Second Star to the Right and Straight on ‘til the 2017 Pixie Dust Challenge*COMPLETE

[GollyGadget]

So, here’s where I tell you that Chris and I have been dieting for a couple of months now and focusing on a very low-carb diet. But, we had both agreed that for this trip, we would eat whatever we wanted regardless of the number of carbs. So, with that in mind, I ordered the Monte Cristo sandwich. #allthecarbs

Maybe you're planning to get to it later so sorry if I'm jumping ahead but I'm very curious about this. I'm also following a low carb diet and also tend to splurge a bit on vacation. Did you find eating carbs affected your racing or fueling strategy at all? My concern is that by eating carbs my body forgets to use fat as fuel and my whole race is messed.

 

[McNs]

Carsland is awesome. I hadn't seen the movie before visiting, but caught it after. Gave me goosebumps seeing the movie was just like the real life place!

For crowd squeezes, I don't know if the adventureland crush from Pirates to Jungle Cruise is better or worse than the Astro Orbiters crush at Tomorrowland. Both are rough.

I'm going to have the opposite problem to the misplaced attractions when we head to WDW later this year!

 

[Chris-Mo]

Maybe you're planning to get to it later so sorry if I'm jumping ahead but I'm very curious about this. I'm also following a low carb diet and also tend to splurge a bit on vacation. Did you find eating carbs affected your racing or fueling strategy at all? My concern is that by eating carbs my body forgets to use fat as fuel and my whole race is messed.

Gisele can add her thoughts, but for me I did/do not notice any difference. Since doing low carb I only bring electrolytes on my runs. Last June I completed a 50K and only had one small piece of watermelon to eat and did not have dinner until 5 PM that night. Going low carb, medium protein and higher fat I simply do not get hungry. I fight cravings but don't we all. This has carried over into my running even when I do add some carbs back. I think if you take in carbs over a period of time you go back to carb burning rather than fat burning.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Carsland looks incredible! So cool you were able to walk right on! Seems like a great trip so far

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Oh man your description and pictures of Carsland is really adding fuel to my fire of wanting to go there! It looks amazing. So happy you guys enjoyed it! Also glad you enjoyed the DLR version of Pirates. I was getting worried that kind of wait would make it hard to love.
Oh and I really like your Tink hat! I run in hats and visors pretty much all of the time, so I will have to add that to my list of wants for my rD races next year! Is it made with the nice, stretchy, breathable material or is it pretty stiff?

 

[roxymama]

Single rider line was great for that ride! Same thing happened to us...all got in same car. The lady in a group in front of us said loudly "hey why'd they get in the same car and we all got split up?" I was like thinking in my head ....ummm it's not group rider line! We were just lucky!

Carsland is so awesome!

 

[ZellyB]

Carsland is something I really want to do/see soon. It just looks incredible!

I honestly think it's some of the best work Disney has done in years.

Ahhh how am I justnow seeing this?

I love that you guys just went for it with the meals. Bravo.

And sorry to have freaked you out about the characters!!

No worries. I mean, I was bummed for a bit, but we had such a great day that we decided we were just going to have fun no matter what - and, of course, the 10K turned out to be great!

Maybe you're planning to get to it later so sorry if I'm jumping ahead but I'm very curious about this. I'm also following a low carb diet and also tend to splurge a bit on vacation. Did you find eating carbs affected your racing or fueling strategy at all? My concern is that by eating carbs my body forgets to use fat as fuel and my whole race is messed.

I really haven't worried much about it. The first time we did this, I was really paranoid about fueling and racing, but I just go ahead and eat normal fueling stuff (sports beans primarily) for races and find I don't have any trouble adapting. I will say ever since switching to low carb, I don't feel like I need to fuel as much during races without crashing and that seems to be the case even if I eat carbs before the races too.

Carsland is awesome. I hadn't seen the movie before visiting, but caught it after. Gave me goosebumps seeing the movie was just like the real life place!

For crowd squeezes, I don't know if the adventureland crush from Pirates to Jungle Cruise is better or worse than the Astro Orbiters crush at Tomorrowland. Both are rough.

I'm going to have the opposite problem to the misplaced attractions when we head to WDW later this year!

Both of those areas were nuts at mid-day!! That's the only downfall of the more compact nature of that park versus WDW.

Carsland looks incredible! So cool you were able to walk right on! Seems like a great trip so far

We really had just the best time on this day. The whole trip was great though really!

Oh man your description and pictures of Carsland is really adding fuel to my fire of wanting to go there! It looks amazing. So happy you guys enjoyed it! Also glad you enjoyed the DLR version of Pirates. I was getting worried that kind of wait would make it hard to love.
Oh and I really like your Tink hat! I run in hats and visors pretty much all of the time, so I will have to add that to my list of wants for my rD races next year! Is it made with the nice, stretchy, breathable material or is it pretty stiff?

You really do need to see Carsland. Incredible. Pirates was awesome. It's already one of my favorites, and the DLR version is just perfect. I really like the rD hats. They are definitely running hats, so soft and breathable. They have some hats that are not, but every time I've raced, they've had a running hat for the races.

