1st Day Complete

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We are finally here. My children and I are huge Disney fans, and our trips started while stationed overseas. It was a surprise trip to Disneyland Paris over Thanksgiving, with small children with wide eye magic. It was purely magical. We have now visited DL 2 times, and WDW once. So now we are back to DL for 3rd visit, after a reschedule after a Covid case in the family. Whew have times changed. I always have been the planner. WDW felt like I needed a degree....but this trip has also needed sooooo much planning....but it seems like we might get so much less. Trying to stay positive!
We finished our drive from Albuquerque, having overnighted in Flagstaff. 7 hour drive, gained 2 hours, entered California Adventure around 3 pm. This was our 1st day out of 4, and Disneyland was having the Christmas party event so it didn’t make sense to start there.
The first few hours were pretty great! 20 min wait for Guardian of the Galaxy, 10 for Incredicoaster, 10 for Ferris wheel, and just enjoying being back in the parks again since pre Covid. Got a chuckle when we sat down for a literally 5 second game for $5. Stupid us. But still enjoying the atmosphere. So far so good, so I thought we could forgo mobile ordering our chili cones and do the ole fashion, “order when we happen to walk by.” And that is what we did, with a little confusion first. We saw lots of people waiting for mobile orders, but we were told we could order everything at the drink bar. We got our orders before all the other mobile orders. Still don’t understand this system. This was my husbands first glimpse into the actual planning that goes on way before the trip. I do feel so bad for people who just show up (hopefully with a reservation to the park!) and try to enjoy their day.
Around 7 when Disneyland closed for the holiday event, California adventure got sooooo uncomfortably packed. We thought “don’t these people have work or school tomorrow!” Yeah we are also those people. I’m not good at waiting in long lines for holiday snacks or rides, so we decided to cut the day short around 8 pm and get a good night sleep instead. A long walk back to the hotel, I find myself drawing a bath and pouring a glass of whiskey, realizing just how exhausting Disney is (the planning, the early mornings trying to get a blue bayou reservation....fail... the planning to make sure your family has a wonderful time...the worry about what ifI don’t get a rise of the resistance for any of the days here....sets alarm for early morning but not to wake family....). I’m gonna enjoy this bath!
*** I did manage to get all the dining reservations, including Blue Bayou, by using mouse hunters. I had to keep my phone on me for the past 2 weeks, and click on the text immediately, but it worked.

 

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Things I loved: all the decor My chili cone from cars land with a beer seeing little ones believe it really was Lightning McQueen. Belly laughs forced out from rides

 

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Welp. Day 2. Set alarm. Counted down seconds by world clock, all ROTR were gone in 2 seconds. I hoped Wednesday would be our best chance. Here’s hoping tomorrow. That is gonna be one bummed boy.

 

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Day 2.....made it on ROTR during the noon time slot while waiting to ride space mountain. Couldn’t believe it! I waited until right on the second to hit refresh. Got lucky I guess. What a great ride! A good day in the park. Much more crowded than we expected. I guess everyone else wants to see the Christmas decor, too. Took advantage of late evening hours and got many rides in that way. Made it till 11 pm, at the request of the tired teens to call it a day. Another bath for tired feet.

 

[Bbrown0804]

Day 3 started with early morning vomit sessions from the 2 teens, at the same time. Can’t really figure out the culprit since we all had the same breakfast at Carnation Cafe. The rest of the day, they ate different things. So we took our time this morning getting to the park, arriving around 2. It’s. Just. So. Packed. We expected this as we got closer to the weekend, but all week has been this way. We are here during the holiday decor time so you gotta take the good with the bad. It does effect the overall feel.
We have experienced great staff and not great. One of the security guards got quite aggressive with my husband when we thought we could go to the second table for checking, moving around the first family. The other guard told us dad jokes. The workers at Plaza Pointe acted so put out when I asked about the personalized ornaments. They were backed up for the day and couldn’t get to mine. This was 5 pm for midnight closing.
Our coveted meal at Blue Bayou was pretty great, especially after a couple glasses of wine. Our server was awesome and then got super real when we asked if there was bread, and all the changes the park had made for the worse.
we did score a fast pass for Indiana Jones when the cast member heard us refuse to allow our son to cut ahead and meet us in libc he had to find a bathroom. We’ve had people do this non stop while here, and it is a little frustrating. She did say that they allow this to happen and don’t assume people are cutting.

As others have said, things just feel different. If it were my first visit to the parks, I would never come back. As someone who has come many times, it will probably be a very long time, if ever, that I plan another trip. Sorry to be negative. Just trying to stay honest. We are making the best of it, and enjoying the rides when we can get on them.