"Don't catch snoap flakes on your tongue!" a December 2016 PTR/June DLR TR *updated 12/13x2

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Chapter Twenty Part Two: When can we do this again?

We went back to Disneyland on the evening of Father's Day for Paint the Night and Disneyland Forever fireworks. Again, the pictures are all mixed up, so I'm sure they'll be out of order when it gets to the parade part, I"m sorry!




I had to get a couple of pictures of the pretty 60th decorations on the way end. Creative (or bad, however you want to look at it!) angles to avoid a ton of people in the shots!

We went to watch one of the artist's drawing, and stopped to look at Walt's bench



Minnie was finishing up a meet and greet set as we were leaving the stores



She's so cute!

We played fast and loose with our health, as we usually do on vacation unfortunately, and had ice cream for dinner! Gibson Girl, here we come!



We stayed inside for a little while (we were lucky enough to snag a table!) and then we went outside to claim a space on the sidewalk



It was crowded



and we were in for over an hour's wait...like, an hour and a half at least. But we knew we had to stake out a spot early if we wanted to sit and be up close.

The following several photos are all of Paint the Night...they are not in order (unless I just got lucky!!). There are a lot of pictures, but it's still just a small sampling - not all turned out very good. Here we go...

 

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Part Two Cont...



Paint the Night was INCREDIBLE. Truly. It was beautiful, and the dancers were perfect...the lights were gorgeous...*sigh* I loved it!

I'm not shy when discussing how much I dislike MSEP, and I am not sad at all that it's gone from Magic Kingdom. I am sad that PTN is not coming to Florida, because I want to watch it again and again.

As soon as the last parade performer passed us, I told my family it was time! We grabbed hands and made a beeline to the hub area right in front of the castle. We ended up off to the Tomorrowland side, and not in the best location, but still ok, for Disneyland Forever. I have pictures of this, but none of them turned out very well.

Go find it on Youtube if you haven't seen it before, because it's the only thing that comes close to comparing to Wishes for me. Projections go up on the castle, Main Street, and the Matterhorn. I wish I had seen it near It's a Small World, because they project there, too. It's not just Tinkerbell flying here, Nemo makes an appearance...flying toward the Matterhorn, all lit up like a volcano, complete with "Shark Bait, Ooh haha!" playing in the background.

Here are two sad fireworks photos...I have more, and prettier, I'm not sure why I didn't pull them out for the report??





During the show, SNOW falls from the sky!! Magical, perfect, Disney Snoap! L opened his mouth and turned his face skyward and I said, "Don't catch snoap flakes on your tongue!" I guess the word "snoap" was too much for the boys, or they were just too tired, because they dissolved into hysterical giggles.

"What about in Disney World, mom?" they asked. "you said it snoaps (giggling) during the Christmas party!"

"Not there either, don't catch ANY snoap flakes on your tongue!"

So there you have the report title

We decided to do one more thing before going back to our hotel, so we went to get in line for Peter Pan's Flight, L's choice. The rope was still up blocking that area of Fantasyland after the show, so we stood there behind the rope for what felt like forever. It was enough time for all of us to use the restroom and X and DH to go get us drinks, drink those drinks, and throw them away. Finally the CMs took the ropes down, but NOT on the side we were at. We had to wait even longer, for whatever reason, before they dropped the rope in front of us. We all grabbed hands again, and I pulled everyone over to the Peter Pan's Flight line, which in that short time, had already grown to nearly 20 minutes long. Everyone else had the same idea that we did, I guess!



We flew over London, survived a skirmish with that old codfish Captain Hook, and said goodbye to Disneyland for the evening.

 

[missangelalexis]

The boat tour sounds awesome, I'm glad it was a great experience!

I LOVEEEE Paint the Nite and I'm so glad you did too! Loved seeing your pictures. Disneyland Forever is so wonderful too!

Ending the day with Peter Pan sounds perfect!

