Welcome Back And Trip Setup

Intro 0:03

Please stand clear of the doors. For favor, mantenganse ale. Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor, mantanganse ale.

Alicea 0:23

Hello everyone. I'm Alicea.

Nathan 0:25

I'm Nathan.

Jarrett 0:26

And I'm Jarrett.

Alicea 0:28

And welcome to episode 223 of Adventures and Mouse Capades. This week we've got Jarrett back on our show. Last November you heard about his family's first Disney World trip, and they also did their first Disney cruise earlier last year, too. Now they've completed the domestic trifecta and taken their family to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland.

Nathan 0:49

Yeah. So since we've we've talked with Jarrett a little a little about their their other Disney first, we thought we'd chat about crossing Anaheim off that list too. So welcome back, Jarrett. Thank you for for joining us.

Jarrett 1:03

Thanks for having me. I hope I can entertain.

Nathan 1:06

If you just dance a little and uh you're not wearing the hat that we sent you. I don't I don't understand.

Jarrett 1:12

Ah, my son took it.

Nathan 1:14

Those darn kids.

Jarrett 1:17

And actually, we tried to put hats on the kids every time we go to Disney or ears, and they take them off immediately. Today was crazy hat day at school, and my youngest wore his Mickey Mouse hat the entire day. So

Alicea 1:29

of course. When you're not at Disney. Yep, that's that's how it works. That's how it works.

Nathan 1:33

Perfect.

Alicea 1:35

Well, to start off, uh, what was the draw of heading to Disneyland with your family? This was a last-minute trip, right?

Jarrett 1:42

It was kind of last minute. Uh, when we went to Disney World, we had uh booked our tickets on Southwest through a promotion that if we completed the travel in that certain time, we would have companion passes during this time. And so our companion passes were starting to close and we're trying to figure out what to do. And so my wife uh just got it in her head to do Disneyland and get it crossed off the list. So we booked it last minute and took off and went.

Nathan 2:13

Nice to have those forcing functions involved that uh oh god, oh gosh, I I guess we'll have to we'll do a vacation. No, okay.

Jarrett 2:21

I mean, we took a vacation to get the perk, and then we can't just let the perk go without taking a vacation.

Nathan 2:26

Exactly. Uh remind us how old your your kids are right now.

Jarrett 2:31

My oldest is five, and my youngest is two. He'll turn three in May. So almost a three. Got it.

Nathan 2:39

So having been to Disney World within the last year, what were your expectations about what Disneyland would be like?

Jarrett 2:49

I think you guys had warned me that it was definitely going to be smaller, yeah, especially like when you see the castle and whatnot. Um, personally, I wasn't nearly as intimidated this time because going to Disney uh world and not knowing anything, like I was too intimidated to even know where to start. There were so many parks. Um, I don't want to say I was a pro because I've only been to one park, right? But I felt more comfortable with what was about to happen. Uh, did a little bit more research, and since it was smaller, it didn't feel nearly as intimidating. Yeah. So I was really looking forward to it.

Alicea 3:27

Where did you all stay? Were you on property or at a good neighbor hotel?

Jarrett 3:32

Uh we were, I'm guessing a good neighbor hotel. It was like a 10-minute walk. Um courtyard Marriott, which I do have a story about for probably later. Okay. About that one.

Nathan 3:44

Hit us up now. We love tangents. Let's go. Left turn at Albuquerque. Let's do it.

Jarrett 3:49

Uh so for the most part, the stay was great. Yeah, they were, you know, we were in the room very little. The few interactions we had with the uh the workers there, very friendly, very helpful. However, as we were leaving, we booked our Uber to take us to the hotel, and we thought we had like 15 minutes. Yeah.

Nathan 4:09

This was to the airport, rather?

Jarrett 4:11

Yes, this was to the airport on the way home. We got a notification after two minutes that he was like two minutes away.

Nathan 4:18

Oh.

Jarrett 4:19

Uh, my son had been in his Boba Fett costume that he had gotten for Christmas the entire time. And as soon as we were like, all right, we need to go, he's like, I gotta go to the bathroom.

Nathan 4:27

Oh no.

Jarrett 4:29

Had to get him out of his costume, took him to the bathroom. I'm grabbing everybody's bags, mom's pushing the stroller and getting the kids.

Nathan 4:37

Right.

Jarrett 4:37

We get into the Uber, we get all the way to the airport, which was 45 minutes, right? Because we're flying out of LAX.

Nathan 4:44

Yeah.

Jarrett 4:45

And uh I realized that my we did not have my son's pillow that he's had since he was one year old. Oh. And it's been his best friend. Uh, we called the hotel immediately.

Nathan 4:57

Yeah.

Jarrett 4:57

We'd only been gone 45 minutes. We told them, they said they keep an eye out. It's gone. I mean, there's nowhere else it could be. They haven't ever found it. I called every day for two weeks until they were finally like, sir, if we find it, we will call you. Please stop calling you. So I don't understand how it could have gone missing. Yeah. You know, because it was in the room. It just everything had gotten so crazy. Uh that's too bad. Luckily, he's dealt with it pretty well. He he asked me the other night, but he didn't cry. But like when we got home, uh also our flight was three hours delayed, so we didn't end up getting home till like midnight with the kids. And so when he found out that he had left his pillow, it was very traumatic.

Alicea 5:42

So yeah.

Nathan 5:44

Poor kiddo. We've we've had some experience doing that.

Alicea 5:49

Yeah.

Nathan 5:50

It's um it's fun. It's a rite of passage, I think.

Alicea 5:53

Yeah, ours was a little kitten-stuffed animal named Pretty Kitty.

Nathan 6:00

It was mine. Yep.

Alicea 6:04

Yeah. Still traumatized about it.

Nathan 6:06

Still traumatized. Yep. Yep.

