Disneyland During the Christmas Season

Surprise! We hit up Disneyland again this year! 

Our anniversary was on December 13th so we thought hey, why not go to Disney for our Anniversary and see all of their Christmas decor. We’ve only ever been during the Halloween time or during no holiday so this would be all of the winter decor. This time we knew Presley was going to have even more fun because we’ve been letting him slowly watch Cars and he’s really into them so Radiator Springs was going to be real life for him. 

We only have one full day in the parks so we started the morning in California Adventure. We wanted Presley to be able to see Cars Land and enjoy his time there seeing all of it. He was even tall enough to ride Mater’s tow ride. We also visited Stanley the founder of Radiator Springs and saw everything they had to offer from Fillmore’s Organic Fuel to Sarge’s Surplus. We also got to meet Mater, see Lighting McQueen and meet Cruz Ramirez. 

Once we left Radiator Springs, we headed over to Pixar Pier. I do want to tell you though that I got the Macaroni and Cheese/Bacon bread cone at Cozy Cone and it totally changed my life. Probably some of the best Mac and Cheese I’ve ever had in my life. If you go to RS, get the cone... trust me.

Once we got over to Pixar Pier, Presley rode the carousel and the Imagine ride. We also rode the Cars ride and Incredicoaster while Presley got to pick out a toy in the shops.

We had went to a character breakfast earlier in the morning but Presley was thrilled to run into Mickey and Minnie again.

Next we headed over to Disneyland to spend the rest of the day there. We of course did all the fun photos in front of the Christmas tree and Castle. We rode Jungle Boat, Pirates, the Matterhorn and by then we were worn out. We will be back though! Christmas was super nice at Disney and this was our first time but it won't be our last!

Disneyland 2019

Every year we take trips on our birthdays. What last longer... cake or a memory of travel? In my book... it's travel so every year we take a trip on my birthday and my husbands. This year for the second year in a row we packed our bags and headed to Disneyland. 

Presley loved all of the characters. He met Minnie, Mickey, Donald Duck, Chip and Goofy. We also saw so many other characters and in different outfits. He met two different Mickey's, two different Goofy's and two different Minnie's. We saw Winnie the Pooh, Gaston and so many other characters this was the most we had ever seen in one trip. We also rode a ton of rides. Presley in one day rode seven. 

We had a great time and already trying to figure out when to take him back to see all the characters again.

Disneyland 2018

When I was on my hiatus from blogging, we took Presley to Disneyland and California Adventure. It was also my husband's birthday trip. Usually we head north to Seattle but this year we decided to do something a little different. My husband's birthday is just a few days before Halloween and for years now he always makes a comment about how it would be nice to go to Disneyland at Halloween. Well... we never go because we go to Seattle instead and the cycle repeats of me hearing about how we should go to Disney for the Halloween décor.

Well October 2018, I booked the annual trip to Seattle and then promptly cancelled it. I then rescheduled a trip to Disney and told my husband that this year we were in fact going to Disneyland.

Since I had never been to Disneyland this was going to be my first trip there and clearly Presley's first time as well. Presley was already very familiar with Mickey Mouse because he gets taken to the Disney store several times and gets to pick a new Mickey each trip. His eyes light up and he gets so excited so I knew he'd like meeting the "real" Mickey at the park.

If you've never booked a trip to Disneyland then you are in for a price surprise! Even before the increase in ticket prices, the happiest place on earth will give you the blues once you've spent all your money on the trip. I enlisted some of my husbands family and we rented a large house via AirB&B to stay at. The owners were crazy but that's a whole different story.

We did three days in the park with 1 park each day and 1 magic morning. Maybe we didn't do our Magic Morning right but half the park's rides weren't even running during the magic morning. The restaurants weren't open nor were the gift shops so unless you just wanted to take photographs or ride the ride It's a Small World then I didn't get the point of Magic Morning.

I did appreciate the nursing room located in both parks. It was clean, easy to locate and air conditioned! They also have baby supplies in case you run out and a place to feed and change Presley who of course had many poop explosions while we were there. I also appreciated the rider swap on the maxpass (which cost extra by the way) because that did save us several minutes when we had to switch off. If you were like me, and knew nothing about Pirates of the Caribbean ride, when they offer to let your family sit in the front row- decline as you have a small child who doesn't want to be splashed. Wish I would have known that it was going to have a dip at the beginning....

The price of food, water, mickey ears etc.. well you can go bankrupt without ever leaving the park. BUT they do take your photos!

I was clearly unimpressed by this ride lol! Also I loved the new COCO ears! And Presley even got in on wearing them...

Our It’s A Small World Ride. I’m glad we rode it when we did because it shut down the next day to star the refurbishment.

Clearly my husband wasn’t digging the ride either.....

What’s your favorite part of thing to do in/at Disney?