Trip Report 12 parks in 16 days! Disney Parks Around the World Trip Report

Trip report from 12/19-1/6.

Day 1 - Away We Go
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

Enough talk. After over a year in planning, over five years since we last tried to do a similar trip, AND Kendall getting run over by a car in Zimbabwe in that time frame we are finally embarking on our adventure across the globe to do all 12 Disney Parks over Christmas break.

First thing’s first and we had to pick Lucy up from school. Given it’s the Thursday before Christmas break we weren’t too concerned about her missing half a day today and a full day Friday because as everyone knows, the week before Christmas break is spent watching Christmas movies and doing Christmas puzzles and worksheets.

After we picked her up, we went home and waited for our taxi. We had never ridden in a taxi in our town so we were already starting our journey with a brand new experience. Ride sharing does not exist in Ashland, KY and taxi’s are primarily used for medical transport so this was a somewhat bizarre experience for us. Traditionally, we typically just park our car at the airport when we fly out of our local airport because if we go out of Huntington it’s on Allegiant for a quick trip to Florida. This is obviously NOT a quick trip and as such we took a taxi for the first time ever as there are no ride sharing services in our area. It costs $10/day to park at our airport, and when you’re gone for nearly 20 days, it just makes financial sense to take a taxi for $82 dollars round trip.

I cannot even remotely convey the amount of joy I have when we have the ability to fly out of Huntington Tri-State Airport. The convenience of flying out of a small regional airport a mere 25 minutes from our house in which the security line if you have TSA precheck is nonexistent CANNOT be understated. It feels like your own private airport. From when the plane touches down to getting home it typically takes us about 45 minutes. When we fly out of Cincinatti or Columbus, it takes 45 minutes or more from the time we touchdown to just get to our car. Add a 2.5 hour drive after a long day of flying just puts a sour taste in the mouth after a vacation. We would love to fly out of HTS more often but it is incredibly cost prohibitive except when using Allegiant or redeeming award flights on American Airlines.

We arrived at the airport 1.5 hours early which for Huntington is just excessive, but we always budget for a flat tire, or some other bizarre occurrence. As always, the TSA precheck line had zero people in it, and from drop off to gate it wasn’t even 10 minutes. We hadn’t eaten lunch yet today, and unfortunately food options are super limited at HTS, in that outside of one vending machine there often are none. Thankfully today the small kiosk that sells pizza and some snacks was open, and Kendall and I split a small pizza while waiting for our flight.

HTS is a small regional airport with two gates. Back in its hey day it had a number of carriers, but these days it’s limited to American and Allegiant. It’s small and efficient and we love flying out of it when we can.

This is the entire terminal. Not the smallest commercial airport I’ve flown out of, but it’s up there.
Today is by far the most pedestrian of the flights we are taking on our trip, being a standard flight on Allegiant. No fancy lounge, no lie flat seat. Just an standard A320, with a seat with about 17 inches of width with no recline that feels like you’re sitting on a 2×4. You get what you pay for and for this flight of just over 1.5 hours it was just $402 dollars for 3 people including the 3 carry on bags so you can’t really complain on the cost front.

I love this airport!
Boarding and take off and were on time and our flight to Sanford was about as uneventful as it gets. We were seated in row 7, Seats D,E,F.

We never pay for seat selection so these were the Allegiant assigned seats. For a 1.5 hour flight it honestly doesn’t matter to us. The seats have the standard 17 inch width and 30 inches of pitch. This is one of the ONLY times in life being 5’3’’ comes in handy.

There are many disadvantages to being short such as a general disadvantage at the majority of sports or a lower lifetime income compared to your taller cohorts in the same field, but there is one advantage that far outweighs any disadvantage. I can fit comfortably in an Allegiant seat! It’s a pretty great trade off in my opinion.

We landed at 5:08PM two minutes earlier than our scheduled arrival time. Thankfully, my parents live in Orlando and as such they are our own personal uber, which definitely saves on cost. I texted them that we had landed, so they could be ready to pull the car around to pick us up and take us to the Disney’s Polynesian Resort where we were staying.

After we landed, we we were picked up, it was getting close to dinner time, so on the way to the Polynesian we stopped at Lucy’s favorite restaurant, Chick-fil-a. I had originally had ‘Ohana booked and timed the reservation for the Magic Kingdom fireworks, but it was pretty hectic couple of days leading up to this trip, so we decided having a quick dinner and early bed time was in our best interest. Just for the record, if you are foodie, THIS IS NOT THE BLOG FOR YOU. We do a wide variety of activities when we travel, but food has never been our priority, and the one area we can skimp on the budget. My food reviews will be composed of words like “Tasty”, “Yummy”, “Standard”, “Adequate”.

Upon arrival at Chick-fil-a we walked in and it was slammed. Chick-fil-a is always crowded but today was excessive in that when we walked in, there wasn’t a free table anywhere and people were even standing around waiting on tables. We didn’t quite know what was going on, until we saw Santa and a Santa Cow in the corner and realized why it was so crowded. Santa Cow and Santa made their rounds to the table like it was a character dining at Disney.

Lucy clearly is enjoying Santa Cow
Unlike Disney however, it was significantly cheaper. Like $250 dollars cheaper. The food was more than tasty, and tasted just like our Chick-fil-a at home.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I log on each day to read your updates. I am enjoying following along so much.
And I've said before if I ever get to go to Disney in Japan I am going to need a shipping container to get home all of the souveniers! Just the amenity kits you have pics of from your rooms would be coming back home!

I'm going to give away some of the Disney merchandise I'll get during my visits as I can't take it all with me. I'll raffle it on my Insta if you want to throw our name in the hat. If you win I'll ship it to you free of charge. Just sharing the pixie dust.

 

[Rimmit]

I'm going to give away some of the Disney merchandise I'll get during my visits as I can't take it all with me. I'll raffle it on my Insta if you want to throw our name in the hat. If you win I'll ship it to you free of charge. Just sharing the pixie dust.

Yeah, sadly our amenity kits stayed in the room. The bags that Air France and Virgin used weren’t that impressive. Turkish gives out Ferragamo Amenity kits which are definitely worth bringing home and I use it to this day. The sheer number of kits to bring home would have been absolute madness. Between the flights and the hotel rooms we woulda been looking at well over 60 amenity kits.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Yeah, sadly our amenity kits stayed in the room. The bags that Air France and Virgin used weren’t that impressive. Turkish gives out Ferragamo Amenity kits which are definitely worth bringing home and I use it to this day. The sheer number of kits to bring home would have been absolute madness. Between the flights and the hotel rooms we woulda been looking at well over 60 amenity kits.

