Hi everyone! First off, I want to thank the folks on this board for all the wonderful information, tips, trip reports, and answered questions as I was planning this trip for the last few months. It has truly been invaluable.
I'm a Northern CA resident who has been to Disneyland maybe 6-8 times. I was planning a trip for October 2020 when the pandemic hit so I've been jonesing for this trip for years now, and turning more and more into a Disney adult as those years went on.
This was the first trip where I went with kids (my own, 4 1/2 y.o. son and almost 8 y.o. daughter) and it was so different from all my other trips with just adults, obviously. Also with us were my elderly mother (in a rented ECV, which was a lifesaver!) and my sister and her husband. While we did have a ton of fun, I do have to say that I feel a bit melancholy thinking back on all the things I wanted to do that I didn't get to, and how hectic it felt a lot of times. Not sure if that's just the Disney hangover talking or my expectations being too high or what. There were many, MANY magical moments as well. I thought this might be a good place to get my thoughts, feelings, and observations out, hopefully without too much judgment. And sorry it's so long but I wanted to get everything down.
Our flight arrived late Saturday afternoon and we checked into the Camelot Inn & Suites. The rooms were nice and we had an overall great experience here, though I'm not sure I'd stay again just because I'd want to be even closer to the parks next time.
The kids had a lovely dip in the Camelot pool – with a view of the Matterhorn! very exciting! – before we headed over to Downtown Disney for dinner. I wasn't able to score any dinner reservations for that first night so we grabbed the kids some magic bands at World of Disney and went looking for something to eat. It was super crowded at DTD and the lines for every restaurant were out the door and down the sidewalk. We finally settled on what seemed like the only place that could seat us right away, Splitsville. The food was fine but the music was so loud we couldn't hear each other! By the time dinner was over, the kids were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel.
If I had my way we would have rope dropped every morning but we did the best we could with the group we had.
That first day we were on Main Street by 7:30-ish, which was awesome. I really wanted the kids to be able to do what they wanted to do without my extreme planner self taking over so we let them lead the morning. Forgot to mention that we did have Genie+ and we used it, but not quite as much as I thought we would. But when we did, it was really nice to have. Oh, I got both kids lanyards and some starter pins before the trip and they both had fun trading pins at the pin trading stations at the shops.
Started off in Tomorrowland, which I never do – I always seem to head left to Adventureland – since my son (4) was desperate to ride Astro Blasters. So we did that, then Star Tours, both of which the kids and I loved, as they are big Toy Story and Star Wars fans these days. The line for Space Mountain was nice and short so we hit that afterward. That was too fast/dark for my son but my daughter loved it. The kids wanted to do Astro Orbiters, then we headed toward the hub and caught Mary Poppins doing a little song and dance in front of the castle – very cool! – and grabbed our first churro (of many) before continuing on to New Orleans Square where we hit Pirates. This was the first ride that really scared my son and I spent the duration of the ride attempting to calm him so he didn't bother the other folks on the ride. That was my only time on Pirates for the whole trip and it was a bummer since i was stressed out for him and other guests the whole time so I didn't really get to enjoy it. After that, we got Location Return Times for the Haunted Mansion on our way to Galaxy's Edge. For anyone traveling with someone in an ECV, I would highly recommend taking advantage of LRTs. We were able to use the time we would have been standing in line – impossible to do for my mom – to see and do other things, and then return to the line after the current wait time. We used it on Peter Pan (a lifesaver!), Alice in Wonderland, and Haunted Mansion, but it's available for a lot more rides.
While we waited for our Haunted Mansion LRT, we headed into Galaxy's Edge. This was our entire group's first time at SWGE and we were really impressed. We shopped around a bit at the marketplace. As we headed over toward the Millenium Falcon, we waited to have our photo taken in front of it by a PhotoPass photographer. She took a few photos of our whole group, and then suddenly Chewbacca appeared and she got him into the photos with us. Another magic moment!!
The kids were dying to ride Smuggler's Run so we did that, since the RotR line was pretty long at that time. I was a pilot on Smuggler's Run and felt like I had PTSD afterward. 
The kids had a ton of fun. I'd like to try again in a different position with less responsibility/stress. A few minutes later as we were leaving First Order Cargo, the ship next to it opened up and we got to see the stormtroopers, First Order officer (she was awesome!), and Kylo Ren come out of the ship. I had assumed that ship was just another piece of cool set dressing for the land, so we were in awe as the show started. Unfortunately the high volume of the music/microphones and appearance of Kylo Ren scared my little guy so we moved way back from the stage, but my daughter spoke with the First Order officer after she came offstage and gave her inaccurate info on where to find members of the Resistance. 
