Lunar New Year At Disneyland
We went to Disneyland yesterday. This time my mom took the far right lane to get into the parking structure and there was no wait at all. We probably saved twenty minutes doing that. It's probably a strategy she should use in the future. Getting bag checked and to the tram was a bit slower though. Even though the line seemed to be short, it didn't really seem to be moving. We still didn't get into the park until after 10. It was also kind of hot, and the Santa Ana winds were blowing, which was a little annoying, but other than those hiccups, I'd say it was a successful day.
The first thing I wanted to do was go on the Haunted Mansion because they added a new ghost bride. Previously they had Constance, the axe murdering bride and before that was an animatronic “heart beat” bride as they call her. I always liked that one, and now the new one was going back to that old story of a mournful ghost bride. The wait time said 35 minutes, but it only took about ten, even with having a stopping period in the queue for unknown reasons. The bride looked good. I can't tell how they do the effect, and you go by her pretty quickly, so it's difficult to get a very close look at her. After we exited the ride we checked out Madam Leota's new gift shop. It was smaller than I was expecting, considering the size of the building, but the rest of it must be being used as storage. Still, it looked nice in there, and I know a lot of people feel it's an eyesore of a building on the outside. I guess it kind of is. I don't really care that much.
Next I thought we'd go on Indy. Wait time said 35 minutes and that's about how long it took. 25 minutes waiting outside for the Lightning Lanes, ten minutes inside. Annoying, but Indy's still fun and this time we sat in the front row, which is a little less bumpy than the back. Then it was time to cross over to DCA to enjoy some Lunar New Year food for lunch.
First I wanted to get the Char-Siu pork shanks with rice and pineapple chutney. It was pretty good. The pineapple chutney was spicy though, which made me glad for the drink we got from the same stall. I almost wasn't going to get this drink, but a Fresh Baked video convinced me. That was the Brown Sugar Milk Tea. It included Celyon tea, brown sugar syrup, maple & butter pecan syrups, and oat milk with banana milk infused whip cream. It was sweet and creamy and refreshing. An A+ drink for me. Loved it. It was probably my favorite thing I tried actually.
Next we got our usual favorite: the garlic noodles. Although they moved the stall from where it was before, so we had to do some backtracking thinking it was going to be where it usually is. Those noodles are still amazing, but eh... TMI, but they kept trying to come back up for the rest of the day. We had run out of our drinks and were still thirsty, so we tried to find something else to drink. I thought Smokejumper's Grill had had some kind of orange lemonade, but I was wrong about that. It was actually an orange shake. Whoops. My bad. We weren't looking to have a shake, so we looked at the guide again. They had this green tea horchata I was interested in trying. My mom thought we'd just go to Starbucks to get something, but I wasn't sure what I'd get there. Certainly not a Frappuccino, so I convinced my mom to go for the green tea horchata at the cappuccino cart. I had never had horchata before, so I was curious about it. First sip was interesting. A little gritty, but it grew on me. I liked it. Another sweet drink.
There was one last thing I wanted to do before we crossed over to Disneyland again and that was to have one last ride on the Red Car Trolley before it's gone forever. We went to the front of the park to board and the Cast Members on there were so nice and funny. I think the one guy mentioned he'd been doing it for fifteen years? It's still so sad that it's going to be gone forever to make room for the Avengers Campus expansion. I did enjoy the ride. It was pleasant.
I wasn't sure what to do once we crossed over to Disneyland. My mom suggested Star Tours. The wait said fifteen minutes, but it wound up taking maybe 17-20 minutes because they were having delays. My guess is maybe they weren't running all the simulators. I think the ride might need some maintenance too because a couple of the rider's seat belts broke and the Cast Member had to fix them. Also the little pouch where you store your belongings was busted on my mom's seat. Didn't see any new scenes on the ride. When we exited into the Star Trader I saw this old school Tomorrowland designed merch that I fell in love with. I wound up impulse buying some People Mover socks. I still mourn that loss so many years later lol.
Next I thought we'd hit up Fantasyland. Fifteen minute wait for Snow White. It only took about ten. Same wait time for Pinocchio, but I think it was probably only five minutes. Everything was going great. We almost did Alice too, but we had gone to the bathroom and when we got back, the line was longer, and I knew it would kill my feet to wait in the line. Instead I decided to kill my feet elsewhere lol.
Our last land was Galaxy's Edge. We went to check out Rise. The wait time said 45 minutes, but it only took 25 minutes. There were some slow periods of standing still though, and it was a bit like that for several of the attractions. Shorter waits, but more standing around I guess, so it felt longer than it was. That was our last ride of the day and the last thing we did was to bring dinner home. They had a new wrap at Ronto Roasters called the Pjali Wrap. It's pita bread with mortadella ham, capicola, burrata and pistachio pesto. I'll get back to how that was later. We packed those wraps up before crossing back over to DCA to pick up the Fire Chicken Wings with a sesame seaweed crunch for my dad. We had to be careful because the sauce stains, and it's very spicy. My mom got a tiny bit of sauce on my hand anyway. Contaminated lol. So I used hand sanitizer to get it off.
We went home and had our dinner. I quite liked the Pjali Wrap. I wasn't expecting it to be spicy though. I guess that was the capicola, so I threw some ranch on there. Capicola and burrata and mortadella ham are all new foods to me too. Pretty decent. My mom preferred Earl's sandwiches. As for the chicken wings, my dad said he wouldn't eat it again. It had a lot of flavor, but he didn't care for the seaweed flavor. Oh well. That was our day. I was pretty happy with it. In spite of the wind and heat, it was a nice day and we rode quite a few rides.
