We had plans to visit Disneyland in April of 2020. COVID had other ideas. Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ve been to all of the Disney parks around the world in the last 4 years. That’s 12 different parks, Florida (4), California (2), Japan (2), China (1), and Hong Kong (1). I enjoy Disney theme parks.
But still, Anaheim Disneyland is home base and it has been 6 years since my last visit. Plus this is the first time I’ve vacationed since the start of the pandemic. Disneyland Anaheim seems like a good place to start what will be for me some travel catch up. I love to travel. It is the main thing I’ve missed during the pandemic.
So we arrived last night after a quick flight from Sacramento.
The car service we used to get us to our hotel picked us up in a Tesla X. This was my first time in an electric car. It was pretty neat to be in a car that used no gas. #goals
Our hotel is right on the crosswalk to the park entrance. We can see the entrance from our 3rd story room.
After a great night’s sleep we woke at 6:45am. “Boarding Passes” for Rise of the Resistance opened up at 7am. Mike scored us group #19. Woohoo! They run out fast. 2 minutes later they were all gone.
Star Wars Land (actually called Galaxy’s Edge, but I will forever call it Star Wars Land) was the reason we wanted to go to Disneyland last year so I was thrilled that we got boarding passes! And equally thrilled we wouldn’t have to stand in a loooong line.
A quick grab and go breakfast at the hotel and we were off to the park.
A slow stroll up Main Street USA and Frontier Land brought us to Thunder Mountain which had a wait time of 5 minutes so we jumped on.
Then we strolled through on of the three entrances to Star Wars Land.
The design of this land is amazing. Super immersive. Really cool.
And the ride The Rise of the Resistance is
incredible. Disney basically took nearly every ride technology they have and threw it into
this ride. Brilliant story and tech. Really fun.
Smugglers Run is another story. Lack luster. The coolest park was to be in the interior of the Millennium Falcon. (See above.)
After lunch and rides in Star Wars Land we did the classics.
Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Snow White, Star Tours, Space Mountain and Indiana Jones.
Lines were reasonable considering there was no fast passes. The longest we waited was 45 minutes. We probably averaged 20 minutes wait per ride. I do miss the fast pass system.
After Mr. Toad…
…we headed over to Splash Mountain. It is nearly impossible for me not to be completely cheerful after riding Splash Mountain. Such fun! Great way to wrap up Disneyland for the day. Plenty left to do since we have 2 more days to catch any rides we missed today.
At around 7pm we headed over to Disney California Adventure.
Both parks closed at 9pm and this gave us enough time to ride the kind of new IncrediCoaster. Kind of because it is the same track as California Screamin’ with a “The Incredibles” overlay. It is still a fun coaster and a decent theme since the pier is now Pixar Pier.
We did try Luigi’s Rollicin’ Roasters which was…lame. Mater’s Jamboree however, is just as ridiculous but somehow fun.
Perhaps we shouldn’t have eaten these before we went on the ride.
But we did. And neither of us puked into our masks. #grateful
It was a satisfying day at the Parks. Did plenty, walked a ton, enjoyed ourselves. Mike is a pleasure to travel with. He’s just the best.
Day one was a combo of doing some of our favorite things, checking out many new rides that weren’t here last time we were and soaking in the experience.
I doubt the above spike is the center of Disneyland anymore (it used to be) but I do like touching it with my foot each time we visit. Silly tradition, but hey, I like it.
Art’s Travel Adventures 