Disneyland Summer 2025 Trip Recap ✨

00:00:04Welcome to this happy place. Welcome. Hey guys, it's Tim, and welcome to episode 117 of the Dreaming of Disney podcast. I'm with my beautiful wife, Adrian. Hello. She says hello and we are back from a another trip from the happiest place on earth. We are now the least happiest people on Earth. Well, that Whoa, whoa, let's just back up a minute. He didn't mean that. The Disney Blues while you are sitting there with Georgia's her daughter's balloon. I I am. I still have the balloon and the helium. I think it was. I think it was just because you

00:01:02thought it was going down when we were in the park. I think it was just the wind and the way it. Because we've been home for what? What's today? Today, Sunday we got home. Wednesday we bought this. Monday. No Tuesday. Tuesday. Yeah, I bought it the morning. No, Tuesday, Yeah, so still, but it's almost a week and it's. Still going strong, still going. It's one of those double balloons, you know the. With the Mickey head inside the 70th balloon, it lights up but the battery died. But yeah. Celebrate happy. Celebrate happy.

00:01:39You know, just to start, I want to say that when they, for when I first saw the 70th stuff, I was like, huh, That's exactly how I was, huh? Like the colours and all that. And I, I loved it. Yeah. I wanted everything. Yes, you did. I didn't. I didn't. I did not get that much. I know you didn't. I didn't get anything. You could have got a pen. I know, but it didn't. Well, I mean, the key was kind of. It was everybody's. Everybody's we all took turns. We'll get into that. But. But yeah, but I just really

00:02:19liked it and like, just fun and happy. Yeah. So we were going, we were already in Bakersfield for a different event. And so we just left from there Monday morning. What? Time did we leave? We didn't leave until like 7. 8 I thought. It was like 8. I don't think I took any pictures. 840. I took a picture. I don't know where we were. Looks like we already ate. I didn't. I don't think we wanted to leave at 7:00. I don't think we left till like 73740. Yeah, it was.

00:03:04Yeah, around then. But it wasn't like a full day, so we got there and we were just staying till Wednesday. So a bit of a shorter trip like. Summer is usually a shorter trip anyways. Yeah, this one felt really short and I think, well, we'll get into why I think. But we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel right away. When you walk in, I mean, any of the celebrations, you know, they go all out. But already when you walk into the Disneyland Hotel, we've talked about this, how like, and the first time we stayed there, it was it's like transporting you back in time. I feel like, you know, just to like the 60s and I had never stayed in a hotel like that.

00:03:46The first time I stayed in this hotel where like they, you know, you can hold your bags and all that, like I had never stayed anywhere like that. But the rug going inside is like the 70th. So it has 70 Disneyland and it's just really, really, it's really pretty. I took pictures and they're in our stories. We also have a highlight bubble in our stories. If you follow us on Instagram, there's a highlight bubble. So you can go back and see what we did. But so we went to California first all through Downtown Disney too. They have like signs for the 70th and if you have a magic band, plus they like interact.

00:04:28So there's like things going through. I'm looking at this picture of Boston and Georgia. There's this Mickey Mouse clubhouse like backdrop and. Backdrop, yeah. They're they have the same face, like they just, they look so much alike. But oh, but the first thing when we got up there, we haven't been since they have the new gate entrance. Gate Yeah. Yeah. Well, we had a that that that was not something that I expected to be an issue. One thing I have learned from Miss Georgia Grace, you do not know which none of all of our kids have been this way. All of our kids, I'm sure I have

00:05:20said this too, but we have four children. All of them are stubborn. All of them are strong willed. We have never had an easy toddler. We have had toddlers that are fiery and spicy. I won't say we haven't had an easy baby. Jack was an easy baby. He was very easy baby. He's our oldest. Excellent baby, happy baby. I'm not saying there weren't things like there were issues, but like just the sweetest little baby until he hit 2 1/2 and then good night. Who is this child? But you just Georgia grace, Georgia, Georgia Grace. I could I could see this happening honestly with any of

00:06:05our kids. So for. Sure. Yeah, so. Now you walk up and instead of, well, I don't know how actually. Before it was the cast member was standing in front of the gate and they would scan your, your ticket, your annual pass, whatever you have with their with their iPhone, and then they would take your picture from the. IPhone, they took a picture of you. And then it would spit out a ticket or sometimes have it depending on the type of ticket you have. And now it's different. It's all kind of like self-service now. Yeah, so they're there with like

00:06:44a tablet, but you there's like this little tablet and you scan and then it prompts you to take a picture of everyone in your. So now this is a child. Now this I never have had. She is a child that for some reason is terrified sometimes of the height measurement stand. You know the little stand at rides that says 40 inches and they have to go stand in front of to see that she will not do it. Now I will say she has gotten better. She did it. She she only had an issue one time. It was for the swings. It was when you were. That's right. For the most part she did not have a problem with at this

00:07:33time, but I told the story when we were in Disney World. Freaked out. Like, freaked out. And you're like, all you have to do is stand next to this thing. It doesn't even touch you. What in the world? But she doesn't like anyone looking at her, talking to her, touching her, saying hi to her other than me, pretty much. Like, yeah. So we get to her. She needs to take a picture if there is anything you need this child to do the first time she will not want to do it. So she freaks out like is screaming thankfully. OK what time is it? I have a video is 1057. So this wasn't at like a rope drop and this long line behind

00:08:16us right? There was nobody behind us at first anyway. She will not do it. You pick her up, she is screaming, saying no, she will not turn her face. You turn your body, she turns her face the other way. You guys know if you've had a shy toddler, you're trying to get them to say hi to someone. You turn, they turn your the head the other way. You know that that is what's happening and she's screaming now. There were times in Disney World and even in Disneyland when you're going through security and she would get shy and like she wouldn't want to walk through. She wouldn't want like in Disney

00:08:48World, she wouldn't want me to put her down and have her walk through. And, and they would a couple times they said, OK, just take everything off of you guys and you can walk through with her and then we'll like, and then they like scanned me with a wand or whatever. They would not budget. They had to have her picture and I was getting irritated because I was like, what? Who cares, right? She's 4, so like, is it ridiculous? Yeah. Is it reasonable? No, but she's 4, so things aren't. And there was no like it's OK, we can put in toddler. Like what is a four year old

