Our May Vacation 2026 Part 3

I sure do miss Disney! I keep playing music that reminds me of the parks. You know the kind…instrumental ambience just playing in the background…hehehe It keeps taking me back. Especially to my visits with Cherie to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. And the esplanade and Downtown Disney District!!!

Speaking of those visits, here is the second half of our Disney Day from Our May 2026 Vacation!!! I definitely hope to never take this long in documenting our vacations…LOL This one was a little tough to write about right after the trip because I had another trip shortly after this one. I went up to Indiana like the next week or something. I had a very busy traveling Spring this year. It was unusual, to say the least. So it’s no wonder it takes me so long to write about this vacation…hehehe

In the vlog from the first half of the day, we left off with some snail shadows…hehehe That was right when we first got back to the esplanade, I believe. Of course, before that, we met up in the lobby of ALO. Cherie told me that someone recognized her as Daisy and said that they saw Donald waiting in the lobby…hehehe Also, once we got to security, we were recognized and one of the security officers said that her favorite character was Daisy. I loved being Donald and Daisy 🤩

Once more, we were whisked off toward the esplanade by the magical tram 🤩 hehehe Once we arrived at the esplanade, it was straight to DCA to begin enjoying the rest of our Disney Day. We stopped off at the 70th anniversary sign to get a PhotoPass session. The sign had Donald Duck on it. But the main reason we did it is because we just love to get our picture taken together. Our selfie videos are always the most special. But the PhotoPass pictures always turn out so well 🥰

On our way to our next destination, we came across a lady who was wearing the exact Donald Duck hat I was wearing! She asked if she could get a picture taken with us…hehehe That was fun! It’s those little moments like this that make bounding as characters so much fun. When it’s someone’s favorite character, it warms my heart ❤️

The next destination was Paradise Garden Grill for our dinner. This was Cherie’s first time in that area. I had only been back there once to listen to some live music a few years ago before Cherie was with me the first time we went to Disney together. But I hadn’t eaten there before either. So, this is another first on our list of many firsts 🤩 We had the Al Pastor Tacos. You know us and tacos…hehehe We typically get the ones over in San Fransokyo. I like both kinds of tacos. But I think this Paradise Garden area is more enjoyable to sit at…hehehe The area is more outdoorsy with trees and that secret garden vibe. Plus, they had live music while we ate…hehehe We sat and listened to the entire set 🥰 I love our dinners. And this one was probably my favorite so far 🥹 Thank you, Cherie, for having dinner with me. It is always a special moment for me 🤗 Especially this time 🤩

After dinner, it wasn’t quite time for Animation Academy yet. So, on our way over, we stopped off at Redwood Creek Trail. This was one of those moments when we took a little walk and then sat while enjoying the moment. We did that often this time. It was one of the highlights of the experience. Redwood Creek Trail is one of those special spots for us and I’m so glad we take the time to visit it. This one was extra special because we sat and took it all in. While others pass this by or hurry up to the next thing, it was nice that we just stopped and enjoyed each other 🥰

Animation Academy was next. This is one of our traditions that we love to do 🤩 We got to draw Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare before Christmas.” This is one of Cherie’s favorite movies. So, I’m glad we got to draw Jack! Side note: I recreated our drawing as my first ever sketch on Paintsprout…hehehe You can see that here.

Now that Jack was drawn and we did our art selfie…hehehe It was time for another first for Cherie! We did Turtle Talk with Crush! I have done that a few times at WDW in Florida. It’s the same sort of setup. It is so much fun and I’m so glad to have been there with Cherie for her first experience with it.

Once we were out of Turtle Talk, it was about that time of day for the neon to come on! That’s right…Cher-Boom!!! When we arrived in our spot, we saw a PhotoPass photographer. So, we asked to have our pictures taken. We hadn’t ever gotten a photo in our spot. This felt like a special occasion since we were Donald and Daisy. I’m so glad we did that!

As we were waiting for the Sh-Boom song to start, we were dancing to the music that was already playing. One of the Cast came up to us and asked if we would be the line leaders for the Sh-Boom parade…hehehe We were honored to be asked. But we declined because our traditional video of us dancing is important to us. Especially this one because of our Donald and Daisy; which was likely part of the reason they wanted us to lead…LOL

After one of my favorite things in all the world (the dancing), we stopped off at the Joffrey’s booth so I could get a cup of that bitter black nectar…LOL Then we walked around a little while I drank my coffee. We made our way to the area near the Grand Californian, just past Redwood Creek Trail, and got some duck themed pins…hehehe I thought we should get 2 not realizing that each pack had 5 pins in them…LOL What I thought would be a pair of pins became 10…HAHAHA Oops! We sat there across from the store and just outside the Grand Californian and talked for a bit. We talked quite a bit about her upcoming work event; which is now another memory…hehehe

Disneyland was our next destination as we left DCA. Both parks are lovely at night. And it’s nice to end our day at Disneyland. We were able to walk backstage again because we arrived there during the night parade. It’s always fun to walk back there. Cherie blessed me by pointing out that the artwork on the walls back there remind her of my art 🥰

That backstage pass drops us off at Tomorrow Land. So, we took a journey on Star Tours again…hehehe Whoaaaaaa ho ho ho hoooooooo…HAHAHA My notes are a little vague after Star Tours. But I recall we walked around the park for a bit and ended up on the opposite side of the park. That’s when we went on Haunted Mansion. This was my first time on that attraction with it being in its normal state. The other times we rode it was while it was setup as The Nightmare before Christmas. It’s better with the nightmare theme…hehehe But it was good to at least try it this time and see what it was like…hehehe

We walked toward the front of the park so we could ride the train before leaving. It was a bit crowded in the front and the crowd was actually leaving the park. But we managed to get out of the crowd and make our way to the train station…LOL We took the train all the way around Disneyland. We did that on both of our vacations this year and it has become one of our traditions.

Once we got back to Main Street station, it was time to leave 😭 A magical tram ride and quick drive, and we were back to ALO. And that was a wrap on our day at Disney 🤩 That is always a bittersweet moment. It’s hard to say goodbye to Disney and goodnight to my best friend after such an amazing day. But it is also a fulfilling moment to realize that we just had an amazing day together. We plan and hope for months and now it is a memory. A memory we can revisit for the rest of our lives 🥹

We are currently planning our next vacation. I can’t wait to be with her at Disneyland and DCA again very soon. I have the best vacation with my best friend. Thank you, Cherie, for everything 🥹🤗❤️

But wait…there’s more! I will soon be writing about the day after Disney. Our vacation isn’t quite over yet!!! hehehe Stay tuned!!! By the way, I did not get any vlog footage the second half of our Disney day 🤣 I hope to do better next time…LOL