Read about Day 4 here.

Our final park day was 50 percent awesome, 50 percent aggravating.  There aren't many pictures because I was not in a photo taking mood! But here is a recap.

The plan was to be at California Adventure when it opened, ride Soarin' and then explore the Pixar Pier area.  The first part of the day went according to plan, we got fast passes for Soarin' and went to ride Radiator Springs Racers since the stand-by line was relatively short.  RSR was fun, although we lost again.  Then it was time for our fast passes, so we walked over and rode Soarin', which is the same as the one in EPCOT but still a favorite.

After that, we headed to Pixar Pier.  This is an area of California Adventure that is themed to the Pixar movies and looks like an old-fashioned boardwalk carnival.  They have a lot of rides for little kids, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster (which A&R were not tall enough for), and the best ride ever, Toy Story Midway Mania.  

Our plan was to let Anne and Ryan ride some of the carnival rides while Rob went to get fast passes for Toy Story.  He was able to do his side of the plan, but it was a rather windy day, so most of the kiddie rides were closed.  We were only able to ride 1 of the 4, Jumpin' Jellyfish. 

Fast Passes in hand, we met Rob outside the Inside Out Emotional Whirl-Wind.  The kids and I stood in this really long line, the ride was ok, but offered great views of the park.  When we got off, Rob realized he hadn't taken his reflux medication that morning, so he needed to go back to the room and get it.  I took the kids to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail while he did that.

The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is a great area to let kids run around and burn off their energy.  There are climbing nets, zip lines, and slides, plus plenty of sidewalks where they can just run and not worry about people.  It was 20 minutes well spent waiting for Daddy.  Then I noticed there was no line for The Little Mermaid- Ariel's Undersea Adventure.  I texted Rob that we would meet him outside the ride and we headed over.

The Little Mermaid ride is exactly the same as the one in Florida, cute but not a headline attraction.  It was great to ride it with no line and get out of the cold wind for a few minutes.  Finally we met up with Rob and headed to ride the Pixar Pal-A-Round.  This is the giant Pixar themed Ferris wheel that is the park's icon.  The ride has 2 vehicle types, non-moving, which are typical Ferris wheel cars; and moving cars, which slide around on a round track as the wheel moves.  

The Schneiders tend towards motion sickness, so of course we rode the non-moving cars.  Even that is almost too much for me. I hate Ferris wheels, but the kids love them so I soldiered on like a good mother.  The wait for the ride was about 30 minutes, but the churros made that pass quickly. ;)

When we got off the ride, I noticed a serious up tick in the crowd level in the pier area.  I checked the app and both the Incredicoaster and the Toy Story ride were down.  That left a lot of people with nothing to ride!  We thought we would just grab lunch and hope that the ride was back on line by the time of our Fast Passes.  Apparently every one else had the same idea.  I used the app to do mobile ordering for lunch, but there was no where to sit!  We started out eating on top of a trash can then we saw some people leave and swooped in on their table.  Turns out they were leaving because the sun was blinding them.  The hot dogs staved off the hanger, but it wasn't a very magical day.

Luck was on our side and Toy Story was up just in time for our Fast Passes.  This ride is so much fun.  You use a little blast cannon to play these midway style games.  Everything is digital and the ride keeps track of your score.  I'm never very good but I still love it!

Ride accomplished, we were kinda done.  It was only 12:30, but it felt like we were just pushing a boulder up a hill.  The park was crowded, rides kept going down, so there was no where for people to go.  We had ridden what we could and the only rides we wanted to ride again all had lines of over an hour.  I checked the app and the same thing was true over in the Magic Kingdom.  

Thus ended our time in the California parks!  It kinda ended on a low note, but that doesn't damper our overall opinion of Disneyland.  We went back to the hotel to swim, but after about an hour of swimming there was a code brown at the water slides, which meant everyone was in the other pool, which then felt over crowded.  Sigh.  I think it's time to pack up this vacation and head home!

Read about Day 3 here.

