The Wettest, Merriest, and Happiest Birthday/First Visit Nov/Dec 2012 TR! 2/13 FINAL!

[danimaroo]

Chapter Twelve: IM GONNA WRECK IT!
Day 2: November 30th, 2012

I decided to see what they had in their clear box and noticed that Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas was in there, so I totally traded for him immediately!

At this point, we thought it might be a good idea to go and pick up our candy canes over at the Candy Palace, so we headed towards Main Street.

I lucked out that they were working on presumably the second batch, so we could actually see them making the candy canes from the outside window! It was such a cool process to see, honestly.

After we watched the guy stretch the sugar, we headed inside to go pay for our candy canes. Somehow Matt missed the memo on both the SIZE of the candy canes and also the price. Theyre $12.95, and apparently he thought they would be like, $3-$4, so when the price came up he gave me the Daaaaniiiii stare that he sometimes gives me, hahaha. I told him I could not figure out why he wanted to buy two with how large they were, and thats when he told me he had no idea they would be that huge!

Im fairly certain as we walked away with our bag of candy canes, Matt said something like, These better be the best candy canes Ive ever eaten in my life for that price. Hahahaha, oh well!

Truth be told, we still have an entire candy cane completely untouched sitting in our kitchen because of how huge they are! Ill get into how they tasted later&

Anyway! We hung out around Main Street and decided to explore while doing some shopping.

Down one of the little side streets, we came across Hotel Marceline, and suddenly I could hear this man showering away above us!

I thought it was so funny and neat how they put in this random dude just singing in the shower above in the hotel, hahaha. I took a video of it just because it was so great, which you can see below by clicking on the image!



We then went to the Emporium where I tried on some Minnie ears but decided not to buy any.

I then finally found a hoodie that I liked and tried it on, having Matt take a photo of me with it on just to make sure I liked it.

I thought it was perfect, not too flashy and pretty classic, and fit me well, so I decided to buy it!

We left the Emporium and were heading for the exit when we realized that it was 10:30 and Wreck-It Ralph was finally doing his meet and greet over in the Starcade! We immediately turned around and headed back to Tomorrowland in hopes of getting to meet my new favorite character.

Fortunately, the line was not long at all! It was very organized with a formed line and meeting spots, Ralph in one spot, Vannelope over on the other side in her own meeting spot.

After waiting for a few minutes, I was meeting Ralph and so happy about it! Such a cute dude, and he seemed to enjoy my Wreck-It Ralph t-shirt I was wearing.

After getting our photos snapped with Ralph, we decided to skip past Vannelope because she had her own line and well, Ralph was the main character I wanted to meet!

Next up, we FINALLY get to see California Adventure for the first time, and experience our first outdoor attraction in the pouring rain&

Continued in next post​

 

[MrsBearcat]

Uh Dani where is the pic of the CANDY CANE? Your killing me with the suspense over here

 

[onelilspark]

The first time my Mom and I rode Buzz we did terrible! So we ran around and hopped right back on...we did it at least 3 or 4 times in a row until we got better at it!

 

[marDgreen88]

Ew! I hope Oogie Boogie doesn't get bugs in the popcorn!

Oh Buzz. My man. Hahah I'm sorry, but I have to laugh at the fact that you had zero points there for a while. That sounds like something that would, and probably has, happened to me.

OMG YOUR TITLE of the second update!!!!! Please forgive me, but WIR is the best. So I'm betting this is when you meet him...

Omg, shower dude. Too funny!!!

AHHHH RALPH!!!!! I love him so much! He's perfect! I can't wait to meet him!!!

 

[GatorMommy2007]

No fast pass enforcement? Jealous!!! And yes, we need to see the candy cane! I'm so excited to meet Wreck-It Ralph!

 

[wiigirl]

Uh Dani where is the pic of the CANDY CANE? Your killing me with the suspense over here

Me too! Loving your TR and pics!

 

[danimaroo]

Uh Dani where is the pic of the CANDY CANE? Your killing me with the suspense over here

Hahaha, I know, I'm the worst, aren't I?! No, I promise it's coming! I just didn't get a change to take a photo of it until we got back to our room because they wrap them in bubble wrap to make sure they don't break!

