ILoveRides

... continued from above. It’s hard to believe it has been 6 years since Cars Land opened! It still looks as new and impressive as day one! It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, the rock-work in Cars Land always amazes me. What’s up Mater? Lets go tractor tipping! Success! I bet our car could win a race against either of these two! For some reason I usually end up in Luigi’s Tire Shop, but today we lucked out and got to go to Ramone’s Paint Shop! Mmmmm, paint smell. (Is that a good thing?) We had a very close race, and came out victorious at the very last second! After our successful race we wandered around Cars Land taking in the sights. These Cars-themed Pixar movie posters were hilarious! All the neon is so pretty! We even spotted Buzz Lightyear hiding out in the Cozy Cone Motel! It’s like a Pixar world within a Pixar world - Pixar Inception! We went into these 2 days expecting it to be amazing fun, and we weren’t disappointed! Pixar Fest is such an awesome celebration of all things Pixar! There’s Pixar rides, entertainment, shows, food and drink, merchandise, and so much more! And that’s on top of everything you know and love at The Disneyland Resort. Pixar Fest runs through September 3rd, 2018 - don’t miss it! Thanks to Disney for inviting us to attend, and thanks to you for checking out our report!

... continued from above. Oh no, one of the seagulls broke free and is getting away! Next up, It’s a Small World. Do you follow Theme Park Review on Twitter? If not, you should! We gave away these awesome Pixar Fest items while we were live Tweeting from the event! While it’s too late to get these items, there will definitely be other contests in the future - so go follow TPR now to stay in the loop! We brought RC along on Small World to see if we could find him some friends to hang out with. It may be a small world after all, but to a little toy car the world is huge! Small World is always fun! And they always pump the AC inside, which is totally awesome on those hot So Cal days. Every time I look at photos from this ride the music gets stuck in my head. I’m literally humming “It’s a Small World” at my desk as I’m typing this. This hippo has always been my favorite character in the attraction. Hey look RC! We found your pals Woody and Sally! Say hi! RC was super excited and thanked us for bringing him to see his friends! Truth! Next lets go see Pizza Port - err, Pizza Planet - where some changes have clearly taken place. It seems green aliens have taken over Pizza Port for Pixar Fest, changing it into Pizza Planet “A Better Place!” A friendly employee and a green alien greeted us at the entrance. There are some small menu changes and additions. You can even get a green alien slushy now! Eating with some friends! Throughout the restaurant there are green aliens flying. I love the new decorations! There are also alien-inspired travel posters hanging all around the restaurant. Oooooooooooooooh! The alien parfait seemed like a huge hit! Brittney slurped up the last few drops of alien slushy, and we hit the road. Oh no! As we were leaving we were stopped by some storm troopers who demanded to see identification. I suppose Brittney’s ID was permissible because they allowed us to continue on. These characters are really hilarious - definitely interact with them if you see them wandering around. It’s also a great preview of the fun experiences to come when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens next year! Next we hopped on the train to see the new changes that opened several months back. To make way for Star Wars Land the Rivers of America were made smaller, and the train was re-routed. Initially it seemed like this would be terrible news - but Disney took this as an opportunity to plus the train ride, and boy did it work out! Every train fan knows that bridges and tunnels make great additions to train layouts, and this grand bridge running over waterfalls is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous addition to the train. The train used to only have right turns, but now as it approaches Big Thunder Mountain there is a left turn. This makes it feel more like a real train meandering through the wilderness, and not just a circle of track around Disneyland. Also, check out all that brand new rock-work - it’s really spectacular! Here’s a shot looking backwards across the bridge. It’s just wonderful! As a big train fan I was really excited to see this, and I’m so pleased that it turned out so great. The train then turns right again as it goes into this new tunnel and re-connects with its original layout. Over in the Grand Canyon and Primeval Worlds, lots of subtle improvements have been made. There’s new lighting and some special effects - including a storm scene with lightning. And after the storm, rainbows appear. The changes enhance the feel of the dioramas without spoiling any of their original charm. All the dinosaurs you’ve come to know and love are still there! These guys are STILL drinking water - they must be really thirsty! And these guys are STILL fighting! Will we ever know who wins the battle!? I was as giddy as a gumdrop after riding the refreshed train, but I wanted to see the new bridges and waterfalls from off the train as well, so we headed to the Mark Twain to get a better look at everything. You get a great view of this figure from the top deck of the boat. And you can really appreciate all the waterfalls from the boat as well. From the train you see the bridges and the river, but from the boat you can see all the rushing water underneath the bridges. Zoomed in, here’s a peek at Star Wars Land! The Star Wars Land construction is really coming along - only about a year left until it’s open! In typical Disney fashion, small details abound, such as this beaver gnawing at the wood on the bridge. The massive rock-work fits in well with its surroundings, which must have been a challenge considering it has to blend with the Old West rocks of Big Thunder Mountain and the futuristic space rocks of Star Wars Land at the same time. There are various Native American scenes at different heights so that wherever you are on the boat you have something to look at! This eagle’s nest is a nice touch! Gertrude approves of all the new scenes! Here’s one last shot of the trestle with Star Wars construction behind. If this doesn’t get you excited for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, nothing will! Since Star Wars Land isn’t open yet, we decided to get to space another way - on Space Mountain! A roller coaster-type ride in the dark. In the spirit of Pixar Fest, we harnessed our inner Buzz Lightyear! To infinity, and beyond! Speaking of Buzz, next we headed over to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We brought along Woody and Bullseye to hang out with their friend Buzz! Then we grabbed a laser gun to save the universe! It’s Emperor Zurg, get him! Honestly not a bad score considering I was shooting with a camera as much as I was shooting with my laser gun! At the Astro Blasters exit is a cool Pixar Fest merchandise display. Brittney is showing off one of the Pixar Fest shirts. Here’s the Pixar Fest 2018 mug. There are even 2-sided ornaments with different Pixar friends on each side of the ornament. It isn’t a trip to Disneyland without Dole Whip! Who wants some? I do! Next we headed to Pirates to bid farewell to a VERY iconic amusement park scene. Nope, not this iconic scene. Not this iconic scene either. Ahh, there it is. The bride auction. It’s one of the most famous and iconic amusement park scenes ever created. But alas, times change, and despite the fact that pirates are a scummy bunch of people who do stuff like this, it’s no longer considered appropriate to show scummy pirate behavior in an amusement park setting. So, for better or worse, the scene is going the way of the dodo. It will definitely be missed. Hopefully the replacement scene lives up to the original! Regardless, Pirates still has some of the greatest sets of any attraction ever built! In my opinion, the set design of this attraction is unmatched even today. It’s as good as it gets! As the sun set we headed to Sleeping Beauty Castle to take some photos. Our Photopass photographer, Dylan L, did such an awesome job! He spotted our Pixar Fest socks and laid down flat on the ground to get a photo of them! Without us even asking! Who does that? We’re so happy he was able to help us capture some great photos. The Castle is so pretty at night! Time for one more park hop over to DCA to experience more Pixar awesomeness. Construction is well underway on Pixar Pier! We brought our Toy Story Lego Green Army Man to Midway Mania so he could be with his friends! He loved riding and playing along. When we got to the military plate-breaking game he hopped on his radio and sent in commands to his teammates. He was super happy to be included in the fun! Over in Cars Land the cars have dressed up for Pixar Fest. Radiator Springs was looking as gorgeous as ever! It’s time to ride our favorite Pixar attraction, Radiator Springs Racers! (report continued below...)

