Mr., I'll Make a Fan Out of You, June 2017- WDW Lovers Take on Disneyland and the West! (UDx3 1/16)

Day 6, June 19, part 2: Disneyland Resort!

When I said a brief foray in Adventureland brief, I meant brief! Really, I just wanted to see Adventureland in Disneyland, as I’d read so much about it. So we decided to hop over there for one attraction:

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The Tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room! We seriously love this thing. DMIL had just experienced it the previous week when she’d been at DL, so she took the opportunity to grab fastpasses for Indiana Jones for all of us while we enjoyed the Tiki Room.

Next, we headed back across the hub to use our Space Mountain fastpasses. Here is a super blurry pic I took in the line.

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And here is our ride photo:

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As you can see, the kids are still in their costumes. We changed them immediately after Space.

WDW/DLR ride comparison time - I enjoy Space Mountain at WDW, but it’s not my favorite. I LOVED Space at DL. Much better ride experience at DL! I can ride Space once per trip at WDW and be good, and I’m not heartbroken if we miss it entirely. I will never miss Space at DL and this would not be the only ride we had on this trip. Alex looks terrified, though, right? He was. But he’s a trooper, so he’ll get on things he doesn’t enjoy and just deal with it if I promise he can hold my arm. Obviously, I came through, ;)

Next we decided to take advantage of another thing DL has over WDW – the ease of parkhopping.
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Our family discovered the joy of Cars just before this trip. We’d never watched either of the Cars movies, but decided we should give the first one a shot since we would be going to DLR. We ended up loving it and it was appropriate for the trip both in terms of DLR and our planned drive back along Route 66. Confession: I had not even known Cars was about Route 66. Bad Disney fan.

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As I mentioned, we had just seen Cars 3 the day before, so the kids were thrilled to spot Cruz Ramirez hanging out in front of the Cozy Cone. We, of course, hopped in line.

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As we left Cozy Cone we saw Lightning McQueen coming down the road and Alex flipped out. He became an instant Cars mega-fan after we watched the first one. His response when I told him he was obsessed: “I’m sorry Mommy, I’m just really feeling Cars in my soul right now.” Ok…

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I promised we’d be back to meet Lightning so we could keep moving, as we were hungry! We had reservations over in DL for a little bit later in the day, but needed a snack to tide us over so we stopped by the Lucky Fortune Cookery. We had the potstickers and mango slices. We thought the potstickers were actually really good!

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While we were enjoying DLR, we found ourselves missing WDW at this point, so we headed across the bridge to visit a familiar attraction:

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While the queue is inarguably a million times better at WDW, the ride experience is the same, so we kind of felt at home. DMIL had never done the Little Mermaid ride, and thought it was really cute.

To be continued...
 
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Day 6, June 19, part 3: Disneyland Resort!

We really had just gone over to DCA because Alex couldn’t wait a second longer to see Carsland, so we decided to head back across the esplanade to DL, but made a couple of brief stops along the way. One was to grab fastpasses for Soarin’ and the other was to meet a Disney classic not found at WDW:

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Loved getting to meet Oswald!

By the time we got back to DL our fastpass window for Indiana Jones had opened up.

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Of course we stepped on all the diamond shaped stones…

WDW/DLR ride comparison – score another point for DLR! While we really enjoy Dinosaur, this is the better ride. It was a blast and we made it a point to revisit it later in the trip.

We had made late lunch reservations at Café Orleans, and so headed that way after Indy.

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I’d heard about the pommes frites with garlic and parmesan, so I had to try them as an appetizer. They didn’t disappoint!

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For my meal, I ordered the gumbo and thought it was pretty good.

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DH ordered the Monte Cristo. He was a little suspicious of the berry puree, but actually ended up really enjoying it.

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I don’t remember what DMIL ordered, but here it is lol

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The kids got the fish with pasta (Cora) and mac and cheese (Alex).

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I had picked up buttons from Guest Relations earlier in the day – “First Visit” for the kids, “I’m Celebrating” for DH and DMIL and “Happy Birthday” for me. My birthday was not until the following day, but I didn’t want to be left out of the button gang, so I had my button on. It resulted in me being brought this:

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It was bigger than it looks! I really appreciated the gesture and, though stuffed, we all took a couple of bites and made short work of it.

At this point DMIL said she wanted to have silhouettes of the kids done on Main Street. I figured our room would likely be ready at the Hojo, so I volunteered to take one for the team and walk all the way back myself to check in and get a few things out of the car while the rest of the group stayed in the park and got the silhouettes done.