Single rider line was great for that ride! Same thing happened to us...all got in same car. The lady in a group in front of us said loudly "hey why'd they get in the same car and we all got split up?" I was like thinking in my head ....ummm it's not group rider line! We were just lucky!

Carsland is so awesome!

Same with us on the luck. We were obviously not expecting to be in the same car, but we were happy it worked out that way. Nobody yelled at us though.

 

[ZellyB]

More California Adventuring

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I just love this part of the park. It is so cool looking with the roller coaster and the Wheel of Death and just the overall carnival atmosphere. Just loved it. As we were going across the bridge, we saw a PhotoPass photographer and so had to get a couple of shots here as well. #allthePhotoPass

And my favorite shot of the trip – with my sweetie!

So, we headed on across the bridge and passed the Cove Bar. I told Chris that the place is apparently insanely popular, so I didn’t even bother to try and put it on our agenda. At this point of the morning they weren’t open yet, but when we passed by shortly after it had opened later, the line was HUGE. Maybe one day we will try it, but not in the cards for this trip.

We headed to check out Toy Story Mania, but the line was around 60 minutes or so. I remembered reading they had recently added FP availability to the ride, but we weren’t quite due for a new one yet, so we saw the line for California Screamin’ was only 15 minutes, so we hopped into line. I wasn’t necessarily expecting a lot from this ride since Disney, in my opinion, isn’t exactly know for great roller coasters, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Really fun ride and actually pretty smooth. That’s my problem with most Disney coasters, they are really rough. *spoken like a truly old person* Anyway, we really enjoyed it.

Once off the coaster, we could pick up a new FP, so we backtracked to the TSMM FP machines and grabbed a couple. Oh, how I’ve missed the spontaneity of legacy FP. Sigh. Anyway, FP in hand, we headed back to Carsland. The second time was as good as the first. LOVE!

The lady next to me was really nervous because she and her 11-year old daughter were riding single-rider. It was the first time she’d let her ride alone, so the second the ride stopped she was whipping around looking for her. I remember those days!! Of course, all was well, and her daughter gave her that rolling eyes look all mothers know so well.

It was around 11 or so by this time and we were actually getting kind of hungry. I’d planned on eating at the Pacific Wharf for some clam chowder, but when looking at the menu it just didn’t sound great, so we reversed course and headed for Flo’s V8 diner instead.

We ordered our food and quickly had our tray in hand and headed out to the back patio to eat up!

I had the Roast Beef and Cheddar (just skipped eating the top bun) and Chris had the Citrus Turkey Salad. And, we had to top it off with a chocolate shake.

This was really good!! And, it was so much fun sitting there eating at Flo’s as we watched the Racers driving by! It really felt like we were having lunch inside the movie.

Even moreso when the Fire Truck, “Red” went driving by.

And then a few minutes later, Lightening McQueen himself.

See that little boy up on the wall there? He was so excited. It was adorable.

We still had time to kill before our TSMM return time, so opted to go check out some other parts of the park.

Up next: We went Shootin', and Soarin' and Floatin’ and Flyin’ and maybe a bit more Eatin’ #BestDayEver

 

[Ariel484]

Kudos to you two for going on Screamin' - I cannot handle the launch! So sad, because it really is a great coaster.

Your Flo's lunch looks so good!

I LOVE that picture of you two with the Death Wheel - frame-worthy for sure!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Super cute picture by the Mickey wheel! You guys are sure a cute couple! Lunch choice looks great! I want Chris's citrus turkey salad for lunch today haha
And such a fun atmosphere to eat in! Also, I can FEEL that kid's excitement at seeing McQueen, just by looking at the back of him. How fun!

 

[SarahDisney]

I love your PhotoPass pictures with Paradise Pier in the background! That really is my favorite part of the park ... it's super cool and makes for the best backdrop for pictures.

Your lunch at Flo's looks good! And it looks like you had prime seats for the magic that is Cars Land ... not a bad setting for lunch

 

[ZellyB]

Kudos to you two for going on Screamin' - I cannot handle the launch! So sad, because it really is a great coaster.

Your Flo's lunch looks so good!

I LOVE that picture of you two with the Death Wheel - frame-worthy for sure!

I love coasters, so I was really happy that Screamin' turned out to be such a good one.

Thanks about the picture. My absolute favorite.

Super cute picture by the Mickey wheel! You guys are sure a cute couple!

Aw, thanks!

Lunch choice looks great! I want Chris's citrus turkey salad for lunch today haha
And such a fun atmosphere to eat in! Also, I can FEEL that kid's excitement at seeing McQueen, just by looking at the back of him. How fun!

You can see him mom reaching for his arm. I think if she hadn't grabbed him he would have jumped out in front of the car in excitement!

 

[ZellyB]

I love your PhotoPass pictures with Paradise Pier in the background! That really is my favorite part of the park ... it's super cool and makes for the best backdrop for pictures.

