It'll Be Alright: Disneyland February 2020

Pixar Pier after World of Color. BEST NIGHT SHOW EVER!

Day 4 - Thursday

Easy security, stupid park entry - We got up early again to get to the park at opening. Today we started at Disneyland for early entry. The Downtown Disney security was quick, we got there pretty early. Then when we got to the park entrance the lines were crazy. We couldn't figure out where the Extra Magic Hour line was, which is for resort guests only. We thought we found it and were ready to go in at opening. When the gates opened ALL gates opened. This was weird. Then there is supposed to be a rope and room key check at the end of Main Street, but it was not there. They were allowing everyone through. I was not happy. I was frustrated at the gate because we were staying at their premiere hotel, and did not recieve one of the big benefits of staying there. Then when our room key was supposed to be checked, it wasn't. We should have slept in and gone to DCA to avoid the crowd. I hate to admit, but I kind of vented to a cast member when we switch parks later in the day. It really tainted the day for me. When we got to Fantasyland there was already a 30 min wait for Peter Pan and Alice. That means they let too many people in. Dumb.

Dumbo - Since Peter Pan and Alice were busy, we decided to ride Dumbo. Grady loves Dumbo and the line was pretty short. The kids both wanted to ride with Lisa so I rode by myself. We love this ride.

Tea cups - After that, we walked toward Alice to check the wait and it was too long. There was no one in line for the tea cups so we hoped on. This is such a great ride that we can all do. It was fun to get us all in one cup. Ellie and Grady had a lot of fun together on it.

Galaxy Edge fail - After that, we met up with my brother's family and went to go to Galaxy's Edge when the full park opened. We did not anticipate how many people would line up to get in. We waited until rope drop and then got stuck in the hoard, so we backed out. Seemed like our plans were not working this day.

Casey Jr - We had not ridden the Casey Jr train before and between not doing and Grady's love of both Dumbo and trains, we had to do it. We didn't wait too long and we all fit on one seat of the caboose. It was a really cute ride. You get to see all of the Canal Boats miniatures and they play the Casey Jr song through the ride. It was cute and we were glad we did it.

Galactic grill - I think we have talked about it before, but we found Grady gets HANGRY! We wanted to eat at Galactic Grill because the breakfast burritos were delicious. Ellie got a breakfast sandwich and Grady got a snack pack. He didn't eat very much unfortunately and wouldn't stay seated. He was a lot of fun at meal time (can you sense the sarcasm). The burritos were delicious and Ellie did really good with her sandwich.

Space Mountain - Next we had a FastPass for Space Mountain. Lisa and Ellie went first. I stayed with Grady and then we switched. This is one fo the best and Ellie found she really liked this ride this year.

DCA - Disneyland was busy and we were having lunch at Wine Country Trattoria so we needed to head over there. We also found we could get better FastPass options at DCA.

Incredicoaster - I booked a FastPass for Incredicoaster. On the walk to DCA, Grady fell asleep so we traded riding with Ellie and sitting with Grady. I loved doing this ride with Ellie. She loved it and was so cute riding it.

Cookie num num - After the Incredicoaster, we got a Cookie Num Num. That is a delicious cookie. We "shared" it, but Ellie ate most of it.

Shopping - We walked through so shops while Grady slept. We went through the shops on Buena Vista Street again. The kids ended up using their gift cards and own money to buy a plush each. Ellie got a baby Minnie and Grady got a baby Dumbo. They were pretty cute.

Ariel - We rode Ariel's ride and Grady was so cute on it. He waved at all of the characters, even Ursula. It was really cute. We were really glad that he enjoyed the dark rides as my nephew has a lot of trouble with them.

Zack - walk to Rise, ride down, walk back for lunch - After Ariel, we had got a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance that morning and our group was called so I headed back to Disneyland to meet my brother and his family there. I stopped on the way and got a blue milk. It was really pretty good. I that it tasted like the blue part of a Bomb Pop. It was a little coconutty. We got to the ride and it was down. Darn it. We headed back to meet Lisa, Sam and the kids for lunch. Wow, that was a lot of walking.

Lisa and kids - inside out - While I went to try and ride Rise of the Resistance, Lisa took the kids to ride the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind. Lisa did not enjoy it. I think mostly because they had to wait in the hot sun and then it was a really short line.

