Disney Honeymoon

February 2019
The Rourke's take on Disneyland in sunny California! Read more
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  • 6days
  • 73photos
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  • Day 1

    Travel Day & Medieval Times!

    February 19, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    Our travel day started bright and early. We set our alarm clocks for 4:15am so we could be leaving the house by 5:00am. I stayed up a little too late making some pretty amazing bandanas as a last minute project, so I was running on MAYBE 4.5 hours of sleep. Anyhow, we got up and got everything ready to go. As we pulled up to the airport, I realized my purse was at home (with my epipen, credit cards, and drivers license 😑) So, what should have been a $10 cab ride, turned into a $30 cab ride. Oh well, I suppose. The flights were good. I couldn't sleep though. We both rested, but I don't think either of us slept in either flight. We had a long layover in Edmonton, an amazing breakfast burrito, the easiest trip through customs and flew WestJet Plus all the way to LA, which was great! We got meals and snacks and more than a few alcoholic beverages to make the ticket price worth it. 😂 We took a shuttle to our hotel, and had a little bit of a rest before heading out for supper. We took our first Uber (where I feel I embarrassed myself by tipping cash, noob). We walked the wrong way into Medieval Times and got SO CONFUSED. We got ourselves set back on the right path and got some Red Knight swag and had a Medieval Feast! It was a lot of fun. (Although it makes me pine for the Arizona Renaissance Festival.) It was a special birthday treat for Wallace so we got cake, VIP Royalty lanyards, and a specialized announcement during the show. Our knight died. But the show was still fun to watch and the food was tasty!

    But alas, we are in our 19th hour of being awake on 4.5 hours of sleep and I think we're going to hit the hay.
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  • Day 2

    Our Delightful Day at Disney!

    February 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Oh man, where to start? Today started off slow, a trip to get some groceries because our hotel doesn't have continental breakfast. I am always surprised to see liquor in a grocery store, but we bought some wine and beer. The beer is Shock Top (so good) and the wine was $3. We haven't tried it yet, but I felt like we just had to for that price. We ended getting to Disneyland around 3pm. (We walked and went through Downtown Disney. We signed up for the Disney Vacation Club presentation tomorrow because they will drive us to the park and give us money. 😂 Will update if we buy a timeshare. 😉 (I'm kidding.)

    Disney is amazing. Not only is it the happiest place on Earth, I feel like it is the safest. You go through a security check to get in, and walk though a metal detector. Some people may see this as a burden, but I really appreciate it, because I know that going in it's going to be so safe. There's security and police everywhere, and everyone is super nice. I get it now. I've heard that Disney is an intense place to work, and studying more about Arts and Cultural Management, I can't believe how much must go into this business. They have gone through so many lengths to make sure people are having the optimal experience. Lots of people sweeping up trash, lots of light and signage, and the app is a must have. It gives you everything! Ride wait times, ordering food, making reservations, booking rides, storing pictures! We didn't get any character autographs today because it was a short day, we spent it looking around and doing things we deemed more important. Being the low season, there were some things closed for refurbishment. The most depressing of which being Sleeping Beauty's Castle. (Guess I'll have to come back!)

    My very first ride at Disney was Star Tours, which is the Star Wars ride. :) We then saw that Space Mountain only had a 20 minute wait so we jumped on that opportunity. I had so much fun on Space Mountain, I actually kind of felt like I was going to cry because it was so magical. We then tried to figure out how to use the Fast Passes... Which we did! We got some food, watched the Soundsational Parade. (It focuses a lot on music.) And during the parade it started to rain! We walked through New Orleans Square and looked at the shops, and We ended up going back to the room to gear up a little better for the amount of rain, and made it back to the park in time for our ride on Indiana Jones. We then rushed to see the laser music show, (Mickey's Mix Magic?) and since there was still time we ran over to the carousel, and Snow White's Scary Adventure. We were running around pretty hard and the park closed. So we thought we'd go to Downtown Disney to get a beer and rest our feet. Well, everything there closes at 10 or 10:30 too. Soooo, we did a long and painful walk back to the hotel. We're both parked back in the hotel, have cracked a beer and I am curled up in bed, and Wallace just took a shower while I wrote this. So, bedtime beckons. (It's almost 2am back home!) 😴😴😴
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  • Day 3

    California Adventure!

    February 21, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

    Our second full day was spent in Disney California Adventure. We spent the morning getting wined and dined. (Okay, coffee'd and cookie'd) by the Disney Vacation Club. The presentation wasn't very high pressure, and we got 50 dollars each, and two Fast Passes out of it, so I'd say it was totally worth it.