The other thing I'd never heard about SWGE was all the sound effects going on around you. Many times we heard a ship "landing" nearby and the sound effects were so realistic that everyone looked toward the sky to see the ship.
We headed back toward RotR to see how the wait time looked, but at 55 minutes we weren't tempted yet so we went on back to New Orleans Square and took the raft to Pirate's Lair. The kids absolutely loved this area, and my daughter and I ran into The Bootstrappers on a trail – they told us the treasure was just down the path and to the left, which was true! – then a bit later as we were getting on the raft to head back to the mainland, the band was on the raft with us and played music as we crossed the river. Another magic moment for me! I also completely fell in love with the Mark Twain on this trip. I could have sat on the island and watched it go by for hours. It's SO BIG and gorgeous. Oh also, it was Dapper Day and it was sooooo fun seeing all the dressed-up folks around the park. We had a blast pointing out all of the awesome outfits as people passed by.
Our group did rider switch for Haunted Mansion (my son wanted no part of it after his experience on PIrates, which I think was the correct decision for him) and headed over to our lunch at the Plaza Inn. I had reserved us a Parade Package meal and it was probably the best meal of our trip! The short ribs were fall-apart tender and the fried chicken was amazing. It was nice to rest our legs after a big morning. Afterward, my mom and the kids headed back to the hotel for a rest while my sister, BIL and I spent some more time at the park. We did Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, and spent a lot of time resting our feet while riding the Railroad around the park. One big issue we had is that the listed time on the Railroad was always 10 minutes and we always had to wait 30+ minutes for a train to arrive. I think Disneyland has a big people-moving problem, since the only way to get from one side of the park to the other is either walk or take the train, and waiting for the train was a huge waste of minutes (and hard standing on our feet) both times we used it, as much as we LOVE riding the Railroad. I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet by the end of day 1 so any chance to save some steps would have been great. I don't know if adding another train is the issue or just figuring out some other way to get people around, but it was tough at times. As the park expands, I think this will become an even bigger issue. There were times while we were in SWGE when my son was begging to go ride Astro Blasters again but the idea of walking allllllllll the way across the park to Tomorrowland felt impossible.
One of the biggest bummers of the trip was that on the way back from the hotel after their hotel rest, my mom and the kids somehow missed the Disneyland park entrance and headed alllllll the way down to the end of Downtown Disney. One of my big dreams for this trip was to watch the Magic Happens parade with my kids, and they ended up missing the whole thing because of this detour, and I was distracted the whole time trying to text my mom and get them going back in the right direction. From what I did see of the parade, it was awesome. I just wish i could have enjoyed it to its fullest without stressing about my mom and kids.
Oh well! After the parade we headed over to our reservation at River Belle Terrace for the Fantasmic Dining Package. Compared to the Plaza Inn lunch, the meal was just ok (we found ourselves saying, "It's no Plaza Inn!" throughout the trip when the meal wasn't the best) but it was very nice having seats for the Fantasmic show and we stayed for fireworks too, though it wasn't a great view of the fireworks. But the Fantasmic show blew the kids' minds. After that, we were all beat so we headed back to the hotel for the night.
Up at 'em the next day, we headed into DCA right at rope drop. This was going to be our only day at DCA and we didn't want to miss RSR so we headed right there even though I'd read on these boards that it was very busy even at rope drop. The posted wait time said 50 minutes, I think, but the line was moving constantly and I think we were on the ride in less than 30! Everyone loved it! Such a great time. We did Luigi and 'Mater's rides next, which were new to all of us and a lot of fun. Over the course of the morning we hit Web Slingers (which I'd heard so-so things about but was a huge hit with our group, especially my Spidey-loving son!), Incredicoaster (my daughter and sister only – it was my daughter's first time on an upside-down roller coaster and she loved it!), Jessie's Critter Carousel, Soarin' Over California (minus my son who bailed in fear last minute), Toy Story Midway Mania (MUCH more fun than I remember!) and then we went to our 1 pm reservation at Lamplight Lounge for lunch. We were seated on the patio near the Incredicoaster launch on a set of low couches, which turned out to be pretty comfy for a mid-day break. The food was good (but no Plaza Inn!
). After that, my mom and son went back to the hotel for a nap. My daughter wanted nothing to do with rests after the debacle with missing the parade the day before, so she stayed with us. We ended up exploring the Animation Academy where we learned to draw Raya – so cool for my daughter the budding artist! – and spent some time doing zoetropes and in the Beast's Library. We also hit Goofy's Sky School, which wasn't as terrifying as I remember it being.
