For many Disney fans, choosing a trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland often comes down to proximity—travelers on the east coast default to Walt Disney World, and west-coasters often select Disneyland—but there are numerous advantages to vacationing at the resort farther from your home. Removing the distance factor from our travel plans, we compare what it’s like to vacation at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, staying on property in each case, and how traveling with young kids changes the experience. We also discuss our favorite attractions, food, and memories from our most recent trip to the Disneyland Resort.
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This episode is sponsored by K m v travel voted the top travel agency in Orlando in twenty twenty five who helped us enjoy an unforgettable four night stay at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa at the Disneyland Resort. To get started creating your own vacation memories and to get rewarded for booking a trip to Disney in twenty twenty six, visit KMV Travel dot com slash skyway. Welcome aboard Imagination Skyway. Your guided tour through the worlds of Disney and Imagineering. I’m your host, Matthew Krul, and it’s my job to explore the stories and places we love and the people who bring them to life. Before we get started, remember that you can unlock ad free episodes and bonus content at patreon dot com slash Skyway. In today’s episode, we explore the various similarities and differences between the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, and the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, especially the ways in which those similarities and differences can impact your vacation experience. We also share highlights from our most recent trip to Disneyland, which was my wife Joanna’s first time staying on property, and our daughter Emily’s first visits to California. As we begin our journey, please remain seated. Keep your hands and arms inside the podcast at all times and enjoy your journey aboard Imagination Skyway. Way back in episode two of the show, which, surprisingly, was the first official episode of the show and still one of the most popular, we did an episode about comparing Magic Kingdom to Disneyland Park. And that episode was mostly focused on attractions, comparing what’s better Pirates of the Caribbean at Magic Kingdom versus Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Space Mountain at either park. At the time, it was Splash Mountain at either park, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and any other of the two parks that have the same attraction or the two. Two of the same attraction at the at the each of these parks, but I haven’t done a comprehensive episode about Walt Disney World versus Disneyland, and now feels like the right time to do it. There’s just been so much that Disneyland has added, and that has developed at both resorts that it feels, after nine years of doing this show, like a good point to revisit. So to do this, I don’t have John and Anne Marie who were my guests on that episode, but I have my wife, Joanna, who at the time we just got married when I recorded that episode. Oh how sweet. Yeah, just to set time and place here because that’s just thinking back feels like so long ago. And this is going to be jumping around a little bit between two topics. We’re going to compare Walt Disney World to Disneyland, but in the process, I think talk about our experience visiting Disneyland this past trip. It was Emily’s first trip to Disneyland, and arguably it felt like Maggie’s first visit because she didn’t really remember when she was a year and a half visiting. And that was quick. We just drove in from Arizona visiting family, stayed overnight at the Hilton Anaheim, then did one day in both parks. The dessert party at World of Color, went back to sleep at the Hilton Anaheim and left the next day. Whereas this was of course, four nights and it wasn’t four nights off property, but four nights on property. We’ve really upgraded. We really upgraded, but we wanted to do this a real Disneyland vacation, especially traveling across the country. Right? It’s hard to take two kids, change time zones, do maybe one or two nights and fly home. I did that for Brian’s bachelor party, but it’s easy for me as an adult to fly out there, sleep a couple nights and then come back and adjust back and forth. Okay, we can think about it as Maggie’s official first Disneyland vacation. First memorable one for her, maybe. Sure. I mean, Emily’s not gonna really remember this one either, so I guess we have to do it again in, like, three years or so. That’s just the logic. If they forget, we go back. If they don’t forget, we go back. We just go back. We just go back. It doesn’t matter. We love it. This is the first time that you stayed on property at Disneyland. Yes. And to be fair, I only stayed on property. I mean, I was a kid, and I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. That was before California Adventure existed, so. Oh, wow. I don’t really remember it. Very old. I’ve just been going to Disney for a long time. You were around two before California Adventure. You were eight. Oh. All right. No, sorry. You were. You were ten. I take that back. You were ten when California Adventure opened. Oh, I didn’t realize that it opened. So two thousand and one. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, anyway, I still think you’re old, though. I remember I have like this, this snapshots of dining at Goofy’s Kitchen and staying at the Disneyland Hotel with my family, with views of the mountains, but not necessarily the parks. I don’t remember. And I remember rocket rods like those things I remember. But then after that, it’s just been staying off property with you or with my cousins or with both you and my cousins. And then last year was the first time that I truly went back. And I talked about this a little bit in the Grand Californian episode that just came out. Mount. I was feeling it out a little bit. Between staying at the Disneyland Hotel and staying at Grand Californian to see where it would make sense for us to stay. And arguably either one would have been great. But The Edge went to Grand Californian, in my opinion, and I think it played out as I hoped it would. Yeah, I think you made the right choice. I mean, I, I know about the Disneyland Hotel. I’ve seen the all the stuff that they’ve got over there. It’s pretty cool. You’ve eaten there. Um, I’ve eaten there. Tangaroa terrace, one of your favourite places to eat. It is one of. How come we didn’t go there? We had no time. I know we had no time for anything, which is ironic. We had four nights instead of two. But we. You know, we packed, we packed that schedule. Yes, we really did. And part of this was, you know, and I can just remember the poke bowl as being the perfect poke bowl. I don’t have to go back. I get it now. Okay. You can go back anytime. Next trip, we can go back. I think we wanted to try other things. We also were with my extended family, so we were with my mom, step dad, dad, step mom, sister, brother in law, four nieces, all kids, six kids under the age of five. And Michael showed up too, so fifteen. I was so glad Michael. Michael surprised us by Haunted Mansion. We thought he couldn’t come and there he was. That was really nice. He was the thousandth ghost. He was the thousandth ghost. He made it out remarkably so. What are your thoughts now? Having stayed on property and specifically having stayed at Grand Californian, I talked about this at length with Philander. So I’m going to just default to your opinions here. Sure. Okay. Um, it felt more like a vacation. Um, when we were staying on property for sure. Like the I’ve been to Disneyland now maybe like three or four times before this. And we’ve always stayed off property, like you said. And staying off property, it’s almost like visiting the park. And it’s not like being on vacation in Disney. Um, it’s a good way to put it. It does feel that way. Okay. So I’m glad you like that. Yeah, that’s that feels right to me. It’s just my opinion too, I think. Yeah. You feel like you’re staying in Anaheim and then you go and visit. Visit Disney. Disneyland? Yeah. Um, but this was more like a Disney vacation. Um, so staying on property and staying at Grand Californian, um, was really great. Or I could say grand, I guess it was grand. Yeah. Yeah. The, the vibe that I got was more aligned with how I feel at Walt Disney World, just because it felt like we were in the Disney bubble for the four nights. Um, Yeah. I said you wouldn’t see the streets of Anaheim the entire length of the