i'm froooooozen

when i realized that the bean was going to be home all week for thanksgiving break, i scrambled a little to think of things for us to do. i didn't want to be stuck at home the whole time, but our usual go-to activity wasn't available to us anymore - our disneyland annual passes have expired. waaaaaaah!

but then i got an email advertising discounted tickets for select screenings of the new disney flick "frozen" at the fabulous el capitan theater. we love going there for movies, and this was even more awesome because "frozen" doesn't even come out until later in the week. discount + fun movie + exclusive pre-release showing? uh, yes!

i selected an early time so that we could be headed back home before afternoon traffic started, although that didn't mean we didn't hit any going out to hollywood. even on a holiday-light week, the freeways were crowded. 

still, we managed to arrive on time. 

(i actually took that afterwards - hence the crazy crowds outside)

inside, there were lots of themed decorations. 

and because of the pre-release, warning signs were posted throughout the theater. 

my strategy seemed to have worked out well, because it was pretty easy to find good seats. the bean chose to sit upstairs in the balcony, and she and the teen listened to the live organ music while i ran out to grab some popcorn. 

not long after i returned with snacks, the organ disappeared into the floor and the curtain opened to start the preshow. the announcer came out to introduce the movie and invited us to take as many photographs as we wanted.  we sat through a few movie trailers before the screen lifted to reveal two women, a couple of large blocks of ice, and chainsaws. 

when they were done, this is what was left:

the stars of the movie, anna and elsa, came out to say hello. 

and as they twirled, preened and waved...it started to snow. 

they ran offstage as the lights went down and we were treated to an old-timey mickey mouse short...in 3D.

it was right after i snapped that photo that i was approached by an usher who told me in a loud whisper to put my phone away. hmph. so much for "take as many pictures as you like."

but i'm a rule follower, and so in my purse the phone stayed till the movie was over. and i gotta say, for a number of reasons, this is now one of my favorite disney movies. i won't spoil it, but just know that it's really good and YOU MUST SEE IT. also, sit through the credits for a cute little bonus scene. i'll leave it at that. 

as we filed out of the theater, we paused to check out the photos that lined the walls of star-studded movie premieres that took place here. 

and hey, how convenient. exiting through this door led you right into the adjacent disney studio store/ghirardelli ice cream parlor...

...where the very first thing you encounter after accepting a complimentary piece of chocolate is this table of movie-themed merchandise. 

along the back wall is a dazzling display of disney movies on dvd. 

i was a little bummed to see that the soda fountain/restaurant had changed quite a bit since our last visit, now with only ice cream available. this wouldn't normally be an issue, but it was lunchtime and we wanted food. 

of course, there were lots of treats to buy and take home. this display offered pretty much every kind of ghirardelli chocolate square you can imagine. 

and just outside the front door was this. 

across the street at hollywood & highland, on our way back to the parking structure, we stopped in at crumbs bake shop. while the teen declined a treat, the bean selected a fun-looking birthday cake pop. 

and as for me - well, a poster advertising the crumbs version of a "cronut" had caught my attention. this is a crumbnut: part croissant, part donut, filled with bavarian cream, drizzled with chocolate and ALLLLL delicious. 

it was a sweet way to top off a super fun morning (see what i did there?).

schwing!

the teen and i had been talking about revisiting the hike up to the hollywood sign for ages. now that the weather has cooled down considerably, we decided it was finally time to go for it.

it's funny how often i refer to my blog to remember all sorts of stuff. i swear, if i didn't post about all the stuff we do, i'd forget half of it. i find all sorts of forgotten recipes and great pictures for throwback thursdays/flashback fridays and links to all kinda of fun stuff. anyway, i ended up referring back to the post i wrote after the last time we did this hike to find the specifics on how to get to the right place. i love when i'm so helpful...uh, to myself. heh. 

of course, stupid siri totally steered us in the wrong direction and we ended up lost anyway. it wasn't too hard to figure out where we'd gone wrong, though, and soon we were where we needed to be. 

not far beyond that gate the pavement gives way to a dirt path. 

and in no time at all, the trail gets pretty damn steep. 

selfie!

the teen had no patience for such nonsense.

the trail blessedly levels off a bit before you turn the corner and encounter more hills to cllimb. 

it was a chilly friday morning, and we didn't come across a lot of other people. although i instantly spotted a fellow hollywood half-er rocking his race shirt.

this plaque and bench has apparently been here since 2010, but i swear i never noticed it before. 

yay, we made it!

this required another selfie, of course. 

a group of guys who climbed up after us offered to take our picture, and hey - i'm not one to turn that down. 

now that the weather is cooler, we'd love to tackle other local hikes too. anybody have any suggestions for us?

jingle all the way

the bean happened to be out of school for veteran's day, which was the day before our disneyland passes were to expire.  i'm usually a little hesitant to go down there when the kids aren't in school, because it usually means lots of crowds and increased frustration.  but when i checked the website, two out of the four types of passes were blocked out - not including ours.  that's usually a good sign, and so the bean and i got ready to head out.  unfortunately, the teen was down for the count with an icky stomachache that was bad enough to keep her home.

i decided to try something different with the bean's hair and put it up in two minnie ear-style buns.

when we got there, i was happy to see that the crowd level predictions on my mousewait app were pretty accurate.  and the giant christmas tree was in place on main street, with no wait to take a picture.

right after that, we made a beeline for the jungle cruise.  this year, it had been given the disney holiday overlay treatment for the first time, turning it into:

there was a bit of a line, since word had gotten out that the decorations were up and ready for business a couple of days earlier than previously announced.

i'm glad we didn't wait much longer than we did (about 25 minutes), because that right there was pretty much the extent of the transformation.  the guide cracked a few new holiday-themed jokes, but that was about it.  i'm not saying that it sucked or anything, but don't make a special trip just to see it.

when the teen isn't with us, i usually let the bean dictate what we do.  she likes to do stuff that her sister isn't wild about, like climbing up the stairs and going through tarzan's treehouse.

i wanted to get a shot of her in front of the castle, but the sun was really bright that day.

she loves going through the whale's big ol' mouth at the storybook land boat ride.

and after riding on alice in wonderland, she stops at the little door to the white rabbit's house.

we rode this twice.

because she loves to draw, we headed across the way to california adventure and into the animation academy.  here's what we drew this time:

before going back to disneyland to find a spot to watch the fireworks, she paused to admire their giant christmas tree.

because it was a weekday, the fireworks show started two hours earlier.  it was the last thing we did before we left.

and she loved the "snow" at the end.

okay, it's really just soap.  don't burst our bubble.