My Disneyland Trip October-November 2021

Sure, it's a bit late, but this was a great trip. We arrived at the Salt Lake City airport at 4:20 for a 6 AM flight to Los Angeles. The line for security was long, and they had just changed the security setup, so people were confused. We got through at about 5:15, but if you know the Salt Lake Airport's new setup, you have to go through a 1 mile long tunnel to get to the B gates, and out flight was conveniently located at the last B gate. It is 5:25, and we hear the last call for our flight that was supposed to leave at 6. We sprint through the airport, arriving as they make the call that the door will close in 2 minutes. If we had parked at a different shuttle stop, we would have missed our flight. After this great start, we cram ourselves onto a tiny airplane for our flight. We arrive in Los Angeles as the sun is coming up, and to avoid having to rent a car since our hotel was about a half mile from the resort, we hired a shuttle service, which turned out to be a life saver, as we had our own private car to fall asleep in. I wake up as we pass Knott's Berry Farm, gazing longingly at Xcelerator and GhostRider, but knowing that Disneyland is only about 20 minutes ahead. We arrive at our hotel, where we are faced with a problem: We aren't going to the parks today, we cannot check in until 3 (although the hotel will hold our luggage), and we do not have a car. The answer: Downtown Disney! After a quick breakfast at Panera Bread (which Utah doesn't have, unfortunately), we made the trek to Downtown Disney. I normally collect pressed pennies, but as Disney has changed most of their machines to pre-loaded credit card machines, I boycotted them on this trip. Fast forwarding until the next day, since nothing of note happened, we woke up bright and early and made it to Disneyland Park for opening. We unfortunately did not get a RoTR boarding group, but we headed to Indiana Jones to start, followed by Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and a pit stop at Splash Mountain to say our final goodbyes, as we will likely not be back in time for one last ride. After a quick lunch that we packed, we headed to Galaxy's Edge to ride Millennium Falcon, then into Fantasyland, where we rode Dumbo and Peter Pan. Unfortunately, both Big Thunder Mountain and Small World were closed, so neither of those were our next stops like they would normally be. After a quick stop at Buzz and Space, a few members of our party were tired, so we headed back to the hotel. Day 2, we headed to DCA. Today happened to be Halloween, and it was an amazing atmosphere, even though we couldn't get Not So Scary tickets. Our first stop was Radiator Springs Racers, since this was before Genie+. We then went to Pixar Pier for our first ever rides on Incredicoaster, where the general consensus was that California Screamin' was better. After hitting the flat rides in that area, and 3 painful rides on Goofy's Sky School, we headed to Ariel, before going to Toy Story. The ride had no wait, so after walking up to the gates, it broke down. We were lucky enough to get any ride FastPasses, so after another ride on Radiator Springs Racers, bypassing a 90-minute line in the process, we headed to Avengers Campus to use our WEB Slingers boarding group. We considered the ride somewhat underwhelming and exhausting, not worth the 50-minute line we waited in. After hopping on Guardians (RIP Tower of Terror), we rode Monsters, Inc. and then went to Soarin'. After riding Grizzly River Run and getting absolutely soaked, as we somehow incurred the wrath of the Cast Member in charge of geyser power, we headed back to the hotel for a change of clothes. Day 3 was supposed to be our least crowded day, being a Monday after a holiday at DCA. It was absolutely packed. We managed to snag another WEB Slingers boarding group, since some members of my party wanted to ride again, and began another day. After doing Radiator Springs again, we rode Guardians with a 45 minute wait, Soarin' with a 40 minute wait, and Incredicoaster with a 25 minute wait. We then took refuge with a few rounds of Animation Academy and Turtle Talk With Crush, before seeing PhilharMagic for the first time, which we enjoyed. We then used our WEB Slingers boarding group, before riding Toy Story. We then got some churro toffee, and went back to the hotel, exhausted. Day 4 began with a HUGE stroke of luck. Praying to get a RoTR group, we get on at 7 and acquire boarding group 2. After everyone in the hotel breakfast room staring at us due to our whoops of excitement, we headed to the parks for an early start. We managed to get a ride in on Space Mountain before our boarding group was called. We headed back and... broken down. We went to go get two walk-on rides on Millennium Falcon (DO NOT get stuck with gunner), and headed back to Rise. Just walking through the queue, I was amazed. I knew it was going to be amazing, and I had intentionally avoided reading about the ride. Going through the numerous preshows and boarding my spacecraft, I can confidently say that walking into the hold of the Star Destroyer was incredible. After more preshows, we board our ride vehicle (how the heck do they not have any seam at all in the wall?) and go on the journey of a lifetime. The best ride Disney has come up with since Tower of Terror and Soarin' Over California. Easily the best ride in any Disney park. After a ride on Pirates and Haunted Mansion Holiday (which I dislike, preferring the original), we ate lunch and watched a cavalcade, before making the worst decision of the trip. We headed to Space Mountain, waiting for 20 minutes before it went down for the rest of the day. We saw Autopia only had a 5 minute wait so we headed over there. The crush of people escaping Space Mountain resulting in that 5 minute line actually being 45 minutes. For a disappointing ride, possibly more so than Finding Nemo. After that nightmare, we headed to Star Tours, then Buzz again. We rode Matterhorn, then called it a night. Day 5 was the best day of the trip, even though we had to leave at 3 PM to make our flight. It was dead. We got another RoTR boarding group, and headed to the park. For the first half of the day, we hit all of Fantasyland and then some, doing 14 rides in 2 hours. We rode Splash again, Winnie the Pooh, and Pirates, before getting a quick lunch. We had a massive stroke of luck after riding Rise again. We saw on the app that Big Thunder, supposed to be closed for refurbishment, has a 45 minute wait. We rushed over to find a soft opening, and only a 15 minute wait. Finally riding all the mountains, we rode Matterhorn, Space, Buzz, and Big Thunder again, before seeing Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and leaving for the airport. At the airport, where there were conveniently 0 fast food restaurants open, we headed home, exhausted but happy. This concludes my epically long Disney report. Thanks for taking the time to read this!