As I wrote previously, Blake and I headed to Disneyland for about 3 days. He’s been to Disney World twice so much of Disneyland was familiar but it’s just small enough to be able to do it all in a couple of days.
We flew out of Wichita which meant that Blake and I drove Tuesday night late after his music program and got to our house in Wichita around midnight. The next morning, we headed to the airport and got on our plane. On our flight, they held a raffle and I got some tickets for Blake and me. One of our ticket numbers was called and Blake got a Mickey Mouse school supply kit which was just perfect for a kid who was doing his homework on the way to Disneyland.
On our arrival day, Wednesday, we got to our hotel at 3, dropped our luggage and ran right to the shuttle to take us to the parks. After picking up our tickets at the window (I had pre-purchased and just had to pick them up), we headed to Disneyland. First up, Buzz Lightyear! Of course. He loves this ride in Walt Disney World (WDW) and I knew he’d want to do it. Shortly after, I ushered him to the submarines because it’s often a very long line and something that doesn’t exist at WDW. We were off to a great start.
We entered the Innoventions pavilion which exists at EPCOT in WDW but is completely different at Disneyland. Blake was smitten. A whole building full of gadgets of the future. He couldn’t get enough. Especially of this guy…..
ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative MObility), a robot made by Honda.
ASIMO walks, talks, remembers things, runs, ascends and descends stairs, dances and can kick a soccer ball. He really is an amazing invention and Disneyland is the only place in North America where ASIMO can be viewed in a permanent place. More info about ASIMO can be found here and omg, it turns out he has events around the world. Guess which Nerd Boy will be an ASIMO groupie?
We finished off Wednesday with a visit to the arcade (ALWAYS the arcades. We spent a lot of time in the cruise ship arcade too.) and the evening parade at Disneyland which Blake loved. I’m going to go ahead and say right now that ALL evening activities that Disney does are good. Really, really good. Fireworks perfectly choreographed to music, Fantasmic, the amazing parades with the sensors between floats that keep them evenly spaced. It’s all just so good.
We collapsed into bed that night after a long day and slept until we couldn’t sleep anymore. 7:00 a.m. The time difference meant we were up early and the parks didn’t open until 10. Guess what time we arrived at Disneyland this morning? 8 freaking 10. 8:10 a.m. And we even walked there.
Actually, we got to enter at 9 for an early entry morning but still, this had us 50 minutes early. We walked around to kill time and finally we were let in with limited access to certain sections of the park. We went on lots and lots of Fantasyland rides.
Dumbo was one of the first…
Eventually, It’s a Small World…
Tea cups, of course….
Incidentally, Dumbo at WDW is much harder to ride due to the lengthy line that builds up right away. It’s a Small World begins outside at Disneyland but is all inside at WDW.
We continued with ride after ride where the lines were shorter, avoiding long lines and just riding what we could. This would actually turn out to be one of the busiest times we’d encounter. This is a good tip for people going to Disney parks: early entry usually means busy. When the extra hours are offered later in the day, it’s even worse.
We made our way to other sections of Disneyland, including New Orleans Square where we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. Can I just take a moment to talk about this ride? It’s SO good and hella better than the WDW version. No comparison really. Blake loved it and we ended up riding it 3 or 4 times during our visit. Unfortunately, Haunted Mansion which is in this section was closed but Blake would have loved that one too.
Blake had built up some courage at this point and I had also bribed him. The bribe was for him to go on something bigger that he’d never ridden before. He decided to try Splash Mountain. Do you know how awesome this was? I’ve never had a kid willing to ride anything “big” before so this was thrilling. I made sure he saw the drop before we got on and I told him that was the worst part. We went on it and HE LOVED IT. I would have even bought the dumb expensive picture they sell if we hadn’t been sandwiched between some other people. I did see that he had closed his eyes on the drop and blew his cheeks out like a blowfish. Whatever it takes, dude.
As always, we end up making our way back to Tomorrowland (this is how all Disney sessions end with Blake).
Astro Orbiter ride in Tomorrowland….
Then Buzz again, begging for more arcade and Innoventions and finally, the monorail which just takes you from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney. We decide to head to Downtown Disney for a break from the parks and to look for some new shoes for Blake since his were tearing and hurting his feet.
We ended up in Kitson for Kids to get some new Havainas flip flops (just like mom!). He has no idea that Kitson is a trendy store but I thought this was cute.
We decide to head back to the hotel for a few hours (another pro tip of mine: ALWAYS take an afternoon break even if you don’t nap, it’s good to decompress and cool off). This time, we weren’t up to the task of walking so we waited for the shuttle.
Pure exhaustion as we wait for the shuttle…
We took a couple of hours to cool off, watch a little TV and then headed back to the parks for dinner and some evening activities. I knew the New Orleans section was going to be a perfect evening spot for some good food with no reservation needed.
My mint julep and jambalaya dinner. Blake kept it authentic with macaroni and cheese and a coke.
Guess what we rode after dinner? Pirates of the Caribbean, of course. And then we meandered and rode whatever else we felt like and had a lovely evening. Evenings were so beautiful since they were so much cooler. I loved it.
The next day was Friday and our last full day. We hadn’t been in the California Adventure park yet and though it officially opens at 10 a.m., we knew they often open up 30 minutes early to allow people to ride Soarin’. Once again, we were awake early so being there at 9:30 was very easy. We were the first ride on Soarin’ of the whole day. This was a thrill. This ride is very popular and has long lines. The best part was riding with others who didn’t really know what it was. As soon as we took off, the woman next to me said “ohhhhh…..how fantastic!” It brought tears to my eyes, I’m not going to lie. Living something so fun through somebody else is a thrill.