00:09:22going to do? Now if it's a teenager refusing, I understand. No, you have to take your picture. But for a kid 4 or under, there should be some like, oh, we can hit toddler or whatever, but they wouldn't. So we are there for like a solid 5 minutes trying to get her and then a couple people were landlined behind us. Yeah. And I really wasn't even irritated at her because I'm like, she doesn't understand. Like, is it at at first I was and then I was like, wait, no, I'm irritated at Disneyland. Like, I feel like there needs to be a little, you know, wiggle room there for toddlers. And I don't know if you still

00:10:10consider her a toddler. I do. I think once you know, maybe like 5, they're not a toddler anymore. Yeah, but I eventually got her to take a picture because I held her head down. Yeah, we had to like pin her her head. Down in the castle and say I'll get it really quick and like OK. And then the next two days she was fine. She wanted to do silly, silly pictures. Yeah, she wanted to do Mickey ears and everything. But it was just it was too much attention on her than ever. The boys are trying to get her and I'm like, no, I like leave her alone. It's too much because then she's

00:10:40just going to get more upset. It was just something new and whatever is she didn't want to do it. And if you want this girl to do something she's not going to do, she's not going to do it. This girl, this girl anyways. So there's that. I don't see that this is that much quicker than the old way. I do like that the stroller can now fit in the same gate like they used to have it. You know, if you've been to Disneyland, because it's totally different than Disney World. They have like on the right and the left, they have the the turnstiles And then in the center is where wheelchairs or strollers would have to go through because they couldn't fit through the turnstiles.

00:11:24So then that could get kind of awkward because like a family on the other side, they have one too. And you're lining up and you're trying to, like, push through and where now everyone can just stay together and go through the same. Yeah. Because there in each gate there was only two turnstiles. Now they have three in each turnstiles because they got rid of the middle one or the middle gate. So they actually have more lines now. Oh, really? Yeah, so there's three. Not the one I'm looking at in this video, but. Oh, some of them. Some of them had three instead

00:11:56of just a 2, so. Maybe. I'm thinking Disneyland California Adventure only had still had. OK, yeah, cuz this is the video is when we first got there. It's California. But anyways, so I don't know we'll see how it goes. I mean, that was just. It was our first time. It was new experience with the kids. I think in future we know what to expect. Yeah, it'll be. Much faster. I don't, yeah. I mean, I still don't think it's going to be as fast as Disney World. But anyways. So the first thing we did was go

00:12:26to meet Elsa. George has never met any princesses, but. True youngest fashion. We did her thing first. Well. Because she had her Elsa dress on. We got there at like 11:00. She's never there's one time I got in line at like the Royal Hall, but she was only like a year old and the line was really long and I was like, she does not care about this yet. So I got out of the line, but she wanted to meet Elsa. Elsa's her favorite and it wasn't too bad. And in the animation building, like you get to like, because Elsa's in the animation building, you get to see all the screens and stuff.

00:13:08So, but excuse me, but it was sweet. Like she was so sweet. Because of course, again, Georgia is shy, so she's clinging to me. She does not run to character. She wants to meet Minnie. She wants to meet Elsa but she clings to me and will like barely look at them but but she was super like sweet with her and Georgia loved it, even though he'd probably never be able to tell. Well. Everything, looking at pictures and videos, she had a huge. Yeah, she did. She did. She just. Yeah, she was really cute. I'm looking at pictures, but and she got to ask her.

00:13:48She kept wanting to ask because I told her before we were looking because it used to be Anna and Elsa in there. Right now it's just Elsa. And so I told her like, we're not going to meet Anna. They don't have Anna's not there right now. She had been like, well, where is she? So she got she wanted me to ask her be like ask Elsa, where is Anna? So I asked her, said she was getting things ready for a picnic with with Olaf, Olaf with Olaf and Elsa later and she was getting some chocolate ready. I love how they like don't even skip a beat, you know? Oh yeah, they like, know exactly what they want to say and. But yeah, so that was fun.

00:14:27And then let's see, we ate lunch. We went and did monsters because it was like it's going to be our last time. Might maybe doing monsters Well, and because we got there a little later, we weren't getting Genie plus. Sorry, Lightning Lane multi pass. I don't want to be annoying. Was it annoying or I can't remember what it was? But wait times were relatively low. Oh. OK, that's what I OK, So, yeah, so we did monsters. We were, because we were maybe going to go back into Disneyland for a little bit, but we wanted to watch World of Color. So Boston has been telling us

00:15:10that he was going to do Incredicoaster this time was going to be his first time. So we're all excited. We're like, OK, we got to get Georgia a treat so that Jack can watch her. She'll just eat a treat and the four of us could go together, me, you know, in Boston. But because we weren't getting Lightning Lane, we were like, OK, we don't want to leave them alone too long because she'll run away from Jack. But then Boston looked at it and he decided he didn't want to do it yet. He was too nervous. And then the line, it just never worked out. I don't even know what we did. We went, then we did. I took Georgia on Inside Out

00:15:53Ride. What did you guys to go do? We did the silly Stephanie swings. That's right. And then it was hot. It was very hot. We watched the Pixar parade after that. We were also really tired coming off a very busy weekend before this. So we were all just kind of like, oh, and it was hot. So after the Pixar parade, we went back to the hotel. Our room was ready. So we went back to the hotel and oh, that's right. Wait. I did jumping jellyfish with Georgia, which I thought she would be afraid because if you've ever done jumping

00:16:29jellyfish, it actually goes pretty high. Like you get up there and you're like, oh man, I'm pretty high. But she really liked it. We went on it twice. Yeah, it was cute. But so, yeah. So we just went back to the hotel and rested for a bit and then we went into Disneyland and the first thing we did was get the key. We got the key to Disneyland. I was very excited to do this they. Had those things under lock and key, yes. They were, they were behind the register, but then we saw them out on the floor but they were locked. Like you couldn't take one. You can only get 2 two per

00:17:10guest. Are you sure? That's what it said on there. Because there was that girl, I will get to the story later, who said that she had a lot. Maybe she went in. She probably went other days different stores. Different stores. I only saw them at the one, but I wasn't looking after we got we only got 1. I had wanted to because I was going to have the kids do 1 and I was going to do 1, but. They're expensive. They're expensive. We only got 1 and it it was fine. I mean, I kind of wish because we'll get to it. But anyways, it was really cool. It was cool if go back and watch

00:17:45our stories like you. So there's these different places where you put the key in their interactive and we didn't even realize till the end of the night that because there's music off of the little kiosk, you put the key in, but the key is also playing music. And then you get the little, like, it lights up a little icon for the land that you're in, and each land plays a song that goes with that land. It also plays Walt Disney's dedication speech. It lights up like it's just cool. Like I'm like I it's cool. It's like a scavenger hunt within. Yeah, you don't have to do it in order. You don't.

