Five 'Must Do' Things To Prepare for Your Disneyland Trip!

We're headed to Disneyland again this Summer and we're so excited! Today I thought I'd share with you five things that we've done before hand to help prepare our family for the best Disney trip! I consider these my 'must do' items, hope they help you prepare for your next trip. 

1. Check the height requirements for the rides & measure your kids!

One of the biggest tips is to check these requirements. Last Summer when we visited Disneyland Ava was still to short for many of the bigger rides like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones. We knew before hand the rides that she was able to go on and plan our day accordingly. She's now 41 inches tall and able to ride a few more rides when we go this year.

2. Download a printable map of the park & plan your day!

Disneyland is divided into 8 lands, familiarize yourself with them by downloading the map here. We did this last year and planned our day based on what we wanted to see first and when. For example we knew that Ava was to short to ride a few rides, and we knew that she really was interested in meeting the characters. We planned on heading to Fantasyland first so that she could start meeting princesses right away and ride a lot of the rides at her height requirement. This year it's Disney's 60th Anniversary, there's all sorts of special shows and events, go here to take a look at them all and plan your day well! 

3. Buy Your Disney Themed T-shirts Before You get to Disneyland! 

This is one of my best money saving tips! We did this last year before our trip and again this year! I love the idea of wearing Disney themed shirts and matching shirts while you're at the park. If you buy these in one of the stores at Disneyland this could get very pricey for your family, save money by buying your shirts before. Stores like Target, Kohls and Wal-Mart all have a wide variety of Disney themed shirts. 

4. Print off this Adorable Mickey Countdown.

Because the countdown to the trip is just as exciting as the trip itself. My friend Allison made this adorable Mickey Mouse countdown, get yours here. 

5. Talk to Your Kids About the Trip & Tell Them The Disney plan.

Before our trip we talk to our kiddos, mostly Ava since she's at the age of understanding. We told her what to expect and what types of activities we'd be doing. We also asked her about the characters she wanted to see first, and get her input on the trip. We let her know about things we'd be doing (watch the fireworks, see the parade and what day we'd be visiting Ana & Elsa.)

An Evening at the Santa Monica Pier

Visiting the Santa Monica Pier is one of my fondest childhood memories. I distinctly remember burning the bottoms of my feet on the sidewalk because I refused to wear flip flops as we walked back. 

On our last evening of vacation last Summer we headed to Santa Monica to meet up with my younger brother, who was stationed in California last Summer for Airman training. It was about an hour and half drive from Anaheim in week day traffic. But well worth the drive. 

We ate at Pier Burger, which was delish! Some of the best burgers and fries I've ever had! You must try it if you're there! 

We didn't do any swimming this trip, we walked the pier, and collected more shells on the beach. 

We had the best time visiting with my brother, it's always nice when we can meet up with family. And having him so close last Summer was so much fun. He came and spend 4th of July with us as well. 

Parking on the pier is $12, but if you'd prefer something cheaper you can park farther up in a parking garage and walk. The pier is always, always busy. So expect tourist like yourself admist all the locals. For more info on what to do/see at the Santa Monica Pier visit their website here. 

Day Trip to Newport Beach, CA

After we spent two days at Disneyland we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our vacation at the beach! I was born in California and raised there some of my childhood. I have fond memories of these exact beaches with my family. Collecting sea shells, playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. Memories I wanted to recreate for my own family. 

Newport Beach was just a quick 25 minute drive from our hotel in Anaheim. We packed a lunch, drinks and snacks and headed there for the day. 

I love this cute little beach town. One day I'd love to rent a beach home and just stay for the week. 

We had a beautiful day there, and look forward to going back again this Summer! What are your favorite beach activities to do?

Our First Trip to Disneyland

We took our first trip to Disneyland as a family last Summer. We quickly fell in love with Disney, and got bit by the Disney magic and will be going back this Summer again! This time with our two nieces and my mom. I'm excited to share Disney with our family, I'm excited for my kids to share it with their cousins as well. 

Since I never shared pictures from our trip on the blog I thought I'd take some time to share about our trip today. We spent 2 days at Disney this first time. Which was plenty of time for our family. We did the 2 day Park Hopper Passes, but quickly found out that a park hopper pass wasn't needed. Our kids didn't really like California Adventure at all, so in thinking about going back this summer we won't purchase park hopper passes, but instead spend all our time in Disneyland. 

This may not work for you if you have older kiddos, but for ours who mostly wanted to see Princesses and couldn't ride any of the bigger rides it's perfect for us. 

We went in July of last year, and the park wasn't to crowded. We didn't wait long at all in the lines. The longest we waited in line was when we wanted to see Anna & Elsa. I waited for two hours to see them, while Orion took the kids on rides. Then they hopped in line with me to see them. 

