SoCal Disney Dad
Hello! I'm Traver. My family and I have been Disneyland passholders since 2015 and have been visiting Southern California theme parks and attractions regularly since we moved to San Diego in 2014. In addition to Disneyland, we have annual passes to San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, SeaWorld San Diego, LEGOLAND California, and Universal Studios Hollywood.
I started this channel with you in mind. Whether you're planning an upcoming vacation, or just want all the latest news about what's going on in the parks.
In addition to regular vlogs, one of our favorites things to do is attend the various food festivals. On top of that you can expect snack videos, restaurant reviews, and more.
Please consider subscribing, and know that I'm happy to answer any and all questions you have! Just drop me a line in the comments on any video!
If you'd like to send us physical mail, our mailing address is:
SoCal Disney Dad
771 Jamacha Rd.
PMB 171
El Cajon, CA 92019
SoCal Disney Dad
Happy Thanksgiving from Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
Today is our last day at WDW. We have brunch reservations for a character meal at Tusker House in about an hour and then we are heading back to our hotel to collect our bags and catch an Uber to the airport.
2 days ago | [YT] | 462
View 28 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
I ended up getting the Cinderella Castle (not really visible) Spirit Jersey. The EPCOT one was sold out in my size, and the Pirates one (as someone pointed out) is available at Disneyland. So that made this the next logical choice for a WDW specific Spirit Jersey. It’s also the first one that caught my eye on the trip, so I’m happy to have gotten it.
3 days ago | [YT] | 294
View 21 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
WDW Day 5. Back at EPCOT! And my photo taking is getting worse and worse by the day. 😅 Typically once “the repeats” start I focus less on photos and filming and more just on being there.
Still filmed a lot as we did many different things on the second visit that we didn’t on the first. But there were also a lot of repeat experiences where I’m able to just be more present on.
We didn’t set out to rope drop Cosmic Rewind, but it worked out that way in the end.
We ate at Nine Dragons for lunch, which was a last minute addition to our planning about a week ago.
And we got to go to Les Halles, which is Amy’s favorite quick service location at all of Walt Disney World.
One more full day remains: Magic Kingdom. And it’s a party day (we are not attending) so we are hoping the crowds are lower than Monday.
3 days ago | [YT] | 258
View 7 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
WDW Day 4 was Magic Kingdom! We started the day as we do every day, showing up 1 hour before early entry, and boy was it worth it! We rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in just 5 minutes after they opened the line, and got off before early entry even began at 7:30 AM.
We made the most of the new Lightning lane system and maximized our day as best we could. We ate at Grand Floridian Cafe, checked out the new DVC Lounge, got Dole Whips, and rode Tron via ILL timed for after dark.
We even caught Disney’s Starlight Parade sort of by accident (it blocked our route out of the park)!
Today starts the “repeats” as we call them. We’re back at EPCOT!
4 days ago | [YT] | 306
View 12 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
Help me pick a Spirit Jersey! We’ve now been to all four WDW parks and I’ve narrowed down my interests in Spirit Jerseys to these four.
Your input isn’t necessarily going to dictate what I buy, so don’t feel like you have to say “well, whichever you like” because I like all of them! And am just looking for that extra nudge for or against.
Amy bought the EPCOT one if that’s any consideration. I don’t mind matching her. Just sharing the info.
What do you think?
5 days ago | [YT] | 68
View 11 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
WDW Day 3 was Hollywood Studios! I don’t have too many photos from this one. Just some random stuff from around the park. Sorry! 😅
We “slept in” and didn’t even arrive at the park until about 8:10 AM when early entry started at 8:30 (we’d normally aim to arrive by 7:30-7:45).
Benjamin rode Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster for the first time! (And probably the last! Since it’s getting rethemed). He loved it!
We also caught our beloved Frozen Sing-Along and the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which we missed out on last year due to rain.
For lunch, we ate at 50s Prime Time, which we hadn’t done since 2020. Yes, we got the PB&J Milkshake!
We tried to go to Disney Springs in the evening, but it was a madhouse and we left within a half an hour and barely got to look at any stores. It was just too packed and not even remotely comfortable to even look in stores or get snacks.
Today is Magic Kingdom, and since I’m typing this and scheduling this post the night before, I’m hoping it’s not as bad as Disney Springs inside the park, being the most popular. We’ll let you know tomorrow!
5 days ago | [YT] | 261
View 11 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
WDW Day 2 was Animal Kingdom! We woke up at 5:45 AM for rope drop 😅. We were among the first 20 people in line for security at 6:30 AM. We rope dropped Flight of Passage and then hit up Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris before heading to lunch.