Yeah , we already shipped 2 kits to people that wanted them and I'll be finding a post office again soon to ship number 3 and 4. If some Disney forum friends would like some Disney things from the room or a little trinket from the park, I'd be glad to post it to them. Makes me happy to brighten someone's day.
To keep it fair we put all the names of people that messaged us on Insta, that they want a kit in a hat and just pull out a name. So far only people we know in person have participated but I'd everyone is welcome to join in the raffle.

 

[Rimmit]

The room we booked at the Hotel MiraCosta this time was a Venice Canal View room.

I really wanted a harbor view room, but this room was part of our Unlimited Premier Access Vacation Package and we were very lucky to just get the package as it is highly competitive to just book this Vacation Package. After having just been to Venice this July, we were not super impressed with the view, but I must say they did a pretty good job of simulating Venice.

The room was very nice and well themed with lots of Disney details.

Like all the other rooms we’ve had comes with the standard amenities such as a robe, amenity kit, hot water kettle, slippers and some bags.

Lucy then eats the ramen we bought earlier today as a late night snack. Notre Dame was initially slated to play today while we were at Disneyland, but due to the tragedy in New Orleans the game was delayed till tomorrow. For this reason, I am now getting up by 6AM to watch Notre Dame hopefully beat Georgia. It’s about 10:30PM so we all get ready for bed. I fall fast asleep with dreams of an Irish victory running through my head.

Day 15, January 2nd, 2025 Step Count – 18,315 Steps

Total Step Count – 251,503

 

[Rimmit]

Day 16 - Tokyo DisneySea Revisited

“Some dream it, some do it, some do both.” – Walt Disney

IT’S GAMEDAY!!! I woke up at 4:30AM because I am just so excited about the Notre Dame game. This is the biggest Notre Dame game since the 2012 BCS National Championship game in Miami. Kendall and I did attend that game, and it was a great time…. until the game started.

I can only hope and pray this game goes better than that walloping. To this day I still have PTSD from that disaster. I had already downloaded a VPN the night before and tested out the internet. The internet in our room is absolutely terrible and streaming is nearly impossible so I will need to watch elsewhere. I take a real quick shower as I will be watching the game in the lobby on my iPad.

I get to the lobby lobby and I am totally by myself as there is no one up at 6:00AM aside from Bell Services. I honestly can’t believe that for Notre Dame’s biggest game in 12 years I am watching it on an iPad in the lobby of a hotel in Tokyo Disneyland. I look up and say a quick Hail Mary and ask God to please help Notre Dame. As I do so I notice that the lobby atrium is absolutely stunning.

The game is intense but Notre Dame gains some momentum going into the half leading 13-3 and I head back to the room for a bit to check on Kendall and Lucy.

The internet is a little faster now and I start to watch it in the room. Midway through the 3rd quarter we head to our breakfast reservation at the buffet downstairs, Oceano. This is part of our Vacation Package and the reservation time was selected when we booked it 5 months ago well before the football season had even started. I then start streaming the game on my phone and listen to the broadcast via AirPods. The streaming is pretty inconsistent and that’s putting it nicely so I have my brother text me updates as to what’s happening.

The restaurant here is very nice and modern.

The buffet is pretty expansive and interestingly enough has a large number of lunch options despite it being 8:40AM.

I have some beef dish that tastes like braised beef and some Cocoa Krispies. I did eat them separately and not together in case you were wondering although that may be an experiment for tomorrow. We finish breakfast and head back to the room. Unfortunately the connection has slowed again so I finish watching the game in the hallway.

As long as Notre Dame wins, I don’t care where I’m watching the game.
Notre Dame ends up being victorious over Georgia in their biggest win in over 30 years so I am on cloud nine. I can’t think of a better way to start the day.

With the game over we start to get ready to go to the park. We look out our room window, and see the crowd is slowly starting to build.

We then head out to the park. Conveniently, we enter via the Hotel Miracosta park entrance we used the other night.

It is overcast and feels much colder today. The feels like temperatures were in the mid 30s Fahrenheit and this is probably the coldest we’ve felt since our first park morning in Orlando ironically. First thing we do is to go rent a wheelchair near the park entrance.

There are ample available and I continue to be shocked at the wheelchair pricing which is about $3.50 USD.

We didn’t take our Mount Prometheus picture the first day we were here so we go and do that first.

Mount Prometheus is the main icon of the park, and is home to two attractions. A fun fact is that it is the exact same height as Cinderella’s Castle rising to a 189ft.

Afterwards, Lucy is dying to go on “Whoop! Jump Scare!” AKA Journey to the Center of the Earth again so we head that way. We only walked by this area last time at night and it’s slightly disorienting as it looks totally different during the day.

It’s a 220 min wait right now, and we have never been more thankful to have the unlimited Premier Access.

We all absolutely love this ride, and have just as great time riding it for the second time.

The queue and theming is just excellent.

Even though it’s a dark ride there is a short outdoor section and the last time we did the ride it was nighttime so it was definitely a little different doing it during the day when you could see a little more. This is still one of our favorite rides this vacation which is saying a lot after 10 theme parks.

 

[Rimmit]

Our next ride is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which is also in the volcano.

While making the short walk I hear a guy yell “Go Irish!” as he sees my Notre Dame hat. I oblige him and yell “Go Irish!” right back. It’s great to know there are ND fans everywhere.

The wait for 20,000 Leagues is 80 minutes but we have the unlimited Premier Access and the wait isn’t even 10 minutes.

This is a dark ride that simulates going underwater whereas the original 20,000 Leagues in Magic Kingdom and Disneyland actually did take you underwater in a submarine. I’m assuming they made the change due to the amount of maintenance required for an underwater ride.

The ride vehicle is unique, in that you’re boarding a suspended submersible.

The seating inside is a little claustrophobic which definitely gives you that submersible feel. The scale of the show scenes is massive with an impressive amount of detail. Unfortunately, we don’t know Japanese so it is very tough to figure out the story but the scale and theming is absolutely top notch, and even without knowing the story we found the ride to be very enjoyable.

This area of the park definitely gives the feeling of being in the crater of a volcano with a lake in it. They have details everywhere, including a suspended vehicle that appears to be burrowing to the center of the earth.

Afterwards we head toward Mermaid Lagoon which is the kid’s area of the park.

We really don’t know much about this area as we I did zero research on it but it’s right next to the 20,000 League area so we head over to check it out. I didn’t realize it but Mermaid Lagoon is composed of an indoor and outdoor area. I originally only thought it was an outdoor area with small kiddie rides.

