Here we are on Monday night at the hotel. We loved our room because it had a living area, kitchen, two bedrooms and two (!!) bathrooms. It was perfect for us. They also had a good breakfast every morning with eggs and sausage and waffles and so many other choices.
On Monday, we
all got up at 5am to catch the taxi at 6am, so that we could take advantage of our early Magic Morning Hour that came with our tickets. There was no one at the security lines since
we were that early, so Michael joked that we had rented out the entire
park.
We were second in line at the turnstiles into Disneyland Park at 6:15am,
which was amazing! We were even able to get our tickets before the turnstiles
actually opened. First, of course, we all went to the bathroom. After that, we
ordered MaxPass and walked right into Space Mountain.
We were able to get a
FastPass for Matterhorn while we were in the line. We signed up Jonny for the
Jedi Training show and the went to Peter Pan. It said a 40-minute wait, but it
was no longer than 25 minutes. The Fastpass was for right when the park
officially opened to everyone, so we went straight there after Peter Pan and
some Teacup pictures.
On the way from the Matterhorn to Buzz, I said, “Look,
the line for Finding Nemo is really short.”
Jonathan said, “Yeah, because nobody likes it.” LOL.
We actually did end up riding it on our last day. We went to Buzz Lightyear with another
FastPass and then went to Autopia, which had practically no wait.
We then went
to Star Tours using yet another FastPass and saw some stormtroopers walking
around. Jonny wanted a picture with them, but they didn’t take a lot of
pictures with anyone—it was kind of just random. They asked Michael for an
identity card and left before they could get a picture with Jonny.
We went to
It’s a Small World after that.
Then we went to get pictures with Mickey in Toon Town.
It had a 30-minute wait—the longest wait of the day.
We tried to catch a train
on the Railroad, but it took too long so we walked to Big Thunder instead and
went on the ride using another FastPass. After that, we went to lunch
at 12:30pm. Nathaniel got a turkey leg from a stand out in Frontierland.
Daniel, Jonny, and I went to the Stage Door Café and got chicken, a powerpack,
and a chicken wrap (which I couldn’t eat because it was too spicy). Michael,
Emily, and Andrew went to El Rancho de Zocalo. That restaurant had really nice
shade, so we all ate there. After, we went to Splash Mountain using another
FastPass (surprise, right?). It was really confusing to find the FastPass line,
and once we actually found it, it was long and in the sun. I watched the
backpacks while everyone else rode.
We then
went to the Haunted Mansion with another FastPass and took the train from New
Orleans Square to Tommorowland. They didn’t fill all the seats and we had to
sit in the sun to wait for the next train. I didn’t even realize there was a
stop at Tomorrowland. At 3:05pm, we dropped Jonny off at the Jedi Training and then
staked out the best table to watch it at 3:30pm.
We finally caught the
stormtroopers and were able to get a picture with them.
Next, we used another Buzz Fast Pass.
After the ride, Emily realized her Coke had leaked all over her
bag. She had poured it into her water
bottle. We had a nice little lecture
about not putting carbonated soda in a water bottle! We got it mostly cleaned up, and then she
needed to drink the rest so Nathaniel took a big drink and snorted it out of
his nose. Kind of like that scene with Violet in the Incredibles 2 movie! It made a big mess and he got
it all over his shirt. After that crazy
episode, we took some pictures at Sleeping Beauty’s castle and Main Street.
We went to Indiana Jones with a Fast Pass,
the Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder with a Fast Pass again, and Haunted Mansion with
a FastPass again.
We arrived at 7:15pm to our 7:30pm dinner reservation at Cafe Orleans, but we still
got a table right away. Andrew, Nathaniel, and I all got the Monte Cristo
sandwich, but Michael got the one with just cheese. Emily and Daniel got the
steak and potatoes, and Jonny got the kid’s steak. We also tried the Mint Julep
drink and two baskets of the fancy fries, which were amazing!
We then went to
Pirates of the Caribbean. It said it was only 10 minutes, but it was more like
20. We took the railroad from Tomorrowland to Main Street, which was a lot
easier to get on and we didn’t have to sit in the sun. Nathaniel went off to do
his own thing, I went to get Jonny’s Jedi Training pictures, and the others
went to watch the fireworks. We left for the shuttle at 10pm but went to the
wrong stop so had to take the 10:30pm shuttle. Nathaniel caught the shuttle at
10:45pm, and then everyone went to bed.
