Common sense tells me I don’t need to be posting about our trip the day after we got back home (I STARTED this post on Friday but it’s so long that it took me until today — you’ve been warned!), but I don’t want to forget a single thing (except maybe all the sibling stroller fights we had to break up 😅) and it might also keep me in my Disney Bubble a bit longer, so here we go!

We booked this trip back in May but you know I’ve been dreaming about it since the second we decided to have kids. Our family trips to Disneyland when I was growing up are some of my favorite memories and I couldn’t wait to give that experience to my own kids 🤍 I tried really hard to have zero expectations and not make too many plans because you just never know how any vacation with young kids will go, and both of them definitely had their moments, but I really think we had a great time! It’s cliche but a trip to Disneyland is magic ✨ I’m already ready for trip #2!

Hooooo boy, these kiddos were tired on our travel day! We flew into LAX and had Lansky car service pick us up with two car seats already installed. It was soooo nice and easy, I have no notes. They also let you make one stop on the way, so while we debated In N Out, the smarter decision seemed to be Target for water, snacks, diapers and sunscreen. As we pulled into the driveway to the Disneyland Hotel, we turned to Dempsey and said “are you excited??” and I’m never going to forget his little fist clench huge smile reaction 🥺🥺 We got there much earlier than expected and couldn’t check in till 3 PM, so we ate lunch, walked around the hotel grounds and grabbed a Dole Whip at Tangaroa Terrace. I know the Dole Whip is super popular but I’d actually never had it before and… it’s as good as they say! What is in there that makes it so creamy and delicious??

Finally got checked in — got to see Goofy, Chip and Dale in the lobby on our way! — and tried desperately to get our loopy kids to nap but we gave up and unpacked instead. We had a 6 PM reservation at Goofy’s Kitchen, so we headed down shortly before to check in and get our picture with Goofy! It turned out so cute 🤍 I somehow missed our name being called so we ended up waiting way longer than necessary and the kids were acting completely insane. Running around, laying on the floor, screaming — Joey and I were scared 😅 I will say that the service was slow in greeting us and it was extra hard because we were told to wait until after we ordered drinks to head to the buffet. Meanwhile, the kids were trying to escape from the table and pour every available sugar packet into their water or mouths. I’m on the fence about whether I’d recommend this experience as the food was so-so (that prime rib was a straight no) and we had plenty of other opportunities to see the characters in the next few days but also maybe my kids were just exhausted and it was making Joey and I flustered and frustrated 🤷‍♀️ I’ll just say that Minnie showed up right before we left and Lydia’s reaction to seeing her made all their antics worth it! Got them back up to the room and they still had the hardest time settling down. Lydia eventually fell asleep on the floor between the wall and Joey/Dempsey’s bed, with her body under the bed?? 😂

We all got a good night’s sleep and were packed up and ready to go by 9:30 the next morning. I grabbed an iced pumpkin spice latte at The Coffee Shop and felt so happy to be heading into the park! (Just a side note that I deeply regret ever calling it “the park” because the kids were looking for a literal playground the entire first day 😅) We put our name on the list at Carnation Café and tried to occupy the kids on Main Street but turns out those are just stores with lots of things to pull off shelves and candy to beg your parents to buy. Finally made our way in The Mad Hatter though and Dempsey made himself the most Dempsey pair of ears! Lydia spotted Minnie again and wanted to go see her and then our table was finally ready. Not going to lie, the Mickey waffles are good but our poor bougie son wanted nothing to do with the fake syrup 😂

Afterward, we made our way through the castle, including the walkthrough where Dempsey got the fright of his life when Joey lifted him up to look through one of the windows at the exact moment one of Maleficent’s goons popped up! 😱 My boy is not one for rides and if he’s not down, his sister’s not down, so after turning down Peter Pan, Alice and Mr. Toad, we finally got them on the carousel. This is something that definitely bummed Joey out, but I honestly thought we might ride NOTHING so I wasn’t too let down. We got to visit Tink in Pixie Hollow afterward! She told us she’d be flying in the parade later and Dempsey talked about it for the rest of the day, so I KNOW he was excited 🥺 They both wanted their faces painted afterward and were so genuinely happy about it! Visited the Enchanted Tiki Room — I sang them the song last week and they had both been walking around singing it ever since — then headed back to the hotel for some downtime. No naps, but at least they had a little bit of quiet time and the adults got to get off of their feet.