When my mom and son returned (she found her way back this time!) we headed over to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, one of the things I really wanted my kids to experience, and they had a blast! We spent a lot of time there but had to tear them away eventually to catch the Sh-boom neon lighting at Cars Land, which was very fun to see. My mom hadn't been in the park with us yet that morning for RSR but the line was super long at that point in the evening, so I encouraged her, my sister, and daughter (who wanted to ride it again) to try the Single Rider line while my son and I grabbed dinner. It worked out great, and my daughter was very excited to be able to be independent and ride on her own, though she did end up in a car with my sister. We ate at Flo's, which I don't think I'd done before, and the food was just fine. We didn't see World of Color, but that will just have to wait for next time!
Day 3 at Disneyland. I should have warned the other adults about the time suck of Main St. Starbucks before the trip, ugh! After waiting around for that, we finally headed into Fantasyland, which we hadn't stepped a foot into on day one! We did Pinocchio while waiting for our Peter Pan LRT to be available. Peter Pan was a big hit! I was a little worried about my son being scared on Pinocchio but he did ok. We also rode the King Arthur Carousel. Then we checked wait times for MMRR, one of the rides I didn't want to miss this trip since it was new to all of us. The wait time said 25 minutes, I think, but we were on faster than that and almost wanted to wait longer to check out everything in the awesome queue. This ride was a huge hit with all of us. I had been spoiled on a few elements during my months of research but everyone else went in fresh and were completely blown away. So fun!
We didn't have much time to explore Toontown afterward since we had reservations at Oga's, so we headed over to SWGE and had drinks there. Our server was great, the drinks were fine, and the ambiance was a lot of fun for us as big Star Wars fans. Then my daughter and sister wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain again (we had ridden it with the kids sometime in the last couple days but I can't remember exactly when – son was wide-eyed afterward and said he liked it but just wanted to go on it that one time
) so we left SWGE and I took my son over to the Shootin' Exposition – which I think we visited every day we were at Disneyland! – while they did Big Thunder again. Then we had reservations for lunch at Blue Bayou so we headed that way. Lunch was good (but no Plaza inn!) – I ordered the Monte Cristo and it wasn't quite what I was expecting but it was worthy of being their most famous dish and I really liked it. I know BB isn't renowned for their food but we enjoyed ourselves. The ambiance can't be beat!
After lunch, my mom and son headed back to the hotel and the rest of us rode the Disneyland railroad (again, a 30+ minute wait for a train to arrive), spent some more time at Pirate's Lair, and rode Indiana Jones before my mom and son returned. He was begging to do Astro Blasters and Star Tours again, so we headed to Tomorrowland where we could also pick up our entry tickets and lanyards for the Throwback Nite party. We were super lucky with the scenes we got in Star Tours – we ended up riding it three separate times over the course of our trip and every ride was completely different! Since we'd had so much reserved dining over the last couple days, this evening we did an easy dinner of Little Red Wagon corndogs, which I thought were just ok. While we were eating those at the Plaza Inn, my daughter had to go to the bathroom and the Disneyland app said there was one right near us at the First Aid Station next to Plaza Inn. I poked my head in there and asked if that was true and the CM at the desk looked at me a little funny but said yes and showed us down a hallway to a huge and very nice family bathroom. So if you're ever in desperate need, give that a try.
Throwback Nite was a bit of a blur for me, honestly. We got the tickets because we already had our trip planned for that day and I hated the idea of being kicked out of the park at 8 pm but I can't say we really experienced much of the special event stuff. I don't think we ended up getting any of the special food items, and we were apparently inside It's a Small World when the fireworks were going off. We weren't all that interested in meeting any of the special characters – we walked by the line to meet Dumbo at one point and were shocked at how long it was! – but we were able to get a few more Fantasyland rides done that evening, including Dumbo, Casey Jr., and the Storybook Canals. We did see Cinderella's step-family (mom, sisters and a couple of mice) out and about, playing a game of telephone with a small crowd of guests – very cute. My kids were sooooooo exited about doing Autopia but my daughter's feet couldn't reach the pedal so I did the gas for her, but she couldn't get a handle on steering so it was stressful for her. It was the only ride of the whole trip she didn't think was "AMAZING!!!"' We were disappointed that Toontown was closed that night, too, as we really wanted to try to ride MMRR again and check out more of Toontown. Looking back, it probably would have been fine to skip the After Dark party and head back to the hotel at 8, though we did get some stuff crossed off our list that night. I wish my feel hadn't been in such pain; I would have loved to stay a bit later at Throwback Nite after the kids went back to the hotel but it really felt like I couldn't walk another step!
