It’s time to start taking a look back at 2023, and I’m beginning with my top five favorite photos from the trip Turkey, Bunny, and I took to Disneyland this spring. My first picture isn’t the most fantastic composition or anything, but it makes me smile every time I see it…I love that Radiator Springs at Disney California Adventure warns you to “Mind your speed as you go. Sheriff’s old, but he’s not slow!”
Nighttime pictures are always some of my favorites, and I love this one that captures the lights and the water display at Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure during the evening show:
Back in Radiator Springs, I knew I’d have to include a photo of the neon lit up at night, and I decided Flo’s V-8 Cafe was my favorite of the bunch I took:
You can’t go wrong with a castle photo, and I especially love this one of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle because the Disney 100 medallion and other decorations are so visible!
And finally, a nighttime photo of the castle, which focuses on one of the lamps in the foreground. I can’t tell you exactly why I like this picture so much, but it’s one of my favorites of all the ones I took!
Stay tuned for a look at some of my other favorite photos from 2023!
“Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.” Walt Disney
“You’re in Radiator Springs, the cutest little town in Carburetor County!”
It’s time for a look at one of my very favorite parts of our trip to Disney California Adventure…our visit to Radiator Springs!
Cars is the movie I most associate with Turkey’s and Bunny’s early childhood. We went to see the movie at the drive-in theater when our house was being built, and it quickly became a family favorite. It’s still my favorite animated movie, and one of my favorite movies, period. So it was really special to be able to explore that town with Turkey and Bunny!
We discovered that apparently everyone knows to park their strollers by Stanley:
I loved getting to see the Cozy Cone Motel…it’s a popular spot to meet Lightning and Mater, too!
The most popular ride in town is “Radiator Springs Racers.” The area they built up around the ride not only looks really cool, it also tells the story of how Radiator Springs came to be (yes, there is an actual spring flowing from an old radiator!):
We saw other familiar spots, like Ramone’s House of Body Art:
And Flo’s V-8 Cafe, where we stopped for a bite to eat:
Luigi’s Casa Della Tires is also the location of another fun ride, Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters:
We got to see Doc Hudson’s trophy case:
And the Horn-O-Plenty:
There were also cool billboards on the way into town:
We saw three different Radiator Springs residents…Lightning McQueen (of course!), Mater, and Red. They were treated like any other costumed cast member at Disney with handlers and everything!
But what was maybe the coolest part of the whole experience was seeing the neon lit up at night, just like Lightning did for Miss Sally:
I am so thankful we got to have this special experience together!
What is it about Disney that makes people so happy?
Last year, following our trip to Disney World, I shared a look at a moment of pure joy I experienced there. Looking through my photos from our trip to Disneyland this year, I realized I had a similar moment when we met Goofy. I couldn’t tell you why (I mean, aside from the fact that Goofy is awesome), but you can see from the look on my face how completely happy I was in that moment. I don’t know how Disney does it, but I wish everyone could experience moments like these!
If you look closely at the shirt I wore to Disneyland, it says “Chasing the Fun.” Turkey and Bunny said it should have read “Chasing the Characters,” because apparently that’s what I do best when we go to theme parks!
Here’s a round-up of the characters we met or saw up close at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure (plus Goofy’s Kitchen)….my personal highlights were meeting Donald Duck, and also getting to see Goofy in his snazzy green suit! Also, since I was wearing a birthday celebration pin, many of the characters either said “Happy Birthday!” to me (like Lightning McQueen), or pantomimed it in some way (like Minnie Mouse).
Not pictured, but also seen by us include Peter Pan and Wendy, Captain Hook, the other chipmunk, Mirabel, Pinocchio and Geppetto, Sadness and Joy, Snow White, the Evil Queen, Ant-Man, Thor, Merida, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, the Dora Milaje, Mary and Bert, Chewbacca, Rey, Mulan, and Clarabelle Cow. I think that’s pretty impressive for just two days in the parks!
I love the two Walt and Mickey statues at the two California Disney parks! The Partners statue in front of the castle is obviously the most well-known (and is replicated at other Disney Parks), but the statue at Disney California Adventure, featuring a much-younger Walt, is also charming!
I am so glad that our trip to Disneyland was this year, while they’re celebrating “100 Years of Wonder” (100 years since the founding of the Disney Brothers Studio, which we know today as The Walt Disney Company)…like the “World’s Most Magical Celebration” that celebrated 50 years of Walt Disney World last year, there are special touches all around the park marking this illustrious occasion. And like the Cinderella Castle at Disney World, one of the best places to see the decorations is on the Sleeping Beauty castle, where they’ve added not just a banner and the signature medallion, but also Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, plus a beautiful star:
Here’s a look at some of the other embellishments, from displays in the shops to a redecorated monorail, characters in special costumes, and even limited-edition souvenirs:
The Disneyland entrance outside of the train station has also been upgraded for the occasion, where the famous floral Mickey Mouse head has been redone in the color scheme for 100 Years of Wonder:
I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to attend this celebration, and so soon after I was at Disney World for their anniversary, too! It is more than I ever imagined I’d be able to do!
The real fun began on the second day of our trip, when we walked from our hotel to Disney California Adventure!
We stopped by Radiator Springs first thing, only to find out that our number one ride opens late. We did get to see some characters, though, and Lightning McQueen wished me a happy birthday! (Since we were also celebrating my birthday on the trip, I got one of the park’s “Happy Birthday” buttons…you would not believe how many cast members notice and congratulate you!)
After that, we headed over to Pixar Pier, where we got to ride an eccentric ferris wheel (I think there are only two like it in the country!), a carousel, and a roller coaster (OK, only Turkey went on that). We also met some characters from Up!
After Turkey got off the roller coaster, we headed over to Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats, where we go the “Pixar Parfait.” The combination of soft serve and slushy was surprisingly good!
Then we headed back to Radiator Springs, were we got in line for Radiator Springs Racers, a ride we all wanted to go on. The line was long, but you really felt like you were in the movie, so we didn’t mind, because there was a lot to see (and a lot of back story explained). The ride itself started off very calm and relaxing, just like when Lightning and Sally went for the same drive in Cars, but then it turned into a race (we won!).
We also went on Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, which was just plain fun!
We stopped by Flo’s to share a traditional diner meal of a burger, fries, and a milkshake:
Then we headed back to Pixar Pier. We went on the Little Mermaid ride (but sadly not Goofy’s Sky School, because it was closed all day), but more importantly, we found someone nice enough to take a great picture of us!
Buena Vista Street is a great place to find characters (sadly for me, no Daisy Duck), and we took full advantage:
We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do after that. The Monsters, Inc. ride broke down while we were in line. A few of the other rides we were considering going on were closed, too. We did finally make it on Soarin’, which is a fantastic ride, and makes amazing use of scent, and that was a lot of fun. We also visited the Avengers Campus and the Shawarma Palace, and lived out our superhero dreams…we even got to pose as various characters!
By that time, it was starting to get late, so we headed back to Radiator Springs to see the neon and grab a snack at the Cozy Cone Motel, where you can get ice cream cones, chili “cone” queso, frozen cone-coctions, a popcone, and…churros. We picked the churros, partly just because the ridiculousness of trying to make churros fit a cone theme amused us!
And then we went back to the pier for the light show, which was really beautiful…it’s amazing what they can create with light and water!
We stayed pretty much until the park closed. The walk back to the hotel felt much longer than it had in the morning, and we were exhausted, but we still had a full day at Disneyland to look forward to!
