Cass, Rob & Kira - Disneyland June 2023 - "Our lights! Our watches! Our bands!"

[Timon]

June 22nd, Part 2


Let's carry on, shall we?

I just love these lantern lights! They look even better at night, which, of course, I will show you later on.

Do you spot the hidden Mickey? It's also in the logo for the hotel.

Close up look at the toiletries you get. They also give you two dental hygiene kits, which we may have had to use later on, when we discovered that Rob didn't pack our toothpaste.

Close up of the slippers, which Kira made good use out of immediately.

I had placed a grocery order with Von's, like I did last time but for some reason, it wouldn't allow me to deliver to the hotel so it switched me over to Albertson's. We called Bell Services and they brought up our order for us.

I got some water and Diet Coke and some stuff to snack on as well as some stuff I wanted to take home.

Once that was all put away, it was time for some dinner! The fridge is bigger than it looks!

Looking down at the lobby.

I forgot to mention that when we checked in, they asked us if we were celebrating anything. We all just kind of looked at each other like...ummm...... It sounded like she wanted an answer so Rob blurted out that we were celebrating our 25th anniversary a little early and Kira said she was celebrating that Grade 11 was over!

So she gave us anniversary and graduation buttons.

I told Kira I would hang on to hers for her until next year when she finishes high school.

And technically, we still don't know what we are doing for our 25th in October. It's a tough month to be going away, we have lots going on but we do want to do something. I really want a cruise but the timing is a little off. I do have one in mind but I'm not sure if it's going to happen. Everything is so dang expensive these days!

But we were here, there was no smoke, we were in a gorgeous hotel close to everything, we were happy and we were celebrating.

I will look back very fondly on all of these family trips. We have so much fun together, so many laughs, so many great memories and I will never regret taking any of them!

This is made of rice krispies, can you believe it?

Our plan was to eat at Craftsman Grill, formerly White Water Snacks but both the grill and the bar area were closed. Apparently the kitchen was down for some reason so we headed to Downtown Disney and headed for our second choice, Black Tap!

It was very busy, and very loud. We managed to find a table outside but we were right next to a screaming baby (and the walkway) so we moved to another table once one opened up.

Kira got the chicken tenders and fries....

Rob and I shared a cheeseburger, soooo delicious!!

Rob was laughing because the table we ended up at was next to a sign that said New York City.

After dinner, we headed over to the Trading Post. Rob had left his jean jacket at home and he was already chilly and regretting that decision. Guess he forgot that the temperature drops quite a bit once the sun goes down. I think he was thinking it was like Florida where it's still 30 degrees out at 10pm.

We looked for a jacket for him but didn't find anything.

We walked through Downtown Disney, headed for the World of Disney.

It was Pride Month and Disney did such a great job celebrating it. My kiddo is a proud member of that group and I am a proud ally.

Our goal for WoD was to get Kira a Magic Band+. Rob has his Tron one from our WDW April trip and I ended up getting a plain black one for a nice discount on my solo April trip, so Kira was the only one without one and since we bought Genie+, we were going to be using them a lot, it made sense that we should get her one too.

She recently watched The Mandalorian, finally after years of us telling her how amazing it was, and she is completely in love with Mando and Grogu, so she ended up getting an N1 Starfighter one with Mando and Grogu on one side with the N1 on the other side.

She wanted to shop more but we also wanted to get dessert and possibly some pool time and I still had to stop at the ticket booth so they stayed to shop while I went to the ticket booth.

If you are wearing a MB+, when you walk past any of the 100 statue coin things, they light up with little fiber optic lights and your MB vibrates and lights up. Not gonna lie, sometimes these scared the crap out of us!

Once I told Kira about it, she thought that her band made the fountain work.

I had bought Rob and Kira 4-day hoppers with Genie+ but for my ticket, I had panic-purchased a 4-day base ticket from Airmiles back when everyone thought Airmiles was going under.

So, I wanted to upgrade it to a hopper, which I was able to do and can I just say that Disneyland is just so awesome and so easy, compared to Walt Disney World??!!! It costs $60 to upgrade to a hopper, no matter how many days you have. So if you are purchasing more than 3 days, I would say it's 100% worth it!

They met up with me at the booth just as I was done, so we headed back down to get some dessert. I wanted to surprise them with it but Rob had spotted it as we were eating dinner but Kira was happily surprised with the idea of getting beignets!

The problem was that the line was super long! Rob kindly offered to stay and get them while Kira and I headed back to the room to change into our swimsuits for some pool time. We only had about 40 minutes before it closed but hey, 40 minutes is better than nothing.


While we were waiting in line (before Rob offered to grab them for us) Kira said something funny. I had told her in WoD that I had to go upgrade my tickets and then we would grab dessert. Well, somewhere in that time, it was completely lost in translation and she blurted out "How long does your beignet ticket last?"

What the what????

