Disneyland in the Third Trimester

Since I am having serious Disneyland withdrawals waiting to hear when it will reopen I figured it was time to write about my last trip to Disneyland. Who knows when the next time I will be able to go but I know it will be at least a year and a half between my last trip and my next trip!

Last July (2019) at 31 weeks pregnant I went to Disneyland with a couple of my girlfriends. I had thought my trip in the beginning of my second trimester would be my last before baby girl arrived but when the opportunity presented itself and I was still feeling fine I decided to go for it. I kept an eye on the weather in the weeks before the trip because I knew if the weather report said it was going to be 100 degrees while I was there I knew I needed to not go. The weather was supposed to be in the low to mid 80's while I was there so that was fine. For the first time I got to pre-board the airplane which was kind of cool.  I didn't really need the extra time to get on the plane but it allowed me to sit in the bulkhead seat which was way easier to get in and out of with a big ole belly.

We stayed at the Best Western that was right at the crosswalk to Disneyland and it was super convenient.  Breakfast was included and you can't beat the location unless you are staying on property. I would definitely stay there again. Our first night we just walked over to Downtown Disney to have dinner and do a little shopping since we all got there in the late afternoon. 

While we were there Galaxy's Edge had only been open to the public without a reservation to enter the land for about a month so it was still very new. You didn't need a reservation to get into the land but at this point they were still doing same day only reservations for Olga's Cantina so I logged on first thing in the morning and made us a reservation to check it out. Our reservation was for sometime in the late morning but we still ordered a cocktail.  We got the blue milk, the fuzzy tonton and something else. They were all good and the fuzzy tonton did actually make your lips tingle so that was kind of fun. 

While my girlfriends rode Smugglers Run without me (not pregnancy approved) I decided to take advantage of the PhotoPass photographer and get my picture taken in Batuu. I have been to Disneyland enough times that I pretty much know where everything is so going to Batuu and having no clue where anything was was kind of a strange feeling. Don't worry I found the bathroom which is a necessity when pregnant to always know where the bathroom is.

That afternoon we headed over to the Disneyland Hotel for Alice in Wonderland tea. Taking a break from the parks for a little while in the afternoon is always nice but when you are very pregnant it becomes a necessity. I knew I would need more breaks than normal so I was glad that when I suggested tea my friends were all for it. All the food was good but my favorite thing was the little cups with fried basil on top.

We decided we were going to try and stay for the fireworks so after dinner I took another break while my friends went on a few non-pregnancy friendly rides. This time I went and sat in the lobby of the Grand Californian and had a grapefruit and ginger ale. Despite the break I didn't exactly make it to watch the fireworks but we ended up getting stuck in the Haunted Mansion for a little while so I saw the beginning of them on my walk back to the hotel. 

Our second day in the parks we rode the double decker bus down Main Street which is not something I usually take the time to do so that was nice. 

I didn't get a good picture of me wearing it but my teal shirt said snacking for two and was from Blushing Mimosa Co on Etsy though it doesn't look like this exact shirt is available anymore. 

One of my favorite ways to take a break during the afternoon is to go and sit at the bar in Carthay Circle Loung, have a cocktail, a snack (or late lunch) and chat with the bartenders and whoever else is sitting at the bar. Many of my Disney trips are solo trips (though those might be a rare occurrence now that I have a child) so it is usually pretty easy to get one seat at the bar. This time I didn't get a cocktail (obviously) but I did sit at the bar and rest while my friends rode a few things I couldn't. The bartenders are great at making up drinks (both alcoholic and non) so of course my drink was fabulous. 

 

One last story from my trip: My friends went off to ride Big Thunder and then had Fastpasses to Indiana Jones so I decided to see what I could ride in Fantasyland before meeting up with them again. I rode a couple of rides and then ended up on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride since it is one of my favorites.  I made it almost to the end of the ride and then the ride stopped. I am sitting in the dark in the train crash room right before Mr. Toad goes to hell and then the lights go on and an announcement comes on saying to stay in your cars and someone will come lead you out of the ride. When the cast member gets to me (with a group of people from the previous dozen cars behind me) I get out and we head forward towards the next room. There is a car stopped right in the doorway between the room I am in and the next room and so everyone walks along the side to get past it. I try and can't get past it because the widest part of the car is right at the height of my big baby belly.  I start laughing and tell the cast member I don't fit.  He looks worried for a sec but then realizes I am not offended about not fitting and has me wait while he takes everyone else out.  He comes back and gets me and we go backwards towards the entrance to the ride and I got to see all the rooms of Mr. Toad with the lights on. Makes for a pretty good pregnant at Disneyland story!