On Wednesday, we
got MaxPass again and reserved passes for the Incredicoaster. We went to
Guardians of the Galaxy first. I was emailing and not paying attention when
Michael questioned taking Jonny, but I didn’t hear him. The freefall on the
ride was horrible. Jonny was scared and cried. He and I vowed not to ride it
again!
We had our pictures taken in
front of Pixar Pier and also the Incredicoaster arch (that one was Emily’s
request).
The wait for Grizzly River Run
was short so I watched everyone’s bags and sat on a bench in the shade to wait
while they rode. A little girl walking
by stopped and pointed right at me and waved.
I couldn’t figure out why she was staring at me. I was wearing my red Incredibles shirt and it
occurred to me—she thought I was Mrs. Incredible! The lady sitting next to me agreed and we had
a good laugh.
Emily got soaked on the
ride. Apparently, they’ve added some
geysers and if you’re unlucky enough to be near it when it goes off, you will
get soaked! Next we rode the Ariel ride
on the way to using our Incredicoaster FastPass. After the ride, Nathaniel wanted some of the
lemon ice cream from the Adorable Snowman snack bar and Jonathan went with
him. It was really good, but it was a
really long line! By then it was about
10:30am. The rest of us got Cookie Num
Nums from the snack bar by the Incredicoaster.
If you have a chance, you have to try the Cookie Num Nums! They are messy, but so good! We took a little break so Emily could try to
dry out. We also had pictures with Mrs.
Incredible/Elastigirl.
We went on the Silly Symphony Swings on our
way to Hollywoodland to see Turtle Talk with Crush. That is always fun!
We went to Smokejumpers for lunch. Michael,
Nathaniel, and Daniel got a bacon cheeseburger, and the rest of the kids got
chicken tenders. I had the jackfruit sandwich, which was supposed to taste like
pulled pork. It did, but it was way too
spicy for me. So, once again, I ate the
kids’ leftovers because my lunch was too spicy.
Jonny loved meeting Nick Wilde from Zootopia!
Next, we went on the Toy Story Mania ride with our
FastPass. After that, we rode Radiator Springs Racers with our Fast Pass (which
is still quite a wait, usually).
We went on Soarin with our FastPass and then took a
break at Smokejumpers. The kids went to Goofy’s Sky School with a FastPass
while Michael and I rested. Once the kids came back, we left the park and went
to Disneyland. We
took pictures in front of the Mickey garden at the entrance.
Nathaniel and
Andrew stayed, while the rest of us barely missed the 6:30pm shuttle and had to
wait for the 7:00pm shuttle to go to the hotel. Jonathan really wanted his picture taken with BB8 in our hotel lobby.
We relaxed a bit and then went
to Panda Chinese on Harbor Blvd. for dinner. We got back to the hotel by 9:00pm
and put the kids to bed and then Michael and I got to bed by 10:30pm. Nathaniel
and Andrew wanted to stay late, so I told him to wake me up when they got back.
He woke me up, but it freaked me out. They rode Big Thunder, Space Mountain,
Incredicoaster, Grizzly River Run, and Matterhorn. Something happened to Incredicoaster,
so the other 5 of us got the coveted “Multiple Experience” FastPasses to use on
any ride by the end of the day on Thursday at California Adventure.
On Thursday, I got
up at 6:15am, but everyone was sound asleep. They started waking up at 6:45am,
and we were down at breakfast by 7:30am. We caught the 8:10 shuttle and breezed
through security. We got through
the gates of California Adventure easily. We didn’t buy MaxPass for everyone
that day. I did buy them for me and
Michael for our date night, and also so that I could have all of the PhotoPass
pictures. Nathaniel and Andrew went to
Guardians of the Galaxy while the rest of us got Radiator Springs Racers FastPasses and took pictures.
We went to the Toy Story Mania standby line. It
said 45 minutes, but it wasn’t long. Michael won with 144,500 points while I
got 116,300, Jonny-113,000, Emily-99,500, and Daniel-88,700. We then went on
the Incredicoaster using generic “Multiple Experiences” FastPasses from the day
before. The two boys caught up to us in the line for Incredicoaster and
surprised us. Apparently, they had waited in the standby line as we used our
FastPasses.
Afterwards, we relaxed and put on sunscreen at the gazebo by
Jessie’s Carousel. And, of course, we got more Cookie Num-Nums. We planned to
get FastPasses for Soarin’, so we walked over there. We wanted to try a new way
around Grizzly Peak just to see it; however, it seemed like a huge mistake because
that was the smoking section and it just leads back to the other path anyway.
