Completed 4/24 - I Don't Think We Got Enough Treats or Candy... - Sept 2021 Disneyland/Universal Trip Report

[Araminta18]

Churros and Lamplight Lounge!
Thursday, September 16, 2022 (part 2)​

Having met the boy who never grows up, we decided that we should revisit our own childhood selves and we got in line to ride Casey Jr! The line was a bit long, but it was 11:15 -- all the lines were long.

This was the end of the line -- it wraps around there to the other side of the building. The line on the left side in the picture on the right was the Dumbo line, I think. It got hard to tell which line was for which! Both lines were completely outside their queues.

We ended up waiting a solid 15 minutes, which isn't bad but felt like a while, especially for Casey's. We did get the car we wanted - the caboose!

Then off we went! I really love the Casey Jr song, and this was a cute ride around and a fun glimpse of the Storybook lands.

Casey Jr coming down the track....

Off Casey Jr, I finally dragged Trevor over to the castle to do the Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough! Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney movie, and there's too little of her in the parks (her, not Maleficent -- I'm not a villains gal), so I was excited for this walkthrough. I had vague memories of it from years ago when I was a kid, but I was excited to do it again. And it was so cute! I loved all the little touches and details as you peek through doors and see Maleficent's goblin, or her shadow going across the hallway (video of Maleficent's shadow)

And at the end of the storybook, Sleeping Beauty's dress changed colors in the book! Video of her dress changing colors Love it!

We had to take pictures with the statue of Sleeping Beauty and Prince Philip dancing.

And the mural, of course!

So, it was a little before noon, and our next plan was a 1:15 lunch reservation over in DCA (any guesses where?!) (and yes, I timed that for right after park hopping was allowed), so we had a little bit of time to kill! We popped into the Christmas shop right there, as I was on the lookout for the Great Mouse Detective ornament that they'd released last year. No luck, but Trevor found a fun Star Wars ornament that he liked -- it was a little diorama of Batuu with the Falcon taking off.

We were starting to get hungry after that, but we didn't want to ruin our appetites for lunch, so......snack time! Since we were right there by the castle and the hub, we decided to go for the nearest treat: the Maleficent churro! (ooh a theme! I didn't even plan that!). So we headed through the Castle and over to the churro cart in the hub.

But we got distracted -- unsurprisingly. There were photographers! We had to take pictures! He actually took us over to the side of the Castle and we got some fun pics over there.

Yay!

We then got in line for churros, but the line was a bit long and I got distracted, 'cause some characters were out! So I ditched Trevor and went to say hi.

Alice and the Cheshire Cat and Winnie the Pooh!

And then Eeyore came out! This pose of his cracked me up. I was dying.

While Trevor was waiting in line, he took a creeper photo of me trying to take pics of the characters.

I'm right in front of Winnie the Pooh. And this is kind of what I mean with it being a bit hard to take pics/meet these characters -- it's just kind of a free for all. Definitely has it's perks (like no line) but it can get chaotic.

When Trevor got the churro (with the requisite marshmallow sauce ) he came over and joined me.

Ok, pictures done, characters all met -- time for the churro!

So the whole point of the Maleficent churro is that it's covered in oreo crumbs and green sprinkles. I didn't really get the green sprinkles, but the oreo crumbs were good. And the marshmallow sauce was good too -- very thick Good snack, very enjoyable - again, I don't think churros are my jam, but this was pretty good.

It was only about 12:20, but we figured we'd head over to DCA and wait to park hop, and maybe they'd let us in early. But as we left Disneyland, I had to take a picture with the Tarzan Treehouse sign in the exit tunnel.

My poor Tarzan's Treehouse. Which is STILL under scrim. I'm not bitter at all.

Over at DCA, we were one of the first people there at the park hop gate, so we decided to sit and hang out in the shade.

By 12:50, the line had gotten muuuuuuuuuuch longer.

They did let us in about 5 minutes early, so we took the win and headed to our dining reservation. But on the way we saw Clarabelle and Horace waving hello!

Where was our dining reservation? Lamplight Lounge!! We were pretty excited - we'd heard such great things about Lamplight and I was super excited to see all the fun Pixar decorations and touches in there. We checked in a few minutes early and then went looking around at the Pixar gift shop nearby while waiting to be called.

They had the animators back! This was the first time we'd seen them all trip -- I think it was a Covid thing.

So fun to see.

I love this stained glass window - so cute!

They called us back at 1:20 -- 5 minutes after our reservation and 20 minutes after we checked in. Not too bad! They led us downstairs to the bar, and to my disappointment we were on the outside side (so couldn't really see the fun Pixar decorations), but the worst part was that we were seated full-on in the sun.

We should have said something immediately, but I think I was just a bit flabbergasted that with empty seats around they'd sit anyone here full in the sun - too hot and unpleasant! And then after that I felt weird asking to be moved. Trevor was asking me if I wanted to move and I just didn't want to cause trouble, but man -- I should have said yes. This was not a nice seat.

For drinks, we ordered the Goofball Island (Simply Fruit Punch®, Minute Maid® Lemonade and Raspberry Purée) and the Mint to Be (Simply Limeade®, Watermelon and Berry Purée and fresh Mint topped with Soda Water)

The Goofball Island is on the left; the Mint to Be is on the right. These were both pretty good, and they came quickly.

For food, we ended up getting the lobster nachos!

I don't like lobster, but these nachos had gotten such good reviews so we decided to try them. They were really good! We liked them a lot.

Our plan was to start with the nachos and then get more based on how hungry we were, but our experience went downhill from there - our server disappeared and never really came back to ask if we wanted anything else. Our waters never got refilled, and we never really got the chance to order anything more. By the time we did flag down a server, we were so disappointed with our experience (sun beating down on us, long waits for anything) that we just asked for the check. And then it took forever for us to actually get the check.

The food was delicious, and we liked the drinks, but overall it was just a really really disappointing visit to a restaurant we were really looking forward to. Some of that is our fault - we should have asked to move, but why would they seat people there in the first place?

