Pixie Dust Challenge Accepted: a Tale of a Fairy Odd Duck at Disneyland

[Mimsy Borogove]

Hello and welcome to my second trip report on the DIS!

My name is Kim, my handle here is from the poem Jabberwocky in Alice in Wonderland ("...all mimsy were the borogoves...") because I love love love it so. A lady never reveals her age, but I'm old enough to know better. I live on the east-central coast of Florida, in an area referred to as the Treasure Coast because of all the sunken ships offshore, along with my husband of many years, our 8-year-old Labrador, two cats, and a Quaker parrot who likes to recite Dr. Seuss. My husband actually proposed at WDW and we've been annual passholders for many years.

Our first trip to Disneyland was in January 2015 for the inaugural Star Wars Light Side Half Marathon Weekend (which I've detailed on my personal, not-for-profit blog, just check the January 2015 archives. Note to moderators: if this isn't allowed, I'll happily remove the link) and I was excited to register for the Pixie Dust Challenge (10K + half marathon) for Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend 2016 with my BRF. Long story short, my BRF was unable to go and my husband was mightily disappointed to be dragged along to Disneyland (that's sarcasm in case it doesn't come across! ) once again.

So far this year, I've completed the Dopey Challenge (TR in my signature) and Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon, as far as runDisney races go, so I was excited to return to Disneyland. Tinker Bell isn't one of my favorite characters (only because she was so mean to Wendy), but in the past, the race merchandise and theming was so stinking cute I couldn't help but to sign up this year, especially since it was the 5th anniversary year.

So let's get this pixie dust party started, right?

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Table of Contents

Day 1: May 5, 2016
From OC to OC!
Uh-Oa, Batten Down the Hatches!
Shipwrecked on the Rocks

Day 2: May 6, 2016
Park Hippity-Hopping All Day Long
Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, Grim Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Socialize
The Eighth Wonder of the World
Going Back to Cali, Cali, Cali
You Got a Fast Car, I Want a Ticket to Radiator Springs
Yodel-Lay-He-Hoo!

Day 3: May 7, 2016
Another Rainy runDisney 10K?
A Captain and a Cat Finish a 10K
A (Former) Cat Goes to See Another Captain

Day 4: May 8, 2016
Spread Your Wings and Let Your Inner Fairy Fly!
Castle to Castle
Hey, Don't I Know You?
Jiminy, Oh My, We Can Fly!
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Disneyland Wanderlust
It's A Jolly Holiday (Bakery)

Day 5: May 9, 2016
More Cars But of the Unfast Kind
Fish Are Friends, Not Food
And A Smile Means Friendship To Everyone
Going to California With An Aching In My Heart
Soarin' Over California One Last Time
California Screamin' - The Sequel
Nocturnal Cars Land
Last Night At Disneyland
Sashay, Shante (SuperMedal)

Day 6: May 10, 2016
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Bonus WDW Day! May 14, 2016
The Adventure(Land) Continues
A Fairy Garden Party
#allthefood

Final Thoughts

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 1: May 5 - From OC to OC!

It was Disneyland departure day! DH and I woke up at 2:30am Eastern in order to finish packing, load up the car, set up instructions for our cat- and bird-sitter (we had dropped off our Lab at a country kennel the night before), and be on our way to Orlando by 3:30 for the 90-minute drive. Our flight was at 7:20, but we were dropping off our Jeep at an offsite parking lot and wanted to have plenty of cushion since MCO is a huge hub. Jeep dropoff went well and the shuttle from the parking lot dropped us off at MCO, where we headed through security and it was a good thing we'd arrived so early because it was packed, even that early in the morning. We made it through security and stopped to pick up some breakfast since we had a 45-minute layover in ATL (not enough time to grab something to eat) and walked to our gate. No cool trip report photos of MCO; we didn't even have time to sit down and relax a little before getting on our plane.