stay. And you didn’t like it was just Disney. You did, you did. But well, that was the whole incident. Yeah. An unplanned incident. Um, so yeah, I do agree with you that maybe now it’s a fine time for us to really compare the two, you know, East coast, West coast idea about it being a real Disney vacation because now I, I seen it and I’ve experienced it. So it does seem, um, like I could say one way or another if things are better East coast or west coast. Yeah. We were talking about this a little bit before. There are clear advantages to each one. And I think growing up on the East Coast, it generally, if you grew up on the West Coast, I feel like Disneyland feels more like home to you if you grew up on the East Coast, Walt Disney World, because generally it means you went to Walt Disney World. If you’re on the East Coast, you went to Disneyland. If you’re on the West Coast. So Walt Disney World has always felt more like home to me. And it has the advantage of the sheer volume of attractions, resorts, dining options. If you lay out the menu of where the list of things to do at Walt Disney World, there’s no comparison. You just are doing. You could do so much more than you can do at Disneyland. But Disneyland competes. Disneyland can compete. That’s kind of my point. Like, we could really compare them a little bit now where before, before staying on property, I couldn’t imagine the two of them competing. I mean, obviously ride for ride. If you were to compare like pirates to pirates, West Coast Pirates totally out performs East Coast Pirates hands down. Um, for example. But now we could genuinely compare the actual vacation. Mhm. Um, so I’m excited to do that. Yeah. And I think it’s also worth saying that even though I thought we would be able to accomplish just about everything there is to do. I don’t think we even came close. No. I was surprised. We really missed a lot. Yeah. We did. And we were in the parks for for, well, three days. Three days in evening or afternoon? Yeah. Really? It was like three days. Yeah. So I feel like we still missed a lot. Which just goes to show how much there is to do at Disneyland, but also part of that, which is maybe one point of comparison we can start with. And you had more to do with this than I did, because I feel like I was handling all the logistics, especially for my family at this point, are at these points was all the character interactions. Oh my gosh. And I put it in my story. You did as a Walt Disney World is character meets And Disneyland is character moments. Okay, that’s the two phrases because you go and you line up at Walt Disney World for a meet and greet, unless you’re going to character dining. But then those are the same in both places. The characters come around to your table, the Walt Disney World character meet and greets, except for now animation courtyard for the most part. I mean, you’re lining up in Princess Fairytale Hall. You’re lining up to just do like your one and a half, you know, two minute meet and greet, sign autographs, whoever it is. Yeah, signing the autographs makes it less the two minutes because I have to actually sign something. Um, Disneyland because there’s no like set wins for any characters. I mean, there’s some, there’s some. Um, but for the most part, any time that we had a character interaction, we were not waiting for it. It just just happened. Um, we found Jeanie walking around. We were following him for a little bit, and Jeanie saw Maggie and was like, oh, come with me. And then we walked around. We took a nice picture by the carousel with Jeanie. Um, Peter Pan did the exact same thing. We just so happened to find Peter Pan. He was just walking around and he’s like, oh, Maggie, great to meet you. And it was a real it was a real meeting, I guess. And you can, if you want to compare it like a meet versus a moment. Um, that’s that’s okay. That’s okay to say I agree with you there. And he grabbed her hand and walked her from his original meeting spot near the corner of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and moved her over to Alice and Alice Wonderland. Yeah. The party. Yeah. The characters don’t stay in one place, which is why there’s really no line. And the character attendants are saying the exact same thing. It’s like Peter’s not, uh, staying here. He’s going to be flying around. Um, be sure to follow him if you would like a picture. There’s no lines. Like they’re just saying that the whole time. Um, and you, you just keep wandering with them and you can follow them all through the park if you wanted to. And then, um, eventually you’ll get a picture with them really quickly. Um, he did sign an autograph, which is great. Um, Jeannie didn’t, it was just so quick with Jeannie. Um, we, we, I didn’t have an autograph book with us. Um, or I had one, but maybe it wasn’t in the backpack or I don’t know where it was, but it doesn’t matter. Um, yeah, Disneyland kind of is fun that way where it’s more of a surprise character coming around and you’re like, oh, wow, I can’t believe Jeannie is over there and you just kind of run and go meet him. I mean, we were on the carousel when we saw Jeannie originally. Um, and Maggie was like, oh, look, it’s a Jeannie, and I’m like a Jeannie. What are you talking about? She’s Jeannie, a Jeannie. And I turn, I’m trying to look at what she’s finding because it’s very difficult to, like, pinpoint exactly what she was looking at. Um, until I saw Jeannie, like, standing above the crowd. I’m like, okay, Jeannie. So then we found him again, and it’s just, we had a lot of fun walking around finding characters. Um, I was lucky enough and you unfortunately missed this whole thing. I was handling logistics. I was picking up food. After you go pick up the food, you go pick up the food. Okay. And grab a table. Okay. Grab a table. So we. Maggie and her grandpa, um, and me, we we found a table also, uh, it was a tea party with Alice and the Mad Hatter, right. By Dumbo and the Casey Junior circus train. Nobody was there. Yeah, and nobody was there with them. It was almost like they were just casually putting on a show, and people were just kind of like, watching from the sidelines, but nobody was interacting with them. And so immediately I’m like, oh, because they were saying, come sit down, sit down, move down, move down, have a cup of tea, have a cup of tea. So we’re like, we’re sitting there, the three of us, Maggie and her grandpa and me, we’re all sitting there just having a tea party. And it was like a five, six minute interaction, maybe more. Now I think about it because I got, I think I got like two and a half minutes on video. Um, and we’re just telling, he’s telling us, telling jokes and Alice is saying, oh, you’re, you’re such a, you’re such a mad hatter. You know, she was saying a whole bunch of funny things too. Um, I gave Mad Hatter a nice little quip and he’s like, I’m gonna remember that one. Uh, it was just like a lot of fun. And they had props. They were like, like literally tea tea sets. Yeah. Like a plush tea set. Move down, move down. Yeah. It was funny. And it wasn’t, it wasn’t like a planned meet and greet. It was more like Mad Hatter and Alice are literally inviting us to go have tea. Let’s let’s go have tea with them. And nobody else was. And that’s the type of Disneyland experience you can have that you can’t have at Walt Disney World. And you might miss this stuff if you are just marching towards an attraction for those attractions. Yeah, I think that’s part of the reason why we didn’t get to do everything was just because we were interacting with so many other things. We were interacting with the cast members. We were interacting with the characters. Um, I’m, I don’t even know. The other one was in Avengers Campus. I think we spent like two and a half hours in Avengers campus, just like enjoying the time with the characters that were there. There were so many heroes, like could not believe there was. At one point we got so lucky. One of the cast members was like, as I asked her, I’m like, oh, do you know where Captain America might be? Not Captain America. Oh my gosh, Captain Marvel might be because we have her book and Maggie is really interested in making sure that she, her, her hero signs this and she’s like, oh, if you wait right here in about five minutes, we’re going to have a character moment. And I’m like, where exactly should I be waiting? Because we were in the middle of like the plaza. And she goes, no, right. Literally right here, stand right here. And I’m like, okay, I had no idea. And we stood there and all of a sudden you hear this announcement from, I think it was like, it wasn’t Jarvis, but it was like one of the AI’s