cast of characters: 3 40-something annual passholders consisting of me, the husband and one of our close female friends, who shall be referred to as Pusher
All three of us had enjoyed our traditional New Year's Eve dinner at Catal Restaurant in Downtown Disney with friends the night before, and the husband and I, and Pusher separately, had gotten a hotel room locally for that evening. We had gotten out of dinner much later than usual so Disneyland was closed by the time we were done, so we weren't able to spend any time at Disneyland on New Year's Eve at all. Because of that, and because we were staying locally anyway, we decided to meet up at Disneyland for New Year's Day.
By the time the husband and I got up and got ready and checked out of our hotel and made it to Disneyland, it was about 11:15am. As we walked past World of Disney, we looked at the display windows as we'd done the night before, when we'd noticed that several windows contained various Disneyland Resort landmarks. One window depicted Main Street with Sleeping Beauty Castle at the end, one window had Space Mountain, one window had Buena Vista Street and one window displayed the Glow with the Show ears which featured the Paradise Pier area of DCA. Each of the windows has some kind of special element. For instance, the castle has some colors that illuminate it and then "fireworks" are shot off over the castle, but my favorite is Space Mountain, where you can periodically see ride vehicles go by in silhouette. I'd taken a picture of the Space Mountain window the night before because it looked so pretty. The castle window is a bit washed out because of the white mountains (or clouds - I'm not entirely clear) behind it, which the castle kind of blends into. I wish the castle was colored much pinker so that there'd be a better contrast. We noticed, though, that in the daylight, the windows are much less eye-catching, and taking a good picture is nearly impossible because of the reflection on the glass.
This is a picture of the Space Mountain window.
We headed into Disneyland and browsed around the shops on Main Street as we waited for Pusher to arrive. We met up with her around 11:40, and then we decided to head over to Pizza Port for lunch.
I was trying to decide whether I wanted the chicken fusilli pasta or the asian chicken salad and ultimately decided on the pasta. I then discovered that Pusher was deciding between the same two items as well, so we decided she could get the salad and then we'd split both items.
On a side note, I've always liked Pizza Port, but I don't think the setup is very good. It's a "scramble service" location, like Plaza Inn, in that several different items are offered and each section is supposed to have its own line. However, at Pizza Port, people seem to think it's a cafeteria-style setup so they only form one line, waiting to get to the item that they want. If there's a long line for spaghetti, you sometimes have to wait in the long line to get to the chicken fusilli, which is right past the spaghetti, and that also means that the spaghetti line is also blocking access to the salads, which are before the spaghetti. Some people even think you have to wait in the spaghetti line to get pizza, even though pizza is way in another section, but there's only a CM to greet people at the front door, not to help direct people who are trying to get their food.
Another issue that not everyone might run into but I do is that I like Tabasco on my pizza and pasta. They do have Tabasco available at Pizza Port, but it's in the cabinets underneath the condiments/utensils island after you pay for your food, not that there's any way to know that if you aren't already aware. And there's often no cast member in the vicinity, so we've often procured the Tabasco for ourselves after we've waited for a while. I once asked a cast member why they hid the Tabasco, since they used to hide the packs of parmesan cheese and pepper flakes under there as well, but those are now put out in the open. The cast member said they don't hide the Tabasco, it's just not out. Really?
After the Tabasco was procured, we joined Pusher in the outside downstairs seating section to enjoy our lunch. I like the chicken fusilli because it has pretty good flavor and a good portion of chicken, and I'd never had the asian chicken salad before but I really enjoyed it, especially the dressing, which might have had some ginger flavor to it. I'd definitely have that salad again.
The husband and Pusher had finished their lunch but I was still finishing up mine when a cast member came by and asked if he could clear their trays and trash, which we thanked him for. There was some banter because I wasn't quite done yet, and the CM good-naturedly made fun of me, which made us laugh, and then he gave us honorary citizen buttons for being good sports so that was fun.
