Our Trip To Disneyland!
For Christmas, we surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland. They were so excited, that they were packed a few days before we were even leaving.
We spent December 30th – January 2nd in Disneyland and California Adventure. We had a hopper pass, so we could go to either park as many times as we wanted. This was Cole’s first time going to Disneyland, and Brittany hadn’t been there since she was 3.
We stayed at Disneyland Hotel, right on the property, and it was nice to just leave our hotel, and walk though Downtown Disney to get to the Disneyland Gates. We even had an early morning pass for one morning, so we got in an hour before all the regular visitors. That was fun, as we got to ride some of the more popular rides before they had long lines at them.
We decided to do some special things for the kids on this visit. We made reservations at Rain Forest Cafe for dinner, we scheduled a Character Breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen for one of the mornings, and also eat at Blue Bayou one evening, which is the restaurant you see when you ride the Pirates of The Caribbean ride. These were definitely expensive meals, but it was a lot of fun. The character breakfast was definitely a highlight for the kids.
We had planned to attend the fireworks to ring in the New Year at midnight, but the kids were so tired, that we ended up at our hotel room before they even started. We did manage to take in an earlier fireworks show the next night, after letting the kids fall asleep in our laps while waiting for them to start, and then waking them up for the show. It was fun to get “snowed” on after the fireworks show over the castle.
We managed to see all the parades between the two parks, and ride just about every ride we wanted to, and some even more than once. It was quite crowded there, and Scott and I decided next time we visit, we’d like to go at a more off-peak time when it might not be so crowded. The kids did well waiting in lines for the rides, but after the 2nd day, it was starting to wear thin. We tried to use the Fast Passes as much as we could to save waiting time.
None of us had never been to California Adventure, so that was interesting to go over there and check it out. We found out that it just doesn’t have the “magic” that Disneyland does, but it was still fun for the kids. Cole especially loved the Bugs Land area, where there were rides for more his size, and Cole and I spent lots of time there, and on the carousel while Scott and Brittany rode California Screamin’ a few times and Tower of Terror.
As you can imagine, we had the time of our life, and Disneyland really was the “happiest place on earth.”
We have 4 albums of Disneyland pictures, for a total of more than 200 pictures, so be sure to check out all the pictures of us and the kids having fun!
Disneyland Parade, Rides, Hotel Room, and Electrical Parade Pictures
Character Breakfast, Rides, and Mickey Mouse Pictures
California Adventure, Character Parade, Fireworks, Lights at Night Pictures