On the 11th day of Christmas...

and we went to Disneyland!

Christmas Eve at Disneyland, what could be more magical?

On this Christmas Eve, we woke up around 9:00 AM. We brought some fruits and nuts with us, so we ate some oranges and some almond nut bars for breakfast. We also went to Starbucks down the street inside the Marriott hotel. Todd got a pumpkin spiced latte while I got a peppermint white chocolate mocha. Mine was a little too sweet, but other than that we both liked it a lot.

We took the 12:35 shuttle to Disney and set out to find some lunch at Downtown Disney. We settled on Napolini, the fast-food offshoot of Naples Ristorante. Todd got a baked ziti with sausages dish, while I got a portabello mushroom and mozzerella panini sandwich. I liked my sandwich, it came with real & thick slices of mozzerella cheese! Todd did not like his baked ziti at all because it didn't taste that great AND he had to pick out the embedded cheese. So, to make up for it, he got a small bag of caramel kettle corn, which he happily ate. After we got the popcorn, I got to pet a really cute black labrador retriever dog whose leash was tied to a bench, but whose owner was nowhere to be seen. He was such a gentle and cute dog.

Todd was still eating his caramel corn, so he sat on a bench while I went into Sephora to check out the smorgasbord of makeup. I found some fun stuff but everything was so pricey. :( I didn't buy anything.

After lunch we entered Disneyland. Right in front of Main Street USA was this huge decorated Christmas tree.

Disneyland was PACKED full of people! Everything had a really long line, so we decided to go on the rides that were changed especially for the holidays. We were in line for a good 45 minutes or so for the Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Well, it was worth it because it was really fun to see and it was all new to us. It was like a mix of Halloween and Christmas, Tim Burton style. Don't write me a comment/message about the true meaning of Christmas and how evil Halloween is. I know what the true meaning of Christmas is, and it doesn't prelude me from enjoying a ride at Disneyland. It's just a ride people.

We really enjoyed the holiday decorations at Disneyland. Everything was top-notch and it was almost worth it to come just to see all the holiday decorations.

After that we went to Santa's Reindeer Round-Up and got our photo taken with Santa Claus.

I don't have the Santa photo yet because the Disney photographer took the picture, so I'll have to wait until I order and receive my Disney Photo Pass CD before I show you.

We walked around the park and stumbled upon "A Christmas Fantasy Parade".

I totally waved at Santa!

After that we finally found "It's a Small World Holiday", which was a different ride from the regular It's a Small World. They intersperse "It's a Small World" with "Joy to the World", and the whole ride was overhauled and redone with Christmas-themed decorations.

By the time we finished the ride, it was sunset already! We went over to the Sleeping Beauty Castle to take some pictures, since it's the iconic Disneyland landmark.

After that we went to Tomorrowland and walked around, enjoying the sights and sounds.

Our heard our stomachs growling, so we found ESPN Zone Restaurant to eat and to watch the Chargers play the Broncos on Monday Night Football. Good thing we went around 5:30, because we already had to wait 20 minutes just for a two-person table! Todd had the Smokehouse Chicken Sandwich, which he claimed was super-yummy, while I had the Asian Chicken Salad.

After dinner we walked around the Disney store and tried on different hats...

Which one was your favorite?

We went into Haagen Dazs and shared a Dulce Dazzle for dessert. Then we literally RAN all the way to the white shuttle station to catch the 7:20 shuttle back to the hotel. We ran like half a mile! Burned off maybe 1/10th of the Haagen Dazs!