Soon we boarded, and got settled in for the hourlong flight to ATL. I learned a few years ago that long flights are better for me if I wear compression socks, so for this trip, I made a special purchase of ProCompression socks nicknamed "The Gibblers." Funny side story here, Andrea Barber (Kimmy Gibbler on Full House and Fuller House) and her family visited my tiny hometown (population: 2,000) in the Midwest when I was in middle school. I'm a little older than she is and my sister is her age. My sister actually met her at our public pool and they became friends, my sister was sent Andrea's newsletter The Gibbler Gazette and Andrea always included a cute little note for my sister. She seems a very sweet person, and still remembers my sister (they are actual Facebook friends, not via a Page), so I wanted to get her compression socks, which my sister heartily approved. Also they are really cute and did the trick for our long flight to California.


The Gibblers in action!

In ATL, we didn't have very far to go to catch our flight out to Orange County/John Wayne Airport (since we were flying MCO to SNA, we were going from OC to OC!), and soon we were on our way west. The flight was 4 and a half hours, but we busied ourselves with the newfangled technology on board, slept, and I also read. Upon arrival, we picked up DH's checked bag (I usually try to pack light and just take a carry-on and bag) and found our Super Shuttle. The trip to our hotel was really quick and we arrived at the Hilton Anaheim shortly after noon Pacific time. Check-in wasn't until 4pm but I took a chance to see if by some stroke of luck our room was ready. No dice, so we stowed our luggage with Guest Services, and walked to the race expo to kill some time.

The race expo was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel, but bib pick-up was in the underground parking garage. Big change from Florida Disney race expos, which are held at ESPN Wide World of Sports in two buildings! So we walked down the green carpeted ramp to bib pick-up.


Walking to the expo, I spotted this gorgeous tree. These seem to be all over Anaheim and are just striking. If any west coast readers know what type of tree this is, I'd be interested! It looks like some sort of legume, but I'm not up to speed on west coast foliage.


The green carpeted ramp to bib pick-up in the underground parking garage.


The walls down the ramp were decorated with Tinker Bell and her friends, including my half marathon costume inspiration, Fawn!

Bib pick-up went smoothly as usual (thank you, volunteers!) and I also had to have my photo taken since I was participating in the Pixie Dust Challenge, which includes the 10K on Saturday and then the half marathon on Sunday. They photograph participants in order to get a positive ID after completion of the half; apparently there has been a problem with cheating in the past such as different people running each race under the same bib. It's sad that it's come to that, I certainly wouldn't want a medal I hadn't earned, but apparently some people don't care. More on that later. Receiving this bib was actually pretty exciting because I'd been seeded in Corral B (!!!) for the 10K and Corral C for the half marathon. I'll never have that sort of seeding at WDW, so I was pretty stoked about that. Of course, Disneyland races have far fewer corrals, but it was still pretty cool.


Corrals B and C!

After bib pick-up, we walked over to the Dooney & Bourke booth to look at the race weekend exclusive bags. I really liked the pattern because for me, it evoked Mary Blair's work (the artist who did the concept art for Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland, Small World, and also the giant mosaic in the Contemporary resort in Florida), but I wasn't sold on the purses. After Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend in 2015, we'd seen the race weekend Dooneys in stores afterwards, so I told myself that if they were still available at the end of the trip, I'd get one. We had 4 more full days ahead of us and plenty of opportunity to spend money!

Then it was up to the hotel ballroom to do some shopping and pick up the race shirts. I'd pre-ordered a couple Raw Threads tanks (I'm in the Club and we'd been given a discount in April and with expo pick-up, I didn't have to pay shipping or pack them) so I needed to pick those up, I wanted to buy a Sparkle Athletic visor for my half marathon costume (I already have so many of those visors, but needed one to go with an orange costume), and of course I wanted to check out the official runDisney race merchandise, and we also needed to pick up our DL tickets from the travel agent. Luckily, DH is a patient man. Also I'd warned him beforehand.


Green carpet entrance to the expo in the Disneyland Hotel's Grand Ballroom.


Another Fawn!


This is the only photo I took of the expo, but that chandelier is huge!


Race weekend shirts included with registration. Since I was running the Pixie Dust Challenge, I got 3 shirts: PDC, 10K, and half marathon. Tink is not one of my favorite characters, but for some reason, I really like her race weekend logo font. We also got a drawstring backpack.

