Daddy Disneyland Day

Happy Sunday! Theresa is busy with work and needs time by herself. I get the kids all to myself so it's time for another Daddy Disneyland Day!

I'm glad we were able to get an early start, leaving the house before 8am and getting into the park by 8:45am. Not quite opening the park, but still getting here before most of the crowds. The kids decided we would start our day inside Disney California Adventure. 

After consulting the Disneyland app, we all decided to go on the Swinging Gondolas on the Pixar Pal-Around. At the same time, I snagged a fastpass for Toy Story Midway Mania.

Wanting to stay in the area for our soon to come fastpass, I suggested a few things to ride next, but the kids wanted to swing again.

And so we took a second swing on the Pal-Around. Ian noticed the Motion Sickness Bags for the first time, so I got to explain the motion sickness and why mommy doesn't like to come on these kinds of rides.

Want to go three times or go on something new? I walked the kids over to the Golden Zephyr, where we boarded the very first flight. The kids like being able to sit on their own too.

Five more minutes until our fastpass. Bo Peep is out front and there's barely any line. Eh, these types of character masks are a little creepy to me. Not as bad as that Jessica Rabbit one I saw exists, but still.

Hi Mr. Potato Head! I wonder if he still pulls his ear out? I haven't seen him do it in years now.

Now here's a part I thought about moments after I snagged the fastpass. How are we going to sit together? I put the kids on either side of me and we pulled the restraints down as much as we could. It was still a bit higher than the kids were used to, but they were able to put up some good scores.

Is this the highest Ian has ever scored? It just might be. And Alli is putting up decent scores too.

Ian really really wants to be tall enough to ride the Incredicoaster. He's been talking about it for a few weeks. As soon as we finished riding Toy Story, off we went to the entrance of the Incredicoaster to measure. He's excited that by his measuring he's "only 3 hand widths short". I'm sure he'll be there before I know it.

But speaking of big kid rides, they are excited to go on Guardians of the Galaxy. And they're still super concerned about raising their hands to get that security clearance.

Alli is getting better. Instead of holding onto me with two hands, this time it was just one. She commented afterwards that "wasn't I a lot better Daddy?"
At the end of the day, when I discussed the day with them, one of the questions I asked was what their favorite ride was. Both said Guardians.
What about the scariest thing you rode today? Both - Nothing!

Both kids have been wanting to go to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trails. It's not busy over here at all. The kids are able to go from wall to wall, and if any other kid comes up, it's just a few seconds of waiting until they get to climb again.

Thirty, yes thirty, minutes later, I told the kids it was time to go eat lunch. They've been climbing for a really long time. Alli has now figured out an easy way to mount the right-most wall without any help, and she was even able to complete the left-most course without falling off.

Chip and Dale were about to head out for lunch too. Say "Acorns"!

Lunch is the usual bread loaf from the Pacific Wharf Cafe. Theresa sent me with a bag of fruit and veggies to supplement lunch. We ate it on the go because our next destination is over in Disneyland.

Here it's time to ride Star Tours. I haven't been on it for a little while I guess because I almost missed that they were giving out glasses as the front entrance.

I think it was really great that they added new characters, dialog, and scenes from Rise of Skywalker. And seeing the Dianoga in one of the scenes is an interesting throwback to the original Star Wars: A New Hope.

The kids saved their bread crusts for the ducks here in Disneyland. Going to our usual spot, there were no ducks to be found. The kids went ahead and started throwing bread onto "duck island" as Alli called it. Finally one duck showed up and he went to town on all the bread that was there. I think we need to find another area kids.

Over to the Rivers of America. Kids, look there's geese!
Ian - Six Geese a-laying?
No, just two that I see.
Ian - Two Geese a-laying. Five Golden RINGS!!! Four calling birds....
You can see the big pile of bread we've made for all these waiting water fowl.

It appears the spot we've chosen to feed the ducks is also a meet-and-greet area for Princess Tiana. A cast member came by and gathered our duck bread and stroller and moved it for us while we said hi to Tiana.

And after Tiana, we shifted a little closer to the Columbia boarding area. There we went through the remainder of the bread and even saw the birds do a few tricks. Seagulls would fly in a lazy circle and if you tossed them bread, they'd snatch it right out of the air!

After Star Tours, I got the three of us a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain. This is a ride that we can all go on together pretty easily. And the smoke/fire effects were working great today.

Since we're in this section of the park, why not ride Winnie the Pooh. What ride should we go on next kids?
Kids - Splash Mountain!
Uh... really? It's January.

When it's Daddy Day we sometimes do some crazy things. Like go on Splash Mountain in the middle of Winter.

Where's Ian? He's in there somewhere.
Thankfully this was one of my drier rides on Splash Mountain. Just a few wet spots here and there, but overall, not bad.
Alli, it's your choice. What should we ride next?
Alli - Splash Mountain again!
Seriously? That's just pressing our luck.

Here we go for round 2. Ian kept repeating "it'll cool you down on this hot summer day." Today is neither hot, nor a summer day.

Now we can see everyone in the photo! I was lucky the first time, but not so lucky the second. You can see my shirt is pretty wet. My jeans are even more so.

Alli, what'd you think? Did you get a little wet?

Two times on Splash Mountain. That's the kind of thing we do on Daddy Day.

Now this next part was a little crazy.
Though the wait time for Big Thunder showed 45 minutes, I was able to snag a fastpass almost immediately. Ride number 2!

While in line, I got another fastpass. Number 3!

Finally starting to dry off. And the kids are getting bold, keeping their hands up. I told Ian about the Goat Trick, and he's starting to try it.

And we got the front row!

I couldn't possibly get another fastpass, could I? Ride number 4!

Followed by ride number 5. By this point, some of the cast members are starting to recognize us. That and the kids are telling anyone who looks at them that this is our fifth time riding it today.
The guests behind us in line got super excited for them too, telling them "I hear that on the fifth time, it goes just a little faster. And then giving them a high five for riding 5 times. And just in case, here's a high 6 (one hand and then a thumb on the other hand).

Front row again!

But we couldn't possibly get to ride it...
Ride Number 6!

Well this looks like the end. Six times is a lot to go on Big Thunder Mountain. Back at the stroller, the kids got a snack for the walk out of the park. And just for fun, let me check my phone.

Kids, I got another fastpass! We've passed Cast Member Brian a whole bunch of times now. He's played along really well with the kids' excitement about riding it so many times.

Ride number 7! And kids, guess what? I just got another one.

Ride number 8! Eight times on Big Thunder is a bunch. And all eight times we chose to go left at the fork.

We could have ridden it a ninth time. I did get a fastpass for it. But by this point, the kids are ready to head home, see Mommy, and eat dinner. They were asking for Mickey pizza earlier today, but I told them I'd make them shaped pizza for dinner.

And once we got home, I made use of the Mickey shaped sandwich cutter to cut Ian a couple Mickey pizzas. For Alli, I used some extra sauce to give her a Minnie pizza with a red bow.

It's been a fun day with just me and the kids!