We were lucky enough to get tickets to attend the special ticketed event at Disney's California Adventure on April 11th, 2021. We were very pleased with our experience overall, but that could just be the fact that we were dying to go to the parks for over a year. We started off the day pulling into the Mickey and Friends parking structure and were pleasantly surprised by the flow of traffic. Due to social distancing, we had to park in every other parking space, which was super nice because there wasn't any squishing out or back into your car. We took a long stroll down through the new queue for the tram and after going through security, we walked along the path to the Downtown Disney drop off.
We were funneled to the far side of the tram stop and dumped straight into the esplanade. Much like those around us, we beelined for the gates, with the tickets loaded on our phones. They easily scanned the barcode on the phone and printed our live tickets and issued our dining cards. We couldn't wait to get going through the park.
After a quick look at the map and food options, we went for a leisurely stroll around the park. We went up Buena Vista Street and took a right into Grizzly Peak Airfield. We were headed up towards Grizzly River Run when we noticed Chip and Dale were coming out for some socially distanced greetings. As we continued along the trail, we noticed Daisy hanging out at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
We then headed out toward Pixar Pier and out to Paradise Gardens Park. The rides were test running and it was refreshing to hear the sound of coasters on their tracks. We stopped at Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind to finish our coffee and catch our breath. We continued down through Pixar Pier and caught a glimpse of Minnie Mouse across the pond. We took another right turn and headed into Pacific Wharf and saw Goofy fishing in the wharf.
We continued our leisurely stroll into Cars Land and walked past Mater taking pictures with guests. Down at the firehouse, Lightning McQueen was also out on the town.
We headed up the Cars Land strip and took another right headed back to Buena Vista Street. There wasn't much to see with the one side of the trail boarded up in anticipation for Avengers Campus. Coming into Buena Vista Street, we saw Pluto up on the second floor of the Carthay Circle Lounge.
We took a turn down toward Hollywood Land and ended our tour in front of Monsters Inc: Mike and Sully to the Rescue. We then took a trip into the Disneyland Resort Backlot Premiere Shop. So many cute items to see and purchase! Some of the highlights were:
Needless to say, money was spent. Overall, the crowds were fine and the ambiance was great. I think I saw more characters then I had in my last several trips.
The food, however, left a little to be desired. Everything was "snack-sized" and they weren't kidding. While we hoped to be able to sample food from each of the five special booths, the ordering process was just too much to handle.
We wanted to eat at Smokejumpers Grill just after our trip through the Backlot Premiere Shop but we found out that location was on a "mobile-order only" system. So we looked at the time frames we could order.... and it was basically dinner time. So we went back over to the wharf and I ordered a margarita from Rita's. Even though the time frame said "now to 2:35pm", I got over there and had to wait in line, got kicked out of line because my screen had not announced my order as ready, got back in line and waited, just for them to pour my beverage when I got to the front of the line. All told, it was probably a 20-30 minute wait. Then we headed over to the Sonoma Terrace where my husband had ordered himself a mini meatball sub and ordered a grilled cheese with tomato soup for me. We went and found a spot in the shade to eat and waited for his screen to turn blue. When he came back, this was what he had.
Much less than we expected for what we paid. While the food was good, we were still hungry afterwards and headed over to somewhere that didn't require a mobile order. Mike ordered a Slightly Angry Dog, which refused to slide out of the little bag it came in. I ordered a drumstick box from Poultry Palace. These options are there all the time and we were happy with the price and the food. My drumsticks were so hot that I burned my lips on the steamy juice that was released when I bit into it. Then we headed over to Bing Bong's Sweet Shop, where we found a sweet counter at which we bought Mickey and Minnie cupcakes.
We split them and they were delicious. Since we had to order our dinner at Smokejumpers Grill by lunchtime, we basically just hung out and saw the sights until then. On our way to sit down, we caught our favorite mouse hanging out by Ariel's Undersea Adventure.
We also ran into Donald Duck at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. After some shopping and some relaxing in front of the waterfront, we finally got a chance to eat at the Smokejumpers Grill for dinner.
(Mike did not get a picture of his brisket mac n cheese, due to the fact we were so hungry by the time we sat down.)
We were overall very happy with our meal. Mike ordered the brisket mac n cheese and I got the Monte Cristo and chili waffle fries. The chili was too spicy for me but Mike enjoyed it wholeheartedly. My Monte Cristo arrived with a berry sauce that was the perfect sweetness for the battered deliciousness. Mike ordered me a S'mores Shake as well but we didn't get that until it was well after dark and we were running to Downtown Disney to finish our shopping. It was awesome though, tasted just like S'mores. All in all, a great experience, though we do wish we had more time to enjoy food and that the mobile order system was a little less clunky.
Thanks for reading and as always, we'll see you in the parks!
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