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Two In Tow & On The Go | Disneyland … in the rain

Posted on February 28th, 2025 By: Tonya Strickland

Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Feb. 14, 2025. Photo by Tonya Strickland

Bowen and I finally took the kids to Disneyland! With Mid-Winter Break giving us the perfect excuse to escape the dreary Washington weather, we hopped a flight from Seattle to Burbank (pro tip: way less stressful than LAX) for a mix of Disney magic and family visits. This was Clara and Wyatt’s first time at the park, and as a former SoCal kid whose high school senior class did a Disneyland takeover for Grad Night, I couldn’t wait to show the kids my favorites. Bowen? Let’s just say he was less excited—but even he had to admit he had fun.

We kept it classic, spending two full days at Disneyland Park instead of splitting time with California Adventure. That meant lots of Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Main Street nostalgia for me; Star Wars stuff for Bowen; and non-stop roller coaster rides for the kids. But, of course, in true vacation fashion, the one full Disneyland day we had? Absolute downpour. Because why wouldn’t it rain on the trip we left 28-degree Gig Harbor for in search of sun?

There’s more to discuss about the trip. But first, a #MomConfession: I write my columns … pretty close to deadline here at Gig Harbor Now. As in, if I only miss it by an hour, I consider that a personal victory. Somewhere along the way, this journalist brain of mine decided that teetering on the razor-thin edge of the proverbial “last-minute” was not only acceptable but somehow essential to my sanity as a writer. But … meh. Who needs sleep anyway?

I disclose such things because it helps prep you for the following Disneyland intro story:

Hi. It’s me at Disneyland.

As I was doing the kids’ bedtime routine tonight (she says just before midnight on Thursday, February 27), I declared to my small-human audience: “One chapter; no cuddles!” Now, before you deem me a monster, I’ll have you know that I went on to tell them such circumstances were necessary because mama needed extra time to file her news column and somehow obtain actual sleep before volunteering with Clara’s Friday field trip — two commitments that were both less than 12 hours away at the time.

Disneyland: The Wording

Apparently, my declaration also seemed open to negotiation. Because Wyatt, our 9 year old, didn’t miss a beat when he replied:

“Well, that’s easy. Just write: ‘DISNEYLAND IS AWESOME.’ … in all caps. Then you’ll be done and have more time to read.”

Clara, 11, responded with a string of giggles, ending in a shared agreement with her brother: “Oh, yeah. That’s totally enough to be the whole article. Plus, it’s true. Disneyland is awesome. The end.”

These crazy kids 🙂

Not disagreeing, I thus proclaimed these kids the coolest future newspaper editors around. In fact, with their mutually-shared outlooks, they shall be the most lenient (and therefore the most popular) editors on Earth. I surmised reporters would flock from everywhere to be at their side, clamoring to write for The Famous Clara and Wyatt. They would arrive in droves and congregate — around what hopefully will be free office pizza — to chant in delighted unison, “All hail Editors Clara and Wyatt, champions of the three- to six- word story!”

“DISNEYLAND IS AWESOME. In all caps.”

– Wyatt Turetzky

The kids and I joked a little longer before I opened our adventure book to start reading the evening’s “one” chapter of Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (so good, btw). Three words in, Wyatt interjected. I paused, mid-sentence, taking a deep breath. Typically allowing up to three brief interruptions before absolutely losing my sh*t at bedtime, I remained calm, and mostly pleasant, as I turned my attention toward him.

Wyatt: “But, Mama — definitely write that I said ‘DISNEYLAND IS AWESOME. In all caps.’ But, like, don’t just capitalize it. Actually write that I said the ‘caps’ part, too.”

Me: Reaching for the book to continue, I reply: “OK, bud. I will.”

Wyatt: “But actually write the words ‘In all caps’ after ‘Awesome.’

Me: Word-for-word. Got it. I’ll — “.

Clara: “Yeah! That’s perfect! Like, type out the words ‘In all caps’ right after ‘Awesome’.”

Me: I set the book down. “Yep. Cool. I’ll do th –” …

Clara and Wyatt: Talking together now, their words spilling out fast and tumbling over one another’s. “Because that’s the whole point of saying ‘in all caps’.” … “To say that it’s awesome, because it is so awesome.” … “SO awesome.” …. “SO. SO. SO. Awesome!” … “And it’s so awesome that it’s in all caps.” … “But it’s so awesome that it’s in all caps because it’s not just written that way.” … “It’s said that way, too, to really show how awesome it is.”