Next morning: our final day! We weren't initially going to do the parks this day but our flight didn't leave until 7:30 pm and from doing some research on these boards it didn't seem like there was enough to do at DTD for a whole day so we added a 4th park day to our plan since it was only about $55 per person. I'm glad we did, since it seemed like we weren't getting a ton done each day. There was just a short wait for Jungle Cruise, which we really didn't want to miss, so we did that. Great skipper, lots of fun as always. Then we went back to SWGE to see what the wait time was like for RotR. I really wanted to make sure we rode this before the end of our trip (and wanted to avoid paying for it if possible), and we happened to catch it at a 45 minute wait, which seemed doable. Wow, what a great time! I had heard lots about it but riding it was a whole other thing. We all thought it was amazing. I think they could definitely make the queue more interesting/fun, though!
The kids got the special treat of building droids. That was a really fun experience too. We went over to First Order Cargo afterward and had the droids shipped home sine we were literally out of room in our luggage. A CM at the droid shop had told me she thought it was about $18 to ship a droid, but when we got to First Order Cargo they said it was $35. I wasn't excited about paying $70 to ship two droids home but what else could I do? Then the CM said she'd made a mistake and it was only $18 to ship BOTH droids! Whew. That actually seemed like a great deal. The kids really wanted to try blue milk, so we did that, and then said goodbye to SWGE for this trip.
We hadn't really had a chance to explore Toontown so we went back over there and it was a mad house! It was right around noon so I'm sure it was just prime family time, but wow, we could barely move. I had thought, from the crowd calendars I'd looked at before our trip, that this day (a Wednesday) would be a lower crowd day but man was that not true! A big bummer since there were so many people and strollers in Toontown that it was hard to even see what was around you. Maybe we'll have to rope drop Toontown next trip to really explore more. My son spent some time in Goofy's house and my daughter waited in a 40 minute line for the Chip 'n' Dale Gadgetcoaster, but because it was so crazy there, we didn't make it to Mickey or Minnie's houses or ride Roger Rabbit or really check out any of the other new stuff there. We were all hungry by then and eager to get out of the chaos so we mobile ordered lunch at Red Rose Taverne and found a nice table that would fit all of us. Lunch was fine; it was nice to sit down. We did a LRT at Alice (got right on instead of waiting for the return time!) and did Snow White, too, then explored Frontierland a bit more.
We were headed toward the end of our day at that point but I left about 90 minutes free to make sure we had time to get silhouettes done on Main Street. This was the #1 souvenir I wanted to get of me and my kids. When I got to the shop, the CM said she had to close the line for lunch breaks for the artists, and I nearly burst into tears. I know I should have done it sooner in the trip if I really wanted to make sure it got done, but I thought I left enough time and had no idea it could close midday. I was really, really heartbroken.
It was a huge bummer of an ending to our trip for me, as there was no time to wait for the break to be over and get the silhouettes done. It was just about time to head back to the hotel and grab our Lyft to the airport.
Overall, I'm so happy we went, and the kids had a great time. It was VERY different from the easygoing trips I'd taken with just adults in the past, which was no surprise. As much help as I had from my family, I was the only parent there and therefore had the responsibility to keep a close eye on the kids at all times, plus I handled almost all bathroom breaks, getting ready to leave in the morning, emotional meltdowns, etc. so I didn't get to casually browse the shops or do really anything only I was interested in (sitting on the porch on Main Street to people-watch, riding the Main Street vehicles and the monorail, etc.). I didn't get a chance to grab the other souvenirs I really wanted, either – the Main Street trash can keychain I'd seen online, and perfume from Mlle. Antoinette's Parfumerie, neither of which I was able to even peek at because of time/location/kids' needs/etc. I know there's no way to do everything at DLR even in 4 days but I really left wanting more! If I had unlimited funds I'd be planning a solo trip as we speak.
But the magic of Disneyland was definitely there and we've got so many great memories and photos, and I think it might be an easier trip in a couple years when the kids are a little older. I feel like my almost-8-year-old was the perfect age. They both did great with all of the walking and I'm so proud of my daughter for being willing and exited to try ANY and ALL rides, and for my son to face his fears about dark rides after Pirates and still go on more of them. And I know the things I'd do differently next time. (One being avoiding staggered bathroom breaks – I feel like we wasted so much time stopping for one person to use the restroom, then 20 minutes later someone else needed to stop for the restroom, then a few minutes later someone else did. Next time when one person goes, we all do!)
