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! Glad Wednesday! What’s happening right now? I’m headed to the women’ faculty this morning, catching an F45 class, and placing the ending touches on podcast episode #100!! It is going to go dwell subsequent week and yesss there’s a giveaway.
For right now’s publish, I needed to share a recap of our journey to San Diego and Disneyland! Our final journey to Disneyland was fall 2019, so we had been thrilled to be headed again. (We’ve been to Disney World a few occasions because it’s reopened, but it surely was our first journey again to Disneyland.)
Right here’s a little bit recap of our journey, plus a few of our fave spots.
Disney and San Diego recap
Once we discovered that Liv’s dance staff was going to be performing within the Disneyland parade with Dance the Magic, we knew we had been IN. We additionally figured we might 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 had been so completely satisfied to be again in SD!!
We went straight to Tiki Port, who welcomed us with probably the BEST acai bowl I’ve had in my life. (And I’ve had many, many from Tiki Port.) The man making them was actually an artist; I had chocolate chips, acai, granola, fruit, AND peanut butter in each single chew.
(That is the Drifter with peanut butter. If you happen to go to San Diego, get it! You gained’t remorse it.)
We additionally made a cease on the seashore so the women might moist their toes (aka their garments and full our bodies), to the lodge to alter, Belmont Park (the place they rode trip after trip) and OB Noodle Home for dinner.
The subsequent 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 testing the entire reveals. It adjustments each time we go to, and it’s actually a children’ dream come true. We obtained Tender Greens to-go for lunch, and hit the street the Anaheim!
Our first cease in Anaheim was the lodge 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 ebook one “actual” (sit-down) meal every day. It’s usually lunch, as a result of everybody will get the possibility to sit down down and refuel. We obtained very fortunate with reservations this journey and I used to be in a position to ebook Goofy’s Kitchen, Tortilla Jo’s (Downtown Disney) and Blue Bayou (Pirates of the Caribbean) whereas we had been there!
(Lunch at Blue Bayou. Salmon, rice, veggies, and we shared a chocolate cake for dessert)
Goofy’s Kitchen is a buffet with all the pieces you possibly can ever need, a ridiculous dessert choice, cocktails, and the characters come to every desk dancing to music when you twirl your serviette above your head. It’s all the pieces.
The remainder of the weekend was spent using rides,
(P rode the Incredicoaster 3 occasions… our daredevil little one, 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 staff carry out within the parade!! It was the primary Dance the Magic efficiency since they’ve reopened and I had full-body chills the whole time. It was SO wonderful, so magical, and the entire studios did such an unbelievable job. The streets had been fully lined with spectators and everybody was clapping and cheering. I heard there have been about 600 complete dancers they usually 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 had 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 trip some rides earlier than the park was open and to look at Liv run round with all of her dance buddies who’ve turn into like household.
Some Disney questions I figured I might 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 Fundamental Road, I assumed it was pretty. 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 ebook reservations for every day you’ll be within the parks. (You want a ticket earlier than you’ll be able to ebook reservations however can discover the calendar on-line to see what availability appears like.)
What had been the character interactions like?
The characters had been nonetheless separated from park friends utilizing some kind of barrier, and you possibly can stroll in entrance, take an image, and discuss with them. Apparently that is altering on the finish of the month, and character hugs will probably be again! P LOVES hugging the characters, so this makes my coronary heart completely satisfied.
What are the present masks guidelines?
Masks weren’t required outside and beneficial indoors. Most friends weren’t sporting them.
What’s the new Genie+ system? Are there Quick Passes?
Disney has achieved away with Quick Passes. Beforehand, you possibly can ebook as much as two rides at a time, and when you completed these, you possibly can ebook new ones all through the day utilizing the app. Prior to now, it was additionally free. Quick Passes are gone, they usually’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 trip, per particular person).
With Genie+ you may have the power to ebook time slots for a number of the extra widespread rides (like Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Incredicoaster, and so on). 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 apply for many of the day, and the traces had been very lengthy. I used to be chatting with a solid member they usually instructed me that they must push by way of the Lightning Lane folks 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 gained’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 trip, and ended up doing about 19 rides that day. You may’t ebook Lightning Lane passes for a number of the newer or premium sights with out paying an extra payment (like Star Wars Rise of the Resistance, Radiator Springs, Internet Slingers, and so on) 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 need to have Genie+ to even have the power to ebook these rides ($80 for a household of 4) and also you ebook Lightening Lane with the paid payment 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 trip these 3 rides, along with your park tickets. It simply looks like an enormous cash seize to me.
I’ll say that Genie+ is totally value it if you wish to trip 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 most likely the good trip 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 buddies: 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
