kicking off spring break just how you'd expect us to

with easter coming so late this year, it seemed like everyone in the world had spring break before we did.  ours finally started on good friday, and i'm sure you can guess where we decided to go to kick off our 10 days of freedom.

we got up early and headed down to anaheim in hopes of arriving in time for rope drop at 8:00, but even with practically zero traffic and an easy breezy time getting parked, through security and onto a tram we still didn't go through the turnstiles until 8:15.  no biggie though, because it was still early and far from packed yet.  and then we scored as we walked through the tunnel and found one of the motorcars pulling up to the curb, completely empty and ready to load up some passengers for a nice drive up main street to the castle.

i'd had the bean wear the top that i made for her a couple of weeks ago during pattern testing, and she posed for me in front of the castle to show it off.

our first order of business was in tomorrowland, where we hightailed it through the growing crowds to grab a fastpass for hyperspace mountain.  we were stoked to get a window that would open in just about an hour.

with only a 10-minute wait for star tours, we made that our first ride of the day.  and when we got outta there, we headed over to buzz lightyear's astro blasters to do some target shooting.

like most rides do, it empties out into a cute little gift shop where she fell in love with this giant stitch.

we were both super amused at the "parade seat" available for a mere $15.

and this baymax mug was super cute.  too bad neither of us really drinks anything out of mugs.

i always glance at the register area in this shop, because they used one of the old peoplemover cars as decoration here.  i loved that ride, and now we only get to go on it when we head out to florida.

by then it was time to flash that fastpass and go save the galaxy.

i asked her what we were going to do for the ride photo, and she opted for the duckface/peace sign combo.  hey, i just do what i'm told.

next up - big thunder mountain.  we love this ride, and there was just a 10-minute wait to get on.  sweet!

zero line for pirates, too.  score.

by then it was time for a snack, so we headed over to the mint julep bar and snagged a bag of mickey-shaped beignets, plus the special jolly roger tropical-flavored punch and a mint julep for me.

we were entertained by the backsides of the band, performing just in front of us.

more fastpasses, this time for the indiana jones ride.

while we waited for our window to open, we went next door to take a ride on the jungle cruise and say hi to the animals.

after finishing the bumpy ride through the temple of doom, we decided to cross over and get some snacks at the food & wine festival at california adventure.  it was the last few days of it, and i still had three tickets left over from my sip & savor pass to use up.

as we entered i caught a glimpse of a familiar face and fumbled for my phone to snap a pic.  if you watch general hospital (or maybe one life to live and even port charles, back in the day), you'll know who michael easton is.  he's played a handful of characters on all three shows and unfortunately i was too late.  all i managed to get was this:

oh well.

we decided to grab one more fastpass for the day, this time for one of our favorite rides that we hadn't been on in awhile:

and to kill some time we headed over to the animation academy to draw winnie the pooh.  she wasn't thrilled with her results, although i have to admit i didn't love mine either.  whatever.  we had fun trying.

in the sorcerer's workshop, we saw something we'd never noticed before - a portrait of walt himself gazing down at us.

in the beast's library, the bean answered a few questions on the magic book and got this:

and then when it was time to get onto our ride, she was super stoked to find that a recent growth spurt finally got her tall enough for her head to reach the little marker on the seat that meant she didn't have to loop her seat belt through the little strap between her knees.  doesn't sound like a big deal, but she was pretty excited.

our last stop was at the food & wine festival, where she happily dug into the smoked bacon mac & cheese:

and i finally got my grilled tenderloin slider with chimichurri sauce.

i used the last ticket on the pork belly bao, which i thought she wanted to split but ended up enjoying solo.

bye to the festival for now!  can't wait till next year's edition.

i wasn't excited for the drive home, though...

and yet siri had lied to me - but it was in my favor this time, as we were home in 45 minutes.  the bean had fallen asleep in the back seat with a full belly, i was happy to relax on the couch for a while, and we were pretty satisfied with our day.  not a bad way to start spring break, i'd say.