Jarrett 6:08

Yep.

Alicea 6:09

Well, how long was your stay?

Jarrett 6:11

Uh we were in California for four days. We went to Disney for two of those.

Alicea 6:17

Okay.

Jarrett 6:17

Uh, we had some friends that live there, so we hung out with them the first day.

Nathan 6:21

Nice. And then did you have um, did you do like one day in each park? Did you do park hopper? Like, what was the ticket situation?

Jarrett 6:29

Uh we were recommended to do the park hopper, park hopper, but I'm glad we didn't. We just took one park a day, um, saved some money because especially with the kids, I felt like it would have been way too much to try to with the young

Alicea 6:42

with that age, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Jarrett 6:44

Uh we lucked out because we did uh, I don't remember the Disneyland proper, not the California Adventure, but we did that the first day, and we definitely maximized our time. Uh, I don't know what I can really say about California Adventure because it rained the entire day. But from what we did do, it felt a little smaller, like there was felt like there was a little less to do there, but again, we didn't get to explore and do everything. So you guys might have better recommendations on if you should get the park hopper and go back and forth.

Nathan 7:21

Like if well, I I think the park hopper can help if you have more than two days there. And I say that because it allows you to, you know, spend a day in one park, spend a day in another park, and then for the other days that you're around, you have an opportunity to kind of hit the highlights that you want to go do again or things that you've missed or other experiences that you want to do. And it's different from Florida, where parkopping in Florida, you have to be incredibly intentional about you're looking at you know a 20 to 30 minute you know transit minimum exactly between parks versus walking like a thousand feet across a courtyard from one gate to the other. Like it's actually doable to you know do a couple rides in one park, hop over, do a couple rides and lunch in the other, and like you're just bouncing back and forth, and it's not it's not inordinately insane uh in in California. So uh, but yeah, if you're just there for two days and it's your first time there, I I wouldn't do a a parkopper. I don't think you missed out on anything. And I think the same goes for uh for Florida, you know, if it's your first time and it's your one time being there or or or your first time being there, I I don't necessarily think you need to do parkopping because it's just a level of especially with young kids with you know a five and or especially like a two and a half or two-year-old, like I I wouldn't, I wouldn't parkop uh unless it's gonna be an intentional thing where you know you're gonna like do a morning up till nap time in one park and then have an opportunity to go a do a thing after some resort downtime and maybe some pool and a nap, then go do an evening in in another park. But yeah, for for most of us mere mortals, I think a single park and a single day in Florida, uh, if it's your first time or limited time, uh that's the right way to play it.

Alicea 9:24

So well, and the nice thing about the Disneyland parks is there are a lot of rides in each one of the parks. Like a lot. Disneyland itself has uh so many, so many to choose from. Um I know California Adventure, they've got construction going on, so there's some stuff either down or about to be down pretty soon. Um is that true? Now I'm not now I'm second guessing myself with that.

Jarrett 9:52

I think you're right.

Alicea 9:53

Yeah.

Nathan 9:54

We'll say yes. It's not like we've ever been wrong on the podcast before.

First Impressions Of Anaheim And Rope Drop

Alicea 9:58

Oh, never, never, never.

Nathan 10:01

So what was your your first impression? You know, you get to the Esplanade, you get to the the Anaheim area around the parks, like it's a it's very different from uh the the massive, you know, uh multi-mile like bubble that uh that Florida is. What what'd you think? What was your first impression of the area and then you know going over to uh uh towards the parks?

Jarrett 10:27

I liked that it was walkable from our hotel, and that our hotel didn't you know cost a lot. It didn't necessarily feel like the same kind of vacation that we did when we went to Disney World and stayed at Pop Century, but like when our friends dropped us off at the hotel uh the night before, we could go out and get fast food, you know, something quick and cheap, instead of having to go pay $20 for a hot dog at you know the resort.

Nathan 10:56

Yeah,

Jarrett 10:57

so I did like that. Um my kids did not because we couldn't get on the Skyliner to go to the park, and it kind of confused them because that was their favorite ride from Disney World.

Nathan 11:08

Oh, that's right.

Jarrett 11:10

But also being from Texas, it was awesome because we didn't have to wake up early. I actually got to sleep in and still be there since we're two hours ahead of time of that time zone. Uh, you know, the kids were got to sleep in, we were all fresh, and we were accidentally rope dropped. Like we didn't even mean to. We just kind of got up and left, and we're like, why is everybody standing around here? Oh, the rides aren't even open yet, right? So that was pretty nice.

Nathan 11:40

Um yeah, as east coasters, we don't have that problem.

Jarrett 11:43

No

Alicea 11:43

West.

Nathan 11:46

Yeah, sorry, as west coasters. Wherever we are. When we're on the east coast, my brain today. Wow. It's yeah, it we will we have had the best intentions of rope dropping several times. Um even in even in California. Look, it's just not happening.

Jarrett 12:07

I never really wanted to with the kids. It's hard to get that two-year-old going. But like I said, we just walked in and we're like, oh man, oh man.

Nathan 12:15

You have you have the atypical two-year-old because most young kids are like up early and let's go. But if you have one that sleeps in, like, more power to you. That's awesome.

Jarrett 12:23

Well, you mentioned something earlier that we don't ever do anymore, and that's nap time. Oh nap in about a year.

Nathan 12:29

Or almost three, you're out of naps.

Jarrett 12:32

He stopped napping last summer for me. When I take him to school, he naps. So today he went to school and napped, and that's why we were having a fairly late night.

Nathan 12:42

Wow.

Jarrett 12:43

Yeah.

Alicea 12:44

Well, every kid's different of what what they do. Yeah. Yeah.

Nathan 12:47

I'll hold you in my prayers tonight.

Jarrett 12:51

Appreciate it.

Alicea 12:53

One of our favorite questions is uh, what did you think of the castle compared to the one in Florida?

