It'll Be Alright: Disneyland February 2020

Family Picture at DCA

Day 3 - Wednesday

Up early, entry to DCA - We started early and the lines to get into California Adventure were much shorter. We used the entrance from our hotel to DCA and it was wonderful. This is the easiest, most convenient method to enter a Disney park. The park opened at 7:00am and we got in line at about 6:20am. They opened the security check at 6:30am and we could enter the park at 7:00am. It was very smooth.

Radiator Spring racers - We started at Radiator Springs Racers in Carsland. This is one of my favorite rides. It is a great mix of a classic Disney dark ride with the thrills of Test Track from EPCOT. We didn't wait long because we got there as the park opened. It was me, Spence, Lisa, Ellie and Riley. Crosby didn't want to ride, so Sam took he and Grady to ride Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters.

Maters and Luigi - After that, we all rode Mater's. Even Grady got to ride it. He rode with Lisa and she said he had a great time.

Toy Story - After Carsland, we got a FastPass for Toy Story Midway Mania. We all got to ride it. I rode with Ellie and Grady rode with Lisa. I think Spence had the most points.

Radiator springs racers - After Toy Story, we went back to Radiator Springs Racers because we got another FastPass (thank you MaxPass). It was great again.

Flo’s - tamale, French toast, waffles, eggs & bacon - After Radiator Springs, we ate at Flo's. They have a great breakfast. I got the breakfast tamale again, which is really good. Lisa got the brioche french toast, which is also really good. Elle got waffles, which were really cute because they had Cars characters on them. Grady had bacon and eggs. He was starting to crash while waiting in line and had some trouble at meal time.

Soarin’ - After breakfast, we had a FastPass for Soarin'. This is a great ride. We were hoping to see Soarin' Over California because they had switch it temporarily. But it was back to Soarin' Around the World when we were there.

Nap - shop - Grady fell asleep in the stroller during Soarin' so we went and did some shopping on Buena Vista Street while he slept. Ellie and Lisa got some jewelry.

Guardians - We then went and rode Guardians. Lisa stayed with Grady and Sam stayed with Crosby. The rest of us really enjoyed the ride. Ellie is back and forth on it. Sometimes she likes it and others she says she doesn't like the falling part. After the ride, Grady was full on melting down.

Melt down - Grady was struggling after his nap in the stroller. Lisa watched him while we rode Guardians and said he was a mess the entire time. We were going to try and ride Monsters after Guardians but Grady was inconsolable. So we decided to go back to the hotel.

Hotel - lunch - poop - Lisa got lunch for us from the Craftsman Grill in our hotel. We used Mobile Order from our room. We did Mobile Order a couple of times on this trip and it worked great. This meal was surprisingly good. The kids got mini corn dogs and Lisa and I both got cheeseburgers. The kids liked the corn dogs. Our burgers were REALLY good. One of the best burgers I've had in a long time. It had almost a hash on top of it with cheese. It was SO good. During lunch we found out why Grady was grouchy and not happy, he had to poop. He had some trouble getting it out, but once he did, he was back to his normal self. After we ate, pooped and rested, we were ready to head back out.

DCA - picture and churro - We went back into DCA from the hotel because it is so easy and walked toward the front of the park. We stopped at the churro stand to get a fluffernutter churro. Lisa saw this on social media before our trip and really wanted to try one. It was a churro with a marshmallow fluff, peanut butter and chocolate chips. Man it was good. We should have bought more than one. We split one between the 4 of us. DCA was pretty busy that day and we had dinner reservations at Cafe Orleans so we headed to Disneyland.

Disneyland- dole whips, jungle cruise, Ellie asleep - walk through Star Wars land, tea cups, small world, train, cafe Orleans, Pooh, candy, Star Wars land at night, star tours, fireworks - We started in Adventureland and got Dole Whips because we were in Adventureland and that's what you do. Ellie got a swirl (raspberry and pineapple) and Lisa got a Pineapple float. They were delicious, prefer the regular and not swirl or float. Then we rode the Jungle Cruise. I've been reading the Jungle Cruise books with Grady so I was looking forward to it. We really enjoyed it. After that we walked up to Star Wars land and just explored a little more. It is a really cool land. We checked out some of the shops and other areas we hadn't seen. We then left and went to Fantasyland. Ellie was asleep in the stroller so we stopped at a couple stores and then went to ride the tea cups because there was no wait. Since Ellie was sleeping, Lisa and Grady went on the tea cups. After that, we went to ride Small World, but waited for Ellie to wake up. Grady got to walk, run and dance around the area in front of Small World. It was really cute. We had to wake Ellie up because we had a FastPass so we then rode Small World. After that, we rode the train because Grady had been wanting to do that. It was fun. He really liked it except for the dinosaur scene he got a little scared. We had to go from the Fantasyland train station to Cafe Orleans for dinner reservations. We had to wait a little while and Grady was really funny while we were waiting. But we found that Grady can't wait for food very long. He didn't do well at this meal either. I ended up talking him outside for most of it because he was throwing a fit. Dinner was pretty good (when I got to eat). Lisa got shrimp and grits, Ellie had shrimp and rice and I got a steak and potatoes to share with Grady. Ellie and Lisa really liked their food, Grady didn't eat and I got to eat cold food. I did get a mint julep though which was delicious. After dinner we went to Critter Country and rode Pooh. The kids liked it. We then went to Pooh's Corner and got candy. Ellie got her Tigger Tail, which I don't like anymore because they changed them, and Lisa got churro toffee. After that, we decided to take the side route to Star Wars land because we wanted to see it at night. Wow, this land is amazing at night. As cool as it is during the day, it is so much cooler at night. The colors were amazing and really made it look like a different planet. Grady fell asleep on the walk (not a surprise). We then headed back to Main Street because the fireworks were going to start soon. Ellie and I almost road Smuggler's Run because the wait was low, but as we decided, the wait time went up. I got a FastPass for Star Tours and after we found our spot for fireworks, Lisa kept our spot (which was off the hub on the Tomorrowland side) and Ellie and I went to ride Star Tours. It was good, they added scenes from Rise of Skywalker (which is not good), but it was a fun ride. We watch the fireworks, which were good. It was hard to see the projections on the castle, unfortunately because the castle is so small. It was a good day. We did a lot.