A day at The Disneyland Resort is always one of the best days you can have. So when Disney invited Theme Park Review for not 1 day, but 2 days of fun celebrating "Pixar Fest," Brittney and I were overflowing with excitement! On April 12 we packed our sunscreen and some snacks and headed to the Disneyland Resort for what was sure to be an awesome event - and it totally delivered! For Pixar Fest Disney has swapped and improved two of their best Parades (the Pixar Play Parade moves to Disneyland and Paint the Night moves to DCA), added an all-new fireworks show with some brand new special effects (Together Forever - A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular), added brand new character meet and greets, whipped up delicious foods and drinks, and created tons of awesome merchandise! The event is the biggest celebration of Pixar ever at a Disney Park! Pixar Fest runs through September 3rd, 2018. Check out our report below to see everything that’s in store! We’re at the Disneyland Resort to check out Pixar Fest - a celebration of all things Pixar! Pixar Fest banners are hanging throughout Downtown Disney and the Esplanade, getting guests ready for the celebration. First up we headed into Disneyland to check out the Pixar Play Parade. We even had a reserved viewing location! This parade has moved from California Adventure to Disneyland, and receieved some upgrades in the process. The giant Pixar ball leads the way. The first float is brand new! It’s modeled after the Pixar Lamp that introduces every Pixar movie. The parade has characters from Monster’s Inc. And The Incredibles! There are special effects such as fire, bubbles, and water. Here’s another brand new float from Pixar’s Inside Out! Nemo and Marlin! Duuuuude! This float so totally rocks! Heimlich always gets a great response from the crowd. Disneyland’s streets are smaller than DCA’s, so everything seems closer than ever. You can see how close the giant floats get to the crowd! Also brand new is the Pixar Up float. The Pixar Play Parade was always a lot of fun, but it’s even better at Disneyland with the new floats and in-your-face action! We’re going to be doing a lot of park hopping over the next 2 days! Lets start it off by hopping over to DCA! Totally not Pixar related, but Brittney couldn’t resist showing off the Dole Whip and Mickey Pretzel plushes - they’re too cute! On the subject of merchandise, here’s the AP-exclusive Pixar shirt! And here’s a small taste of the other Pixar Fest merchandise that’s available... There are T-shirts... Hats... Friendship bracelets... Charms... Double-sided pouches with Pixar friends on each side. We headed over to the Hyperion Theater for a special presentation. The stage was decorated for the event. Bob Chapek, Chairman of Parks, Experiences, and Consumer Products, came on stage to welcome everyone to the event. He teased all the awesome things in store for Pixar Fest. And he got the crowd excited for Pixar Pier and the Incredicoaster - opening in June. Also debuting in June is the movie “Incredibles 2” - so as a special surprise they debuted the trailer for the film - we were the first audience in the world to see it! Since it was being shown a day before its public release we weren’t allowed to take any photos or video during the trailer, but it looked great! If you’re interested in seeing it, the trailer has since gone public - so you can look it up online! Josh D’Amaro, the new President of the Disneyland Resort, then came on stage and talked about Pixar Fest and how the event will celebrate the spirit of friendship found in Pixar movies. He also talked about some of the new Pixar merchandise. Check out those Wall-E ears! They’re cool on their own, but even better - when the Eve and Wall-E ears get close you can see a hidden heart in the ears. Josh also showed off his Pixar alien socks. He spoke about Pixar Pier - saying that it will feature re-imagined merchandise, entertainment, games, attractions, and dining experiences. Susana Tubert, Disney Parks Live Entertainment Creative Director, then came on stage to talk about the entertainment at Pixar Fest. You’ll be able to meet with lots of Pixar Pals at Paradise Gardens. Paint the Night has returned, and beginning June 15 there will be a new Incredibles float added to the parade! Susana also talked about “Together Forever - A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular,” the brand new fireworks show at Disneyland filled with sound, lighting, special effects, and stunning fireworks. We'll be checking it out in person later! After the presentation, Disney had a huge surprise in store! Jordan Fisher and Olivia Holt came on stage to perform a new version of, “You’ve Got a Friend In Me,” created just for Pixar Fest! So cool!!! They were even joined on stage by a large cast of Pixar characters! This special version of the famous song was really beautiful! It was such a fun surprise, and we were right next to the stage for it! Afterwards we headed outside where a celebration was just getting underway! Disney had all sorts of Pixar Fest food and drink items for us to try. Here’s the Up-inspired Fried Bologna Sandwich. The Chilled Noodle Salad was delicious! Habanero Meatball Cone. Cheeseburger Pizza!?!? Over on the dessert table was Ensalada de Frutas. Chocolate Hazelnut Pastries. The Alien Macarons stole the show! The Pixar Cake was really awesome as well! There were lots of balloon decorations. It must have taken forever to blow all of these up! Decisions, decisions. Actually, it was an easy decision - since we were steps from the Hollywood Red Car Trolleys, Red Trolley Ale was the obvious beer to choose! Brittney got you some wine! Enjoy! Disney gave the media two pairs of the same socks, and encouraged us to make friends to trade with. Brittney found someone who was happy to trade their Toy Story socks for her Monster’s Inc. socks. She was kind of excited about it! They even had Up-inspired Grape Soda Slush! It was delicious and refreshing! As night started to fall on the party the atmosphere lit up with pretty colored lights and a warm glow. To infinity, and beyond! To macaron, and beyond! Wait a minute! Those macarons aren’t vegan! Brittney is totally losing her vegan powers right now - nobody tell the vegan police! (The macarons were just too cute, and she really, really wanted one) I found her three days later in some dark corner of the resort overdosing on alien macarons. The party was a ton of fun, but we had to keep on swimming because the premiere of the Paint the Night Parade at DCA was about to begin. Here it comes now around Carthay Circle Theater for the first time ever! Paint the night is my personal favorite parade on planet Earth! You MUST see it! It’s so bright, colorful, and fun from beginning to end! All the floats and costumes light up, many in unique and interesting ways. It’s inspired by the original Main Street Electrical Parade, but it updates that parade with new technology and characters. Paint the Night even has a bit of the Electrical Parade’s “Baroque Hoedown” music as a tribute, remixed for a modern audience! The Cars floats are my favorites! Lighting McQueen guides the way for Mack, a full-size light up big-rig pulling a giant 3-d light screen! Here comes Mack! Each little ball in the trailer can be made to light up any color - making this a giant 3-d screen of light! The screen makes lots of pretty patterns and shapes. Here it’s displaying some spheres! There are so many interesting costumes in the parade that light up in unusual ways. And lots of Disney and Pixar characters to keep guests entertained! Nemo and Marlin swim through a sea of jellyfish. Here comes Slink! Hi Woody! Ooooooooh! I’m liking this float a lot! I learned that there are 1.5 million points of light in this parade! Which is really impressive considering my Christmas tree has around 100 lights, and I struggle to keep that lit up! The final float has Mickey Mouse high above the ground with an abstract light-up kinetic sculpture behind him! Some guests even decorated their strollers to celebrate the return of Paint the Night! So much fun! Time to make the park hop again over to Disneyland for Together Forever - A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular! On the way out of DCA we looked back to check out the lights on the Pixar Fest sign. The Pixar Fest signs look great lit up! Look up! The fireworks are starting! This is a brand new fireworks show just for Pixar Fest! And there are lots of special surprises. The house from Up may be the coolest thing to have ever flown over Sleeping Beauty Castle. Pixar fans will definitely love seeing this! (Photo: Disney) There are lots of great places to watch the parade, and you get a different experience in each place. There are projections on the buildings of Main Street, The Castle, and It’s a Small World. And over at the Rivers of America, the Fantasmic water screens and special effects are used to enhance the show! (Photo: Disney) On Main Street 10 figures pop up on top of the buildings during the Coco scene and there’s all-new surround sound audio! No matter where you watch it, it’s an awesome celebration of friendship and the perfect end to the night! (Photo: Disney) You can’t have fireworks without a grand finale! After the fireworks we shot some interviews to learn more about all the new additions coming to Pixar Fest. Check back soon to see our interviews - I’ll add them here when they’re up! We even got to take photos on one of the Incredibles vehicles! That’s it for the first night, but there’s still an entire day of Pixar Fest fun left! Day 2 begins with a monorail ride into Disneyland on one of the awesome new Pixar-Themed monorails. It’s a rule - any day that begins with a monorail ride is going to be a great day! Since Pixar Fest is celebrating friendship, Brittney brought some of her Pixar pals from home to come hang out with their friends at Disneyland! Nemo and Dory were super excited to take a ride on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage! Once we got out into the open water they swam out of the submarine and into the attraction where they met up with Marlin! Watch out guys, these waters can be dangerous! At the end of the ride Nemo and Dory met up with all of their friends! They thanked us for bringing them to Disneyland to be with their friends and wished us well as we re-surfaced! Here’s the orange Incredibles Monorail over the Lagoon. I love the Pixar monorails! (report continued below...)

It's official, Hangtime opens May 18, 2018! TPR received a press release from Knott's as well:

Pretty much just the Boysenberry Hummus with Pita and a bunch of the drinks. I drank Boysenberry beer all night - no complaints!

The Knott’s Boysenberry Festival 2018 is here! This festival includes food and live entertainment celebrating the Boysenberry and its unique history at Knott’s. The three week long festival includes over 75 boysenberry inspired dishes, drinks, snacks, and desserts. There’s also shows, live music, a crafts fair, an art show, and so much more! We went to a preview event showcasing all the food - so check out our report to see a sampling of what you can stuff your face with at the festival! The Boysenberry Festival runs March 16 (TODAY!) through April 8. On with the report... We’re at Knott’s for a preview of the 2018 Boysenberry Festival! Lets check in! At check-in they had some awesome boysenberry snacks for us! Sweet!!! Spears loved the boysenberry cotton candy and popcorn - especially since they matched her lipstick! All around the farm bright and colorful flowers are blooming! Spring is in the air! Boysenberry Festival signage is up in Ghost Town. We love all the beautiful flowers! We headed straight to the tasting in The Wilderness Dance Hall! Everyone was really excited to get to try this year’s Boysenberry-inspired food and drinks. Check out all that Boysenberry yumminess! There’s Boysenberry Short Ribs with Rice. Boysenberry Mini Sausage on a Bun. Boysenberry Chicken Wings with Boysenberry BBQ Sauce. Boysenberry Hummus and Grilled Pita. Boysenberry Quesadilla with Mozzarella, Cotija Cheese, Boysenberry Salsa, and Sour Cream. There’s a Wine Tasting Platter to go along with the Wine and Craft Brew Tasting. Boysenberry Elote with Boysenberry Mayo, Butter, and Parmesan Cheese. Boysenberry Cheddar Cheese Pierogi topped with Bacon, Onions, and Boysenberry Sour Cream. That’s what she said! But yes, there is a 2 foot long Hotdog on a Boysenberry Bun! It’s honestly a great deal if you share it with friends - but the real challenge is can you eat one all by yourself? Before we dive into the drinks and desserts, lets check out “Tied Up In Knott’s” - an awesome art exhibit tribute to Knott’s Berry Farm. Lots of artist and fans of the farm made pieces for this exhibit, and it came out great! Prints and the original paintings are available for purchase - but they’re sure to sell out fast! We’ll highlight a few pieces, but they’re honestly all great. This one was completely made of cut wood! Friend of TPR and all-around awesome Knott’s employee Jeff Tucker made this sweet Soapbox Racer model! So neat! We LOVED this “Fire in the Hole” piece. It looks amazing in person! (I’m jealous of whoever gets the original of this one!) I don’t want to spoil all the art - we want to leave some surprises for those going to the event - so lets keep moving along! They had a table showcasing some of the boysenberry merchandise for sale... Rock Candy is always a fun treat! Bring some Boysenberry Soda home for your friends and family! Boysenberry Caramels nom nom nom. Take a relaxing bath at home with these Boysenberry Lavender bath bombs. Here’s the kid’s event shirt. The shirt even comes with a limited edition pin! All the boysenberry food is making me thirsty! Lets check out the drinks! There’s Boysenberry Punch for the kids and Boysenberry Beer for the adults! And Boysenberry Pie Milkshakes for everyone! The Boysenberry Boba was a huge hit! And they said it’ll be available with milk, soy milk, and coconut milk for those with allergies or food restrictions! We had it with soy milk and give it an A+! It’s also probably the most Instagram-friendly Boysenberry item for those who want to show off on social media! Ok, the moment you’ve been waiting for - the desserts! We’ll start with the Boysenberry-stuffed churro! It wouldn’t be Knott’s without Boysenberry Pie! Boysenberry Funnel Cake is going to be a crowd favorite! Boysenberry Chocolate Strawberries are great for the chocolate lovers! These Mini Boysenberry Pies are super cute... And the best part is you can make them yourself! Kids are going to love making and decorating the pies! Here’s one that someone at the event decorated... And another! But if decorating isn’t your thing then give the White Chocolate Boysenberry Cheesecake a try! The Boysenberry Cake looks delicious as well! Ugh - too many choices! When you’re done, wash it all down with a Boysenberry Cookiewich! This report is just a small sample of everything that's available at The Boysenberry Festival! In addition to the food and drinks, there's going to be entertainment, shows, a crafts fair, and more! It really is a wonderful event, and we definitely recommend checking it out! The Knott’s Boysenberry festival runs NOW through April 8, 2018! Don’t miss it! Thanks to Knott’s for inviting us to this awesome preview event, and thanks to you for checking out our report!