Anyway, if you've made it this far, that feels like a miracle and I hope it entertained or helped you in some way. I'm indebted to the folks on this board for all of the insight over the past few months!
I'm a Northern CA resident who has been to Disneyland maybe 6-8 times. I was planning a trip for October 2020 when the pandemic hit so I've been jonesing for this trip for years now, and turning more and more into a Disney adult as those years went on.
This was the first trip where I went with kids (my own, 4 1/2 y.o. son and almost 8 y.o. daughter) and it was so different from all my other trips with just adults, obviously. Also with us were my elderly mother (in a rented ECV, which was a lifesaver!) and my sister and her husband. While we did have a ton of fun, I do have to say that I feel a bit melancholy thinking back on all the things I wanted to do that I didn't get to, and how hectic it felt a lot of times. Not sure if that's just the Disney hangover talking or my expectations being too high or what. There were many, MANY magical moments as well. I thought this might be a good place to get my thoughts, feelings, and observations out, hopefully without too much judgment. And sorry it's so long but I wanted to get everything down.Our flight arrived late Saturday afternoon and we checked into the Camelot Inn & Suites. The rooms were nice and we had an overall great experience here, though I'm not sure I'd stay again just because I'd want to be even closer to the parks next time.
The kids had a lovely dip in the Camelot pool – with a view of the Matterhorn! very exciting! – before we headed over to Downtown Disney for dinner. I wasn't able to score any dinner reservations for that first night so we grabbed the kids some magic bands at World of Disney and went looking for something to eat. It was super crowded at DTD and the lines for every restaurant were out the door and down the sidewalk. We finally settled on what seemed like the only place that could seat us right away, Splitsville. The food was fine but the music was so loud we couldn't hear each other! By the time dinner was over, the kids were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel.If I had my way we would have rope dropped every morning but we did the best we could with the group we had.
That first day we were on Main Street by 7:30-ish, which was awesome. I really wanted the kids to be able to do what they wanted to do without my extreme planner self taking over so we let them lead the morning. Forgot to mention that we did have Genie+ and we used it, but not quite as much as I thought we would. But when we did, it was really nice to have. Oh, I got both kids lanyards and some starter pins before the trip and they both had fun trading pins at the pin trading stations at the shops.Started off in Tomorrowland, which I never do – I always seem to head left to Adventureland – since my son (4) was desperate to ride Astro Blasters. So we did that, then Star Tours, both of which the kids and I loved, as they are big Toy Story and Star Wars fans these days. The line for Space Mountain was nice and short so we hit that afterward. That was too fast/dark for my son but my daughter loved it. The kids wanted to do Astro Orbiters, then we headed toward the hub and caught Mary Poppins doing a little song and dance in front of the castle – very cool! – and grabbed our first churro (of many) before continuing on to New Orleans Square where we hit Pirates. This was the first ride that really scared my son and I spent the duration of the ride attempting to calm him so he didn't bother the other folks on the ride. That was my only time on Pirates for the whole trip and it was a bummer since i was stressed out for him and other guests the whole time so I didn't really get to enjoy it. After that, we got Location Return Times for the Haunted Mansion on our way to Galaxy's Edge. For anyone traveling with someone in an ECV, I would highly recommend taking advantage of LRTs. We were able to use the time we would have been standing in line – impossible to do for my mom – to see and do other things, and then return to the line after the current wait time. We used it on Peter Pan (a lifesaver!), Alice in Wonderland, and Haunted Mansion, but it's available for a lot more rides.
While we waited for our Haunted Mansion LRT, we headed into Galaxy's Edge. This was our entire group's first time at SWGE and we were really impressed. We shopped around a bit at the marketplace. As we headed over toward the Millenium Falcon, we waited to have our photo taken in front of it by a PhotoPass photographer. She took a few photos of our whole group, and then suddenly Chewbacca appeared and she got him into the photos with us. Another magic moment!!