The tea cups have been a fave of mine since I was a kid! I was excited to share my favorite ride with Ava. She had a blast! 

The first day we spent most of the day there and headed back to our hotel around 7 pm. We ate lunch at the park that first day as well. The second day we got there when the park opened and left at 3pm, went back to the hotel and ate and had some naps before returning to the park at 6pm. 

The second day we stayed till the evening fireworks show. Which was so much fun for our kiddos. I totally thought them being there all day long they'd be exhausted, and having no nap the second day made me leery of their moods. But I guess they had Disney magic inside them too because they were the best, and such troopers through the day. 

We really had the best trip, and it was the best possible experience for our kids as well. That's why if we're going to spend a chunk of money on a family vacation this year we decided that we wanted to take them back to Disneyland again. While they are still little, while Zane still gets in free, and while Ava & Zane still love all the Disney magic!

Heck, I think I wanna go to Disney someday without my kids. ;)

Can't wait to share with you about our trip this year later on this summer. If you missed it before you can CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT 'HOW WE SAVED ON OUR DISNEY VACATION.'

If you have any questions about Disney, leave them in the comments below. I'll be happy to answer what I can about Disney and our trip! 

How We Saved on Our Disneyland Vacation

This past summer we took a family vacation to Disneyland! It was the first time we've taken our kids as well as it was my husbands first visit. I did a lot of research before our trip, there's tons of useful tips on many blogs and websites. Doing all the research before hand really helped me wrap my mind around the park layout and what were the best places for us to start with little ones. What they might be attracted to most, what "lands" were most age appropriate for them as well. 

Right away we knew this trip to Disneyland was going to be done on a budget. Disneyland is just like any other travel venture you might do: It's as expensive as you want it to be. 

With that in mind we kept things about making memories and not about how much stuff we could bring home, or how much money we could spend on eating and treats. Besides the money we spent on tickets and hotel we brought $200 cash into the park. We used this money for food and souvenirs. Keep this number in mind as you read. 

Here's how we did Disneyland on a budget and saved money from my family of four! 

1. We booked our Disneyland tickets through Getawaytoday.com

First I want to say I'm not affiliated with this company we just found them very useful in planning our Disney trip and helping to save money. We saved $60 in tickets through this website, and we didn't have to pay for Zane because he was under 3, so he was free. We also saved 30% on our hotel booking through Getaway Today instead of through the hotel directly. 

     2. We stayed at a hotel with a free shuttle to Disneyland

Our hotel was 5 miles from Disneyland, I know there's a lot of debate and pros to staying onsite at Disneyland or across the street from Disney, but when looking at our budget and what we wanted to spend this didn't fit into our plans. We stayed at a hotel that had a free shuttle service, we could come and go from Disney and use the free shuttle service as many times as we wanted to. This ended up working out really well for us and was very convenient for our family. We saved $34 by using the free shuttle and not parking onsite. 

     3. Bring your own snacks & water bottles into the park

This was a tip I read on just about every website I found, and it's a good one! We bought about $40 worth of snacks, dry cereal and water to bring into the park each day we were there. Disney allows you to bring your own snacks, strollers even wagons into the park. Fill them up with snacks and water so that you aren't running to a snack bar every second for food! There are water fountains all around the park to refill your water bottles, also all of the dining places will give you free cups of cold water with ice that you can refill your bottles as well. Take advantage of this.

    4. Limit the amount of meals you eat in the park

We planned on eating only a few meals in the park, and a few snacks. We ate lunch one day in the park and then next day we ate dinner in the park. Both times we choose quick dining options instead of sitting down at one of the park restaurants. My kids shared meals since we had brought snacks in, and I even ate a kids meal as well since the portions were pretty big. We stayed for fireworks one night and had ice cream and shared a few larger snacks. 

    5. Limit the number of souvenirs and extras you buy in the park

Let me also say that during this trip we did not take part in any of the character dining experiences. This being our first trip we wanted to see how much of the experience we could get in before doing any of the extra stuff that costs more money. What we found out is that we got to see a lot of the Disney characters and Ava was able to interact with many of the Princesses and Fairies that paying extra for these experiences weren't needed. We also limited the amount of souvenirs. We decided well before going that we were only going to buy our kids 2-3 souvenirs each. We stuck to this number and tried to find things that would be lasting as part of their memories and not just trinket toys that would break easily. Each of our kids got a pair of Mickey ears (no personalization), and a clothing item. 

I hope you've found these tips helpful in planning your next trip! We had so much fun on our Disney trip and we're already looking forward to when we can visit Mickey again! Disney really is such a magical experience for your family. 

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