As sad as this may sound, one of the things I was most excited for was the amazing flower displays in front of the castle. They were really cute snowmen when I visited at Christmas, themed around the classic Disney characters, but for Spring they've been replaced with some amazing musical themed animals from classic Disney films. These flower figures are absolutely stunning and I spent so long taking all sorts of different photos of them all! I wanted close ups of ears, tails, eyes, feets, you name it! I think I used most of our magic hours trying to get the best shots! My favourite of the four was the 101 Dalmatians one, which also had some cute duckies having a snooze in it. I still remember my first bedroom as a small child, having Dalmatians everywhere! On the walls, on the duvet, on the curtains... Can I have that back, please?
The spring merchandise is really cute. Think lots of flowers, lots of cute Thumper things and Mickey and Minnie in their adorable pink and purple spring time outfits. I really wish I went back to Disney Fashions and picked up the Thumper Jumper. Mainly because it is pretty fun to say.... Thumper Jumper. If the phone case was available for my phone I would have bought that before you could have said Thumper Jumper, but it seems I have a really obscure phone when it comes to people making pretty cases... Unfortunately, it seems anything that isn't an iPhone is obscure! SIGH!
Thumper Jumper...
My last visit, we only did one character meet up. I told my brother I would take a Selfie with Buzz Lightyear, and when we got into Walt Disney Studios, I went ahead and did just that! But this time, we met a bunch of characters and saw even more around the parks. We met Goofy and Donald in the Disneyland Park, and Mickey and Minnie in Walt Disney Studios. 'Swing into Spring' saw two new characters available for meet ups, Thumper and Miss Bunny! Who we also stopped by to say hello to. Minnie Mouse has the best dresses, but if you want a really fun character experience definitely go and see Thumper and Miss Bunny while they're around! During my visit, the queue looked twice as long as it actually was, as about half of the queue was single file. Everyone was lining up to watch these bunnies as they were so entertaining! They were really cute with guests, and so adorable with each other and other cast members! I hope that Disneyland consider a longer stay for these two, as they really were absolute stars!
We met Goofy and Donald inside the first area, just after entering the Disneyland park, where Mickey, Minnie and Pluto could also be met each morning. We met Minnie during the Stars in Cars parade at Walt Disney Studios and Mickey Mouse at the Toon Town meet up spot. Thumper and Miss Bunny are to the left at the end of Main Street. Rapunzel also greets guests in Fantasyland. Just wander around the Teacups until you find the purple flags... (And huge queues!)
It seems there is always something going on somewhere in the Disney Parks. Walt Disney Studios has the 'Stars in Cars' mini parade three times a day. It was one of the things I wanted to do this year, so we arrived about 20 minutes before it was due to start and got a nice spot. Minnie Mouse has an absolutely amazing dress for this show, and there are a bunch of other characters making the rounds in a big circle. I'd have been happy seeing any of the characters that came out, but we got lucky being in just the right spot for Minnie. Over in the Disneyland Park during 'Swing into Spring', there are a whopping six parades a day! Starting with a 'Goofy's Garden Party' three times a day and featuring lots of characters and fabulous dancers in amazing costumes. Next up is 'Minnie's Spring Train' which is an adorable little train with a host of characters on, and the chance to join cast members dancing in front of the castle! I definitely would have joined the dancing, if there wasn't someone on that little train I really wanted to see.
The final parade of the day is the biggie. 'Disney Magic on Parade'. The floats for this one are huuuuuge! Each features two sides, representing different movies and characters. There was so much variety spanning generations of Disney and I absolutely loved this parade. We watched it twice, and the second time we had an amazing position in the crowd to watch from. Amazing, yet slightly scary when one of the carriages doesn't appear to be turning and you think you're about to be ran over by Sleeping Beauty... I got a really cute photo, but it was still a bit of a fright! I don't want to say too much and spoil things for anyone still thinking of going, but there are fairies, and princesses and Minnie Mouse's dress change is again, AMAZING! Can I have Minnie Mouse's wardrobe? Who do I speak too about arranging this? Oh! Also... The parade song is catchy as heck! It's stuck in my head now just thinking about it. I'm ok with this.... Excuse me while I dance around for 10 or so minutes.
Aaand finally... Disney Dreams. An award winning nightly fireworks and light show. This was my first time seeing the regular dreams show, as the Christmas is different. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't really frustrated with Dreams... But not due to the show itself... Because every freaking time I found a spot I could see from, a tall person in front of me would move into that pesky little gap. Of course, they repeated this every single time I found somewhere new to watch from. AAAAARGH! Eventually I did manage to find a spot I could see from, and no-one got in the way. Yay!
Somebunny definitely hit the nail on the head when describing it as a night time spectacular, because that it most certainly is. What better way to bow out of a busy bustling day at Disneyland, than lighting up Sleeping Beauty's castle and the night sky with colour, fountains and sparkly bangs? They did a really good job of spanning decades of Disney to create the show and without saying too much, I was stupidly happy to see my all-time fave get a spot in the show. I hear they are adding a Frozen segment, which i'm 100% certain is going to be a great addition, as the Disney Dreams of Christmas show featured a big Frozen section and that was fantastic. I don't know if the Dreams show changes at Halloween, but if it does I think I need to see it... I can only imagine what a villains Halloween show would look like, and as a villains fan, I bet it would be one of the most amazing things in the world.
Wow... This was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. There's still time to drop everything and get your butts to Disneyland for Swing into Spring! The festivities run until the 31st of May, and then it's time for Frozen's Summer Fun to take over. I may or may not be trying to squeeze in another trip to check that out too.... ;)
See you next time! :)
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You really capture the magic that is Disney with this post :)
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