The room was indeed ready. Here it was:

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We had a 2 queen room in building 1. We were supposed to be on the city side, but ended up on the DL side on a low floor, which was great.

Looking at the lobby out the window and Star Wars Land crane way off in the distance:

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I briefly stopped for a moment of peace in the empty hotel room before high-tailing it back to the park. Here was the result of what they had done while I was gone:

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DMIL got two of them, so we have a framed copy at home now as well. Loved the way they came out.

We spent a little more time enjoying Main Street, then headed back to DCA to use our Soarin’ fastpasses. Because I’m crazy, I volunteered to do a little more running around. DMIL had also never been on Toy Story Mania and that simply would not do. Cora and I booked it across the park to grab fastpasses for TSMM while DH, DMIL, and Alex hung out in the Soarin’ area. Out of breath, we met back up with them and got in the FP line for Soarin’.

Soarin’, as always, was wonderful, though I missed the atmosphere of the Land pavilion at Epcot. After the ride, we slowly made our way across the park, taking in the sights and smells. DH and the kids hopped on the carousel on Paradise Pier before we headed into TSMM.

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I suck at TSMM. And Buzz Lightyear. And any other game/attraction that requires use of motor skills to score points. Of course, DH beat me. This is him and Cora gloating at the end of the ride. Jerks.

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Next we decided to hop one last time and finish our day in Disneyland. The goal had been to stay for fireworks, but I was starting to suspect we wouldn’t make it.

First up:

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WDW/DLR ride comparison – This one’s pretty much a wash, as they’re pretty similar once you’re inside. I prefer the WDW version’s exterior, but I know it’s because it’s the one I am more familiar with. I really enjoyed getting to see the hatbox ghost.

After Haunted Mansion we snagged fastpasses for Big Thunder and spent some time hanging out in the area while we waited for the window to open.

Had to snap a pic of the Mark Twain, even though it wasn’t operational.

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Entertainment in lieu of Fantasmic!

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Making Woody dance in a Frontierland store

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I sometimes like to dance in public places when there is no music, which my companions may sometimes find embarrassing. The line for Big Thunder was one of those times, and this was DH’s response to me:

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Whatevs, man.

WDW/DLR ride comparison – Though I love the WDW version, I’m giving the edge to DLR again on this one. If felt a lot smoother to me and I was laughing out loud for much of the ride – good times!

At this point we were beat so we decided to call it a night. We made one last stop by the Shooting Gallery on the way out, as the kids always beg for it.

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Up next – A rope drop and some quality time with DCA
 
I am enjoying your trip report :) It looks like you had a lot of fun! We are heading to DL in late September. We are also staying at the HoJo. What is your opinion on the walk to and from the parks?
 
I found this report, and went back and read your entire most recent WDW report! Wow!

Great family and luminous writing. Before I get any further into this response, what was your dissertation subject, and are you now all PH.D.ed up? Good for you. I started my Ph.D. in pastoral counseling way back in 1983. I got to the dissertation phase and did not finish when our son, now age 30, was born with castrophic asthma and multiple world class food allergies. That was in the day when I paid the price of a small kingdom for an electronic typewriter with one word memory correction. and all research had to be done by finding the title one wanted, and sending off for it through inter-library loan.

I grew up in Redlands, SoCal. First trip to Disneyland around 1961. My husband was in DL the third day it was open. His mom tossed all the memorabilia when they moved in the 70s. They had postcards and tickets. Imagine!

In my day, most middle class Redlands families gave kids a choice of DL or Knotts Berry Farm on their birthdays. The idea that you would spend the night or spend more than one day was unheard of. You got a coupon booklet with E, D, C, B, and A tickets. Money was pretty scarce and I still remember the gratitude when my parents spent $5 to buy an extra E-ticket book, that had 5 more E-tickets. Country Bear Jamboree had just opened, and it was E ticket. When Pirates opened, there was a special that highlighted the new animatronic figures, and the hair on the leg of the pirate who is sitting on bridge above. I still look up to notice the hair!

Grad night for SoCal high schools was at DL. My class had 750 kids, and they announced that if there was applause for everyone's names, then we would not end graduation until DL had closed. They also closed the Monsanto Journey into the Atom dark ride during Grad night. :lovestruc

I can remember so many times of riding PoTC, and loooking up at the Blue Bayou. That was way beyond our price range, and I couldn't imagine anyone ever being able to afford eating there.

