Another Trip to the Happiest Place on Earth

It has become a bit of a tradition to go to Disneyland at the end of the summer for a girls only trip! We've done it the last 5 or so years, and I always look forward to it. I'll take ANY excuse to go to Disneyland, let's be honest, haha.

My life is a bit of a paradox, because I constantly talk about how I'm 100 years old inside, but I also feel like I'm a kid at heart who will never really 'grow up'. Figure that one out.

We started the day out in Cars Land! Pretty much everyone's favorite ride is the Racer's so we naturally had to head straight to that.

Then we were off to one of the best rides EVER Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters.

Me and my cute mom :)

OK PEOPLE. Let's talk about the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Let me preface this by saying I am a HUGE Tower of Terror fan and was extremely angered at the prospect of it getting replaced. With that said I am also a huge Guardians of the Galaxy fan, so I was trying to be as optimistic as possible going into this ride for the first time.

And let me just say IT WAS AWESOME! I loved it.

Yes, I miss Tower of Terror.

Yes I wish they had never replaced it.

However Guardians of the Galaxy is a fun new twist and they did a REALLY good job. I quite enjoyed it and we were able to ride it three times! I thought for sure the lines would be forever long, but honestly we probably only waited 45 minutes each time. There are six songs possible for each ride and depending on what song you get it is a different ride experience - pretty neat!

Day 2 my little sister Margaret (real name Maggie) arrived! We all wore our matching 'I Love Minnie' shirts, and went to go see Minnie herself! While waiting in line one of the cast members looked at all of our shirts and said "You guys are definitely in the right place!".

Disneyland is always the right place though, no matter what!

Anyway let's rewind for a second, the beginning of Day 2 we headed straight to good ol' Frontierland for a very special treat!!!

Mickey Mouse pancakes at Rancho del Zocalo!

I feel like Frontierland is a very non-traditional place to eat Mickey Mouse pancakes, particularly at a Mexican restaurant?? But they stopped selling them at the River Belle Terrace for whatever reason, and the Carnation Cafe got turned into a sit down restaurant where you pretty much have to have a reservation to get in.... So we had to make due.

Our Mickey Mouse pancakes got us all hyped up for the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!!! Big Thunder Mountain railroad.

I just realized I didn't post a pic yet of by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad shirt! I recently starting following a bunch of instagram shops that sell Disneyland t-shirts. They're unique and lots cheaper than anything at the parks. Maybe someday I will link them all here.

When ordering this shirt I was like, peach is such a cute color! Then I put it on and I was all like... oh yeah I'm WHITER THAN WHITE and have red hair. So the color wasn't doing much for my complexion, but I still felt cool anyway.

My two Disneyland faves... Haunted Mansion and a Mint Julep. I was so happy that Haunted Mansion hadn't yet closed down for the transition into the holiday version, because it's my favorite ride, and what's worse than going to Disneyland and finding out your favoritest ride is closed?

We rode Thunder Mountain Railroad so many times, I can't even tell you.

One highlight of the trip was me and Bo got to sit in the very back seat of the Casey Junior Circus Train... which everyone knows that is the most coveted spot and the odds of actually getting it are like 0%. I couldn't believe our good fortune! It's the best seat because you get to sit backwards, and for some reason that makes it more fun.

Hey, it's Guido! Also I broke down and bought an MU hat, guys. I've been resisting for so long because everyone else has them. But I finally got over my hipster problems and bought one because let's face it my life dream is to enroll at Monster's University and I can sing the first two lines of the MU fight song. So that makes me pretty official.

Could not stop riding this ride! It's the best, I tell you.

Last minute before closing ride on the carousel.

Beignets! Highly recommend.

Who knew safety cones made such good backdrops.

Just crazy Aunt Toni in the front wearing a shower cap (Toni, if you're reading this I love you!).

We ended our last day with the World of Color.

Why oh why did it have to end??? Someday I will move to Disneyland and live there forever, just haven't found someone to fund that yet.

Disneyland I miss you already.

Embroidered Quilts

If you've ever perused through my bucket list you will notice that item #14 is to make quilts for all my favorite people! That particular item is probably going to take forever to actually check it off because I have a lot of cool people in my life to make quilts for.

With two of my sister in laws being pregnant and having babies this year I decided to start by making quilts for my two little nieces.

