Last year for Christmas, we gave Ivy a trip to Disneyland, thinking I would just take her on the cheer trip that, at that point, was scheduled for March to California and Disneyland. Well, plans completely changed when Brynn's amazing cheer team got their bid to Summit which meant California nationals were out and a week in Florida was in. But that also meant an "I-owe-you a Disneyland trip" for Ivy from me. There was a lot going on last spring and summer and fall so I finally found a day that would work at the beginning of November. It was also the lowest price the tickets got all year, squished in between Halloween and Christmas.
We left Tuesday morning, November 4th. We had a flight out of Salt Lake that took us to Las Vegas and then Orange County. We ordered an uber from there to take us to our hotel. Ali had recommended a hotel that was close enough to Disneyland to walk. It was really clean, had nice pillows (important), and a free breakfast. I was very happy with it!
It wasn't too late so, to give Ivy a small taste of what was coming, we took a walk to Downtown Disney. We got some yummy pizza, browsed the shops, bought matching Disney sweaters to wear the next day, and bought some chocolate cake to share in the hotel room that night. We were having so much fun already and the really good stuff hadn't happened yet!
The next morning we were up bright and early! We got dressed in our matching clothes and headed down to the continental breakfast before walking over to the park. I wanted to get there early and get through security so we could do a rope drop. After much deliberation, I decided to rope drop at Tomorrowland and go straight to Space Mountain. I knew Ivy would love that ride, and it's one of my favorites as well.
Unfortunately, Space Mountain was closed when the park opened. We learned that we had to be flexible! We stayed in that area and rode Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blasters and Matterhorn instead.
We headed to Toontown next to ride Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad, which I had gotten a fast pass for. We got there just to learn that it was closed down. Tricked again! We found that this was the hardest ride to actually get to ride.
As we were walking back out of Toontown, I was checking the app to see what was close and wait times and we saw that Space Mountain was open and that it only had a 10 minute wait. So we bee-lined over there. I refused to tell Ivy anything about the ride other than it was a roller coaster, I didn't want her to know that it was completely in the dark because I wanted her to experience it all as she was actually riding it. I knew she would love it, and I was right. I have always loved that ride and it was so fun to experience it with her for her first time!
We were pretty much there for rides. I knew with only one day, we didn't have a lot of time for anything else but, in my opinion, the rides are the best part. We tried to remember to take a picture at each ride. We went to Pirates of the Caribbean next.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We were thrilled that this one opened back up after renovation just the week before.
Then we wandered over the Star Wars land for the two rides there. They turned out to be two of Ivy's top three. We stood in line for Rise of the Resistance because our fast passes didn't work for this ride. The longest wait of the day but totally worth it. I had done this ride last time I was at Disneyland and also in Disney World earlier this year, but it is still thrilling. And being with Ivy was just so great.
We also rode Smuggler's Run while we were right there. Ivy loved this one too!
After that, we wandered around, took some pictures at cool places and then hopped on the Disneyland Railroad to get us to Tiana's Bayou area.
Last time I rode Tiana (when it was still Splash Mountain) in California, we were very under-prepared, I got soaked, and stayed wet the entire day. So I made sure we had ponchos this time around, and I was very grateful! It's an adorable ride and just iconic Disney (they did a great job with the swap from Splash Mountain to Tiana's Bayou)!
Since we were in the area, I made Ivy ride the Winnie the Pooh ride. I only made her do a couple of little kid rides and this one will always be on the top of my list because of how much Stockton loved it the last time he came, when he was just a little boy. In the middle of the ride, Ivy asked "Who even is Winnie the Pooh?" Haha.
We rode the raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island and explored for a bit.
We rode Indiana Jones. Ivy was not a fan, she said it was too jerky and it gave her a headache.
We hopped on Jungle Cruise. There were lots of cheesy jokes, as always, but "6-7" was used a lot!
Ivy really wanted to see one character so we went in search of one and found Merida!
The other little kid ride I made Ivy do was Peter Pan. It was a longer line, as always, but it's just so good and a can't-miss ride for me.
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| when your feet get tired while standing in line! |
Then it was on to the Haunted Mansion. I was delighted that it was still decorated in the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas theme. It's so fun!
We had eaten lunch earlier (mac and cheese for Ivy, bread bowl with clam chowder for me) so we took a churro break next!
At this point, we had done everything on my list of must-do's so I told Ivy we could go back and do whatever she wanted the rest of the day. I may have missed taking photos here so I'm going off of memory. She did choose to go back to Rise of the Resistance first so that's what we did!
We did Space Mountain again. We ate dinner in this area as well.
We had tried one other time that afternoon to ride Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad just to get to the very front the the line, literally the next to get on, when it shut down. I was determined to ride it so we went back at night, got on, and successfully rode the ride in its entirety. Yay!! It's an adorable ride.
We also rode the Roger Rabbit ride since it was right there and advertised only being a 10 minute wait. Wrong. We waited much longer than that and decided it was definitely not worth it. 
Ivy was getting tired. We both had very tired and very sore feet. She wanted to do one more ride and call it a night. After consulting the app, she decided that Smuggler's Run would be worth it. She really wanted to be a pilot this time. There was literally no one else in line and we were the only people in our car. We both got to be pilots and had a blast!
We wandered our way back to Main Street, bought a caramel apple, then watched the most amazing laser show before we left. It almost brought me to tears, Disney is just so magical and I was feeling so grateful for the day just with my Ivy. Saying good-bye to Disney is always a downer. It had been such a special day!
We took our caramel apple back to our hotel to enjoy. Look how pretty it is! We had no utensils with which to cut it but our walk home took us through a Walgreens so I bought a box of plastic knives. I broke about half of them trying to cut up the apple, haha, but we managed and it was delicious!
It was a quick trip, there and back, but a core memory for me. I only wish I had done this with all my kids when they were about the same age. I will not likely ever forget my Disney day with Ivy!
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