Apparently not. The indoor area is very large, impressively themed, and most importantly it is heated.

There is a theatre, a quick service restaurant, some kid’s rides, and a shop shaped like Monstro.

I honestly can’t think of a better place to shop than the inside of a whale. If I ever setup a store, that is without a doubt going to be my go to design.

There is also a large playground, Ariel’s Playground. Lucy really wants to go play for a bit so we take a short break. I was glad to see she still gets excited to see a playground as I know those days are sadly limited. The playground is incredibly well themed, and is probably the best themed playground I’ve ever seen. I think I still like The Boneyard at Animal Kingdom better, but in terms of sheer theming it’d be hard to beat this playground.

We were totally in shock just how big this indoor area is. We figured it’d be a throw away attraction akin to Dino-rama in Animal Kingdom. NOPE! The size and theming of this indoor space is quite incredible and there is nothing like this in Walt Disney World or Disneyland. Probably the closest thing would have been the Wonders of Life Pavilion or maybe Innoventions before they both closed. In general, from our time in DisneySea thus far the scale of everything is just BIGGER. This goes for not just the spaces but the rides as well. The only ride in the US that compares in scale to the newer rides in Tokyo would be Rise of the Resistance. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind would also qualify, but since it’s a roller coaster I don’t lump it in the same category as all the dark rides that Tokyo DisneySea has. It was almost as if they gave the Imagineers a nearly blank slate and unlimited budget when designing this park. The ONLY thing that felt like they cheaped out a little is probably Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival just because it’s sooo short.

Lucy finishes playing, and we grab a quick snack before we head out of Mermaid Lagoon. There was an ice cream stand inside with 4 possible ice cream bar options.

This is by far the most options we have seen from a snack stand ever in our time in Tokyo Disney Resort and were nearly paralyzed by the choices. We order a sea salt ice cream monaka and two tiramisu ice cream sandwiches.

The sea salt manaka was nothing special and neither was the ice cream sandwich, but it was ice cream so you really can’t go wrong. While we are eating we notice a sudden influx of people into the building. Apparently, for the first time this vacation it started pouring the rain while we were inside the Mermaid Lagoon. The rain was quick and only lasted 15 minutes, but it sent everyone scrambling inside which caused some mild chaos. By the time we were done eating our ice cream the rain had stopped, which continues our streak of not having been rained on this trip.

We then head over to Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage just across the way in the Arabian Coast.

Entrance to the Arabian Coast
There is no Premier Access for this ride but it’s just a 10 min line so no Premier Access is really needed.

This is a dark boat ride that is very similar to It’s a Small World in that it has a lot of small cute characters and there is a catchy song that plays throughout the entire duration of the ride.

 

[Rimmit]

Given everything was in Japanese we really aren’t entirely sure of the story. As best as I can tell Sinbad goes on a voyage and returns so it definitely lives up to the name, Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. The ride was VERY long and the show scenes like everything in DisneySea had a very large scale about them and were very well done. The sidekick tiger, Chandu, was super cute as well and I’m sure he sells a fair amount of merchandise.

The animatronics are plentiful and very impressive. Tokyo DisneySea just seems to take proven formulas and just improve on them in every aspect, either by adding more of something, making it bigger, or just making it longer. The ride was so long I can honestly say I think I spent more time on the ride than in the line.

 

[Rimmit]

At this point we are in the corner of the park very close to Fantasy Springs and the Lost River Delta. We did all the Fantasy Springs rides twice two days ago so we decided to skip them for now and go back at the end of the day if we had time. So we went to the Lost River Delta and did Indiana Jones again. We use the Premier Access line and it’s much shorter today only took about 10 minutes. We find it ironic as the wait times are much longer today with Indiana Jones clocking in at 140 minutes but the Premier Access lines are shorter.

We all love this attraction and the moment we get off we decide to go right back into the queue and do it again. I mean why not? How often do we have the chance to do Indiana Jones as many times as we wanted? It really is a great ride with some really great thrills and effects. I’m so glad we still get to do it one last time in Anaheim. I still find it hard to believe it’s the exact same ride as Dinosaur. I’m so glad they are going retheme Dinosaur to Indiana Jones in Animal Kingdom.

On exiting the ride the weather clears up and the sun starts shining. It starts to warm up a just a little.

It’s time for lunch so we head over to Miguel’s El Dorado Cantina near Indiana Jones. We order some pork rolls, a churro, and some fries. The pork rolls ended up basically being rice with bacon rolled around it. It wasn’t bad. It was a little slimier in texture than I woulda have liked but it tasted about like what I’d expect bacon and rice to taste like.

We finish our food and walk toward Port Discovery. It has a bit of a steam punk vibe almost similar to Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris.

Port Discovery is a land that has Nemo & Friends Searider which is another ride we are able to access via the Premier Access line. It’s not more than a 5 min walk and we are there.

We don’t know much about this ride at all and haven’t heard much about it. That’s normally means it’s not super amazing but it’s also not super bad as you always hear about the extremes.

We enter the line and during the preshow it becomes obvious this is a simulator ride like Star Tours. The preshow is in Japanese but based on the videos it seems as though we board a submarine shaped like a fish and then the submarine is shrunk down to the size of a fish.

When we board the “submarine” we notice it’s MUCH bigger than other simulators.

This was definitely the largest ride simulator we’ve ever been on. The ride was also entirely in Japanese so not again not entirely sure of the story but execution was very good. They had some fun effects that separated it from Star Tours.

Afterwards we head on over to the Tower of Terror in the American Waterfront. We pass by a ride called Aquatopia on the way. It looked pretty fun. You board a floating craft and which is automated and it moves throughout the bay area, spinning and turning while you ride. We sadly did not have Premier Access for it and it was a 50 minutes wait at the time so we opted to skip it, but if we ever come back will definitely make an effort to do it. From my understanding you can get wet in the summer, but they reduce the splash elements in the winter for obvious reasons.

As well as continue our walk we spot some pretty impressive water art on the sidewalk as we continue walking toward the American Waterfront.

Just looking at the building from the exterior the Tower of Terror show building seemed much bigger than the US ones. It’s also much more elaborate in theming.

The queue inside was totally different as well.

The wait was 100 minutes but we use our Premier Access and it’s just a 10 minute wait. As is the case with all the preshows here it is in Japanese so we are not totally sure of the backstory. Unlike the US Tower of Terrors there is no Twilight Zone tie-in. From my best understanding there was a hotel owner named Harrison Hightower III and he collected artifacts and some were cursed.