00:18:32Noah told me we did and I don't know why I believe this kid. Well, he had been watching some YouTube videos about Disneyland and so that's what he told me and I don't know why I decided to believe him. Well, the the last one you have to, it has to be last. Yeah, there there is like, oh, it has to do at. Last, it lights up and it tells you where to go next. And then we realized, no, it lights up when you get it. Yeah. So anyways, but yeah, I, I like, I loved it. I loved it. It was fun. All the kids loved it. They were all excited. And then we ended up getting Magic Band Plus because they

00:19:09have the little, they have 5 different places where you can scan your magic Band and get these little like postcard tickets, which they aren't at all 5 some of them just like I. Think there's no. Sound, I think it was yeah, it was just the one on Main Street. And no, no three, I think it was Main Street, Jungle Cruise and. Oh yeah, Jungle Cruise and Frontierland. Frontierland. And they're they were 4 the opening day attractions. Yeah, five of the opening day attractions and they have like, like they interact and so that was fun. They also the magic bands like light up with the parade, fireworks, World of Color. You can scan them for fast pass

00:19:58to get in the park. You can link it to your ticket. So we like we got them when we first time we went to Disney World, we got them for the boys and those don't work at Disneyland. Those are just regular magic bands. Magic Band Plus. Where this is plus yeah, I mean, but we can use them from now on. And these these ones will work in Disney World as well. The plus work on both both parks. It's just the original Magic band only works in Disney. World, yeah, They used to be included in Disney World. They used to like packages back back in the day. You still when you book a Disney World hotel that you do get the

00:20:38option to purchase Magic Bands at a discounted rate before your trip and they'll either be shipped to you or you can pick them up at your hotel. Oh, OK. OK, but the one downside with the magic band plus is the tech issues that. You can have Boston was having a lot of issues. A lot of issues with his, it wasn't because when you get them, they're only charged halfway and they may be depending on how long they've been sitting on the shelf they made, the battery may have drained even more. So I think Boston's was just really drained. And so by the time we got to World of Color, it just, it just wasn't working right.

00:21:21And and he was really upset about that. But it's just one thing. It's like you have to charge them. So it's 1. So you're not only charging your phone, charging, if you have an Apple Watch charging your Watch, now you got another thing you got to charge. Yeah, but I mean for the kids and if you're getting Disney, no, if you're getting Lightning Lane it. Does make it a lot. Easier they can all scan in themselves. I mean, do you need it? Absolutely not. I wanted it for the special 70th things because I haven't got one. I've always used my watch, but

00:22:04the kids don't have a watch, I guess. No, it has a watch. But anyways, yeah, so I wanted it for the special 70th thing. It it can be nice. It can be convenient if you have kids and they can scan into the park themselves. They can scan for lightning Lane themselves, but it's definitely not needed anyways. No. So let's. See we did, you guys, did smugglers run? That's right, we did that. I didn't. I took Georgia on Dumbo I think. I think so. I don't know. I took her somewhere. And then we had dinner. Where?

00:22:42Did we eat dinner? We had hungry bear. That's right, we've we went. Or it's not called Hungry Bear anymore. It's. Oh, it's not called Hungry Bear. It's hungry bear like BBQ Jamboree or something like that. I was a little bummed that they they changed. I still got a ham cheeseburger. It was good. It's more BBQ. Focus now, but I thought it was good. Yeah, it was good. I'm trying to remember. I remember because I got there, oh, Georgia had just thrown a major fit. And because, yeah, I was like, I remember getting there and just being like, because she, she had

00:23:20thrown a major fit. She wanted to write something else other than Dumbo. But we didn't really have time between that and going to get our food and walking all the way across and we needed to get back for all the color. And she was just like throwing a huge fit for me. And then she fell asleep on our walk over to Hungry Bear. And then we got there and I was trying to adjust the fan that I had on her stroller, and it fell on her lap. And she woke up and I was like, that's so irritated. But anyways, I think we took her on Winnie the Pooh. Yeah, I took her on Winnie the Pooh after dinner, and then we walked back over to California and we waited.

00:24:01So, OK, so we already said the wait times weren't too bad. We didn't ride a whole lot this day, but we got to World of Color, or, you know, down in that area at 8, a little after 8. We didn't even wait a full because World of Color was at 9:00. 9. Yeah, we didn't even wait a full hour. No, we didn't. And we got a spot. It was in the, in the, like, wet zone. It was where you could get wet. But like, we were right up against a gate. Yeah. And there weren't people pressed up against us. Like we, there were not a lot of people.

00:24:42It was weird. Like, we've gone the world of color. Oh, my gosh, is like, you're in, you're in, you know, the mosh pit at a concert where people are pressing me up against you and. Because I was thinking, oh, we're going to be way back. There's already a bunch of people in there. You know, whatever, it's fine. And no, we got like right up against the gate and then there weren't people like right up against us. Like we had plenty of room. It was. But the world of color is, you know, great. Is is was not my favorite world of color. I will say that the 60th was

00:25:19still my favorite world of color, but but it's still amazing and fun. And you know Jack wasn't happy because you get quite a bit of mist there and he hates getting wet. But I think it seemed that they really enjoy it. Yeah, I know. Yeah, they all like Georgia was really into it. Boston was upset because his magic band wasn't working. And Noah kept being like, look, mom, look, because ours were working. And I was like, I was like, you can be excited about it. Just don't put it in Boston's face. Like, just like, stop showing me. But yeah.