The kids were dying to ride Smuggler's Run so we did that, since the RotR line was pretty long at that time. I was a pilot on Smuggler's Run and felt like I had PTSD afterward. The kids had a ton of fun. I'd like to try again in a different position with less responsibility/stress. A few minutes later as we were leaving First Order Cargo, the ship next to it opened up and we got to see the stormtroopers, First Order officer (she was awesome!), and Kylo Ren come out of the ship. I had assumed that ship was just another piece of cool set dressing for the land, so we were in awe as the show started. Unfortunately the high volume of the music/microphones and appearance of Kylo Ren scared my little guy so we moved way back from the stage, but my daughter spoke with the First Order officer after she came offstage and gave her inaccurate info on where to find members of the Resistance. The other thing I'd never heard about SWGE was all the sound effects going on around you. Many times we heard a ship "landing" nearby and the sound effects were so realistic that everyone looked toward the sky to see the ship.We headed back toward RotR to see how the wait time looked, but at 55 minutes we weren't tempted yet so we went on back to New Orleans Square and took the raft to Pirate's Lair. The kids absolutely loved this area, and my daughter and I ran into The Bootstrappers on a trail – they told us the treasure was just down the path and to the left, which was true! – then a bit later as we were getting on the raft to head back to the mainland, the band was on the raft with us and played music as we crossed the river. Another magic moment for me! I also completely fell in love with the Mark Twain on this trip. I could have sat on the island and watched it go by for hours. It's SO BIG and gorgeous. Oh also, it was Dapper Day and it was sooooo fun seeing all the dressed-up folks around the park. We had a blast pointing out all of the awesome outfits as people passed by.
Our group did rider switch for Haunted Mansion (my son wanted no part of it after his experience on PIrates, which I think was the correct decision for him) and headed over to our lunch at the Plaza Inn. I had reserved us a Parade Package meal and it was probably the best meal of our trip! The short ribs were fall-apart tender and the fried chicken was amazing. It was nice to rest our legs after a big morning. Afterward, my mom and the kids headed back to the hotel for a rest while my sister, BIL and I spent some more time at the park. We did Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, and spent a lot of time resting our feet while riding the Railroad around the park. One big issue we had is that the listed time on the Railroad was always 10 minutes and we always had to wait 30+ minutes for a train to arrive. I think Disneyland has a big people-moving problem, since the only way to get from one side of the park to the other is either walk or take the train, and waiting for the train was a huge waste of minutes (and hard standing on our feet) both times we used it, as much as we LOVE riding the Railroad. I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet by the end of day 1 so any chance to save some steps would have been great. I don't know if adding another train is the issue or just figuring out some other way to get people around, but it was tough at times. As the park expands, I think this will become an even bigger issue. There were times while we were in SWGE when my son was begging to go ride Astro Blasters again but the idea of walking allllllllll the way across the park to Tomorrowland felt impossible.
One of the biggest bummers of the trip was that on the way back from the hotel after their hotel rest, my mom and the kids somehow missed the Disneyland park entrance and headed alllllll the way down to the end of Downtown Disney. One of my big dreams for this trip was to watch the Magic Happens parade with my kids, and they ended up missing the whole thing because of this detour, and I was distracted the whole time trying to text my mom and get them going back in the right direction. From what I did see of the parade, it was awesome. I just wish i could have enjoyed it to its fullest without stressing about my mom and kids.
Oh well! After the parade we headed over to our reservation at River Belle Terrace for the Fantasmic Dining Package. Compared to the Plaza Inn lunch, the meal was just ok (we found ourselves saying, "It's no Plaza Inn!" throughout the trip when the meal wasn't the best) but it was very nice having seats for the Fantasmic show and we stayed for fireworks too, though it wasn't a great view of the fireworks. But the Fantasmic show blew the kids' minds. After that, we were all beat so we headed back to the hotel for the night.Up at 'em the next day, we headed into DCA right at rope drop. This was going to be our only day at DCA and we didn't want to miss RSR so we headed right there even though I'd read on these boards that it was very busy even at rope drop. The posted wait time said 50 minutes, I think, but the line was moving constantly and I think we were on the ride in less than 30! Everyone loved it! Such a great time. We did Luigi and 'Mater's rides next, which were new to all of us and a lot of fun. Over the course of the morning we hit Web Slingers (which I'd heard so-so things about but was a huge hit with our group, especially my Spidey-loving son!), Incredicoaster (my daughter and sister only – it was my daughter's first time on an upside-down roller coaster and she loved it!), Jessie's Critter Carousel, Soarin' Over California (minus my son who bailed in fear last minute), Toy Story Midway Mania (MUCH more fun than I remember!) and then we went to our 1 pm reservation at Lamplight Lounge for lunch. We were seated on the patio near the Incredicoaster launch on a set of low couches, which turned out to be pretty comfy for a mid-day break. The food was good (but no Plaza Inn!