that Tony Stark made. Yeah. Um, it could have been Friday. It could have been Friday. It could have been Karen, I don’t know. Um, saying like, um, we need to have more heroes, we need more recruits. And then all of a sudden I couldn’t even count them. There must have been like Nine heroes come to this center where literally Maggie and I are standing, and they’re all standing up there and they’re like trying to come down and get the recruits. So we happen to be standing directly in front of America Chavez. And she, she grabs Maggie and was like, would you like to know how to do a star punch? And Maggie’s like, obviously, like, you’re telling me a star and a punch. Like those are two things that I love. So you have we have Maggie with her like Marvel dress that I found for her at like one of the thrift shops, like doing the star punch right there with America Chavez. And then America sees that she has the captain. Um, the Captain Marvel book. And she’s like, oh, Captain Marvel is here, too. You want to go over to her? She’s usually over here. And we asked America for her autograph as well. She was she happened to not be in the book, which makes sense. But, um, she signed the back of the book for us, and then we found Doctor Strange, and he signed right next to America, which was very appropriate. And then, um, we saw Captain Marvel and we had this amazing moment with Captain Marvel. I was, I was literally going to cry, and I have to tell you about it because I didn’t even get a chance to tell you about this. Right. I feel like we did not have this conversation, probably. We’re just waiting for this episode. We had some conversations, but maybe, maybe there was so much that happened you might have just forgotten. I mean, we moved to such a quick pace. It did, it did. It was so fast. But, um, I literally almost cried when this happened. So we’re standing there with, oh no, you told me this, I just remembered, but go ahead, tell the story. Anyway. I’m like, okay. I’m like, what is this story? I guess I won’t. Yeah, no please do. We’re standing there with Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel, and they’re doing a meet and greet together. Um, like right at that moment with all the heroes, immediately we go over to them because we have the Captain Marvel book, um, Golden book. And Captain Marvel sees Maggie’s book and she just opens it to like the front cover. And it’s a message from Maggie’s uncle Daniel, who’s my brother. Um, basically saying, um, never forget to stand up for what you believe in. And he wrote that he’s like, love your Uncle Dan. And Captain Marvel was like, oh, this is a beautiful message from your uncle. Make sure that you stand up for, you know, for everything good. And it was just like, so great. And then Captain Marvel wanted to sign the book and she goes, oh, but the most important signature is missing. Can you write your name here to Maggie? And Maggie is just like, nodding her head like, yes, I can. Like, I can do this kind of thing. And Maggie takes the permanent marker and she just writes her name perfectly in the white square on the little golden book. And she turns it around and she goes, oh, Maggie, it’s great to meet you. And then, um, Captain Marvel just writes a great message to her and signs her signature in the book. And I’m literally almost crying because that is something so important that Maggie didn’t write her name in the book, but now she can write her name in the book. Um, she’s been able to write her name for a while, but it was just she never did it because she just doesn’t like to write in books, I guess. I don’t know. Um, and it was just really special that it was Captain Marvel that helped her to do that. And I’m like, this does not happen in Disney World. I mean, it could it, it could. Obviously not with not with Captain Marvel, unfortunately not with the Avengers or anything like that. But we’ve had moments with Wendell and, you know, yes, yes. We’ve had great opportunities in Disney World, but it’s few and far between. This was just loaded in like two days. In two days we’ve had we had so many amazing character interactions. And again, it wasn’t just characters. It was also cast members too, because half of that whole Avengers Heroes thing was because a cast member told us what to do. Um, and I didn’t ask or anything, but she was just like, oh, this is a really good spot. Stay right here. I’m like, okay, yeah. So you missed all that. I, I mean, if honestly, I might have missed it anyway, because there’s always those things tend to come up when I’m doing a diaper change for, for Emily or grabbing food for us. Like it seems like those happen a lot because then you will go and entertain Maggie while I’m. I literally just walk in a circle. Most of the time I’m like, okay, just get lucky. He’s doing a diaper change. Let’s go to the bathroom. We’ll come out of the bathroom and then something amazing will happen. Yeah, well, a lot of them I do catch, but then a lot of them I do miss at the same time. And that’s okay. The so the character interactions again, you’re going to have a higher volume, I think of character moments and interactions and unique experiences at Disneyland more than you will at Walt Disney World. Not to say it won’t happen in Walt Disney World, but Disneyland. It tends to happen in our experience, more. The one that maybe is when we’re comparing the two, harder to compare. And part of this is because we haven’t again, done everything at Disneyland is food, snacks, just dining in general. Uh, again, Walt Disney World, you have a lot more to choose from than you do at Disneyland just because you add thirty resorts to the mix, and Disney Springs, which is significantly larger than Downtown Disney at Disneyland. Basically, downtown Disney District at Disneyland is about the length of the old, like west side at Disney Springs. And then just think about how much larger Disney Springs is. So when you think about dining, there’s not as much. The one thing that that I noticed on this particular trip, because we did go during a small little heat wave. It’s not the worst I’ve seen at Disneyland, but it was it reached like mid nineties during the day, which is hot. And it was hot. It was it was very hot. And it doesn’t really rain. It doesn’t really rain. So but there’s no like break in that. So that was pretty uncomfortable. Yeah. Yeah. But I find at Walt Disney World you can almost always find somewhere to eat inside. Yeah. And Disneyland, unless you’re doing a table service restaurant if you’re doing quick service. I mean, they’re the newer places docking Bay seven, which I chose for dinner, one that really that first day because it was really hot was, I think, smart because we got to eat inside in the air conditioning. But even like Red Rose tavern, which we ate for breakfast, there’s a few tables inside, but most of them are outside. Pimm’s Test kitchen pretty much exclusively outside. Smokejumper grill inside, but not a very large place. I’d say more tables, or at least half the tables are outside and just about anywhere else I can think of for not table service dining, but quick service dining. Um, and even some table service dining, which I think is all outside too. I didn’t, we didn’t eat there, but like it’s one hundred percent outside. I remember seeing it as part of the reason why we didn’t eat there. And most of the time I’d say most of the time that’s fine. No problem. It’s actually great. Yeah, it’s pleasant to be outside. Yeah. But it was not pleasant that week that we were there with the heat. So yeah, I agree that, um, I wish there were more inside opportunities, but I think that we did fine. Mostly eating, um, in the shade or inside like docking bay seven. Yeah. That being said, I will say that the places that we did choose to eat, for the most part, the quality of the food is better somehow. And I think the quality specifically of the ingredients just seem fresher at Disneyland in many instances, I mean, Smokejumper Grill, which is essentially an old school chicken nuggets, burgers, French fries that I’d say is about the same as I felt like I was eating at Backlot Express, but with a California adventure theme instead of a Hollywood Studios theme. But I just felt like I was eating more fruit. I felt like and like fresh fruit. I felt like I was eating fresher vegetables. I felt like I was just eating. Maybe it was the options I chose, but I just I even felt it when I was at the parks. Um, like I didn’t feel like, um, I just felt like there was just more healthy options to choose from or better quality food to choose from. And that just could have been perhaps this particular trip. Um, but I’m