Last weekend, my boyfriend and I were so fortunate to get tickets to Disneyland. Regardless of our hour-late start, getting stuck in traffic, and witnessing two car crashes, we made it into the park by 9:00 a.m. Right away, we went straight to Rise of the Resistance, which was one of the three Star Wars rides. The wait was terrible, but because we went earlier in the day, the line kept getting longer later on. That ride was by far one of the best Star Wars experiences I’ve ever witnessed because it wasn’t just a “ride” but it was interactive with Disneyland workers and the lifelike Star Wars characters. Star Wars Land was the first side of the park that we truly explored. I even got to “fly” the Millenium Falcon twice! However, because of COVID, most Star Wars characters weren’t walking around as usual except for a really short appearance from R2D2.
Throughout the day, we used the Disneyland App with the Genie+ service to reserve “Lightning Lanes” on rides, mobile order food, and even pay with mobile checkout in stores. Paying the extra money for it was definitely worth it because we were able to breeze through almost all of the rides we wanted. I was lucky too because I technically hadn’t been to Disneyland in 8 years so it was definitely worth going and seeing all of the new things in the park. We were even able to see a show at the Royal Theatre in Fantasyland and end the night with the fireworks and light show.
But now, I present the thing I was most excited about: A list and review of ALL of the food that we ate that day. We might have gained like 10 pounds from it all but it was all worth it… at least I think so.
We started off our day with an early lunch at Harbour Gallery, mobile ordering it while we were still in Star Wars Land. We ordered the lobster roll and the lobster mac and cheese in a bread bowl, and they both were TO DIE FOR. The prices were fair for the amount of food they gave us and both foods tasted fresh. The lobster mac and cheese was nice and cheesy with a small quick and a good amount of lobster pieces. The lobster roll was also so refreshing to eat on a hot day and it came with a side of kettle-cooked chips. Overall a solid 8/10 coming from both my boyfriend and me.
Also, I highly recommend taking a large reusable water bottle that you can use throughout the day to hydrate yourself. They have water refill stations around the park and drinking fountains you can use to refill it. This way, it will avoid you from spending like $5.00 on one bottle. We were still pretty full from lunch so I don’t think our next snack was until we went on some more rides. We stopped for a dole whip at the Tiki Juice Bar by mobile ordering it and picking it up after we got off the Haunted Mansion. I’ve never had dole whip before but it was AMAZING and really soft to my surprise. I thought it was gonna be like a slushie form and not an actually whipped consistency. For me, I would rate it a 9/10 but the review from my boyfriend is an 8/10, but don’t knock it till you try it!
Later on, we watched Beauty and the Beast and ate some snacks at Maurice’s Treats. Those included the cheddar garlic twist with the marinara dipping sauce and cinnamon sugar donut holes. We both gave the donut holes a good 7/10 they were pretty sweet, and they came with a lot for the price. However, you were only able to choose one flavor and not mix and match, which sort of bummed me out (they had chocolate, cookies and cream, and cinnamon sugar). The bagel twist wasn’t what I was expecting; I was expecting more of a cheesy breadstick type and instead, I felt like I was just eating a huge fluffy airy piece of bread. I’d say it was a solid 4/10, but the marinara dipping sauce made up for the fact that it didn’t live up to my expectations (I was really excited about it).
We ended up eating an early dinner at the French Market Restaurant trying the shrimp po’boy and the jambalaya. I am not going to lie, it was pretty good, I felt that the sandwich was very refreshing, and filling, and it came with a side of chips. My boyfriend ate the jambalaya and I am personally not a huge fan of jambalaya but it did come with both shrimp and chicken. He rated it a 6.9/10 because the chicken was a little dry, and I think I have to agree with him on this one. Still, we were happy with the prices of the food and that it filled us up but we didn’t feel guilty for eating really unhealthy and greasy food given we were at a theme park.
Our last and final stop was after the fireworks show and we actually ordered a mobile for the Stage Door Cafe while we were watching it. We grabbed our strawberry lemonade funnel cake and sat down at a table at 10:30 p.m. by a barely lit street lamp. We dug in and I loved the entire funnel cake itself. It was one of the best combinations I’ve ever tasted and it changed the game for funnel cake. I rated it a 9/10 because it needed just a little bit more strawberry puree on top; plus, some powdered sugar wouldn’t have been bad underneath the Mickey Mouse whip cream. But what I’m disappointed in is that my boyfriend rated it a 6/10 saying that there was too much strawberry and he wasn’t the biggest fan of it. Let’s cancel him please; haha no I’m just kidding, I love him and I’m very grateful for everything he bought me and did for me both that day and the entire weekend.
Anyway, if you’re looking to go to Disneyland soon, I would suggest spending the extra money for the Genie+ service and making sure to use the app for literally everything (even the wait times of rides). The lightning lanes help you get to the rides that you want to ride; we literally got to go on all of the rides that we wanted to. Overall, it was a wonderful memory and experience for both of us and I would also recommend doing one park per day. We were only able to go for one full day, however, and it was a lot simpler to just stay focused in that park and hit everything we wanted to. Also, shop at the store and hit downtown Disney AFTER you are done in the park and later at night so it’s not as crowded. I would also recommend just parking at the Disneyland parking structure they offer (it’s $30). It was worth it and we only had to take the tram which meant we didn’t have to walk that far to and from the park (we left at 1:00 a.m., oops, haha).
Definitely an awesome weekend and a great Disneyland experience for sure!