Awesome look behind the scenes at Imagineering along with some cool previews of Pixar Pier! GREAT report! That backwards skunk definitely wins too!

I got official word from Knott's at the Peanuts Celebration media event that Xcelerator is just waiting on an expensive part that takes awhile to get. They said they're hoping for a Spring re-opening of Xcelerator, but it all depends on how things go. Presumably they're trying as hard as they can to get the boardwalk all up-and-running before Hangtime's debut.

I agree, I could definitely see this working at the other parks - it’d be a great way to bring in the family demographic during the slow season.

Knott’s is kicking off its 2018 Seasons of Fun with the addition of the all-new Knott’s Peanuts Celebration! For the first time the Peanuts characters are taking over the entire park. Guests can enjoy brand new character experiences, photo opportunities, activities, and live entertainment - all while pigging out on delicious themed treats. The celebration takes place on weekends from January 27 through February 25, 2018, plus Presidents’ Day. We were super excited to check out this new event, and hope you’ll read along to see everything that’s new! On with the report... We’re at Knott’s for the all-new Peanuts Celebration! To kick things off Knott’s had an awesome buffet set up for us. It wouldn’t be Knott’s without chicken. Yum! Those are some serious watermelon carving skills! There was a table showcasing all the special Peanuts themed treats that you can get at the park. “Charlie Brownies” take the win for the best named treat! I’m liking those Snoopy cookies! Pretty colors! This is only a small sample of what’s available! The Catawampus thinks everything looks delicious! The Livery Barn has been converted to Pig-Pen’s Pig Pen. You can meet some of Pig-Pen’s animal friends. Here’s Brutus! There are horses. And it wouldn’t be a pig pen without pigs! These guys were super cute and playful. You can take a picture with a pig statue... Or get a picture with Pig-Pen himself! Throughout the park there are kites stuck in the trees. Can you count them all? There’s also Peanuts Celebration decor throughout the park. This is what you’ll see in Ghost Town. Next we’ll check out “Peanuts Sketch School” at the Bird Cage Theatre. Animator Noel Cox teaches guests how to draw a Peanuts character. Today we’re drawing Charlie Brown - but every time is different! Brittney gets to work on her drawing. Noel is a great instructor - he’s entertaining and informative for both kids and adults! At the end everyone holds up their drawings to show off what they’ve done. Everyone’s always turn out a little different - but all of them look great! Here’s Brittney’s! Here’s mine! Speaking of mine (worst transition ever!), let’s head to the Calico Mine Stage to check out the new show “The Music Goes ‘Round and Around.” In this show Sally, Schroeder, and Snoopy welcome their new friends Brandon and Karin for a retrospective of music. The show showcases music from several genres, with dancing and performances to match. Here’s Bluegrass! Who knew Snoopy was so talented? Rock & Roll! Time to cut loose. We love Rock & Roll Snoopy! The show ends with a burst of streamers! Afterwards there was a surprise pop-up show. Several Peanuts characters ride in on a trolley... The trolley stops, the Peanuts characters get out, and guests can dance along with them. The kids loved this! Over in Camp Snoopy The Grand Sierra Railroad has a special overlay called “Trip To Beagle Bonanza.” Some awesome advice on the new signage! Here comes the train! There are new Peanuts decorations all throughout the ride. And the ride is fully narrated by Linus and his friends as they get ready for the Beagle Bonanza! There are lots of fun decorations. Dogs are definitely allowed at the Beagle Bonanza! I don’t know that I’d want to kiss a cactus. Seriously, who knew Snoopy was so talented? First he plays music and now he’s a fishing champ! Olaf’s House of Fun is awesome! As is Woodstock’s Boysenberry Bird Art in the boysenberry patch. We made it! Everyone showed up for the Beagle Bonanza! This ride overlay is super cute - it’s totally a must-see at the Peanuts Celebration. Here’s some of the Peanuts Celebration signage in Camp Snoopy. At the entrance to the park are several new photo ops. Will someone feed that baby bird already!? You can give the cutout Snoopy a kiss! Or give the real Snoopy a kiss! In the Calico Town Hall there’s a neat exhibit set up as a tribute to Charles Schulz. You can find Snoopy’s dog house there too! There’s lots of great info about Charles Schulz and Peanuts - lots of which I didn’t know before! We thought the exhibit was thoughtful and well put together! Defeat is funnier than victory! Noted! Be sure to grab your Boomerang pennies while you still can! Because Boomerang is long gone, and look what’s in its place... Hangtime! The track is fully complete and it looks seriously great! We’re really excited to see this thing all lit-up with trains running. It’s going to look amazing! Summer can’t come soon enough! Over on the Fiesta Plaza Stage is “Peanuts Fiesta Fantasy.” In this show we take a journey south of the Border as Sally and Lucy are introduced to the colorful dancing of Mexico. We loved the music and traditional costumes. It was a real fiesta! Throughout Camp Snoopy there are word bubbles on all the light posts with famous Peanuts quotes. Be sure to take a picture with your favorite one! Here’s some of the Peanuts Celebration merchandise! Rather than look at merchandise Brittney decided to grab a unicorn and ride it around the store. Okay, this isn’t Peanuts related - but it’s cool so I wanted to include it. I’ve been going to Knott’s for literally my entire life, and somehow I’ve never heard that you can do this. Apparently it’s totally allowed (if not encouraged) to put pennies on the train tracks at the train crossings when the gates are open for pedestrian access. Then when the gates are closed the train comes through and smashes your pennies into warm, greasy, squished ovals! Once the gates open again you can find and take home your penny! It’s so fun! Here comes the train! If you look closely you can see the pennies already starting to take on their oval shape. If you’ve never done this, definitely ask one of the characters in Calico if it’s okay to do it on your next visit! It's the little things like this that make Knott's, Knott's! Next is our final show of the night, “Woodstock’s Musical Festival” featuring the family-friendly band “Jelly of the Month Club!” This was our favorite of the shows, and a great way to round out your day at Knott’s! There are silly music and visuals that are fun to listen to and watch. The Peanuts gang are all there to act out scenes and join in the music. The band is really great, and the songs will definitely get stuck in your head! Chef Snoopy baked you a pie! And now he’s rocking out! Charlie Brown does possibly the worst guitar solo ever! Jimi “Houndrix” comes on stage to show him how it’s done. Go Snoopy go! The show is super fun and will definitely make you smile. “Woodstock’s Musical Festival” was a great end to our day at Knott’s Berry Farm! We really enjoyed the Knott’s Peanuts Celebration. It joins the Boysenberry Festival, Ghost Town Alive, Scary Farm / Spooky Farm, and Merry Farm as another must-see "season" at Knott’s. There’s tons to see, eat, and do - and if you’re a Peanuts fan you’ll be loving every minute of it! The celebration runs weekends through February 25, 2018, plus Presidents’ Day - so don’t miss it! Thanks to Knott’s for inviting us to attend, and thanks to you for checking out our report!

