It'll Be Alright: Disneyland and Southern California for Christmas 2021

Holiday Small World

Day 4

A little better sleep - When I woke up, I found Grady in bed and Lisa was missing. Come to find out, Grady woke up several times and Lisa ended up sleeping in his bed. She figured out the bunk bed made a lot of noise when Ellie rolled/moved around on the top bunk. She padded the rails with towels and it seemed to fix it.
Got into park before rope drop - We started the day at Disneyland and were able to enter the park before rope drop. It was nice to take our time walking into the park and then getting an idea of where the crowd would go.
First day for Genie+; bought it; app is pretty slow and some bugs still - We found out on Monday Genie+ would start Wednesday Dec 8. I had predicted before the trip, it would start after Thanksgiving to give them time to fix issues before the large holiday crowds showed up. Well, I was right. We loved MaxPass in the past, so I wanted to try it. I was able to purchase it and then we scheduled a Lightning Lane for Big Thunder Mountain.
First stop - lightning lane for big thunder mountain - Grady didn’t like it - We had not done Big Thunder Mountain and Grady wanted to ride it since he was big enough. We used our Lightning Lane, which worked find and hoped on the ride. I rode with Ellie and Grady rode with Lisa. Ellie and I had a great time. Grady got pretty scared. He didn't like it very much.
Pirates walked on - Grady is being a bear - Next we rode Pirates because there was no wait. Grady was not following the rules nor instruction. We went ahead and rode the ride, but it was not the best experience.
Family meltdown - decided we were hungry - After Pirates, none of us were in a good mood nor getting along. We decided that we were hungry, especially the kids. We needed to find food.
Red Rose - no breakfast, had snacks at table - We wanted to eat breakfast at Red Rose Tavern because we had eaten there in the past and it was yummy. We stopped there and found out they no longer serve breakfast. I had seen their menu online before we left, but the case member told me it had been stopped a couple weeks. We decided to give the kids snacks and sit at one of the tables outside of the restaurant. It did seem to help.
Casey Jr - Grady liked - Grady wanted to ride the Casey Jr train so we hoped on it. It is a fun little train ride. Grady enjoys it.
Millennium Falcon - Grady did not like - Ellie and I piloted - We headed to Galaxy's Edge because we wanted to eat there and had a surprise for the kids planned. When we got there, the line for Smuggler's Run was reasonable, so we got in line. It didn't take long to get to the ride. Ellie and I got to pilot. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy piloting. It really was like being a little kid and pulling the lever for lightspeed was awesome. Grady did not like it as much as he did last year. He did ok though.
Ronto and Docking Bay - Yummy for momma and daddy - Next we got an early lunch at Docking Bay 7 and Ronto Roasters. Lisa and I split the Felucian Kefta & Hummus Garden Spread (Impossible meatballs with hummus, relish and pita) from Docking Bay 7 and the Ronto-less Garden Wrap from Ronto Roasters. They were DELICIOUS. Very different flavors than anywhere else on property. We also got the Cold Brew Black Caf from Docking Bay 7, which is a cold brew coffee with sweet cream coffee and coco puffs. It was so good. This was a great stop, but there wasn't much for the kids. We then went looking for food for them.
Hungry Bear - lunch for kids - We have never been to Hungry Bear, but it is the best place to get food for the kids. They got chicken nuggets and a hot dog. It was a good meal for them too. I also thought the seating area was nice, a little crowded, but nice.
Droid Depot - really cool experience - Our next stop was the surprise for the kids. At dinner the night before, I had decided to make reservations at the Droid Depot to build a droid. Droids are the part of Star Wars Grady likes the most. We got to the Droid Depot and checked in. We decided to build a BB type droid and picked the pieces we wanted from the conveyor belt. Grady likes red so he picked the pieces to build a red BB droid. We took the pieces to the building station, then followed the directions to build it. Once we were done, the cast member turned it on and set it up. We got to try it out on at the station, then we checked out. We ended up buying a second body and found they told us they would take our droid to "daycare" and we could pick it up at the end of the night. This was a great option so we didn't have to lug around the droid the entire day. Overall, this was a great experience. I was hoping for a little better quality pieces, but we had a great time and the kids had a blast.
Pictures at Castle - After we built the droid, we had back to Fantasyland and stopped to take pictures in front of the castle. Since we purchased Genie+, PhotoPass was included. We took advantage of that and used a PhotoPass photographer. We got some great pics.
