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Friday, March 4, 2016

2016 Disneyland Egg-stravaganza - Downtown Disney

It's nearing Easter and once again Disney is having an Egg-stravaganza! From what I remember, it's been going on here at Disneyland since 2013, when it was part of the Limited Time Magic celebration, though it's been going on at Tokyo Disneyland since 2010.
Back on February 12th, the official DisneyParks Blog announced that the Egg-stravaganza would include Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and all new this year, Downtown Disney! The Egg-stravaganza will run from March 2nd - March 27th 2016, or until they run out of maps. 

Knowing that in the past, they've run out of maps (so sad we missed it in 2014), and also wanting to do it during a less busy period, Theresa and I both took off work, grabbed the kids, and headed to Disneyland!

And since it's always more fun to do it with friends, we asked Jacob if he wanted to join us. Of course! Great to have friends that will take off with little notice and go have fun.


Not knowing how many we'd be able to get done today, I chose to start in Downtown Disney. You can purchase maps all over Downtown Disney, but I picked the Fantasia Gift Shop in the Disneyland Hotel, both because it's really close to the Mickey and Friends parking structure, and because it's on one of the ends of Downtown Disney. If we're good, we can knock these all out at once with no backtracking.

Like everything around here, the cost of the map has gone up slightly since this event started. From 2013-2015, they were $4.95. This year, maps cost $5.95.

With map in one hand, and stickers in the other, it was time to start hunting eggs! Let's go!

SPOILERS AHEAD!
If you don't want to know where these eggs are hiding, stop reading here!

Downtown Disney is fairly linear, without a lot a twists and turns. According to our map, the Earl of Sandwich shop seems to be the closest to us. Let's head there.

Sure enough, right beside the sign, there's Thumper.


Ian, where's the egg?
Jacob had arrived a little before us, and grabbed a bag of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. Whoever found the egg got to get a Jelly Belly!

AMC Theaters was also close by, and sure enough, there's Woody on the roof by the sign.


This must be the Westside Stage. And there's Pluto.


And on top of ESPN Zone, there's Mickey. I wonder if there's any rhyme or reason why the characters were chosen for each location. So far it appears pretty random.


Hanging out over the Disney Vacation Club is Donald. In this one little area, Theresa was able to stand in one spot and see 4 eggs simultaneously. Do a better job hiding them!


At D Street, there was no egg on top of the sign like there has been at the previous locations. Looking in the display windows yielded nothing either. I was considering stepping inside, but happened to notice Goofy behind the glass, but still right beside the D Street sign.


Across the path at Wetzel's Pretzels, there's Jessie watching over every who comes inside.


Marceline's Confectionary (inside) was next. Nice of the map to tell us it's inside, so we're not looking all over outside. I wonder though it having it inside is a good thing or not. It's not that crowded now in the morning, but during the busy afternoons on the weekends, I'd bet it's going to be a little more hectic in here. Sitting behind the counter among the sweets is Daisy.


Onward to Anna & Elsa's Boutique. Peeking out from the bottom of the window, it's Minnie.


Jacob, can you hold Alli while I take a picture of the egg? Alli seemed pretty happy with her Uncle Jacob.

Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa (Brisa Courtyard) was next. Here we found the White Rabbit right next to the track the monorail speeds down, going through the hotel.


Here's the sticker mommy.

Once the kids decided they didn't want to wear the hats, the adults chose to wear them instead.


Only a couple eggs left!
Next was the very vague World of Disney (inside). The inside of this store is pretty huge. The five of us entered the door, and I started to walk further inside when Jacob called me back. Ah, looking down on us as we entered was Chip.


Just one egg remaining so we know who it is, but we've still got to go there. The map told us to go to the Information Booth (Near Disneyland Park Gates). It's rare for me to ever see this booth open, and sure enough, it was closed this time too.

But who is that perched on top? It's Dale!


Our map is complete! The map says to redeem it for a prize back at the World of Disney, but being so close to the parks, we pressed onward to the next Egg-stravaganza hunt. Off to Disneyland!
 
I liked that they added Downtown Disney to the egg hunt this year. I'm happy we did it early and during a non-crowded time of day. There were certainly a few people out and about looking for eggs, but not so many that they formed a crowd around where the eggs were hidden. Most of these eggs were out in fairly plain sight, so that probably helped. 

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