The first time my Mom and I rode Buzz we did terrible! So we ran around and hopped right back on...we did it at least 3 or 4 times in a row until we got better at it!

Hahaha I was like, WHY AM I AT ZERO?! Then I realized it was totally my own fault, bahaha. I was laughing so hard. I am obsessed with that attraction, but Matt wanted to get other things done... Don't worry, this isn't the last time we rode it!

Ew! I hope Oogie Boogie doesn't get bugs in the popcorn!

Oh Buzz. My man. Hahah I'm sorry, but I have to laugh at the fact that you had zero points there for a while. That sounds like something that would, and probably has, happened to me.

OMG YOUR TITLE of the second update!!!!! Please forgive me, but WIR is the best. So I'm betting this is when you meet him...

Omg, shower dude. Too funny!!!

AHHHH RALPH!!!!! I love him so much! He's perfect! I can't wait to meet him!!!

Hahaha no bugs, just lots of delicious popcorn for me to eat!

Haha don't apologize, I was laughing at myself. Here I am thinking I am kicking Matt's booty and I look down and see ZERO! HAHAHA. I felt like such a dork.

You are right! He was so cute. I think I might have to try and meet him again in Disney World just because of how cute he was.

Shower guy was awesome. I just loved his little soundtrack!

I can't wait for you to meet him! I basically just wish he was my friend. I got a Wreck-It Ralph plush for Christmas so at least I have him to hug when I'm not in the parks to meet him!

No fast pass enforcement? Jealous!!! And yes, we need to see the candy cane! I'm so excited to meet Wreck-It Ralph!

Nope, not yet anyway! Who knows if they'll change it, but it was nice to not have to worry about the whole time thing.

Candy cane is coming up soon, I promise! I needed to wait to take a photo of it when we got back to our room!

WIR is the best! I basically just want to hang out with him.

Me too! Loving your TR and pics!

Haha it's coming up, I promise. Glad you are enjoying my TR and the photos!!

 

[Aurora1972]

Hahaha, I know, I'm the worst, aren't I?! No, I promise it's coming! I just didn't get a change to take a photo of it until we got back to our room because they wrap them in bubble wrap to make sure they don't break!



Wow! Expensive candy canes! I can't wait to see what they looked like and hear how they tasted. Hoping it was super awesome!

 

[DharmaLou]

I totally wish we had paid better attention to the popcorn carts. LOVE that Oogie Boogie! And super jealous of your Zero (if you hadn't picked up on our love of NBC, it's just about our favorite!)

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Awww I love the little Oogie Boogie churning (churning? is that the correct term here?) the popcorn!

I cannot wait to see this $12.95 candy cane!!!

The audio of the shower is such a funny little piece of themeing!

 

[khertz]

Man, DH would kill me I think if we paid $25 for candy canes!!! Can't wait to see them though.

Gotta say, Space Mountain in DL wins it for me, hands down. SO much smoother & cooler than WDW's version!

 

[Pesky]

Love your TR so far! I'm curious about the candy canes too because while I've heard about them, I don't think I'm THAT in love with candy canes to pay $13 (probably $15 by this Christmas!) for one, especially as no one else in the family likes mint that much so I'd be on my own. I think my pancreas would jump out and punch me with that much sugar.

 

[mouseketeer70]

Real life got in the way for a little while but I'm finally all caught up!
Oh how I miss Mr. Toad! I would ride that over and over when I was little bitty. Now Haunted Mansion is another story....THAT scared meI was about 13 before I opened my eyes in the ride!
I'm with Matt...those better be some darn good candy canes for people to run for them
You are soooooooo close to your WDW trip now we just got the DVC Premium passes (Christmas present from my awesome DH, otherwise known as the BEST present ever!) and while it's no "Golden Ticket" I haven't stopped smiling!
Ok back to DL

 

[cocofifi]

Hey girl. I lurked on your last trip report and really enjoyed it. I also loved your live tweets from DLR. Y'all are such an adorable couple! This TR has me wanting to make my first pilgrimage to DLR during the holidays. I mean, your HM pics with the Nightmare Before Christmas layover - aaaahhhhh!