Now I just have to wait for Disneyland to reopen so I can take my daughter!

Disneyland in the Second Trimester

Right as I entered my second trimester I took a long weekend trip to Disneyland. My annual pass expired in November last year but I decided to take one more trip to Disneyland to celebrate my pregnancy.  I thought this would be my last Disney trip for at least a year or two but there is actually a chance I am going again this summer. More on that later if it happens.

Even though I know I will get her this pin again the first time I take her to Disneyland after she is born I still wanted to get a pin to wear on my belly.  The pin lasted about half an hour because it was awkward when I sat down and I was just scared of it coming undone and poking me in the stomach. Cute idea that just didn't work out very well

I knew this trip was going to be a little different because I couldn't ride all the rides and had to account for some extra tiredness.  Each stage of pregnancy comes with their own special circumstances but by this point the constant nausea had gone away and I only got nauseous if I let my self get hungry so there was lots of snacking. My food aversions were much better than they were even a couple of weeks before my trip but I still was mostly wanting carbs, fruits and veggies and not too much meat.

I always love tea at the Disneyland Hotel so I booked that for one of the days I was there as a good way to take a break in the middle of the day and rest in the air conditioning. The food was delicious as always and it was a good break in my day.  

Another good break in the middle of the day is sitting in the Carthay Circle Lounge.  Normally I stop in there for a break and have a snack and a cocktail or two but obviously that later part was out for this trip. One day I tried there non-alcoholic wine soda and it was a fail.  It just tasted like grape juice and not even very good grape juice.

After the grape juice incident I learned my lesson and just asked the bar tenders to make me something yummy and non-alcoholic. I took a break there on two different days and had multiple delicious mock-tails. One was sort of like a mojito and one had grapefruit juice.  The Food and Wine Festival was going on while I was there and they had this non-alcoholic watermelon drink that was so refreshing and just fantastic.  I may have had that one more than once it was so good.

While I couldn't ride anything with the word mountain in it or basically any of the "thrill rides" there were still plenty of rides I could ride.  I love Fantasyland so I was perfectly happy taking the time to ride all of the rides there as well as multiple trips on Buzz Lightyear and Midway Mania. I also enjoyed going to the Animation Academy and seeing shows.

I was a little bit concerned about nausea and rides but actually there was only one ride that bothered me. Surprisingly it wasn't the tea cups! Totally fine on the tea cups but nauseas if I rode sideways on the Disneyland Railroad.  Some of the railway cars have passengers face sideways and some have them face forward. I quickly learned I needed to only ride on the ones that faced forward.

Even though I couldn't ride most of the "E-Ticket" rides I still decided to get MaxPass to take advantage of not having to walk extra to get Fastpasses to the ones that I could ride.  The Fastpass rides that I could ride at 14 weeks pregnant were Buzz Lightyear, Roger Rabbit, Haunted Mansion and Small World in Disneyland and Midway Mania and Soarn' Around the World in California Adventure. There are 17 rides with Fastpass and I could ride 6 of them plus MaxPass includes PhotoPass so it was worth it for me for the convenience factor and because I planned to take full advantage of getting photos taken.

One day while I was there my sister-in-law, who is also pregnant, was able to come so we took full advantage of the photographers to document the first time these cousins met and their first trip to Disneyland!

This bench will always hold a special place in my heart and on this trip to celebrate being in my second trimester of pregnancy it felt appropriate to take a picture of it. After our first round of IVF before we began our second round I took a trip to Disneyland to relax and get away. I was having lunch/cocktails in Carthay Circle Lounge and my phone rang.  It was the doctor calling to say they had the PGS test results for the one embryo that had made it to day 5 had been biopsied for testing. We were told it took about 2 weeks for the test results so I wasn't expecting the call for at least another 3 or 4 days but I answered the call and came out to this bench to take it because the reception is in the lounge is notoriously bad. The doctor told me that the embryo passed all the test and was healthy and viable. After I hung up with the doctor I sat there and called my husband crying from happiness that we had an embryo to implant. I was in the happiest place on earth and I was just so happy and hopeful sitting there. 

