Day 1: Arrival, Disneyland, and Disney California Adventure
The stars aligned: I had a work conference taking place in Anaheim, Ca! Given that Disneyland is literally down the street from the Anaheim Convention Center and can even be seen from certain conference rooms, it was a no-brainer for my friend and I to attend. DF arrived a day earlier to hit the parks with her DH and DS22 while I joined her on Tuesday, 2 days before the conference officially started.
I arrived in Anaheim’s John Wayne Airport (SNA) at 8:59AM, more than half an hour earlier than scheduled. After a quick 16 minute Lyft ride, I was at the Tropicana Inn & Suites to drop off my luggage in our shared room. DisneyTouristBlog wasn’t kidding- the Tropicana is literally the second closest hotel/motel to the Disneyland entrance.
I was bouncing off the walls as I entered Disneyland for the first time. (Technically, it was my second time as I had gone with college friends for half a day during our senior year but since I barely remember it, it doesn’t count). So this was my true “first” time as a Disney fanatic. We were through the Disneyland gates by 10am and I didn’t know what to stare at first. It was dreamlike to finally be at THE original Disney park after watching countless YT videos about it.
After debating whether I should first get an iconic Disneyland churro or savory food item, I decided on the latter. I thus proceeded to excitedly lead my friend to Adventureland’s Bengal Barbecue. After I placed our mobile order, I giddily ran to the nearby Skipper lockers of the Jungle Cruise to obtain a 70th Disneyland Celebration ticket with my MagicBand+.
A nearby cast member heard my excited squeals and came over to investigate. Matthew was bemused by my enthusiasm and asked if we wanted some Disney Magic. Heck yeah! He then offered to get us on Pirates of the Caribbean with a lower wait. I was STOKED as PotC does not normally have LL access. As he was about to lead us to the ride, I apologized that we were waiting for a Mobile Order that I couldn’t cancel. He replied no problem and to just look for him after we were done eating.
Tropical slushy (POG juice & lychee syrup with a chili lime rim)
Pork Belly and Asparagus in Tamarind Sauce Skewer, Chicken Teriyaki Skewer, and Banyan Beef Skewer
Bengal Barbecue unfortunately no longer offers bacon wrapped asparagus skewers, which sucks because that was high on my list of Must Eats.
After we wolfed the above down as fast as possible, we went to look for Matthew. Turns out, he had been keeping a lookout for us. We quickly regrouped to then proceed to the nearby PotC. Due to this magical moment, we waited only about 10 minutes when the standby line was about 45 minutes long. Disney cast members are awesome!
I learned to my disappointment that PotC in DL did not take an attraction photo like in DW. In fact, several DW rides that have attraction photos did not have one at their DL counterpart. Add this much lower ride photo inventory to the dearth of PhotoPass photographers on our first day at Disneyland, the “free” perk of PhotoPass downloads that came with our LL Multi-Pass wasn’t very valuable.
When I first entered DL for the day, I had grabbed our first LL for BTMR since it had the earliest return time. After PotC, we slowly made our way to BTMR. I was super excited to see Dynamite Goat! After BTMR, we hunted for some beignets from the Mint Julep Bar as we waited for our next LL to activate.
At this time, I was having difficulty obtaining a LL for Indiana Jones Adventure with an early return time. I think I initially obtained a LL for Haunted Mansion (also for a little while later) just to have a LL to start the 2 hour countdown. I didn’t want to do a lot of back and forth walking in the park and was thus focused on LLs for this side of DL. I suggested that we ride the Railroad for a lap while we waited for the HM LL. However, it was taking us a while to get on said Railroad as few people were disembarking at the New Orleans stop. As we watched a train pass us by, I kept idly refreshing MDE. Eureka! I got an unexpected LL for Indiana Jones within the next few minutes! We quickly ducked out of the Railroad line and made a beeline back to Adventureland. As we waited for the LL to activate, we treated ourselves to Dole Whip from Tropical Hideaway.
I got the Pineapple and Peach Swirl while DF got just Pineapple. I still prefer my beloved Coconut Dole Whip. Preferably in a Tropical Serenade.
After the Dole Whip break, we got mightily jostled around on IJA. It’s the same ride system as Dinosaur (RIP) but my neck hurt a lot more after being whipped around on this ride. I still liked the ride though as I love the IJ movies. After IJA, we walked to the central hub to take some shots in front of the castle. Still no PhotoPass photographers in sight!
We then completed the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough. It was an enjoyable no-wait diversion. And a random door rattling/roaring at us after DF tried the door was a fun surprise. Following the walkthrough, I activated the 70th Celebration dioramas near Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique with my MB+. Again, it was a nice, low commitment diversion. Haha- I even made some “magic” for a little kid. He was excitedly smacking the MB+ touchpoints with his hands, not realizing that that wouldn’t do anything. So I would wait until he touched a pad and then quickly tap after him so that he could see the little scenes play out.
