Disneyland, Day 2

Friday, December 4 - Day 2

We started today with a character breakfast at the Paradise Pier Hotel. Surf's Up with Mickey and Friends was so much fun!

As soon as we walked into the restaurant, Mickey was waiting for us.  Sarah got a hug and an autograph!

Sarah's favorite character encounter had to be Stitch, though! He was so naughty, and he tried to steal the scrambled eggs off her plate. Sarah thought it was hilarious!

Sarah also got to meet Pluto...

...and Minnie...

...and Daisy!

After we stuffed ourselves full of Mickey-shaped waffles and bought Sarah her obligatory set of ears, we took the Monorail from the hotel through Disneyland to the entrance. It was a great way to get a first glimpse of the park!

We passed The Matterhorn...

...and Small World...

...and The Teacups...

...and Tomorrowland.

Then we joined the mass of humanity at the front gates to Disneyland!

Before long, we were in the park outside the Main Street train station.

The Disney magic started right away.

It was so exciting to walk through the iconic archways into the park!

As we walked onto Main Street, we stopped to admire the huge Christmas tree!

It was decorated all Disney-style!

We took obligatory photos at the Walt Disney statue...

...and in front of the castle.

Sarah was excited to be there!

Then we took advantage of the smaller morning crowds to ride on the Jungle Jingle Cruise!

The story was that a plane carrying Christmas decorations had accidentally dropped their cargo over the jungle. All of the jungle creatures and native peoples took advantage of the holiday cheer to decorate the riverfront!

The toucan nested in tinsel...

...and the tiger and alligators played with shredded holiday scarves.

Sarah was thrilled to see elephants celebrating!

While we were in Adventureland and the lines were still short, we hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, too.

Sarah had a blast riding it. I think I was still terrified of roller coasters at twice her age, but she really, really loves them!

And speaking of love, as we exited Big Thunder Mountain, my Aunt Anita was waiting for us! I hadn't seen her in almost 6 years, and hugging her may well have been the highlight of my entire trip! I was so excited that she was able to join us for an entire day at the park, and I was even more thrilled that Sarah got to spend that much time with one of my very favorite people.

After some catching up, we walked over to Fantasyland and rode Pinocchio's Daring Journey together. It was strange and bizarre, and I really didn't understand most of what was happening.

Then we spent an hour in line for Peter Pan's Flight. It was the longest wait of our entire trip, but it also gave us lots of time to chat with Anita!

Sarah found out just how fun Anita can be!

Forty minutes into our wait, the ride broke down. We stuck with it, though, and soon we were flying over the rooftops of London and into Neverland!

After the tame ride of Peter Pan, Sarah had the scare of her life.  She had been asking all day to go "on the mountain ride." So, like a couple of dummies, Anita and I took her on The Matterhorn.

But then we realized it was dark. And terrifying. And sure to result in years of therapy. 

Sarah was a real trooper and, even though she looked a little shaken up after the ride, she didn't cry at all. For the rest of our time at Disneyland, though, she told anyone who would listen (and a few of those that wouldn't) not to ride on The Matterhorn because it's too scary! I also ended up telling her that she was safe from the Abominable Snowman because he has to stay inside the mountain to roar at people and would get fired from his job if he left the mountain. She shared this information with random strangers, too. That'll teach me.

After recovering from The Matterhorn, we wandered over to Toontown for a bit of a palate cleanser. Toontown was full of ACME-type gags, and Sarah had a lot of fun running around pushing doorbells and buzzers to see what would happen! She even made smoke come out of the windows at the Fireworks Factory!

Mickey's house was all decorated for Christmas.

So was Goofy's!

 Sarah was most excited to visit Minnie's house, though!

On our way out of Toontown, we ran into people rushing to see Mickey and the Magical Map. So we joined them! I'm so glad we did - this show was a lot of fun to see, and Sarah got to see Rapunzel and Flynn Rider! The show also featured Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tiana. King Louie and Stitch were also present, which made Sarah happy, too.

On our way out of the theater, Mickey and Minnie were greeting people at the Big Thunder Ranch. Sarah didn't want to stand in line to meet them, but they were so cute in their Christmas outfits that I had to take a picture!

