For Sale: Turkey Leg

No, I did not get a turkey leg. My brother did and I had a little piece, which was enough for me.

Our day was spent going on a few rides then eating a little something, then going on a few rides, then eating a little something more. So before this little something we went on Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Snow White.

Then as we were walking around the hub after taking a picture at the castle:

My brother decided to get a turkey leg because he was hungry-- that's what happens when you don't eat breakfast. He got his turkey leg and we went and sat down to people watch while my brother ate, and I got to sit next to him. The Disneyland turkey leg is from a very large turkey and you can smell it before you see it. It has a distinct smell that some find mouth watering but I find...not mouth watering. And those bones are huge. I once found a bone left under a bench while I was working- it was gross.

My brother greatly enjoyed it though, made him feel like a manly man. It was salty and tasted a bit like turkey and a lot like ham. But it is too huge for one person unless you are really hungry; my parents had a few bites of it as well.

I've seen some families bring bread to the park with them and get a leg and just cut it up and made turkey sandwiches out of it. Just as one idea of what you can do with it.

While we were sitting there, we also got to watch the USC marching band as they made their way down Main Street, although what they were playing was very boring.

After that little something, we headed over to Disney's California Adventure.

Just so you know, this was neither in the 'best' category for this trip nor the 'worst' it was just interesting.



-Charlotte

Main Street U.S.A.: Jolly Holiday Bakery [7]

Experiencing Trader Sam's for the first time was part of the 'best' category for this trip, and while I love Jolly Holiday Bakery, this time around it was part of the 'worst' category.

So far our morning was interesting. I had tried to push my family out of our hotel as fast as possible so we could get to the parks as fast as possible. It worked somewhat; we got there 15 minutes after park opening. We got our tickets very fast then made our way in. Now, I know my way around the morning rush at Disneyland, usually people run to Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, rarely over to Adventureland and New Orleans Square so my family followed me away from Tomorrowland and over to Indiana Jones. I heard from some of my friends that they recently did a lot of work on the ride to help improve it and lower the amount of down times so it was ironic when we got over there and saw they were down. They weren't even distributing fast passes because they didn't know if the ride would be back open again that day.

Hungry and disappointed, my dad lead us to Jolly Holiday Bakery because they loved it last time and really wanted to go back. The line was long and slow moving, it was peak season so we expected this, and honestly, we didn't care about waiting. It was Holiday time at the parks, so they had a lot of special holiday treats and drinks, which is what my problem was. Because of the additions to the options, other items had to be removed for the time to make room for more seasonal treats. Two of the things removed were the only two things I could eat there: the flourless chocolate cake and the cheesecake. In other words, I didn't eat breakfast because there wasn't anything there that I could eat. I did have to try one of the holiday drinks so I got the caramel apple cider.

My family was happy with what they ordered, although my brother didn't get anything to eat either just a coffee. So my parents enjoyed their breakfast, but I was left upset.

The cider was warm which was great on that cold morning, but the caramel kind of just went to the bottom of the cup and so the last couple of sips were way too sweet. It had great flavour, though, and somewhat filled me up and gave me energy to go on that morning. Afterwards, we made our way over to Pirates and then Holiday Haunted Mansion.

-Charlotte

Disneyland Hotel: Trader Sam's

My mum really wanted to go to Disneyland, a lot. So my dad gave in and on December 28th we were back at the happiest place on earth that just got happier; and it was possibly one of the best and worst trips ever.

The day before, though, we arrived back in Anaheim- well our hotel was in Fullerton so really we were back in Fullerton- and we spent the evening going to different places we loved and one new experience. We got dinner at Pieology, it is like a Subway but with pizza and you get a 12" diameter pizza with whatever you want on it and a fountain drink for about $10, and they have gluten free pizza crust. It isn't exactly next door to Disneyland but it is worth the 10 or so minute drive north. After dinner, we had time to kill before going to the Bruery and I convinced my family to go to Downtown Disney.

