A Quick Weekend in L.A. - Part Two
If you haven't read the first part of our L.A. adventure, you can do so here!
Sunday was devoted to two things: Disneyland, and flying back across the country.
I hadn't been to California since I was 10, and the first and last time I visited Disneyland, I was maybe 3 years old - and have absolutely no memory or photographic evidence of it. So although we only had a few hours to enjoy the parks, I milked every single second of it. It just so happened that this visit lined up with Pixar Fest, and the final weeks of the Cove Bar being open.
In the week leading up to the trip, I'd been unable to secure a breakfast reservation at Carnation Cafe, but the reservation angels smiled down on me right before we left for California, and I was able to get an 8:00 breakfast for the two of us.
But before we could even get to the restaurant, I had to get my first look at Sleeping Beauty Castle. I walked down Main Street with my head down until I would have a reasonably clear view of the castle, and finally got to see that beauty in person. I mean yeah, it's small compared to my "home" castle of WDW (my mom looked at it and said "that's it? it's a HUT,"), but seriously, it's beautiful.
After I got my first look in, we made our way over to Carnation Café, where mom and I each got a Mickey Waffle and turkey bacon, enjoyed some sunshine, and then set off around Main Street to do some shopping. Before our day had really even started, I knocked out the souvenirs I wanted to make sure we left with. Instead of walking around with a million bags, we decided to treat ourselves to a Dooney Weekender, and stashed our new products in there. After our quick shopping spree, we grabbed Starbucks, and headed to the ONLY ride we would wind up doing this trip: It's a Small World. On that note: 10/10 recommend getting the MaxPass! It was so easy to book FastPasses without running around all over the place.
After Small World, I ran (well, speed-walked) my way to meet up with Raquel and Jen - two friends I've been lucky enough to meet through Instagram, and spend most of the day with them.
We stopped by Mickey's House (at the time though, he was on a "cheese break," to quote Raquel), and I couldn't help but be a little upset that Mickey's Toontown Fair was no longer part of Disney World. After seeing a bit more of Toontown, grabbing some popcorn, spending another few minutes by, and inside of Sleeping Beauty Castle, we met back up with my mom and made our way to DCA.
The main goal of heading to DCA was to have our first and last meal ever at the Cove Bar. Though we'll back back to the California and the parks twice more this year, Cove Bar is set to close at the end of the month, being replaced by Lamplight Lounge in June.
While the Cove Bar's Lobster Nachos were absolutely on my must list, I knew there was no way I could eat them all by myself, and my mom has a shellfish allergy. Luckily, we learned we could substitute the lobster for chicken, and when you specify that it's due to an allergy, they also tell you that the sauce has lobster in it, so you just get a boatload of extra cheese to make up for it. Of course, we also got two of their classic drinks: Cotton Candy Lemonade, and a Fun Wheel.
After lunch, we walked around DCA a bit longer, we did the Bakery Tour (definitely a highlight if you love carbs as much as I do), and then made our way back to Disneyland to catch the Pixar Play Parade before heading back to L.A. to grab our bags and make our way to the airport. The Play Parade filled me with so much magic, and even though one of the floats sprayed me and temporarily disabled my phone, I really can't wait to see it again soon.
All in all, we packed a lot in to an 8 hour day in Disneyland. Time flew by way faster than I would have liked, and there were certainly things I wanted to do but couldn't due to our time constraint. The best part of it all though, was getting to see friends on the other side of the country, and watching my mom soak up the Disney magic and be a kid again. Can't wait to head west again soon for more adventures.
Until July, California.
Magically,
Maya
