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Old 30 Dec 18, 05:33 PM  
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bambikate
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The 1200 Mile West Coast Adventure - August/September 2018: Day 12: Celebrate good times (come on!)

Day 12: Celebrate good times (come on!)
Friday 31 August 2018

Results Day, Plaza Inn Breakfast, Disneyland Park, Downtown Disney and Cars Land at Night

Index

Today was a very big day for me. It was results day for my final ACA exams that I had sat six weeks earlier. Today I would find out if I passed or failed. If I passed, I would be a Chartered Accountant after three years of studying ACA and three years of studying AAT. The results were being published at 12pm UK time, which meant they would be released at 4am PST.

Needless to say, I was incredibly nervous and had a very restless nights sleep. In fact, I had a really vivid dream that I had passed my exams with flying colours, so when I actually woke up to realise it was only a dream and I still had to wait for my results I was gutted

At about 3am I woke up and just couldn’t get back to sleep. Our study group chat was lighting up every couple of seconds; we were all so nervous.

I somehow managed to survive the whole hour and by the time it was a few minutes to go before results, I was physically trembling and my heart was pounding so hard in my chest.
At exactly 4am PST, a text came through… I PASSED ALL THREE! I’M A QUALIFIED CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT! Ahhhhhhhh!

Honestly don’t think I’ve ever shaken so much. Andy and the girls were still fast asleep. I was worried if I woke them all up now they wouldn’t last the day in the parks.

Clearly I was too excited to go back to sleep so I just replied to the lovely congratulations messages I got and congratulated my friends that also passed (three of them had to re-take in November but everyone is now qualified! Yay!)

I watched TV for a while then went for a shower, by the time I got out, Andy and the girls had woken up. I told Andy and the girls my news and we all hugged and jumped up and down. All that hard work had paid off!

We had a breakfast reservation for the Plaza Inn Character Breakfast in Disneyland Park for 8:40am so we headed off nice and early.

We arrived at security and the line was crazy, there wasn’t a separate entrance for breakfast reservations. We eventually got through and was then greeted with a huge queue for the park itself.

We explained to a CM we had a breakfast reservation at 8:40 and asked if there was a separate queue for breakfast reservations (like there is in WDW) and they said, yeah sure you can just join any of the queues… Ummm so there isn’t then!

It’s a bit silly really as even though our reservation was at 8:40am, the park didn’t open until 9am so there was no way to get into the park before 9am anyway!

Time soon ticked by and we were eventually let through, we got chatting to a couple of families who had spotted Andy’s Disney Tattoos. They were APs and were specifically going in just to get a limited edition Haunted Mansion item (a bag I think) that was going on sale for today only…



The crowd levels were busier than the past couple of days but not horrendous.

Inside the park, I went into the first shop to pick up an “I’m celebrating” button. The lady congratulated me and asked the girls “What are you celebrating?” Izzy said “Being at Disney!” The CM said she liked that idea and wrote up some buttons for them, along with some “First Visit” badges for all four of us!

The Dapper Dans were singing and the sun was shining, today was going to be a very good day!

After a short stroll up Main Street, we arrived at the Plaza Inn and checked in for our reservation. After check in you are led to a shaded area where you can have a picture with Minnie.



They try to sell you this later as a printed package for… $42! Ummmm no thanks! I hate this, it cheapens the experience and feels very un-Disney. I mentioned that we have MaxPass and she scanned my ticket and added a Digital copy to our account for free! Yay!

It’s very annoying that they print these and then throw them away when no one buys them - such a waste!

You are then directed up to the steps and at the front desk you pay in full for your booking - it’s a package that includes tax and tip and you get given a free Plaza badge/button, which is nice because you can just leave when you are done, you don’t have to wait for your bill.

We were then shown to our table almost straight away. Annoyingly, the light was directly behind the kids on all the pictures, so they aren’t very good quality, I’m afraid.