It’s become an annual tradition at Disney California Adventure (DCA) to ring in the Lunar New Year with a giant cultural celebration, and this year is no different. For 2018 the celebration runs for 24 days: January 26 through February 18. Guests can enjoy special entertainment, copious amounts of cultural food and drinks, special character meet-and-greets, and the return of the “Hurry Home — Lunar New Year Celebration” World of Color pre-show. We attended media night on January 26 and had a wonderful time. Check out our report below to join us on our adventure and get a taste of what this event has to offer! It’s 2018 - the year of the Dog! And we’re at DCA getting ready to check in to the Lunar New Year celebration media event! Check-in is to the left, lets go... After narrowly avoiding a Dilophosaurus, we found check-in and headed into the park. Disney Ambassador Mikey Trujillo, Show Director Carla Carlile, and DCA General Manager Gary Maggetti welcomed us to the event and let us know what to expect! Executive Chef John State then introduced some of the special food and drink options available only during the Lunar New Year celebration! There’s way more than we can list here - so we’ll show just a small sample of what’s available. Pictured here is Japchae – sweet potato noodles, onions, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, spinach, snow peas, broccolini and lightly sautéed tofu tossed with sesame oil and sweet and spicy sauce and topped with toasted sesame seeds. Pretty fancy for an amusement park, right? Banh Chu’ng – sticky rice cake with pork. Banh Mi Thit Nuong – marinated pork belly, pickled carrots and daikon with cucumber, cilantro, seasoned mayonnaise and jalapeño on a crispy baguette. Sanbeiji – Three-cup chicken. Brittney loved the Baixiangguo Lucha – Passion fruit green iced tea with lychee popping pearls. Banh Khoai Lang Tim – Purple sweet potato macaron. These are almost too pretty to eat! There’s a bunch of special merchandise just for the event as well! These red gift envelopes with a Disney twist are my favorite merchandise item. There are shirts, snow-globes, pins, and more celebrating the year of the Dog. Disney always considers all the details. I love the Mickey on the water dispenser! The centerpieces on the tables were beautiful as well. But enough about the press conference - lets go see all the entertainment! We’ll start near Paradise Gardens where Mulan's Lunar New Year Procession is about to begin! Here comes the procession! The performers all have beautiful costumes. Mulan and Mushu strike a pose! Well, I think it’s to the left. Then again, maybe it’s to the right. Hmmm. We’ll find it eventually! Goofy is dressed as the “God of Good Fortune.” There’s lots of dancing. These women dance with vibrant pink fans. The dancing dragon is my favorite part! I love that the performances are all authentic with just a hint of Disney magic thrown in. The colors are stunning! There’s so much energy and movement in the show as well! It’s a really great show - definitely worth seeing! Bye bye dragon! Bye bye Goofy! Next we'll head over to Paradise Park to see Gugu Drum Group. These performers are from Shanghai, China. The drumming is really impressive. And the costumes are equally impressive! Here the performers used their instruments as storytelling devices. Using just his drums, he’s bringing to life the sounds of a cat. It’s cool hearing a story with no words! There were some funny bits as well! Here the performers shared drums between themselves. The giant drum on the left is loud! You can FEEL it! Don’t miss Gugu Drum Group! As night fell we ordered some Japchae and chowed down while listening to the live music of Dat Nguyen. Dat Nguyen plays traditional and original compositions on a variety of instruments—from classical guitar to lute, flute and melodica. That looks like such a fun instrument to play! After dinner we met up with Pluto who licked us on our cheeks and wished us a Happy New Year! You can make a wish for the new year, write it down, and tie it on this wall for good fortune! Or just admire the wishes that others have shared! Here’s the Lunar New Year signage lit up at night. Let’s head back over to Paradise Park! It’s almost time for “Hurry Home – Lunar New Year Celebration” and “World of Color.” Hurry Home begins! This 6-minute pre-show for World of Color can only be seen during the Lunar New Year celebration. The show tells the story of Little Lantern trying to find his way home to his family during their annual gathering to celebrate good fortune for the upcoming year. A quick stop for food on the way home can’t hurt, right? The show is filled with gorgeous art. Mulan makes an appearance as well. The musical score for the show was composed by Tan Dun. It was originally composed for the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Disney Resort. Little Lantern made it to his family! Yay! There’s a dog animation at the end to celebrate 2018! Then Happy New Year appears in many different languages. And fireworks burst in the sky! This show definitely packs a lot into 6 minutes! And then afterwards the spotlights turn on and you’re treated to World of Color! Definitely the best way to end your night at DCA! I think the Pixar characters in the show are getting excited for “Pixar Pier” which is already well under construction. The alien is noticing that the roller coaster’s loop is missing! It wouldn’t be World of Color without fire! Lots and lots of fire! More color! More fire! So pretty! Does it have to end? Before we left I took one last shot of the Paradise Pier logo - its days are definitely numbered! While we can’t wait to see what new fun Pixar Pier offers in Summer 2018, Paradise Pier will always hold a special spot in our hearts! In our opinion The Lunar New Year Celebration at DCA is one of the best times of the year to visit the park. There’s great entertainment, food, merchandise, and shows on top of everything else DCA has to offer! The Lunar New Year Celebration runs through February 18, so don’t miss it! Thanks to Disney for throwing such an awesome event and inviting us to attend, and thanks to you for checking out our report!

The Holidays are almost here, which means "Holidays at the Disneyland Resort" is back! During the holiday season there’s always so much to see, taste, and experience at the Disneyland Resort. Among the highlights this year at Disney California Adventure (DCA) are the “Festival of Holidays,” where you can experience diverse cultural holidays with delicious food and entertainment, “Mater’s Jingle Jamboree” and “Luigi’s Joy to the Whirl” musical ride overlays in Cars Land, and “World of Color - Season of Light,” a special holiday version of World of Color. Over at Disneyland there’s,“A Christmas Fantasy” parade, two of the best holiday ride overlays ever: “Haunted Mansion Holiday” and “It’s a Small World Holiday,” and “Believe... In Holiday Magic” Fireworks Spectacular. Spears was there to check out some of this year’s highlights - and for the first time ever she did the whole report: the photos, the writeup, everything! - so if you enjoy the report be sure to say “Great job Spears!” Take it away Spears... After parking, I strolled through Downtown Disney and enjoyed the decorations. It starts with the holiday banners. I love the Christmas trees made of ornaments! The decorations were grouped by color. There was red, blue, green and white. It wouldn’t be Christmas without amazing merchandise! There were holiday sweaters and ears. The pom-pom Minnie Ears were my favorite. About to check in! I got to meet Minnie and Mickey dressed in their best holiday attire. Minnie and Mickey Mouse strike-a-pose. Next, we took a tour of the recently renovated Grand Californian Hotel. The first stop was the “Grand” New Gingerbread House. This was the biggest gingerbread house that I had ever seen! When I arrived, the house was still being decorated. The entire room smelled of fresh gingerbread. The Christmas tree was breathtaking from the 4th floor! We were able to tour one of the recently renovated suites on the 4th floor. It had a private balcony, a living room, and it even had a wine cooler. All of the art was created especially for the hotel. The suites are able to sleep more than 6 guests. It felt like home-away-from home and so much more. At DCA, we stopped at the "Festival of Holidays." This event celebrates food and cultures from around the world. This event runs from November 10, 2017-January 7, 2018. There is limited edition merchandise (Can be found near the Little Mermaid ride.) The merchandise focuses on diverse holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanza and Three Kings Day. I’m starting to get hungry... time for food! So many tantalizing treats! Looks at those gingerbread rice crispy treats! The delicious treats continue with peppermint marshmallow wands, chocolate yule logs, and gingerbread candy apples. There is something for everyone! They brought back the ever popular “Roasted Turkey Slider.” New this year, there will be a “Ham Slider” too! Love the Goofy popcorn bucket, it’s a must have. There is a handy-dandy "Tasting Passport." It lists all of the foods and beverages, as well as a map so you can easily find all of your favorite treats. It helped me find my favorite booth, which was booth #5, "Brew and Bites." I got the warm bavarian pretzel with whole-grained dijon mustard and the raspberry sour beer. It was the biggest pretzel ever! Just look at that pretzel! Next, I tried the chana masala with grilled garlic naan, from booth #7 "Classic Crocks and Casseroles." I wish I had more time to check out all of the food. It wouldn’t be a holiday event without amazing entertainment. I was excited to see the ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party. This show celebrates traditional Hispanic culture, dancing and music. It’s the Three Caballeros (from left to right): Panchito, Donald Duck and José Carioca. The party keeps getting bigger and bigger, with more dancers joining the festivities. Drums! Minnie and Mickey join the party! When the sun sets, come check out all of the amazing live bands. Tonight’s feature was ‘Phat Cat Swinger.’ This was a band from Canada that puts a jazz/big band twist onto all of your favorite Christmas songs. The band featured a bass, drums, saxophones, stand-up bass, trumpet and tuba. Each song show-cased the individual musicians. I didn’t want the show to end! Don’t forget to check out the nightly shows. There are 5 other bands performing which include: Mariachi Divas, The Sound, Mostly Kosher, Blue13 Dance Company and the Holiday Toy Drummers. Check the schedule to see the times for the shows. Time to check out the rest of DCA! Cars Land is all decked out for the holidays! Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is now “Mater’s Jingle Jamboree” and Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters is now “Luigi’s Joy to the Whirl!” Carthay Circle looks classy as always. I love all of the hidden details! Bye DCA, heading over to Disneyland. Disneyland’s Main Street is breathtaking! Winter has taken over the castle and it’s covered in snow! This is the best time of the year to see the castle! My favorite part of the holiday celebration is “It’s a Small World Holiday.” There are FastPasses available for this ride. So awesome! Every 15-minutes, there is a light show projected onto the exterior of the ride. Let’s jump into a boat and take the happiest boat ride in the world! Season's Greetings! This is one of my favorite rooms! Welcome to the jungle! ¡Feliz Navidad! We are going under the sea to see Ariel. Lilo caught a big wave. Mele Kalikimaka! Happy Holidays! The finale of the night was the “Believe...in Holiday Magic” fireworks display. This was my first time viewing the show in front of Small World. It was great because they closed the queue before the fireworks, so it was empty in front of us. Fireworks + projections = win! OOoooo! AAAhhhhhhh! Blue fireworks! Rainbow fireworks! Fairy Dust! Red fireworks! The finale! I’m so sad to be leaving, but I love the beautiful view on the way out! I had a wonderful time seeing the Holiday offerings at The Disneyland Resort! Thanks to Disney for the wonderful experience. "Holidays at the Disneyland Resort" runs through January 07, 2018 - don’t miss it!

... continued from above: There’s also lots of glowing merchandise for you glow-aficionados out there. Over to the final scare zone, The Hollow! This area is haunted by the souls of fallen soldiers and local farmers that have escaped their shallow graves. There’s also a mini unannounced show that you may stumble upon if you’re in the area. This stick sculpture gets burned at the end of it! It’s like a mini Burning Man festival here at Knott’s, without all the Playa dust to deal with! Spears says, “Get me out of here!” Time to check out the final maze of the night, Pretzel Eater, err, Pumpkin Eater! As you enter the small town, you’re greeted by a Jack-O-Lantern that introduces you to the story. There are lots of large pumpkins. And creepy people. There’s a cave crawling with disgusting insects. Scary things await you in the corn stalks! And with that, our night is done! Knott’s Scary Farm 2017 pulls out all the stops. There are awesome new mazes such as Dark Ride and Pumpkin Eater, returning mazes with new twists such as Trick-or-Treat: Lights Out, the return of a Halloween overlay to the Timber Mountain Log Ride, and great shows like The Hanging: Fake Noose and Elvira’s Last Show. On top of that there’s all the rides, food, and fun you’d expect from Knott’s. Knott’s Scary Farm is always a must-see Halloween event in So Cal, and this year is no different! Thanks to Knott’s for inviting us to check out Scary Farm, and thanks to you for checking out our report. Knott’s Scary Farm runs select nights through October 31, don’t miss it!