Our original plan for Day 4 was to arrive at Disney's California Adventure when it opened at 8am, spend the first half of the day there, then spend the evening at the hotel.  But by this point I had caught on the the Early Morning Magic Hour being so important.  Since we were up anyway, we spent from 7am to 8am at the Magic Kingdom riding some of the things missed the day before.  

What we were able to ride:

• Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters- just like the one in WDW, but a perpetual favorite.  The line was so short we rode it twice in a row!
• Astro Orbiter- unlike the one in Florida, this one is on the ground.  

We were still able to make it into line before California Adventure opened at 8am.  Score!  

This is a brand new park for us, with a completely different layout.  Even with all my pre-trip studying, it took awhile for me to get my bearings.  Luckily we were able to follow the crowd to Carsland, where we grabbed a FastPass for Radiator Springs Racers.  Here's how we spent our morning:

• Mater's Junkyard Jamboree- very cute ride.  You sit in Mater and spin around.  Kinda hard to explain.
• Luigi's Rollickin Roadsters- I loved this one.  You are in a little sports car and you dance around.  It is similar to the Mater ride, but the way it is trackless is so cool and makes a few different ride patterns possible.
• Radiator Springs Racers- This was sooooo fun.  It is a combination dark ride and roller coaster. so you see some scenes from the movie and at the end you and another car race.  They can vary the speeds, so you never know if you are going to win.  We rode twice over our trip and lost twice.

After a brief snack in Carsland, we headed over to the Animation Courtyard.  This is a cool building where you can partake in 3 different attractions.  Plus, there was a comfy lobby area where Rob could sit.

• Turtle Talk with Crush- We've never been able to fit this attraction in at Epcot and we loved it!  You can interact with Crush from Finding Nemo, who answers questions right from the audience.  When we went there were only about 20 people in the theatre, so Anne and Ryan each got to talk to Crush
• Animation Academy- This was a neat little attraction where a cast member teaches you to draw a character.  Of course, we drew Jack Skellington, which was extra hard because we aren't as familiar with what he looks like.
• Meet and Greet with Anna and Elsa- Anne surprised me by wanting to see these ladies again.  She is definitely reaching the end of the Princess era, which is a little bittersweet.

Our final ride of the day was the Monsters Inc. ride.  This is a dark ride that takes you through the Monsters Inc. movie.  It was ok.  We saw Spiderman greeting fans outside and Ryan didn't want to get in line to meet him.  It about broke my heart, since he was quite Spiderman obsessed just a few years ago.  

I was able to drown my sorrows in a churro.  Mmm, churros.  The funny thing is on the first day, we got one churro and split it.  On the second day, we got two to share.  By the third day, we were getting four churros and not sharing!   I honestly don't know if we will ever go to Disneyland again and the only thing I will truly miss is the churros.

At this point we asked the kids what they wanted to do and they said swim in the pool, so we had a poolside lunch.  Actually, I think I left the kids in the pool with Rob and I went to shop in Downtown Disney.  It was so convenient!

Believe it or not, we went totally un-Schneider and went back into the Magic Kingdom for the evening.  What!?!  We were meeting up with our California friend, Matt.  It was so great to be able to spend more time with him, and he patiently listened to my kids chatter for an hour while we stood in line for Peter Pan.  Then he humored them when they asked him to ride with them.  What a great guy!

It was the longest day of our lives!  Two parks, both at opening.  Being in a park after dark.  Craziness!  Good thing we had a light day planned for our final day!

Continue reading about our adventure here.

Read about Day 2 here.

We actually did a lot on this day, but the bulk of our time was spent in the new Star Wars Galaxy's Edge section of the Magic Kingdom.  In Florida, this new land is in Hollywood Studios, and that makes more sense than having it in the Magic Kingdom.  In California, it makes more sense to put it in their California Adventure park, but they have serious real estate issues.  So into the Magic Kingdom it went.

