PrincessAndTheMouse – Princess and the mouse

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.