We have officially made it a tradition (is it a tradition after two times?) to celebrate our milestone birthdays at Disneyland. (well at least our January birthdays).
We found flights over the three day weekend right after Ethan's birthday for his sweet 16.
We left early Friday morning in the middle of a snowstorm. Luckily after we got through the canyon and out of the valley it lightened up and the roads were decent.
This girl is a pro at flying. She knows just what she needs to occupy herself (mom's phone and air pods)
The afternoon that we arrived in Anaheim we spent some time in downtown Disney where we ate dinner and visited some stores.
Ellie was excited to get a pic with her Lego friends.
The first morning in the park. While Ethan and dad got our max passes and figured out the Star Wars ride stuff we got out selfie. We happened to be at the park the first weekend of the new Rise of the Resistance Star Wars ride. We knew we had to get on the app and try to get a group number in order to be able to ride the ride. This could be done at 8:00. When the time arrived we kept hearing people cheering. Ethan was working hard to get a group and finally got boarding group #113. Apparently it was not a guarantee, especially since it was such a high number. There were 160some boarding groups so we thought maybe 113 would be lucky. Keep reading to find out what happened.
After getting our boarding group we headed straight to Star Wars land to get in line for the Millennium Falcon. There are no fast passes for this ride so we decided to spend out first part of the morning getting on this ride.
The Millennium Falcon was pretty cool. Ellie and I were the pilots, Ellie was in control of up and down I had left to right. Dad, Ethan and some strangers had control of shooting (makes sense). Such a fun ride!!
After Star Wars land we headed to Big Thunder Mountain. Before coming, Ellie decided she would ride one of the more mellow roller coasters and Thunder Mountain it was. She was super nervous and scared, to the point of tears as we waited in line.
Before the ride began
and after the ride.
All smiles!!!
She said it was terrifying and fun all at the same time. Before we left that weekend she did ride it again (in the dark).
Splitting up for the tea cups
Also, evidence of how our kids get along pretty well while on vacation.
more Fantasyland fun
Trying to get a "remember when" picture on the Dumbo ride with Ethan. We have a picture of him and me his very first trip. This time I had to be on the inside (smaller riders on the inside).
Ellie really wanted to drive the car by herself in Autotopia, but she had a hard time keeping her foot on the gas pedal and controlling the car.
Break time on the Little Mermaid after we made our way to California Adventure
We get a family picture in approximately this same spot every visit.
We finally got notification that our group would be boarding soon for the Rise of the Resistance ride so we made our way back to Star Wars land. When we got there, a big group of people were all around. We were told that the ride was broke down at the moment. We made our way around until we were again notified of our group. We went back to the ride and got in a LLLLOOONNNGG line. By this time, it had gotten quite chilly outside. We were tired, a little cold, but excited for this new ride. We stayed in line for a while slowly making our way toward the front until again the line stopped moving. We patiently waited until alas an announcement was made that the ride was broke down, again. They decided to close it down for the rest of the night (it was around 9:00 I think). Disappointed we left Star Wars land. Ellie's feet were hurting her quite a bit (had been all evening) so I took her back to the hotel and Kelly and Ethan stayed to ride a few more rides. I suspect that Ellie would have been fine for a while longer, but she knew that there was going to be fireworks and she did not want to be in the park for them (still irrationally afraid of them). She never walks as fast as she did that night trying to get to the hotel away from the fireworks. We made it to Panera (outside of our hotel) when the fireworks began.
The next morning our first goal was to get into the park, get on our devices, and get one of the first boarding groups for the Ride of the Resistance. This time we understood the hooting and hollering of others and did our own hootin' & hollering when we managed to get boarding group 25. Ethan had looked up tips which included the "hotspots" for cell reception. One place was near the castle in the middle of the park so of course that is where we headed and were successful.
After getting our boarding group we headed over to California adventure.
Another ride Ellie agreed to ride this trip is the Radiator Springs racers. Her first ever experience left a bad taste in her mouth, or should I say stomach, so for years she has been too scared to ride this ride. This time she was willing and had a great time!! Not as bad as she had remembered.
Golden Zephyr never has a long line.
Ellie was able to see a few Disney critters and Ethan was the only one who was willing to get chilled by the waters of Splash Mountain.
Midday we made our way to Star Wars land for our boarding group. Sightings of characters on our way.
We were hopeful that we were early enough in the day for it to keep working. We got to the ride, got in line, and were well on our way to moving through the line. We had no idea how long we would be waiting and were very relieved to get past the spot where we scan for our group number. On through the line we moved when suddenly we came to a halt. We stood and waited, and waited, and then heard an announcement, but couldn't hear it because of where we were standing. It turned out that the ride went down. Because we had scanned our passes we had to stay in line or lose our group boarding time. Everyone around us sat down where they were at we joined them. Not sure how long we ended up waiting over an hour for use, maybe two. Some people in front of us had been able to ride it the day before and they said it was worth waiting for and they knew what would be happening. Park workers came through the line at one point with bottles of water for everyone and the followed that with bags of chips for everyone. We waited and waited and then we finally started moving and never stopped until we were able to experience the Rise of the Resistance. It was worth the wait and was really cool. Even through the rest of the line we were put into the world of star wars.
About to board and escape with the Resistance
Until . . . . we were taken hostage by the imperial fleet
There was no escaping due to storm troopers everywhere. We had no choice but to follow commands.
Notice dad, he had just been reprimanded by an imperial officer.
The ride was pretty dang awesome. It definitely made us feel like we were part of the whole resistance escape, capture and rescue. Definitely worth the patience it took to get there.
The rest of the trip we enjoyed more rides and yummy food. We split up a time so the boys could go do some rides and Ellie and I visited some characters, and a few rides of our own.
This trip we took advantage of the Max pass which was extremely helpful for getting to ride all of our favorites and it also gave us the opportunity to download photos from the "photo spots".
Until next time Disneyland, we love visiting, leaving today and going where anything is possible with the Disney magic.
