Disneyland 2024- Day 5: May 16

The App Is Useless And Gatekeeps Princesses From Their Adoring Fans

Supercharged with final Park day energy we made it out of the room and to the Main Entrance of Disneyland a full ten minutes before the Extra Magic Hour Half Hour. We may have even woken up somewhere along the way!
 
The injuries had piled up a bit by this point. Anabelle’s chronic knee and ankle issues were plaguing her, Rosa’s knee and back flared up along with her shoulder as well. My usual feet issues were joined by shin splints and that “knock the wind out” rib muscle that made me gasp for air whenever a ride turned sharply, or the next boat bumped into us.
 
We were, as usual, a fun bunch.
 
There was a prime demonstration of Anabelle’s belief that the guests were divided into two groups-
A) Those that lived in these Parks.
B) Those that had never visited a Disney Park in their life.
 
A Dad was ushering his medium to large size family toward the Disneyland entrance telling them all they needed to hurry and immediately jump on the Incredicoaster.
(For those of you not playing the home game with us…
The Incredicoaster was in California Adventure,
additionally Park Hopping was not allowed until Eleven AM.)
 
As they reached the next turnstile over, (they aren’t turnstiles anymore, but I don’t know what to call the new scanny things) we learned they also had not secured Park Passes for either Park on this day. The Cast Member patiently instructed them how to do that on the App, informing them they needed to step out of line. Hopefully, when the guy opened the App, he noticed which Park their desired coaster was in.

The Snow White ride started the day still broken. Alas. While we were waiting for another round on the “new to us” Peter Pan, the Scary Adventure was repaired. YAAAY! On the line we were on, we heard a Mother giving her children, “Reginald, Gavin and Devon” a stern talking to about good leadership skills. Those lads are going to be making engineers’ lives miserable in the business world someday, mark my words.

We had another magical ride through Neverland, Anabelle scored some good photos for a change, and when we got off, she proclaimed, “Disney World Peter Pan stinks.” Apparently, she (and her Mother) are fans of spending more time way above the scenes and swooping.

 

Across the way, under the occasional baleful glare of the Queen in the upper window, (GAH!) the newly working Snow White was our target. I know it is a corny, old, stage magic gag, but seeing the Queen in the mirror and having her turn around to reveal the Witch was a really cool (and terrifying) effect. YAAY!

 
Anabelle had considered riding Rise of the Resistance… but it broke, yet again, as did several other rides. Alas. Luckily, Mr. Toad was in the area allowing a near walk on for the fun ride to the nether realms at normal park opening time. YAAAY!

 
Continuing the wait-less dark ride trend, since they’re all basically in one big building anyway, it was time for another spin on Pinocchio. Anabelle was fascinated with how much “Dark” it puts into Dark Ride.
I DON’T WANNA BE A DONKEY!!!!
 

The Pearly Band was out in Fantasyland playing some fun tunes. YAAY! They were based on the ones who play “Supercalifragilisticexpialodocious” in Mary Poppins, which will be important later. (This is obvious to anyone who has read the Disneyland planning, which is why I restated it here.)
 
We walked out through the Castle to get a daytime PhotoPass picture with it. The Relaxed and Groovy mentality led to a long line as there was only a single photographer in the entire “Out Infidel” circle in front of the structure. At our turn he said, “Go cheese!”
I did not know “cheese” was a verb. 

While Rosa was happy with a return of Tinkerbelle magic shot and our standard "Ewwww" picture, she was highly jealous that Anabelle got a magic shot with Chip and Dale. Perhaps this was fate repaying her for sneaking the Doctor Who shirt in, off grid. I continued to fail to look at Tinkerbelle.

 

The Disneyland Marching Band went by performing Yankee Doodle. Anabelle said, “They’re playing my song.”
Sometimes, even I don’t know why we say things.
[“Because I love that song.”- Anabelle]
 
Alice (from Wonderland) was listed with up to four different meeting locations per day. We never saw her. Following the App as to where she was scheduled to be at this time, we did not see her again. The only time we saw any characters where she was supposed to be was later this day when Geppetto was indulging in the Disneyland Regular Guest habit of loitering next to the Teacups.
Freakin’ California.
 
Nearby bathrooms had androgynous looking puppets on each door, making the selection a challenge.
 
