How Stacy’s trip went at Disneyland:
We go to Disneyland every year, since we live in Arizona and frankly, taking a three-year-old on an airplane for 5 hours to Disney World scares us more than Tower of Terror. So Disneyland is our Disney fix until he gets a little older.
That being said, we decided to try Disneyland in early January since I’ve heard the crowds are better and they still have the Christmas decorations up. We arrived the week that El Nino decided to pour lovely rain for the two days we planned for the parks, which made for a very interesting experience in a good way, since it scared the crowds away. Can you believe no one was in Toon Town? And there was no wait to see Mickey? Poor guy was just waiting for someone to say hi to him; luckily my son gave him a hug to make him feel better. Ironically the rain made a better experience since we were able to go through the lines quickly (and believe me with a young child that helps) and go on rides we usually pass up due to long lines. We also had better character experience, FYI if you ever are lucky enough to have a downfall of rain when you go to the park, don’t forget to go into the buildings on Main St., like Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln we saw Minnie and Goofy hiding out there from the rain.
Also one of our goals on this trip was to try different foods, even though we stayed off-site we were close enough to walk every morning to Downtown Disney or the Disney hotels to have breakfast. One of the best breakfasts we had was at the Disneyland Hotel at Tanaroa Terrance just behind Trader Sams. I tried the Loco Moco, which was a hamburger patty served over rice and a fried egg. Sounded unique and tasted really good. But have to say one of the worst was at the Grand Californian at White Water Snacks, just your typical breakfast that really was overpriced and not the best tasting. We also enjoyed Bengal Barbecue for a quick snack of “jungle skewers,” and my favorite treat was at the Tiki Juice Bar and a Dole Whip Float.
Overall, this trip was totally different than we’ve every taken at Disneyland since we’ve never experienced a downpour of rain like that. We managed and it was actually better since the crowds were gone and for the first time since I was a kid I could see the little sights and sounds that I love about Disneyland without the Disney zombie crowds.
