Trip Report "It's Feeling Too People-y Out Here"

I'm back from California and ready to report! Our December trip is only 48 days away, so my goal is to finish this TR before the next one begins.

Let the fun begin!

When: October 11-15, 2024
Where: Disneyland and Disney California Adventure
Who: Me (Annie) and my husband (Ian)
Why: Our 5-year wedding anniversary! Also, Ian had been working in San Diego for a month and I was so burnt out on solo parenting my almost 3-year-old back home. I really really needed a break!

Here we go...

This trip started out with a whole bunch of stress. The week before I left was crazy with work and school. I had work events every night, along with classes for my PhD and projects due. All while juggling my threenager all on my own

I had booked an early Friday morning flight out to San Diego for this trip. I work remotely on Thursdays, so it was perfect. Nora goes to daycare on Thursdays, so I planned to pack and get ready between meetings.

Nora had other plans.

I got her up for school on Thursday morning and she could hardly breathe. She was sobbing through barely breathing and couldn't calm down. I immediately called out of work and took her to urgent care.

She ended up getting a steroid breathing treatment and leaving with a diagnosis of croup.

Such a trooper. The breathing treatment helped but she still sounded so awful. Spoiler alert, I got home last night and she still sounds pretty bad my poor baby.

Once we got home my mom came over so I could pack and do some work like I had planned. I ran to the store to get some travel items and my mom guilt came out in full force. I got Nora a little present for being so good at the doctor.

She loved it!

The doctor recommended getting outside for some cold air for her lungs, so we did just that.

And caught the Northern Lights!

It was a SUPER stressful day and the guilt really was eating me alive, but I knew my parents could handle caring for Nora and would keep me up to date of any changes.

Friday morning my dad picked me up at 3 AM to head to Boston

Security was pretty uneventful. I first flew to Philly, then Philly to San Diego.

I had a window seat and watched movies/read my book until my 6 hours were up.

Finally made it!

To be continued...

 

[luvinthemajik]

OMG that video is the best ever

I've got tears!! Thank you for sharing such genuine love and affection.

 

[annienevells]

LOVE Ian's shirt!!! Pluto is my favorite and I can't seem to find him on much. Nora's homecoming was just the sweetest!!

I'm glad you mentioned the shirt! I actually bought it for him as an anniversary present the day he left for California and brought it with me as a surprise

 

[annienevells]

Ian was ready for a snack/breakfast, but we decided to tour Minnie and Mickey's houses before leaving Toontown.

Minnie wasn't meeting, but it was fun to walk through anyway.

When I showed Nora the below picture she started begging me for "Minnie's 'puter"

Quick cup of tea photo opp.

Then we headed over to check out Mickey's digs.

Ian LOVED all the product names.

 

[annienevells]

By the time we made it through Mickey's house, he was meeting! So we decided to wait in line to meet the big cheese himself.

He was admiring my anniversary button.

And gave me a big hug of congratulations.

The attendant CM thought I was a genius because I had my photopass barcode as my lock screen to be scanned we later discussed how we should have linked some of our old magic bands because we saw others using them.

On to some sustenance!

If you have read my reports before, you know that we are total suckers for Mickey pretzels and cheese. Disneyland would be no exception.

We grabbed a bench outside the refurbishment walls of Small World and enjoyed.

We were basking in the warm weather and people watching when the Disneyland Band marched right in front of our bench to begin their performance!

We both remarked on how this was a moment of the real Disney magic we love.

The band was great and played a medley of Disney movie faves. We loved it!

Our next LL was for Big Thunder at 1130 so we had about an hour to kill. We saw that Snow White was about a 35 minute wait and we had never done it before on previous trips, so we made our way there.

Quick Geppetto sighting!

The wait for Snow White's Enchanted Wish was almost exactly 35 minutes, maybe a little more. But it was fun to try something new!

We thought about trying to ride Pirates, but it was down by the time we arrived. The crush of people in this area was INSANE. maddening honestly. Ian looked at me and said "I can't do this, it's feeling too people-y out here"

 

[annienevells]

We fought the crowds to get over to Big Thunder.

This is where my brain has to fight my mental map of Magic Kingdom and remember we are at DL lol

We made our way through the LL pretty quickly, probably 5 minutes or so (with the standby at 70 minutes)

We knew after Big Thunder we needed to head out to take a break, mostly from all the people. First, we grabbed a quick lunch at the Stage Door Cafe. Ian got the buffalo tenders and I got the kids tenders meal.