The Alice Addled App also said Miguel would meet people in Frontierland in the morning, and Mirabel would return to where we saw her in the afternoon. The “Ask Me About Characters” button wearing Handler at the site informed us Miguel never showed up there before noon. At least we saw a cool looking (real) Raven in a tree on the way to Frontierland.

 
We crossed Fantasyland again (“One Square Foot”) for a Toontown Visit, as it was one of the few locations where character times were accurate. (Not counting Rosa’s Chip and Dale summoning powers, naturally.)

Near the small world we experienced a Pinocchio and Geppetto “drive by.” They gave us a round of applause for our “first timer” buttons as they walked to the promenade for a brief cameo. YAAAY!
 

Pete was due to arrive… sometime. Anabelle tried the Gadget Coaster, a fun, Barnstormer like, kids’ coaster with a Rescue Rangers theme. If I was paying better attention, I would have taken a picture of Rosa in front of it in her appropriate shirt.
 
When Anabelle returned, Pete had begun his wanderings. While Toontown does have a perfectly serviceable area for characters to have normal meetings in, that wasn’t how they did things.
Freakin’ California.
 
Pete walked around and guests had to run up to get his attention, and whoever had the camera had to then try moving into position. To us East Coasters, it felt like further encouraging rudeness.

Anabelle did get a picture with the terrifyingly large sometimes villain, and they talked about fishing for reasons likely neither of them was sure of. As long as he stopped, I stepped in as well for a big guy pose. YAY!

 
Roger Rabbit was broken, once more. (One would think Disney would have spinning worked out by now?) However, Runaway Railway had a short wait. We enjoyed the fun line again. The Cast Member in the pre-show told us, “I’ve never seen this movie before…
It’s three hours long.”
A little kid waiting with us exclaimed, “Then it better be good!”

Rosa’s back allowed this to be a “once a day” ride and she joined us this time. Her phone had started heating up making this a needed rest from photographs for a bit. My lung squeezing muscle made the conga in Daisy’s dance studio a pain party, but otherwise we all had fun again. YAAAY!
 
Wherever we planned to go next, coming out of Toontown right next to it meant it was time for a detour into the small world. The baby boy being carried on line behind us wanted me to fist bump him… because they can always tell. TEENY INSTANT DISNEY FRIEND! YAY!
 

We got a private boat for this happiest cruise round the world.
YAAAAY!!
 

On yet another Aliceless cross through Fantasyland, we caught a second performance of the Pearly Band, this time on the Carrousel with Mary Poppins and Bert. We watched until they de-horsed. Bert led them, drum major style, and we followed them over to StarWarsLand, because the Park is “One Square Foot.” They turned into an edge of Frontierland hidey hole, and we continued on.

 
The Falcon had a listed ten minute wait. It was not.
Freakin’ California.

When we exited it was listed as fifty minutes, for us it was somewhere in between.
 

While Rosa was waiting for us, R2-D2 (completely unlisted anywhere, Freakin’ California) came out and tooled around in front of the ship we were in. YAAY! (for Rosa) As she watched the little droid, a charming California wee lad assumed she was far more Relaxed and Groovy than anyone should be and tried to grab her back pack.
 

Not taking the single rider line for the first time in California, I was excited about the high end Hondo animatronic. (Anabelle, unsurprisingly, was not.) We got to the briefing room, and while his R5 unit was in evidence, Hondo only gave us his instructions over the video screen. There was a suspicious looking, bent over smuggler sized lump, under a blanket, up on the stage, that made us believe we got the back-up version of the pre-show.
 

Anabelle was talking about how she had never been a Gunner. We got put behind a young couple to act in that role which was exciting. What was less exciting was finding out we were also the Engineers, (though the ship was mostly set for self-repair) because the weird Freakin’ California crowd levels meant there were ZERO people on the single rider line.
 
The Pilot was spot on in her flying skills. Her man in the Co-pilot seat required constant lessons from her, and one time she had to stretch across the cockpit to pull his giant hyperspace resistors. (That’s not as dirty as it sounds.) We had fun laughing at them and blowing things up.
 

Our family of three linked up again, and learned that instead of printed cups, the Blue Milk stand had a funky, spacey looking sippy cup thing as a souvenir. It was a definite “need” for Anabelle. We all sampled the tasty treat. YAY!!
 