We also did like the decorations/decor that we could see - look at the bathrooms sign!

Anyways. We did have a reservation for Lamplight Lounge brunch the next day, but after our experience today, we weren't entirely sure we wanted to keep it. But we figured we'd wait and decide.

After eating, we were tired and decided to head back to the hotel for a nap (maybe grumpiness contributed to our attitude about our experience). Naps are always good ideas!

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Those lobster nachos are pretty good! But it's a bummer that you had such a bad experience there. I'll look forward to seeing if you gave it another chance for brunch.

 

[Araminta18]

Those lobster nachos are pretty good! But it's a bummer that you had such a bad experience there. I'll look forward to seeing if you gave it another chance for brunch.

They were really good! As were the drinks. It was just the rest of it it all lol. We did decide to go back for brunch…you’ll have to wait and see if that was any better

 

[Araminta18]

Oogie Boogie Bash - Third Time's the Charm
Thursday, September 16, 2021 (part 3) ​

I forgot to include a couple pictures from this afternoon in the last post! I forgot that there's a ride photo on Buzz Lightyear. Is it a great ride photo? No... but I'm including it regardless, just for kicks.

You can see our great scores, LOL. That is cool though, that they include the scores on the photo. A+, Disneyland.

And then google photos made some of our photos into a gif (I really like this feature of google photos) -- you can see me trying to get a photo with some of the characters earlier, while Trevor was in line getting the churro.

https://imgur.com/pj2n5uz

Definitely able to see how the crowd ebbs and flows!

Anyways - back to the narrative!

So we were heading back to the hotel, out of DCA, after our disappointing experience at DCA. But as we were heading out of the park, we passed the Starbucks ('cause there's no other way out ), and I remembered the Oogie Boogie Macaron that was on our list of treats to try. So we ducked in and were able to get one of the last ones (at 2:45 pm - seems crazy that they'd run out that early, but at least we got one!) - yay! That was a nice surprise.

This wasn't my favorite treat, but it was pretty fun. Per Disney, "Oogie Boogie Macaron – Black macaron filled with green apple buttercream, caramel, brownies, cookie crumb dust, and gummy candy." The green apple flavor of the buttercream was a bit strong, and a bit weird - I was expecting a more sweet profile, but it wasn't bad. Definitely interesting! I'm glad we were able to get it.

We ate it as we walked back to the hotel, and by the time we were back, it was gone. That was mostly me, let's be real. Then, naptime! We slept for a little over 90 minutes, and two hours later we were leaving the hotel and heading back to DCA for Oogie Boogie Bash! We'd changed into our final Halloween costumes of the trip -- Ghost Hosts from the Haunted Mansion!

This was 5 pm -- not a bad line at all! We only waited a minute or two.

Our first stop was Web Slingers! We'd gotten a boarding group at noon in the drop and it had just been called as we were heading over after our nap. Yay! Good timing. There was a bit of a line though -- this was the line to get your boarding group scanned.

You get your boarding group scanned/checked up by the umbrellas.

It took us 7 minutes to get our boarding groups scanned. Then we saw the line:

Woof.

But it actually wasn't that bad! I was expecting it to be like an hour wait, but we entered the room before the pre-show at 5:33 - so only about 25/30 minutes.

And my dad had called to say hi so we spent time talking with him so the time passed pretty quickly.

I'm 100% sure you're not bored of all my pictures in the Web Slingers queue and loading area, so here are some more. I swear, I could spend hours just looking around in the queue and trying to see all the easter eggs and fun trivia things.

I love that map of Avengers Campus. I really want one for our house, but they don't sell it. And let's be real...we have no wallspace in our house anyways, cause I've put up too many Disney pictures already!

Once on the ride, we had a pretty good team -- we ended up with a total score of 739,400. I got 244,500 and Trevor got 135,600. Sweet!! I really like Web Slingers - I just wish it went a bit slower so you didn't feel like you were missing so much 'cause there's so much to look at!

Anyways, we got off the ride right at 6, as the party was starting. We were in Avengers Campus, so of course we had to see what (if any) characters were out, but we found a photopass photographer first:

Actually, it was a bit interesting -- we saw a photographer just kind of out, hanging around, so we asked her if she was taking pictures, and she said sure, and took our picture. But then Thor walked out and we three (Trevor and me and the photographer ) all had to run over to him -- apparently she was assigned to the character there in Avengers Campus but came out a bit early. It worked out for us! And we got to meet Thor!

Pretty neat!

We got done meeting him at 6:15, and realized that Tower of Terror was posting only a 15 minute wait, so of course we ran right over there for another experience with Monsters After Dark! Trevor took a video in the queue, and waiting to load onto the gantry lift: Queue Video and Waiting to get onto the ride car The atmosphere as you're waiting to get onto the gantry lift is just fantastic.

I got Mike Wazowskied this time. Such a fun ride though -- we really liked it. And you know we liked it because Trevor voluntarily rode it several times, which he won't do on the regular Tower of Terror in DisneyWorld. He says it helps that the doors never open up to show you a view of the park and how high up you are.

After Guardians of the Galaxy, we headed over to CarsLand! We wanted to see the lights turn on again, and to ride Mater's Junkyard Jam-Boo-Ree 'cause we hadn't done it yet. It was 6:35, so we figured the timing would work out nicely for us to ride Mater and then be off in time to watch the lights turn on.

We ended up waiting about 5/10 minutes, and got on at 6:48 pm.

Such a cute ride! I liked that during the party it was playing Halloween songs.

We got off the ride after about 2/3 minutes, so we headed down towards the main part of Cars Land, but I noticed these decorations first and had to take a picture.

Gas can jack-o-lanterns! I LOVE the theming here; it's so clever!

Anyways, we hung out in front of Flo's V8 Cafe to watch the lights turn on. It's such fun -- I do wish we could have seen the original, but I like hearing Oogie Boogie sing "I Put a Spell on You". Trevor took another video: Turning on the Cars Land Neon Lights - Halloween edition

After watching the lights turn on, we were a bit hungry so we decided to go back to Pym's Test Kitchen to get dinner. But we took our time about it, and ended up taking several more pictures in Cars Land.