Planning this trip, I could not find ONE single table service dining reservation. Not that there are a ton of options, but still. I missed sitting down and enjoying a served meal on this trip for sure.

We did enjoy our meal, though the only seats we could find were directly in the boiling sun

On our way out, we grabbed a couple treats!

During this time, I booked a LL for our return at DCA for Guardians of the Galaxy Monsters after Dark. The plan was to return for our HM Holiday virtual queue, then head to DCA.

We made our way to get an Uber, but I had to grab some pictures of the pumpkins first.

We struggled our way to our Uber and finally made it back to the hotel. Ian took a nap while I took a dip in the pool. Y'all.. I had the most upsetting experience during my pool time. There was a family of a mother, grandmother, and VERY young infant. There was a hot tub, and they had this VERY SMALL AND YOUNG infant in a float in the hot tub. The infant was screaming crying and they refused to take him out of the hot tub. It went on and on and after 20 minutes I felt compelled to say something even though I was very nervous about it. I just walked up and said "is everything okay? is there anything I can do to help?" (when what I REALLY wanted to say was "GET YOUR POOR BABY OUT OF THE HOT TUB")

They got really angry with me and told me to mind my business. They kept him in the hot tub and I had to give up and leave the area because it was upsetting me so much. I went back and told Ian about it and it made him angry as well.

Despite the stress, I was also able to stack another LL for our return to DCA which we were very excited about given the crowd levels!

 

[luvinthemajik]

We fought the crowds to get over to Big Thunder.

This is where my brain has to fight my mental map of Magic Kingdom and remember we are at DL lol

View attachment 821790

We made our way through the LL pretty quickly, probably 5 minutes or so (with the standby at 70 minutes)

View attachment 821791

We knew after Big Thunder we needed to head out to take a break, mostly from all the people. First, we grabbed a quick lunch at the Stage Door Cafe. Ian got the buffalo tenders and I got the kids tenders meal.

Planning this trip, I could not find ONE single table service dining reservation. Not that there are a ton of options, but still. I missed sitting down and enjoying a served meal on this trip for sure.

View attachment 821792

We did enjoy our meal, though the only seats we could find were directly in the boiling sun

On our way out, we grabbed a couple treats!

View attachment 821797

View attachment 821798

During this time, I booked a LL for our return at DCA for Guardians of the Galaxy Monsters after Dark. The plan was to return for our HM Holiday virtual queue, then head to DCA.

We made our way to get an Uber, but I had to grab some pictures of the pumpkins first.

View attachment 821793

View attachment 821794

View attachment 821795

View attachment 821796

We struggled our way to our Uber and finally made it back to the hotel. Ian took a nap while I took a dip in the pool. Y'all.. I had the most upsetting experience during my pool time. There was a family of a mother, grandmother, and VERY young infant. There was a hot tub, and they had this VERY SMALL AND YOUNG infant in a float in the hot tub. The infant was screaming crying and they refused to take him out of the hot tub. It went on and on and after 20 minutes I felt compelled to say something even though I was very nervous about it. I just walked up and said "is everything okay? is there anything I can do to help?" (when what I REALLY wanted to say was "GET YOUR POOR BABY OUT OF THE HOT TUB")

They got really angry with me and told me to mind my business. They kept him in the hot tub and I had to give up and leave the area because it was upsetting me so much. I went back and told Ian about it and it made him angry as well.

View attachment 821799

Despite the stress, I was also able to stack another LL for our return to DCA which we were very excited about given the crowd levels!

SMH at the sheer ignorance,I'm sorry you witnessed that and it stresses you, but, I applaud your compassion for the safety and welfare of the child, you tried!
Thank you.

 

[k8einwdw]

There was a family of a mother, grandmother, and VERY young infant. There was a hot tub, and they had this VERY SMALL AND YOUNG infant in a float in the hot tub. The infant was screaming crying and they refused to take him out of the hot tub.

Cold babies cry. Hot babies die. Some people don’t deserve kids.

 

[donaldtoo]

We fought the crowds to get over to Big Thunder.

This is where my brain has to fight my mental map of Magic Kingdom and remember we are at DL lol

View attachment 821790

We made our way through the LL pretty quickly, probably 5 minutes or so (with the standby at 70 minutes)

View attachment 821791

We knew after Big Thunder we needed to head out to take a break, mostly from all the people. First, we grabbed a quick lunch at the Stage Door Cafe. Ian got the buffalo tenders and I got the kids tenders meal.

Planning this trip, I could not find ONE single table service dining reservation. Not that there are a ton of options, but still. I missed sitting down and enjoying a served meal on this trip for sure.

