Trip Report We’re Soarin’, Flyin’… Into the Unknown

Hello friends!

Many of you know me, but I’ve been pretty absent for awhile. This school year was wild and left me with very little time for… well, anything. But I’m back and trying to be more present here, because you’re my people and it makes me happy to be in good company!

Some quick reintroductions since it’s been so long…

I’m Brittany! I’m a PA turned Florida girl and I love every second of my life in the sunshine state! I teach 1st grade and that will almost always be the reason for any unexplained absence from me here. This is my husband, Dylan! I drug him along (okay, okay, he came willingly) for my fairytale Florida life, and we’re pretty happy with what we’ve created here. He is also a teacher, but he teaches high school history. His cup of tea, definitely not mine. We are Disney and Universal Passholders, so you can almost always find us at a theme park. Now, on to the exciting stuff!

Where are we soarin’, flyin to?

When are we venturing into the unknown? July 7. Yep…. TOMORROW.

We had been planning this trip for summer 2020 through Adventures by Disney so we could do the Studios and Imagineering tours, but you know, Covid. But now the trip is back on, though not through Adventures by Disney. We’ll eventually live out that dream, but for now, getting to the parks is more than enough! This was a spur of the moment “book the trip!” kind of deal, but everything is set and we are EXCITED!

We have 3 park days planned with a rest day in the middle. We’ll spend some time in Downtown Disney and at our hotel pool, but it’ll mostly be a go with the flow kind of day. We’re not staying on property this trip, but our hotel is right across the road from the parks so I can pretend. Our flight back home is late in the evening, so we’re also planning a visit to Griffith Park for that day. I’m almost as excited for that as the parks! Lol.

So, there it is! I hope that you’ll follow along on our journey to the original happy place… I promise to try and keep the tears to a minimum.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

We proceeded closer to the castle for some additional pictures. My obsessive picture taking is not Dylan's favorite thing, but he was so tolerant this trip, especially our first morning at Disneyland. He said that he knew how special this was for me, so "do what you need to do."

Dylan said we need to book a trip back for this, and I definitely did not disagree. It would be so cool to see!

Our photographer here was so fun... he was super energetic and posed us a bunch of different ways, which I always appreciate.

After the previous picture, the photographer said "okay girl, now just one of you for the 'gram." He was hilarious. He made me feel like I was on the red carpet lol.

He must have really liked us, because then he told Dylan to rejoin me for a couple more. He said, "okay now look at the castle... you're reminiscing about your trip."

We finished up our photoshoot and headed for our first ride. We saw soooo many mama and baby ducks throughout the week! They were everywhere. So sweet.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

A few more castle pictures before our first ride.

Matterhorn was posted at 20 minutes, so we headed there first. Ya'll weren't kidding when you said this ride was rough.

Next, we walked just across the way for a 15 minute wait for Alice in Wonderland.

These dark rides are so hard to get pictures in.

It was a cute ride! I love dark rides, so it doesn't take much to impress me lol.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

Next up was the Storybook Land Canal Boats! I was so excited to ride this... it wasn't looking like they would be open by the time of our trip, but at the last minute, that changed. The wait was posted at 20 minutes, but we only waited 10. I saw this boat coming around the bend, and I told Dylan I hoped it was the one we got to ride on. He was convinced that there were too many people in front of us and we would be put on the next one, but I'm happy to report that he was wrong.

And now a bunch of pictures from Storybook Land!

What an adorable ride! I'm so happy that we got to do it. Our guide was kind of lame, which was disappointing because we could hear some of the others as we floated by them. Ours was just not very enthusiastic, and I feel like this is a ride that you need to be.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

Next, we headed to Small Word, which was posted at 10 minutes. We only waited 6 before boarding the happiest cruise that ever sailed!

I absolutely love the Disney characters placed throughout this version of the ride. I wish they would do this at WDW so badly.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

Finishing up!

We stopped by the gift shop for a few minutes and I found some pins that I liked. I ended up buying the Beauty and the Beast and the Disneyland ticket ones later in the week.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

Next up was another destination that I was really looking forward to - Toontown! This is one of my most vivid memories about my first trip to WDW, and I've always been so jealous that DLR got to keep theirs. Of course with Covid, we weren't able to go inside the houses or do the meet and greets, but it was still fun to see them.

We also squeezed ourselves through Chip and Dale's Treehouse because I love Chip and Dale and couldn't help myself. This also wasn't supposed to be open before our trip, but it was.

Disneyland knows how to do walls too.