... continued from above: It wouldn’t be The Hanging without a hanging! There’s lots of fire and explosive awesomeness to celebrate the hanging this year! The Hanging is a Scary Farm tradition! It's always fun to see who they hang! Over to The Red Barn... I take it the senior trip didn’t go as planned. There are lots of dead animals (and people). Offer all to him! No time to help her, we need to save ourselves! Hopefully we don’t end up like these people. I love this spooky horse animatronic. Yay, we’re out of the barn! We survived! Right next door is Special Ops: Infected, where you grab a gun and get to shoot zombies! If it’s a zombie, shoot it! Looks like a zombie to me! *Bang, bang* There are so many cool rooms and scenes in this maze. A crashed helicopter, this can’t be good! Quick, take the Metro! On second thought, the Metro may have been a bad idea. Yep, definitely a bad idea. Good thing Spears is a master gunslinger! She’ll save us! Shoot it Spears! *Bang* *Splat* *Guts everywhere* Once Spears saved us from the zombies we headed over to the Charles Schulz Theatre for Elvira’s Last Show. Elvira is a Scary Farm legend, and sadly this will be her last year. The show starts off with dancers taking the stage. Here comes the star of the show! There’s lots of dancing. The format of the show changed a bit from previous years... The last few years have been more of a variety show that featured several different performers. This year, it’s all about Elvira. She’s front-and-center throughout the entire show and the show really showcases her. It’s a fitting tribute for her final performance. This is by far the best show I’ve seen her in. She really shines in it. There’s a segment where she talks about her history from birth... Through high school... All the way through her history at Knott’s and in TV and film. Later in the show she even dons some of the outfits shown in the retro footage and recreates some of her famous moments! After the history lesson she rips off her dress and goes into an awesome retro dance number. There are some great humorous parts to the show too. She even does some tassel twirling, as featured in her retro footage from Knott’s. This show is great. It’s entertaining, it’s funny, and it’s the perfect tribute to a living legend who’s leaving at the top of her game. At the end of the show she got a well-deserved standing ovation! There’s a lot to love at Scary Farm this year, but for me - this is where it’s at. A truly special opportunity to see Elvira at her very best for one last time. Don’t miss this! After the show we headed towards The Boardwalk. It’s time to check out the Carnevil scare zone! If you’re afraid of clowns, avoid this scare zone at all costs! There are some awesome props throughout the area. But it’s all about the clowns. There are tall ones... Balancing ones... Ones that look like birds... Ones that blow balloons... Some are funny, some are creepy, and some are down-right scary. The passages are extra narrow this year with the Hangtime construction walls up, so you can’t avoid running into the clowns. This scare zone doesn’t use fog to mask the scares. The clowns are right out in the open, but they’ll still terrify you! Underneath Xcelerator sits our next maze... It’s time for Shadowlands! Similar to Voodoo, this maze has a great outdoor-themed environment to start it off. I love the Japanese theming. There are lots of great scares! You have to walk through this room where anyone could be a scare actor in disguise. Who’s going to jump out at you? It’s impossible to tell who’s real and who’s fake. The finale scene of this maze is great. You get to see a samurai warrior in action! Next up, our favorite of the new mazes, Dark Ride! You enter the Castle of Chaos, an abandoned dark ride riddled with trash and hobos. As you walk through the maze you get to see the ride scenes as well as the backstage maintenance areas of the ride. It’s really neat! There are bugs... And mice... It’s cool going back and forth between ride scenes and backstage areas. The feel of this maze is just fabulous. Shopping carts and trash strewn throughout make it seem like the neglected ride is really being lived in. This dragon scene is my favorite! It really does feel like you’re exploring an abandoned, haunted dark ride. Some backstage areas... The last room is grand in scale, making for a great end scene. Don’t miss this one! It’s so much fun! Moving on, here’s a brief look at this year’s merchandise. (Report continued below...)

Knott’s Scary Farm is back for its 45th year in 2017! This year brings lots of exciting new additions. There are 9 mazes including new mazes: Dark Ride and Pumpkin Eater, and returning mazes with new twists such as Trick-or-Treat: Lights Out. There are new shows such as The Hanging: Fake Noose and Elvira’s Last Show. And there’s a brand new Halloween overlay for the log ride, Timber Mountain Log Ride: Halloween Hootenanny. With all the new additions and returning favorites it’s a really exciting year for Scary Farm! Check out our report below to see what awaits you in the fog! Video of the new "Dark Ride" Maze: Video of "Halloween Hootenanny" haunted log ride! We’re at Knott’s Berry Farm where there’s a chill in the air... And the Marketplace windows are filled with Halloween decorations... Which can only mean one thing... Knott’s Scary Farm is here! At the entrance the crowds are lined up, eagerly awaiting the rope drop. Uh oh, here come the monsters! As the rope dropped, the monsters attacked! Some guests ran through, narrowly escaping certain death. Others weren’t so lucky. Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move. Let’s get out of here before we become monster food! We’ll take refuge in a nice, dark place - our first maze, Trick or Treat: Lights Out! Trick or Treat is back, but there’s a new twist - it’s in the dark. You’re given a flashlight to illuminate your way through the maze. The maze is even creepier with the lights out. The flashlight doesn’t illuminate much, so you have to get close to things to see them. Unfortunately the flashlight isn’t entirely under your control either, so it can go out at any time! The Tricksters are lurking in the darkness! If you aren’t careful, you may even have a run-in with the Green Witch! Next we’ll check out Voodoo! The maze has been reversed this year, so you traverse it in the opposite direction. It’s still my favorite environment of any of the mazes. It really does feel like you’re in the cursed swamps of New Orleans! Spears just wanted to sit and watch some TV, but he wasn’t having it! By the way, I should point out that moon pies are only 25 cents. It’s a steal! Probably the best deal in the park. Somebody should really start doing the dishes around here. Well that’s not very appetizing. There’s a cool new finale scene with a snake that attacks its victim! Next up, Paranormal Inc. You enter during the taping of a TV show investigating paranormal activity. Of course, things don’t go quite to plan! Get out! I love all the special effects in this maze! You come face-to-face with some enormous creatures at the end! Next let’s check out The Tooth Fairy. She’s back, and she’s coming for your teeth. It seems that a lot of children have mysteriously gone missing. If I were that girl, I’d be sleeping with one eye open. Oh no! This seems a little excessive! If you’re afraid of the dentist, this isn’t the maze for you. I'm never putting money under my pillow again. If you purchase Fright & Fast Lane, you get priority access to the mazes AND the rides this year! We took advantage by riding Ghostrider with no wait! I’m happy to report it’s running excellent! That re-tracking is still holding up nicely. While we’re in Ghost Town, let’s check out all the sights. The Calico Saloon is in full Halloween mode. Ghost Town Streets is the original scare zone, and my personal favorite. Ghost Town provides the perfect eerie backdrop for a scare zone. Let’s venture into the fog... There are lots of creepy monsters hiding in the fog, waiting to scare you. Between the fog and the limited lighting it’s hard to see anything in Ghost Town. But they’ll see you! Let’s head over to the media reception - but first, a quick spin on Silver Bullet! In Fiesta Village there was a Dia De Los Muertos themed reception for media night. There was tons of food... Knott’s always makes an ice sculpture for their parties. This one had a portrait in it that changed into a skeleton as you moved around it. Spears says, “Hold on, no photos while I’m chewing.” “Okay, you can take a photo now!” Dessert time! Even better, drink time! Mmmmm, boysenberry beer! As much as we wanted to stay and party, there was so much more to see at Scary Farm. So we decided to head towards the Timber Mountain Log Ride, making our way through the Fiesta de los Muertos scare zone on the way. The Timber Mountain Log Ride: Halloween Hootenanny is a brand new Halloween overlay for the log ride, and it’s great! There’s Halloween theming throughout the ride (which can also be seen by regular guests during the day), and once again scare actors are hidden throughout the attraction at night. It’s really awesome seeing the Log Ride as part of the Halloween festivities again! It was always something I looked forward to in years past, and something that has been missing ever since the Log Ride renovation in 2013. This is a great overlay that you definitely shouldn’t miss! Next we’ll head to Calico Square! Here’s the stage for The Hanging: Fake Noose! At the beginning of the show, Elvira makes a brief cameo. More on Elvira later! Citizens of Calico, are you ready for a hanging!? The show has all the ridiculous, crude humor and pop culture silliness that you’d expect from The Hanging! Even fidget spinner makes an appearance! Kim Jong-un with his best buddy, Dennis Rodman. There’s lots of action. Vladimir Putin plays a big role in the show. As does Donald Trump. Putin and Trump share some special moments... And some very special moments... And some very, very special moments. You can’t un-see this! (Report continued below...)

I'd be really surprised if it wasn't around. If anything, I think it could even get expanded upon. To my knowledge it's just Cars Land, Guardians, and Buena Vista Street. Brittney didn't have time at the event to check out the rest of the park, but nothing was advertised for the other areas. Not yet, but I suspect that's the direction the park is headed in. They could sell a lot more MNSSHP tickets if the event was at both parks, and with MNSSHP tickets currently selling out well in advance, the demand is clearly there. IMO I don't think the DCA Halloween offering is quite as good as Disneyland's yet, but if they added a Halloween World of Color show and some simple theming around the pier I would think they could divide the crowds between the two parks pretty nicely.

