Disneyland sparkles
My annual pass expired the 18th and it has become too expensive to renew - thanks to a huge price hike Disney enacted in advance of the opening of Galaxy's Edge (aka Star Wars Land) at DL later this year, and Marvel Land (also cynically referred to as IP-Land, or Intellectual Property Land, by hard-core Disneyphiles) coming next year/the year after at DCA. (If they can drive out the APs, they can theoretically reduce the massive crowds by ridding themselves of some locals.) Anyway, I paid Disneyland/DCA a last visit last week in the rain using my AP, which is always great because most Southern Californians think they're going to melt if water falls on them from the sky, and they stay indoors when it pours. More open space in the park for me! I think the longest wait I had for any ride was maybe 20 minutes, and that was Space Mountain. Everything else I walked right on, either using Single Rider or the regular standby line. Didn't even need to bother with FastPasses. That hasn't happened in years. With the park expansions coming, it might never happen again, and there's a part of me that mourns the charm and simplicity of Disneyland-That-Was, because it's going to Yesterland.
It's worth pointing out, tho, that the coming of IP-land brings some fangirl thrills. Such as the moment I walked by this construction barrier in California Adventure and did a double take...apparently there's a familiar company heading up the demolition. I took a pic for posterity, because it's delightful:
Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures for you, including the world's sparkliest object which I think I mentioned (on Twitter) I acquired.
Here it is -- Disneyland's sparkliest object - and it's mine now.
Not gonna lie, tho, I had a very hard time persuading myself not to go with the purple version:
A view of Main Street at 2:20 in the afternoon on a Monday, when this street should have been wall to wall people.
These ducks are role modeling how to enjoy Disneyland in the rain.
Usually when I go to Disneyland I forget to make a reservation to eat at Carnation Cafe...because I'm stuck in the past when you could just walk into places and eat at Disneyland, those were the days!...but this time I remembered, and so I had apple granola pancakes for breakfast there. Heaven.
Some Mickey treats:
Some fireworks (another thing I love that's soon to be on the Disneyland endangered species list, I suspect):
Some Star Wars merch, including OG SW and a trendy pink DeathStarKiller I can't even tell them apart at this point whatEVER:
People like to bitch a lot that it's impossible to find T-shirts that just say Disneyland on them now, as opposed to Disneyland Resort, but that speaks to a lack of dedication on their part, frankly. Or possibly they don't like bling, so their eyes skip right over the BEST shirts. Either way, they are wrong.
I'm really going to miss Disneyland...I'm not planning to go back for a couple of years, and that will be a tough adjustment. That's life. It'll be all new when I return there. A different kind of magic, I suppose! (Maybe by then they will have come to their senses and extracted all the Jack Sparrow additions from Pirates of the Caribbean. A girl can Disney-dream. *g*)
It's worth pointing out, tho, that the coming of IP-land brings some fangirl thrills. Such as the moment I walked by this construction barrier in California Adventure and did a double take...apparently there's a familiar company heading up the demolition. I took a pic for posterity, because it's delightful:
Anyway, here's a bunch of pictures for you, including the world's sparkliest object which I think I mentioned (on Twitter) I acquired.
Here it is -- Disneyland's sparkliest object - and it's mine now.
Not gonna lie, tho, I had a very hard time persuading myself not to go with the purple version:
A view of Main Street at 2:20 in the afternoon on a Monday, when this street should have been wall to wall people.
These ducks are role modeling how to enjoy Disneyland in the rain.
Usually when I go to Disneyland I forget to make a reservation to eat at Carnation Cafe...because I'm stuck in the past when you could just walk into places and eat at Disneyland, those were the days!...but this time I remembered, and so I had apple granola pancakes for breakfast there. Heaven.
Some Mickey treats:
Some fireworks (another thing I love that's soon to be on the Disneyland endangered species list, I suspect):
Some Star Wars merch, including OG SW and a trendy pink DeathStarKiller I can't even tell them apart at this point whatEVER:
People like to bitch a lot that it's impossible to find T-shirts that just say Disneyland on them now, as opposed to Disneyland Resort, but that speaks to a lack of dedication on their part, frankly. Or possibly they don't like bling, so their eyes skip right over the BEST shirts. Either way, they are wrong.
I'm really going to miss Disneyland...I'm not planning to go back for a couple of years, and that will be a tough adjustment. That's life. It'll be all new when I return there. A different kind of magic, I suppose! (Maybe by then they will have come to their senses and extracted all the Jack Sparrow additions from Pirates of the Caribbean. A girl can Disney-dream. *g*)