Disneyland Round 2 and this is when I felt like we finally found our groove. We convinced Dempsey to ride It’s a Small World and he LOVED IT! We literally rode it five times on this trip 🤍🤍 We headed into Toon Town afterward and they were PUMPED! I hoped they would be. We must’ve been riding the Small World high and got in line for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad, which Joey and I had never ridden and… the kids were traumatized! Dempsey cried almost the entire time and Lydia told Joey she didn’t like Minnie anymore. Poor babies! Joey and I thought it was an awesome ride though and the kids seemed to recover pretty quickly afterward, especially once we got our dinner from Cafe Daisy and they got to dance around in Toon Town for a bit.

Made our way to the parade route afterward and lo and behold, there was a churro cart right where we ended up parking the cart. Never been happier! Poor Lydia pulled my arm out, plopped her little forehead on it and went right to sleep 😂 The girl knows when to call it quits! She missed the entire parade which was SO COOL! Dempsey spotted Minnie at the end and was like “Sissy, look!!!” but she was way off in dreamland. What a sweet big brother though. We missed the fireworks on Sunday (weekends only after Labor Day 😕) but they still do the music and projections nightly, so we made our way back to Dempsey’s favorite ride so he and Joey could go on while we waited for the show to start. I was kind of glad Lydia missed it because it might’ve been too scary for her with all of the skeletons and villains but the rest of us loved it! Demps passed out in the stroller on the walk home, so bedtime was a breeze 😋

Lydi and I were up, so we made a coffee run and then we all got ready and headed into California Adventure. I’m way less familiar with the layout and rides in there, so we had to put a little more effort into our morning but I think we managed to have a great time. Watched Mickey and Minnie’s Trick and Treat show, then rode Ariel’s Undersea Adventure before heading to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which our kids loved! We were there for quite a while and it was cool, quiet and shaded over there, so I was happy. Plus I climbed to the top and got a nice view of Joey chasing our kids around while I pretended not to exist 😂 We wanted to check out the Plaza de la Familia and had a really nice time. Added our note to the Memory Wall, colored a Dante mask, ate lunch, took pictures in the Ofrenda Room, saw Miguel walk by — LOL at Dempsey saying he wasn’t real because he had “a plastic jaw” — and I didn’t realize till later that this isn’t always in DCA, so that made it feel special too. Our last order of business before taking our break at the hotel was to get the kids light up balloons. Dempsey did not know who Baymax! was but it was his favorite balloon and of course, a pink princess balloon for my girl.

We had to make quick work work of our return to DCA because it was closing down early for the Oogie Boogie Bash, so we headed to Cars Land then made our way to the board walk where we tried to convince the kids to ride Toy Story Midway Mania but Dempsey wasn’t having any of it, so we rode Jessie’s Critter Carousel instead then bought Dempsey a giant pickle and headed back to Disneyland. we took the Casey Jr. Circus Train to IASW again then headed back to Toon Town and visited Mickey’s house. We waited in line for 30 minutes but hey, there was AC and cartoons in there plus look how excited Lydia was to meet Mickey!!! The kids ran around in Toon Town afterward and were having so much fun. I think they could’ve spent all day there! Headed over toward the Haunted Mansion to see it lit up at night but I think we got sidetracked by dinner at Tiana’s Palace and forgot we were even trying to see it 😂 We hadn’t planned to stay for the parade again but we ran into it as we were leaving and you should’ve heard Lydia’s excitement! “DADDY, IT’S ARIEL!!!” One second later, she was asleep in my arms 😂 Demps was out in the stroller on the walk back again too!

