Itinerary: Day 4 - DISNEYLAND FINALLY! (and maybe DCA?) - Part 3
Day 4: Wednesday June 8
Park hours: DL: 8am-midnight; DCA 8am-9pm
With the drama of the afternoon done, how did evening stack up? Turned out pretty good in my opinion, but was not without its share of controversy!
Evening:
- No dinner reservations. It’ll be CS for my fam. I pretty much like all the foods, and would love to use mobile ordering. We’ve got no real food restrictions this time (only lactose intolerance, and we’re bringing oodles of Lactaid pills for the trip). If in DCA, looking at Angry Dogs (DS’s favorite), anything in Pacific Wharf, or Flo’s. If in DL, looking at Rancho Zocalo, Bengal BBQ, Jolly Holiday or French Market primarily but could end up a combination of places if people want different things.
I grabbed a LL for Space for 5:45pm while lounging by the pool, so we headed to Tomorrowland when we got the DL. It was so relaxing to not be in a rush - part of me was antsy to be pushing harder, but I could tell how much more relaxed everything else was, especially DH. His afternoon nap really refreshed him!
On our way through DTD, we picked up another repeat souvenir - one of the great balloons! DD5 got to pick, and we attached it to the stroller from then on. There was an ongoing struggle between DH and the balloon as it loved to bop him in the face. It made the stroller easier to identify and the kids loved the hilarity of DH vs the balloon!
- Evening if in DCA exploring probably entirely focused on Cars Land. Might shell out for RSR ILL$. If in DL, will check out the Pixar Pals Dance Party in Tomorrowland, and try to ride a few things.
Since we stayed in DL, all our DCA plans were shifted to our DCA start day on Friday. We did not manage to catch the dance party, but we did enjoy the rides!
This was DD5’s first time on Space Mtn, and truly her first real roller coaster ever. I wasn’t sure how she would feel about it. It was also the first time for any of us to be on Hyperspace Mtn (Space with the Star Wars theming). I enjoyed it, but do prefer the original a bit more.
DC12 & I sat in the back, DH was alone in the middle, and DD8 & DS10 rode in the front of the first car. This is one of the few ride photos where we can actually see DD8!
DD15 and DD5 rode in the front of the second car. As we loaded, I was so excited DD15 was going to be with DD5, but as the ride progressed I got a little anxious: was DD5 freaking out? How would DD15 handle it? It definitely impacted my ability to just enjoy the ride, but I’m a worrier so I’m used to dealing with such thoughts. DD15 reported afterwards that the ride itself didn’t seem to bother DD5 at all, but the loud sounds and some of the flashing lights startled her. DD5 seemed perfectly happy afterwards!
Next was a LL for Star Tours, which I had booked while in the queue for Hyperspace Mtn. The standby line wasn’t terrible (20-30 minutes), but it was great to have a more concrete schedule, and I was quite pleased there were nearly instant return times available!
We took up an entire row of Star Tours!
Everyone enjoyed the ride, but things got a little hectic afterwards and we had our second crisis of the trip (the first was the debacle with leaving the chargers and laptop bag in El Paso).
DH had received a work call as we were about to board Hyperspace, and needed to call back afterwards (he started a new role shortly before our trip, or he would have been more unplugged). He let me know he was stepping out of the gift shop to take the call and I assumed he was going out the exit right by the stroller. I browsed some merch with the kids and then we all exited to meet up at the stroller. DH wasn’t there, and DC12 started freaking out - she realized she had left her Turning Red backpack on Star Tours! DD15 had headed to the bathroom, so that left DS10, DD8 and DD5 at the stroller with no real supervision if I left to help DC12 get her bag back. I messaged DH to return to the stroller immediately and attempted to call him, but he was still on his call so he didn’t answer. I made the command decision to go ahead and leave the 3 alone, and headed back in the exit of Star Tours to ask the CM near the glasses return what we should do about the backpack. Another CM came up just then, who had just finished a lost and found mission, and volunteered to take us up to see if it was still on the ride. The ride had just started again, so we had to wait through a cycle, but sure enough - the bag was right there, and DC12 described it and got it back. They were so relieved but still a little shaken, and I am glad I went with them and gave them extra attention. When we returned, DD15 and DH were both back at the stroller, and the crisis was over with no lasting damage!
