On Monday Lee and I went to Disneyland to spend the day with his brother’s family, who are vacationing there this week. I think it’s the first time he’s ever been to Disneyland with kids, and the first time for me since 2001! It was a somewhat different experience, but we still had a great time.

I was surprised that the crowds really weren’t that bad, though as usual, the best strategy is to arrive at Disneyland first thing in the morning, and enjoy the park for the first few hours while most people are still arriving. The weather was great – overcast in the morning, and only in the upper 70s in the afternoon – SO much cooler than it was on Disneyland’s birthday weekend!!!

We made excellent use of Fastpasses – starting with Indy, and then getting new FPs just as our window opened, so we used those for Indy, Space Mountain, and the Autopia. In between using our FPs we had almost no wait for Pirates or the Disneyland Railroad, about 10 for Thunder Mountain and literally walked right into the ride vehicle for Pooh. The longest line we had was 25 minutes for Dumbo (and I have to say I was surprised it was that short at 11:00 in the morning!). The two younger kids, who are 9 and almost 6, rode Dumbo with their parents while I did Mr. Toad with the oldest, who is 12 and up for ANYTHING.

The younger two were not very happy about Indy, but The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh proved to be a good antidote to that. The 9-year-old niece bypassed Big Thunder and went to the petting zoo with her mom instead, but the almost-6-year-old came off saying “I want to do that again!!!” He was not too sure about Space Mountain, and almost bailed, but he did it, and was all smiles at the end. And of course the Autopia was a big hit – Auntie Laura bailed on that one and took pictures of the drivers, instead. 🙂

Monday was the final day for Star Tours before its big refurbishment – and it was busier than I’ve seen it in YEARS. At 12:15 the line was 55 minutes, and of course it no longer has Fastpass machines, since it really hasn’t needed them in recent years. Unfortunately we didn’t take a last trip to Endor.

We left Disneyland about 1:15, and the crowds had started to pick up quite a bit – the standby line for Space Mountain was up to 55 minutes, Autopia was 50, Matterhorn was 45, and Indy was 50. There were still lots of people coming into the park as we left.

They are staying at the Villas at the Grand Californian, so we headed back there via DCA, stopping at Soarin’ to pick up Fastpasses to use later. Good thing we did it then – the return time was 5:00! They have a dedicated two-bedroom villa, which I hadn’t seen before. It’s the same layout, except that the second bedroom has two queen beds instead of a queen and a sofa bed, and there’s no kitchenette in there. Also no external door to the hallway, though it still has a sliding glass door out to the patio. (Upon seeing the Villa after they checked in, niece said: “I want to LIVE here!”. Ah yes…that’s what Auntie Laura says every time, too! 🙂 )

After lunch the two younger kids REALLY wanted to swim (what is it with kids and hotel pools?), so my sister-in-law stayed with them while we went to DCA with my brother-in-law and our oldest nephew. He REALLY wanted to ride California Screamin’, so we did that. DCA was a little more crowded than usual, and the standby line was about 25 minutes. Afterwards we were able to get four more FPs that he and his mom or dad could use later. Toy Story Midway Mania had a 45-minute line (typical for that ride), and while I would’ve done it, I couldn’t get anyone else interested. Nephew decided he wanted to do Maliboomer, but couldn’t talk any of us into it, so did it by himself (15-minute wait). Silly Symphony Swings was less than 10 minutes. They dragged me onto Mulholland Madness, which I think is the scariest ride in the park – those cars TRY to throw you out of the ride!!! The sign said 20 minute standby, but it ended up being almost 40. (I survived the ride, but I still don’t like it!!!)

We met the other three in front of Soarin’, and took a wonderful flight over some of the beautiful places in California – that was a big hit with everyone. It was 5:30 by then, and since we had to work the next day, we said our goodbyes – the family headed off to Flik’s Fun Faire and Tower of Terror.

It was a great day to be at the parks, and we had a lot of fun sharing a place we enjoy so much with Lee’s family.