From our toy blog: Presley's Little People Blog: Welcome to the Playroom Theme Park Resort!

Over at our toy blog we have the story of our current toy collection playroom:

Presley's Little People Blog: Welcome to the Playroom Theme Park Resort!: What happens when you combine Fisher-Price toys with Disney Magic? You get the Happiest Playroom on Earth! 

Rainy day fun day at Disneyland

Rainy day at Downtown Disney as a Mickey wrapped Monorail passes by

We made our first family trip in over 2 years to the Happiest Place on Earth in January. While in Southern California we visited the Disneyland Resort and had quite a memorable visit. In a first for us we went to Disneyland in the rain. We have been rained on in Florida at Walt Disney World, but we could never recall a rainy day Disneyland visit. Actually it pretty much rained the whole time we were in California and it was only marginally warmer than the North Carolina weather we left behind. Still we made the best of it and ultimately had a nice time at the resort. During the rain just about every ride was walk on but as the rain cleared the park filled up in the afternoon and evening with the pass holders Disneyland is famous for.  Most of our family lives in Southern California so we were joined on this visit by nieces, nephews, "Nannie", and an auntie!

With our own "Sleeping Beauty" in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle

Sleeping Beauty Castle was closed to undergo renovations in time for the opening of Star Wars Land (Dad still can’t get used to calling it “Galaxy’s Edge”). The scuttlebutt is the roof has needed to be replaced since the 60th Celebration Decorations were removed. At the time of our visit there was a wall at ground level but the upper towers were still visible.

Walt Disney World has conditioned us to not expect to easily walk through the castle since the stage is so often in use that frankly we did not really mind that the lower levels of Sleeping Beauty Castle were obscured. We still managed some nice photos of the Castle(albeit wet ones!), especially from a distance. Toddler Son was especially looking forward to seeing the Castle and did not seem to mind that it was blocked off at ground level.

We had hoped to time our trip so as to see some of the “Holiday Overlays” and managed to ride “It’s A Small World Holiday”.

This was a real highlight of the trip, the attraction looked wonderful inside and out with all of the Christmas & Holiday Decorations.

The exterior of the Disneyland It’s a Small World is spectacular and after seeing so many YouTube videos Toddler Son was excited to see it in person.

He had been to Disneyland one other time for his first birthday but did not retain any memory of it. The Haunted Mansion was closed to remove the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. We spent some time at Mickey's Toontown, including walking right on to Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin! Had to play around with the photo ops and pose on the Jolly Trolley.

Teenage Son is unabashedly a Disneylander with almost no reservations, he loves Walt Disney World (EPCOT especially) but usually finds Disneyland to be the superior “Magic Kingdom”. Mom & Dad have a more complex view of  the Disneyland vs Magic Kingdom debate preferring to appreciate their differences rather than make a call of one over the other.

Disneyland is very dense with attractions seemingly on top of each other. Dad found himself with tunnel vision due to the closer quarters and lack of distant views he had gotten used to at Walt Disney World.  When we first started visiting Magic Kingdom in Florida there was a period of adjustment where we were disoriented and kept trying to find Disneyland in the Magic Kingdom, now after having made so many visits to the Florida park we may have been guilty of looking for Magic Kingdom in Disneyland subconsciously.  It really is striking how much more "cozy" Disneyland is, just about everything is at a smaller scale and yet it probably has twice as much detail and more attractions.

Pearlie Band walking through Fantasyland

Fantasyland in particular was a real treat, we pretty much walked form Dark Ride to Dark Ride with no wait (except for PeterPan...even in the rain that one had a wait). We enjoyed California unique rides like Snow White's Adventure, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad, & Alice In Wonderland.

Dumbo in the rain is not an entirely pleasurable experience as the rain drops seem to come at you in a horizontal direction, but we made the best of our situation and ultimately had a great visit to Fantasyland.

After Fanatsyland we took the Disneyland Railroad to the Frontierland/Adventureland side of the park while enjoying the Grand Canyon & Primeval World dioramas...two elements sorely missing from the Walt Disney World Railroad. Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean really shines with it's moody bayou, 2 waterfalls and caverns.

The Enchanted Tiki Room has a longer show, a water fountain, and enjoys more audience participation & enthusiasm than the Florida counterpart. While there we briefly visited the "Tropical Hideaway" snack area made from Aladdin's Oasis/Tahitian Terrace remnants.  We had never been to either of those venues so that was all new to us, the view of the Jungle Cruise dock and "Rosita" the "lost" Tiki Bird are nice touches.

Pin trading in action

magic carpet ride

"Star Wars Land" looms large in the distance but can also be surprisingly ignored if you so choose to. The transitional area between it and the rest of Disneyland is a remarkably detailed desert scene that blends in nicely with Frontierland, unfortunately we did not get a chance to ride the train or the Mark Twain around the newer river scenes.  The crowds of people heading there and perhaps lift hill views from Big Thunder will be the only signs that there is something beyond the berm.

Most of the evening was spent at California Adventure. 