Some First Order Stormtroopers passed through, mostly ignoring the adults but stopping to talk to children…as it should be. Anabelle pulled out her Droid Rights Sign to do some protesting. The Troopers stopped to give it a good looking over. Before they could say anything, their Handler cheered and yelled “Droid Rights Now!” with a fist in the air, startling the Stormtroopers.
YAAAAAAAAAY!

 
We passed back into Fantasyland and my regular (if undocumented) hunt for a Mickey pretzel was thwarted once more by a closed stand. I grabbed some potato chips for Rosa who had been hinting at needing a snack and a banana for me, as the possibility of healthiness in the middle of a theme park should not be ignored.
 
With Anabelle in her Wade shirt, we found our way back to the Pixar Party and stood on the Elemental characters line. The Handler was giving out entertainingly random news reports. While we were there Kiki and friend came out to introduce the music on stage.
 
There’s always a Kiki at these things, isn’t there?
 
Alberto and Luca left their station, and waved to us all as they passed our line.
YAAAY!
 
Finally Wade and Ember came out, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
 
Wade was HUUUGE…
And squishy!
 

Ember was movie accurate (in looks not thermal conditions, this was not another Chef Mickey’s like incident) and very sweet. 

Like all the character interactions there, it had a great deal of emotional content. Wade cried freely over seeing himself on Anabelle’s shirt, our first timer buttons… 

And everything really.
 

We hung around to see more characters and dances. Bo Peep was going for it and “devouring” (Anabelle’s word) on stage again. This continued when the characters came out on the floor with the Guests as well. Not to be outdone, Woody busted out onto the stage giving it his all, doing “spinning the lariat,” galloping dance moves and putting his whole soul into it. They were truly the power couple of the dance floor.
 
When the emotions from Inside Out joined them on stage, Pharrel Willaims’s “Happy” played.
Forcing Sadness to dance to that song was a clear incidence of abuse.
 
While we were watching, Ian returned to the Guinevere spot and Barley was with him this time. YAAY! As soon as we had an inkling they’d be there, we stood where the line should be. (Yes, we’ve done this before.) While waiting, Anabelle got some photos by the wrongly uninhabited props from A Bug's Life. (Likely left over from the old playground for that film that AvengersLand replaced.)

 
Meeting Ian and Barley was a hoot. They mimed asking if Anabelle had met Wade upon seeing her shirt, and she checked to see if Barley’s arm was feeling OK. (It was. YAY!)

 
We finished Partying with Pixar and went back out by the small world to find another Pearly Band performance on the promenade.
 
Bert was dancing along like a complete loon. (YAAAAY!) And Mary Poppins would join in, mostly for some prim and proper steps, but occasionally fully cutting loose.

 
They did fantastic versions of “Under Da Sea” and “Everybody Wants to Be A Cat.”
Then ending fast part of the latter was one of Mary’s finest “cutting loose” moments.

Tinkerbell appeared sometimes in Pixie Hollow, at least according to the less and less trusted App. However, this day her realm was abandoned, inhabited only by that odd California Relaxed and Groovy breed of park loiterers.

We were hungry and worked our way around the edge of Fantasyland towards Tomorrowland to find lunch. Because we’d missed him the other day, and more importantly because- Rosa, Dale manifested an unlisted appearance in our path behind the Matterhorn. The First Disney Mountain loomed darkly (and oddly) over the Castle. The constant, spooky wind noises around it made me think we were near the Haunted Mansion every single time we were near it.

Dale was, as always, happy to see Rosa... and us. YAAAY!!

We had our meal at the sadly Sonny Eclipseless but still tasty Galactic Grill in Tomorrowland. All the seating there, like many other Counter Service places, was outside, because- California. Anabelle had the veggie wrap she had scouted well before we arrived, praising it endlessly. Rosa enjoyed a gluten free salad. I decided since this was initially supposed to be my “vacation steak” meal time, I could have a real cheeseburger. Due to "Season of the Force," Star Wars meals had spread into Tomorrowland along with the Space Mountain overlay. The “Bantha Burger” (and whatever unidentifiable but tasty items were on it) did not disappoint. I showed a rare bit of self-control and did not purchase any of the myriad Star Wars themed mugs and popcorn buckets available. Plus, I already had my shiny, if awkward, Marvel drink holder.
 
Anabelle got a table while we grabbed the food, she told us where she was, “I’m over next to the wall, by Goofy. 

*confused pause*
Why is he here?”
While we ate, Anabelle voiced her opinion of preferring counter service to table service in these Parks, by asking, “Isn’t this better than some dingy old place where they give you fancy meat?”
 