Jarrett 12:59

What castle?

Alicea 13:01

It's there, it's so cute.

Nathan 13:03

It's a little double wide that's at the hub.

Jarrett 13:06

Uh, we kind of bypassed it this time, actually. We didn't spend a whole lot of time on it. Uh since we rope dropped, we went straight for some rides and we kind of never slowed down the whole day. So awesome.

Alicea 13:20

What were some of the ride highlights?

Comparing Disneyland To Disney World

Nathan 13:22

Yeah, what was well for before highlights, but like what was your first thing? Okay, this is our first time in Disneyland. We're we're unintentionally rope dropping. Like, where did you where did you head to? What was the for what was first up?

Jarrett 13:34

So if you remember from last time, my kids got very into Star Wars. Yeah. So we headed straight for Star Wars, uh, the Star Wars area. Kind of with the intention to go hit up Rise of the Resistance, because we didn't ride that last time because I don't think the kids were tall enough.

Nathan 13:53

Okay.

Jarrett 13:53

Um, we rode the Millennium Falcon ride last time. My wife got sick, so I kind of assumed they were the same type of ride. Yep. But we all we still try to wanted to go.

Nathan 14:07

Yeah.

Star Wars Plans And Ride Height Surprises

Jarrett 14:07

And even though we rope drop, we went, and that line was still so far back. But we also didn't know the area very well. So, like my family got in line, they sent me ahead to scout. We realized that the line hadn't even opened yet, so we stayed in line. And uh, I had measured my kids with my phone before we went because I wanted to know what rides we could actually ride. Yeah, and my phone was way off because my two-year-old still couldn't ride it, so we went through and got that. So they pulled my wife and the youngest out and gave her um the swap. The parent swap ride or something. Yeah. And so me and the my oldest and I went and stayed in line because we thought we'd get through pretty quick. And I think right when we got to the front, it shut down again. Oh and they were saying, you know, they gave the announcement like you can stay and wait, we don't know how long it's gonna be. Yeah. Um, so I asked him and he's like, no, I don't want to stay here. So we you know left the run. Yeah, which luckily that ride was shut down for about four or five hours that day. Wow, so I think we pulled pulled a good um good choice there. Yeah, and I think they had I was told they had just opened that ride back up for the year, like two or three days beforehand. Yeah, and shut down all January.

Nathan 15:27

Yeah, they had done the first major um refurb cycle on that ride since it had really opened. Um, well, although other than being shut down in California for like a year plus with the pandemic, yeah. Um yeah, it was its first major, major uh uh rehab. And uh yeah, interesting. That's unfortunate that they're still struggling to to keep it up. Did did you get a redemption pass at all for it?

Jarrett 15:56

They wouldn't let us like they just said you could get out of line or stay in line, like there was no redemption pass that we were told about. Maybe they announced it and I just couldn't hear. Um, but since we had gotten the rider swap, yeah, when it when it opened later, we went back and asked and told them the situation, and they were just like, Oh, sorry, you can only use one rider swap. Like, we couldn't redo a rider swap off of a rider swap or something like that. Huh. So my wife volunteered me and the oldest to go ride. She like sacrificed herself, she didn't get to ride it at all.

Nathan 16:32

Oh, so they let you ride in with as a result of the rider swap. That's it's interesting that they didn't give you a uh a redemption pass because typically that's what they would do.

Alicea 16:46

Like they usually usually have a um a cast member stationed as you're leaving. Yeah.

Jarrett 16:54

Huh. Nobody told us about it. So yeah.

Nathan 16:58

So you finally were able to get on with at least you and and and the five-year-old. Like, what did you guys think?

Jarrett 17:05

I like I enjoyed it. It wasn't as great as I expected since the line at both places I'd been to is always so long, and they charge extra for the um lightning pack, lightning line. But uh, it was fun, it was a good ride, and I really enjoyed the that type of ride because I hadn't we didn't do any of those at Disney World either. Yeah, uh, we had missed Mickey's railroad, rail runaway railway.

Nathan 17:31

Runaway railway, yeah.

Rise Of The Resistance Breakdowns

Jarrett 17:32

Yeah, so I really enjoyed it. My son was really into it, but I think the drop kind of scared him a little bit. Yeah. So he was like, No, I'm good, I don't want to ride it again. He was happy to see Kylo Ren and BB8 and you know all the characters and stuff.

Alicea 17:51

Um, what were some of your other ride highlights?

Jarrett 17:55

Uh ride highlights. I would say Mickey's runaway rail railway. Yeah. That was really fun. Um it was kind of a strange day that I don't feel like we really got a whole lot of rides in. Uh we tried, we even had we did lightning lane this time, which we didn't do at Disney World.

Nathan 18:17

Yeah.

Jarrett 18:18

But I felt like it was so chaotic trying to navigate two places with the kids while one of us is trying to figure out what the next ride is, and we didn't know all the rides, so we didn't even know if we're booking rides that only you know the adults could ride, or you know, if the kids would be able to fit on it. Um but we did do what is it, the Chip and Dales gadget um

Alicea 18:43

gadget coaster. Yeah,

Jarrett 18:45

yeah. That was really fun. All of us, I think, really liked that one.

Nathan 18:48

Yeah.

Jarrett 18:50

Uh we did the training, we did. I guess we got in a lot more towards the end, but those are the two highlights. Um, the rise of the resistance, Mickey's, Chip and dale's. Um, oh, I just thought of one other one. Oh, we did uh end up riding the smugglers run again on the Millennium Falcon.

Nathan 19:10

Okay.