By this time, it was getting to be pretty late in the day. I had a free fast pass for one ride for the three of us for Radiator Springs Racers whenever we wanted that day (ticket snafu + great Disney customer relations = fast pass for whichever ride I wanted), so we took advantage of our park hopper tickets and left Disneyland for California Adventure. 

When we got there, Anita stopped for a treat at Starbucks. Sarah opted for a Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich.

Ice cream selfie!

We stopped by Ariel's Undersea Adventure. Sarah really enjoyed this ride but was more than a little freaked out by Ursula! I mean, we still rode it like 5 times during the next two days, but...

Once she was reassured that Ursula was "just a robot," we headed over to Cars Land! Anita hadn't been to California Adventure since this part of the park opened, so it was fun to get to share that with her.

We waited in line for a few minutes...

...and then we were racing! (Sarah was having fun, too - you just can't see her face.)

After we left the racers, we stopped into the Cozy Cone Inn to meet Lightning McQueen. Sarah was a little starstruck!

From there we walked back through Carthay Circle to the California Adventure exit. This nice balloon lady let Sarah hold "all the balloons." It was a fun surprise for Sarah, and she talked about it for weeks afterward!

We also stopped to take a few photos with Anita at the tree in Carthay Circle as the lights came on.

Back over at Disneyland, we headed to Tomorrowland to ride on the submarines. It was a nice, relaxing, Finding Nemo-themed ride...close enough to The Matterhorn that Sarah could hear the Abominable Snowman roaring at riders. She kept reminding us (herself?) that he couldn't leave or he'd get fired from his job, and that was enough to get us through the line and onto a submarine!

We also rode the cars at Autopia.

Sarah and Anita rode in one car, and I followed in a car of my own. It was really fun to drive the track at night and see all the lights of the park!

By the time we were done with Autopia, though, it was well and truly dark.



The Christmas lights at Small World were on, and boy were they fun!

The lights were on over the teacups, too. Is there anything more magical?

We grabbed dinner at Village Haus and sat at a cozy table in the corner chatting until it was time to walk over to New Orleans Square and grab our seats for Fantasmic!

 

We had picked up Fantasmic Fast Passes earlier in the day, and we ended up getting amazing seats on the dock at Rivers of America right across the water from all the action! Sarah was pretty tired by this point, but some Disneyland popcorn from Aunt Anita perked her right up for the show. And what a show it was!

The show started with Mickey dreaming amazing dreams. Scenes from Fantasia were shown on screens made from water. Water, I tell you! It was pretty impressive but didn't photograph well.

Then some black-lit monkeys from The Jungle Book danced on barges.

Next, cannons fired and Captain Hook and Peter Pan dueled atop a giant ship!

Strangely, three smaller boats followed the pirate ship. The first had Belle and the Beast on it. The next one carried Ariel and Prince Eric. The last barge had Snow White and her prince. I guess it IS all a dream sequence, right?

Then, a whole bunch of evil Disney characters show up to threaten Mickey. This all ends with Maleficent turning into a giant, fire-breathing dragon.

Once the flames died down, a black and white Mickey Mouse (Steamboat Willie) steering a boat filled to the brim with Disney characters came floating past.

Then the entire show ended with Mickey back on the island doing magic and shooting fireworks!

A few minutes after Fantasia ended, the sky lit up with the fireworks of Disneyland Forever. We could see them fine and the projections were shown on the "water screens" from Fantasia, but I couldn't help wishing we'd seen them from closer to the castle. I think it just lost a little something because we couldn't see the "big picture" of the show! That being said, the fireworks were pretty spectacular...

fireworks + Peter Pan

The castle was to our right. See the fireworks over that way? We kind of missed that part of the show.

The lanterns from Tangled on the screens and the heart fireworks? Magic!

Pooh bear and his balloon

Did you know they could make firework cubes? Because I didn't!

Oh. And after the fireworks? Disney made it snow. Again.

By the end of the fireworks, it was super late. Sarah was a champ as we headed out of the park.

We took the tram to Anita's car and she drove us back to our hotel. We gave her some Topsy's popcorn and lots of hugs, and then it was time to say "good-bye for now." Spending time with her made me realize just how much I've missed her, but I'm so, so glad we had this time together! Forget the magic of Disney - I had my Aunt Anita for a day!!!