00:25:56It just, you know, you know, it's all based off of inside out and so like the emotions because it's all about the 70th, which is their theme is celebrate happy. And so it's all about emotions. And so they brought Inside out and you know, typically it goes through all the different movies and scenes in the movies and everything. It starts off with The Muppets. Yes, there was like a little pre show. Yeah, and then, you know, Rainbow Connection. And our. It's like the theme. Our kids obviously aren't Muppets fans, which I've never been a huge Muppets fan. I watched some of us a little bit when I was a kid, but.

00:26:35I have a little bit, but not much. But later, like the next day, I heard Noah saying something about the Muppet Pig lady. I was like Miss Pig, like get the Muppet Pig lady. But yeah, it was it. Just like, you know, once in the past, like the 60th had a big like frozen part like let it go and and and and Lion King and Pirates and. The fire. The fire, yes. Like, just like, yeah, but still like really good. Like World of Color is just really cool. And then so we were leaving on our way out. We got a treat. Got Ghirardelli milkshake, My typical.

00:27:24And while you were getting a churro, you actually had Georgia. And I looked over and I saw Mickey standing in front of the fountain and there was no line. And so I like told Noah I was like, OK, Georgia because she had wanted to see Mickey. And then so she runs over and he got down on his knees. But of course she ran to me, wanted me to pick her up. But so we got to see Mickey real quick and didn't have to wait at all, which is crazy. There's one picture of her like giving him a side eye. But I always loved the like the 1920s Mickey, the Newsies Mickey. Yeah. And then we were walking out the the fireworks were going.

00:28:06So we got to see some of the fireworks like in the Esplanade. Yeah. So that was the first day. Now the second day was the the plan was all Day Disneyland. Well, that So what happened? All Day Disneyland getting Lightning Lane. We rope dropped. We did well with time. We got there about 7:30. Yeah, Yeah, we did. Pretty. Well, but, well, no, I guess it didn't throw it off because when when we got there, Space Mountain was closed. Yeah. And so my plan for the day. Oh that's cute. My plan for the day with Lightning Lane was I wanted to. Since we were there for early

00:28:54entry, I wanted to use the time to our advantage. Since we're there in the morning, wait times are usually low. So do the things we want to do in the morning and then stack lightning lanes for the afternoon and evening. And I got a really good stack you. Did. I got a really. Good. You really did. We've never stacked like that. I had five. I mean, I, I know I'm going a little bit ahead in the day, but I, I took a screenshot because I was so proud of it. No, I know it it. It would have been great if we didn't have kids.

00:29:31I know what did I have? So I had. I stacked Indiana Jones at 4:15, Smugglers Run at 510, Tiana's at 535, Space Mountain 550 and Big Thunder at 6:50. Yeah, if it would have been or, or even if we had all older kids, that would have been boom, boom, boom. That would have been great. Babe, you did. You did well. I and I was on it all day. I said I'll every. And you were you were not present at all. And. You were a little distracted by Genie. Plus. Or whatever it's called a little. Bit too much and I was pushing

00:30:14because I got, I selected my lightning lanes in the morning. But about every, you know, 30 minutes or so, I would push it out. I would, you know, adjust it to a new time. So that way it was getting more in the in the in the evening. But as we soon find out. That I can't even remember what happened. Let's let's get through the pictures and see. We rode rockets first, which it was Georgia's first time. She loved it. I'm watching a video of her. She has the biggest smile. She loved it. Then we did space. Space Mountain opened. Yes. So we did a rider switch with

00:30:53Space Mountain. You guys went first. I I just waited. Georgia and I just did some window shopping and oh, he's still awake. The big one. Yep, the oldest is still away. He's still, I can hear him. I can hear him. Oh, I have a little, I have a little trivia. I don't know if we should save it. We should. We should save it for Instagram because it's a picture. So I went second on Space Mountain with Noah. He got to write it twice while you took Georgia on Dumbo. Again, Noah told me something, but I don't know. He told me that we had this.

00:31:35He he was wrong about the magic key, so or the key to Disneyland. But there are things printed on the side of the big spaceship, the big spaceship in Space Mountain, like the big spaceship when you walk in the main room. And he was like, oh, do you know what that means? And he told me and I took pictures of them, but that doesn't help on a podcast. So stay tuned, you have a no. Idea what you're talking? About check out our Instagram. I will send them to you, Tim, and you can do like a reel or something with it or I don't know. Anyways, that's a little that's a little cliffhanger for you. OK, so Space Mountain then. I we met you guys.

00:32:25You guys did Dumbo. We got some more keys. Where's this 10? This one's in New Orleans Square. So. What should we do? We did, then did. Oh, we did Big Thunder. So we met you guys. I think we just, I can't remember. I think we just went to do a key or something and Georgia did not want to do Pirates. But then I know we didn't get to do pirates. We. There was, there was. We didn't do and we will get into this more. We need to pick this up, but we didn't do. There was a lot we didn't do.

00:32:59We probably. Is talk about minute by minute what we did, but. I know, I'm sorry, but we'll talk about this because it was George's first time on a big ride, Big Thunder. I can't believe that she didn't back out. I know I was like waiting and waiting and waiting. She's like, remember Mama when the Tiana's and I got stared and I changed my mind like when we were in Disney World? That's because you're going through a cave into a little kid, Alex. Scared. Yeah, We started going through the line and it was dark and she was like, no big Thunder. She went for it. She didn't she.

00:33:33Saw the trains going by. She saw the train, she did not like it. It doesn't help that you start out in the dark. She does not like the dark right now. And. You you posted a poll. Yes, and most people said. You asked, you know, you asked. How do you think it went? And he said she loved it, hated it. 81% thought she loved it. 82% said that she hated it. She hated it. She hated it. I will say she didn't hate it, but she didn't like it. Like she I started recording and then I stopped because I was like, no, this is, this is actually mean. She, she didn't like it.