A few other details as we walked around.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

We left Toontown and headed for Pinocchio, which was posted at 20 minutes. We waited about 15 minutes before boarding. This was actually kind of terrifying. I can't imagine being a kid riding it.

Hello beautiful.

Now in Tomorrowland, we decided that it was time for some lunch. We mobile ordered from Pizza Planet, but we had to wait 20 minutes before our window opened. Buzz was posted at 25 minutes, so we decided to ride that while we waited. We were on the ride in about 15 minutes.

I loved all of the alien art on the walls in the queue.

I'm just as bad at this version of the ride as the WDW version. I thought for sure I would do better, since the guns aren't stationary. I was wrong.

Our mobile order window opened as soon as we walked off of the ride, so it was perfect timing! We returned to the restaurant and retrieved our food. We lucked into an indoor table to enjoy our food... AC was much needed by this time of the day!

I had the pizza and Dylan had spaghetti. We both enjoyed our meals!

Look at the little topping planets. This is another thing that I'm upset they did away with at WDW. Pizza Planet > Woody's Lunchbox.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

A few more Pizza Planet pictures! He hates when I make him pose.

After lunch, we walked around on Main Street for a bit and I browsed the shops.

I spotted some characters and couldn't resist going to say hello!

Oh Donald.

We ended up at the Disney Gallery and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. This also was not supposed to be open by our trip, so I was very excited when that changed!

I absolutely LOVED the Disney Gallery. There was so much history and interesting information to be learned. There was a big Haunted Mansion display with a lot of information about the attraction, so I enjoyed reading all of that.

The bench that started it all.

Dylan loved this and actually went back and watched it a second time later in the week when I was shopping. I honestly enjoyed it too... a lot of that is probably because it was so near and dear to Walt's heart.

 

[Swissmiss]

I always forget (because I haven’t been to DL in Anaheim since the early 90s) how similar DLP and the original park are. It hit me even more reading your posts because we just got back from DLP the other day.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

More from Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Disney Gallery!

A CM came over to chat while I was looking at this model and shared some fun facts. He said that Building #1 (bottom right) used to be a lumber yard and building with tools/machines inside. All of the lumber for the park was cut up there. That same building ended up becoming the one that we were currently standing in. He also said that the large grassy hill area (top right) used to be a place where guests could take food and have picnics during their park days.

We exited through a shop and I saw this little figurine that I would love to have.

We decided to hop on the Disneyland Railroad next, as it was only a 10 minute wait. We rode it the whole way around.. it was a much needed break!

 

[cgersic]

Wow, it seems like the park is so empty compared to WDW?! Loving the photos!

 

[bee]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

Finishing up!
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We stopped by the gift shop for a few minutes and I found some pins that I liked. I ended up buying the Beauty and the Beast and the Disneyland ticket ones later in the week.
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I also love the characters in IASW! I wasn't sure about them but once I saw them...

 

[blreinsel]

Wow, it seems like the park is so empty compared to WDW?! Loving the photos!

DEFINITELY. The WDW crowds are ridiculous these days.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

Next up we did the castle walk through, which was a little disappointing to be honest. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was definitely not what we got. It was fine, but very dark and very tight quarters.

Next up was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! It was posted at 25 minutes but we waited 14. Another cute dark ride!

The recently refurbished Snow White's Enchanted Wish was posted at 30 minutes, so that was our next stop. We waited 25. I never saw the original version, but it was cute! The mine scene was basically a carbon copy of 7 Dwarfs Mine Train.

I loved these queue details... especially her shoes. I'm not sure why that stuck out to me, but it seemed very Disney to included them.

We headed toward New Orleans Square and passed the Evil Queen on our way. She was interacting with some guests and though I don't remember what she said, I do remember laughing and thinking that she played the character very well.

We hopped in line for Pirates, which was posted at 35 minutes. We waited about 10. Disneyland's version is SIGNIFICANTLY better than WDW, however... WHERE ARE THE SMELLS!? That's the best part of the ride! Lol. I was so disappointed... but other than that it was fantastic.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

We decided to ride Haunted Mansion next... it was posted at 35 minutes, but went up to 45 minutes shortly after we had gotten in line. The ride went down twice while we were in line, but we were trying to stick it out. After 50 minutes of waiting, the ride went completely down and they cleared everybody out of the queue. They did issue us a return time for when the ride started operating again, but we never ended up going back to use it.