Lunch - good but slow - Lunch was at Wine Country Trattoria because we wanted to do a World of Color dining meal to get a better spot to watch World of Color. We have done this before and it is 100% worth it. The spot to watch the show is so much better. Lunch was really good too. The pasta was delicious and you could tell it was made there. It was a 3 course lunch and it was extremely slow. If we are with just adults, I'm ok with that. We had 4 smallish kids and that doesn't work. The kids actually did really well considering how long it took. The service was ok, but the food was really good. I don't recall what we all had. I had linguine and clams. Ellie had the kids spaghetti.

Zack - Walk to Rise - down again, Smuggler’s single rider - After lunch we found that Rise of the Resistance was open again. So my brother, my niece and I headed back to Galaxy's Edge to try again. Since I had done this before I decided to track the walk on my Garmin watch to see how far and how many steps. Come to find out, it was 3/4 of a mile and around 2,000 steps, just to get there. I went there, and back, and then there and back. We got there and the ride was down again. We didn't get to ride it this day. So I walked back to find Lisa and the kids. Oh, before I walked back, I stopped and rode Smuggler's Run through the single rider line. The line was not very long, but I wasn't sure when and if I'd get to ride so I hoped on. It was about 10 min and then I was in the Millennium Falcon. Holy S%$#! It was so cool. You are given a job for your crew and then you wait in the main area of the Falcon. Then when you crew color is called, you get to go into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. It was so cool. The ride itself was fine. Part of the problem is there are 6 jobs and the ride is best if you all work together. I was with a family of 4, 2 of them pushed their buttons and then it was me and another single rider. Fun, but much better for a group.

Lisa and kids - Ariel & play - While we were trying to ride Rise of the Resistance, Lisa went to ride Ariel with the kids and then they played around the area of Ariel.

Ellie Lisa - Soarin’ - When I got back from my "walk", she and Ellie went to ride Soarin'. They love that ride.

Zack Grady - Ariel, boats & redwood creek - While the girls were riding Soarin', I had Grady. He did not want to sit in the stroller anymore so I decided we needed to find something to do. We rode Ariel, which he enjoyed. Then we walked by the Grizzly River Run area and watched the boats go by. He enjoyed watching and waving to them. Then we went into the Redwood Creek Challenge trail. He loved this. It is a contained play area and I just let him go and he loved being able to just run around. He really loved the hollowed log that he could run through. We had a good time with this area.

Zack Ellie - Grizzly - After that, I had told Ellie I would go on Grizzly River Run with her. She changed clothes under a blanket in the stroller to put a swim suit on and we change clothes. We had not done this before so we got a FastPass and hoped on. The ride is very similar to Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, but there isn't much of a story or stuff to see. It was fine. I had fun with the people we rode with. Ellie shut down after she got a little wet because she got really cold. We waited too long in the day to ride it and the sun was starting to go down. She got pretty cold after riding it.

Change at hotel - Because she was so cold, we went back to the hotel room (which the hotel was literally across the path from Grizzly River Run) and we all changed clothes and rested for a couple minutes. It was a good restart to get ready for the evening.

Flo’s - Ellie asleep - We got back into the park and headed to Flo's V8 Cafe for dinner. On the way there, Ellie nested in her stroller and was asleep by the time we got there. She was tired. Grady was hungry. We just shared a couple things. We got him chicken fingers and Lisa and I split the club. It was all good. Grady actually ate well at this meal. We sat outside and watched the cars at Radiator Springs Racers. It was cool to look out at the ride. Ellie slept through dinner.

Hot fudge sundae - Then we went to Ghirardelli and got a hot fudge sundae. This is the best hot fudge sundae ever. I love ice cream and I now have to have one of these every time we go to Disneyland. This was came with round waffle cone pieces covered in chocolate that looked like Mickey ears. It was cute and delicious. We took it with us to watch World of Color.

World of color - Grady asleep - We headed over to our World of Color reserved spot. Note: Always do the dining option for World of Color. They are all great spots to watch the show. By the time we got to our spot, Grady was asleep. Both kids missed the show. Lisa and I split the hot fudge sundae. It was so good. The show started at 8:15pm. I love it. It has everything. Fountains, lasers, fire and DIsney images and music. There are things they do with the water and lights that we have no clue how they do it. So cool. This is my favorite. After the show, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed. I had almost 28k steps this day. It was a very busy day.