Somehow, knowing my teen, I knew what she meant. She obviously didn't listen to my whole explanation about needing to upgrade my base ticket to a hopper and then mixed in the fact that we have Genie+ and were now getting beignets in a very long line but with planning, you can avoid lines while at Disney.

You know you raised your kiddo at Disney when.

We had a good laugh about it and I told her "Oh! That just might be the title of my trip report right there!"

Here's our beautiful view at night...

And a closer look at those lanterns.

Kira donned her luxurious robe and slippers and off we went.

It was pretty cold so we only lasted a bit before going to the hot tub.

While we were warming up in the chemically-abundant hot tub, Rob brought us dessert!

Oh. My. Dog. These were soooooo good! And bonus for having caramel sauce as well as chocolate. The dips were a little pricey but worth it!

Back in the hot tub until our eyes couldn't handle it anymore and then Kira went to relax on the very cozy pool chairs while I got one last swim in.

They kicked us out promptly at 10pm and then we went back to the room and headed to bed. Tomorrow was an early start and we had beignet tickets to use!

 

[Timon]

So looking forward to reading this!!!!!!!

Man, you're fast!

Another trip report! I'm excited!

Excited to share it with you!

Yeahhh another TR thanks Timon
We love disneyland so much ! Might very well be overdue for a visit

Definitely fit it in between your cruises!

Marking my place! Headed back to read.

Jill in CO

Ok, caught up. I was in Philly when that smoke was so bad and it was horrible! You made the right call to go to DL instead! I love the Grand! Its my happy place! Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

Jill in CO

Yeah, in hindsight, I think it was the right call.

I hear you! I love the Grand too!

Here to read along. Yup us in Ontario had the smoggy smoke look but not as bad as NYC.
Good decision as NYC will still be there when you can enjoy it.

Glad you're here!

Yup, we will eventually get to NYC!

Here!!!!!! I didn't realize that her trip was cancelled literally that close to the departure time. What a total bummer for those kids!
I can't wait to read and see all the pictures!

Yeah, it was tough for them! All that planning, then flight cancelled but rebooked, said bye to their parents and....PSYCH!

Woohoo, I'm here! I'm sorry to hear all the reasons behind the two cancelled NYC trips but man....what a great alternative Sigh. I miss the Grand! On our last trip we stayed at the BW at the cross walk and while the location is fantastic for offsite, it's no Grand Californian ;-) Unfortunately was not able to snag a room with our points at the 7 month mark (shocker) but I'm hopeful now that the DLH has dvc villas we can get in there for our next trip - or snag the Grand because everyone wants to stay at the DLH

SNA is a great airport but we've only used it once because it's usually so much more expensive for us from YVR even factoring traffic and uber cost. But I always check that airport first lol

Can't wait for more!!

We were thisclose to staying across the street, I had it down to three and I almost booked it too but something was stopping me! And the Grand was really only about a grand more, so I couldn't pass it up! Across the street is fine but it's tough staying outside of the Disney bubble!

Yes, I hope you get your Grand while everyone else is booking DLH!

We've never had a direct flight to SNA from YYC before but Air Canada stopped their twice daily flights to LAX so yay for Westjet! I hope they continue the direct flight!

What happened to all of these? We have a DCL cruise booked in Oct sailing from NYC and I’m hesitant to pull the trigger on Broadway tickets because I’m just so paranoid after COVID of trips being cancelled.

I called the theatre and they moved our tickets to a later date, I emailed the 9/11 museum and they did the same. The Pedestal tickets are refundable so I went ahead and got us Crown tickets instead since they were available. Although, I don't think we will make it this year so I just might have to move them all again!

The only thing we lost out on was the Yankees tickets but we got upper level tickets so we didn't lose much. We don't watch baseball, we just wanted the experience.

If you don't care what show you see, I would just wait and do a lottery sale or get discount day of tickets. I bought tickets because I wanted a specific show and we only had one night to see it and it would have been our first Broadway show for all of us.

I`m here! As always looking forward to this report Seeing your post made me realize that I believe I never finished you previous report, darn notifications that stop out of the blue! Now I got me 2 reports to read, not a bad thing
We were at the Calgary airport last week (our flights between the maritimes to the west coast were absolute nightmares both ways) and I caught myself looking around in case I would catch you guys flying out somewhere. Then I thought to myself, ok you are nuts girl! But I can see from your dates above that we were there just a couple days apart

Well, hey, enjoy, lots of reading for you!

That's so funny about your airport story! You just never know who you're going to bump into!

Woohoo here for another one. It’s been a long time since I have been to Disneyland can’t wait to hear about your trip.

Yay, glad you're here!

Hooray for another trippie!!! Excited to read all about Disneyland. It's still on my bucket list for someday!! So wonderful that you were able to make the changes from NYC to Disneyland rather than miss out on a trip altogether!

It's soooo different from WDW and 100% worth it! I have really grown to love Disneyland for so many reasons! Glad you're here!

I love that shower. So much better than a tub.

It's a great shower!!

Yaaaayyy!!! Another Trippie!!!! <3 Super excited to follow along!