My gluten free pizza with fresh tomatoes, olives, sausage, mozzarella, and basil.

For the next night, I had planned a meet up with a few friends at Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel and my parents decided they wanted to see this bar so we went, because we have seen Downtown Disney plenty of times.

Trader Sam's is a bar that is reminiscent of the Tiki Room and has cleverly named drinks like the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum, plus tropical classics, and with certain drinks there are show elements that go off when ordered. My mum got one of those drinks called the Shipwreck and the ship in the bottle on the right side of the bar sunk along with a few lights and sound effects. My dad ordered the Mai Tai, the second strongest drink on the menu, and guess who ordered the strongest drink? Yes, that would be me and it was completely by accident.

Now, a little back-story behind my choice. For Christmas, I got my dad season one and two of The Walking Dead on Blu-ray after I got him hooked on it during one of AMC's many marathon's of the show (like the one I am watching right now). So on Christmas, after watching Dark Knight Rises, we popped in the first disk and did not stop watching it till New Years Day. Lucky for us, on New Years AMC had a season three marathon and we watched that and completely missed midnight by seven minutes. The only break we had from the show was this trip to Disneyland. So this completely verifies why I got the Shrunken Zombie Head.

Shrunken Zombie Head

It. Was. Strong.

My parents both helped me finish it because I, for sure, wasn't going to. My brother just got a beer because he is a beer guy. All drinks, no matter how strong, were great and really brought a Disney touch to drinking, which is kind of ironic considering Disney didn't want alcohol in his park, a fact I greatly loved while working there.

Afterwards, we walked into the lobby of the Frontier Tower of the Disneyland Hotel where we looked at the Big Thunder Railroad model and tried to figure out where the track went but came up confused trying to follow it. And the next day when we went on it we got even more confused, I think it is just because it goes underground more often than we thought.


-Charlotte

Carsland: Flo's V8 Cafe [3]

Oh, hello there.

I know it has been quite some time since I've reviewed and written on this blog. Personally, I blame it on lack of Disney. Leading up to working at Disneyland, I would spend my days drawing nothing but Disney characters and watching nothing but Disney movies. Then I worked there and even on my days off I would be at the parks-- an extreme version of surrounding myself with Disney. Then I left.

I both loved and hated leaving. At the time, I was so happy to move because Anaheim is not my ideal place to live; I was excited to move back to my family and not have to participate in family dinners through Skype. And while I was not excited to go back to school, that was the main reason why I didn't stay working for Disney.

Now I miss it and the thing I miss the most are the cast members. Guests are great and the Company is amazing but by far the cast members are what helped me get through those opening shifts every morning. I am friends with a lot of them on Facebook and I love seeing their goofy cast member photos and their statuses abut different guest interactions they had that makes their job worth it. So next time you are in Disneyland, have a conversation with a cast member, it might be something you'll remember your whole life.

But on with the food, well drink in this case!

My friend was having a 21st birthday at Disneyland. It was months in the making. There was a scavenger hunt and lots of special 'Charlotte knows a lot of cast members' moments. Thanks again everybody! With your help, my friend now thinks I am the best person to go to Disneyland with.

The very last thing we did on our last day in the park was get milkshakes at Flo's then got in line for Radiator Springs Racers. I've reviewed the vanilla milkshake, and I can't really stand chocolate milkshakes so I got the strawberry shake (sans road gravel). Again it was thick and amazing; the strawberry flavour came through very well but not overpowering and it was a great treat to have while waiting in the 70 minute Racer's line.

 

The birthday girl posing with her favourite characters. She dreams of eventually being friends with Alice.

 

Some of the group on splash mountain. We did a telephone line up the log of what pose we were going to do. We were supposed to do 'Seriously Scary' but sadly, our friend at the end heard 'Seriously Scared'. Thus probably the best photo ever.

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I appreciate everyone who still reads this blog even though I will no longer be updating almost every week. I will update every time I go down and try something new. Thank you!



-Charlotte