Disneyland

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Disneyland. It was surreal. I still remember the last time we visited Disneyland before the pandemic. We had annual passes and thought we would be back in just a couple of months. Little did we know how much the world would change in a few short months. As much as things have changed, it is also amazing how much Disney felt like it was back to normal on this trip. It was so good to be back in Disneyland. 

Rather than give a play by play of each of our days, I want to focus on a few specific memories from these two days in Disneyland. 

Our first morning we rope dropped Fantasyland. This worked out well because we could all ride together. We pulled off what is probably the most difficult rope drop in Disneyland - Peter Pan's Flight. This is Alison's favorite Disney ride. We make our way through most all of the Fantasyland rides. I even rode the Teacups with Skylee, since we are the only ones who want to spin as fast as we can. 

We were able to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance both days, thanks to Kristin's fast fingers. The first day she got us boarding group #10. Thanks to rider swap Skylee and I were able to ride twice. Alison waited with Holly while I rode with Kristin, Dan, and Skylee. This was Dan and Skylee's first time riding Rise of the Resistance. It blew their minds. When we got to the stormtrooper room Skylee was conflicted. She was sure we somehow ended up in space, but she also knew that was impossible. It is such a great ride. On Sunday we had a later boarding group. Rise of the Resistance was also off to a slow start. The first time our boarding group was called the ride went down. We did some other activities and planned to return later in the day. Later when the ride was back up Alison, Dan, Skylee, and I got into line. We hadn't made it too far when the ride went down again. We were indoors, which was air conditioned, so we found a place to sit and wait it out. While we waited we played a game Kristin came up with where one of us would come up with a word from a Disney song and everyone else would try to guess the song. It was a fun game. We also played heads up. After a while Alison and Skylee got tired of waiting and went to find Kristin and Holly. Dan and I decided to stay put. It was another 30 minutes until they got the ride up, but then we were on pretty quickly. Since we had done a rider swap we had 3 more passes. At this point Skylee and Kristin didn't care about riding it again. Alison met Dan and I and we had one more ride. This is my favorite Disney ride right now - it is so immersive. 

On Saturday Disneyland was hosting a special event - the world premier of the Jungle Cruise movie. It did not impact us too much. Toon town closed early and there were no fireworks, but we knew that going into the day. Plus we had a nice photo op on the official red carpet. On this trip we also got to ride on the new and improved Jungle Cruise. Disney recently updated the ride to change some scenes that were culturally insensitive. The changes are great. The updates make the ride even more fun and entertaining. 

On Saturday night Holly had enough and melted down. Kristin and Dan decided to take her back to the hotel early. So we spent the evening with Skylee. We stayed until close and rode most of our favorite rides  - Space Mountain, Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones. Lines greatly decreased this particular evening, which made for a fun night. We rode Big Thunder Mountain a few times - this is easily my favorite Disneyland ride at night. It has such great lighting. All three of us fit in one row and Skylee loved smashing me as we went around the curves. Her laughter was contagious. She was a trooper. We walked a ton on Saturday and by the time we ran around the park to hit all these rides she was tired. She walked most of the way back to the hotel, but I ended up giving her a piggy back ride for the last block or so. 

Spending time with our nieces was a highlight of this trip. Skylee is basically a perfect child. She had a blast at Disneyland. It took Holly a bit to really catch the vision, but by the end of the trip she got it. She was excited for the rides and would tell us what she wanted to do. She also started pulling down the lap bar as soon as we got onto a ride. She is a cute kid. 

Sunday was a busier day in the park. To avoid a Saturday-esque meltdown Kristin found a quiet corner of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge to let her kids nap. This allowed the kids to recharge their batteries during the hottest part of the day so they were ready for a really fun evening in the park. 

We ran into one of my good friends, John Nielsen, and his family at the park. It seems like every time we are in Disneyland we run into someone we know. It was good to see John and catch up for a few minutes. We are going to have to get together with some friends soon. 

Sunday night was awesome. While Kristin and Dan went to ride a few rides we took the girls. We bought them each a souvenir to take home. Skylee got a classic looking Minnie Mouse Loungefly backpack. Holly had a really tough time choosing a stuffed animal - she wanted to take them all home. Eventually she picked a baby Minnie. She loved the baby Minnie. Minnie came with us on all the rest of the rides we did on the trip. Minnie really brightened Holly's mood. Holly really loved riding Casey Jr. Circus Train. It was her favorite ride in Disneyland. She would tell us she wanted to ride the train and then watch it go by again and again as we waited in line. She loved it.

At 9pm we headed out to Main Street USA to watch Mickey's Magic Mix. It is fun upbeat firework show with lots of projections, music and dancing. The girls loved the fireworks. Holly is particularly enamored with any type of fireworks. After the fireworks we ran and fit in a couple more rides before the park closed and our trip came to an end. 

This was a really fun trip. We love spending time in Disneyland with Kristin, Dan, Skylee and Holly. There is nothing quite like a child's joy in Disneyland. We had plenty of joyful memories on this trip. Other than the lack of fast passes (hopefully Disney brings them back sooner than later) this trip felt much like trips we took before the pandemic. It was kind of crazy how normal everything felt. Unfortunately, that might not last long, given the Delta variant and vaccine hesitancy. Hopefully more people will trust doctors and scientists and do what is necessary to protect themselves and to move the world past this deadly pandemic. 

Another fun Disney trip is in the books. We can't wait for our next Disney adventure.