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I just haven't been posting here. I've been crazy busy with family stuff so the posts have all been going on Zoë's blog and the family blog. If you want to see what we've been up to, click on over. :) I'm off to California, so I'll see you next week!
OK, so why didn't anybody tell me that the castle picture I posted below isn't actually in Disneyland? It's in Disney World. Oopsie. Who knew? That was posted way back when I was a Disneyland novice. Now, I am an expert. Well, maybe not an expert but I have learned some of the ins and outs. That's what I am going to post here. If you would like to read about our trip in detail, stop on by our family blog. You should take a look. It's a beautiful post. (It should be, it took me over six hours to finish it). Now for the tips.
Tip #1: Do Not Expect to Check-In Early
We arrived at our hotel around 2:00pm thinking that we would be able to check-in. That was not the case. It was craziness there. They told us at the front desk that the rooms would be ready between 3pm-4pm. That kind of ruined our plans to freshen up and get dressed for our dinner at Ariel's Grotto before hitting the park. We decided to have lunch at Storytellers Cafe and wait for our room. By then it would be three o'clock and if we were lucky the room would be ready. We weren't lucky. We wandered around the hotel for about an hour then were able to get into our room.
Tip #2: Don't Waste Your Time on the Disneyland Express
The hotels inside Disneyland: The Disneyland Hotel, The Grand Californian Hotel and the Paradise Pier Hotel do not offer free airport shuttles. Instead they tell you to take the shuttle bus (The Disneyland Express). It costs $14/adult and $12/child each way. That is roughly $5/trip less than a taxi (with tip). A taxi that will take you directly to and from your hotel (instead of making multiple stops) and a taxi is on your schedule. On our way back to the airport the Disneyland Express was going to take 45 minutes to take us to the airport. We decided to cut our losses and take a taxi (which got us to the airport in 15 minutes) after the shuttle was 15 minutes late picking us up.
Tip #3: Stay at a hotel inside Disneyland
Besides the obvious transportation benefits, there are plenty of perks when you stay in Disneyland. At The Grand Californian guests have their own private entrance to the California Adventure Park. At most stores/restaurants in the park you can charge to your room AND many stores will send you packages directly to your room so you don't have to carry them around all day. You also get early admission passes and passes to other fun events inside the park.
Tip #4: Bring a Point-and-Shoot Camera
I won't lie, I missed my SLR camera, but I wouldn't have traded my Elph for the world. The fact that it took photos & videos and fit in my pocket made it perfect. I wouldn't have wanted to lug my SLR around.
Tip #5: Rent a Stroller
Disneyland has strollers, wheelchairs and power chairs available to rent. Save yourself the hassle of packing yours with you and rent one for $10/day. If you are planning on visiting the park for more than one day make sure and rent the stroller in for 2 or 3 days when you first rent the stroller, that way you won't have to wait in the long stroller lines each day. You simply keep your "This Stroller is Reserved by" card for use the next day.
Tip #6: Go to the Character Meals
I remember seeing commercials for Disneyland when I was younger. In
the commercials Mickey and Donald were walking around randomly, posing
for pictures and hugging children. That is not how it works anymore. The characters don't just walk around. If you do happen to see them
(which is rare) you usually have to wait in a loooong line to get your
picture taken with them or try and push your way through a mob. When
you go to the character meals the characters come to you. You see the
appeal, no?
Tip #7: Watch out for Rooms with a View
If you plan on staying at The Grand Californian Hotel avoid rooms with a view of Downtown Disney unless you like the night life. Our room had an amazing view of Downtown Disney. What I didn't realize when I made the reservation was that by view they
meant you could spit on the people walking below you. Don't get me
wrong, it was a very cool view but man was it loud. Especially at
night. At night they had musicians playing and they
just so happened to be placed right outside our
balcony The first night it was a bit loud, but the musician was a
violinist so it was nice to fall asleep to. The second night was a
different story. The second night it sounded like there was a rock
band in our room until about 10:30pm. The next day we switched to a pool view room. Much better. Ahhhhhh.
Tip #8: Take Advantage of the Photo Pass Photographers
This was my favorite feature of Disneyland. There are Photo Pass Photographers walking all around Disneyland, especially at popular photo spots.They will take any picture you'd like. I had them take family photos. I can't tell you the last time I had someone take family pictures of us while we were on vacation. I don't really like asking strangers to take pictures. I was in heaven. The first time your photo is taken the photographer gives you a card. Then anytime you have your picture taken by a Photo Pass photographer you give them the card to scan and it is added to your account. You can view your photos at any of the photo shops in Disneyland or online. You can also order prints or a CD of all your images. My recommendation? Go buck wild. Take as many Photo Pass pictures as you can then buy the CD. It is $125.00 and they release the copyright on the photos. It wouldn't be worth it if you only had two pictures taken, but if you had fifty? Totally.
This leads me to The Enchanted Photo. You must get an enchanted photo. You can ask any Photo Pass photographer for one. You simply hold your hands out and when the picture is developed Tinkerbell appears! How cool is that?!?
Tip #9: Don't Miss Princess Bedtime Stories
Each night you could turn to Channel 44 and listen to a princess tell a
bedtime story. How cool is that? It changes every night. We saw Cinderella, Belle and Snow White. They also played older Disney
cartoons. Hiawatha quickly became Zoë's favorite. (She says
hi-ya-wa-fa).
Tip #10: Spray Bottle Fans are your Best Friend
I hope the genius who invented that spray bottle-fan made millions of
dollars. Being able to spray a cool mist of water on each other while
we stood in the blazing sun kept us alive to enjoy Disneyland. That
was the best $17.00 we spent on our entire trip. We gave Zoë the fan to play with in the stroller while we walked around Disneyland. It kept her cool and kept her occupied in the lines.
