Disneyland from Los Angeles World Cruise Center

Our time on Ovation of the Seas has quickly come to an end. We pack up our cabin and then move to breakfast. One last meal at the Windjammer. We have a couple of errands to run before disembarking. First, we go to NextCruise to purchase some certificates. Royal Caribbean offers discounts when you book a cruise within 60 days of being on a cruise. I buy one certificate for myself and four for clients. It’s awesome they let us grab some for our clients. I also stop at guest services. I missed dinner last night because my stomach wasn’t well from all the wine. I didn’t get a chance to tip our servers. Guest services has a form where you can list staff on the ship and tip them. It gets billed to your onboard account. I tip our servers and then also tip generally so it gets split between the bartenders and other staff. We disembark and it was super easy and quick. We walk for about two minutes to get to our rental car and load our luggage for the next adventure.

We’re going to Disneyland!! It’s about a 45-minute drive to Disneyland in California traffic. I use my phone's GPS to navigate us and it is a relatively easy drive. There is a decent amount of traffic, but the cars are moving. We arrive at the exit for Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The parking is clearly marked and we make our way to the garage. There are lots of cars and the process to park takes over thirty minutes. This doesn’t feel like the Happiest Place on Earth. I do learn later that Disneyland has plans for a new garage so this parking congestion is hopefully a temporary problem. We park the car and walk to escalators. The escalators take us to a tram and then the tram takes us to the entrances. 

There is a long line for Disneyland, but luckily our park reservations are for Disney California Adventure which has no line. Entering the park is easy and involves scanning the tickets from our phone and taking our picture. I haven’t been to Avenger Campus yet so that’s our first stop. We get in the single-rider line for WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. The normal wait was something like 40 minutes, but we basically walked onto the ride in the single-rider’s line. This was my first time riding it and it was a lot of fun. It is very similar to Toy Story Mania, but you use your arms to shoot the targets. 

Next, we go to Radiator Springs Racers which is a cute ride. The ride system feels like Test Track, but the theming is to Cars. It’s really cute, but had a decent line. 

We make a stop for the closest thing to DoleWhip in this park. It’s a flight with mango, raspberry, and lemon. 

It’s hard to believe it’s already time for lunch! We made lunch reservations about a month ago when we decided to do this trip. We eat lunch at Wine Country Trattoria and I have a steak. If I’m going to overpay for theme park food, I at least want it to be good food. It was very delicious. 

We then hop over to Disneyland which is very close. We had to see the castle and get that classic Disney feel. My friend leaves after this to catch her flight and I go back to the car with her to get her luggage. We then walk to Downtown Disney where she can catch an Uber. 

I still have a few more hours to explore so I go back to Disneyland. We didn’t buy Lightning Lanes because we knew we’d be arriving late and leaving early. I really miss it and it changes the rides I want to visit. I opt for an interesting mix of rides to round out my afternoon. First, the train from the front of the park to Mickey’s Toon Town Depot. This is a very kid-friendly area of the park. Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin is a newer ride that wasn’t here for my last visit. My son would have loved this and would have spun us like crazy. The playgrounds were also cool in this area. 

I’m done with waiting in line for the day so I opt for perhaps the least popular ride at Disneyland. It’s one I’ve never been on. You know it’s the least popular ride when they ask, “who is riding for the first time?” Then he follows it up with something along the lines of who tricked you to go on this? Can you guess the ride? First hint. It’s not at Disney World. Second hint. Manual labor is involved. Third hint. You become a spectacle. Did you guess it? Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes. We paddled around Tom Sawyer’s Island and I did enjoy it. Have you done this?

I have time for one more ride so I go to one that was rumored to be closing. A few days later rumors are confirmed. Monsters Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue is the ride. The first time I rode it, I absolutely loved it. Scent had a big part of the ride, but this time I didn’t smell all the things. It seems like the ride changed, but I don’t know for sure. Either way, it’s probably the last time I’ll ride it which is sad. 

It’s time to make my journey home. I walk to the tram and take the tram to the escalators. The escalators take me to my floor and I find the car. I drive one hour and fifteen minutes through California traffic to a gas station near the airport. I fill up the tank and return the car. Luckily, returning the car was super quick and easy. I take the shuttle to the airport and then make my way to the gate. Tonight’s flight is a red eye and I luck out again with having a row of three all to myself. I’ve really lucked out with having rows to myself lately! It’s been fun California!