Eating My Way Through Disneyland - Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday and my daughter and I

who are known in our family as the 

"Disneyland Psychos"

spent the last half of last week at Disneyland for our

birthdays.  We are called that because we speed walk

from ride to ride and go as early as we can to as 

late as we can.  (We do take time to go back to 

the hotel and nap during the late afternoon though.)

For about 5 years now we kept saying we wanted to

go to Disneyland and see the Christmas decorations

but we haven't been able to make it.  Her friend told 

her that they keep the decorations up the week after

New Years, so this year on a whim we made reservations

and went. This was an adults only trip and really fun.

Of course it made it even better that it was 82 degrees

while it was snowing at home!

The decorations are just wonderful there at this time of year.

This was the perfect birthday celebration for me!

Some people complain about park food, but Disney has

done a wonderful job of improving the quality of their

food and it is a big part of the experience for us

We have our list of the foods we must eat.  (I have to

tell you before you see all of the food that we shared

everything as portions are really big!)

One of the big ones is the Dole Pineapple Float

right by the Tiki Room.  You may have seen it 

on Pinterest.  I believe in the power of Pinterest

because I have never seen such lines for this light

and delicious pineapple frozen treat in pineapple juice.

I counted 75 people in line one night.

We also "HAVE" to have the beignets in

Downtown Disney at the Jazz Kitchen - amazingly

soft freshly made donuts tossed in powdered

sugar in a bag.  I gave you instructions

on how to make some exactly like theirs here.

This year we found Mickey beignets at

the park in New Orleans Square, but they 

were a disappointment, dry and thin.  Maybe 

it was an off day for them.

My daughter gave me my birthday present

early by treating me to lunch at The Blue Bayou

where I had to indulge 

in the Monte Cristo Sandwich.

The lighting in there is dark and wonderful with

the river from Pirates of the Caribbean flowing

by and fireflies in the trees so the pictures

are pretty dark. This is definitely the priciest

restaurant on the property but a fun special 

occasion place.

We also have to eat the beef and chicken

skewers at Bengal BBQ and Grill. 

 Their

bacon wrapped asparagus is fabulous too.

We had the chili in a sourdough bread bowl

over in California Adventure at the Pacific Warf. 

 You can watch

them make the sourdough bread fresh and then

sup on a delicious bread bowl with soup or salad.

You can't get fresher, softer bread.

Jolly Holiday 

at the end of Main Street (from Mary Poppins)

just opened this last week with fresh pastries to grab as

you enter the park.  I got a croissant to dip in their

creamy delicious hot chocolate.

We stayed at the recently remodeled 

Disneyland Hotel.  

The fiber optic lit carving above the bed was just

magical and the bedding was so beautiful.  The

light below softly played "A Dream Is A Wish

Your Heart Makes" and the pillows on the bed

repeated that with one saying, "A Dream Is A Wish

Your Heart Makes" and the other saying, "When

You're Fast Asleep".  

The room was just

magical with Mickey appearing in the beautiful

carpet too.

The crowds were still crazy the week after

New Years but we got to go in the park early

two of the mornings and then we were able to

ride a ton of rides and get a lot of fast passes

that we could use later in the evening as it got

busy.  

Did you know that there are apps for your smart phones
that give you very accurate wait times so that you
can decide if you want to walk to that ride?  My DIL
told me about it and it was amazing to be able to see
that this ride had 10 minutes wait time and another
had 45 minutes wait time, so I could make a choice
without walking all across the park to see.  Check
out the app Mouse Wait.  It had both parks - it
was wonderful.

It was definitely a treat to see them light the

Sleeping Beauty's Castle
at night and enjoy the holiday

fireworks which they had ever night.

This year we went to the World of Color for

the first time.  My daughter had read online that you

could buy a picnic lunch for $15 and then you 

would receive priority standing room.  

The lunch was terrible - really the only yucky

food I had at Disneyland - just give me a ham 

sandwich as one of the options for a picnic

lunch - but it was worth it to be on the

front row right down by the water.  It was

a spectacular show.

This beautiful Belle Caramel Apple was 

something I hadn't seen before

 and of course we had to get a Minnie.

I carefully hand carried these home to share

on Sunday for my birthday dinner.

I didn't get a chance to go to Disneyland until

I was an adult in college and it has been 

a love affair ever since.  I am awed by the details

and the magic that goes into everything.  Just look

at those magical caramel apples.

Disneyland

To all who come to this happy place

WELCOME

Disneyland is your land.

Here age relives fond memories

of the past and here youth may savor

the challenge and promise of the future.

Disneyland is dedicated

to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard

facts that have created America... with the

hope that it will be a source of joy 

and inspiration to all the world.

July 17, 1955

I hope you enjoyed celebrating my birthday

with me.  I believe in celebrating my birthday,

birthweek and birthmonth.  I am glad for

each birthday, I think each one is a gift and

I hope you do too.