We became a WDW family in 1988, when it was clear that taking our son on vacation would involve first aid, and access to plugs for nebulizers, and an absolute attention to food ingredients. Because even a minute trace of any milk, egg, tree nut, peanut ..... would result in anaphylaxsis, the only place we could go and relax was WDW. I have been in the kitchens reading ingredient labels of all the major restaurants there in the days before they automated the food allergy menus and process.

And it never fails to astonish me , with the work that all of us put in with our multi-day and week vacations, and the agonizing over ADRs and FPs, how it all grew from a park that families were lucky to get to once per year.

Now that my 2 are 30 and 21, I am so enjoying your tales of the magic. May it continue long and joyously!
 


We've been out of town the last week and a half so I'm just now catching up on your report....

We did! The walk wasn't always the funniest at the end of the night, but I'd definitely stay there again. That may have been us! We were parked in the area seen in my pic above for the first couple of days, then moved to a space closer to the lobby on the 3rd day, as we were in building 1. I drive a black Camry. ;)

Yep, that was the car I spotted!!

Confession: I had not even known Cars was about Route 66. Bad Disney fan.

:scared1:

As we left Cozy Cone we saw Lightning McQueen coming down the road and Alex flipped out. He became an instant Cars mega-fan after we watched the first one. His response when I told him he was obsessed: “I’m sorry Mommy, I’m just really feeling Cars in my soul right now.” Ok…

That is so cute. My boys love the Cars movies, so I'm glad Alex got to see them and became such a fan.

I suck at TSMM. And Buzz Lightyear. And any other game/attraction that requires use of motor skills to score points. Of course, DH beat me. This is him and Cora gloating at the end of the ride. Jerks.

:rotfl2: I am the sharpshooter of my family, so that is often me at the end of Buzz and TSMM, gloating away. :duck:

WDW/DLR ride comparison – Though I love the WDW version, I’m giving the edge to DLR again on this one. If felt a lot smoother to me and I was laughing out loud for much of the ride – good times!

I love BTMR at both parks, but I think I give the edge to DL as well but for a different reason. The lines are always shorter and the way it's more centrally located in the park makes it much easier to hit several times in a day.
 
Here I am playing thread catch-up again!

If you’re going to just do one attraction in Adventureland the Tiki Room is a classic for sure!

From there to SM aye? Y’all are getting your walking in, that’s for sure. But worth it to be in the FP line. And I agree on SM, I can miss it at WDW but at DLR it is a must. Poor little Alex, just a bit much for him aye?

I love his reaction to Cars Land though, that is an epic quote with him ‘feeling it in his soul’

Yeah, wish CA could have figured out a way for a better queue for Little Mermaid, MK’s version is so much better.

That is so cool you got Oswald pics with the kiddos, Alex doesn’t look impressed with the hand on his head though.

Indiana Jones over Dinosaur any day, the theming and ride-thru is so much better. So much of Dinosaur is just so dark.

The food looked really good at Café Orleans. We have never eaten there and may have to give it a try this trip! Yay for birthday goodies!

LOVE the double silhouette! Such a great instant treasured memory :goodvibes

You do a LOT of running around! I do the same, I’m the runner/FP grabber/”can you run back to the hotel for me” guy. It helps to work off all that good theme park food.

It is DH’s job to either really win at TSMM or let the kiddos win. I either suck at it or I win but end up with a forearm cramp. I hate those darn pull ropes, why couldn’t they just do triggers? :headache:

Y’all do a LOT of hopping! But that’s a good thing, if you’re going to pay the extra $$ for the park hopper use it!

I’m with you on the HM comparison. But I can’t give a fair evaluation as I literally haven’t been to the DLR version without it being in NBC mode since I went as a kid in 1976. I don’t even know what the exterior looks like without the Skellington makeover :teeth:

Cool that they had musical entertainment floating on the barge. Dance away – I say have a good time and embrace the fun! :dancer:

BTMRR is a good last ride to end on. And yay for stopping by the shooting gallery. That one is a must for me and the fam.

Looking forward to hearing how rope drop at DCA goes! :thumbsup2
 
:wave: Following along!!

Ok, WDW person truth time: the castle is small.
I've grown up visiting Disneyland at minimum once per year since I was 7 years old. I never thought the castle was small. UNTIL...we visited earlier this year after a 10-day trip to WDW in November. My first thought when walking down Main Street Disneyland following the WDW trip was, "Damn, this castle really IS a runt!" :rotfl:


Next we actually rode Matterhorn. It’s one of DMIL’s favorites. She is a native Californian and a DL vet from way back. DH and I both loved it and Cora REALLY loved it. Alex hated it. A lot. Said he was not riding it again for the rest of the trip. Spoiler alert: this would prove to be false.
This used to be one of my favorite rides ever. But since they installed the new cars, I just CANNOT ride it. It KILLS my lower back. I miss it! :sad:


Their costumes are just GREAT. Kudos to their talented grandma!