00:34:10It was too fast. And I told you afterwards, it's like, you know, you go on a ride by yourself and you're like, oh, especially because we were towards the front and I was like, well, that's kind of good because it'll be slower for her. And if I was on myself, I would have been like, this is so slow. But I'm with my 4 year old and I'm like, this is so fast. Oh, poor baby. So she earned herself her own churro. We got her a churro. We did some more keys. Oh, we went to Toontown. You guys did Mickey and Minnie's and Georgia freaked out, said she didn't want to go, so I don't. Understand why she hates this. Right.

00:34:44I don't know. She used to love it, and then all of the sudden last year she decided she hated it. It was. Right in the pre show you know where. Yes, but then we bought her, we took her on it in Disney World, didn't we? I. Don't think so. Did we not? Go on it. Did not go on it. Oh OK, I don't know something. She just decided she doesn't like it, so I just took her to the little play area. Whatever. OK, let's just move on. We did. Small world. It's incredible.

00:35:16Get over yourselves. You and I try. You don't like it too bad. Then you and I tried. It was cold brew time. Oh, that's right. I'm so sad. I'm. I'm sorry, I know. And I actually wanted a black calf too. So there is a Beignet cold brew at Tiana's in New Orleans Square and we have heard that it's so good. I really liked it. You weren't crazy about it. It's sweeter and you don't like super sweet. I will say I really missed the Cocoa Puffs. It needed something on top. I don't eat the Cocoa Puffs. I usually eat your Cocoa Puffs.

00:35:55Yeah, and. All right, so I I never posted this. I did take video of us trying it. You just hear it. This is the VA full Peru. From Tionis you don't like it The the oh. I like it. The the cream cheese, I think it was. Was it cream cheese? Well, one the topping was extra. Oh, it wasn't included. It wasn't included if you wanted the if you wanted the sweet cream topping, which is kind of like their Starbucks cold foam. If you know what that is, it was extra and it it and it did taste as good as the black calf, whereas black calf it's

00:36:57included. Yeah, I mean, I, I, I liked it. I said they were probably tied for me in the video. I think black calf I like a little better. I wish that you could get a little extra of the cream in the black calf 'cause sometimes I want it just like a. Little bit if the black half doesn't have it doesn't come with like a milk or a cream. It's just the cream topping and then and then the cold brew. Yeah. And sometimes I want a little bit like sweeter. But anyways, I think if you like, if you don't mind sweet, if you like sweet, it was really good. Yeah, no, it wasn't bad. It was just, it was too sweet.

00:37:35For him. But then we went back to the hotel. You took some of the kids swimming. I stayed back with Jack. Just I fell asleep for a bit. It was nice and went back into the park, did some more keys and we were. So my plan was I wanted to watch Paint the night. Yes, I wanted to watch the fireworks and I wanted to watch they had a was it tapestries of Disneyland? Or tapestry of of happiness. Happiness. Tapestry of happiness. Which is like a light projection show on Small world. So my plan was, hey, let's park in front of Small World for all three because you can watch the

00:38:22fireworks from there. Paint the night comes out, starts right there. So that was the plan. So we went in, we rode a few rides. I think you did Smugglers again. We did, yeah. The boys want to do it. Again, I took Georgia on the teacups. Oh my gosh, because we wanted to try to get her on smugglers because she's tall enough, but she wouldn't do it. And so yes, I took her on the teacups and then she would want to do Dumbo after that. And I was like, girl, I can't spend any more. Like the older I get, the less I can spend. But then we got our spot and then we went and just like got

00:38:57dinner and ate there, but it almost directly in front of small world, like up in the little seating area. They used to have a bench there, but they don't. So we went and we got this spot. We were there by like 640. So we waited about 2 1/2 hours. Paint, no paint the nights at 8:50, OK, so 22 hours, but I had a beach towel I had we were right in front of the gate, so no one was going to be in front of us and then in front of us then dropped down. So even if people were in front of us, which there were trash cans in front of us, elevated, we were elevated. It was right in front of the VIP reserved seating area. So they ended up just parking like those people strollers down

00:39:45in front of us. But again, we were higher up so you went and got us food and we just like parked out. So it was a great spot for Paint the night. There are some trees kind of in the way like it would be better. It could be a little better if you're just down on the street, like right in front. But like characters saw us like because we were high up and there was nobody in front of us. And so we were not eye level with the characters on the floats, but like a little higher. So like Anna looked right at Georgia, like she was waving down and then looked right at Georgia and like got like a big smile and like waved again. And Georgia, just like, was so

00:40:28happy. It was so. We were also at the beginning of the parade, yes. And so all the characters and performers are like fresh. They're not tired yet. Like, they're not like, 'cause when we were when we watched the the Pixar Better Together parade, Yeah, in California the day before. Oh, the. Pores, they were all sweating and it was so rot. End of the parade by, you know, Pixar Pier. Well, it's like 3:00 or two. No, it's like 2230. 90° in the sun, there's no shade. And they were just, I mean, they were still performing great. Oh yeah. But you could tell they were,

00:41:05they were visibly dredged and sweat. But but yeah, so like they were, they were fresh and they were interacting more with people and yeah. So, so I mean, like, if you know, if you're right in front of like if you're on the parade line, then you know, you're going to get more interaction from the characters and the performers that are like down on the street. But but yeah, it's so great. I love Paint the Night. It's so fun. All the floats are so good. The Frozen float is so good. Like it's the first time George has seen Paint the Night and she was just like, so excited. And yeah, no kids fell asleep. I know our boys used to always

00:41:51fall asleep like right before paint the night and not wake up and and then so then it was only like 20 minutes or so until the fireworks. And with the fireworks, the projections are better on small worlds because it's a bigger, flatter surface. The fireworks, though, are off to the side. And then you also don't get the fireworks that come are shot off like in front of the castle. So if you've never seen the fireworks show, I would definitely try to do it in front of the castle. But like if you've seen it, this was wondrous journeys. We've seen it several times. The projections are better on small world like you can see them so much more clearly like

00:42:35and then the fireworks are just off to the side a little bit. But it's it's still really good and it was not crowded. Like. It can. I have been in front of small world where it was, but this day it was not crowded at all. Right. I mean, this was years ago. So this was like Mickey's mixed magic was when it was newer and the boys were did we have those videos or the boys are like dancing in front of Small world during the during the fireworks, there was nobody over there. That was one. I think that was the first time we ever watched in front of Small World. And there was, because. I was a die hard in front of the

00:43:15castle like die hard even though I love small world like and now I'm like no like. I still want to do fireworks from Main St. Yeah. Everybody says like fireworks from the middle of Main Street is is like one of the best places. If you're tall. If you're tall kids, it's difficult because they're short and everybody stands up and you can't see it and so you can't see anything. Or you're like, oh, just put my kid on my shoulders. Don't do it. Yeah, it's rude. It is rude. It's extremely. Rude. Don't put kids on your.

