After a fun but long day 1, we got a good night’s rest.  For those just joining the trip report, you can catch up on day 1 here and here.  One of the nice things about being on east coast and staying on the west coast….making a 7 am breakfast reservation is not a daunting task especially when the restaurant is at the resort you are staying at.

On our first full day at Disneyland, our reservation was at Storytellers Cafe and because we were on “east coast time,” we had the first dining reservation slot at 7 am.  As a result, we almost had a private dining experience at Storytellers Cafe.  There were only about a four or five other families in the restaurant with us.  This led to LOTS of time with the characters and multiple character visits.

But we caught him!

After Chip came, Dale stopped by to entertain us.

After a visit by our two favorite Disney chipmunks, we had the chance to take in the large buffet spread.  There was plenty of food for everyone.  Make your own omelet station, Mickey Waffles, muffins, pancakes, sausage, bacon.  You name the breakfast food and odds are that the Storytellers Cafe breakfast had it.  And it came in large portions too so you definitely did not leave hungry.

During our meal, some more friends came by to entertain us with long character interactions.  First was Meeko from Pocahontas.

The last character would made an appearance was Kenai from Brother Bear.

Our meal was finished in a little less than an hour.  We finished and then made the short walk to the Grand Californian entrance to Disney’s California Adventure and made a bee-line to get FastPass tickets for Radiator Springs Racers and got a great time around 10 am.  To kill some time, we walked back to the front of the park to meet Oswald the Lucky Rabbit since he can only be met at Disneyland.

Then, we went back to Paradise Pier and had a very short wait to get on Toy Story Midway Mania.  In Disneyland, Toy Story is not an E-Ticket attraction in the minds of most guests.  Most guests head to Radiator Springs Racers or Soarin’ or California Screamin’.  This means Toy Story has a very short wait of around 20 minutes.  Once on the attractions, the games are the exact same as Toy Story in Disney World but a much shorter wait time at Disneyland is a big plus.  Walking out of Paradise Pier, we took a spin on Journey of the Little Mermaid before heading to our Fastpass time at Radiator Springs Racers.

My daughter and I took the race while my wife found a great place to take picture.  Not 100% sure that this our race but still a great picture.   After our short time in California Adventure, we made the short walk to Disneyland Park.  My daughter and I went straight to the Matterhorn.  She had been talking about the Matterhorn since we told her that we were going to Disneyland.  It was here must do attraction.  It didn’t matter than there was a 40-45 minute wait.  It was going to be our first Disneyland Park attraction.  And a selfie HAD to be taken before we got on.

After two thrill rides in a row, it was time for a family ride and it was very short walk (like most walks at Disneyland) to It’s A Small World.  This attraction blew me away.  It has an outside loading area along with some fantastic themeing on the inside.  The attraction is so much better than the Small World attraction at Walt Disney World.  It’s had to explain but it feels more like the original 1964 Small World attraction.

After our great experience on It’s A Small World, we continued to experience Disneyland only attractions by going on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Pinocchio’s Daring Journey.  Two great historic Disneyland attractions that people who have only been to Walt Disney World do not get to experience.  It is attractions like these that Disneyland a much different experience than Walt Disney World.

At this point, my daughter and I were left with a debate.  We could have lunch and then ride Space Mountain or ride Space Mountain and then have lunch.  It was pushing 1 pm so we were getting hungry.  However, we decided to push through that hunger for a little bit longer and rode Space Mountain before having a lunch.

We will leave the trip report for now and pick it up later this week.  Where do you think we had lunch on our second day?  Hint: It’s in Disneyland Park.

Thanks for reading!