Jarrett 19:11

And they my youngest was tall enough to ride that one. So we all went in as a family. Um, the kids were not good at what they were doing. Like we made sure they weren't pilots, they were beaters and pushing buttons. Um, my wife went, but she didn't pay attention to the screen, so she didn't get sick this time that much. But my um youngest, anytime he sees the Millennium Falcon now, he's like, Hey, we flew that. I flew the Falcon, we flew that, so that was pretty cool. That it's you know a lasting memory that he has.

Alicea 19:42

Yeah. How busy was it in the parks?

Jarrett 19:46

Oh my gosh. The first day, it wasn't too bad in the morning, but right around noon and lunchtime, I don't think I've ever been anywhere as crowded as Disney was. I don't know what was going on. It wasn't necessarily a holiday or anything, but I heard that it was like record attendance.

Nathan 20:07

And when were you there?

Jarrett 20:10

Uh right after Valentine's Day. So the 15th, 16th.

Nathan 20:16

Got it. I'm trying to think what

Ride Highlights And Lightning Lane Challenges

Alicea 20:19

President's midwinter break.

Jarrett 20:22

Yeah.

Nathan 20:23

President's Day was that Monday. Yeah. That was a lot of the you probably were with most of our neighbors from here in in uh in Washington and and uh other places because it's pretty uh common that our schools have that week off of President's Day for a midwinter break, where it's uh, you know, at least on most years been raining for you know 67 days straight, and uh people are in desperate need for uh either a ski vacation or uh or something uh that's warm in the sunshine.

Alicea 20:57

And so yeah, kind of ironic that it was rainy though.

Nathan 21:00

Yes, in California.

Alicea 21:02

Yeah.

Jarrett 21:03

Yeah, our friend said it hadn't rained in like three months, and yeah, we got a full day of it on that second day. Um but the crowds that day, um, we were terrible at planning out where we were going. Uh, we zigzagged a bunch, but I remember at one point trying to push that double stroller through the crowd. Yeah. It I I don't even know what to compare it to, but it felt like zombies were all around me and the crowd was just kind of parting as I was going. But I felt awful trying to maneuver that big stroller, but there was no way we could do it without yeah.

Alicea 21:40

Oh, there's a lot of pain points just walking around in Disneyland Park. Yeah. Um, there's just a lot of very I don't know, just odd pinch points. Yeah, there's pinch points, yeah.

Nathan 21:52

It's just it's not yeah, it's not ideal. Florida is much better, much more wide open. But then again, they had all the space in the world. Well, not literally, but they had a ton of room to work with. And so they didn't have to jam everything into, you know, effectively the size of a few city blocks. Yeah. Of course, at the time it was, you know, a few rows of oranges, but you know, you get my point.

Jarrett 22:16

Right.

Alicea 22:17

Did you guys just get to see any shows or parades or anything?

Jarrett 22:22

Um, not at Disney, but thank goodness they had some going on at California Adventure because that did save us towards the the day, uh, end of the day there. We went to the Talk Turtle with Crush, I think.

Alicea 22:39

Turtle Talk, yeah. That was always fun.

Jarrett 22:41

That one was great. The kids loved it. Um, and then we did the live Mickey's Clubhouse.

Alicea 22:48

Oh yeah.

Jarrett 22:49

My kids, after being cranky and grumpy all day in the rain, jumped up and danced and were running all over the place. So they loved it.

Alicea 22:58

Those are fun. Like the, yeah, is that Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? Or whatever it is. Yeah. It's it's been a couple of years since we've had that on in our household. Yeah, I guess.

Jarrett 23:10

Well, there's a clubhouse and fun house, but I don't know which one's more current and which one's not. It's the pretty much the exact same animation, it seems like one's newer.

Nathan 23:18

I would say I think fun house is newer because it was definitely clubhouse when we had kids of that age.

Alicea 23:23

Oh, yeah, I've got the jingle running through my head right now.

Crowds And Stroller Survival

Nathan 23:29

Sorry. Anyhow, moving on. How about how about food over in in the in the uh Disneyland, the OG park there? What did what did you think? I mean, typically the food in California is way better than it is in Florida.

Jarrett 23:44

The churro was definitely better.

Nathan 23:46

Yes.

Jarrett 23:47

Definitely had a little snap to it, which wasn't there in the Florida one. Um once again, the food was kind of something I really wanted to accomplish, but yeah, the kids kind of stole it from me. Um I really wanted to.

Nathan 24:05

We need to talk to you about a Disney adult trip sometime.

Jarrett 24:09

I'm game, man. I'm game. I can find somebody to watch these kids. Um, but also I'm looking forward to doing it with them as they're getting older and not just eating chicken strips and pizza and stuff. Yep. Um I did have a breakfast ronto wrap, which I thought was pretty good.

Nathan 24:27

Uh-huh. That's my go-to in the morning.

Jarrett 24:29

Yeah. I want why do they not have cold brew in the morning, though? I was dying for some coffee, and they're like, oh, sorry, we don't have that till the afternoon.

Alicea 24:38

Oh, really? Really interesting. We don't drink coffee. So that's I don't know.

Nathan 24:42

That's not something we would ever notice.

Jarrett 24:43

Yeah. Well, that's what they told me, and I was very let down. And one of my goals was to get a cold brew from any of the, you know, the hyped up ones. I wanted to try some. Didn't get a single one. Interesting. Um, but we, you know, our lunch at the park was pretty good. It was pizza, chicken. Um

Nathan 25:04

kid friendly.

Jarrett 25:05

Yes. Kid friendly.

Nathan 25:06

Yeah. Puffy pizza. Yeah.

Jarrett 25:09

Yay. Oh, and I do have kind of a complaint. Okay. We bought a popcorn bucket on our cruise. Yeah. We we used it at Florida. We even found a popcorn bucket at a resale shop here for like two bucks that we bought just to take with us on this trip. Yeah. And they don't let you pay for refills unless you have a was it magic key?

Nathan 25:33

Oh, really?