00:43:48Shoulders. I'm 52. It's rude. But I. Would love to watch from the middle of Main Street, theoretically, excuse me, but anyways. So yeah, fireworks, one just journeys. It grew on us. We really like it. And then they had the and then it was after that, it was only like 10 minutes. The kids were like, we want to go. And I was like, it's 10 minutes until, but it was 10:00 because the fireworks are a little later right now because paint the night. And I was like, no, we waited this long.

00:44:23Oh, that's a good one. Look at this picture I got. Oh. That is a good one. That's a good one. And it has Winnie the Pooh. I'm going to send that to you. You can do something. But so we had to wait like 10 minutes. Georgia, I think, fell asleep. Yeah, she did. She didn't make it for the tap Tapestry of Happiness, but it was really cute. It's only like 5 minutes long and it just goes through like the different lands, different rides and like shows of Disneyland. Yeah, I really liked it. And like I said, it's 5 minutes long. So they had two showings, I

00:45:00think at 10:00 and 10:15, and then we left and then it was time. We did. We had to. We got there Disney Key. We yes, yes. So then we were leaving, but we were like, oh, we have on our way out. The last key is right through the gates. I saw that there's two of them. There's one on each side. Oh. OK, where you where you will get your pin will the key will open, you'll get your pin. So we go do that and it's not working. Thankfully there was someone behind us. I thought that was the Main Street one.

00:45:38And he was like Oh no, you still need the Main Street one. The Main Street 1 is in the fire station. I was like oh OK. So we went and got the Fire Station 1, then went back. I felt bad because Georgia had been like doing this all day with us, and then she fell asleep. We got the one pin we didn't want, but yeah, so it was kind of disappointing because there's one of seven. Is it 7? I think so. I think there's a pin for each of the lands I. Think so. And yeah, so that was kind of stinky. You can trade them, but it's complicated and and it's like if

00:46:13they already have the one you have, they won't take it and. Yeah. So there's a there's a pin trading station right behind Tomorrowland near Space Mountain, and they have a little shadow box of four pins that you can trade from the Disney Key pins. And so there's four there, but you can't if there's four on display in the pin that you have is already in that display. You can't trade it because they don't want duplicates in the little box, so. Which is like. I tried trading ours, we couldn't and so I was like OK, I'll try, but by the next day so. And they still, they still had it there, so.

00:46:58I couldn't do it. Well, when we go in February, it'll still be the 70th and I'll just get another key, OK? Also with the key you only get 1 pin but they told me when I bought it if you want to do the like scavenger scavenger hunt if you will again you can go back to a cast member where you bought it and they will reset it. So it's like you have none of the icons and can get them all for the first not the first time but you know the first time again and have them light up on your key again so that's cool. OK, so that was it. Then we went back. I'm exhausted. That was a long day. I mean, yes, we did take a break, but the kid, three of the

00:47:45kids went swimming. They didn't really take a break. I didn't take a break. You didn't take a break and like I said, we were coming off a very busy, wonderful but exhausting weekend leading up to this. And so our plan was, as always, our last day to rope drop. We're going to California, We're going to rope drop. We were going to do racers and do the writer switch. Because I was like, I probably do the writer switch. Even though George was tall enough, I knew it would probably scare her because it's loud at parts and she doesn't like that. And I didn't. I'd rather wait another six months or so to when she, like, wants to write it.

00:48:31Yeah. And then Guardians, we weren't going to get lightning lane multi pass because we're only doing 1/2 day. But if we in our experience, if we rope drop racers, do a rider switch, then head right to guardians, it's not very long. We can get those in. Like we can rope drop our things and do it. I did not hear my alarm go off. We overslept. But I would also, I, I want, I want some backup here because in 17 years of marriage, I have always and yes, it takes me longer to get ready, but I have always been the one responsible for getting everybody up. You do not set an alarm. I know because you're so dependable.

00:49:28You don't even set an alarm for work. No, I don't, because Georgia, always. You can't believe it on Georgia, babe. She's only been around for four years. I know, but the kids have always woken up. Yes, they've always, they've always been early risers, so I depend on that. Anytime we're going somewhere together, you don't ever set an alarm. If for some reason you have to get up earlier than me, which very rarely happens, I still set my alarm. I know you're so dependable. But you don't. I know. So then whose fault is this?

00:50:01It's my fault. No, no, no, no. But it's because I'm the one. It's mom. Didn't mom wanted to get up and say, and I'm like, hey, hey, hey, wait a second. I'm not the only adult here who could have woken up and set an alarm. I I'm not, I'm not blaming you because. I I you are you are blaming me. But anyways, I didn't hear my alarm. We were out. All of us were out. And so it was over an hour later because I set my alarm for 5:30 because we would, we wanted to leave our hotel room at 7, right? Yeah. And.

00:50:42And I I I get up and I look at my clock and I'm. Like and it's almost 7. It's 6:50. And I was like, oh crap. And I hope babe, it's almost 7 and you're like, what? Yeah, like I was out. So we did pretty good though. Like we got into the park. We. Also had we also had to pack up everything. We had to pack, so we got into the park like we're walking by Ariel at 8:24. 'Cause we took, we went through the Pixar Pixar Place entrance. That means I got ready in like less than an hour. I'm and packed. Yeah, so. But that just threw everything off.