I love that "horn-o-plenty" - Brilliant!!

As we walked back into Avengers Campus, we decided to get in line for the Agatha Harkness treat trail, despite the line, cause why not? It was moving pretty quickly. Also I looked it up on the map and there was a pretty epic typo -- Agatha Harkness was labeled Agatha Harkless. Um...come on Disney!

That's Trevor, at the end of the line. With our treat backpack all prepped and ready.

We got our treats (I don't think Agatha was out, if I'm remembering rightly. I guess even villains need breaks. ), and then we were still waiting for our mobile order from Pym's Test Kitchen to be ready and there was a photopass photographer out so.......yea.

Fun pictures with the "A". And we finally got the Dr Strange magic effect for Trevor!!

Then our food was ready -- yay!!

We wanted to try a lot of what Pym's had, so we did our tried and true approach - kids meals! We got the Quantum Pretzel (that was full-size - Trevor needs his pretzel!), the kid's Subatomic Chicken Sandwich, and the Teeny Pym-ini. This was all delicious, and a good size. Kid's meals are a great way to sample the food, and get some fruit and drinks too. Highly recommend! And you don't need kids to order it - it was just Trevor and me and we had no problem ordering them.

Our next plan for the night was Villain's Grove! So we headed over there after we finished eating -- we got in line at about 7:45, and the line was just as long as it had been the previous nights. But this time, I ditched Trevor in the line and ran and got some candy from the Evil Queen, since her treat trail was right there. Strategy!

A little blurry, but this pic cracks me up!

It only took me about 5 minutes (no line for the Evil Queen!) and I was back in plenty of time to meet back up with Trevor. Divide and conquer guys, I highly recommend.

And my picture limit! We had two more items on our "must-do" list for Oogie Boogie Bash (aside from Villain's Grove, which we were in line for). Any guesses?

 

[Araminta18]

Oogie Boogie Bash Must-Dos
September 16, 2021 (part 4)
​

Ok, Villain's Grove This time we didn't really take any pictures or video -- just enjoyed walking on through. I wish there were more experiences like that at Disney nowadays -- just creative and expressive and interesting. Love it!

We got out at about 8:20 or so, and headed back towards Pixar Pier, 'cause I'd just remembered one of things on my "must-do" list! But before we got there, look at the gorgeousness that is Pixar Pier. Can never have enough photos!

And what was our must-do? Meeting Mickey and Minnie in their Victorian Halloween costumes!

Aren't they cute? Mickey especially looks awfully dapper. The line was a bit long, but it moved pretty quickly. It was great fun.

Then, since we were right there, and there was no line, we hopped on Ariel's Undersea Adventure!

This Ariel doesn't look stoned, like the Ariel does in the WDW version - I had to take a picture!

After Ariel, we decided to go hang out with Agatha and just watch her/listen to her be funny and evil. And get some candy, of course! There rock formations in the sanctum make for not too bad of a seat! We hung out there for 10 or 15 minutes, and of course I had to film it: Agatha Harkness

The Sanctum makes such a great setting for her. Love it! Definitely one of my favorite parts of Oogie Boogie Bash. Especially when her theme song came on and she started answering the "who's been..." questions from the theme song -- super funny! Agatha's Theme Song at Oogie Boogie Bash

After hanging out in the sanctum for a bit, we headed back out into Avenger's Campus and ran smack dab into the last must-do of the night, which I'd actually kind of forgotten about!

Variant Loki!!!!! So neat. We had a great time watching the Loki tv show and so it was fun to meet variant Loki. I'd forgotten he was out during the party so I was really glad we just kind of ran into him. Boom!

At that point, it was 9:30 pm, and we decided to just wander around trick or treating and enjoying our last party. We met the Mad Hatter again, as well as Oogie Boogie, and then decided to go meet Cruella, but she had a CRAZY long line. We waited anyways, but bonkers -- look at this:

It went out of the area and wrapped it's way down the street toward the Hyperion theatre. Crazy! Thankfully it moved super quickly -- the line was only about 7 or 8 minutes. And the long line did let us find this neat little photo op:

The Avengers!

Though after all that line, Cruella wasn't out - she was on a break. We did take a bunch of pictures of her set/backdrop though, 'cause it was AWESOME.

BUT THEN! As we were taking pictures, she came out! Yay!!!

Seriously, Cruella is also super fun and hilarious to watch, but there's no convenient place to sit and watch like there is with Agatha in the Sanctum.

When we were done meeting Cruella, it was a little after 10 pm, and we were going to head back towards the Villain's Grove area and the Maleficent meet and greet, but we realized the parade was coming by soon! So we decided to grab a spot on the curb right by Carthay Circle and watch the parade from there. It worked out really well, actually! We got a comfy front-row seat, without having to camp out.

We even got backrests, cause we were leaning up against that lamppost.

The parade was super fun, as expected. We filmed it, again, in case you're curious: Frightfully Fun Parade

After the parade, it was about 10:40, so we went over to meet Maleficent!

It was pretty crowded, so we didn't hang out really. Just got our candy and then went over to meet the Evil Queen, who was kind enough to pose for us.

Dang, blurry. But what can you do.

Then we went back over to Maleficent and it was a bit less crowded this time so we got our selfie.

I feel like Maleficent's set is overwhelming -- it doesn't seem to enhance her, just kind of overwhelms here. Still neat though.

It was 10 minutes til the party ended, so we slowly meandered up towards the park exit, and ran into Chip and Dale!

We got to be their very last meet of the night. Yay!

And then our last party was over. It was a nice, low-key party night but we got a lot done! And had a great time. We even remembered to take a pic with the Oogie Boogie Bash photo op at the park entrance.

It had gotten a bit cold, so I had put on my Haunted Mansion Spirit Jersey.

I had to use the ladies room, and Trevor had fun taking selfies while I was gone.

We were back at the hotel by 11:20, with our final candy haul!

