One Magical December Day <3 (Complete 2/20/18!)

[Jaina]

I loved crossing back into Disneyland. The Christmas decorations are just so much fun, and the tree is so impressive! I don’t know if it’s taller than the one at CA, but it seems bigger, maybe because there is so much space in CA.

DH decided he just needed good food without a big line, so he opted for the same thing he had gotten earlier at the Bengal BBQ, and I got some tasty skewers too. We decided to eat them in line while we waited for one of DH’s favorite rides: Pirates of the Caribbean. While in line, we checked out the MaxPass options and decided on another trip on Star Tours. We almost snagged an Indiana Jones at a good time, but then it disappeared before we could grab it. Actually, Star Tours had been out to like 10-11 PM already, but then when we looked again, a 6:50 PM one popped up. This was the longest non-FP line we waited in, and it took us about 30 minutes total (though the line entry said 45, I believe). I don’t love Pirates, (a little creepy at times) but I can definitely appreciate it for how amazing it is, and I love the two drops at the beginning, and the nice, long sit. It seems pointless to go on POTC (to me) in the first few hours of the day, since my favorites parts about it are the rest for my feet and sometimes the welcome A/C/dark it provides on hot days. One of my few memories of my first trip to Disneyland, when I was almost 4, is from POTC: I remember going down the first drop, and being scared, and not looking up from my dad’s chest the rest of the time, haha!

We finished with Pirates about 4:30 and headed over to Tomorrowland to use our Buzz Lightyear FP. Thankfully we got right one with that, one, even though the line was decent. I enjoy that ride, but my trigger finger always gets tired. J But USUALLY it’s the one that I win on! (DH wins at TSMM every time) Not this time though, DH eked past me. Curses! (I know, neither of us get THAT high of a score…)

We had less than 30 minutes to use our RSR FP’s, and I didn’t want to miss that night ride, so it was time to hop back over to CA! It was starting to get darker, and the lights were coming on, and Main Street (and everywhere) was so beautiful! Definitely my favorite time of day at Disneyland!!

(You’ll notice the quality of pictures decreasing even more, since we’re just shooting with our poor little iPhones, and they do better with more light! But the memories are still there!)

 

[eeudj]

following

 

[Jaina]

We walked into California Adventure at 5:00 PM and got in the FP line for RSR at 5:08 PM. We got on by 5:22, which was a lot faster than I expected. Loved Carsland at night with all the holiday décor, and I really enjoyed finally getting to ride RSR in the dark! J Also, one of my better RSR pictures. Usually my hair is in front of my face or something.

We still had a MaxPass for Guardians of the Galaxy between 6 and 7, and now had one for Star Tours from 6:40-7:50, but took time to wait 15-20 minutes for Mater’s with it’s holiday “overlay.” I can’t say that I enjoyed it any more than the regular, and actually, I decided that that ride is way more fun with little kids in the car with you. They get such a kick out of the spinning and they’re super fun to watch. As adults who were tired, it mostly seemed kind of jerky. Did the ride need a tune up, or was it all about the company? Hmm. We headed to Guardians, and were also able to get one more MaxPass after 6 PM, and grabbed available one for Space Mountain (which hadn’t been a priority for us). It was a pretty fast return time (like 7 PM) so someone must have cancelled.

It took us just over 20 minutes to get onto Guardians with our FP, but I think we had to wait an extra cycle or two because one of the lifts had a malfunction. It was a good ride though, and we enjoyed visiting with the ladies in front of us in line (behind us in the picture). One of them had never braved Guardians before (she hadn’t been the biggest fan of ToT) but she was giving it a try.

We got off Guardians at 6:26 and made our last park hop of the night over to Disneyland. Lines were not bad to get in, and we were walking down Main Street by 6:40. Perfect timing for our Star Tours fastpass. I was hoping it would be a different sequence, but all the parts were exactly the same as before. I’m not sure if that was just weird coincidence, or if they were all completely the same since they were running new scenes from The Last Jedi.

Our MaxPass for Space Mountain was available immediately so we were able to hit that next. It was fun, but we both preferred Hyperspace Mountain compared to the original. But I very much preferred the original to the Ghost Galaxy overlay. So now you know my opinion on Space Mountain in all its incarnations. J We were really disappointed though that the ride pictures were not working afterwards though. That would have been fun to have.

By now it was 8:30 AZ time and we were starving! I was pretty sure that the Galactic Grill had GF fries, and we were right! So we both got burgers, protein-style, and some fries. The burgers were decent, I thought, and we had so many fries between the two of us that we couldn’t finish them. But it was COLD out there (mostly because of the breeze that had really kicked up since the sun went down).