One of them: “Because the other way isn’t as funny.”

Maybe the same kid, idk: “Wayyy not as funny. You have to emphasize the awesomeness of it. But not just writing it in all caps because the all caps is the part of the awesomeness.”

More words: “ … Because the other way would just be actual all capital letters – which isn’t as good as speaking that the capitol letters themselves are part of it. I thought that up first because —“

Me: (Losing my aforementioned sh*t in 4, 3, 2, 1 …)

Me: “Guys! OK. No chapters, 1 cuddle!”

The kids stopped talking.

Clara: “Please one chapter and some cuddles?”

Then Wyatt hugged me. Proceeded by Clara who also hugged me. And gosh-dang-doodle, I gave in to those little stinkers with one chapter and a traditional amount of cuddles. So here I am still writing at 1:25 a.m. on deadline day. Kids are the worst 🙂

Disneyland: The Trip

Day 1 | Breakfast

Okie dokie – so back to Disneyland. To start our first day at the park, I booked a character breakfast from home, 60 days in advance. (Wait, doing things early?! Who am I??). You can do this for your next trip via the Disneyland Resort Character Dining reservation page.

NOTE: You can book a “Fantasmic! Dining Package” in advance for a 3-course meal and a reserved viewing area for the nighttime show. You can also reserve other cool eating spots and exclusive park experiences.

The breakfast was next-level Disney magic, and SO worth it. First off, Mickey waffles —because you simply cannot do a Disney breakfast without them. The chef even made mine gluten-free to accomodate for my food allergies! Pair that with eggs and a pile of bacon and we were off to a solid start.

Here is when Wyatt grabbed my camera and took 98 pictures of Tigger.

Then came the real magic — the characters. Tigger literally b-b-bounced over to our table (very on-brand), giving out high-fives and hugs like he’d just had three espressos.

Chip and Dale were up to their usual mischief, making the kids laugh and blowing kisses across the room.

Winnie the Pooh appeared alongside Daisy Duck — but that happened when we were leaving. Before heading inside, we got a photo sesh with Minnie Mouse as part of our package. The Plaza Inn itself was lovely in its Victorian elegance with a touch of Disneyland whimsy. They say it was Walt Disney’s original spot to take his VIPs, close personal friends and investors before the elusive Club 33 cropped up. The building’s interior design feels like stepping into a charming, turn-of-the-century parlor with lots of soft pinks, gold accents, and intricate white trim. The chandeliers sparkle and it’s just one of those places that makes you feel like you’re in a fancy old-timey restaurant — but with just enough Disney magic to keep it fun. Between the food, the characters, and the vintage vibes, the Plaza Inn breakfast was the perfect way to start the day. And let’s be real — the necessary sugar boost for conquering the park after.

The Rain

That rain on Day 1 of our trip — it was not a light drizzle, my friends. No, no. It was a full-on, nonstop downpour that eventually meant us leaving the park early in search of warmth. And we even came prepared! We went in fully knowing that rain was on the forecast so we brought our PNW rain gear. Which, apparently, even that stuff has its limits on keeping the water out.

Here are the pros and cons regarding rain at Disneyland:

Pros:

All those annoying people getting in the way of your favorite rides? Poof! Gone.
Space Mountain? On in five minutes.
The Matterhorn Bobsleds? No standing in that endless, snaking line for us!
The kids’ first Pirates experience was made even better because its indoor, cool underground-lagoon smell somehow gave off cozy vibes amid the singing, thieving skeletons.
The already misty air made the Haunted Mansion’s exterior extra creepy. And, again, no line there either so we just walked straight to our Doom Buggy.

So, yeah. Rain = walking onto almost every single thrill ride no prob. Sure, we had Lightning Lane Multi Passes (and shelled out more for a MagicBand+), but the we basically had free reign of the park minus a few peak times. Never the fan of a crowd, this barren land also made Bowen very, very happy. The kids thought it was cool, too. But having never been to Disneyland before, they didn’t know how packed the park could truly get … which they soon discovered on Disneyland Day 2.

Cons:

Brrrrr.
I was cold. Like, soaked-to-the-core cold.
Everybody’s shoes got wet – no matter what. Walking around with squishy socks? Not fun.
Almost all of the outside food vendors were closed, taking some fun out of the air.
Fireworks go bye bye on rainy days.