I’d heard about the pommes frites with garlic and parmesan, so I had to try them as an appetizer. They didn’t disappoint!

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For my meal, I ordered the gumbo and thought it was pretty good.

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These are my two go-to's at Cafe Orleans. Pomme Frites (with remoulade sauce) and the gumbo. YU-UM!


Also, I completely agree with your ride comparisons! Disneyland has the better BTMRR and SM. HM is neck-and-neck at both parks but, if pressed, I may give a slight edge to the WDW version.
 


Love this! I've had trouble finding TRs for DL with kids in them. Don't ask. I don't know why!

Love the costumes!! We are a costume family too! :)
 

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OMG! I haven't read one word of your TR as I just stumbled on it now, but I am soooooo glad I found it! I'm not sure if you remember me, but I've read your other trip reports. I'm the one surprising my boys with a stay at BLT (on rented points) after our Disney cruise. Anyway, I'm off to read it now and will report back.
 
I love a good road trip! I've never been to Texas or the southwest part of the U.S. (the farthest west I've been is Arkansas; I'm from PA), but I can't believe how much desert there is. It looks really, really beautiful, but hot! Hopefully I'll get to visit that area one day. Anyway, Cora and Alex look so cute in their ranger vests and I think it's adorable how they want to wear them everywhere. Have you ever heard of the NPS passport? My boys and I started them last year when we were in D.C. It's a book that looks like a passport, just much thicker, that you can stamp with a passport stamp at any of the NPS locations. My boys love it. We have stamps from D.C., Maine (Acadia National Park), and Boston. That might be something your kids would enjoy on future road trips. You just have to remember the book, lol. I've forgotten them a few times and we've had to stamp pieces of paper that I cut out and tape in the book. It's a nice souvenir and I like that it has the date and name of every place you visit.

Your first day at Disneyland was busy. I chuckled at your picture in front of the castle. I actually had to look for it. It's definitely not a focal point. I don't miss the days of running for fast passes. Did you miss not having a magic band?
 
Joining in! Those costumes are awesome, and your food pics made my mouth water!
 
Sorry I've been gone for so long! Life got crazy, as it sometimes tends to do. Hoping to update this weekend.

I am enjoying your trip report :) It looks like you had a lot of fun! We are heading to DL in late September. We are also staying at the HoJo. What is your opinion on the walk to and from the parks?

Thank you and we did! We liked the HoJo a lot. The hotel was nice, the room was large, and the beds were comfy. We had no problem with the walks to the parks in the mornings, but the walks back in the evening when we were exhausted felt pretty long. I caught myself wanting to shoot dirty looks at people who were staying at the hotels directly across the street. But ultimately, we would stay there again despite the long walks back.

I found this report, and went back and read your entire most recent WDW report! Wow!

Great family and luminous writing. Before I get any further into this response, what was your dissertation subject, and are you now all PH.D.ed up? Good for you. I started my Ph.D. in pastoral counseling way back in 1983. I got to the dissertation phase and did not finish when our son, now age 30, was born with castrophic asthma and multiple world class food allergies. That was in the day when I paid the price of a small kingdom for an electronic typewriter with one word memory correction. and all research had to be done by finding the title one wanted, and sending off for it through inter-library loan.

Thank you! I am almost PhinisheD. My current internship is the last thing I have to do. Going through a master's and then a Ph.D. with small children has been incredibly difficult, but so worth it on both counts. I can only imagine the struggle of having a child with medical needs and limited access to technology.

I grew up in Redlands, SoCal. First trip to Disneyland around 1961. My husband was in DL the third day it was open. His mom tossed all the memorabilia when they moved in the 70s. They had postcards and tickets. Imagine!

In my day, most middle class Redlands families gave kids a choice of DL or Knotts Berry Farm on their birthdays. The idea that you would spend the night or spend more than one day was unheard of. You got a coupon booklet with E, D, C, B, and A tickets. Money was pretty scarce and I still remember the gratitude when my parents spent $5 to buy an extra E-ticket book, that had 5 more E-tickets. Country Bear Jamboree had just opened, and it was E ticket. When Pirates opened, there was a special that highlighted the new animatronic figures, and the hair on the leg of the pirate who is sitting on bridge above. I still look up to notice the hair!

I will look for the hair next time! Both of my previous trips to Disneyland were for one day only (as was my one visit to Knotts Berry Farm as a 5 year old), so 5 days felt downright luxurious!

