Hey friends, it's Jacqueline for Pixie Dust PhD.
Today is Friday, January 14th, and I am very excited because my partner and I are going
to be headed out to the west coast later today.
Over the past couple weeks we have been taking quite a lot of rapid COVID tests as well as
a handful of PCR COVID tests--all of them have come back negative, including a rapid
test today.
So we feel confident that we do not have COVID-19 at the moment and are safe to travel!
Or at least safe enough where we know we won't be infecting anybody.
Part of this west coast trip is Disneyland!
So my partner has never been.
I have been as a kid, but I don't really remember anything.
I think the last time I went was probably 2004, so it's been a super long time and I
really just don't remember it… so it's not technically my first time, but it is effectively
my first time.
We're also meeting up with my childhood best friend down there, and we haven't seen each
other since pre pandemic.
My childhood best friend still lives out in Washington state; I, of course, live out here
in the DC area.
So yeah, we had plans to see each other summer 2020 but obviously summer 2020 happened.
And so between Disneyland and seeing my best friend I am just over the moon.
Now, since we haven't been to Disneyland I… it's gonna be super exciting, don't get me
wrong, but it's also gonna be a little bit chaotic because unlike Disney World where
I can pretty much get anywhere you know without looking at a map--I know what's what, I know
sort of good and bad wait times, I know what strategies to do--I really don't know anything
about Disneyland.
So it may feel sort of like chaos in the vlogs, and trust me it'll feel like chaos in my heart
too.
But I think it'll feel like chaos in the best possible way.
And, you know, regardless of how things turn out I definitely am excited.
I suspect because I will be so enthralled, because it's very new, that I definitely am
planning to film but I don't know that I’ll be filming my face.
I don't think it's that interesting when you just see me talk honestly.
I know that's kind of the point of vlogs, but like I’m not that into it.
So you'll probably just be seeing a lot of what I’m seeing.
And then I am bringing my headphones with a mic that I can plug into my phone, and then
so, you know, I’ll basically be recording voiceover as I’m viewing things.
It's a little bit of a different style for me, but I hope you're excited for it.
Today is Friday and both my partner and I are effectively working full work days today.
We're going to stop around 4 p.m. or so.
We're catching a flight that leaves a little bit after 6 p.m.
I think out to the west coast. And we aren't actually going straight to Disneyland.
The purpose of this trip is actually to go to one of my better friends weddings, and
then to see my family, and then to go to Disneyland.
So we'll actually be in Portland, Oregon for the weekend; some of my family lives nearby,
and this is where the wedding's being held.
We don't have any hardcore plans other than the wedding for this time.
We're gonna try to go to the Portland, Oregon zoo so long as the weather holds up.
It looks like we're gonna be lucky, so yay!
Maybe go to Blue Star Donuts, Voodoo Donuts, maybe go to Salt and Straw but I know there's
a Salt and Straw in Downtown Disney down in Anaheim so that's not the biggest priority…
and yeah, we're just gonna try to stay safe.
And we're taking a few COVID tests with us so we'll take tests before and after the wedding
certainly, and I think we're going to try to avoid eating indoors for the most part.
But yeah, I’m looking forward to it and having a good time.
So we're off to Portland pretty soon here, and we will see what the weekend brings us.
Then on Monday we are flying down to LA.
From there we'll meet up with my best friend and we'll all head in an Uber over to Anaheim.
We are not staying on property.
We decided to save some money and stay off property.
The three of us are splitting a room at the Hilton Garden Inn over on Manchester; so there's
the Hilton Garden Inn Garden Grove, which is a little bit further away, and then this
one on Manchester is actually basically just right across the street from esplanade.
Monday we don't have park tickets, so we're just gonna hang out, catch up, probably go
to Downtown Disney.
I do though have a reservation for Trader Sam’s west coast edition, so I’m really
excited about that.
Then we have three-day park hopper tickets, so we'll be in the parks Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday.
We are unfortunately flying out Friday.
Friday is when the Lunar New Year celebration starts, so I’m super bummed to be missing
that.
But all this was planned far before that was announced, and really it was planned around
my friend's wedding and, you know, we just couldn't justify taking even more time off
work, and we want to get home to see our dog, and--and do laundry and sort of decompress
before we have to start working again.
Plus the flight prices always influence sort of when we leave, and definitely the flight
prices on that Friday were much much better than Saturday or Sunday.
I’m not entirely sure when this whole vlog adventure series will get posted…
as of us leaving now in mid-January the channel is still working through the Walt Disney World
and Universal trip vlogs from September 2021, so it might be a little bit.
Thanks for hanging in there with me if this is quite delayed--I super appreciate your
patience.
We do have a little bit of last-minute packing to do still, and of course I have some work
to finish up--I am technically working right now.
But I hope you enjoy this vlog series, and especially this first vlog that will be our
travel days!
I’ll put some fun Portland footage in here; not too much probably because we're probably
not doing a ton of things.
But yeah, travel days and our arrival day.
So mostly whatever we end up eating, and then Trader Sam’s.
Thanks so much for being here, I really appreciate your support.
Be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel; once you do you can ring that
bell icon to receive notifications whenever I post new videos.
And if you want to chat outside of YouTube you can find me on Twitter and Instagram @PixieDustPhD.
What do you normally do on your arrival day to Disneyland?
Also how do you normally get to Disneyland?
Because we're planning on taking a ride share, Uber or a Lyft, and depending on prices everything
I read online says it can be anywhere from like $70 like $150 one way!
