to get the lay of a Disney Environment via the paper maps. Honestly, I’m not sure I ever did with California Adventure. We knew our goal was the Park Entrance to find Oswald before spending the majority of our starting day over in the First Disney Park. Given the option of passing left or right through the Grizzly Peak area, we went with our most common Disney direction and chose left.

 
A second true “lull us into a false sense of security” moment about finding interactions we wanted happened as we stumbled on the recently added Big Al statue we’d read about.

As the Country Bear show hasn’t been in California for twenty-three years, we decided this familiar face was added as a personal welcome to us. YAAAY!
 
Going further around the land, a third true “lull us into a false sense of security” moment about finding interactions we wanted popped up. While we didn’t expect him based on the listings, Pluto was there with a negligible line. We figured we must have read the App incorrectly. 

Ha Ha!

Anabelle loves meeting Pluto in general and had him on her shirt (with others) and earrings for the start of the trip. Therefore, there was a great deal of excitement from both parties as they exchanged hugs, happiness, and kisses.
 
Yes, that was something we were ill prepared for. We HAD heard noises as we left Bing Bong. The characters here on the Relaxed and Groovy coast make popping kiss noises when they meet people.
Honestly, it was kind of weird and spooky at first, but we did eventually get used to it…
Sort of.
(“Who’s we?” – Anabelle)
 
We found Smokejumpers Grill, most of the way around Grizzly Peak, a counter service place we had identified in the “probably has stuff we eat” category. Avoiding CrazyHungryLand was far more important than any informal ranking system we’d reviewed and in we went.
 
I started my new relationship with the “land” (as opposed to “World”) version of Disney Impossible Burgers and got my first evidence that the California menu items are not Relaxed and Groovy but written in stone with no substitutions. I questioned Anabelle ordering Iced Tea with No Ice after she brutally made fun of me for that same thing in Washington DC. She pointed out that this tea was actually served cold, and I should shut up.
Parenthood, the gift that keeps on giving.
 

Rosa only wanted the kid’s meal burger. It was lucky there were no modifications after all, as the “double” burger looked like a toy. We fought away CrazyHungryLand before continuing our journey towards the equivalent of Main Street.
 
We reached the location Oswald was supposed to be at… and the existing reality that our false sense of security had not prepared us for began to set in. We asked a Cast Member at a store where Oswald came out and was told it was right in the area we were looking. When we pointed out Oswald's schedule indicated he was out between Ten AM and Four PM, he stated. “Oh, that’s only when they MIGHT come out, they don’t come out the whole time.”
Freakin’ California.
 
While next to a fun family with a small, bubble wand toting child and other cute kids, I luckily spotted a Character Handler Cast Member in the center of the main circle area…thing. He was identifiable by a blue vest and an “Ask me about characters” button. So, I did. He said Oswald would be out shortly, before completely vanishing from view. We set up camp on a bench near some more cute kids and waited a bit. Eventually, (but not what I would call “shortly”) Oswald did arrive, and it was a happy and fun meeting.
YAY!!

 
One little kid shot in front of us to be at the start of the new line, but far be it from us to try to douse that level of Disney excitement. Oswald was thrilled to see Anabelle’s “Tiny Oswald” who took the cross-country trip for just this reason. He also thought my four-color high tops were neat.
YAAAY!

 
Only a short while into our first day, it was time for embracing the Relaxed and Groovy with an initial Park Hop!

 

Rapunzel was greeting guests outside the main entrance, adding princesses to our false sense of security. We paused to take in the large, famous, floral Mickey Face in front of the Main Street Train Station before entering Disneyland.

 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

On either coast, there really is no substitute for the Main Street sigh of relief.
 

Another greeting of familiarity came via the Dapper Dans performing “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” as we entered, from an attraction that hasn’t been there since shortly after Walt Disney World opened Fifty-One years ago. It was clearly selected to welcome us.
 

I suggested starting the trip with walking through Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and pausing to see the dioramas inside it. We didn’t do that because I thought that attraction was closed. This is because I am a buffoon and had no idea where the entrance to that was. (For anyone else facing this dilemma, it is not in the pass through itself of the Castle, but after emerging from the other side.)
 
Anabelle then decided we were riding Mr. Toad and, “Nothing can stop me.” While on line, Rosa saw some of the miniatures from the Storybook Boat and Train rides, and asked, “Can we go?” I think she believed they were only for little kids. When I told her we were going on everything, she had a very little kid like, “YAY!” reaction herself.
Disney Magic!!!
 