Grad night for SoCal high schools was at DL. My class had 750 kids, and they announced that if there was applause for everyone's names, then we would not end graduation until DL had closed. They also closed the Monsanto Journey into the Atom dark ride during Grad night. :lovestruc

I can remember so many times of riding PoTC, and loooking up at the Blue Bayou. That was way beyond our price range, and I couldn't imagine anyone ever being able to afford eating there.

Ha!

BB is on my bucket list, but didn't happen this time.

We became a WDW family in 1988, when it was clear that taking our son on vacation would involve first aid, and access to plugs for nebulizers, and an absolute attention to food ingredients. Because even a minute trace of any milk, egg, tree nut, peanut ..... would result in anaphylaxsis, the only place we could go and relax was WDW. I have been in the kitchens reading ingredient labels of all the major restaurants there in the days before they automated the food allergy menus and process.

I have heard how wonderful WDW is at accommodating guests with food allergies. I feel fortunate to not have needed to have first hand experience with this service, but am so glad to know it's around. They were wonderful to me with my wheelchair fiasco last year.

And it never fails to astonish me , with the work that all of us put in with our multi-day and week vacations, and the agonizing over ADRs and FPs, how it all grew from a park that families were lucky to get to once per year.

I try to drill this into my kiddos! I made it to DL and WDW once each as a child and that still put me way ahead of most kids. I want my kids to recognize how lucky they are to be in a position to have already been multiple times and to know that they have countless future trips to anticipate.

Now that my 2 are 30 and 21, I am so enjoying your tales of the magic. May it continue long and joyously!

Thank you! I'm already gearing up to start planning for our return to WDW next summer. ;)
 
Yep, that was the car I spotted!!

Wow! You've got a good eye.

I know, I know! Secret shame lol

:rotfl2: I am the sharpshooter of my family, so that is often me at the end of Buzz and TSMM, gloating away. :duck:

Tomato throw is right! ;) I have not once had the chance to gloat. One day...

I love BTMR at both parks, but I think I give the edge to DL as well but for a different reason. The lines are always shorter and the way it's more centrally located in the park makes it much easier to hit several times in a day.

Excellent point! We definitely took advantage of this. BTMR is definitely a more planned excursion at WDW with how tucked out of the way it is.

Here I am playing thread catch-up again!

If you’re going to just do one attraction in Adventureland the Tiki Room is a classic for sure!

Agreed! It felt different in that location, even though we've seen it at WDW.

From there to SM aye? Y’all are getting your walking in, that’s for sure. But worth it to be in the FP line. And I agree on SM, I can miss it at WDW but at DLR it is a must. Poor little Alex, just a bit much for him aye?

OMG yes, we did soooo much walking this day. I think we were kind of excited and just running around like kids in a candy store. Not having any sort of plan contributed to it as well. Definitely much for him, but I love that he'll face his fears and ride anyway.

I love his reaction to Cars Land though, that is an epic quote with him ‘feeling it in his soul’

He can be so dramatic!:rotfl:

Yeah, wish CA could have figured out a way for a better queue for Little Mermaid, MK’s version is so much better.

Yes Xamillion.

That is so cool you got Oswald pics with the kiddos, Alex doesn’t look impressed with the hand on his head though.

Yeah, he didn't really know who Oswald was (and it was pretty hot), but I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Indiana Jones over Dinosaur any day, the theming and ride-thru is so much better. So much of Dinosaur is just so dark.

It really is. And yes, Dinosaur is super dark, though I must admit it probably seems darker to me, as I keep my eyes closed for a decent portion...

The food looked really good at Café Orleans. We have never eaten there and may have to give it a try this trip! Yay for birthday goodies!

It was! I would eat that gumbo again right now.

LOVE the double silhouette! Such a great instant treasured memory :goodvibes

I was so glad DMIL did that! We now have it framed sitting on the piano and I love glancing at it whenever I pass by.

You do a LOT of running around! I do the same, I’m the runner/FP grabber/”can you run back to the hotel for me” guy. It helps to work off all that good theme park food.

This is what I tell myself as I'm doing the running! Every trip I eat to my heart's content and every trip I still lose weight by the end of it. Biggest weight loss was our 2nd trip to WDW, when I lost 10 pounds in 8 days!

It is DH’s job to either really win at TSMM or let the kiddos win. I either suck at it or I win but end up with a forearm cramp. I hate those darn pull ropes, why couldn’t they just do triggers? :headache:

The pull ropes trip me up every time! I think I just decided to use that as my excuse for never winning.

