Day 16 - Part 5 - Mountain and Volcano
Finishing up on the monorail we headed towards a snack location, and on our way found a Photopass photographer with no wait. So.....
He thought it was adorable that we danced into our pose, we were just both in really good moods I guess.
Love love love this photo!
This guy was great, he had us do all different type of things.
Jared doing his "aww" face again (and I thought he learned his lesson by now!)
Better Jared!
I love this "contemplating" pose. Looking up at Walt and this fantastic place that only exists because of his vision is always moving, I love that this picture captures that.
We needed a snack, and what better place to stop for one than the Jolly Holiday Bakery. I had my eye on some more cute treats so I ordered a "Arendelle Aqua" macaroon (aka Frozen macaroon) and Jared ordered a "poison Apple pie".
We both really enjoyed our snacks, though I have to say the "Arendelle Aqua" craze sweeping Disney when we visited was so strange. I didn't mind this weird Disney marketing ploy, as I look quite good in aqua and I was able to buy clothes in a colour I like, but it was a little bit of a weird and cheesy thing for Disney to do!
While we rested we enjoyed the sounds of the Main Street Marching Band that were wafting in from Main Street.
After our break we headed towards the Matterhorn for our 4:10pm Maxpass. The wait was 80 minutes so we were pleased to have a Maxpass!
We hadn't seen the new queue for the ride yet. It is an improvement over the old one, there is so much more space (this is what needs to be done near Pirates and HM, though I acknowledge there is nowhere near as much space to do this in NOS).
Our goal was to "capture the soul" (aka get a photo) of the Matterhorn's resident abominable snowman/yeti/snow monster (whatever he is). We christened him Fred because it was easier to say when discussing him! Sadly in this instance we failed miserably to capture him. We had the 50mm prime on the camera and he was too close and it was too fast to even attempt to capture him with that lens. Jared said not to worry, we'd try again the next day with the wide angle lens.
The Matterhorn is still the roughest ride at Disneyland! I did ok this time, as I was in the middle of the three seats and was able to brace myself on the front of the car in front of me. Jared was at the front, for photos, and using the camera (or attempting to) he could not brace, so it was worse for him! We normally only ride this once per trip because it's just so bumpy but since we hadn't captured the soul of Fred we knew we'd have to experience more torture the next day.
We did discuss how we did not think the Matterhorn was worth an 80 minute wait! We didn't realise at the time that only half the mountain was open, which was pushing up the wait times.
After the Matterhorn we made our way to the Hungry Bear restaurant via Galaxy's Edge (it's so awesome that all those far edge areas of Disneyland now connect via Galaxy's Edge!). We met Todd and Kim and enjoyed chatting and enjoying the view. We mobile ordered some food. I needed veges so I got a salad and loaded fries, and Jared ordered a burger.
The salad was fantastic! Loved the honey mustard dressing. The Blueberry lemonade that I ordered had a few too many blueberry seeds for me liking. Jared said his burger was so so and the loaded fries were fine, but not the best I've ever had.
After we enjoyed dinner we decided to do a bit of shopping at World of Disney. Todd and Kim had a few things to buy and I needed a Buzz and Woody for my nephew for his birthday (his request) and a Princess dress for my little niece. I also managed to find a jumper for myself in Arendelle Aqua!
After paying Todd and Kim had perhaps the most fantastic idea that anyone had ever had! They suggested we head over to "that Tiki bar" at the Disneyland hotel, aka Trader Sam's. I'd heard plenty of great things about Trader Sam's but knew it was small and hard to get into, so we headed over thinking if it was full we'd come back to Downtown Disney and find somewhere to sit and drink in there.
On our way to the bar I got to see the Disneyland hotel grounds and pool for the very first time. It is really beautiful! The building itself isn't much but they've really added to it with it's lush gardens and surrounds. We struggled to find Trader Sam's at first, but finally found it after a few wrong turns. I was able to fulfil one of my Disney dreams as we wandered towards the bar too, seeing a Disney cat! There was a black one snuggled into some of the bushes in front of the bar! Such a small dream but I was so happy to see a Disney kitteh!
We made our way into the bar and it was full, but there was one high table with 2 chairs so we hovered there, thinking that it looked as though the people at a table for four just near us would be leaving soon. We were right, and as they were getting up we asked if we could push in and they were more than happy to let us (told us that was the only way to get a table in the bar). We felt really lucky to have gotten a place to all sit together.
The theme of this bar is phenomenal! Everywhere I looked I saw more detail! I loved the Tiki theme, it works so well with cocktails!
We perused the menu trying to work out what to order. While thinking, we had our first experience of the "magic cocktail" effects when someone ordered the Krakatoa!
Jared really wanted to try the "magic" cocktail after that, just for the experience (though not with the expensive souvenir cup).
Jared ended up ordering the Krakatoa Punch, Todd and Kim got Piranha Punch and I decided to get a mocktail. I choose the Polynesian Punch and, because what would be more appropriate, some Dole Whip!
Jared's Krakatoa was bought out and the gong was sounded preparing us for the mighty volcano to erupt.....
But the CMs had choosen the wrong special effects and instead we ended up in the middle of a storm! Hehehe
Luckily later on someone ordered a Krakatoa and we were able to experience the proper Volcano eruption effects. We ended up seeing all of the three "magic" drink sequences and I have to say, they added to the atmosphere and vibe of the bar so much! We loved it there!
I particularly loved the Tiki stirrers. We took 3 home and I use them all the time when I have to crush and stir tablets into juice (I can't swallow tablets).
Alcohol + Jared = Super happy excited face!
I enjoyed my non-alcoholic punch, there was too much rum in many of the cocktails for me (I'm not a fan of rum). But everyone else really enjoyed their drinks so if you like rum and like cocktails, and even if you don't but love great themed places, then you will love Trader Sam's!
More Disney magic happened when, after putting my glass down a little forcefully, my glow cube began to change colour as if by magic (not because I'd hit the little button and set the cube to the random colour sequence).
We headed out of the bar at about 8:30pm, having had a fantastic evening with great friends. It was also fantastic to already be half way back to our hotel!
Continued in Next Post...