Our plan was to rope drop the park (get there before it opened) and position ourselves to sprint to Star Wars land.  It wasn't a magic morning, so we were in place at 7:30am and in the park waiting for the 8am park opening.  Our objective was to ride Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run.  

Galaxy's Edge (aka Star Wars Land) is set on the fictional planet of Batuu.  The details are over the top amazing.  You really and truly do leave the park behind and enter another place.  For example, the cast members will say "bright suns!" instead of "hello" because that's what they do.  I've heard they say "rising moons" at night, but we were only there during the day.

Another thing I read before I went and was curious about was the lack of music.  Each land in Disneyland has its own soundtrack that sets the tone for that land.  On Batuu, there is no music, just ambient noise.  Some people say it sounds "sterile" and that something is missing.  Not for this family!  We thought the sounds of various space craft buzzing overhead, or the rumbling from the Millennium Falcon etc really made us feel like we were on the planet and not just in another land at Disney.

When we joined the queue for Smuggler's Run, the quoted time was 45 minutes.  Not bad!

These photos were all from the queue.  You wind your way through a docking bay? Cargo bay?  I forget.  Anyway, there is so much to look at, you hardly feel like you are waiting at all.  And the whole time they are paging people to various places, and making announcements like you would expect to hear in a space port.  We loved it. 

Then you make it to the pre-show.  This guy, forgot his name, needs you to go on a smuggling run for the resistance.  Once you know what you are doing, you board the Millennium Falcon and are assigned a job for the mission.  There are 6 jobs, which means a family of 4 will be assigned 2 other crew members.  

 This is an issue, in my opinion, because the 4 jobs are NOT equal.  There are 2 pilots, 2 gunners, and 2 engineers.  Rob and Ryan were assigned pilot, Anne and I were the gunners, and then 2 very nice gentleman were assigned to be our engineers.  I felt really bad for these guys, who appeared to be a father and son.  They had stood in line for 45 minutes, just like us, then they were stuck being a job that essentially pushes 1 button towards the end.  Had I known this when we were assigned the jobs, I would have made Ryan give up his pilot slot and I would have given the other guy my gunner job.  

Also, I love my son, but a 7 year old cannot fly the Millennium Falcon.  One pilot controls up and down, the other controls left and right.  It's a tough way to fly, and Ryan wasn't up to the task (but he had a fabulous time).  Anne and I were pretty good gunners, if I do say so myself.

Those complaints aside, the ride is FANTASTIC.  Rob usually gets sick on motion simulators, but since he was a pilot and in control of the movement, he was fine.  Our adrenaline was pumping from the minute the ship took off.  So much fun!  Then we exited the ride, and it was hilarious.  In true Disney fashion, the theming continues into the exit, and the hallway lights reflect how you did.  Since our co-pilot wasn't that great, the lights were flashing and some of them were out.  A cast member warned us that we might not be allowed to take the Falcon out again if we can't take better care of her (wink, wink).

Back in October when we visited, Smuggler's Run was the only ride open.  Now Rise of the Resistance is also open.  Guess we need to plan for another trip! Ride accomplished, we wandered around the land a bit.  Don't worry, this wasn't our only visit to Batuu.

We headed back to Earth from Batuu at 9am and the park was already really crowded.  So much for low crowds in October!  I think part of what makes the California parks feel so crowded is that they occupy less acreage than the Florida parks.  It might have been the same amount of people, but there was less land for them to spread out on.

Here's what we rode that morning:

• Haunted Mansion- This was a total disappointment, and it almost isn't fair for me to review this ride.  You see, since it was October, Disneyland had a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay.   If you aren't familiar, they take the ride, and make everything themed to that movie.  I actually don't care for that movie and the kids have never seen it.  So one of our favorite rides was a total bust. 
• Splash Mountain- always a blast
• Pirates of the Caribbean- we waited an hour.  There is one additional scene that they don't have in Florida, so that was neat, but in no way was it worth the wait.