We were definitely not prepared for Disneyland’s method of having almost all lines outside the structures. Mr. Toad had a posted wait of Twenty Minutes. Close to that time we were still outside and thinking it was a gross underestimation. Then, of course, we entered the building, and the ride boarding was right there.
 

The biggest differences from what I remembered in the distant Disney World past was that ride in the Magic Kingdom had two separate tracks. Here, the aspect of almost hitting the other track’s cars (and occasionally being blinded by my overenthusiastic Mother's camera flash from that other track's car) was removed, but I felt like there were more near collisions with objects. The main devil looking like the judge, and the giant, heat breathing Hell dragon at the end were quite a surprise. Anabelle loved it and found actually experiencing the “killed by a train and sent to the netherworld” ending was over and above what she had expected from only hearing about it.
YAAAY!
 
Rosa tried to take pictures but between the shaking and how much she was laughing, it was not to be.
 

We continued to the right out of the center of Fantasyland and Anabelle was completely awestruck seeing the giant version of her favorite, the small world. However, she quickly decided that we could do that… but she wanted to see the parade. We took up a spot on what we’d later learn was “The small world promenade.”
 
At this point we’d been in the Parks three hours, and as a demonstration of the levels of Relaxed and Groovy we were dealing with, had seen only a single PhotoPass person.

Hey, the trees near the castle were block shaped, like in Sleeping Beauty! Cool!
 

The parade was fun. Mickey had a super sparkly version of his sorcerer’s outfit, but we were puzzled as to why he didn’t end the parade. The Sleeping Beauty float ended the parade, because, duh, it’s her house. The parade was like they used to be in Florida with the characters focusing far more on their choreography than ad-libbed interactions with the crowd. In spite of this I watched the parade with an overly excited little girl from my family waving and cheering to all the characters… and Anabelle did that too.
YAAAY!! 

Rosa got a wave from Minnie, and Miguel blew Anabelle a kiss. This was after Rosa called him “Coco” making Anabelle feel she deserved that recognition, especially after braving the animatronic skeletons of Hector and Imelda dancing on the float that even I found creepy. I was making fun of Rosa and Anabelle saying they were hoping for a “smolder.” This is because I am a buffoon as Flynn Rider wasn’t anywhere in this parade.

The massively impressive small world had broken down just as the parade was coming, but they had gotten it back up and running rapidly. That gave us no line and a quick walk on after the viewing.
YAAAAAAAAY!

Anabelle rated this one above our normal small world. The “Disney character dollies” visually fit in seamlessly, and little snippets of their songs blended in with the overall tune. I do not understand folks that claim these “ruin the ride.” Some people have no soul. The exception to “snippets” was the underwater area with Ariel.

She was the only one singing the main song there, and boy howdy was she giving it her all. The entire next room was one of the instrumental sections and you could hear the Mermaid’s pipes throughout that whole area.

Other parts of the ride where Anabelle felt it excelled was that it had smaller sections, but more of them. Also, the self-contained water trough meant the riders were closer to the Dancing Dollies concentrated on each side in the rooms.
 
Next door to the small world was… everything because the park was so small. But we hadn’t figured that out yet.

Literally next door to it was Toontown, which I forgot how immersively it felt like entering the Roger Rabbit world. It was a significant step above what the Florida Toontown (or whatever it was called) used to be. I think the giant background made up of a hunk of cartoon mountains and sky was a key to that.
 

The Roger Rabbit ride was broken, but the Runaway Railway had a short wait. Anabelle had been talking up the “History of Mickey” aspect of the line and it did not disappoint. There were “props” and “costumes” from Mickey shorts through the ages, many of which had animated elements.

The Sorcerer hat floated and the dresser from “Ghost Chasers” had spooky guests in the mirror.

We took a selfie next to the Potato Abe Lincoln costume, as that is mandatory. Anabelle maintains they should have put Donald in it to replace the under repair “Hall of One President.” The labeling on the “concession stand” condiments section was more subtle than some of the other gags, but just as funny.

 
There were fun and cute families near us on line and in the ride that became our first Western Instant Disney Friends. The ride was identical to the version we’d been on and was just as much fun. YAAAAY!
 
Roger Rabbit was still broken when we exited, a fairly frequent state of affairs. Alas. 

Instead, we made a quick bathroom stop. As we exited, Chip, who I should point out was not supposed to be out at that time, made a bee line for Rosa, who I should point out was not wearing one of her several Chip and Dale shirts. He gave her a big high five in passing, ignoring the rest of us in the area.
Rosa turned to me, grinned wickedly, and said, “I still got it!”
YAAAAAAY!
 