Parade at Small World - After we took pictures, we found out that Disney was filming the Christmas parade to broadcast on TV Christmas Day. We wanted to see the parade so we tried to find a spot. We went back by Small World and found a pretty good spot. The spot got even better after several people left and they put the rope up right in front of us. It ended up being a great spot and we were right in front to watch the entire parade. We really enjoyed the evil stepmother and stepsisters. The girls next to use talked to them and they had a very funny interaction. Our kids loved seeing all of the characters, Christmas theme-ing and Santa at the end.
Got gift card for Genie+ - Genie+........well, just like Disney World, it was released with a giant thud. We used it at Big Thunder Mountain and then it didn't work the rest of the day. I used the chat function a couple of times through the day and was told they were working on it. I got a notification in the afternoon that said to go to City Hall for support. When I got there, they asked me to fill out a form, then check in and show that I had Genie+. They then gave me 4 $20 gift cards to cover the cost of Genie+ for 4 people. It was nice of them to do this, but I thought we should have got a free Lightning Lane ticket or something extra for the headache we dealt with the entire day. Not a great experience.
Shopped at World of Disney - It was rest time for the kids so we walked to Downtown Disney and walked through World of Disney. Grady fell asleep, but Ellie wanted to shop. It worked out fine and we had a good time shopping.
Salt and Straw - After shopping, we got an ice cream treat. We had been wanting to try Salt and Straw because they have very different flavors than your normal ice cream stand. I tried the pear and blue cheese, it was really weird. After we tried a bunch of the flavors, Lisa got Salted Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Ellie and I both got the Gingerbread Cookie Dough. They were delicious. We got cones and it was the perfect amount for me, but too much for Ellie. Grady woke up while we were eating and he shared Ellie's, which worked out perfect.
Walked to DCA - After our Downtown Disney break, we headed to DCA.
Saw Dora Milaje - We stopped at Avenger's Campus and watched the Dora Milaje show. We had seened parts of it the previous couple days, but we stopped to watch the entire show this time. It was really good, but the highlight was the cast members next to us. They were doing all of the moves and having a great time. I enjoyed watching them more than the show. It shows how much more you can enjoy something where there are others having a good time too.
Carthay Circle - very good - kids tired - I lucked out and found reservations for Carthay Circle very close to our trip. We had mixed feelings about this reservation before our trip. It is an expensive restaurant, the only other time we went Ellie was not great, the kids were great at the Brown Derby and a relaxing longer meal would be good for us. This time it was great. The kids were well behaved; extremely tired, but well behaved. I decided to cheat on our new lifestyle and ordered salmon. I didn't want to spend $40 on a veggie meal. Lisa ordered the veggie pasta and it was actually better than my salmon. The meal was delicious. We even got cocktails with our meal. It turned out to be exactly what we needed: a relaxing, delicious break from the frenetic, busy park time.
Dr Strange show - it was ok; had higher expectations - We wanted to see the Dr Strange show so we headed to Avenger's Campus after dinner. We got there in time and found spots to watch the show. It was ok. I think I had higher expectations. I was hoping for more magic and it was more of a Disney showy show. After the show, we walked through Carsland and ended up finding 2 PhotoPass spots so we stopped and got family pictures.
Walked to Star Wars to get droid; played with droid by the Falcon; watched fireworks in Galaxy’s Edge - After Dr Strange, we decided to head back to Disneyland because we needed to pick up the droid. When we got there, people were already lined up to watch the fireworks. The park was packed. We snaked our way back to Galaxy's Edge. We picked up the droid and decided to play with it in the land since it was not very busy. It was a lot of fun. We played by the Millennium Falcon, and there was another family across from us. Their kids really liked our droid and didn't realize we were controlling it. It was cute. After a while, a cast member came over and informed us that fireworks were about to start and we needed to move. We found the viewing are in Galaxy's Edge and watched the fireworks from there. It was GREAT! This was a wonderful spot to watc the fireworks. So cool. After the fireworks, we took pictures with a PhotoPass photographer. They came out great. Then we found another spot to play with the droid. Too much fun.
Saw lights and projection show at Small World - Lisa wanted to see Small World at night, so we headed that way. What a sight. As great as the castle looks with lights, Small World is the pinnacle of the Disneyland Christmas decorations. We even got to see the projection show, which is really cool.
Back to the hotel - Grady had major meltdown waking up to go back to bed - The kids fell asleep in the stroller and we were tired so we headed back to the hotel. When we got there, we got the kids up to get ready for bed and Grady had a major meltdown. Sometimes he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and this was one of them. Yikes. We finally got him calmed down and all to sleep.