As we were walking I realized that this would be a good day for me to ride
Grizzly River Run since we planned on going back to the hotel at lunchtime. I
convinced everyone to get Grizzly River Run FastPasses instead. It turned out
to be a good thing that we took that new path, because that is how we saw the
lockers for Grizzly River Run. We had
asked one of the “Cast Members” about it and he said the only lockers were at
the entrance to the park. Well, he was
wrong! Michael and Nathaniel went to
Hollywood Land and got a picture with Loki while the rest of us used our Radiator
Springs Racers FastPasses.
They met us when we got off and we all walked to Grizzly
River Run together. On Grizzly River Run,
a teenage girl joined our raft since there was one more spot on it. We asked
her to take a picture of us, so she unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned back to
take the picture! We thought something terrible was gonna happen! I tried to
tell her not to, but she was determined.
We had watched for the geyser earlier and it never hit anyone, but it
got us big time.
We couldn’t make it to the 12:30 shuttle, so we took a break
and made the 1pm one. When we got back to the hotel, we went straight to the
car and went to find food. We picked up McDonald’s. They took a while to bring
our food, so they gave us double the fries. Nap time was
around 3pm. I got up at 5:15pm because I had a pizza delivery for 5:30pm. Jonny
complained that I was supposed to take them swimming, so Michael took the kids,
except for Nathaniel, down to the pool while I got ready and waited for the
pizza (which didn’t come until 5:50pm). We all got ready and caught the 6:40
shuttle. Michael and I went on our date to the Blue Bayou while Nathaniel
watched the kids. We stopped at the shooting exposition on the way. We only had
to wait a few minutes for our table, but we were really far from the water
where the Pirates ride is. We asked if we could be closer to the water, but she
said it would take about 30 minutes, so we stayed. Emily texted me and said
that they were on the boat, so I got up and they saw me and waved. The food was
very good, but my steak was spicy (another entrée that I couldn’t eat!).
Michael let me trade for the rest of his filet mignon. Michael got the Surf and
Turf, while I got the Rib Eye steak.
We also got some crab hush puppies and crème
brulee. After dinner, we went on the Haunted Mansion, which stopped multiple
times again. Then we went on Big Thunder, walked through Fantasyland to see the
fireworks, rode Teacups, then Buzz Lightyear (Michael got 198,700), and met up
with the kids at Space Mountain. While we did all this, the kids rode Teacups,
Pirates, Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and Space Mountain. We caught the
11pm shuttle and went straight to bed.
Friday morning, Emily
was the only one who got up with me at 7am.
We finally went to breakfast and caught the 8:40am shuttle. We discussed what everyone still wanted to
do. The security and turnstile lines
were really long. We had planned to go
on Big Thunder first, but it was closed so we went to Buzz and then Star
Tours. We walked to Adventureland. There was no line for Dole Whips, so
Nathaniel, Andrew, Jonathan, and Michael each got one.
We rode Indiana Jones with our FastPass and
then the Jungle Cruise.
We also made a stop at the Shootin' Exposition.
Then we used our
Big Thunder FastPasses and walked to Space Mountain to use another FastPass.
We took the Disneyland Railroad from
Tomorrowland to New Orleans Square, and ordered our lunch at the Hungry Bear
Restaurant from the app while we waited for the train. We found some tables on the lower level and
picked up our food. They were missing Nathaniel’s
fish sandwich and my salad, so they gave me my salad and brought Nathaniel’s sandwich
to our table. Michael also had the fish
sandwich, Jonathan had the chicken tenders, and the others had the chicken
sandwich. Everyone but me went on Splash
Mountain with a FastPass. I watched them
go down the big drop. We all went on
Winnie the Pooh. Nathaniel thought it
was trippy. Then we went to Pooh Corner
for treats. The chocolate chip cooked was
really good, and so was the toffee square.
Jonathan had the Cheshire Cat marshmallow tail and Andrew had the Tigger
tail. Next, we went to Tom Sawyer Island
to eat our treats and let the kids play Hide and Seek.
After that, we walked to Main Street to see Great
Moments with Mr. Lincoln. They had some
amazing displays in the waiting area, including a huge model of the Capitol
building. After the show, the boys made
some pressed pennies. Next, we headed
for California Adventure, where we went straight to Hollywoodland for pictures. Emily wanted pictures with the Buzz Lightyear wings backdrop.
Then we got pictures with Spiderman. The kids got a kick out of
talking to Dr. Strange while waiting in line.
We then went to use our Incredicoaster FastPasses.