Before the drama had ensued, I had secured a LL for Buzz. Once again, the standby wasn’t terrible (30 minutes), but the ability to get a nearly instant return time was valuable for our plans. At this point though, we were hungry, so I canceled the Buzz LL, mobile ordered at Alien Pizza Planet with a nearly instant return time, and booked a Buzz for after we had eaten.
I did not grab any pictures of our food this time! Bad trip reporter! I am happy to say that my pasta dish (Tomato Cream Pasta: Italian Sausage and Bell Peppers served on top of Chef's choice of Pasta tossed with Blush Sauce - $11.99) was fantastic and I was so pleasantly surprised. It had a full flavor and the bits of sausage gave it a little kick without being too spicy for me. DH got a couple slices of Mega Pepperoni pizza and while they were fine, he was unimpressed with the price ($8.49 each). DD15 & DS10 also got pizza (Mega Pepperoni and Hawaiian-Style respectively). DC12 got the other pasta dish (Count Down Chicken Fusilli: Fusilli Pasta topped with Seasoned Grilled Chicken, a Parmesan-Pesto Cream Sauce with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Shaved Parmesan Cheese). DD5 got the Kid-sized Cheese Pizza ($6.99) with carrots, a cutie orange and milk. DD8 got the Space-ghetti with Meatball ($7.99), also with carrots and a cutie but with juice instead. This was WAY too small - it was a toddler size meal, not a child 3-9. Thankfully I also had two orders of Garlon bread ($4.99 each), which helped tide her over. Overall, I thought the meal was a good value and we would do this again, but DH would probably get the pasta instead and we would not get a kids meal for DD8.
Once everyone was happily fed, we headed to our Buzz LL. DS10 begged to go with DD8, and confided in me it was because he wanted to demolish her in Buzz. I rolled my eyes and said whatever, and they ended up together. Cue the next disaster of the day! DD8 beat DS10, and he was so upset he was sobbing before he even got off the ride. We’ve worked with him on being a good sport, and showing sportsmanship, but this was such a blow to his pride he was inconsolable and ugly crying. That subsided fairly quickly but triggered his odd transition/freak out behavior. He became sullen, grumpy and uncooperative - at one point he attempted to sit down in the middle of the walkway as we were walking and we bumped him with the stroller, which did nothing to improve his mood. I nabbed a LL for iaws for 10 minutes in advance (7:15), but wasn’t sure if we’d end up having to leave the park for DS or not. We started making our way from Tomorrowland to iasw, but I was definitely feeling anxious.
- Back to DL to head to iasw to wait for the 8:45 MSEP. Plan is to meet at 7:45 to get a spot. We will stay in place to see the Encanto projections and then check out fireworks at 9:30. I’m keeping my eye on info about viewing and snagging good spots. If we strike out the first night, we can always try again - and we’ve got more chances as the week continues.
We ended up in my targeted MSEP watching spot near iasw about 7:10pm, and all the best spots were already taken! I ditched the LL for iasw, and we settled into a spot on the raised area across the way from iasw. DS10’s outbursts were slowing down as his bad mood subsided thankfully, so we decided to stay. Neither DH nor I had really planned on waiting more than an hour for MSEP, but we were there, had a pretty good spot first at the rail, and didn’t have anything better to do. DH went to acquire some snacks, and when he returned I took DD8 and DS10 (who was mainly upest with DH for some reason at that point) to the restroom, and we chit-chatted with people near us. DD5 made friends with a similarly sized child right in front of us on the sidewalk level. They played with her TukTuk, letting it ‘climb’ the railing using the magnets, and in general just did little kid stuff. We devoured some popcorn, much to the chagrin of my DD15 who has braces and is forbidden to have popcorn. DH took her to get her own special treat. He also came back with an Elliott popcorn holder - I hadn’t realized that merch would appeal to him so much, but he loved it and took great delight in showing me how it would light up, and where the popcorn box would go, but he wouldn’t allow actual popcorn anywhere near it.
The kids started getting restless by 8, and I busted out the glowing things. DS and DD8 took turns playing with his light sabre (built in Tomorrowland during our 2019 trip), and DD5 played with the bubble wands. Unfortunately, one of the wands refused to work at all, and the other stopped working about 10 minutes in. They were both older (one from 2014 I believe, and one from a 2018 trip to the zoo), but I had made sure they worked before we left home. I was bummed, but DH opened up the surprise glow sticks, and we spread pixie dust for our kids and the surrounding guests as we handed out sticks and connectors to make bracelets and necklaces! It was a huge hit and I am so glad we did it. The 100 piece pack was only $12.99 at the time, and is even cheaper now! Great value for the joy it spread, and we still have a lot of them left.
