m & a: January 2014

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Disneyland!!!

When I found out my mom was coming for Thanksgiving I knew I could get her to come a week early if we went to Disneyland! It worked and my sister Lauren also joined in on the fun. I love to plan. Especially for vacations. I started looking up hotel packages on Disney's site and was pleasantly surprised to see that they weren't that bad of a deal. Then I got the idea to look on Costco's site. Costco had the same price as Disney's website but with some extra benefits. So all in all we stayed at the Marriott for 3 nights and received free parking, free hot breakfast each morning and we got a suite! The hotel was fantastic and technically we weren't supposed to get breakfast the 3rd day because we got the 3rd night free but the manager gave it to us anyways! The package also included 2 one day park tickets, a free Disney pin, a $20 gift card to share, a free photo pass picture on one of the rides, a free mickey vinylmation statue, and character dining (which was the best part). We each paid $314 for all of that! We went the week before Thanksgiving and the weather was pretty good and crowds were low....longest we waited for a ride was 10 minutes.

The first day we went to Disneyland Park and started with Indian Jones, I always start with that ride! We met up with cousins, Katie, Aubrey and baby Cami. Some friends from Glendora also joined us that day. We went on all the rides we wanted to and watched the parade and visited with Santa! Second day we went to California Adventure and again met up with cousins and Jared. Lauren and Jared just moved to Cali so they bought season tickets. I am jealous. We immediately went and got fast passes for the Radiator Racer ride as the wait was already over an hour!! We also got fast passes for the World of Color show which was a special Christmas show featuring the songs from Frozen. We had a blast going on all of the rides and even the kid rides which was a new experience for me! I also discovered that each park has a kids lounge complete with rooms for nursing, changing tables, rocking chairs, and baby supplies for purchase. I was so excited to go on Tower of Terror and had to go by myself because my mom and Lauren are chickens haha. The second time I went on it was with cousins and Jared and it was awesome! The best part of the day was the character dining experience. We decided to dine at Ariel's Grotto and when you first check in they lead you down a staircase where you take a picture with Ariel. Afterwards they seat you and the kids get a crown, stickers and crayons. The princesses make their way around the room and Leah met Snow White who was by far my favorite. Snow White played peek-a-boo with Leah for a few minutes and was so sweet to her! She also met Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Cinderella. The food was amazing and it was just a great experience. Leah had a total meltdown during lunch but I'm choosing to focus on the happy times!!

It was such a fun trip and I can't wait to do it again. Matt is going to come next year, he just couldn't get the time off this year. Also was great seeing childhood friend Katie and Gina from Glendora :)