Day Nine: 15 Hours in DISNEYLAND

Y’ALL.

WHAT A DAY.

If you couldn’t already guess, today we went to DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!! One of the most magical places on earth!!! We literally spent 15 hours at Disney. We are all deceased but our hearts are filled with magic. This is a long post my friends, but please read along to see just how super our day was. Here are some vague highlights to give you a taste: Art, rides, someone BUILDS A LIGHTSABER, Joey eats too much, etc.

Matt, one of our lovely hosts for the week, works in the design and engineering department for Disney parks and resorts! You read that right!! He literally MAKES THE RIDES FOR DISNEY. He is significantly cooler than all of us.

So, Matt took us to Disney for the day! We went to both parks, California Adventure and Magic Kingdom! We got to the parks at 8:30 and got to WERK. We were so lucky to have Matt with us because taught us SO much about the parks and led us around on the best path all day. This day was INSANELY successful, and it is 100% because of him. Thanks again Matt.

BUT ANWAY, ONTO THE GOOD STUFF. We started off the day at the Guardians of the Galaxy ride and then made our way over to Pixar Pier where we rode the Incredicoaster and played the Toy Story Mania Game!! Today is was super overcast, and I guess that must have scared people away because there was pretty much NO ONE in the park. We walked onto so many rides and got a TON of fast passes. Like I said, incredible day.

We then made our way over to the main park so we could get a boarding time for the new Star Wars section of the park, Galaxy’s Edge!!! The land JUST became available to everyone who stayed at a resort on May 31, and today was the SECOND day it was available to all other people!! WHAT LUCK!!! Apparently, Disney was expecting high volumes of people for this land and was issuing boarding times for people so they could regulate how many people are there at a time. BUT NOT TODAY. SO WE JUST WALKED RIGHT IN. And it was awesome:

I also lied to you all. Nay, I was naive. Yesterday I said I wanted to be an elephant seal. But today I learned that DisneyLand storm troopers exist, and they literally walk around all day hassling park guests. But everyone still loves them and is excited to see them coming. This is truly what I aspire to. Check it out:

We also met R2D2 and Joey asked me to touch him. He did not take it well. (Check our that last video there)

This also worked out well because we needed to be back in this land later in the day for a super big birthday experience.

After exploring Star Wars, WE WERE READY FOR MORE RIDES!!! We rode literally every ride we wanted to get on. It was insane. I have never experienced an amusement park like this. After a bit more exploring and several fast passes later, it was time.

At 7 am, we booked a time slot for Savi’s Workshop. A ridiculously cool experience where a small group of people get to literally build their own lightsaber. This is a pretty exclusive activity, we needed to book a time slot right away because all of the slots were filled within 20 minutes yesterday! We were happy we could book it for Joey (and it allowed him to have two guests come and watch!). To Joey’s family- this is how he spent his birthday money. What a short lived life that money had.

NOTE: GALAXY’S EDGE SAVI’S WORKSHOP SPOILERS AHEAD!!! SKIP TO WHERE IT SAYS SAFE IF YOU STILL WANT TO BE SURPRISED!!

When we got there, Joey chose a faction he would like to be part of, and he chose Elemental Nature. When we were led inside with everyone else, they placed him in front of his own work station and he chose the pieces and crystal that would become his hilt. Honestly, this is really hard to explain and I’m literally exhausted so I’m just going to let the photos and videos speak for themselves: update, Joey doesn’t want to post some of the stuff and ruin the magic so I have only provided some limited content from the experience.

THIS IS BACK TO THE SAFE ZONE.

When this was done, we headed back to California Adventure for another special birthday visit for Joey. That’s right, Joey met the one, the only, Captain Marvel.

He also enjoyed a lot of other Marvel surprises. It was a big day for him.

As I am typing this, I need to keep going back to my photos to see what we did next. I have typed “we went to dinner” 4 times already, and then needed to erase it because we DID SO MANY OTHER THINGS BEFORE DINNER. I’m unwell, anyway carry on.

So after Captain Marvel, we went to the Animator’s Workshop and drew Piglet with the help of a Disney animator!! I think we all did a pretty good job!!

They also had a really nice display while waiting for all of the animation experiences. This one is specifically for Anna Espinoza, but any lover of Lilo and Stitch will also enjoy:

I had such a good time with the animation section that I bought a “custom” made sketch in the store. I chose the design of Mickey in a graduation costume and got the robe in purple. When you put in a request, an animator sketches it out right in the store!! I’m really happy with how it came out and think it’s a nice little gift to myself (this is a reminder that I need to stop treating myself). there’s even some red in there… RU RAH RAH!!

OKAY NOW, we went to our dinner reservation at the Lamplight Lounge, which is literally a restaurant in the water of Pixar Pier. (Side note- on the way I ran into one of friends from Rutgers who now works here- IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL). Dinner was so great. It gave us the needed break off of our feet and the chance to take a breath. It was also Pixar themed!

Once dinner was over, we went back into Magic Kingdom to watch the FIREWORKS! This show is magical. Matt set us up in the perfect spot to experience EVERYTHING. Here are some super blurry pictures:

At this point, we are exhausted. But we persevered through one last ride, and of course, a goodbye snack. I would like to stress to you all that we are SO TIRED and ready to go, and JOSEPH BRACCINO LITERALLY ORDERS THIS:

This is the most ridiculous human I know.

We also had to stop for a photoshoot with the newly acquired lightsaber.

And now, we are back and in bed and ready to sleep in tomorrow. I don’t have the normal stats for today, but I don’t have some other stats! Here is the main screen of my fit bit:

I’m just going to let that sink in. It was also the first time I EVER reached my 12 hour fitness goal. Disney makes all dreams come true I guess.

And now, after 15 hours in DisneyLand, we rest.

Once again, HUGE SHOUTOUT TO MATT FOR SUCH AN AMAZING DAY! See you all tomorrow!!