Yaaaas here we go with Day 2 of my Disney recap! If you missed Day 1, which was spent in California Adventure Park, make sure to go back and read it!
So, Day 2 began before we even got into the park that day .. it began before any of my kids were even awake. Which, actually, I know I’m digressing but can we just take a moment to appreciate this? This trip was the first time that all 5 of us shared ONE hotel room together. J & I have always booked 2 connecting hotel rooms when traveling with our kids – one for the kids and one for us. When E was a little baby (like 1 year old), we did ONE trip with her where we shared a hotel room and didn’t separate her and it was the worst trip ever. She kept popping up and standing in her pack n play and looking at me and crying because she wanted me to hold her. She didn’t sleep! Miserable – I think we were scarred after that we didn’t even want to try again until … well, until now! The Grand Californian hotel room rate was so pricey that we decided to try and sleep in one room together. Also, it was such a short trip that if it was miserable, at least it was only two nights. BUT THEY DID GREAT!
And by “they”, let’s be clear – I mean, A. She was the only real loose cannon in this group lol.
Okay but back to what my original point was – day 2 started off before my kids even woke up! I’d long said before we even got to this trip that the two things I wanted to do MOST was have my kids ride Radiator Springs in California Adventure and Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland. If we just got those two things checked off then it wouldn’t even matter what else we got do. As you already know, we were successful in getting to ride Radiator Springs the day before so now all that was left was get our group in the virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance.
Girl. When I tell you that I was SO STRESSED about getting into this virtual queue … *woooo chaaaaldddd*. I had so many people giving me tips & tricks. The virtual queue opens just twice a day – once at 7am and once at 12noon. I was so anxious about the 7am queue that I woke up at 1:30 am, 4:30am, and then again 6:30am. At 6:30, I just decided to stay awake and I went into the hotel bathroom to try and get us spots to ride … AND FAILED.
I was SO SAD. I was hoping that I’d get on the 7am queue so that we could cross it off our list and just have the rest of the day to enjoy the park. Now I had to wait for the 12pm queue and after failing the first time I had ZERO confidence that we’d be able to grab it.
But anyway .. I took a moment to remind myself that my kids would still have a great time and asked God to help me maintain that perspective no matter what happened 😂 We entered the park and didn’t really have a game plan or know what to do first so we decided to head over to Star Wars land so we could get on the Smuggler’s Run ride at the very least.
D was SUPER impresed with the millennium falcon … we’d been in Star Wars land once before when it FIRST opened but didn’t get to ride anything and I think he’d forgotten what it was like. The first thing he said when we walked in was “WOAH! It looks JUST like my Lego, mom!!!” Cutie.
The last time we came to Star Wars land, we also were unable to ride the Smuggler’s Run ride so we quickly got in line for that. It was cool! I think my kids were all overwhelmed/confused because they didn’t know how to be the gunner/pilot/engineer/etc but it’s fine. They still enjoyed it lol.
The girls had absolutely no idea where they were/what Star Wars land was but as long as they could twirl their dresses, they were fine 😂
After riding just the ONE ride, we decided to take a pause and wait for the noon queue to Rise of the Resistance. It wasn’t noon quite yet but we didn’t want to risk being stuck on a ride when noon struck so we just hung around in Star Wars land and watched the clock. This time it was a success! I don’t think I’ve been THAT nervous for something in a SUPER LONG TIME lol! I was SO happy when we got it, I was skipping around like a lunatic. The good thing is that everyone around us was literally doing the same thing so … it wasn’t that strange 🙂
Once I knew we had a spot in line to ride RoR, I didn’t care what else happened/what else we did. Since our turn to ride was coming up in 90 minutes, we decided to grab lunch in Star Wars land and wait until our turn to ride the attraction instead of going back & forth between lands. We ate at Ronto Roasters and the food was pretty good! The regular Ronto Wrap is basically a hotdog in a pita bread with lots of yummy sauce & filling. J & I got the Garden Wrap which doesn’t have the sausage but has a spicy kimchi slaw in it that was LEGIT.