Goofy was not supposed to be in Tomorrowland. In fact, no characters were. That did not stop them from coming by in Relaxed and Groovy droves. Tigger and Eeyore strolled past leading Anabelle to proclaim- “Look! A Poohcession!”
 

Mickey and Pluto pulled up leading us to realize we should completely give up on using the App to find characters and chose random places to loiter around in the Relaxed and Groovy fashion. Anabelle ran over to meet those two. Mostly Pluto, he may be her highest ranking for most fun to meet.

 
As we had amassed a bounty of buttons by this point. Rosa used one from Minnie’s Plaza Breakfast to fix the hole in Anabelle’s backpack, signaling it was likely the end of life for this frequently visiting Disney Parks Pink Princess themed carrying item.
 

We had planned to do some shopping on Main Street. On the way around the Castle, past the wishing well and mystery Snow White and the Dwarfs statues, we saw Flynn Rider and Rapunzel. Their line was closed. Alas.
 

Over on the other side of the castle was Anna, who’s line was also closed. Alas. By this point I should not have to mention there was no indication of either of these on the App. (Freakin’ California) We asked what time Anna would return and were told she wouldn’t be returning to that spot today, but might be inside later…
 
I’m sorry… Inside WHERE?
 
What was also missing from the App was the fact that the Royal Hall had been open all week. We knew the nearby Royal Theater had Rapunzel and Belle shows only on weekends with no meetings. What we were unaware of is that Royal Hall with rotating princess meetings was open every day until five.
Freakin’ California.
 
The description was- there are two or three princesses inside. The Relaxed and Groovy atmosphere meant the Cast Members monitoring the line had no idea which princesses were inside, how many there were, and when the shifts changed. Freakin’ California.
 
There was also no posted wait time. The guy glanced at the line and said, “Maybe about a half hour.”
 
Armed with this (stunning lack of) information we waited in line. Our conversation consisted of sports betting like guesses of who we’d eventually meet. When we were next to go the young Cast Member started a game with us of naming a Disney character for each letter of the alphabet.
 
Anabelle got “G” and quickly said. “Gurgi!”
The game ended then because he did not know who Gurgi was.
Rotten kid.
 

The wait was about a half hour, because even Relaxed and Groovy Cast Members are fantastic at eyeballing line lengths. In the first room was Tiana. (YAAY!) She and Anabelle discussed having adventures based around this being our first time. Much to Anabelle’s excitement, Ariel was next. They compared colors and talked about dresses and other stuff. YAAAAY!

There was a third princess, and she was on none of our pick lists- Mulan! YAAAY!
She asked if we flew by dragon across the country to get there, in another of the frequently occurring, weird “characters know they’re in Disneyland” moment.

 
Yet again, we crossed the park. That “One Square Foot” thing added a great deal to our step count. We needed to get over to the Star Wars Launch Bay in Tomorrowland. It was closed, and only used for Disney Vacation Club meetings. Way to gatekeep the cool Star Wars Museum stuff.
Rotten snooty people.
 
However, the Disney Visa Card Holder PhotoPass spot was also in that building, and due to close for the day relatively soon. The Cast Members were all stone faced and quiet. Eventually it was our turn. Having met Darth Vader in Orlando, we expected the giant blast doors.
 
Instead, we were led into a smallish, unlit room.
 
Relaxed and Groovy they may be, but that Los Angeles character talent pool knows theatrics.
 
Darth Vader was over in the near corner hidden from view by the doorway, with all of his life support gear turned off.
We entered the dark room, and he popped out from that corner to loom above us, while starting to breathe with his lights suddenly flashing!
 
HE WAS ENOURMOUS! He towered well above a head taller than me. Anabelle fell over completely jumping back. Fun!
 
He greatly approved of my Darth Vader hoodie (thrown over my Beast shirt for the occasion, excellent last minute grab as we were leaving if l do say so, probably more for the unexpected cold but this was awesome too.) and said I would be joining the Empire. True to character he approved of Anabelle’s Droid Rights Sign and said he could make use of her skills. 

Anabelle- “I didn’t plan on joining the Empire today, but whatever.”
YAAAY!

