Eating Disney Magic At Home: Mickey Bars

I don't think I'm alone when it comes to missing the Disney parks.

There's a lot of unknowns to when the U.S. parks will open and what they will look like in terms of operation, until then there's a little Disney magic that can be eaten at home.  Chocolate covered Mickey Mouse bars with vanilla ice-cream.  They are so tasty.  Honestly, the ice-cream is really creamy.

I just realized something... bear with me.  When the lock-downs began last March my Mom managed to buy a box.  It said that it was a 90th Anniversary, limited edition.  I didn't even know Mickey Bars were available for home purchase (so, honestly, I haven't a clue how long they've been in grocery stores).  The above pictured box is from WinCo, the bottom from Walmart, both of which don't mention 90th anniversary or limited edition. [Edit: I was wrong, looking at this blog post again.  The WinCo box clearly has the 90th anniversary on it, whereas Walmart does not, so maybe they will stick around?  Limited Edition isn't printed on the Walmart box.]  Are these going to be a regularly available item?  I sure hope so.  Honestly don't know.

Individually the bars are $2.50 for a single and $6.48 for a box of 6.

If you're missing the Disney parks and love Mickey Bars it's worth checking out the freezer section of your grocery store to see if they have them.  Everything's been a little crazy due to so many things, so hopefully they're available, and hopefully they stick around.  These are my new favorite ice-cream snack.

(Apparently these have been out for over a year!!  I'm so late to the party!  Better late than never, right? :P )

Disneyland at Christmastime

Going to Disneyland a couple weeks ago was super spontaneous.

My parents were gone on a few week trip, and when they got back my Mom declared she wasn't in the Christmas spirit and needed a Disney Christmas fix, and then she asked me if I wanted to leave the next day.  I looked at her in disbelief.

 

We got annual passes for the first time last Summer, just to try it out, and decided that once this year we wanted to do a spontaneous trip.  When I was a kid I would have what was called "Disneyland days."  Days where I wasn't at Disneyland, but felt the weather was perfect for Disneyland, wishing I was there.  I have a lot of Disneyland days still, wishing I could be at the park, though I'm a couple States away.

 

Having experienced Halloween at Disneyland last October, realizing it truly isn't one of my favorite Holiday's, and I didn't enjoy Halloween in the parks, I was wishing to see Disneyland at Christmas.  My Mom and I want to get full use of our passes.  They're expensive!!  And we've already decided we don't want to buy them again.  Feeling the need to use them and not waste money is burdensome, and living an 11 hour drive or so away is just a tad far.  Souvenirs and food inside the parks are getting more expensive as well.  We went the week before Thanksgiving.  There was rain in the forecast.  The hotel we stay at was at the lower price point with availability.  So we decided to go for it and left the next day.

 Christmastime at Disneyland is truly magical.

Christmas is a wonderful time to visit.  It's a Small World and Haunted Mansion have fun makeovers.  The decorations are beautiful.  A couple times a night there's "snow" on Main Street USA.  And once when I was in New Orleans Square listening to the jazz band playing on a raft on the Rivers of America, there was "snow" there, too, which was a cool surprise.

And I love seeing Small World decked out in lights.

It's such a nice time to be at the parks.

Photos by Sarah and Robin Stufflebeam

Who Doesn't Love a Good Disney Parade?

I've been on a Shutterfly kick, hence my neglect with this blog and whatnot, but as I work on books for Christmas presents I've been going through lots of pictures.  These pictures are from last April, and the later pictured parade photos are from a parade that is no longer performing.  (That is a mouthful of a sentence.)

Currently it seems the only parade is the Electrical Parade, which is ending in a couple days.  I heard that there might be a new parade this spring, but I don't know anything of it, or if the news is legit.

Still, seeing these photos was fun, and my little niece sure loved seeing the parades.

 Disney characters following the Disneyland band.

Seriously though, what is Disney without its entertainment?

Scattered musical acts add magic to the parks.

 The parade!

Oh, Just My Parents Having a Ton of Fun at Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and other bits

 My parents just got done visiting the Disneyland parks in California.

Without the kids, both young and not-so-young! :P

They experienced Galaxy's Edge during the reservation period and just after with walk in ability.  In short, they really enjoyed this new section of the park.  My Dad didn't like how you get there and it's mainly shopping experiences.  The second ride hasn't opened yet, so that might help balance Galaxy's Edge.  My Mom didn't complain about this fact and just loved the ambience.  Everyday we got texts from them showing how much fun they were having.  So cute!

They built lightsabers and droids, waiting to do this after the reservation period, which wasn't crowded!  In fact, I've been noticing all these videos and blog posts in the last couple days commenting on the overall lightness of crowds between both parks.  My Mom said a Disneyland Cast member thought this might be because of blackout dates and raised prices.  My parents were texting us about this and how they were getting on all these rides.  Ironic, because my brother, sister-in-law, baby niece, Mom and I were originally going to visit Disneyland this June, but with the date changes to Galaxy's Edge we moved the trip to April.  And, low and behold, the crowds are crazy good this time of year!!  Is it the passholder blackout dates? Not having the second ride open?  All the discouragement with price hikes? Waiting for less crowds, assuming it would be crazy busy?  Who knows?

A lot of things are sold out at Galaxy's Edge.  Personality chips for the droids.  Extra crystals for the lightsabers.  With the light crowds how did these things sale out?  They over planned in some areas and under planned in others.

Disneyland California needs to lower prices.  They're the highest out of all the parks.  Right now I could get into Tokyo Disneysea for only $66.51 for a single park, current exchange, and $201.33 for 4 days, all year around.  And they have lowered after 3pm and 6pm prices.  And the Tokyo parks are amazing!!!!

Disneyland got greedy, plain and simple.  Right now, with Summer prices, it's $199 for single day park hopper, and $149 for non-park hopper.  You'd have to be crazy to pay that, but sometimes that's all you can do when planning a trip.  With hike in AP prices, seasonal ticket pricing, etc, Disneyland is pricing out families who should be their priority.  Walt Disney would be disappointed.  Not what he envisioned.

Still, I can't wait to go.  It will be interesting to see how crowded it is this Autumn.

(PS, my Mom just wants to note how kind, helpful, and friendly the cast members are.)

How Tokyo Disneyland Handled a Parade in the Rain

 In the American Disneyland parks a parade is canceled if there's rain.  Too dangerous for the dancers and other reasons.  My first day at Tokyo Disneyland had super cold, rainy weather.  I wanted to see the parade, but assumed it would be canceled.

But it wasn't!

They announced a short version of the parade with beloved characters would be coming down the route.  (And this must have been in English because I understood the message).  I was hanging around Western Land, Tokyo Disneyland's version of Frontier Land, when the parade came down the route.

Short but sweet.

All the characters wore see through rain protection covering.

The song that played is special for rainy weather, a really cute J-Pop song.  Really, it's so nice the Japanese parks have a way for theme park goers to enjoy the parade, despite the weather.

Super nice.

 And below was the parade on another day with much better weather.

It was more like a street dance party where the floats rolled out with the dancers, and they just stayed put in a single spot for quite a long time. I watched about 15 minutes, realizing I actually liked the shorter version much better, and left.  Still fun.