DF and I still had quite some time to kill before our LL so we walked over to Galaxy’s Edge for DF to purchase a Grogu sweatshirt she had been eying the day before. It took us several tries to find the “right” exit path that held that kiosk. We also ran across the Mandalorian, Grogu, and Ahsoka. DL really excels at having numerous characters just wandering about.
Batuu was surprisingly similar to the one in DW. Jarringly so in certain areas.
As we meandered back to Fantasyland, I tried the 70th Stuff (Shortbread cookie with a cookies and cream cake, fresh raspberry, and raspberry jam, surrounded by white chocolate mousse and topped with colored sprinkles) from Red Rose Taverne.
I wish they had had the original Grey Stuff instead. This version had barely any cookies and cream flavor. The Grey Stuff cupcake from DW’s Gaston’s Tavern is much better than the above. But to be fair, this was the seasonal/specialty version. Perhaps the original Grey Stuff is much better.
At this time, DF convinced me to stop staring at my phone (as I obsessively refreshed MDE to try modifying to a LL with a sooner return time). She even convinced me to wait on a standby line for Snow White’s Enchanted Wish as the projected wait wasn’t that bad (20-25 min). She was right, the wait wasn’t so bad because we got to gab and catch up while waiting in the queue.
After Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, we walked back to New Orleans Square for me to try yet another iconic DL treat: A Monte Cristo from Royal Street Veranda.
Myeh. Both of us didn’t see the hype. Maybe the Monte Cristos are better at the more iconic locations of Blue Bayou or Cafe Orleans but the pictures of it look the same. The outer shell wasn’t particularly crispy. Maybe that was the problem? Maybe the table service options served a better version than this quick service one.
We then went to redeem our LL at Haunted Mansion. After we tapped in and were waiting to get inside, I obtained a LL to use in DCA (initially a Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! LL for about 2.5 hours later). HM is one of my favorite rides at DW and it was also a highlight in DL. I wish I could visit during the times it has a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. HM stopped multiple times while we were riding it but we didn’t mind as it gave us extra time to take in the details. Like this Mummy having tea time.
After HM, we walked over to DCA. I fiddled around with our LLs again while we were waiting in line for Daisy and got an earlier time for Monsters Inc. 10 minutes from that time in fact.
I’m super glad that we got to catch this Monsters Inc. dark ride before it’s demolished to make way for a new Avatar land. I love Disney dark rides and Monsters Inc. is one of my favorite Disney/Pixar movies.
After redeeming the LL for Monsters Inc., I obtained a LL for Soarin’ Over California. I still prefer Soarin’ Around the World but it was still a relaxing seated break. We then obtained a LL for WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure and thus made our way to Avengers Campus.
DF then told me how she was (unpleasantly) surprised the previous day when she got onto Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout with her family. She had incorrectly assumed it was the GotG coaster, like in Epcot. She found out it was a Tower of Terror-esque ride instead just before being loaded on. She was NOT happy as she hates ToT due to the multiple drops. I had been waffling back and forth between riding GotG:MB since I love the GotG but decided not to to avoid a potential headache/nausea that would ruin the rest of my day.
We passed DF’s nemesis and proceeded onto WEB SLINGERS. My arms felt like they were about to fall off after all the exertion. After WS, we walked over to Pym Test Kitchen for dinner/snack.
Experiment 7290: Cookies & Cream Cold Brew with Sweet Cold Foam. This was delicious.
Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese. This was also delicious but very filling. Unfortunately, it’s a limited time offering for the DCA Food & Wine Festival and is no longer available.
Choco Smash Candy Bar (dark chocolate, peanuts, nougat, caramel, brownie). OMG, this was good but sooo heavy. Both tastewise and literally in weight. There were several more items on the Pym Test Kitchen menu that I wanted to try but couldn’t due to limited stomach space. Digest faster, stomach!
After this delicious dinner/snack, we crossed the Esplanade back to DL. I switched our LL for MMRR to IaSW as the latter had an earlier return time. We wanted enough time to find a decent spot on Main Street for the night parade and castle projection show.
I really liked looking for Disney characters hidden throughout this IaSW. I already love the costumes on all the dolls. Looking for the characters added to the fun.
We then went back to Main Street to stake out a spot an hour before the highly lauded Paint the Night parade. While waiting for the parade, I placed a Jolly Holiday Cafe mobile order for treats to take back to the hotel to serve as breakfast/snacks for the conference. I initially wanted the snacks for while we were waiting for the parade but everybody else must’ve had the same idea because the arrival windows were pushed back more than an hour.
We had a decent spot on the curb just past the curve of the Central Hub and thought we could stand at the rope when it came up. Nope. The locals know what they’re doing. A solid line of strollers stopped dead in the middle of the street before said rope came up and just stayed. We could sort of peer between the people and had an okay view.
Sadly, it was a projections only night so no fireworks for the Wondrous Journeys show.
My haul from Jolly Holiday:
Coffee flan tart (with coffee chantilly, cocoa nibs, chocolate curls) a.k.a. My Breakfast
Celebration Matterhorn Macaroon
It was a jam-packed first day! I couldn’t wait to get to the second (and last full day).
… it is enough for like 12 people IMO. 
