California New Year January 2019 - Day 5 and Going Home

Day 5:  Thursday –

• Slept through the night!!!! – Yay!!  We got a full night sleep.
• Earl of Sandwich – Decided to try Earl of Sandwich for breakfast.  It was delicious and fairly inexpensive. 
• Snow White / Pinocchio – We went to Disneyland for early entry and went to Fantasyland first.  Some of the rides were not working so we started with Snow White.  It is cute, but a little scary.  Crosby did not ride it, and shouldn’t have.  He didn’t really like the dark rides.  We rode Pinocchio next and it is also a little scary.  Both cute rides, but they don’t really give you the warm fuzzies.
• Characters in fantasyland – We saw a lot of characters walking around Fantasyland.  It is so cool to just see them mingling with the crowd.  We saw Geppetto, Peter Pan, Gaston and Flynn Rider were hanging out together and then we saw Belle get on the carousel.  The kids got on with her and then they tracked her down for a picture and autograph. 
• Dumbo – Next, we rode Dumbo, which took a lot longer than the posted time.  Grady actually fell asleep in line while we were holding him.  It was warm this day too so we were toasty in line.  They changed it from the last time so there was a covered waiting area and assigned Dumbo’s.  We all enjoyed this one.  Grady slept through it.  Both of my kids did better on their first Dumbo ride than I did.
• Toad – Ellie wanted to ride Mr. Toad next.  I personally think this is an over-rated ride.  I think it could use an update.  It is all cardboard cutout characters.  There isn’t an audio-animatronic character in there.  And you actually go to hell at the end.  Very family friendly.  I digress….
• Space mountain – We got a FastPass for Space Mountain.  Ellie did ride it.  She liked it this time.  I don’t know why, but this isn’t my favorite.  The Hyperspace Mountain version is one of my favorite rides ever, but the regular version doesn’t do much for me.
• Launch Bay – Spencer’s kids love Star Wars so they wanted to see the characters in the Launch Bay.  I had higher expectations for this area.  It was a glorified Star Wars museum with 3 characters and a gift shop.  We saw Bobba Fett, but the kids were too scared to meet him.  Then we saw Chewbacca, which we all loved and that was a great interaction.  Darth Vader was the other character, but the kids were too scared to even go see him.  Spence and I probably should have done it (maybe next time).
• Matterhorn – We got a FastPass for Matterhorn, so we went there next.  It took for-eve-er.  One side was closed so they were taking turns between the FastPass line and the standby line.  It was fun.  Ellie did it this time and she liked it.  She got a little nervous because you don’t sit next to each other.  I had to keep her calm before riding (which was a first, she does so well on all the rides).
• Lunch - Rancho del zocalo – After the Matterhorn, we split up and my family went to get lunch at Rancho del Zocalo.  It was really good.  All 4 of us ate well.  Lisa got the special, which was 3 street tacos and I got a burrito (I think).  Ellie got tacos.
• Big thunder - Ellie ‘is that the slow pass line?’ – We did Big Thunder Mountain after lunch.  We got a FastPass and I went with Ellie first.  We walked through the FastPass line and Ellie point to the other line and asked, “Is that the ‘slow pass’ line?”.  We had used so many FastPasses on this trip that she was used to it and figured the other line was the “slow pass” line.  It was cute.  It is so much fun going on this ride with her.  She loves it.  We switched, and Lisa went with her.  So much fun.
• Met Ariel – We headed toward Alice in Wonderland and stopped next to the castle because we found an impromptu Ariel and Eric meet and greet.  Lisa and Ellie went to do that, and I walked around with Grady.  While I was walking, I found the rest of my family walking by.  They stopped and we all got Mickey ice cream bars.  Mmm…  We also saw Mary Poppins and Bert walk by as well as Pinocchio.
• Met Tinker Bell – Pixie Hollow was next to us, so we did it.  The line was a lot longer than expected, but the interaction was great.  Tinker Bell is quite a talker and great with the kids.  As we walked out, we saw Captain Hook walk by and we made sure he didn’t find Tinker Bell.  It was funny.
• Rode Tea Cups – Next, we rode the Tea Cups, and Crosby had a meltdown.  We thought he was scared but come to find out he didn’t get the color cup he wanted.  Spence was almost asked to leave the ride.  Yikes.
• Peter Pan – We went to ride Peter Pan next because we had to do it before the end of the trip and the line wasn’t too bad.
• Big Thunder - Lisa and I got beignets – Spence got another FastPass for Big Thunder Mountain, so Ellie went with them and we took Crosby.  Lisa and I took the 2 boys and went to get beignets at the Mint Julep stand.  Yum.
• Dinner at Plaza Inn – I was really looking forward to this meal and it did not disappoint.  The fried chicken at the Plaza Inn is SO good.  We all ate well here.  Ellie got her noodles and Lisa got a salad.  Spence went rogue because he didn’t want to eat there.  He was going to get a corn dog I think.
• Dole Whip – We met him at the Tropical Hideaway after dinner and got Dole Whips.  It took us until the last day to get regular Dole Whips.  They are so good.
• Haunted Mansion – I wanted to ride Haunted Mansion one more time because it is my favorite.  Grady went this time.  He did really well.  We had to tell Ellie the ghosts were silly because she got a little scared since Jack and Sally weren’t there.
• Pooh’s Corner – Finally a Tigger Tail.  Wow was I disappoint.  They changed it.  It had orange-flavored icing and no crystallized sugar.  I didn’t like it as much.  Ellie still really liked it and Lisa liked it more this time.
• Watch nighttime show walking through Main Street – The park was closing so we walked down Main Street during the Mix Magic show.  It was cute to see there, but Small World was still the best spot to see it.
• Shopped in Downtown Disney and Hotel – We finally got to shop on the way back to the hotel, but the shops were packed.  It was hard to walk around.  We decided that next time we are adding an extra day mainly for Downtown Disney time.  We walked through it a lot but didn’t get to experience/shop very much.