The first thing I wanted to do was go on the Haunted Mansion because they added a new ghost bride. Previously they had Constance, the axe murdering bride and before that was an animatronic “heart beat” bride as they call her. I always liked that one, and now the new one was going back to that old story of a mournful ghost bride. The wait time said 35 minutes, but it only took about ten, even with having a stopping period in the queue for unknown reasons. The bride looked good. I can't tell how they do the effect, and you go by her pretty quickly, so it's difficult to get a very close look at her. After we exited the ride we checked out Madam Leota's new gift shop. It was smaller than I was expecting, considering the size of the building, but the rest of it must be being used as storage. Still, it looked nice in there, and I know a lot of people feel it's an eyesore of a building on the outside. I guess it kind of is. I don't really care that much.
Next I thought we'd go on Indy. Wait time said 35 minutes and that's about how long it took. 25 minutes waiting outside for the Lightning Lanes, ten minutes inside. Annoying, but Indy's still fun and this time we sat in the front row, which is a little less bumpy than the back. Then it was time to cross over to DCA to enjoy some Lunar New Year food for lunch.
First I wanted to get the Char-Siu pork shanks with rice and pineapple chutney. It was pretty good. The pineapple chutney was spicy though, which made me glad for the drink we got from the same stall. I almost wasn't going to get this drink, but a Fresh Baked video convinced me. That was the Brown Sugar Milk Tea. It included Celyon tea, brown sugar syrup, maple & butter pecan syrups, and oat milk with banana milk infused whip cream. It was sweet and creamy and refreshing. An A+ drink for me. Loved it. It was probably my favorite thing I tried actually.
Next we got our usual favorite: the garlic noodles. Although they moved the stall from where it was before, so we had to do some backtracking thinking it was going to be where it usually is. Those noodles are still amazing, but eh... TMI, but they kept trying to come back up for the rest of the day. We had run out of our drinks and were still thirsty, so we tried to find something else to drink. I thought Smokejumper's Grill had had some kind of orange lemonade, but I was wrong about that. It was actually an orange shake. Whoops. My bad. We weren't looking to have a shake, so we looked at the guide again. They had this green tea horchata I was interested in trying. My mom thought we'd just go to Starbucks to get something, but I wasn't sure what I'd get there. Certainly not a Frappuccino, so I convinced my mom to go for the green tea horchata at the cappuccino cart. I had never had horchata before, so I was curious about it. First sip was interesting. A little gritty, but it grew on me. I liked it. Another sweet drink.
There was one last thing I wanted to do before we crossed over to Disneyland again and that was to have one last ride on the Red Car Trolley before it's gone forever. We went to the front of the park to board and the Cast Members on there were so nice and funny. I think the one guy mentioned he'd been doing it for fifteen years? It's still so sad that it's going to be gone forever to make room for the Avengers Campus expansion. I did enjoy the ride. It was pleasant.
I wasn't sure what to do once we crossed over to Disneyland. My mom suggested Star Tours. The wait said fifteen minutes, but it wound up taking maybe 17-20 minutes because they were having delays. My guess is maybe they weren't running all the simulators. I think the ride might need some maintenance too because a couple of the rider's seat belts broke and the Cast Member had to fix them. Also the little pouch where you store your belongings was busted on my mom's seat. Didn't see any new scenes on the ride. When we exited into the Star Trader I saw this old school Tomorrowland designed merch that I fell in love with. I wound up impulse buying some People Mover socks. I still mourn that loss so many years later lol.
Next I thought we'd hit up Fantasyland. Fifteen minute wait for Snow White. It only took about ten. Same wait time for Pinocchio, but I think it was probably only five minutes. Everything was going great. We almost did Alice too, but we had gone to the bathroom and when we got back, the line was longer, and I knew it would kill my feet to wait in the line. Instead I decided to kill my feet elsewhere lol.
Our last land was Galaxy's Edge. We went to check out Rise. The wait time said 45 minutes, but it only took 25 minutes. There were some slow periods of standing still though, and it was a bit like that for several of the attractions. Shorter waits, but more standing around I guess, so it felt longer than it was. That was our last ride of the day and the last thing we did was to bring dinner home. They had a new wrap at Ronto Roasters called the Pjali Wrap. It's pita bread with mortadella ham, capicola, burrata and pistachio pesto. I'll get back to how that was later. We packed those wraps up before crossing back over to DCA to pick up the Fire Chicken Wings with a sesame seaweed crunch for my dad. We had to be careful because the sauce stains, and it's very spicy. My mom got a tiny bit of sauce on my hand anyway. Contaminated lol. So I used hand sanitizer to get it off.
We went home and had our dinner. I quite liked the Pjali Wrap. I wasn't expecting it to be spicy though. I guess that was the capicola, so I threw some ranch on there. Capicola and burrata and mortadella ham are all new foods to me too. Pretty decent. My mom preferred Earl's sandwiches. As for the chicken wings, my dad said he wouldn't eat it again. It had a lot of flavor, but he didn't care for the seaweed flavor. Oh well. That was our day. I was pretty happy with it. In spite of the wind and heat, it was a nice day and we rode quite a few rides.