    We got some lunch in Downtown Disney (Jambalaya, a Shrimp Po Boy and a mint julep) and headed into California Adventure. We had no idea where to go and what to do, so we walked around for a while, and decided to head to the Incredicoaster to put in our Fast Pass selection. Pixar Pier was fantastic! It's like a big Carnival there was a lot of great live music happening in California Adventure. We made our first ride the ferris wheel. We opted for a non-swinging gondola because the swinging ones are way too spooky. They slide along a track and will really swing when it gets going. We learned on our way to the DVC presentation that there are only 3 wheels like this in the world. (The others are non-Disney, in New York and Tokyo.) When we got off of the wheel it started to rain, but we had a good view of that from the wheel. We prepared for the rain better this time. We ended up doing a lot of walking around the park a little aimlessly, just taking it all in. We tried to use our next Fast Pass to get onto Guardians of the Galaxy but they were sold out by the time we got there. We ran back to the Incredicoaster and I loved it! There was virtually no line because they had just reopened it after the rain/lightning. I learned something new about myself. Apparently I like roller coasters! I loved it! We dashed back over to Guardians because the wait time was under an hour. One thing I wasn't crazy about in California Adventure was that it didn't feel as easy to navigate. We did a lot of running back and forth, and it pretty much wrecked both of us.

    We waited for a bit in the Guardians line, until we learned it was a Drop of Doom type ride, and Wallace does not enjoy those (and I'm not overly fond of them anyhow) so we ditched the line, and went to meet Spiderman, Black Panther, and then I got pulled up to dance during a little dance show with Star Lord and Gamora. This was super fun. Wallace said it was his favourite part of the day. I really wanted to see the World of Colour, and the Pier all lit up, so we wanted to stay just until it got a little dark. I realized that the World of Colour is also under refurbishment. Next time I'm coming back in a slightly busier season. There are so many iconic things that they had down! The pier was still amazing all lit up. We rode a ride called Soarin' which was a simular or type rode, with smells and everything. (We could really smell the elephants!) Then we rode the Zephyr, which is a swing, but with rockets. Then I rode the Silly Symphony Swings, we got a picture with Buzz Lightyear and we did the Incredicoaster one more time.

    We met Goofy on our way out, and retired to our room a little early with a pizza and sat to soothe our poor muscles. We're both hoping to be a little kinder to our bodies in the next few days, although our plans are for Universal (the Wonderful Wizarding World!) and another big day at Disneyland on Saturday. Wish us luck. 👍😂
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  • Day 4

    Ermehgerd Herry Pertter

    February 22, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We just got to Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We're in line for wand fitting. Will update if I cry. (I probably won't drop as quick of footprints like this. But this one deserved its own.)

  • Day 4

    The Wizarding World of WOW!

    February 22, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Oh my gosh, what a day. Universal was an absolute blast. We were the first pickup on the bus line, so we were up early and running to make sure we were in the right place. (We were, and we got there with lots of time to spare.) We got picked up at 7:50, and dropped off to the park at 10. It was a long trip, but the bus had comfy seats, and we just relaxed.

    The weather was beautiful today. We enjoyed that famed California sunshine. It was clear and blue all day. No wonder 17 million people live here.

    When we got to the park we beeline'd straight to the Wandfitting (as per my earlier footprint). I didn't cry, but it was super magical. I was surprised that the shop didn't have Pottermore wands, (for example, the Pottermore quiz told me my wand was Pear wood with a Unicorn Hair core) but instead they tell you which ones might best match your personality. I chose a Holly wand, and Wallace chose an Oak. I'll post the pictures of why we chose these.

    The wands interact with the park, so we ran around casting Spells and it was way too much fun. We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks and had a hot butterbeer with lunch. We made it a goal to go to every shop in the Wizarding World and we did! We also did both of the Harry Potter rides.

    Really, the best part was just looking around and enjoying living in the Wizarding World! (And Butterbeer!)
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  • Day 4

    Universal Studios Hollywood (1/2)

    February 22, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Alright, so aside from Harry Potter, Universal was still fantastic. We met Beetlejuice, Homer and Marge, Sideshow Bob, saw Water World, (which was a super fun show) ate a super massive donut from Lard Lad, Wallace got a Squishee, we took the super fun Studio Tour, and saw some amazing sites of the mountains, especially as the sun was setting!

    We got Just Married pins, and 1st Visit pins, so everyone was especially super nice to us. They took fancy pictures, which we opted not to buy, because we're doing the Max Pass tomorrow at Disneyland, so we are going to get professional photos from that. We still have options to buy some after if we want. :)

    I really liked the Studio Tour, but I don't think Wallace loves breaking the movie magic. (Even though I always point out when something is so obviously green-screened.) Wallace had a great time in the Simpsons part, he said he didn't even realize how engrained the Simpsons is for him.

    Overall, we just had a really fantastic day. 😊
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  • Day 5

    All-Day Disney Extravaganza (Teaser)

    February 23, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We did the Magic Morning and stayed until the park closed basically. Too tired to write. 😴 I'll make a post either waiting in LAX, or I'll write it on the flight and post in when we land in Vancouver tomorrow. Here's a teaser photo to tide you over. 📸Read more