Super glad you're here!

So happy to see another trip report from you! Love reading along!

Yay! Glad you made it!

Joining in! Poor Kira missing her trip! I am so proud of how she handled it. I am an adult (by age only) and have handled a cancelled trip like a toddler (Thanks Hurricane Irma). Since then I have had 2 trips Covid cancelled, and last week had a trip to California cancelled after sitting on the plane for three hours!

That said, a trip to Disneyland is a GREAT consolation prize! I have always wanted to stay at the GC. It looks so gorgeous and relaxing!

Awww, well, it's tougher when you get older. And sitting on a place for three hours would make me cry!!

It really was a great consolation so she wasn't too sad! We had a blast!

 

[KEK1]

Yay my fave TR is back! Looking forward to following, great start.

 

[bcwife76]

Beignet tickets Can I get some of those tickets?

Those pool chairs are SO COMFY!! I am not ashamed to admit I fell asleep in one last visit.
Trip's off to a great start already and you haven't even set foot in the parks lol

 

[cntkg1]

Ignore!

Too late!

 

[cntkg1]

That is the most delicious looking Rice Krispie Treat I ever saw!,,

Is there a prize if I can correctly guess which grocery item went home with you?

 

[Kanga2Roo]

"How long does your beignet ticket last?"

OMG! That is hilarious. I can totally hear her saying that too....all serious.

Kira donned her luxurious robe and slippers and off we went.

This makes me think of when we went and both showed up at the pool wearing the robes, without knowing the other was going to wear them...and we thought we were all super cool and special. LOL.

Corn nuts!!!! MMMM. We love them. Did I put some in your Easter bag this year?

 

[rndmr2]

Glad to see a new TR and getting in from the beginning. We went to DL last year and had a great trip. I Started a TR and am about halfway through but had computer/internet issues a few months ago and haven't been able to get back to it yet. I do plan to finish it at some point even if just to post the pics.

And technically, we still don't know what we are doing for our 25th in October. It's a tough month to be going away, we have lots going on but we do want to do something. I really want a cruise but the timing is a little off. I do have one in mind but I'm not sure if it's going to happen. Everything is so dang expensive these days!

Happy Early Anniversary! Our 20th is in October and we are doing a cruise to the Mediterranean. Things are definitely so much more expensive these days, it is costing a bunch (Business class flights and staying a couple days in Rome beforehand too) but worth it and it's a double celebration since I turn 50 next week so I am using it to celebrate that too (belatedly)

Ohh these choices look yummy. I see there is one with cookie butter glaze...I Love cookie butter, I had never heard of it or had it until a few years ago. Well, when we were in DL last year we had beignets at the place by the Haunted Mansion and they had a special cookie butter dip. ohh wow was that good!

Looking forward to more of the TR

 

[evilmommie]

Awesome trip report. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

 

[Timon]

June 23rd, Part 1

My plan for the next four days was to get up super early, get to the parks for the on-site hotel guest 30-minute early entry, ride as much as we could until it got too hot and crowded, have some lunch at some point in there and then head back to the hotel to rest for a few hours. Then once we were nice and rested, head back to the parks for dinner and then get some more rides done.

Spoiler alert, this was the only day that my plans came to fruition.

My brain is still on rope-drop-to-park-close mode but my body is now on a whole other different mode and they don't communicate well with each other.

I also have a teenager who is on need-to-sit-down-at-all-times mode, so she was also needing more down time.

Rob was game for anything and everything, as he always is, and was bummed a few times when Kira was just done and wanted to head back but by the end of the trip, he was feeling it and said to me "Yeah, theme parking is getting a little tough".

The good thing is that Disneyland is so easy to do, it's so much smaller than the World and it's closer together, so park hopping is a breeze! And yet, Kira kept saying "How did I do Disney World in April?"

It was much hotter in April, with major humidity and we walked 25-30K steps a day there. This trip, it was hot from noonish until 4pm, with little to no humidity and we only averaged 20K steps a day. That's a lot of theme parking though, especially since they were only a month and a half apart.

I think I was up at 6am this morning, we all took showers in our lovely shower. The only downside to the bathroom is that it's a little small and there's no hooks to hang stuff, not even a clothes line in the shower to hang your wet swimsuit.

Rob and Kira love their chocolate croissants so on vacation, I usually get them some for breakfast. Normally they eat them as a dessert but for vacation, I don't really care. I love vacation me. So much more chill and easy going.

The ones from Albertsons were too sweet for Rob apparently so he had only one of them and Kira partook of the rest. He also had some strawberries that morning and I brought one of his WDW coffee mugs and some McD's K cups for him to use in the room.

Normally Kira and I skip breakfast but on this trip, she had her croissant and then sometimes even snacked on her goldfish. For me, I go as long as I can before eating. This is what I do at home, so my body is used to it and it helps with my tummy issues.

