3rd disneyland sunday funday in a row

we couldn't end thanksgiving break without at least one trip to the happiest place on earth, now could we?  although there are typically huge crowds during any school break, we decided it would just be fun to go, soak in some holiday spirit, have some snacks, and just kind of take it easy.  the beauty of having an annual pass, right?

like the previous sunday, it was a rainy day.  and while this would deter a lot of other people from going to an amusement park, we knew from experience that rainy days at disneyland are often the best ones.

those are some fabulously vintage ears i'm wearing, courtesy of my co-leader.  her nonprofit had received a donation of an entire box of these things years ago, and she came across them while going through inventory in her storage unit.  i don't know how old they are, but i got complimented by at least one cast member who recognized them.

since we hadn't had breakfast yet, we decided to hit up rancho del zocalo for some grub.  the old lady opted for the fajita beef breakfast platter:

the bean ordered some pancakes and eggs and i went with the mickey mouse pancake.

we'd grabbed a fastpass for the indiana jones ride, and got to ride it almost as soon as we were done with breakfast.  as we were heading towards the line, i finally remembered to look for the tree where the "little man of disneyland" has his home.

after the ride, we headed over to tomorrowland to see if we could still snag a fastpass for hyperspace mountain.  the return time wasn't for a couple of hours, which gave us time to go on a few other rides - pirates of the caribbean and the 20th installation of the holiday overlay at "small world."

just across from the exit for "small world" is the fantasyland theater, where a showing of "mickey and the magical map" was just ending.  since the next show was only about 20 minutes later, we decided to wait in the still-short line.  it's my favorite show in the park.

the old lady wanted to see the christmas parade, and we managed to find a great spot that gave us a perfect view.

 we were endlessly amused by this girl who wanted to take selfies with everything that went past.

snack time meant a stop for hot cocoa and seasonal candy cane beignets.  i wasn't sure how those would be, but they ended up being really tasty.  i highly recommend trying some if you get to disneyland before january 8th, when holiday festivities come to an end.

we decided to have our snack at the new orleans square railroad station.  the entire railroad is shut down right now as they work on star wars land, but you can go hang out, sit on the train, even walk over to the actual station.  it isn't usually open for walking through when the railroad is in operation.  the bean went over to blow the horn:

 and found a hidden mickey in the rocks on the ground.

train selfie!

this area is extra pretty when it's decorated for the holidays.

one last thing...space mountain time!

the bean usually opts to sit with her sister, but today she wanted to sit with me.  and when i asked her how she wanted us to pose for the ride photo, this is what she chose:

on our way out of the park, we noticed that they're slowly starting to set up for the candlelight processional.

ah, holidays at disneyland.  it just doesn't get any better.