Exiting Toontown we were just in time for the small world “coffee break” when the dollies all come out for the clock to chime. Anabelle, expecting it to be like the smaller Florida version, was quite impressed.
 
We wanted to continue hitting the Disneyland exclusive Dark Rides. Alice in Wonderland was next. I have no idea how long we waited. That ride always had a longer wait, and the line was the most convoluted of the outdoor chain lines. Therefore, we never had any idea where we were or how close we were.
 
We made it and it was more impressive than I had remembered. Projection technology was mixed in with the already cool mechanical effects. Anabelle stood up the same way I did the first time to see how the marching cards worked. YAAAAY!
 
Next up was the ten-minute wait for Snow White’s Enchanted Wish…which was still a Scary Adventure. We went the complete wrong direction to get there. Our first real inkling of the reduced scale of the parks hit us when it added almost zero transit time to reaching the ride, even though we walked around the entire castle and back through it to Fantasyland.

Grumpy doing the Spanish announcements may have been scarier than the witch.
 
I’m not sure how we started talking to them…
(“It was your fault… It’s ALWAYS your fault”- Anabelle)
But we made some local Instant Disney Friends on the line. We were comparing notes about there versus Florida and picking up as many tips from them as we could.
 
After we finished being terrified by the witch, it was time for a far scarier attraction.
Pinocchio’s’ Daring Journey. YAAAY!
 
Honestly, “Pinocchio’s House of Terror” may have been a better name. Anabelle became obsessed with all the terrible events of the ride. Being caged and threatened by Stromboli and the awfulness of Pleasure Island (including the depressed and lonely wails of boys turned into donkeys) made being eaten by Monstro pale in comparison.
I DON’T WANNA BE A DONKEY!!!!!!

Um…yay?
 

From the “inside” of the Castle, we found the correct entrance to the Sleeping Beauty Dioramas walk through. They thought it was all right. I was greatly disappointed. I remembered them being incredibly vibrant, but I found it extremely hard to make out any details in them. Also, I nearly killed myself navigating down the poorly lit stairway.
And when I realized I left my sunglasses on the entire time…

Did I mention we were functioning on almost no sleep, and jet lag?

Around the castle, we ran into Ariel and Snow White frolicking around. Ariel asked Anabelle to walk with her while she frolicked. YAAAAAY!  Snow White was lost in her own frolicking and continued dancing up the path until the Handler retrieved her. 

After a bit of confused (if short range) wandering, we found the Mexican restaurant in Frontierland that an online search had revealed had gluten free churros.
They did not have any.
In fact, they never had any.
This was an object lesson in not believing everything you read online.
 
I’m pretty sure this was the point where Rosa decided, celiac or no, she was having some of Disneyland’s famous churros on this trip.
 
We wanted to go on the (known to be longer) original version of Pirates of the Caribbean.
 
It was broken.
Alas.
 
We wandered through the major “Alas” section of the park. Critter Country and New Orleans Square, where Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, and the Haunted Mansion were all next to each other and shut down for refurbishment. Pirates finalized that alasness, with first it being broken, and then as we repassed it on the way back, having too long a wait for us before dinner.
 
Appearing on Main Street much quicker than anticipated (still getting used to the “One Square Foot”ness of the park) we left for our dinner reservation.
 

We found the TARDIS at the entrance to Downtown Disney easily. YAAAAY! It was the last day for it, celebrating Doctor Who on Disney+. The Doctor and Ruby had been there a week or so before us. We took some photos with it. In clear violation of Shirt Grid rules, Rosa had hidden a Doctor Who shirt in her bag without telling either of us, removing the chance for an EPIC Christmas card family photo.

On the way up the main drag, we passed through World of Disney. That struck another mighty blow of scale differences. Shortly after we left it, and were approaching the Lego store, Rosa asked, “Don’t they have the big Disney store here like in Florida.”
I answered, “Yes… we just left it.”
Rosa, “THAT WAS IT?!?”
 
There wasn’t much else to take in and we navigated through the Disneyland Hotel to find the entrance to Goofy’s Kitchen, noticing it was getting oddly chilly for a Disney vacation on the way.
 
For the special “Spring Fling” or whatever it was called, Goofy and Clarabelle (in cute outfits) met guests before entry. In fact, since it was Mother’s Day, they met guests WAY before entry.
 

Clarabelle pointed to Anabelle’s Donald ears and character shirt, miming her absence on them. Anabelle pointed out she’s been trying to find a Clarabelle shirt FOREVER and had been failing miserably as they didn’t exist. They did bond over having matching yellow shoes on. There were many hugs, heart hands and kiss noises. (*shudder*) Anabelle proclaimed (for the first of a few times) “This is the best day ever!”
 