 

[danimaroo]

Wow! Expensive candy canes! I can't wait to see what they looked like and hear how they tasted. Hoping it was super awesome!

Haha, I know! They were pretty pricey! And we couldn't even use our darn 20% AP discount on them, boo!

I totally wish we had paid better attention to the popcorn carts. LOVE that Oogie Boogie! And super jealous of your Zero (if you hadn't picked up on our love of NBC, it's just about our favorite!)

I totally wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't read about them online... and we hadn't stopped to get popcorn on that first day! They really are super neat and adorable. NBC is amazing, so I'm totally with you. I was very happy to add Zero to my collection!

Awww I love the little Oogie Boogie churning (churning? is that the correct term here?) the popcorn!

I cannot wait to see this $12.95 candy cane!!!

The audio of the shower is such a funny little piece of themeing!

Haha I don't know what they're called, but churning sounds good to me! The Oogie Boogie was adorable.

Hahahaha, I had no idea this candy cane would become such a big deal! I swear that part is coming up, but not until we get back to our room.

I loved that little audio, it just made me fall in love with Main Street even more!

Man, DH would kill me I think if we paid $25 for candy canes!!! Can't wait to see them though.

Gotta say, Space Mountain in DL wins it for me, hands down. SO much smoother & cooler than WDW's version!

Hahaha, Matt was pretty close to killing me as we walked out of the shop with our ridiculously expensive candy canes!

I REALLY loved SM in DL, and loved how smooth it was, plus the queue! But there is just something endearing about the jerky and most terrifying SM in WDW. I always feel like I'm going to fly out of that ride and fall to my death, but I still love it. I have a sick relationship with that attraction, hahaha. I think coaster to coaster, SM in DL is better though.

Love your TR so far! I'm curious about the candy canes too because while I've heard about them, I don't think I'm THAT in love with candy canes to pay $13 (probably $15 by this Christmas!) for one, especially as no one else in the family likes mint that much so I'd be on my own. I think my pancreas would jump out and punch me with that much sugar.

Aw thank you! And yeah, I was kind of surprised at the price on the candy canes, too... and like you said, they'll probably just go up in price even more. And trust me, they are HUGE, so unless you have someone helping you out, it's a lot of candy cane to consume, hahaha.

Real life got in the way for a little while but I'm finally all caught up!
Oh how I miss Mr. Toad! I would ride that over and over when I was little bitty. Now Haunted Mansion is another story....THAT scared meI was about 13 before I opened my eyes in the ride!
I'm with Matt...those better be some darn good candy canes for people to run for them
You are soooooooo close to your WDW trip now we just got the DVC Premium passes (Christmas present from my awesome DH, otherwise known as the BEST present ever!) and while it's no "Golden Ticket" I haven't stopped smiling!
Ok back to DL

Psh no sweat. RL happens to all of us! I most definitely understand that!

Mr. Toad was great! That was the one dark ride out of the Fantasyland ones that we rode that morning that I'd willingly go on again every trip. So funny about the HM scaring you... Funny story: When we went on it for the first time on our honeymoon, I actually was somewhat scared and Matt had to warn me of when the heads popped out in the graveyard. Now I obviously love it.

That's so excited about the DVC Premium Passes!! I'd say it's pretty darn close to a golden ticket and I would be smiling about it, too! I still love pulling mine our of my wallet and then think about all of the trips we could go on this year, mwahaha.

Hey girl. I lurked on your last trip report and really enjoyed it. I also loved your live tweets from DLR. Y'all are such an adorable couple! This TR has me wanting to make my first pilgrimage to DLR during the holidays. I mean, your HM pics with the Nightmare Before Christmas layover - aaaahhhhh!

YAY! Glad you popped in over here and even happier that you enjoyed my last TR! AND my tweets! Man, it's kind of hard to keep up the tweets when you're on such a time crunch in Disneyland, hahaha. But I tried my best!

Aw thanks, I like to think we're pretty darn happy together. You should totally go to Disneyland during the holidays! It is seriously AMAZING for so many different reasons. I hope you do it! And that layover is AWESOME - you can even see it during Halloween, too!

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter Thirteen: Flying ponchos and getting whipped in the face by rain...
Day 2: November 30th, 2012

We finally left the park and decided to stroll right on over to California Adventure for the first time!

