Chapter 67
New Lands to Explore

Previous Post | Next Post
Table of Contents

(Originally posted September 26, 2013)

We were just about ready for dinner after completing the train loop and ending up back in Tomorrowland, but we decided to run to the car to get our sweatshirts first. We took the tram back to Mickey and Friends, but then we started walking back toward Downtown Disney.

After reading countless mentions about it on Lines, we wanted to go to Tangaroa Terrace at Disneyland Hotel to try out the famous Hawaiian Cheeseburger. We arrived at the restaurant and got to order on the fancy kiosks that apparently never caught on around property.

Before long at all, our burger came out looking phenomenal. Here’s the description from the menu: Angus 1/3 lb. Hawaiian Cheeseburger (Ground Angus Burger with Teriyaki Sauce, Fresh Grilled Pineapple, Havarti Cheese, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato on a Multigrain Bun) with Sweet Potato Fries.

The burger was really good, and the sweet potato fries were awesome as well. We were very pleased with the whole meal and would definitely be back! While we ate, we made friends with this adventurous bird who decided to sit on the back of one of the chairs at our table.

Appetites sated, we headed back toward the parks. We took the Monorail into Disneyland from Downtown Disney for fun, but then we actually exited that park and hopped to DCA. Once there, we got a GAC Fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers and killed some time while we waited for it to be valid. We walked over to Paradise Pier and rode King Triton’s Carousel and Toy Story Mania (we both only got beavers this time). Finally, with just a few minutes left before our Fastpasses were good, we rode The Little Mermaid because it still never has a wait.

We walked back over to Cars Land and quickly got into our car at Radiator Springs. We had fun getting the Luigi/Guido side, but our car lost.

After our race, we headed out of DCA and went home.

The next day (Tuesday) we arrived in the mid-afternoon and started in DCA. We rode Monsters Inc., got Fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers, and hit Ghirardelli to get some free chocolate squares. Next, we went on Toy Story Mania to try out one of the tips I had read about online for scoring more points (now that we were locals, we wanted to improve our scores, but we weren’t likely to figure out how to do that on our own). We tried the “fox in the hen house” trick in Hamm’s game, but neither of us did that well and we still only ended up getting beavers for our prize.

Having worked up an appetite, we decided to try out Cocina Cucamonga in Pacific Wharf. I had thought the restaurant didn’t have great reviews, but when I checked again, it turned out they were pretty decent.

We went up to the counter and ordered our food, and then we waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, we figured out that in order to get our food, we had to bring our receipt to the window, at which point the cast member behind the counter would look at it to figure out what to get us. The system is different than any other restaurant in the parks and not exactly the most user-friendly. Luckily, once we figured out how to get our food going, it came out pretty quickly. We ordered the Carne Asada and Chicken Tamale.

Both items were pretty good! It would be nice if there was a little more carne included on the plate, but we were able to split and still get pretty full.

After dinner, we went over to use our Radiator Springs Racers Fastpasses. We got Guido’s side again, but we also lost again. We decided to make kitty faces in our picture with our “paws” up.

Hopping over to Disneyland, we decided to ride Star Tours. While we were in the queue, I realized we hadn’t taken a picture yet “hanging onto our hats” (a tradition from when I was very young and got scared I would lose my hat into outer space). We rectified that situation.

This must have been at least the 20th time we had ridden Star Tours since it changed to version 2.0, but it was the first time we had ever gotten the Naboo ending. With that, we had finally been to every possible destination (though we were obviously still very far from getting every possible combination). We really liked this ending. It was unexpected and fun to go underwater.

On the way out from Star Tours, we saw and LOVED this t-shirt. We need to get it someday.

Done with Tomorrowland for now, we headed to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan’s Flight. The GAC line ended up taking about as long as the regular queue, but at least I could sit on the wall for most of the wait.

Next, we decided to go check out Fantasy Faire. We figured that since night had fallen, the crowds in there would be decreasing despite the fact that it had just opened.

First we admired the awesome Figaro animatronic.

We also loved Rapunzel’s maypole.

All the architecture in the whole area is beautifully done.

We knew we needed to make it during the day sometime to see the shows at the theatre.

Clopin’s Music Box would also have to wait until another time because there was a long line of people waiting to try it out.

Exiting Fantasy Faire into Frontierland, we went into Westward Ho to pin trade. While in there, someone stepped on a mustard packet that they must have dropped and it squirted mustard all over Tracy’s pants. Knowing that it would be a very difficult stain to get out, her mood soured a little after that. Since it was getting later anyway, we just decided to ride Pirates and head home. We got to the parking structure right as the fireworks were starting and we were able to appreciate just how close (and HUGE) they are from Mickey and Friends. So many car alarms were going off while we stood watching for a few minutes.

On a totally non-Disney note, the next morning we were having our coffee when we noticed a crane perched on the roof of the condos across the way. I took a few pictures because it was quite a sight.

That day, we went to the parks after lunch and started at Disneyland.

As we walked down Main Street, we saw that there were two horse-drawn carriages running this afternoon, which was quite a thrill.

We walked through Fantasy Faire, enjoying it during the day this time, but apparently I didn’t get any pictures of that.

Going into Tomorrowland, we rode Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We had looked up some tips for how to score big on that ride too (which I desperately needed as I would rarely break 10,000). Somehow, through a combination of hitting Zurg’s 50,000 point target once and getting several diamonds and triangles, I broke 100,000 for the first time EVER.