By 7am, we were set to head down to go through security. Since Disneyland would be our first park, we headed for the DD security area. What I didn't know was that, in the mornings, they opened up the other gate, further down, closer to the park so the lines weren't too bad at all. Also, we are so used to WDW, we totally forgot that they hand search bags here still. Sometimes, they hardly looked inside my bag, skipping several pockets, even though I had them all unzipped for them, and sometimes they would open up my glasses case and have me open my wallet! Weird!

We walked down Downtown Disney and headed left, no lines to get into the park yet, nice!

The only disappointing thing about Disneyland, to me, is the castle reveal. When you walk down Main Street in WDW, you turn that corner and BAM!!! Massive impressive castle, just beaming it's magic powers right to you, making you tear up, jogging all of those nostalgic memories.

In Disneyland, you turn that corner and....meh.

What Disneyland has over WDW, however, is the OG feeling. Walt himself walked here. He was involved in every single detail. You can almost feel his presence here. It's hard to describe to someone who hasn't been here but if you're a Disney lover and you've never been here...you must come!

This park was built in a year and a day. And back in 1954!!! Imagine that for a minute! It took 3 years to build Galaxy's Edge!!! They built this entire park in a third of that time! Some of it was not quite ready for opening day and it has obviously been expanded and redesigned over the years but when I walk down Main Street, I always think of that day back in July, 1955, and how people must have felt seeing this place for the first time. There was nothing like it at the time. Sure there were amusement parks but not like this!

We got to the end of Main Street right at 7:30am, when early entry begins. They check rooms keys but you can also show them your hotel reservation in the app, which is what I did because it was just easier as I always have my phone handy.

Our first stop was Space Mountain. Kira had never ridden the normal version here. On her first trip to Disneyland, she was 8 years old and only did the kiddie rides. On her second trip, it had a Star Wars layover called Hyperspace Mountain, which was actually REALLY cool but still, not the OG version so I was excited for her to ride it!

She was pretty excited too! I love this Space Mountain more because I don't feel like I need a chiropractic adjustment after riding it. It's so much smoother and it's much easier to get in and out of. Maybe not as thrilling but my back was totally okay with that.

They weren't operating the single rider yet so Rob didn't have anyone to chat with this time.

I thought maybe we could head over and do some of the kiddie rides in Fantasyland but Kira wasn't interested, so we headed for Matterhorn. It wasn't open for early entry but it was only about 7 minutes from park opening so we just joined the line that had already formed.

Kira rode this on the last trip but she didn't remember it at all. I told her it was rough but fun to ride, especially knowing that this sucker was the very first steel tubular roller coaster, built back in 1959!

Next up, we headed to Toontown. They just redid this whole area and it was so cute! They did a great job.

Sorry, I sucked at photos sometimes. I did great with video but sometimes I forgot to take pics! We rode Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway and then headed to Frontierland.

On the way there, she met Pocahontas. She was just chilling in the shade talking to her CM friend.

Kira was shocked to find that the characters here just all walk around the park. She is so used to WDW, where, for the most part, you have to stand in a 20-60 minute line if you want to meet a character.

You also have to be a little aggressive here though if you want to meet them because they will literally just keep walking unless you get their attention somehow. Sometimes they will come up to you if you're wearing something that involves them or if you're doing something that sparks their interest but for the most part, if you just stand there and say nothing, they will walk right past you without so much as a glance.

Now, with Kira's anxiety, she found this tough because she's not one to approach someone. Her anxiety makes her feel like she's bothering them if she does this, so while she struggled at first, once she got the hang of it, she did great and took that extra step, completely outside of her box, and interacted with many of them. In fact, once she overcame her fears, she ended up loving it and it ended up becoming one of her favourite parts of the trip.

Right after we saw Pocahontas, we spotted Jesse and Kira gave her a high-five! Progress!

Time for Big Thunder! I'm sorry but this also is so much better here than at WDW! While it's taller, longer and faster at WDW, this one is so much smoother and it has a great special effects explosion in the final lift hill that is just so awesome and it also has the whole goat trick. IYKYK.

Funny screen shot.

Next up was Galaxy's Edge, west coast!

We were in Disneyland two weeks before this sucker opened back in 2019, we were so bummed we missed it back then but we've now officially all experienced both versions. There are some differences, for sure. The obvious one is that there are three entrances to this one, instead of the two in Florida. And because of how the park is laid out, the entrance that is known as the Toy Story entrance in WDW is in a slightly different place here. The Rise of the Resistance entrance is roughly in the same spot but with a whole different esthetic, and the third entrance, known here as the Fantasyland entrance, is located right next to the TIE Echelon, Kylo Ren's ship.


The A-Wing and X-Wing ships are flipped here and the colours are slightly more muted here in Disneyland. There are a few more minor differences but most people wouldn't even notice.

I had wondered if there was also a hidden Milennium Falcon on this version of the Millenium Falcon but I couldn't find it. It's not in the same place as WDW, so maybe there is one, just not in the same spot?

See, no mini Falcon.

