Return to Disneyland

I think this has to be one of my signs of adulthood: I am going to Disneyland for the second time within a year. When I was a kid, the thought of going twice in the span of a few months would be kind of ridiculous to my parents. But very soon after Thom’s and my recent visit this past June, we thought, OK, when are we coming back? Christmas! So that’s where we’ll be this weekend, especially to see the park all decked out for holidays.

Just to backtrack and quickly re-cap the June visit: It was a lot of fun, despite the weather being oh so hot! The main reason for the trip was a merchandise event for the forty-fifth anniversary of the Enchanted Tiki Room, and we were also celebrating our own five-year anniversary of when we first met.

Travel notes: We flew Virgin America, our current favorite airline. We’re usually á la carte kind of travelers, but for the other arrangements we went with a vacation package from AAA that included admission tickets, parking, hotel stay, and assorted freebies and coupons. We stayed at Hotel Menage, which I really like. It’s basically an old Holiday Inn or similar, but redone as a chic motel. We had rented a Prius from Alamo (I like them ’cause you can check in online or at a kiosk, and then just go out to their lot and choose your car). The nice thing about the hybrid: we drove little enough (just among LAX, the hotel, and the park) that the gas gauge was still at F when we returned the car, so we didn’t have to fill up the tank.

At the park we rode old favorite rides and new ones, like Toy Story Mania; considering the last time I’d been to Disneyland was very pre-California Adventure, a lot was new to me! And thank goodness for FastPass. Sometimes you still have to wait in line even with a FastPass, but it’s a lot shorter and sure beats waiting in the regular line.

Here’s a quick video I slapped together in iMovie, of a few scenes: the Tiki Room and Fantasmic! at Disneyland, and “Circle of Life” (country style) and the Aladdin stage show at Disney’s California Adventure:

So fast forward to this weekend: We’re pretty much following our travel logistics template from the last visit. But in addition, on Friday night we have dinner reservations at Napa Rose in the Grand Californian Hotel, and are scheduled to go on the Holiday Time tour on Sunday. Can’t wait!