We were kind of aimlessly wandering, not sure what we wanted to do next when Dylan spotted the Davy Crockett Canoes. I was hesitant, but he seemed very excited so I obliged. They were a walk on, so we at least had that going for us. There were 3 CMs on the boat with us... one in the front, and two in the back, one of which was training and looked like she was not enjoying herself AT. ALL. The CM doing the training, however, was a riot. We were in the very back of the canoe, so we got to enjoy his humor and commentary thought the ride. I was a little surprised that he was saying some of the things that he was, because some people would probably have been very put off by him. We, however, found him hilarious.



Some of my favorite quotes:
"See that white boat behind us (the Mark Twain)? That's called 'motivation.' They have a motor and we do not."

"Sir, it's a paddle, not a plane wing."

"Sir, this is your last chance to get your paddle wet and make it seem like you did something."

*Lady taking selfies of herself and with her family* "Oh good, thank you for documenting the trip! Canoe selfies!"

"Have you guys ever seen fireworks from a canoe You're going to tonight going at this pace."

"Okay we're going to go around several more times. (I forget what he said about lap 2). Lap 3 is all about endurance. Lap 10 is where we throw all of the kids out of the canoe and they push us. Lap 50 you get a name tag."

"Okay guys, we should be able to pass this boat... it's parked."

We were cracking up at him the entire ride. He made it quite the experience.

It was bright and I couldn't see my screen to realize his eyes were closed, but here's proof that we did indeed ride the canoes.

We tried to go to Indiana Jones next, but it was down. Alright then... new plan. We decided to do Space Mountain, even though it was posted at longer than we wanted to wait. We just hoped it would end up being less. It was posted at 60 minutes, and of course the ride went down after we had been in line for awhile. The line started moving again a few minutes later, and then went down again. 30 minutes later, they cleared the queue and we were losing patience. We'd already had the exact same thing happen with Haunted Mansion, and were turned away at Indiana Jones for the same reason. COME. ON.

According to the app, Indiana Jones was back up, so we decided to give that a shot. It was posted at 50 minutes and, big shocker here, IT WENT DOWN while we were in line. We were in the "preshow" area at that time, so we had to listen to the video on loop for what felt like forever. Thankfully, the ride started running again and we boarded after about an hour of waiting.

I finally understand all of the petitioning to change the theme of Dinosaur... the track is pretty much exactly the same but is just utilized so much better than the WDW version! I've actually never seen Indiana Jones, so I didn't understand the story line. But the ride itself was really good and way more exciting than Dinosaur.

At that point we were about done, but still had a bit too much time before fireworks to go claim a spot. We decided to do Roger Rabbit, which was posted at 35 minutes. We only waited 10, and thank goodness because this ride is definitely not worth 35 minutes.

We were ready for some dinner, but were having a hard time deciding what to get... the quick service options here are definitely lacking. We eventually settled on Jolly Holiday... I had grilled cheese (I know, weird theme park food choice lol) and Dylan had the oven roasted turkey sandwich (I think.. it might actually be the roast beef one now that I look at it lol). Everything was good, and I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how good my meal was! Grilled cheese at a theme park... who would have guessed?

We found a table to eat at outside... this restaurant is so cute!

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

After we finished eating, we just wandered around Main Street for a little while before going to find a spot for fireworks. I had to pay Walt's apartment a visit!

Looking at this made me strangely emotional, which I was not expecting. I would love to have sat up there with Walt and listened to his many crazy ideas, or to have listened to his reactions to seeing families enjoying his park together. I'm sure there are so many happy memories that were made in that apartment.

I admit that we didn't pick a great spot to watch from, but we picked a better one later in the week to make up for it. Crowds definitely don't gather as aggressively as they do for WDW fireworks. I was shocked that the street was still mostly empty at 8:30 when we sat down (fireworks were at 9:15). Dylan held our spot while I walked around and took a few pictures... I headed back to him when I started noticing things filling up because I didn't want to be the "excuse me, my husband is up there" person.

It was finally time for fireworks, and I was emotional immediately. The opening and closing song for Mickey's Mix Magic is "Get Your Ears On," which you may recognize from the Move It, Shake It parade at WDW. When I tell you that I LOVE this song... I had not watched anything about DLR's fireworks show, so I was totally surprised and so excited!

As you can see, our view was mostly blocked. We could see the majority of the fireworks fine, but the projections were really difficult to see. The small scale of the castle certainly didn't help, but the light posts and trees were the main culprits. Like I said, we remedied this when we watched the show again later in the week, but for tonight we just enjoyed the fireworks themselves! They had some really cool ones, so we were more than entertained, even without the projections!

Another DLR advantage is that exiting after fireworks was not nearly as difficult (and miserable) as exiting after Happily Ever After. We waved and said goodnight to our friends before walking back to the hotel.

