2018 – A DISNEYLAND ODYSSEY (NEW! NEW! GUEST POST!)

Ahhh, 2018. The year that Ange’s wildest dreams came true and Ron agreed to go to Disneyland with her. It’s like good ol’ Walt always said; “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”.

Ange’s Memories

Work travel isn’t always fun, but once in a while I luck out and get to go to a destination where I can take a few personal days to have some fun. In 2018, I had the luck to go to Los Angeles – which happens to be a stone’s throw away from my happy place – Disneyland. Somehow, I convinced Ron to meet me in Anaheim despite Disneyland not ranking high on her list of fun activities, and in November we met in sunny California to experience possibly the two most magical things combined – Christmas and Disneyland!

Ron got us a really awesome hotel, just a quick shuttle or Uber from the park, and we were off! The first time we arrived at the park it was early evening, and there was a lineup just to make it through the metal detectors, to make it to the lineup to get into the park… so that we could stand in lineups for everything else. I didn’t mind because the magical music coming out of the speakers already had me in a Disney trance, but I’m pretty sure Ron was steeling herself for three days of her patience being tested.

I felt like my heart might burst if I needed to wait another minute to lay my eyes on the Sleeping Beauty Castle, but Ron really wanted to go to California Adventures. Once in the park I insisted that our first order of business should be Mickey ears. I had my heart set on rose gold ones, but once my mentor picked the classic black + red bow combo, I obviously wanted to twin. As it started to become dark and we approached the time for fireworks, I started to get antsy. Finally, Ron agreed to walk across to the Magic Kingdom!

With our magical (and expensive) mouse ears in tow, we ventured down Main Street to try and get a good spot for the fireworks show. I was so excited and it’s one of the few things in life I will stand shoulder to shoulder with thousands of strangers for. The show was as spectacular as I remembered from past visits, but this was my first time seeing it during the Christmas season – and it had an extra special ending. As the music finished it’s crescendo, a voice came over the speaker and said… “And remember to always believe” and my heart swelled with happiness and I thought it was over… but the voice came back and said “In magic” and they released fake snow over the crowd and it did indeed feel so magical. I was delighted and tears welled up in my eyes, much to Ron’s second hand embarrassment. Needless to say, we are on opposite ends of the Disney spectrum. 

The next day, we opted to visit California Adventures again to discover the Festival of Holidays, where they had small booths that served festival themed small plates and cocktails. We quickly discovered that we made an extremely rookie mistake – they only accept passports as identification! The first booth we visited didn’t ask, and we got our mulled cider with no problem. But at the second booth, we were surprised to be denied alcohol. We found this a bit irritating, but made the best of it by trying our luck at different booths. We had better luck separating, as strangely you were allowed to order 2 of any drink. 

While I love the parades, the shows, the atmosphere, and the overpriced Disney merch, Ron loves the rides. Especially the scary ones – she gets just as scared as me, but also finds my fear hilarious like any good older sibling. We made use of the app, as you can now not only get Fast Passes on your phone, but you can also download your pictures from the rides directly to your mobile! Loved this service, and we used many of the photo spots around the parks – but found the Disney photographers didn’t understand the concept of a flattering angle. But we saved the ride photos for posterity. 

In between Festival eats and finding the most instagrammable spots in the park, I, against all odds, convinced Ron to take in a show – Frozen, Live! I loved every second, knew most of the words, and caught Ron with a smile or two on her face. I was worried the combination of Disney + theatrical show would really be the last straw – but I saw proof that she was obviously delighted by it!

Overall, we had a blast. We found out about a secret cocktail menu at the Lamplight Lounge. We got cute photos around the castle with very few people in them. Ron dragged me onto the Incredicoaster TWICE (it was the least I could do after I dragged her to Frozen Live). And we were some of the first people to experience the new Guardians of the Galaxy “skin” on the old Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride. 

The combination of Disney + beautiful weather + hanging with my sister made this one of my favorite trips. It wasn’t the first time we travelled alone together, but it had definitely been too long since the last time. If I had my way, we’d go back to Disneyland yearly! 

