Summer is in full force as we celebrate Disneyland’s 63rd Birthday! Yes, 63 years ago this past Tuesday Disneyland opened it’s gates to it’s first guests. Where would we all be without this incredible place? Was it as hot as it was today? Did the pavement melt? As you marinate on these life changing questions, let’s take a look at the progress around the Disneyland Resort.
Star Wars Land…errr Galaxy’s Edge..what are we calling it anyway? I prefer Star Wars Land, since Walt called all of his lands “Land” with the exception of New Orleans Square (with was a Square). There’s Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Car’s Land . . . you get the idea. But anyway, we can see the mountains continuing to rise. They *almost* fit in with the landscape from Big Thunder Mountain. (Tune into Monday’s Disneyland update to see what I mean)
My thanks to Brian Pinsky for his help with photos today!
Moving on to the new parking garage, which is moving along in what feels like record time. Granted, the resort needs it and you can feel that on busy days when traffic is backed up onto the freeways.
We’re watching several construction sites at Downtown Disney and a few new openings, including the Disney Home Store, which offers mostly things such as kitchen items and decor.
Let’s enter Disney California Adventure via Buena Vista Street. In 1963 California Adventure was just a parking lot. How fitting to park this car right here for its birthday.
I found the elusive Unicorn Cupcake (the park calls it the “Iridescent Cupcake” for some reason). You can find it at the park Starbucks and the Jolly Holiday Bakery. Be forewarned that it looks much better than it tastes. But Instagrammable . . . right?!
The characters were out in full force on this Tuesday afternoon. Here we see Judy and Nick greeting guests in Zootopia. Just kidding – it’s the mini San Francisco facade across from the Little Mermaid, but in this ever-expanding IP focused park, perhaps we really will see a Zootopia one day.
Thank goodness we got lovely pictures of the Pier before these blue tents went up. I guess the work on World of Color has intensified. . . and they don’t want us to take photos of whatever they are doing. (Insert your favorite outrageous rumor here)
The Pixar Pals Corner has some photo opps in addition to the two dining options.
I’ve mentioned it before, but if you haven’t heard of the Museum of Ice Cream, it’s the most Instagrammable place on Earth (sorry Disneyland). But it seems like all the smart places are trying to catch up:
They also have these Coco statues, which are lovely to see.
On my last visit to DCA, I said how the crowds in this corridor were terrible and many people argued that it was because of the newness. And while I don’t think that that isn’t part of it, this area is just not getting getting any less crowded. It’s always dense with people. This time I made sure to snap pics of that density.
This design is so CUTE!
Moving towards the exit, we will take a walk through Cars Land. (Route 66)
Fun Fact: I saw the real version of Ramone’s on my Route 66 roadtrip! It’s the Conoco Tower in Shamrock, Texas. Should I do an article about my roadtrip?
The last day to visit A Bug’s Land will be September 4th. If this land is sentimental to you, plan your family vacations now.
My favorite thing to do at Walt Disney World on a hot day is to see an indoor show. So I applied this logic to DCA. We showed up about 30 minutes before show time and still managed to snag good seats in the orchestra. Please enjoy my pictures from DCA’s FROZEN show: (I do this for a living, so if you need a professional to shoot your live production, please contact me!)
Frozen continues to be a world-class show, that many people have said is better than the Broadway show. I haven’t seen it, but the theme park version always ruins my eyeliner if you know what I mean!
So that’s it for Disney California Adventure! The construction at the pier continues to move at a Heimlich like pace and the rest of the park doesn’t seem to be getting much attention despite the crowds. In the heat there isn’t a lot of shade to take refuge and the only water attraction is an hour long wait all day. Take a tip from this Florida native, you should be drinking the equivalent of a Dasani bottle of water an hour on a hot day. Double that if you’re drinking alcohol. Normally, the DCA update would cease and we would wait until Monday to see what’s going on at Disneyland… but Tuesday was a special day that I’d like to catch you up on!
Tuesday was Disneyland’s Birthday! I’ve been to many birthday celebrations at the Walt Disney World Resort. I was ready for my button, special merchandise and special treats, since that’s how Disney World typically celebrates. Well imagine my disappointment to find that they weren’t doing any of that. No button. No special merchandise and no special treats. What gives? We used to celebrate these milestones. The only thing planned was a “Character Cavalcade” that would include 63 characters. In addition to the little circle photo signs floating around.
Before I saw the later cavalcade, The All American Collegiate band marched down Main Street to the flag retreat ceremony. I think it’s magical that Disneyland’s flag retreat plays quotes from JFK and MLK. It felt far more inspiring to me here in California than it ever did in FL. They played Walt’s opening day speech over the loudspeakers. Then they played Happy Birthday and we all sang Happy Birthday to Disneyland. Then the characters moved around their space in a conga line and eventually, the parade continued to the next stop.
From there we decided to follow the parade, as we needed to get to Fantasyland. This proved great for photos of some of these incredibly rare characters!
Watch the video of the first Cavalcade from Brian Pinsky:
We were even treated to a lovely cloud filled sunset as the kiss goodnight on Disneyland’s 63rd Birthday. At least mother nature had gifts for us! We will have more Disneyland photos and news for you on Monday, so come back for more great pictures and conversation!
If you want to follow along on my adventures, follow me on instagram – @DisneyBySteph
Here you’ll find body positivity, Disney pictures, pics of me being cute and more! Join the conversation that I’m always having over there! I decided to celebrate Disneylands 63rd by doing a 60’s inspired look, because the 1960’s are my favorite Disneyland era! Do you have a favorite era? Tell me about it in the comments!
And, if you want to hire me to take photos of you, I do that too! Send an e-mail to [email protected] or visit my website photographybystephenie.com I shoot all kinds of things: live shows, events, weddings, park photos and more! Check out a few photos from this session I did recently!
I’ll see you in the parks! Let me know your thoughts on Disneyland, DCA and how the parks look! Thanks for reading and have a magical day!
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