Hand for scale.

And this is our entire candy haul - I brought one of the Costco insulated bags (which is 12 gallons) and filled it with the candy.

So much candy!! We definitely did our best to get our money's worth.

So yea, that was our last party night! We really did have a great time. The parties are ridiculously expensive, but it was nice to know we had plenty of time to make sure we got everything done that we wanted to, and to experience some things multiple times (lookin' at you, Villain's Grove )

Also, bonus video I found of "True Love's Kiss" from the Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough!

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 29,451 steps (13 miles)
Ride count: 12 (Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, Rise of the Resistance, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Star Tours, Casey Jr, Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough, Web Slingers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Mater's Jam-Boo-Ree, Ariel's Undersea Adventure)

 

[Araminta18]

Last Rope Drop!
Friday, September 17, 2021 (part 1)​

Our last Disneyland park day, and we were heading for DCA! Our plan was to rope-drop Guardians of the Galaxy again, and considering when we rope-dropped it on Tuesday the crowd at the rope wasn't bad, we decided to sleep in a bit -- didn't make it out of the hotel until 7:30ish. We still got our Web Slingers boarding group though - yay!

Security was already open, so we just joined the group and walked on through.

The ticket turnstiles were already open and there wasn't any kind of a line, so we walked on through and headed for Guardians of the Galaxy. When we got to the rope, there were maybe 15/20 people? Not bad at all! We went for the left side this time, since we knew that's where they started/made the line for Guardians.

Now, I had a separate little goal this morning. I like the Harvey's seat belt bags, and they were dropping a Haunted Mansion collection this morning at 8 am. Which you're right, is exactly when the park opens! And the Harvey's bags sell out SUPER quickly for popular Disney collections, like literally within a minute or two. And I really wanted the Stretching Portraits bag, as well as a glow in the dark dustbag with the Hitchhiking Ghosts and a map of the mansion. So I got apple pay on my phone all set up, hoping that would let me checkout quicker, and I told Trevor that I'd be trying to buy it on my phone while we walked to Guardians but that I'd drop off to the side if I needed to and he should go on without me.

So at 8 am, I started frantically refreshing and I decided to go for the stretching portrait bag first, since that was my priority. I put it the cart and started checking out and I'm an idiot who didn't realize how applepay works so I didn't even get to use it cause I was manually filling out all my information again. BLERGH. But.......I managed to get the bag!!!!

That was an adrenaline rush, let me tell you. Being dumb and not realize how applepay worked did mean I wasn't successful in getting the Hitchhiking Ghosts dustbag that I wanted -- they were all gone by the time I got this first bag, but this was the main one I wanted and I got it! Happy early birthday to me! (my birthday was the next day). Phew!

Anyways, back to Disney and the rides... Trevor had ducked out of line to wait for me, so we hopped in at 8:05 and got quite a surprise in the pre-show: there's a Rocket animatronic!! All the other times we'd ridden it was either Monsters After Dark (so no pre-show) or Rocket was just on the screen, so we were definitely surprised - pleasantly so. It's a pretty neat animatronic.

Trevor and I were both surprised so we both filmed it : Rocket Animatronic Trevor video Rocket Animatronic Tiffany video

We then decided to ask for the first row in the elevator, so we ended up waiting one more cycle, and were on the ride by 8:20.

We Mike Wazowski'ed people this time...oops! As for the song, we got "Give Up the Funk".

They called our boarding group right as we got off Mission Breakout, so we decided to rush right over and try and ride with a short line.

And there wasn't any line -- huzzah!

I was able to look around a bit more in the pre-show room and take some more pictures of the theming.

The potato gun! I love the "pew pew pew" on the sticky note.

We ended up being the only ones in our car, which was fun, but also meant a lower overall score. Oh well. I got a score of 252,300 and Trevor got 217,500 - overall 520900. Not too bad for just two people!

We got off the ride by 8:50 am and saw Black Panther out and about in Avengers campus. I do like how many characters there are out and about in Avengers Campus for you to talk with and meet. But we were pushing on through to the Incredicoaster! We decided to go via Cars Land, and I saw these road signs (or noticed them) for the first time:

Mind Your Speed As You Go; Sheriff's Old, But He's Not Slow!

We then found ourselves on a nearly empty Pixar Pier, so we had to take some pictures.

And then a Photopass photographer appeared, so good timing!

I love that last one (except for the part where I'm blinking) -- Trevor gets to be a Wilderness Explorer! The photographer was great - I really appreciated how for the non-magic shots he would wait and try to get pictures without anyone in the background.

We made it to the Incredicoaster line right at about 9 am.

We ended up waiting 12 minutes, which wasn't too bad at all, especially 'cause we asked to ride in the front seat.

Great fun! I knew I'd turn Trevor into a roller coaster person eventually. I guess it's just heavily themed roller coasters though, really.

We got off the coaster and the scent of Jack-Jack's cookie numnums overpowered us and we got ourselves a snack.

And there was no line for the Pixar Pal-Around and I got the bright idea that it'd be lovely to eat our cookie while riding in the ferris wheel. Bwahahahahaha!

This was the line for the non-swinging gondolas, so no wait, and we got our own gondola! Just what I needed for my diabolical plan to eat the cookie.

The cookie was gone fairly quickly, so we had fun taking pictures of the view. Luckily our trip was before they drained the water so it still looked all pretty here.

We were off at around 9:40 am, and didn't really have a plan - just kind of whatever struck our fancy. We ended up back where they had a bunch of Coco displays set up -- super cute!

Aaaaand picture limit. Up next -- do we go back to Lamplight Lounge for brunch, or not?

 

[Araminta18]

Lamplight Lounge Redux: Could Brunch Redeem It?
Friday, September 17, 2021 - part 2​

Oooh, I forgot some of Trevor's pictures from Pixar Pal-A-Round!

Grizzly Peak

Avengers Campus (ish )

Incredicoaster

Those views never get old!