View attachment 821792

We did enjoy our meal, though the only seats we could find were directly in the boiling sun

On our way out, we grabbed a couple treats!

View attachment 821797

View attachment 821798

During this time, I booked a LL for our return at DCA for Guardians of the Galaxy Monsters after Dark. The plan was to return for our HM Holiday virtual queue, then head to DCA.

We made our way to get an Uber, but I had to grab some pictures of the pumpkins first.

View attachment 821793

View attachment 821794

View attachment 821795

View attachment 821796

We struggled our way to our Uber and finally made it back to the hotel. Ian took a nap while I took a dip in the pool. Y'all.. I had the most upsetting experience during my pool time. There was a family of a mother, grandmother, and VERY young infant. There was a hot tub, and they had this VERY SMALL AND YOUNG infant in a float in the hot tub. The infant was screaming crying and they refused to take him out of the hot tub. It went on and on and after 20 minutes I felt compelled to say something even though I was very nervous about it. I just walked up and said "is everything okay? is there anything I can do to help?" (when what I REALLY wanted to say was "GET YOUR POOR BABY OUT OF THE HOT TUB")

They got really angry with me and told me to mind my business. They kept him in the hot tub and I had to give up and leave the area because it was upsetting me so much. I went back and told Ian about it and it made him angry as well.

View attachment 821799

Despite the stress, I was also able to stack another LL for our return to DCA which we were very excited about given the crowd levels!

I hope you don’t mind if I chime in…
That’s just nutso about the infant in the hot tub.
It’s not even recommended for full-grown adults to stay in a hot tub for more than about 15 minutes, especially if they’ve been drinking.
We never put any of our kids in a hot tub when they were infants, and when they got older the rule was about 5 minutes.
My DWifey has always taken very hot showers, but she even knew to take the temp down when she was pregnant with our 3 (now grown) children.
Good grief, the poor kiddo is screaming, how clueless can you be…???!!!!!

 

[meggo819]

There was a hot tub, and they had this VERY SMALL AND YOUNG infant in a float in the hot tub. The infant was screaming crying and they refused to take him out of the hot tub.

That’s crazy! Was there a lifeguard on duty? Maybe they or another CM could have told them no children allowed in the hot tub.

 

[erstwo]

I'm so sorry that happened to you (and the baby). If they parent/ grandparent like that in public, makes you think how that child is treated when no one is watching. Thank you for being brave enough to say something - I'm not sure I could have gotten up the courage.

 

[annienevells]

SMH at the sheer ignorance,I'm sorry you witnessed that and it stresses you, but, I applaud your compassion for the safety and welfare of the child, you tried!
Thank you.

Cold babies cry. Hot babies die. Some people don’t deserve kids.

EXACTLYYYYYYYYY

I hope you don’t mind if I chime in…
That’s just nutso about the infant in the hot tub.
It’s not even recommended for full-grown adults to stay in a hot tub for more than about 15 minutes, especially if they’ve been drinking.
We never put any of our kids in a hot tub when they were infants, and when they got older the rule was about 5 minutes.
My DWifey has always taken very hot showers, but she even knew to take the temp down when she was pregnant with our 3 (now grown) children.
Good grief, the poor kiddo is screaming, how clueless can you be…???!!!!!

That’s crazy! Was there a lifeguard on duty? Maybe they or another CM could have told them no children allowed in the hot tub.

Unfortunately, this was a Motel 6 so no lifeguard. And honestly, it was exactly the vibe you'd expect at a Motel 6. Which I feel like I can say as someone who willingly chose to stay there

I'm so sorry that happened to you (and the baby). If they parent/ grandparent like that in public, makes you think how that child is treated when no one is watching. Thank you for being brave enough to say something - I'm not sure I could have gotten up the courage.

Thank you!!

 

[annienevells]

After I recovered from my stressful pool time, we headed back in an Uber around 330. Our BG was called for HM Holiday, and we had been able to stack two LL for DCA. Off we go!

Some pumpkin love first. We never had the chance to take a Photopass picture with the pumpkin because the line was at a mimumum 50+ people deep every single time we went by

A selfie works just fine

We fought the crowds through Adventureland to get back to HM.

There were some very unhappy guests talking to CMs about the fact that they couldn't ride standby. We were grateful we knew to get in the VQ!

Lots of pictures because this was a first for us.

The line moved pretty quickly and soon we were boarding.

What did we think? We loved it!!

 

[annienevells]

After our HM adventure, we were eager to exist DL and head to DCA (SOOOOO PEOPLE-Y).

