Friday Night at Disneyland with a Toddler (By Daynah)

I wanted to have some Mommy and Me time with my daughter last Friday. So where better spend it than at Disneyland?

I checked out Disneyland’s entertainment schedule beforehand and created a game plan to make the most of our day. But of course all this changed accordingly when I gave my 3-year-old daughter her two choices on what to do next. I was happy since we stuck to the plan for the most part! The day was going to be all about shows and character experiences, and maybe a ride or two.

We arrived at the park around 2:30pm in the afternoon. I wanted to get the Fast Passes for Frozen at The Royal Theatre but they were all gone! The standby line was a bit long, so we walked over to the Royal Hall to check out the wait times. I was really happy since the wait was less than 5 minutes to see the three princesses! As we waited in line, the DragonSlayer decked out in Disney Diamond attire, greeted my daughter as “Your Majesty.” She was dressed as Anna from Frozen that day. We saw Snow White, Cinderella, and Mulan that day. Each princess greeted her and she greatly enjoyed it. On the way out, the standby line for Frozen at the Royal Theatre was gone, and they let us in just a few minutes before the next show.

My daughter and I have not seen Frozen show at the Royal Theatre yet, so we were pretty excited. The show had a lot of music and funny storytelling and we both greatly enjoyed it.

After the show, we took a few minutes to admire Sleeping Beauty Castle. Looks like it is all ready for the Disneyland 60th Diamond Celebration that kicks off next week.

It was 10 minutes until 4pm and I wanted to see the Soundsational Parade. I gave my daughter that choice or Mickey’s Magical Map and she was very insistent on Mickey’s Magical Map. So her Royal Highness got her wish. I rushed over to Fantasyland as quickly as I could to avoid the parade traffic, and we got to the show a half hour early. That was great since we were guaranteed very good seats! I love this show because of all the live singing and being able to see so many Disney characters at once. My daughter could not keep her eyes off the stage and I can tell she loved it.

I have not explored Toontown much, so I took my little explorer there. We went through Minnie’s house and she loved every little thing about it. She told me she really loved the kitchen the most.

Then we walked over to Mickey’s house.. which was a bit messier. His house was so much bigger though. We kept walking through all the rooms and got to Mickey’s Movie Barn, where we got to meet the one and only! My daughter had Mickey all to herself for quite some time. They were playing peek-a-boo and laughing up a storm.

We left Toontown and stopped by a popcorn cart to pick up the new Cinderella Premium Popcorn bucket because it just looks beautiful. It’s a big container in the shape of Cinderella’s carriage with four working wheels and a strap on it. While waiting for our popcorn, we watched the Cast Members make this lovely hidden Mickey out of leaves.

After we got our popcorn, I made a dash for it to Disney California Adventure. It was already 6pm and we wanted to catch the last showing of Aladdin. Unfortunately, they said the theatre was already full, so it was time for Plan B. We went to see Anna and Elsa so my daughter could take a photo with her sisters! Then catch the next showing of Turtle Talk. She greatly enjoyed Turtle Talk and had prepared a question and kept her hand raised the whole time. I have never seen this side of her, so it was quite refreshing. She was a bit disappointed that she was not called on, but after the show, she asked the host her question. She was satisfied with his answer and pranced out of the theatre.

We then took a stroll through the new expansion of Grizzly Peak. It just re-opened this Friday, so it was jammed-packed with people. Soarin’ Over California is open so the lines are pretty long!

We went on to explore “It’s Tough to be a Bug” since I have not seen this show in a very long time. I had forgotten how frightening it was, so this was a bad idea. I do not recommend taking your kids to this show until they’re about maybe 10-years-old.

We went on Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train after since it was only a 10 minute wait. She liked it but was not impressed with how short of a ride it was. To make it up to her, I took her to The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure which is one of her favorite rides. However, I have never seen the line this long for it. It was also Grad Night so there was definitely a large crowd. After the ride, she watched “World of Color” on top of my shoulders. She loved every minute of it because I could hear her saying how beautiful the colors were and shouting out the movie names depending on what clips were showing.

My daughter wanted to go on one more ride before we headed home and it happened to be Alice in Wonderland. We watched the fireworks as we left DCA and head over to Disneyland. The crowds have definitely increased by this time as the Grad Night attendees started pouring in.

My daughter and I had a wonderful day. I greatly enjoyed all the time bonding and seeing a whole new side of her. Not to mention, I got a lot of exercise too. I walked over 17,000 steps which is close to 8 miles. I took about 500 photos on my Sony Nex-6 and about 200 photos on my iPhone 6. Best of all, my daughter and I made a lot of great memories together.