Your lunch at Flo's looks good! And it looks like you had prime seats for the magic that is Cars Land ... not a bad setting for lunch

It was really magical (not to be too corny) . Paradise Pier looks amazing. I love all the pictures I took of that area. I regret that we ended up just too tired most nights to enjoy it more at night.

 

[tigger536]

Loving your report! After the lackluster 5K, I was so glad the 10K and half turned out OK. I think Disney saw the uproar and added characters back in for the 10K. You MUST try cove bar one day! Its become a tradition (three times counts, right? ) to go there the afternoon of the half. The lobster nachos are to die for! The line is insane, but it moves fast. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[rteetz]

Awesome pictures!

That view from Flo's is great with the mountain range and seeing the cars.

 

[imBryan]

I'll be having my first Disneyland trip in about 5 months, so I'm enjoying seeing your reaction to the park in anticipation of that.

 

[ZellyB]

Loving your report! After the lackluster 5K, I was so glad the 10K and half turned out OK. I think Disney saw the uproar and added characters back in for the 10K. You MUST try cove bar one day! Its become a tradition (three times counts, right? ) to go there the afternoon of the half. The lobster nachos are to die for! The line is insane, but it moves fast. Looking forward to reading more!

Eventually, I'll actually get to the races, but I can tell you that we LOVED the 10K and half. I'm sorta regretting not fitting in the Cove Bar, but, hey, an excuse to go back, right?

Awesome pictures!

That view from Flo's is great with the mountain range and seeing the cars.

Thanks! Once you get there, Ryan, I'd highly recommend Flo's for a quick service meal. Atmosphere can't be beat.

I'll be having my first Disneyland trip in about 5 months, so I'm enjoying seeing your reaction to the park in anticipation of that.

Thanks for reading along. We really loved the parks.

 

[ZellyB]

BEST DCA DAY EVER!!

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After finishing up lunch, we headed back over to the Paradise Pier area planning to ride TSMM, but we were right at the beginning of the return window, so I wanted to see about maybe riding Mickey’s Wheel of Death before. But, when we got over there, the line was pretty lengthy with a long wait, so I didn’t really want to wait that long. We strolled on a bit more and I thought maybe we should check out the return time for FP for Soarin’. Sure enough, the timing was perfect to pick one up and then walk back over for our TSMM ride.

The FP line for TSMM still took us about 15 minutes to work our way through, but once onboard, we were shooting away. Chris beats me pretty much every time on this ride. But, TODAY WAS NOT THAT DAY!!! HA!!!

Yep, I’m Player 1. Go me!! I rubbed it in as best I could before we headed off to look at some other parts of the park. After just some aimless wandering, we ended up by the Little Mermaid ride and thought that sounded like a nice break and the line was only about 15 minutes or so long. I missed the fun interactive queue from WDW, but I did love the big mural on the wall of the loading area.

The ride was relaxing and fun as always. Cue the crappy picture of my favorite part of the ride.

Best villain ever with the best villain song evah! I swear EVERY.TIME I ride this ride, I try to get a decent picture of her and they always turn out like this. Photographer I am not! You’d think I’d give up by now.

Once done there, we wandered back to use our FP for Soarin’. I’ve only ridden with the new film once at WDW and we were dead center for that one, this time we were off to the side although not too far, but I did see the distortion this time. And, since it was noticeable from where we were, I can only imagine how distorted it must be from the far sides. I wish they could fix that some way, because I really do enjoy the new film, but that is such a distraction. Anyway, we still loved the ride.

Somewhere along the way, we had picked up a FP for this fun little ride.

We figured, why not? It was cute and fun.

By this point, I was starting to get a little bit hungry and we still had a few hours until our dinner reservation, so seemed like the perfect time to give THIS a try!

YUMMY. I’m a sucker for a good corn dog and this was very tasty.

As we were chomping down on this, I saw a couple of people with what looked like maybe sangria in little plastic wine glasses and thought that sounded tasty. By the time we found the kiosk selling it (and maybe it was just wine and not sangria), I didn’t want to wait in what looked like a lengthy line.

We were getting a bit tired by this point and decided to head back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. Although we couldn’t resist one last stop on the way out.

Because of course it makes sense to stop for caffeinated beverages before you go to take a nap.

On the walk out, I snapped a picture of these benches which I thought were so cute and that beautiful purple flowering tree. Those were everywhere and gorgeous! What are they anyway?

Next up: Back to the expo, the nostalgia of the Disneyland Hotel, Steakhouse 55 and some night time in the parks

 

[run.minnie.miles]

My hubby kills me on TSMM. Every time. But it's still so fun!

I have got to stop reading TR in the morning- too many good food pics! That corn dog sounds so yummy right now.

Disney Starbucks is the BEST. Two of my most favorite things combined!

 

[rteetz]

That's so awesome you beat Chris on TSMM!

That corn dog looks really good. Disneyland is famous for them.

Disney + Starbucks makes everything in the world seem good lol. Love those benches!