Even when it’s cold, though, Disneyland is so beautiful at night, and especially so during the holidays!

About a quarter after 8 we rode Big Thunder Mountain. I honestly can’t remember if we had a fastpass for it, or if the line just wasn’t long. It is my favorite to ride it at night, even if it was cold, and even though the lights from the Star Wars construction site is a little distracting. I was so excited that my husband enjoyed this ride more than he has in the past! He was sweet to ride it with me several times.

We walked over to Splash Mountain, and –considered- it, but it was so cold, and we couldn’t get behind maybe getting really wet and having to walk back out that way. What can I say, we’re getting old! We randomly decided to jump on Winnie the Pooh, which I liked, because I grew up watching Winnie the Pooh. My dad still quotes it to me several times a year, I think.

We had been been back and forth on staying for fireworks, and it was still pretty breezy, which I had totally forgotten can lead to them being cancelled… But we hung out in the square outside of the Opera House since there was an available bench until 9:30 and there were cancelled for sure. I DID get to finally see the “snow” fall, and they played some pretty music. Maybe what they usually play after fireworks? I don’t know. It was disappointing, but probably led to the lessening of crowds we had noticed in the later evening, since locals knew fireworks probably wouldn’t be happening. From what I read afterwards, I don’t think they were able to do fireworks the rest of the week either. It got quite windy the just after we were there. I was so glad we hit Disneyland on Monday instead of Tuesday!

We limped out of the park at 9:40, (our feet were a little sore from hitting 32,000 steps that day!) having accomplished everything we hoped to, and quite a bit more. Yay, MaxPass! Crowds were busy, but doable, especially with that perk. Weather was chilly at times, but nice for most of the day. Quick service food was mediocre. (Except my corn dog, haha) We had thought about making reservations somewhere, but knowing how much we hoped to get done, I just couldn’t pinpoint which park we were going to be in at any given time!

What a busy, tiring, awesome, crazy day! I was so glad for the opportunity, and thankful for the people that helped make it happen! (mostly my brother and SIL for watching our kids, and my husband for being a good sport!)

 

[RedHotMama]

Beautiful Christmas decorations! I'm so glad you had a good time!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hey Sara! I’m glad you were able to take this trip! So great that you were the first ones at your gate

Good call starting with Peter Pan and I totally agree with your hubby, I’m pretty much done with the Matterhorn after our last trip.

Monstro was crazy scary back in the day, they have certainly ‘toon’ed him out to make him less so. And I’m also with you on waiting a year after Star Wars Land opens before going back.

Very cool that he rode BTMRR with you and that you braved HMH for him. Yay for the train being up again, it was down when I did my solo adventure in 2016 also so we ended up doing several rides on it.

Sorry that y’all got stuck in the back row for GoTG, but cool that you both liked it. Our fam LOVED it as you will see as our TR progresses. Great smiles on Cali’ Screamin’ though. I think the PhotoPass pics turned out great, and love the balloons one!

Loved your quote about Soarin’ (where phone signals go to die) LOLOL I like starting and ending my day with PoTC but I’m a big lover of it. I know what you mean about the trigger finger getting tired on Buzz, you both looked very intent on your targets for the pic! You guys really did some park hopping!

Great shot on RSR and pics in CA/RS in general. Glad you got front row for GotG this time, we didn’t have breakdown problems – we had issues twice with park guests throwing up in the elevators (luckily not while we were on them). But they kept closing down lines/shuffling people because of it.

Good tag-team of Star Tours and Space Mountain, sorry you got the same sequence on ST. Yay for finally getting those GF Fries! You warm-weather DIS’ers and your coats …Hehehe. Nice night time pics in Tomorrowland and IaSW. Sorry you didn’t get fireworks to end your day but at least you got to do BTMRR one more time!

Great job with the steps, I’m sure it was all that park hopping. The biggest step count I had on the trip was around 25,000. I’m so glad you two got to get down there without the kiddos. Huzzah for such a magical day!

 

[Jaina]

Hey Sara! I’m glad you were able to take this trip! So great that you were the first ones at your gate

Good call starting with Peter Pan and I totally agree with your hubby, I’m pretty much done with the Matterhorn after our last trip.

Monstro was crazy scary back in the day, they have certainly ‘toon’ed him out to make him less so. And I’m also with you on waiting a year after Star Wars Land opens before going back.