There were a lot of these artifacts in the queue and preshow areas.

Interestingly enough, the preshow here is done by an actual live cast member and not a recording.

As for the ride, it is similar to the Tower of Terrors in Paris in that it just goes up and down and does not move through a track and you end in the same place you started. It was super fun as always lives up to the Tower of Terror standard. After doing all three Towers of Terror, I think the US may actually be our least favorite with Paris being first and Tokyo coming in second.

 

[Rimmit]

Nearby is Toyville Trolley Park that contains Toy Story Midway Mania so we go and use our Premier Access to bypass the line.

The queue here is similar in theming to all the other Midway Manias with the only difference being the queue is just one massive room rather than multiple rooms.

The ride is totally identical to the US version aside from it being in Japanese. I could at least could understand them counting down from 3 at the end of each round. Lucy normally isn’t a big fan of Midway Mania but today she got really into it, so we jumped back in line right after we finished. After the second time my arm felt like it was about to fall off.

Right outside the entrance they had some fun little free games for kids to play that stuck with the midway theme, so we played those for a little bit.

We then walked back to “Whoop! Jump scare!” AKA Journey into the Center of the Earth as we all wanted to ride it again. Interestingly enough, the Premier Access lines continue to be much shorter today but the crowd is definitely significantly higher than when we came on New Years Day two days ago. We’re not really sure why the Premier Access lines are so much more efficient today. The sun was setting at this point and the temperature was dropping fast.

There was a little extra time after we finished “Whoop! Jump Scare!” so we decided to do Frozen one last time. On the way, I snap a couple pics. I love nighttime pictures in the parks.

We get to Frozen and the Premier Access line extends outside the queue. So our luck with the shorter Premiere Access lines has ended. It ends up taking about 30 minutes to get through the line.

It’s now about 45 minutes till the nighttime spectacular, Believe: Sea of Dreams that is at 7:30PM so we go stake out a spot. At this point in the trip all the nighttime spectaculars are just running together but it has gotten really good reviews so we feel the need to watch it.

While we have had some terrible luck this vacation we had lucked out in one aspect in that the weather while cool had not been really cold until today. Ironically, up until now the coldest we had felt was the very first park morning in Orlando. We stop by a snack stand hoping there is some hot chocolate but not surprisingly all they have is a churro and some tea. We go ahead and get two churros.

It took a bit to figure out where to stake out a spot. Believe: Sea of Dreams is much like the Epcot nighttime spectaculars that take place in a lagoon, and the viewing area is basically any place around the lagoon. This makes for a large variety of viewing options each of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. We ended up choosing a spot opposite the Mediterranean Harbor sitting on some stairs that allowed us to not have to see over peoples heads. A lot of people recommended this area as they have projections on the Hotel Miracosta so from across the harbor you can get a great view of the projections. In retrospect I probably wouldn’t pick this spot again, as there was some minor obstruction from a ship on the left side which made for bad photography. While waiting for Believe: Sea of Dreams the temperature dropped into the mid 40s Fahrenheit with a mild breeze making the feels like in the high 30s Fahrenheit. Combining that temperature with just sitting still in the dark made for a very long cold wait.

Believe: Sea of Dreams was nice and like all the other nighttime shows in Asia it’s hard for me to give an accurate review as I don’t know Japanese so it’s hard for me to determine if the plot is coherent or if it’s just a random mishmash of songs and characters.

The production was top notch as always though as they had a large center piece with a ring like LED screen, large floats that also contained LED screens, pirates ships, fireworks, jet skis with stars, fountains, lasers, fireworks, projections, characters on floats, characters rising on columns from floats, and large set pieces floating through the lagoon all set to Disney music.

It was total sensory overload at times given the sheer number of different things going on. I had a very difficult time figuring out where to devote my attention. Should I look at the buildings? Should I look at the floats? What about the LED ring? Oh look characters! There goes a jet skit with a star on it! Squirrel!!! No, not really, but given all the set pieces I wouldn’t have doubt I missed one if there was one. The production was truly impressive and over the top.

It was fun to watch and I woulda appreciated it more if it wasn’t absolutely freezing.

Once the show ended the park was closing in about an hour. We had pretty much accomplished everything we wanted to do and were pretty tired and so we made our way to the entrance to drop off the wheelchair.

We walked to the Hotel Miracosta park entrance and returned to our room. It had been a long cold exciting day, especially with the Irish winning and moving into the semifinals of the playoff. Lucy had some late night ramen to try and warm back up, but she was so tired she fell asleep while eating it.

Thankfully, I managed to stay awake while eating my ramen and then went to bed.

Day 16, January 3rd, 2025 Step Count – 21,457 Steps

Total Step Count – 272,960

 

[Rimmit]

“Second star to the right and straight on ’til morning.” – Peter Pan

Today I woke up at 7:45AM and feel pretty good. Ironically my body is completely on Asia time just in time for us to leave Asia. This is where those days we lost due to the Air France debacle would have been nice to have back so we could have had more time in Asia without being jet lagged for the majority of our time.

Eventually we all wake up and shower. We take it pretty easy as our checkout time isn’t till noon so we aren’t in a rush for a change.

We still have one last breakfast at Oceano as part of our Vacation Package so we head down at 9AM.

I have some Cocoa Krispies again. Interestingly enough, they have these placemats for the kids that you can pop the characters up.

The characters then stare at you while you eat. I find it kinda cute, but also kinda odd.

I really wanted the beef but every time I went up it was out. It seemed to be a very popular item among the Japanese crowd. Also of note, every time we ate at a restaurant in Tokyo Disney Resort they placed this card on your table. I guess it’s to remind the European crowd that you need to be 20 years old and not 18 years old to have alcohol. They also seem to have a zero tolerance for drinking ANY alcohol and driving and not a blood alcohol level.

Once we finish eating we head back to the room and debate on what to do today. Originally our plan was to do Disneyland for half the day until we left for the airport, but after three straight full park days we decided we needed something a little less hectic. We look into going to the Sky Tower but it’s sold out for the day. One thing that was limiting us at this point was that we will have our luggage wherever we go so we need a place that has luggage storage. We look into some other options like some museums and other things but everything that had luggage storage was sold out, and everything that wasn’t sold out didn’t have luggage storage.

In the end we decide to head to Ikspiari and watch Mufasa. Thankfully, some of the movies playing are in English with Japanese subtitles and this was one of those. This allows us to just leave our luggage at the hotel and we can take the monorail to Ikspiari. We finish packing up and head out of our room. We sadly leave behind all our Vacation Package freebies aside from the blanket as we just don’t have enough room to take it with us.

