Hi friends!
Now I know you’ve all heard the saying about Christmas “it’s the most wonderful time of the year“. As well as the saying about Disney “it’s the happiest place on earth“. Well, two weeks ago I was lucky enough to experience them both at the same time. The most wonderful time of the year at the happiest place on earth Disney.
If you keep up with my blog then you are aware that earlier this year back in February I went to Disneyland for the first time with my family (read about it here + here). It was a magical time and I instantly became obsessed with the park. Needless to say, I wasted no time at all planning our next trip. There was no doubt in my mind that Disneyland during Christmas was where I wanted to be, what I wanted to experience with my family, and how I wanted to remember Christmas 2019.
Months of planning and the day was finally here! We arrived at the airport and awaited our flight that had been delayed. When we finally did get on our flight and had a ton of turbulence that our kids actually loved and my husband and I thought was horrific. Despite the rocky flight we finally landed 3 hours past our original time, missed the last Disney shuttle bus for the night and had to take our toddlers in a Lyft. Not a super ideal way to start to our trip but definitely memorable at least. Once we got to our hotel Howard Jonhson Of Anaheim which was amazing by the way and settled in, it was lights out because we had two full days of Disney ahead of us and we needed our Disney sleep.
DAY ONE:
I set the alarm super early because we had character dining reservations in the park at 9:15. The ? is our favorite place for breakfast in the park. Besides the fact that you get to interact with all the characters, the buffet is amazing and it’s even a few dollars cheaper than all the other character dining too. Once done eating and taking photos with some of our favorites like Minnie Mouse it was time to let our fast passes do some work. We immediately started reserving rides. Ride after ride after ride. I honestly can’t even remember what we rode first maybe Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters we tend to gravitate to that one because it’s one of the select rides the 4 of us can ride together as a family. Though I can’t tell you everything we rode in order I can you one thing man was it a good time. After Dayjhand and Ivy got off Big Thunder Mountain Railroad it was time for us to set sail on Mark Twain Riverboat. This was one of the things we did not get to experience during our last trip so it was pretty cool. The kids enjoyed all of the like live animals along the way and I enjoyed cruising, Dayjhan, recording on the go pro. The boat ride was over before we know it and we continued our quest through the park.
The girls decided we had been there long enough and wanted their collectible mouse ears they both choosing matching rainbow ones while I went with more of a Christmas theme. We decided to split up as my husband really wanted to explore Star Wars: Galaxy Edge and me and the girls well we had other plans. Princesses of course! Though we were on the hunt to meet Princess Tiana we unfortunately never got the chance. We did see her in the parade which I’ll talk more about later. But that’s okay because we actually got to meet some other princesses along the way. Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel. After meeting the princesses the girls, of course, wanted to ride their most favorite ride ever. It’s A Small World.
During the duration of our trip, I think we must have ridden that thing 20 times. The kids love it. I will admit the Christmas decor during the ride was so amazing. Disney really kicked ass with how they decorated the inside of the ride. I will never forget all the sparkly Christmas lights. Another thing I’ll never forget? The hoilday lighting. Every evening at 5:15 pm the Christmas lights would come on outside of the ride showcasing even more sparkly beauty than the inside. How is this even possible right? I mean I saw it with my own eyes so it’s totally real and totally possible.
It was time for us to head across the way to DCA (Disneys California Adventures) as we had park hoppers and wanted to make the best of seeing that park with no rain. Yes unfortunately for the second trip in a row the rain decided to show up on the second day of visiting so we already had a list of things we wanted to do before it rained the next day. Such as riding the teacups which were so much fun! watching the parade, and everything else in between.
Over at DCA The girls got to make homemade Micky Mouse ornaments which are on the tree in their room right now. Next, we watched the Disney Viva Navidad Street Party where Ivy actually got to dance in the party with the dancers! We were also able to ride Ariel’s Undersea Adventure which was another thing we didn’t get to do our last trip and of course, we ate our weight in goodies at both parks all freaking day long and shopped for Disney souvenirs till we dropped. Our day was nearly coming to an end when it was finally time for the parade.
I kid you not we waited on the sidewalk almost two hours for a good seat to see that parade and the wait was worth every minute. We saw classic Disney characters, watched amazing dancers do their thang whom even come over and say hello to us and we got to see the big man himself, Santa Claus! The parade was probably about 15 minutes and we felt all the feels right in the front. This was my favorite part of the entire trip. It was finally time to head back to our hotel for the next day we would brave the rain.
DAY THREE
We started off at DCA. I have to be honest with you guys I don’t have much to talk to you about for day 2. Some people will tell you that Disney is amazing in the rain. Which it can be if you make it but not for my family. As you can imagine dealing two a 3 and 5-year-old is already a job within itself. But dealing with them in the rain is an entirely another story on another level. Though we were somewhat prepared from our last trip the rain is unpredictable. It shut down some rides and parades, poured so hard we had to duck inside a restaurant to keep from getting soaked and made our toddlers very antsy. In fact, I didn’t even take many photos for day 2 either because during the Disney Junior Dance Party I actually left my camera inside the bottom of the stroller which became flooded and of course ruined my camera. Totally my fault! but the day went on anyway. Though it wasn’t all bad, Ivy actually managed to snap a photo with Mike from Monsters Inc, we got to ride both Toy Story Rides and did more shopping. Later we ended up heading back to our hotel until the rain let up. The rain stopped and me and the girls headed back to Disneyland to have lunch and explore. We rode King Arthur Carousel, Dumbo The Flying Elephant, Casey Junior Cirus Train and finally, It’s A Small World before Dayjhan woke up from his nap to meet up with us. Might I add all the lines were very short because the weather so that’s nice about rain and Disney. Somewhere in between all of the fun we visited Sleeping Beauty’s castle for the first time ever, we rode the Pixar Pal-A-Round and a roller coaster as a family, we played tag in the rain and after the firework show, it snowed on us. I’ll never forget the looks on my girl’s face after the fireworks as the snow came down.
Everyone always said Disney is way more magic during Christmas time. I will forever be grateful that my family and I got to experience that extra magic.
Merry Christmas friends.
