5:30AM
My alarm went off and I got myself out of bed. I quickly dressed for our first day in the parks, then I went to work waking everyone else up. I was so thankful that we had two bathrooms and said silent prayers of thanks for our hotel room. Some of the kids were easy to motivate, others were a little harder and really wanted to sleep, despite agreeing the night before that they wanted to be at the park for the rope drop. Bryan had stayed up the night before making sandwiches for everyone to carry in their backpacks, plus assorted snacks. We wanted to eat one meal in the park and eat the food we'd packed for the rest of our meals.
6:22AM
We finally had nearly everyone ready. This was the only day that we wore matching shirts. It definitely helped to know what to look for if someone got separated. The hotel served breakfast starting at 6:30, so our plan was to grab food and eat it as we walked. That sort of worked. We sat and ate for a little bit, then carried the food that was left over and headed outside.
7:09AM
It took us about 20 minutes to walk from our hotel to security at the parks. Topher and I usually were in the rear of the pack. It's hard when your siblings have long legs and can walk a lot faster.
7:10AM:
7:21AM:
The parks open at 8:00AM and we were through security well before that. We had opted not to get park hopper passes, which meant we would be sticking with one park each day we were there. Our first day was spent at California Adventure. I expected to see big lines of people waiting to get into the parks, but that wasn't the case. The forecast called for the high temperature of the day to be in the low 70s (downright cold for some Southern Californians) with drizzly rain. Maybe that kept people at home? We didn't mind at all. The crowds were small most of the day and the lines stayed relatively short. It was chilly (I'm one of those Californians I mentioned earlier) and I was glad I had my sweatshirt, but what rain did fall didn't bother us.
7:28AM
We waited for about 30 minutes for the park to officially open. We were technically in the park while we waited and people staying at legit Disneyland hotels got in a half hour early, so I guess it was unofficially opened then. But for the rest of us, we were allowed to look at the rides, but not allowed to touch until the employees pulled those ropes out of the way. While we waited, we made a plan for where we would go first.
8:07AM
As soon as we could, we made a beeline for Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racers. We waited about 20 minutes, which is remarkable since this ride is usually in high demand and the typical line is much longer. We didn't have much time to admire the décor since we were moving so quickly.
8:26AM
We were split into two cars, zooming through Radiator Springs. Everyone loved the ride, with one exception. Once we had all exited our vehicles we asked Topher what he thought. He announced that he never wanted to ride that again. We were surprised, but respected his wish and didn't ride it again. On our last night, as we were leaving the park, he asked why we hadn't ridden it again. Oh well.
8:58AM
We stayed in Cars Land for our next ride: Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.
9:07AM
We decided to branch out and try other areas of the park. We basically walked onto The Little Mermaid ride. Sophie and Topher both loved this ride. While going through the 2876 pictures and videos we took at Disneyland (actual number), I discovered that Peter and Cooper had each filmed most of this ride. No, I don't know why. But I guess we can relive it whenever we want.
9:13AM
9:28AM
Next came the Golden Zephyr (which no one took a picture of and I just happened to remember riding that morning), then Jumpin' Jellyfish which had the happiest ride attendant we met on our trip. During the Golden Zephyr Cooper's backpack nearly slid out of the ride into the water below. Phoebe grabbed it just in time. And that's how we learned to always hook our bags around our ankles during rides so as not to lose them.
9:31AM
9:38AM
That was followed by the Silly Symphony Swings. We also did Goofy's Sky School at some point around this time, but I have no pictures to tell me when.
9:45AM
Then we rode a new to us (well, everything was new to Sophie and Topher, but this one was new to the rest of us as well) ride: Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind. The narration during the ride was hilarious.
9:51AM
Sophie was thrilled to claim the unicorn hot air balloon.
10:00AM
Next we rode the Pixar Pal-A-Round - Swinging. This is one of the scariest rides at California Adventure, in my opinion. Every time the caged car slid on its track, it felt like we were going to fall!
10:40AM
At this point we split up into two groups out of necessity. The only ride in both parks that Topher wasn't tall enough for was the Incredicoaster. Everyone else wanted to ride this one, so we did a rider switch. That meant that Bryan took the older four while Topher and I ate snacks nearby. When they were done, I rode it. The attendant let me take two more people to ride with me, so Phoebe and Sophie got a bonus run right away. It was so fun! I hadn't gotten to go on this ride when we visited in 2013 since I was in my first trimester of pregnancy with Sophie. I loved getting to ride it this time! The kids are all a little baffled that I'm the rollercoaster parent, they think that sounds more like Bryan's role. But no, I'm the one that likes crazy amusement park rides and doesn't require Dramamine
10:46AM
10:57AM
11:08AM
We had had enough of Pixar Pier for the moment and made our way to the Avengers Campus.