 
When we took the pictures together, I copied Vader’s various hand motions because I had been practicing them since age seven, Rosa didn’t know what to do and simply smiled cutely. Neither did Anabelle so instead she was overly cheery and gave a big thumbs up!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

 
The Parade was due to come by, but we agreed it was much more choreographed and less interactive than the Florida parades we were used to. Anabelle said she’d watch it again if they waved more. Also, it had far too few Princesses. (Apparently, they were all in that unlisted building near the castle.)
 
After trying to steer us that way much of the day, there were no more impediments to my riding Buzz Lightyear. That is, if you don’t count the gun itself. I did awful. 

Anabelle got eighty-three thousand thanks in part to the ride briefly breaking down next to a high value target, Rosa scored thirty-seven thousand and I got seven thousand. All the extra aiming allowed by lifting the gun in the world couldn’t help me. I did point it straight down on the car to make sure it had light coming out of it. However, mine didn’t have the range to actually reach the targets. Rosa was convinced I was off by an order of magnitude with my score until I showed her the picture.

After the trip I learned the ride awards a hundred points for every five shots fired, whether or not any hits are made. I think those were the only points I got.
 

We took a snack break working our way back to Princess Town. I finally found a Mickey Pretzel. Rosa had another medicine assisted regular, famous churro, and Anabelle tried the Blackberry Sour Churro.

She claimed it tasted like “Aaah!”
[“It was a good ‘Aaah!’”- Anabelle]
Having sampled it, I can confirm that.
 
Back near Royal Hall, Snow White had her own line where we’d seen Anna. Anabelle ran up to her second favorite meeting princess… and the line was closed. (Once more, with feeling) Alas.

We got the same answer about maybe she’d be inside later; the outside princesses also rotated all day…
With no schedule.
Freakin’ California.
 
While we were on line for the Princess Hall again, after getting zero information from the Cast Member other than “they rotate often,” a famous Netflix dating reality show person (Abby) showed up in the courtyard. I have no idea, ask Anabelle. Gaston pulled up in the courtyard as well while we were waiting.
 

Right before we went in, we heard someone else on line say “Malificent’s here.”
It was the Wicked Queen.
Philistines.
We saw her and I said, “Good thing we’re over here.” The Queen didn’t stop for photos and swept through the courtyard on her way around the Castle.
 

With no clue who we’d meet, Anabelle brewed up a cover story saying Rosa wanted princess pictures of the two of us in case any were the same to prevent it feeling all weird. This was true since we were in our “The Beast” and “I’m with the Beast” shirts and were hoping for Belle. Anabelle lamented that even with this new discovery, there really weren’t enough Princesses in these parks. The line moved deceptively fast. The older Cast Member who gave us a minor inkling the inside royalty likely changed chatted with us about favorite attractions and Park history before we entered.
 

The first meeting this time was Aurora. (YAAY!) Since it is her Castle, that was nice. Anabelle said she was one of the good ones who would have instantly recognized where the “Philip” in Morgan’s middle name came from.

Elena of Avalor was next. More “I know I’m in Disneyland” oddness happened as she asked where we were from and said she had been studying about the “Kingdom of New Jersey.”

Ariel was last, but looked different enough that Anabelle went and had another enjoyable conversation about dinglehoppers and such. YAAAAY!
 
When we came out, there was Belle in her blue dress! YAAAY!
And her line was closed too. Alas.
Freakin’ California.

 
Apparently to get on those outside, flash mob type lines, one needs to leap out of a tree as soon as the Princess appears to make the cut off length.
 
The Queen swept through again, and we gave her a wide berth before returning to the plan we abandoned a while ago for shopping on Main Street.
 
Disneyland Main Street maintained more variety in the types of stores than the Magic Kingdom, but the street itself had less and smaller shops. We found many of the souvenirs we needed. I also found the tremendously ugly (meaning perfect for me) all over print Muppet shirt that I'd seen online in Disney World. YAAAAY!
(Or “Oh Lord that’s hideous! Of course you’re buying it.” – Anabelle)
 

The Magic Store was still there! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! It really sold professional magic tricks, card decks and stuff. The autographed photo of Steve Martin, who started out there, was a nice touch.

[Later note- I was incorrect, he really started in Merlin's Magic Shop, which no longer exists in Fantasyland, but the spirit is there.]