just comparing quick service. It’s hard to say. It’s really hard to say. Disney World has been doing a fantastic job. They have been getting a lot better with that. I’m thinking like Magic Kingdom, I imagine. Well, to be fair, Magic Kingdom, Columbia Harbor House to get like salmon and rice and green beans. Columbia House is top, top, um, when it comes to the healthy eating and I guess Epcot to connections eatery. Yeah, there’s a lot that Walt Disney World has now that’s not like chicken nuggets and fries and burgers. Oh for sure. Um, so the canteen, I’m just adding them up in my head now. Docking bay seven. Like there’s lots of options. The canteen is number one. Let’s be honest for sure. It still is even between the two. Yeah, I don’t know. Um, Disneyland food I thought was about the same. And I think it was the choices that we made there. Like I was saying to Matthew, I was saying to you, um, before going to Disneyland that I was like following all of these different accounts to try to find the best, like snacks to eat in Disneyland because I don’t know where everything is. And it’s like, oh, I really want to go to this place and get the cookies. And that’s like, oh, that’s in Disneyland. It’s not in California adventure. And I’m like, darn, okay, we missed it. Now we can’t go back to Disneyland because we didn’t get those cookies. We can’t get those. The harbor, it was like harbor something cookies, like the small ones we probably would have if I didn’t have that issue come up, that I had to leave and come back those two hours, I, I wish I ate more snacks like unhealthy snacks. I wish I ate more, but I felt like I ate very healthy when we were there because we had the opportunity to eat healthy. Yeah. Um, but we still have the opportunity to eat healthy when we’re in Disney World. I got my churro at Disneyland. We got our single churro. Yes. That we shared. Oh no, we got two. We got two. We did get two. We shared it with the kids. Um, like I got the, um. Oh, which one was it? It was like the meat on a stick. It wasn’t a corn dog like the, the first. You’re talking about the skewers at Bengal barbecue. Yes. Yeah. I really wanted to eat at Bengal barbecue. That was good. That was really good. Really good. That was a good choice. Yeah, I wanted to do that. But more than Tiana’s Palace because I was like, I like barbecue more than, um, I would say bayou food, but that’s not really it. It’s like southern Louisiana. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that spice. Um, I don’t like that spice. Cajun Cajun spice. That’s it. Um, yeah. But like barbecue was really good. Cajun Creole, I don’t know, I don’t know what it is, but it’s. Yeah, Tiana’s is really good, by the way. Oh, I believe it. Yeah. I if you know what if we were there numerous times, um, not even just like on this trip. I’m saying like, if we were going back to Disneyland in the next three months, I’d be like, okay, let’s try tiana’s let’s try another place because we’d have the opportunity to keep going back and it’d be okay if we didn’t get the best, best food that we wanted. It would be like, all right, well, we’ll come back next time. We’ll try something else. Like that’s what we can do in Disney World because we’re just east coasters that can go to Disney World really quickly, and it doesn’t cost as much money to get there for us. Um, but saying that, I think Disneyland probably has, like you said, more fresh, somehow fresh food. I don’t understand how the churros were so much better. For example, like it could be the, the lower humidity in Disneyland because it is, it’s not. We want it actually strangely, a little more humid than strongly humid. Yeah, but it was. But still, I think just the drier climate, somehow it maybe in Disney World, the humidity gets to the churros more and they just get like, I don’t know, but it could just be something that’s subtle. I’ve had the Disney World churros enough times and I’m like, all right, I’ve had enough kind of thing. It starts to get that like dense, chewy flavor. I think that’s the humidity probably impacting it. That’s what I mean. Whereas Disneyland’s are just crisper. It’s just crisp and like it just seems fresher. Mhm. I don’t know. You’re right, though, because it can’t possibly be different. There are churros. I don’t know. Yeah. Um, I’m going to jump around a little bit. I love it. Uh, on the food topic, which is not one hundred percent the same, but, um, Disney Vacation club lounge. Uh, this is your second time at the Disneyland one. Star gazer. Yep. Yeah, this is my second Tomorrowland. Mhm. Um, I like that one because it has bathrooms inside. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Lifesaver. Lifesaver. Um, and at both Sam Mckim’s and Magic Kingdom and Imaginarium at Epcot, you have to go outside to go to the bathroom. This is such a small issue, but when you got little kids, just if you want, like, for us, it’s kind of a retreat in the middle of the day when it gets really hot and it’s got the complimentary beverages. Something had to be a Disney Vacation Club member or get in through a Disney Vacation Club member. But like for us, I really like the Disneyland one for that reason. And it’s big. It’s really big. It’s big, it’s open. Like it doesn’t feel, um, like Maggie and Emily were watching cartoons on the complete opposite side, even though it was so big. And we were both like, yeah, we could both see them because it’s just open. I felt comfortable because like, Imagine Atrium, I never liked that because of the stairs. If I can’t see the stairs, especially with Emily, like I don’t want even Maggie. Yeah. Like I can’t see around imagine atrium and Sam Mckim’s is just small, so it’s fine for them to wander. But, um, yeah, I felt very comfortable in stargazers and in Disneyland. I almost said Epcot because it feels like Epcot. Um. The oh, I was going to ask before if we were talking about Tiana’s. And this was your first time finally getting to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure after three years. So three years later. Yeah. Or no. Two years. Sorry. Two years. There’s only been two years. Oh, it’s only been two years. Yeah. It feels like three years. It’s been two years. So because it was right before Emily was born that we they also they also put splash under refurbishment for a while. So maybe that’s why it feels like that I guess. Yeah. That’s true. It was down for a while. Um, but anyway, so you finally got to ride Tiana’s you got to do it with my sister who Splash mountain was her favorite attraction was Michelle’s favorite ride. And I’m like, seriously, Splash Mountain was your favorite? Hey, a lot of people love that attraction. It’s got the music, it’s got the flume. Like you just get wet. And if you don’t mind getting wet, it’s a great ride. I know. Well, you know, so I knew Michelle. Like I knew that that was Michelle’s favorite ride. Splash. And Tiana’s is basically splash, but it’s, you know, tiana’s themed. And she grieved the loss. She she did. And I said to Michelle, we have to ride it. It’s your favorite ride. We have to go on. It doesn’t matter how long it’s going to take. And nobody else wanted to ride it. And everyone, including Matthew, was trying to discourage us from going on this attraction because it was right before the parade. We’re going to get soaking wet. You’re going to be drenched. Your shoes are never going to dry. Everyone was trying to discourage both of us from going, and Michelle was still like, okay, I guess not. I guess not. I’m like, Michelle, when are you coming back here? When are you ever going to be able to ride this again? You don’t even know. Maybe it’s this is the last time ever for this opportunity for you. Let’s do it. We’re here. Let’s do it. It’s only. It was only a, I think, forty minute wait at the time. And, um, I was like, let’s just buy ponchos. Let’s just buy the poncho. And so we go and we’re trying to find ponchos and we’re trying to figure out what shop they would be in. We checked a couple of shops, like at the at the exit to splash, but that didn’t work out because it would be closer to the entrance of splash, if that makes sense. Um. I’m saying splash. Tiana’s Bayou adventure. Um, so we finally found the ponchos and I bought her her poncho and she’s like, really? Thank you. And I’m like, oh my God, it’s nothing. Please. I first of all, I got my DVC discount. Second of all, it’s literally nothing. And I’m really happy that we’re doing this together. I’ve never ridden this ride. I mean, obviously I’ve ridden Splash Mountain, but like for I did not ride Splash Mountain for a very long time. Um, and then they closed it and then they opened Tiana’s and I