Just want to say thanks to everyone on here that gave me toddler tips! We just got back from a quick trip Aug 3-6th and we had a great time!
We arrived at LAX around 4pm on Tuesday, the 3rd. I pre-booked Lansky car service and the driver was there waiting on us and helped with our bags! Highly recommend Lansky if you don’t want to travel with a car seat or rent a car! The price for Lansky was hardly more than renting a car for the days we were there and it was super nice and efficient. The drive to Anaheim took an hour or so and then we checked into Springhill Suites by Marriott at Anaheim Resort/Conv. Center.
I liked the hotel a lot. It was clean and the walk to the parks wasn’t bad at all. Loved having the CVS right below us to buy water/snacks etc for us and our kiddo! The hotel didn’t offer free cribs so I rented a pack n play from traveling baby and that worked out well too. The room I booked was spacious and it was nice that our bedroom had a door and was separate from the entry/lounge area where our toddler slept! We were able to talk and watch tv without interrupting his sleep! Having the microwave and the mini fridge was nice too. The hotel offered free grab n go breakfast but we didn’t try it and opted for eating our own in the room/eating once we got to parks.
My husband and I typically visit WDW and we are rope drop to close with no breaks type of people haha, so this was a very different trip for us!
We opted not to rope drop the parks this time but we still got to the parks both days by 8:30.
Wed the 4th- Attempting to get a ROTR boarding group. Fail. I was so bummed as I have a 100% success rate at WDW! Anyway, by waiting for rope drop to pass, we were able to breeze through security and park entry with basically no lines. We headed straight to Peter Pan and rode that first. My 21 month old’s first ride ever! He was so wide eyed and didn’t know where to look! It was very cute. He loved it and progressed to say “I wan ride” at everything we passed by the rest of the day LOL. After Peter Pan we rode the carousel and he loved that too. On to Pirates and HM after that with minimal waits. Thankfully my kid is too small to be scared yet! Nothing scared him haha! After HM we grabbed some beignets, then walked over to main street to grab starbucks and find a spot to chill so that I could focus on getting a noon boarding group. Alas, SUCCESS! My husband got to ride Rise on his birthday! We got boarding group 151. From main street, we headed to River Belle Terrace for lunch. I got the fried chicken sandwich and it was very good. My husband got the brisket grilled cheese and it was also good! Our BG got called while we were eating so we finished up and headed over to Galaxy’s Edge. and what do you know, Rise is down. Thankfully it was up again in about 20 min so we Rider Switched it and were just so happy that we got to ride it! I expected it to be exactly the same as WDW version but it wasn’t and I liked the subtle differences. My son napped in his stroller (praise!) while my husband rode and then i got to walk right on. Loved rider switch!
We hung out in Batuu for a bit and then continued on to Toon Town and strolled around there for a bit but not much was going on there. Headed to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz (my son LOVED this). Post that, lines were long and we were ready for a change of scene so we decided it was time to hop! We strolled around Cars Land for a bit (best themed land in all of Disney in my opinion) and ended up riding Mater’s and Luigi’s. My little man loved both, Mater’s especially. It was the only ride he cried when it was over b/c he wanted to go again haha. DCA was pretty crowded so we took it slow, walked in and out of shops, rode Little Mermaid twice, took a spin on Jessie’s Carousel, strolled around Avengers Campus etc. We grabbed corn dogs from Corn Dog Castle for dinner and they were yummy! Around 8:30 we decided it was time to head back to the room. Little man was sleepy and we still had a full day the next day.
Thursday, the 5th- Tried for a BG for Web Slingers at 7am… SUCCESS! Got group 19! We ate a quick breakfast in the room and then headed to DCA. Boarding group got called on the walk over so we headed straight to Web Slingers at 8:30. Very cute ride! The technology was great. Post WS, we grabbed iced coffees and croissants and then headed over to cars land. Single Rider for the win! My husband and I traded off turns and we each only had to wait like 17 minutes. After that, it was another round of Little Mermaid and then we decided it was time for a drink! We sat down in Sonoma Terrace and had a beer and enjoyed some shade. The beers got us hungry so I mobile ordered Cozy Cones and got the bacon mac n cheese bread cones and brought them back over to Sonoma Terrace! We loved sitting here b/c it was shaded and not busy at all!
After lunch we hopped back over to Disneyland because my husband really wanted to ride Indiana Jones. As we were walking over the app said the ride was down, but we lucked out and it opened back up right when we walked up! So hubby jumped in line and we rider switched! He only waited like 15 min and I actually had to wait longer when we switched haha! After IJ we headed back to Batuu for a blue milk and some droid making! My husband made a really cute R2 while little man napped in his stroller.
When little man woke up we rode Winne the Pooh, Pinocchio and Mr. Toad to get some rides in for him and then it was snack time again. I got the Jalapeno cheese pretzel from Refreshment corner (yum) and hubby opted for the corn at Edelweiss. I hopped in single rider line for Matterhorn while he ate his corn and then he jumped in line once I finished. I waited 15 min in single rider.
We hopped back to DCA after that and rode Mater’s and Little Mermaid again (these were clearly the favorites this trip lol) and then hubby jumped in single rider line for Incredicoaster. I took little man on Jessie’s carousel twice while we waited on him haha. Walked through Avengers campus after that and then hit up Monsters and all the photo ops in that area. LOVED the wanda vision photo op! We lingered a bit hoping to ride Guardians but the line just never got any shorter and I didn’t feel like waiting more than an hour for it!
We grabbed dinner at Smokejumpers and I got the monte cristo and hubby got a burger. decent meal for quick last minute theme park food haha! After eating we did one last round on little mermaid, and then walked around slowly just taking in the ambiance. I love DCA at night. We had a cute interaction with Steamboat Willie Mickey and then we slowly made our way out of the park. We ended up watching the fireworks in the rotunda area between the two parks and it was nice and not packed.
Friday morning, we grabbed breakfast, did some shopping at Downtown Disney and used Lansky’s again to get back to LAX for our late afternoon flight! Overall, we had a lovely quick trip to Disneyland with our crazy toddler and I can’t wait to do it again. I had so much anxiety about him having meltdowns and tantrums and he was just so great! He loved rides, loved looking at people and characters and was just overall a very happy little boy. Having a stroller wasn’t near the headache I imagined it to be and man, special shoutout to the Disneyland baby center! loved the AC, filtered water and clean diaper changing stations in there!
If it wasn’t for Epcot in Florida, I’d go to Disneyland everytime!