What a fantastic first day at Disneyland! It was everything I hoped for and more.

 

[amjt660]

A great first day full of new attractions for you and opportunities for comparison with WDW attractions.

(and you really have not watched any of the 4 Indiana Jones films? - please just watch Raiders of the Lost Ark at some point)

Max

 

[Loco_driver]

Ive been following along, I just haven’t been able to comment much. Looks like a great first day at Disneyland!

 

[Songbird76]

Thursday, July 8 cont.

We decided to ride Haunted Mansion next... it was posted at 35 minutes, but went up to 45 minutes shortly after we had gotten in line. The ride went down twice while we were in line, but we were trying to stick it out. After 50 minutes of waiting, the ride went completely down and they cleared everybody out of the queue. They did issue us a return time for when the ride started operating again, but we never ended up going back to use it.
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We were kind of aimlessly wandering, not sure what we wanted to do next when Dylan spotted the Davy Crockett Canoes. I was hesitant, but he seemed very excited so I obliged. They were a walk on, so we at least had that going for us. There were 3 CMs on the boat with us... one in the front, and two in the back, one of which was training and looked like she was not enjoying herself AT. ALL. The CM doing the training, however, was a riot. We were in the very back of the canoe, so we got to enjoy his humor and commentary thought the ride. I was a little surprised that he was saying some of the things that he was, because some people would probably have been very put off by him. We, however, found him hilarious.



Some of my favorite quotes:
"See that white boat behind us (the Mark Twain)? That's called 'motivation.' They have a motor and we do not."

"Sir, it's a paddle, not a plane wing."

"Sir, this is your last chance to get your paddle wet and make it seem like you did something."

*Lady taking selfies of herself and with her family* "Oh good, thank you for documenting the trip! Canoe selfies!"

"Have you guys ever seen fireworks from a canoe You're going to tonight going at this pace."

"Okay we're going to go around several more times. (I forget what he said about lap 2). Lap 3 is all about endurance. Lap 10 is where we throw all of the kids out of the canoe and they push us. Lap 50 you get a name tag."

"Okay guys, we should be able to pass this boat... it's parked."

We were cracking up at him the entire ride. He made it quite the experience.

It was bright and I couldn't see my screen to realize his eyes were closed, but here's proof that we did indeed ride the canoes.
View attachment 575738

We tried to go to Indiana Jones next, but it was down. Alright then... new plan. We decided to do Space Mountain, even though it was posted at longer than we wanted to wait. We just hoped it would end up being less. It was posted at 60 minutes, and of course the ride went down after we had been in line for awhile. The line started moving again a few minutes later, and then went down again. 30 minutes later, they cleared the queue and we were losing patience. We'd already had the exact same thing happen with Haunted Mansion, and were turned away at Indiana Jones for the same reason. COME. ON.

According to the app, Indiana Jones was back up, so we decided to give that a shot. It was posted at 50 minutes and, big shocker here, IT WENT DOWN while we were in line. We were in the "preshow" area at that time, so we had to listen to the video on loop for what felt like forever. Thankfully, the ride started running again and we boarded after about an hour of waiting.
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I finally understand all of the petitioning to change the theme of Dinosaur... the track is pretty much exactly the same but is just utilized so much better than the WDW version! I've actually never seen Indiana Jones, so I didn't understand the story line. But the ride itself was really good and way more exciting than Dinosaur.
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At that point we were about done, but still had a bit too much time before fireworks to go claim a spot. We decided to do Roger Rabbit, which was posted at 35 minutes. We only waited 10, and thank goodness because this ride is definitely not worth 35 minutes.
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We were ready for some dinner, but were having a hard time deciding what to get... the quick service options here are definitely lacking. We eventually settled on Jolly Holiday... I had grilled cheese (I know, weird theme park food choice lol) and Dylan had the oven roasted turkey sandwich (I think.. it might actually be the roast beef one now that I look at it lol). Everything was good, and I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how good my meal was! Grilled cheese at a theme park... who would have guessed?
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We found a table to eat at outside... this restaurant is so cute!
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Supposedly the Grilled Cheese at Woody's Lunchbox in TSL is amazing. I never got to try it as we didn't spend much time in HS and we go in the Summer when our appetites are supressed by the heat. Next trip, I totally want to try it though. This one looked good!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Nice to see some updates, I just got back from the Land on Monday night. Such a bummer to have Haunted, Space, and Indy go down all in the same day. Not surprising that Indy went down, it goes down frequently. I'm actually shocked if I make it through the line without it going down.