Very cool that he rode BTMRR with you and that you braved HMH for him. Yay for the train being up again, it was down when I did my solo adventure in 2016 also so we ended up doing several rides on it.

Sorry that y’all got stuck in the back row for GoTG, but cool that you both liked it. Our fam LOVED it as you will see as our TR progresses. Great smiles on Cali’ Screamin’ though. I think the PhotoPass pics turned out great, and love the balloons one!

Loved your quote about Soarin’ (where phone signals go to die) LOLOL I like starting and ending my day with PoTC but I’m a big lover of it. I know what you mean about the trigger finger getting tired on Buzz, you both looked very intent on your targets for the pic! You guys really did some park hopping!

Great shot on RSR and pics in CA/RS in general. Glad you got front row for GotG this time, we didn’t have breakdown problems – we had issues twice with park guests throwing up in the elevators (luckily not while we were on them). But they kept closing down lines/shuffling people because of it.

Good tag-team of Star Tours and Space Mountain, sorry you got the same sequence on ST. Yay for finally getting those GF Fries! You warm-weather DIS’ers and your coats …Hehehe. Nice night time pics in Tomorrowland and IaSW. Sorry you didn’t get fireworks to end your day but at least you got to do BTMRR one more time!

Great job with the steps, I’m sure it was all that park hopping. The biggest step count I had on the trip was around 25,000. I’m so glad you two got to get down there without the kiddos. Huzzah for such a magical day!

Thanks for all the comments! Throw up in Guardians?? Ick! That's probably what it was, then! I can get motion sickness sometimes (only on the swinging gondolas on Mickey's Wheel of Death at Disney so far, and on a lot of the stuff at Universal) but thankfully it's mild, and never on up and down stuff like Guardians.... And it really was cold, haha! The wind was picking up and freezing us poor little Arizonans out! I really do feel like your blood thins living in a hot climate (for instance, it never did freeze where we live in the city this winter, even overnight, that I know of). When we lived in Iowa and would come home for a visit in the summer, we almost felt like we were suffocating in the 110º+degrees. But after living back in Phoenix for a year or two, we acclimated and even when it's super hot, it's just HOT, not overbearing. On a bright note, anywhere else we visit in the summer feels pretty good comparatively!
I felt like after these two back-to-back (for a non AP'er) trips this fall/winter and hitting it HARD those two days (30,000+ steps and 5 hops on my October day in 100 degree temps, too!) I had enough Disney for awhile. I already started feeling a little itchy though, and am hoping we can financially swing a small trip -next- year before SW:GE opens. And I'm low-key starting to plan a couple's trip to WDW sometime in a few years. We shall see. I might just have to live vicariously through trip reports, though!

 

[deejdigsdis]

Hi! Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your Oct. and Dec. one day reports. I haven't been on the DIS in so long...I have an unfinished TR from nearly 4 years ago! I can't even remember why I hopped on the other day but your username/pic caught my eye because I remember you from when I was active on this board in years past. I went for a day and half in Oct right after you - Oct. 25th and 26th. So hard to go for such a short time when the usual is 3-5 days! Anyway, thanks for the fun reads!

 

[Jaina]

Hi! Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your Oct. and Dec. one day reports. I haven't been on the DIS in so long...I have an unfinished TR from nearly 4 years ago! I can't even remember why I hopped on the other day but your username/pic caught my eye because I remember you from when I was active on this board in years past. I went for a day and half in Oct right after you - Oct. 25th and 26th. So hard to go for such a short time when the usual is 3-5 days! Anyway, thanks for the fun reads!

Thanks for the comment! Yes, I joined way back in the day when I was playing VMK all the time (at my super boring job...) and there was a board here for people to connect. It has fueled my Disneyland craziness ever since! I hope the weather was a little cooler for you than it was for us in October!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Thanks for all the comments! Throw up in Guardians?? Ick! That's probably what it was, then! I can get motion sickness sometimes (only on the swinging gondolas on Mickey's Wheel of Death at Disney so far, and on a lot of the stuff at Universal) but thankfully it's mild, and never on up and down stuff like Guardians.... And it really was cold, haha! The wind was picking up and freezing us poor little Arizonans out! I really do feel like your blood thins living in a hot climate (for instance, it never did freeze where we live in the city this winter, even overnight, that I know of). When we lived in Iowa and would come home for a visit in the summer, we almost felt like we were suffocating in the 110º+degrees. But after living back in Phoenix for a year or two, we acclimated and even when it's super hot, it's just HOT, not overbearing. On a bright note, anywhere else we visit in the summer feels pretty good comparatively!
I felt like after these two back-to-back (for a non AP'er) trips this fall/winter and hitting it HARD those two days (30,000+ steps and 5 hops on my October day in 100 degree temps, too!) I had enough Disney for awhile. I already started feeling a little itchy though, and am hoping we can financially swing a small trip -next- year before SW:GE opens. And I'm low-key starting to plan a couple's trip to WDW sometime in a few years. We shall see. I might just have to live vicariously through trip reports, though!

