Having some fun at Disneyland and enjoying more of the Halloween deco.
Zoë also said she'd actually ride Nightmare Before Christmas! I sorta convinced her a few days ago by telling her that it's not scary at all and that it's like the movie. She's been on it before, but it was when she was younger and more fearless. Once she got older and started to get scared of the Haunted Mansion, there was no getting her on it or the Nightmare Before Christmas version. So, this made us happy! She finally agreed to ride it.
But first, time for us to try the Pumpkin Spice Mickey Beignets!! And looks like everyone had the same idea because the line was super long. It went from the Mint Julep order area all the to the La Mascarade d'Orleans entrance. So crazy!
The line did move along fast though and gotta say, these beignets were way worth it. That pumpkin spice powder was finger lickin good.
And now it was time to ride Nightmare Before Christmas. But did it happen? Uhhh, nope! Hahaha. She backed out and said she didn't wanna ride it. That's okay baby girl! Hopefully you'll ride it again some day.
We also finally got to take our Giant Mickey Pumpkin photos. Gotta have one of these every year!
And when we finally were all done and made it back to the parking structure, I noticed that the tram now drops you off outside instead of under the structure where the pick you up from. Which allowed us to check out the huge Pixar Ball.
We went to Disney today since 1) my pass expires on October 3rd and 2) we wanted the Oogie Boogie AP Photo.
The park didn't seem that crowded, which was real nice. But that's probably because it was hot a.f. Anyhow, Iban went with us and we went to find the new AP corner for our Oogie Boogie photo op. Jeric had to meet us up there, so we got in line right when we got there and Jeric would meet us up. That line was crazy long! And it was just to get inside!! Once inside, there was another line, which I thought was for the Oogie Boogie photo. We had to wait for Jeric anyways, so we just hung out inside Launch Bay. At least it was air conditioned.
When Jeric finally met up with us, we got in line, but then, Jeric wanted to see how far the line went and found out it was just a line to get the button and magnet. Lame. He did ask where the photo op was and found out it was upstairs. Iban didn't really want a photo with Oogie Boogie, so just us three went upstairs. And of course, there was another line. We also saw the photo op. And OMG! It wasn't an Oogie Boogie character. Instead it was just a large backdrop that had him in it. Doh! I don't know why, but when I saw Gail's photo, I remembered him being an actual character. Of course, when I looked at it again, it wasn't. I must've confused Gail's photo with the Halloween Time Newsletter that showed Oogie Boogie as a character. Whoopsie!
Well, since we were here already and waited the line just to get inside, we decided we might as well get a photo. The line probably took another half hour though. Ugh. And by the time it was almost our time, Zoë was so over it. She didn't want to take a photo. We tried to convince her, but then she got whiny and threw a fit. She was sitting on the floor and didn't want to move. Jeric had to pick her up when it was our turn and even then she hid her face. We kinda just shrugged at the photopass guy and gave him to go ahead to snap our photos as is.
Luckily, the photographer had an idea. He reached in his pouch for Mickey Sticker and showed it to Zoë and asked her to look at the sticker and keep looking at it as he placed it over where the flash was on his camera. She didn't smile, but at least we got her face!
After we finished the photos, Zoë was still in a bad mood. She continued to throw a fit and channeled most of her anger at Jeric. Jeric ended up putting his foot down and said she couldn't have cotton candy unless she behaved. Eventually she behaved and got he cotton candy. And as we were walking from Launch Bay over to Fantasy Land, we spotted Max, which was a rare character to see out and about. This lifted Zoë's spirits even more since she's always loved A Goofy Movie and even though she wasn't super happy, we got our photo with Max!
Now off to Fantasyland. The first ride Zoë chose was Tea Cups. Since me and Jeric weren't up to getting all dizzy, Iban ended up taking her.
She then wanted to ride Alice in Wonderland, since she saw it right there. She ended up riding with Jeric in the back with me in the front and Iban sat this one out.
By this time we were all hot, miserable and hungry, so we decided to call it quits and go grab food.
Heading out to Cali Adventure to see what photo ops they had for Halloween.
We started off with a photo with Daisy the Witch.
Honestly, this photo spot is not really the best. The wall is just so bland. I think they should do something to spruce it up a bit since it's a popular character photo spot all throughout the year.
