California Trip 2023 Part 5: Disneyland and Farewells

On Friday, June 2, all of us Savilles went to Disneyland. It was an awesome day! Brian worked his magic with the Lightning Lanes, and that along with the Later Return Times for my cart made it so we really didn't have to stand in lines for very long. We got to ride a lot of things. 

We hit up Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and rode the Millenium Falcon. 

This is my favorite part of the ride: waiting for our flight groups to be called but sitting in this iconic area. 

We made sure to get a group shot in front of the Falcon after the ride. 

We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Gabe was loving being seven and able to ride without an adult next to him! 

We rode Hyperspace Mountain. 

Buzz Lightyear. 

Star Tours (actually, I think I sat this one out.)

We visited the Matterhorn. 

Autopia. 

And Hyperspace Mountain again! 

A bee decided to hitch a ride on my cart. 

And we rode Rise of the Resistance. 

which broke down soon after were making our escape from Kylo Ren. We got to see some of the behind the scenes stuff, which was pretty cool, and got Lightning Lane Passes to come back later. 

Michael and Tyler got interrogated by Storm Troopers. 

We went to Haunted Mansion. Rachel had worn her Halloween skirt and a simplified top for the day, so we HAD to get a picture of her in front of the mansion. 

and in the mansion. 

I played around with the Disney App lens. 

We rode the Storybook Canals. 

Rode Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad, but didn't have to wait in line since it had broken down right before Ben and Jenny got on to ride it. 

We rode Indiana Jones. 

And we finally got to ride the entire Rise of the Resistance. 

It wouldn't be a trip with Savilles if there wasn't drama involving hungry people, or a teenager complaining about tired feet. All in all though, we had a great time, even if we ate food around a garbage can. 

The day never lasts long enough, and soon it was time to go home to our AirBnB

and then home to Utah, but not before some farewell pictures. 

We had such a great time with Ben, Jenny, Tyler, Tucker, Nana, and Papa in the parks. Julie kept saying, "It was crazy to fly here for two days, huh? Really expensive. Probably not worth it."  I told her we would all rather have memories with her and Kirt over an inheritance. Grandparent time is a priceless gift, and I'm so glad they made it out to join us. 

After saying Good-bye to Ben & Jenny, we drove straight home to Utah, only stopping for food and gas. The drive home was fairly uneventful. 

Before leaving the house, I tried to ask everyone what their favorite and least favorite things about his trip were. Here's what I wrote down back in June:

Tyler’s favorites: 

Universal favorite: Studio Tour 

Guardians—I love the dripping feeling

Next is Rise of the Resistance

Least favorite part: riding in the back seat of Matterhorn (too bumpy on the back)

Non-ride favorites: playing in the pool and watching The Mummy with Michael

Disappointing: butter beer

Rachel

Monday: Walking onto pirates and haunted mansion first thing

Universal studios: Harry Potter: Forbidden Journey

Disneyland: I don’t know how I can answer that; too many really fun rides to go on

California Adventure: Incredicoaster 

Least favorite part: when me and Tucker were stuck on Pets

Non-ride favorite: pool

Disappointing: Rise of the Resistance breaking down

Gabe

Monday: Walking straight onto Pirates

Universal Studios: Harry Potter: Forbidden Journey

(Apparently, I never finished asking him the questions). 

Jenny

Universal studios: Harry Potter Land

California Adventure: Guardians off the Galaxy

Disneyland: Indiana Jones

Least favorite part: being sick

Non-ride favorite: eating treats

Disappointing: didn’t get to spend more time doing fantasy land rides

Tucker 

Universal studios: The Mummy

Disneyland: Hyper Space Mountain

California Adventure: Incredicoaster 

Least favorite part: Little Mermaid

Non-ride favorite: playing in the pool

Disappointing: Matterhorn

Ben:

Universal studios: Mario World just for the world: walking around it was cool

California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy

Disneyland: Rise of the Resistance

Least favorite part: not getting enough sleep

Non-ride favorite: heated pool and having a down day with family

Disappointing: not disappointed

Best thing was just hanging out with my brother all day

Michael

Monday: Splash Mountain

Universal studios: Mummy

Disneyland: Matterhorn

California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy

Least favorite part: Feet and no sleep

Non-ride favorite: Pool and the Mummy with Tyler

Disappointing: Goofy's sky school closed or incredicoaster closed when we were almost on it or that rise of the resistance closed while we were on it

Brian

Monday: Walk on to rides in the morning and hitting Rise of the Resistance for a 25 (?) minute wait. 

Universal studios: The Studio Lot Tour and Super Nintendo world with Ben.

Disneyland: Haunted Mansion, seeing the backstage for Rise of the Resistance

California Adventure: Grizzly River run twice at the end

Least favorite part: having a hard time coming up with something, waking up on Friday was hard

Non-ride favorite: Michael's walk of shame wearing ears, swimming in the pool, watching Raya and the Last Dragon

Disappointing: how many rides were broken down in California adventure

Devri

Monday: Saying goodbye to Splash and that it wasn't crowded

Universal studios: The Studio Lot Tour, Water World (stunt show). 

Disneyland: Jungle cruise with Kirt, walking onto Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Haunted Mansion

California Adventure: how much the kids loved Incredicoaster, riding Radiator Springs Racers twice in a row (old lady dog swap), and especially Grizzly River Run.

Least favorite part: How much rides were broken down. Logistics of a large group.

Non-ride favorite: Playing Marco Polo in the pool

Disappointing: How short all the rides in Universal were, how unaccommodating the accessibility was (had to fight for more than 4 people)

Notes:

Fun trying blue/green milk, beignets, peach cobbler pretzel, skewers from Bengal BBQ, cupcakes/Peanut Butter Rice Krispie treat (I wish would have gotten the rice krispie treat instead of the dry cupcake.)

Weather was overcast the whole time and really pleasant for the park, but not great for swimming. California Adventure was a little cold, but we finally saw the sun on Friday for a few hours.