Another thing that makes California seem more crowded is the lines.  Wait, what?  Since the weather is better in Southern California, most of the queues are outdoors, while the Florida queues are inside, air conditioned, and hidden.  I think psychologically  speaking, seeing all the lines makes it feel more crowded.

​It was now time for lunch.  We decided on the French Market and it was just ok.  I had a shrimp po' boy and that is all I remember.  Wait, I do remember they had this fantastic looking cake that we passed on and I wish we had tried it.  Life is short, eat the cake.  

After lunch we rode a few more rides.

• Jungle Cruise- same ride, same awesomely bad jokes
• Tarzan's Treehouse- this is like The Swiss Family Treehouse in WDW, but Tarzan themed.  The kids went through it twice.
• Frontierland Shooting Arcade
• Big Thunder Mountain- another classic, this one with a cool dynamite effect
• Enchanted Tiki Room- grab a Dole Whip and enjoy the show!

Now it was time to return to Batuu for a visit to Oga's Cantina.  If you've ever wished you could have a drink at the Mos Eisley, you need to book a trip to the world and visit Oga's Cantina.  It isn't an exact replica of the movie, because you are on Batuu and not Tatooine.  But the vibe is the same.  Plus, this is the only place in the Magic Kingdom you can have an adult beverage.  At the time of our visit, you could only get in with a reservation and I booked ours 2 weeks out.  

Oga's offers some local beers, fantastic fantasy cocktails, and blue milk.  Yup, just like Luke drinks.

Now for our drink reviews.  Rob got a beer because he wanted to check in a beer on UnTapped.  You get cool points or something for every beer you check in, and this is the only place in the Magic Kingdom you can drink, so this was a unique check in.  The blue milk was... interesting.  You can also get it at a stand outside of Oga's Cantina.  It tasted like tropical, fruity milk, which is just an odd combination.  My kids drank it all and our waiter said they were the only ones  he had ever seen finish it.  The cookie thing sitting on top was good.

My Yub Nub was really good.  It is a mix of rums, citrus juices, and passion fruit seeds.  I wasn't going to order it, because it is quite pricy, but you get to keep this awesome Endor themed tiki glass.  I'm glad Rob talked me into it, because I enjoyed the drink and I have no regrets about my awesome souvenir glass. 

Overall we loved our visit to Oga's, but beware.  They do not want you to stay long.  As in, you have 45 minutes to order, drink and get out. They make this easier by not providing most people with seats.  There are some banquet style seats around the room, but they only seat larger parties there, I think.  That means the four of us were in standing room only.  When kids have tired legs, this isn't fun.  Understandably, they got a tad whiney.  

When our 45 minutes were up, we headed out to see more of the cool details.  If this were an adults only trip, we would have spent hours just looking at things.  Kids are slightly less patient. One cool thing we saw was the Droid Depot, where you can build a custom droid that is controlled by bluetooth.  Next time we will budget for that, two of them would have cost as much as our cabana.  Yikes!!

Our Star Wars thirst slaked, we left Batuu and rode the Mark Twain Riverboat and Anne got to meet Princess Tiana.

Our next stop was Tomorrowland where we stood in line for an hour to ride the Nemo Subs.  Then we saw that everything had an hour wait and decided to head back to the hotel.  It was 4pm and we had been in the park since a little before 8am.  That is a record for us!  On the way out, I bought our Schneider family traditional Mickey head rice crispy treats. 

Dinner that night was poolside, while the kids swam off their pent up energy. I'm not sure where the energy came from, I was exhausted!

Continue reading about our adventure here.

Read about Day 1 here.

A constant theme during this trip is going to be the time change and its effects on our kids.  They are unapologetic morning people and they don't take well to change.  As a result, on our second day in California, I was up, dressed and in search of coffee with Anne at 5:30am.   

Luckily, Starbucks is open at that time of the day.  And the line was short!  Bonus about being up and at 'em that early, you can easily identify other East Coasters.  We had a lovely chat with people in line.  One gentleman wistfully remembered the days when his kids were Anne's age and wanted to be with him and his wife.  I hugged my Anne Girl and assured him that I was absolutely enjoying every minute of this age.