I didn't want to make just any old quilts though, I wanted them to be special and personal. So I decided to embroider some of the squares.

Embroidery is such a lost art, and it probably makes me seem like I'm actually 100 years old that I'm embroidering something but I love it!

It's relaxing and a good way to keep my busy brain from worrying about all the crazy things going on in my life. It's therapeutic. Just like baking is for me. It's important to have a hobby that can take your mind off the stresses of every day. But I digress...

Here are some, but not all of the embroidered squares for the quilts.

This one was by far my favorite I've done! Someday when I make my own quilt I'm going to embroider every square with something Disney, haha.

Unicorn.

Speaking of unicorns the Vans store has UNICORN SHOES for little girls and they are SO SO cute. Like if I had a baby right now, I would've bought it. Here's the link. 

 Little sheep.

More Disney references!

Finished quilts!

My Current Disneyland Favorites

After my angsty post yesterday I decided to post something a little more positive, and what more positive than DISNEYLAND. My favoritest place in the whole wide world. It just hit me that I'm going again in three weeks and so I decided to compile a list of my current Disneyland favs!

Here is my old Disneyland favs list.

So in no particular order.....

#1 Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters

Mock me if you will but this ride is AWESOME. At first glance you may think "Oh wow that's just a dumb kids ride!" But in doing so you will miss out on one of the greatest rides currently at the Disney parks! Located in Cars Land at Casa Della Tires (where the old hover-tire ride used to be), this ride was such a pleasant find for me. You hop in a little car, surrounded by other little cars and then what commences after that I can only liken to a car line-dance set to italian music. It's cute, it's funny. A new favorite of mine for sure.

#2 The Haunted Mansion

(warning the above photo was when I was 14 years old and going through an 80's phase... please excuse the Members Only jacket, and large Madonna-esque hairbow)

Haunted Mansion has been my favorite ride for the last 10 or so years. When I was a kid of course I was terrified of it. I'm not usually that into scary/horror type stuff but this Haunted Mansion is just disney-fied enough that I can actually enjoy it. It's scary without being scary, if you know what I mean. I know Disneyland so well not much is a mystery to me anymore, but for some reason Haunted Mansion still seems mysterious. Particularly when viewing it from across the Rivers of America at night, seeing the soft glowing candles reflecting in the water. As you draw closer you hear the tinkle of a music box echoing from somewhere distant....

#3 World of Color

World of Color is a water/light show that takes place in California Adventure! The mix of classic Disney music, water and light is something truly magical. When I was younger I was so ride oriented I didn't stop and take the time to enjoy such treasures as Fantasmic, the parades, the fireworks, etc. Now that I'm older I realize all the shows are such a huge part of the Disneyland experience. As well as simply walking along, and enjoying all the intricate details that make up the atmosphere of Disneyland! There is magic to behold in every nook and cranny of the park :) (there's my cheeseball spiel for ya). Anyway, moving on....

#4 Entrance to Disneyland/Main Street USA

One of my favorite moments when going to Disneyland is walking up to the gates on the very first day of the trip! People say the anticipation of something sometimes is better than the actual thing itself, and I think that is partially true! What better feeling than having a freshly printed off Disneyland ticket scanned for the first time and walking through the gates of the Magic Kingdom? 

Your first view as you enter Disneyland is of course Main Street USA. This has always been a favorite area of the park for me. I love hearing the various bands play, seeing the twinkle of all the lights of the shops, smelling freshly baked goods wafting out of the bakery.... I could go on and on

#5 Sleeping Beauty Castle

What is more quintessentially Disney than the castle? You see it at the beginning of every single Disney film. You see it at the end of Main Street as you begin your journey into the park. It has been a symbol of Disneyland since the day the park opened!

Did you know there is a walkthrough that goes up into the castle that tells the story of Sleeping Beauty? The steps are located kind of off to the side as you initially walk into Fantasyland. Kind of a fun little thing to do.

The castle at christmastime!

Not pictured, but another one of my all time favorite places is Snow White's grotto that is also off to the side of the castle. Complete with a wishing well! If you listen closely you can hear Snow White singing :)

I have soooo many Disneyland favorites, if I listed them all I would probably list off every part of the park, haha! So mom, Shelby.... any other of my 3 readers.... what are your Disneyland favorites?