10/12/2023
Take me back!!!! Missing Disneyland and California Adventure already!
Lessons learned from our long weekend adventure:
1. Traveling cross country with 9&12 year olds was TOTALLY doable over a long weekend. We traveled on a Friday, did 3 park days and then had a travel day back home to FL. (3 days was great and included daily naps!)
2. Disneyland and California Adventure are a completely different experience than the FL parks. The smaller footprint makes everything super accessible. We loved walking right into California Adventure and Downtown Disney from the Grand Californian hotel. Our walk to Disneyland was under 5 minutes as well. I was impressed as well that from the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier park access was also under 10 minutes walking.
3. My kids LOVED the gorgeous weather and lower crowd volumes compared to the Orlando parks! We used Genie+ and individual Lightning lanes for the big ticket items, but most of the other attractions had less than a 30 minute wait the whole weekend. We easily accomplished all the attractions and shows on our list!
4. Booking dining 60 days out allowed us to experience all the unique west coast Disney restaurants we wanted! Highlights were Lamplight Lounge (pictured in post) as well as Trader Sam’s at the Disneyland Hotel.
5. Avengers Campus is AMAZING - we ran into Dr. Strange, Captain Marvel, ant Man and the Wasp, Spider Man and some warriors from Wakanda. We unfortunately did not find my soul mate, Thor, so I guess that gives me a good reason to go back again!
6. Disney Photo Pass was included with our Genie + service and we took full advantage of stopping to get some great shots with the talented Disney photographers around the parks.
7. Mobile ordering made snacking and quick service dining a breeze! Keeping the kids fueled up and hydrated is always a big part of my plan to make our trips the best they can be!
If you are thinking of checking out Disneyland and California Adventure any time soon, please reach out and we are happy to help!