Ron’s Memories

Our trip to Disneyland started with a phone call from Ange where she excitedly told me she would be in Anaheim the next month for work and we could “meet up at Disney!”. “Quick, think of an excuse”, I said to myself. Unfortunately (but fortunately) I have the luxury of not working while we are living in Canada, so ready-made excuses are hard to come by and my synapses aren’t firing so quickly these days. All I could manage was “Fine. I guess. But don’t ask me again for 10 years.” While working through the logistics of the trip I made sure to reiterate how little I like standing in line for pretty much anything. “Don’t worry”, says Ange, “we can get weekend ‘skip the line’ passes!” After reviewing the prices online I convinced myself that $600 wasn’t too much to spend to not have to wait in long lines amongst rabid children all weekend.

Fast forward a month or so and off I went to California via the airport and US Customs & Border Protection, where the dialogue went something like this:

CBP Officer: “Where are you headed”

Me: “Orange County, California”

CBP Officer: “What for?”

Me: “Disneyland”

CBP Officer: “By yourself??”

Me: “No, with my sister”

CBP Officer: looks at the age on my passport “But why?”

Me: “Idk”

While waiting for the flight to board I killed time by calling my bank and credit card companies to let them know I was headed to Disneyland and to expect an extraordinary amount of spending over the next few days. They seemed sympathetic and quite sorry for me, but not as sorry as I felt for myself. For the first time in my life the flight landed early and I was off the plane and in an Uber. Not seconds had passed after checking into the hotel and Ange was ready to head to the park. She was radiating enthusiasm and I was still drunk from the plane ride so I was helpless to say no. I sobered up pretty quickly when we arrived at the gates on a Thursday night in November and the lines to get in the park were hundreds of people long. We heard excited murmuring that Gwen Stefani was at Disneyland filming a Christmas special. That was the reason for the crowds, and we were to expect them all weekend, what wonderful luck. While waiting I was able to observe the ratio of children to adults was extremely unfavorable, despite the late hour.

 Once through the gates I convinced Ange we needed to start in California Adventures. You see, I had done my research and the only place you can drink alcohol in Disneyland is in the California Adventures side, unless you have a $30,000 annual membership to the secret club in the Disneyland side. The waitlist for that club is ten years long. Like I said, I did my research. In my first stroke of luck there was a Christmas market in California Adventures, with many food and drink stands offering delightful seasonal concoctions. I slammed as many drinks as possible until Ange dragged us over to Disneyland for fireworks. By the end we both had tears in our eyes, mine because a cloud of glitter was fired at us and most of it hit me in the face. Also, because I was wearing $50 sequined Mickey Ears. It was tragic. Angela was crying for nostalgic reasons or something. I will admit, they really pull out all the stops at Disneyland to make you spend as much money as possible.

 Now, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Every time I was sober in Disneyland waiting in line amongst the screaming ankle-biters, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I could wear Ange down enough to go back to California Adventures. There I would get hammered enough to make it through our next stint in Disneyland. But also, all the good rides were on that side. Our skip the line passes got us into the 60 minute lines instead of the 3 hour lines, money well spent said Ange. Also, like a good Heald I was singularly fixated on sampling ALL the cuisines the park had to offer. The best culinary experience of the trip was at the Lamplight Lounge, where there was also an extensive cocktail menu and we had patio seats overlooking the Ferris wheel. At one point some Christmas cocktail or another gave me the worst heartburn of my life and we had to race around the park looking for overpriced Zantac. One ride I insisted on in the Disneyland side was “It’s a Small World After All”. We were there at the ass crack of dawn so lines were not too bad. As we sat in the cart, I couldn’t help but overhear the guy behind us yammering on about how wonderful the attraction was, how long it had been in operation, his favorite parts of the ride and how wonderful it made him feel. “Angela’s soulmate? Is that you?!” I thought to myself.

 One of my least favorite memories was “Frozen, Live!”. I armed myself with the two drink maximum, which I knew I would need in order to get through it, and Ange took pity and gave me her two drinks as well. She wanted to be “sober” so she could “remember” it. A couple times she looked over and caught me smiling as I was blacking out and reminiscing about the footlong corn dog I had eaten that morning. Another unhappy memory was getting head to toe soaked on the water ride after spending $28 on a single use rain parka.

From this point the rest of the trip was really a blur although I do remember a spectacular trip to Target (how I miss thee, sweet Target). All kidding aside, it was a great trip with my mentee, replete with good eats, good drinks, fun rides and great weather.  These days I like scrolling through the thousands of pictures Ange made me take with my phone and reminiscing. See you again in 2028, Disneyland!