disneyland part one

So I will start by saying that I am no Disney expert.

We have been there 3 times, and every time we leave wanting more.

Disney is AM-AZING!

They are all about the details. 

 Every aspect of your visit is a visual feast!

The "cast members" in the hotels & the parks are awesome.

So helpful & always so polite.

Everywhere we went they called M "Princess"

She thought this was the coolest.

If you need anything, directions, help,

 questions answered they are the best.

The Disney website is a great tool to use when planning your vacation.

It will inform you of park hours,

ride closures, and all their events.

It's has about 6 weeks of events at a time.

Disneyland

When to go:

The off season tends to be September, January & February.

I used 2 different crowd prediction websites when planning our trip:

Disneyland Crowd Forecast

This one uses a "Ghost Town, Hey it's alright, Yup it's packed & Forget about it" scale.

You can look at any month you would like.

Disneyland Crowd Predictor

This one uses a scale of 1-10 (1 being slow, 10 being packed)

You can look up to a month at a time, if you would like to look

further you have to pay membership fee.

I think about $6.95 for a year.

For us planning around quiet crowds was more important then

planning around a long weekend when the kids are out of school.
Holidays, spring break & long weekends are always busy.

Another event to watch for is the D23Convention.

It's a Disney convention held right across the street. 

We were there one year when it was going on & the park was packed.

Also watch for Southern California 2 for 1 passes

(another time we were there on the last weekend before these expired,

so you guessed it-another busy time)

There is also a Disneyland Half Marathon

and a Tinker Bell Half Marathon.

I can imagine that is another busy time at the park.

The second day we were there The Haunted Mansion & Space Mountain

opened back up for Halloween.

The park was swamped that night. 

I don't know if it was because it was a weekend,

or the re-opening of those rides.

Reservations:

We booked our vacation directly through Disney this time.

We received a promotion in the mail for 20-25% off rooms

at the Disney Hotels.
It was cheaper to book the room & buy the tickets then do a package. 

 By doing this we saved about $400.00

I think we didn't get a lanyard, pin & priority seating to the Aladdin show;

all of which no one missed.

We booked with Getaway Today Vacations

the other times we went & had great experiences.

Why do we choose Disney hotels?

On our first trip we took the bottom of the barrel hotel.

It was cheap, and awful!

I worried the whole time we would bring home bed bugs or lice!

The pool was dirty & could quite possibly cause hypothermia,

and the hot tub was literally boiling water.

It was within walking distance & truthfully we didn't

spend much time there, but it left a bad impression.

We decide on The Paradise Pier Hotel for our second trip & loved it!

It is clean, within walking distance, you get "magic mornings"

(entrance to the parks an hour before they open)

every morning that you stay, as a complimentary service to guests
you can have merchandise you buy in the park sent back to your hotel,
(it can be picked up the following day at the bell desk)
also we can park our car & not worry about it until its time to leave.

Paradise Pier Hotel:

I've heard several people refer to this hotel as the
 most underestimated Disney hotel.
It is newly remodeled & very nice.
When you check in you receive personalized
room keys for your entire family.
The adult keys can be used to charge any food or merchandise
in the hotel & park.
You also get your park tickets,
so you don't have to wait in line to buy them at the park.
There is a nice restaurant that hosts a character breakfast in the mornings.
A gift shop, arcade, kids movie room, a great pool,
a shallow kiddie pool and a great water slide.

 The rooms have 2 queen beds, a pull out couch, small fridge, coffee maker,
(I have used this to heat water to make 'cup-o-noodles' for kids late night snacks)

 character wake-up calls, a bedtime story channel with different princesses telling fairy tales,

and a pack and play crib in the closet.

I arranged for room service to deliver Mickey rice crispy treats & balloons to the room

on the night that we arrived.

The balloons were $1 a piece & about $3 for each rice crispy.

I also had guest services make gift baskets for the kids.

For the boys:

Mickey ears, a Mickey chocolate bar, Chip & Dale pretzels,

an autograph book & pen.

For M:

A crown, princess heart candies, an autograph book and pen

I think these set me back about $30 bucks a piece.

It was a splurge, but since the trip was a surprise

I thought it would be fun to do something like this.

Also I thought if we saw characters as soon as we entered the park

it would be nice to have the books for signatures.

I looked into ordering some from the Disney store online,

and this was about the same by the time you pay shipping.

Our kids absolutely loved it!

You can call guest services (number on the Disney website)

and they will email you a price list of all their amenities & gift baskets.