While we shopped, Anabelle saw Pinocchio had a fifteen minute wait and ran to take a ride. The first note we got from her said-

“I almost went the wrong way because the Castle is so dang tiny it hid behind a tree.”
Rosa and I passed through other stores and then received:
“Bruh it’s mobbed.  
That is more than 15 minutes 😓
I saw Ariel and Rapunzel though so that was fun,
I’ll come back.”
Once again, proving the App was mostly useless.
Freakin’ California. 
 

The Royal Hall was closed, and we met Anabelle in the courtyard in front of it. We saw a few princesses pass through while doing laps around the Castle. They really do concentrate them all in one spot.

 
We wanted to try Rancho de Zocalo’s Mexican food for dinner. I started to figure out the route to Frontierland… because I didn’t realize it was next door. Those parks really are “One Square Foot.”
 
Anabelle and I had each had some form of taco the day before. Therefore, she got the burrito bowl, and I got a burrito while Rosa had tacos. Rosa made the correct choice. Anabelle doesn’t publish her “Disney Food Ratings” after a trip. However, I will say everything else we had was at or above an eight out of ten, and this place earned a four. It was the Michael Bolton of Disney Food. Alas.
 
During dinner Anabelle’s constant exposure to “Freakin’ California” and missing multiple princess lines led her to snap. She started referring to the Relaxed and Groovy set as “Hippies.”
 
She ranted, “Next time we’re in a Park we’ll be in Disney World, and it will be less confusing, ‘cause these hippies don’t know how to do anything. It should not have taken five days to find Princesses. That place wasn’t on the App at all! There’s more variety, but really, put Cinderella everywhere and just tell me what time! Aladdin and Jasmine have a sign in Adventureland with times they appear. How hard is that?!
I mean, I did get to see Ariel three times and hugged her, which I didn’t on the last Disney World trip, so there is that.”
YAAAY!
 
When we left the restaurant there was an ENOURMOUS line. This happened almost every place we ate. At least we got one aspect of Relaxed and Groovy timing right.
 

There were various pit stops while the others of us waited back in the Royal Courtyard. It was fun watching as the kids from the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique came there for pictures both outside, and in a carriage in a nearby room. Anabelle taught one little Instant Disney Friend how to work the “Topsy Turvey Day” themed puppet music box. YAAAY!
 

While we were waiting, I went through the Castle dioramas again. They were far more impressive without sunglasses. (Buffoon.)

 
We passed down Main Street, and I did a last peek in any store we may have missed. Although for the first time in I can’t remember how many vacations I brought addresses AND stamps, while the mailbox was still there, not a single store sold postcards in the entire park.
Alas.
 
We Park Hopped over to California Adventure just as the parade was finishing, hoping that would break up some crowds. It didn’t really because people do just loiter around the Parks.
Freakin’ California.
 

We followed the Parade into its hidey hole at the entrance to AvengersLand to get more souvenirs at the Marvel shop in the Guardians Tower. I was hoping to add to the Marvel Legends addiction, but there were none of the regular figures to be seen. There were multiple comics on sale reflecting the denizens of the land, which was cool.

The only Legends action figure was Super Adaptoid. The green android with the powers of all the Avengers was usually only available online. He did look pretty cool and would have fit well on my Bad Guy shelf. However, the seventy buck price tag overwhelmed any theoretical justification I could come up with.
“Alas”- Me
“YAAAY!”- Rosa
 

We came out of the store just in time to catch the Guardians Dance Off hosted by Star Lord and Gamora. (The original, in love with Quill, dead one. MULTIVERSE!!)  Thunderstudy guy was one of the crowd control Cast Members and his dance moves were at least as good as Quill’s. There was a lot of audience participation with the two of them dancing, and Rocket appearing on TV screens to complain constantly. The show was a great deal of fun. YAAAAY!
 
The Guardians boogied away to the back stage area and we continued crossing AvengersLand. Shuri was greeting folks out in the courtyard. We waved as we sprinted by and Anabelle yelled, “Can’t stop! Going to CarsLand!”
 

As we entered, he drove by and a little kid yelled, 

“Lightning McQueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!!!!!!!!”
…And so did we.
YAAAY!
 
Hey, I finally noticed this last Park day that the center section that Lightning paved in the movie was the only dark and smooth pavement in the Land. I’m a little slow sometimes. Or a buffoon all the time.
 

There was a crowd gathering under the yellow light with every third blink slower. Cast members handed out little flags to some kids to lead the “stroll.” Then they walked in a big circle under the light and “Sh-boom” played as the neon all turned on, one building at a time. More and more people, couples, families, and individuals joined in as the song played until all the signs were illuminated. It was amazing.
YAAY!
 