While at Cal Adventure our party took in Monsters Inc, Guardians of the Galaxy, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, The Little Mermaid, & The Incredicoaster(Agent P went on the Incredicoaster and enjoyed it and followed it up with one of Jack Jack's cookies).

The original Twilight Zone theming on the Tower of Terror made much more sense with the overall park and the Guardians of the Galaxy exterior is very jarring. But the ride itself is well done and lots of fun.  The ride experience seems longer and the randomized drops are thrilling.

We returned to Disneyland to ride Alice in Wonderland and to see the park lit up at night.

All in all we had a great time, how can you not at the Happiest Place on Earth?

Downtown Disney World of Disney window display 

Sketch: Christmas Castles at Disneyland & Walt Disney World

The Christmas lights on Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland are an enchanting holiday spectacle that inspired this sketch. It has been nearly 10 years since we have seen Disneyland in it’s Holiday decorations.

We have been fortunate enough to be able to visit Walt Disney World during the holidays the last 4 years. At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Cinderella Castle is adorned in the “Dreamlights” and at nearly 200’ tall the castle decked out head to toe in lights is a remarkable sight and inspired the following sketch.

Sketch of Cinderella Castle in dreamlights

Sketch: Sleeping Beauty Castle

The final sketch in the "Family Series" is Mom & Dad in front of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. This series began as an outgrowth of Toddler Son's requests for Dad to draw with him. It started with a sketch of Toddler Son and a balloon at Cinderella Castle and was followed by a sketch of Teenage Son/Agent P with Figment at Spaceship Earth. Since Mom & Dad went on their first date to Disneyland it seemed like drawing them in front of the original Disney Castle would be a great way to close out the series. Again all three drawings in the set are color pencil style crayons on Xerox paper. Please look back on the previous 2 posts to see the other drawings in the set!

One Man's Dream at Disney's Hollywood Studios

On our last trip to Disney's Hollywood Studios Toddler Son surprised us by how thrilled he was to tour this museum exhibit on Walt Disney. Of course we all love it, but really had no idea how excited the 2 1/2 year old would be to look at the models and displays of Disney art. At only 4 rides (only 1 of which a Toddler can ride) Hollywood Studios is not the most fun place for a little guy. When combined with the lack of an icon that engages the very young (say Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth) we could sort of tell he was left without a really strong point of reference. We were there for Star Wars Galactic Nights so missed the toddler programming. But he was beyond excited upon discovering this exhibit and from then on he started having the attitude of someone who found the Walt Disney at this Disney Park. Toddler Son loves old Walt Disney Small World & Carousel Of Progress videos on YouTube so he knows who "Wal Dis" is, and he immediately recognized Walt Disney from the classic photo of Walt & Mickey in a car at Disneyland.

Toddler Son loves castles, having been raised on a generous diet of Disney films/TV and Disney Channel/Disney Junior. So he would get excited at seeing the castle logo before movies. At some point between Disney World commercials and our visits he made the connection that the castle is a real place which only made him more of a fan. He has started to make the distinction between Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland and Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World.  

Disneyland Display - 2018

The exhibit gives some background to the life of Walt Disney and Disneyland, Walt Disney World and beyond. The exhibit used to lead to a film on the life of Walt Disney, but now it is usually a film preview instead (we saw the first scenes of Incredibles 2). Over the years the exhibit has been truncated and an unrelated meet and greet has been added(Starlord & Groot from Guardians of the galaxy were there). Still what is left is still something worth seeing and it certainly made Toddler Son's night.

Disneyland Castle Model- 2015

Walt Disney World Castle Model- 2015

Disneyland Paris Castle Model - 2015

For Toddler Son he loved the castle displays and the It's A Small World exhibit as that is his all time favorite ride. He also was very intrigued by the Jungle Cruise model. At home we have a lot of toys of castles and monorails so he likes to recreate the Disney experience at home in between visits.

Small World Exhibit -2018

Small World Exhibit- 2015

World's Fair/Small World Exhibit- 2015

We've been to this exhibit 3 times (photos have the date they were taken), although it has shrunken in size over the years we are very glad it remains in some form. Highlights are always the castle art and the wonderful Imagineering models. 

Disneyland Concept Rendering- 2018

Spaceship Earth- 2015

Peter Pan's Flight Model- 2015

On our first visit there was a wonderful mockup of Walt Disney filming the EPCOT film, but sadly this has been removed.

Walt & EPCOT- 2015

Years ago we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and there was a large mural of the Ryman concept painting of Sleeping Beauty Castle...the one before the castle had been "turned" around. Dad took a picture with Teenage Son when he was a toddler in front of this mural like we were "walking" into the mural. A few years ago we recreated the photo at this exhibit...and on this trip we recreated the picture again this time with Toddler Son joining the fun.

At the Ryman Sleeping Beauty Castle Concept Art Mural, Hollywood Studios- 2018 

At the Ryman Sleeping Beauty Castle Concept Art Mural, Hollywood Studios 2015

At the Ryman Sleeping Beauty Castle Concept Art Mural, Disneyland Hotel Lobby- 2006