Disneyland

 Friday was probably my favorite day of the trip. I had so much fun at Disneyland. There were seriously moments where I was just so happy and having so much fun and feeling so light. At one point Emma was complaining about a ride we were on (I think Haunted Mansion) and I told her to stop ruining it for me. I know, I'm such a good mom that instead of being concerned about her feelings I was more concerned that she was ruining my fun.  I'm sure some therapist will hear about that one day. 

Anyway, we got up and got to Disneyland by 9am. Michelle had to work but she dropped us off which was so nice and saved us the time and money of parking. We went straight to Splash Mountain which had a five minute wait and it was awesome. I love that ride, although I think the one in Florida is better at telling the story so I do like that one better. I sat in the front and ended up getting soaked on one of the small hills so I was pretty wet most of the day but I didn't care. It was so fun. 

  

 

Then we did Winnie the Pooh and Haunted Mansion and then we had a lightning lane pass to Thunder Mountain. That ride just is so fun and makes me so happy. I also loved the lightning lane passes. It cost us an extra $20 a ticket but was so worth it. It wasn't stressful like fast passes and it saved us so much time. I can't quite remember the exact order of the day but we did walk through Fantasyland which was filled with strollers and little kids, decided to do the teacups and then we got out of there. We went to Tomorrowland and did Buzz Lightyear and we had pizza for lunch at Pizza Planet and eventually we made our way back there to do Space Mountain and Autopia (both with lightning lane passes). Space Mountain in CA is so much better than the one in Florida. It has a better seat, it is smoother, has fun music and a better take off. When I got off the ride in Florida I was feeling shaken and kind of old because it felt jerky to me. When I got off in CA, I was so happy. It was an awesome ride and I felt great all day--I'm not old yet! It was Brandon's first time riding it and he loved it; Emma and Lily not so much. In fact he and I rode together and that was another of my favorite moments of the trip was turning to him once it was light again and I could see his face and I could tell he was happy and had loved the ride like I did. 

  

 

 

We did Smuggler's Run in Star Wars Land and it was okay.  We did Small World (again, better in Disneyland because the outside is so pretty and they have added in Disney characters to the appropriate country, which is so cute) and we rode the train around and then we got Mickey beignets in New Orleans Square. Unfortunately Pirates was closed and we never did make it on Jungle Cruise or Indiana Jones so we kind of missed out on Adventureland, but we did walk through it twice. Lily and Emma and then Brandon weren't so keen to ride the Matterhorn, which was fine because the line was ridiculously long so Curtis, Josh and I did the single rider line and it still took us 40 minutes. Then we did the carousel and walked through the castle and got dinner at the Golden Horseshoe, which was remarkably empty and quiet so we had a lovely dinner there.  I really dislike waiting in line for food and feel like it wastes so much time so I was thrilled that we could order all of our food while waiting in line for a ride and then go pick it up and eat right away. That made for a smoother day for sure. 

   

 

Then we went to go ride the new Star Wars ride because we had read lines go down after 7pm. We got there prepared to wait for a long time but it was okay since we were pretty done for the day, but the ride had just closed down. We were so disappointed! We waited for about 20 minutes but it didn't open back up so we went to Fantasyland to ride some of the little kid rides for Emma and Brandon but it is annoying when even those rides are 30 minute waits. We did Snow White and then we were about to do Pinocchio but no one in our family likes that movie so I suggested we go to Adventureland and do Jungle Cruise because its line had finally gone down to just 30 minutes. We had just gotten in line when Josh checked the app and Rise of the Resistance had opened up again so we literally ran through Frontierland and to Star Wars land and got in line as quickly as we could. We ended up only waiting 45 minutes (I thought the line would be more interesting but it was kind of boring; at least it had lots of benches to sit on though) and the ride was so amazing. I had heard it was the best ride ever and it really was so clever, creative, immersive and fun. Emma was crying in line about having to go on because she doesn't like Star Wars but I kept telling her a good ride is fun no matter what the story is and she ended up loving it. I love being right! We got off the ride at 8:50 and walked to Main Street to watch the fireworks at 9pm. They were honestly a bit disappointing and only lasted 10 minutes but I'm still glad we got to see them. 

My favorite treat at Disneyland is a cream cheese filled pretzel and we had planned to get them before the fireworks but then ran out of time and the place closed at 9pm so I was disappointed. But then Josh found out that they are also sold on a pretzel cart in Tomorrowland so we went against the crowd to get over there and got them and they were so delicious and warm and it just made my day. We did a little shopping on our way out but only Emma found something she liked. Michelle came and picked us up about 10pm and everyone was happy to get to bed. The park was open until 12am and I really wanted to stay but the kids were wiped and we had another busy day planned for Saturday so it was good we got to sleep when we did. 

 

We have debated about Disneyland vs Disney World and I like them both and don't feel there is a need to pick one over the other. Disneyland is smaller and it is easier to get around, which I like. Small World and Space Mountain are way better there. It has unique rides like Indiana Jones and Matterhorn. It didn't feel super crowded, except in Fantasyland. We got to ride a lot of rides and had a fun and pretty easy and wonderful day. WDW is fun because it is bigger and there is more to see and do and Splash Mountain is better there. I personally like the bigger castle as well. We all really like Animal Kingdom too and EPCOT so they are both wonderful and fun and worth visiting.