Gorgeous Light Fixtures at Rancho Del Zocalo!

Whilst researching the best places to eat at Disneyland, the Frontierland quick service, Rancho Del Zocalo, came up over and over again:

Check out this crazy cactus, so cool!

The menu consists of Mexican fare which is similar to the quality of the food at the San Angel Inn (in the Mexico Pavilion at EPCOT), in spite of the fact that the San Angel is a sit down and Rancho is a quick service. This post, however, is not about the food, but the lovely star-shaped light fixtures that hang from the restaurant's ceiling!

The fixtures are mostly made from neutral-toned glass, with a few pops of green and inset-colored marbles:

I especially love how the light shining through this fixture casts stars on the ceiling, just lovely:

It appeared that each fixture was unique from the rest, a detail worth pointing out given that it would have been easy for Disney to order, say, five styles, and no one would have known the difference! These attractive fixtures bring a healthy amount of whimsy to Rancho's interior and are just one smart choice serving the create this restaurant's wonderful atmosphere.

Gorgeous Big Rock Candy Mountain Window Display at DCA!

Although today's post isn't strictly Christmas related, I'm gonna go ahead and say that this Rock Candy Mountain in the window of Trolley Treats at Disney's California Adventure made of real candy gives me the yuletide feels! With its lollipop forest and gorgeous model train set (and let's be honest, trains are synonymous with the man himself for die-hard fans), the display is is just enchanting, and super photogenic!:

The display was inspired by an attraction that was designed, but never built, for Disneyland. It was to be a junior roller coaster that ended with a ride through of scenes from The Wizard of Oz, which Walt has recently acquired the rights to. Here is a concept sketch of the ride:

They say no great idea at Imagineering ever dies, and this window display is a cool nod to this great idea that was unfortunately taken off the table. I'd still love to see this idea come back around in a larger capacity, and I think 

Charming Sea Creature Tile in the Paradise Pier Area (Bathrooms)...

So I get that taking photos of bathroom tile is not a strictly normal thing to do, and I TRRRRY to keep it to a minimum in order to avoid funny looks ;), but these little ceramic sea creatures were just too cute not to document.  These guys are in the bathrooms directly behind King Triton's Royal Carousel and I just think they are darling. Ya'll know that I can't resist anything ocean related, and I love that they have a 50's feel to them. They are just another example of the lengths Disney goes to to maintain a story's integrity within a themed area.

Humpback Whales are my faaaaaaavorite.

I know I have been REALLY bad about posting recently, my life has been super hectic with moving and such, but I think things have settled down and I'm hopefully going to be able to get back to consistently posting!