The entrance to California Adventure is basically identical to Hollywood Studios in Disney World, haha.

As you can see from the photo, the rain started to really pick up at this point, so we decided to throw on our Disney ponchos and brave the rain. Unfortunately this also meant that I had to put away my Nikon and use my iPhone for photos only, which I was sad about since this was my first time walking into California Adventure!

Our first stop upon walking into the park was Oswald's... which I didnt get a photo of, but most definitely did later on.

The reason for this stop is Matt is a HUGE HUGE Oswald fan. He has been since Epic Mickey came out and so going to this place was a must-do. He bee-lined it for the amazingly adorable large and crocheted Oswalds, and we bought that and an Oswald pin, chatting with the CM about being from Seattle. Dont fret, photos of our purchases (candy canes included) to come soon!

Every time a CM found out we were from Seattle, they commented on us bringing the rain with us. Evidently we did because it was really nasty out!

We left Oswalds with our bag in hand, and noticed there was some filming going on&

We started to just kind of roam around and I was so happy to see that they really went all out for decorations in California Adventure! The tree was absolutely gorgeous and I loved all of the vintage ornaments on the tree.

We moved on and had plans for our first ride in the park, but really more than anything we wanted to get a feel for the layout of the park.

We skipped past Carsland, since we had plans to check that out more later on, and continued back towards Paradise Pier.

Have you figured out where we're headed yet?

As we walked over, I was kind of surprised that I didn't entirely dislike Paradise Pier.

I know, that sounds weird, but I was fully expecting to really not like Paradise Pier because I was worried it wouldn't feel very Disney to me.

But walking over, I was actually pretty impressed with the area! It had a very Boardwalk-esque feel to it, for sure, but with the Disney twist.

We spotted another Christmas tree, and I was so happy that they decided to really spread out the Christmas decorations in California Adventure this year!

I'd heard that in past years they didn't do much in that park with decorations, but this was fabulous! Not as amazing as Disneyland's decorations, but still absolutely fabulous.

We finally made it to our destination...

California Screamin'!!

When we walked up, there was a posted wait of 5 minutes. That probably should've been our first cue that riding this in the rain was certainly going to be an interesting experience...

I actually don't think we even waited past the 5 minutes before we were loading onto our rollercoaster.

One thing I love about this ride is after you turn the first corner, and you're waiting to blast off, you have Neil Patrick Harris suddenly excitedly talking to you.

Um, I'm a being NPH fan, soooo knowing that he did the voice for the blast off just made my day.

Then we heard it:

Second thoughts? Too late! Head back, face forward and hold on like you mean it! 5-4-3-2-1. SCREAM!

And off we went! What I love about this ride is the soundtrack goes along with everything you're experiencing on the ride itself.

I'd never been on a rollercoaster that went upside down outside, so this was totally brand new to me as we went upside down in a big loop.

Now at this point, the rain wasn't actually too awful and we were having a ton of fun with it. After we went up and down a few times (and the soundtrack moved up and down in notes appropriately), we suddenly found ourselves whipping around the tracks super quickly.

The problem with this is that because you're not at the top of the rollercoaster and are under a ton of beams, you are suddenly being pelted in the face not only by the rain, but also these MASSIVE rain drops coming off the beams.

All you could hear were both Matt and I laughing hysterically but also "OW! OUCH! GOT ONE IN THE EYE!"

I was absolutely DYING when we finally made it back to the unloading area. Laughing so hard I had tears.

We got off and obviously had to take a photo of how soaked we'd just gotten.

Nah just playin', we still had a blast.

We made our way over to the photo area and both started laughing really hard at our photo. It was taken at the part where we were being whipped in the face by the rain!

A few observations of this lovely photo...

A. Apparently I am having the time of my life and laughing at being whipped in the face.
B. Matt clearly has the trying to laugh and smile while being violently whipped in the face by the rain.
C. However, the scene-stealer here is the woman in front of Matt, who made one of the funnier faces I've seen on an attraction. She looks like she just ate a lemon while being whipped in the face with rain.