Jarrett 25:35

But, you know, that's what they told us, and then they saw how like we just ordered one and they ended up filling both of them up for us. You know, it's on the house, you know, the Disney magic, but I don't understand why they don't offer that.

Alicea 25:49

Interesting.

Jarrett 25:49

Same thing in California.

Shows That Saved The Rainy Day

Nathan 25:51

I the I mean, the only thing I can think of is it is the difference between Florida and California. They don't operate the same. And for the most part, Disneyland in California is a locals park. Whereas in Florida, it is for the most part um folks who are go who are traveling to Florida and they're there for however long, and then they're not back for a year or two years or five years or ever. And so they're probably financially they're thinking, like, well, we we can't have locals who are coming in and just you know, pounding down the popcorn uh for dirt cheap because I guess there's a run up popcorn's expensive. I don't know.

Jarrett 26:45

We were very shocked, but we're also very thankful for the popcorn vendor that you know still allowed us um to make it happen. Yeah, but I don't understand. I don't know. Like you said, maybe everybody in California since the movies take it to the movies. That's interesting.

Nathan 27:02

I don't remember that. Well, we typically don't do a popcorn bucket, yeah. Hmm. All right, well, we'll get this one in the evening. Yeah, we'll have to we'll have to try this for science.

Alicea 27:13

Yeah. Or when we do get popcorn buckets, it's not the regular bucket kind, but like the fancy ones that we use as decor. Right.

Nathan 27:21

It's a Mickey Mouse nutcracker or uh something like that. That I don't actually want popcorn in this.

Alicea 27:26

Hat box ghost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, all things considered, what was your favorite land that you went to at Disneyland Park?

Jarrett 27:35

Uh Star Wars was awesome again, even though it was kind of small. But the kids this time, like we've watched all the movies since we had gone last time. The kids weren't into all the shows. They've been reading all the books at night. Um and then, like I mentioned, my son dressed up as Boba Fett and went. And so we had a bunch of good character interactions with the Star Wars characters, and when they would see my son, you know, they would do something special and react. Um, but when we met Boba Fett, he saw my son and like grabbed us by the hand and took him around the market area, stationed him up um and took pictures with them that they gave us. You know, they didn't charge us for them, they sent it to us for free. Oh wow, which made that you know super special.

Food Wins And Popcorn Bucket Confusion

Nathan 28:21

That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, there's there's still a lot of magic to be had, you know, from whether it's popcorn buckets or or it's Boba Fett and the Photopass folks hooking you up. That's that's pretty that's pretty special. And and we always love what the the cast members do for folks. It it's they're what they're really what uh where the magic lies. Yep.

Alicea 28:42

And the character interactions at Disneyland are just so much better because you have the characters roaming around a lot more freely than you do in Florida. And I mean, yeah, just that interaction with Boba Fett is amazing. I think we had like the Mad Hatter glomed on to Sterling one of our visits and just had a full-on, ridiculous conversation with him. Yes.

Jarrett 29:06

That's amazing. That is that's what makes it special.

Alicea 29:09

Yeah.

Nathan 29:11

All right, let's talk, even though it was a rainy day adventure. How was Disney's California adventure?

Jarrett 29:18

Hated it, but mostly because of the rain. Yeah. Yeah. Uh my son didn't want to do the cars ride, the big one. I can't remember what the

Nathan 29:30

Radiator Spings Racers.

Jarrett 29:31

Yeah. Yeah. So we thought that he was gonna love that one. Yeah. But he didn't even want to try to ride it. Um most of the I expected that we'd be able to spend more time in like the Avengers section.

Nathan 29:44

Yeah.

Jarrett 29:44

I mean some of the Avengers, but because of the rain, all the I think most of the character things got canceled anyway.

Nathan 29:51

But yeah.

Jarrett 29:52

We were just trying to duck um for cover most of the time.

Nathan 29:57

Yeah. Did you get a chance over in Radiator Springs to look at like uh um Maters Junkyard Jamboree or

Jarrett 30:05

we did ride that one a couple of times.

Nathan 30:07

Nice

Jarrett 30:08

because the lines were very short with the rain. Yeah, it wasn't too bad to start the morning, and so I thought we might look out. So we rode that, we walked around you know, that area, and the kids were like, There's that, there's the cones, and yeah, you know, they loved that part of it. We rode uh the Spider-Man Web Slingers, yeah. Kids really loved that one. I was really impressed with that one too. Um then we went across the bridge to like the carnival area, like I don't know how to do it.

Alicea 30:40

Pixar Pier, yeah.

Jarrett 30:41

Yeah, the Pixar Pier. And that just it's when it kind of just started coming down, so we didn't really get to explore much. We thought we'd have a break at lunch, but there was nowhere to sit that was indoors. Yeah, yeah. So it was kind of a miserable place to be with the weather being how it was. Um, and there was no real reprieve until you know the show, or if we could find a ride inside that the kids were tall enough for. Yeah. So I think we jumped on the Monsters Ink ride, which I heard was shutting down, and then it's not shutting down until next year now.

Alicea 31:16

Yeah, they changed it.

Galaxy’s Edge Character Magic Moment

Nathan 31:17

Yeah, there's there's much speculation and controversy. Well, not well, not controversy. In theory, that's where the uh they're gonna take that and turn it into an avatar land, or not a land, but a huge ride in there. Like they're not really land. They're not re-theming that ride. They are demolishing like a whole section there and supposedly doing I think it's avatar, is it Fire and ash? Yeah, I think it's Fire and ash. Yeah, that they were gonna do a big thing on, and then um they've put a pin in that, and there is

Alicea 31:51

we've heard there's rumors, there's rumors flying around.

Nathan 31:54

They've definitely put a pin in it because they initially that the um Monsters Inc. ride was gonna go down like early this year, yeah, and now it's gonna stay open through all of 2026, yeah. And potentially go down early next year, and there is rumor out there that instead of avatar, they are going to do something from Zootopia World or the the the world of universe of Zootopia.

