 This past weekend we headed out to The Disneyland Resort for a day of fun at the 2018 Disney Food and Wine Festival. We hadn't actually attended this event since it came back after the DCA re-do so we were quite excited to check it out. Needless to say we had an amazing time. Written by Gregg Condon I want to start off with saying what an absolutely fabulous time we had on Saturday. The rain must have kept some people away because the parks never really got busy. We got the MaxPass as we did on our last visit, and it was amazing and worth every penny. But more than that, it was just a totally stress free day in the parks. It really made us remember why we love Disney so much. We arrived early enough for rope drop, but couldn't head to the parks without a quick look at Star Wars Land. Wow!!    The new parking structure is being built, so there is a new temporary tram loading area. It was kind of fun going the opposite direction on the tram. It's the little things  Do we look excited? =)  Hi there California Adventure, we'll be back to you in a bit.  Can't even remember the last time we "rope dropped" Disneyland. It's just as amazing as we remembered it.  It was a beautiful morning  We hadn't done "non holiday" Haunted Mansion since probably 2011. So this was our first chance to see the Hatbox Ghost in his natural habitat. And it was amazing. Thanks to the MaxPass we rode this a few times throughout the day.  After doing a few more rides we decided to head over to DCA, but not before checking out some of the amazing music on Main Street.  It's food and wine time!!!  Well, turns out we were a bit early, so we decided to use our MaxPass for Radiator Springs Racers we had secured while we were still at Disneyland. Love how that works. =) Love the decorations for Food and Wine    We also hadn't done Soarin' Over The World, we absolutely LOVED it. Don't understand at all why some people don't like this.  Our first stop   Both were delicious, think we both preferred the slider though  Not even sure where to start with the Brie Toast with Fig, Mint and Almond Crumble. On the surface, it wasn't anything we were particularly gung-ho about. But we are always ready to try new things. And just like all of the Toast Surprises on this season of Top Chef, we loved it. It was one of our favorite things. (Our top 5's are posted below)  Next up was the White Cheddar Lager Soup, Jalapeno Popper Mac & Cheese with Bacon, Watermelon Lemonade (so good) and the Light and Refreshing flight.  How about some "Frushi", Strawbery Pie, Strawberry Fros'e, Avocado and Pepper Guacamole Burger and Spiced Oumph!! Note: We had no idea what Oumph! was and had even less of an idea it was vegan ... we actually enjoyed it. So yay for our Vegetarian/Vegan friends. Good food for you too! =) But back to the burger, can we get this full sized and on a permanent menu? It was that good.  Meyer Lemon Macaron was heavenly as was the Crispy Orange Chicken and Rice with a Garlic Cracker.  Both paired very nicely with the Meyer Lemon Ginger Mule. Very refreshing even on a not warm and sometimes rainy day.  And then there was the Popcorn Lemonade Cocktail with Tequila. It was "interesting" to say the least. It wasn't awful, we are glad we tried it. But it essentially is just as advertised, it tasted like popcorn.  Here are our top Five favorites, and more importantly, what booth you can find them at!!
After all that food and wine you'd think we were done with our day, but it was just getting started!! Oh yeah, they are doing work on Pixar Pier!! We are very excited for it and hope we can make it back after it opens.     Still one of my absolute favorite spots in any Disney park. It's just perfect.  We also got to do Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout for the first time. LOVED IT!!