Y’all do a LOT of hopping! But that’s a good thing, if you’re going to pay the extra $$ for the park hopper use it!

We don't even buy hoppers at WDW! I think the draw of knowing the other park was right there was too tempting. We slowed down some on the hopping after this day, though.

I’m with you on the HM comparison. But I can’t give a fair evaluation as I literally haven’t been to the DLR version without it being in NBC mode since I went as a kid in 1976. I don’t even know what the exterior looks like without the Skellington makeover :teeth:

I would love to see that once, but don't think I would like to have it as my only option. I'm kind of glad they don't do overlays at WDW.

Cool that they had musical entertainment floating on the barge. Dance away – I say have a good time and embrace the fun! :dancer:

That's definitely our style! :thumbsup2

BTMRR is a good last ride to end on. And yay for stopping by the shooting gallery. That one is a must for me and the fam.

Looking forward to hearing how rope drop at DCA goes! :thumbsup2

Thank you! :)
 
:wave: Following along!!

Welcome! :)

I've grown up visiting Disneyland at minimum once per year since I was 7 years old. I never thought the castle was small. UNTIL...we visited earlier this year after a 10-day trip to WDW in November. My first thought when walking down Main Street Disneyland following the WDW trip was, "Damn, this castle really IS a runt!" :rotfl:

Ha! I'm wondering what the WDW castle will look like to us after a 2 year absence with our most recent experience being DL. I actually think I will miss the DL castle, though I love the WDW one.

This used to be one of my favorite rides ever. But since they installed the new cars, I just CANNOT ride it. It KILLS my lower back. I miss it! :sad:

This was my first time riding, so I had nothing to which to compare it. It was definitely bumpy, but we had a great time. I think Space at WDW hurts me more.

Their costumes are just GREAT. Kudos to their talented grandma!

Thank you! As I always say, we are really lucky.

These are my two go-to's at Cafe Orleans. Pomme Frites (with remoulade sauce) and the gumbo. YU-UM!

I don't think I will ever order anything different if we make it back. Definitely YUM!

Also, I completely agree with your ride comparisons! Disneyland has the better BTMRR and SM. HM is neck-and-neck at both parks but, if pressed, I may give a slight edge to the WDW version.

I think I'm really going to miss DL's SM next year at WDW.

Love this! I've had trouble finding TRs for DL with kids in them. Don't ask. I don't know why!

I've had the same issue! I enjoy reading just adult reports as well, but I do remember trying to find kiddo reports when planning for our trip.

Love the costumes!! We are a costume family too! :)

Thank you! And OMG, so so so cute! I love their costumes so much!

OMG! I haven't read one word of your TR as I just stumbled on it now, but I am soooooo glad I found it! I'm not sure if you remember me, but I've read your other trip reports. I'm the one surprising my boys with a stay at BLT (on rented points) after our Disney cruise. Anyway, I'm off to read it now and will report back.

Of course I remember you! Glad you found me way over here! ;) I can't believe how soon your trip is now! Looking forward to hearing how you like BLT.

I love a good road trip! I've never been to Texas or the southwest part of the U.S. (the farthest west I've been is Arkansas; I'm from PA), but I can't believe how much desert there is.

It surprised me too! I'd only been out that way twice before and never as an adult. I was also surprised by how much the desert did not match up with the image I had of it in my head.

It looks really, really beautiful, but hot!

Right on both counts! lol

Anyway, Cora and Alex look so cute in their ranger vests and I think it's adorable how they want to wear them everywhere. Have you ever heard of the NPS passport? My boys and I started them last year when we were in D.C. It's a book that looks like a passport, just much thicker, that you can stamp with a passport stamp at any of the NPS locations. My boys love it. We have stamps from D.C., Maine (Acadia National Park), and Boston. That might be something your kids would enjoy on future road trips. You just have to remember the book, lol. I've forgotten them a few times and we've had to stamp pieces of paper that I cut out and tape in the book. It's a nice souvenir and I like that it has the date and name of every place you visit.

Oh, my kids would love that SO MUCH. They are asking if we can incorporate national parks on future family trips, so I'll definitely have to look into that. Thanks for the tip!

Your first day at Disneyland was busy. I chuckled at your picture in front of the castle. I actually had to look for it. It's definitely not a focal point. I don't miss the days of running for fast passes. Did you miss not having a magic band?

I really really missed it. We talked about it multiple times over the course of the week. I wanted to tap and go! We are those horrible people who love everything about FP+ and MM+.