Anyways, back to where we were. We'd just seen that area with all the Coco stuff (don't remember what it's called...) and it was 9:55. We decided to head back over to Avengers Campus, see if we couldn't meet Ant-Man or one of the other characters we hadn't met yet.

When we got there, our luck was in! Ant-Man was out meeting and greeting and they hadn't closed his line yet, so we hopped in! But while we were waiting, guess who came out?

Shang-Chi!

They announced him like he was brand-new -- not sure if this was his first appearance or not but it was pretty cool to see him up there (even though we hadn't seen the movie yet). We def grabbed a selfie.

We saw him out and about later in the day too, and Trevor was able to film that one -- he was hiding/messing with the bad guys up on that balcony: Shang-Chi in Avengers Campus

Then it was our turn to meet Ant-Man!

I thought I filmed this interaction but doesn't look like I did. Bummer. I can't remember what they were talking about! I asked Trevor what they were talking about and Trevor says he doesn't remember. DANG. Oh well. It was a pretty good interaction - I took a bunch of pictures and they looked like they were having a great time chatting.

Fun Avengers Campus picture after we were done meeting Ant Man.

We'd finished meeting Ant-Man at about 10:10, and our next planned thing was at 10:40, so we decided to head towards our next thing (any guesses?)

On our way we noticed this super neat jacket at the merchandise court there in Avengers Campus:

Trevor really liked it but they only had 3XL, so we passed. When we talked to the cast members, it kind of sounded like they'd sold out and then found a random box of only 3XL size. Darn supply chain. I've been trying to find this on eBay but no luck yet -- if anyone finds a medium or large online anywhere, let me know! I'd love to get it for Trevor for his birthday or Christmas.

As we continued towards our next thing, I also saw this super neat map of what Avengers Campus used to be (and yes, if you haven't already noticed, I definitely have a thing for old maps).

Isn't that cool? So interesting.

OK, I'll stop hedging -- our next thing was brunch at Lamplight Lounge! We decided to give it another try. And also 'cause we were slightly more interested in the food at brunch. We also decided to go early and ask at the check-in desk for a seat in the "inside" portion, if possible.

We checked in at 10:24 and were called back at 10:25 - much shorter than the night before! And our request was granted -- we were seated right by the entrance, but definitely on the inside portion.

This isn't my picture, but our seat was where that red circle is. I was a little bit disappointed - I was hoping to be further inside where we could see more of the decor and fun touches, but, it wasn't in the sun!! So already doing better than yesterday.

We got the brunch menu, and I thought it was so cute so I took pictures. Including them here in case anyone else is interested in the menu, specifically the mocktails and the food.

Isn't the cover so cute?

We wanted to try so many things! Definitely bigger eyes than stomachs...but we did our best.

We started with drinks:

This time, Trevor got the Goofball Island 'cause he liked mine yesterday: Simply Fruit Punch®, Minute Maid® Lemonade and Raspberry Purée
and I got the Falling with Style: Minute Maid® Lemonade with Mango Purée.

They were both refreshing and good.

Then for food, we got 3 things.

I went full-on millennial and got the avocado toast 'cause it sounded DELICIOUS. NY Avocado Toast: Sourdough, Avocado Mash, New York Steak, one Egg-Up, Piquillo Butter Sauce, Arugula Salad, Pickled Red Onions and Confit Potatoes
It was quite good. I didn't take notes on the specifics, but I remember liking it. Sometimes avocado toast just sounds good. Especially with steak.

Trevor got the Crab and Potato Cake Benedict: Sautéed Spinach, Soft-poached Eggs, Chipotle Hollandaise and fresh Fruit

Trevor liked this, but he thought it was hilarious that the fruit was these giant slices of watermelon. He didn't eat them.

And then we had to get the chilaquiles, cause I'd heard/read so much about them and how good they were!

Lamplight Chilaquiles: House-made Tortilla Chips, Cheddar Jack, two Eggs-Up, Queso Fresco, Red Onions, Cilantro-Serrano Sour Cream and Sliced Avocado, topped with 3-Chile Red Sauce and Pepitas
These were really good too. Everything was really good, though really rich. I guess that's to be expected at brunch? We really liked it.

The service was still a little bit slow, but better than yesterday. And our server was super nice and got Trevor a complete set of coasters when he asked for one or two more (trying to be sneaky and get a full set. ) So that was nice.

Overall, it definitely redeemed itself. I'd 100% go back for brunch. If I were to go back for not-brunch, I'd ask to be seated not at the bar. I'm glad we were able to go back and have a better experience.

We also got to see a bit more of the place this time -- I really love all the decor! I took a bunch more pictures.

We left about an hour later, at 11:30ish. I was starting to flag a bit -- my belly was full, I was sleepy...I was thinking about going back to the hotel for a nap. But as we left Pixar Pier, we had to get some more pictures!

Some fun magic shots this time! I think the Kevin one is my favorite, partially 'cause it's slightly more flattering than the Jack Jack one!

Like I said, I was flagging, but we decided to head over to the Redwood Creek Challenge trail and check it out a bit first. On our way, we ran into Nick from Zootopia!

And there's the picture limit...will we make it to Redwood Creek?! Tune in next time...

 

[NashvilleTrio]

Glad to hear that your brunch experience was better than the day before!! We're planning a DL/CA trip for this October and may have to add this brunch to our list

 

[Araminta18]

Glad to hear that your brunch experience was better than the day before!! We're planning a DL/CA trip for this October and may have to add this brunch to our list

Do it! The food was delicious. Just don't be afraid like me to speak up if you are seated somewhere not great, and be prepared for slow service I think if you go in with low expectations (for the non-food part) you'll have a great experience.

 

[Araminta18]

The Worst Snack We Ate at Disneyland
Friday, September 17, 2021 (part 3)​

Ok, we left off meeting Nick from Zootopia, and heading to Redwood Challenge Creek! We made it over there and as we walked in, the CM at the entrance offered us a prize if we could show him a picture of river otter tracks. So that was kind of fun -- gave us a bit of a goal!

