Our Disneyland Trip Report

Thought I’d share our trip to Disneyland California between February 17-21. We got 3-day park hopper tickets that we used for the 18th, 19th, and 20th (Wed, Thu, Fri). This was in the middle of Presidents’ Week, or "Mid-Winter Break" for most of us here in western WA (or "Ski Week" as it’s known in some California school districts). Juliana and Coral are 7 and 2 years old now, which seemed like a good time to go. It was the first time for both of them. Bethany and I hadn't gone since we were kids, although we've been to Disneyland Paris since then, and I've been to Disney World. Tawnya also wanted to go with us, which was a big help in terms of helping with the kids. We were also accompanied by Jason and Molly's family while in California, though we had to take different flights to get there.

I was worried about the crowds during this particular week. A lot. isitpacked.com said it was going to be packed (they have since changed Wed and Thu to ‘Hey It’s Alright’) and disboards.com posts from previous years were not promising. Not only that, but Disneyland (but not California Adventure) announced extended hours that week due to potential big crowds and stayed open until 11 p.m.

Well, I am very happy to report that crowds were barely an issue. Sure, it was busy, but working the Fastpass service and knowing when to hit which rides at certain times made it quite easy for us to ride just about everything that we wanted. The longest we ever waited for any ride was 20 minutes, which is pretty good.

The Magical (a.k.a. The Good)

• My favorite thing was that Disneyland stayed open until 11 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and the park was practically empty from 9 p.m. to closing. I assume the locals were going back home to get ready for work the next day and visitors with young kids were heading back to the hotel for the night. I walked on all of the major rides between these magical two hours. Space Mountain, Star Tours, Indy, BTM, you name it... I did it.
• Watching my girls light up and become more interactive with everything in the park was a delight. I knew they were going to like it, but I guess nothing really prepares you for how much they are going to love it. Everything was a “look over here, dad!” and a “did you see that, dad?”
• Star Tours is my new favorite ride. I liked it before, but hadn’t done it since the update. After going on it five times, I experienced all of the segments, except the Kashyyyk one. Hoth and Naboo were my favorite. Also, my 7-year-old loved it!
• Fantasmic. I hadn’t seen it since the mid-90s. I loved the updates. Also had a positive experience with the new Fastpass system for this, though I think they start opening the area a little too early.
• Favorite non-dessert food = Corn dogs from Red Wagon. Everything people said they were and more.
• Favorite dessert = warm brownie sundae at Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop. Best ice cream sundae I have ever had.
• Cars Land. Simply amazing. They got everything right, even down to the single flashing yellow light. Our jaws were on the floor the entire time. Radiator Springs Racers is a fun ride, as well. A little overhyped, as in not worth standing in line 240 minutes for, but a true joy.
• Hipster Mickey! Freelance artist Jerrod Maruyama draws hipster versions of Mickey Mouse and they are awesome. His stuff sells at the WonderGround Gallery in Downtown Disney. I bought a shirt, a bunch of post cards, a pin, and a coffee mug with Hipster Mickey stuff on it.

The Meh (a.k.a. The Bad/Okay)

• I might be in the minority on this one. I had never had Dole Whip before. However, I have tried the Dole soft serve at Menchie’s, Blissberri, and Yeti Yogurt. So, when I tried my first official Dole Whip Float at Disneyland, I was not impressed. It tasted almost exactly like what I can get just down the street. It’s good, but not something I would go out of my way for. *ducks for cover*
• Character dining at Goofy’s Kitchen was fun, the dinner food was good, and it was great to see and spend some quality time with some characters like Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale, and Pluto. But of the two and a half hours we sat there, no other characters came out. Just those five. I thought this was a great way to cross a bunch of meet and greets off the list? I know I’ve seen pictures of other characters there like Peter Pan, Mad Hatter, Baloo, Jasmine, and more. Do they only come out during breakfast or something?
• Tower of Terror in Florida > Tower of Terror in California.
• This one is old and trivial, but I miss the PeopleMover. It was that one ride where you could walk on and rest your feet for about 15 minutes and still enjoy the park. Going to have to plan a WDW trip next.
• We stayed at the Best Western Plus Stovall's Inn. I have nothing good or bad to say about the place. Then again, all I did was sleep in it.