Halloween Time at The Disneyland Resort is back, and it’s bigger than ever with Disney California Adventure joining the celebration this year! In addition to crowd favorites Ghost Galaxy and Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland, Cars Land Haul-O-Ween and Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark are joining in on the Halloween fun for the first time ever. Brittney was there to check out all the festivities - read our report below to join in on the fun! Brittney is at the Disneyland Resort to check out the 2017 Halloween festivities! There are lots of new and exciting things this year! In the esplanade new Halloween banners set the mood. And California Adventure adventure is represented too since it’s part of this year’s festivities! I love the Halloween balloons. Inside DCA the store windows are alive with Halloween food and decor. There are lots of spooky details. Carthay Circle Theater looks great with bats flying from the top! They had some tables set up previewing all the food offerings this year. I love the Oogie Boogie popcorn bucket! There’s some neat Dia De Los Muertos theming for these foods and treats. The cone drinks come with a spooky sticker pack so you can decorate them however you like! Brittney’s favorite items were the cake pops! At Halloween you get to meet all your favorite characters in their Halloween costumes! Here’s one more shot of the awesome Carthay decorations as we head towards Cars Land. For the first time ever, Car Land gets a Halloween overlay this year! There are tons of cool car-themed Halloween decorations. And special Halloween lighting on the rock formations! All the residents of Radiator Springs went all-out and decorated for Halloween! You can even meet your favorite Cars characters in their Halloween costumes. Here’s superhero Lightning McQueen. All the decorations are so creative and fun! Disney took typical Halloween themes and then re-hashed them to bring them into the Cars universe. Luigi’s is now Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween! Your cars dance to Halloween tunes! More decorations! This would have to be my favorite decoration of all! Trunk or treat! So good! This spider Mr. Toad’s car is hilarious and terrifying at the same time! At Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree, Mater now sings country tunes with a Halloween twist, such as “Welcome to Radiator Screams,” and “Monster Truck Smash.” There’s Halloween lighting and lots of tombstone car grills throughout the queue. Dead end! Brittney even got to meet Kevin from Imagineering who worked on the music for the ride! Cozy Cone Motel... more like the Creepy Cone Motel! Yep, pretty creepy! Ummm, do I see what I think I see? Yep, it’s Mater in a vampire costume! So ridiculously awesome! This is one of my favorite character photo ops ever. Brittney LOVED Halloween at Cars Land, but unfortunately she had to keep moving to check out everything else! Over in Hollywood Land, Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout is now Guardians of the Galaxy - Monters After Dark! This Halloween overlay takes place right after the events of the standard ride. The generator is out, the cages are open, and the creatures are loose. But unfortunately someone left Groot in the ride! And you guessed it, Rocket is hatching a plan to save him - but he needs your help! This overlay is great! There’s new lighting throughout, new pre-show scenes, and new music and video on the ride. Things are going haywire now that the generator is out! One more shot of the cool new lighting in the collection. Here’s a picture of Brittney getting scared by all the escaped creatures! Does Rocket’s plan work? Does Groot end up getting saved? You’ll have to ride to find out! It’s time to head over to Disneyland, but lets make a few quick stops on the way out. Here’s some of the awesome Halloween merchandise available. Buena Vista Street looks great at night. This headless horseman statue is another spectacular photo op! The Oogie Boogie decoration on the DCA sign looks awesome once its all lit up at night. We love that DCA is now a part of the Haloween festivities at the resort! Over in Disneyland there’s a pumpkin festival on Main Street. Pumpkin decorations line the street. Ghost Galaxy returns bringing Halloween scares to Space Mountain! And of course the best Holiday overlay of all time, Haunted Mansion Holiday, is back! This is a classic. It’s a tradition. If you haven’t done it, you must! Haunted Masnion and Nightmare Before Christmas are a match made in heaven. There’s so much great theming throughout. Jack has decked the halls! Every Haunted Mansion scene is expertly mixed with the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. The music and narration are perfect as well! Every year a new gingerbread house is made for the ballroom scene. Here’s a peek at this year’s gingerbread house - it doesn’t disappoint! Don’t miss Zero flying above the tree! Presents galore! This moment is always breathtaking when you emerge from the attic to see a snowy Halloween paradise. It wouldn’t be Haunted Mansion Holiday without Jack! Oogie Boogie picks a treat for you on your way out. Back on Main Street the night was coming to an end. There’s still time for couple more character photos though! Goofy dressed up as a skeleton. Since Brittney was dressed up as Minnie Mouse she HAD to find Minnie! Minnie was so excited to see that Brittney dressed up as her! Halloween Time at The Disneyland Resort is always a must-see annual tradition in So Cal, but this year it’s twice as good with California Adventure joining in on the fun. New attractions like the Cars Land Haul-O-Ween Celebration and Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark join Halloween classics like Ghost Galaxy and Haunted Mansion Holiday. There’s creepy, spooky fun for guests of all ages, and we totally recommend checking it out! Thanks to Disney for inviting us to attend, and thanks to you for checking out our report! Halloween Time runs through October 31, 2017 - don’t miss it!

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at last night's announcement! We're at Knott's for their new coaster announcement! It's National Roller Coaster Day, so first we headed to Ghostrider! Happy National Roller Coaster Day! I'm glad to report that Ghostrider is still running GREAT! The new track has been holding up really well. Next we headed to the newly revamped Boardwalk BBQ for tonight's announcement! They did a wonderful job on this restaurant! Everything is shiny and new, and the food is great! The meat looked so good it was making me wish I wasn't vegan! Mmmmmm! I almost ordered some Tri-tip, but alas, they had us vegans covered with a salad station, yay! Mmmmm, avocado! And they had some awesome drinks too! Brittney says any drink with an umbrella gets an A+ in her book. There was a great live band helping to set the surf-themed mood! Announcement time! They began with a video showing the roller coaster history of Knott's. Knott's is a park with a lot of history in general, but they have some cool roller coaster history too! Xcelerator was the first hydraulic launch coaster! (And it still kicks butt!) Jon Storbeck, VP and General Manager of Knott's, came on stage to announce the new ride! And there it is! Hangtime! An awesome Gerstlauer "Infinity Coaster." What an awesome announcement! Jeff Gahagan, VP of maintenance and construction, came on stage to give us the full scoop about the coaster. Lots of stats! More fun info! The ride is also going to have a special lighting package that will follow along with the trains, and the lighting can be easily changed for holidays and special events like Scary Farm! This should be really beautiful at night and add some kinetic energy to the Boardwalk. But enough talk, lets go look at the dirt that'll become the future roller coaster! There it is! Dirt! Only a coaster nerd could get this excited to be staring at dirt! We then got to check out the view from Lakeside Terrace, an employee dining area that happens to overlook the construction site. Still looks like dirt from here too! But we were kind of excited to get to go to an area of Knott's we hadn't been before - somewhere you can normally only go as an employee - so we of course took a photo. I'm glad to see that the employees don't have to pay regular park price! 25 cent soda, you can't beat that! Lumpy dirt is sexy dirt. They had surfboards placed in the sand to help give us an idea of where things would go. That blue surfboard way over there will be the lift hill! Obligatory "I'm a coaster nerd standing in front of dirt" photo. Back to The Boardwalk BBQ! It looks great at night too! While we were at the construction site they set up some decorations and renders of the ride for us to check out. John Chiu also gave a quick talk about the newly renovated Boardwalk BBQ. They're super proud of the food, and everyone at the event seemed to really like it! Dessert time! Hangtime themed cupcakes and cake, and Snoopy cookies to go! Knott's knows how to throw a party! A photo of the cake just seconds before it was sliced up and devoured! Snoopy and friends joined in the fun and posed for photos with everyone. They had "Hangtime" beachballs too! So we played volleyball! Beach ball boobs! (.)(.) Brittney danced with the characters! They even got a conga line going! Here they come! There they go! A few more photos! And some more volleyball! We were having so much fun! But unfortunately all good things must end. The band drummed while Brittney took one last jump for joy! Thanks Knott's for inviting us to attend, and thanks to you for checking out our report. Hangtime looks like a seriously great ride, and a perfect fit for Knott's. We can't wait to ride it when it opens in Summer of 2018!

With so many lines and so much going on at once, D23 is a challenging event to cover. You really did a great job of capturing it Adam! Thanks for keeping us updated on everything throughout the weekend. It felt like I was right there watching it live - great work! And what an awesome batch of announcements for Disney Parks! There's so much stuff to be excited for!

To my knowledge, the mini foods were just for the party. When the Food and Wine Festival rolls around they offer small food tastings, but that's only for a limited time. I agree with you that some year-round mini food options might be an interesting idea.

... Continued from above: Guardians actors and actresses Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker, and Zoe Saldana were welcomed on stage. All of a sudden the lights went dark... A silhouette appeared on stage. The lights revealed the silhouette as Benicio Del Toro, the actor who plays The Collector in the films! Benicio Del Toro announced that he was there to officiate the opening of the Tivan Collection. He announced that the collection was officially open, and the tower lit up with bright lights and special effects! Ooooh, ahhh. Fireworks suddenly burst from the tower! What an impressive sight! And with that, the ride was officially open! The celebrities stayed on stage a few moments for some group photos. We headed over to the tower to check it out at night. It’s so impressive at night! The lighting is beautiful. One more night shot of the tower. Next up was Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance Off!, a new show that takes place in front of the tower. Audience members are called up to participate in a dance off. Spears got pulled on stage! Check out her moves! Go Spears go! Groot comes out at the end of the show and hangs around to take pictures with guests! He was totally shocked to see us wearing Groot themed glasses. We are Groot! Off to the side of the tower was this interesting quarantined area with lots of concerned people running around and lots of security. Hmmm, I wonder what this could be for? Perhaps a hint of things to come??? There was a smoking Avengers vehicle as well. No one would explain anything. Hmmmmmm! Very interesting! Disney usually gives a gift to those who attend their opening parties. Spears couldn’t wait until she got home to see what it was, so she opened it on the spot! It’s a little mini speaker themed to Quill’s mixtape! On the opposite side it had the ride’s logo. How cool! Spears loved it! Time for some interviews! Spears did her first-ever solo interview. Want to see it? Check out our video at the top of this report! We even got to do a rider-cam video. Check out this insane camera setup they had installed in one of the ride cars! Here’s our photo from the rider-cam ride. I love this photo so much! What an amazing event! Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout is a must-see ride. It’s non-stop fun from beginning to end! We totally recommend getting to DCA to check it out! Thanks to Disney for putting on such a wonderful event and inviting us to attend, and thanks to you for checking out our report!