Alicea 32:22

So that change remains to be seen, though.

Nathan 32:25

Yes.

Alicea 32:26

Still rumor and speculation at this point. Very much. I would love to see Zootopia.

Nathan 32:31

Yes.

Alicea 32:32

I've seen the first Avatar movie, and that's it. I realize they are extremely popular.

Nathan 32:38

Mm-hmm. Not in this house, though.

Alicea 32:40

But I don't think it's a draw to go to a theme park. I could be wrong.

Nathan 32:45

Yeah, I don't yeah. Mm-hmm. I I also think it has to come down to they have this multi-billion dollar franchise in Zootopia out of And Avatar. Well, but Disney doesn't own Avatar. That is a licensing deal with James Cameron. And at a certain level, some bean counter is gonna go, you know, we have a very successful franchise over here in Zootopia. We have an amazing Zootopia-based ride that's already in Shanghai. We could just, you know, copy and paste that and put it in California and not have to pay external licensing.

Alicea 33:21

Yeah.

Nathan 33:23

So who knows? Who knows?

Jarrett 33:26

If anybody from Disney is listening, my vote would be Zootopia.

Nathan 33:30

I think I think there's three votes on this call for Zootopia.

Jarrett 33:36

I definitely think I need a do-over for California Adventure.

Alicea 33:40

Yeah, yeah.

Jarrett 33:41

Because I think we ended up leaving at like two because we were cold and wet and tired and grumpy. We just went to the hotel room and you know dried off and sat around for a while because it rained until like six or seven o'clock that night.

Alicea 33:57

Did you get any rides while you were there other than the junkyard jamboree?

California Adventure In The Rain

Jarrett 34:02

Junkyard Jamboree, Web Slingers, and I don't know why we did this, but we did the Ferris Wheel, and that's where which one?

Alicea 34:12

Which which um the stationary or the moving one?

Jarrett 34:16

The stationary one. We wanted to do the moving one, but we got on the wrong one. But as soon as we got up high is when it really started to come down to and so it was just not a good situation. Yeah, we did do, I think the merry-go-round and

Alicea 34:32

Jesse's carousel, I think is what that is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jarrett 34:36

We did one other one, but I can't remember. It was like a smaller kid's ride that just went like did a circle or something, and that was

Alicea 34:43

the emotional whirlwind, possibly. I think maybe there's there's a fair amount of spin over there.

Nathan 34:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you've you've I mean, you definitely need to do all the park experiences again, like both coasts when when you don't have, you know, a toddler.

Alicea 35:06

Yeah, when they're a little older.

Nathan 35:08

Yeah.

Alicea 35:08

Yeah.

Nathan 35:09

And and and hopefully when it's not raining in California. Because it isn't, it is unlike in Florida, where they plan for stuff to just not be available because of rain, and so they design things around that. I mean, there's some outside things that close down, but like they're just prepared for that. Uh, not so much in California. No, not so much in California. Did you have any uh food opportunities over there in DCA?

Jarrett 35:36

Uh so the lunch we got was at it was like a Mexican restaurant. I remember I had tacos, my wife had the birra tacos. Okay. It was good. They were they were pretty good. Yeah. Uh not good enough to make us feel good in the rain. Everybody was cramped under like one little awning. It was it was tough. I will say it was tough.

Nathan 36:03

Yeah, yeah. The gods weren't shining down on you. No.

Jarrett 36:08

No.

Nathan 36:09

All right. Well, we have some questions to the best of your ability. You've been to Disney World, you've been to Disneyland in similar situations, young kids, and and things going a little bit sideways for for both trips, uh, from weather, from kids and kids being kids, all sorts of fun stuff. So while they haven't been perhaps ideal trips, I think you've had a kind of a fair comparison between what's in Florida and what's in California. In your opinion, at least for right now, today, between Disney World and Disneyland, which destination do you think has the best rides?

Jarrett 36:55

Best rides? Yeah. I want to say California, but maybe just because I rode more. Um because you know my kids were a little bit taller, we could ride a few more things. Yeah, yeah. Although the Barnstormer in Florida, we rode that about six times because there was no line and it was a good ride. Yeah. So we didn't get to do that anywhere in California.

Nathan 37:21

Yeah, there is one of those in California Adventure.

Alicea 37:24

It's a gadget go-coaster. Wait.

Nathan 37:26

No, no, it's Goofy Sky School.

Alicea 37:28

Oh gosh, no, that is no, that is terror on rails.

Nathan 37:32

Well, it is if you're an adult. If you're a kid, it's fine. But adults need these things called banked turns.

Alicea 37:40

That's I think that's a little higher level than the Barnstormer or Go Coaster.

Nathan 37:45

Okay, fair enough. I think.

Alicea 37:46

Yeah.

Nathan 37:47

Fair enough. I I just know that I am thankful that I am uh uh uh big enough that I don't fit on that ride, and I have no intention of ever trying again, even though I've gotten smaller. Uh that is I've written that word off in my head. Yeah.

Alicea 38:02

That is a terrifying ride for me. I don't know why.

Nathan 38:07

I would go to I would go to Autopia again before I ever got on Goofy Sky School. And I don't fit in the cars.

Alicea 38:17

Which destination has the best food?

Jarrett 38:20

Uh, I'm not the right person to ask. So chicken nuggets, chicken nuggets. I'll say the Disney Cruise had the best chicken strips, though.

Alicea 38:27

Oh, there you go. Agreed, agreed, agreed. Yep.

Nathan 38:30

Nice, nice. The third option. You found the third way. Good job. Uh all right, between uh between the two, or I guess the three, uh, which has bet the best entertainment?

Jarrett 38:46

I might say world on this one.

