Disneyland, Part 2

For lunch, Erik wanted to try the Jolly Holiday Bakery because they had macarons (and macaroni and cheese for Ian). If you use the Disneyland app, you can now order your food in advance. Unfortunately, there are limited time slots. By the time we were ready to eat, the next available time slot for online orders was 3 hours. Instead, we stood in line because it didn't look too long. We ended up waiting almost an hour to order our food, which was much longer than we waited for any ride that day.

The kids and Erik ordered grilled cheese sandwiches, and I ordered the roast beef sandwich. It was okay; definitely not worth the hour-long wait.

The Matterhorn Macaroon was coconutty.

The santa hat macaron was chocolatey and pepperminty; it was my favorite.

Their classic cookie is the raspberry rose macaron. It was good with the fresh raspberries inside, but I liked the santa hat macaron better.

The afternoon was another blur. We used Genie+ to ride Star Tours, Small World, the Haunted Mansion (yes again), Autopia (yes again), and Buzz Lightyear. Erik tried 2 more times to get a lightning lane pass for Big Thunder Mountain, but it kept breaking down. Genie+ converted our Thunder Mountain pass into a pass that could be used for several other rides. We ended up using it for Pirates (after it finally opened) and Nemo. Somewhere in there, we took a break for Mickey Ice Cream Bars and rode the train a couple times.

Ian put on his 3-D glasses as soon as we sat down for Star Tours.

The Disneyland Railroad is much more fun with a Mickey Ice Cream Bar.

The dolls alternated between singing "It's a Small World" and "Jingle Bells."

Haunted Mansion again. You can see Halloweentown in the background.

This is Snow White's Grotto next to the castle.

Gabe was all by himself on Buzz Lightyear.

Look at that tongue sticking out; it helps him focus.

It was hard to get around in the evening because the Christmas Parade kept passing by, and we had to wait for it. We waited in line for the new Snow White's Enchanted Wish, which was not very different from the old ride; it did have a few more special effects. Elisa really wanted to go on the Matterhorn, so we used Genie+ to skip the line. The kids also wanted to ride Splash Mountain again, so we used Genie+ again. It ended up being a complete waste because there was no line. In fact, we asked the cast members if we could ride it again since there was still no line when we finished. They said sure, and the kids got soaked because they were in the front. We also walked onto Winnie the Pooh since everyone else was watching Fantasmic.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle was all decorated for Christmas too.

We rode the Autopia again at night thanks to Genie+.

These 2 got completely drenched riding Splash Mountain twice in a row.

Erik and Gabe share the same goofy gene posing for pictures.

We learned our lesson from lunch and ordered dinner with the Disneyland app. We got soup in a bread bowl from the Royal Street Veranda, and we ate it at the dining area for the French Quarter. Elisa spilled her hot chocolate all over the table and all over me. Next, we saw that Big Thunder Mountain finally opened up, so we went to ride it again. The cast member told us to save our lightning lane for another ride because there was no line for Thunder Mountain. Then we tried to use our pass for the Jungle Cruise, but the cast member couldn't get it to work. She told us to just skip the line and use the pass for another ride. They changed a lot on the Jungle Cruise. I guess some the old stuff was racially insensitive (insert eyeroll). Erik suggested that we use the pass for the Millenium Falcon ride, and we wouldn't have to wait. We walked all the way to Star Wars land and rode Smugglers Run, but I could tell the kids were done. As we left Star Wars Land, Erik bought a cup of blue milk. It was weird; it tasted like fruity, sweet shampoo.

Soup in a bread bowl. The gumbo was quite spicy.

They directed us to leave the park behind all of the Main Street buildings since huge crowds were waiting for the fireworks to start.

On the way out, Gabe wanted to look for a Disneyland Train, so we stopped by Downtown Disney. We found a monorail, but it was around $200. Gabe definitely didn't have that much money on his spending card. We rode the tram back to the van, drove to the hotel, and went to bed.

The next day, we slept in and had breakfast at the hotel. It was okay. After that, we drove straight home, and it didn't take much longer than about 5 hours since the traffic was clear.