The Disneyland Half Marathon is over, but it's still super early in the day. The day would turn out to be a bit different than I had expected it to go, but we'll get to that shortly.
Others in the area weren't so lucky. I saw this on a local Facebook group where the pipes leading into the RV had burst. At our campground, there were also broken pipes, and we were without water for 2 days, but we'd also planned for that and had water and ice stored away ahead of time.
My plan for the day was to do more of what I'd been doing the last couple days. Hang out at the quiet spots of Disneyland. Yes I've already made this walk once today, and did another 13.1 miles on top of that, but the best way to keep muscles from tightening up is to keep using them! Off to Disneyland again!
Making it through security, I stopped one more time at our Disney stone. With all the changes going on around here, it wouldn't surprise me if this was one of the last times getting to see it. It's been here for 21 years or so now, well past the minimum time frame they said it would be there when we bought it.
Here's the big surprise of the day though! It's Ruston!
Shortly after my race I got a text from Ruston that he was free that afternoon and would I want to join him at Disneyland. Definitely!
But what should we do? It's been years now since I've actually been inside Disneyland to ride rides and see attractions. First, I've got to see this new replacement for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. 
This is Walt Disney - A Magical Life!
It came out in July 2025, but I've avoided watching any videos or spoilers of it. I've seen pictures of the Walt Disney animatronic, but how will he look in person? Ruston hasn't seen this new attraction yet either.
The first part was a video of Walt's early life. It was very familiar, and checking later, yes, it's the same short documentary One Man's Dream that plays at Florida's Hollywood Studios.
The animatronic was... interesting. Having seen so many videos of Walt, seeing the animatronic was odd. The motion itself was smooth and articulate. But the face just didn't quite look right. It's reminiscent of Hall of Presidents to me, where you know what the person is supposed to look like, but something just seems "off".
Our next stop is Ruston's favorite ride here, the Haunted Mansion. We don't have a Lightning Lane, and the wait time shows 40 minutes. Oh well. We hopped in line and very slowly shuffled forward. After 25 minutes in line though, we've barely moved and can finally see the front of the mansion and how people are just leaving the line. We decided to follow suit and left the line too. Another time perhaps.
Walking back towards the newly redesigned tree house, we had to take just a moment to stop in front of the former Disney Dream Suite. Oh, what good memories we had here.
Back in July 2012, Ruston won the ultimate Disney prize. An overnight stay in the Disneyland Dream Suite! He was allowed to invite guests to spend the night with him, and he invited Jacob, Theresa, and I! It was an incredible and magical night. I wrote a very very detailed report of it here. Along with indepth photos, videos, and even 360 degree views of the rooms, it's the closest many will ever get to experiencing it.
Disneyland Dream Suite - July 14th, 2012
Moving on to the new treehouse, which isn't quite Swiss Family Robinson and not Tarzan either. It has been a while since I've watched The Swiss Family Robinson.
Here though I happened to see my fellow Legacy running friend Tracy. She's all dressed up and coming from something very special herself! It's been a busy day between doing a half marathon in the morning and then a special lunch right afterwards.
Pirates has been closed every time we've walked by. But looking down from the top of the treehouse, we can see people have just started walking through the line! Let's go!
Right beneath the bridge, the lines splits to the left or right. Which way? Right. Always right on Pirates. The left line has a little bit extra distance outside, plus a longer boarding zone inside. We chose correctly because we also happened to get the very front row with some extra legroom!
Our boat pushed off and we were suddenly in the bayou. Our boat slowly moved to the first drop, and then we sat there. In the dark. Waiting for maybe 5 minutes until finally we were released.
We slid down the first waterfall and then the second, and then, we saw a boat in front of us, completely stopped and loaded with passengers. Right beside the seagull hat pirate we sat. Then an empty boat bumped into us from behind. Looks like we were the last to board before they closed the ride.
Not much happened for the next 15 minutes while we sat there. Sometimes we'd hear that they were resetting the ride, but I didn't notice any changes. Finally after 20 minutes, the boats in front of us started moving and it seemed like we sped through the ride faster than I'm used to.
