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Published: January 18th 2013
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As a mom, I always dreamed of taking my kids on a magical trip to Disneyland. I was not disappointed. The hotel in Anaheim was more expensive and smaller, but it still had some great perks. Our hotel gave us a free meal plus a $20 voucher for dining with them. So, after arriving from San Diego via Amtrak and taxi, we pigged out on a surf 'n' turf dinner with all the trimmings, side salad, chips, guacamole, and even apple pie a la mode. Also, as part of our hotel package, the next morning we received 4 sack lunches with huge club sandwiches, chips, and juice for us to take to Disneyland (which saved a lot of money in the park). We also packed drinks for the day. That night, we found out (via Google) that our hotel actually backed up to the Disneyland parking garage, which has it's own shuttle to the park. This turned out to be useful later. The weather was cold, windy and sprinkling. After buying some umbrellas in the lobby of our hotel, we were on our way to Disneyland, and even the rain couldn't stop the smiles. Our hotel was within walking distance, and
we got to Disneyland right when it opened. We first located a locker for our backpack on Main Street. Then, for the first hour, the weather cleared up and we were able to walk up to rides with no wait at all. (The carousel, It's A Small World, Dumbo, and the Tea Cups were our top priority.) It's A Small World amazed the girls and they kept pointing and smiling at all the pretty dolls. The rest of our family arrived and the weather turned rainy. We found some indoor rides in Toon Town, saw Mickey's house, and met Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy. Alex even got to shake his tail feathers with Donald Duck (SO CUTE). We had our sack lunches in one of the dining areas--probably one of the best looking meals around. By the time we finished lunch, the rain stopped for the rest of the day, and the crowds came in full force! We utilized the fast pass only one time, for The Haunted Mansion. We were able to run over to The Hundred Acre Woods and ride Pooh's ride for Grace and then go back to the Haunted Mansion and use our fast pass to skip
the lines. Awesome!!! The fast pass was only available on some of the rides (mainly the rides for older kids/adults) and if you didn't sign up for the rides early the return time was really late and the waits for rides were 1+ hour. Luckily for us, the wait for all the little kids rides were less than 20 minutes which was perfect for our little ones. Pirates of the Caribbean terrified me as a kid and scared the girls a little. But it was Alex's favorite ride of the day. He woke up the next morning singing the theme song and is still singing the theme song. The animations and details the designers put into the ride were amazing. From there, we took the train around to the other side of the park to see the Disneyland parade. The parade was amazing. The characters played their roles perfectly. The crowd for the parade was dense and the kids sat on our shoulders to view the parade. Our rule on souvenirs was that it had to be within a certain price and could be carried in the kids' backpacks on the way home. It seemed that most of the stuff
in Disneyland stores was very similar to the merchandise in Disney stores--toys and games might not be as memorable as some jewelry, trinkets, or more unique items. Also, we found that Main Street held a lot of little stores with the same merchandise as other stores within the park - perfect for finding something on the way out. By the time we found some souvenirs, the sun went down and it got chilly. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride and then went on our last ride of the day, the space rocket ride. It was beautiful to see the princess castle lit up from the top of the ride. After a quick shuttle ride to the parking garage, we walked the remaining block back to our hotel, feasted on pizza in the restaurant, and reminisced on our wonderful day.
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