Overall I had a wonderful time in Disneyland and would recommend going in the beginning of the second trimester as long as most of your morning/all day sickness has passed.  I came in with realistic expectations of what I could and couldn't do and made sure I planned plenty of time to rest in my day.  I could have gone back to take a rest at the hotel but I decided to just rest in the park. I knew I wouldn't make it late into the evening so I had in my head that I would just try to make the fireworks one night and not worry about trying to see any of the nighttime shows. My sister-in-law and I wanted to try and see Fantasmic the day she was there but neither one of us made it that late so we just called it a casualty of pregnancy. As long as someone is willing to have reasonable expectations and listen to their body I think a Disneyland trip is totally doable.

Holiday Food at Disneyland

In addition to all the delicious food (and drinks) at the Festival of Holiday booths there are other delicious holiday offering all over the parks, hotels and Downtown Disney.

At Smoozies in California Adventure there was a very festive Peppermint Crunch Shake.  It was topped with green whipped cream which made it look like it was topped with a Christmas tree.  This shake was delicious and worth the wait I had while it was being made.  Smoozies tends to only have a couple of people working at a time so sometimes it takes a while for you to get the drinks after you order them.

No visit is complete without a visit to the Carthay Circle Lounge and this year their holiday drink was called the Sleigh Ride.  It is a gin based drink with lavender but you can also request it be made with vodka if gin isn't your thing.  I like gin so I went with the original.  Like the Halloween drink it comes with a glow cube. The snowflake glow cube has a couple of different settings but all of them are flashing so I turned that off pretty quickly. I really enjoyed this drink but other than the snowflake it didn't really feel particularly holiday to me.

Also a holiday special at Carthay Circle Lounge was this Pumpkin Hummus with marinated veggies and warm pita. This was just plain delicious and after a day with very few veggies it is always nice to have something a little healthier to counteract all the other things I had eaten that day.  I actually liked this dish so much that I had it a second time on another day.  

The decorations in the lobby of the Grand Californian were not quite done being set up while I was there (I think the tree went up the last day I was there) but the little food/treat station was open and ready.  Like at Halloween the treat station had all kinds of delicious sweets including the cookie shot! The holiday cookie had peppermint sprinkles which were actually a nice combination with the Baileys I had.

One afternoon I went to Lamplight Lounge in hopes of having their holiday cocktail and the Turkey Carnitas Poutine.  As you can probably tell from the picture below I was only successful in half of this mission.  Apparently the Turkey Carnitas Poutine is only available in the upstairs bar (the part that used to be Cove Bar) and not in the downstairs restaurant part which is quite the opposite of what you would expect since the downstairs is the part with the full menu.  Oh well I got something else to eat and had my holiday cocktail.  It was tequila and hibiscus based with a rim of tajin.  It was delicious and tasted a bit like a margarita but like the Carthay Circle holiday drink it didn't really give me a holiday feel.

I know it seems like I drank my way through the parks but actually most of the holiday foods I ate came from the Festival of Holidays booths and most of my holiday drinks were from other places hence the lopsided seeming reviews. This drink was a Mistletoe Mule and had cranberry-orange lemonade in it.  It also had a little gummy orange slice on top that I ate quickly before it became soggy.  This mule was pretty good but a little sweeter than the blood orange one at the festival booth.

At the Mint Julip Bar in New Orleans Square I had the peppermint beignets.  They always have a seasonal flavor in addition to the regular powdered sugar ones and the last couple of years the seasonal flavor has been peppermint.  I do like the peppermint ones but I feel like it is time to move on to a new flavor.  Oh or you know go back to the butterscotch favor they had a few years ago that was beyond amazing.  

And lastly to add to the plethora of drinks (though this time non-alcoholic) I had the Frozen Abuelita Hot Chocolate from Rancho Del Zocalo in Frontierland which I didn't manage to take a picture of. I was a little worried it would be too much cinnamon for my taste but it actually just had a nice spice to it without being overwhelmingly cinnamon.  

Hopefully I haven't made you too hungry but enjoy!

Festival of Holidays at California Adventure

I went to Disneyland over Veteran's Day weekend and it just happened to be the first weekend of the holiday season so the parks were all decorated for Christmas.  It was also the first weekend of the Festival of Holidays at California Adventure. At the festival there are 13 different booths that serve delicious food and drinks.  I was there for a couple of days and my sister in law joined me for one of them so I was able to eat or at least taste a lot of the items available.

If you are going to be there for a couple of days and want to eat at a bunch of the booths then the most cost effective way to do so (Disclaimer Disneyland is not cost effective) is to buy a Sip and Savor Pass.  It is $49 if you have an annual pass and $54 if you do not and contains 8 little tear off tickets that you can use for anything non-alcoholic at the booths. Basically it will save you more money if you use it on the more expensive things at the booths.