We ate at our favorite table service restaurant, Sanaa, and James saw a giraffe right outside our window. It was even staring at him. There was a funny dancing bird, too, but I didn’t get any photos so you’ll have to wait for the video.
Afterwards, we popped over to Jambo House for a bit before heading back to Animal Kingdom. We got the rest of the rides done and even repeated a few.
We bought Lightning Lane, but it was completely unnecessary as the park was dead today. Couldn’t have asked for a better day at Animal Kingdom.
Today is Hollywood Studios!
6 days ago | [YT] | 429
View 22 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
WDW official Day One was EPCOT. Our favorite park! We don’t usually start with our favorite. But we had just two days to enjoy Food and Wine Festival (didn’t take any pics, sorry, you’ll have to wait for the videos 😅 But we got schinkennudeln!), and so we chose Friday over Saturday.
Benjamin met his favorite character, and we got to see the monorail go by a dozen times. I love the ambience of EPCOT especially at night.
Amy got to ride Living with the Land, and it’s already decorated for Christmas as Glimmering Greenhouse. We are going to ride it at night on Tuesday to see the lights better!
What a great day to start our trip. And the weather was perfect! Crisp in the morning, but not too cold. Hot in the afternoon, but no humidity, and it didn’t last super long.
Today, we are at Animal Kingdom. Our second favorite park!
1 week ago | [YT] | 348
View 29 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
WDW TRAVEL DAY is in the books. Whew, that was a long one, if you merge Wednesday and Thursday together, which were like one giant long day to us.
We started off picking the boys up from school early, much to their confusion. They knew nothing about this trip! We totally surprised them, and you’ll absolutely want to see their reaction in the Travel Day video (should be out December 1st) followed by an evening flight out of San Diego to a Red Eye from Salt Lake to Orlando.
After arriving at WDW (because we didn’t want to book lightning lanes due to not being sure if we’d have flight cancellations or delays), we didn’t go into a park.
Which meant we spent the day poking around different Disney Resorts, including our new DVC home, the Riviera, where we ate breakfast.
We also went mini-golfing at Winter Summerland at the boys’ request, which is about a 15-20 minute walk from our hotel: Disney’s All-Star Sports.
Today, our first park day, is EPCOT, our favorite park and the boys can’t wait for a fun-filled day ahead!
1 week ago | [YT] | 343
View 30 replies
SoCal Disney Dad
WALT DISNEY WORLD SCHEDULE... Some folks have been asking about our schedule for our WDW trip which we leave for TODAY!!! If you happen to be WDW locals or are going to be at WDW at the same time as us, and you see us, please do say hello!
Wed 11/19 - Leave SAN (Red Eye 😬)
Thurs 11/20 - Check-In/Resort Hopping
Fri 11/21 - EPCOT
Sat 11/22 - Animal Kingdom
Sun 11/23 - Hollywood Studios
Mon 11/24 - Magic Kingdom
Tues 11/25 - EPCOT
Wed 11/26 - Magic Kingdom
Thurs 11/27 - Animal Kingdom/Leave MCO
We booked a Red Eye flight because it was like $1,000 total cheaper than flying the next morning. We'll see if this becomes a thing or a "never again."
We had initially considered going into a park on Thursday because we arrive at 6 AM in Orlando. But a week ago, flights were still somewhat uncertain with the government shutdown on the cusp of ending, but most news sources reporting that the flight situation was unlikely to change immediately.
Given that information, and the fact that you have to book your lightning lanes a week out now, we didn't feel comfortable paying for lightning lanes if our flights got delayed or canceled. So it turned into a Resort Hopping Day, and our planned mid-trip off-day got canceled, basically. Well, it just got shifted to the beginning.
We have two Magic Kingdom days almost back to back because one is a standard day, and the other is a party day, meaning the park closes at 6 PM to regular day guests (us). We are assuming that, like here, party days are less crowded in the mornings as most people really want to see fireworks, and there are none that day, so they'll visit some other day. We also refuse to visit Magic Kingdom Friday-Sunday, also due to higher crowds.
We chose Animal Kingdom for the final day because it is the least popular park, and that's Thanksgiving Day. It's also the earliest park to open, which gives us the maximum amount of time in a park before heading to the airport around 12:30 PM.
Hopefully you found those insights helpful if you're planning your own trips!
1 week ago | [YT] | 178
View 69 replies
Load more