And yes – we knew about the rain and prepared for it. We brought our Washington raincoats – but even our best PNW gear didn’t stop the rain from somehow sneaking into our hoods, sleeves and pants.

Favorite Rides:

Big Thunder Mountain was the best, hands down. The kids went on it five times in a row! Other surprise faves were riding the double-decker trolly in Main Street U.S.A. (fun fact: it’s called the omnibus); the kinda-sorta-secret climbing of the stairs through Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and exploring the depths in the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

By the end of the day, we were frozen and exhausted. While the dreaded sky water made Disneyland a mostly people-free zone, I didn’t love rainy day Disney. But, if I do, next time I’m bringing three hoodies just for me. 🙂

Disney Day 2

The following morning, we woke up to our second day at Disneyland: February 14 – Valentine’s Day. To start, we hit up a couple more thrill rides – although not nearly as many as the day before. For one, the sun was out so the lines were waaaaaaaay longer. The kids were shocked – haha. So, we took the second day to check out areas of the park that were less thrill-ride based such as Mickey’s Toontown; the always-charming Enchanted Tiki Room complete with a fancy Dole Whip dessert; the Main Street U.S.A. shops where I totally blanked in nabbing some custom profile art at the old school classic Silhouette Studio; and even wandered into a pastel and sugar-infused Disney pop culture candy store in Downtown Disney.

I wanted to take the rafts to Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island – but it was closed. Disney’s webpage for the island says: “Tom Sawyer Island opened to the public at Disneyland Resort in 1956. The attraction has the distinction of being the only one designed by Walt Disney.” — So cool!

NOTE: “it’s a small world” (stylized in the Disney-sphere with quotes and all-lowercase letters) closed in January 2025 for an “extended refurbishment” with plans to reopen this spring.

Here’s some more Disney pics. I only took a thousand:

Kiddo Ages

First time at Disneyland! Day 1!

In the end, one of my initial questions was, with kids ages 9 and 11, did we wait too long?

In my opinion, no. But I think this was the last year they’d find the characters to be interesting. That said, they didn’t want to go find the characters around the park for autographs if that’s even still a thing. They also weren’t that into Toon Town — but honestly, it’s pretty chaotic in there anyway with so many families of small children.

Here’s a sad fact: Disneyland cuts off its child-ticket pricing at 9 years old. Meaning, Clara in all of her age-11-glory wasn’t even considered a ‘child’ there! Pull all my heart strings, why dontcha? But Wyatt made it under the wire, so we did get to snag one kiddo admission ticket.

Except, instead of planning our trip in individual tickets like that, I booked a full Disneyland Resort package with admission, extras and a two-night stay at the Disneyland Hotel through Small World Vacations. The travel agency is one of several that earn commissions directly from Disney so booking vacations through them is totally free for the customer. I’d read about their travel agents on one of these old school Disney fan blogs and I highly recommend going that route to book your trip.

Disney Food Blog (it’s not just about food – they spill neat secrets too like this little known tradition)
MouseSavers (it has a cool page that lists Disney vacation sweepstakes/contests and is apparently known for its exclusive discount codes in its newsletter)
Undercover Tourist (an authorized Disney ticket vendor with blog posts)

These are all classic Disney-everything blogs that have been around since the 1990s and early 2000s — and they’re still updated with new information in 2025. (Quick note to say there are no affiliate links in this post where I get money to recommend stuff —these are sites I actually used when researching our vacation).

Hidden Mickeys?

Hidden Mickey?

We got a book beforehand so we could study up on Hidden Mickey locations. I saw this lovely creation in leaves on the way to the restroom our first day there. This counts, right?And that’s it for our trip write-up! Hope to see you out there! Because that would mean I’d have escaped to CA for a bit – haha

Mom and two kids standing with water and boats in the background.

@two.n.tow

Tonya Strickland is a Gig Harbor mom-of-two and longtime journalist. Now in the travel and family niche, her blog, Two in Tow & On the Go, was named among the 10 Seattle-Area Instagram Accounts to Follow by ParentMap magazine. Tonya and her husband Bowen moved to Gig Harbor from California with their two kids, Clara (11) and Wyatt (9) in 2021. Find them on Facebook for all the kid-friendly places in and around town.