We rode Smuggler's Run and Kira got to see the Hondo Ohnaka animatronic finally, as the WDW one was covered while we were there.

One of our Gunners was kind enough to offer to take a family pic here, something I don't think we had yet, so that was nice.

My goal this trip was to find some hidden Mickeys here in SWGE as a VIP guide once told me that there were none. I knew she was wrong but I didn't have the photo evidence to prove it, so I was on a mission.

I spotted my first one just before entering the Falcon....on the side of the video unit as Hondo prepared us for our flight.

I spotted my second one just after we exited the ride.

Rob was getting hungry so he requested we get a breakfast version of the Ronto Wrap. I much prefer the regular one so we got him a coffee and a wrap to keep him going.

While in the Marketplace, I spotted yet another Hidden Mickey. This sucker was way up at the top, harder to see but it was there!

After Rob and Kira piloted the Falcon, we rode Rise and while I got tons of video, I didn't get a single photo. Bad trip report writer!

There are two Hidden Mickeys on Rise of the Resistance and both are very hard to get a photo of. The first one is almost impossible to spot but it's on the inside of the door that the resistance lasers out of the interrogation room to break you free. You really have to be in the right spot at the right time to see it because they rush you out of that cell to your ride vehicle.

The other is easy to spot but hard to get a photo of. It's in the room with the Kylo Ren animatronic that almost gets blasted from outside, on the panel where you see a video screen of Finn.

We had Genie+ for Indiana Jones so we headed that way now and passed by a sad state of Splash Mountain in progress to becoming Tiana's Bayou Adventure.

I'm not going to go into detail about Genie+ here but I will mention that it was much easier to get than at WDW! And the Lightning Lane return lines, with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout, was so much faster and emptier than at WDW. But with that being said, by the last day, I was so done with all of the phone crap! Checking for times and booking rides, remembering your ride times and the times when you can book another LL and managing everything on my phone was exhausting and I was really longing for the days of Fast Pass. I'm thankful for the option of having it, especially during busy times but I felt like I was always on my phone. It didn't help that I am on it a lot anyway, taking photos and videos. Plus I really need reading glasses when I'm on my phone and it was a pain to stop and grab them out of my bag and then hold onto my case and then put them back and blah blah blah, I know, right?

It's a lot of work to properly enjoy a Disney theme park these days!

Kira spotted Captain Jack and she was brave enough to say something to him. He was walking straight for her, so that helped but he totally engaged with her she she LOVED every second of it!!

We finally made it to Indy and this time Kira rode the jeep. No wonder it was such a rough ride!

Next up was Pirates!

Sorry but this one is also a better version than WDW. I love how you don't have to get off the boat while it goes back up and around.

We stopped in the gift shop, one side is all pirates and the other side is Haunted Mansion and Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. We ended back at this shop more than once, it's such a great store with great merch!

Then it was time to ride Haunted Mansion. With the exception of the Hat Box Ghost, which WDW is getting soon, the better version of this ride is definitely at Disneyworld!

I love the sign inside of the ghost carriage here. Hard to capture with the sunlight but you can see enough of it here.

We did some shopping on the way out. They had these cute Pride merch displays in all of the stores, how cute!

I caught a glimpse of Walt's lamp on the way out. They have definitely replaced it since the last time we were here.

It was now time to hop on over to DCA. It's nice that park hopping begins here at 11am instead of 2pm although we didn't hop until 12:30pm that day.

Stay tuned next time to hear our thoughts about our first ever visit to Avengers Campus!

 

[dcassetta]

Is there a prize if I can correctly guess which grocery item went home with you?

If there’s a contest involved, I’m going with the Ken’s honey mustard!

 

[bcwife76]

POTC is infinitely better at Disneyland for sure BTMRR...l could ride it three times in a row at DL but just once at WDW and I wanted to be sick . HM... definitely a toss up for me, love them at both parks Can't wait to see what you thought of Avengers Campus. Spoiler alert: it is not my most fave part of DCA

 

[Tinkaboo]

Love your reports and photos! I feel like I really know your family now ! So far, it sounds like a wonderful trip that came together out of such a bummer beginning!

i, too, can’t wait to hear about Avengers Campus and see who you got photos with! Love the pic of Kira with Jack…so sweet!

 

[Timon]

June 23rd, Part 2

The last time we were here, Kira was petrified of Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout. She had tried it once but she said never again! If you've read my April WDW trip report, however, you will know that not only did she brave Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios but she ended up loving it and the thrills that came with it. This made me very excited for Guardians because we love all things Marvel, especially Guardians!

She has a new love and appreciation for Rocket now, after suffering through a traumatizing viewing of the third GOTG movie. He is now her favourite character from the series so I was hopeful that we would be able to ride GOTG:MB a few times.

That was our first stop!

She was a little apprehensive because not knowing the drop sequence is tough on her and her anxiety and this one is completely different than Tower of Terror, not only in sequence but in the fact that this ride vehicle does not move into the elevator shaft like in Florida, it's already in the shaft.

