Why I Oughta...

One of the things that I'm always struck by during our visits to the Disneyland Resort is the Disney horticulture .  I guess that I always look at a 'place's' horticulture, but when I'm at Disneyland, I always come away thinking how great of a job they do - AND - how foreign it is to me being a Zone 5b Northern climate gardener.   I've posted a bunch of photos over the years from our trips here on the blog including some photos of the Disneyland Roses , some crazy cubed shrubs near Small World  and a few times about some Belgian Fence espaliers that they have in the parks.  I first posted a photo of this Belgian Fence in January of 2019 .  Then, I posted about Disneyland's Belgian Fences later that same year.    Below, you'll see a new photo of what I think is the 'matching pair' to the espalier that I've posted about before.  This one is on the City Hall side of the train station - just as you go under the sign that reads:  "Here you l

Back in March, the folks at Disney announced they were closing some of their stores as their business continues to transition to e-commerce.  That has only surely accelerated due to the pandemic.  One of those stores that was on the list of closures was near us - up in Rosemont.  Turns out, it is an outlet store.  And, I didn't know this, but Nat did (because she's been there a few times), they carry quite a bit of Disney Parks merchandise.  In particular, they carry Disneyland Park merchandise that has cycled through the park and ends up here - at the outlet with discounted prices.  Kinda neat.   With outlet prices coupled with the store closing, Nat went up there and picked up a bunch of clothes for the kids.  And, she came home with two things for me.  2020 Disneyland Park pins.  Disneyland was closed for nine of the twelve months of 2020, so it is no surprise that 2020 merchandise ended up at the outlet, right? The pins were marked $3.99 and - as you can see below - one ha

Back in January, I posted a photo showing off a Belgian Fence espalier that I fell in love with during a visit to Disneyland in Anaheim .  During a recent trip to Southern California, we ended up going back to the park and I found that same espalier.  I wanted to see if it had changed at all during the six months since we had seen each other last.   That's it in the photo above during the end of July.  And while there's some thickening-up of the branches, it is mostly the same as we last saw it.  Due to their climate, one would think that there isn't much seasonal differences, right?  They certainly get some growth in Spring and Summer, but Winter dormancy in Los Angeles isn't quite like what it is here in Zone 5B. Seeing this again, only enhanced - in my own mind - my desire to bring a Belgian Fence to our property.  It is #2 on my 2019 To-do List , but here we are in (almost) mid-August and I haven't even acquired the trees.  That isn't to say that I hav

Continuing on the recent Disneyland-centric posting journey, here's something we came across:  props from the movie Mary Poppins Returns.  In the photo, you can see both Mary's coat and blue shoes along with the kite and suffragette tail.  This post on the Disney Parks Blog shows all the props including Mary Poppins' bag . A proper kite needs a proper tail, dontcha think? Not from this version of the movie, but still makes me smile every time I hear it.

Back in September of 2017, I posted about a Disneyland Rose plant that Nat's Mom gave us for our anniversary.  In that post, I shared the background on the variety and how it came to be back in 2004.  I ended up planting that first Disneyland Rose plant near the rear foundation outside of our kitchen window and hoped for the best.  It weathered the first Winter and came to bloom for the first time last Summer and I posted about that in June of 2018 . Then, for our Anniversary in 2018, Nat's Mom sent us two more Disneyland Rose plants that I stuck in the side foundation beds on the Southside of our house between our house and our neighbor. So, imagine my delight when we were visiting the Disneyland Resort and we came across a large bed near the gateway entry point along Harbor Drive.  Here's the Google Maps overview that shows the area where this bed is located: This location means that everybody at one of the "good neighbor" hotels/motels that walks to

Why not make the bathroom awesome, right?  That's what, I'm sure the Imagineers said who were putting the final touches on the Disneyland Hotel .  As I've mentioned before, you should - if you can swing it - stay there on your visit to the Disneyland Resort.   Most recently, we failed to take my own advice and stayed at a "Good Neighbor" hotel (c'mon...let's be honest here:  it was a motel). To make-up for our staying outside the 'Disney Bubble' and to kind-of recreate a special character meal we had a few years back, we booked a breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen .  The restaurant is in the convention center building that is right next door to the Fantasy Tower.  Here's a map from the OC Register that shows the Disneyland Hotel footprint . If you wander off to the bathroom that is outside of the restaurant, you enter one that is set up for conventions.  It has a lot of room.  The bathroom itself isn't worth commenting on.  But, the w

Just to make things simple here for the record keeper at the 'official' coaster collection archives, I'm calling this just one coaster.  You can see a bunch of coasters in the photos of this post and one side of them are all different, but just to keep things simple here, let's call this one coaster. And that coaster is pretty neat:  it is from the new (at least kinda new) Lamplight Lounge at Disney California Adventure. As I've posted over time, we're lounge people when it comes to Disney parks and dining.  After taking some advice from Pam at the BoG Podcast, we've sought out more and more lounges.  They don't require ADRs and you can get pretty good food in an atmosphere that we can enjoy and the kids can tolerate. This place - the Lamplight Lounge - is called a 'lounge', but it also takes ADRs.  Or at least reservations via the Disneyland mobile app - which is a bit different than WDW ADRs.  But, you get it, right?  Also, the food is

