Happy New Year from the Happiest Place on Earth

This year Alison and I rang in the new year at the happiest place on earth. It was a fabulous trip. Rather than break down every detail of our trip I want to just share a few thoughts I had about our trip.

Our favorite time to visit Disneyland is during the Holidays. Everywhere you look Disneyland celebrates the season. From the big details like the giant Christmas trees and garlands on Main Street to the smaller details like the Christmas music playing wherever you go. We love the holiday overlays on It's a Small World and The Haunted Mansion. Luigi's Joy to the Whirl and Mater's Jingle Jamboree is also fun holiday rides. This year California Adventure had their Festival of Holidays again. We love eating festive food from various booths throughout the park. It is a little pricey, but it is a lot of fun. We get to try little samplings of all kinds of different sweet and savory snacks. This year our favorite snack would probably be the potato smash or the mac and cheese with cornbread crumbles. Disneyland during the holiday season is a fantastic experience.

The last time Alison and I visited the Disneyland parks at the end of the year we said goodbye to the Tower of Terror. This year we said goodbye to Paradise Pier. Disney has announced that they are going to close the pier area and rebrand it as Pixar pier. This will result in changes to the theming of the restaurants, rides, and shops in the area. We love Paradise pier it is probably our favorite area in California Adventure. Alison was pretty upset when the changes were announced. I was a little more indifferent. I tend to trust that we will end up enjoying whatever changes Disney makes (case and point the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride). Walking around the pier that last night I was sad to see it go. I have always loved the pier at night. It looks amazing all lit up. Hopefully, they keep some of the same feelings, but who knows what changes they will make. We also will really miss California Screamin’. As I rode the ride with Alison for the last time I remembered the first time we rode it together. For this story to make sense you have to understand that I have a fear of heights and while I was growing up I really disliked the idea of roller coasters. Despite my trepidation, I allowed Alison to talk me into going on the ride with her. As we stood in line I was very nervous. I was white as a ghost and I was not at all talkative. Alison was having way too much fun at my expense and told me, “at least if we die, we would die together.” I did not find this funny or reassuring. Once I was on the ride I had a great time. In fact, California Screamin’ became my favorite ride in California Adventure. We always make sure to ride as many times as we can whenever we are in California Adventure. There have been days we have ridden it so much that it started to make Alison sick. They aren’t getting rid of the roller coaster, but they are going to change it to be the Incredicoaster. We will miss “I know you’re in a hurry, hurry, hurry, but for your safety, safety, safety…” and “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, scream!”. We will also miss the carnival-style music and the charm of this roller coaster.

When Kristin visited Disneyland in October she was able to find some of the elusive rose gold ears (Alison looked for these throughout our trip to Disney World with no success). Kristin bought two pairs - one for herself and one for Alison. Alison was so grateful. Not only does she love the ears, but it turns out they are still a hot commodity at Disneyland. We had dozens of people, including even a cast member, ask if Alison had found the ears on this trip to Disneyland. It sure seems like Disney is missing out on an opportunity to sell a lot of products.

Since the last time we visited Disneyland, they introduced the MaxPass. This is where for an additional $10 per person per day you can get fast passes on your phone. It also includes downloads of all photo pass pictures. It was completely worth it. Alison and I loved MaxPass. As soon as we entered the park we got our first fast pass. Then we would also make sure to get a new fast pass as soon as we were eligible. Usually, we would be standing in line for another ride. MaxPass dramatically decreased the amount of time we spent running around the park to try to get the fast passes we wanted. We probably rode 3-5 more rides a day as a result of MaxPass. The parks were pretty busy (although the first two days weren't really busier than any busy summer day) while we were there, especially on New Year. MaxPass really helped us ride many more rides than we expected we would on busy days in the park. A photo pass is like a cherry on top. We love the Disney photo pass service and we are glad they include it in this service.

We could not visit Disneyland without trying some great treats. Our favorite treats on this trip would have to be the cake pops. Disneyland makes excellent cake pops - so excellent that we bought some on two different days. Other fun holiday treats we tried were a Santa glove ice cream macaroon, which Alison assured me was delicious and a festive Rice Krispie treat. Disneyland excels at treats.

During our trip to Disneyland, I came down with the most terrible cold. It started coming on during the drive to California but hit really hard on our second day of the trip. This cold really hit me hard. We ended up skipping the night entertainment on the first and second nights of our trips so I could get a little extra sleep. I took lots of medicine and powered through as best I could. For the most part, the cold did not stop us from having a great time. We were able to do almost everything we wanted to do (minus the nighttime entertainment) and despite my cold, we stayed to ring in the new year on new year's eve.

The highlight of the trip was New Year's Eve. We got to the park a little later than normal. We decided since I had a cold that getting a little bit of a later start would help ensure we made it to midnight. We arrived at the park and it was packed. New Year's Eve was an extremely busy day at the park. We were still able to do almost everything we wanted to do. We knew the park was going to be very busy and set our expectations accordingly. We rode plenty of rides in the morning and found a nice spot on a bench to watch the afternoon parade. In the afternoon we rode the train around the park (and saw a random Georgia pep rally while we waited). It was really nice on this trip to have the train and the rivers of America open. We very much enjoyed the canoes, riverboat, and train on busy days in the park. We had an early dinner at Cafe Orleans. We wanted to eat here on New Year and we were fully intending to make a reservation 60 days in advance. Then we spaced it and made a reservation 45 days in advance - hence the early dinner. Cafe Orleans was excellent. After dinner, we had a few fast passes to use and we picked up our complimentary party hats and noise makers. We went out to Main Street a little before 8pm. It was already crazy! At 8pm they started a dance party. It went until 9pm when they had a countdown for east coast New Year's and a firework show. Then the dance party resumed until midnight. When we had another countdown and a firework show. The atmosphere on Main street was amazing. It was a very fun place to celebrate new years eve. We had so much fun we want to do it again next year. Happy New Year from the Happiest place on earth.

Last selfie of 2017!