In no particular order here is what I ate/drank/tasted and my thoughts on each.  

At the Merry Mashups booth I was very excited to try the Turkey and Stuffing Tamale. It just sounded so unique and I love tamales so I had high hopes for it.  It totally lived up to my expectations and was unique and delicious. The gravy was good and the cranberry on top cut through the richness of everything.  

At this booth there was also a Holiday Punch made of lime sherbet and Sprite that my sister in law got. It was little sweet for my taste and the ratio between liquid and sherbet was off.  We had a bottle of sparkling water with us and we ended up adding some of it to the punch and it actually improved it. There is an alcoholic version of the punch that used sparkling wine and champaign instead of Sprite.

At the Blissfully Braised booth I got the Cornbread Cakes and they were amazing.  Cornbread cakes, gravy and bacon. Yum, just yum! I actually had them the first day I was there and went back the day my sister in law was there and got them again to share with her. The Braised Pork Belly Adobo at this booth is a repeat dish from previous years and while it is not my favorite it is very popular with a lot of people.  My sister in law got it and said it was as good this year as it had been in past years.

Also at the Blissfully Braised booth was a Blood Orange Ginger Mule. I am a big fan of Moscow Mules so I figured I would like this one and I did.  The blood orange juice and the ginger beer were a good compliment to each other and the little rosemary sprig added a nice little flavor to it.

The Winter Sliderland booth had a Holiday Stuffing Mac & Cheese that was delicious but really it is pretty hard to mess up mac & cheese.  The stuffing topping on the mac & cheese was really good and flavorful.   Disney tends to have at least one type of mac & cheese at each of its festivals and while this one is very good my favorite still goes to the Onion Mac & Cheese from the Food and Wine Festival in 2017.

Also at the Winter Sliderland booth was a drink that was a returning favorite from last year.  The Frosty Froze feels a little small for the price but is very delicious and a nice cool treat in the middle of the day when Anaheim still has a habit of being quite warm even in November.

The returning dish I was looking forward to the most this year was at Bites and Brews. The Chorizo Queso Fundido from last year was so amazing that I was so excited it was back again this year. I love cheese and this cheesy goodness didn't disappoint at all. I don't know how they do it but there is always the exact amount of chips needed to get every last drop of the cheese.

At the Holiday Duets booth I had the Shrimp and Grits and it was quite good.  It had a little bit of a kick to it from the sausage that was in the sauce so if you don't like spice you might want to skip this one. 

Also at this booth was the Warm Chocolate Peppermint Float which was a nice warm sweet treat at night when the temperatures got quite cool. While I really enjoyed this it wasn't quite as good as the Brownie Hot Chocolate (not the actual name) Float thing they had last year.

On my last day in the parks at the end of the day I had one little tab from my Sip and Savor Pass left so I went to Holiday Duets and got the Holiday Mickey and Minnie Cookies to take with me to the airport.  Most of the dishes at the Festival of Holidays are not really things you can take with you so I was glad they had these cookies.

While we are on the subject of yummy deserts the Visions of Sugarplums booth had the best desert I tasted.  My sister in law got the Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding and it was just oozy gooey deliciousness. It looked so good that we dug in before we stopped to take a picture of it.

At the Spicy Celebrations booth I was very excited to try the Jalapeño Latkes because I love spicy things. While they didn't taste like a traditional latke they were fantastic.  The definitely pack a punch but I think most of the spice was in the chipotle sauce even though there were technically jalapeños in the latkes so if you don't like spicy things you might ask for it without the sauce and be okay.

Also at the Spicy Celebrations booth was a delicious Pomegranate Margarita with a chipotle salt rim.  I actually didn't find the salt spicy. It was more of a nice smokey flavor that complemented the margarita well.

One cool evening I stopped at the Winter Wonders booth to try the Pumpkin Soup with maple cashew cream.  The whole booth is vegan foods hence the cashew cream instead of a traditional cream. I really enjoyed this soup and the maple cashew cream was the best part.  I also had the Chana Masala at this booth.  It was fine but not something I would go out of my way to order again.

At the Favorite Things booth they had Ruben Potato Tots again this year.  They were a little bit different than last year but just as good. I think the biggest difference was last year the tots were smashed and this year they were not.  I also don't remember the rye crumbs on the top from last year but that could just be my memory.