I grabbed a churro for a quick snack first.

It was warm and delicious.

Off to DCA! We planned to spend the evening at DCA this night, because there was to be an Oogie Boogie Bash the next evening.

We were headed to our LL for Guardians: Monsters After Dark. We didn't really know anything about this version, except that there were warnings that it might scare some children

The standby was at 150 minutes, so it did take a little time to get through LL.

We didn't find it all that scary at all, but I am also not a child It was fun though!

Our next LL was for Little Mermaid, so we moseyed our way there.

 

[annienevells]

Radiator Springs Racers (our favorite) would have to wait as even the single rider line was an ungodly wait.

We LOVE the whole area though.

We made it to our Little Mermaid LL and we were able to walk right on in a couple of minutes.

I took lots of pictures for Nora because she is going to be Ariel for Halloween (she is making me be Ursula, Ian will be King Triton, and our dog Gus will be Flounder)

We exited the ride excited to walk around Pixar Pier. On our last visit, the area was under refurbishment, so it was completely new to Ian.

The sun was setting, making for some pretty pictures.

 

[annienevells]

I insisted on some Photopass pics before continuing on, and I think she did a great job!

Incredicoaster had been closed pretty much all day. When we were taking pictures, it finally opened back up. I was so excited as it was another new to us ride, so we rushed over there... only to find the standby was already at 90 minutes.

Oh well, let's take a ride on Jessie's Critter Carousel.

We decided to head to the Pixar Pal-a-Round next.

I took the picture ready to ride, but then they shut down as well.

We did ride the Silly Symphony Swings which was very fun to do at night with the park all lit up!

After this, we had a final LL for Soarin'

I asked Ian if we could go through and see Cars Land at night first, so we headed that way.

 

[annienevells]

I love this area at night so much. We took our time walking through.

We eventually made it back to Soarin' and waited probably 20 minutes or so, even in LL.

After our flight around the world, we grabbed some dinner before heading back to DL for Fantasmic and the Halloween fireworks.

We went to Smokejumpers Grill which was right next door. I got a kid's burger meal and Ian got the chipotle BBQ cheeseburger which he loved!

 

[annienevells]

I had to take a deep breath before heading back into DL, because I knew the crowds would be insane still.

I took zero pictures until we safely had a spot for Fantasmic (a feat itself)

I loved when the ship came out and Peter Pan and Captain Hook were running about. It was the best part!

We enjoyed DL's version of Fantasmic, but not nearly as much as the HS version.

The announcement instructed us to stay where we were for the Halloween fireworks.

They were... fine. I would not go out of my way to see them again. It was one and done. We were really missing HEA at this time.

Again, no pictures to end the night. We were FREEZING and fought one million people to get out of the park. We also walked back to our hotel for the first time on this evening because the chances of getting an Uber were ZERO.

We had a great, if a little busy, first day and wedding anniversary. We were exhausted but still 1.5 days to go!!

 

[mpaulam]

Those pumpkins are awesome!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

All the Haunted Mansion decorations….

Love them!

 

[annienevells]

We started out Day 2 feeling a million years old.

We were SORE and struggled big time getting up and moving. It was another gray and cold start to the day, so I opted for my sweatshirt in hopes that I could ditch it after our mid-day break.

Our Uber was much smoother this day, and we arrived before the gates had even opened. It was a DCA morning!

A CM ended up coming down the line to scan our tickets so that folks could start making LL selections. I wanted Incredicoaster but it wasn't an option, so went for Web Slingers to try something new!

Once inside DCA, we were brought directly to the rope. Ian insisted on a photo featuring him touching the rope lol

We waited about 30 minutes and watched the early entry folks race into the park. We played Catch Phrase during our wait which was pretty fun and make the time standing in one spot fly by.

I've never been right at the rope for RD... oh my GOODNESS. People are wild. And don't listen to the CMs saying over and over "STOP RUNNING PLEASE WALK"

It seemed like most of us were headed to Racers. Ian and I made a gametime decision to choose single rider when we approached, we would survive not riding together.

I was glad we did, because the line was LONG from all those runners ahead of us.

Our gametime decision paid off though, because we ended up in the same vehicle!

We LOVE this ride and had so much fun.

Energized, and only hitting 8:15 AM, we headed to our Web Slingers LL.

We aren't big superhero or Avengers folks, but it was cool to once again try something new.

I had done ZERO research on the attraction so it was a fun surprise.

I was able to grab an Incredicoaster LL finally, so we headed that way.

Ian told me to make a fishy face... I feel like I just look goofy lol