11:09AM
We saw Black Widow and Black Panther on top of the Avenger's Headquarters at different points during our visit. but we never waited long to enough to watch their show.
11:18AM
Instead we hurried to our first Lightning Lane (yes, we didn't get park hoppers, but we did upgrade to Genie+ tickets, which helped a lot!) at Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT! For context, I first went on the predecessor of this ride, Tower of Terror when I went to Disney World on a show choir trip in high school. I LOVED IT! When Bryan and I went to Disneyland Paris in 2012, I was excited to share this ride with him. He did NOT love it. That's when we learned that he's not as fond of these rides as I am. He was a good sport and went with us on the newly themed version that exists at Disneyland now.
11:19AM
Disney wins at making the lines feel like they're moving, even when they're not. Part of that is due to all the set dressing that exists in these lines. The attention to detail is pretty phenomenal.
11:41AM
Seriously, I think this is one of my favorite rides!
11:56AM
By this point in the day, according to my calculations, we had been on eleven rides and it wasn't quite noon! We detoured to get Bryan a birthday pin. We had decided that this part of the trip was our combined birthday adventure. His birthday actually happened while we were at Disneyland, mine was a few weeks later. But Bryan insisted that I should have a button as well since we were celebrating my birthday, albeit a little bit early. I wore it each day, except for Bryan's birthday. I figured that day should be all his own.
12:38PM
After our buttons were obtained, we headed back for more rides. Jessie's Critter Carousel was just Topher's speed.
12:39PM
1:03PM
Next we visited Grizzly Peak and rode Grizzly River Run. This was a good ride and is probably great on a hot day. But remember, this was not a hot day. This was more of a tepid day. Getting splashed was not super pleasant. Poor Bryan got soaked and wore wet jeans the rest of the day.
1:04PM
1:30PM
My second favorite ride of the day was Soarin! I had been on Soarin' Over California, which was beautiful and relaxing. This time we experienced Soarin' Around the World. It was amazing! Topher, who loves polar bears, gasped when a family of polar bears appeared on the massive screen in front of us.
2:04PM
We were all dragging by this point in the day. We were also hungry. Remember our plan to eat lunch in the park? Well, we were following through on that, but our lunch reservation wasn't until 3:00, so we had an hour until our meal. That meant our hungry, tired selves needed to find something to do that wouldn't have us stuck in a line across the park at our designated eating time. We picked our next destination because it was inside and we could sit. That's how we ended up at the Disney Junior Dance Party. Topher and Sophie were very into this attraction. They danced pretty much the whole time, the rest of us sat and took pictures. Over the course of the show bubbles, streamers, and fake snow (also bubbles?) came floating down from the ceiling. The show only lasted for 20 minutes, but the performers were so high energy, that's probably as long as it could be.
2:24PM
Just down the street was another indoor attraction, so that's where we went. I should clarify, it never got hot outside that day, we were just tired and wanted to sit and be out of the direct sun for a bit. This show was Mickey's PhilHarmagic, a fun 3D musical romp where Donald Duck gets into mischief by trying to take over Mickey's role as the conductor of a magical orchestra. When we were here in 2013, I believe this theater was home to the 3D Muppet show. Topher had never experienced 3D before, he kept trying to grab the musical instruments as they appeared to fly toward us. My only complaint about this attraction was how cold it was in the theater. I guess if it had been blisteringly hot outside, the blast of cold air would have been refreshing. But since it was a cool day, the AC was uncomfortable, at least for me.
2:55PM
We made our way from Hollywood Land back over to near Pacific Wharf and our lunch reservation. We ate at the Wine Country Trattoria, ironic since we obviously didn't consume any wine. This was a pasta restaurant. I was so hungry at this point and praying that they would have something gluten free.
3:22PM
We started the meal with an appetizer of fried calamari. I couldn't eat it, but everyone else liked it. I had a small salad instead. We did scrape the breading off the breaded green beans and I enjoyed those.
3:56PM
This was Peter's meal choice, fettucine alfredo with shrimp. One thing we learned this week: Disney wins the gluten free game. They had a GF pasta option that was amazing.
3:57PM
Topher ate some of his cheese pizza, then laid his head down on my lap and went to sleep. We took much longer eating than we otherwise would have because we tried to let Topher rest as much as he needed to. It turns out it's hard to keep up with a group of big kids, especially when you have the shortest legs. He needed that nap.
4:13PM
5:18PM
After our meal we rode the Toy Story Midway Mania! The exclamation is point is part of the name, though it was a fun ride. According to the Disneyland app (which I'm using to make sure I have names and locations correctly recorded), this ride is now closed for refurbishment, so I'm glad it was still open while we were there.