Nathan 38:49

Okay.

Jarrett 38:49

Just because there's so much more to do. And like at the resort, things were happening as well. It wasn't just a hotel that you go back to.

Nathan 38:58

Yeah.

Jarrett 38:59

Um, you know, there was marshmallow roasting and all that, and giant pools and things going on. So I think for kids my you know, people with kids my age world would probably have more things for them to do. Yeah.

Alicea 39:13

Okay. Did you get to hit uh Pirates or Haunted Mansion at all?

Rumors About Future Park Changes

Jarrett 39:19

Uh since we did it at Disney World, we didn't try to do it at Disneyland. Uh okay. I think the only thing we repeated was uh Smuggler's run.

Alicea 39:32

Okay.

Nathan 39:32

Okay.

Alicea 39:33

I would say for future trips, you do need to do Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland. It is different. It is much longer.

Nathan 39:42

Yeah. It's got another two or three show scenes in it.

Alicea 39:46

I think so. Yeah.

Nathan 39:47

It's it's like 12 minutes versus like five or six or something like that. Like it's it's dramatically different and better. I mean, there's some some stuff's very similar, but uh. And I would even say like Small World Hear me out. Um the they've added uh in a very, very well done way. They've added characters into the country scenes in Small World and California. And they're they're done in the same like Mary Blair doll style, but they're very clearly like Disney characters, and they really lean into California, into especially in the holidays, like seasonal theming of some of those things in those scenes. And uh it's it's better. And the exterior of Small World, that's yeah, it's gorgeous. Night and day, the one in California is way better.

Jarrett 40:49

I don't think I could bring myself to hear the song again.

Alicea 40:52

Yeah, it's not too bad.

Nathan 40:55

I just turn off my hearing aids and everything's great.

Jarrett 40:59

That works too, yeah.

Alicea 41:02

Is there anything that you'd want to take from Florida and implement in California?

Jarrett 41:10

I would say, like, since my kids love the Skyliner and the way to get around, I would like that, but it wasn't difficult walking, it just wasn't as exciting. However, you know, we did ride the monorail and the railroad train that goes around. I don't remember the name of that one either. Um, so we kind of got a little bit of the feel of the Skyliner, but yeah, still that Skyliner is so unique and you know entertaining for these kids that I wish something like that was in California.

Alicea 41:40

Way back in the day, they had something like that. They actually had sky buckets going through the Matterhorn.

Nathan 41:46

Yep. They had that in Florida too, in Magic Kingdom. Yeah, not not anymore. Not anymore. Of course, uh, you know, with the the size of the Skyliner nowadays, you know, if you took that footprint and put it in California, you'd probably get from like the Disneyland resort to John Wayne Airport. Like actually, there's a really good idea. Yeah. And then uh how about conversely, is there anything that you saw uh in in Anaheim, whether you did it or not, uh, that you would love to see added to Orlando?

Jarrett 42:21

Oh man, that's a tough one. I wasn't prepared. Um

Nathan 42:25

gotcha.

Jarrett 42:26

You did get me. I mean, there's no way to replicate it, but just the ease of getting between the parts would be yeah. I mean, it it's not necessarily hard for the way they have it in Florida, but it's longer. Yeah. I mean, you jump on a bus or a skyliner or whatever. Right. Right. You can't just walk across the street.

Nathan 42:49

Yeah. That if there was some way to like fold space-time and let you get between all the places in in Florida.

Jarrett 42:57

Like teleporter.

Alicea 42:59

Exactly. That's what we need.

Nathan 43:00

Exactly. Unfortunately, that's Star Trek and not Star Wars, and they decided not to buy that. So give them time. Although they did the partnership with BBC for Doctor Who, so maybe we can figure something out.

Alicea 43:13

I think that's done.

Nathan 43:14

Yeah, I'm trying to think positive here.

Alicea 43:18

Was there anything that we didn't touch on that you want to talk about about this trip?

Jarrett 43:23

Uh, if you are in a similar situation to me with young kids, and you're going, um, I try to answer the question when I see it online a lot. Like, yeah, some people are like, Are my kids even gonna remember it at two? And mine definitely have. Like, yeah, whenever we hit a bumpy road and we're you know bouncing around, my youngest is always like, uh, Slinky Dog, and the oldest goes, Space Mountain, and then they fight about which one it is. Um like when my youngest sees a Millennium Falcon, he's always like, We flew that, like it is memorable. I definitely think that they're not too young to go and remember some of those things. Um, but also be kind to yourself because they're gonna have meltdowns, they're gonna do things you don't want them to do. Um, the first day, even though like we had fun, I remember it like maybe two or three in the afternoon. I was like, I'm never doing this again. Like, I hate this. Like, I can't get the kids to do anything, and they're not listening, they're touching every trash can and trying to lick every chain. I'm just like, why are y'all doing this? Like, um, and I, you know, I overreacted a few times, but I can see now, but in the heat of the moment, you know, sure, you're just like, why are you licking the chain? I've told you 10 times not to lick a chain.

Nathan 44:45

Um mostly because you said not to.

Disneyland Vs Disney World Quick Rankings

Jarrett 44:49

It's true, but I don't know the other way to say it. Like I tried 10 other ways. Yeah. Um, but be kind to yourself because you know, everybody's under stress in these situations, even though it's the happiest place on earth. Everyone's trying to do what they want to do. Um, we didn't really touch on it, but when we went to the Toon Town section, yeah, and they had that park where the kids can run around and stuff, my kids had a blast there. They stayed for like an hour just you know doing the slide and doing all that stuff, and they had freedom to pick things a little bit easier. Yep.

Alicea 45:22

Um that's a great area.

Nathan 45:25

It's a great area, and that was recently redone a year, two years ago?

Alicea 45:31

Something like that.