). After that, my mom and son went back to the hotel for a nap. My daughter wanted nothing to do with rests after the debacle with missing the parade the day before, so she stayed with us. We ended up exploring the Animation Academy where we learned to draw Raya – so cool for my daughter the budding artist! – and spent some time doing zoetropes and in the Beast's Library. We also hit Goofy's Sky School, which wasn't as terrifying as I remember it being.When my mom and son returned (she found her way back this time!) we headed over to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, one of the things I really wanted my kids to experience, and they had a blast! We spent a lot of time there but had to tear them away eventually to catch the Sh-boom neon lighting at Cars Land, which was very fun to see. My mom hadn't been in the park with us yet that morning for RSR but the line was super long at that point in the evening, so I encouraged her, my sister, and daughter (who wanted to ride it again) to try the Single Rider line while my son and I grabbed dinner. It worked out great, and my daughter was very excited to be able to be independent and ride on her own, though she did end up in a car with my sister. We ate at Flo's, which I don't think I'd done before, and the food was just fine. We didn't see World of Color, but that will just have to wait for next time!
Day 3 at Disneyland. I should have warned the other adults about the time suck of Main St. Starbucks before the trip, ugh! After waiting around for that, we finally headed into Fantasyland, which we hadn't stepped a foot into on day one! We did Pinocchio while waiting for our Peter Pan LRT to be available. Peter Pan was a big hit! I was a little worried about my son being scared on Pinocchio but he did ok. We also rode the King Arthur Carousel. Then we checked wait times for MMRR, one of the rides I didn't want to miss this trip since it was new to all of us. The wait time said 25 minutes, I think, but we were on faster than that and almost wanted to wait longer to check out everything in the awesome queue. This ride was a huge hit with all of us. I had been spoiled on a few elements during my months of research but everyone else went in fresh and were completely blown away. So fun!
We didn't have much time to explore Toontown afterward since we had reservations at Oga's, so we headed over to SWGE and had drinks there. Our server was great, the drinks were fine, and the ambiance was a lot of fun for us as big Star Wars fans. Then my daughter and sister wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain again (we had ridden it with the kids sometime in the last couple days but I can't remember exactly when – son was wide-eyed afterward and said he liked it but just wanted to go on it that one time
) so we left SWGE and I took my son over to the Shootin' Exposition – which I think we visited every day we were at Disneyland! – while they did Big Thunder again. Then we had reservations for lunch at Blue Bayou so we headed that way. Lunch was good (but no Plaza inn!) – I ordered the Monte Cristo and it wasn't quite what I was expecting but it was worthy of being their most famous dish and I really liked it. I know BB isn't renowned for their food but we enjoyed ourselves. The ambiance can't be beat!After lunch, my mom and son headed back to the hotel and the rest of us rode the Disneyland railroad (again, a 30+ minute wait for a train to arrive
), spent some more time at Pirate's Lair, and rode Indiana Jones before my mom and son returned. He was begging to do Astro Blasters and Star Tours again, so we headed to Tomorrowland where we could also pick up our entry tickets and lanyards for the Throwback Nite party. We were super lucky with the scenes we got in Star Tours – we ended up riding it three separate times over the course of our trip and every ride was completely different! Since we'd had so much reserved dining over the last couple days, this evening we did an easy dinner of Little Red Wagon corndogs, which I thought were just ok. While we were eating those at the Plaza Inn, my daughter had to go to the bathroom and the Disneyland app said there was one right near us at the First Aid Station next to Plaza Inn. I poked my head in there and asked if that was true and the CM at the desk looked at me a little funny but said yes and showed us down a hallway to a huge and very nice family bathroom. So if you're ever in desperate need, give that a try.Throwback Nite was a bit of a blur for me, honestly. We got the tickets because we already had our trip planned for that day and I hated the idea of being kicked out of the park at 8 pm but I can't say we really experienced much of the special event stuff. I don't think we ended up getting any of the special food items, and we were apparently inside It's a Small World when the fireworks were going off.
We weren't all that interested in meeting any of the special characters – we walked by the line to meet Dumbo at one point and were shocked at how long it was! – but we were able to get a few more Fantasyland rides done that evening, including Dumbo, Casey Jr., and the Storybook Canals. We did see Cinderella's step-family (mom, sisters and a couple of mice) out and about, playing a game of telephone with a small crowd of guests – very cute. My kids were sooooooo exited about doing Autopia but my daughter's feet couldn't reach the pedal so I did the gas for her, but she couldn't get a handle on steering so it was stressful for her. It was the only ride of the whole trip she didn't think was "AMAZING!!!"' We were disappointed that Toontown was closed that night, too, as we really wanted to try to ride MMRR again and check out more of Toontown. Looking back, it probably would have been fine to skip the After Dark party and head back to the hotel at 8, though we did get some stuff crossed off our list that night. I wish my feel hadn't been in such pain; I would have loved to stay a bit later at Throwback Nite after the kids went back to the hotel but it really felt like I couldn't walk another step!Next morning: our final day! We weren't initially going to do the parks this day but our flight didn't leave until 7:30 pm and from doing some research on these boards it didn't seem like there was enough to do at DTD for a whole day so we added a 4th park day to our plan since it was only about $55 per person. I'm glad we did, since it seemed like we weren't getting a ton done each day. There was just a short wait for Jungle Cruise, which we really didn't want to miss, so we did that. Great skipper, lots of fun as always. Then we went back to SWGE to see what the wait time was like for RotR. I really wanted to make sure we rode this before the end of our trip (and wanted to avoid paying for it if possible), and we happened to catch it at a 45 minute wait, which seemed doable. Wow, what a great time! I had heard lots about it but riding it was a whole other thing. We all thought it was amazing. I think they could definitely make the queue more interesting/fun, though!
