Podcast Episode 104: Disneyland In A Day

We all know that Walt Disney World is nearly impossible to see in one day, but how about Disneyland?  We have special guest, Jen, on with us this week to talk about her one day experience of Disneyland in California.

Happy listening!

Listen to Desktop

Listen to iTunes

 

 

*We did have quite a bit of technical difficulty during our recording, however, we very much wanted to share the content.  We apologize for the poor sound quality.

Prioritizing our must-dos in Disneyland Park

Our last full day at Disneyland started with an early breakfast at Storyteller’s Cafe in the Grand Californian Hotel. This breakfast is hosted by Chip and Dale and features all kinds of critters, in addition to the chipmunks we met Koda and Meeko.

IMG_8260 The characters were fun and the food was incredible. It was a buffet with an omelet station and lots of boxed cereals we took for snacks for later.IMG_8268 IMG_8302 Once we finished breakfast we headed to Disneyland. We had made a customized Touring Plan on the Lines App from http://www.touringplans.com. We had lots of things we wanted to do and with it being Easter week and high crowds we needed some guidance.

We started out with the Jungle Cruise. We had an excellent skipper and Anthony loved all of the surprises throughout the ride.IMG_8339 Next we headed to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear. This is one of Anthony’s favorites and the one is Disneyland is better because you can remove the shooters from their perch.IMG_8350 Afterwards we trucked it over to Pirates of the Caribbean– in my opinion this one is superior to the one in Walt Disney World…. and it has a steeper drop– it wasn’t too steep as I’m a wimp about drops and found this one to be fine.

Our next stop was to go The Matterhorn Bobsleds. On our way we stopped at the grotto next to Sleeping Beauty’s castle. My sister could not believe that there was a Snow White scene next to Aurora’s castle. She was thinking the three fairies would be a better fit. IMG_8366 The Matterhorn Bobsleds are a Disneyland icon and a unique attraction. My husband and sister rode this and I hung out with Anthony as he napped. They liked it, although it was a quick ride. My husband said it’s similar to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in intensity level.IMG_8368 One of my main objectives of the day was to head over to Big Thunder Ranch. This is a covered hoedown area and it was hosting a Springtime Round-up featuring classic characters in their Easter outfits and popular Disney bunnies. Click here to see our review of this. This was one of our favorite places-not many people seemed to know about it and was the only place in the park without crowds. Afterwards we got to meet Jessie- she was a lot of fun!IMG_8396 After lunch and a few more rides we decided to head out of the park for an afternoon break. As we were walking by the castle, Alice and the Mad Hatter were walking by completely unattended (which would never happen at Disney World). Alice stopped at Anthony’s stroller and complimented his outfit and the Mad Hatter told him that he looks like a chimney sweep because he still had his Easter hat on. It was completely random magic–sometimes the best kind there is. IMG_842452872020095 We headed back to our hotel for a mid-day break, nap, and to start packing to fly home.IMG_8436 Dinner that evening was at Goofy’s Kitchen. I was really looking forward to this one as there is a huge variety of characters and heard good things about the food. The food was fine, but they charge this as a premium character meal. I do not think the buffet was worth the premium price tag.

There were lots of characters: Goofy greeted us at the door, we met Aladdin, Minnie, Chip, Dale, the Mad Hatter and a few more. We had the least amount of character interaction here. They seemed very rushed and sometimes skipped tables. I much prefer the other character meals we had.52872020098 IMG_8474We ended the night early since we were all exhausted from the long day!

This is part of my trip report on our April 2014 visit to Disneyland, Califorina. To read more posts about this trip, click here.