The Evil (a.k.a. The Ugly)

• The closures. I know it’s the off-season. I know that we can expect rides to be closed, but it seemed like way more than usual all because of the 60th anniversary coming up. My girls not getting to see Sleeping Beauty’s Castle on their first trip was the biggest bummer of all. As much as I like the Herb Ryman covering, it just doesn’t do the castle any justice. I had not seen World of Color yet, and guess what? Still haven’t seen World of Color yet. *le sigh* And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Take a look at the long list of other stuff that was closed: Matterhorn, Davy Crockett’s canoes, Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Soarin’ Over California, It’s Tough to Be a Bug, Grizzly River Run, Luigi’s Flying Tires, and Ariel’s Grotto. *phew* Again, a few of these closed during off-season time is perfectly understandable, but geez.
• The fireworks show. Semi-related to the closures thing, but since Sleeping Beauty's Castle was covered in tarp, they couldn't really do their normal fireworks show. Instead, they went back to the normal, boring show that they did back in the '90s. Problem is, they don't really communicate this to you. So, most folks are lining up and grabbing prime spots for the show up to an hour before, not realizing that it's not an elaborate show and it only lasts for just over 4 minutes. Thankfully, I did my research beforehand on this, so I knew not to waste our time waiting and watching for the fireworks, but it's still lame.

Overall, it was an amazing trip that we shall never forget. The kids were complete angels compared to some of the dreadful ones we saw throwing temper tantrums in the middle of the park. I think the girls enjoyed It's a Small World the most, which is kind of to be expected.

I chose not to bring my Canon 5D Mark II after reading a lot of blog posts about the experience. Just about every professional and amateur photographer said to leave your DSLR at home. The reasons being that it is heavy, it will get bumped often, and there are a few rides where you might have to leave it on the platform. All of that convinced me that it wasn't worth it and that I'd be happy enough with pics and video from my good ol' Panasonic Lumix LX-3 and my iPhone. So, that's what you'll see below. When you're done looking at those, check out more in the full set here.

The line waiting to get into California Adventure on the first day. Everyone getting that prime spot to immediately grab Radiator Springs Racers FastPasses.

Donald Duck was the first character we got to meet.

James and Juliana on King Triton's Carousel. Video of us here.

Like I mentioned, World of Color was undergoing a redesign, so the water was completely drained and folks were working on it during our trip.

The kiddos with Woody. Coral was not a fan of meeting the characters. More on that in a little bit.

Carsland is very well-done. Checked it out at night, too.

While Radiator Springs Racers is a fantastic ride, it wasn't my favorite.

Saw Mickey Mouse ride by on a trolly. This was one of the Mickeys where his eyes blink and mouth moves when he speaks.

The girls' shirts on the first day.

Taking a selfie with Coral on the Golden Zephyr ride. Lots of smiles on her face when she was able to ride things.

We caught the Pixar parade.

Best thing I ate at the Disneyland Parks.

Day 2 now. We spent the whole day at Disneyland. We all wore our family Disney trip t-shirts this day. I was more excited about Juliana getting to drive on Autopia than she probably was, but she enjoyed it. Video of us here.

Who would know that a tiny little food cart like this has the most delicious snack in all the parks?

Soon to be a movie coming to a theatre near you.

The Herb Ryman concept art covering for Sleeping Beauty's Castle while it's getting prettied up for the 60th anniversary.

Showing the back of our shirts that Bethany made while looking at Walt and Mickey in Disneyland.

Instead of autograph books, we had characters sign a picture frame. That way, when we get home, we could frame one of our Disneyland pictures in it to make it more special.

We ran into some of my cousins at Disneyland! We didn't know they were going the same week as us. We also saw another family that we knew there who have a daughter that went to pre-school and plays soccer with Juliana. It's a small world after a-... nevermind.

The Soundsational Parade at Disneyland was more enjoyable than the Pixar one. Mickey actually drums! Video of the parade here.

We had dinner at Goofy's Kitchen that night. Here is the whole crew with Chef Goofy himself. Video of us here.

Again, a scared Coral is missing from this picture. She cracked me up. Minnie Mouse would walk by and she would yell, "Minnie Mouse! Minnie Mouse! Come here!" Minnie would walk by though and visit some other tables. So, while she was 20-30 feet away from us, Coral would study her from afar. Then, she would quietly tell me, "I don't like Minnie Mouse." Which is it, kid!? lol

The Mark Twain Riverboat sequence near the end of the Fantasmic show is my favorite part. So many characters! Video here.


Okay. Had to embed this video here because I love it so much. This was our first ride on Day 3. Mickey's Fun Wheel is a Ferris Wheel that has some cages on a track that swings. It can be more intense than it looks, as seen here with Bethany and Julie.

Juliana wore her Snow White dress for most of the day. She was called "princess" everywhere we went.

Wish we had taken more pictures like these, but here is our Donald and Daisy Tsum Tsums posing in front of the riverboat.

Julie at Snow White's wishing well.

She got to meet her favorite Disney princess (and mine, too), Rapunzel.

Alice in Wonderland selfie!

Juliana got to sit on the front flat part of the boat as a whale watcher on the Storybook Canal Boat ride. (She didn't do a very good job of that since we got eaten by Monstro.)

You've only seen 33 photos here, but there are 94 more in my full Flickr album and 16 videos total on my YouTube channel.