A Family Day at Disneyland
So the other day we had a rare opportunity: family day at Disneyland! I know, I know, you’re totes thinking, isn’t that like a weekly occurrence? But actually, it’s not. Squirt and I go to the parks together about once a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. But usually when we go, Matt is working (usually in the parks) so we see him, but he doesn’t get to hang out with us. Last week Squirt happened to have a minimum day on one of Matt’s days off, so we headed over as a fam, and here’s what our typical day at the parks looks like:
11:51 Leave the house
12:12 On the tram-because that’s how we roll now! Twenty minutes to drive to Disneyland, park and get through security, ka-chow!
12:24 Enter Disneyland and realize the Disneyland Band March Along starts in three minutes, so we of course head to the castle because what does Matt want to do when he’s not playing in the band? Watch the band!
12:48 Train time! Since we marched down Main Street with the band and ended up at the train station, we hopped aboard to head over to Haunted Mansion because Squirt is suddenly super into Haunted Mansion.
12:55 Fast Passes to Haunted Mansion secured!
1:04 And since we’re in the area, we might as well try the Groom churro (thoughts on Halloween food coming soon!)
1:10 Time for a walk through Galaxy’s Edge! Not going to lie, we had no intention of going on Smuggler’s Run, so we were literally just walking through. We stopped to look at some of the marketplace shops, and filled our water bottle (obviously), but that’s about it.
1:44 Squirt’s new favorite ride: Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters! Matt and I have a special connection to this ride so it’s fun to go on it all together. I almost beat Matt. Almost.
2:05 Squirt and I snagged our Halloween AP magnets and buttons. Matt didn’t get one since he’s a cast member and not an AP (he was not sad about it).
2:19 Headed to Pizza Planet for a quick lunch. We brought Squirt a sandwich from home, and Matt and I shared a piece of the Halloween pizza (again, more on that soon!).
3:00 Time to walk back across the park for our Haunted Mansion Fast Pass. I don’t know where it came from, but Squirt went from hating this ride to insisting we go on it every time. Not mad about it.
3:34 Walked across the esplanade to check out some of our DCA faves (and by that I mean beer).
3:48 Sat down to enjoy a pretzel and some beers at Sonoma Terrace, which might literally be my favorite place in the parks.
4:11 Matt and Squirt headed in to the “Superhero Store” while I sat my tired ass on a bench in the shade. Disneylanding with a five year old is hard, y’all.
4:58 When given the option between a ride and meeting Spider-Man, Squirt surprised us and picked Spidey. Normally he is not into meeting the characters, and he was super shy when Spidey actually talked to him, but he had fun. And yes, my kid is wearing a Legoland hat at Disneyland.
5:12 Even though it’s early, we decided to head out. We didn’t want to eat dinner in the parks, and even though Squirt didn’t have school the next day, we still wanted to keep to our normal nighttime schedule as much as possible. Also, he woke up at 6:45 that morning, so we know the wall would be getting hit at any moment.
Honestly, these are my favorite kind of days. I love being able to hang out with Matt in the parks (it’s fun to watch him play too, but it’s better to actually get to enjoy the parks with him) and Squirt absolutely loves getting to have Dad time at his favorite place. Nothing can beat hanging with my favorite guys in my favorite place!