We had a princess breakfast booked for Wednesday morning! The kids were acting nutty on the way over — also, why were they both always eating snacks on our way to a restaurant?? — so we knew we were in for it, but all tired antics aside, we had a really fun time! We got to walk through the Grand Californian too and it’s so beautiful in there. We were treated to some appetizers, a breakfast buffet and dessert, while the princesses roamed around and visited one by one. We also got escorted to the patio twice for a surprise princess visit and got to see Tiana and Mulan. They both looked so beautiful and were great with the kids. I love Lydia matching Mulan in her warrior pose 🥺 Our favorite was Rapunzel though! She was so fun and came over twice to play with Demps and Lydia. I left with a million pictures and a strong desire to buy myself some pretty china to eat and drink from 😂 Felt so fancy!

After our breakfast we took the hotel entrance to DCA, watched riders on Grizzly River Run for a bit then walked back over to Disneyland. We HAD to get our picture in front of the Mickey pumpkin! Luckily, Dempsey was more then willing to just sit in the stroller while we waited in line and a fun band playing Disney songs was good entertainment for Lydia. I think we got some fun shots. We paid extra for Lightning Lane and the Photo Pass and while we didn’t end up really using the Lightning Lane, the Photo Pass was way worth it! The pictures turned out great and we got some good shots of all four of us. I would recommend! Afterward, we actually made it over to the Haunted Mansion and Lydia and I stood in line to meet Mirabel and Isabella. They were so sweet with her and every question they asked, they got just a blank stare back from her 😂 Had to go ride IASW one last time and it was good timing because the cavalcade came through right after. Lydia got waved to by Mickey and Minnie’s float and she was SO EXCITED! Joey and I got in on camera from both angles too!

We made our way over to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and guys… it was so cool!!!! I’m not not super into Star Wars but I was blown away by how immersive they made this area of the park. We felt like we were in… Batuu? We absolutely loved it. The kids bought some droid toys, we got a picture of us using the force in front of what I’m pretty sure is the Millennium Falcon, we ate a really good lunch and we saw an alien with a giant eyeball pop up in the tank at the water refill station 😂 Hit up Tarzan’s tree house on our way out of the park and I was really proud of Dempsey for going up, as he is NOT one for heights. We passed the Tiki Room too and Lydia told me “we did that and it was awesome!” 🥺 I peeled off on our way back through Downtown Disney to shop in the World of Disney store and it felt so nice to do that uninterrupted, even though it meant Joey had to carry a screaming Lydia back to the room once she realized I was gone.

Post rest time, we headed out one last time 😭 Let the kids run around on this big turf area in Downtown Disney and we could’ve saved all that money we spent by just letting them do that for three days 😂 Eventually got them to leave but only by promising them rock candy. Joey got himself a caramel apple too and it was so good! Got over to DCA and headed for Avengers Campus. The kids were happy dancing around in there for a while and then I noticed Spider-Man. Believe it or not, Lydia was the one who wanted to stand in line to see him. Dempsey tagged along because he wanted to know why he wasn’t shooting any webs 😂 Obsessed with him doing the web-shooting pose with his hand. Went to Pym’s Test Kitchen for dinner and we all got a kick out of the pretzel conveyor belt shrinking and blowing up pretzels. The food was pretty good too. In fact, we were pretty impressed by almost all of the food we had on this trip. Look at that giant mozzarella cheese stick! Our very last order of business was to watch the World of Color show. Totally missed out on getting into the queue for reserved seating, so we had to grab a last minute spot toward the back but it worked out. My girl ALMOST made it but despite Joey and Dempsey’s best attempts to keep her awake, she was out right before the show started. What can you do?? I thought it was really cool and Dempsey said he liked it too. Brought two sleeping kids back to the hotel one last time, then packed up and headed out the next morning. I’m legitimately sad. The kids had some unhappy moments and we might all need another month to recover, but it really was the best time. We made some lifelong memories (well, for me at least) for sure! Till next time, Disneyland!