Anyhow, after the cute photos, we wanted to check out of they had the Oogie Boogie AP Pass spot opened up in the back area over by the Paradise Garden Grill spot. But we were wrong! The AP Photo Opp with Oogie Boogie is actually in Disneyland over at the Star Wars Launch Bay. Whoopsie! Oh well, since we were around the area, we went to check out the updated Toy Story ride, Inside Out - Emotional Whirlwind.
They basically revamped the Flik's Flyers ride that they took out since A Bug's Land was closed out into this ride and they did a good job with it! I personally love the look of it because of all the colors and because Inside Out was a pretty good movie.
Zoë also loved the character statues outside and posed with this one, Disgust.
And here she is about to board her emotional whirlwind balloon carriage!
And after the ride, Zoë had fun touching all the memory balls that lined the walls. The colors and the lights at night are what really draw you to the ride.
The ride itself was nice and smooth, but it was soooo smooth that we all felt dizzy. Hahaha. Yah, not riding that one again. *barf*
After the ride, we walked around the Paradise Garden area since they had all the Coco Halloween deco up. We did see a line at one of the character photo spots too and found out that it was gonna be Miguel so we got in line. Boy were we disappointed though! It wasn't Miguel as a character really. He was puppet attached to a dude so our photo with Miguel included the extra dude. Hahaha. Yah, it was a little weird talking to the puppet and ignoring the dude that controlled him. The photo wasn't too bad though.
We also got a cute Halloween photo with the spider car in front of Flo's Cafe.
And to end the day, Zoë picked Luigi's Rollickin Roadsters to ride. Mommy had to sit this one out though, but I walked through with them and snapped this cute photo of Zoë and Daddy.
After we left California Adventure, we decided to skip the tram since the lines looked like madness. Instead we opted to walk since they had a new walkway that went from the old Downtown Disney parking lot that was behind Rain Forest Cafe all the way to the Pixar structure.
Since walked through Downtown Disney to get there, we got to see all the cute different pumpkin decorations they put up in all the planters.
Super cute! Buuuut, the walk was kinda a bad idea. Zoë ended up falling asleep, so we couldn't keep her in the stroller since all we had was the umbrella one. So Jeric had to carry her from half way through Downtown Disney all the way to the car. Plus my feet were super tired from walking around California Adventure already and with being pregnant and all, it started to hurt pretty badly and I even had to take a few breaks here and there.
Well, we made it to our car all in one piece! Hahaha. Totally not doing that again though.
Gotta milk my pass for all I have left! Come October 3rd, my pass expires and being preggo and due end of the year, it just doesn't make sense to renew. So, here we are at Disneyland again!
Right when we got in, Zoë wanted to take a photo with Minnie Mouse, but unfortunately, they cut off the line and were waiting for the character exchange to take place. So we waited over by Disney Showcase to see who would be coming next and boy were we surprised! It's Chip and Dale wearing bat wings!! So we ditched the line to go follow them. They ended up over by City Hall.
Unfortunately, they weren't doing photos yet. Instead, there were some crowd people that seemed to be super fans or something. They were saying they should play charades with them first. That's when a cast member came by and said, yup, they're playing charades first and then we can have photos with them after. We figured we might as well wait around, but didn't participate in charades. We just stood in line behind another young kiddo and her mother who just wanted a photo as well.
Of course, by the time they were done playing charades, they totally didn't honor the photo ops! Instead, we had to rush and hound them as they were walking away just so we can get a photo!
Chip was a good sport about it and stopped to pose with Zoë.
Dale, not so much. He just bent down and caressed Zoë. Luckily I got a photo of that at least.
Now off to get on a ride! Zoë requested Roger Rabbit, so we headed on over. But sadly, the ride broke down and they didn't have any ETA on when it would be fixed. So, we just hung around Toontown instead and got some cute photos! Toontown's always good for really cute photos.
Zoë the Weight Lifter
Zoë the Theif who Got Caught and Went to Jail
Zoë the Fire Girl
After all that fun, Zoë finally got her ride on King Arthur's Carousel!
Then, while walking around Fantasyland, we spotted Zoë's favorite character, Rapunzel! She was strolling around with Flynn Rider and stopped to have a quick photo with Zoë. Zoë as happy, but she didn't have a moment to stand next to them since it was one of those situations where you gotta keep up with the characters, try to pose real quick, snap the photo and hope it came out alright. LOL.
With my small car and two toddler car seats, we had to have both kiddos in the back while I sat in the front.
