Sharing some adventures from our journey to San Diego, a few of our favourite SD eating places and family-friendly actions, and a visit to Disneyland with Dance the Magic!
Hello hello! Joyful Wednesday! What’s happening as we speak? I’m headed to the ladies’ college this morning, catching an F45 class, and placing the ending touches on podcast episode #100!! It’ll go dwell subsequent week and yesss there’s a giveaway.
For as we speak’s publish, I wished to share a recap of our journey to San Diego and Disneyland! Our final journey to Disneyland was fall 2019, so we have been thrilled to be headed again. (We’ve been to Disney World a few occasions because it’s reopened, however it was our first journey again to Disneyland.)
Right here’s somewhat recap of our journey, plus a few of our fave spots.
Disney and San Diego recap
Once we came upon that Liv’s dance group was going to be performing within the Disneyland parade with Dance the Magic, we knew we have been IN. We additionally figured we may sandwich a San Diego journey together with it, because it’s a simple flight to San Diego (an hour from Tucson) and hire a automobile to drive to Anaheim. We have been so glad to be again in SD!!
We went straight to Tiki Port, who welcomed us with presumably the BEST acai bowl I’ve had in my life. (And I’ve had many, many from Tiki Port.) The man making them was really an artist; I had chocolate chips, acai, granola, fruit, AND peanut butter in each single chunk.
(That is the Drifter with peanut butter. For those who go to San Diego, get it! You received’t remorse it.)
We additionally made a cease on the seashore so the ladies may moist their ft (aka their garments and full our bodies), to the resort to vary, Belmont Park (the place they rode experience after experience) and OB Noodle Home for dinner.
The following morning’s breakfast was at Nice Maple, which is one in all our favourite breakfast eating places.
This avocado stack had arugula, avocado, balsamic discount, and perfectly-cooked salmon.
We additionally shared maple bacon donuts with our entrees.
After breakfast, we performed on the waterfront park for some time after which headed to the New Kids’s Museum, the place the children had a blast trying out the entire displays. It modifications each time we go to, and it’s really a children’ dream come true. We obtained Tender Greens to-go for lunch, and hit the highway the Anaheim!
Our first cease in Anaheim was the resort to drop off our baggage after which straight to character eating at Goofy’s Kitchen!
Whereas we’re at Disney, I all the time attempt to guide one “actual” (sit-down) meal every day. It’s sometimes lunch, as a result of everybody will get the prospect to take a seat down and refuel. We obtained very fortunate with reservations this journey and I used to be in a position to guide Goofy’s Kitchen, Tortilla Jo’s (Downtown Disney) and Blue Bayou (Pirates of the Caribbean) whereas we have been there!
(Lunch at Blue Bayou. Salmon, rice, veggies, and we shared a chocolate cake for dessert)
Goofy’s Kitchen is a buffet with the whole lot you may ever need, a ridiculous dessert choice, cocktails, and the characters come to every desk dancing to music whilst you twirl your serviette above your head. It’s the whole lot.
The remainder of the weekend was spent using rides,
(P rode the Incredicoaster 3 occasions… our daredevil baby, lord assist us)
consuming ALL of the Disney treats
(my faves are the M&M rice crispy and the chocolate peanut butter sandwich, which is sort of a large amped up Reese’s)
and watching Liv and her group carry out within the parade!! It was the primary Dance the Magic efficiency since they’ve reopened and I had full-body chills your entire time. It was SO superb, so magical, and the entire studios did such an unbelievable job. The streets have been fully lined with spectators and everybody was clapping and cheering. I heard there have been about 600 whole dancers and so they marched down the parade route, dancing to “Zero to Hero” from Hercules.
Lining as much as head into the park earlier than the parade:
I’ll always remember it.
As a part of Dance the Magic, we have been additionally in a position to attend a VIP breakfast in California Journey, which began at 5:30 Sunday morning. Ya’ll know me and the way a lot I LOVE my sleep, however I rallied and made it occur. It was actually cool to experience some rides earlier than the park was open and to observe Liv run round with all of her dance associates who’ve develop into like household.
Some Disney questions I figured I may chat about on this publish (and issues I used to be questioning about myself earlier than our journey):
Was it crowded?
After studying some issues on Instagram and different weblog posts, I anticipated it to be PACKED, particularly because it was a weekend journey over excessive season. As somebody who’s used to strolling shoulder-to-shoulder with full strangers down Important Avenue, I believed it was beautiful. It felt very very open and never too crowded in any respect. They’re nonetheless utilizing a reservation system to restrict capability, so you need to guide reservations for every day you’ll be within the parks. (You want a ticket earlier than you’ll be able to guide reservations however can discover the calendar on-line to see what availability seems like.)
What have been the character interactions like?
The characters have been nonetheless separated from park company utilizing some kind of barrier, and you may stroll in entrance, take an image, and discuss with them. Apparently that is altering on the finish of the month, and character hugs will likely be again! P LOVES hugging the characters, so this makes my coronary heart glad.
What are the present masks guidelines?
Masks weren’t required open air and really helpful indoors. Most company weren’t carrying them.
What’s the new Genie+ system? Are there Quick Passes?
Disney has completed away with Quick Passes. Beforehand, you may guide as much as two rides at a time, and when you completed these, you may guide new ones all through the day utilizing the app. Up to now, it was additionally free. Quick Passes are gone, and so they’ve launched two new paid choices: Genie + ($20 per particular person per day) and Lightning Lane for premium sights (which you’ll be able to solely use with the paid Genie+ and it’s an additional $12-20 per experience, per particular person).
With Genie+ you will have the flexibility to guide time slots for among the extra widespread rides (like Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Incredicoaster, and so forth). It’s $20 per particular person per day and we discovered that it was DEFINITELY value it. We didn’t purchase it the primary day since Liv was doing parade observe for a lot of the day, and the strains have been very lengthy. I used to be chatting with a forged member and so they advised me that they need to push via the Lightning Lane individuals first as a result of they paid for a spot. So which means if the Lightning Lane line is lengthy, and also you’re within the Stand-by line, they received’t allow you to transfer till the Lightning Lane is shorter.
The second day, we did Genie+ and it was completely value it. We hardly waited for longer than 5 minutes for every experience, and ended up doing about 19 rides that day. You’ll be able to’t guide Lightning Lane passes for among the newer or premium sights with out paying an extra price (like Star Wars Rise of the Resistance, Radiator Springs, Internet Slingers, and so forth) and that is the place I’ve combined emotions.
Let’s say you wish to do Internet Slingers, Radiator Springs, and Rise of the Resistance in at some point. You must have Genie+ to even have the flexibility to guide these rides ($80 for a household of 4) and also you guide Lightening Lane with the paid price for every of those ($48 for Internet Slingers + $48 for Radiator Springs + $80 for Rise of the Resistance). This comes out to an additional $256 for a household of 4, simply to experience these 3 rides, along with your park tickets. It simply seems like an enormous cash seize to me.
I’ll say that Genie+ is completely value it if you wish to experience a variety of rides, and to be strategic on the premium sights. We ended up paying $80 to do Rise of the Resistance and it was in all probability the best experience I’ve ever skilled (and I do know nothing about Star Wars lol).
This journey genuinely felt like a trip and it was such a blast to get away and benefit from the weekend. Spending time with our household is my favourite factor ever, and I’m trying ahead to extra adventures this summer season. 🙂
So, inform me associates: any holidays on the radar for this spring/summer season? What’s your favourite place to go to with children?? Additionally, fave Disney deal with?!
xo
Gina