Anabelle took a million pictures of all the lights… again.
Specifically, Flo’s and Luigi’s … again.
[“Total count of Luigi’s pictures: thirty.”- Anabelle]

 
A quick check of the App showed Radiator Springs Racers had a crazy long wait once more. (And Rise of the Resistance was broken again. The Indiana Jones ride was either broken or had an hour wait, which was its state throughout out trip, explaining why we didn’t go on it.) The wait time for the Cars ride was one of the few things the App was accurate about. Also, the Cast Members continued their ability to predict - to the minute - how long the single rider line was. Anabelle was satisfied with her four rides on the first full park day.
 
As the stroll broke up, a guy passed and complimented my sneakers.
Anabelle asked, “Can you wear different shoes. It’s annoying.”
Annoying wasn’t the actual word she used, but when I asked later to find out what it was, she said,
“I don’t remember, all I know is you stink.”
Parenthood, the gift that keeps on giving.
 
We sat on a bench and took in the beauty that is CarsLand while talking about generally dumb stuff. I had a brilliant idea to get some shakes from Flo’s while we sat there, since they were awesome. Sadly, everyone else who came to see the neon lighting had the same brilliant idea. The line went out the door and barely moved. Mobile order pick up times stretched to well after we expected to be back in Disneyland. Alas.
 
I pointed out that while where we sat was very nice to see, Anabelle could have used the time to wait on the Radiator Springs Racers line. She said, “No… the line has no neon.”
Hard to argue with that logic.
 
Anabelle maintained CarsLand was the most immersive and prettiest of all the Disney Park lands on either coast. I maintained it was an excellent one, but in the same league as the other best lands. She maintained that I was devoid of any soul or taste and was a big poop head.
It’s nice having adult children. It allows such mature discussions, no?
Parenthood, the gift that keeps on giving.
                                                                                                                                    
When we had our fill of the immersive gorgeousness of is CarsLand [“See?” – Anabelle] we retraced our steps through AvengersLand, waving to Shuri yet again, and Park Hopped one last time to return to the first Disney Park for the end of our last night.
Alas.
 
Mobs of guests were loitering EVERYWHERE! Partying begins on Thursday night for those wacky, modern, Relaxed and Groovy kids.
 
We cut through Princess central to pass through Frontierland on the way to our destination. The Frontier Shooting Gallery still charges there, unlike in Disney World. That may be the reason it shut down a couple of months after we left to become yet another Disney Vacation Club meeting area.
Wait, it’s closing in Florida, not here, which makes less sense.
Disney Snootiness is growing on both coasts.
 
The only real request I had for our final day was my extended length favorite, Pirates of the Caribbean.
We scored front row seats this time.
YAAAAAAAAY!!!
 
The bromide used to treat the water must really trigger super strong scent memories for Anabelle. She was a little groggy, but the first drop drenched us completely. I thought, “She surely can’t fall asleep this time.”
 
I was wrong, and she was suddenly, as always, a completely dead weight on my arm.
 
At least she was until we passed the big pirate ship and Captain Barbosa landed a cannonball right next to us, dowsing her and waking her up yet again.
She screamed and sputtered, and I laughed so hard it pulled the rib covering muscle, preventing me from breathing at all.
I yelled, “I’m going to die on Pirates of the Caribbean.”
This got Anabelle laughing hard enough that she couldn’t breathe either.
 

Next door to the Pirates store was the temporary home of Haunted Mansion merchandise until the in progress store and queue was completed. They had a new, very cool, glow in the dark Mansion hat. I do not need one of those, since my other one from the store in MGM is still in decent shape. This is because it is used to barbeque, as my ancient Pirate cap is what comes with me to the Parks. Sadly, there was still no sign of a cool new Pirate hat to replace my no longer black chapeau.
GET ON THE BALL DISNEY!
 
Anabelle, of course, wanted to visit Pinocchio again, but sadly it broke.
Therefore, we were forced to go on Pirates again.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
 
Rosa and Anabelle both fell asleep on this ride.
It really must be the bromide, right?
I tried to think back to (or imagine) how cool it had to be the first time coming out of that darkness and seeing the enormous Pirate ship rising out of the mist above us. It is really easy to get used to Disney stuff that is known well enough to be memorized, but I always try to remember the wonder and majesty of the initial experience. YAAY!
 
