Lunar New Year At Disneyland
We went to Disneyland yesterday. We got there after ten again, but at least we zoomed through the parking structure on the right side. There was a little bit of a wait for bag checks though. It was a cold day. I'm used to trying to find some shade at Disneyland, not a place to warm up lol. We lucked out though because we had a big storm recently, but it had passed and we didn't have to deal with rain yesterday. So, this time of year is the Lunar New Year celebration at DCA, but first we killed some time at Disneyland.
We went over to Star Tours first, which turned out great. We got some lucky breaks yesterday. The wait said 25 minutes, but it only took ten. Disneyland was quite nice in the morning with lower crowds. And we actually saw a new scene on the ride with this sea creature. At least, I don't ever recall seeing it before, so that was cool. I know there's supposed to be new scenes coming to Star Tours, but I think that's not supposed to be until April. I really thought we had seen every scenario.
After Star Tours, I thought we'd head over to Mr. Toad to get warmed up in Hell lol. I don't know what the wait for that was, but it was about 13 minutes to our vehicle. We got lucky that our vehicle stopped briefly in the Hell area lol because they were loading a girl in a wheel chair on the ride. I was also in the mood to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so we went over there afterward. The ride was down, but I thought we'd loiter around to see if it would reopen. They were running the trains through, so that seemed like a good sign. And sure enough we were maybe waiting five minutes and the ride opened again and so it was a walk on. Woo hoo! Things were going pretty great. The lights were on in the caves though and not all the effects were working, but that didn't matter to me. I don't often get to go on Big Thunder because Lightning Lane ruined it, so this was a treat.
We had some time left before we were ready to cross over and get our Lunar New Year lunch, so I thought we'd go check out Rise. Unfortunately, it was down. We walked over by Smuggler's Run and that was 55 minutes, so I thought we should just cross over to DCA. I was getting hungry anyway. So, the first thing we had there were these Char Siu Style ribs that could be found at the food truck in the Hollywood backlot area. They were pretty good, although not hot. The bbq sauce had a distinct Asian flavor and was covered with peanuts and green onions. Next we got a classic favorite of ours, the Garlic Noodles. I was rather surprised with how packed it was at DCA. People were showing up. Not even that many had showed up for the Festival of Holidays. It was the longest line I had seen to get the food. We also had to wait in another line just to pick up the food after we ordered, but it wasn't too bad of a wait. We really should have got two orders though instead of sharing it. Those Garlic Noodles are so good.
I didn't feel like we had enough food, so we needed something more. We were going to check another kiosk with bao buns, but we got blocked by Mulan's Lunar New Year Procession parade. We kind of stood over by the Boudin Bakery and waited and watched it go by. My mom wasn't really interested in the bao though and everything else was mostly spicy or we weren't interested in it. Actually, we were going to get the Shrimp Lo Mein after we had the Garlic Noodles, but they were sold out. So we sat at some tables to figure out what to get for a snack. I knew the Cozy Cones at Carsland had snacks and we agreed to go over there. I had never had anything from there before. We decided to get the bacon macaroni and cheese in a bread cone. I thought the mac and cheese tasted like KFC mac and cheese, but my mom enjoyed it and it was nice and warm. Bacon was good and the bread had kind of a nice sweet flavor, which I enjoyed. It kind of reminded me of a cinnamon roll, but without the cinnamon and sugar. I'd just eat that bread as a snack haha.
Next we were ready for dessert. So, the other new thing I wanted to try was called the Dalgona Coffee Bundt Cake. The cake was nice and moist, but it had this espresso cream on top that was very strong and bitter. I didn't like that. So, the cake was hit-or-miss. My mom and I shared the cake, but we didn't finish it. It was kind of a disappointment. We wanted to get that taste out of our mouth so we got a sample of sourdough from Boudin heh heh.
That was it for our food at DCA and our time there. We didn't ride anything. We opted instead to go back to Disneyland and check out Rise again. Unfortunately, this time the line was packed full, which is unusual to see especially with the parade starting soon. Usually that keeps people out of lines. Yeah, we were dealing with parade chaos again, but we headed over to Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. That was our plan B. The wait time said 20 minutes, but it was pretty much a walk on. A little over ten minutes all in from the pre-show to the vehicle. I still love and marvel at that ride.
That was our last ride of the day. Only four probably because we spent much of the time walking from one side of the park to the other, which is tiring and painful. I was ready to go home. I was happy enough with our visit. We got good bargains on rides. The crowds weren't bad, at least in the morning. It got worse later in the afternoon. We thought about picking up Earl of Sandwich to bring home for dinner, but we were too bloated from the food we ate. It didn't sound good. We even thought about bringing treats home from there, but nothing was appealing. Better to go when you're hungry. :P So, next month is the Food and Wine Festival of course and I can't wait. More food lol.