ANYWAY, we both loved California Screamin'. Obviously you could compare it to Rockin' Rollercoaster in WDW, but they really are two VERY different rollercoasters.

Being outside was a really awesome experience, and I loved the soundtrack for Screamin', but I think the overall theming for Rockin' Rollercoaster might be better, just in terms of the story and theme of the attraction. I'd say comparing rollercoaster to rollercoaster, I like Screamin' better because its a bit longer.

After departing Screamin', we were obviously pretty soaking wet, so as we started walking around Paradise Pier, we figured what the heck, why not go on Mickey's Fun Wheel?

We waited around 5 minutes while it poured on us.

I could not believe the amount of rain we were experiencing in California! I just figured it would let up but it was only getting worse.

With Mickey's Fun Wheel, you have the choice of going on the swinging side of non-swinging side. We opted for the non-swinging side, because you couldn't pay me to go on the swinging side. Matt actually initially wanted to go on the swinging side, in which I thought he was INSANE for wanting to.

Before we knew it, we were getting on our little caged basket and away we went!

At first it wasn't so bad; the rain seemed to be letting up! We sat and chatted about our day so far and what we liked or didn't like as much, etc. As we got higher up in the air, the rain got worse, and so did the wind.

My poncho literally started flying all over the place and I couldn't control it, so obviously I took a photo of it instead.

Finally Matt told me to just sit on it, but flying ponchos are way more fun, no?!

The view from up top was pretty, though we couldnt see a ton in the distance due to the rain.

This was probably a good thing, because the one thing that Disneyland has going against it is that you can see the surrounding city very easily from the top of a lot of attractions. It kind of takes you out of the moment, you know? But because of the crappy weather, we could only see things nearby, so it worked out!

Unfortunately while we were at the top, my poncho ripped at the neck even more, which made me very sad and... disturbed?

We were honestly getting totally pelted by the rain at this point and had to laugh. Matt was also being cute and a good sport about it.

I also pointed out to Matt the swinging basket that made me SO nervous every time it swung. Those things moved SO fast; and they would swing right at us. I knew it wouldn't hit us but it just seemed like it would.

We finally made it back down to safety and also non-windy land.

I really enjoyed Mickey's Fun Wheel and would most definitely go on it again. It's a great way to sit down for a little while and relax your feet with a great view. I wouldn't suggest going on it when it's raining really hard and windy out; it was actually really cold after awhile and while we both laughed most of the time, I can't say I'd do it again in that weather. And I will never go on the swinging side, either, but that's just me.

Next, we grab one of my favorite treats to get in Disney parks, explore Carsland, feed our caffeine addiction, and head back to our room for a super mini break (and yes, this is when you'll FINALLY see the infamous candy canes, hahaha).

Continued in next post
​

 

[onelilspark]

My husband, who refers to roller coasters as "death machines," took one look at Mickeys Fun Wheel and said, "lets do the swinging ones!" I thought he was joking. He was not. So being the good sport I am (and also thinking about the rides I might convince him to do) I agreed and we did it. OMG. MOST TERRIFYING RIDE EVER! The baskets are identical to the non-swinging ones, which means there are no restraints. NONE. So now I refer to it as Mickeys Fun Wheel...of death.

 

[Aurora1972]

[FONT="Century Gothic"]My little boy is a huge Oswald fan due to Epic Mickey! We had a lot of rain on our trip last May. Hurricane ? (can't remember the name) wrecked havoc with our trip. On our Animal Kingdom day the rain was very heavy. The wait time for Expedition Everest dropped to like 5 minutes. So my thrill loving kiddo's made us ride it twice (back to back) in heavy rain! The rain was cold and it stung our skin! The kids loved it! DH and I just looked at each other and silently thought, "We are way to old for this!"

I alway thought that looked like an awesome roller coaster! It looks really long! I hope the rain let up for you later in the day. Looking forward to hearing what happened next and seeing the awesome $12 Candy Cane![/FONT]

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Ugh, hopefully the rain went away soon!!! Yay for a surprise NPH guest "appearance"!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Loving the trip report Dani! We leave in two days and you are so totally getting me excited to go!!! So much so in fact that I've been reading your WDW TR too. Thanks for puting all this effort into your TR's!!!!