Am I Tall Enough for Radiator Springs?

[SaraAnn90]

Welcome to my first ever trip report, which happens to be on our first ever trip to Disneyland. Let’s start with introductions. I am Sara, a 30-something physical therapist from Wisconsin. Then there is my husband Nik, who works at the Department of Veterans Affairs doing something with data that I try hard to understand but most days have no idea what it means. We have two energetic daughters – E who is 7 and L who is 4.

We have been to WDW 3 times as a family and every trip has been more magical than the last. E is all girlie girl and is everything princess. L likes princesses but her last two birthday party themes have been Cars and Toy Story. She dressed up as Buzz Lightyear for MNSSHP last year and wants to be Mater when she grows up. While WDW does a lot of things right their Cars offerings leave something to be desired. In 2023 we stayed at AoA to take advantage of the Cars theming and did the Lightning McQueen show and she was over the moon but wanted more. Her dad and I made the agreement that once she was tall enough to go on Radiator Springs Racers, we would plan a trip to Disneyland.

Two months later at her 4 year old well child visit the nurse had her step on the scale to weigh and measure her. The nurse rattled off her height in metrics and L immediately turned to her and asked “Am I tall enough for Radiator Springs?” I chuckled and explained that we were waiting for her to hit 40 inches to plan a trip to Disneyland and the nurse very excitedly turned to L and said “YOU’RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!” She came in at 41 inches, which felt like a safe buffer since we knew the trip wouldn’t be for a few months.

Based on the crowd calendars we decided to go the last week of August. Schools in California would already be back at that time and most people wouldn’t be traveling the week before their schools started. We were lucky to take advantage of the summer sales on hotels and tickets allowing us to book a room at the Disneyland Hotel for the cost of a good neighbor hotel. The summer ticket offer was limited to Monday through Thursday so we ultimately bought a single day ticket for Friday. We decided to not spring for Genie+ on the front end with the thought we could do a single day if the parks were fuller than expected. I did get nervous that this was the wrong choice when Oogie Boogie Bash parties were announced to start the week we were there but decided to stand with my decision and roll the dice.

 

[alohamom]

The summer ticket offer was limited to Monday through Thursday so we ultimately bought a single day ticket for Friday.

Wow, that is a great idea!
I love the story of how your trip report title came to be, that is just so cute!
Following along...

 

[SaraAnn90]

Travel Day

We had a 7:40 am flight out of our home airport in Milwaukee which meant a 5:30 wake up call. We are fortunate to live 15 minutes from the airport and have precheck so we only needed to wake the girls up 30 minutes before their school day alarms. My father-in-law picked us up and took us to the airport which was great for saving on parking or an Uber fee. Neither of my girls are ones to eat as soon as they wake up so I made sure their backpacks had a couple of options that they could eat in the terminal or on the plane. I had anticipated that we would stop at Starbucks for coffee/breakfast sandwiches but the girls were too excited for the potential of airplane snacks.




We started boarding on time and despite having a nearly full flight, got into the air 8 minutes ahead of schedule. Knowing that we had a shorter layover, this made me breathe a sigh of relief. The flight was overall uneventful. Both girls were seated by me with my husband in the middle seat in the row behind us. I haven’t flown Delta in over 3 years so was unprepared when the flight attendants came through and offered a number of snack options. The girls both saw the bags of Sun Chips and their eyes lit up. I agreed to the chips, but made them lead with a protein bar to prevent a stomachache. E watched her IPad for the rest of the flight, L watched Chicken Run on the seat back tv, I read (All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda) and my husband napped.

We landed in Salt Lake City and went on the hunt for lunch. It was only 10:30 local time but was 11:30 home time so we were all very ready to eat. The airport was a very manageable size so after doing a full loop we settled on Burger King. We ate and went to the next gate. The flight took off on time and the pilot surprised us with the announcement that the flight would be 20 minutes shorter than we originally thought. Another round of snacks (Biscoff Cookies this time) and a nap for L and we were in Santa Ana!
Our luggage beat us to the baggage claim so we wrangled that and ordered a Lyft XL. To note Lyft was $20 cheaper than Uber on both sides of our trip. The rideshare pickup at John Wayne Airport is in the parking structure on the second level and was a mad house. We saw multiple confused parties getting into the wrong vehicle, but everyone handled it patiently. Our driver was great and talked a lot about the Anaheim area on the 25 minute ride to the hotel. Once we arrived at the Disneyland Hotel he helped us unload and wished us a great trip.