Her first ride was good but when you are riddled with that kind of anxiety about something, it's tough to enjoy it. She liked it but on subsequent rides, since the drop sequence was always the same, she ended up loving it, eventually.

She did have to hang onto those bars though still.

It was now after 1pm and we were all hungry! We were close to Award Wieners and we all love their food, so that's where we went!

They have nice toasty hot dog buns, the way I make them at home and the filmstrip fries are delicious!

They didn't have salt or pepper though and told us the nearest place to get it was Smokejumpers. Well, none of us were wanting to trek way over there so we went without. I'm the kind of person that salts and peppers pretty much everything.

They also didn't have mayo and I like to dip my fries in ketchup and mayo. And some places didn't have relish, which Rob likes and no soy sauce in a place they serve rice. What is going on with Disneyland? Many other places didn't offer mayo, as I would find out in the next few days. I ended up bringing a little snack ziploc in my bag with assorted condiments just in case.

Once we were done with lunch, it was time to head back to our hotel. The park wasn't actually that crowded but it was hot and I had been up since 6am and we were all feeling it. The best thing about staying at the Grand Cal is that we were in our room in less than 8 minutes.

We rested, one of us possibly napped.

We had realized last night that we didn't have our toothpaste. I had placed mine and Kira's right next to Rob's toiletry case but somehow only Kira's made it in there. I pack everything for all three of us, the only thing Rob is responsible for is our dental stuff and he's never forgotten any of it before so it was weird. We used the tiny little toothpaste that was included in those dental hygiene kits. It was so small! For reference, Kira's toothpaste is a travel size one, so look how it compares to hers.

After a nice long rest, we headed back over to DCA around 5pm.

It was now time for one of our favourite coasters!

Front row is by far the best so we waited an extra few minutes for that.

Kira asked to have dessert before dinner and since it's one of her all-time faves, and we're on vacation, I said sure!

Cookies! Num Num cookieeeees!

Happy girl!

It's big enough to share too!

Rob was wanting some chicken and well, Kira basically lives off of chicken strips on Disney vacations, so I put in a mobile order for Flo's V-8 Café for them while I headed over to Cocina Cucamonga to try something new to me.

Mine took way longer because the arrival window wasn't for another 20 minutes so Rob and Kira went to Flo's to grab their food and a table and I would meet them over there. Rob took a photo for me before they chowed down.

I got the Birria Tacos, which were quite delicious!

One of the best things about Disneyland is that when you ask for ice waters, they give you LARGE ice waters!!

No matter where we went, they gave us the big ones unlike the kid-sized ones they give you in Florida.

After dinner, it was finally time to head into Avengers Campus!

We would spend more time here the next day to explore but we all fell in love with it instantly. We love anything Marvel, so we're pretty easy. Although, I think it would benefit greatly from another ride, another store and another bathroom! I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that the building where they do the fighting, where the Quinjet is, was supposed to be the entrance to another future ride but it might have been scrapped? They are currently building a store there now, so not sure if they just scrapped the whole ride or maybe the store will eventually be the ride exit?

Currently right behind the Quinjet are offices and a big parking lot. It would totally make sense if they moved those offices across the street to the land they own since they already have a parking lot there and extra space there for when they were going to build that new entrance across Harbor Blvd.

But with the land they had from the old Bug's Land, they did a phenomenal job, I think.

We peeked in the store but our main goal was to ride Webslingers for the first time.

I have a hard time with shooter type games, it hurts my joints too much so I mostly just enjoyed watching these two try to out-shoot each other.

They are both gamers and both giving their all, so it was quite hilarious! And Kira has the best facial expressions ever! I tried slinging a little and it was fun but I definitely couldn't do it the whole time.

It was a super awesome ride with great re-rideability!

I needed to make a pit stop so I went to use the bathrooms right next to Webslingers but there was a massive line so I opted to go somewhere else! These bathrooms were always this busy when we walked by, way too small!

We had one more stop before heading out of the park. I actually love how Guardians fits in better now with Avengers Campus right next to it.

As we were walking by, we noticed Loki up by the Quinjet, making plans to conquer Earth and no one else seemed to notice him so we yelled up "We love you Loki!" and he got off his computer (or whatever he was doing up there) and posed for us. It was awesome!

Our last stop!

There are so many Easter eggs in this ride, both in the queue and in the library, as well as the boiler room queue. A keen eye can spot Cosmo the dog, an Ultron sentry, Stan Lee, Howard the Duck, even Figment!

Inside the library, errr, Tivan's office, is the cool restraint used in Dr. Strange.

The last time we were here in 2019, the second level wasn't being used so when we started to go up the stairs, I was kind of shocked because I didn't recall that they loaded on a second level!

From up here though, you get a great look at Harold the Yeti, the Xandarian paint that Rocket uses (more on this tomorrow) as well as a painting that used to be hung in the lobby when the ride was Tower of Terror.

So many Easter eggs! I spot something new every time I ride!

