Day 11: imagination! A dream come true

I woke up way too early, wat too exciteisiid. I couldn’t get Justin up for a while and he somehow got it i hiis head that we’re in no rush to get to Disneyland. By the time i got out of the hotel all cleaned up, it was almost 10, and he wanted to walk 1km to a breakfast place the girls recommended last night.

It was called “Eggslut” and it was a little stand in the market. Obvious ly, justin and I love standing in lines and we found ourselves in one that went all the way around the corner of this place. By the time we got our two sandwiches (the silkiest scrambled eggs with caramalized onions some amazing sauce, melted cheese, a sandwich and a salad with a vocado, and a to-die-for sauce on bread that’s mostly butter with a dash of flour) and our “slut” (a jar of puréed potatoes with cheese and egg and chives and other holy goodness), go back to the hotel and got to the car, it was after twelve. We didn’t get to Disneyland, sold our livers for parking, took a tram from the lot to the park and walked in through the gate until 1. E

Oh man. We walked in, I took one look at the castle, and I got so overwhelmed I couldn’t speak.... and I started tearing up. We walked down the road where there was a parade going on and everything was so gorgeous and sparkly and beautiful, I actually started crying. And at this point, once it started flowing, it wouldn’t stop. I had to put my sunglasses on and drag Justin into the Sleeping Beauty dark “ride” to hide my face. It was my first experience at Disneyland and it was a wonderful start - it was a walk through the castle with the oldschool storybook drawn out and glass windows you could look through to see a lit up 3D scene. It was so beautiful and seeing it come to life just made me cry more. I know it’s stupid, but I have been waiting for this moment for as long as I could remember.

Wearing my Beauty and the Beast leggings, I was ready. I already planned and told Justin my plan to find Gaston and the pictures I want to get with him only to find out that there is nothing Beauty and the Beast related in the park - no rides or walking characters, and nothing Lion King! I was super let down by that but I was still on a high that I was in Disneyland, so obviously I wasn’t THAT upset.

We walked around the different sections starting with Fantasyland (all the classics like Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, etc) and made our way into Tomorrowland where the whole place was very futuristic and included Star Wars and Toy Story. We got in line for Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blaster ride and it was super fun! A ride where you go around in a train and have laser guns to shoot targets as you drive around - it even keeps score of how much you hit... Justin got 87,000 I got 47,000. This is kind of his territory.

Every 2 hours you can sign up for a FastPass on your phone and “get in line” for a ride while you actually wait for one in person, so you’re a essentially waiting for 2 rides at the same time to save time (line ups were 50-85 min long so you had to choose what you want to do). We had a time slot for the Star Wars ride so while we waited for that we walked over to Adventureland’s the Indiana Jones ride. The whole line made you feel like you transported right into it as you walked through a jungle and pyramids with skeletons and booby traps. Many families played Head’s Up in line but Justin and I had to conserve batteries so we entertained ourselves in our own way. I kept track of a group in front of us and people watched. I could tell you the story of the people in front of us or behind us, the breakups they went through IN line, where they’re from, etc.

The ride was awesome!! You ride an open jeep through the tombs and it was set up so incredibly! The attention to detail in the whole park is beyond amazing. Coming out of the ride we were in New Orleans Square so we walked around some more to take it all in and because we had time to do one more ride before Star Wars, we did the Pirates of the Caribbean where we chatted with people in line the whole time. The ride was a little underwhelming compared to the other ones - you just sit in a ship and it’s a lazy river where you ride inside the mountain to pirates scenes. Can’t believe this is for kids! Every single scene was of pirates just getting drunk and doing something inappropriate, and there was a scene where they had women lined up with signs saying “Wenches for Brides” and the animatronics all telling at you trying to auction them off. It was absolutely insane for the set up though, i kept thinking the animatronics were real people!

We got to the Star Wars ride and it’s one of those where you set in a chair in a theatre with 3D glasses and the chair moves as you watch the screen. It was super cool and became our favourite thus far.

We bought the Hopper passes - it gives you access to both parks on the premises from the Disney Downtown area: both Disneyland and California’s Adventureland which is geared slightly more towards adults and you can walk around with drinks.

Well, adults can, apparently we can’t. We got IDed for the first time this trip and they wouldn’t accept our Canadian licenses , insisting on our passports. Which we didn’t bring since we couldn’t risk losing it. So no beer for us for the next 85 minute long line up :(

We got in line for Guardians of the Galaxy while we signed up for the Haunted Mansion through FastPass. The line up was crazy long and the ride screwed with my head but it was SO WORTH IT. It was a complete transformation into that world and it was sassy and just so good! I’ve never heard the noises/squeals Justin was emitting come out of him though. We sat in a a room and it flew us up straight up and down without stopping and I thought my heart was coming right out of my throat. I was pretty dazed after it but we were like kids on Christmas when we came out of the ride. We walked through Adventureland to their Bug’s Life section and it was so neat! The whole thing was set up so you’re tiny and walked through giant leafs. The bathroom was an upside down tissue box you walk in! We walked around to the Paradise Pier for the Little Mermaid ride. I’ll be damned if I missed this one. It was barely a 15 minute wait at this point as it was dinner time and dark, and people were setting up for the water show.

This was a super gentle ride like the pirates one but it took you through the story of the Little Mermaid. It had scenes from the movie and everything was lit up and we drove right through the fish singing sunset the Sea to the witch cursing Ariel. It was so beautiful and I absolutely loved it!! Really made me feel like I was finally in Disneyland!

The rides were mostly closing on this side so we walked around trying to find a spot to watch. That wasn’t happening whatsoever, so I asked one of the guards with a gated off preferred section on how one can acquire said tickets. He asked if it was just us 2, I said yes, and he said he just happened to have 2 tickets because someone just gave them up. So he let us through and we got FRONT ROW SEATS - to the point that we got wet as the fountains sprayed.

I don’t have words. This is the reason it took me days to write the post. I get overwhelmed just thinking about it. The lights were extraordinary, lit up, fountains were infinitely bigger and more extravagant than Bellagio in Vegas. They then, to top it off, have a projected montage of Disney scenes and I definitely started crying. There was so much emotion and love floating in the air, I don’t even know how to describe it. I officially understood why they call it a magical place. I always thought it was because it’s literally about magic but no, it’s because of the feels. I went speechless and couldn’t talk for a while. After the show we raced over to the Disneyland side to try and catch the fireworks by the castle but they were cancelled because of the wind. It was stupid packed and took forever to cross (turns out thanksgiving week is a break from school in the US so it was super packed... good timing). We did our haunted mansion which was neat but then skipped the last ride we had a FastPass for because it was going to be crazy and not smart for my head. We watched another fountain show that had a live cast as well with the pirates ship and a huge fight on deck, there were boats that went by with beauty and the beast dancing, another one with ariel and Eric, another one with Cinderella, Rapunzel, etc etc, and more tears!

The park was open until 12am but our friends already landed and we were tired and I really shouldn’t be doing rides at this point. We got on the team to get back to our car and MORE tears. It was a long drive and we were hungry! So we stopped at an In-N-Out and got the off menu things. O. M. G. It was SOOOO good.

We got to San Diego at 1am and it was a pretty happy reunion! We had a beer, chatted, figured out our plan for the next day and eventually went to sleep!