It'll Be Alright: California Christmas December 2017

Day 4 Notes –

- Jolly Holiday - This trip was much easier for breakfast because Ellie went along with our On the Go breakfast. I got a croissant and Lisa got a breakfast sandwich.
- Haunted Mansion - We started with the Haunted Mansion again. I loved this ride.
- Pooh - We then went and walked to Critter Country and rode Pooh. This is a fun dark ride. Ellie enjoyed it.
- Candy - I had been craving a Tigger Tail since our last trip, so we had to stop at Pooh's Corner and get candy. I got a Tigger Tail, Lisa got a Mickey rice krispy treat with gingerbread icing and Ellie got a chocolate covered marshmallow with candy canes. Lisa's was good, but mine was the winner. Ellie loved mine and is still talking about it.
- Jack and Sally - Lisa found that there was a Jack and Sally meet and greet in New Orleans Square. We found that they were going to be there shortly after we were done with Pooh so we headed that way. There is a Nightmare Before Christmas shop close to the Blue Bayou and the meet and greet is next to it. When we got there it was just Jack (get it? "Just Jack!"). There was a cast member that told us that Sally would be there soon. We got in line and after a couple of minutes, Jack left and walked across the street. He went into a different building. We kind of thought he was gone. Then after a couple minutes, he came back out of that building with Sally. It was cute. They both with the the meet and greet spot and when it was our turn Ellie couldn't contain herself. She was so excited. She did great. They came down to her level and talked to her for quite a while. Jack tried to hold her hand and she didn't have it. I think she really liked seeing Sally and dealt with Jack being there. It was really cute.
- Sally doll - The day before we had seen a Sally plush doll outside of the Haunted Mansion. We had told Ellie on the trip that we wouldn't buy anything on the spot, but we would look and then decide later. We all decided she was gonna get the Sally doll. When we got off the ride, she was gone. They were out. We went to the store and thankfully they had a couple of them. We bought her one and she got to take it with her when she saw Jack and Sally. Sally talked to her about it too. She had that doll with her the entire trip and still sleeps with her at home.
- Pirates - After meeting Jack and Sally, we had a FastPass for Big Thunder Mountain, but had a little extra time. There was no line for Pirates and Ellie said she wanted to ride it. Ok. So we did. It was fun. At the end, Ellie said she wasn't so sure about it.
- Big thunder - After Pirates, Ellie and I had FastPasses for Big Thunder. Lisa couldn't go so she watched us. Ellie was very excited and I tried to talk to her about it so she would be prepared. Never once was she scared. We got on and she was a little nervous in the cave with the bats, but then it took off. She LOVED it. She laughed, giggled and screamed the entire way. When it was over, she wouldn't get off. She wanted to go again. I had to drag her off. We found Mama and Ellie told her all about it. It was really cute. She did great on her first roller coaster.
- Indiana Jones / Moana - After that, I got a FastPass to do Indiana Jones, which I went on by myself. It is a great ride. Lisa and Ellie went to meet Moana, because it was close. We all had fun.
- Jungle Cruise - There was only a 5 min wait for the Jungle Cruise so we did that next. I was looking forward to it because it was closed on our last trip. There is a lot of history with the original Jungle Cruise and they didn't disappoint.
- Candy Canes - Before our trip, I had seen on a Guy Fieri Disney Christmas TV show that Disneyland makes candy canes for the holidays. They are a prized possession out there as well. Lisa and I wanted to try and get them, but we heard the lines were crazy. You had to stand in line to get a wristband and then come back later in the day to pick up the candy cane and you could only get 1 per person. When we were walking into the park, we were on the side of Main Street where the Candy Palace is and noticed two Cast Members out front with no one around them. We asked what they were doing and they asked if we wanted wristbands to get candy canes. We said SURE. That was crazy. Our pickup time was around lunch time, so we headed back to get them after the Jungle Cruise. When we got there, they were making the candy canes. It was very interesting. We watched for quite a while. There was a cast member outside talking about the process as they were made. When we were done, we went in to the Candy Palace, and with no line picked up and bought our 2 candy canes. It was awesome. (Spoiler, we ate one Christmas Day. It was unlike any candy cane. Almost sponge with holes in it from the air pockets. Very good though.)
