It took me 40 years but I finally made it to a Disney location. We had a day-and-a-half to explore the one-and-a-half Disney parks before our flight back to Porto. We didn’t cheap out and booked a night at a Disney hotel to make things easy. The weather forecast was Utopian and the family was ready to go at the crack of dawn.
We arrived at the Disneyland Sequioa Lodge at 7:30am to drop off our bags so we could get an early start on the day. We obtained our park passes at check-in (staying at the hotel granted us early admission to the park) and went off in search of sustenance. The only place open was McDonald’s, so I made the mistake of starting the day with an egg McMuffin sitting heavy in my gut. The kids got plain English muffins that they couldn’t finish due to excitement (we stowed the unfinished bits in the backpack that we ate in the queue later).
We had a loose plan but we didn’t know what to focus on. We didn’t have to worry about dining since everything was booked up and we couldn’t get a seat. But since we are a “ride-focused” family, we had a checklist of activities. Paigey had childhood memories of It’s a Small World (which I had never heard of). The kids wanted to go on Peter Pan (since they’d watched the movie the day before). I was solely focused on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (one of the best movies ever based on a theme park ride). While in the park queue, I downloaded the very useful Disneyland app and noticed that Pirates was closed. So our planned itinerary was scrapped immediately and we pivoted to Big Thunder Mountain to start things off. Isabella was terrified in the queue despite our attempts to explain to her she’d been on much larger rides at other parks. Julie was fearless and dove right in. After the ride, they both agreed with us that they’d been on much scarier rides. Fortunately, it was the first ride we rushed to. It had no queue and we were “done” in under 10 minutes. Within the first hour, we’d experience four rides (including Peter Pan and Its a Small World). With our checklist done, we could take the next 12+ hours nice and slow.
By midday we were exhausted! We made the safe choice and headed back to the hotel to rest and cool down with a swim at the pool. It was the right call as it gave us enough energy to push through the rest of the day. In the afternoon, the kids were content to skip some rides (they were height restrictions for a couple) and let the parents go as single riders. I had never gone as a single rider before but I got to walk right onto Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. Skipping the queue was almost as much fun as the rides. By the end, we had experienced every attraction (some multiple times). We noticed a drop in attendance around lunchtime and in the late evening before the fireworks show.
As for the fireworks, we were proud our kids lasted the entire day but we bailed after a couple of minutes. It was still a mile walk back to our hotel and Isabella was falling asleep while the fireworks were going off. Its crazy, but they’d seen so many fireworks the last year they were kind of jaded. We crashed hard and had another jam-packed day on the horizon.
The second day involved another early morning. We checked out of the room and left our luggage at the hotel (left luggage at a hotel is a lifesaver when you carry everything with you!) Once again we stopped at McDonald’s on our way to the second park, Walt Disney Studios. We had to be at the airport in the early evening, so we only had 8 hours in the park. Thank goodness for the early access again as the lines would be bonkers this day. We rushed to Crush’s Coaster which was an intense ride. It was pitch black with some crazy drops and spins. True to form, the kids got off that one, saying it was a piece of cake. Walt Disney Studios really was a much smaller park with fewer rides so we queued up for some of the shows which were air conditioned! We got lucky at one of the shows with us snagging the last 4 seats before they closed the doors behind us (the next show was 2 hours away). Whew. To beat the heat we had to purchase those Mickey Mouse ice creams (partly to make up for the Dole Whip being closed the previously day). Since Isabella doesn’t like chocolate, she opted for a small container of Ben & Jerry’s. I’m confident that these were the most expensive ice creams of the trip.
We didn’t have the same energy this second day but we still managed to go on all the rides. The kids’ favourite was definitely Ratatouille. We had to ride it twice as I didn’t believe them that there were “smells” during the ride. Turns out the kids were right. Parts of the ride have discernible food aromas! But my favourite part of this day involved the kids on the Tower of Terror. While in the queue, I joked that Isabella was at least 2 years younger than everyone else (that would make Julie 4 years younger). When the ride started, it was pretty intense and not what we’d expected. The woman I was sitting with screamed hysterically and I couldn’t stop laughing at her discomfort. The ride ended, Julie looked at me and said she didn’t think she liked it as the tears welled up. That kid is tough. I promised her we wouldn’t do that one again.
We bailed on the park and began our long journey back to Porto. It involved the hike back to the hotel, the Uber to the airport, the flight to Porto and then the taxi back to the Airbnb. The family was asleep pretty much from the Uber until the Airbnb. Some great memories and a big check off the bucket list.
Where we stayed:
- Disneyland Sequoia Lodge: Blew budget – early park entrance!
By the numbers:
- Souvenirs Purchased: 0 – we have some regrets
- Dole Whips consumed: 0 – it was closed – we have some regrets
- Avengers characters we saw: 3 – Iron Man, Black Panther, Black Widow – the kids had no idea who any of them were
- Minutes we had to wait for our picture with Mickey Mouse: 0 – I still have no idea how we managed that
- Distance from our Hotel room to the park entrance: 1.1km – we did that trip 3 times so 6.6km just walking to and from the park
- Isabella Step Count on Day 1: 40,000 – she was proud of that one
Ciao for now
Mike
Family Travel Countdown 