We found the tracks pretty quickly and then had fun wandering around on the ropes and looking around. We'd only ever been in there as a part of Villain's Grove -- it looks waaaaaaay different in the daytime! It was pretty fun, but still a bit of a one and done for us.

I know I've showed these pictures a couple times but man, I still think they're so neat.

So good!

We finished up at noon, and I was flagging pretty hard so I wanted to head back to the hotel for a nap. In a reversal of our usual roles, Trevor was good to go, so he decided to hang out a bit more in the parks. I was back in the room taking at nap 15 minutes later.

Trevor though headed back over to Avengers Campus for more Marvel fun!

All sorts of characters out and about -- the Wasp, Black Widow, Falcon!

The Dora Milaje!

He also took some video --
Shang Chi hiding from the bad guy (this may have been from earlier...the metadata is all screwed up so I'm not 100% sure)

Avengers Assemble!

The Amazing Spider-Man Show!

Trevor was definitely having fun! He was a bit at loose ends and noticed that wait time for Guardians of the Galaxy was low, so he decided to hop in line. Also, apparently Trevor takes a lot more pics and video when I'm not around--in line for Guardians he took a video of Cosmo the Spacedog. And then when he got in to the pre-show room, he was all ready with his phone just in case the Rocket animatronic was working again to try and catch the full pre-show, and he did!
Full Guardians Pre-Show with Rocket Animatronic

I will say, I'm very impressed that Trevor not only rode this by himself but look at his hands all up in the air there in the ride photo (in the front, far right). Who knew all he needed was intense Marvel theming!

After the ride, he ran into the Guardians of the Galaxy dance party -- but this time it was Star Lord and Gamorra!
Dance Party with Star Lord and Gamorra

He definitely had a productive time while I was sleeping. But he came back to the room pretty soon after that for a nap too.

We slept until about 3 pm and then headed to Disneyland to hit some of the rides we hadn't yet gotten to. On our way in, we saw some characters heading down Main Street with the Disneyland band!

I was far enough behind that I couldn't get a pic of them head on, but still kind of fun to see them all.

First ride? Astro Orbiter! We ended up waiting 16 minutes, which isn't great but what else were we gonna do. And at least the line wasn't as bad as the line for Buzz Lightyear here!

Trevor was really having fun with the pics today (usually it's me taking pictures!) - he also took a video of us on the ride: Riding Astro Orbiter

I always like Astro Orbiter, and the breeze felt really good.

After this though I made a bit of a miscalculation - I really wanted to ride the canoes and for some reason I thought they were closing at 4 pm. So when we got off Astro Orbiter at 3:50, I was like "we have to go!" and we booked it across the park over to the canoes. Spoiler alert, they didn't close til 5 pm. Totally unnecessary rushing! Oh well. At least there wasn't any wait.

This was kind of neat, except for the part where the people all around us were not paying attention or were tipsy or something -- they either couldn't or wouldn't paddle, and they kept just kind of dipping their paddles in the water and slowing us down, or the few times that they did try and paddle they just splashed me a bunch. Blergh. Do recommend the ride, don't recommend it with drunk people or people who don't mind splashing other people.

We got off at around 4:10, and they had just called our Rise of the Resistance boarding group so off we went to Galaxy's Edge! Surprisingly enough, there was no wait and we walked right on. Sweet!

Of course the universe had to karmically balance, and just as we were about to be assigned an interrogation chamber, the ride went down. We got to see backstage again, so that's kind of neat?

We decided to head back over to Fantasyland and to ride the Storybook Canal boats. But on the way we got a snack of Galma Garlic Puffed Cheese Chips -- I love garlic and I love cheese but man these were gross. We only ate a couple - grooooooosss. Do not recommend. Too much powder, too much fake garlic/cheese flavor...gross.

Then over to the canal boats! There was a bit of a wait -- we waited 18 minutes. Blergh. But at least it wasn't full sun?

The boats are so fun - super cute to see all the little dioramas/models/whatever they are. Our poor skipper seemed a bit bored/rote, but it was still enjoyable. I loved looking at all the details.

Trevor filmed part of it, naturally: Storybook Canal Boats ride

We got off at 5:22, and decided to go into Toontown and poke around some of the fun easter eggs and non-ride things that we didn't do the other day 'cause it was the middle of the day and hot!

This sign cracked me up -- loopy water

Poor squinty Trevor!

Poor squinty me lol

There's some really fun things in Toontown! I liked playing with the fireworks in front of the train station and all the other wacky effects. But we didn't stay too long 'cause Rise went back up! So off we went back to Galaxy's Edge to see if we could make it on this time.

We went in through the fastpass line so no wait again - yay! While we were waiting to board the escape shuttle transport, we got our first glimpse of the Disneyland cats! Or Batuu cats?

Not a great picture, but you can kind of see the cat there in the center.

This time we made it on! I had to take another selfie to commemorate.

Yay!

We had another great ride on Rise - I love that ride.

And that's the picture limit -- what do we do next? Our last night in the parks!

 

[StarlitNight05]

I love your TR! Sounds like such a fun time. I've had a blast just reading it!

 

[Araminta18]

I love your TR! Sounds like such a fun time. I've had a blast just reading it!

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Just got caught up again and wow! You had a busy couple of days! I love how you were able to do all the things during the Halloween parties - and wow what a candy haul! Your brunch pictures had me drooling... I've been wondering if I wanted to do LL for a regular meal or specifically for brunch, but those pix sealed the deal. I'll be shooting for a brunch reservation for sure!

 

[Araminta18]

Last Minute Must-Dos!
Friday, September 17, 2021 (part 4) ​

After our capture and escape from the First Order, we knew it was our last night in the parks, and we definitely wanted to catch the fireworks, so I was kind of going over my list of things I wanted to do that we hadn't done yet, and realized that I wanted to get a treat from the Adorable Snowman. So we decided to make our way over to DCA.

As we were walking over there, I told Trevor to head over to Avengers Campus and see if there was an Avenger out meeting and greeting that we hadn't met yet - specifically hoping to catch Black Widow. And I'd continue over to Adorable Snowman and get our snack. But as I made it over to the bridge into Pixar Pier, I got a call from Trevor saying that Black Widow was out and meeting and I should hurry back to get in line with him to meet her! So I speed-walked back over there and made it just in time.

