Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Our Very Own Dapper Day


Beth and I have always wanted to go to Dapper Days at Disney and we always seem to just barely miss it when we schedule our tips. So Beth had the idea for us to do our own Dapper Day! We dressed up the first day we visited California Adventure, we thought all the beautiful, vintage buildings would look great in our photos.

The kids looked absolutely adorable.





Although this photo looks staged, it's not. The lady we asked to take our picture must of thought this was hilarious, because it is, and snapped some pictures of us trying to tell Monty where to stand for the photo, he wasn't as excited about our Dapper Day as we were...


So we opted for a girls picture instead.



Monty cheered up a little bit when we found a pretty flower for his lapel.




After some photos, we realized we needed to up everybody's blood sugar, since we hadn't had breakfast yet. Since we were right next to Schmoozie's, we decided to grab a couple of smoothies.  V and I played rock, paper, scissors while we waited. 


While we did get a healthy smoothie, we also couldn't resist trying this adorable, halloween mint cookie milkshake.




It was delicious!


After our quick hit of sugar, the kids were once again ready to continue our day. We headed over to Starbucks to grab something with a little protein in it to balance out all the sugar we just drank... On our way over, we ran into Minnie and Donald who were dressed up in fun, new costumes than the ones we saw them in yesterday. We stopped and watched them for a while, they were being so funny.






Daisy also strolled by for a visit,


and she gave Donald a kiss on the check as she walked by.





Minnie's 1920s fortune teller outfit was our favorite, it was so adorable.





When we finally made it to Starbucks, we did order breakfast sandwiches for our protein fix, but we also couldn't pass up some more sugary treats.


I found a halloween macaron to cross of my list! This trip, instead of attempting to try all the halloween treats, I just wanted to try all the halloween macarons, there were quite a few.

This was the Oogi Boogie macaron which consisted of, a black macaron filled with green apple buttercream, caramel, brownies, cookie crumb dust, and gummy candy.




There was a lot going on in this macaron, but surprisingly, not much of flavor, just A TON of sweetness. The caramel was good and I liked the gummy candies, they were a fun twist. This beauty also turned my entire mouth black, but it was worth it.


Then we were off to introduce Monty to more rides!


We showed him Ariel's ride first, and he LOVED it. We rode it a couple of times in a row he loved it so much.



We always love to ride the Golden Zephyr. It was one of V's favorite rides when she was younger, on one of our trips we were the only ones riding it, so the cast member let us ride it several times in a row without getting off. This ride is a little bit of a sleeper, the line is usually super short, even though the ride only lasts what feels like a couple of seconds, it is actually really fun and relaxing. 

The sweet kiddos trying to make this picture work for us in the bright, bright sun.




V had forgotten about this ride, and got on it to just to appease us. But once we started going, she remembered why she loved it so much, she loved the gentle breeze on her face and she said it was so much fun.




Then it was time for our lunch reservations!!! I had been able to snag us a table at the Lamplight Lounge. None of us had dined there since it changed from the Cove Bar and Ariel's Grotto, so we were excited!


Monty was having an epic meltdown when we were checking in for our reservation, and the sweet cast member was so nice and found us a "large table" so we would have room to spread out and give Monty plenty of space to help him relax. Another moment of sweet, cast member, Disney magic.

Our table was pure bliss, it was on the lower level and consisted of two comfortable, pink couches and a fire table. Our view would have been the most perfect view in the entire restaurant if the lagoon had been filled with water, but it had been drained because of the drought. We still had a fun view of the Farris wheel and got to enjoy the beautiful sunshine from the comfort of the shade.


V, once again, taking the most perfect pictures for us.




The menu is so fun to look through with all the fun animations.


We of course had to get fun drinks! I got a 2319, strawberry puree, cream of coconut, pineapple juice, topped with Coca-cola. I was so intrigued by the coke topper. It was a really yummy drink, I actually would have liked a little more coke, it was a unique twist on a classic strawberry pina colada.



The drink coasters have become collectors items for a lot of people, they are all so fun. I was excited when we got the baby otter one!


V looking fabulous.


 The food was SO. GOOD.

Beth and I got a cheddar burger and a scotch egg salad to split. A little bit comfort food and a little bit healthy.

The cheddar burger was a grilled custom Burger blend with Cheddar, Roasted Plum Tomato, Lettuce, Red Onion, Avocado Ranch Spread, and Toasted Amish Bun served with Malted Fries. Perfection.


The salad had a warm Scotch Egg (a traditional British dish consisting of a shelled hard-boiled egg that is wrapped in sausage, covered in breadcrumbs, and then deep-fried or baked until crispy), Greens, Citrus Tarragon Vinaigrette, Roasted Beets, Yogurt-marinated Apples, Goat Cheese, Beet Gel, Toasted Walnuts, Shaved Carrot, and Ninja Radish. The dressing was amazing, the whole salad was delicious.


Even the kids' mac and cheese looked like a fancy meal.



After lunch, both kids went downhill fast. They were both super sick. So it was time to go back to the hotel to rest. On our way out of the park, we stopped to listen, and dance a little bit, to this fun swing band.



We loved the halloween bat decor all over DCA, especially the ones flying out of Carthay Circle.


That night, instead of going back to the park, we loaded up the kids and their bubble wands in the strollers, and walked down to CVS to get covid tests for everyone. Now a days, whenever anyone has a slight sniffle, we have to test everyone for Covid. And since both of the kids were super sick, we for sure needed to get tested. It's the responsible thing to do, and it always brings me peace of mind, but it's not fun. #pandemiclife.



We passed by this really cute fairytale stained glass on our walk.


While at CVS, we loaded up on treats and drinks to make it a little more fun, then it was back to the hotel to get our brains tickled. It is super cool there are now at home tests so readily available, and we didn't have to find a testing center somewhere which would have been really hard without a car.


Bless the kids for doing so well during their tests, it is such an uncomfortable sensation. We all came back negative! The kiddos just had a really nasty cold, poor babies.


For Monty, playing outside at the hotel with his bubble wand was just as fun as going to the parks haha