Joining in! Those costumes are awesome, and your food pics made my mouth water!

Thank you and welcome! I definitely miss that food - one of the most important parts of the trip! ;)
 
Day 7, June 20, part 1: Disneyland Resort!

Happy birthday to me! I was unprepared for just how much I would love spending my birthday in a Disney park. Though we didn’t have anything specific planned to celebrate it, it was amazing.

DMIL would not be joining us this day. We had originally planned to do a Magic Morning at Disneyland on this day, but we’d gotten so much done the previous day that we decided to take the extra hour of sleep and hit rope drop at DCA instead. We got there about 30 minutes before opening time and this was the scene when we arrived:

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Not long after we got in line, they started letting people in and held us at interior ropes. We had decided to start with Radiator Springs Racers, as none of us have any interest in Guardians of the Galaxy as a franchise or a ride.

We waited here:

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Just prior to 8:00am, they played the welcome recording and let us go. You can see the posted wait at RSR is already 20 minutes, but it was a walk-on going straight there.

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Here’s our ride photo:

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Alex is holding on for dear life again, but he actually loved this ride.

WDW/DLR ride comparison: I’m about to commit heresy – I prefer Test Track to this ride. Don’t get me wrong, I loved RSR. It was a lot of fun and the details throughout were amazing, but I like Test Track better as an overall experience.

Our plan was to ride the other two Carsland attractions after RSR, but they were both down. As we walked by Luigi’s, one of the CMs standing by the entrance called me over and said he had a phone call for me. It was Goofy singing happy birthday – made my morning! Love those little touches.

With our first plan being a no-go, we decided to grab fastpasses for a repeat ride on RSR, walk through Bugsland just to see it, then make our way over to the Monster’s Inc. ride.

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It was really cute and, of course, a complete walk-on at this time of day. We walked around a little bit more just absorbing the atmosphere. I regularly checked my phone to see if either of the Cars rides were back on line and eventually Luigi’s was. By the time we made it over it had developed a bit of a wait, but nothing too bad.

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We all enjoyed this ride, though we wouldn’t make it back for a repeat ride on this trip. After getting off of Luigi’s, I checked my phone to find that Mater’s had finally opened up, so we headed that way.

Picture of Grizzly Peak from the Mater line:

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This one was a ton of fun. Bonus points for getting to hear Mater make the announcements in Spanish, which cracked us up. I’m excited for the Toy Story version coming to WDW next year.

Next we decided to meet Lightning McQueen, as there was not much of a line yet for his first appearance of the day. He also wished me happy birthday, which Alex got a big kick out of.

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After greeting Lightning, we headed back over to RSR to use our fastpasses. Here’s our second ride photo of the morning:

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Alex once again holding on for dear life. At this point we decided to venture over to Downtown Disney for the first time.

Loved this sight:

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They were doing a bird show in front of Rainforest Café.

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We decided to stop for an early lunch at an old WDW friend:

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After lunch we spent some time looking around in World of Disney, which always makes me happy. The kids each got a Duffy bear on our last trip to WDW and wanted to get outfits for them as souvenirs on this trip. Since we’d had such a long day the previous day, we decided to take a hotel break at this point so we could come back fresh later in the afternoon. DH and the kids checked out Castaway Cove, the water play area at the Hojo, and I lounged around with my iPad. Heavenly.

Here are the kids on the balcony with their newly attired Duffys:

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To be continued...
 
Day 7, June 20, part 2: Disneyland Resort!

We hoofed it back down Harbor in the late afternoon after a decent amount of down time at the hotel. Immediately after entering Disneyland, we spotted Mulan. There was only one family waiting to see her, so we hopped in line. Love those princesses!

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We wanted to spend some time in Tomorrowland, and grabbed fastpasses for Star Tours first thing. The kids commented on the sadness of seeing the Peopemover track, but having no Peoplemover to ride. Really missed that one! I also hated the placement of Astro Orbiters on the ground in the middle of the entrance to the land. I had heard horror stories about the tightness of the walkways in DL when it’s crowded, but a lot of the congestion in Tomorrowland seemed completely avoidable.

Anyway, we decided to get Autopia out of the way next. Ugh. The kids understandably insist on doing the car rides, but it always ranks as one of the least magical times for us grown-ups.

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I had no idea what was happening with these screens in line

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WDW/Disneyland ride comparison: I hate both the Speedway and Autopia, but Autopia gets the edge for being slightly more bearable. Both of them are out in the sun, loud, and smelly. However, the actual track on Autopia was more scenic and an overall better experience. Still no desire to ever ride again.

