Dates: 9/10-9/17
Hotel: Disneyland Hotel (our first time!)
Places: Disneyland, California Adventure, and Legoland
Cast: Sarah (that's me!), Brian, and the little ones...K (age 7.5) and Q (age 5.5)
I've been planning this trip for just about a year and finally told the children about it halfway through the summer. I brought home a big cardboard box with two gigantic balloons inside (weighted down with Mickey Pez dispensers) and had them open the box.
Yes, they were surprised! And those dratted balloons lived in our playroom for ages!!
We took the children out of school for four days (they already had one day off as a "Teacher Excellence Day") for a trip to Disneyland to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. This is our third family trip to Disneyland (my fourth trip as I went once as a young child) and we've always gone in September. Unfortunately September no longer is quite as deserted as it was the first year we visited.
At any rate, we flew Virgin America to LAX and took the Disneyland Express to Anaheim. We've had pretty good experiences on Virgin America and have managed to find good prices on the flights. I wish we didn't have to fly to LAX, but the flight prices are the reason why...LAX really is dreadful though.
Although they knew we were going to Disneyland, they did not know where we were staying--I kept that a surprise and the bus driver helped me out and didn't even say the name of the hotel on the bus ride. He was such a good sport! When the bus pulled up to the Disneyland Hotel, I asked my daughter if she'd like to stay here, at Mickey's hotel, and her eyes got really big and she gave me a very enthusiastic "YES!"
I left my family out in the hall while I took these pictures of our room on the 8th floor of the Adventure Tower...so they're not exactly the best shots.
Two queen beds plus a couch/daybed (tucked just past the tv cabinet)
The bed headboard with the fireworks was amazing. It brought tears to everyone's eyes (except my five year old son) the first time we turned it on and we left it on all night every night we were there. Oh and notice the adjustable reading lamps on the sides of the bed? I thought those were a great touch.
The bathroom was quite nice with subtle Mickey touches throughout. That is the closet on the right--with a pack-n-play and an ironing board stashed inside.
Mickey's hand holding up the light and little Mickeys on the lampshade
The toiletries have Mickey heads on the bottles (love those!) and the larger colored tiles in the shower have VERY subtle Mickey heads on them--they're very hard to see. My daughter saw them first. The toilet has its own door (reflected in the mirror).
Hotel: Disneyland Hotel (our first time!)
Places: Disneyland, California Adventure, and Legoland
Cast: Sarah (that's me!), Brian, and the little ones...K (age 7.5) and Q (age 5.5)
I've been planning this trip for just about a year and finally told the children about it halfway through the summer. I brought home a big cardboard box with two gigantic balloons inside (weighted down with Mickey Pez dispensers) and had them open the box.
Yes, they were surprised! And those dratted balloons lived in our playroom for ages!!
We took the children out of school for four days (they already had one day off as a "Teacher Excellence Day") for a trip to Disneyland to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. This is our third family trip to Disneyland (my fourth trip as I went once as a young child) and we've always gone in September. Unfortunately September no longer is quite as deserted as it was the first year we visited.
At any rate, we flew Virgin America to LAX and took the Disneyland Express to Anaheim. We've had pretty good experiences on Virgin America and have managed to find good prices on the flights. I wish we didn't have to fly to LAX, but the flight prices are the reason why...LAX really is dreadful though.
Although they knew we were going to Disneyland, they did not know where we were staying--I kept that a surprise and the bus driver helped me out and didn't even say the name of the hotel on the bus ride. He was such a good sport! When the bus pulled up to the Disneyland Hotel, I asked my daughter if she'd like to stay here, at Mickey's hotel, and her eyes got really big and she gave me a very enthusiastic "YES!"
I left my family out in the hall while I took these pictures of our room on the 8th floor of the Adventure Tower...so they're not exactly the best shots.
Two queen beds plus a couch/daybed (tucked just past the tv cabinet)
The bed headboard with the fireworks was amazing. It brought tears to everyone's eyes (except my five year old son) the first time we turned it on and we left it on all night every night we were there. Oh and notice the adjustable reading lamps on the sides of the bed? I thought those were a great touch.
The bathroom was quite nice with subtle Mickey touches throughout. That is the closet on the right--with a pack-n-play and an ironing board stashed inside.
Mickey's hand holding up the light and little Mickeys on the lampshade
The toiletries have Mickey heads on the bottles (love those!) and the larger colored tiles in the shower have VERY subtle Mickey heads on them--they're very hard to see. My daughter saw them first. The toilet has its own door (reflected in the mirror).
This was their first time riding the Carousel in the dark!