  After another spin on Racers, Soarin' and a few more snacks it was time to head back over to Disneyland for the evening. First stop, a trip on the Railroad. A must do every trip!! Oh, and to get some Star Wars pics!!  Star Wars Land pics aside, we absolutely LOVE the changes to the railroad.  While we were hanging out in Critter Country getting some pics we met a friend 
We spent the late afternoon riding Mansion again, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room (another must see every visit), as well as Buzz, a yummy dinner and then of course, Space Mountain!!    We joined the dark side  Selfies in front of the castle (we kept forgetting that we have Photopass with the MaxPass)  And of course, the awesome nighttime balloons!!  Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoyed our little report. Be sure to check out the Food and Wine Festival this year, it's amazing. You can find out more information about this years event here. If you've visited be sure to share your favorite foods in the comments below. We'd love to hear about the things we missed, because lets be honest, you need at least 3 days to try everything. Oh hey, there are 3 days on the Southern California Resident Ticket Offer. =) Related Updates:
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 A couple of weekends ago we made our first trip to Disneyland since 2014. We were very excited (obviously) to visit our old stomping grounds (we were AP's from 1998-2012) and of course to try out the new attractions. We also decided to use the all new MaxPass to get the most out of our day. Read on to see how it went. We have lots of pics and videos to share. Written by Gregg Condon First let's take a look at Star Wars Land ...   Soon we'll only see the backs of buildings  We first headed into Disneyland. We wanted to spend our morning in Fantasyland and it's always fun to do a whole bunch of rides in a row when the park is slow in the morning. We also set up our MaxPass and while we were walking to Fantasyland and got to get FastPasses for Space Mountain.  Hey Walt, long time no see ...   We skipped Peter Pan because, well, that line is just crazy and headed first to my favorite Fantasyland ride ... Mr Toad.   Video of this classic!! Snow White's Scary Abrupt Ending Adventure's  Snow White has her Adventure ... Pinnochio has a Journey  Oooh, Matterhorn  Some fun on Ghost Galaxy ... one of the cool things about MaxPass is the free photos  While in line for Space Mtn we got some fastpasses for Star Tours, and then for Buzz ... Maxpass was working great so far. After getting FastPasses for Haunted Mansion Holiday, it was time for a happy cruise  Headed to New Orleans Square, we had to check out the new stuff   Star Wars Land ... we'll see it in 2029 or something. Honestly, even though we are Southern California Locals I'm placing bets that we visit Star Wars Land in FL before we visit it here.  Love the changes to the RR  While waiting for our HMH fastpasses, we took a Pooh  And grabbed some Splash Mtn fastpasses ... we got soaked.  While I personally think they should keep the regular Mansion open through Halloween (haven't done the normal mansion since 2011 because all our visits have come during Holidays) I can't deny how fun this is.  LOVE the updates to the Railroad While on the Railroad the parks got crazy busy ... seriously, between 11 and 1145 fastpasses for Soarin' went from 1:00pm to 9:00pm, Guardians fastpasses sold out (due to Monsters after dark) and the parks just seemed a lot busier.  Mermaids!!! The longest line of the day ... we didn't wait for it. This is the AP problem in a nutshell ...  The Halloween decorations in CarsLand are AMAZING!!     I have to admit, this ride is growing on me     Love these posters ... wish they sold them As close as we'd get to riding this ... sigh. So, unknown to us, they cut off FastPasses for Guardians because Monsters After Dark was set to begin at 5:00. They closed Guardians at 4. Yes, their brand new ride, closed for an hour. We tried to get Fastpasses for Monsters after dark at 3:00 when those were available ... which broke the MaxPass/FastPass system because so was everybody else. I'm not sure if they've fixed this since (apparently everything was fine last Saturday), but the system was down for hours, which kind of messed us up fore the rest of the day. What they SHOULD have done was made FastPasses available for both all day. And people could pick one or the other. For us, as infrequent visitors we would have picked Guardians in a second. While I have to believe most AP's would have picked Monsters After Dark. By trying to "reset" FastPasses at 3:00 for this one ride, it messed up EVERYBODY. Both MaxPass and FastPass users.  We did totally love the decorations at DCA  Hi Mickey!!  Hi Heady!! (No, Headley)  So we left DCA without being able to ride Guardians or Soarin' Over The World. We had planned on just doing Single Rider on Soarin', but they don't offer it anymore for some reason. We'll catch them in 3 more years I guess.  Because it was snack time we figured we'd enjoy a dole whip in the quiet courtyard of the Tiki Room ... boy, we missed the news of the huge queue in there now. No more quiet courtyard. :(  Pure Disney Magic    Luckily the FP system came up so we got to get some FP's for Indy and Big Thunder ... Side Note: We had totally forgotten they had made the updates to Indy ... loved them!! We always love the Halloween Tree   LOVE they still do the swing dancing on Saturday Night!!  Jungle Cruise at night is the best!!  After Jungle Cruise and Pirates we exited just in time to catch the fireworks. We didn't know they did projections on the river now, they are awesome and we enjoyed it more than in front of the castle (less stress too). We enjoyed a perfect unexpected family moment thus there are no pictures. Sorry. =) So how did the MaxPass work for us? Watch the video below to find out. We had a truly memorable day at Disneyland. We all agreed that we miss visiting Disneyland more often ... we don't miss the oppressive crowds however. Because we are planning on making a few trips to FL over the next 18 months we may spring for the Premiere Pass next year to squeeze in a few DL visits, but we'll see. Hope you all enjoyed our trip report and all of the videos!! Related Updates:
 Last weekend Renée and Andrew made their way out to Disneyland for the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend, and of course some Disneyland fun on one of the hottest weekends of the year. Here is our first of two (yes, count em' two) Disneyland updates we'll have this month. The next one in a few weeks. Written by Renée Girard and Andrew Cunningham We're at Disneyland this weekend to run. Or walk. Or crawl, depending on how we feel in this excessive heat.