The race merchandise preview had been posted on the Parks Blog earlier and I wasn't really struck by the design this year - I really loved the retro/classic look of last year's and so it was a teensy bit of a disappointment. BUT! That just made it easier to get in and out of the booth. There was actually a line to get in, this was around 1pm on Thursday, the first expo day. Typically, some race merchandise flies (no pun intended) off the shelf and this held true for Tink Weekend. By the time I'd arrived, the wine glasses had sold out. One less thing to buy! I ended up spending far less than I'd intended, so yay? I've been collecting race medal pins this year, and I've always gotten race weekend car magnets (except during Star Wars Dark Side, which apparently sold out in the first hour or so of that expo) and was able to get both at Tink. I moseyed on over to the I Did It! shirts and since I'm a sucker for race course maps (on the back of the shirt), I ended up buying the Pixie Dust Challenge shirt.



Then after torturing DH with commerce, we walked over to Trader Sam's to get a cocktail. As WDW AP holders, we'd been to the Florida version 3 or 4 times since it'd opened last May, but we had never been to the original in the Disneyland Hotel.

Next Up: Uh-Oa, Batten Down the Hatches!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Oh a Tink TR, count me in! I always found it funny that both Florida and California had an Orange County (I grew up in Northern CA, so I would frequent the Anaheim one )
Umm, I am so ignorant about tress- to me it looks like a lilac! I'm sure a tree savvy person would know better though

I love the race logo on the drawstring bag you got-- looks pretty and classic to me!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Thank you so much for following along!

What's even funnier about two Orange counties, is that I grew up in Green County and moved to Orange County (FL) after college! And now I'm in a colorlessly-named county, but it's known for its citrus (oranges!). Northern CA, huh? What a gorgeous place to grow up - I've only been to San Fran/Monterey Bay and Napa/Sonoma Valleys, but loved every second I spent there.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I'm joining in! I was at the expo the same time you were. Did you have to wait in that crazy line in the parking garage too? They were so worried about line cutters we had to wear wristbands. They should have been more worried about that on the course lol.

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 1: May 5 part 2 - Uh-Oa, Batten Down the Hatches!

We last left our intrepid heroes as they'd completed their journey through the race weekend expo. And now it was on to their just rewards!

OK, I promise I'm done referring to us in the third person.

DH and I were excited about getting a cocktail at Trader Sam's because by this time, we'd already been up for 15 or 16 hours and because the last time we'd been to DL, we totally missed out on going there. So we walked through the pool area at DLH and soon we were there! We didn't know what to expect, because at the Florida version, the lounge doesn't even open until 4pm and there are generally people lining up around 3 or 3:30 to get in! But in California, the lounge opens much earlier and there is no gatekeeper like in Florida. So we just walked in, imagine that? Upon first glance, there didn't seem to be any open barstools or tables, so we kind of stood there wondering what to do (worst case, we'd go outside on the terrace, same menu), and then a 2-top cleared and we grabbed it.


OK, the DLH pool area is really neat!


Tangaroa Terrace is attached to Trader Sam's and serves the same menu.


Trader Sam's is hidden away.








The table at right was empty when we first arrived, but there were no other options, so we grabbed it before anyone else could and waited for the table to be cleared. Since there was no host/hostess, we thought we were OK doing that and nobody ever said anything.


My tropical view from our table.


Some bartender action behind the bar! It's hard to see, but on the top shelf at left, there is a glass jar labeled "Paradise Falls." Aw.



So here's the thing. Lots of action here, especially when certain drinks are ordered (there's a bit more variation and showmanship in Florida) and some are really fun. The bartenders are hip to lots of puns, so that was right up our alley. Service was incredibly slow, I think it was 10 or 15 minutes before our server even came back with a menu, so it's a good thing there was a lot to take in. And we were not in a hurry since it wasn't even 2pm yet and we wouldn't be able to check into our hotel room at the Hilton until 4, so it worked out for us.

Short post because lots of photos!

Next up (because I'm off work today and spending it writing, apparently! ): Shipwrecked on the Rocks

 

[roxymama]

Ooooh, excited to hear more! I love Alice in Wonderland and although I get dizzy on the tea-cups ride, I would be obsessed if they ever do a race (even a 5k) again with Alice themeing. It's my favorite DL ride too. Especially when you get to go on the little roof part outside of the ride. I just had to mention that because of your screen name. I don't know if you are into makeup but there is a new Urban Decay Alice eyeshadow and lipstick line that might make me lose money. Although its based on the new movies.