Yay! What good luck -- to find her out and meeting right when we were there and she was the last Avenger we really had on our list to meet! We were pretty excited about that.

Brief detour to meet Black Widow done, we started to head back over to Pixar Pier for our treat from the Adorable Snowman. But! I remembered one more thing we wanted to see in Avengers Campus -- the tree with the gamma radiation! I'd seen this mentioned on some of the vlogs and blogs: there's a pipe warning about gamma radiation and a giant/hulked out tree that's been affected by the radiation. I definitely wanted to find it, and finally remembered just now.

Found it! You can see 'Caution: Gamma Radiation' there next to the leaky pipe, and the tree with the massive trunk. Nice easter egg!

And I found another old-school callback to Tony Starks' dad--

Jarvis's parking spot!! Love it. I wish they would have done more episodes of "Agent Carter" where we could see more of Jarvis as a person but oh well.

Anyways! Finally made it over to Adorable Snowman and got our treat: Pixar Pier Frosty Parfait - Nondairy Lemon Soft-serve with Blue Raspberry Swirl.

1. this is adorable and 2. this was delicious. 100% recommend - this was a great treat. Glad we made it over to DCA for it.

We got this a little before 7 pm, and despite eating the treat, we were hungry! So where to go for food? Jolly Holiday! We had to try the famous grilled cheese and tomato soup (for me) and Trevor wanted to try the Toasted Salsa Roja Chicken Sandwich that they had for Halloween. We placed a mobile order and found a nice table outside to enjoy the sunset.

Tomato soup and grilled cheese -- this was delicious. Definitely lived up to the hype! I liked it.

Toasted Salsa Roja Chicken Sandwich - Salsa roja shredded chicken on rustic bread with jack and cotija cheeses served with tortilla soup. Trevor said this was ok, but he wasn't a huge fan. He thought there was too much cheese and he couldn't really taste the spice on the chicken, so it was just a chicken and cheese sandwich, and he isn't a huge cheese fan (I know, he's a weirdo).

So, we finished at about 7:25, and the fireworks weren't til 9 -- our only plan was to hit all the things we hadn't done yet. I wanted to take some pictures of the carved pumpkins in the hub!

My only Tarzan experience this trip, thanks to the Treehouse being down for refurbishment.

I had to take advantage and take a selfie with the Partners statue though.

Pictures done, we headed to Autopia!

We waited 11 minutes - not too bad! I like the whole set up and queue for this much better than the Tomorrowland speedway at Disneyworld. I wish we'd ridden it in the daytime so we could see the scenery!

After the ride, we decided to hop on the Railway there at the Tomorrowland station 'cause there was basically no line, and I did want to ride the railway. There wasn't anyone there, which was nice - we got to sit on the bench there to wait! Sweet. The train came 10 minutes later.

It was fun going through the scenes and seeing the animatronics. That's basically all I remember of those parts. What I do remember is pulling into the Main Street station at night overlooking the espalande and looking down Main Street....gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

I filmed it -- Video from the Train at Main Street Station. Gorgeous! There was a super long line to get on the train there at Main Street, so I was really glad we got on at Tomorrowland where there was no line. So that's a pro-tip: don't board the train at Main Street!

It was about 45 minutes til the fireworks, and we had a plan. Trevor and I'd decided that we wanted to get a Halloween Disneyland sipper cup, and as I was looking in the app to place a mobile order, I discovered that the French Market was selling the Madame Leota sipper!!! So I freaked out and placed an order immediately - yay!

We rode the railroad over to the New Orleans Square station, and then I waited to pick up the Madame Leota sipper and the Disneyland cup (along with the mint julep that comes with them) while Trevor went to scope us out a seat on Main Street for the fireworks.

Sippers and Mint Julep in hand, I made my way to Main Street. Trevor wasn't answering his phone, so I was looking for him but also scoping out my own spot and managed to find a bit of a gap right near the roped off walkway at the top of Main Street right before the hub. The nice people right there said that there weren't using it so Trevor and I could stand there!

See? a perfect spot.

I immediately sat down and called Trevor again and tried to direct him to where I was. It took a bit of directions and guiding and the families around me got into too -- everyone looking out for a confused bearded guy on his phone to try and direct him over to me. He finally made it and we had fun drinking our mint julep and talking to the families near us and just waiting for the fireworks to start.

Sadly, they made us all stand up about 15 minutes before the fireworks started. When the fireworks started, we had a fantastic view with all the walkway space in front of us. It was great, especially because it was crazy crowded. See pictures:

Once the fireworks started though I kind of forgot about the crowds. I thought I filmed it but I guess not. I did take a picture though!

Pretty! I love fireworks, and was glad we got to see them.

 

[Araminta18]

Just got caught up again and wow! You had a busy couple of days! I love how you were able to do all the things during the Halloween parties - and wow what a candy haul! Your brunch pictures had me drooling... I've been wondering if I wanted to do LL for a regular meal or specifically for brunch, but those pix sealed the deal. I'll be shooting for a brunch reservation for sure!

Yes! do Lamplight Lounge for brunch -- the food was delicious. Super rich, but delicious. Highly recommend. Then you have to post and let us know how it was!

 

[rndmr2]

Found your TR the other day and am now caught up. Really enjoying reading about your trip. We are going to DLR for the first time in 15 days! We will be in the LA area for a week with 4 days in the parks. Going to a concert in LA while we are there (the original reason for the trip) Looking forward to it. I have been to WDW a bunch of times since I was about 12 and to DL in Paris in 2019 (actually to see the same band we are seeing on this trip ) Looking to to reading about the rest of your trip.

 

[Araminta18]

Will the Corn Dog Redeem Itself?
Friday, September 17, 2021 (part 5) ​

Sorry guys for the radio silence! I went to visit my parents kind of last minute to help with some family stuff so that took up all my time. Also, our September trip to Paris is officially a go, so I'm gonna start a pre-trip report for Disneyland Paris...hmmm...

