October 2022 Part 4: Fall Break Part 1

Well, it had been over a year since we'd gone to a Disney Park. We tried being strong, but around the end of August, we couldn't take it anymore. We booked a trip to Disneyland for Fall Break. We skipped school the Wednesday, October 12, and drove all the way to Garden Grove, California. 

It was a long drive, and we were really happy to see our hotel, especially after hitting a little bit of rush hour in California. 

The next morning, we drove to the Pixar Pals Parking Structure. This was the first time we parked in the Disney lots in California. 

It meant riding on escalators and taking the tram to Downtown Disney. 

We had to get there early so that I could reserve one of those electric carts. I had done some subbing at the schools a few weeks before going, and I got so exhausted that I decided to swallow my pride and rent a cart for our days at Disney. Once we got the cart, we were ready to head into the parks, starting with Disney's California Adventure. 

We were really excited to be at Disney during the fall. We really wanted to see all the Halloween overlays and decor. 

As soon as the ropes dropped, we headed for Radiator Springs Racers. This ride is always super popular and they don't offer a Lightening Lane as part of Genie Plus. Even though we got there first thing, we still ended up waiting in line for around 2 hours. 

So, we played some Head's Up. 

And tried not to go too crazy. 

We took pictures together. 

Then, finally, we got to ride the ride. It's been since before Covid that we were at Disneyland/DCA, so we were really excited to finally ride Radiator Springs Racers. It's my favorite ride in DCA, and they don't have it anywhere else. 

We stopped to get our pictures taken by the park photographer while we were in Carsland. 

Get your kicks at...

We love CarsLand!

I mean, everything is even monogrammed for Rachel. 

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was lightly re-themed for Halloween. They called it "Mater's Graveyard JamBOOree" and played Cars adapted Halloween hits like "Flying Purple Fender Bender" and "Monster Truck Smash." It was a lot of fun. 

We convinced Rachel to ride Grizzly River Run with us, and I gave up my rain jacket so she could stay dry. 

The most important thing on water rides is to keep your shoes dry, so we all stacked our feet on top of each other in the middle. 

We got to check out the new Spiderman Webslingers Ride. We had to wear these cool glasses to ride/play. 

We all got to ride in the same vehicle, and then we flung our hands like Spiderman to shoot webs at spider robots.  I'm pretty sure the highest score here is mine. Brian says I only beat him because he had Gabe on his lap for it. It's probably true because the next time we rode, he didn't have Gabe on his lap and totally beat me. Still, let the record show that I dominated at least one time at a game. 

We ate at Pym's Test Kitchen, and most of us were not a fan. Apparently, we ordered the wrong thing. 

We all got to ride Incredicoaster for the first time ever, and we had to drag Gabe kicking and screaming through the line to do it. We finally got him calmed down to step onto the ride, even though he was still pretty nervous about it. There may have been a bribe involved and a promise that we would never make him ride it again if he hated it. He totally loved it, which we all knew he would. It's at the top of his favorites list. 

After Incredicoaster, we hit up Little Mermaid. Michael wasn't too thrilled to wait in line for that one, but Rachel had suggested it so we waited in a longer line that we were used to for that ride, rode it with a mopey Michael, and then after the ride, I found out that Rachel is a little scared of that ride because the last time she rode it (previously to this trip), the ride got stuck right in front of Ursula, and she got a little creeped out.  So, we made our teenager grudgingly ride it with us for nothing. 

After Little Mermaid, everyone else rode on the Silly Swing Symphony while I watched, and then we headed to Goofy's Sky School, which I think is the absolutely most terrifying ride at a Disney Park. I always think we're going to go flying off the track. The theming is on point for Goofy teaching people how to fly a plane, but I always fear a little for my life. 

Since I was on my chair to get in line, I had to take this lift thing down after the ride. 

At this point in our day, we hopped over to Disneyland. We'd never ridden the train all the way around the park, so we decided to do it. While riding the train, we discovered that Genie plus offers these really fun lenses, so we spent time throughout the ride and the next few days playing around with them. 

These aren't all from the train; many are from our other two days at the park, but I wasn't sure where to put them in this blog, so I put most of them here. 

While riding the railroad, we were delighted to discover that the train goes through Splash Mountain and we got to peak at the Zip-A-Dee-doo-Dah riverboat party scene as we drove by. We also finally saw the Dinosaur animatronics. Gabe loved it so much that Rachel, Gabe, and I went around it twice while Brian and Michael got off and headed Star Tours. 

After going around another almost round, we got off the train and hopped on a double-decker bus on Main Street to meet Brian and Michael in Fantasyland. I must have left my cart somewhere over there; I don't remember. The double decker bus looked just like the trolley in Meet Me in St. Louis where Judy Garland sings "Clang! Clang! Clang! Went the Trolley!!" I sang it in my head while we climbed up to the top. 

Brian and Michael were still trying to ride Star Tours, so Rachel and Gabe threw some coins into the Snow White's wishing well, and Rachel posed in front of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' Fountain.  

Meanwhile, Brian and Michael had a great time at Star Tours. 

The big boys met us up after we walked through the Castle and looked at all the displays retelling Sleeping Beauty's story. We grabbed Astro Burger for dinner. 

Then, we headed over to Star Wars Land, where we saw Chewy and rode the Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run. 

We finished off the night with Haunted Mansion with its Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. We learned that there were special entrances for people in wheelchairs at Disneyland when we tried to figure out how to get in with the cart. The crowds were absolutely insane in front of the Haunted Mansion since that was a big draw for people this time of year. In the confusion of trying to figure out where to park the scooter and how to use our Lightening Lane for Haunted Mansion, we learned the since most of the rides at Disneyland were built before disability accommodations were mandated in building codes, rides that weren't wheelchair accessible offered Later Return Times. This basically allowed us to wait in line virtually since I couldn't stand in a lot of those lines without getting really dizzy and lightheaded. It also basically gave us extra Lightning Lane passes, which was pretty cool. I'm always impressed with how accommodating and helpful the Disney Parks are. 

The Haunted Mansion overlay was pretty cool, but we definitely missed the original. It was fun to see the creative ways they tied the movie in with the ride. The creativity is always fun. Maybe it's because we've all gotten a little obsessed with Haunted Mansion due to dressing up as ride characters last year for Halloween, as well as looking for ways to add Haunted Mansion themes to our house, we definitely noticed that the Black Widow Bride room got completely removed for the overlay. Still, this was a big reason why we wanted to come in the fall, and it was fun to finally see it. 

After the Haunted Mansion, we hit up Pirates of the Caribbean.  After a two and a half year absence from Disneyland's version, it felt so good to be back. Florida's Pirates ride has some big differences. We were happy riding through New Orleans again!

With everyone's feet tired but mine, we headed back to the tram, then the escalator, and finally into the garage to our car. 

It was a fabulous first day at Disney! We were ready to go home and sleep so we could hit it again the next morning.