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!
If you’ve been around these parts for a while, you know I’m a huge fan of Mary Blair’s work, especially with Disney. Last summer, I was over the moon to get to ride “It’s a Small World,” at Disney World but this year’s trip to Disneyland was even more special, because that’s where the original “It’s a Small World” was relocated after its time at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Instead of the bright colors that the ride in Orlando has at the entrance, the California version has the white and gold color scheme from the end of the ride out front:
Another difference is that the ride begins (and ends) outdoors:
The interior of the ride has the same bright, beautiful colors, which is Mary Blair’s signature:
You might notice references to Disney movies scattered throughout…we were especially excited to find Stitch surfing!
It doesn’t matter where you ride it, it’s still the “happiest cruise that ever sailed!”
As was the case at Disney World, I really didn’t want to say goodbye!
I wonder if I’ll ever have the chance to ride this attraction at any of the other Disney parks?
When we were at Disney World last year, I briefly touched on our experience getting Ronto Wraps from Ronto Roasters at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios, and I’ve even made Ronto Wraps at home…today, I’m going to take a closer look at the Disneyland restaurant itself, because it’s a really fun place to grab a bite to eat!
Can you think of any other place in the galaxy where you can have a droid roast your dinner for you?
I’m still not entirely clear on what a Ronto actually is, but it appears to be a fairly large animal, and is certainly delicious!
Here’s a look at the counter where you order:
And the finished product, exactly as we had it at Disney World, minus the plantain chips, which was a shame, because we’ve discovered we really like them!
This is such a fun and different restaurant, and the food is absolutely amazing…I’m already looking forward to the next time I make Ronto Wraps at home!
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!
Disneyland–32,673 steps
We saved Disneyland for our second (and final) theme park…seeing the train station for the first time was just as much of a thrill as it was at Disney World!
We got to watch the welcome show that is held on the steps leading up to the station when the park opens. The characters (minus Donald and Daisy, sadly), were all were their beautiful Disney 100 costumes!
We decided to take care of two things at once, and rode the Disneyland Railroad (something I really wanted to do since its Disney World counterpart was closed last summer) to the back of the park (where we wanted to get coffee).
What I didn’t realize is that station was practically on top of “It’s a Small World!” So we rode that first thing, and I loved it (of course)!
We then made our way to the Alice in Wonderland area, where not only do they have the teacups (a different experience because in California, they’re fully out in the open), but a second Alice-themed ride as well. And we ran into Alice herself, plus, the Mad Hatter!
We also visited New Orleans, home of the Haunted Mansion and beignets, and also Princess Tiana!
We wanted to make sure we saw the Sword in the Stone and the Wishing Well, since we missed both of those things at Disney World. Sadly, none of us was worthy to remove the sword, but we did all get to make a wish!
We were lucky that the “Star Wars Month” events were still going on while we were, and Turkey and Bunny got to ride “Hyperspace Mountain.” While they did that, I walked around and took some pictures of the castle (and let a Disney photographer take a photo of me!). Not as grand as the Cinderella Castle, but still lovely!
We walked back to the castle when they were done, and I found someone to take our picture:
The Disney photographers also got some nice pictures of the three of us:
And then we headed over to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. I’m pretty sure there are some minor differences, but it felt pretty much the same as the Disney World version! We got to have ronto wraps for lunch, and do some shopping and sightseeing.
One of the things Turkey and Bunny were most looking forward to, though, was having another lightsaber building experience at Savi’s Workshop (especially since they updated the parts since last summer). It was pretty cool to just get to be an observer this time, and watch other people do the work!
We didn’t see the Mandalorian and The Child, but we did get to meet Boba Fett!
We didn’t get to go on Rise of the Resistance because it was either shut down or the line was two hours long or it closed early (that was probably the biggest regret of the whole trip), but we did go on Smuggler’s Run…I got to blow things up!
After that, we walked through Downtown Disney on our way to dinner. Of course we had to stop at the Lego Store and admire their creations:
I really like this beautiful floral display:
And then we went to the Disneyland hotel to have dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen…it was so much fun! (Full details to come…)
After our meal, we hopped on the monorail to get back to the park:
We rode Star Tours (always a fun experience), and then went in search of Dole Whips:
We were barely able to find a place to view the fireworks…the crowd was massive!
The park is open for a couple of hours after the fireworks, so we had time for a few more things. We were three minutes late for Rise of the Resistance, so we headed toward Runaway Railway, instead. I love how the line is set up like a museum dedicated to Mickey Mouse!
After that, Turkey and Bunny decided to ride the Matterhorn while I took care of what was left of our shopping, and took some more pictures:
We rode the teacups one more time, and even managed to get on Dumbo the Flying Elephant.
We shut the park down (which I would somewhat regret the next day), and didn’t get back to our hotel until about 12:30. It was really hard to get to sleep after all that excitement and knowing we had a full day of travel ahead of us!