Our first visitor was Rafiki



There was a plethora of characters at this meal, which is one of the reasons we chose this restaurant, some really unusual ones as well as some of the regulars that frequent the character meals, so our autograph book was at the ready!

Next was Eeyore, who was particularly sad today and even went and sulked outside, longingly pressing his hooves up against the window…











Next, Captain Hook! Don’t worry, he was obviously in a good mood today and didn't make any of us walk the plank.











Next to visit was Tigger







And a photobomb by Rafiki…









Next was Gideon! It was so cool to see such a rare character





Eeyore came back for more cuddles


The buffet was really good.





Then came Dale





Then Max…






Eating between all the character visits!



Gepetto came to chat to us and pointed out the best ride in the park… Pinocchio!









Fairy Godmother was next, she was so chatty and friendly!

[



Chip!



We were thrilled with our choice of restaurant, the food was good and the character interaction and variety was fantastic.

When we came out we spotted Pluto and went over for a cuddle



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Old 30 Dec 18, 05:35 PM  
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Then we watched the Dapper Dans as they did a full rendition of Grim Grinning Ghosts! <3



Izzy found this Stitch pillow she would be coming back for later…



And Immy found this lovely little Loungefly backpack! Expensive taste!



Excited faces for my exam passes!











During all this posing, we had been booking our first fastpass of the day! BTMR!

A family in the queue decided they didn’t have to queue like regular people and literally pushed right in front of us.

It was our first and only experience of blatant queue jumping of the holiday but instead of confronting them, we let karma do its work and sure enough, when we got allocated our seats on the train, the girls got FRONT ROW that they had wanted by being in the spot we were in in the queue - yay!









Next fastpass… SPLASH MOUNTAIN!





Sadly, a lot of our ride photos disappeared from our MaxPass account so here’s a screenshot







We were getting hungry after all the excitement and a Dole Whip and a Dole Whip Float were calling our names…









We booked our next fast pass while we had our dole whips, this time for Space Mountain, our third mountain of the day!

Some Storm Troopers were patrolling en route...







After the ride, we were ready for lunch. We wanted to try the Pixar Fest special offerings at Pizza Planet (or Alien Pizza Planet that it had temporarily become!) We obviously weren’t massively hungry so two pizza slices and a dessert between the four of us was just right.





We ordered the cheeseburger pizza slice!



And a pepperoni pizza slice





They were both delicious. It was crazy how the cheeseburger pizza tasted exactly like a big mac yet you were eating a pizza! Really weird!

The thing we were most excited about was the alien macaron… with blackcurrant filling. It was gorgeous and super adorable!





After lunch, Izzy found the shop of her dreams! STITCHES EVERYWHERE!





We saw that Nemo’s Voyage only had a 20 minute standby line (there is no fastpass system for this ride) so we joined the queue. It was exciting to be going on a unique ride







Time went pretty quickly and we were soon climbing down the steps and into the submarine. This was such a cool ride!







The captain was really funny and we had a great time on this ride.





Beautiful view of the Matterhorn!



The teacups outside looked very pretty



It was then time to explore Fantasyland!

First, Casey Junior!







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Old 30 Dec 18, 05:36 PM  
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Next, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey. This ride was really fun and very dark!





Then It’s a Small World...





We stopped to get the girls a Mickey Ice Cream Bar each





Then, Storybook Land Canal Boats



Imogen and another little boy were allowed to sit up on the front of the boat, which was cool















Lastly, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride!



The queue was too big and there was no fasts system for this ride so we left this until tomorrow

Look how cute!




We watched a bit of the Pixar Play Parade





We had had a great morning in Disneyland Park but California Adventure (and alcohol) was calling our names!

We wanted a quick browse around Downtown Disney first.

The girls got a blue slushy to share



Next we had a look at all the beautiful cherry tree lane dress shop



Gorgeous coloured Spirit Jersey







I wish I had a lot more spending money to be able to buy some of these!

Next, the Disney Home store, I loved this sho, it had some incredible merch







Then Marceline’s Confectionery to browse the sweet treats



We also stayed to watch the ladies painting the icing onto the candy apples, such a cool job!