As we'd walked through the park, it was crowded as we'd expected, so we hadn't really planned on going on any rides. Pusher only had one thing she really wanted to do, and that was to see Billy and the Hillbillies and their holiday show, since they would be gone from Disneyland after January 6. We made our way over to Jingle Jangle Jamboree. The previous show had ended but the Billies were out finishing up a photo op, which alerted us to the fact that it was a different group of Billies than we were used to seeing. We did get front row seats and waited for the show to start. We enjoyed the show, especially since the Country Bears make an appearance for the last song, but we were disappointed that it wasn't the group we'd wanted to see. Pusher made a comment that she might have to come back this weekend to see the group she'd wanted to see. The husband and I will be at the resort for some period of time on Saturday and Sunday, so I'm hoping to catch a show as well.
These are the Billies that we saw on this day.
These are the Billies that we saw a few weeks ago, which are the Billies we normally see.
The Billies we saw a few weeks ago, with the Country Bears.
After the show, we headed over to see the "Frozen" meet and greet. I'd heard about the new offering, but for whatever reason, I could never figure out where it was located. I had thought it was over by the Merida from "Brave" meet and greet, but I'd been back there two weeks prior so knew it wasn't there. Turns out the "Frozen" character meet and greet was in Fantasyland proper, in the location that previously housed the meet and greet for Rapunzel from "Tangled". There is snow on the building now, and Anna and Elsa are available for the meet and greet, which had a very long line. My favorite part, though, is that Olaf the snowman is on the roof, and he moves and talks. He was very cute.
Olaf on the roof of the building.
After looking at the building for a while (we weren't going to meet the characters), we ended up walking through the Fantasy Faire area. We noticed that the line for the princess meet and greet wasn't very long and while I'm not normally one to do meet and greets, it seemed like a good opportunity to see what the inside looked like without having a very long wait. We looked at the info board to see who the princesses were that day ... and were surprised to see that the board was blank. I asked the cast member at the entrance who was available since the board was blank, and she said that it was a surprise, so we'd get three surprise princesses. Ooooooookkkkkkaaaaaayyyyyy. We got in line anyway and had a snarky conversation amongst ourselves as to why the princesses were a "surprise", and we came up with a few characters who would definitely be surprise princesses.
Mystery princesses at the Fantasy Faire meet and greet.
The posted wait time was 30 minutes, but I think it only took about 15 before we were let into the meet and greet area. Our first princess was Ariel, which was great since that's Pusher's favorite Disney character. Of course, Pusher went to get a picture with Ariel and they had a good conversation. Ariel was very happy to meet Pusher especially when she found out she was Pusher's favorite, as evidenced by the fact that Pusher was wearing an Ariel sweatshirt and carrying an Ariel/Ursula bag. I declined a picture and just said hello to Ariel. Ariel commented on liking that the husband was wearing the previous night's Happy New Year top hat on top of his regular straw hat, so we convinced him to get a picture with Ariel.
We discovered that the next princess was Cinderella, to which Pusher exclaimed that I had to have my picture taken with her. I had a nice conversation with her, though I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it. I told her that I liked her story but that I can't watch her movie anymore because I cry so much at how mean her stepmother is to her. She said that her stepmother has gotten better. I asked if she had her stepmother put in jail, and she said no, she could never do that. I said, what about nice Disney jail, and she still said she could never do that. She did say, though, that she got to live in a nice castle while her stepmother still lived in the cottage. So, I said, oh, I get it, what you're saying is that living well is the best revenge. Being the perfect princess that she is, Cinderella didn't seem quite sure how to respond to that, though she did protest that I was putting words in her mouth. (I later found out that the husband and Pusher were amused that I was flabbergasting Cinderella.) Cinderella then noticed the t-shirt I was wearing and commented that I must be a friend of Mace Windu's. I was surprised that she knew that it was a Star Wars shirt, given that it's pretty subtle, and I was really surprised that she knew that the purple silhouette was Mace. She asked if I was a Jedi. Me, more surprised. I said, no, I was just in training. She said, oh, you're a padawan then. Me, floored. OK, I'm guilty. Don't make assumptions about what princesses know about. I got my picture taken with her and then we moved on.