The kids got the special treat of building droids. That was a really fun experience too. We went over to First Order Cargo afterward and had the droids shipped home sine we were literally out of room in our luggage. A CM at the droid shop had told me she thought it was about $18 to ship a droid, but when we got to First Order Cargo they said it was $35. I wasn't excited about paying $70 to ship two droids home but what else could I do? Then the CM said she'd made a mistake and it was only $18 to ship BOTH droids! Whew. That actually seemed like a great deal. The kids really wanted to try blue milk, so we did that, and then said goodbye to SWGE for this trip.
We hadn't really had a chance to explore Toontown so we went back over there and it was a mad house! It was right around noon so I'm sure it was just prime family time, but wow, we could barely move. I had thought, from the crowd calendars I'd looked at before our trip, that this day (a Wednesday) would be a lower crowd day but man was that not true! A big bummer since there were so many people and strollers in Toontown that it was hard to even see what was around you. Maybe we'll have to rope drop Toontown next trip to really explore more. My son spent some time in Goofy's house and my daughter waited in a 40 minute line for the Chip 'n' Dale Gadgetcoaster, but because it was so crazy there, we didn't make it to Mickey or Minnie's houses or ride Roger Rabbit or really check out any of the other new stuff there. We were all hungry by then and eager to get out of the chaos so we mobile ordered lunch at Red Rose Taverne and found a nice table that would fit all of us. Lunch was fine; it was nice to sit down. We did a LRT at Alice (got right on instead of waiting for the return time!) and did Snow White, too, then explored Frontierland a bit more.
We were headed toward the end of our day at that point but I left about 90 minutes free to make sure we had time to get silhouettes done on Main Street. This was the #1 souvenir I wanted to get of me and my kids. When I got to the shop, the CM said she had to close the line for lunch breaks for the artists, and I nearly burst into tears. I know I should have done it sooner in the trip if I really wanted to make sure it got done, but I thought I left enough time and had no idea it could close midday. I was really, really heartbroken.
It was a huge bummer of an ending to our trip for me, as there was no time to wait for the break to be over and get the silhouettes done. It was just about time to head back to the hotel and grab our Lyft to the airport. Overall, I'm so happy we went, and the kids had a great time. It was VERY different from the easygoing trips I'd taken with just adults in the past, which was no surprise. As much help as I had from my family, I was the only parent there and therefore had the responsibility to keep a close eye on the kids at all times, plus I handled almost all bathroom breaks, getting ready to leave in the morning, emotional meltdowns, etc. so I didn't get to casually browse the shops or do really anything only I was interested in (sitting on the porch on Main Street to people-watch, riding the Main Street vehicles and the monorail, etc.). I didn't get a chance to grab the other souvenirs I really wanted, either – the Main Street trash can keychain I'd seen online, and perfume from Mlle. Antoinette's Parfumerie, neither of which I was able to even peek at because of time/location/kids' needs/etc. I know there's no way to do everything at DLR even in 4 days but I really left wanting more! If I had unlimited funds I'd be planning a solo trip as we speak.
But the magic of Disneyland was definitely there and we've got so many great memories and photos, and I think it might be an easier trip in a couple years when the kids are a little older. I feel like my almost-8-year-old was the perfect age. They both did great with all of the walking and I'm so proud of my daughter for being willing and exited to try ANY and ALL rides, and for my son to face his fears about dark rides after Pirates and still go on more of them. And I know the things I'd do differently next time. (One being avoiding staggered bathroom breaks – I feel like we wasted so much time stopping for one person to use the restroom, then 20 minutes later someone else needed to stop for the restroom, then a few minutes later someone else did. Next time when one person goes, we all do!
)Anyway, if you've made it this far, that feels like a miracle and I hope it entertained or helped you in some way. I'm indebted to the folks on this board for all of the insight over the past few months!
