Son's Birthday and Rundisney Weekend!! Jan 2024 (Completed 2/11)

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Hello everyone
This is will be our trip report going to Disneyland and celebrating my son's 7th birthday while also getting to participate in Disneyland first Half Marathon in over 7 years!!
I looved this weekend and cannot wait to share it with you!!

Basic Info:
Thursday 1/11- 1/15
Stayed at Embassy Suites one night then moved to Paradise Pier/Pixar Place for the rest of the time

Who:
3 adults and 1 child
Me: The mom and planner of the group. I am the Disney obsessed person and the one running.
My Husband: Likes Disney but not obsessed (but is a huge star wars and marvel fan) he goes along with it and loves it.
My son: 7 years old... loves dinos and Disney. He has lots of energy.
My mom: She loves spoiling her grandson and likes Disney but again not Disney obsessed. Disneyland is what she grew up with though.




Welcome and feel free to comment and ask questions. I will update this slowly

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Chapters

THURSDAY
Travel Day

FRIDAY
Arriving
Cafe
Magic Half an hour
More fantasyland
First Characters
Mickeys Toontown
Mickeys Toontown
Aladdin
Tommorowland
Adventureland and food
Galaxys Edge
Galaxys Edge part 2
Making a Droid
Haunted Mansion
Rundisney Expo
Trader sams Tiki bar
Pixar place hotel
Great maple take out

SATURDAY
Start of 10k
10k part 2
10k part 3
10k part 4
10k part 5
Medal!
CA Back Entrance
Pixar Pier
Still no lines
Carsland
Cars Land 2
Sanfansokoyo
Baymax
Spiderman
Avengers Campus
Super Fan Moments
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hot Tub time
Great Maple

SUNDAY
Start of the Half
Half Part 2
Half Part 3
Half Part 4
Half Part 5
Half Part 6
Medals
Storytellers Cafe Brunch
Storytellers Cafe Brunch part 2
Storytellers Cafe Brunch part 3
Playing
DCA
Corn dogs
Night time in DCA
Loki!
Night time in Disneyland

MONDAY
Roped dropped Mr Toads Wild Ride
Photos with the Castle
Rey!!
Chewie
Treats
Shopping
Firetruck
The End

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Travel Day: Thursday
My mom went on an earlier flight from Denver to Orange county on United. She is retired so she can leave earlier and she will try to do the rundisney expo for me (things run out on the first day)... this will be the first time my mom doing it on her own. The rest of the family will not be leaving till 7 that way we can work. While working I found out the the virtual expo pass works outside the Disneyland area so I message mom while she is waiting for her plane to try the virtual expo pass and she got in while in Denver! Love it when bad Disneyland IT actually helps us. This pass puts her a virtual que like a you do for rides to let u know when you can go into the expo.

Mom arrives in Orange county and for tonight we are staying on points for one night at Embessy Suites right next to the airport. She drops off Bags and gets a uber to Disneyland. Then she waits and waits... it takes forever for her to get into the expo... it is not till 4ish she finally gets in. By this point alot of things are already sold out the Weekend jacket in large, the Dumbo magnet, all the half marathon pins sold out. Disney really needs to do something about all the resalers... they buy everything before us runners can even get in. My mom was able to get the 1/2 marathon magnet and some how got rhe magic key magnet... we are not magic key holders... lol. Mom had no idea she was just grabbing. She also got me Dumbo jacket, shirt and weekends ornament.

At 5:30 after the expo fun I got my mom a reservation at the Sam's Tiki Bar... I figured she would need a drink after dealing with expo crowds. She was very happy for the reservation. She did not take pics... but she got to sit at the bar she got food and drinks and was very happy .

At this point the rest of the family is heading to airport.

We take a lyft to the airport.
And then head to the restaurant that we get through our travel credit card. We get 75 dollars to spend here! We got some yummy food and drinks.



Then on the plane! We are flying united to Orange county in economy plus. The flight attendants give marcus a flying pin! My son loved it.


We arrive late at the airport get our luggage and then take the free shuttle to the hotel. The shuttle guy was so nice and use to be a cm and chatted with us about tips.

Okay soo.... this is where it all goes down hill... mom mentioned they are having issues with fire alarms... at 10 they started going off every 2 hours... yes u head that right every two hours... we got no sleep... do NOT stay at this hotel. My mom got credit back after that night. Not the way we wanted to spend our first night... good thing only one night here..

Continuing next day on next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

FRIDAY:
Well after our night of hell... we eat the free breakfast. I dress up in the new rundisney outfit.

They have some basic stuff out first before 6am and then at 6am the hit food comes out. Goal eat food as fast as possible and to get the resort only time in the park.


I did not take pics of hot food cause we had to eat it so fast. But it was a typical Embessy Suites breakfast.
We eat in record time and head out to the lyft.
The drive was quick to Paradise hotel/Pixar Place hotel. It was quick.

The cm was super nice helping us out.
I also notice they added in the glass Pixar figures into the lobby.



