On my most recent day at Disneyland, my Mom, brother, and I decided to head to Disneyland early in the morning. Surprisingly, it is rare that we actually eat breakfast in the parks. Most of the time we eat something at home or bring something to snack on until lunch. We decided to try breakfast at River Belle Terrace for the first time.
At River Belle Terrace, you can choose from bacon and eggs, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, "build your own" yogurt parfaits, and more. Get a better look at the menu here.
While waiting in line, we watched the cast members make the Mickey pancakes.
The fruit plates looked really good if you want something light. You can grab the yogurt cup from here and add your choice of toppings at the yogurt bar.
I opted for the Mickey Mouse pancake. It was too cute not to try. I believe this is the only place where you can get this pancake. He has blueberry eyes, a pineapple mouth, and a cherry nose. It's not the best pancake I've ever had, but I still enjoyed it with lots of syrup.
My Mom got the Steamboat which is a stack of 3 pancakes, eggs, and your choice of bacon or sausage. She felt the same way about her food as I did.
My brother got the Cinnamon Roll French Toast which comes with eggs and your choice of bacon or sausage. He thought it was pretty good, but he would rather have breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen (a favorite for all of us). What stands out about the River Belle Terrace is, that you can't beat the location and view of the Rivers of Americas. You are steps away from the Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones attractions. I would recommend it if you are looking for a quick breakfast in the park.
Just over a week ago, I attended my fourth 24 hour day at Disneyland! It has become a bit of a tradition now, but this time it was a little more special because Disneyland is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The Diamond Celebration brings new decorations along Main St. and Buena Vista St., the new Paint The Night parade, the new Disneyland Forever fireworks, and a new World of Color. People were waiting for this day to see the official debut of the night-time spectaculars.
We lined up around 2am and then went through the turnstiles of Disneyland at about 5am. We joined thousands of people on Main St. to count down the start of the 24 hours.
We inched our way down Main St.
Take a look at my video below to get a feel for what it was like.
It was nice to see the sun rise from Tomorrowland.
I headed to the Little Green Men Store to buy some pins along with hundreds of other people.
This is what breakfast looked like. I had to grab 24 hour day cupcake. I got the chocolate one with buttercream frosting and the white chocolate Dopey decoration. There was also a vanilla one.
Here's a better look at the decoration. It's the same design as the t-shirt and trading pin released for that day.
Around 11am, we thought about heading to the car to drop off bags or park hopping. Knowing how crowded the park was already and seeing all the people still entering, we decided not to so that we wouldn't be stuck outside when the park reached capacity. Sure enough 2 or 3 hours later, we heard that they had closed the gates for a while.
I took some time to admire the shiny, sparkly castle.
I was skeptical of the decor a couple months ago when they started going up, but I really love the finished product. It's amazing in person.
I even like the banners in the back.
For lunch, we made reservations for Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. It was my first time eating there. I was glad that we had this reservation because the lines for everything else were really long. Some were longer than rides.
For lunch, the menu consists of barbecue chicken, barbecue ribs, cole slaw, ranch beans, and corn bread. For dinner, they add smoked sausage and corn on the cobb.
They seat you at picnic tables with shade canopies.
I really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was relaxing compared to hustle and bustle of the rest of the park.
The chicken, ribs, and beans come served in buckets and drinks are served in mason jars. It just adds to the theme and charm of the outdoor restaurant.
Here is my plate with all of the fixings. Make sure you come hungry because this meal is all you care to eat. They will keep the food coming until you can't possibly eat anymore.
There is also entertainment to go along with your meal.
If you do leave room, they offer some delicious desserts. We were too full, but we'll have to come back just for dessert next time.
At 1am we watched the new Paint The Night parade on Main St. (after a failed attempt at the 8:50pm parade). It was incredible! For me, it lived up to expectations. The floats and the music are great. The nod to the old electrical parade is a really nice touch. You can click down below to watch the whole parade for yourself.
After watching the parade, we were starving. We went to Plaza Inn to get the fried chicken and waffles made especially for the 24 hour day.
It's not Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, but it was delicious nonetheless. Who could resist Mickey waffles? There was a huge line well in to the early morning showing that many people can't.
We took some time to admire and take pictures of the castle at night. My camera doesn't do it justice.
After 5am, the sky started to become light again. We took advantage of the opportunity to take pictures at sunrise.
The beautiful sight was a nice way to end our 24 hours at Disneyland. Did you attend the 24 hour day? What was your favorite part?
Well, Halloween is over but here is some of the seasonal fun and treats enjoyed this season.
The flowers in front of the train station are always a beautiful welcome.
The giant Mickey pumpkin is a great photo op.
All the orange and yellow really pops in the hub. This is a good spot to get a picture of the castle in the background even if it does already have snow on it the week before Halloween. Christmas and winter holidays will be in full swing before you know it.
I love all the pumpkins and flowers surrounding Walt and Mickey's statue. And now on to the treats.
There are several different caramel apples available year round at Candy Palace on Main Street and Pooh's Corner in Critter Country in Disneyland and Trolley Treats in Disney's California Adventure, but this one of course is only around for Halloween Time.
I love candy corn so this apple covered in caramel, chocolate, and candy corn was incredible.
I enjoyed this caramel apple funnel cake at Hungry Bear Restaurant. The funnel cake was topped with powdered sugar, cinnamon apples, whipped topping shaped like Mickey, caramel, and some sort of cinnamon sugar crumble topping. It was delicious and huge. I shared it with a couple of friends and we still didn't finish it.
The are lots of pumpkin treats offered around the resort, but I only tried a couple. First was this piece of pumpkin fudge. It doesn't look like much, but it was SO good. It was hard to stop eating it. I don't think I've ever bought any of the other fudge at Disneyland, but I heard about how good this one was and decided to give it a try. I'll be checking to see if this is still around on my next visit.
I stopped by Maurice's Treats to check out the pumpkin twist. I heard good things about this as well, so I was excited to try it.
These are all the different twists in their display case. I believe they are chocolate, strawberry, garlic, and the seasonal pumpkin.
The flaky pastry is filled with pumpkin and a little bit of spice and sprinkled with sugar. It's really good. I would have to say that this was my favorite snack of the season.
Over in California Adventure, I headed over to Schmoozies! to try their caramel apple smoothie.
I didn't have enough of an appetite to try the pumpkin muffin. Oh well.
I wasn't too sure about what the smoothie would taste like, but I really enjoyed it. A sweet, refreshing, cool drink while walking around the parks on an 85 degree day was perfect.
These Mickey Halloween bat cookies are always good. It is a shortbread cookie topped with chocolate and decorated to look like a Mickey bat. They are not only delicious, but cute and quite big. Those were all the seasonal items I was able to enjoy this Halloween Time. There were even more that I didn't get to. Maybe next year! I'll leave you with some more of the holiday decorations around the park.
Near the Rancho Del Zocalo Restaurant in Frontierland is a Dia de Los Muertos display.
I took another picture when I was passing by at dusk.
Across the way is the Halloween tree. I love it's orange glow at night.
I stopped by the Haunted Mansion Holiday, but it was broken down at the time. I've already ridden it a couple this season, but looking forward to riding it again until January.
This was my last picture of the Mickey pumpkin until next year. Soon the giant Christmas tree will take it's spot.
