#BeastOnTour: Disneyland & LA Solo Trip Day 5 - Final day at Disney

[mr-paul]

Index
Day 4

Day 5 - Thursday 26th September 2019

Been a while since my last update, sorry! Life gets in the way, I had a trip to Disneyland Paris at the end of Feb/beginning of March, and then the whole world changed with coronavirus… Anyway, let’s go back to September, for my final day at Disneyland.

After a full-on day with MaxPass on the Wednesday, I was feeling absolutely knackered when I woke up in the morning. I’d basically done everything in the previous three and a half days, so it wasn’t too much of an issue I was going to take it slightly easier and head out a bit later. After under-eating on previous days, I decided to get a decent breakfast in me and went to the Denny’s on Harbor Boulevard for around half 8. Here I decided to have a ‘Lumberjack Slam’ which consisted of Buttermilk pancakes, grilled ham, bacon strips, sausage links, eggs, hash browns and toast. Oh my god this was massive and probably could’ve fed three people! I managed to finish most of it but left some toast.

I had this with an orange juice, found some kind of voucher online, and with a tip it came to $15.74 (£12.82).

Now, my plan wasn’t to go to the parks straight after this. If you’ve followed my report, I’ve mentioned before I work for Disney, so I wanted to go to the cast-only store to see if there was any discount merch that took my fancy. This opened at 10am and was a mile or so offsite, so thought it’d be logical to go there first rather than head out in the middle of the day.

There was all sorts available at generally a 50-75% discount, but I had to be sensible as I was travelling with hand luggage only. If you actually worked at Disneyland, you’d be able to get so many cheap clothes.As it was, all I came out with was a magnet and two cheap pins of the Disney Pin Trading logo, one for me and one for my brother, for 99 cents each. All in all, two pins and a magnet came to $4.82 (£3.93).

Still feeling in a bit of a food coma, I went to lie down at my hotel for half an hour, got a Diet Coke for some caffeine, and then headed into Disneyland around half 11. It was actually a bit gloomy today, so I was glad I had got MaxPass for the photos the day before.

First up today was to do the other half of the train route, after I got off at Main Street the previous day due to it having a technical issue. This was pleasant, and took me around to Fantasyland, where I rode It’s A Small World, which I’d only done once before on this trip, on the first night.

From here, I went into Galaxy’s Edge for the bajillionth time this trip After milling around here for a good while and riding Smuggler’s Run, I was still flagging a bit and decided to have a sit down and try a Disneyland classic for ‘lunch’.

A dole whip float! My first time trying this, and I loved it! So refreshing, and while there was a massive queue, I used mobile order and got it within a couple of minutes! With discount, this came to $5.85 (£4.77)

The pro pin traders were about today...

From here, I decided to head over to California Adventure, for what would turn out to be the final time. It was an Oogie Boogie Bash day, which meant it would be closing early, and I wanted to get on Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout one last time.

Groot was about before...

And afterwards, Star Lord and Gamora were having a dance party!

A short hop over, I went back to Disneyland, where I spotted a fantastic interaction - Cruella de Vil eying up someone’s support dog! You don’t see enough of this anymore, characters milling around rather than being in a structured queue!

This afternoon I ticked off some of the more ‘lowkey’ activities I hadn’t yet done. I took the raft over to Tom Sawyer Island and to the Pirate’s Lair.

My next goal was to ride the Sailing Ship Columbia, and I managed to squeeze in a go on Big Thunder Mountain while waiting for the boat to arrive.

I then went up to Tarzan’s Treehouse, before using the Single Rider line to go on my faves from this trip, Indiana Jones Adventure.

It was now gone 5pm, and I walked back onto Main Street USA where the Dapper Dans were performing! How good? Due to the time of year, they put on a slightly spooky set, of course including a rendition of Grim Grinning Ghosts.

I took some selfies, because even if it's your fifth day, you've got to, right?

Into Tomorrowland, where I went on Star Tours, Space Mountain, and watched the Star Wars: Path of the Jedi film.

I was now starting to get actually peckish, and spent a good while trying to decide what to eat for my final meal at Disneyland.

The sun was setting...

I opted for another classic that I hadn’t yet tried: the corn dog! I got this from the Stage Door Café in Frontierland, again using Mobile Order. This came to $8.44 (6.88) so a relatively cheap dinner.

After a bite to eat, I went back across the park and went on Buzz Lightyear, and a ride on the Matterhorn as it was getting dark.

I had one more ride to tick off my list - I hadn’t been on Casey Jr. A pleasant train ride, but nothing compared to the Paris version!

It was now 8pm, and I was into my final hours at Disneyland. Time for one last trip to Batuu, to zip through the single rider line for Smuggler’s Run.

Sorry for the photo spam, I just love this part of the park.

Snapped this Coco-inspired display on my way back around the park.

The last thing I wanted to do tonight was watch Halloween Screams again, at 9:30pm. During the week, it doesn’t have fireworks (only at the weekend), but was keen to finish my stay with some illuminations. I read there was a viewing area by It’s A Small World, and kind of thought that meant watching it projected on the back of the castle and Matterhorn. Of course, that doesn’t really make sense and it was projected onto Its A Small World! Really liked the execution of a projection show onto something other than the main castle.

It was now time for my souvenir shopping - had put it off until the end! Unfortunately I haven’t got my receipts with me, as I’ve spent lockdown at my parents house, and they’re at my own flat. I can give a general overview of how much I spent through my Monzo, while taking to account my cast member discount. First, I picked up a few pins. A couple of a limited edition Galaxy’s Edge pin (one for me, one for my brother), and a Halloween BB-8. I bought these in the pin shop on Main Street USA.

I then headed out to the main World of Disney store in Downtown Disney. If you’re a Disney parks fan, you probably know that Spirit Jerseys are a massive thing - everyone was wearing them even in the California heat! I decided I’d like one - I balked at the price a bit but with my discount it became more palatable. I picked the grey, weathered look one. I also picked up a Christmas decoration to take for my mum.

I hadn’t planned on going back into the parks, but I decided I wanted one more pin, and they didn’t have it in DTD. It was now 10:45pm, so close to closing time! I picked up this locket-style one of the castle with Walt inside.

In total, my souvenirs came to $97.53 (£79.45), including one of the big reusable shopping bags, that I now use at Tesco every week!

Seeing I was back in the park, it would’ve been rude not to stand and watch the end of the Main Street Electrical Parade, to end my time at Disneyland.

I’d made it to closing time once again, and I left with a tinge of sadness I was having to leave, but fulfilled with the fun I’d had over the previous five days and excitement for the rest of my trip - the next day, I was moving up to Hollywood.

Farewell, Disneyland...

Not sure if I’m going to have time to write up the rest of my non-Disney days, if I do, I may condense them into summaries of a couple of days at a time, to mainly give an overview of the attractions I saw rather than a full play-by-play of what I ate etc

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading!

Steps: 33,637
Attractions: 18
Tomorrow: Up to Hollywood and Downtown LA

[KayLouise]

Brilliant day, you picked up some fab merchandise too, that pin with Walt inside is lovely 😍