November 19, 2020

 So not long ago Disneyland reopened Downtown Disney for shopping and dining.  Just recently they announced that they would open Buena Vista Street in California Adventure Park for additional shopping and dining during the Holidays.  We decided that it was worth a try to go down for our annual Christmas shopping and a slightly belated Anniversary trip.

We decided on a Thursday through Sunday trip.  Driving down we did a stop in Burbank so I could get a new dress and lipstick.  (OMG, Blood Red from Besame Cosmetics goes with everything!)  We got stuck in a bit of traffic and got to Anaheim a little later than we would have liked.

Lines in Downtown Disney for mostly everything was long.  I was able to exchange my Haunted Mansion dress for a better size.  We ate at Tortilla Joe's and Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen (outdoors, of course).  And we got to go into the new Star Wars store that they moved into the WonderGround Gallery.

We decided to try to get in to BV street early on Friday so we got our coffee and parked nearby and got in line.  We were early so it seemed like we waited for ages!  But it went by fairly quickly and they started letting us in early.  We got our temperature check and passed by the dog.  There was a delay going through the bag check and metal detector, but we were having some really nice weather so I didn't mind.  Once through and "into" Downtown Disney, we waited into another line to get in to BV st.  (I ran our toys over to World of Disney to be dropped off with Toys for Tots.)

Talk about long lines!  Yes, the lines were long due to the 6' social distancing, but there were soooo many people who wanted to get into the park.  Lines to get food, lines to go shopping, not all the stores we wanted to shop at were open.  We got what we could, but it took all day from waiting in line.  Thankfully they opened the new Studio 17 store, but they didn't have anything much different that in all the other stores.  We got what we wanted and went back to the hotel.

Unfortunately for us, there were groups of rude people partying until all hours of the night at the first one - which we left.  Too bad my/our second choice was just as bad and we had to move.  The only thing available was the opposite end of the hotel on the 3rd floor.  Plus there was construction going on and taking up some much needed parking.  Ugh, it was a sucky weekend for "less expensive" hotels.

Since we were all day in California Adventure on Friday we spent Saturday in Downtown Disney checking out the rest of what was open.  (Beignets for breakfast, baby!)  We got most of our Christmas shopping done and were mostly satisfied with the trip.

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