Rosa grabbed some chocolate doubloons from the pirate store with pictures of “the sensational six” on them to grant her a bit of extra energy on this last night. She was kind enough to share as we all needed a bit of a boost, as evidenced my by unconscious shipmates on the previous trip.
 

The “One Square Foot” Park meant it was easy to be tempted to cross the whole thing again for a last small world. The kid in the row in front of us sang during the whole last room. We sang the whole time, but that happened on every trip.
YAAAY!

 
The kid’s dad tried to push the empty boat in front of us to prevent collisions and almost fell in the water, adding extra excitement to our last happiest cruise round the world.
 
We checked the App to see if Pinocchio had been repaired-
“’Cause it’s bonkers!”- Anabelle.
And she’s correct.
It was fixed, YAAAAY!

We rode it for what was planned to be the last time.
I DON’T WANNA BE A DONKEY!!!!!!!
 
While she said “no” every other time I had brought up riding the Carrousel, the final night nostalgia had gotten to Anabelle, and she suggested it. “Because it’s the Carrousel.”
Couldn’t really argue with that. YAAY!
 
While it’s called “King Arthur’s Carrousel” the pictures on it are all from Sleeping Beauty. Perhaps they should follow Disney World’s lead and call it “Prince Philip’s Carrousel?”
 

Anabelle noted which horse Mary Poppins rode on earlier (previous research revealed it is always the same one – there is a reason the planning write ups are as insanely long as they are) and was gunning for that one. Sadly, we were the second people on line and the kids ahead of us had the same idea. Alas.
It was a magical ride anyway, though. YAAY!

 
Except that part way through I realized I was not wearing my ancient and “hasn’t been a cool replacement offered in years” Pirates of the Caribbean Baseball Cap. AAAAAAH!!!!!
 
We ran back to the Pinocchio ride as the night was drawing to a close. This was probably the only time I passed “The Sword in the Stone” without trying and failing to draw it forth.
 
We whipped through the uninhabited line, and I attempted to incoherently ask if anyone had found my hat in one of the ride cars. Anabelle, who was refreshed from two separate Pirate ride naps, instantly sighted it on the podium the Cast Member running the ride stood at, and said, “There it is!”
 
Since we were there, we took another spin on the Pinocchio ride to close out the night. Anabelle claimed she stole my hat for just this purpose.
I DON’T WANNA BE A DONKEY!!!!
YAAAY!!
 
With all the rides, including the monorail, (Freakin’ California) closed, we sadly passed down the lighted Main Street and bid farewell to the first of all Disney Parks.
Alas.
 

On the way we looked closely at the store window movie dioramas for the first time. All were cool, highly detailed, and quite different from the Florida ones. One was Song of the South.
Might want to redress that window, eh?

 
On the way out we realized Disneyland doesn’t have an equivalent of the “Kiss Goodnight” that plays when the Magic Kingdom closes.
Come to think of it, there were no opening ceremonies either.
Sad.
There is such a thing as being too Relaxed and Groovy.

We passed out of the gates for the final time, and Anabelle summed up her feelings:
“Good riddance…
With Love!”
 
For the long walk back to our Pixar Place home, Anabelle first ranted about the multiple versions of Pinocchio that have been made. After that she settled back in to complaining about the uselessness of the Disneyland App.
“And there’s all these Cast Members wearing badges that say, ‘Ask me about characters.’
Then you do ask, and they say, ‘I don’t know.’
Why are you wearing that!?”
 
Check out was normally at Eleven AM. Since we had a breakfast reservation at five after Twelve, we discussed not needing an extended check out. On the way up in the elevator we realized, “its us” and every little bit of time would help.
 
I staggered back into the lobby and was granted a Noon check out.
 
Most of our clothes were in a laundry bag which was easily tossed back into the suitcase. Rosa packed up the fragile things and we all peeked out at lit up California Adventure. I pointed out Anabelle would some day talk about this the way we talk about our Contemporary Resort Disney World Days. She said she wouldn’t because she “doesn’t stink.”
Parenthood. The gift that keeps on giving.

We fell into our final California Disney Coma.
 
Aside- For steps, whether it’s because my phone is bad at counting them, or my legs are longer, my step count was always LESS than theirs.
 
24410 steps
9.2 miles.

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