Pure Joy!

Love this girl.  This is what Disneyland is all about.

Ariel and Little Mermaid shoes!

Tinker Bell at Pixie Hollow

Day 6:  Friday –

• Grady slept through the night
• Packed and left – Packing with the 2 little kids was a mess.  Trying to watch them and pick everything up was a lot.  It was also a pain because we were all in one room.  The last trip we packed most of the stuff while Ellie was sleeping because she was in essence in another room.
• Flight was better than on the way there, Grady slept 45 min and was able to play because we had more space since it wasn’t full – We sat in the back of the plane and the 4 of us took a full row.  It worked great.
• Nighttime - Ellie was sad at bedtime because vacation was over. She didn’t want it to end. I asked about watching a show about Disneyland or would it make her sad and she said, ‘it’ll just make me sad’

Heading Home - Plane Ride went Ok

Trip Notes:

Overall, it was a great trip.  This was more of a blur than previous trips.  Partially because there were more of us and because we had a baby to attend to.

• Grady – Overall, Grady did fine, but we had to adjust to him.  He did get sick during the trip which did not help.  We also found that we treated him more like a toddler than a baby and that didn’t help.
• MaxPass – Still the greatest thing ever.  Like I said before, Ellie got so used to going in the FastPass line she thought the standby line was called the ‘slow pass’ line.  It was great.  I was talking to my brother after the trip and we decided if we had gone to Florida instead (without MaxPass) we couldn’t have done nearly as many rides.
• Hotel – I’m really glad we got to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, but I’m not sure I’d do it again, especially at the regular rate.  The room was nice, but not great.  The resort was good, but not great.  The construction didn’t help. 
• Park Hopper – We didn’t use the hopper as much as I thought we would nor have in the past.  We’ll have to decide if we need it in the future.
• Food – I think our food planning worked pretty good.  We could have planned more.  Lunch was a little bit of a problem.  We had trouble getting Grady enough food, but that will get easier has he gets older.  We were glad we had at least 1 meal planned with reservations.  It slowed us down and gave us a break.
• Rest – I have never been more tired after a vacation than this one.  Mostly because we didn’t sleep very well and Disney vacations are always very busy.  It showed me how important sleep is on a vacation, since we didn’t get enough.