This was cute though because the two kiddos got to converse with each other. And I had wished I recorded their conversation, but I was charging my phone at the time.
There convo on the way there was mostly along the lines of...
Dustin: Zoë's not sharing with me
Me: Zoë, why aren't you sharing
Zoë: I already gave him two, but he wants all of them
Dustin: Give me that one
Zoë doesn't budge
Me: Zoë, why don't you share a little more since you play with them all the time anyways?
Zoë: Because I know Dustin's not gonna share with me
Dustin: Are we at Disneyland yet?
Jeric: Not yet, we still need to park
Dustin: Why aren't we parking yet?
Jeric: We have to find a spot
Dustin: Are we there yet?
Zoë: You can just park there *pointing to a random area that isn't even a parking spot*
LOL
It did take us quite awhile to get in though and I didn't understand why. It was after 8pm, you would think that the incoming Disney traffic would've died down by now. Even the security check lines were massive! But we finally made it through and the kiddos waited patiently for the tram.
When we finally got to the entrance, I figured out why it was so packed. Halloween Time just started. Then, when we got inside, it got even worse because they had the Electric Parade and Fantasmic going on with Fireworks about to start in 30 minutes.
Holy moly!
Once we got through the crowds though, all the shows worked in our favor. There was literally no line for anything!
We took the kiddos over to the Jungle Cruise first. They were both excited and had fun together. I tried to capture the moment, but I failed. Haha. So enjoy these blurry photos!
Next, we hit up the Tiki Room since it was nearby. While waiting for the show to start they both had fun looking at the god near the fountain.
Kiddos patiently waiting for the show to start.
And we got a hug!
Dustin was pretty bored here. Hahaha. Zoë loved it though.
With the fireworks about to start, we couldn't head to any of the Fantasyland rides, so we decided to take them to Buzz Lightyear. I ended up riding with both kiddos. Hahahaha. At first, they sat on opposites sides of me, but I saw they were struggling to see above the front of our pod so I decided to sit each kiddo up on each leg. They had more fun and it wasn't uncomfy for me at all. When it was time to take the photo, I tried really hard to not be in the shot. Of course that was a total fail! LMAO.
Aaaaannnnd, Dustin ended up winning by 1 shot! Hahaha. So close!!
The fireworks were over by now, so we took them to Fantasyland. We went on Dumbo and decided each kiddo should have their own elephant so they can each control it without fighting for who's turn. Zoë rode with Daddy and Dustin rode with me.
Dustin was pretty much over Disneyland now. He actually said he wanted to go home. But Zoë wasn't ready to go so we said just one more ride and Dustin obliged. Zoë initially wanted the Carousel, but it was still closed. It took awhile for the kiddos to decide on what else they wanted and eventually Zoë ended up choosing Mr. Toad. This time, she wanted to ride with Mommy, so Jeric rode with Dustin.
Oh man! After the ride, Dustin was so done. He said the ride was scary. Lol. Jeric said that he was having fun "driving" their car and then once the train hit them and they went to hell, he just froze. Poor thing! I guess we scarred him because when we got home, he kept saying it was scary and that he didn't want to go to Disneyland. Whoopsie!
At least on the way out, he obliged to a cute photo in front of the Mickey Pumpkin with Zoë.
To end the night, we bought them a churro!
And on they way home, they were both craaaaay cray! But in a super cute way. And this time I got video!
Each year we take Zoë to Goofy's kitchen to celebrate her birthday. This year, we're doing it pretty late. Like three weeks late! Lol. None-the-less, we're still taking her.
This year though, we celebrated with the Samoza/Pascual fam since Auntie Flo and Auntie Roma were in town.
Zoë enjoyed the characters as always!
And of course, Jeric and Iban also took photos with Chip & Dale, since they were their Disney characters as kiddos. Jeric as Chip and Iban as Dale. They wanted to have a pic with both Chip & Dale together, but there seemed to be tension between the two. Lol! Oh well.
Even Mama Dinky and her sisters got in on the action!
Baby girl really enjoyed celebrating at Goofy's Kitchen and even snuggled up with Chip for an extra long time!
And after we all stuff our bellies with delicious food, we wanted to walk it off around Downtown Disney. But once we went through security check and got to the stage, Zoë had other plans. Baby girl just wanted to dance! And Auntie Roma danced with her.