Add another 'streetmosphere' character to the list of folks that we've met at the Disney Parks over the years.  Today's post is about Donna Linn De Larria - one of the "Citizens of Buena Vista Street" in Disney California Adventure. She's a lot like the "Citizens of Hollywood" that greet guests at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida, but she's in California.  We met Donna and her dog Lady one morning on our recent visit.  MousePlanet has the full list and details of the Citizens of Buena Vista Street here .  From their notes about Donna , we find out that she's the 'unofficial mayor'.  From MousePlanet  and their post about all the 'Citizens ': Donna is the unofficial mayor of Buena Vista St.. You usually see her with her dog, Lady. The kids love to meet the dog and pet her of course. She is happy to give you directions to any attractions. She is also happy that women just got the vote and has no plans on

Putting this photo here in the ole' online diary to note the inclusion of this seasonal Parks Map.  I've posted other Disney Parks maps/guides including both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea here .  And a guide for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party from 2017 here .  Over the past ten days or so, I've posted some items from our recent trip to DLR but really didn't mention the trip. We've been to Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Park a few times over the years, but this trip was just a little interlude before a larger Disney-centric vacation.  We stayed for a few nights and spent a good chunk of the days at the Parks in Anaheim.  Would we do things differently?  I think so, but we decided to try something new and NOT take my own advice.  What was that advice? From this post on Disneyland in 2016, I said : If you get a chance, stay at the Disneyland Hotel at the Disneyland Resort. They really drape themselves in Walt and the place is themed to Di

On our recent trip to Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort, we had a dinner at the Carthay Circle Lounge.  NOT at the restaurant, but downstairs in the lounge that doesn't require reservations.  We waited in a short line, then were lead into the outer lounge space - that doubles as kind of the lobby - for the upstairs restaurant.  We were *just* outside of the formal lounge, but had nice plush chairs and a little table.  Nat had a cocktail, I had a beer flight and we ate a bunch of the small plates. But, none of that was the star.  Nope.  That's because right beside our table was a display case that had all these Donald Duck products in it.  And if you look closely, the consumer products are all in almost perfect mint condition.  There's Cheese Quackers from Nabisco that has a nice Donald Duck-tie-in.  But then there's just a bunch of random products that they appear to have slapped the Donald Duck name/brand on.  I mean...Tomato Juice?  Grapefrui

Back last Summer, I posted a 'one that got away' about a vintage Disneyland drink tray that I came across .  It was white, but had the state of California and a bunch of characters.   I admired the tray, but quickly realized that I can appreciate it without actually having to own it.  Besides...there are really just a handful of times a year (for us) that we could actually use a tray like this one. But then....we stopped into the Blue Sky Cellar.  It is in Disney's California Adventure and included a bunch of models and Imagineering stuff.  There are interactive cards to fill out, a video to watch and artifacts to gaze over. They bill "Blue Sky" as the first step in the Imagineering process. In amongst the artifacts was that black Disneyland beverage tray that you see at the very top of this post.  I'm certain there were a bunch of iterations of the Disneyland tray, but now we know of at least two of them.  While my initial thought was to adore the

Another day and another post on something we picked up at a Disney Park.  This continues the last few posts about items at Disneyland Resort.  Above is a Mickey Mouse "Honorary Aviator" sticker that they give out in the Soarin' line at Disney's California Adventure.  It is bigger than the normal "Mickey Stickers" that they hand out all over and is the size of the celebration buttons. This is a little different than the 'job role' stickers like the other WDW-related ones we've picked up including a  Honorary Custodian  or  WDW Monorail Pilot .  It is ride-related and includes Mickey, so not sure where exactly to put it. But, that doesn't matter.  Get it next time you ride Soarin' in DCA. Full list of items that are free from Disney Parks: This "Honorary Aviator" Mickey the Mouse sticker (that's the size of a button) from the Soarin' queue.   A cute set of  Lightning McQueen and Stanley Disney California Advent

Everyone always talks about how much Disney park visits cost.  And they do, indeed, cost quite a bit.  But, there's value all around if you look for it.  Most of the time, that value comes from spending quality time with your family.  Some other times, that value comes from the little things that you can pick up/get/do around the parks. I've written about these various 'freebies' around the parks here on the blog.  Full list is below.  Today, is the second day in a row posting about one of these things and they're both transportation-related.  These in the photo at the top are from Disney's California Adventure and are available at Radiator Springs Racers in Carsland.  If you ask the cast member, you can choose between Lightning McQueen and Stanley.  With three kids, we were able to get both! The kids wore these (the boy on his hat, the girls on their lanyards) all day.  Disneyland Resort does NOT do pin trading like they do at Walt Disney World (it is ha

I've written about 'freebies at Walt Disney World' over the years on the blog.  There's the business card that we got from the Mayor of Main Street USA .  He's dead now , so I don't think they're doing this any longer.  There's also an official 'guest skipper' license from the Jungle Cruise Skippers .  And a card from Soarin' that is labeled "Born to Soar" that allows little ones to 'fly' the ride as soon as they hit the height.   There are also plenty of character stickers from various cast members and DVC kiosks like Minnie Mouse  and Mickey Mouse.  And you can get a Celebration Pin everyday or special pins on other days like Mickey Mouse's birthday  or a special pin if you participate in the Star Wars Jedi Training .  If you look hard enough, you can also find 'job role' stickers like Honorary Custodian  or  WDW Monorail Pilot .  And there's, of course, transportation cards. Another one those is the