Tip #11: Early Admission Rides
While we were waiting in line for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Kelly suggested that we come back during Early Admission the next day. One of the Disneyland employees overheard us and said that the line for the ride (and most early admission rides) are actually the longest during early admission. She said that most people go to the popular rides thinking they will avoid the crowds and the lines are longer then than any other time of day.
There you have it! We will return for our regularly scheduled blog postings tomorrow. :)
I am so excited, I can hardly stand it. Would you believe that I have haven't been to Disneyland? I never really cared about going. Sure, it would have been fun to go earlier in life, but I kind of outgrew princesses so it was no big deal. That is until I started researching for our trip. Now it is clear that I was a neglected child. Disneyland looks awesome. I'll make sure and post pictures when I get back Wednesday. I am off to pack!
I bought iLife '08 a couple weeks ago and have been working to familiarize myself with everything. You know, trying to embrace the Apple life style. I have started using my .mac account, am starting to create movies on my own, and most recently have started using iPhoto.
Let me qualify that. I use iPhoto for specific things. I still prefer my organizational system in the Pictures folder. In fact, that is where most of my photos still reside. For one reason. I don't like that when you edit photos in iPhoto it alters the original instead of making a copy. I am a firm believer in "Don't touch the original!" That is what "Save As" is for people.
One thing iPhoto does amazingly well is slide shows. I upload the thousand or so pictures from my trip to the lake (OK, so only about three hundred) and uploaded them to my .mac account. Now my family can view the beautiful sideshow, download the pictures, upload pictures of their own...it rocks. I love my SmugMug account but let's be honest here, the interface is just not user friendly.
Another thing iPhoto does amazingly well is their photo books. I have steered clear of photo books in the past because, come on, I am a scrapbooker. That is what I do! I want personal touches, journaling... ART! However, they may have converted me. I am never going to stop scrapbooking BUT the idea that I could whip up a photo book with all 300 or so lake pictures in an evening is very appealing. Then to have it printed, bound and delivered to my door in a few days? What is not to love?
My first iPhoto books arrived in the mail today. One for my cutie patootie little nephew (who has a birthday this weekend) and a similar book for Zoë. They are fantastic. The clean and simple style is wonderful for little eyes to look at. I formatted the books so that they look like children's book, with one simple sentence at the bottom of each page. Zoë has already "read" hers at least five times today. I hope Brodie likes his just as much. (I will post pictures after Mr. Brodie's birthday. I don't want to ruin his surprise).
The verdict? I give them two thumbs up. Not only are they SUPER easy to create (just drag and drop your photos into the templates) they look great printed.
Now I realize that this post is boring with no pictures. Ugh. That is because I have been spending my time posting on Zoë's poor neglected blog. If you want to see some pictures, click on over there.
Is this just right up my alley or what? Scrapping and saving the planet? Um yeah. That is like a match made in heaven for me. In case you haven't heard about this COOOOL contest, you can check out the blog here.
Here is the short version. You can buy the kit for $10.00 at Sweet Shoppe Designs. Once you register for the contest they will send you the password to unlock the kit. One of the most unique aspects of the contest is that everyone is anonymous. Granted, if you are a really popular scrapper I am sure people will be able to spot your kids in the layouts, but for everyone else it should work. There will be weekly challenges that the contestants complete and the contest ends in November.
You can buy the kit at Little Dreamer Designs for $12.00 and call it good. Either way, all of the proceeds are being donated to The Alliance for Climate Protection.
Awesome, yes? I haven't decided whether I am going to join in the contest or just buy the kit and play around with it when I am feeling inspired. I am DEFINITELY buying it though.
Scrapping and saving the planet. Sigh. Life is good.
First, thank you for all of the well wishes! I am feeling much better, just a stiff neck. A stiff neck I can handle. A few more trips to the chiropractor and acupuncturist and I'll be good as new for our trip to Disneyland this weekend. Yowza! I'm contemplating whether or not I should even bother unpacking my suitcase from our trip to Vegas since we will be leaving in a few days. (More about the concert later).
Before I get side tracked I wanted to tell you about Disney Character Calls. We booked a vacation package which included a character call to Zoë telling her how excited they were to see her in Disneyland. How fun is that?!? I booked the call for Zoë today, so Saturday morning she is going to wake up to a call from Mickey and Minnie. This is the fun bit... In my call confirmation they sent me a link to Disney Enchanted Calls. For $2.49 you can have any of the Disney Princess (or Mickey, Tigger or Pooh) call your child for a special occasion. Man, I wish I had known about that when Zoë finished potty training or her birthday. She would FLIP if Ariel or Cinderella called her.
Now for the Celine recap. It was a great concert, just not what I was expecting. I was expecting a concert and it was most definitely a Vegas show. I couldn't help but think, "Why is there a peacock dancing around the stage? What the heck does that have to do with the song?" There were 40+ dancers jumping and/or floating around the stage most of the time. That being said, it actually worked out well. I was interested in the singing and Kelly was interested in the "Vegas" part of the production, so we were both happy. :)
Here is an interesting tidbit. If you have been to a concert recently you know that they always have the little announcement at the beginning about "No photography or videography allowed during the concert, blah, blah, blah." That was taken to another level entirely at the Celine Dion show. Everyone was searched at the door. Not for weapons or liquor. For cameras. All cameras had to be handed over to the camera-check people until the end of the concert. Isn't that totally crazy? And anyone who got up to go to the bathroom during the performance (cough....Kelly....cough) was held outside the theater until the end of the song before they were allowed back in. Like I said, c-r-a-z-y.
I am quite sure the rumors about Celine being a diva are true. Of course her voice is amazing and she has piles of money so she can be.