We went over to Star Tours first, which turned out great. We got some lucky breaks yesterday. The wait said 25 minutes, but it only took ten. Disneyland was quite nice in the morning with lower crowds. And we actually saw a new scene on the ride with this sea creature. At least, I don't ever recall seeing it before, so that was cool. I know there's supposed to be new scenes coming to Star Tours, but I think that's not supposed to be until April. I really thought we had seen every scenario.
After Star Tours, I thought we'd head over to Mr. Toad to get warmed up in Hell lol. I don't know what the wait for that was, but it was about 13 minutes to our vehicle. We got lucky that our vehicle stopped briefly in the Hell area lol because they were loading a girl in a wheel chair on the ride. I was also in the mood to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so we went over there afterward. The ride was down, but I thought we'd loiter around to see if it would reopen. They were running the trains through, so that seemed like a good sign. And sure enough we were maybe waiting five minutes and the ride opened again and so it was a walk on. Woo hoo! Things were going pretty great. The lights were on in the caves though and not all the effects were working, but that didn't matter to me. I don't often get to go on Big Thunder because Lightning Lane ruined it, so this was a treat.
We had some time left before we were ready to cross over and get our Lunar New Year lunch, so I thought we'd go check out Rise. Unfortunately, it was down. We walked over by Smuggler's Run and that was 55 minutes, so I thought we should just cross over to DCA. I was getting hungry anyway. So, the first thing we had there were these Char Siu Style ribs that could be found at the food truck in the Hollywood backlot area. They were pretty good, although not hot. The bbq sauce had a distinct Asian flavor and was covered with peanuts and green onions. Next we got a classic favorite of ours, the Garlic Noodles. I was rather surprised with how packed it was at DCA. People were showing up. Not even that many had showed up for the Festival of Holidays. It was the longest line I had seen to get the food. We also had to wait in another line just to pick up the food after we ordered, but it wasn't too bad of a wait. We really should have got two orders though instead of sharing it. Those Garlic Noodles are so good.
I didn't feel like we had enough food, so we needed something more. We were going to check another kiosk with bao buns, but we got blocked by Mulan's Lunar New Year Procession parade. We kind of stood over by the Boudin Bakery and waited and watched it go by. My mom wasn't really interested in the bao though and everything else was mostly spicy or we weren't interested in it. Actually, we were going to get the Shrimp Lo Mein after we had the Garlic Noodles, but they were sold out. So we sat at some tables to figure out what to get for a snack. I knew the Cozy Cones at Carsland had snacks and we agreed to go over there. I had never had anything from there before. We decided to get the bacon macaroni and cheese in a bread cone. I thought the mac and cheese tasted like KFC mac and cheese, but my mom enjoyed it and it was nice and warm. Bacon was good and the bread had kind of a nice sweet flavor, which I enjoyed. It kind of reminded me of a cinnamon roll, but without the cinnamon and sugar. I'd just eat that bread as a snack haha.
Next we were ready for dessert. So, the other new thing I wanted to try was called the Dalgona Coffee Bundt Cake. The cake was nice and moist, but it had this espresso cream on top that was very strong and bitter. I didn't like that. So, the cake was hit-or-miss. My mom and I shared the cake, but we didn't finish it. It was kind of a disappointment. We wanted to get that taste out of our mouth so we got a sample of sourdough from Boudin heh heh.
That was it for our food at DCA and our time there. We didn't ride anything. We opted instead to go back to Disneyland and check out Rise again. Unfortunately, this time the line was packed full, which is unusual to see especially with the parade starting soon. Usually that keeps people out of lines. Yeah, we were dealing with parade chaos again, but we headed over to Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. That was our plan B. The wait time said 20 minutes, but it was pretty much a walk on. A little over ten minutes all in from the pre-show to the vehicle. I still love and marvel at that ride.
That was our last ride of the day. Only four probably because we spent much of the time walking from one side of the park to the other, which is tiring and painful. I was ready to go home. I was happy enough with our visit. We got good bargains on rides. The crowds weren't bad, at least in the morning. It got worse later in the afternoon. We thought about picking up Earl of Sandwich to bring home for dinner, but we were too bloated from the food we ate. It didn't sound good. We even thought about bringing treats home from there, but nothing was appealing. Better to go when you're hungry. :P So, next month is the Food and Wine Festival of course and I can't wait. More food lol.