Anyways, back to this trip report! We left off with the fireworks, which were great. However we had plans for our last night in the parks -- I wanted to ride the Carousel! Sleeping Beauty is my favorite princess and it's her carousel, so off we went. We did end up getting a bit blocked by ropes as we tried to get into Fantasyland by way of the path by the Matterhorn, and then when they let us in to Fantasyland, the carousel was still closed for a little bit (I assume something to do with the fireworks), but we sat down on the little wall there and were first in line. I was shocked I tell you, shocked, that not everyone was rushing to the carousel after the fireworks!! It was kind of nice to just sit and enjoy while waiting for it to open, actually. Enjoying the Fantasyland music and just relaxing a little bit.

They opened up around 9:30ish, and we were the first ones one. I wanted to get the special horse that Julie Andrews rode but I didn't remember that it was all about bells, and for some reason instead I was thinking that it had a bow over the tail. None of the horses have a bow over their tail, just FYI. So we didn't get to ride Jingles. Should have googled first! Oh well.

I of course had to take a picture of one of the Sleeping Beauty artwork in the center.

Fun fact - not sure what's going on with that purple cap on her head. That is 100% not part of the movie and not sure what they're doing with that. But anyways.

After our ride I did google the Julie Andrews horse so I did take a picture when we found it as we were getting off.

Jingles! With all the bells and the Mary Poppins stuff on the little shield there. Cute.

We got off the carousel and I noticed there was a photographer just kind of standing off to the side so we asked for some pictures and they obliged! And yes, I am going to inflict this all on you.
It's pictures in front of the carousel and the castle from the back!

So nice of the photographer to take a bit of time with us to take some slightly unusual shots.

We then headed through the castle to the front of it, but I had to take a picture.

Love that lighting on the castle, and the moon over the castle too.

When we got through the castle there were photographers out taking pictures in front of the castle, and of course I made us wait in that line for pictures. It wasn't that bad -- about 15 minutes?

Love this spooky magic shot!

I thought these silhouette shots turned out super neat -- such a cool idea of the photographer's!

Anyways! We finished right at 10, the park closed at 11 -- so we had one hour left in the park! What to do? Well, I'm sure you're shocked, but Indiana Jones! There was basically no wait, so of course.

Afterwards, it was about 10:25, so we decided that we really only had time for like one more ride, so what to do? Pirates! It was right there, and Pirates was one where it felt like we didn't get to ride it a lot cause the lines were always long or it was closed, and we did like how it had that whole cool skeletons in the cave sequence that we don't have at Disneyworld.

It was a walk-on, which was nice.

We had a lovely last ride (though I remember my butt got totally soaked. Hazards of riding Pirates! ), and got off at like 10:47. What to do? One last quintessential Disneyland thing: trying a Corn Dog from the Little Red Wagon on Main Street! I was hoping this would be a lot better than the corn dog I got from Corn Dog Castle at DCA earlier in the week.

It was not. As you can see it was really dark and just burned. Such a bummer, but for me all the Disneyland Resort corn dogs were busts. I'll have to try it next time we're out, maybe not at the end of the night!

By the time we were done the park was closed, so it was time to slowly meander out of the park and back to the hotel. We looked in the store windows on Main Street, enjoying the dioramas, and then I decided we should hop in line to get nighttime pictures in front of the pumpkin, despite the line, cause what else did we have to do? Surprisingly despite the long line, the wait was only like 10 minutes?

These all turned out fun! A good ending to the night. Well, a good photographic ending -- I actually spent some time looking around in the Disneyana gift shop which was just basically art and prints and such. To Trevor's lack of surprise, I bought several fun small prints.

Then at 11:23 we left Disneyland. Our last park day, at an end. We had a great time (bummer of a corn dog not withstanding ). But we still had one more day at the Disneyland Resort (even if no park days)... what was our plan?! You'll have to wait and see, and I promise I won't make you wait two weeks this time.

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 27,059 steps (11.8 miles)
Ride count: 14 (15 for Trevor) (Guardians of the Galaxy (Trevor rode this one x2), Web Slingers, Incredicoaster, Pixar Pal Around Non Swinging, Redwood Challenge Creek, Astro Orbiter, Canoes, Storybook Canal Boats, Rise of the Resistance, Autopia, Disneyland Railroad, Carousel, Indiana Jones, Pirates)

 

[Araminta18]

Found your TR the other day and am now caught up. Really enjoying reading about your trip. We are going to DLR for the first time in 15 days! We will be in the LA area for a week with 4 days in the parks. Going to a concert in LA while we are there (the original reason for the trip) Looking forward to it. I have been to WDW a bunch of times since I was about 12 and to DL in Paris in 2019 (actually to see the same band we are seeing on this trip ) Looking to to reading about the rest of your trip.

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it. Your LA trip sounds like so much fun! I hope you have a great time at the concert and in the parks. ALSO TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT DISNEYLAND PARIS! We're pretty sure we're gonna go in September so I need all the help.

 

[rndmr2]

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it. Your LA trip sounds like so much fun! I hope you have a great time at the concert and in the parks. ALSO TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT DISNEYLAND PARIS! We're pretty sure we're gonna go in September so I need all the help.

I loved it there I really with we had more days there but at the time I had limited vacation time. I actually got a lot of great info on the DLP section of the boards here. The whole Disneyland Paris resort is out far from the city of Paris, "out in the country" so to speak but the train station is actually right there next to the front gate of the parks.

I did post a Trip Report if you are interested to read, it's only a couple pages long. It's in my signature (I tried to paste the link here but it won't go for some reason, maybe because I am on my phone)

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Corndog bummer - but hey, those pictures turned out great! I love those silhouettes, and I am a big fan of the carousel as well so I loved seeing those pictures too. What's with pirates being a wet ride now? I've seen several other people mention that too, and it would definitely annoy me to get soaked on pirates.

Can't wait to see how you closed out your last day!