Goofy was quite taken aback with the ridiculousness of my shoes, which is an impressive statement if I do say so myself.
 

With the holiday crowd, they were running behind, as to be expected. Having been energized by the meeting, waiting the extra forty-five minutes after our reservation was perfectly acceptable, and predictable for the holiday. We were getting into the Relaxed and Groovy mind frame. (And, more importantly, had a decent lunch.)
 

While Rosa was waiting for the Chef’s Gluten Free Tour of the Buffet, Minnie came twirling by. Anabelle got her pictures of course, and Rosa was brought up for Mother’s Day shots. Then we learned an aspect caused by the large pool of out of work actors in California fueling the far more involved character meetings.
 
Minnie insisted I join her for a photo as well.
Granted, she didn’t have to insist too hard, but it was different.
YAAY!
 

The place was clearly based on Chef Mickey’s, but the food quality was elevated. I’d put it firmly between the two top Disney World buffets- Tusker House and 1900 Park Faire. They brought Rosa a huge plate of gluten free Disney Ribs, guaranteeing a happy night for her along with the other selections. YAY!
 

The kid’s table was of equal quality, with Tusker House rivalling mini corn dogs and a macaroni and cheese that would have been worth the extra stent if there were no other choices.
 
We all ate a great deal and enjoyed it an equally great deal.

I broke down and had an early vacation beer… which, given the changes in meal strategy the rest of the week, turned out to be the right choice. 

The Elizuan Space Dust Beer (Relaxed and Groovy) continued my surprise enjoyment of Disney Grapefruit tinted beers and went well with the ribs.
YAAAY!
 
The napkin spinning dance party happened, Anabelle quickly dropped hers to put up her hair, then participated and yelled, “I survived!” when it finished. Due to the “daughter on fire” issues, I had forgotten the other part of the napkin party I didn’t enjoy…
My wife and daughter flogging me with their napkins during the celebration.
 
I guess the stress of Chef Mickey’s flashbacks was too strong. Chip popped up behind her and scared the bejezus out of Anabelle. Then Rosa, “their biggest fan” jumped up to pose. YAAAAY!!

 
Dale kept “Pulling a Piglet” and disappearing before he got to us. This allowed another trek to the dessert tables. The peanut butter and jelly pizza was only supposed to be there for breakfast, but Relaxed and Groovy extends to menus as well.
 
It was a hot tortilla with liquidy, melted peanut butter on it, and some jelly swirls.
Pulled Pork Jelly Donut… your weird but tasty crown is safe.
At least they had a bunch of cookies. YAAAY!

 

Dale finally came by for fun and shenanigans. Rosa was brought a gluten free cookie, which could have served very well as a doorstop.
In their defense, it was right about closing time. We probably got a long left over.
 
Naturally, Chip came out of nowhere to high five Rosa as we left. YAAAY!
 

We initially planned to return to Disneyland to see the one night of fireworks and close out the park per our usual methods. There were two issues with this.
 
A) Anaheim is a desert. Therefore, there is no humidity in the air to hold the heat when the sun sets. We were all in t-shirts and freezing.
B) With the time change, we were technically on the go since 2:30AM local time for about twenty hours.
 

The longest distance between any two points in that resort area was between the Downtown Disney entrance/ Disneyland Hotel, and the Pixar Place Hotel. Shivering our way past construction and parking structures, we made the trek back to our home.

We reached the third floor via the Magic Elevator just in time for the fireworks. The pool, which we were told had a fireworks’ viewing area, was on our floor.
The door to the pool was locked.
Freakin’ California.
 
Instead, we took much needed showers after being in constant motion for nearly a full calendar day.
They started, and I plummeted into unconsciousness on the couch.
 
Anabelle sweetly informed me it was time to “wash the stink off me” when she had finished.
Parenthood, the gift that keeps on giving.
 
We went to fill the ice bucket, but the machines hadn’t been installed yet, leading me to the lobby with bucket in hand. They had to send someone up and asked my room number.
In my state I could only manage a blank stare.
 
They then asked my name, and I answered the first question, “I have no idea.”
 
My brain processed a tad more and I shouted, “WAIT! I KNOW THAT ONE!”
Amazingly I remembered the room number too!
 
They sent up a guy with ice, Rosa used it on her arm. And we all passed deep into coma territory after taking a last peek at Pixar Pier all lit up. YAY!

 
15364 steps 
 5.8 miles

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