5:24PM
6:32PM
Our next ride had a long line. WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure did not have any lightning passes available, but we decided to ride it anyway. I'm using date stamps on pictures that we took to piece the day back together, so I know we were in line for at least 45 minutes, but I think it was closer to at least an hour. I didn't think this line was quite as entertaining as some of the others we were in that day. We played a lot of Heads Up using our phones while we waited. We also used this time to charge our phones. Bryan, always mindful of our technology, made sure we had full charging bricks with us each day.
7:03PM
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! was next. It was fun, but I admit that at this point in the day I was kind of just checking off rides from the list.
7:29PM
Bryan had claimed a spot for the nighttime water show World of Color - ONE and wanted to get there early to find good seats. That meant we had about 30 minutes of unclaimed time. We had used a few lightning passes throughout the day, but they were all on Bryan's phone and a the process was a little clunky. He had read about Magic Bands and really wanted to see if we could buy one for each of us. This would move those lighting passes from his phone onto our wristbands. So, if we split into groups, we could still go on rides. We opted to ride the Red Car Trolley to the front of the park to find the bands.
7:45PM
Who knew that there would be soooooo many Magic Band options?! There were so many shelves of all different kinds of bands. And there were three different price points, but the prices weren't listed on the actual boxes, just a colored label that corresponded to signs that had the prices listed. If you didn't have the sign right in front of you it was a little tricky to figure out how much each one cost. These are the three that Peter was trying to decide between.
And these are the bands we ended up with. Cooper was Groot, Phoebe was lilac (solid colors were less expensive and she is definitely her Mother's daughter when it comes to such choices), Sophie was the Little Mermaid band, Topher went for navy blue, I picked red (see above about Phoebe's choice), Bryan chose Star Wars, and Peter finally settled on the Wakanda band. Once our purchase was made, we went and found a spot for the show.
8:33PM
When I say spot, I mean a place to sit on the ground until the show started and then a place to stand during the show. By this point it had been long enough since our late lunch that we ate while we waited. We also sent Bryan on a water bottle run. One important thing we learned this week was to fill up our water bottles whenever we had the chance and if someone needed a bathroom break, we all probably did.
8:52PM
The show started at 9:00 and we were ready by then. I loved it! They projected images from various Disney movies onto giant sprays of water while music and voiceovers played. The storyline behind it was that one ripple (one person) can bring about great things. Yes, I cried, but that's not at all surprising. It was a beautiful show!
9:48
After World of Color we had 38 minutes until the park closed. The big kids wanted to ride the Incredicoaster again, so Bryan took them while I took Topher to again ride the Golden Zephyr and the Jumpin' Jellyfish. We were high enough that we could see the fireworks over at the main Disneyland park. We almost didn't get to ride the Golden Zephyr again. The wind had picked up and that ride is dangerous when the wind is too strong. Luckily, the wind calmed so Topher and I were able to take a very chilly spin. By that time the others were off the coaster and we agreed to meet where we had started the day: at Cars Land.
9:57PM
By the time we found each other we had enough time for one more ride. We hopped in line for Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters. This replaced Luigi's Flying Tires, a bumper car ride. I had vague memories of the old ride, but didn't realize how different the new one was until we were on it. My favorite part was the end when all the cars line up in formation and seem to be dancing together.
10:10PM
We were moving much slower at this point in the day than we had been when the park opened. We dragged our way to the exit.
10:15PM
Topher was exhausted and totally done walking. Peter and I took turns carrying him back to the hotel. We stopped at CVS on our way to pick up a few things, including a Disney themed hat for me.
I'm not sure what time we got back into our hotel room. I do know that Topher immediately dropped his backpack, pulled off his hat and shoes, and climbed into his bed. The other kids started making sandwiches for the next day while I snuggled Topher and made sure he was asleep. It took a bit to chase the big kids to bed. Even though they were super tired, they were also pretty wound up.
Our plan for the next day was to switch to Disneyland. I kept having the thought that I needed to check the parks hours. I was pretty sure Disneyland was open two hours later than California Adventure, so midnight instead of 10PM. But when I pulled up the calendar to check I discovered the two days we'd set aside for Disneyland, Tuesday and Thursday, both had a closing time of 8PM due to some special events happening those nights. I was SO sad. That would mean missing out on a possible 8 hours in the park! Bryan and I stressed about how to handle this. We decided we would try to switch our tickets so that we would be in California Adventure on Tuesday and bump Disneyland to Wednesday. The question that plagued us as we were falling asleep was: would the powers that be let us switch those days?