From there, we continued onto many other rides including the Toy Story 4D ride (what a fantastic invention this ride is), the Jumping Jellyfish and Mulholland Madness, Blake’s first roller coaster which we rode 3 times.
At this point, we were done with this section of the park and ready for our next big adventure: Grizzly River Run. This ride is one of the typical water raft rides where about 8 or 10 people sit in a raft and go on a river, through caves, down hills, etc., and often times get soaked. Of course, Disney does raft rides better by theming it perfectly and making it even more fun.
Soooooooo….this was Blake after riding twice.
He actually looked this way after one ride but figured he’d just go again while he was wet. Not sure if you can tell but he’s totally drenched. Not one part of his clothing was dry. It was before noon which gave us plenty of time to get dried off.
We decide to head for a FastPass on Soarin’ (why do people wait in the long lines instead of grabbing a FastPass?) which told us we could return in 40 minutes. Just enough time to grab something to eat and rest for a bit. Once we were done eating, we headed for Soarin’ to use our FastPasses and get dirty looks at the people who chose to instead wait.
After this, it was time to head to the Hollywood Studio section of the park which included such things as Monsters, Inc., Muppet Vision 3D, various animation attractions, Turtle Talk with Crush (one of our favorites. Always funny and great technology.) and finally, a live Aladdin production. Live Disney productions are ALWAYS good (in WDW, the Lion King and Nemo productions are Broadway-quality) so I knew this would be pretty fun. The genie interrupted Aladdin’s proposal to Jasmine with “I’m a let you finish but Beyonce had the best video this year.” I love the genie and his pop culture jokes. He also Tweeted during the production. I need to find out his Twitter name.
At this point, we were basically done with California Adventure. Blake wanted to go back to Disneyland for what else? Pirates of the Caribbean and Tomorrowland. Of course. We did that and then to Downtown Disney for some souvenirs and dinner. We didn’t take a break this day because we had to be back in our hotel room just after dinner to get to bed early for a 3:30 (!) alarm for a 3:50 (!) shuttle pickup to go to the airport. This meant missing Fantasmic and nighttime fireworks but Blake never knew what we were missing. I did and as I sat listening to the fireworks go off and watching Blake sleep peacefully, I knew I had made the right choice. We were exhausted.
We got to the airport the next morning at 4:45, flight left at 6:30 and we were in Wichita before noon. It had been a quick but fantastic trip.
Never in my life of having kids have I not had a kid melting down, particularly while traveling. Blake basically ruined some of our previous trips because he just didn’t do well away from home. This trip was a first. Not only did Blake not meltdown (instead, he communicated what he needed. Such a great concept!) but he helped me navigate everywhere as I had forgotten the direction of our hotel. He asked how I was feeling, if I was thirsty, what I liked. This is a huge breakthrough for him. I read an article recently that said that 8 was the perfect age for taking a kid on a Disney trip. I’d say they were pretty close. It turns out it’s 7.83.
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Epilogue for Disney nerds
Here’s my breakdown and comparison of specific Disney rides in WDW vs. Disneyland (to the best of my knowledge and based on what we rode. There could be some that I’ve missed if we didn’t ride them).
Rides that are unique to Disneyland/California Adventure that aren’t in WDW
- Indiana Jones Adventure (similar ride car as Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom but through a bumpy course, not with scary images)
- Matterhorn Bobsleds
- Alice in Wonderland
- Disney Princess Fantasy Faire
- Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
- Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
- Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
- Innoventions (exists in EPCOT under same name but totally different concept)
- Aladdin musical
- the whole Paradise Pier section of California Adventure including Toy Story Midway Mania! (unless they’ve added this one at the Studios and I just didn’t know?)
- Grizzly River Run
Many of the rides are exactly the same or very similar. Some that I took note of.
- It’s a Small World and one other Fantasyland ride start outside in Disneyland but inside at WDW. No big deal, just a difference.
- Pirates of the Carbibbean – in case you couldn’t tell from my trip report – is way better at Disneyland.
- I’m told Fantasmic is significantly better at Disneyland.
- The castle at Disneyland is so disappointing. It’s barely visible throughout the park because it’s so small. This is one thing WDW definitely does better.
Overall, I was amazed how much I loved Disneyland since I’m such a fan of WDW. I think it’s perfect for 2-3 days of park going and feels much more manageable than WDW. Easier to get in and out of, less hassle to eat, easier to switch between parks since they are right next to each other, etc. In WDW, you do get more immersed in the Disney spirit which was the whole point in building it in the first place. I’d say his mission was accomplished.
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What a great trip! Love it that Blake was so fun to be with. I bet he really enjoyed the 1:1 time with his mama.
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Awesome report. I LOVE your travel reports. Makes me want to plan a trip.
Never been to WDW…..definitely want to go. I have history at Disneyland, since I’ve been visiting since I was a child. I love how old school it is and I enjoy California so much…..it’s a joy for us to go. Also like the cooler nights, of course.
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and the like are so precious……again, old school and sweet. Probably not Blake’s techno-filled choice, but I prefer those.
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Just realized I left out a sentence. When I say that all evening activities are really good, I meant to mention that the evening parade was super fun. Instead, I jump from arcade to evening activities. I make no sense sometimes.
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Casey, Blake actually does like those smaller rides as well. That’s why I think this age is so perfect. Willing to do both small and large rides.
My sister-in-law who has a 7.5 year old and 3.5 year old twins has taken her fam to Disneyland a time or two. She thinks Disneyland is better while they are younger since it’s more manageable but will try WDW when the kids are older. Maybe the same would work for you.
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