I'm staying tuned!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

I'm joining in! I was at the expo the same time you were. Did you have to wait in that crazy line in the parking garage too? They were so worried about line cutters we had to wear wristbands. They should have been more worried about that on the course lol.

Thanks for following! No, we didn't have a crazy wait to get in the parking garage, it had pretty much cleared out by early afternoon. Even the crowd around the Dooneys wasn't too bad, we could actually look at them from off to the side. That's crazy you needed wristbands!

Ooooh, excited to hear more! I love Alice in Wonderland and although I get dizzy on the tea-cups ride, I would be obsessed if they ever do a race (even a 5k) again with Alice themeing. It's my favorite DL ride too. Especially when you get to go on the little roof part outside of the ride. I just had to mention that because of your screen name. I don't know if you are into makeup but there is a new Urban Decay Alice eyeshadow and lipstick line that might make me lose money. Although its based on the new movies.

I'm staying tuned!

Thank you so much for following! Alice is my all-time favorite, ever since I can remember. I think the nonsensical aspect is just so wonderful (no pun intended) and I was so excited to go on the Alice ride last time we were there and took about a zillion photos that didn't turn out, LOL! Totally agree if they had an Alice-themed race, they could just take my money. And thanks for the heads-up on the Urban Decay line! Although I love it, I seldom wear makeup (just because I'm one of those people who after spending the time ends up looking like I'm doing the walk of shame 10 minutes later, so the effort is pointless ), but I may have to check that out for special occasions!

 

[cgersic]

Following along!!!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 1: May 5 part 3 - Shipwrecked on the Rocks


Trader Sam's House Rules


Since I knew you all were breathless with antici....pation (little Rocky Horror shoutout there) about what we ordered at Trader Sam's, I thought I'd get in another entry today because I'm off from work and alone at home except for the fur and featherkids. DH and I hadn't eaten since breakfast at MCO and this was about 8 hours later, so we ordered the Kalua-style Pork Barbeque Flatbread for a mid-afternoon snack. But the main event at Trader Sam's is the drinks. I'd intended on ordering a HippopotoMai-Tai in a souvenir glass so I'd have a west coast match for my east coast one, but apparently they were out of souvenir glasses and I ended up with the Passionate Python. The drink was OK, it served the purpose, but I don't think I'd get it again. DH ordered the Shipwreck on the Rocks, which is sort of the signature drink and was very good. It also came in a really cool souvenir ceramic mug.


Passionate Python and Shipwreck on the Rocks (mug is shaped like a barrel and has barnacles and sea stars on it, much like the crew of the Flying Dutchman in POTC2).

The barbeque pork flatbread was really delicious and we probably should have ordered more food (we ended up splitting it), but DH was tired and just wanted to get back to the hotel even if we just sat in the lobby. On the way out, however, we had a celebrity sighting. Apparently Disneyland has a population of feral-ish cats who roam the property and are quite popular. I follow an account on Instagram that does nothing but post photos of the Disneyland Cats. And we spotted one! It was Ned (I think) and we'd just caught him in the act of either just starting to, erm, evacuate his bladder or had just finished. No shame, that one!



Then it was the 10-minute walk back to our hotel. We were staying at the Hilton Anaheim, which is adjacent to the convention center, so the lobby is a huge area with lots of comfortable seating. Unfortunately our room was still not ready at 3pm, so we found a nice lounge area to sit down and just relax, catch up on social media, let folks know we'd arrived safely, etc. At precisely 4pm, our room was ready and so we headed up to the 9th floor, Disney view. And what a view!


Backside of Cars Land, Grizzly Peak, and Paradise Pier are all distinctly visible.