We went inside to begin the check in process and to our surprise our room was ready! I was stunned because many people said rooms at the Disneyland hotel are never ready before 4 and it was only 1! Our room was in the Frontier Tower so we decided to put the stroller together to make the walk a little easier. This was the first speedbump of our trip. One of the seats of our stroller had the leg rest snapped off at some point in travel. I know this is why many people rent a stroller when they travel but in all of the times we have flown with this stroller we have never had an issue. Lesson learned. We pieced it together and made the hike over to our room.



We were on the 7th floor overlooking the parking lot. Not the most exciting view but we were on the end of the hallway so it was nice and quiet at night. First, order of business was unpacking which we did at lightning speed thanks to packing cubes. Next, up was SWIMMING! I cannot rave enough about the pools at the Disneyland hotel. They were the right amount of warm and with having so many it never felt crowded. We did learn the concrete around the pool gets blazing lava hot so if we were to ever visit again I would get the girls water shoes. L loved the little slides in the Monorail pool and E loved swimming under the bridge in the D ticket pool.

After swimming we got changed with the intent of heading to Downtown Disney to explore before our Trader Sam’s reservation. This changed when I got the message that our grocery order and been delivered and even further derailed when we found Pluto, Minnie, Chip and Dale in the hotel lobby. The girls grabbed a picture with Pluto and waved to the others. We then got the groceries before turning and heading back to our room. We were very step inefficient on this trip and did A LOT of laps.

It was now time for our Trader Sam’s reservation. With how hard this reservation was to get I expected the place to be full, but when we got inside there was one other table and maybe 6 people at the bar. I know it’s small but there were still empty high tops and bar seats available. We ordered our first round of drinks and food for the girls since it was now 5 pm. Nik ordered the Sea Monster’s Embrace, I got the Pirahna Pool and the girls got the Polynesian Punch and an order of chicken strips. My drink was great but my husband’s was VERY boozy. We later learned it was meant for 2 people. Despite this he was still able to order a second drink. This time we ordered the Shipwrecked (for the effects), a HippopotoMai-Tai (at the recommendation of our server) and the Hawaiian Platter. This was all very good and the girls had such a fun time.



We wrapped up at Trader Sam’s and finally headed towards Downtown Disney. There was no wait at security which was a pleasant surprise as I had been reading some horror stories about lines. We strolled through the area taking in the sights and Halloween decorations. The girls both had giftcards burning holes in their pockets so we finally stopped in at World of Disney to let them shop. L instantly fell in love with an Aurora dress that was more of a real dress than the costumes that are in the other areas of the store. E decided to roll the dice on Muchlings so we spent no less than 20 minutes trying to sniff out the ones she wanted. After all of the sniffing it was time to head to their Lego mini figure appointment. This was a neat experience but overall not one I would do again.
It was getting late so once the figures finished printing we headed back to the hotel for the night. E opened her Munchlings and got 2/3 she was hoping to get. Not bad if you ask me. We got ready for bed and played the firework show on the headboard. This ultimately turned into our nightlight each night. It gave just enough glow and wasn’t disruptive to anyone’s sleep. The girls were asleep by 8:30 and Nik and I were not far behind them.

Total Steps: 13,870

 

[SaraAnn90]

Day 1: We’re going to Disneyland!

We are a rope drop family, so it was an early wake up call to take advantage of Early Entry at Disneyland. I always wake up first and get myself fully ready before trying to wake anyone else. I had a lot of nerves around getting through security and the turnstiles since it was our first experience with this. My alarm was set for 4:50 but I was up at 4:30 – 6:30 Milwaukee time which is essentially sleeping in at our house. After getting myself ready I got the girls up so I could do their hair and start suggesting breakfast ideas. They aren’t the type to eat first thing in the morning, but I did want them to have something in the stroller while we were waiting for security to open up. They both chose cereal cups, so I packed those and horizon milks in the stroller and we were off to line up.

At 6:17 we were the 3rd family in line. There was a very boisterous man 2 families back that said the day prior one of the guards came through at 6:50 and checked room keys to begin letting families up to the screening process. Unfortunately for us this was not the case and our room key was checked at 6:58 and we were through security shortly after. As a WDW goer I would say the THOUROUGH bag check took longer than I would have liked but was ultimately balanced by the quicker stroller check. As soon as we were through security we got the girls in the stroller and made the trek to Disneyland Park. On this walk I was able to get boarding group 6 for Haunted Mansion Holiday. I knew the girls wouldn’t love this but I am a Nightmare Before Christmas junkie so it was my one ask for the day.