They are soo cute.
The pictures every where look soo good and have so much detail. The pictures do not do it justice.

We did online check in so we can just drop off our bags and they will send me a text when the room is ready. Again all the cms super helpful.

Continue on to next post..

 

[alohamom]

following!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

following!

Yeah welcome!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

After dropping off our luggage my mom needed some more coffee and guess what just opened up... like just a few mins ago for the first time, the cafe!! The cafe is being run by Great Maple. It is super cute and lots of good grab and go stuff. The seating is nice and had a TV with Disney on it to keep kids entertained. There was never long line here unlike the other coffee places in disney downtown or in the parks. So this is great perk for our hotel.





We did a quick bathroom trip too.
Then we go off to the parks.
We walk through Grand Californian for a quicker route. Easy to follow the signs and people. Also it is just pretty walking though the lobby.
The security line is super short in Grand Californian. They have the old security so it is a lot slower which will become an issue later.
Then we make it to Disneyland Downtown.
They still had some xmas decorations up!! So pretty.




We head to the gates and wait. We are in a good spot. We plan on hitting early magic half an hour.

Continuing on the next post.

 

[StarlitNight05]

Sounds like a great trip so far (well with the exception of the fire alarm)! Can't wait to read more about how it went

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Sounds like a great trip so far (well with the exception of the fire alarm)! Can't wait to read more about how it went

Lol ohh that fire alarm...

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Gates open up and we are through really quick. We walk fast down mainstreet to head to the area the are roping off hotel guests in to the side and then we wait.
Then they let down the rope and we are off. I am power walking very fast. Yeah running training and my son is keeping up. He is like mom wow u can go really fast and why we going so fast. Our plan to rope drop Peter pan ride so got to be fast. We timed it great and walked right on! My son loves this ride but not because he likes the Peter pan movie... he loves Captin Jack which is a disney junior show set in neverland and still has many of the same characters like captain hook.




After that we get a couple of cute pics.


The we ride Dumbo! We have to ride the classic esp since I am doing the Dumbo Challenge! Not a long wait either.



Next tea cups! One of my moms fav rides.

Again no wait at all...

Continuing on to next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next we get on Alice in Wonderland ride... again no wait. We are getting a lot done in this half an hour.




This dark ride I always thought is really cool.
Next we go on the storyland boats. We got on the first boat. Yeah!






This ride is the first time we have ever done it. The line is always so long for what it is soo never tried it out.
Continuing on next post...

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

More pics from the boat ride.

The early morning light look really cute. Glad I did this ride once but never again. My son said it was boring... lol.
So 6 rides in a half an hour including Peter Pan ride!! That was a good use of a half an hour.
Just incase u did not know... they only open up fantasyland and tommorow land to hotel guests so u got just pick one side as a hotel guest in that half an hour.
Next we head to toon town... I hear it is not crowded cause it is in the back of the park so it takes some time for the crowds to get there.
My son looves Mickey runaway railway. So we head that way to get another ride.
And we spot our first character walking out!
Geppetto! I have never met him so yeah! My son does not know who he the but he does want all the signatures so he goes in for that.


This is the first time my son wanted to collect signatures so it was super cute.
Then guess who we see next Moana. It took me a second to recognize her since we have only seen her in Aulani and in her normal outfit. I have never seen her winter outfit.
My son is super excited to meet her. He looves her from all of his time in Aulani and just loves her movie. Moana spends quite a bit of time chatting with my son. Esp since there are not that many people around.





Next we head to toontown and man is it empty! So this pro tip is working for us.


We walk on again onto Mickey run away railroad.

I love all the extra cool stuff they have in the line compared to WDW which is boring.


Continuing on to next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

We seem like we are first on the ride...it is really empty..


I love this pre show... the effect of the wall breaking is great!

Then we go in and guess what?! We get a sticker that has the yellow bird on it for being the "early birds" and being the first on this ride!! Soo cool!! My son was very happy
Next we ride.
My fav part of the ride... now conga!! always dance

Afterwords we do a pic at the water fountain while it is not crowded.


If u look close u can see his sticker... I forgot to take close up of it...
Then while taking a pic... the Rodgers rabbit ride opens up! So we walk on that too!! Man I am loving Disneyland right now...

My son has no idea what this ride is about lol... he thought it was strange but at least it was not boring or too scary... so he would ride it again. Me and my husband got 90s flashbacks in this ride.


Continue on to next post...

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next we spot Donald Duck and we head to him!
We grab his signature and get a pic. My son is soo happy he has already gotten 3 signatures.


We next went on the Chip and Dale Gadet coaster... our first 5 min wait.. lol. So ruff. My son said he likes it but wish it was longer.

Ohh in this pic u can see the early bird sticker better!

Next time for a snack and to let my sons energy out. So we order the donuts and drinks while my husband and son go play.


You got to make time to let out kids energy and it is a good time to do before it gets crowded which could trigger my son.
Order is up. Love that these are hot and yummy. A nice little treat.