You're very welcome! And I know exactly what you mean about the hot and cold and different types of each. I lived in Tucson from age 5 to 12 and in Phoenix from age 12 to 14 so I remember that dry, hot heat very well. I'm sure you were really feeling it when the temps started to dip.
And it took some real acclimatizing after we moved up to Oregon after that. Now even when the rest of the fam puts jackets on up here I don't as much. For some reason I just insulate against it really well.

I can understand being a bit done after those two trips. But that itch does come back so quickly! We've pretty firmly decided that we're going to be patient and wait until a year after Star Wars Land opens. And for us it is already pretty much decided that we will be doing WDW and Universal Orlando. We haven't seen Diagon Alley yet and Roxy is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. That plus Avatar and the new Toy Story and Star Wars lands made it an easy choice for the two of us (the kids would be invited but would have to pay their own way if they went).

 

[trishakay84]

I enjoyed reading (and rereading some of) your TRs! I've mentioned before how we have kids around the same ages - and now I am pregnant with #5, so even more similarities! We're heading to Disneyland in June with our crew. Reading your TR with your 5 is good, I think helping me manage expectations! It will definitely be a different kind of trip, with me being pregnant and unable to ride some of our favorites! We haven't decided either way about maxpass yet, but from your October trip and this one, it sounds so useful and handy! Maybe we'll get it for a few of our tickets and combine it with rider swap.

 

[Jaina]

I enjoyed reading (and rereading some of) your TRs! I've mentioned before how we have kids around the same ages - and now I am pregnant with #5, so even more similarities! We're heading to Disneyland in June with our crew. Reading your TR with your 5 is good, I think helping me manage expectations! It will definitely be a different kind of trip, with me being pregnant and unable to ride some of our favorites! We haven't decided either way about maxpass yet, but from your October trip and this one, it sounds so useful and handy! Maybe we'll get it for a few of our tickets and combine it with rider swap.

I'm glad they can be helpful for you! MaxPass is amazing, even if you just decide to do it one or two days. I was actually just going through one of my old TR's because I forgot that I never replaced the pictures from evil Photobucket with something else yet... Yes, please have realistic expectations, so you can fully enjoy all the great things that do happen, and not be surprised and annoyed when your kids take turns acting like, well, kids! I went once pregnant (with our first) and it was a very different kind of trip (and I was pretty sick still, blah) but we still had a great time!

 

[Jaina]

Just putting these together for some of my trips so I can compare:
Monday, Dec 4th, 2017 - 2 adults - Park Hoppers with MaxPass - 21 Attractions - 32,000 steps - 14 hours

6:46 AM Arrived at the gate (first in a line) for an 8 AM opening
DISNEYLAND
7:45 AM Gates Opened
*8:16 AM Peter Pan's Flight
*8:21 AM King Arthur's Carrousel
*8:35 AM Matterhorn
*9:20 AM Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
*9:40 AM Haunted Mansion Holiday
*9:55 AM Disneyland Railroad
*10:23 AM Star Tours
10:40 AM Snacks from Corn Dog Cart and Bengal BBQ
CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
*11:23 AM Guardians of the Galaxy
*11:48 AM California Screamin' (single rider)
*12:13 PM Ariel's Undersea Adventure
*12:50 PM Radiator Springs Racers (single rider)
2:18 PM Lunch at Whitewater Snacks/checking out Grand Californian
*3:06 PM Soarin'
DISNEYLAND
3:40 PM Snack from Bengal BBQ
*4:10 PM Pirates of the Caribbean
*4:43 PM Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters
CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
*5:21 PM Radiator Springs Racers
*5:49 PM Mater's Jingle Jamboree
*6:21 PM Guardians of the Galaxy
DISNEYLAND
*6:59 PM Star Tours
*7:19 PM Space Mountain
7:40 PM Dinner at Galactic Grill
*8:20 PM Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
*8:35 PM Winnie the Pooh
9:30 PM Waited for fireworks, but cancelled
9:38 PM Exited the park