We got to the turnstiles at 7:08 (my times will get less precise as this report goes on) and were the first family. With this being our first ticket day we knew we would need pictures taken and I was concerned this would slow us down. Luckily the CM working our line started the process at about 7:20 and we were released to the park with the masses at 7:25. We were one of the first 4 families to the rope so we decided to head to Peter Pan. This was the first time we had a stroller mistake. The stroller parking by Peter Pan is past the ride so by the time the stroller was parked we were no longer at the front of the pack. If we were to do this over I would have parked the stroller immediately after going through the castle and carried the girls to the ride. Good, bad or otherwise we never rode this ride again because my girls HATED the drops.

Because the girls were upset coming off of Peter Pan we audibled and went to Dumbo. I had seen the weeks prior that this line could get really long so it was no issue to get this out of the way with a short wait. From Dumbo we went to Tea Cups which is another tried and true favorite. L was slightly disappointed that there isn’t a mouse popping out a teapot like there is in WDW, but we made it up to her by letting her determine the spin speed. Next we made it to Buzz, which is so much easier in DL. The fact that you can actually pick up the blaster made it so much easier for my littles to hit the targets.





In our mission to continue to be inefficient we headed to Small World. This is a top ride and I was ready for a long sit down. DL wins hands down for this ride. The girls had so much fun spotting the characters throughout the ride and the icing on the cake was getting to see E’s favorite character – STITCH!

 

[SaraAnn90]

Day 1 – Part 2: We’re Headed Straight for the Mansion

At this point our boarding group was called so it was time to make our way across the park. As we were walking we caught Genie and Gepetto walking through Fantasyland. Both girls ran up and got a picture with Genie, but L was not a fan of Gepetto so E had to get his attention alone.



We buzzed across the park and literally walked into HMH with 0 wait. We got into the stretching room and the preshow immediately began. This ride got mixed reviews - L covered her eyes through the majority of the right and screamed at everything while E was seated with me and loved spotting the characters until we got stopped directly in front of the Hat Box Ghost. 4 minutes later the ride got going and they both informed me that “We’re never doing that again!” To make it up to them we stopped for some popcorn. Now in WDW we are big time popcorn refill people so not having that as an option was a bummer. The stand we stopped at had Oogie Boogie turning the crank which was met with so many giggles.



Popcorn being shared between the stroller riders and the parents, we made our way to Jungle Cruise. This queue felt soooo claustrophobic. Especially since my kids don’t do single file lines well. The ride was great and our Skipper catered to the group in the boat. The girls thought it was hilarious that he said the hippo “escapes” to visit his girlfriend in Small World.

We decided to visit Toontown next. The waits here were more than I would have liked, but E really wanted to ride the Gadget Coaster. The two of us got in line with a posted 30 minute wait while L and dad went to play in the How to Play Yard. This wait was a full 30 minute wait, but she loved it. Once we got off it was time to feed the littles. I mobile ordered cheese pizzas from Daisy’s Cafe which the girls inhaled. At this point E wanted another go on the Gadget Coaster so she and Nik made their way over. L and I went to Donald’s Splash Pad. I won the crown (tiara?) of being the more fun parent by letting her actually get wet. It was 88 degrees and super sunny so I knew she would dry off in no time – I did not account for how stinky it would make her shoes. Gadget Coaster round 2 complete and I decided it was time to eat. Nik saw in the app that Pocahontas was meeting so we took the roundabout way and grabbed a picture with her before walking through Galaxy’s Edge.





On our way to Docking Bay 7, E saw the Grogu shoulder pals and had to have it. Because her shoulders are so tiny, he ended up being more of a stroller pal and spent a lot of the trip on the stroller canopy.



My husband and I split the fried chicken baos. I loved these and my husband was neutral on them. The girls asked if we could get dessert, specifically the Alien Buzz macron. I made a mobile order and we started towards Alien Pizza Planet. My husband made a very abrupt stop when he realized that Woody was out meeting. We quickly jumped in line to get a picture and continued on our journey.



While the alien macron was a cute treat, it was not anyone’s favorite. To me it tasted like food coloring which makes sense given the neon green shade it had. At this point the girls capital n, needed to spend money.

E really wanted the make your own character headband and L wanted a Jasmine dress like the Arora one from the day prior. I knew the Mad Hatter on Main Street would have the headband and WOD would have the dress, so this prompted our midday break. E picked out Stitch and Zero to go on her headband and I was a little disappointed that the CM checking her out had to comment that they “aren’t a pair”. Fortunately, this didn’t phase her and she proudly popped her headband on. While we were in the store, Nik and L made their way to get the green apple churro. I didn’t try this, but the two of them loved it. When we got out of the store Goofy was meeting in front of a cool fall backdrop so we HAD to stop. A few pictures later and we were out of the parks. According to my camera roll this was just before 1pm. We quickly stopped into World of Disney where L got her Jasmine dress and matching ears before heading back to the hotel.