For dinner, we went to Boardwalk Pizza. Jonathan, Daniel, Andrew, and Emily all chose
the kids’ pizza, and no one said anything so I guess it was allowed. It was kind of cafeteria-style. I got the Caesar salad and Michael and
Nathaniel got the spaghetti and meatballs.
All the boys went to Grizzly River Run to use their FastPass while Emily
and I went to Cars Land to watch the Sh-boom moment when the sun went
down.
The boys were taking a long time
and we couldn’t reach them so I was starting to get worried. Turns out, the line was so short they rode it
three times in a row! Emily and I were
kind of stuck in Pixar Pier because the crowds were crazy, so we asked a Cast
Member who told us we should try to watch from the restaurant so that’s what we
did. We ended up finding a table right
where the floats come out to start the parade, so we had a pretty good
view.
The boys also watched the parade
and we met up at Toy Story Midway Mania to use our FastPasses. Finally, we used our Soarin’ FastPasses and
caught the 10:30pm shuttle back to the hotel.
On Saturday, we slept
in until 7:30am. We planned to take a
break in the middle of the day again. We
caught the 9:10am shuttle. Here we are at our shuttle stop.
The security
lines were shorter than Friday. The parks
didn’t open until 9am on Friday and Saturday.
We walked through Downtown Disney to the monorail entrance, because Andrew
wanted to ride it. The line was really
long, but the monorail dropped us off in Tomorrowland at around 10am. We got in the Buzz standby line, and after
the ride Daniel and Jonathan bought the toys they wanted. We barely caught the train to Main
Street. Michael, Nathaniel, Andrew, and
Daniel stayed at Disneyland and rode Big Thunder and went to Star Wars Launch
Bay to meet Kylo Ren.
Emily, Jonathan,
and I went to California Adventure to ride Monsters, Inc. We walked past Captain America and Pluto
(Jonathan just wanted to say “hi” and he didn’t want to wait in line to meet
them), and caught a quick picture with Chip and Dale. I think Jonathan was disappointed that they weren't as mischievous as last time.
Then we went to wait for pictures with Judy Hopps. We were the first in line, and we were glad
that Nick Wilde was there at the same time.
Emily bought the Monsters University tee shirt that she wanted, and then
we went to pose for pictures with Frozone.
Mr. Incredible got there right before it was our turn, so we got
pictures with both of them. Jonathan was
excited to show Frozone his tsum tsum Frozone toy that he bought, and Mr.
Incredible seemed offended, lol.
We all
met up at the Incredicoaster to use our FastPasses again. Then Jonathan and I went to wait in line for pictures
with Edna Mode and ride Toy Story Midway Mania (my favorite!) with our FastPass
one last time.
Everyone else went to
ride Guardians of the Galaxy with their Fast Pass.
We met up at Grizzly River Run for all the
boys to use their FastPass while Emily and I watched the bags. We caught the 3:30pm shuttle back to the hotel. We went to eat at Subway, and when we came
back the maid was still cleaning. While we
waited, Jonathan really needed a tissue.
He said, “Give me a tissue or the booger gets it!” The kids played on their media and I took a
nap until 7pm. Nathaniel wanted to use
our Space Mountain FastPasses, so everyone but me took the 7:40pm shuttle. I got ready and took the 8:10pm shuttle. Michael and the kids rode Space Mountain and
Matterhorn with FastPasses. Michael was pretty proud of his "yawning on Space Mountain" pose.
We met up at
the Mad Tea party and took pictures.
We rode
the Canal Boats, and then tried to ride Mr. Toad but it was closed. The teacups had no line so we hopped right on
those.
By then it was about 9:30pm. We rode on the Finding Nemo submarines. Again, there was a short line so we got on
quickly. Nathaniel and Andrew rode Autopia
while the rest of us rode Buzz with our FastPasses. I finally got the high score of the trip—400,800!
We went to find a spot to watch
Fantasmic. Michael asked one of the Cast
Members, and she let us right in to one of the reserved areas. Nathaniel and Andrew met up with us
there.
Andrew wanted to use his Splash
Mountain FastPass, so we left Fantasmic a few minutes early and he rode
it. He had a log all to himself!
After the show, we all met up at
Pooh Corner where we bought more treats and Daniel and Jonathan bought another
toy. The cashier gave us buttons for all
the kids. We walked to Adventureland so that Andrew could buy his
snake toy at the Bazaar. We caught the
12am shuttle.
We slept
in on Sunday and had a good breakfast and got all packed up. We checked out right at check-out time—11am. We had an uneventful drive home. We ate at McDonald’s in Blythe. We made it home around 7pm.
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