After our tour of central California's National Parks, we headed south towards Anaheim to spend a few days at Disneyland. After leaving Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we drove to Valencia, CA outside of LA to spend our last night on the road before settling into our Anaheim condo.
We were able to get an early check in for our Air Bnb, so we were able to check in to our AirBnb, get settled, and then I took the kids swimming at the complex pool while Zach went to grab some groceries. We then cleaned up and walked into Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping.
We enjoyed dinner at Black Tap Craft Burgers and Shakes. The burgers were great...as were the shakes.
We then shopped in Downtown Disney. The kids all had souvenir money from grandparents, so Briggs got a Star Wars Lego set while the girls both got some Disney-themed jewelry.
After dinner and shopping, we headed back to the condo for an early night of sleep so that we'd be ready for our full day of Disney fun the next day.
We were up and to the park early to get a jump start on our day at Disney California Adventure. Although my family isn't always on board with early mornings and "standing in line to stand in line" (as my husband puts it), they humor me...sort of.
The girls and I rope dropped Guardians while the boys made their way to Toy Story Mania, which they were able to do twice in a row with no line.
By leveraging single rider lines, Lightning Lanes, rope drop, mobile order, and watching the app for short wait times, we were able to do (and eat) everything we wanted (most of them multiple times) throughout the day with minimal waits.
The park was not very crowded, especially early, so we were able to navigate the park easily. Crowds picked up towards evening as DCA was hosting a grad night that night, but it never felt bad.
The girls and I all chose Guardians of the Galaxy as our favorite ride (which we did 3 times!!) Briggs and Zach chose Toy Story Mania as their favorite, which Briggs did 5 times and Zach did 4. The girls did it 3 times, and I did it twice. It's always a family favorite.
Radiator Springs Racers was another family favorite. We walked onto it twice in a row using the single rider line in the morning. We should have kept riding it when the single rider line was that short because when we checked later in the day, the single rider line was at 45 minutes while the actual line was closer to 90 minutes.
Our longest wait of the day was probably for Webslingers as it broke down right before we were about to get on. We waited quite awhile to see if would come back up, but they ended up closing it down so we got an extra Lightning Lane to come back at another time.
Throughout the course of our day, we also rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Little Mermaid (X 2), Soarin' over California (X 2), Grizzly River Run (X 2), Incredicoaster, Jessie's Critter Carousel, Monster's Inc, and Webslingers.
Between our rides, various members of the family found time to meet Lightning McQueen, Black Panther, Edna Mode, Mickey, and Iron Man.
I think Iron Man was our favorite. He was really funny!!
Although Lightning McQueen is Staley's favorite, so that was a highlight for her.
And, of course, no Disney trip is complete without lots of food. We had lunch at Pym's Test Kitchen, which was a favorite from our last trip. Most of the family went with the humungous taco salad.
We also shared the Choco Smash Bar for dessert. A homemade candy bar this big deserves to be shared.
We circled back later in the day for the gigantic pretzel with beer cheese from Pym's Kitchen again, grabbed some yummy smoothies, and, of course, had to enjoy some of Disneyland's famous churros. We rounded out eating our way around Disney with dinner at Cocina Cucamongo with an assortment of street tacos to share. Scrumptious!!
Between all the rides and characters and eating, we also fit in a few shows. We watched the Spiderman show and enjoyed Turtle Talk with Crush, which is always a family favorite.
While Briggs checked out the Redwood Challenge area, Staley, Adelie, and Zach took a little break.
We finished off our day by watching the World of Color nighttime show, which we all really enjoyed!
And even though the family was ready to call it a night, I wanted to wander back through Cars Land at night to see it all lit up. So we did.
We had such a fun day at DCA. We love this park. So many fun rides, themed lands, good food, and great characters. It was a full, fun, successful day!!