 

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Chapter Twenty One: One Last Time (Disneyland/California Adventure)

Good morning! I have a day of shopping ahead of me...Christmas for DH, and those gift cards for the house/dog sitters I mentioned in another post. Right now I'm watching Meet Me in St. Louis, which is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. I usually save it for Christmas Eve, but I needed it this morning!

I plan to roll out at least two updates this morning, our last park day (this post) and our departure day.

Here goes!!

On our final park day, we were hopping. After our late night the previous evening, we didn't worry about rushing around too much today. We had a lunch reservation at Carnation Cafe, and we arrived about an hour prior and hung around on Main Street, shopping and playing with the little machines in the stores:



We checked in for lunch and the wait was short before they led us to a seat. It was very hot on this day, even inside, so it was water all around and refills on refills on refills!

Everyone loved their food, and I have pictures, but didn't pull them all out...except for this one:




They were the best fried pickles I have ever had! And if you have thus far denied yourself the pleasure of a fried pickle, please find somewhere that serves them and give them a try! I admit, years ago when I first heard of them, I was skeptical, but now, if a restaurant serves them I order them almost every time!

We took one last look at the castle



and one last look at City Hall



before saying goodbye to Disneyland and hopping over to California Adventure.

Our first stop was one that fulfilled a promise to Xavier -- Meeting Oswald!

The timing of our arrival was perfect, because he came out right away and we were the second group to meet him!

DH and I hung back and let the kids go interact with him...my photos are all kind of off from the side, as the PP photographer was taking pictures and we didn't buy the daily package for this day.



I told him that we'd been anxiously waiting to meet him during our trip because he was X's favorite, and he hugged X and did a "who me?" gesture, and the whole interaction was so sweet. He blew me a kiss

After that, we walked back toward Paradise Pier



and then made our way over to ride Toy Story Midway Mania. There is not a Fast Pass for it, so we had to wait in line. It was about a 30 minute wait, and it was HOT.
It's pretty over there on the boardwalk area



We completed the circle and headed over toward Goofy's Sky School, although, we weren't planning to ride it...we were going somewhere special that was nearby. But first, we stopped and picked up a frozen slushy thing and waters, and sat in the shade for awhile. It. Was. So. Hot. We were melting. The temperature was over 100, which was such a striking change from earlier in the week when we were cold!

On the way to our destination, we saw these guys out on patrol



So where were we headed, anyway??

To another of Xavier's must do things!



We'd missed out on hand dipped corn dogs on the previous night (the cart was closed), and he is a huge, major fan of corn dogs. This was a necessary stop!
He ate his treat, and the rest of us had more water.

I took a parting shot of Mickey's Fun Wheel



stopped to see Mickey and Walt



and then took in this beautiful view...Buena Vista



on our way to our final stop - another round at the Animation Academy



We had a bit of a wait...I loved these sketches on the wall



Soon, the doors opened and we found our seats



We were drawing Pluto!

DH readily admits that artsy things are not his forte...but it's kind of interesting in an abstract way, right?



And here's mine...my crowning glory. I was really proud of it!



It's not perfect, but at least I can say I drew a pretty decent Pluto once in my life...I would never be able to recreate it!

We left the park after that, it was just miserably hot, and we were tired from all of our adventures during the week. I think we stopped at the McDonalds on Harbour while walking back to the hotel...



Departure day up next!

 

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Chapter Twenty Two: So long, Farewell

We had one more small dose of Disney planned for our departure day! We made the familiar walk down Harbour from the HoJo, and caught a last look at the monorail rolling by



Our destination was...



we wanted to do a little bit of shopping before we left...I was going to get a phone case



(talk about instant gratification...I had never taken a picture of it until right now!)

We were hungry, so we stopped at Wetzel's Pretzels and Jamba Juice



Both were delicious! And I admired the succulent hanging baskets in the area...they were so pretty!



One last visit to the World of Disney



and then we left Downtown Disney and went back to the hotel to get in the car. We had one more place to go before heading to the airport.

