My birthday vacation (along with my sister's birthday and Aidan's first time being at Disneyland) was definitely a SUCCESS!!! After all the planning (see previous post), I think navigating Disneyland after almost ten years-- I navigated like a champ! With our route we were able to maximize the numbers of rides we went on (our route), save money, and learned some premier tips that can help any Disneyland goer.
First off, Disneyland looked BEAUTIFUL for the 60th anniversary! The park was decked out in lights, garlands, Christmas trees, the characters were all festive, and so much more for the Christmas holiday. I definitely am glad I made it out to see it before some changes take place (Aurora's castle becoming Frozen castle and Tom Sawyer cruise not being a ride anymore).
It begins...
Saturday, December 26th, 2015
The festivities were over at my house so I got down to planning our Disneyland trip (see previous post). The game plan was to leave the 26th in the early morning with enough time to see the Hollywood sign and maybe do the hike. As with all plans... things took a detour. We ended up leaving Modesto in the morning around 8:30 am for a long drive that totals about 6 hours plus or minus traffic. We drove down to Santa Ana just in the nick of time to check into our hotel (
Doubletree Santa Ana,CA). We got here a bit early, but they got us into our room (thank goodness after the long drive). The hotel was really nice especially for the great price, proximity to Disneyland, and nice beds (Yes. I am a bed snob.). Only thing that got me was that I had to pay for parking and no complimentary breakfast was provided (definitely give and take with my selection of hotels this time around...then again I am in the LA area so I don't want to ask for too much). We spent the rest of the night hunting for food, shopping for the essentials that would be coming with us in our pack (water, Special K bars, bacon jerky, etc.), and catching up on some TV.
Sunday, December 27th, 2015
Happy birthday to my big sister! The big day was finally here and I was glad I could share it with them!
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| Oldest sister- Joslyn |
I wanted to be there right as the park opened (as recommended by
Pinterest articles), but we couldn't get ourselves together in time so we left our hotel at 7:30 am and got to Disneyland at 8 am. The lines to park were long, but we didn't have to wait too long. The parking was very strategic with people routing us to appropriate places so we parked quickly and made our way to the tram.
It's about 8:30 am and I'm trying to corral us to our first stops (Fast passes to Fantasmic), but of course we have to take our first pictures first (But first... let me take a #selfie). We got someone to take a quick picture of us at the entrance with the floral Mickey and 60th sign.
Let's go, let's GOOOO is all you can hear from my mouth. The line at City Hall was too long for us to get our birthday and first time pins so we opted to do that later when the crowds died down.
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| Opening time crowd |
We hopped on the train to Frontierland to get our Fantasmic fast passes for the 9:00 pm showing (green section- not the best seats so I suggest getting them as soon as the park opens since they go FAST!!!)
We planned out which fast passes were necessary with the help of the wait times app (Wait Times for Disneyland- found in app store) and dependent on what was around us. We grabbed Big Thunder tickets and then jumped in line for Pirates of the Caribbean. This gave us just the perfect amount of time because right after we were able to go on Big Thunder in about 10 minutes. Only my sister and I went on it so we had our other sister go to get us tickets to Indiana Jones. We were shy five minutes before we could get another fast passes since we were in possession of the other one. So we had to kill time before we could all go together.
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| He was nervous and grumpy so I told him to pretend to be happy at the happiest place in the world |
We did the Jingle Cruise then tried to get to Tomorrowland for the Jedi training show. They weren't accepting more trainees so we got in line for Autotopia. This was my nephew's favorite ride.
We went back to Indiana Jones to use our fast passes at 12:45 pm. My nephew was a little scared of the bumps and turns but I'm so proud of him for doing it.
We walked next to the Tiki so we decided to give the famous whip a shot! A tip on Pinterest suggested going inside and order versus standing in line outside of Tiki (The line outside was suppppperrrr long). We got our Dole Pineapple whip in less than 10 minutes and when the show starts there is optimal seating space to snack. Thumbs up on the whip and definitely recommended. My nephew doesn't like anything except vanilla and he loved the pineapple favor!
1:00 pm: After we rushed to Main St. to try to get a glimpse of the Christmas parade. It was too packed and I wasn't tall enough to see so we decided it'd be a good time to take a food break.
This was the perfect time to pick up our buttons on the way out of the park since everyone was watching the parade and everyone had already picked up their buttons.
For our break, we grabbed chicken and in and out and went back to the hotel to freshen up. We did a wardrobe change into something more comfortable.
We got back to the park around 5:30 pm with just enough time to find a spot to see the Paint the Nite show (tip: I noticed that people were able to stand at the train station for a good view). We sat across from the train station. The view was good as long as everyone around us stayed seated (tip: the show starts at It's a Small World- it's the best place to watch so you get to see everything first and then can go to the next rides as others are still watching).
Paint the Nite was so awesome! The lights and music had us all dancing and singing. I loved seeing all the characters together!! The actors seemed super happy and you can see they definitely love their jobs.
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| My favorite princess-Ariel |
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| The rush after the parade. I love this candid picture of my sister- Kea |
We headed to Splash mountain to get our fast passes but it was so cold that there was no wait:) We giddily got on it as soon as we got to the front! I love no lines!
It was getting late so we got on the train to go to Toontown that was closing at 8:30 pm to see Mickey. Sadly, he was at Main St. so we had to make a new game plan. I can proudly say that we made due and entertained ourselves...
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| Toontown |
9:00 pm: Our showing was about to start so we made our way to Fantasmic. Our fast pass was for the green section which is on the bridge above Pirates of the Caribbean.
Fantasmic was amazing as usual, but I wanted to be able to see Disney Forever fireworks show above the castle but the shows were back to back. We ended up staying in our spot and watching the water so that went along with the fireworks. Overall a very good show!
YESSSSS! Everyone with small children were leaving so we had the park to ourselves and it was way less crowded.
We ended up splitting up in pairs. My sister and I wanted to get on big kid rides so my nephew and his mom did Autotopia again and rode the monorail.
My sister and I were trying to get fast passes to Hyper Space Mountain but they stopped them so I asked when the next showing of Path of the Jedi would be playing and he said there was still room so we jumped into the theater.
After the show we were going to stand in line for Hyper Space Mountain (75 minutes wait) when a family gave us their fast passes for 11:00 pm. It was about 10:40 pm so we sat in the nearby cafe and took a break.
We walked into Hyper Space Mountain and had to wait for technical difficulties. After getting off the ride we still had half an hour left til closing so we ran to the Matterhorn. There was no wait. Best time ever to ride!
We had 15 minutes left so we headed to It's a Small World to end our night (if you are in line when the park closes, they will still let you on the ride).
We walk down Main St. and get our last minute photos while enjoying the emptiness and seeing all the stranglers as we go to our car.
That day was a good, packed, fun filled day!!
We get back to the hotel and they all pass out. I'm on my computer uploading pictures and blogging of course! (Insomniac mode!!)
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| Treasures of the day |
Monday, December 28th, 2015
Wishful thinking was that we wouldn't hit traffic... I was wrong! We LUCKILY missed the noon traffic because we didn't check out til noon.
We wanted to at least see the Hollywood sign. I googled a couple of places and Mulholland Drive (tip: residents don't really like tourists so be quick with pictures and respectful of being around their home).
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| Not quite there but it'll do... |
On the way home through the grapevine, we were fortunate enough to see it lightly snow<3
Yet another conclusion to a great quickie! Short getaways are the best!!! Until next time..
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❤always, Christine