Where in Disneyland is this?

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If you said “the line for Astroblasters” you’re right!

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WDW/Disneyland ride comparison: We enjoy Space Ranger Spin and we enjoyed this as well. It was nice to be able to actually hold the gun.

Our Star Tours FP window was open by the time we finished Buzz, so we headed over that way.

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No need to make a comparison here – the ride is exactly the same! Always a good time.

After Star Tours we crossed through the hub over to Frontierland. The plan was to get fastpasses for BTMR, then have an early dinner while we waited for our return time to come up. We were pleasantly surprised.

You may or may not have read about the change that occurred to fastpasses in Disneyland this past June. I haven’t kept up with things since the introduction of Maxpass so I have no idea if this is the case now, but while we were there, fastpass changed to allow people to pull passes with immediate return windows. We experienced this for the first time with this Big Thunder pull. The window opened less than 5 minutes from the time we pulled the passes. At the time I had no idea of it was a glitch or what, but we decided to take advantage of it. I left DH to watch the kids and immediately walked over to New Orleans Square and grabbed passes for Haunted Mansion, as we all wanted to do that one again. Again, the passes had an almost immediate return time. I was tempted to round the corner to Splash and grab yet another set, but decided against it.

Once I met back up with the family, we went ahead and hopped on BTMR (whee!), then grabbed some food, planning to eat and be finished in time to catch the end of our HM window. We stopped in at Rancho Del Zocalo, as these Texans were sorely missing Mexican food (even though we had just had some on our arrival night in CA – what can I say?).

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Sadly, this didn’t scratch the itch for us. We found it to be okay, but pretty flavorless.

After our meal, we had our second visit with the 999 happy haunts, then headed back toward the hub through Adventureland. The kids wanted to see Tarzan’s tree house. I wasn’t feeling the idea of all of those steps, so I took a seat while DH took them up. Here’s my view.

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Next it was treat time on Main Street! We took our goodies out to the Esplanade to enjoy.

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I was so thirsty and mine looked so tasty – orange Fanta float - I had slurped down half of it before I took a picture.

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At this point, DH and I were ready to call it a day. The kiddos weren’t there yet. They begged to go back into DCA. Cora really wanted to check out the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which she’d read about before the trip. We relented and headed back into the park.

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Once I realized what it actually was, I recognized that it warranted more time than a quick stop by at the end of a day when we were all beat. I compromised with the kids by allowing them to play for a little bit and promising that we’d come back later in the week when we had enough time and energy to do it justice. No way we could have followed them through that thing at this point.

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We made the long walk back to the Hojo, got showers and in pajamas in time for the fireworks, which we could see from our balcony.

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A few minutes into the show, we realized we could see a lot of the fireworks from bed, so that’s how we finished it.

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Up next: DMIL rejoins us for more costumes, hopping, and magic
 
We had decided to start with Radiator Springs Racers, as none of us have any interest in Guardians of the Galaxy as a franchise or a ride.

Love, love, love RSR so I don't fault you for that choice. But, I have to say that we, not caring about the franchise as well, did Guardians and LOVED it! Now, I think I remember that you don't like ToT at HS so I don't blame you for not wanting to give it a try. I can only take ToT once per trip, it does make my stomach do flips. But in my opinion (and DH and DD, we 3 were the only ones who rode GoG) Guardians is so much better and so much more fun that ToT. For me it's mostly b/c of the music, which is awesome!

WDW/DLR ride comparison: I’m about to commit heresy – I prefer Test Track to this ride. Don’t get me wrong, I loved RSR. It was a lot of fun and the details throughout were amazing, but I like Test Track better as an overall experience.

You are not alone my friend. While I prefer RSR over Test Track, DH and at least 1 of my children, maybe 2, prefer Test Track as well.

The kids commented on the sadness of seeing the Peopemover track, but having no Peoplemover to ride. Really missed that one!

Yes, this is the saddest thing about DL. Our family just loves the Peoplemover and we have missed it dearly on our 2 trips to DL.
 
I am loving your trip report! You write so well, I feel l like Im there. And you have a lovely family.

Cannot wait for more!
 
WDW/Disneyland ride comparison: I hate both the Speedway and Autopia, but Autopia gets the edge for being slightly more bearable. Both of them are out in the sun, loud, and smelly. However, the actual track on Autopia was more scenic and an overall better experience. Still no desire to ever ride again
I am with you on this. They need to update the Speedway badly!!!

Glad you had a good birthday! I would love to do that for each of us one day, but mine and my youngest DD is in July... A little to hot for my liking...
 

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