We went back to Newport Beach, found a parking spot, and said our goodbyes to the ocean





The four of us walked down the pier, and it was a beautiful view back at the beach





When we made it back to the sand, we took a few more pictures and decided to have lunch at a little place called California Chicken Kitchen (which I guess I didn't take pictures of, but it was pretty good!)




I'm not sure what that face is L is making...he must have been talking or something!

After eating, we went to the airport, dropped off our rental car, checked our bags, got through security, and settled in for the long wait for our flight. DH went to Starbucks to get drinks, and the boys charged their devices, and I admired the photobooth pictures the kids and I took at the LaBrea Tar Pits for DH's Father's Day gift...



We boarded the plane, and got a bonus look at Newport Beach again...right where we'd just been!



The flight was uneventful...we had a very quick layover in Salt Lake City, just enough time to grab some snacks, use the restroom and line up for boarding. Then it was goodbye mountains, and we flew off into the sunset (well, figuratively speaking, since we were headed east!) on our way home.



It was right around midnight when we landed, and we were exhausted. We got our luggage, had a crazy time trying to figure out where the shuttle pickup was for the garage we'd parked in, but eventually made it there. It was literally right next door to our hotel, so we paid and drove over, and immediately fell asleep. The next day we took our time on the long drive home...

That's it! There you have it! We survived our trip west! I have one more post about it, the LA day that I skipped earlier in favor of getting through Disneyland, but I think I'll have time to get that done tonight or tomorrow.

 

[missangelalexis]

Your last day sounds really nice soaking everything in one final time! Mmm I love fried pickles!

The phone case you bought is adorable, love it!

That's great that you made one final stop at the beach before heading to the airport!

Sounds like this was a really wonderful trip

 

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The boat tour sounds awesome, I'm glad it was a great experience!

I LOVEEEE Paint the Nite and I'm so glad you did too! Loved seeing your pictures. Disneyland Forever is so wonderful too!

Ending the day with Peter Pan sounds perfect!

Your last day sounds really nice soaking everything in one final time! Mmm I love fried pickles!

The phone case you bought is adorable, love it!

That's great that you made one final stop at the beach before heading to the airport!

Sounds like this was a really wonderful trip

The whale boat was amazing!! I want to do it again!!

Paint the Night was so special, and bright, and colorful, and amazing...I really did love it. I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed Disneyland Forever, I guess I didn't really have any ideas about it beforehand. I avoided watching it or reading much about it (except about where to watch it!), it completely exceeded my expectations.

The last day was nice, it was so hot, and we just took it slow. I didn't mention it for some reason, but we also rode Tower of Terror a couple of times...once with a FP, and then once standby because the wait was walk on, posted at 13 minutes

It was a great trip. We loved California so much, and even though we went to the parks, it was a totally different kind of trip than the ones we usually take to WDW. It was fun!

 

[ariane37]

Love the pictures of Paint the Night! I've heard so much about it but have never seen any pictures. You've really made me want to plan our trip out there, like for real! Love your phone case too
Oswald looks.....tiny lol! But so cool that he meets there. So far that's 2 different meets that they don't have in WDW, him and Cruella. Between your report and other things I've read online it seems they have more diverse characters there, which I wish they'd do in our park of choice
Mmmm, fried pickles! I will say I've never had them as spears, always pickle chips, but I wouldn't discriminate There's a restaurant right down the road from us that has delicious fried pickles, and Texas Roadhouse just opened here a couple weeks ago and theirs are good, too.
TWO more days for you

 

[missangelalexis]

The time is here!!! I hope you all have an amazing trip!! I can't wait to hear about it when you return

 

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We're home! We survived! I'm getting a TR going...HERE

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HANUKKAH!!

 

[TexasErin]

Just found your report since I've been trying to figure out the logistics for our LA day. I know it's been awhile for you, but I would still love to hear about it!!!

I really enjoyed your report!

 

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@Raeven I found it!! The DLR stuff is scattered throughout but is labelled in post two in the table of contents...I think I"m going to go back and re-read it myself, LOL!!