After eating and bumming around a bit .. it was finally our turn to ride RoR! All I will say is WOW. It was honestly worth all the hype around it. Even J said that he was totally immersed in the experience and thought it was really cool. (When those blue double doors open, it’s the scene that you’ve probably seen all over the internet where an entire legion of Storm Troopers is waiting for you.)
After RoR, we left Star Wars land and headed over to Fantasy Land. E was super excited to go check out dresses at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and even though I tried to tell her that she doesn’t need a new dress every time we go to Disneyland … it was hard to say no to her and in the end she got one anyway LOL. So, we shopped and rode rides … then in true A fashion, she fell asleep again on daddy’s shoulders while in line for Small World.
She woke up just as the ride was ending and asked – “WHERE AM I?!” LOL.
I don’t remember exactly when (I think when we were shopping?) but at some point J took D back to Star Wars land since he didn’t want to browse around a princess dress shop with his sisters. He got to see Kylo Ren and have a chat with him (I don’t have a picture) and Kylo Ren recruited him to the dark side hahahahh! I guess Kylo Ren saw D’s Storm Trooper tshirt and complimented him on it and that’s what started it off.
Anyway, the rest of the day was super chill. We rode as many rides as we could and serendipitously, got to meet a BUNCH of princesses. I wasn’t even planning on it but we happened to be standing around the princess plaza when they all came out and nobody was around so we were the first in line to interact with them 👀 It was so cute to hear A having a conversation with the princesses. (They also met Snow White and Sleeping Beauty but I don’t have good pictures of those princesses.)
At Snow White’s wishing well…
We rode as much as we could and then for dinner headed into downtown Disney to eat at La Brea Bakery. I had dining reservations here and again, the food tasted SO good but probably because we were all STARVING! LOL! The Grand Californian hotel where we were staying also has a secret entrance connected to downtown Disney so after dinner, we were able to quickly drop off our shopping bags and grab jackets from our hotel room since it was getting chilly as the evening wore on.
Then we ended the night in Tomorrow Land! We did the Star Tours ride and Space Mountain (which, no surprise, D LOVED). We did Rider Swap for Space Mountain; A was tall enough to ride it but we figured she wouldn’t like shuttling through the dark at such a high speed 😉
And I caught this gem of daddy with the big kids on Space Mountain!
And that was it! This day it didn’t feel like we were able to squeeze as much in; I think in general, Disneyland park was a bit more crowded than California Adventure and that’s why. But that’s ok because we got the most important thing done (Rise of the Resistance) and my kids had a magical time. In the end, it just matters that they enjoyed themselves, right? 🙂
I was a little bummed (but not surprised) that there were still no fireworks when we were there. I knew that Disneyland had stopped them temporarily but things are changing/reopening faster than I can keep up with so I was hopeful that maybe it would be back when we were there but alas, no luck. The park also closed at 9pm which is earlier than usual and may be another reason why it felt like we didn’t get to cram as much stuff in. I was talking to an employee at the park and she said that when they FIRST reopened at the end of April, the park was closing at 7pm! It’s not even dark outside at 7pm! So I’m glad we at least got to stay until 9pm
The kids passed out as soon as we got back to the room and then the next day it was time to pack all our stuff and hit the road for the long drive back home. A had opted out of getting a new princess dress (unlike her big sis) but she did select these Tinkerbell wings she’s wearing in half the pictures. She told me should could fly in them 😉
And that’s it! That was our short but jam-packed 2 days at Disneyland/California Adventure. I can’t wait to do it all again next time. I don’t know when we’ll go but I did tell Hubby that when we go again, we should stay for 3 days because then we could spend the third day doing all the things we missed or REdoing the things we loved most. We shall see if that happens tho! The next time we go, we’re going to have to add in a stop at Avengers Campus in California Adventure park so that alone might take up a third day.
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