Well caffeinated, we were ready to head into the park for some fun!  And here is where I need to tell you about a big mistake I made.  You see, in the weeks leading up to this trip, all of my Disney sources were talking about how uncrowded the parks were.  And crowd predictors said we would face light crowds while we were there.  Now, I know a light crowd at Disney is still a big crowd.  But, there was a huge uptick in attendance while we were there and my plans did not take this into account.  I also underestimated the value of early entry in California.  My bad.  

For this day, the Magic Kingdom opened at 8am, but had Morning Magic Hour from 7am-8am.  This means the park was open for an extra hour in the morning only for the people staying at the Disney owned hotels.  Magic Morning is at a different park each day and is a huge benefit for hotel guests.  My mistake was scheduling a first thing in the morning character breakfast at The Plaza Inn on Main Street.  

Now, the breakfast itself was fantastic and we saw a ton of rare characters.  In fact, I think Disney just sees who shows up at work each day and then throws them into whatever costumes they have laying around.  There was no rhyme or reason to who we saw.  It was great!  But if I could do this reservation over again, I would make it for a later time and treat it like brunch,  That would have allowed us to take advantage of an almost empty park for Magic Morning.  Instead, we stood in line more than we ever have in Florida.  Rookie Mistake!

After breakfast, our goal was to hit up Fantasyland, with an emphasis on rides that are different in Disneyland from Disney World.  

In Fantasyland rode the following:

• Peter Pan's Flight 
  • Not different from WDW, but we rarely ride it because the line is always so long. 
• Snow White's Scary Adventure
  • This closed in WDW before the kids could ride it.  It's a lot of fun (but no Seven Dwarves Mine Train)
• King Arthur's Carousel
  • I love a good carousel, a classic.
• Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
  • Rob didn't ride to avoid motion sickness, but the kids and I loved it.
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
  • Another classic.  It broke soon after we rode, and was broken off and on the rest of our trip.
• Mad Tea Party
  • Another classic, but I love the outdoor setting of this version.  Another one Rob skipped.
• Storyland Canal Boats
  • Kinda cute.  The kids got to sit in the front of the boat and be "whale watchers."  Not worth the hour we stood in line.
• Matterhorn Bobsleds
  • We loved this ride!! Ok, 3 of us did and 1 person found it too bumpy.  The funny part was as we were boarding the ride, the cast members asked how old A&R were.  I said "7" because I knew you had to be 7 to ride.  They were actually 3 weeks shy of 7, but they were well over the height requirement so I felt ok fibbing.  Well, as soon as we got in the ride vehicles and I realized there was only a car seatbelt keeping them in the car, I was terrified they were going to fall out and I would be on the news for having lied to get them on the ride!  Then I heard Anne laughing and squealing behind me and I was able to relax and enjoy myself.  This was voted our second favorite ride of the trip.
• It's a Small World
  • I mean, can you even go to Disney and not ride IASM?

We had lunch at the food court area in Mickey's Toontown.  It was 100% blah.  And hot, with very limited seating.  After lunch we played a bit in Toontown.  I'm honestly surprised this area hasn't been demolished and rebuilt as something different.  The wait for the Roger Rabit ride was an hour (!) and since the kids don't know who he is, we decided to call it a day.  We took the monorail from Tomorrowland and it delivered us to Downtown Disney right outside our hotel.  Very cool!

Once we were back in the hotel, we changed and went to the pool.  We ran into Goofy in the lobby on our way out.  That's the great thing about the Disneyland Hotel, the characters really do roam free. 

We had dinner with a dear friend who is out in California with the Air Force.  He was kind enough to indulge me and we had dinner at Black Tap Burger and Shakes.  The food was ok and the shake was yummy!

The kids and I called it a night after dinner, while the men went to Ballast Point Brewery to partake in some adult beverages. I'm sure they enjoyed themselves, just look at Rob's face!