We unpacked, got things settled a bit, showered and changed (does anything feel better than that when you've been traveling?!?) and then walked to CVS (about 3 blocks) to stock up on supplies and drinks. As I mentioned previously, we are WDW passholders and end up staying on property several times throughout the year, and our strategy on saving some money is bringing our own drinks (*cough wine and liquor cough*) and water because we usually end up back in our room mid- to late afternoon and it's a great way to unwind and chill out between park-hopping. It's also a lot cheaper because at Epcot, for example, a single mini bottle of Sutter Home wine sells for $7-9 (depending upon the time of year) but you can buy a 4-pack of the same stuff for $5.99 in Publix. So we did the same thing in California, DH got a bottle of whiskey and I got some Pinot Grigio and we also picked up essentials like shampoo, mouthwash, bananas (for pre-race mornings), and little snacks. So we were set for a while on supplies and after returning to our room, we decided we were just too tired to hoof it all the way back to Downtown Disney (yay, I can still say that about California! Disney Springs just sounds weird yet ), so we just decided to grab something quick in the hotel food court, eat in our room, and wait for the fireworks.

We had a great view of World of Color, even though it was a bit obscured by the convention center, and an even better view of the fireworks! Not too bad.


World of Color as viewed from our room.


Disneyland Forever as viewed from our room.

We'd actually fallen asleep after World of Color but I woke up to see the fireworks. And immediately crashed again afterwards. Tomorrow was going to be a busy and fun day - Day 1 in the parks!

Next Up: Park Hippity-Hopping All Day Long

 

[cavepig]

Look forward to reading along! That is a cool view you got!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Look forward to reading along! That is a cool view you got!

Awesome! You had some really great comments and feedback on my Dopey TR, so I'm looking forward to you following along. And thanks!

 

[rteetz]

Following along!

 

[SarahDisney]

Hi Kim! I'm excited to follow along with your Tink travels!
I love that you have a Gibbler connection! Did you know that Andrea Barber has done some runDisney races? I think Tinker Bell was actually her first runDisney race a few years ago ... I don't know if she ran it this year, though.

I love the Trader Sams pictures. I still haven't been to either one (although I've been to the Tiki Terrace in Florida), but I really want to see them both eventually - the pictures always make it look so interesting!

The Disney view from your room is amazing. Being able to see World of Color and Fireworks from your room ... awesome!

I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of your weekend!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Following along!

Awesome, thanks!

Hi Kim! I'm excited to follow along with your Tink travels!
I love that you have a Gibbler connection! Did you know that Andrea Barber has done some runDisney races? I think Tinker Bell was actually her first runDisney race a few years ago ... I don't know if she ran it this year, though.

I love the Trader Sams pictures. I still haven't been to either one (although I've been to the Tiki Terrace in Florida), but I really want to see them both eventually - the pictures always make it look so interesting!

The Disney view from your room is amazing. Being able to see World of Color and Fireworks from your room ... awesome!

I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of your weekend!

Hi Sarah, good to have you along for the ride! I did know that about Andrea! My sister is always teasing me that I'd run into "AB" on rD courses, but I think my sister overestimates my speed. Of course, now with the new series on Netflix, I'm sure she can't run as undetected as before, and good for her! Honestly, she was the best part of the reboot, IMHO. And she did run Tink this year, but she was in Corral A, so no way for me to catch up from C.



Thanks about the photos! I felt like we couldn't really get into the atmosphere at TS in CA, just because the set-up is so different from in FL, we felt like we really couldn't move around or leave our table. Whereas in FL, it's more of a lounge-type setting. Both are wonderful in their own way, but let's just say that I'm quite pleased to live so close to the FL one.

Thanks for following along, y'all!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 2: May 6 - Park Hippity-Hopping All Day Long

Since our Circadian rhythms (there's a little mini-biology lesson for you, free of charge! ) were still on Eastern time, we woke up super-early on Friday morning. I don't want to say just how early, but let's say that if I was running a race that day, I would have had plenty of time to get ready and go to it. So what's an East Coast girl to do? I decided to read my book for a bit, have some water, and just enjoy the fact that I could do both of those things in bed. DH and I decided to head to Downtown Disney around 7:45 to get breakfast before the parks opened.

So we walked from the Hilton, past the convention center, west on Katella to cross over on Disneyland Way to continue onward to Downtown Disney. Somehow, we missed the turnoff and went under the DTD overpass, but it was not a total loss because we got to see the starting line for both the 10K and half marathon races! It was kind of surreal to see cars and trucks whiz by underneath it.