My phone was acting weird that day and kept turning off so I was using Rob's phone to record some of the ride. I specifically asked the CM if I could record, and she said yes and then during her safety speech, she said no recording allowed. I was like WHAT??!!! She looked right at me and said, you're okay, just don't use your flash.

When I do record on rides, I turn my screen brightness all the way down, so as to not bother other people on the ride. More than a few times now, I have done this and then went outside in the bright sun, with my crappy eyes, and panicked because my phone wouldn't turn on. I would have to ask Kira to turn the brightness back up for me.

Kira enjoyed her second ride more than her first and the drop sequence was the same as the first ride, which totally helped. I think out of the five times we rode this ride, the drop sequence was the same except for once.

They also have different music playing during the ride, just like Cosmic Rewind at Epcot. There are six different songs and we ended up getting four of them.

• “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5 (1969)
• “Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf (1968)
• “Free Ride” by The Edgar Winter Group (1973)
• “Give Up The Funk” by Parliament (1975)
• “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar (1980)
• “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley (1972)

We got Give Up The Funk (my fave!), Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I Want You Back and Burning Love. Not too shabby for five rides.

We caught the tail end of the show on our way out. We never seemed to be there to watch the whole show, same with the Dr. Strange show. I wanted to watched them both but our timing was bad and we never saw either of them.

Stay tuned for a brief chapter that includes the rest of our night over at Disneyland, where we may or may not see some fireworks.

 

[Timon]

Yay my fave TR is back! Looking forward to following, great start.

Glad you're here!

Beignet tickets Can I get some of those tickets?

Those pool chairs are SO COMFY!! I am not ashamed to admit I fell asleep in one last visit.
Trip's off to a great start already and you haven't even set foot in the parks lol

I want those tickets too!

I don't blame you, they are the best! I'm sure if it was warm and sunny, Rob would fall asleep here too!

Hahahaah, yup, we've only just begun!

Too late!

Sometimes I hit a button while I am posting pics and it will post what I have written already! BAH! I still don't know what button it is!

That is the most delicious looking Rice Krispie Treat I ever saw!,,

Is there a prize if I can correctly guess which grocery item went home with you?

Hahahaah, no but you obvious know what I brought home!

I also brought home those nacho cheese containers because we can't get fake cheese up here!

OMG! That is hilarious. I can totally hear her saying that too....all serious.



This makes me think of when we went and both showed up at the pool wearing the robes, without knowing the other was going to wear them...and we thought we were all super cool and special. LOL.

Corn nuts!!!! MMMM. We love them. Did I put some in your Easter bag this year?

It is a very Kira thing to say, isn't it?

Yes, totally! And we were cool and special.

Yes, you did put some in there, which is how I found out that Rob eats them!

I don't know if they are just not available up here or I've just never bought them but I had no idea he loves them so much! I don't care for them but when I saw them on the Albertson's app, I grabbed some for Rob.

Glad to see a new TR and getting in from the beginning. We went to DL last year and had a great trip. I Started a TR and am about halfway through but had computer/internet issues a few months ago and haven't been able to get back to it yet. I do plan to finish it at some point even if just to post the pics.

Happy Early Anniversary! Our 20th is in October and we are doing a cruise to the Mediterranean. Things are definitely so much more expensive these days, it is costing a bunch (Business class flights and staying a couple days in Rome beforehand too) but worth it and it's a double celebration since I turn 50 next week so I am using it to celebrate that too (belatedly)

Ohh these choices look yummy. I see there is one with cookie butter glaze...I Love cookie butter, I had never heard of it or had it until a few years ago. Well, when we were in DL last year we had beignets at the place by the Haunted Mansion and they had a special cookie butter dip. ohh wow was that good!

Looking forward to more of the TR

Oh, I'm going to have to go check that out!

Ohhhh, nice way to celebrate your 20th! Happy anniversary and happy 50th! In style!


I got the cookie butter icing from Gideons in April, to dip my cookies in, it was delicious! I didn't know you could get dip with the Mickey beignets, I've never seen it! I need a dip with my beignets myself.

Awesome trip report. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

Thanks for reading along!

If there’s a contest involved, I’m going with the Ken’s honey mustard!

LOL, indeed! Kira loves the honey mustard now too so I grab a bottle every time I go down.

POTC is infinitely better at Disneyland for sure BTMRR...l could ride it three times in a row at DL but just once at WDW and I wanted to be sick . HM... definitely a toss up for me, love them at both parks Can't wait to see what you thought of Avengers Campus. Spoiler alert: it is not my most fave part of DCA

Really? What don't you like about it? I think it's great but could use some improvements.

Love your reports and photos! I feel like I really know your family now ! So far, it sounds like a wonderful trip that came together out of such a bummer beginning!

i, too, can’t wait to hear about Avengers Campus and see who you got photos with! Love the pic of Kira with Jack…so sweet!

Awwww, thanks!

Yeah, weird how it came together but it ended up being so awesome, glad we went!

