As on most of our trips, I was up before five so that we could be on the road by 6:15 am. Crazy, I know, but just fifteen minutes later and I'm fighting traffic in several different points along our route. But Saturday we slowed only in the Norwalk stretch. (When we hit that spot a few years ago my son remarked that it was where you could "neither drive nor walk." Cracked me up.)
Exit, parking, elevator, security check all went well. The machines at the parking structure security checkpoint are set on super sensitive, and, as usual, my knee set them off. I told the guard it was my knee and he asked me to go back and come back again. "Beep, beep, beep," and he commented, "When you're right, you're right, and you're right," one of my favorite quotes. We love to take the tram on our visits (as kids we called it the first ride of the day), but they have flipped the tram route and not drop passengers opposite from where we want to be in Downtown Disney, so we have been taking the Mickey Van, which drops us very close to our breakfast destination.
We've had a lot of spectacular fun character breakfasts at the Storyteller Cafe in the Grand Californian, but there are a few inconveniences attached to that. For one thing, it's a far walk for my sister pushing my mom in her wheelchair (and for me still not 100% after my knee replacement) and for another, there is a full security check as you leave the hotel for the park areas. In addition, all character breakfasts are pricey because of the entertainment. And although the buffet looks like offers many many choices, in reality I am limited to meat and eggs, since I don't eat grains (except for sourdough bread) or fruit.
All said, we decided to switch and try the La Brea Bakery for breakfast and scored a new place to always have breakfast. Delightful outside seating where we could hear the location music and do some seriously fun people watching. Table service with the most delightful server from a menu full of hard choices. In the end, we all chose the eggs and meat and THIS time they had sourdough toast (and brought extra butter) instead of croissants as the only bread choice.
After breakfast we headed into the park and were surprised and delighted to see that it has been decorated for Valentine's month. SO cute.
As usual, we wandered through the Emporium to check out the new merchandise on our way into the park. One of my merch goals for this trip was the Funko Pop Alice in Wonderland in the Teacup piece that was being released that day at Wonderground. But after breakfast I didn't feel like making the long walk to the gallery and gave up on the purchase, choosing instead to check out the new Sleeping Beauty fairies purse at the Clothiers after the Emporium. $228 for a purse!!! Um, no that's not me.
We had just seen - and enjoyed - the new Mary Poppins movie a few days before so decided to take in the exhibit at the Opera House. (Fun.) Decided to wander through the Gallery afterwards, and was thrilled to see that they were launching Alice in the Teacup there as well, so I was able to get mine. (BTW, I don't collect Funko Pop, but I do love the teacups ride. Just wish they'd put in the Mad Hatter instead of Alice.)
On the way out we ran into Maynard, the biggest celebrity castmember in the park. You never know when he will show up, and he's just a really funny, fun guy to get a picture with.
When we were walking down Main Street toward the Opera House, I had noticed the Silhouette shop and decided we needed to have our silhouettes done this trip.
After silhouettes, my sister took my mom to Coke Corner for a rest and something to drink while I settled up for the silhouette. When I got to the Corner, we noticed the piano player's name was one we didn't recognize. Jason. We couldn't believe our luck when he started to play. We hadn't heard a piano player that good at the Coke Corner in years. We enjoyed the first set, then stayed for the second. After the second set, Jason came over to say hello. As he chatted, he shared something that he was very excited about, but not as excited as we were to hear it. Come April, Jason will be the regular Saturday Ragtime Piano Player.
Our Saturday visits just got a whole lot better!
We stayed through the Dapper Dans set, and then hung around to see if our friend the Mad Hatter would show up for Musical Chairs. And so he did, even took a moment while the kids were music-ing around the chairs to come over and give Mom a little hug.
So sweet.
It has taken us years, but we recently found that the best time to get a fried chicken dinner at the Plaza Inn (my sister's favorite dinner) is during the first parade, so after Musical Chairs we headed over for a late lunch or early dinner.
Our next stop was a favorite bench to wait for the evening parade. A great place to people watch, and the location of the balloon vendor who was selling the pink Jerrod Maruyama balloon I had sent a wish for when I saw one at the Coke Corner. My sister spied the balloon not too far away and promised to keep it under control on the ride home, so I walked over and got into the balloon line behind a group of three happy females. An adorable little girl with a princess bun and glitter on her cheeks. She had sparkling eyes and a delightful smile that showed the space where a little tooth was no longer in place.
She was excited, watching the balloon vendor tying her pink Maruyama balloon to the Minnie Mouse weight. Mom was getting in position to take her picture with the vendor once he was done, but there was a complication.
Apparently someone had told the family (I'm guessing from Australia) that because the little girl was wearing a "First Visit" button, she would get a free balloon, and she had chosen her balloon - the same as the one I wanted - before the vendor explained that they had been misinformed and that the balloons cost $9.00. Grandma was frantically pulling together all the cash she and her daughter had on them and it wasn't adding up to $9.00. The little girl caught on to what was happening and the light in her eyes started to dim. A lovely impulse washed over me, and I handed over the ten I'd been holding. Oh, it was so much fun. I don't know which of the three ladies was more excited. The little girl who was getting her balloon after all or the two grown women, shocked that anyone would do such a thing. I assured them, it was the most fun I'd had all day, totally my pleasure, and turned to buy my own balloon. And while the vendor was tying my pink Maruyama balloon to the Minnie Mouse weight, the little girl's mom and grandma stole me because, they said, that sweet little shiny-faced girl with a pink balloon wanted a picture with ME.
Now, that's Disneyland magic. The second time in a month that a Jerrod Maruyama balloon has brought me Mickey magic.
It was a short time later, after a lovely Disney pink sunset...
... that we heard the first percussion segment of the SOUNDSATIONAL parade that had just returned after a long absence.
SUCH a fun parade! And I don't know if they changed the arrangements slightly or if it was just excitement over being back dancing in the street, but it seemed to me that the energy of the parade had jumped considerably.
We left the Park right after the parade and were treated to a comedian courtesy van driver who drove his van through a pretty impressive imitation of the Indiana Jones ride, then made out way onto the 5.
Normally I take the 5 all the way to the 118 and to my mom's house to drop her and my sister off, But I got distracted by a personal license plate and didn't make the switch into the 5 lane at the 101 transition and ended up on the 101. I was busy beating myself up when my sister said, "I think the Universae is setting something up." Which calmed me down. Of course. I decided to just take the 101 into the SF Valley, then get on a familiar street (the one we use when my mom needs to go to the Kaiser Center in Woodland Hills) to go across the Valley and onto the 118 just about where it enters the town my mom lives in. In the end, I decided that route was - except through the city of Los Angeles itself - much less stressful that the route I've been using.
All in all, a perfect day.
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