This weekend marked the opening of the first Marvel attraction for a US Disney Park: "Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!" at Disney California Adventure, as well as the kickoff of the "Summer of Heroes" with Marvel themed experiences, shows, and merchandise for the whole family. TPR was there for all the festivities with David and Spears! Check out our full report below to see the new Marvel awesomeness that you can experience now at Disney California Adventure! Take a ride on the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout and check out our interviews with the ride's creators in this video: We’re at Disney California Adventure (DCA) for Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! and the Summer of Heroes! But first, lets check in! You’re probably wondering, does the check-in room have an unlimited candy buffet? And I’m here to reassure you that yes, it does. Seriously, an unlimited candy buffet. We could end the day here and it would’ve already been a great day. I love how Disney puts so much detail everywhere. Beautiful flowers were all around the check-in room. And custom Guardians of the Galaxy cookies! But lets get down to business. We headed into DCA where Hollywood Land was scheduled to close at 3:00pm for tonight’s special event! Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! will be the meat and potatoes of this report. But lets have a quick appetizer first! Here’s Avengers Training Initiative, a new show for the Summer of Heroes. In this show young recruits ages 6 to 12 are invited to join Black Widow and Hawkeye as Avengers trainees to see if they have what it takes to join the ranks of the Avengers. There’s some action! Lots of games and interaction for the younger ones. Some neat props. With the help of The Avengers, young ones can save the day! Iron Man even makes a special appearance! Get your cameras ready parents, because there’s a great photo op at the end of the show! It’s meat and potatoes time! Let’s check out the star of The Summer of Heroes: Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! The construction walls are gone and the Collector’s Fortress looks absolutely gorgeous! I’m digging its flashy, in-your-face look. Very cool! Heading inside, there’s a statue of The Collector in the entrance area. The lobby holds all sorts of artifacts collected from around the galaxy. There’s lots to look at. This Cocoon of Unknown Origin could hatch at any time! My favorite artifact is Cosmo the dog! He’s just so cute! His head moves and his tail wags. The video playing in the lobby shows the Guardians of the Galaxy trapped in the Fortress. All the artifacts should do a good job of keeping you busy while waiting in line. There are tons of Marvel items in the collection for fans with a keen eye. This large Tivan logo hangs above the entrance door. Moving on towards the pre-show room. Of course there’s a giant portrait of The Collector as part of the collection. The pre-show room is themed as The Collector’s private office. There are all sorts of collected items all around. There are lots of easter eggs too. There are Guardians of the Galaxy references, Disney references, Tower of Terror references - you name it! I spy the animatronic leg that Rocket said he needed for his plan in the first movie! Quill’s Walkman sits in the office as well. The Collector’s desk. Above the desk is a TV screen. When the show begins, The Collector appears and welcomes you to the collection. However, before you know it, the show is interrupted by Rocket - who no doubt has a plan to break out the Guardians of the Galaxy! But he needs your help! His hands don’t scan, only human hands do. So he needs you to help him get in and get The Guardians out! At which point The Guardians will thank Rocket and praise him for being the genius he is. On his way out of the office Rocket grabs Quill’s Walkman from the bookcase. This is a neat effect! The boiler room is fairly similar in feel to its Tower of Terror days, with the addition of some collected artifacts and theming. I wish the lines were always this short! Some signage on the walls. There are lots of collected pieces sitting around. It was pretty funny to see the Matterhorn yeti sitting in here. More theming. Some theming right before you board the gantry lift. Right outside the gantry lift is this sign advertising the Guardians of the Galaxy display that you’re about to witness. In order to gain access to the gantry lift you need to scan your hands. Once your hands are scanned, the light turns blue and you’re good to go. When the ride begins you can see Rocket’s shadow from on top of the lift. Rocket unplugs the audio of The Collector’s voice... And plugs in Quill’s Walkman to get the party started! One of 6 different song and ride sequences then begin playing, the doors close, and Rocket launches you up to the generator control room. The sudden launch combined with the upbeat music is a really fun start to the ride. Rocket’s plan is to “blast” the generator control room, destroying all the control systems which will open every cage in the collection and free the Guardians. Here’s the blast! Sparks fly, the room goes dark, and away you go! The next time the doors open, you encounter the Guardians. Each of the 6 songs has different movies that play during these sections of the ride. Unlike Tower of Terror, the ride vehicle is constantly moving during the show scenes. It constantly shakes or bobs up and down. The movement goes well with the music and really matches the feel of the ride and the Guardians universe. Smile for your photo! The doors still open up to the outside world, along with some humor from Rocket! One final thank you from The Guardians, and one final drop to the bottom of the tower - then it's finished! It’s a really fun, great ride! We were smiling the entire time and totally enjoyed it! (And I consider myself to be a pretty big Tower of Terror fan who was pretty bummed it was getting replaced - so that’s saying a lot!) Some things are better about Tower of Terror, and some things are better about Guardians, but overall both are amazing rides that do an excellent job of bringing the IP to life. I doubt it’ll be this empty again any time soon! Lets check out the merch! These dancing Groot toys are pretty popular. I loved the Cosmo plush! There’s Mission: Breakout clothing! Lots and lots of Marvel stuff is available. Spears’ favorite item was the Little Golden Book of Marvel tales. Rocket keychains. This Groot can hang on things like your headphones! Super cute! The retro toys are a nice touch! Spears is sad because they turned Groot into a book. Poor Groot! Outside we met legendary Imagineer Joe Rohde. I was almost too nervous to approach him, but he was super nice! We had a great conversation about the ride and he was nice enough to pose for a photo! As the sun started to set the Tivan Collection Gala kicked into gear! It’s party time! There was live music! Spider Man was there! (and as part of the Summer of Heroes, you can meet him too!) These guys were walking around offering test tubes of spinal fluid. Spinal fluid is DELICIOUS! There were lots of photo ops. And food! Mmmmm! Mini chicken pot pies. Mini pizzas! So much yummy stuff! Some foods were even levitating on anti-gravity walls! On no! The Collector caged us and added us to his collection! That’s nothing a drink-in-a-bag can’t fix! They were even giving out free Guardians themed glasses! Question: What’s better than Groot glasses and a drink-in-a-bag? Answer: Groot glasses and THREE drinks-in-bags! How cool are those tables with screens built in? There was even a giant sidewalk display screen that displayed tons of themed animations. It was super neat! The Tivan Gala was great! Time for the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout! grand opening ceremony! The Collector’s assistants welcomed the crowd to the opening ceremony. Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Bob Chapek came on stage to introduce the ride and thank those involved in its creation. He also mentioned that there will be an even bigger superhero presence at DCA in the future - implying the rumors are true that more Marvel rides are on the way for DCA. He then introduced the writer and director of both Guardians films, James Gunn. James talked about how it was his life-long dream to have a ride at a theme park based on movies he helped create. He then introduced some special guests... (report continued below...)

I’m just going to start off this report by saying that Spears LOVES Johnny Depp. He’s her favorite celebrity in the entire world, and she’s always dreamed of meeting him. So when Disney offered us the opportunity to attend the “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” premiere in Hollywood, it was a no brainer - we had to go. We spent the next week begging co-workers to cover our shifts at work, and once we knew we could make it we hit the stores looking for pirate costumes (Disney wanted all the fans to dress as pirates). Work coverage secured, pirate costumes obtained - we were ready to go. But what would it be like attending a big budget Hollywood Blockbuster premiere? Would we get to see Johnny Depp? Would Spears get to meet her idol? Read on to join us on our adventure and find out! We’ve donned our pirate costumes and are ready to go! Spears’ sister Georgie is joining us today as well! Fast forward an hour, and we’re in Hollywood. There’s the world-famous Hollywood sign! Pirates billboards are up all over town. That’s our exit! We’ve arrived! Fans were already lining up along the sides of Hollywood Boulevard, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars! The red carpet - well, blue carpet - ran down the center of Hollywood Boulevard and then turned in towards the Dolby Theater. There was a giant banner announcing the premiere hanging under the Dolby Theatre sign. The finishing touches were still being put on the decorations. They’re only able to close Hollywood Boulevard for a limited time, so they work right up to the Premiere. Hurry guys, the celebs are coming! We headed towards the El Capitan Theater to check in for the event. A line of pirates flowed into the theater, all of them anxious to check in and find their place along the blue carpet. It was a somewhat warm day, so they were handing out popsicles and drinks to keep everyone cool. I suppose it’s fitting that we got a roller coaster joke on our popsicle stick: Why didn’t the rooster go on the roller coaster? He was chicken! Once we checked in we were escorted to the blue carpet. Spears tested out the carpet to make sure it was up to snuff for the Hollywood A-listers. Everything looked good, so she gave her stamp of approval! We then posed in front of the backdrop that all the celebrities would be photographed in front of. We took our seats and watched as all the other pirates came in. ABC 7 shot a live video of us for their Facebook page. Lots of performers walked around to keep us entertained until the celebrities arrived. Here we learned to sword fight! There were stilt-walking jugglers. This guy could do so many tricks! Spears won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Everyone kept stopping by and recording us. We felt famous! See what I mean? Super famous! Oh no! Incoming fire! It was finally time for the entertainers to leave the carpet... Because here come the celebrities! Some of the celebrities ignored us and walked right by, treating us like the pirate scum we were. But others waved and talked to us - and those celebrities were awesome! I have a feeling we’re in the background of a LOT of celebrity photos. For real though, here’s the exact same shot from the other side as posted by Getty Images. There we are! Lots of big celebrities showed up for the premiere. Here’s Jon Voight! Mario Lopez AKA A.C. Slater. Is that who I think it is?!? It really is! It’s Johnny Depp! Spears was going nuts! Unfortunately he walked passed us and didn’t stop, bummer! You can’t win them all! Celebrity high fives! A+ for all the celebs who took the time to hang out with us! Kaya Scodelario looked stunning! The celebs would pose in front of some photographers, move down to the next batch of photographers, pose some more, move down, rinse, repeat. It was like an assembly line of celebrities! But all Spears cared about was Johnny Depp! Here he is interviewing with A.C. Slate - err, Mario Lopez. Meanwhile, Spears is screaming, “Johnny, come back!” Hey Carson Kressley! Spears loved seeing Marg Helgenberger from one of her favorite TV shows ever, CSI: Las Vegas. She’s slowly meeting all of the CSI characters... A few weeks earlier she ran into Eric Szmanda (who plays Greg Sanders) and Jorja Fox (who plays Sara Sidle) at the airport. Now she just needs to find Gil Grissom! After his interviews Johnny Depp walked past again, but unfortunately he still didn’t stop to hang out with us. Sad face! Here’s Brenton Thwaites who plays Henry Turner in the movie. Celebrity kisses! There were so many celebs! It’s John Lovitz! He even came over and said hi to us! Orlando Bloom! Disney was recording the live stream of the premiere and interviewing the big celebrities right across from us. We were even in the background of some shots! The live stream was being broadcast on the El Capitan Theater and worldwide online! More celebs! Wait, could it be? Yep, Johnny Depp is coming back! And he’s walking right towards us!!! Spears hopped up and got to meet him and hold his hand! She was freaking out!!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy! She kept screaming “I touched Johnny Depp!!!” She then passed out and had to be taken out in an ambulance. So cool! Spears could’ve gone home now totally happy, but we still had the movie to watch! We started heading down the carpet towards the theater. I spy Disney CEO Bob Iger. As we were walking in Wiz Khalifa strolled by us, no big deal. There were lots of fans lined up at every opening, trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite celebs. Check out all the security up on the balconies! Once inside, there were some photo ops set up. There were free drinks, snacks, and popcorn all for the taking. One more photo op before heading in! Inside the theater this was projected on the large screen. Check out the Dolby Theater! This is the famous Hollywood theater where the Oscars are held every year. What a glamorous place to watch a movie! Before the film, the cast and crew came on stage! Check out all those stars! The cast waved goodbye, and without any previews the film began! No spoilers! Other than to say the movie was great fun! And as the box office receipts from its opening weekend show, it’s totally a hit! If you’re looking for a big summer blockbuster with fun, excitement, and special effects - this is it! After the movie we headed outside to realize that Hollywood was already returning to normal. The blue carpet was long gone. All the photographers and cameramen had gone home. The giant backdrops were already mostly taken down as the crews prepared Hollywood Boulevard to be reopened to traffic. And as the real Jack Sparrow retreated to his Hollywood mansion, tourists were once again left to take photos with the costumed Jack Sparrows and other characters who work for tips along Hollywood Boulevard. It’s weird to think that just hours earlier this street was filled with A-list stars and the hustle and bustle of a big premiere. But even as Hollywood moves on and forgets the excitement of tonight, we’ll never forget the time we got to attend a big Hollywood movie premiere! Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Men Tell No Tales is in theaters NOW! Go check it out! We’d like to extend a big thank you to Disney (and TPR!) for giving us this opportunity. It was literally a dream come true for Spears! And thanks to you for reading along and joining us for the fun!