00:51:27Yeah, everything. And Incredi Coaster was down, so we definitely couldn't rope drop racers because it was already over an hour by the time we got into the park. Guardians was like an hour. It was about 50 minutes. And the only one who wants to do that is Boston. And we're like, OK, how are we going to do the whatever? It doesn't matter. So we're like, OK, well, let's we're waiting for Incredi Coaster to open because no one really wanted to do that. It's his favorite I think is Space Mountain or in Credit Coaster his favorite now? I don't know. It might be tied. We're like, OK, well while we're waiting for that to open, let's

00:52:06go like do some small rides. So we didn't Mater's. It was only like a 10 minute ride to wait. No, it was like a walk on pretty much. We did that. It was fun. Georgia loved it, Boston loves it. Then Toy Story was only like 15 minutes, so we're like we're like Incredi coaster is still down. OK, let's go do Toy Story Mania because that one gets really high too and we're not getting Lightning Lane, so let's let's go do that. We do that. You breaking news. I got 237,970 highest score ever. You have never, you have never

00:52:46broken. I have broken to over 200. You did. Yes. When it's it was a couple years ago. Oh OK. But this is the highest score that I've gotten. So great job. So thank you. And then it just. And then from there it. Just fell. Apart. It just fell apart. Oh. My gosh, one of the kids was upset because they wanted something even though they had already chosen something. And we're like, sorry, you already chose this. This is what you chose.

00:53:12He didn't want to accept that, so that was an issue. Take Georgia on the carousel. She wants to ride rides because the other ones refusing now ride anything and credit coaster still down. So I'm like, all right, Noah, let's go do some other rides. I don't even know what Jack was doing. He was. He was going off doing his. Own Jack is almost 15. He will be 15 next month and the entire weekend or wasn't a weekend days he just kept wanting to go off by himself and we let him. To some extent. To some extent, we're like, this is a family trip, So yes, you are old enough now to do this, but that doesn't mean we're just

00:53:49going to let you all the time. Yeah. So yeah, he went somewhere and then. He went to a gift shop and so. Yeah. And so then I took Noah and Georgia on. We did inside out, we did the carousel, we did the jellyfish, we did. He did the swings. Mm. Hmm, that is when she said she also wanted to do the swings, but when for some odd reason, this is when she decided to flip out about standing up against the 40 inch mark, starts screaming and freaking out. And then I'm like, OK, well then Noah, go ahead. I'm not freaking out at this point.

00:54:21I'm like, whatever, I don't have to do the swings. I'm like, OK, Noah, go ahead. But Oh no, then she freaks out more because she wants to write it and I'm like, OK, well, he can't let you on until you stand here and then she freaks out. You know, there's just no when she won't line up, but she also wants to write it. And so I had to like, grab her and go sit. This is all in the middle of if you watch our highlight reel highlight bubble where I posted about not giving parents a hard time when they look, they're like they're fed up with their kids because this was all in the same 30 minutes of one of our kids refusing to write anything because he wanted a different souvenir than he had already

00:54:54chosen, even though we tell him all over, you might want to wait till the end. Oh, no, no, this is what I want. I'm not going to. OK, OK. And then Georgia freaking out over standing against the sign like and it's 90°. Yeah. So I end up sitting We were me. And the child. The child. We won't name. Names. We won't name names, but you could probably figure it out. Because we already named the other three doing other. Games sitting in the other the shaded benches in front of Incredi Coastal where it launches. We sat there for three hours.

00:55:30And we were waiting for you kept saying we're waiting for credit coaster to open because again, we're not getting lightning lane. No one really wants to do it. OK, When it opens, it's going to be like a mad dash over there. And you're you text us when we were over by Jellyfish. You're like, they're they're testing it. And I'm like, wait, no other testing it. We head back over to you and we wait and we wait and we wait and they are not opening it. They're they're not even running it like it. Would like creep forward and then creep back. And keep going. Forward and go back and just like.

00:56:04Oh, but then Jack went. While we're waiting, Jack's like Toy Story's only 20 minute or 25 minutes or whatever. He's like, can I go on it? We're like, yeah, go ahead. He got like almost 200. No, he got to over 200. Did he? Yeah, he got like 220 something nice. Nice buddy. Yeah. So and then we're like, OK, it's not looking good. So I say to Noah, because Noah is a very good artist and he loves to draw. I'm like, do you want to go do an animation Academy and like Turtle Talk and stuff? And he was like, yeah, OK, So we went over to the anime because it was getting to the point

00:56:43where we were going to need to leave, like to head a home. And so we went to the animation building and we did Turtle Talk and the animation building. We learned how to draw Perry from Phineas and Ferb, which they all love. So that was fun. And then we got lunch at Where Do We Go? Well, the Austin and Noah got hot dogs from angry dogs. That's right. And then me, you and I, me, you and I, me you and. I me, you and I. Me, you and Jack got lunch at Spoke Jumpers. That's right. That's right. It was this day. It was crazy busy. This, it was busy this day.

00:57:25And then the fact that, OK, that's what we didn't say. So because in Crescent Coaster was down it like everything else was super high, like everything was over an hour. So we didn't get to do Sauron and we wanted to do Sauron 'cause I think we could have got Georgia on that. Yeah, obviously not racers. Oh, we did. Oh, we did web slingers the first day. Yeah. But like, everything was so high, we couldn't do anything. And there's not a lot of like, little rides there. So we did the animation stuff. It was busy, We ate lunch and then it was like time to go get a treat and let go. So we we didn't do racers, we

00:58:06didn't do Sauron, we didn't do Grizzly River Run, we didn't do in Credit Coaster, we didn't do guardians like we didn't do Tiana. 'S we did. Oh yeah, we didn't do Tiana. Oh, that's right, we didn't talk about that because no one else wanted to write Tiana's You and I book. So upset. You and I wanted to go on Tiana's. One thing I want to do because we haven't read the Disneyland version yet. Yeah, you had, because we had the lightning lane. So this was the day before our Disneyland day. None of the kids wanted to ride Tiana's. You and you didn't want to go

00:58:34alone. I didn't really want to go alone. But we were like, OK, how can we go together? Because if we leave all the kids together, the dynamic just not right in Disneyland. And so it just didn't work out. It's just, it's just in it with timing everything OK. But you guys did do Andy Ann Jones right? You and the boys. We did Andy Ann Jones. OK, You guys did Andy Jones. I don't know what George and I did. I think we just did some shopping or something. But when I was sitting there waiting for an credit coaster with the other child, I have never so strongly felt I want to

00:59:12go home. I did not want to be there anymore. I could tell. One, I was just like, I was just, I was done parenting. I was just like so frustrated and tired and yeah, just I just we already came from a long week weekend and then doing this and I could tell just he was done. Yeah, it was. It was too much. And I was just like, I let's just, let's just get in the car and go. I just, I want to be, I want to be home. Right now where I was. Like, I get upset because I don't want to be like that because I want to be able to enjoy this with our kids. Yeah.