We also popped in to Pandora and I got a couple of the Rose Gold charms I’ve wanted for ages. They had a really good offer on and it worked out cheaper than I could have got them in the UK even with the terrible exchange rate, so I was very happy.

After a short browse we made our way to California Adventure park and walked straight to Bugs Land



Then onwards to Cars Land to have a quick spin on Mater’s ride!





This ride was honestly such a blast - we couldn’t stop laughing

It had been at least an hour or so since we had last eaten… so snack time it was! (I told you we would be constantly grazing this holiday!)

Where else would we go in Cars Land than Cosy Cone Motel!





We were so excited to try one of these cult snacks and they certainly didn’t disappoint, one of our favourite snacks of the entire holiday.

We chose a chilli cone with nachos on top and a bacon mac and cheese cone along with four waters.









The cone was made of pretzel so the whole thing is edible. It was blimmin’ lush.





We managed to get a cheeky fastpass to Guardians of the Galaxy again whilst we ate.









It was super fun once again but yet another missing ride pic. I’m actually gutted looking back at how many are missing!

The girls wanted to do some water play as it was such a hot day, so we went back to Bugs Land for them to cool off





We were fortunate enough to get another fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers next



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Old 30 Dec 18, 05:37 PM  
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It was so beautiful at night here.

Also, we won the race every time we rode it! I think we were super lucky.















We LOVED Cars Land at night - the pictures don’t do it justice how beautiful it looked lit up





















We were in need of a little refreshment so wandered over to Pacific Wharf to get the girls a frozen lemonade and us a frozen Margarita

Loved this sign at night





Gosh it’s just so stunning here, we love this park so much!









Our final snack of the day.. Jack Jack’s cookie num num



This was a warmed soft baked chocolate chip cookie in a little tub. They sell them at the exit of the Incredicoaster and the smell wafting past you is amazing! The queue was snaked right around the corner and people were going crazy for these little guys. I can see why, it was amazing, however some families were getting one each, I’m not sure how they managed a whole one each, we shared one between all four of us and were full



Our second attempt at riding Incredicoaster at night was foiled as the ride was down (AGAIN! )

We decided to pop back to the Pixar Games and try our luck at a couple more with the money we had left on our cards.



We tried Wall-E again but narrowly lost to someone else, then we had a few goes at Heimlich’s Candycorn Toss again… Andy really wanted a Heimlich teddy!

You had to get three candycorns inside his mouth. After a few more tries…. HE DID IT!







We were pretty full and tired by now, so we decided to call it a night and chill out at the hotel to chill out ready for tomorrow. A fantastic day
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Old 30 Dec 18, 07:08 PM  
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A great day. Congratulations on passing your exams!
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Old 30 Dec 18, 10:30 PM  
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Congratulations on you exam results! what a great place to celebrate. Loving your report, really want to copy everything, need to talk my husband round
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Old 30 Dec 18, 10:49 PM  
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What a great way to celebrate your exam pass well done.
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Old 30 Dec 18, 11:57 PM  
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Congratulations! Thats fantastic. What a lovely place to celebrate 🎊
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Old 24 Jan 19, 12:23 PM  
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What a great day!

Your reporting of the day manages to convey how happy you were to have passed your exams... congratulations
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Old 30 Apr 20, 04:05 PM  
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Originally Posted by Inky View Post
A great day. Congratulations on passing your exams!
Thanks so much

Originally Posted by Short legs View Post
Congratulations on you exam results! what a great place to celebrate. Loving your report, really want to copy everything, need to talk my husband round
Haha hope you managed it? Thank you so much it was probably one of my favourite holidays we've had x

Originally Posted by florida girl View Post
What a great way to celebrate your exam pass well done.
Thank you

Originally Posted by Minnie Mum View Post
Congratulations! Thats fantastic. What a lovely place to celebrate 🎊
Ahh thank you x
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