Tinker Bell 10K and Tinker Bell Half Marathon starting line.

When we had been to DL the year previous for the Star Wars Half, we'd stumbled upon Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen quite by accident just because we're not fans of Starbucks but we ARE fans of NOLA-style food. Beignets FTW!! Woot! So I got a mini order of beignets and a coffee, DH a breakfast platter and coffee, and we sat outside enjoying a slower pace. Anyway, here are some breakfast photos (taken in 2015 because I forgot to take photos this time):


You can watch Cast Members make the beignets while you wait to order!


Beignet. Last year, there was an option to order a dipping sauce, in this case caramel. This year there wasn't and that was OK. Less work for my pancreas! Also? So yum.

I feel as if I should mention that it felt much colder in California than I'd expected. I'd packed clothes I could layer because I saw the forecasted high temperatures were in the upper 60s/lower 70s for our trip, but that just feels so much colder when there's no humidity. In Florida, I can still be comfortable in a short-sleeved shirt or even a tank top. But in California, I ended up wearing the hoodie I'd only intended for the flight for almost the whole trip. It's literally the only hoodie I own and it was purchased at WDW one night when I got really cold. So I was reppin' WDW pretty hard my entire trip at DL!

After breakfast, we walked towards the parks, and through security on the west side of the plaza. One thing we did note at DL is that there is no benefit to having no bags; you are required to go through bag check regardless. Even though the security guard waves you through, it just seems a waste of time to stand in line alongside everyone with bags. We were definitely missing the easy-breezy-beautiful "no bags" entry at WDW.

So what was first on our list? Well, during our last trip, we'd missed out totally on Radiator Springs Racers because we'd underestimated their popularity. So we headed into DCA and made a beeline to the Fast Pass distribution area. Part of me just loves that DL still uses the old paper Fast Pass system! We don't mind the MDE planning app for WDW, but as AP Holders, we have found that our spontaneous day trips have become very much less spontaneous since you pretty much have to plan out your FP+ well in advance.

For Radiator Springs Racers, the FP distribution is near the front of the park, next to A Bug's Land. The line stretched from the FP entrance all the way around into A Bug's Land and almost on its way to Tower of Terror. Eep! We ended up talking with a really nice lady in line who was a regular visitor and she said that this crazy-insane line was not even that bad. Wow. But I will say that it did move pretty quickly and efficiently and I think we had our FPs in 10 minutes or so. Our return time was 11:10 and so we decided to head to DL to visit some pirates since the ride was scheduled to be down later in our trip. Park hopping, yay! Which took...5 minutes. Usually when we park-hop in WDW, we walk Epcot-DHS or vice-versa because it's so fast. But at DL/DCA, you simply walk across the plaza! Very cool and convenient.

Soon we were inside DL, but didn't make it up to the Castle to see the 60th anniversary decorations (not sure why), we headed straight to Adventureland.



Little bit of a sidebar: off to the left in the photo is the original Enchanted Tiki Room. It was one of my very favorites as a kid, and I was devastated when WDW changed it up a few years ago into that monstrosity with Zazu and Iago (goodness, Gilbert Gotfried's voice goes right through my head. Sorry, Gil, but I'm sure it's not the first time you've heard that, buddy.). I hated that iteration SO much that I avoided all contact with that area for years. And so last year during our trip to DL, I insisted on visiting the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room (where the birds sing words and the flowers croon); it wasn't until we'd returned to Florida I learned that WDW had reverted to the original as well. And there was much rejoicing across the land!

We walked through Adventureland and to New Orleans Square, which is where the Pirates live. PSA and Fair Warning: I'm going to apologize right now, just because I'm a WDW AP holder, have been for most of my adult life, and so I'm going to be doing a lot of comparing throughout this TR. If it gets annoying, just yell something nonsensical and I'll try to bring it down a bit.