Really great TR! In general the world needs more Japan TR's, and yours did not disappoint!

It was an exciting week at the Disneyland Resort! After a 20 year departure that took it to Disney resorts around the world, The Main Street Electrical Parade returned on Thursday to its original home at Disneyland! Additionally, Disney California Adventure (DCA) expanded its Lunar New Year celebration by making it a 17 day-long celebration this year and adding new activities, food, and entertainment to the mix. There's so much fun stuff to cover, and it's best shown with photos, so check out our complete report below! Be sure to watch the end of the video for the interviews! We’re at The Disneyland Resort to check out the return of The Main Street Electrical Parade and the expansion of The Lunar New Year Celebration! We’ll start at DCA! The event kicked off with a presentation to let us know about everything in store. Chef John State talked to us about all the new food offerings. He explained how he and his team worked with cast members, cultural advisors, and diversity groups to find dishes that would connect with guests. They then explored flavors and textures that weren’t typical, and sought feedback to refine the menu into something guests would love. The foods in the Lunar New Year Marketplace are inspired by the cultures of China (Pork Soup Dumplings, Turnip Cakes with Spicy Sausage), Korea (Kimchi Fried Rice, Steamed Vegetable Dumpling) and Vietnam (Sticky Rice Cake with Pork, Sugar Cane Shrimp Skewer). Additional items at Paradise Garden Grill include Vegetable Japchae, Kalbi Beef Short Ribs with Steamed Rice, Whole Crispy Tilapia with Citrus Chile Vinaigrette, Beef Pho Noodle Soup, Mango Pudding and Cassava Coconut Cake. YUM! Creative Director Susana Tubert discussed the special entertainment for the Lunar New Year Celebration. She talked about how they’re proud to be able to celebrate cultural diversity by having authentic Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese performers present heartfelt and entertaining acts for guests. Every day during “Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession,” Mulan and her dragon friend Mushu will welcome the Year of the Rooster with a procession of Chinese umbrella dancers, martial artists, and other performers. Additionally, the park invited Acrobats from China who will perform daily in the World of Color viewing area, showcasing their skills that have been passed from generation to generation. As guests enter Paradise Gardens they’ll be greeted with red and gold lanterns as well as displays in English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese to explain what the celebration means. Various musicians were invited to immerse guests in authentic sounds while artisans will create calligraphy for guests to take home and children can make Lunar New Year paper lanterns. There’s also a wishing wall where guests can write wishes for the new year on red ribbons and tie them to the wall. Additionally, there will be photo opportunities with Disney characters in their Lunar New Year costumes to add a Disney touch to the authentic celebration. Producer Jennifer Magill discussed the all new “Hurry Home” World of Color pre-show that was created just for the Lunar New Year Celebration. The show will precede “World of Color,” and run nightly during the Lunar New Year Celebration. The show tells the story of a Little Lantern returning home for the annual celebration of good luck and fortune with his family. Little Lantern encounters three “dream sequences,” featuring appearances by Mulan and Mushu. The show consists of all-new animation created specifically for it, and the style contrasts CG animation with sequences inspired by traditional Chinese paper cut-out style animation. Senior Show Director John Addis talked about the return of “The Main Street Electrical Parade.” The parade started at Disneyland in 1972 and ran through 1996. During that time there were over 3,600 performances and it was seen by more than 75 million guests. After the parade closed at Disneyland, it traveled to Florida, Paris, and Tokyo - solidifying it as the most popular parade Walt Disney Park and Resorts has ever presented. In honor of it returning home, the first float once again says in lights, “The Main Street Electrical Parade Presented by Disneyland.” After the presentation, it was time for Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession! Mulan and Mushu led the cast of authentic performers. We really enjoyed this show! The dragon dance was neat! There’s lots of motion and excitement. It’s as if there was a real live dragon! There were umbrella dancers... and ribbon dancers. The show was so colorful with all the authentic costumes and decorations! And you could feel the music with the live drumming. This show was a great mix of Disney style with authentic traditions. It’s definitely worth seeing! After the show, we enjoyed some food and activities at Paradise Gardens. As we entered there were displays explaining the New Year celebrations. There were photo ops all around. We wrote our wishes for the new year and tied them to the wall. Peace and happiness for all! Then we got in touch with our inner children, busted out the crayons, and made some Lunar New Year lanterns! Check out the official TPR lantern on the right! Not too shabby! An impressive display was set up, showcasing the merchandise and food offerings. There’s t-shirts, Disney themed red envelopes, and more! I liked this small box. Lets not forget the food! Disney created so many amazing food offerings for the celebration. This report has just a small sampling of what’s available! Everything we tried was delicious! Lantern, check. Food, check. Spears is good to go! Einstein had his formula, so here’s mine: 3 food samples = 1 Mickey Mouse. There was a tasty lychee drink too! The authentic music set the tone for the celebration. And we were blown away by the talent of the calligrapher. Spears collects character photos like most TPR members collect coaster credits. We loved the Lunar New Year costumes! Meeting Mulan and Mushu was really cool too! We definitely could’ve partied there all night, but alas, there was more to see! Next up, the “Hurry Home” World of Color pre-show! The show tells the story of this Little Lantern as he returns home. The paper cut-out art style is really neat! The show even features some of the food that you can try at the celebration! Mulan makes an appearance. It’s a lovely pre-show, and does a nice job of leading into World of Color without upstaging it. Spoiler alert: the Lantern makes it home! And since it’s the year of the rooster, here's a rooster. One very special effect that the pre-show has is fireworks! It was really surprising seeing them appear over Paradise Pier! After the pre-show, World of Color begins! Spoiler alert: Dory eats Marlin! (ok, not really) Oh no, Zurg! Up, up, and away! Pretty! World of Color is always beautiful! And there’s always lots of fire! We were close to the front, the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and it was cold that night. A bad combo, but Spears bundled up and committed to bringing you live social media updates! World of Color is ALWAYS a great way to end the night at DCA! And the new pre-show only makes it better! The Lunar New Year Celebration runs through Feb. 5, 2017, so don’t miss it! Over to Disneyland, the park had closed early for the separately ticketed Main Street Electrical Parade event. There was a red carpet set up and Spears waltzed in like a VIP! They had tons of photo opportunities set up for guests attending the event. And then the moment arrived... The lights turned out, the music turned on, and glowing floats began to appear down Main Street. It’s back! It’s home! And it once again says, “Disneyland Presents!” Cue the Goosebumps! I was so nostalgic seeing the parade again. I have memories of watching it with my Dad when I was just a kid! And it’s just like I remembered it! Some things Disney does are just timeless, and I think this is one of them. It’s quirky, it’s fun, and it’s as entertaining today as it was when it debuted. I kept switching between taking photos and just standing there trying to take it in. There are some subtle changes that have been made to the parade over the years, but at its core it's still the same old Main Street Electrical Parade that everyone remembers. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! Oh no, it’s midnight! There are over 600,000 lights in the parade! Peter Pan says, “Wow, that’s a lot of lights!” Tinkerbell is blown away by the amount of lights! This is one of my favorite floats! The diamonds are so cool looking. “600,000 you say? That’s a LOT of lights!” There are so many neat floats! Another one of my favorites! It even breathes smoke! And last but not least, BACON! The world’s largest piece of bacon, to be exact. It may be California hippie grass-fed vegan bacon now, but it’s bacon nonetheless. So there it is! Like I said, it was an exciting week for the Disneyland Resort! There’s a greatly expanded Lunar New Year celebration over at DCA, and a legendary parade has returned home to Disneyland! Mickey would like to remind you that The Lunar New Year Celebration at DCA runs through Sunday, February 5 and The Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland runs through Sunday, June 18. Don’t miss them! Thanks to Disney for putting on such a great event and for inviting us to attend! And thanks to you for reading our report!