So it's definitely a little expensive, but depending on the rates I think it will be
cheaper than renting a car and paying to park it, etc.
And if we ride share no one has to drive in LA traffic, which I think is a big factor
for us.
I’m definitely looking forward to hearing from you in the comments, and I hope the rest
of your day is super magical.
We'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD!
[SpongeBob narrator] Soon after.
[Jacqueline] Got this whole row to myself!
We're flying DCA to PDX right now.
I got my salad, I got my cheese plate.
Adam is on the aisle next to me in case anyone's wondering.
The cheese plate here is just the highlight of Alaska Airlines.
You get some Beecher’s cheese.
Here's some cheddar.
What is this?
Um, hold on… oh a little Swiss wedge.
And it comes with some fruits; we got green apple and mixed grapes.
And here are the crackers.
And then I got a beet and chicken salad.
So, you know, mixed greens, some kind of cheese, beets, chicken, dressing, pretty standard.
We're in Portland!
It's very early Saturday morning right now, and we came to Voodoo Donuts because we were
hungry, and mostly things are closed right now.
Blue Star Donuts is also closed like all weekend for a COVID situation.
Got coconut guava, mango ginger.
Unpopular opinion: Voodoo is a little overrated, but it is open and I will definitely eat it.
I’m taking Adam to Powell’s for the first time.
He's never been to Portland, so of course he's never been to Powell’s.
And he finished his book on the plane out here, so he needs a book for the way back.
Obviously, we have to stop at the kids section to look at the Pokémon books--it's so cute.
Wow look at this little eeveelution sign.
[SpongeBob narrator] Eventually.
[Jacqueline] We made it to Disney!
We're walking into Downtown Disney to go get some lunch.
And here we are--Disneyland resort.
Oh my gosh, we just made it through security and everything... like the parks are right here!
This is wild.
So that's California Adventure on the left, and then like just across the way is Disneyland
Park… like they're so close to each other.
This is so different from Walt Disney World.
Alright, off to lunch.
Oh, our first little bit of Disney magic.
So cute!
Walking through Downtown Disney right now, gonna grab lunch at Ballast Point.
They had like a chicken pesto sandwich that sounds pretty good, so grabbing some food.
It's kind of busy here today.
Well turns out chicken pesto sandwich is on the Disney online menu, but not their actual
menu.
But, you know, drinks are always good.
So I’ve got a cider, my best friend got a different cider, Adam’s got a beer.
We got the nachos, this cool flatbread,
and then… and then Adam got a burger.
And we're just all going to kind of share, but no chicken pesto sandwich.
[Spongebob narrator] Later.
[Jacqueline] Okay, we are back in Downtown Disney now.
We are heading to our Trader Sam’s reservation.
Lunch was good, no complaints.
A little expensive, but it was nice and oh it's still Christmas here!
Wow.
Walking to the Disneyland Hotel.
They've got the sorcerers Mickey hat!
This is so cute.
Oh, look there's Tink up there!
I don't know if you'll be able to see it because it's dark and my camera doesn't do great in
the dark, but oh wow wow very MGM feels.
Adorable.
Okay, off to Trader Sam’s.
I’m ready to drink.
We made it! Here at Trader Sam's, we're just waiting.
We checked in but we're just waiting for them to call us back.
They've got all these tiki torches; really cool ambiance here.
I also like that you can make a reservation unlike at the Poly.
Oh, here's the little story of Trader Sam’s.
I don't think I’ve ever bothered to read this before.
Does this exist at Walt Disney World?
Honestly, I don't know.
Kungaloosh!
Also, “if you're wearing yellow don't act like a banana.”
Amazing.
[Cast Member] Nobody is running for your life? Nobody? [sirens sound]
[Cast Member] Nobody? Still sitting there? Come on guys!
You're not scared? There's a volcano [unintelligible]
[Guests "ahhh"] [Cast Member] Thank you, thank you, thank you.
[Cast Member] Uh oa! Help me chant her name! [Background chanting "uh oa! uh oa! uh oa oa oa!]
[Jacqueline, Adam, and best friend go "oooohh!!" and "woooo!"]
[Cast Member] Everybody scream! [Patrons scream]
[Cast Member] Thank you!
[Cast Member] Alright guys, I think she's happy now!
[Jacqueline] Okay, we got the pu pu platter to share some snacks.
So there's macaroni salad, got a couple gyozas, panko crusted long beans, and then some wings.
So it all looks good and I like eating so here we go.
We really liked the green beans so we got a full basket.
Panko crested green beans, a surprising hit for me.
Round two of dranks!
Just like the Poly Trader Sam’s, drinks very good.
Alright, finished up at Trader Sam’s.
Everything was really good.
Now we're just looking at the Disneyland hotel pool.
I love this retro sign, and this like monorail slide I think…
so cute.
Maybe we will be DVC owners here someday in the next year to two years or so.
Maybe.
I would like to come back and stay here, not just eat and drink here.
Okay, but back to the hotel.
So we'll head back through Disney Springs to get back out to the Hilton Garden Inn.
[Best friend] Oh it's so cute! [Jacqueline] it's so cute; look at this!
Just like vaguely Asian-looking people.
It counts.
[Adam] We're not going to tell you which part of Asia.
[Jacqueline] Oof. This is real cute, I’m into this.
It's the Beast and Belle!
This was a great intro slash travel day, but off to bed we go.
And then rope dropping DCA in the morning.
See ya!