Back at the beginning of December, Anna & I got on a plane and headed to California for 4 days at Disneyland. I have always wanted to go during the Christmas season & experience that side of the parks. All the stars (my bank account) lined up and I was able to make it work. We told Anna on her birthday with a letter board count down, she was beside herself & those 20 days went by super fast.

We left Edmonton in a blizzard & landed to sunshine & palm trees! Our shuttle dropped us off at the wrong hotel so we were dumped right into an adventure, no need to stress, we’re on holidays in California! We found our hotel, dropped off our luggage, headed to Target, came back, dropped off more stuff and then hopped on a bus to Downtown Disney. We were in immediate need of Christmas Disney ears! We were there to maximize our time and the energy in the air powered us through.

We started Day 1 at Paradise Pier for Donald’s Seaside Breakfast. Themed foods, character meetings, a visit from Santa and a birthday celebration. At the reservation stand they asked if we were celebrating anything, since this trip was given for Anna’s birthday, we were celebrating that. She was given a birthday button and basically treated like a queen our entire trip. I highly recommend celebrating a birthday at Disneyland, it’s magic!

The energy and atmosphere is everything I was hoping for, Christmas carols are playing all the time and we were 2 souls just wandering around singing and smiling the whole time. I was excited to see the holiday decor and it did not disappoint. The holiday outfits worn by Mickey & friends were also pretty adorable.

The lights at night were so pretty and the fireworks (no matter how insane main street gets) were awesome. It even snows (bubbles/foam) on Main Street at the end of the fireworks show- which might not seem like a big deal to Canadian girls but we were still giddy about it.

We tried as many holiday treats as our tummy’s could handle, it was pure deliciousness.  I ate a daily Churro, which made me pretty happy, I think I was in Churro withdrawal when we got home.

We met as many characters as we could cram in, it’s always so fun meeting them. My favorite this trip was meeting Chewy, if I didn’t know better I’d swear he was the real deal.

We hit up the Animation Academy in California Adventure and learned how to draw Olaf. I have never done this on past trips but it was pretty interesting how it all comes together, I recommend checking it out.

The story behind the photo of Anna on the phone: she is wearing her birthday button and the staff at this particular store looked at her name and then the phone rang. He called Anna over and said the phone call was for her. She answered (wearily) and Goofy was on the other end singing to her. I was beaming and she was basically high on life.

Disney does it right!

Our last day in the parks the weather was rainy and it blew my mind how empty the entire place was. It wasn’t raining steadily, just sprinkling here and there, in fact we only had to wear our ponchos twice for maybe 30 minutes each time. I had read it’s mostly the locals that stay away which was good for us, no line ups and everything was running as usual.

There is just so much more I could share and I could talk Disney all day but I’ll end this post by listing a few of my favorites:

Favorite ride Disneyland: Thunder Mountain

Favorite ride California Adventure: Cars & Guardians of the Galaxy.

Favorite treat: me-churro / Anna-ice cream & popcorn (in a themed bucket)

Favorite new thing since our last trip in 2015: the Disneyland App and the Max Pass. Everything you need is on your phone. Photo passes, ride fast passes, schedules, ordering food, ride wait times. It’s amazing.

Favorite technology: I bought a battery power bank (similar to this one) before we left and I never had to worry about my phone dying. It was amazing!

Favorite memory: watching Anna experience the parks like it was her first time. She jumped up and down with excitement so many times I thought my heart might burst. These girl’s trips we take are magic to me and I am so grateful for them. I am so grateful to Cory who encourages us to go even when he can’t. I hope she will always remember the magic of these trips whether we’re in Disneyland or the mountains back home.

Thank you Disney! You make us so very happy. Next up, Disney 2021.