still did not go on Tiana’s for two years. Um, so finally I’m like, yes, we’re doing it. We’re doing it. So we, we got our ponchos, we put them on and we ride Tiana’s Bayou adventure. And it was amazing. And we did not get drenched like Matthew said we would. And our sneakers were fine because we lifted our sneakers up, because we work on our ab exercises. Um, so it was fine. Every time we went on a drop, we just had to like lift our legs a little bit so our shoes did not get soaked. And we had a great time and we made the parade. I’m really happy that it all worked out that way. Of course it did. It’s me. Yes. It’s true. I should never you should never doubt me. Never doubt. Um, speaking of parade, different nighttime entertainment, right? I mean, we didn’t see. We didn’t have the choice to see Fantasmic. We just didn’t. We had to pick what we were going to see. You haven’t seen fire or the rising moons. And like, that’s one thing that I actually wish. Okay. Without it, we could have seen it’s very Star Wars night. Yes, but not only that, but the, um, the fire, the rising moons, the I can’t remember. Disneyland has so many nighttime shows, but the I should probably have this open in my notes. Um, they have a projection mapping show that takes place behind the Millennium Falcon. It is fantastic. Probably the best projection mapping I’ve seen. That’s fine. Yes, that will be something to do on another trip. On another trip. It didn’t have to be done all in this trip. Like that’s the problem with the short Disney trips. Like you’re never going to be able to do everything. Yeah. I mean, how cool is it that that’s one thing that’s so great about Disneyland. You watch the exact same fireworks show, but if you’re watching it outside Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, it’s wondrous journeys. If you’re watching it inside Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, it’s fire. The rise, rise, rise, fire. The rising moon’s well, it’s late. I can’t think of the right word, but you’re watching the Star Wars one. But they’re exact same fireworks. Just different music accompanying it. And projections and projections. Yeah. So it’s just so cool. But anyway, this is. I’m sort of getting off topic. Um, when you’re comparing something like paint the night Starlight, um, wondrous journeys, happily ever after, world of color closest would be luminous, I suppose. Not really fair to compare either one of those. They’re very unique. World of color is very unique. Um, so in terms of night time entertainment, what are your thoughts on the comparison between the two? I love all night time entertainment. I really do. And I’m just grateful to be seeing it for the most part. I thought Paint the Night was so cool. I mean, we watched that on YouTube sometimes just for fun. Um, and it was just really sweet to see all of the different like lights and the music is so good. And, um, but I am a really big fan of Starlight. Me too. Yeah. The one in Walt Disney World. Um, paint the night is Gen Z’s Main Street electrical parade. And Starlight is Gen Alpha. I suppose their main Street electrical parade. Ours was spectromagic. Like every generation gets a different version of Main Street Electrical parade. Okay. It’s sort of a tradition they even incorporate in every one of those except Spectromagic. Um, I just have to think about it. Some Main Street electrical theme somewhere in there. Yeah, I think they had it. I think they do have it in Spectromagic, too. I have to think back. I don’t know what you call it, but it’s basically like a the hoedown, a hoedown. Oh. Oh, you mean like. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, I don’t, I don’t know what you call it. It’s basically like those quick little notes and it’s like four or five notes that just show up in something. And that happened with, um, world of color this time with the original world of color. Just notes that were in this one. Um, if I don’t, I really don’t know. I love all of them, I really do. I wish I could go back to the original world of color that I saw for the first time, like back in twenty twelve. Me too. Or World of Color one. Yes, that was an excellent overlay. Great overlay. But like I’m really talking about like the first time I saw World of Color when we did the dinner package. Um, I didn’t realize how special that was until years later. Um, because they have not brought something like that back and I wish they would. Yeah, I wish they would. It’s almost like they’ve updated the special effects, but not the same emotional punch that world of color had. The emotional punch, which is what one was good for. Like one had that emotional punch back. War. War one gave me chills. Yeah. Um. Which not. You know, if a nighttime show gives me chills, it’s usually a good one. Happiness does not. Sadly, does. Starlight does for sure. Especially with whimsy at the end when they play the Main Street electrical parade and they see the characters is just like, yeah, it’s just so special. Yeah it is. When we saw it the first time, Peter Pan and Wendy weren’t even flying. Right. They’re going to continue to upgrade it a little bit by bit. Yeah. So fun. I love all the nighttime stuff. I think Disneyland probably has more variety for nighttime stuff where Disney World has, um, luminous than it has happily ever after. It has Fantasmic and it has. Oh my gosh, I just, I just Starlight, which is Starlight parade and you’re like, okay, I think that’s it. It has something at the studios like on the projection thing too. It’s okay. Yeah, I don’t know. Well, another advantage of Disneyland that I’ll throw out here, especially if you’re staying. Well, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to be staying on property. But even if you especially if you’re staying on property was that first day That we mobile ordered Starbucks on the way to Disneyland, which you cannot do at Walt Disney World. So that was pretty cool. Yeah, waking up early. Mobile ordering. Like I almost don’t want to say it on the podcast because there was almost nobody doing it. You can still walk up and order, but especially if you’re staying, doesn’t matter if you’re staying any of those three hotels. If you’re walking to the Esplanade, the Downtown Disney Starbucks can be mobile ordered. The parks can’t, but that one can. Very special. Yeah, it was great. And I’m like literally in the room just saying, like, what do you want? Okay, so be ready in ten minutes. And we get ourselves together and we go downstairs, go through security, and then we wait a few more minutes. Oh, security was a breeze. Mhm. Security was a breeze. I thought the only thing that’s better at Disney World security, though, is that you don’t have to worry about the bags. Yeah, I, I almost wish they would upgrade Disneyland’s to the Disney World version. They might they haven’t. They might they have time. Disneyland’s turnstiles though. I like Disneyland’s turnstiles a lot. Okay. Let’s backtrack. BackTrack. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. We’re jumping around again. Okay, so security coming from Grand Californian was like, basically this private entrance into Disneyland. I know, California adventure. Yeah. Um, so going from literally our lobby and then walking like, I don’t know, fifty feet. Yeah. And then we get to the security line and there’s no line. There’s like four metal detectors that you walk through and they do check your bags. So you have to like open up all your zippers and they go through your bag like they used to do and you walk through, but then you are in the park. Yeah. Like literally grizzly River run is like right in front of you. Mhm. So you’re like, okay, I mean, that was worth it. The vibe just continues. It’s just like, it’s like if you stepped out of Wilderness Lodge into frontier land, it is. It’s just like, okay, I’m here. That was great. Like the feeling of just. I have no idea how that even can work in Disney World. You can’t have anything like that. The closest you can get to that might be, um, contemporary, because even then you got to cross the street. No, no, like monorail was a monorail wise. Like if you were in the contemporary, you go to the monorail and then you’re just in the monorail until you land in Magic Kingdom. Mhm. Do you know what I mean? Like. But still, because security of the monorail is easier. You’re already in the monorail, and then you just land. Here you are. You’re in the park. Yeah. So I think that might be the closest. Yeah, I, I have compared it to I did it in the grand Californian episode, which I keep plugging, but I said it’s as if you were staying at. Because Beach Club is the closest hotel to a