"Shade? No bag line?..." . . . "Nahhhh"  Halloween signage starting to appear at DCA. Can't wait to see their new additions this year!  Remember folks! If you're out enjoying the SoCal parks this weekend- make sure you stay hydrated!  I'm sorry, the old DCA can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh... CAUSE IT'S DEAD.  Killin it.  Hydrating or carb loading?  Walt's message on a breadstick packet. Dreams come true.  Rise and shine! It's time for the RunDisney Disneyland10k! Loving the Pixar theme this year. The 10k is Monster's U  Current line for the Disneyland metal detectors... Jk! People as far as the eye can see at the #rundisney #Disneyland10k starting line  We're already sweating 😖  Not a terrible view to be dying to  Starting to get some daylight around #NotMyTower 😜  Backstage areas decorated to look like a college campus!    Sun coming up around Disneyland    Really enjoyed our ride on Pirates at Disneyland with the woman in front of us filming the whole thing on a tablet. Vertically.  Delicious dinner at Blue Bayou tonight with the Fantasmic dining package. Worth waiting extra time to get seated next to the water. 
Blue Bayou package seating for Fantasmic gives an amazing view of the show. And wow, we were impressed with the new updates!     The addition of Pirates was one of the many highlights. Can the WDW version please finally ditch Pocahontas for something like this??  Another early morning with several thousand sweaty friends. Stay safe and hydrated!!
The finish line will be a welcome sight in a few hours.  Jeff Galloway is in my corral!  Time to start! And sweat!  Here's a rare sight, no line at Cove Bar!  Still a warm morning run on Main Street, but grateful for the early start and clouds.
The horses of Disneyland were out in the backstage areas.  Running through Angel Stadium is always a highlight of the DisneylandHalfMarathon  It was a hot one out there today. Hope everyone stayed safe and hydrated!  Pizza Planet delivery truck at the finish area.  Well, I finished. Not my fastest or best, but the course was enjoyable and it's become my favorite Labor Day weekend tradition. -Renée  After running, we feast! 
Decorative Mickey leaves seems to be the new water art at Disneyland.
Epcot and Pirates 50th merchandise from D23 being sold at store on Main Street in Disneyland.
Halloween theming is starting to show up in Cars Land at DCA.
A closer look at the Pirates 50th shirts at Disneyland.
Star Tours 30th anniversary merchandise from D23 is available in Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
Just noticed that Tower of Terror is still on the Disneyland drink cups.  So as of 12:15pm, California Screamin has a 90 min standby wait. FP return time is 12:35. I don't understand.  Wait time for California Screamin dropped to 45 minutes now but I'm about to board and can already get another FP.  Cove Bar, is it worth the hype? I've never been but every time I visit DCA, there's a huge line.  The new FP system at Disneyland seems really inefficient. Radiator Springs Racers return FP line wrapped all the way around the building!  Had a wonderful visit Disneyland resort this weekend for the runDisney marathon! Might just be making a trip for Halloween soon!   Related Updates:
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