Let's start with some background. A single day park-hopper to Disneyland is now $130 a day. Yikes! Out at Walt Disney World in Florida, they offer tickets at similar prices, but with one unique difference. A "No Expiration" option on multi-day tickets. For the past 6-7 years now, some of our family has been using the little known trick that a valid WDW ticket is also good at Disneyland. That means if you can afford the up-front costs of a 10-day no expiration day ticket for ~$689, your effective cost for a single day at Disneyland could be as low as $68.90 a day.
At least that's how it has worked up until today.
A typical exchange at the ticket gate is informing the cast member that you're using a WDW ticket and then waiting off to the side while a manager is called. The manager takes the ticket, heads off to a back room where they subtract a day from your WDW ticket and give you a paper ticket to Disneyland. The whole process usually takes 5 minutes or so.
That's what happened on Saturday morning, except after the manager took the WDW tickets, he came back 5 minutes later saying they weren't doing that anymore... Uh.... Okay....
No, not really. Instead we walked across the Esplanade to California Adventure where the manager there exchanged the tickets with no issues at all.
We're at Disneyland (California Adventure techinically)!
We were inside the park by 8:50am and people were already queuing up to ride Radiator Springs Racers and grab fastpasses. Mike and Lindsey went with the rest of the crowd to ride Racers, while Theresa, Macy and I got a fastpass for everyone to ride Racers again later.
After getting our passes, we took Macy back to the very first Disney ride she ever rode, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure. She was just as amazed by all the characters as the first time.
We met up again with Mike and Lindsey and waited the shortest time ever for Toy Story Midway Mania. Only 15 minutes!
I even beat Theresa! Don't you believe any of her excuses about her hand being in a splint affecting her speed or accuracy.
Lindsey and Mike decided to leave us again to ride California Screamin, so we took Macy on Mickey's Fun Wheel.
Smile Macy!!!!
Once we got up high, Macy really liked looking around. Guess she's not afraid of heights. (side note: once we passed the station again, they told us that Macy had to be sitting.)
We met back up with her parents and headed back to the Tower of Terror.
Sadly it was broken down. Put Macy down for just a couple seconds...
and these purple flowers already found their way into her mouth.
Time to hit the scare floor. But there's a kid here! A human kid! 2319! 2319!
Time for lunch! We walked to Flo's to enjoy a BBQ pork loin with vegetables. Well, most of us walked. Macy rode on my shoulders and I got her laughing and giggling pretty good by galloping and spinning most of the way there.
Lunch was decent. Best to top it off with a Red's Apple Freeze and Sweet and Spicy popcorn. I think the Sweet and Spicy flavor might be my favorite here. Just an aside, I don't consider "butter" to be a special flavor Popcone! Let's step it up and get those other flavors out there! Dill Pickle, Nacho Cheese, Bacon Cheddar and Salt & Vinegar!
Time to use our fastpass for Racers.
Doc Hudson, the Hudson Hornet, giving us our final race instructions.
Go! It was a good race, even though we lost.
Mike, Theresa and Lindsey went to ride Soarin Over California. We're all excited to hear that Disney is developing a new film for this ride to be released in 2015. This one is starting to look a little rough.
There is a smaller aviator in our group that doesn't quite measure up to the height indicator on the ride. Macy and I split off with the group and enjoyed the lobby of the Animation Building. Wouldn't you know it, the 2nd clip that started playing after we entered was the Little Mermaid. We waited 15 minutes for it to show up during the Gumball Rally.
This was a great place for Macy to run around all on her own, out of the sun, with me following a ways behind.
Eventually though she got tired and just decided to crash on the floor.
Our time in DCA complete, we left for Disneyland. Indy was down, so we grabbed a fastpass for Space Mountain then went to the new Princess Fantasy Faire to watch Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. While watching we enjoyed a Strawberry Twist and Boysen-apple Freeze, which Theresa and I liked much better than the Red's Apple Freeze in Cars Land.
Mike, Lindsey and Theresa sat on the benches in the theater, while I stayed at the back of the theater with Macy in the stroller. By rolling it back and forth, I was able to put her to sleep. We quietly made our way over to Indy, and it was still closed. When they were visiting in November, the Wedors really wanted to ride it, but it was closed for refurbishment. We waited for a few minutes to see if it would come back online, but no luck.
Theresa waited with Macy who was asleep in the stroller and the rest of us went to ride Pirates.
Once Macy woke up, the five of us rode the Haunted Mansion.
The obligatory group photo in front of the castle.
I had read that Edelweiss Snacks near the Matterhorn has a new menu offering, a Barbeque Glazed Pork Shank! Getting up to the counter I saw that yes, they do indeed have Pork Shanks!
One pork shank please!
Sorry, we're out right now....
Sigh... Alright. A turkey leg then. This was Mike's first giant turkey leg.
Theresa enjoyed a buttered corn on the cob. We were both surprised the corn wasn't mushy and overcooked. It was actually crispy and delicious!
I guess I still enjoyed the turkey leg. I did do a pretty good job taking care of it.
Time for our last ride of the day, Space Mountain.
The front is always my favorite since you can't see where you're going.
While waiting for us, Theresa and Macy played with the giant granite ball in the middle of Tomorrowland and in the "exhaust" coming off the Moonliner. As soon as she saw us her mom and dad though, she decided she had had enough Disneyland for today.
Normally she'd take two different naps 2 hour naps during the day. She's been going strong today though since 7am with only a brief 1 hour nap.
She was a trooper, and Mike and Lindsey were able to ride just about everything they wanted. We had a fun day at Disneyland together.
The next morning, they all left bright and early to head to the airport and fly back home. Thanks for coming to visit! We always love having company!
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