And our third princess was Aurora! (Ariel, Cinderella and Aurora are the "surprise" princesses? Ummm, ok.) Pusher decided that we needed a picture of all three of us with Aurora, so we obliged. We exchanged pleasantries with Aurora and then left, happy at our experience.
We browsed in the store and then as we were on our way out, we stopped for a minute to watch Figaro and the blue bird. Figaro's right eye was cracked though, so we decided she needed to see a vet, and then there was an ensuing discussion about whether there were eye doctors who catered only to cats/animals.
We wandered over to New Orleans Square and confirmed that the lines for Pirates and Haunted Mansion Holiday were ginormous so no going on those rides. We then did some browsing in the stores, and I managed to not buy either the Haunted Mansion throw (it's pretty and so soft) or the cute purple tote bag themed to Jack Skellington, both of which I'd looked at before.
At that point, we decided it was time to head to DCA. We looked in the candy shop on Buena Vista Street, and I told the husband that maybe 2014 was the year I could talk myself into splurging on the housemade flavored marshmallows they had. I'd been tempted, but they're fairly expensive, something like $5 for 2 smallish pieces. Well, turns out, if I wait long enough, I won't be tempted anymore cause we looked around and didn't see any, so it seems like they don't make them anymore. The husband and I decided we wanted ice cream, so I got mocha almond fudge (my favorite) and he got butter pecan. We wandered around as we enjoyed our ice cream until we arrived at the back of DCA where the Viva Navidad celebration was being held.
I knew that there were food offerings for Viva Navidad, but somehow, I thought there were only a couple of dishes. I hadn't realized that they've temporarily replaced the entire menu at Paradise Grill with themed dishes, and they even had a few additional dishes at the Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta place. We saw that the Divas were singing on the bandstand, with a much larger group than we normally see, but we didn't stop this time to listen to them. We were about to leave the area when we realized that the parade/street show was about to start, so we found a place to watch that we knew was a good view. Turns out, we were right in front of the one float. The husband and I had seen this a few weeks ago with other friends, but Pusher hadn't seen it. I love all the musicians and dancers and especially like the ones doing the Brazilian dance. It's a terrific show all around, and I particularly love Minnie's dress, especially when she's dancing.
Here's Minnie dancing in her beautiful dress.
Mickey and Minnie on the float with the Three Caballeros behind them.
The performers of the Brazilian dance.
After that, we headed through the Paradise Pier area and then made our way to the Pacific Wharf area because Pusher wanted a snack from Cocina Cucamonga. We then headed to Carsland because I wanted to visit the Cozy Cones to check out the popcorn flavor. (Note that they technically have two popcorn flavors, but since one is ALWAYS butter now, I don't even bother mentioning it.) The popcorn flavor was dill pickle. Yay, I like that, so I decided to get some. The dill pickle flavor isn't terribly strong, which disappointed me the first time I tried it, but then I realized that the flavor builds as you keep eating it, so it works out really well. Popcorn ordered, paid for, received, then I ate a couple pieces. Hmmm, I know that flavor but it's definitely not dill pickle. Ummm, it's sweet and spicy, which is my favorite flavor that they offer. The husband and Pusher tried some and confirmed that it was indeed sweet and spicy and not dill pickle. Odd. I was happy but I wondered what other people thought when they ordered the dill pickle and got this instead.
Oh, a note about the Cozy Cones area. Before I got my popcorn, we looked into the office area to see if they had the gingerbread "house" again, and they did. Inside the office (next to the Lightning and Mater meet and greet area), they have a gingerbread representation of the Cozy Cone Motel that is so cute. We'd seen it last year, so we were happy to see that it was back.
We then found a place to sit and relax and chat and where I could finish my popcorn. We ended up running into some other friends as well, and we got a chance to talk to them for a few minutes before they were headed off to other plans. After quite some time, we then went our separate ways as Pusher went home and the husband and I went off property to grab some dinner.
It was another day of not really "doing" much, but it was a fun day spent with a good friend enjoying some of the less advertised fun available at the Disneyland Resort.
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