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| Sleeping Beauty's Castle at night |
Disneyland may truly be my favorite place on earth. I can not resist any princess story, or happy ending. I love the rides, the night time attractions, and the scenery. I was spoiled the first time I went, with a large group of friends, one of whom had worked at DisneyWorld. They made sure I did Disney right, and got to enjoy everything in 3 jam-packed days! When my friend Kerri and I decided to go this Spring, we aimed to do the same, but in 4 days. We aimed to Disney so hard, we would never want to come back (spoiler alert, that is an impossible task).
To do this properly we had to carefully plan a good portion of our trip before we even arrived. We studied maps of both California Adventure and Disneyland Park (if you're going to Disney-hard, you have to get the park hopper pass), outlined which attractions were happening which nights, carefully select our outfits, set up reservations at restaurants in the parks, and made sure our hotel gave us a Disney view. Once we got there, we were thoroughly prepared to enjoy ourselves!
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| Outsides Flo's, wearing Pin Up Girl Clothing |
Day One we spent exclusively in California Adventure, beginning in CarsLand. CarsLand is so new, the line for fastpasses alone spanned almost the entire park. We got there as the park opened, ran in line for Radiator Springs Racers, and struck poses in our cute outfits as the line slowly moved forward. It was a long wait, but selfies and country music always seem to make time move faster.
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| Disney tip: Ask someone else to take your picture in a long line |
After CarsLand we ran around the park making sure to do every ride we could, no matter how long we had to wait. We took a hot tub break at our hotel and came back just in time to get in the splash zone for World of Color!
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| First day in Disneyland, wearing Pin Up Girl Clothing |
The next day we knew had to be all Disneyland! We started on the Disneyland Railroad, for a quick view of the park while we decided which ride we wanted to do first! We spent the next 15 hours running around trying to get to all our favorites, and somehow managed to save enough for the next day! We stopped to eat and watch Fantasmic, and a rain storm helped us save some rides for better weather, and gave us quick access to others (riding Pirates of the Caribbean alone is an experience I will never forget).
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| Princesses are my favorite part of Disney! Wearing Bernie Dexter |
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| The obligatory ride picture! |
We used our Magic Morning on Day 3 to get to the big rides quickly. A 10 minute wait for Space Mountain is too good to pass up! This day we slowed down to shop, watch the Parade twice, and even take a nap. We came back for fireworks and Fantasyland at night, and rode Peter Pan as our last ride in Disneyland.
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| Saying goodbye to Pacific Pier, wearing Trashy Diva |
By Day Four we were exhausted! Our plane left that evening so we only spent about half the day in the park. We decided to revisit our favorite California Adventure rides, say goodbye to our favorite views, and get french fries and drinks before leaving.
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| My travel buddy and I closing our trip! |
Our trip was better than we could have hoped for! Kerri helped me set new traditions for when we go back, such as making sure to get a new tiara every time we go (you can never have too many). One of the best parts of traveling with a friend for me was having someone to share my grief with as we left. We wrote down ways we could make everyday more like Disney, and vowed the Happily Ever After isn't something that happens to you, it's a choice you make.