 

[bcwife76]

Haha we all knew Guardians would be the first stop lol Your expressions in the ride photo are awesome As for us the theming if Avengers Campus is top notch but we are not huge Marvel fans and I dunno....Webslingers....just didn't do it for me We did it three times on our last trip I think but the friends we traveled with are huge Marvel fans so...next trip we might skip it depending on the wait time lol. I really did enjoy Pyms test kitchen though so interested to see if you ate there are all during your trip (though Flos is great always consistently had good food there too).

 

[lilmc]

She has a new love and appreciation for Rocket now, after suffering through a traumatizing viewing of the third GOTG movie.

Oh my daughter’s (15 and 17) were beyond traumatized by that movie. My 17 yr old can handle horror, but the animal cruelty aspect had her clinging to my hand for most of the movie (which she never dies at this age).

I'm the kind of person that salts and peppers pretty much everything.

Yep, which is why old lady me carries salt at all times now

https://www.amazon.com/Redmond-Real...46835&sprefix=real+salt+travel,aps,123&sr=8-2

 

[Kanga2Roo]

Yes, you did put some in there, which is how I found out that Rob eats them!

Good to know for the future! We always get them for vacation and eat them as a snack in the room or on the plane. I like them, Claire loves them. Not something I can eat all the time, but it has become part of our vacation ritual now.

I really need to get to Disneyland! It's been several years and even Claire mentioned she wants to go there instead of WDW if we can manage it sometime. For use the flights are just so high.

 

[Timon]

June 23rd, Part 3

I don't have much left to report but it wouldn't all fit in the last chapter, so let's wrap this up!

We hopped on over to Disneyland Park. Kira was really loving the short distance between the two parks.

In the Esplanade.

We stopped for a quick photo op.

We only had two goals this evening, have a Dole Whip and watch the Wondrous Journeys fireworks show. The park was pretty crowded by now and Kira wasn't up to doing any more rides. Rob and I were game but we didn't want to leave Kira alone.

We headed for Tropical Hideaway in search of some whips. Rob and I were bummed they didn't have raspberry. Our favourite way to eat Dole Whips is to combine the pineapple and the raspberry ones, so good! We settled for strawberry instead as we had never tried it before.

I just love these lights!!!

Kira had a pineapple and then Rob and I shared the pineapple float and regular strawberry. He enjoys the float better but $7.29! Ugh!

Just as we were finishing up, Kira got partially pooped on by the birds, on her shoulder. They really like to hang out in this area and some of the tables aren't covered. Shortly thereafter, Rob got pooped on, on his hat.

We moved to another table to finish up as I didn't want to complete the trifecta.

We asked Kira again if she wanted to do some rides but she just wanted to sit somewhere. Her and Rob went off the find a spot for her to sit and I walked down to New Orleans Square to window shop. I love this area at night.

I met up with them and we went to go find a spot for the fireworks. In Disneyland, locals flock here at night, sometimes just to see the fireworks so there's always a huge crowd way before the show starts. We managed to find a somewhat decent spot to wait out the next hour and a bit.

About 15 minutes before the show, they made an announcement saying that due to the winds, they might not have the pyrotechnics part of the show working tonight. We, along with almost everyone else, decided to wait it out. Sadly, 5 minutes before the show they announced that they would only be showing the projections, no fireworks.

We decided to stick around and see what it looked like anyway. We had never seen this show and well, we were already in the middle of it all and it would be kind of hard to get through these crowds anyway. Many people left once they made that final announcement.

We watched the first few minutes but once the show started two dads put their kids on their shoulders and then two people behind them recorded the show on their phone with their flash on.

I really just don't understand how people can be so utterly incapable of even the slightest bit of consideration for other people. Right behind this little girl on the shoulders was a group of 4 or 5 little kids, about 4-8 years old, who had been there even before us, so at least 80 minutes waiting for this show on an uncomfortable street. I looked back and they couldn't see a thing!

I get wanting your little kids to see the castle but why not hold them in your arms so they are at the same level as you and not blocking the views of the dozens of people behind you?

We waited a few minutes, hoping they would realize their flash was on and turn it off but that didn't happen so we just left.

We were tired and Kira and I were done with the crowds.

We cut through the stores to get back to the entrance gates and 10 minutes later we were in the room. Gotta love the Grand.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a much more thorough day in Avengers Campus.

 

[DVCjj]

Thrilled to see another Trip Report from you! And from Disneyland! Haven't been in probably 35 years (yikes) but older daughter will be there next week and she and son in law are so excited to go after also many years not going out West. We got spoiled with the 2-1/4 hour flight to Orlando so go there a million times.

But DLand is in a special category and I'm so excited to read all about it. Especially because it's from you and your family.
PS: I think Kira is lovely and adorable. I was shocked to read about her insecurities, but then again you would never guess my younger daughter had same insecurities and we had some mighty difficult times while she was in school.
She still is very sensitive and emotional but wonderful.

On with the Trip Report!