As we walk to monorail station we get a good view of the hotel during the day. It’s gorgeous and I can’t even imagine the maintenance required for something this intricate.

We arrive at the monorail station and Lucy buys our monorail tickets.

Thankfully, the monorail is just a loop, so it’s even hard for us to get lost.

Ikspiari is the Downtown Disney area of the Tokyo Disney Resort. It’s a large indoor and outdoor complex with stores, restaurants, entertainment, and a movie theater. We get there and use the restroom. I haven’t spoken much about the restrooms in Japan, and I probably should. I guess it’s because growing up we had a bidet in our home and also had the same Japanese electronic bidet system on our toilets both growing up and currently in our home so it’s not really novel to me. The toilets in Japan all come with retractable bidet’s and dryers.

Another fun feature is that it also has a white noise machine for enhanced privacy.

Ikspiari was our easiest option logistically and at this point something easy was very welcome. We wander around and eventually find the movie theater. It’s located in an area themed to a theater district.

The movie isn’t till 2:30PM but we go ahead and buy the tickets for Mufasa. Figure it’s only more than fitting to see a Disney movie on our marathon Disney trip.

It’s about 2 hours till the movie so we decide to go shopping, or really what minimal shopping we can do given we only have carryons. We’ve left A LOT freebies behind this vacation just due to lack of available luggage space.

The Disney store is pretty close to the cinema so we decided to hop in and take a look.

It is just overloaded with cuteness.

Hands down one of my favorite parts of Japan is the kawaii culture.

Lucy begging for the Stitch. Not sure who is cuter to be honest.

It’s past lunchtime and we’re getting hungry and decide to eat before the movie. We were gonna hit up McDonald’s but it’s at the opposite end of the complex so we went to Chubby Airlines which was close by and seemed like a fast food kinda place.

The menu consisted mainly of chicken. We ended up ordering some chicken nuggets, fries and churros.

Much like every restaurant we have encountered in Japan, there is no ketchup available. They did have Mayonaise, spicy mayonaise, cheese and hot mustard as condiments for the fries and chicken. The fries were very long and quite possibly some of the longest fries I’ve ever eaten. The fries weren’t the best, so I guess there is no correlation between fry length and taste. The chicken was just ok as well.

 

[Rimmit]

It was time to see the movie and we head to the theater.

Believe it or not but they had NORMAL popcorn! This was the first time since we were in Japan that we had seen NORMAL popcorn. Kendall and Lucy were absolutely elated and this could be the most exciting thing to happen since we landed in Tokyo.

I’m gonna have a hard time reviewing the movie to be honest as I fell asleep for part of it. I thought I was totally over the jet lag, but I guess not. Either that or the warmth of the theater just knocked me out. Kendall and Lucy really liked it though. My favorite part was the bits and pieces with the original Hans Zimmer soundtrack as I am a huge Hans Zimmer fan.

An interesting observation, but the Japanese watch ALL the credits. Not just a little, not just till they start scrolling, but until the credits are TOTALLY done. The theater was totally full and only one guy got up and I thought he left. NOPE, he likely just went to bathroom as he came back shortly after leaving to finish the credits. We felt super awkward leaving when no one else was so we watched the credits to the bitter end.

There is a small store that is selling snacks across from the theater so we stock up on some snacks for the airport and our flight.

We hit up a small store that sells random stuff to buy some pillows as the airline we fly today, Zipair does not provide any amenities and if we hope to sleep a pillow will definitely help that cause. That being said Lucy is quite adept at sleeping in any position, pillow or not. As everything in Japan has become given the strength of the USD the pillows were dirt cheap. It was only $5 for three pillows. If these were bought in an airport they’d be minimum $10-20 USD.

On the way out we pass a store named mum.

Apparently this store is literally a store devoted to taking selfie’s and for taking pics in photo booths.

Lucy of course takes a pic in the fake phone booth.

It’s starting to get late so we start heading out.

We then get back to the monorail station.

While waiting I notice two things. One, the monorail station is absolutely immaculate with no trash or rubbish anywhere. Two, there are no trashcans anywhere.

The fact there is no trash and concurrently no trash cans is just absolutely mind boggling. You could nearly eat off these floors they look so clean. In the US unless there is a trash can every 10 feet there will be trash everywhere. The Japanese discipline for putting things in trash cans despite the inconvenience of finding one is just incredible. I just cannot believe there is not one trashcan available in this area.

Upon arrival at the Hotel Miracosta we ask bell services to bring out our bags and call us a taxi. The ride to the airport is just 45 minutes and pretty uneventful.

I was a little concerned as to how check in would go given today we are flying ZipAir, a low cost carrier that is a subsidiary of Japan Airlines. We found it very efficient if you didn’t need to check a bag. We just used the check in kiosk and were done in less than 5 minutes. Given the length of the bag check line we were super grateful as the line was forever long.

Security and immigration were super efficient and we went from curbside to the lounge in 30 minutes and we even stopped to buy a Tokyo magnet. Today we went to the I.A.S.S. Superior Lounge -NOA-. We have access to this lounge via our Priority Pass membership via either our AMEX Business Platinum Card or our Capital One Venture X card.

The lounge isn’t bad for a Priority Pass lounge. They had several food and beverage stations, including some cocktails on tap.

They had ample seating, and it was definitely more than ample.

You never know what you’re going to get in regards to the lounges that Priority Pass gives you access to but this one is well above average. The main thing we care about is whether it has edible free food and thankfully we all find the food quite enjoyable. We all ate some noodles. In fact, Lucy liked them so much she ate not 1, not 2, but 3 plates of noodles. Kendall and I also got a beef bowl along with some noodles.

At about 45 minutes till our expected departure time we head to the gate. Boarding is just 30 minutes prior to departure which is kinda short for a 787. I was kinda curious how they came up with that time frame as it’s often even longer for a considerably smaller plane like the 737.

On arrival at the gate I notice everyone has a green zipair tag on their carry on and personal item, likely meaning it’s an approved size and weight to carry on the plane. There was absolutely nothing in any email about needing to have your carry on weighed at the check in counter to be approved for it to be onboard. I go to the gate agent to ask if they can look at our carry on to get a green tag. They say it’s too late. I ask if I can gate check it and they state I cannot. I ask if there is anything I can do at this time, and they say no. They do not have any scales back here. I about die again, as I don’t know what we’re gonna do if our luggage isn’t approved to fly. I guess we could just leave it all behind, as the luggage is just clothes and a couple magnets as that’s all we bought. There is not enough time for me to find a way to ship it as we only have 5 minutes. I’m honestly not sure what we’re gonna do with the luggage.

