Overall: it went well; no huge meltdowns. We did a LOT. But the park still seemed very crowded for "ghost town" levels according to the crowd calendar.
A little traffic on the way; parked in the Toy Story lot, which is so freaking far from the park and just seemed like such an annoying rigmarole doing the shuttle. Got to the park around 8:30ish, and by the time we got to the "holding space" at the entrance to all the lands, it was about 8:45. It really is annoying having the castle blocked off so people couldn't go through. This made it so everyone had to squeeze around it on tiny paths, and we made some wrong moves in rushing to Peter Pan (like a herd of cattle, ugh!). By the time we got there, the line was already super full. We SHOULD have stayed in line, cuz I knew this was the least crowded the ride would be all day, but Cliff was antsy. Sooo he dragged us on Mr. Toad. Come ON!! Why'd that have to be our first ride?? Way too scary for them! There are no redeeming parts of that ride.
Next we went on the tea cups. Yay! This was a highlight for Ada. Alice wasn't open yet, but they let us queue up. We waited maybe fifteen. The kids didn't seem super thrilled with the ride (probably too loud).
Then walked to Frontierland so I could do Big Thunder using a FastPass. Ada wouldn't go on it with me, and of course Cliff couldn't cuz he had to stay with Ryan. He didn't care to do Rider Switch on ANYTHING, so... (shrug). The ride wasn't quite what I remembered, but I still love it. That's the weird thing about Disneyland when you don't go all the time; you have a picture of things in your mind, and it doesn't always match up exactly. It's this huge magical place, and I like that it's a little bit different every time. I have to say though, if I didn't have nostalgic sentiments about it, I would probably be really pissed that I paid so much to get in. There are so many dated things in the park, but some of those are the very things that make it so magical and fun. Anyway...
We rode Pirates (about a ten min wait--we got lucky cuz it was really filling up when we left!). Ada cried on the ride. It was a double whammy of scariness cuz she didn't like her dress getting wet (the seats were already soaked when we sat down), probably didn't like the dark, and definitely didn't like the drops. Kiddos got a churro and I got a sub-par cinnamon roll.
We took the train over to Tomorrowland. I did Star Tours by myself; my FastPass got me RIGHT on with basically no wait. It was one of my "musts," since I hadn't been on it since they updated it. I don't know the newer Star Wars movies, but it was still fun. Cliff took the kids on AstroBlasters while I was on Star Tours. Ada apparently didn't like this ride either.
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| On the train |
Ran into and took pics with Mary Poppins. We also saw Peter Pan skipping around a couple times in the park.
Headed back toward Main Street for lunch. Adults got corn dogs (yum!), and kiddos shared a hot dog topped with bacon mac n cheese (about what you'd expect...). I took Ada to go potty at the Baby Care Center. Such a weird retro place, but their tiny potties are so convenient. Shhh I used it too! :P
Still full from lunch, we got Dole Whip floats and did the Tiki Room. I don't recall EVER having done it! I love it! The kids seemed to like it too.
We all climbed the Tarzan Treehouse (I of course remember it as Swiss Family Robinson). WHY is this treehouse so lame?? Like, they could totally do more with it. Ada really liked watching the movie clips thought...
Got on the train at NOSquare again and rode to Toontown. I will put it nicely and say that I FREAKING HATE Toontown now. I thought it'd be a nice easy option for when ride lines were long elsewhere in the park, and the kids could kinda run around, and they'd like a lot of the rides. NO. It was freaking crowded. Small area. Lame 90s looking things everywhere. Roger Rabbit?? Come on. I waited 10 or 15 min with Ryan to do Gadget's Go Coaster. Ryan was getting scared toward the end of the line, but I sorrrt of ignored him since we'd waited so dang long for this stupid ride. It was still really fast but SO SHORT. Stupidest roller coaster ever. Ryan seemed scared. So, double lame! We encountered a really rude employee right before Minnie Mouse did a little song n dance, and the kids walked through Minnie's house along with a bunch of other kids. The other little houses and JOKE of a tree house were SO LAME. There is nothing to actually do/play with in these things. We waited for 15 min in the *FastPass* lane for the Car Toon Spin, only to realize at the front of the ride that the standby line was EMPTY, and people were getting right on! F you, Disney employees, for insisting we stay in the FastPass line! Please Disney, demolish this part of the park!! Oh and the Car Toon Spin was scary and lame, and neither kid liked it. The only fun thing was spinning the car yourself sort of like in the tea cups, which my arms got tired from. The ride is too long, and it ends really weirdly--you just stop in front of these doors. WTF.
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| The only good thing that happened in Toon Town |
Walked back through Fantasyland and encountered Captain Hook and took pics with him. I love that Ryan has no fear with these things. We almost passed it by, but we ended up stopping at the Royal Hall area, where a Beauty and the Beast show was about to start. WE SAW GASTON. The only character Cliff actually wanted to see! Hehe. He was pretty funny, but I think Cliff was sad he didn't do a bunch of pushups like in the YouTube videos. (Heard later that you have to challenge him.) We creeped on some other princesses without waiting in line.
Then headed to Critter Country to do Winnie the Pooh. We saw a celeb!! Julia Garner. She and her friends got warned not to choke on their lollipops. She was literally right in front of Cliff in line to get on the ride (and when I say line, I mean that I think they hop on at the very end of the line, handicap style). The Disney employee was freaking out cuz she was with a guy from Hunger Games, apparently (she didn't know who the Ozark girl was). The kids liked this ride. It's so happy! I like it too. I think I'd done it once before?
We started walking to Peter Pan, and we saw Julia Garner with her small entourage. She came out of a store and had bought and put on a sweatshirt and hat (plus sunglasses). I heard her make a joke as she came out; don't recall exactly what she said. We were kinda starstruck but didn't wanna linger or stare. Okay we WANTED to linger and stare but didn't. Got in line for Peter Pan; I timed it and it was a solid 30 min (not as bad as the listed 45 min on the app--which, by the way, seems to NOT be accurate! So frustrating! It could work for OR against you...). We saw Julia Garner AGAIN, sailing by on Peter Pan as we waited like the regular ol' non-famous schmucks that we are. The kids seemed to like the ride, but I wonder if by this point they were just kinda over everything. It's such a happy ride! But that wait... Ugh!
Did the carousel afterward. We had to wait for two whole rounds of it to get on. Lame. But the kids loved it, so...
Got dinner at the Tropical Hideaway. Bao and a ramen salad. And sweet pineapple lumpia. Not amazing, but not bad. I would definitely go back. Actually, the ramen salad was a nice change from fried/greasy food! I'd get the chicken bao again but skip the beef + try the veggie one. A perfect day would include this meal followed by Dole Whip... Anyway, the parade was starting at this point, and I wish we'd done Jungle Cruise (heard it's better at night), but we ended up trekking over to Tomorrowland again and doing Autopia. I did want the kids to do that one, but the wait (maybe 15-20) didn't help things.
Thought the parade would be over, but we caught the tail end of it while we got ice cream on Main Street. Saw Blair from Strides watching the parade. Ice cream was just okay. Ours had mediocre cookies + fudge.
Waited for the stupid shuttle. WHY do we pay so much to park, when the shuttle service SUCKS? Smelly gross stupid shuttle.
Drove home. Got back around 8:30 or so? Ada passed out shortly after getting on the freeway; Ryan, however, was trying to chat us up until after 8pm!
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