Chapter 16
Whip It Good

Okay, I know it’s blasphemy, but there’s a good reason why we hadn’t gotten a single Dole Whip during the entire time we lived in SoCal. We’d tried the delicious Dole Whip Float for the first time on our Walt Disney World honeymoon back in 2010 and gotten it with the pineapple/vanilla swirl. Then when we came to Disneyland for the first time in 2011, we realized they didn’t have the swirl, so we got a float with the regular pineapple soft-serve. The tartness was too overpowering without the sweet and mild vanilla to cut through it, so we weren’t thrilled. From that point on, we were nervous to wait in that crazy line and spend money on a Disneyland Dole Whip again after we’d felt like the WDW version was so superior.

But today was hot, and we finally decided to give the Dole Whip a second chance—this time without the pineapple juice. The line was, of course, long, but we queued up with everyone else. At least the area is very well-themed.

It also felt like the line moved a little faster this time than it had during our last experience with the Tiki Juice Bar, which was another plus.

Not only did we opt for the Dole Whip, but we also ordered it in one of the new souvenir bowls that they’d gotten in sometime recently.

It’s nice because they actually put the regular, disposable container inside the bowl so that the bowl itself doesn’t get dirty.

We brought our snack into the River Belle Terrace to get out of the sun, and while we ate, we happened to see our friends Kathy and Jake, who were stopping in to get water. We had a nice chat and caught up after not seeing them for several months.

As for the Dole Whip itself, I’ll be the first to admit that I misjudged it from our previous experience. We were so much more satisfied with the non-float version, and it was simply scrumptious—plus it was incredibly refreshing on such a hot day. I found myself getting hooked on Dole Whips and was actually glad that we hadn’t become addicted while we lived so close and could have wasted so much money on them.

Finished with our snack, we went back out into the heat as the Mark Twain went sailing past.

I also took a picture of the Petrified Tree because it’s awesome.

We couldn’t imagine rowing one of the canoes in this heat.

We’d gotten a DAS time for the Haunted Mansion, so we rode that one more time (knowing that it would be transitioned to the holiday overlay the next time we visited).

And after that, we got a time for Pirates as our last attraction of the trip.

Once we were done with the ride. it was time for us to get ready to leave Disneyland, so we started walking out through Adventureland.

We took one more castle picture.

And then I took one last picture down Main Street.

It’s hard to explain how I felt about leaving Disneyland at this point. It’s still a little weird knowing that we can’t go whenever we want anymore, and part of me (of course) wished that our trip could have been a little longer. On the other hand, however, we’d been gone for almost a whole week and were missing our cat. And for once, we were missing home as well. Plus, it certainly helped that we already had our dates picked out for the next trip out to SoCal just two months later. Knowing when we’d be back made it easier to leave.

We made one last purchase in Disneyland itself, but I’ll save that for the wrap-up update/epilogue.

We took the tram back to Mickey and Friends and then started in the direction of SNA—but first, we had two more stops to make. We hadn’t gone to In-N-Out Burger yet on this trip, so it was the natural choice for an early dinner. Then we followed that up with a trip to South Coast Plaza. Why? Well, our local Disney Store in Colorado hadn’t started to stock Tsum Tsums yet, but Tracy had gotten obsessed through looking at photos online. Disneyland stocked them very briefly, but they were already all but sold out by the time we visited. So we had called a day earlier to make sure South Coast Plaza carried them, and we finagled just enough extra time before our flight to make a quick stop.

Though they didn’t have Dumbo (the one we most wanted), they did have three others that we snatched up to start our collection.

After making our purchase, the trip was really over. We headed to the airport, dropped off the rental car, and had an uneventful flight home. It had been a fun visit, but we were actually glad to get back to our real life in Colorado—which, I think, is the best way to feel at the end of a vacation.

Continued in Next Post