Nathan 45:31

Yeah, yeah. Fairly recently, that whole thing was refurbished and rebuilt, and it is a magical destination for families like like you guys, because it is really built for like, okay, kids, have at it, go have fun. I'll be sitting here in the grass or fake grass, uh enjoying some some pseudo-downtime and ensuring you don't like try to run out of the park.

Jarrett 45:56

Yeah. And just that walk into Toontown, like how you see the the horizon and it's cartoonish and stuff. Yeah, I was amazed with how you know they did some of that stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

Alicea 46:07

Yeah. The forced perspective and just um the little bubbles that they build where you can't see anything else but just that area. Disney is really great at doing that.

Nathan 46:17

Yeah. Okay, so we've got cruises, we've got Disney World, we've got Disneyland. For you and your family, what's next?

Jarrett 46:29

Well, we talked about doing a cruise, but we definitely haven't booked it. And when I looked, everything left was like Christmas or 14 days, which we can't do. Yeah. Um, so we're not really sure yet. Uh we might hit up another park again. We might try to hit a cruise that's not going out of Galveston, but you know, that's just gonna add on some co some cost. But we had a lot of families asking if they could go with us the next time we go. Yeah, that live, you know, around here by us. So it would be hard to get everybody to travel to Florida or California to get on a boat. Um, but also in the back of my mind is the Hawaii property and

What Each Coast Should Steal

Nathan 47:13

we love Aulani. We'll be there again this year for uh New Year's Eve. Very much looking forward to that. That'd be great. Yeah. Well, I I think if you'll listen to a little advice from at least for me, I would say for your next trip or two probably cruises right for you. Let your youngest get into the seven-ish range and then hit the parks again, and you will have a completely different experience. And it will be absolutely magical because then you'll have like seven and ten, and the ten-year-old won't be like too old to be too cool for school, like they will still love the magic of the characters and the immersion and all the rest of that stuff, and the seven-year-old will just eat all that up. Like, that is a like you can. I don't throw any like you know, uh uh uh uh cast any shade on people who bring like infants or or you know, one-year-old or two-year-old or three-year-old, like to the parks. I like it is great. You are making some memories for them, you're making a lot of memories for you, and set your expectations accordingly. But I think the the magic, like age range for parks trips are in that like seven to twelve year old range. It's just like all the magic, and then they become teenagers and then they're too cool for school again, and then whatever. But that's different. You've got some time before you need to worry worry about that one.

Alicea 48:48

Well, your eldest is is five.

Nathan 48:51

Yes.

Alicea 48:51

I think even having your youngest be that that age, they'll still get a ton out of it. I think any age, there's different pros and cons.

Nathan 49:01

Yep.

Alicea 49:01

And kids will love it no matter what. Um, and there'll be memories no matter what.

Jarrett 49:06

Yeah. Right. Yep. And then when they get to that, you know, seven to ten that you're talking about, they can do really good bread reviews. Yes.

Nathan 49:17

We'll have to do that again when we're in uh Disney. That's gonna be now be the thing on our trips. I guess we have to do bread reviews.

Alicea 49:24

Yep.

Nathan 49:25

All right. Have to do that from Napa Rose.

Alicea 49:29

Is Sterling going to Napa Rose with us?

Nathan 49:31

No, Sterling's not going with us on date night to Napa Rose. Okay. That's our that's our uh anniversary dinner.

Alicea 49:36

We can do he could do a different fancy dinner bread review. Sure. We'll see what we'll do. Oh no, we can't. Okay, yeah, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out.

Nathan 49:44

Hey, maybe it'll be a Bay Max uh uh baguette roll thing or sourdough roll for no, we can do that for San Francisco. Yeah, San Francisco. Yeah. We'll plan. We'll plan. Jared, it was so great to have you on again. Uh thank you so much for reaching out. Uh we really appreciate it. It was it was great to catch up.

Alicea 50:04

Yeah.

Jarrett 50:05

Appreciate it. Like I said, every time I know that you guys are going on the magic, I feel like y'all are like right there. We can go hang out.

Nathan 50:11

I know.

Jarrett 50:11

Take the guys get some chips and salsa. Scouts, scouts honor.

Nathan 50:15

Next time that we are doing a trip out of Galveston uh in in that area, we will reach out. Reach out. Um, when that is, I am not gonna put any money on, but next time we're there.

Jarrett 50:27

And if I head up to see my family in Seattle, I'll let you know.

Nathan 50:31

Perfect. Perfect.

Alicea 50:33

Well, thanks again, Jarrett. It was amazing talking to you and hearing about your trip. And we are hoping next time you go on a Disney trip, it will be absolutely amazing. Yes.

Nathan 50:44

Here's here's two amazing trips. No, yes. No rain, no meltdowns. No meltdowns. Just pure Disney magic and bliss. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, speaking of magic and bliss, we're not affiliated with Disney or their subsidiaries. These are our and our guests' personal opinions and suggestions based on our own experiences. Just remember though, we are affiliated with fun, snacks, and questionable decisions.

Alicea 51:12

And rain.

Nathan 51:12

And rain. Yes.

Alicea 51:15

We recommend working with a travel agent or contacting Disney directly to plan your own perfect vacation.

Parenting Reality And Why It’s Worth It

Nathan 51:21

If you have questions or suggestions, or would like to be interviewed on our show, just like Jarrett, you can reach out to us at podcast at our mousecapades.com. We'd love to have you on.

Alicea 51:34

Please take a moment, give us a rating and review. It really helps us out and helps other Disney fans find us.

Nathan 51:40

Indeed. And you can follow us on socials. We're at Our Mouse Capades on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. And we're over on YouTube too. Please share us with your friends, your family, and that one coworker who still thinks FastPass is a thing.

Alicea 51:57

Thank you for listening. We'll be in your ears next week.

Intro 52:01

Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.