Yesterday, my friend (H) and I went to Disneyland for 11 hours. Here’s our broken down agenda:
Night before: Full Dinner and bed by 8pm. Took a melatonin because I don’t play games.
3:30am: Wake up call. Got dressed, did make up and hair, grabbed my mouse ears and my small Stella McCartney Adidas hiking bag.
4:15am: Leave apartment for the airport.
4:45am: Park at airport and head to security.
5:15am: Get past security and get coffee and fill up hydro flask.
6am: Flight out of Seatac and to LAX.
8:35am: Land at LAX, get off plane, bathroom break and change into shorts.
8:55am: Go to arrivals.
9am: Hail an uber.
9:45am: Arrive at Disneyland!
10am: Get through security and the gate.
10:01am: Come up with a plan and and get a locker.
10:10am: PLAY for 10 hours.
8:10pm: Go to Main Street for end of the night shopping.
9pm: Head out while the Electrical Parade begins.
9:10pm: Walk outside of park, hail an Uber.
9:45pm: Arrive at LAX & get through security.
10pm: Change back into pants and get snacks.
11:15pm – 11:55pm: Board plane, wait for passengers from another delayed flight.
Midnight: Take off.
3am: Land and go to car.
3:30am: Get home and sleep for 9 hours straight.
Let’s begin this story when we arrived at the gates of Disneyland, because what’s when the fun starts. It’s early and H and I had been awake for 6 hours already. We were dying for a snack but decided the first thing to do was take photos at the front of the park and then to calculate our hours and get our first fastpass of the day.
We calculated approximately 11 hours in the park before we had to head to the airport. We’re not Californians and didn’t know what the traffic would be like so we decided to leave early for our 11:30pm flight, just in case. That gave us til 9pm to have as many adventures as we could. Having spoken through out the week about the trip we both figured we should get fastpasses for HyperSpace Mountain. The facts are these: Space Mountain had only recently been renovated and turned into a Star Wars themed ride. Due to that, we knew it was going to be the most popular attraction.
Fastpasses, even at 10am, were pushed out til 5:05pm to ride. We were so stoked to have gotten tickets at all.
Next we decided to hop on our favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain, which was a 35 minute wait. What a ride, guys! I just LOVE it. It’s so fun, family friendly, nothing crazy and just loads of laughs. What more could you ask for?
This is the part of my story where the plot takes a turn. Something was off in the park. We got off the ride, still laughing and smiling because we were having a blast. Until we walked toward Adventureland and saw swarms of people. The park was at maximum capacity and they were actually turning people away at the front of the park. Our little adventure took a turn and we were so thankful it was just the two of us on this crazy trip. H and I are super relaxed travelers and decided to just make the best of the time we had. We got lunch at the Market Place and watched people who were in a 125 minute wait for Pirates of the Caribbean and a 60 minute wait for the Haunted Mansion.
We got another fastpass at around 12:30 for Haunted Mansion. Later another one for Big Thunder, again, since it’s our favorite. We didn’t get to ride any other attraction due to the wait times but we honestly weren’t upset at all. We kept saying “next time” because we knew we’d be back.
To top the trip, it was 88* degrees yesterday. Though there was only 17% humidity it was still a hot day in California and nothing like the weather we’d seen in months. Seattle hadn’t had a gorgeous day since last September! Though we both tried our darnedest and drank tons of water, we both got sun headaches.
Here’s the sum up of this trip.
Was this trip amazing and magical? YES
Will I ever do it again? Hells no.
And here’s why: 11 hours in the California sun is a long time for anyone. It’s also just a lot of put on your body. All together, H and I had been awake for just under 24 hours by the time we got home and it’s enough to make you sick. I got home at 3:30am this morning. I’m writing this after sleeping for 10 hours and I’m doing my best to relive yesterday… If it even happened at all. I somehow have the pictures to prove it but it’s pretty unbelievable that I was in Southern California yesterday and not again today. It’s sheer magic.
I will also never go on a weekend in May again. I forgot to mention it was grad night at Disneyland. Something we missed the memo on. So not only was the park stacked to the max with people but the majority being high school and middle school graduates. Which was equally amusing and also a little disappointing as we were hoping to catch some family fun.
I will follow up with a post on tips and tricks both H and I learned from our 1 day adventure. However, I will say, I am definitely spending the night next time or just not going at all. I am such a DisneyWorld fan, over Disneyland. DisneyWorld is sentimental to me though, as it used to be home for a long time. Disneyland is fun but DisneyWorld is just better to me.
What’s home to you? World or Land?
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