Pages

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Disney Trip Comes to a Close : The Final Chapter

 
 
Have you ever eaten at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ in Disneyland? If you haven't you HAVE to go one day.  It has some of the best grub there.  It also has an amazing atmosphere.  It is completely decked out in Western decor and there is usually live entertainment performing as well.  I'm not doing a full review of it today because I didn't take a lot of pictures of the food but we are going in December so I will take lots of pictures then. 
 
Enjoy this last installment of our wonderful Disney trip!
 
 
 
 

Here is the desk where you sign in for dinner.


View of the restaurant.  I love that it is all outdoors, under canopies and you sit at picnic tables.  Makes it feel so much more Western.


This is across the way from the restaurant.  I just thought it was cool looking.


Dad enjoying the last day and dinner of our trip.  I love how relaxed he looks!


Towards the end of the trip my Mom was getting sick of me taking pics. 


Earlier I talked about how I collected the pressed coins at Disneyland.  Here is a close-up of what I was talking about.  I know I am a nerd but they are seriously so cool! Such a fun thing to collect and show to my kid's one day.  If you are interested in doing this on a future trip (I highly recommend) then ask for a map of all the coin presses in one of the stores.  We got one from a very nice man in the store across from Soarin' Over California and it helped a TONNN in finding the machines.


Cheers!

Cheers again! Lemonade always tastes better in a mason jar.  Especially lemonade in a mason jar AT Disneyland.  Now that's a triple threat.


My Mom wanted me to take a picture of the butter because it was so weird looking.


Ken gettin' down and dirty from the BBQ.


At Big Thunder Ranch BBQ everything is served family style, meaning that they just keep bringing out cornbread, coleslaw, ribs, sausage, chicken and beans as much as you like and you just pass it around the table to serve your plates up.  It's so much fun and DELICIOUS.  It's kind of pricey but my husband and I highly recommend it.


This picture makes me laugh.  We asked for some napkins and our waiter came out with a HUGE stack of these fabric feeling ones.  My Mom was in awe over the quality and feel and kept using them and kept telling us to use them.  I think she took the whole stack home! She thought they were the most amazing thing she's ever come across.  What can I say.  In this family we're easily amused.


You will get dirty if you eat at this place but it is sooo worth it! On a later post I am talking about all of my top tips at Disney and one of them is bringing a cheap pack of baby wipes whether or not you have children.  This restaurant is a good example of why.


After we ate at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ we headed over to Casey Jr. Circus Train.  Here is Ken being weird.


Standing in line for the ride admiring the BEAUTIFUL tree.


Amazing flowers.


View of Fantasyland and King Arthur's Carousel.


A Disney duck.


On the train enjoying the relaxing ride.


This ride is called Storybook Land Canal Boats and is fun to go on during the day but a million times better at night.  It has miniature scenes of famous Disney movies and I don't know about you but anything is cuter when it is small.  Small shampoos, small lotions, etc.  This was no exception! There is a guide that takes you through all the scenes and music drifts from the individual vignettes as well.  At night it is all lit up and looks so magical.  We rode this at the end of our first day at night and it was just the perfect cherry on top for the evening. 


King Arthur's Carousel.


One of my favorites! Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  We always laugh a ton on this one. 


Me trying to imitate Mr. Toad.


Here is a window display.  I wish I had taken more pics of the displays because they have some amazing ones and although this is cute there are much better ones there.


Above the display I noticed some fun details on the building.  Here is Smee from "Peter Pan"!


And Captain Hook.


And the crocodile!


This place was just plain adorable.  It is called "Bibbidi Bobbiti Boutique" and located in Fantasyland.  Little girls can go do things like pick out a princess dress, get glitter designs on their face, get their hair and nails done, etc.  Seriously cute, cute, cute.


If you're over in Fantasyland you also need to check out the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough.  You make your way through the castle and get to view some amazing interactive, unique window displays telling the story.  I can't even explain it but it is one of my favorite things to do in Disneyland.


Another picture of one of the window displays.


Having fun on Space Mountain!


Our last go on Peter Pan.  What a good note to end on!


One of my last views of the castle from the Fantasyland side.  This is one my favorite pictures I took the entire trip there.  I love the lighting at night.  So magical.


I had never noticed these before.  There are some pretty murals on each side as you walk through the castle.


Admiring a fun window display on the way out on Main St. to get our ice-cream.


Our last snack at Disneyland.  A tasty Gibson Girl ice-cream cone.  Why does ice-cream taste SOOO much better in Disneyland? One of life's big questions.  My Dad had looked forward to getting an ice-cream here the ENTIRE trip.  I'm so glad he finally got one.


Mom getting annoyed that I'm trying to take her picture.


A VERY tired looking Kellee.  I will have you know I finished off every last morsel of that Disney mint chocolate-chip ice-cream cone.  So delicious. 

What a WONDERFUL trip we had.  So many fun memories and new things to see.  I can honestly say that Disneyland is one of my favorite places in the world.  Whenever we talk about vacations it is the only place I ever want to go.  My husband had never gone before he met me and we have the best time there.  It is a place where we laugh, sometimes cry (don't judge! World of Color and Fantasmic are beautiful!) and just have an all around fun and amazing time. 

I hope you enjoyed these installments of our Disney trip!

I will have another HUGE post broken down into installments when we make our journey there again in December.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for my best Disney tips and tricks post in the next few days. 

Have a good one!

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Disney California Adventure : Part 8

After Mickey's Fun Wheel we went to play a boardwalk game called "Stallion Stampede".
 
This was fun! You play skee ball to make your horse go faster and whoever wins get a cute little stuffed horse.  The horses all look similar to Bullseye from "Toy Story" but vary slightly depending which lane you choose.
 
 
 
 

Mom won! Dad and hubby are so sad.


The prize!


Admiring her winnings.


Consoling Father.


Over by Soarin' Over California there is a little show called "Minnie's Fly Girls".  It is very 1950's feeling and fun! It's only about 10 minutes but I recommend it if you like that era.


"Minnie's Fly Girls" singing.


Okay, this was my new FAVORITE thing to do at Disney California Adventure! It is the Beast's Library in the Art of Animation building.  Can I please live there?

It is a replica of the Beast's library from "Beauty and the Beast" and had so many neat features like the rose, the picture above the fireplace changing from looking new to having rips and tears and a firepace that looked real!
 


The windows on each side of the fireplace went from day to night! It really made you feel immersed in the theme.


The thing that you have to do in the library is take the character quiz.  They have fun chairs around the whole room that you can sit down in and see which Disney character you are most like.  I love that the quiz is animated.


I turned out to be most like Belle!


...and they lived Happily Ever After. =-)


Dad taking his quiz.


Dad taking his picture for the quiz.  He got distracted by something.


All the books!


The rose.


Right next door to the Beast's Library is Ursula's Grotto.  I laughed harder here than any other place in Disney.  It's hard to explain but basically you walk up to a very "under the sea" looking screen and choose whether you want to act or sing.  If you sing then Ursula steals your voice and you get to record your voice singing Disney songs.  If you act (this is by far the funniest) Ursula steals your voice and you get to do voice-overs on Disney scenes in movies.  We did all the scenes and it was beyond funny.  Highly recommend!


After we finished up at the Art of Animation building we ran into Molly! She was cruising around on her little bike and started chatting to us.  She was so funny! She stayed in character the whole time talking about how she lived with her Uncle Mac and how she deliverd mail.  She even said my jewels (my necklace) were lovely and asked if she could have them.  I told her she could borrow them and she let me wear her hat in exchange!


Here's Mom giving "directions" to Molly.
 
 
Mickey Mouse!