My sister in law got the Holiday Ham Shanks at the Favorite Things booth and said it was really good.  I had a bite and I agree it was good.  It is actually a pretty good sized portion with 2 shanks in each serving. I don't like things on bones but the little bite I had was pretty yummy. 

I got the Cranberry Sangria during the middle of the day while it was quite warm out and it was very refreshing.  It was a summer drink with a nice winter twist. 

While it wasn't bad I was kind of disappointed in the Beef Pot Roast on a Potato Roll at Grandma's Recipes. It came with a horseradish cream on top and even when I stuck my finger directly in the cream I didn't get any horseradish taste.  I really like horseradish so I was sad about this. The rest of the sandwich was fine but nothing special. 

The final booth I ate foods at was A Twist on Tradition where I had the Chicken-less Mole and my sister in law had the Pozole Rojo Beef. She got the better end of this deal.  The Chicken-less Mole  was kind of dry and not very flavorful while the Pozole Rojo Beef was moist and delicious. 

There were a few other foods (and drinks) I wanted to try but I did try most of the things that sounded appealing to me.  The Festival of Holidays has lots of options but there are also a whole assortment of other holiday foods at the Disneyland Resort to try too.  Rather than make this post longer than it already is I will make a whole separate post for those other foods and drinks that I tried.

Happy Eating!

Disneyland Decorated For Halloween

In addition to all the fabulous Halloween foods and the fun Halloween photo ops Disneyland and California Adventure are all dressed up and decorated for Halloween.

As you stand at the entrance to California Adventure you are greeted by Oogie Boogie. In addition to looming over the entrance he also speaks every few minutes just to add to the spooky factor.  It looks cool during the day but you really can't beat the night view of the entrance.

As you walk down Buena Visa Street you will see the bell tower of Carthay Circle with spooky bats coming out of it.  Again it looks cool during the day but you really have to see it at night to get the full effect. I love purple so I was a big fan of all the purple twinkle lights in the trees.

In addition to all decorations as you enter California Adventure there are tons of decorations in Carsland.  The entrance billboard is all done up for Halloween.  There are so many details in Carsland that it is hard to notice them all. The cones of the Cozy Cone are done up like jack-o-lanterns, there are spooky faces made out of tires hanging and the posters on the left side are all Halloween movie spoofs. Both the Mater and the Luigi ride have special Halloween songs playing instead of their normal songs which makes them extra fun.

Hollywoodland isn't really decorated for Halloween per say but the Guardians of the Galaxy ride turns into Monsters After Dark at 5 PM every evening.  The music is different, it is super dark and the whole ride has a new storyline.  It is really good but if you have never ridden the regular ride during the day I would recommend doing that before riding it at night because the storyline is really like a part 2 to the regular ride.

The decorations in Disneyland are a little more focused on cute and a little less focused on spooky.  Pumpkin Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy greet you as you go through the turnstiles into the park.

As you walk down Main Street in addition the the giant jack-o-lantern in the town square there are tons of fun details on the lampposts, balconies and windows of all the shops. On the nights that there is a Halloween party they even put up Mickey ghosts that glow at night.

I didn't manage to take a picture of it but in Frontierland there is a "Halloween Tree" that has all kinds of pumpkins hanging from it.  It is really neat looking especially at night. 

The Haunted Mansion transforms into The Nightmare Before Christmas right before Halloween and it stays that way until the Christmas season ends during the first week of January. I actually slightly prefer the regular Haunted Mansion but I do enjoy seeing what the Disney imagineers do each year for the gingerbread house in the ballroom scene. The ride that transforms for Halloween that I really don't like is the transformation of Space Mountain into Ghost Galaxy.  I just don't need to see bloody heads and hands flying past me while I go on ride.

The parks aren't the only things at the resort that get all decorated for Halloween. Downtown Disney has all kinds of Fall and Halloween decorations in the planters throughout the area.

I didn't go into Paradise Pier or The Disneyland Hotel but The Grand Californian had some fun fall and Halloween decorations in its lobby. All the flower arrangements had fall leaves and all sorts of gourds in them. The main attraction in the lobby was the giant candy/cake pumpkin display. One afternoon I was sitting in the lobby resting and an acapella group came out to perform Halloween songs which made the experience even better.



All the Halloween decorations will be up for another week or so and then it is time for Christmas.

As much as the Halloween decorations are fun I am a Christmas girl through and through so I can't wait to see what Disney has in store for Christmas.