It'll Be Alright: Disneyland and Southern California for Christmas 2022

Day 4

Disneyland - Our next day started at Disneyland and strangely enough the lines for security and entry were not bad.
Rope drop, close to rope - straight to fantasyland - took path by grotto, no one there - We got in the part before rope drop and somehow we were only about 4-6 rows of people from the rope. We weren't THAT early. I really enjoyed being up there because we got a great view of the castle and the hub. We were a little annoyed (and we turned it in to a joke) because people would come up next to us looking for their group after getting coffee or snacks. Everyone that walked by had their head up high looking over the crowd for their group. It was hard to tell if they found their groups, but some appeared to just find a spot by themselves. It got pretty silly.
Peter Pan - When the rope dropped, we were close enough to the front that we went straight to Fantasyland and got in line for Peter Pan. Note, if you get that close to the rope, take the path by the grotto, not through the castle. The queue line had not completely filled yet so we didn't have to wait the typical 45 minutes, it was more like 25 minutes or so. This is such a great ride. I wish it was a little longer but still great.
Pinocchio - Next we rode Pinocchio's Daring Adventure. It was a short line and the kids wanted to do it. It's fun, but it needs an overhaul. I would put this refurb ahead of Toad. It's a lot of doom and gloom. I'd like to see either a different property put in here (maybe Tangled or Beauty and the Beast), and if not a complete change, maybe more of a musical because the music from Pinocchio is so classic.
Carousel - After that, the kids wanted to ride the carousel. They all hoped on and I ended up watching and taking pictures.
Casey Jr - Fantasyland started to get busy so we were ready to move on, but the little kids wanted to ride the Casey Jr. Circus Train. This is a cute little train ride and it is a great view of the miniatures in the Storybook Land Canal Boats.
Red rose Taverne- yummy, kids ate a lot - Ellie got the Mickey pancake, Grady got the Bonjou Breakfast (eggs, potatoes, bacon, etc) and Lisa and I both got the Little Town Harvest Bowl, which was quinoa, mushrooms, cauliflower and other veggies. We each destroyed our breakfasts. It was a good stop. We also got a Holiday Grey Stuff to share. It was really cute because it looked like a Christmas tree, but it just tasted ok.
Snow White - After breakfast we got in line to ride Snow White's Enchanted Wish. I love this reimagined version of Snow White's Scary Adventures. It has the right blend of old school charm and modern technology.
Josie nap/Star Tours - Next we headed to Tomorrowland and rode Star Tours. We had some issues with this ride last time because Grady got really scared. He is so into Star Wars and watches all of the shows so I wasn't as worried and that came to fruition. He was a little scared, but loved it.
Frustration and arguments - headed to hotel for rest time - stopped at Panera for lunch - We ended Star Tours in the big Star Wars shop in Tomorrowland. This is a great shop, but it can be overwhelming for the kids. We had some disagreements about buying everything in the store. This continued outside of the shop with bickering between the kids. We decided to take a break. We had been extremely fast paced for several days and it was time to take a break. We headed back to the hotel, stopping at Panera for lunch. I wasn't sure how rest time was going to go, but we all fell asleep. It ended up being a good break.
All 4 napped - back at park, parade going as we came in, headed to Star Wars land - After a nice nap, we collected our things and headed back to the parks. We went back to Disneyland and as we walked in the parade was running. We watched it for a while and then headed back to Galaxy's Edge.
Grady had Mando costume on; Saw Kylo and stormtrooper; Saw Mando, Grogu and Fennec Shand - Grady had decided to wear his Mandalorian costume from Halloween to the parks after naptime. As we walked in to Galaxy's Edge we saw some Stormtroopers. With them was Kylo Ren. Grady enjoys pretending to be bad guys from Star Wars, but this experience changed his opinion. The group of bad guys walked right up to Grady dressed as a Mandalorian. They asked if they had his allegiance to the First Order. He turned into a little puppy and turned around and hid behind me. It was cute and he did say he liked seeing the even though he was scared. After that, we continued walking along the path around the outside of the market and we saw The Mandalorian with Grogu and Fennec Shand walking around. They too came up to him and he walked up to them. They talked to each other about being a strong brave Mandalorian. It was sooo cool and he LOVED it!! He was SO excited after seeing them up close and very personal. It was one of the best moments of the trip and ranked up with him meeting Captain America on the previous trip.
Got Star Wars drinks (cold brews and green drinks) - After our character encounters we walked through the market and stopped to get fancy drinks. Lisa and I wanted the Cold Brew Black Caf and Ellie got a bright green super sweet drink. It tasted like a green apple Jolly Rancher. The coffees were delicious!
In line for rise of the Resistance- wait time 60 min - ended about a 45 min wait - great ride, Grady loved it, he was nervous/scared through the bad guy stuff but loved it - We were walking around and I saw the wait for Rise of the Resistance was 60 minutes. It was the shortest wait I had seen on the trip. The four of us got in line. I texted my brother to let him know and they got in line about 20 minutes after us. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes and since the line moves and there is plenty to see in the queue, it didn't seem too bad. This is an amazing experience and Grady LOVED it. Ellie did better as well. Grady got scared when you get off the transport and on to the Star Destroyer with all of the Stormtroopers. Once we got moving into the ride, he loved it.
Kids did Batuu creature scavenger hunt - they loved it - We walked through the market looking for a Christmas ornament and stumbled into a scavenger hunt. The premise was to help find creatures, footprints and other information about creatures in Batuu to research them. It was really cute and the kids LOVED it.
Met rest of group - dinner at Rancho del zocalo - really tasty, took a long time - We found the rest of our group at the exit of Rise of the Resistance as we finished the scavenger hunt. We decided to go to Rancho del Zocalo for dinner. We ordered ahead, but it still took a long time to get our food and we were really cold. Once we got our food, it was delicious, but it took too long.
Found great spot for fireworks, good show, got to see the castle this time - Dinner was late so we went to find a spot for fireworks. We got to the hub from Frontierland just as the cast members were setting up the ropes so we snuck in behind the rope right in front. It was a great spot. A couple of the kids fell asleep waiting, but we did get to see the show. The holiday fireworks are not my favorite, but it's always fun to see fireworks.
Downtown Disney for shopping - Grady asleep before we left the park - Grady fell asleep in the stroller as we were leaving the park, so we decided to walk through some of the shops in Downtown Disney since we hadn't been there yet. It was pretty busy, but we were able to see and find everything we wanted.