Finally we heard the announcement we were all waiting for - MSEP was about to begin! At that point I realized that DD5’s view would be obstructed by the rail, so I made the decision to hold her the entire parade. This was worth it, plus I got to see her reactions and literally FEEL her excitement throughout the parade, but meant I didn’t get any pictures and ended up with quite a nice bruise on my hip. DH snapped some though, and my hip was a small price to pay for her joy.
MSEP starts!
The turtle!
A family favorite (we watched Pete’s Dragon the night before leaving for the trip, so it was fresh in the kids’ minds):
Not pictured is the adorable final float - this was DD5’s favorite. Repeatedly through the parade she asked me when Elsa was coming, so she loved seeing Elsa on the final float along with so many other characters from the shows she has watched recently. I wish I had captured an image of that, but her reaction and the sound of her joy will stay with me forever.
The area started clearing out as soon as the final parade end banner carriers danced by - I was quite impressed with their steps and choreography. It cannot be easy to do the whole parade route carrying the banner like that! We made our way against the stream to cross over to iasw and go walk on. We struggled to get to the proper stroller parking, and DD15 just wanted to lay down. I made her go on the ride with us anyway. DC12 complained that I should have done a LL, but I had made one for BTMRR just in case anyone wanted to stay later, and walk on looked totally open. They were nervous because several people ended up in front of us, but I reassured them that the ride moved very quickly and there would be little to no wait. I was right - we walked right on and immediately got a boat. We all enjoyed the ride and the downtime, and DS kept pointing out the ‘hidden’ suns and moons in each display. As the boat pulled into the dock, we heard the familiar sounds of MMM! This was one of the biggest highlights from 2019, and my kids STILL listen to the music and dance along at home. They immediately started singing along and watching the projections on iasw. We had to really encourage them to pay attention to get off the boat! Because of the show, noone lingers in the gift shop this time, and we all rushed to the stroller. It wasn’t the best position, the speakers with the music were facing the other way so it was hard to hear, but the projections were lovely. DD15 laid down on bench, DC12 complained it was too quiet, but the other 3 sang and danced along.
- After fireworks, almost certainly some of the group will head back to the house for bedtime. I hope to stay until park close though because I am a crazy lady. Most likely DH will head back with the littles so I can park storm with the bigs (what we call our littler and bigger children respectively).
After MMM, it was nearly time for our BTMRR LL. I asked who wanted to go and who wanted to stay, thinking DD5, DD15 and DH would want to go and I could just take DC12, DS10 and DD8. However, DD5 really wanted to stay with us, and seemed to be going strong still. DH didn’t want to leave me alone to push the stroller all the way home, so he parked and sat with DD15 on a bench while the rest of us went to BTMRR. We were early, so I used the MEP we had gotten earlier for Splash. They wouldn’t work on Space, which was the only other major ride the kids would have been interested in that really needed a LL, so I figured why not! We scanned in and were on the ride in 5 minutes. Once again I was a little nervous for DD5, who sat next to me. She LOVED it. Just when I was most worried, her little voice called out loudly ‘YEE-HAW’! DS10 loved saying ‘the wildest ride in the wilderness’ in the funny voice, and the rest of the kids loved it. As we got off, DD5 said ‘AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN!’. We made our way back to DH, let him know we were going again, and went off to adventure! We were STILL early for our LL, but it apparently hadn’t used the MEP up, so we scanned in that way again. It was about 5 minutes again, and the same reaction - they simply loved this ride! Unfortunately my only picture document this time of night was from DH, who captured DD15’s feelings accurately:
At this point I had a hard call to make - DD5, DD8 and DS10 all wanted another ride. DC12 was ready to join DH & DD15 and head home. My heart wanted to indulge the little ones, but my head told me it was 10:30pm but after midnight in our home timezone, and the littles would likely crash soon and we still had the 30 minute walk to the house. I decided we all needed to leave, and it was a great decision! DD5 fell sound asleep on the way home, and DD8 and DS10 did some minor complaining as it was.
So it turned out it was my littles that wanted to go late, and the bigs that wanted to call it a day early! I was surprised, but hey - you’ve gotta go with it. We got DD5 onto the couch, and the rest of the kids tucked in and asleep shortly after 11pm. Would this late night ruin moods the next morning? Stay tuned to find out!
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