I then ask “What can we do with the luggage then? Is there anyway we can bring it on board?” She says we can bring it onboard. It’s fine. I almost can’t believe my ears. I feel like we’ve never had anything go our way and for once someone is bending the rules a little. It was a huge win in my mind given our last denial. I’ve been traumatized by airline check in counters too many times and every time I approach one at this point I am flat out paranoid.

We board on time. Zipair being a low cost carrier includes absolutely nothing when you buy your seat. This includes even if you buy a business class seat. There is no priority boarding, no food, no drinks, no amenity kit, or pillow or blanket. Just imagine it as though you are flying Allegiant or Spirit except with a nicer seat that you can lay flat in. That’s pretty much it. While all those extra amenities are nice, the priority is the ability to sleep and get some rest. This is flight number 8 and long haul number 3 in 17 days combined with doing 10 Disney parks so rest and sleep are worth more than gold at this point.

Once we board I now realize why they have slotted only 30 minutes to board. It’s because they use only two doors to board the plane which cuts down on time. The experience is exactly what I would expect from a no frills carrier. They go for speed and efficiency and boarding is impressively completed in 30 minutes and we push off from the gate on time.

 

[Rimmit]

Today we are flying a Boening 787-800 Dreamliner, which is the backbone of the Zipair fleet, and from my understanding, I believe the only plane they actually fly. The seat is very similar to the seat we’ve had on KLM recently minus the small door that KLM has now added.

KLM seat. Nearly identical except for the inflight entertainment system and the small door over the compartment.
They are made by the same manufacturer and airlines can customize them to their own needs. It’s more than ample and most importantly, it lies flat.

This being “budget” business means they even stripped out the screen presumably due to the added weight and maintenance so all we have in its place is a safety card in a net.

Not quite a TV screen
The seat was comfy and spacious enough though. I must say it was kinda odd just staring at a safety card in place of a TV screen. I kinda wish they had at least some basic amenities but given this is more than half the price of a standard business class seat, I am more than happy with the product.

Once we take off we all get some sleep as it’s been a long last couple of days.

Day 17, January 4th, 2025 Step Count – 9,023 Steps

Total Step Count – 281,983

 

[Rimmit]

“Roads. Where we’re going we don’t need roads.” – Doc Brown

Today we traveled back in time to January 4th as we crossed the International Dateline so this is January 4th take two! I did not wake up at all today, as for some reason I just could not sleep on our flight. I think it may be because they never truly dimmed the lights in the cabin the whole way and that may have contributed to me staying up. I’ve never had a cabin in which the lights were kept nearly full brightness on a red eye flight. Kendall and Lucy slept pretty much the entire flight so at least 2/3 of our crew was able to get some sleep.

In keeping with the theme of Japanese toilets, I was impressed that even the toilets on the plane comes with a bidet function.

The Zipair flight was quick and uneventful. I would be totally content to fly them again for the price. The service is exactly what you’d expect as in there is no service so there is no surprise there. They were very attentive to help me get the WiFi working on my phone so I could order some bottled waters. EVERYTHING is done via WiFi, and if you can’t connect then they will bring an iPad to you to help you order. I did miss the service of a true business class, but for the price you really can’t ask for much more. The main goal was to make sure we could get some sleep.

We landed 50 minutes early and thus had a 4 hour layover. Anytime we go international for a couple weeks I always have a mild feeling of relief washes over me when we touch back down on US soil.

There is nothing that can replace the feeling of being back on your home turf. We disembark and are one of the first in the immigration line but it was somewhat confusing as the immigration officers were half hazardly taking people from the Global Entry line and the Mobile Passport Control line seemingly at random and no one knew when it was there turn to walk up to an officer. This obviously created some chaos and some heated disputes of whose turn it was next.

We use Mobile Passport Control, which is nearly if not just as fast as Global Entry most of the time and also free. We’ve wanted to get Global Entry as it comes included with our credit cards, but scheduling an interview is a real barrier in that you have to go to a specific location for that and the nearest for us is in 2.5 hours away in Cincinatti. You can do it on reentry into the US but our connections are always tight and we don’t want to risk not having enough time for a connection to do an interview.

From the time we exited the plane to the time we were through immigration and customs was 22 minutes. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

For some reason Alaska Airlines would not let me check in online and it said to go to the ticket counter. We’ve had some traumatic experiences at ticket counters lately, but I feel very confident this will not be an issue simply because we are in the US and there is zero reason for us to be denied boarding within the United States. They check us in with no problems and the security line is nonexistent so we breeze through and head to the lounge.

The lounge of the day is The Club at SFO which is a Priority Pass lounge.

This lounge is very new just opening 7 months ago. From the online reviews it is one of the best Priority Pass lounges in the US and at a quick glance I would have to agree. We arrive and there is no wait to get in.

After taking the elevator to the lounge, we take a quick look around, and they have multiple drink stations, a bar, a small food selection, a peloton room, some rooms with what I think is some light therapy, and some showers.

We were definitely looking forward to taking a shower. Unfortunately, the showers cost $25 a person. We’d normally wait another 6 hours till we get to the hotel and save the cash, but we are meeting some of my online trivia friends today right when we get to Anaheim, and I’d prefer not to smell and look like a disheveled rat when we see them. We have three hours to burn right now so we suck it up and pay the fee. They at least cut us a break with Lucy and don’t charge us for her.

The showers are very clean and modern and has some decent water pressure so at least for $25 USD the shower is decent.. We then get some food as we hadn’t eaten a meal since the lounge in Tokyo. They have some beef teriyaki which was pretty good and we all enjoyed it.

Lucy used to put socks on her hands as a baby, and she’d go “Sock hands!” Today she has a pillow and she’s going “Pillow Hands!”

We then head to the gate for our flight and on the way we spot a British Airways A380.

It makes me sad that these planes are slowly going extinct. Lucy keeps bugging me to fly on one, and the irony is she has flown on one when she was 3 years old when we flew Qantas to Australia. She of course does not remember that.

We arrive at the gate and wait to board. Lucy is ready to go.

We are flying Alaska Air in Domestic First class this time on an Embraer 175. This is yet another new carrier for us which makes it 7 new carriers in a row as we’ve never before flown Virgin, Vueling, Air France, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Zipair, and Alaska. We used our Capital One travel credit to pay for this flight.

The seat was again more than wide enough for me and the legroom plentiful.

I unfortunately lack the leg length to accurately evaluate airline seats.