- Lunch - Disneyland Hotel / Tangaroa Terrace - For lunch I we wanted to try and let Ellie nap so we walked to the Disneyland Hotel and ate at Tangaroa Terrace. It was yummy and a nice, cool, quiet spot to get away. After lunch, we walked around and saw Pluto walking around and saw the giant castle gingerbread house. It was crazy. We tried to get a Dole Whip, but their machine was not working. We realized at this point, we had not had a Dole Whip yet on the trip.
- Hotel - Nap / Pool - After lunch, we decided to go back to the hotel to rest and drop off the candy canes. We didn't want them broken. Lisa wanted to rest and take a nap. Ellie and I decided to go to the pool/water park at the hotel. It was fun. We had a good time together. It was not super hot and the water was pretty cold. Other than that, we had a good time.
- DL - Small World lights / Ellie nap - After our hotel break, we headed back to Disneyland. There was a bunch of Christmas nighttime stuff we wanted to see. On the way back, Ellie fell asleep on our way. We went to see the lights at Small World turn on. It was anti-climactic. There was no show, they just flipped a switch. Still great display though.
- Castle lights - Then we went to see the castle lights turned on. This was more of a show, but still not great. We had a good spot on the walkway to the Snow White grotto.
- Snow on Rivers of America - After that we walked to New Orleans Square to see the "snow" on the Rivers of America. It was the same gingerbread smelling bubbles like the "snow" on Main Street. A nice feature, but don't need to go out of your way.
- Bagel twist/Gumbo/chowder/pasta/beignets - Dinner was a hodge-podge this night. There was a stand by the princess meet and greet that always smelled like buttery, garlicky escargot. So we stopped and they had bagel twists, but nothing that resembled the smell. We got one that was an everything and cheese bagel twist. It was ok. We then decided to go get gumbo in New Orlean Square at the Royal Street Veranda. We got in line and when we were 3-4 people ahead to order our food, Ellie woke up.
- Ellie woke up from nap,’I didn’t close my eyes’ - When she went to sleep she had told us that she was just going to rest, but not close her eyes. When she woke up, she told us both that she didn't close her eyes. It was really funny and cute. She had been asleep for probably 2 hours. We got our food and went to the French Market to sit down and eat. Ellie wanted pasta so I got her a kids meal with pasta from the French Market. It was a good spot. Ellie liked her food. Lisa said her gumbo was ok, and I got clam chowder that was good.
- Picture at castle - We walked back toward the castle because New Orleans Square was packed. We got in front of the castle and took a couple family pictures with the lights on.
- Rode Alice - We went in to Fantasyland to ride a couple rides and started with Alice. Ellie loved this ride. She always asked to ride it.
- Rides closed due to fireworks - After Alice, they started closing the rides in Fantasyland to prepare for fireworks. Because of this, the rides we wanted to ride were closed and the other rides just got busier. We decided to go to California Adventure. We didn't have much faith that fireworks would happen either (#foreshadowing).
- DCA - GotG/Bugs Land/Coco/Fireworks - I got a FastPass for Guardians of the Galaxy so I went there and Lisa and Ellie went in to Bugs Land. They ended up going to see the Coco preview, which was in the Bug's Life show theater. Guardians was awesome! They did a great job updating it from Tower of Terror to Guardians. The music was great. There was comedy and still a fun thrill ride. After that, we found each other and started to walk to Monsters Inc when we heard a BOOM! Yep, the fireworks were starting and we were at the wrong park. Of course the one night they do fireworks, we were in the wrong park. We rushed to the front and stopped in the esplanade to watch the fireworks. They were a good display. Not the same though without being in the park. After that, we went back to the hotel and crashed.