A couple weekends ago we took the kids on a surprise trip to Disneyland and Orange County with Alaska Airlines as part of their Weekend Wanderer campaign. Henry came home from school mid week and we said we needed to sit down and have a serious family meeting about all the yard work needing to be done that coming weekend…
When we told them we were going to Disneyland instead and pulled out Mickey ears (bought on Amazon, way cheaper than at the park!) for the whole family, they were both confused. Edie had never been to Disneyland, so she didn’t really know what it all meant. It still took Henry a minute to let it all sink, and initially he was mostly excited about missing a day of school (!!). We told them again, “We’re going to Disneyland, right now. Bags are packed, the Uber’s on its way!”. It was a hilarious, chaotic scene.
We flew Alaska Air to John Wayne airport in Orange County out of San Jose. The flight was so quick (45 minutes total I think?). I’m always impressed with Alaska Air when I fly with them (which living in the bay area is a lot!). The last two trips I’ve taken to D.C. and Colorado this month were both with Alaska Air too! I’m a big fan. Comfy leather seats and a really generous amount of legroom in our economy seats.
For this campaign, Alaska had sent the most thoughtful plane care package for the kids: snacks and stickers, books and toy airplanes. Even Bose headphones and a Fuji Instax camera, which the kids loved using to document our adventures.
We arrived at the hotel pretty late, and tucked the kids right in bed for a full day of Disneyland in the morning. With crowds, high expectations, and little kids, Disneyland trips can seem stressful and part of me was nervous how it would all go. My brother in law Salem is a Disneyland expert and gave us all the local tips we need to know about which really saved us! Below are a few things that were super helpful. Some of you locals of course may already know these things, but there are plenty of us that don’t!
1. Disneyland/California Adventure is not like other amusement parks. The rides are different and strategy is pretty much required. With other parks, you can just walk in without a plan and wander about going on whatever rides you choose. With Disneyland, you need to strategize a bit otherwise you’ll end up spending most of your time waiting in lines. Also, there is a lot of other stuff to do when you do find yourself with downtime while you’re waiting for your next Fast Pass reservation. Food, obviously, but there are shows and performances that are going on all the time that everyone likes. Dot loved the Tiki Lounge show!
2. The Disneyland app and Max Pass. I would never do Disneyland without these things! It will save you hours of time waiting in lines. The Disneyland app is free. Download it and you can see the wait times at any ride. You can also scan your ticket in and for $10 per ticket, you can get what they call the Max Pass. You may have heard of the Fast Pass (which is totally free by the way). It’s a ticket you collect at a ride kiosk to reserve a later time for the ride for a popular ride. The Max Pass is just a digital version of the Fast Pass, so you don’t have to walk over to the ride to get the reservation ticket, you just reserve the time on your phone and then report back to that ride during the hour window they give you. SUPER helpful. We didn’t go on any big rides without a Max Pass reservation.
3. Child Swap. This is not something I see signs for, but it’s a great tip if you have little kids that can’t go on rides, 2 adults that want to go on a ride, and big kids that can. A child swap means that one adult can stay with the little ones outside the ride while the other adult can go in, and then when they come out, the adults swap and the other adult can go back in with those kids again! You just ask them at the front of the ride for a child swap and they give you essentially another Fast Pass for a few minutes later to use. This meant that Henry could go twice on the big rides. Once with me, and once with Jared.
4. Rides for everyone. Unlike most of other amusements parks, there are many rides that everyone (even babies) can go on. This makes Disneyland unique. Again, I had kind of forgotten about this fact (it’s been a few years and we had never taken a baby to Disneyland before). It was so fun to do rides all together as a family and have Dot enjoy them just as much as us! Some favorite family rides are Small World (which Edie adorably called Little Land), The Little Mermaid, Tea Cups, Snow White, Peter Pan (although the line is always long, I’d just skip it altogether), Alice in Wonderland, Monsters Inc, etc. There are also lots of trains and boats and those fun things. The only tricky thing is that the family rides don’t take Fast Pass so it might be a good idea to get those done first thing when you arrive before the crowds get there around mid-day.
5. Staying at Disneyland. The 2 times we’ve gone, we’ve always stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and really love it. First off, the light show on the headboard is super magical and the girls were obsessed with it. Second, you’re a really close walk to the entrance so you can easily go back to the hotel for a nap if your kids (or you) need to. Third, the pools and waterslides are really fun in the afternoon for a break before heading back in the evening (if you can rally the gang!). Fourth, MAGIC HOUR. Guests of the Disney hotels can get into the park an hour early. Which is awesome and you can really knock out a bunch of rides quickly! They usually alternative days between parks. So our first day we had magic hour in Disneyland, and our second day we had magic hour in California Adventure. However, the Disney hotels can get pricey so there are a lot of other options that have really reasonable rates.
5. A couple food tips. For little kids, make sure you bring your own snacks and water (duh, but we kind of forgot the snack part the first day we were so stoked to get out the door). Also, here are our favorite foods at Disneyland (obviously not a comprehensive list, we only had 48 hours to eat everything in sight). Corn dogs from the cart in front of the Plaza Inn restaurant. This is also where we went to a character breakfast, which would have been fun if Edie wasn’t terrified of all characters! Dole Whip in front of the Tiki Lounge show (you can take them inside the show too!). Churro ice cream sandwiches in Downtown Disney (one cart is on either end of the strip). Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream bars (above!).
Any tips for Disneyland you’d add??
Before heading home, we spent a day in Laguna Beach at a little hotel I like there called Laguna Beach House. It’s around the corner from the beach, and a 5 minute walk from the main Laguna Beach and all the restaurants so it’s a great location for everything.
The water was surprisingly really warm and clear! We spent the morning collecting shells while Henry boogie boarded and met Jared’s sister and my two nieces for lunch at Carmelitas which is this amazing Mexican place right in front of the main beach.
Then we spent some time chilling at the pool (we were kind of exhausted after two full days of Disneyland), and watched the sunset that night on the beach. We really wanted to go whale watching and explore a bit more, but maybe next time!
Such an amazing trip! Thanks again Alaska Airlines for letting us get out and explore!