Next we head on out and I notice a CM with a basket full of buttons. We did not have time yet to get my son his birthday button so we got it his button here. Yeah birthday button.



Now my son has everything but the kitchen sink on his jacket and he looves it. (Notice how the wings from the plane are still on there too).

Continuing on to next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next we start heading to the submarine ride and I also start using my sons DAS pass. The lines have been so short I have not needed yet for him. Now I notice on the app most rides are starting to get waits now. I get a pass for autopia ride. My son loves both of those rides when he was 2 and they are right next to each other. And guess what we saw Aladin! He was just chillen with no line... Disneyland is just crazy with there characters just wondering around...



We chat for awhile since no one else was waiting. I chatted about the running I was about to do. Always fun.
Next we head to submarine with very little wait and man I forget how cute this ride is with the Nemo characters. My son looves this ride still!! And it is another ride we cannot do in WDW anymore so cool to experience.




Next we head over to the cars ride where my son is soo excited that he gets to drive. He wants to drive dad around. Also get buzz light year DAS pass after scanned in for the cars. Super import to always scan the moment you use up.



Continuing on to next post...

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next we head into tommorow land and now we hit the crowds...
We head next to Buzz light year... another fav of my sons. We have so much shooting and spinning all around.



I win
I put in a pass for Star tours. While we head to space mountain. One of the cool features of DAS if u register early u can get a 2 pre order rides. This was one of them.

My son said he likes this space mountain better cause he could sit next to us instead wdw where he could not sit next to anyone.
Oops mommy blocked my son in the photo.


Next we head to star tours... I get the next pass for rise of the resistance since I know we are going to be eating an early lunch soon so we will have plenty of time to wait.
My son looves Star wars so he his excited to get on it. None of us were the real spy but I got to see a new scene, so yeah!


Next food time!! My son really just wants popcorn and pretzels. So we get those first.


We get the cute 100th pop corn bucket cause why not?
And then mickey pretzel, yummy.

It is a good thing we started feeding him he was started to get hangry. While waiting in the line for popcorn and pretzels.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

We head over to adventure land for our lunch!

I head over to tropical hidway and my husband gets the mobile order for Bengal Barbecue and my mom and son get a table and chair.
Time to try some Disneyland classics!

Sweet Lumpia: wow this was such a cool and different dessert. We all really loved it. Just a warning super messy.

Had to get a classic dolewhip swirl float... always good!

Then I get two different boa buns..lime chicken was okay... we all looved the traditional boa bun!! Soo good and yummy.



Then the beef sticks are really good. The sauce is great and juicy. They really hit this spot.

I wish Magic Kingdom could have this good of quick service food... This was all soo good for park quick service food. In MK we pack our lunch and just eat some desserts cause we dislike all the options.

Next we have a pre ordered DAS pass for Indian Jones. So we head into this ride. The que is messing with my son... so we put on head phone to help him... he always seem to dislike these longer dark ques.

My son does know and like Indian Jones though so he says he still wants to ride it so we push on... we love showing our son all of our nerdy movies.



My son loves the ride he said. The snakes he is not a fan of though.... lol and we told him it was not Indian Jones fav either. so cute. Walking back through the que line was still not my sons fav but he makes it with no meltdowns, yeah!

Continuing on to next post..

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next time to head to Galaxys Edge!
We go to the Rise of the Resistance with our pass. I then start the timer for huanted mansion.
Man we looove this ride. It really is the best ride soo immeersive. Every time I ride it I see more details. My son looooves it too.











Yes to this ride!! All day long!!
Continuing on to next post.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Then we head more into the land.... my son it keeps his eye out for birthday toys...
I spot some offical photopasses so we hut them up.


Then we spot R2-D2! Super cool.


Next we check out the rest of the area.

And do another photopasses!

And some magic shots!! And one with chopper we have never had that one!!


We do more shopping and my son pics out his first birthday present.

A lightsabor. I am liking the new kids lightsabor they look better but u can still hit with them and they can be taken apart. It's purple... not sure why pic makes it look blue..

He is very happy but mommy he is focusing... no time for pics.. lol. Lightsabers are serious don't u know.. lol.
Continuing...

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next we Kylo Ren with storm troppers... my son wants nothing to do with him. He is scared of him. So we watch from a safe distance my son told me. I ask do u want to leave... he says no he still wants to see him just from far away... lol

We then watch the show. Very cool.
My son shops some more.

Then my son spots the Droid area... he really wants to make a Droid. They are expensive so we explain this is his big birthday present. Is this what u want... he said yes soo quick. He has seen Ryan do it (a kid utuber) and always wanted to do it. So we walk up and get started. Apparently there are reservations for this but we could just walk in with plenty of spaces open. My son and my husband had lots of fun picking the parts and putting it together. It is really cool. They even have a whole little show to make the Droid come alive!







Then my son plays around with it on the ground. Expensive but worth it.
Continuing to next post...