Disney park at Walt Disney World. Yeah. And so it would be like if you were staying at Beach Club, and the entrance to Epcot was a little farther than Beach Club Marketplace. You just sort of like walk past your lobby and then whoop. Like right there you’re walking through your own security into Epcot. Yeah. I mean, Beach Club is definitely the closest to the park, but it doesn’t feel like you’re just walking into the park like it did at Grand Californian. Yeah, it’s really hard to describe. I mean, you’re looking through the security breezeway into Grizzly Peak and yeah, it’s like a back entrance. You’re not at the main gate. It feels like an extension of the hotel. It’s it’s like the. It really feels like the hotel is in the park, but not in a way that is loud or crowded. And it’s a very quiet part of California adventure to begin with, because there’s not much going on over there. And I think they do that on purpose. They have Soarin. You like walk a little bit farther to the left side, like you’re see Soarin over there, or maybe the right side, I don’t even remember. Doesn’t matter. Depends on which way you’re looking. Depends on which way you’re looking. Yeah. So I think there’s like not too much going on over there. I think the DVC Um, little booth is right there, so it’s pretty quiet. Yeah. Yeah. Attraction wise. The turnstiles. The turnstiles? Yeah. We should talk about the turnstiles. I, I really want. So like Disneyland, if they could upgrade to Walt Disney World security, that would be wonderful because it’d be so much faster if at Disneyland. Oh, sorry. If Walt Disney World could adopt Disneyland’s new turnstiles that they just integrated within the last year, that would be wonderful too. Um, the main thing for me is, like, every time you go to Walt Disney World, you’re putting your finger on that little, um, finger scanner that, like everybody else, has been touching the whole day. I just feel like I need to go right to the bathroom and wash my hands. Whenever I go through that. I don’t, I don’t feel like that, but I understand that people would feel like that. Um, and it also just like, it’s just like another just in terms of like frictionless experience, you just literally scan your face. Yeah. It scans your face. You’re like literally look at a camera, but it’s it’s like face ID with your ticket, you scan your ticket and scan your face and that’s it. And then turnstiles open up. Yep. Just confirmed that it works. It worked for the kids too. Like the camera is not at a at a particular level. The camera will find the the closest face. So like, we didn’t have to pick Maggie up. I picked her up the first time and I realized I didn’t have to. She could just like stand right there and just grabbed her face and she walked right through. Yeah. It’s quick. It’s easy. I really like it. Yeah. I would love for Walt Disney World to upgrade to that system. I do feel like the the magicband ones, somehow they can cause problems. They used to be the best. They used to be the best. Yeah. But that was back in, I guess twenty thirteen now or twenty fourteen when they did that. So that’s over ten years old. Yeah. It’s I think it’s time. It’s time. It’s time I don’t mind you take our pictures are everywhere. Like I don’t mind having my face being attached to my ticket. Um, and there was even an option for anyone who’s like, well, I don’t really like that. They actually have signs at the entrance that say Disneyland uses facial recognition for entering the park. If you would like to bypass this, you go to like it says, like what ticket turnstile gate to go to, and then they have an alternate system. I find that to be like a safety thing too. Like I’m very happy. Um, I’m feeling very safe when people are like, okay, I don’t mind having my face recognized. Like if I’m going to, if I have my face recognized with my ticket, and then all of a sudden I’m doing something terrible, like I’m dancing in a fountain that I’m not supposed to be. And then the cameras are like on my face. And then they just void my ticket. Like, I like that idea. I like that easier to know who’s who. It’s easier to know what’s up. No one’s dancing in fountains. Um, yeah, it. I really like that new system. Um, are there any new attractions that you did this time that you didn’t do last time you were there? Or any time before that? I was trying to think if there was anything that you did. I mean, Jessie’s critter carousel. That was the first time I the first time I did that carousel. Yeah. But that was just, you know, it’s been there, so. Yeah. No, I don’t think I wrote anything. Oh no, I did um, the two cars attractions that are not Radiator Springs Racers Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Rollickin roadsters. Yes, I did those two for the first time and I was like, okay, this is fun. Maggie loved them. Did she? She seemed like she did okay. Was I wrong? AM I wrong? She seemed like she had a great time. She seemed like she had a great time, but she didn’t say anything about it to me. Maybe she said something to you? No, I just saw it on her face when I was watching. Watching her on the ride. Yeah, she had a good time. Especially with the the dancing cars. She. I think she liked that more. She liked, um, I call it like the. It’s not the zipper. It’s like the Sizzler. It’s similar to the Sizzler or like the whip mater’s. Yes. Yeah. That’s more like the whip. It’s more like the whip. Yeah. She she liked that one too. We were on that. She was like, we. Yeah. It’s like alien swirling saucers, but it’s the cars land version of that. Yes, Yes. Carson came first, so I should say it the other way around. Alien swirling saucers is the Toy Story land version of Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree is a good point. Yeah. Um, the other thing I. We did for the first time this trip at Disneyland was, um, Storytellers Cafe. And this one was interesting. Um, what? Storytellers cafe. That was the character dining. We did a character breakfast the last morning. Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, the characters were great. I mean, you had Mickey, Chip, Dale and Pluto are really. The place was tremendous. Tremendous. Yeah, the food was really good. Um, but I don’t think there was a particular. And it could have been that day. I don’t know, but I don’t feel like there was a particular way in which the characters were moving through the restaurant, which is hard when to make sure you’re getting everybody when you have such a large restaurant, it is odd. Like I know that Tusker House does it a certain way where they seat tables at specific times. Um, so like this section of the restaurant at Tusker House is only going to be seating the ten o’clock breakfast people so that you know that everybody in that room needs to see the characters and then they can do the, the ten thirty breakfast people. And then there’s the separate sections. Um, I think Tusker House does like a really good job of that. But yeah, storytellers cafe, I felt like everybody was just kind of everywhere and we missed, I think we, we saw Mickey three times, three times before we saw any other character. Yeah. And I thought that was a little bit bizarre because they would pass by our table to go on break. Um, and then when they would come back, they would just continue. They’d just go somewhere else. Not necessarily where they left off. Yeah. They just kind of go someplace else. Fortunately, the character attendants were walking around and eventually I think they kind of like Mark down. We had only seen Mickey three times and then. So all of a sudden all of them came by relatively quickly. No, I didn’t think they came back relatively quickly. I think at that point, once they realized that we saw Mickey three times, and then we had just seen Pluto right before the character attendant came over. Um, and then all of a sudden it was like, Here’s Minnie, here’s Chip, here’s Dale. Yeah. Because we had to get out before lunch. I mean, like we had like a nine forty, right? Yeah. We got seated at nine thirty. We got seated at nine thirty and they were already changing over to lunch by the time we left. We did a later breakfast than normal because it was our last day and we didn’t really have to leave right away. And yeah, we wanted to see, you know, our classic characters that we could because we didn’t get a chance to, um, like see those characters. We just saw a lot of like the, the ones that run around. Yeah. Um, other experience we didn’t talk about was pin trading because Maggie’s really into pin trading. I’m. I feel like I’m making her into Pinterest. You are, you are. I was never into pin trading. I’m making her into