Tag: Minniebox

A Weekend In Disneyland: Day 2

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Pixar Pier at night

Recently I had the opportunity to take my family to Disneyland for a long weekend. If this is your first time checking out my blog be sure to read all about Day 1 https://princessandthemouse.com/2019/05/06/a-weekend-at-disneyland/

Saturday

We attempted to get up to be at the parks by 7 a.m. for Extra Magic Hours, however the day before was exhausting. (Extra Magic Hours as a resort guest gets you in the park before it opens to the general public) My Fitbit told me I had only slept for about 3 hours the night before. By the time we all got up, got ready, and stopped for Starbucks, we were in the parks about 8:30 a.m.

My family

Because we spent the day before at the Disneyland Park we decided to spend some time at Disney’s California Adventure. I had my concerns because it was Disney Channel’s Fan Fest at DCA park but we needed to go anyway. We also decided we would be taking advantage of Maxpass. (This is Disneyland’s version of Fastpass)(You can find more information on Maxpass under the Disneyland tab at the top of the page)

Once in the park we headed straight to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. This ride was once the Tower of Terror but has since been reimagined. I did not ride this ride, I am terrified of heights and do not like drops so this is not the ride for me. However Eric and my kids enjoyed it a lot. They told me that it is better than the Tower of Terror and so much fun. They claim even I could handle it but I still have my doubts.

I will say that the Disney Channel Fan Fest crowds were noticeable in the area for the Mission Breakout ride but this is because they were lined up for to get first come first serve tickets to the meet and greets with their favorite Disney Channel Stars.

After everyone got off Mission Breakout we went to my favorite area of Disney’s California Adventure and that is Carsland. We had a fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers but we had plenty of time to explore. We also took this time to ride some of the other rides in Carsland. Those include Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. The theming in Carsland is absolutely amazing. I love everything in this area. So much theming you will feel like you are in the middle of Radiator Springs.

Tyler on Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree

Radiator Springs Racers is the best ride. You have encounters with your favorite cars characters before racing another car around the canyon. (this is where I will add that I have ridden this ride 5 times and my car has lost every single time so don’t ride with me if you want to win)

Doc Hudson on the Radiator Springs Racers

From here we went to Pixar Pier to ride the Incredicoaster. I love love love this rollercoaster. This is one of the few rollercoasters that has an amazing story to follow as you ride. Follow the Incredibles as they have to catch baby Jack-Jack who has escaped from his babysitter Edna Mode. By the way the area by Pixar Pier was the only other place in the park that I noticed crowds for fan fest. This was because they had a parade in this area with the stars of Disney channel shows.

Jessie’s Critter Carousel

We were able to grab fastpasses for Toystory mania and then Soarin’ and we rode a few other rides including the all new Jessie’s Critter Carousel. I also ran into one of my favorites Pluto and had to have a picture. The kids decided they needed a break and went back to the room for swimming and napping. (A perk to staying at a Disneyland resort, you are a short walk back to your resort for a break)

It’s A Small World

Eric, my mom and I went back over to the Disneyland Park where we rode the Jungle Cruise. We had lunch at Bengal’s Barbeque. We enjoyed a delightful selection of kabobs. We did mobile order on the Disneyland app so we didn’t have to wait in line for food, we received a text when it was ready for pick up. This gave us time to sit at a table and relax. From here we rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and It’s a Small World before we went off to see Mickey and the Magical Paint Brush, its a great show I highly recommend.

Dylan driving at Autopia
Space Mountain

After the show my mom decided she was ready for a break and she went back to the room. The kids met up with us and we went to Toontown to ride Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin. We laughed the whole time on this ride. Honestly I laughed until my sides hurt. From here we decided to go to the Star Wars Launch Bay and while there we made sure to meet up with some of our favorite characters. We also rode Space Mountain and Autopia.

Tyler, Eric, me and Dylan meeting Darth Vader
Eric and I with Chewbacca

We had no dining reservations for this day. We stopped for a hotdog on Mainstreet before heading back to California Adventure to see World of Color. This show takes place over the water in front of the Pixar Pier. There is amazing music, lights and water curtains display scenes from your favorite Disney movies. This was my first time seeing it, as it was down for refurbishment the last time I was there. I will admit parts of this show made me cry.

Mac and Cheese Hotdog

I would say that day 2 was a success. It was my mom’s birthday and she had an amazing day. Stay tuned for Day 3 of our Disneyland Adventure….

World of Color

A Weekend at Disneyland

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Recently my family and I took a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim California. I ventured to Disneyland last year with our travel agency for training and I wanted to share this experience with my family.

When we started planning this trip we discussed how long to go.
Disneyland is much smaller than Disney World but packed with so much to do. I suggested we could get it done in 3 days so we made a plan. We already have a busy summer ahead. My oldest son will be off to college this fall and my youngest son doesn’t want to miss any school his senior year next year so it had to be now or never. We chose the last weekend in April because it was my mom’s birthday weekend and I wanted to share this experience with her. But could we do it all in a weekend?

Friday

We left our house at 3 a.m. to go to the airport in Baltimore. Our flight took off at 6:30 am EST and we landed at 9:30 am PST. Most of my family had never been to California so they we very excited. The flight was great although honestly I slept through most of it.

We had pre arranged transportation with the Disneyland Express to take us from LAX to our home away from home the Disneyland Hotel. I had stayed at the Disneyland hotel once before and fell in love with the charm of this resort.


Our room was located on the 8th floor of the Frontierland tower with an amazing view of the pools. If you looked to your right you could also see the Matterhorn.

After checking in and finding our room we headed to the parks. The Disneyland hotel is just outside Downtown Disney. You step out of your room and you can be at security within minutes. After you go through security you can hop on the monorail or walk through Downtown Disney to get to the parks. We chose to walk so my family could take in everything Downtown Disney has to offer.

The entrances to the Disneyland park and California Adventure are directly across from each other so once you arrive you have to make a decision where do you want to start.

As a child my mom had always dreamed of going to Disneyland. She grew up watching “Disney’s World of Color on Sunday” nights on t.v. Occasionally they would show clips from Disneyland. We have been to Walt Disney World so many times we had lost count but she still always dreamed of going to Disneyland. She wanted to walk where Walt Disney himself walked. So we chose to kick off our trip where it all began, The Disneyland Park.

Unfortunately Sleeping Beauty Castle was under refurbishment so surrounded by walls and a printed mural covered the scaffolding to keep us from seeing it. But we didn’t let that get us down.

When you enter the Disneyland Park you can just feel the magic surround you. The sights and sounds of Mainstreet, USA fill the air. The light on in the window above the Disneyland Fire Dept., left on for Walt Disney makes you feel like he is there with you. We went directly to Fantasyland to kick off our day.

We spent our day riding old favorites like Snow White’s Scary Adventures and new favorites like Pinocchio’s Daring Journey. My kids insist that some of these dark Fantasyland rides have scary stories to tell. We also rode the Matterhorn for the first time. We had dinner reservations at Carnation Café.

Then my boys insisted they needed to go back to the hotel for a nap and to go swimming. It had been a very long day. The Disneyland park was open until midnight which would be 3 am our time so I guess sleep was required. We all went back to the room for a nap. My boys never made it back to the parks that night. We ventured back after a few hours rest.

Eric, my mom and I ride rode The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours. We watched the fireworks from the back of the park. On our way back to our room we stopped for drinks at Trader Sam’s.

It was a fun but exhausting day. We finally crashed hard at around 10:30 PM

Saturday Disney’s California Adventure Park opened for resort guests at 7 am but would we make it? Stay Tuned to find out………