2020 Downtown Disney and Knott’s Berry Farm Marketplace

Lex sez:

It’s the middle of summer.  The scorching heat of the southern California sun is driving us crazy.  Our normal knee-jerk reaction would be to get out and have fun.  But with social distancing measures still necessary in the middle of a pandemic, is fun still possible?  Neek, Sar and I set out for Downtown Disney, determined to find out!

Both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks are still closed, but Downtown Disney did reopen this summer after being closed since March 2020.  We were curious to see how things were, but even more motivated when we found out they were offering free parking!  We arrived early and there were plenty of spots available.  With everyone wearing masks, we walked up to security and got our temperature checked.  We all passed and walked on through.

In front of the Lego Store at Downtown Disney

Two Princesses having a nice visit (pre-Covid)

The old Disneyland sign and entrance

The safety adjustments for COVID-19 were visible and plentiful at Downtown Disney.  There were numerous hand sanitizer stations that would automatically dispense sanitizer when you put your hand underneath.  They also had outdoor hand-washing stations.  Seating areas all had markers where you could or could not sit to maintain six feet of distance.  And every store had lines set up so that traffic inside would not reach an unsafe capacity.

They have opened since our visit.  We heard the beignets are awesome!

The first store we visited was World of Disney.  We had to wait in line, but it only took about five minutes.  There was plenty of new Disney merchandise.  I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but so much caught my eye!  I was especially taken with The Mandalorian merch.  Neek, Sar and I are huge fans of that show!

The Child

After that, we decided to try one of the famous shakes we’ve heard about at Black Tap Craft Burgers and Beer.  I found a bench comfortably away from any crowd and sat there with Sar.  Neek brought over our order of what they call a Crazyshake milkshake: the Brooklyn Blackout.  It’s a chocolate milkshake where they frost the rim with chocolate, add a ridiculous amount of mini chocolate chips, add loads of whipped cream and dark chocolate drizzle, and as if that’s not enough, add two chocolate brownies!  I can’t remember having a more decadent or delicious milkshake in my life!

The Brooklyn Blackout was extremely decadent

We definitely felt like we had a whole lot of fun as we headed back to the parking lot, but even though we were leaving Downtown Disney, we weren’t done having fun.  We drove from Anaheim to Buena Park to visit the Knott’s Berry Farm Marketplace.  As with Disney, the theme park has been closed since March.  But the Marketplace is open and the parking was also free.  It’s the 100th anniversary of Knott’s and we were hoping to find some merchandise to commemorate that occasion!

Milestone anniversaries for Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm

The Knott family in 1938

He rules the roost and the parking lot!

or does he?

Fortunately, we were in luck.  There was a wonderful book that covered the history of Knott’s Berry Farm.  There were plenty of interesting sights to see in the stores, including a huge bear, properly attired for the times with a facemask!  While we were there, we also placed a to-go order for some of Mrs. Knott’s famous chicken.  Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant has been there since 1934 and played a huge role in making Knott’s Berry Farm our nation’s first theme park.  Originally we were planning on eating it for lunch, but since we were still full from that crazyshake, we took it home with us for dinner.

Overall, I’d say we accomplished our goal.  We definitely had fun and all the safety measures in place gave us an extra feeling of security that the risks were minimized in a caring, happy atmosphere!  Be safe everyone and hang in there.