Disney. Like it’s just in general. So I just have to be into Disney pin trading has been around for like twenty five years now, but I have basically never done it. Um, until one of our trips with Maggie, we found a pin on the floor of people mover really random. It didn’t have a back or anything. It was just like a random pin on the floor and I don’t even remember what it was. But I said to Maggie, I’m like, oh, we can trade this for a new one. And she’s like, okay. And this was like years ago, maybe when she was like, just turned two. Um, just one drop is all it takes. And we started trading that like one single pin that we found. And then it got to a point where I’m like, okay, I think we have to buy a set so that we can trade at least like five pins. You know what I mean? And then I bought her another trip. I bought her, um, the, the mystery ice cream and we got, I think it was like a five surprise set. And surprisingly, we got five completely different ice creams. And at that point you’re like, well, now I have to buy another package of ice creams. Um, so I did it on that same trip. I bought her like two packs of the surprise ice creams because we had gotten literally the five pack, five completely new ones. Um, and I’m like, that’s surprising. And then the second pack, I think we got like two duplicates. Um, so we were trading those duplicates. Um, and I got her a little pin bag at one point. And though she had all this ice cream on there, and then I realized that Matthew has some old pins that he had. So we traded some of his pins. How dare you! They were sitting in a bag in the basement. They were just sitting in a bag in the basement. I didn’t know what to do with them. I had so many of these, and they were not, like, sentimental pins or anything. No. Maybe they’re worth money, but it doesn’t really matter. Like, what, six, seven dollars more than what they paid for them? Who knows? It’s more about the fun. PIN trading idea, right? So Maggie’s been an expert pin trader with her bag now. Um, and, um, she’s, she’s been looking for the inside out characters for a while in Disney World and she hadn’t really found them. She found sadness. Um, and that was about it. And, um, we go to California and she has her pins, but California pin trading, there’s like extra rules around that that I had no idea about. And I don’t even know if they’re legitimate rules. Um, because I’ve heard one way or another that like some of the rules that the cast members make, are not actually the right rules. Um, from another cast member. Um, so who knows, but we were trying to follow the rules and we were just trading on boards, you know, nothing crazy. And then it got to like, we saw this like diamond board and we’re like, oh, what’s this? Because I had no idea. And they’re like, the cast member says, oh, you have a few diamonds in here. Do you want to trade diamond for diamond? And I’m like, what are you talking about? And he, he took our pin and he just like turned it around and he’s like, oh, see, this one has like a little Mickey Diamond on the back. And so do these. So what we try to do on this board is to only have diamond pins on it. And I’m like, oh, that’s really special. So she traded a couple of diamond for diamond pins. Um, but it turned out that she really just wanted her inside out characters. So I’m like, okay, fine. And I think the inside out characters are, they’re not like Disney pins that you can buy at Disney. They’re more of like the Disney licensed pins that maybe you’d get at boxed lunch or Loungefly or Hot Topic. I have no idea where they came from. I just know that those are the ones that she likes. So we happen to be trading and she found joy on a board and she’s like, oh, we must have joy. I’m like, great. And then literally within a within a few minutes of getting to the next pin board, we found fear and we’re like, oh, okay, we’re on a roll. And we found disgust that same day. It’s like you were following the person who was trading. I know, like it wasn’t, it wasn’t like back to back the whole time. It was just back to back joy and fear. And we found disgust and it was like, we’re only missing anger. And I’m starting to get excited too, because I’m like, what if we actually completed this little set? Like, who knows, right? Obviously there’s more emotions now, but I don’t I think these are older. so we’re treating more pins. You’re just having a good time. I bought her another set of pins. Um, I think they were. I think they were. Were they cupcakes or ducks or ice cream. I don’t even remember which set I bought for her again. But like, I always get her like something because why not? It’s fun. Um, and it was our last day, like right after breakfast. It was after breakfast, after Storyteller Cafe, we go over to the Grand Californian and, um, the gift shop has a pin board that they have out every single day. Like ten o’clock is when it comes out, because apparently we found out that they don’t keep their pin board out all the time. It comes out at ten a m and I’m like, oh, okay, this is really serious stuff. Um, so we’re there after breakfast and the cast member that’s at the board. You know, we didn’t trade anything, but we’re looking at the board and we’re like, oh, we’re really looking for anger. It’s our it’s our last day. We hope to complete the set. You know, we’re talking to her and she goes, oh, I hope you find him. I’m sure you will. All right. I’m like, all right. I doubt it because we’re literally leaving. Like we’re getting our bags from Bell Services right now to leave. And turns out Bell Services had a pin board. And sure enough, it’s a tiny little pin board. There was, I think there were only six pins on this pin board. And one of them was anger. And I’m like, it was meant to be. I can’t believe this. And I told Maggie, I’m like, oh, em. Gee, Maggie, do you see what I see? And she’s like, I found it, I found it. She’s getting so excited. She grabs betrayed. She jumps. Um, she’s like dad, dad, dad running over to you guys. You and Emily. Um, and he’s like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe it. And I’m like, Maggie, do you want to go tell Madeline that we found him? And she’s like, Who’s Madeline? And I’m like the cast member that we were talking to. She goes, oh, that’s a beautiful name. Let’s go tell her. And I’m like, okay, you should tell her that you like her name. Anyway, we go to her and she’s jumping for joy, like shouting at Madeline, like we found him. We found him. And Madeline’s like, no way. And she sees the whole set for Maggie. And then she’s like, come with me. Come with me. And then she grabs like, I’m celebrating button and a Disneyland button. And she writes like, um, expert pin trader or something like that on the pin. Maggie’s wearing her two buttons now. Oh, it was just really great. And all the pins that we got trading wise were really great pins. Like they weren’t the I don’t think they were really like the loungefly or box lunch pins. I feel like they were really Disney pins, um, that you could buy in the park, which was really cool. Um, because I definitely think that the boards in Disney World are like loaded with the Disney license pins, but not the actual Disney Parks pins, which is okay. I mean, like, if you like it, then you get it. But, um, basically we came out of Disneyland with all Disney Parks pins, which was impressive. Yeah, I did like that. You did really well with the pins, so I wanted to make sure you talked about it for all the pin traders, I guess. So, yeah. I mean, now I’m a pin trader. Now I follow you watch pin traders. I followed like Richard. She has a whole pin bag. Maggie has a pin board. Richard Simon I think is his name or Richard something. And now I follow him. He’s like an expert pin trader. And I get all the inside scoops with pin trading for Maggie. There you go. It’s fun. It’s something that we do. It’s fun. I know, it’s fun. So we’ve talked about so many specific things. So just broadly speaking with Disneyland and Walt Disney World, we’ve now done this with two little ones, both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World far more times than Disneyland. But which one do you feel is more manageable? Ooh, like specifically with littles? Yeah. Because as an adult, we could do anything, right? We could, like, we could hop on a bus from Coronado Springs and head over to Animal Kingdom. That’s not a big deal. I mean, size wise, um, the West Coast is, you know, I didn’t fold the stroller once. Yeah. Not once. Definitely from pick up to drop off. It’s definitely easier in the parks with the kids and staying on property easier. On the west coast. But it was so much harder to