The flight was a brief 1 hour and 30 minutes. Once we arrive we exit the terminal in less than 2 minutes. Due to where our gate was located, it literally took about the same amount of time to get off the plane and out of the airport as it would take me in Huntington Tri-State Airport, our small local airport with just 2 gates. After flying into and out of some very large airports over the last several weeks this a truly unexpected convenience.

 

[Rimmit]

It takes us just 2 minutes to get to the ride share pickup and another 8 minutes for our Uber to arrive.

It is just a short 15 minute ride to the one and only original Disneyland Hotel. After staying at the other 4 Disneyland hotels this vacation and a total of 7 other Disney hotels it was super exciting to stay at the VERY FIRST Disney hotel.

The first thing you see when you walk in is a huge map of Disneyland from many years ago. After circling the globe it’s just kinda neat to be where it all started.

Lucy is fast to spot a tea cup. Sadly, to Lucy’s dismay this one does not spin.

We then start to walk toward our room and pass by the pool on the way. The resort just looks beautiful at night.

We had booked this stay using rented DVC points which saved us a substantial amount of money. Because we are staying with DVC points, we are staying in the brand new Discovery Tower part of the Disneyland Hotel, which is the DVC portion.

We are staying in a Standard Villa room for this stay. It is gorgeous and very modern.

The room is themed to The Princess and the Frog, and like all Disney rooms pays a great deal of attention to details and this one is no different.

Lucy is always trying to find random places to sleep and she tries out the ottoman for a bit. She says the Murphy bed is more comfortable.

We all quickly freshen up and meet my online trivia friends, Dave and Nicole, for dinner at the Pixar Place Hotel which is just a short walk from the Disneyland Hotel.

Most of you are not aware, but I became part of an online trivia community during covid and made some amazing friends via this community. Today was a special day as after about three and a half years I finally got to meet two of my online friends in person, Dave and Nicole.

We go to the Great Maple for dinner which serves like fancier diner food. It’s been two weeks since we’ve had a proper taste of home, so I had some breakfast for dinner and got some eggs, bacon and toast. It was great to get some diner food after two weeks away.

Unfortunately, Dave’s wife, Nathalie, could not make it tonight, but we will meet up with her and Dave tomorrow when we enter the park. Nathalie is using her cast member benefit to allow us to enter the park for free as her guests. We set up a meeting time at 10:00AM to hopefully let us sleep in some, albeit that has rarely worked this vacation due to the jet lag.

We finish up and say goodbye, and head back to the room and get ready for bed. It takes no effort for us to crash out as we prep for our final park day of the vacation in which we complete our goal of visiting all 12 parks in one trip.

Day 18, January 4th, 2025 Step Count – 7,946 Steps

Total Step Count – 289,929

 

[Rimmit]

Day 19 - Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure

“Here You Leave Today And Enter The World Of Yesterday, Tomorrow And Fantasy” – Walt Disney

This is it boys and girls. The final push. Today we are doing parks 11 and 12, Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure.

Today I actually did get to wake up, as I actually did fall asleep unlike yesterday. I woke up at 6:45AM and I actually feel refreshed. It was the best night of sleep in quite a while and I don’t feel jet lagged at all.

It’s one of the most beautiful days we’ve had this vacation, but ironically of all the Disney hotel room views we’ve had it’s definitely not the most beautiful.

I eventually go and fetch some breakfast from The Coffee House, which is a quick service restaurant/coffee shop at the Disneyland Hotel. I have to walk through the courtyard to get to The Coffee House which is close to the convention center.

Lucy orders two bowls of Fruit Loops, Kendall and I split a breakfast burrito, and I get some milk and a Diet Coke. I am in sticker shock after being in Asia for the last week as the total for that little bit of food was $36 dollars. We aren’t in a hurry as we aren’t meeting up with my friend until 10:00AM, so we all have time to shower and get dressed. We also have time to do the laundry this AM as well so we do our final load of laundry this vacation.

After the endless laundromat debacles this vacation I have never been so excited to get back to a typical US laundromat.

This laundromat was pretty much everything I had ever dreamed a laundromat should be. It has not one, not two, but THREE WAYS TO PAY!! Two options via the phone and one available IN THE LAUNDROMAT. I take nothing for granted after the debacle on our second night at Disneyland Hotel Paris.

It also has large dryers, and for the real kicker, the dryers actually dry in a standard amount of time!!!! It’s a miracle!!!! No damp laundry here!! I can’t imagine a better start to a day… except for maybe Notre Dame beating Georgia.

We leave our hotel at 9:50AM to meet up with my friend Dave and his wife, Nathalie. It’s a short 8 minute walk through Downtown Disney to get to the entrance of the park. On the way we spot a not so hidden Mickey that has sadly had it’s ear blown away.

We meet Dave at the picnic area right outside the park.

Today we are using his wife’s cast member benefit to be their guest in the park for the day. We meet up with Dave and Nathalie and we enter into Disneyland and we do NOT head to wheelchair rental. Yep, that’s right Kendall is gonna go without the wheelchair today. She’s been training for today since the accident 2.5 years ago.

So far this trip she’s walked a partial day at Disneyland Paris, a half day in Shanghai, and a full day in Hong Kong Disneyland, which is a VERY small park and more akin to walking around a small regional amusement park. For size comparison, Hong Kong Disneyland is about 1/5 the size of Epcot. Today is the true test to see just how far she’s come in recovery, in that this is Disney at it’s fastest and finest, with us doing both Disneyland AND Disney’s California Adventure at a VERY fast pace. This would be a hard day for some adults with two healthy feet. This is our final park day, and she had been avoiding pushing herself too much as before if she redlines her foot, we would potentially have had a very difficult time completing the vacation as it can take days for her to recover if she pushes it too hard. Today we are gonna throw caution to the wind and say “Screw it!” as it is our final park day and we fly home tomorrow. The absolute worst case scenario is that we use wheelchair assistance to get through the airport.

After entering we buy the Lightning Lane Premier Pass immediately. I’ve never heard of this selling out in Disneyland unlike Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but we’d rather not risk it. This pass allows us one Lightning Lane per ride in both parks. Given it is the last day of Christmas break we anticipate it to be super busy and we only have one day for both Disneyland and California Adventure. It is very pricey at $399 per person, but this will help us significantly reduce the zigzagging across the parks in order to make Lightning Lane return times. This normally wouldn’t be too big of an issue, but given Kendall is going without a wheelchair, the Premier Pass will help make the day significantly more manageable from a walking perspective.

We start the day with the traditional walk down Main Street U.S.A. This being our 6th and final castle, it really feels underwhelming to be honest. It’s even smaller than I remember it.