OK, so I don't have a photo of the entrance to POTC here (you'll have to wait for the half marathon day for that!), but rest assured that it is different and cool. I also recommend hitting it in the morning because by about mid-day or afternoon, it gets some long waits. But since it was still early, there was little to no wait and we walked right inside. DL POTC is located in the bayou (which is in my wheelhouse since I do a lot of wetland work in my profession) rather than a Caribbean fortress, and the whole atmosphere is different from WDW, and I would dare say better.


The queue (looking back towards entrance) inside POTC. See the stern of the boat?


Bayou stilt house as your boat leaves docking.

OK, so the next part - if you're familiar with the WDW POTC - is really cool and different. And piratical goodness. As you sail into the ride, you are treated to an old pirate treasure trove. Dead men tell no tales, indeed.



Then the ride becomes more familiar as you meet Captain Barbossa on the Black Pearl, looking for Captain Jack Sparrow.

Continued in next post: Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, Grim Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Socialize

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

California was freezing! I also worn my WDW hoodie for most of the trip . I use to think it was an old wives tale but now I'm beginning to think living in Florida really does thin your blood.

The beignets sound awesome, I didn't realize the Jazz kitchen served breakfast. Next time we are at DL I'm going to make sure we stop there.

And I love all your comparisons to WDW!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

Day 2: May 6 part 2 - Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, Grim Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Socialize


"We wants the redhead! We wants the redhead!" West coast style!






When you first start out on POTC, you sail past the Blue Bayou restaurant. We were really excited to see it from the boat because we had ADRs for lunch after the half marathon! Love all the paper lanterns.

As you exit POTC, you walk past Blue Bayou and then are spit out onto the street. Not into a gift shop. That is one of the things I really love about DL, you almost have to work hard to find gift shops. Relatively speaking, of course. But we found it very refreshing! Then we walked to the Haunted Mansion close by. I was extremely excited about riding the California version; when we were there in January 2015, it was closed so that the Nightmare Before Christmas overlays could be removed. Hugely disappointing that we couldn't go on it, but here we were! And it was time.


This is what the entrance looked like last January with TNBC overlay elements. Which I'd also love to see someday. Which means I'll probably have to do the Avengers Half Marathon Weekend at some point. Twist my arm, runDisney!

However, THIS is what it looked like for this trip.


Look how not-crowded! And I do love the architectural style of the DL Haunted Mansion. You entered it by walking up to the front-freaking-door, my friends! How cool is that? Seriously, you walk up to the doric columns and between them inside!

Also, note how it's raining. A running gag between DH and I during the entire trip was "it never rains in southern California." Ha! It was just our way to make light of the situation, we really didn't care all that much since we are not - to my knowledge - made of sugar.


So I'm not sure if you can tell, but when you walk in, it is like walking into an actual house with paintings on the walls and the busts of ghost writers straight away. I loved the different, yet similar, ambiance!


And here's where you board your Doom Buggy - in the library with lamps and cobwebs all around you! Loved it!


And here he is: the man, the myth, the legend. Hatbox Ghost!! Woot! So cool.


Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize...

We ended up being interrupted by playful spirits twice, so the flow of our ride wasn't continuous, but still I really enjoyed it very much since it's a favorite and a must-do for us at Magic Kingdom.

Next Up: The Eighth Wonder of the World!

 

[Mimsy Borogove]

California was freezing! I also worn my WDW hoodie for most of the trip . I use to think it was an old wives tale but now I'm beginning to think living in Florida really does thin your blood.

I agree! I've been in Florida since college, but I grew up in an area that saw temperatures of -70F (with windchill) my senior year of high school. Though I much prefer not having my hair freeze when I go outside if I haven't dried it completely!

The beignets sound awesome, I didn't realize the Jazz kitchen served breakfast. Next time we are at DL I'm going to make sure we stop there.

Beignets are awesome, full stop. And the weird thing is that I don't even care for doughnuts! Definitely try the Jazz Kitchen for breakfast - not to spoil a later post, but we went back. And the smoked bacon will haunt my dreams for years to come. Whoops, sorry, I may have drooled on the monitor there.

And I love all your comparisons to WDW!

Oh good! I was afraid people would be put off by the constant comparisons. But I've just spent SO much time there, I think it's inevitable. Also, I like to think that readers are familiar enough with WDW that they, too, are interested in the differences and similarities!