get there. Oh for sure. For us, changing time zones. It was rough. It was rough getting there. And it was rough coming home too. Like they were jet lagged for two days. Both of them. I think I was jet lagged for two days, which surprised me. Usually I get over it in a day, but even still I was like two days. I’m like, I can’t get up. It’s like four in the morning in California. No, it’s because we have the two littles now and we’re basically on their schedule. Yeah, but I agree it’s for coming from the East Coast. It’s harder to go to Disneyland with littles. Getting there, getting there. But once you’re once you’re there, it’s easier. I think staying on property came in clutch because if we had to travel the streets of Anaheim with the double stroller, I think that would have been a little bit harder to do. Um, we certainly were not going to be using a car. I mean, maybe, I guess we would, I think we did last time because last time we were at the Hilton, which was close enough to walk, but we knew we’d be going back late. And do we want to walk down the street with Maggie at like ten thirty at night, walk all the way back. It’s like a mile walk. It takes you out of the vacation mode instantly. Like the second you hit that street, as soon as you South Harbor, you’re like, all right, you have to hit like the traffic button. It’s like, well, okay, that was a fun little day trip. You know what I mean? Like Disney World has the edge when it comes to the bubble. Like everybody always talks about the Disney bubble and being there. And I think that with the amount of times that we go to Disney World, the way that we do it, we’re very low stress, low key, and just enjoying the moments that we have in Disney World. I find Disney World to be even more manageable personally, than Disneyland was, because when I had the two girls by myself in Disneyland, when you had to have your emergency orthodontist appointment, um, I didn’t know what to do. You know, I didn’t know where I should go. I didn’t know, like, should I try to find someplace to sit down where it’s cool and see if this one is going to nap or eat this or I didn’t. I wasn’t going to go on a ride because I wasn’t sure where to even park the stroller. Like it wasn’t like, well, it’s just because you also lack the familiarity compared to Walt Disney World, where we go all the time. Yes. And I think that that’s why I feel Disney World to me is more manageable just because I know where to go and I know what to see. And like Disneyland, I felt very lost in the park, especially when I was by myself. Not that I was getting lost, it’s just I didn’t know where to go, so I just walked around the shops, pin traded with Maggie. I think we got something to eat, like a quick bite from one of the carts. Um, but I didn’t do any rides. I didn’t sit down anywhere. I was just kind of, like, wandering for the time that you weren’t with us. Um, if if I go more, I think I would be more comfortable and it would be a totally manageable park, Without a doubt. Yeah. Well, for us, we’ll absolutely be going to Walt Disney World more than Disneyland. It’s just it’s so close for us, our home resorts around Walt Disney World for DVC. And we can just we have annual passes to Walt Disney World. It’s just more feasible for us to go. But, um, definitely, I think if you have, uh, even little kids, if you haven’t been to Disneyland, it’s just once you physically get there, uh, even if you’re coming from the east Coast, um, or even further than that, it’s just so like close, everything’s so close to each other. It’s just so manageable. Um, and you would be surprised within that small amount of space how much they pack into it, but it doesn’t feel cramped. It just feels like you have so much you can do. That’s funny. I did feel a little cramped. Oh. Did you? I did feel a little. I never get that feeling there. I did in Disneyland. I did in California Adventure. I didn’t. Yeah. It’s a newer park. Yeah. Disneyland’s got the quaint design to it. I did feel cramped at certain points. Yeah, like walking down, like part of the part of Main Street. I’m like, oh, everything is kind of on top of me right now. It’s smaller and you don’t really realize it because it doesn’t feel like it until you actually stop and think about it. And you’re like, oh, this is smaller. I was stopping a lot because we were doing so many pin trading with everybody. I’m like, I feel very much on top of a whole bunch of other things and things are on top of me. And, but, um, I think that was just me thinking about it and being by myself. Yeah. It was like the stress of just like, where do I go? Like Maggie really wanted to go back to Toon Town and I’m like, I, I had a map and I’m like, I literally cannot find twin Town. We walked around everywhere and it got to a point where like, we stopped and talked to a cast member because Maggie was holding the kids map. And I was like, looking at it with her. She’s like, we have to go past Dumbo. See, Dumbo is right here, and then we have to go right here. This is where the playground is. And I’m like, okay, so I’m passing Dumbo and somehow we pass Toontown and I didn’t see it, and it looks like looking at a cast member and she’s like, oh, you actually missed it. You’re supposed to go to the left. I’m like, oh, okay, sure. Thank you. So we ended up not making it to Toontown that day. Little things like that. But that’s just me. Yeah. Overall, I think this was probably our best trip to Disneyland yet. Okay. You’re like, no, this one was the best. You know what? If I think about it in the broad scheme of things, um, this this was a great trip because we had so many family members with us. Mhm. Um, if I were twenty twelve, Joanna, I would have said this was like the worst trip. Yeah. Because we did like. No, I didn’t even do anything. I think I rode Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. He rode in Indiana Jones, which I was very happy to ride. Indiana Jones and I rode Space Mountain once, but I was planning on riding it three times, but I only got to ride it once. You did in Credit Coaster. You did Radiator Springs Racers, you did Star Wars Rise of the resistance. You did Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run. I did, but you did more than I did. I didn’t do, um, mission breakout and I did want to do that too. That’s true. We did. I mean, the line for that was long all day didn’t do. What’s the Spider-Man one that I wanted to do? Web slingers that also had a long wait all day. It did. Yeah. Avengers Campus was very busy. It was. But I was very happy to meet all the characters. Avengers campus because you can never meet them anywhere except for the cruise ship. Yeah, we prioritized what we needed to get done or what we wanted to get done, but, um. Fun trip. I’m sure there will be more Disneyland trips to come. We’ll see when we. I don’t know when we should go. When should we go back? You said you want to go next summer. Um, I didn’t say that I wanted to go next summer. I just said we should go before the triplets turn three for Michelle’s sake. Because that’s why she might never come back. And I’m like, let’s just go one more time. So we’ll see. Yeah, perhaps. But either way, really good trip. And it was fun to do an episode about Walt Disney World versus Disneyland in a very haphazard, sort of like on the fly way instead of doing a formal list. Yeah, I like this way to do it. I’m happy to be back on the show for something else. Um, it’s always fun to be back on. Yeah, I wish I could have you on the show more, but someone’s got to watch the kids while. Oh my gosh. Okay. They’re they’re asleep right now, which is why we’re able to do this. Someone’s gotta watch the kids drop them off at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Okay. Yeah. And then we could do we could do an episode together again. Welcome back to Imagination Central. Before you exit this episode, remember to follow Imagination Skyway on social media and share the show with anyone who might enjoy listening to our program. If you’re looking for ad free episodes and bonus content, become an Imagination Skyway Pass holder at patreon dot com slash Imagination Skyway. When you’re ready for your next vacation, remember that listeners of Imagination Skyway can get rewarded for booking a trip to Disney in twenty twenty six through k m v travel voted the top travel agency in Orlando in twenty twenty five. Simply fill out the form at KMV travel dot com slash Skyway and select Imagination Skyway under the how did you hear About us question. To be eligible for a special gift from the team. Terms and conditions apply. 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