Our Disneyland Trip: Day 7 - Ending On A High Note

I really have broken my own Disney rule on this trip. I always tell people who go to Walt Disney World to not go into the parks everyday. Growing up we always took maybe 2 days off from going into the parks. We would use those days to go to River Country, Discovery Island, the Shopping Village, hanging around the hotel or my favorite, riding the monorail around the resorts. Those days always allowed us to relax and recharge. I guess I was concerned about hitting everything in both parks. Bethany told me she would've preferred a day off. If we ever go to Disneyland again, we'd only take 4 days in the park. I did miss having that day of relaxation and exploration. I feel I haven't explored the Grand Californian enough.

I forgot that the parks opened earlier today. That was okay though because we have done just about everything and we are in no hurry. We hoped to hit some things we missed and ride some of our favorites. We started the day in California Adventure. The boys wanted another ride on Goofy's Sky School, but it broke down as soon as we got in line. We rode the swinging baskets on Mickey's Fun Wheel. We only got one really good slide on it. I would never ride this if it had any sort of line. The view was good though. Eli and I took a final spin on California Screamin'. The ride is a lot better at night I must say. As we were walking out of the park, I noticed there were still Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers at 9:20 pm. I thought we should try the ride at night and grabbed four.

We headed over to Disneyland after our surprising Fast Pass capture. We ate lunch at Bengal Barbecue again after our good experience the first time. Jonah wanted to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday again. Like I said before, the ride is okay, but to me it is like someone TP'd the Haunted Mansion. Bethany headed back to the room for a nap and the boys and I rode Winnie The Pooh, Splash Mountain, the Sailing Ship Columbia and Star Tours.

They wanted to take a another ride on Grizzly River Run and swim so we put on our trunks and headed downstairs. Unfortunately the line for the ride was 25 minutes, so we got Fast Passes and took a swim first. It is nice that the pool and the ride are about 50 yards apart. The family we rode with asked why were already wet. They were surprised we were just in the pool. This ride was better, I got hit by a rapid and got soaked. We had dinner reservations for 5:00 pm at the Blue Bayou. Disneyland was closing early for the first night of Mickey's Halloween Party. There were people in costumes everywhere. The park was at least twice as crowded as it had been all week. The crowds this week weren't bad. It was more crowded than I thought it would be, but everything was manageable.

The Blue Bayou is located inside the Pirates Of The Caribbean where the boats pass through the bayou. It feels like you are outside beside a southern plantation home. It is similar to the Mexico pavilion at EPCOT. It is one of Disneyland's signature restaurants. Bethany had a rack of lamb and I had the Jambalaya. My dinner was good, but Bethany's was excellent. Overall our experience wasn't perfect, but it was very good.

We headed over to California Adventure to catch the neon turning on in Radiator Springs one last time. The park was getting very crowded since Disneyland was closed and the Halloween Party was sold out. We realized we had not had churros the entire week and I told Bethany that was a Disneyland crime. We bought a batch of churro bites from the Cozy Cone with cinnamon-chocolate dipping sauce. They were really, really good. Bethany immediately went and bought another batch after drinking the remaining sauce from the cup.

We strolled around the park and sat on Buena Vista Street taking in the nighttime atmosphere of the park. We got our ride on Goofy's Sky School. The time finally reached 9:20 and rode Radiator Springs Racers for our very last experience in the parks. We all agreed it was a better ride at nighttime. We stopped in the lounge at the hotel for some late night dessert. It was our latest night of the week. We're going to have to spend the next few days getting our internal clocks reset for Eastern Time. Tomorrow we pack up and begin our journey home.