Size isn’t everything though, and it’s beautifully decorated for the Christmas season.

I see the famous Walt Disney Statue and and take the obligatory picture.

For our first ride of the day we elect to go on an absolute classic, Mr Toads Wild Ride over in Fantasyland.

It’s been since 2017 that we have ridden this so the ride feels pretty novel to me at this point. It’s definitely nothing spectacular, but at this point this ride along with many others in Disneyland are basically considered National Historic Sites by Disneyland faithful, just without the actual protection of the National Park system. So regardless if a ride might be underwhelming by today’s standards, the chance of some rides ever being removed or replaced is pretty remote.

This is one of those rides.

Not too far away are the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The last time we were here in 2017 we did it at night, so this is a totally different experience seeing it during the day. We take the Lightning Lane and the wait is about 10 minutes.

I totally forgot just how much fun the Matterhorn was, and I also totally forgot just how long it is. In the current age of ultra fast coasters and launches, the rides have obviously gotten shorter in length. It’s definitely one of the more unique rides this vacation being an entirely downhill ride weaving into and out of a mountain much like a bobsled.

We all love it, and it’s definitely one of our favorite rides this vacation.

Next up is another mountain, Space Mountain.

Disney World being our main home park is our standard for Space Mountains, and as such every other Space Mountain in the world is measured against it. The ride vehicle here is a 2-2-2 arrangement rather than the single file rocket that Magic Kingdom has.

The track here is much smoother than the one in Magic Kingdom.

Aside from that the theming is pretty much identical and unlike the international versions there is no hint of Star Wars anywhere.

In my head it felt just a little faster, but I’m not sure if that’s just because it’s smoother or if it really was.

 

[Rimmit]

Nearby is Star Tours which is the exact same as every single other Star Tours and the very original Star Tours. Dave and Nathalie had basically been graciously serving as our personal guides so far today, and had not been going on many rides due to the lines, but Star Tours was a short 15 minute wait so we all go on it together. The boarding area here definitely pales in comparison to the Tokyo version.

This was the very first time we got the Ahsoka ending with the Purrgils which are the space whales so that was a treat. Per Dave he says that is the same ending every single time right now, so I guess Disney is really pushing Disney+ right now.

We then decide to leave and head over to California Adventure as we plan to end our day in Disneyland as it closes at midnight. We cross the turnstiles, and have officially completed our 12 park challenge.

It felt pretty anticlimactic to be honest, and I think part of that is that we had been to Disneyland and California Adventure before so it wasn’t something new. It was kinda neat to think we did do all 12 parks over a course of 16 days though. I was looking for someone with some buttons so we can get a congratulatory button, but didn’t see anyone and didn’t feel like waiting in line at guest services.

It’s about lunchtime and we are all getting hungry now so we start to walk over to eat at Sanfransokyo Square. We pass Grizzly mountain on the way.

Sanfransokyo is the fictional city where Big Hero 6 takes place.

This area was previously known as Pacific Wharf prior to its retheming in August 2023. It’s basically a big outdoor food court with multiple food options. Lucy and I went to the Lucky Fortune Cookie for some chicken teriyaki and potstickers. Kendall, Dave, and Nathalie went to Aunt Cass Cafe where they all got a bread bowl with mac and cheese. It takes a while to find a table, but we eventually stalk one down and eat our food. The potstickers and chicken teriyaki were pretty good, and I enjoyed it. The mac and cheese and bread bowl did not disappoint either, but it is pretty hard to mess up mac and cheese.

Of note, we are starting to get messages from friends back home that we our area is getting funded with snow. There’s not much we can do about that now, but it could definitely impact our travel plans when we fly home tomorrow. We’re supposed to get between 12-14 inches, but we know just how accurate the weathermen are. We’ll just have to hope the planes keep flying and they can get the roads cleared up enough for us to get home from the airport. I do a quick check of our Ring camera at home, and yep, it’s piling up fast.

Radiator Springs Racers is right next to Sanfransokyo Square so we head there next.

The Lightning Lane lane is only about 10 minutes so we have a short time to check out the queue which has some fun details.

This is basically the same ride as test track with some minor track differences and significant thematic differences.

Everyone has their own opinion, but I find it superior to Test Track in nearly all facets. The beginning is truly stunning and feels just like a drive through the canyons in the movie.

Really the only thing that test track really beats Radiator Springs Racers, is that in the final part of the ride, Test Track tops out at a much faster speed so it is more thrilling in that aspect.

It is just an incredibly well themed and beautiful ride and a ton of fun.

We then walk back through Sanfransokyo Square to get to Pixar Pier.

We hadn’t been to Pixar Pier since it was rethemed from Paradise Pier and I was VERY skeptical how the infusion one Pixar into a Victorian Era boardwalk would work. I thought it would be incredibly cheesy and a cheap way to infuse more IP into the parks. In all honesty, I didn’t hate the retheming. It was actually tastefully done, and minimally intrusive, and for the most part actually made a reasonable amount of sense.

Our next ride is the Incredicoaster.

We have not been on it since it was rethemed from California Screamin’. Much like my skepticism for Pixar Pier, I held a great deal of skepticism for how they were going to incorporate the Incredibles into this coaster.

I must say, I was again wrong. The Incredible theme works way better than I anticipated, and the ride was a blast as always, and one of the best roller coasters in all of the Disney Parks, and at this point, we’ve basically done them all, with only Big Thunder Mountain in Disneyland remaining.

Toy Story Mania is next up as it is also in Pixar Pier.

This ride is probably the most thematically coherent with the Pixar Pier theme, and in all honesty, was probably one of the reasons they thought of the idea as it was here before they ever rethemed the area. It is identical to all the other Toy Story Mania’s with zero differences. I got the worst score I’ve had this vacation. I think despite there being ample time between parks, I could feel my arm fatiguing more quickly. You can only pull that plunger so fast, and I think my fast twitch muscle fibers were just burned out.

 

[Rimmit]

Angry Dogs is nearby. We do not buy an Angry Dog, but I find the name and stand quite amusing as does Lucy.

As we continue to walk around Pixar Pier we enter Bing Bongs Sweet Shop.

They have some really cute food items here.

We don’t buy any as we aren’t that hungry right now, but Lucy does buy a slushy and some candy.

 

[MickeyCB]

We cross the turnstiles, and have officially completed our 12 park challenge.

 

[cgersic]

The 12 parks in 16 days is the part that is really impressive to me!

 

[mpaulam]

Awesome! I am really enjoying your trip report and so glad you decided to share!