Posted by reiko on February 20, 2013 in
Blah blah about blah,
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∞
The holidays are over and our weeklong vacation is also over. We are now back to the daily grind.
You can get away with it at 3 1/2
This post will be about our most recent stint at Disneyland, with our 3 1/2 year old twins. If I sound sort of dry about it, you can change the mental picture to a dorky woman wearing Minnie ears enthusing about it instead. We saw a lot of these women there, actually. Disneyland. Where it’s okay to let your freak out, if the freak likes wearing too much inappropriate frills and bling coupled with mouse ears.
So, I grew up in Southern California and went to Disneyland when I was a child at least once a year. I had never seen the California Adventure Park, so I was looking forward to that. When our kids hit the “mostly human” stage and the all important 40″ mark, we started planning. Two weeks before the departure date I start gathering things we might need for the trip because I am the quartermaster for my family’s outings. Three days before we go I start packing seriously and realize I should have started about two days earlier. We depart on time. We stay for six days and use a three day park hopper pass. We also visit family. There. Done.
It went really well, actually. The key to it seemed to be doing research before you go (and having money). First, we selected the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland. It put us RIGHT on the edge of the park and gave us early admission on several days to the California Adventure Park. We could walk to each park without worrying about parking and could go in and out to our hotel room for rests whenever we wanted. It wasn’t the cheapest option, but the most convenient for our toddlers. The food options were okay, if expensive. We had brought food for our room (kid breakfasts, snacks, and drinks, mostly) and had looked up other places to eat within walking distance. I would recommend looking online for places to eat and, if you have picky kids or adults, checking their menus online before you go. There was a Great Chicken Strip Famine during our trip, so spare yourself similar starving kids and look these up. Some fanatic Disney-centric sites even tell you the current menus and prices within the park.
Waited 20 minutes to meet Fairies. Fairy-loving girl hid the whole time.
Second, we went at an off time. February, right before President’s Day week, so the park was lightly populated. The most popular rides were the ones with the hour+ waits, only, and since little kids don’t care as much about this, we had a great time with smaller rides. Before we left home we looked at the web (Disney’s website) to identify target rides. Preschoolers do not have a lot of stamina so identifying good rides for them is important. Also, avoid things you do not want your kids to know about. If you don’t want to wait in that line or pay that price, just don’t let them see that it is there. Okay? With me on this?
Belle at Ariel’s Grotto
Finally, identify what your kids want most from Disneyland and what a good setting would be to get it. For some kids it’s products: there’s a princess store in FantasyLand that is the source for hard to find current princess stuff. Want that impossible to get Frozen costume? It’s there. Want the stuff the Disneystore.com has out of stock? It’s there. For other kids it’s the chance to meet their favorite characters. There’s character meet and greets all over the place and other story options. We opted for the character breakfast at Ariel’s Grotto (California Adventure) to meet a bunch of princesses while we sat and ate. Waiting? Nope, not once our reservation was seated. Princesses? Around five or six toured the room. Kids? Oh, everyone hid under the table every time a princess showed up.
I could go on and on here, but I think that’s enough for right now. I’ll write about our second visit next time.
Disneyland…really
The holidays are over and our weeklong vacation is also over. We are now back to the daily grind.
You can get away with it at 3 1/2
This post will be about our most recent stint at Disneyland, with our 3 1/2 year old twins. If I sound sort of dry about it, you can change the mental picture to a dorky woman wearing Minnie ears enthusing about it instead. We saw a lot of these women there, actually. Disneyland. Where it’s okay to let your freak out, if the freak likes wearing too much inappropriate frills and bling coupled with mouse ears.
So, I grew up in Southern California and went to Disneyland when I was a child at least once a year. I had never seen the California Adventure Park, so I was looking forward to that. When our kids hit the “mostly human” stage and the all important 40″ mark, we started planning. Two weeks before the departure date I start gathering things we might need for the trip because I am the quartermaster for my family’s outings. Three days before we go I start packing seriously and realize I should have started about two days earlier. We depart on time. We stay for six days and use a three day park hopper pass. We also visit family. There. Done.
It went really well, actually. The key to it seemed to be doing research before you go (and having money). First, we selected the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland. It put us RIGHT on the edge of the park and gave us early admission on several days to the California Adventure Park. We could walk to each park without worrying about parking and could go in and out to our hotel room for rests whenever we wanted. It wasn’t the cheapest option, but the most convenient for our toddlers. The food options were okay, if expensive. We had brought food for our room (kid breakfasts, snacks, and drinks, mostly) and had looked up other places to eat within walking distance. I would recommend looking online for places to eat and, if you have picky kids or adults, checking their menus online before you go. There was a Great Chicken Strip Famine during our trip, so spare yourself similar starving kids and look these up. Some fanatic Disney-centric sites even tell you the current menus and prices within the park.
Waited 20 minutes to meet Fairies. Fairy-loving girl hid the whole time.
Second, we went at an off time. February, right before President’s Day week, so the park was lightly populated. The most popular rides were the ones with the hour+ waits, only, and since little kids don’t care as much about this, we had a great time with smaller rides. Before we left home we looked at the web (Disney’s website) to identify target rides. Preschoolers do not have a lot of stamina so identifying good rides for them is important. Also, avoid things you do not want your kids to know about. If you don’t want to wait in that line or pay that price, just don’t let them see that it is there. Okay? With me on this?
Belle at Ariel’s Grotto
Finally, identify what your kids want most from Disneyland and what a good setting would be to get it. For some kids it’s products: there’s a princess store in FantasyLand that is the source for hard to find current princess stuff. Want that impossible to get Frozen costume? It’s there. Want the stuff the Disneystore.com has out of stock? It’s there. For other kids it’s the chance to meet their favorite characters. There’s character meet and greets all over the place and other story options. We opted for the character breakfast at Ariel’s Grotto (California Adventure) to meet a bunch of princesses while we sat and ate. Waiting? Nope, not once our reservation was seated. Princesses? Around five or six toured the room. Kids? Oh, everyone hid under the table every time a princess showed up.
I could go on and on here, but I think that’s enough for right now. I’ll write about our second visit next time.