00:59:51And. Where I was feeling the opposite. It wasn't long enough for me and I didn't want to leave. I was like, I don't want to go home. I don't want to go back to reality. This wasn't enough of a break from reality like. It was just the kids were fighting on everything. Yeah, they were it. Was just, no one could agree on anything and Georgia was being Georgia and it was just. We love her though, we love all of them. They're just. Because on the way out, Georgia saw Minnie. Minnie was walking. By and so she started to line up

01:00:27and so we were like fifth in line and. Yeah, you 2 went and met Minnie. Met Minnie she did the same thing as all the other ones. She wouldn't meet her but it wouldn't walk so I had to carry her and and we walk away and she's like I forgot to tell Minnie that I saw Mickey. I just thought she saw Mickey the day before or back on. Monday. But yeah. Yeah, it wasn't our best day. The last day was not great. It just no. It was kind of a bust. It was like, why? Why I was feeling like, why did we even come in today? Because you just we weren't able to do the things. We wanted to do once we got to

01:01:08the animation building though. Like the kids had fun at Turtle Talk, at least the younger ones. And then Animation Academy is always cool. Like so once we decided to leave Pixar Pier and like let go of oh, but then when we got there and credit Coaster opened. Yeah, but it was like. But it over an hour, yeah, like right away. And we were like eating lunch and ready to leave. So it was like, yeah, we can't do that. When, when the first day we were there, Noah was like, I love all the 70s stuff. He loved all the 70s stuff. And he's like, this is so far like our best trip ever. Like, and I was like, no, we've been here for like a few hours.

01:01:48He's like, I know, but I can just tell already, like with all the 70s stuff, I just love all this stuff. And then we asked him, we asked him the last day. We're like, are you? Is it still the best trip ever? He was like I spoke too soon. It wasn't our worst trip. We've had worst trips. Yeah, like pink eye. Our last trip as a family was our worst trip. Yeah, last May, not like a few months ago, but 2024, it really went like the first, like the first two days were good. Like, yeah, they were like Fitz and George. I didn't want to take a picture, but it was good. Like we had a good time that we loved all the shows.

01:02:23The kids love the shows. It was hot and we didn't get to, like, do everything we wanted, but it was good. But the last day it was like we didn't get to. It's like we didn't do anything like it was like. We knew going into this that it was going to be more focused on doing the 70s stuff, the key and then the we knew that the parades and the shows was going to take a chunk of time that day. So I knew when I was stacking these, I was like, I think we're not going to be able to use these but. Yeah, because we would need to like walk over to this area and find the key, you know, like so it was taking us places that we wouldn't normally go but but

01:03:05still good. Like yeah, yeah. So it was, it was good. It just didn't end great. But it was fast. It was really fast. And we won't do these back-to-back things again. Like it was it was too much. We were, we were going into this tired and so, yeah, but we'll go back. I think, you know, we usually go in February. We're definitely going to go for the 70th again. Yeah. And it won't be hot. But I mean it was hot, but like I had cooling towels and the fans and all that and it those all helped. We've gone when there was like, yes, we've.

01:03:55Gone when it was worse. Yeah, yeah. And so this was at least manageable, but I think we definitely earned, not that we will actually take it earned a adults only trip. Yeah, we earned it, but I don't think it's going to happen. We'll see find a hotel for under 100 bucks a night where we feel safe and not, you know, get mugged or anything but but yeah. Sleep in our car. Let's just. Yeah, let's do that. Week 8. Let's let's my my sister and her husband have a trailer. Maybe we can. That's true. Rent it and go to a RV park or something. That's true.

01:04:37I don't know if he would trust you driving it down there. I don't want to drive it, pull a trailer, but yeah, that was our trip. That was our. The 70th is great. Yeah, I like, I love all the colors. Any like special like food stuff either? The confetti waffles from Schmoozie's, I think those are. Oh yeah, that that caught me off guard because I didn't know that they were they were filled. I didn't either. I guess I didn't read the description. I didn't see it, it just said it was served with strawberry whipped cream. Yeah, but the inside had strawberry like custard or

01:05:17something. I liked it. I don't. Like Jelly custard, it wasn't. Jelly. But it was yeah. But yeah, we didn't really get yeah. Yeah, but yeah, no, it was. The good parts were good, the bad parts were bad, but the 70s stuff is cool so. Yeah. Will we go again? Yes, we will. Most definitely. I feel like there's probably more I wanted to say. I'll, I'll bring it up next time. I'm sure. Yeah. But as we end this, just want to give a quick shout out to the

01:05:59Disney World is awesome guys, because they I'm not obsessed. They're they're celebrating their fifth year. Yes, that is pretty incredible. Of of doing their podcast. Good job guys, you have brought joy to so many. For sure. And inspired so many. Inspired us to start but anyways well, like we mentioned before, you can check out the details of our trip and our highlight bubble on our Instagram. So check that out follow us at dreaming dot of dot Disney dot podcast. What's the oh that? Cat is like kind of tripping and now he's sitting in a bowl. Sitting in a bowl. But he also has a problem cleaning himself.

01:06:56So don't use that bowl anymore. Oh, Frankie, we'll. Need to clean that. He's so fat he's having a hard time lately. Yeah, well, he's, he's very furry, so. Very. Yeah. But anyways, well, we appreciate you following along on our trip. We'll have more details, praying more stuff that we think of will pop up. Well, thanks for listening and we'll talk to you later.