Once we made our way back upstairs, we could see the doors were closed and that we were the last boat.
Fortunately for us, because we'd waited on the ride so long, at the exit we received "Any Time Lightning Lane" passes. We can use those on the Haunted Mansion later!
We've got time to do that later though. Instead, let's head to Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room!
Wake up Jose!
Now we get to use those Lightning Lane passes and go right to the front of the line for the Haunted Mansion! It's been a little while since I've been here too, with the new bride and the gift shop at the exit.
Dinner was tasty street tacos at Rancho del Zocalo. We both recalled the best restaurant that used to exist here inside the park. The all-you-can-eat Big Thunder Ranch BBQ! Remember the bucket of unlimited meat? All of the chicken drumsticks you could eat! All good memories.
To close out the night together, we took a ride on the Disneyland Railroad. We boarded in Tomorrowland which meant we got to go through the Grand Canyon and see the Dinosaurs! Around this same time on the other coast, Dinosaur is closing in Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Disneyland has the superior version of this ride since you're actually invited to sing along with the birdies. I asked Ruston if it was okay to record a video to send to the kids, and they loved it. With all the pictures and videos I'm sending, they really want to come back to Disneyland again.
Treats you say? As a special "treat" for Christmas, Ruston had some coupons for free snacks and he gifted me one. I've got to go with a classic Mickey bar.
We went the entire way around the park and then a bonus 1/4 to end up at Main Street.
It was great to be able to hang out with Ruston for hours instead of just the quick visit at the very beginning of the trip.
Ruston has to head home and get ready for work tomorrow, but I've still got some friends who are hanging out at the park. Like Judy! Let's ride some things that we don't have in Florida. Like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! Judy was the driver and it was crazy!
Next we met up with Ariel, who suggested we ride Indiana Jones. Don't have that in Florida yet!
We lucked out with the line and almost walked right on to the ride!
Front row!
Ariel's first time ever driving!
One more ride with Ariel before she's out for the night. How about Winnie the Pooh!
Good memories.
Great to see you on this trip Ariel!
Next Judy and I headed to Star Tours, visiting Hoth and having an encounter with Boba Fett.
Then it was off to Buzz Lightyear where Judy and I faced off for ultimate bragging rights.
We'll blame it on a bad zap gun.
Finding Nemo submarines? Yes please!
It's even more amazing at night.
As we exited Finding Nemo, we were treated to the amazing Disneyland fireworks. We're spoiled, aren't we.
I've got a couple more friends here tonight, so Judy and I headed over to the Storybookland Canal Boats to ride with Legacy Runner Lauren and her mom.
Then met up with Legacy Runner Jeff Oh and friends to watch the Disney Paint the Night parade.
I drive a big RV, but I wouldn't want to have to navigate Mac down the streets and walkways of Disneyland.
Hi Ariel!
And with that, it's past 11pm and the park is closed.
Waking up late and looking out the window of my hotel room. It looks into the lobby of the hotel and has this awesome balcony, though the doors have been screwed shut.
But that was my room, right up there.
Afterwards, we all said our goodbyes and I took the long walk home to the hotel.
What an amazing day it has been! I didn't think when I woke up today at 2:15am that I'd still be going strong past midnight! It's been an awesome weekend with lots of fun memories. 
I met up with Jacob in the lobby and together we headed towards LAX.
But not before stopping to get 85C for the family back home.
Budget car return was a disorganized when I returned the car too. Just 1 person working and over a dozen cars ahead of me waiting to be checked in. Eventually the guy saw me and just yelled to leave the keys in the car and I could go.
Boarding our flight out of Los Angeles and headed to Denver.
Then only 15 minutes from de-planing in Denver before it's time to line up to go to Orlando. Jacob and I scarfed down a quick McDonald's meal before getting lined up. It's warmer here in Denver than Florida right now!
It was super late with all the time changes getting back to Florida and we wouldn't get home until after midnight. But it was a great trip and a lot of fun!
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