Hey there, hi there, ho there! We popped down to the Disneyland Resort to soak up some Holiday cheer before the Thanksgiving week starts off and we want you to come along for the (sleigh) ride.
Disney California Adventure
We found a load of new Holiday merchandise to compliment the already massive amount of Holiday merchandise already released. These new items include apparel, hair bows, ornament sets, dinnerware, tree decorations and more.
Among the newly released apparel is this cute, festive Minnie Ear headband.
As we made our way around the park, we noticed that more and more Lightning Lane signs keep cropping up. Monsters Inc.: Mike and Sulley to the Rescue has recently added its new sign.
Goofy’s Sky School has received its Lightning Lane entrance sign as well.
We stopped off to take in a show in Paradise Park for the Festival of Holidays. The Holiday Toy Drummers are fantastic and we love watching them jam out.
Not much had changed in Avengers Campus, but on such a beautiful Winter day it was hard not to snap some bright, colorful photos.
Get ready for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” with this new water bottle, which matches some t-shirts that we found last week.
There’s a new Magic Shot photo op for Magic Key Holders at DCA.
Under the eaves of the Golden Vine Winery, guests can meet Chip and Dale in a photo. Take a look at the shot below.
Crowds were a little nuts today, as the line for Radiator Springs Racers stretched down the main drag in Cars Land.
As we approached the entrance, we noticed that the neon for the Fastpass entrance sign has been removed as they get ready for the coming of Lightning’s very own lane, that you can use for a fee.
Fillmore’s Taste-In has come up from its refurbishment with a fresh coat of paint and a new covering inside his geodesic dome.
Downtown Disney District
The Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary line of nuiMOs clothes has finally reached the West Coast, along with the Holiday collection. Our favorite piece is the “first anniversary of Walt Disney World” track suit, which matches the one just announced to be available in human sizes soon.
The first of the “Encanto” merchandise and apparel has debuted at the World of Disney Store, and we have your up-close look at it all right here.
The Grand Californian Hotel gingerbread house is done and it is just beautiful. We stopped in to see it and grab some cookies at the Holiday Cart nearby.
The big draw at Downtown Disney today was the Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge VR game preview. Running from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily now through January 5, this eight-minute preview gives players a taste of the adventure for free.
Located in the former ESPN Zone building, the line fills up fast so if you want to try it out without having to get a return time, head down there early.
Formerly Oculus Quest 2, the rebranded Meta Quest 2 is the exact same console under a new name. This is the system that the game is played on.
Guests are ushered into the main building area where six individual pods take guests one-at-a-time to do the game demo. Those who don’t want to play are allowed to watch their friends try it out.
Afterwards, guests are rewarded with a poster of their choice, a $25 gift card to the Meta Quest digital store, and, if the guest chooses to complete a survey about their experience, a really nice water bottle from elemental. There is also a photo op out in front with a camera to take your selfie for you.
Disneyland
Heading back into the parks, we see a whole rack full of metallic blue Mickey balloon popcorn buckets. These are the same ones that were sold this summer.
We had to get our sweet fix at the Candy Palace with some delicious new cookie pies and brownie pies. They were all varying degrees of rich and delicious, with the peanut butter chocolate cookie pie being the best of the lot. Read our full review here.
Today was the first day of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance being available via standby line. The wait times shot up to over three hours this morning, but by the afternoon it had dropped to about 90 minutes.
Pelican’s Landing opened next to The Harbor Galley in New Orleans Square. We went on a full tour to see the new space and you can see it all right here.
This is a small but picturesque seating area to grab lunch. With views of Tom Sawyer Island and the traffic on the Rivers of America, there’s no shortage of sights to take in.
Scattered around the edges of the platform are these informative placards on a life aboard ship.
There are also history placards for the Columbia and the Mark Twain.
A walkway behind Pelican’s Landing takes guests to Fowler’s Inn and to another seating area beyond.
The seating area can be accessed either from the Fowler’s Inn walkway or a walkway from the other side that takes guests past a beautiful lookout over the ride pathway of Splash Mountain with views of Chickapin Hill.
Of course we had to get some artsy shots while exploring this new pathway.
The path exits out near the fruit stand at the top of the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes stairway.
Up in Toontown, Goofy and Donald were at their homes waving to guests. Donald was fishing for presents. Let’s hope he gets what he wants for Christmas.
Thanks for riding along with us. We’ll see ya real soon!